\\\E-l!NIVER \\\E UNIVERS/A # ">> ^T'JTjnv iBRAI HISTORY OF NATIONS. THE TREATY .V7OA7:. LIMERICK HISTORY OF IRELAND. FROM THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION TILL THE UNION OF THB; COUNTRY WITH GREAT BR1TIAN. BY W. C TAYLOR, ESQ., A. B., OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. with Additions BY WIIJJAM vSAMPSON. ESQ. I X T W O V O L U M K S . Vol. L HISTORY OF IRELAND ^NQLO-NORMAN INVASION TILL THE UNIOM OF TKM COUNTRY WITH GREAT BRITAIN. BY W. C. TAYLOR, ESQ., A.B., OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBl.ll* WITH ADDITIONS, BY WILLIAM SAMPSON, ESQ. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. THE BRADLEY COMPANY, PUBLISHEBS. NEW TOBK 91 T 2 J \ i e V, i ADVERTISEMENT THE AMERICAN EDITION. THE following work was originally written for, c and published as one of the numbers of ** Consta- g Die's Miscellany." Upon its appearance the Amer- -* lean publishers, aware that an authentic and Well- es written History of Ireland was yet to be issued 03 from the press in this country, and believing that f~ it would be generally acceptable and increase the ._ value of their Family Libraiy, took measures to =J obtain the opinions of several Irish gentlemen well known for then- love of country and literary acquire- ments, and upon the soundness of whose judgment le utmost reliance may well be placed : these gentlemen unanimously, and without hesitation, pro- nounced Mr. Taylor's " the best summary of Irish history that they had any knowledge of," and ex pressed in strong terms the pleasure it would give them, and, as they believed, the public, to see it ADVERTISEMENT. republished in a collection so popular and ejrten sively read as the Family Library. ' Among the gentlemen just alluded to was WIL- LIAM SAMPSON, Esq., whose high character for learning, patriotism, and discrimination requires no eulogy ; to him the publishers are deeply indebted for some valuable information upon Irish history, which has been added to the work as originally published, and will, it is hoped and believed, prove in a high degree interesting to the lovers of Ireland and Ireland's cause. The title of Mr. Taylor's volumes, as published in Edinburgh, was ** History of the Civil Wars in Ireland :" it was suggested to the American pub- lishers, that with Mr. Sampson's additions, the char- acter of the work was more general, and that there- fore the title which they have adopted would be more appropriate. New-York, 1833. PREFACE, THE History of Ireland, from the period of th Anglo-Norman invasion, presents a series of anom- lies not to be paralleled in the annals of any other European country. Even now, after the lapse of nearly seven centuries, the suspicious jealousy of foreign rule remains as strong as at the first arrival of the invaders. The government obtains at best a sullen and reluctant obedience. The laws are viewed as institutions framed exclusively for the benefit of a ruling party, and not for the general ad- vantage of the nation. England and France, when first subjugated by the Teutonic tribes, suffered more severely than Ire land ; William and Clovis were more unprincipled leaders than the second Henry; their followers more cruel and rapacious than -he companions of Strongbow and Fitz-Stephen : out in these countries the age of oppression and suf- fering passed away. The Saxons and Normans co- alesced. The Gauls were united with the Franks. The victors and the vanquished became one peo- ple, having common feelings and common interests. Ireland is the only country in which the condition of the conquered has not been ameliorated, and where the separate interest of two distinct races is 6 PREFACE. still maintained, as if its subjugation was but thing of yesterday. The evils that have flowed from this disunion and the dangers which it still threatens, are univer sally acknowledged ; but there is not the same una nimity in assigning the cause of its continuance. On this subject the theories are as numerous as the writers ; and each is supported with a fierceness and violence unusual even in the most furious po- litical warfare. The blame of the long catalogue of ills under which Ireland has suffered we find alternately cast on the British and on the local gov- ernment on the churches of Rome and of Eng- land on the successive oligarchies that controlled the destinies of the country, and on the several fac- tions by which they were opposed on the oppres- sions of magistrates, and on the artifices of dema- gogues and on a thousand other causes, potent enough collectively to produce considerable mis- chief, but separately insufficient to account for that fast amount of evil to which the country has been subjected. An impartial inquirer might be led to surmise that blame in different degrees belonged to all the parties enumerated ; and a careful investiga- tion would confirm his suspicion. But when he proceeds to apportion to each their several shares of censure, he must prepare to encounter the most virulent opposition. At variance in every other respect, the several political partisans who have written on Irish history are wondrously unanimous in one principle each maintaining that there was nothing wrong on the side which he chose to ad- PREFACE. Y rocate, and that there was nothing right in the op- posite. The application of this creed greatly simplifies the historical judgment of Irishmen. All questions finally resolve themselves into the single topic of party. The name of rebel or patriot, and loyalist or oppressor, is given without further inquiry ; and all difficulties are thus settled in a moment. This compendious but not very accurate mode of form- ing opinions is strengthened by the absurd and mischievous sophism, that identity of name proves dentity of character. There is no sophism by which men are more deceived there is no part of the globe where it is more prevalent than in Ire- land. The Roman Catholic feels himself personally wounded by the historian who faithfully describes the blasphemous insolence with which the pope transferred to a foreigner the sovereignty over a free people, and the base cupidity shown by the Irish prelates in bartering their country's independ- ence for wealth and privilege. The zealous Prot- estant is offended when the ignorance and indo- lence of the clergy sent over by Henry VIII. and Elizabeth are portrayed ; and will equally be dis- pleased with him who describes the ferocious fanati- cism of Cromwell's Puritans, and the more crafty intolerance of their successors. Frequently must 'Jie writer of Irish history feel the truth of the com- plaint made by the venerable Bede, " Dura est enim conditio historiagraphorum : Quia si veradi- cant homines provocant, si falsa scripturis com- 8 PREFACE. mendant, Dominus qui veradicos ab adulatorioos sequesrrat, non acceptat."* Unconnected with any of the parties by which his native country is distracted reverencing many individuals ranged on opposite sides persuaded that rancour would be abated if the different parties were acquainted with the true feelings and princi- ples of their opponents, the writer of these volumes has no motive to disguise truth no interest in in- renting virtues or concealing vices. It is not easy M execute a task where the occasions for censure are numerous, and for commendation few, without pro voking the hostility of those who are bigoted to a partial and uncandid view of transactions. To blame the government will probably be deemed ad- vocacy of treason ; and censure of the people be termed justification of oppression. The violent Roman Catholic may call the author an Orange- man ; while the equally violent Protestant may stig- matize him as a papist. He condescends not to refute either. Let them war against the perpe- trators of the crimes of which they are ashamed, and not against the person by whom they are nar- rated. There is a part of the first chapter which needs some apology, as it will probably give offence to a very innocent but not a very wise portion of the * The hard condition of the historian is, that if he speak the truth he provokes the anger of men; but if he commit falsehoods to writing he will be unacceptable to God, who will distinguish in his judgments between truth %nd adulation. PREFACE. 9 community the believers in the authenticity of early Irish history. The author shelters himself under the sanction of Niebuhr, who has impeached the credibility of Livy and Dionysius, though either authority is a thousand times more valuable than the dreaming monks and adulatory sennachies whose stories have been collected by Keating and O'Flaherty. It would be an insult to the under- standing of Englishmen if a writer should now se- riously refute the tale of Brute the Trojan. It ought to be equally unnecessary to examine such idle tales as those which grave writers on Ireland still maintain as genuine traditions. But it is surely pardonable that a true lover of his country should be allowed to turn from her authentic annals of blood and crime, to refresh his saddened mind in those regions of romance which fancy has peopled with fairy images of harmony, tranquillity, and civilization. Still, such reveries are sometimes used for a mischievous purpose ; and the assertion that Ireland owes all her misery to English con- nexion an assertion as false as it is pernicious has been made too frequently to be passed over without examination. The following work may be considered as di- vided into six periods of unequal duration. The first contains the formation of the English connexion, and includes the time from Strongbow's invasion to the death of Henry II. The second period is oc- cupied by the baronial wars, which deteriorated the English interest until the sovereignty was merely nominal ; and spreads over all the reigns between I. 10 r RE FACE. Henry II. and Henry VIII. The third commences with die accession of that monarch, and contains the detail of the struggle for re-establishing and ex- tending the English supremacy, which was com- pleted by Elizabeth and James I. The fourth is occupied by the great civil war of 1641, and its various revolutions, until the passing of the Act of Settlement. The fifth contains the wars between James II. and his son-in-law William, until the res- toration of tranquillity by the treaty of Limerick. And the sixth brings the history down to the Act of Union, at the commencement of the present century. It does not become a writer to speak of the merits of his work, but he may be permitted to as- sert the purity of his intentions. The author can safely say that truth has been his only object ; that, amid the conflicting statements of historians, he has always selected that which was supported by the best authorities ; that he has, in almost every instance, consulted the original records, and made no assertion which they did not fully support. He is aware that he cannot please all parties, and he has not laboured to flatter any. He may be ma- ligned and misrepresented ; but, feeling that he has at least performed his task honestly, he can console himself under calumny by the approbation of his own conscience. CONTENTS or THE FIRST VOLUME. I KBFAOI .................................. 5 CHAPTER L indent History of Ireland Political Condition of the Country t tile Time of the Anglo-Norman Invasion................. SI CHAPTER H. The Causes and Occasion of the Anglo-Norman Invasion Si CHAPTER HI. BtrongDow's Invasion 41 CHAPTER IV The Reign of Henry II.. W CHAPTER V. TbeRefgns of Richard L, John, and Henry 111 79 CHAPTER VL The Reigns of Edward I., H., and III M CHAPTER VII. The History of Ireland during the Civil Wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster 11* CHAPTER Vm. From th Accession of Henry vn. to the Rpfbnn1on 1S CONTENT*. CHAPTER DL The Effecta* the Reftraaatico In Ireland M* CHAPTER X. The Wan agate* John OTSeill and the Earl of Deanon* Ml CHAPTER XL The AdmtahrtratkJD of Sir John Perrot ** CHAPTER XU. The War again* Hugh (WUeffl m CHAPTER Xlli The Reign oT Jamee L M CHAPTER XIV. From the Accession of Charles L to the OonnnencerMnt of the great Civil War to Ulster CHAPTER XV. The War of 11 to Otatet - a CHAPTER XVL THE HISTORY OF IRELAND. CHAPTER I. Ancient History of Ireland Political Condition of the Country at (M Time of the Anglo-Norman Invasion. THE pretensions of the Irish to an antiquity more remote than that of other Europeans, and their claims of being descended from the most powerful and enlightened of the eastern nations, have been attacked and defended with a zeal and vigour beyond the laws of literary controversy. In this contest, the cause of Irish history has suffered far more from the ex- travagant claims of its advocates, than from the fiercest assaults of its opponents. The suspicious particularity of the more remote incidents, and the still more suspicious coincidence of the epochs with the received system of chronology, are gravely quoted as proofs of genuine antiquity, while, in fact, rthey are decisive evidences of falsification. The ' materials from whence the historians have compiled their narratives, were the songs of the bards, the genealogies of the sennachies, and the popular le- gends current in their day ; and it is manifest that such records must have been replete with errors and defects, and, above all things, must have con- tained little or no reference to dates and eras. The monks of Ireland, in the middle ages, seem to have surpassed their brethren of Britain in the art of fab- icating history. The latter went no togher than the 22 HISTORY OP IRELAND. days of Brute the Trojan; but the former boldly ascended to the days of Adam, and brought his granddaughter to Ireland with a numerous colony, before the primitive race had yet degenerated into crime. The intervention of the deluge might have been supposed to throw some difficulties in the way of this hopeful legend ; but for this a remedy was easily provided one fortunate individual was saved in the western world, to relate the circumstances of that great event to the next band of colonists who arrived in the country. The new settlers could boast of an origin equally illustrious : they were Greeks, under the guidance of Partholanus, whose genealogy from Noah is traced with edifying ac- curacy. After this, several new tribes arrive from places equally illustrious ; but their fame is absorbed in the superior glory of the Milesian colony, whose arrival in Ireland is dated previous to the Argonautic expedition ; that is, before Greece had a traditional history ! The history of the Milesians before their arrival in Ireland is detailed at length in the Irish legends. They were, it appears, a Phenician branch of the vast Scythic nation, to which the greatest re- volutions in ancient and modern times have been generally ascribed. Phenius, the chief legislator of the tribe, having invented letters, and some impor- tant arts of civilized life, acquired great fame in the neighbouring nations, and the Egyptian king sent ambassadors to his court. Niul the son of Phenius, progenitor of the O'Neill family, was sent with a numerous train to return the compliment, and so highly pleased Pharaoh, that he obtained his daughtei in marriage, and a fertile tract on the banks of the Egyptian river as her dowry. From him the river Nile takes its name ; and from him Egypt derived all that knowledge which in subsequent ages en- titled her to be named the parent of civilization Shortly after this the Exodus occurred; and the Phenicians treated the departing Israelites with so much generosity, that the silence of Moses on tha HISTORY or IRELAND. 23 tubject is a matter perfectly unaccountable. The Egyptians who survived the calamity of the Red Sea were indignant at the kindness shown to the Israelites. They expelled the Phenicians from then territories; and, after a long course of wandering, in which they successively established themselves In Crete, in Africa, and in Spain, they at last landed in Erin, bringing to that favoured country the know- ledge of letters, and the elements of civilization, long before Greece had emerged from barbarism, or Italy received the arts of social life. When at- tempts are made to impose such a wild romance as this on the world for history, it is no wonder that the whole mass of the Irish annals should be rejected with disgust, and that the few important truths which are mixed up with a mass of similar fictions, should share in the merited condemnation such legends must inevitably meet. There is really no authentic history of Ireland be- fore the introduction of Christianity into the coun- try ; but there are some genuine traditions which ap- pear to be based in truth, because they accord with and explain the peculiar customs which were found to prevail in the island at the time of the English in- vasion. These traditions declare, that the original Celtic inhabitants were subdued by an Asiatic col- ony, or at least by the descendants of some Eastern people, at a very remote period : they aver, that the conquerors were as inferior to the original inhabi- tants in numbers, as they were superior in military discipline and the arts of social life : they describe the conquest as a work of time and trouble ; and as- sert, that, after its completion, an hereditary monarchy and an hereditary aristocracy were for the first time established in Ireland. It has been judiciously re- marked by Faber, that, " in the progress of the hu- man mind, there is an invariable tendency, not to in- troduce into an undisturbed community a palpable difference between lords and serfs, instead of a legal *4 HISTORY OF IRELAND. equality of rights ; but to abolish such difference by enfranchising the serfs. Hence, from me universal experience of history, we may be sure that, whenever this distinction is found to exist, the society must be composed of two races of men differing from each other in point of origin." We shall soon show that such a distinction prevailed in Ireland ; and shall now only add, that the original difference -between the successive settlers in the country is not even yet effaced. The blue eyes, flaxen hair, and fair com- plexion of the peasantry on the eastern coast and in the midland districts," show that they are a dif- ferent race from the dark-visaged, black-haired inhab- itants of the south-western counties. Besides the uniform tradition that the Milesian colonists were of Asiatic origin, there are many customs still pre- served in Ireland, plainly derived from some Eastern source. The forms of salutation, the Beltane fires, manifestly derived from the former prevalence of solar worship, and the feastings and cries at fune- rals, so completely coincide with the descriptions of Asiatic manners given by all travellers ancient and modern, that it is difficult to refuse assent to the tra- ditionary account of the Milesian origin. Those unaccountable edifices, the round towers of Ireland, are frequently quoted in proof of this theory ; and certainly the most plausible account given of them is, that they were erected for the purpose of fire- worship. But this is a subject involved in hopeless obscurity, and cannot consequently afford much ad- ditional strength to our previous arguments. The state of society in Ireland, the form of govern- ment, and the tenure of land previous to the Anglo- Norman invasion, are subjects of much more import- ance than the origin of the nation ; for, without a previous investigation of these matters, much of the subsequent history of the country would be scarcely intelligible. The attachment of the Irish to thei ancient usages, and the eager desire of the first in HISTORY OF IRELAND. 25 ?aders to adopt these institutions, was the primarjr source of the greatest evils by which the country was afflicted ; and, notwithstanding the many changes of rule and chances of time which have occurred in Ireland, their pernicious consequences are felt at the present hour. At some unknown period, Ii eland was divided by the Milesian conquerors into five kingdoms, Ulster, Leinster, Connaught, Munster, and Meath ; the latter was at a subsequent, but equally uncertain, age con- sidered as the peculiar property of the paramount sovereign. It is impossible to determine at what time the entire island was first united under a single monarch. Neither is the inquiry of any import- ance; for the authority of the lord paramount was merely nominal, unless he had the good fortune to possess sufficient forces in his hereditary dominions to ensure obedience. These kingdoms were again subdivided into sev- eral principalities, inhabited by distinct septs, each ruled by its own carfinny or chieftain. The obedi- ence of these local rulers or toparchs to the provincial sovereign was regulated like his to the general mon- arch, by the powers that he possessed for enforcing his authority. Each petty lord presided over the administration of justice in his own dominion, and possessed, or at least exercised, the right of making war and peace with his neighbours at his pleasure. The succession to every degree of sovereignty was regulated by the law of tanistry, which limited hereditary right to the family, but not to the individ- ual. The chiefs could only be selected from noble houses; but there was not an individual of each royal or noble family that might not become a candidate for the office of tanist or chieftain-elect. The lovr of offspring might probably have induced the toparchs to limit the right of succession to their immediate descendants, had it not been the custom to elect the tanist immediately after the a"ceseion of the chief; 26 HISTORY OF IRELAND. and the interest which procured his designation would of course be sufficient to secure his right of inheritance. This pernicious custom was productive of unmixed misery. Every election of tanist was necessarily productive of party-feuds, which rarely terminated without bloodshed. The chiefs looked with jealous eyes on those who only waited for their deaths to attain the rank of princes ; and the tanists, conscious of these suspicions, frequently endeavoured to accelerate the moment of their elevation by open war or secret assassination. In the list of 178 mon- archs of the Milesian line enumerated by the Irish historians, only 47 died natural deaths, 71 were slain in battle, and 60 murdered. It may indeed be said, and with some truth, that this list is a fabrication ; but it was probably composed by combining the ge- nealogies of several provincial monarchs, whose pride was flattered by the notion that their ancestors ruled the entire island ; and at all events, it shows the proportion between violent changes and peaceful successions in the opinion of the native historians themselves. Each district was deemed the common property of the entire sept ; but the distribution of the several shares was intrusted to the toparch. The cultivators had, consequently, no property in the soil, and were little interested in improving it by cultivation. The tanist alone was assigned an inalienable portion of mesnal land; all the others were tenants at the will of the toparch, and removable without the formality of a notice. The accession of every chief, the death of a large proprietor, the reception of a new member into the sept, and the banishment of any who had displeased the chief, usually produced a new division of land, which kept, property in a state of constant fluctuation ; and the custom of inheritance by gavelkind, extended and perpetuated the evil. The gavelkiii-1 of Ireland and Wales differed, in sev. eml impnrtnnt PHI ti<'n]nr?, from that which still pre- HISTORY OF IRELAND. 27 vails in some parts of England. By the Irish custom, females were absolutely excluded from all right of inheritance ; and no distinction was made between legitimate and illegitimate children. The lower orders were divided into freemen and betages,* or, as they were called by the Normans, villains. The former had the privilege of choosing their tribe ; the latter were bound to the soil, and transferred with it in any grant or deed of sale. These institutions! are manifestly inconsistent with the high degree of civilization which the Irish historians describe in such glowing colours. Where the great majority of the people could not possess landed property, and where the circumstances of the country prevented the accumulation of commercial wealth, the elements of comfort and greatness were wanting. There could have been no money, no trade, no manufactures, and there could have been no towns whose municipal privileges might have restrained the * In the grants of land made for the support of monasteries by tho Irish monarchs, the betaghs or betages are expressly named, and the property in them transferred together with the land. t The nature of the Irish tenure and law of tanistry is very clearly laid down in an inquisition taken at Mallow, on the 25th October, 1594, before Sir T. Norris, Vice-president of Munster, W. Saxey, Esq., and J. Gould, Esq., justices of said province, by virtue of a commission from the lord deputy and council, dated the preceding 2f>th of June. It is found, among other things, " That Conogher O'Callaghan, alias the O'Callaghan, was and is seized of several large territories in the inquisi- tion recited in his demesne, as lord and chieftain of Poble Callaghan, by the Irish custom, time out of mind used ; that as O'Callaghan aforesaid is lord of the said country, so there is a tanist, by custom of said country, who is Teig O'Callaghan, and the said Teie is seized as tanist, by the aid custom, of several plough-lands in the inquisition mentioned, which also finds that the custom is further, that crvery kinsman of the O'Cal- laghan had a parcel of land to live upon, and yet that no estate passed thereby; but that the lord and the O'Callaghan for the time being, by custom time out of mind, may remove the said kinsmen to other lands ; and the inquisition further finds, that O'Callaghan MacDermod, Irrelagh O'Callaghan, Teig MacCahir O'Callaghan, Donogh MacThomas O'Cal- laghan, Conohor ttenkagh O'Callaghan. Dermod Bane O'Callaghan, and Shane MacTeig O'Callaghan, were seized of several plough-lands, ac- cording to the said custom, subject, nevertheless, to certain seigniorie* and duties payable to the O'Callaghan, and that they were renevablt by him to other lands at his pleasure." 8 HISTORY OF IRELAND. despotic power of the toparchs. The cities of Dub. lin, Limerick and Waterford, found in the country by the Normans at the time of the invasion, if not originally built by the Danes, at least owed all their greatness and celebrity to that maritime people. But though this state of society appears to modern writers replete with so much evil, it had many at- tractions for a people such as the Irish were at that day, and such as they continue at present. With few and simple wants, reckless of danger, ardent speculators, full of buoyant spirits, eager for any new enterprise, however culpable or dangerous, their best and their worst qualities were equally gratified by a system, which flattered their vanity and supplied objects for their ambition. Eligibility to the office of tanist being common to every man of noble birth, it became the interest of the nobility to conciliate the affections of the people ; and this produced a connexion, not the less intimate because the hustings became frequently fields of battle. The law of gavelkind offered to every individual the hope of that great object of every Irishman's ambition, a bit of land; and though the tenure was insecure and un- certain, Irishmen then, as now, literally fulfilled the precept of " taking no thought for the morrow." The customs of fostering' and gossipred drew closer the links that bound the lords to their vassals. The sons of the nobility were invariably nursed by the wives of the tenantry, and the associations thus formed were esteemed ties fully as binding as those of nature. On the other hand, the nobles became name-fathers to the children of their favourites, and were thus supposed to establish a claim to filial, rather than feudal obedience. It is amusing to find, that these innocent and interesting customs were denounced as high-treason, by the statute of Kilkenny, in the reign of Edward III., because they were deemed the greatest support of the overgrown power of the Irish aristocracy. HISTORY OF IRELAND. 29 The administration of justice was regulated by the Brehon law, which is said to have been formed into a code at a very early period. Its most remarkable feature was the almost total absence of capital pun- ishment ; for every offence, even for murder, a pe- cuniary mulct, called an eric, was provided; but the friends of the deceased were ramy satisfied with such a compensation, and deadly feuds were consequently multiplied.* The office of brehon, or judge, was hereditary in certain families ; and, by a custom which seems to have been derived immediately from the East, all honourable professions were similarly limited. The first introduction of Christianity into Ireland is a subject involved in impenetrable obscurity. The tradition which ascribes the conversion of the island to Saint Patrick, though generally received, is not worthy of implicit credit ; and the romantic narra- tives of the saint's adventures are a mere compila- tion of extravagant fictions. It would be, however, an excess of skepticism, to follow Dr. Ledwich ir denying the saint's existence altogether; but the precise period of his mission, and the extent of his success, must remain uncertain. There is, however, satisfactory evidence, that the form of Christianity established in Ireland, as well as in Britain, resem- * The following copy of a brehon's decree will probably interest the reader : " These be the allegations and challenges 1 have in the behalf of Do- nagh MacSeayn and Teig MacFynyne, against Cahall O'Connor and his people, viz. That Cahall O'Connor, together with Irs |>eople, came for- cibly to the land of the said Uonagh, and seized upm) a prey belonging to him, and have taken away with them [ } cowes of the said prey, and have also taken with them the said Donagh ami Teig prisoners, and the rest of the prey being taken from the said Cahall against his will : but having beaten, bruised, and deadly wounded the said Uonagh and Teig, therefore I say that they carne with intent to kill the said Donagh anc Teig, and mat they shall have remedy and release as if they had been killed, in regard the said Donagh and Teig never submitted themselves to the mercy of the said Cahall and his people, but scoope (escaped) by their own valour and assistance, as by the law in that behalf appeareth, which is in htec verba." (The words of the law are not quoted.) Hard man's Irish Detds, p. 26. 80 HISTORY OF IRELAND. bled that of the Eastern churches, rather than that which Rome had adopted. In such matters of dis- cipline as the form of clerical tonsure, the time of celebrating Easter, and the celibacy of the clergy this difference between the Hibernian and Roman churches might seem of little importance; but they were at issue on more important topics. The ec- clesiastical constitution of Ireland was completely at variance with the model which the Roman see was anxious to establish ; and several doctrines, condemned in the papal councils, were vigorously maintained by the Irish clergy. The bishops, in the primitive church of Ireland, were as numerous as the parishes. They paid no canonical obedience to a foreign head ; they be- queathed frequently their pastoral charge to their children ; and generally held their sees at the plea- sure of their chieftain. They also possessed not any of the lordly privileges which the Continental prelates enjoyed. It was not until the eighth cen- tury that they were exempted from military service; and they always remained subject to taxation, and to the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals. The Irish church also provoked the hostility of the pontiffs by its adherence to the doctrines of Pe- lagius, and the share it took in the controversy of "the three chapters." Jerome, whose right to the title of saint assuredly rests not on his moderation, assails the entire Irish nation for its supposed heresy, with a virulence surpassing the ordinary bounds of theological controversy. He even asserts that the Irish were cannibals, and that he had himself seen a party of them eat a child in Gaul ; forgetting, as the Jesuit Stani lirst wisely remarks, to account for the permission they obtained to commit such a crime in the country which was then the chief seat of ortho- doxy. The controversy of " the three chapters," which once agitated the entire of Christendom, in now consigned to oblivion. It seems, that the HISTORY OF IRELAND. 31 Council of Chalcedon had tacitly approved the writ- ings of three Eastern prelates, which were supposed to favour the Nestorian heresy. The Roman synod took a different view of the matter, and condemned the chapters in no very measured terms. The Irish unanimously supported the authority of the council ; and, as we are informed by Baronius, attributed the calamities by which Italy happened to be afflicted to the fatal heresy of the papacy. The Irish clergy, though deficient in orthodoxy, were honourably conspicuous for their learning, zeal, and piety. Their missionaries travelled into the neighbouring heathen countries, not like the papal legates, with all the pride, pomp, and circumstance of imperial ambassadors; but like their predecessors the apostles, in the garb of unaffected poverty, with the words of persuasion on their lips, and the gospel of everlasting peace in their hands. The pious la- bours of Columb-kill and Columbanus, if they were really different persons, are to this hour justly the boast of the Irish nation ; though, unfortunately, the ecclesiastical system which produced numbers of men animated with similar zeal has long- since perished. The invasions of the Franks, the Saxons, and other barbarians, seconded by the dark intrigues of the Romish see and its partisans among the clergy, destroyed the primitive churches which had been established in Gaul and Britain. The persecuted clergy and those of their flocks who were anxious to maintain the independence of their national churches, either fled, or were forced into a reluctant submission. The Irish generously offered to the fugitives a safe asylum ; thither came all those whom barbarous violence and Roman ambition had driven from theii homes. The unfortunate Britons, in particular, threatened with extirpation by the Saxons, fled to the sister-island, and spread such a horror of the violence they had suffered, that the Irish to this day 32 HISTORY OF IRELAND. call their invaders by the odious name of Saxons During the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, Ire- land was proverbially the chief seat of piety and learning. True, the learning of the period was con- fined to a very limited range of subjects, and, even such as it was, monopolized by the clergy; still, the respect shown to information, and the ardour exhib- ited for literary distinction, produced beneficial ef- fects, which extended far beyond the circle of those who enjoyed the immediate fruits. The invasion of the Danes in the ninth century reduced Ireland to the same miserable condition as those countries for whose calamities she had shown such generous sympathy. Though these piratic hordes were not numerous, they obtained extraor- dinary success in a country distracted by internal commotions, where each sept rejoiced in the depres sion of its rival, and where the feelings of nationality were lost in the virulence of party-spirit. As the Danes came into Ireland from the east, they called themselves Eastmen, or Ostmen, just as in France they took the name of Northmen, or Normans, They first confined themselves to mere predatory expeditions; soon after they erected castles, or seized on towns near the shore, to shelter their booty; until at length, encouraged by their own success, and the dissensions of the natives, they resolved to attempt the conquest of the entire island. Early in the ninth century, this was effected by Turgesius, a monarch distinguished by great abilities and greater depravit- r After a brief reign of cruelty and lust, Turgesius wap murdered by the contrivance of a petty prince whose daughter he designed to seduce ; and in the genera revolt which ensued, the power of the Ostmen was completely overthrown. But the private feuds of the Irish princes rescued the Ostmen from total destruc. tion ; and, retaining possession of the seaports, they soon became formidable, though they never regained their former supremacy of the country. HISTORY OF IRELAND. 3 In the beginning of the eleventh century, a ma- jority of the Irish determined to make a great national effort against the invaders : the nominal lord-paramount of the island, Malachi King of Meath, was deposed, and the sovereignty transferred to the celebrated Brian Boiromhe, whose administration of his provincial kingdom had raised it to the highest rank among the surrounding states. During a reign of ten years, Brian ruled the country in tranquillity ; the Danish settlers purchased safety by becoming tributary, and the feuds of the Irish princes were checked by the vigour and prudence of the monarch. But the spirit of faction, though quelled, was not ex- tinguished ; the partisans of the deposed monarch secretly meditated a new revolution ; and their pra jects were favoured by many who viewed with jea lousy the elevation of a rival tribe. A trivial circum- stance kindled these materials of discord into a flame. Murchard, the eldest son of Brian, incau- tiously reproached Maolmordha, King of Leinster, for nis former treacherous connexion with the Danes, and so irritated the vindictive passions of the haughty prince, that he determined to purchase revenge, even at the price of his country's ruin. An alliance was soon formed between the King of Leinster and the Danish colony of Dublin. Auxiliaries were sum- moned from Norway, and the northern islands ; emissaries were sent to stimulate the discontented princes into rebellion ; and Brian, now in the extrem- ity of old age, found himself involved in a contest more fearful than any he had hitherto experienced. The monarch, however, proved himself equal to the emergency ; he summoned to his standard all the princes who owed him obedience, and collected together his hereditary forces, on whom alone he saw that implicit reliance could be placed. The battle, which for the time decided the fate of Ireland, was fought on the plains of Clontarf, now a pretty village near Dublin. The engagement commenced on the I. C S4 HISTORY OF IRELAND. morning of Good Friday, A. D. 1014, a circumstance which added religious enthusiasm to the patriotic zeal of the Irish, for the Danes had not heen as yet converted to Christianity. At the very moment that battle was joined, Malachi King of Meath withdrew his forces, leaving Brian with only his own provincial army to withstand the overwhelming numbers of the enemy. The soldiers of Minister were not, however, disconcerted; they had with them in the field every member of the royal house, to which they were pas- sionately attached ; for the king brought with him to the battle his five sons, his grandson, and his fifteen nephews. The conflict lasted the entire day; but at length the valour of the Irish prevailed. The traitor Maolmordha, with his chief associates, were slam. His followers immediately broke their lines and fled ; and the Danes were driven, with dreadful slaughter, to their ships and the gates of Dublin. But this suc- cess was dearly purchased. Brian was slain, while praying in his tent, by a wandering party of the enemy ; his son Murchard, with the best and bravest of the Irish nobility, fell in the arms of victory ; and the gallant sept of the Dalgais, Brian's own tribe, was almost annihilated. With Brian perished the glory, the tranquillity, and the prosperity of his country. Ireland no longer existed as a nation, but was broken up into a number of independent sove- reignties, animated by the most rancorous mutual hostility. " There was no longer a king in the land. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes." From this period to the Anglo-Norman invasion, the annals of Ireland record little more than a series of intestine wars begun for some petty object, and con- cluded without any remarkable consequence. A new invasion of the Danes, under the guidance of Magnus King of the Isle of Man, is indeed stated to have been repelled; but how deplorable must the condition of the country have been, when the King of Map would venture to invade it with the hopes of COB HISTORY OF IRELAND. 35 quest t The evils produced by this long unvarying scene of civil discord, predisposed the Irish princes to submit to the power of the Norman prince. They felt the necessity of possessing 1 a sovereign ruler ; and they knew, by bitter experience, that mutual jealousy and ancient rivalry would render the gov- ernment of any native prince equally insecure and inefficient. CHAPTER II. The Causes and Occasion of the Anglo-Norman Invasion. THE establishment of the Anglo-Norman dynasty in Ireland was but a part of that great system by which the papal supremacy was enabled to prevail over the national churches of Western Europe. Henry came to Ireland as the deputy of the pope. To establish his spiritual authority was the avowed object of the expedition; and on the papal gift alone did the Norman monarch rest his claim to the sove- reignty of the country. By a very rare coincidence, the zealous Protestant and Catholic writers of Irish history have agreed in suppressing this important fact. The former were unwilling to acknowledge that their ascendency, which they justly identified with Eng- lish connexion, was derived from the great object of their fear and hatred ; the latter, equally attached to their country and their religion, were disinclined to confess that their spiritual head had destroyed their national church, and given the dominion over their native land to a stranger, in order to extend his own power. The contest between patriotic spirit and habitual submission to the Roman pontiff is evident in some of the writings of the oarliet 36 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Irish historians : they zealously contend for the piety and purity of their national church ; but, when they labour to identify its doctrines with Romanism, they are sorely at a loss to account for the harsh epithets given to the Irish clerical establishment by the popes and their authorized advocates. The power of the Roman see had acquired addi tional strength by every revolution caused by tli successive immigrations of the northern barbarians The pontiffs deemed the ignorant pagans more hopeful subjects for the bold experiment of establishing their supremacy than the Christians of Gaul, Britain, and Erin, who were zealously attached to the independ- ence of their national churches. They therefore uniformly supported the cause of the invaders, con- ciliated their leaders by giving them extravagant titles, and presenting them with rich dresses, whose unusual splendour attracted their admiration, and gratified their vanity. The Franks were encouraged in their warfare against the Gauls, the Goths, and the Burgundians ; because, after the conversion of Clovis, they readily adopted whatever creed his ho- liness thought fit to dictate ; and the former possess- ors of the country were sentenced to utter ruin, be- cause they were heretics, or at least schismatics. The Goths were accused of Arianism ; the Britons were said to nave adopted the errors of Pelagius ; and paganism itself was declared preferable to such abominable heresies. Many of the bishops in the devoted nations aided the machinations of the Ro- man pontiffs ; they were eager to become spiritual princes, and to share in those privileges and immu- nities which Rome claimed for the Episcopal char- acter. Foreign violence was thus aided by domestic treason ; and the papal authority was established in France and England by the swords of the Franks and the battle-axes of the Saxons. But no opportu- nity of reducing Ireland to obedience was afforded. The successors of Augustine in the see of Canterbury HISTORV OF IRELAND. 37 rainly sent embassies to the island ; their authority was spumed, their threats derided, and they were left to vent their indignation in slander and reproach. Bede has preserved a curious specimen of the re- monstrances addressed to the schismatic Irish by the papal legates ; it is full of pride and bitterness, as may be seen in the following extract : " We, depu- ties from the apostolic see to the Western regions, once foolishly believed in your island's reputation for sanctity ; but we now know, and can no longer doubt, that you are no better than the Britons. Of this the journey of Columbanus into Gaul, and that of one Dagammon into Britain, have fully convinced us : for, among other things this Dagammon, passing through the places where we dwelt, has refused not only to come and eat at our tables, but even to take his meals in the same house with us." The crimes of Columbanus have been mentioned in the preceding chapter; they were simply ardent zeal, sincere piety, and unpretending poverty. He founded no bishopricks, he courted no kings, he preached only to the poor and to the afflicted. Leav- ing courts and camps to the papal legates, he spent his life in preaching the gospel to the wood-cutters and hunters in the mountains of the Vosges. The discourteous conduct of Dagammon was not wholly without excuse. The massacre of the British monks at Bangor by a body of pagan Saxons more than suspected of having been employed by the Italian Archbishop of Canterbury, and the bitter persecution of the native clergy of Wales, disgusted a man who believed in his simplicity that Christianity was, as it ought to be, a system of peace and love, and who was, besides, allied in faith to the sufferers. The invasion of the Danes was fatal to the national church of Ireland. The seats of learning, which had been ever spared in the disastrous feuds between rival princes, were but the more tempting objects to these avaricious savages. The seminaries were db- 38 HISTORY OF IRELAND. stroyed, the students scattered, and the means of sup* port taken away from those who laboured, to in- struct a new race of pastors. Hence innumerable abuses arose ; the toparchs appointed to the sees per- sons wholly inadequate to perform the duties ; mon- asteries were seized by ambitious laymen ; and reli- gious ordinances were either entirely neglected, or performed with a negligence which degraded them into an unmeaning ritual. The power possessed by the Anglo-Saxon clergy, contrasted with their own weakness, naturally excited the emulation of the Irish bishops. They began to wish for the lofty titles and the substantial privileges enjoyed by the prelates of the neighbouring island ; and as they clearly saw that this object could not be attained without the assist- ance of the Roman see, they determined to make the acknowledgment of the papal authority the basis of their own aggrandizement. It may be that some were actuated by better motives. There may have been a few who thought that external aid was necessary to reform the abuses which had been pro- duced by centuries of commotion, and who looked to Rome, indisputably the head of the Western churches, as the only source from whence the means of an efficient reformation could be derived. The holy see was not slow in availing itself of these favourable dispositions, especially as by its aid a new dynasty had been just established in England, more devotedly attached to the papal cause than that of the Saxons, because the benefits received by the Normans were more important and more recent. The conquest of England by the Duke of Nor- mandy was hailed by the descendants of the Danes in Ireland as a triumph that prognosticated the revi- val of their own power and eminence. They relin- quished the name of Ostmen for the more important title of Normans, and sent ambassadors to congratu- late William on his success. They also broke off their connexion with the Irish church, asserting HISTORY OF IRELAND. 39 infracted ' bishop-elect of Dubhn to they sent over the ecclesiastical jction of ,T g - 8Umitted tO the who f r pretend, the first precher of tS ^/^ &S SOme had made the audioSv S ?hV g SpeI m Ireland system. Gillebert vval c ^ P ^ pe a part of their celebrated M ahchv who^' ?? ^ leffate b ^ the the vear 1 1^0 Malach > to remain unimproved. In which CaSl p Syn d T AS C01iv ened at Kells, over Th re ' * ^ aP Th reor e ' ' the Irish prelate, nr f' palls ; vere distributed to acknowleSed ThP nth 6 PRpal authorit y form;ill y same timedearly sho ^f, 011 ^ 1 " 1611 ^ made at the cler were n^ilrl t 6 motlves b y which the ^dependence: 40 HISTORY OF IRELAND. taxation and civil jurisdiction were granted at this synod ; and thus, the last of the Western national churches was united finally to the Roman see. The new ecclesiastical establishment was not, however, received universally. Many of the inferior clergy* animated by different motives, vigorously contended for their ancient usages ; and the toparchs were opposed to a system by which their power was limited and controlled. Complaints were made in Rome that the Irish clergy still continued to marry, that tithes were paid irregularly, and that the native princes usurped the nomination to ecclesiastical dig- nities. The pope saw that some ally was necessary to confirm the supremacy which he had already trained; and the abilities and ambition of Henry II. pointed him out as the most eligible auxiliary. Tn the year 1155, the negotiations between Henry II. and Pope Adrian were concluded. The holy father entered into a compact with the enterprising young monarch, by which it was stipulated that the lord- ship of Ireland should be transferred to Henry, pro- vided that he would maintain the papal supremacy and the ecclesiastical constitutions which had been established by the synod of Kells. This negotia- tion, which was the foundation of the connexion between England and Ireland, is a precious sample of the hypocrisy, the injustice, and the mutual trea- chery of both parties. Henry, by no means a de- voted slave to ecclesiastical power, suddenly found his Christian feelings wounded by the schismatic state of the Irish church; he therefore proposes to invade the island with a missionary army, not to ex- tend his own dominions, but to diffuse the blessings of pure religion in that benighted country. Adrian, on the other hand, without even affecting to consult the wishes of the inhabitants, transfers to the Nor- man prince the sovereignty of an independent coun- try, with as little scruple as if it had been an estate, of which he held the title-deeds. The Genuineness of Adrian' bull has indeed been sometime* di HISTORY OF IRELAND. 41 puted ; but this is a matter of little importance. The fact, that Ireland was literally sold to the Norman invaders by the pope is indisputable, and is proved by a host of documents, which never have been questioned. The bull of Pope Alexander read at the council of Cashel, which, by-the-way, refers to Adrian's bull as an authentic document, is to the full as explicit a declaration of the terms of the bargain as that whose credit has been impugned. Thed(!- claration of the Irish clergy in their synod at Cashel, that they recognised Henry's authority, because it was founded on the infallible decree of Christ's vi- car, and the unanimous consent of all contemporary historians, native, English, and Continental, that Henry undertook the conquest of Ireland, by com- mand of the visible head of the church, in order to extirpate the religious abuses which prevailed in that country, are sufficient to prove the true cause and nature of the invasion, if Adrian's bull had never existed. During four centuries, the English mon- archs and the parliament of the pale, unable to maintain their supremacy by the sword, constantly appealed to these papal grants as the sacred source of their power; and, during the same period, every effort to restore the independence of Ireland was placed under ban and excommunication, as being a rebellion against the deputy of the sacred successors to the patrimony of Saint Peter. After the Reform- ation, when the Catholics of Ireland divided into two parties, which may be called those of the Low and High church, the latter, so far from denying the fact of Ireland having been ceded to England by papal authority, laboured strenuously to maintain the right of the pope to make such a grant, and to resume it when the conditions had been violated. The origin of the right of the holy see to Ireland was variously stated by different writers. One found out that all islands were included in the magnificent donation bestowed on the successors of Saint Peter 42 HISTORY OF IRELAND. by the Emperor Constantino ; another discovered in the prophecies of Isaiah a divine right to islands ; a third asserted that some of the Irish kings dur- ing a pilgrimage to Rome had resigned the supre- macy of their dominions to the sovereign pontiff; while a whole host contended that the Irish, in the time of Saint Patrick, had, in a sudden burst of na- tional gratitude, placed themselves and their country at the disposal of their spiritual father. These idle legends are now only calculated to produce a smile ; but there was a time when they were potent causes of evil; and many and bitter were the calamities which such wicked absurdities inflicted on the un- fortunate island. Continental wars, and the rebellion of his unnatu- ral sons, long prevented Henry from availing himself of the papal grant; but, in the mean time, he en tered into negotiations with some of the Irish pre- lates, who were anxious to purchase the pomp, power, and privilege possessed by the English and Conti- nental bishops, even at the price of their country's independence. What might have been the result of unaided negotiations is mere matter of conjecture. An accidental circumstance hurried them to a rapid conclusion, and brought the Normans into Ireland, before Henry and his partisans could make any pre- vious preparations for the unexpected event. CHAPTER III. Strongbow's Invasion IF the worst evils of civil commotion could form an excuse for transferring the sovereignty of a coun- try to a foreign potentate, tlie pope and the clergy might have found a powerful apology in the state o/ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 43 Ireland during the century that preceded the English invasion. The fatal victory at Clontaif so weakened the power of the Munster princes, that the O'Briens were unable to retain their pre-eminence, and the king's of the north and west became the principal candidates for the supreme power. Turlogh O'Con- nor, King of Connaug-ht, nominally obtained this dignity ; but he was fiercely opposed by O'Lachlan, chief of the northern sept of Hy-Nial, aided by many other princes of Ulster and Leinster. After a long and desultory warfare, the rivals agreed to divide the sovereignty between them; but, like all similar expedients, the pence obtained by this ar- rangement was partial and temporary, and war was soon renewed between the partisans of the competi- tors. O'Rourke, Prince of Breffiny (the present county of Leitrim), was a warm supporter of the O'Connors ; while his neighbour, Dermod Mac- Murchad, King of Leinster, was as vigorous a sup- porter of the Hy-Nial dynasty. Their political dif- ferences were further heightened by personal causes. O'Rourke, far advanced in years, had married Der- vorghal, a princess of Meath, that might have been his daughter, and had soon cause to suspect that her affections were fixed on the youthful Dermod, the fame of whose beauty and courtesy was spread through all the surrounding septs. The war be- tween the partisans of O'Connor and O'Lachlan was renewed ; Dermod invaded the territories of O'Rourke, and carried away Dervorghal a willing 1 captive into Leinster. The injured prince com- plained to O'Connor of the gross wrongs he had received ; and the King of Connaught at once levied an army to support his ally. Dermod's territories were invaded before O'Lachlan could come to his assistance ; but he purchased peace, by restoring the lady to her husband, and making compensation for the ravages his soldiers had committed in Bref- finy (A. D. 1 154} This event, which mos*. historians 44 HISTORY OF IRELAND. assign as the immediate cause of the Anglo- Norman invasion, really occurred sixteen years be fore Dermod was driven into exile, and consequently before he h-ul any necessity to ask for foreign assistance. On the death of Turlogh O'Connor, the undisputed sovereignty of Ireland was given to O'Lachlan ; and l lie partisans of the Hy-Nials immediately prepared to extend their dominions, and punish their rivals (A. D. 1156). The fidelity of Dermod was richly rewarded ; he was enabled to extend his sway over many of the neighbouring septs, and soon reckoned among his vassals the Kings of Ossory and Meath, the Danish Lord of Dublin, and the toparchs who ruled in the districts which now form the counties of Wicklow, Carlow, and Wexford. The Prince of Breffiny had reason to dread the use which his rival might make of his newly-acquired power; but while Dermod was preparing utterly to destroy the power of O'Rourke, an unexpected event produced a com- plete revolution in Irish politics. O'Lachlan, after concluding a solemn treaty with Dunleve, Prince of Ulad (the present county of Down), treacherously made him captive, and tore out his eyes in prison. This abominable perfidy roused the northern chief- tains into insurrection; a rapid and general revolt took place; and at the battle of Litterluin O'Lachlan f;'ll, and the power of his family was annihilated (A,. D. 1167). Roderick O'Connor, the son of Tur- logh, ascended the vacant throne, apparently without waiting for the forms of an election, and immediately prepared to avenge the wrongs which had been in- flictpd on the partisans of his family. The Prince of Hrrffmy was a willing assistant to the new monarch and the feudatories of Dermod, anxious to regain their independence, readily promised to favour his designs. On the advance of O'Connor into Leinster, Dermod found himself deserted by ail his vassals; and, unable to make any effective resistance, he set fire to Ferns, his capital city, and fled with a smaL HISTORY OF IRELAND. 45 krain to solicit the aid of foreigners. This is the account given by the native Irish historians, and it bears all the internal marks of truth. The assertion that Dermod was driven out as the ravisher of Der vorghal, rather than the partisan of O'Lachlan, rests solely on the authority of Giraldus Carabrensis, who, coming into the country as a stranger long after the transaction, might easily have mistaken a prominent though incidental circumstance for the principal cause of the war, especially as it was the occasion of the first act of hostility on the part of Turlogh O'Connor. Henry's claim to the lordship of Ireland was prob- ably the motive that induced Dermod to invoke the assistance of that monarch, since no other plausible reason can be assigned for his not rather seeking the aid of the Munster princes, who were the hereditary rivals of the O'Connors, or claiming aid from the Kings of France or Scotland, both more intimately connected with Ireland at the period (A. D. 1168). When the exiled prince arrived in Bristol, he found that Henry was absent in Guienne; and thither he immediately proceeded, accompanied by his secre- tary, Maurice Regan. Having stated his wrongs to Henry, he made him a tender of his allegiance; and having performed liege homage, received from the Norman king letters-patent, authorizing any of his English subjects that pleased to aid in the res- toration of the dethroned monarch. Henry also recommended Dermod to remain in Bristol, until he could himself come personally to his assistance. The quarrel with Thomas-a-Becket, and the hostility of the French king 1 , however, delayed the English monarch so long, that Dermod was almost reduced to despair. In this extremity, he resolved to avail himself of the king's letter, and solicit the assist- ance of those Norman adventurers who had settled in Wales. In the beginning of this century, several of th 48 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Norman soldiers, who had not received any share m the Saxon estates, or who had wasted in dissipation the lands acquired by the conquest, obtained from the Anglo-Norman kings letters of license to conquer for themselves dominions in Wales. The southern part of the country was the principal scene of these invasions, which were for the most part successful; and the county of Pembroke, having been subdued by a mixed body of Normans, Flemings, and Eng- lish, was so completely dissevered from the princi- pality, that it was usually called Little England he- yond Wales. Gilbert Karl of Pembroke, the chief of this little territory, had a son, Richard Earl of Strijfiil (now Chepstow), surnamed Strongbow, from his feats of archery. Strongbow was celebrated for his valour and military skill; but his dissipated habits had ruined his fortunes ; and his notorious ambition deprived him of royal favour. To this nobleman Dermod made application for assistance, promising him, that if restored by his aid, he would give him his daughter Eva in marriage, and secure him the inheritance of his kingdom a promise di- rectly at variance with the Irish law, which made the succession to the crown elective, and acknow- ledged no right in the female descendants. Strong- bow lent a willing ear to these conditions: but, fear- ing the jealousy of Henry, refused to sail until he received his sovereign's special permission. While Richard was thus delayed, Dermod succeeded in en- gaging other adventurers, equally brave and unscru- pulous, but not so powerful as Earl Richard. The chief of these was Robert Fitz-Stephen, the gover- nor of Cardigan, in South Wales. He had been thrown into prison by Rico, or Rhees-ap-Griffit.h, one of the Welsh princes, for refusing to join in an insurrection against the Norman power; and he was now released, on condition of departing with his fol- lowers to another country, where they could offer no resistance to the meditated revolt. With him were HISTORT OF IRELAND. 47 Joined Maurice Fitz-Gerald, his maternal brother, the son of the Bishop of St. David's, Meiler Fitz-Henry, Maurice de Prendergast, TIerve of Montmarais. and some other knights of reputation. Having made these arrangements, Dermod prematurely returned to Ireland, where he was soon exposed to the most im- minent danger. On the news of his arrival, O'Con- nor and O'Rourke marched against him with their united forces; and MacMurchad, unable to make any effective resistance, retired with a few adherents into the fastnesses of Hy-Kinsellagh, a wild district on the banks of the river Slaney. At the same time, he despatched his friend and secretary Maurice into Wales, to expedite the auxiliaries who had promised their assistance. The attempts made by the troops of Cormaught to force the post occupied by Der- mod were repulsed with some loss; and Roderick, being at the same time alarmed by the report of a meditated revolt in Minister, entered into an accom modation with the crafty monarch, and allowed him to retain a portion of his dominions, on condition of paying tribute. ^ In the beginning of May, A. D. 1770, the Norman i \ invaders for the first time appeared on the coast of / f Ireland. They landed at a place called Bann, on the / ' southern coast of the county of Wexford, and imme- diately sent, messengers to notify their arrival to Dermod. This little army consisted only of thirty knights, sixty heavy-armed soldiers, and three hun- dred aichers, under the command of Fitz-Stephen, and ten knights, and two hundred archers, headed by Prendergast forces so apparently inadequate to the feats recorded of them, that their achievements, at first sight, seem like the wild fictions of romance. But a little examination of the circumstances in which the Normans and Irish were placed will soon explain this apparent disproportion between rause and effect. The former had been military adven- turers for more than a century. Having no depend- 48 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ence but their swords, they had devoted themselves, from infancy, to the exercises of chivalry, and val- ued no possession but their arms and horses. Their crossbows and their discipline had decided the fate of England at the battle of Hastings ; and the wars on the Continent had taught them to improve these advantages to the utmost. The Irish, on the con- trary, had never served out of their own country. They had learned none of those improvements in the art of war which made the name of Norman formidable throughout Europe. Their soldiers still used the light weapons and the thin defences which had sufficed for their ancestors ; their cavalry was mounted on the native breed of horses, called hob- bies, light and active, indeed, but not so formidable as the powerful war-horse of the foreign knights. It is no wonder, then, that the Normans, locked in complete steel, and mounted on their brilliant char- gers, should have easily routed the half-naked and badly-mounted troops with whom they had to con- tend. The first enterprise undertaken by the King of Leinster and his associates was the siege of Wex- ford, a Danish town of great strength and import- ance. An attempt was made to carry it by assault, in which eighteen of the assailants, and only three of the garrison, were slain ; but such was the im- pression produced by the formidable array of the Normans, that the garrison, at the instigation of the clergy, offered to capitulate ; and after a delay of three days, principally caused by the obstinate pride of Dermod, the town was surrendered on equitable terms. In pursuance of his promises, Dermod bestowed the lordship of Wexford and the surrounding districts on Fitz-Stephen, conjointly with Fitz-Geralt), though the latter had not yet arrived ; and he presented to Herv6 of Montmarais two districts on the coast between *Vaterford and Wexford. Herv6 planted in these terri- HISTORY OF IRELAND. 40 lories, which form the present baronies of Bargy and Forth, a colony of the Belgians who had settled in Pem- broke : and their descendants, even at the present day. continue to be distinguished from the inhab- itants of the surrounding districts by their peculiar dialect and customs. After these donations, Dermod resolved to turn his arms against Donald Mac-Gilla Phadric ( a name afterward anglicized into Fitz-Patrick), the King of Ossory. Donald had not only deserted Dermod at the commencement of his misfortunes, but had also been guilty of the murder of his son in a fit of matrimonial jealousy. Suspecting that his queen viewed the princely prisoner too favour- ably, Donald tore out his eyes with his own hands, and the hapless youth died in consequence. The war in Ossory (part of the modern county of Kil- kenny) was more formidable than the attack of Wexford. Donald stationed his forces in an in- trenched camp, whose strength defied the assaults of the Normans; and the utmost efforts of valour and skill were unable to overcome the advantages of his position. In this difficulty, Fitz-Stephen had recourse to stratagem. He ordered his men to 'sign a retreat ; and when the Ossorians rushed from their camp with all the elation of imagined victory, the men-at-arms suddenly wheeled into line, and presented " a wall of steel,"* which the half-naked Irish could not penetrate. Surprised at this sudden check, they wavered ; and the charge of the knights, at this decisive moment, at once decided the fate of the day- Ossory was wasted with fire and sword ; but the victors were terrified by the dangerous nature of the country, and resolved to secure their booty by a timely retreat. Donald, nore irritated than daunted by calamity, seized ? iifficult pass through which the invaders should TV forcible expression ot an Irish annalist on a similar ocMBiOB. I. D 60 HISTORY OF IRELAND. pass on their return, and, but for the precipitancy of his followers, must have obtained decisive re- venge. Deceived by the same stratagem as before, the Ossorians rushed from their intrenchments. A party placed in ambush by Dermod suddenly as- saulted their rear, and the lines of the Normans in their front could not be broken. The people of Ossory suffered more severely in this than in the former engagement. As soon as the fate of the battle was decided, the Irish of Dermod's party, whose equivocal fidelity seems to have been decided by success, made a fierce slaughter of their, flying countrymen ; and when the pursuit ceased, cut off the heads of the fallen, and brought them to Dermod as a trophy. It is said that the King of Leinster, finding among these ghastly spoils the head of one of his most virulent persecutors, indulged his ferocious revenge by mangling the face with his teeth ; but the story rests on the unsupported testimony of Giraldus Cambrensis, a credulous writer, who loses no oppor- tunity of maligning the character of the native Irish. Dermod, encouraged by his successes, proceeded to punish the defection of the several septs which had been subject to him during the Hy-Nial dynasty; but, contrary to the advice of his allies, he con- tented himself with plundering the country, and took no measures to secure his conquests. The defection of Maurice de Prendergast exposed him to new and unexpected danger. This military adventurer, be- lieving that his services were not properly appre- ciated, went over to the Prince of Ossory, and thus enabled him to act on the offensive. But this new alliance was of brief duration. Prendergast, after having assisted the Ossorians in an expedition against the O'Moores of Leix, discovered that Donald's fol- lowers treacherously meditated the murder of their allies, in order to secure their part of the plunder ; and, justly irritated, returned once more to Dermod. The arrival of Maurice Fitz-Gerald with a fresh band of HISTORY OF IRELAND. 81 Normans made' the superiority of the King of Lein- Bter so decisive, that the Ossorian prince offered terms of submission, which, on the recommendation of the Normans, were reluctantly accepted. While the first adventurers were thus employed, Strongbow had proceeded in person to King Henry, in order that he might obtain permission to lead the adventurers in Ireland. Henry, swayed both by jealousy and ambition, was equally unwilling to as- sent or refuse. He made an equivocal answer, which the earl took for a full approbation, and, returning to Wales, made extensive preparations for his expedi- tion. Raymond le Gros, who headed the vanguard of the new armament, was sent with ten knights and seventy archers to secure a landing-place for the rest of the army (A. D. 1171). He arrived about the middle of May in the noble estuary formed by the confluence of the Nore, the Suir, and the Barrow, a little below the city of Waterford, and, landing at a place called by the old historians Downdonnell, or Dundonolf, immediately erected a fortification of earth and sods to protect his little army. Waterford had been originally a colony of the Danes or Ostmen, and was still inhabited by their descendants. It was governed by two Danish princes, Reginald and Swarlh, and appears to have enjoyed a qualified independence. The news of Ray- mond's landing considerably alarmed the citizens, especially when they remembeied the fate of Wexford, which was now subjected to the Norman Fitz-Ste- phen. Resolving to crush the evil in the bud, they summoned to their assistance some of the neighbour- ing septs, and closely blockaded the new fort. Ray- mond had, in the mean time, collected a great store of cattle from the neighbouring districts, which he drove against the lines of the besiegers. Before the Irish could recover from their confusion, the Normans rharged and obtained a victory, as great as it was unexpected. More than a thousand were slain, and 62 HISTORY OF IRELAND. about seventy taken prisoners. The conquerors did not make a generous use of their victory. Tha captives were massacred in cold blood,* by order of Raymond, enraged at the loss of his brother-in-arma De Bevin, who was slain in the battle. Henry had, in the mean time, peremptorily com manded Strongbow to desist from his enterprise. But the earl, trusting that success would atone for his disobedience, set sail, and arrived in the Bay of Waterford with a force of two hundred knights and aV>ut twelve hundred infantry. The day after his landing, Strongbow, by the advice of Raymond, advanced to the attack of Waterford; and, after having inspected the .fortifications, determined to hazard an assault. Twice the Normans were re- pulsed by the garrison ; but one of the captains observing at the eastern angle a cage-work house that projected beyond the walls, cut away the props by which it was supported ; and the breach caused by the fall of the house opened an entrance for the as sailants. The resistance of the garrison was pun- ished by a merciless slaughter, which continued until the arrival of Dermod. The king successfully exerted himself to save the lives of his countrymen ; and as soon as the work of murder had ceased, sol- emnized the stipulated marriage between Strongbow and his daughter Eva. The nuptials were celebrated with such maimed rites as the time allowed; and immediately after the confederates determined to march against Dublin, whose inhabitants had thrown off their allegiance to Dermod. Tin' news of these successes at length roused Roderick from his inactivity. He assembled a nu- merous armv, with which lie advanced to Clondal ' In ihi! nnil wimi- 'iihei iiik recover against the aforesaid William the damages & r oi,.aii. Dd tha' .he aforesaid William should be committed to jail, u -th," &,? HISTORY OF IRELAND. 63 they preferred a horde of miserable serfs to a body of substantial yeomanry ; and they sacrificed readily their true interests, and the interests of both coun- tries, to secure this object of their unworthy ambition. A similar folly seems to have seized on the succes- sive oligarchies that have wielded the destinies of Ireland. Nothing was deemed so formidable as an independent tenantry ; no possession more desirable than an estate stocked with beings who were slaves in all but the name. Hence, for many centuries the valuable class of substantial farmers was utterly un- known in Ireland hence the number of such is even now inconsiderable and hence the great mass always ready for insurrection, when summoned by popular leaders or by their own passions ; men possessing no sympathy with their landlords, for never did commu- nity of feeling exist between master and slave; men having nothing to lose in agrarian tumult, and every thing to hope from the prospect of revolution. The Norman oligarchs (if such a word may be used) were bad masters and worse subjects. The monarchs soon found the degenerate English who had adopted Irish customs more obstinate and more formidable enemies than the natives. In the language of the old historians, " they were more Irish than the Irish themselves ;" and, from their first settlement, their principal object and that of their successors was, to control, and if possible prevent, the wholesome influ ence of the British government, in order to maintain their own monopoly of oppression. Had Henry remained a sufficient time to complete his prudent plans, he might really have established an English interest in Ireland ; but he only left behind him an oligarchy, which, like all other oligarchies in a coun- try possessing the semblance of freedom, was ever jealous of the sovereign, and odious to the people. Scarcely had Henry departed, when new commo- tions proved how insecure was the settlement which he had effected. Strongbow was obliged to send an 64 HISTORY OF IRELAND. army to collect the promised tribute from the to oarchs in Ofally. On his return, his forces were suddenly attacked in a defile, and Robert de Quincy his son-in-law and standard-bearer, slain. The granl of Meath to Lacy occasioned more important tumults. Some of the toparchs, but especially O'Ruark ol Brcfmey, had been received into the king's peace and confirmed in their possessions; but they justly dreaded, that the formidable castles which Lacy WHS erecting and garrisoning would prove too powerful for royal grants and legal claims. It was proposed that O'Ruark and Lacy should arrange their respect- ive boundaries in an amicable conference on the hill of Tarah ; and thither both repaired with trusty bands of their adherents. Both parties are accused of treachery, and very probably both were equally guilty. The conference terminated in a furious engagement. Lacy was with difficulty rescued by Fitz-Gerald; but O'Ruark was slain on the spot with a great num- ber of his followers. Similar incidents alienated the affection of the princes who had submitted to the Norman dynasty. They found that the sovereign was unwilling or unable to afford them protection against the avaricious adventurers; and they re- solved to take advantage of the difficulties in which Henry was placed, and make one bold effort foi independence. The rebellion of Henry's unnatural children was supported by his inveterate enemy the Kingof France, and by many of the diminished native tribes that in- habited the north-western shores of Gaul. His queen and several of tin: Knjish nobles had joined > the infamous confederacy, and there seemed no means by which his ruin could be averted. But the abili- ties of Henry rose superior to danger. He took into his pay a large body of those military adven- turers called Brabancons, who wandered through Europe in search of an employer. He summoned his adherents from every part of his dominions; HIS I OR Y OF IRELAND. 65 A ml he used all the diplomatic arts, of which he was a consummate master, to sow discord between the members of the alliance formed against him. The alacrity with which Strongbow hastened in this con- juncture to bring assistance to his sovereign effaced the jealousy which had been previously entertained of his designs. He was sent back to Ireland with the authority of lord-deputy, and, with what he deemed of equal Importance, permission to avail himself of Raymond's abilities in any enterprise that appeared advisable. Immediately after his arrival, Strongbow took care to remove those leaders whose ambition would probably have induced them to resist his au- thority. Lacy, Cogan, Fitz-Stephen, and Fitz-Gerald were ordered into England to assist the King of England in his war against the Scots ; and the dan- ger of their jealousy being thus removed, Raymond was ordered to lead the English army into the terri- tories of the revolted princes. This expedition was equally successful and profitable. Raymond laid waste the district of Ofally, and extended his ravages into the south of Minister. He led his army, laden with plunder, to Lismore, and resolved to send the booty thence to Waterford for greater security. The Prince of Desmond and the people of Cork, having heard of the rich stores about to be transmitted to Waterford, fitted out a fleet, supported by an army, to intercept them on their passage ; but on the same day they were defeated both by land and sea, and Raymond entered Waterford in all the pomp of mili- tary triumph. These victories made Raymond a great favourite with the soldiers; and his readiness to wink at their excesses secured him their affection. Relying on this power, and elated by success, he now ventured to ask for the hand of Basilia, Strongbow's sister, and the office of standard-bearer of Leinster. Irritated at the peremptory refusal of both his demands, Ray- mond returned to Wales, and the command of the 08 HISTORY OF IRELAND. army was given to Herv6 of Monntmarais, a man of inferior abilities, and greatly disliked for the severity of his discipline. Emulous of rivalling Raymond's fame, Herve persuaded Strongbow to attempt the subjugation of Munster. The army advanced co Cashel without encountering any opposition ; but an auxiliary force of Ostmen from Dublin was surprised by O'Brien near Thurles, and cut to pieces. The news of this calamity showed Strongbow the neces- sity of immediate retreat. He retired with great precipitation to Waterford ; and the Irish, magnifying this slight advantage into a decisive victory, declared that they would never make peace until they had expelled the invaders. The new confederacy was joined by the Kavenaghs, and the other principal septs which had hitherto supported the Normans in all their efforts ; a fact from which it may fairly be presumed that gratitude to their allies was as little a virtue of the invaders as mercy to the vanquished ; and Roderick O'Connor was induced to place himself at the head of a confederacy which seemed to enjoy the fairest prospects of success. In this difficulty, Strongbow found himself forced to have recourse to Raymond le Gros, and sent mes- sengers to solicit the return of that valiant leader. Raymond readily acceded to the request. He col- lected a new band of adventurers ; and, crossing the sea, arrived in Waterford when the inhabitants were on the point of attempting a general massacre of the garrison. The nuptials of Raymond and Basiliu were celebrated at Wexford; and on the following morn- ing, the bridegroom proceeded to check the advance of O'Connor's army, which now threatened an attack on Dublin. But the Irish monarch was unable to Nring his tumultuous forces loan engagement. Eager to secure the plunder they had obtained in Meath, the chieftains insisted on returning home ; nor could they be persuaded to make a stand when Raymond overtook their rear, and slaughtered several compa HISTORY OF IRELAND. V a labourer whom he had employed in erecting a castle. The news of his death was joyfully re- ceived by the Irish, who dreaded his abilities ; and the clergy, attributing it to the vengeai ;e of the Mints, for some act of sacrilege, contributed not HISTORY OF IRELAND. 77 ittle to make this event an additional stimulus to in^ fcurrection. The storm at length burst forth with fearful vio- lence. News of disasters poured in from every quar- ter ; and the alarmed prince, having wasted all his treasure in idle pomp, had no means of paying the soldiers, and had no hold on the affections of the veterans, whom he had wantonly insulted. Robert Barry and his whole troop were surprised and slain at Lismore ; the garrison of Ardfinnan seduced into an ambuscade, and slaughtered by the Prince of Limerick ; Robert de la Poer, after a gallant resist- ance, fell in Ossory; Canton and Fitz-Hugh, two knights of great fame, met a similar fate ; and, but for the gallantry of Fitz- Walter, Cork must have yielded to MacArthy of Desmond. Even in Meath, which the castles erected by Lacy rendered the most secure part of the English settlements, William Petit had great difficulty in repelling a dancrerous inroad of the northern Irish. Eight months of disorder had elapsed before Henry was fully informed of the ruin which threat- ened his Irish interests. He immediately determined to recall John from a government which he had so wantonly abused, and to intrust the administration to De Courcy, whose desperate valour seemed the best qualification in this moment of danger. The young prince and his gaudy tiain gladly quitted a country where their personal safety was no longer secure ; and the defence of the English interests was again confided to the old settlers. De Courcy, left to his own resources, acted with all the vigour which the crisis demanded. He was ably seconded by ycung Lacy ; but he derived more important assistance from the dissensions of the Irish themselves, who, even at this most important mo- ment, renewed the feuds which had previously proved their ruin The northern chieftains engaged in civil war, and allowed the English to recover theif 78 HISTORY OF IRELAND. lost ground without interruption. In Connaught, Roderick, being deposed by his sons, retired into the monastery of Cong, where he ended his unfortunate career; and the nominal sovereignty of Ireland, now the very shadow of a shade, became the subject of a violent contest between the chieftains of the west and north. Still De Courcy was unable to surmount all the difficulties by which he was surrounded. He attempted to invade Connaught, but was compelled to retire before two armies, each far superior to his own. The ability with which he extricated his army was more honourable than any triumph ; but the Irish magnified this slight advantage into a glorious vic- tory, and boasted that they would now drive the foreigners from their shores. A combined effort foi the purpose would probably have succeeded ; but this was prevented by the private feuds of the chief- tains, and the vacillation of the superior leaders, who made war and peace on the impulse of the moment, and could never be persuaded to adopt any steady policy. Several desultory incursions were repelled by the deputy; but the ravages were renewed at every fresh opportunity, and the country remained distracted and desolate. Affairs were in this wretched condition, when the news arrived of Henry's death, and the accession of his son Richard (1189). CHAPTER V. The Rfigtis of Richard /., John, and Henry III. THE state of Ireland at the time of Henry's death was wretched ; and unhappily there was even' pros pert that the evils by which the country was afflicted would increase, rather than diminish. Every party that had shared in forming the connexion between the two islands was equally dissatisfied and disap HISTORY OF IRELAND. 79 pointed. The pope found that his claims for tribute were disregarded ; the clergy found that tithes, the great bribe for which they had sold themselves to the foreigners, could not be obtained from the Irish, unused to such exactions, nor from the new settlers, who set all laws at defiance ; the king found his sovereignty an empty title ; the barons, poor and rapacious, were eager to make new territorial acqui- sitions: and the Irish toparchs, jealous of the for- eigners and of each other, would neither preserve peace nor wage war effectively. The clergy, how- ever, were fixed in their determination to support the English ascendency. They dreaded nothing so much as a return to the piety and poverty of the Irish na- tional church ; they felt themselves elevated, by their connexion with Rome, to the state and dignity of princes ; and, conscious that their privileges would be lost if their country attained independence, they zealously preached the doctrine of submission to Rome and England. But the papal authority, which afterward proved a potent instrument of rebellion, was of little avail in enforcing obedience. Indeed it was at this time, and for many subsequent years, almost wholly disregarded in Ireland ; a portion of the native clergy still clinging to the usages of their ancestors, and the laity in general paying little at- tention to claims of supremacy which they could not understand. Richard, on his accession to the throne, was too much busied in preparations for his romantic expe- dition against the Saracens of Palestine to pay any attention to Ireland. He allowed his brother John, as lord of the country, to exercise all the regal func- tions ; and in his name all charters were granted, and deputies appointed. John's first act was to remove De Courcy from the government, which was now intrusted to Hugh de Lacy. The deposed deputy immediately retired to his estates in Ulster, without attempting to conceal his hostility to his successor; 80 HISTORY OF IRELAND. and this dissension between the two greatest Norman leaders encouraged the Irish to renew their attack* on the foreigners. The throne of Connaught was at this time pos- sessed by Oathal, to whom his countrymen gave the epithet of Bloody-handed. He owed his election to intrigue and violence, and was conscious that his sovereignty could only be secured by spirit and activity. Taking advantage of the hatred generally incurred by the Normans, he declared himself re- solved to restore the ancient honours of his name and nation; and he denounced speedy and fearful vengeance on the foreigners, who had usurped the fairest portions of the land, and were still extending their ravages and oppressions. All the toparchs ap- plauded these sentiments; the chieftains of Thomond and Desmond hastened to express their concurrence ; and the tribes of Ulster sent messengers to offer their assistance. De Courcy saw the coming storm, and sent to summon his brave friend Armoric of St. Lau- rence to his assistance. Armoric, collecting a little troop of about two hundred foot and thirty horse, hasted to obey his leader's summons ; but, passing through part of Cathal's country, he fell into an am- buscade, and, overwhelmed by numbers, perished, with all his companions. The news of fresh disturbances in Ireland induced John to confer the government on William Petit, and, soon after, on William Earl Marshal, who had mar- ried the daughter of Earl Stronsjbow, and in her right possessed extensive estates in Ireland. Lacy re- signed his power with great reluctance, and, retiring to his estate, imitated the example of De Courcy, and almost affected independence. The Earl Mar- shal exerted himself to retrieve the English interests in Munster ; and, though defeated by the Prince of Thomond near Thurles, he penetrated into the very heart of the country. These successes, however, were sullied by the most shocking cruelties. One of O'Brien's children was blinded, and another dragged HISTORY OF IRELAND. 81 from the very altar, and remorselessly murdered. Such atrocities provoked revenge, but did not inspire fear. Cathal hastened to relieve his allies; and the Knglish, on his approach, were forced to a precipi- tate retreat. Soon after, Limerick was captured by the Prince of Desmond ; and Catha., being- joined by O'Lochlan, the head of the powerful sept of Hy-Nial, advanced to the siege of Cork, the only post of strength now remaining to the English in" Munster. The army sent to the relief of this important post was totally defeated ; but the fate of the place was lelayed for a time by a renewal of the ancient feud between the rival houses of O'Connor and Hy-Nial. The siege was raised ; but the garrison, having ex- hausted all their provisions, and being hopeless of relief, surrendered to the Prince of Desmond. A. D. 1197. Hano de Valois was the next go- vernor. He found a ruined army, and an empty exchequer; and to relieve the pressing necessities of the state, he unscrupulously seized some of the estates of the church. Comyn, the archbishop, was by no means disposed to submit patiently to such a proceeding, and immediately had recourse to those spiritual weapons which, in that age, possessed such wondrous efficacy. He went in solemn procession to the cathedral, and ostentatiously removed all the apparatus of public service. The crucifixes weie laid prostrate; the image of Christ crowned with thorns, as if the agony of the passion was renewed by this attack on ecclesiastical property; and after this solemn farce, the prelate, having laid his dio- cess under an interdict, departed from the kingdom. The rest of this extraordinary contest is involved in obscurity. We only know, that after the lapse of several years, Hano felt remorse for having injured the church, and made a large grant of land to the ee of Dublin as an atonement for his offence. A. D. 1198. Twelve years had passed since the unfortunate Roderick had been confined by his 82 HISTORl OF IRELAND. rebellious children in the monastery of Cong, and during 1 that period his family had been gradually wasted by civil discord and mutual murder. His death was regarded as a matter of little, moment, and the last monarch of Ireland was consigned to the tomb with as little noise as the meanest of his vassals. In the following year King Richard died, and the throne of England was usurped by John, in defiance of the rights of his nephew Arthur; the ordship of Ireland was thus reunited to the crown of England, and it was expected that the royal au- thority would consequently command more respect than it had hitherto received. The war with France, the discontent of the barons, and the claim of Arthur allowed John little leisure for regulating the affairs of Ireland; and the pacification of the country seemed as far off as ever. De Valois by his exactions provoked the resent- ment of the clergy and the laity. Urgent petitions for his removal were sent to the king, and John summoned him to appear and plead to the charges urged against him. His defence was deemed un- satisfactory, and he was forced to pay a fine of a thousand marks to the king; but when this was paid, he was allowed to escape without making restitution to those he had plundered. Meiler Fitz-Henry, one of the original invaders, was appointed his successor; and at the same time John confirmed the grant of lands in Thomond to Philip de Braosa, and assigned their custody to De Burgho, one of the Fitz-Andelm family which had formerly been gifted with lands in Connaught. De Burgho was not a man disposed to lose so rich a grant by negligence. He set out immediately with a gallant train, and exerted himself with such extraordinary vigour, that he soon obtained possession of Limerick, and established there a power which threatened the independence of Minister and Connaught. The affairs of the latter province were HOW in a state favourable to his designs; the popu HISTORY OF IRELAND. 83 larity of Cathal O'Connor had declined as rapidly as it rose ; and a strong party was formed to raise his cousin Carragh to the throne. The aspiring Car- ragh solicited and obtained the assistance of De Burgho. By his aid Cathal was dethroned, after a brief and faint resistance. He fled to Ulster, and a large share of his domains were assigned to De Burgho for his timely aid. Cathal had sufficient influence with the northern chieftains to obtain from them a powerful army. He even contrived to gain the support of Lacy and De Courcy ; and thus, for the first time, the Norman barons were divided against each other. Carragh and De Burgho de- feated Cathal and his allies in a desperate engage- ment. The northern septs attributed the calamity to the incapacity of their prince, whom they imme diately deposed; and Ulster, like ConnaugLt, was of course distracted by all the evils of a disputed suc- cession. Cathal did not yet despair of success. He solicited the friendship of De Burgho, who felt dis- satisfied with the small reward given him by the usurper, and drew him over to his side by magnificent promises, which he had no intention to fulfil. A second revolution ensued, in which Carragh was slain, fighting bravely to the last. Cuthal was re- stored to his throne ; but De Burgho found that the valuable cessions which he expected were not to be obtained. Stung by this falsehood and ingratitude, the proud baron invaded Connaught, but suffered a defeat ; and, before he could take measures to re- trieve his fortunes, he was recalled to Limerick by the appearance of a more formidable enemy. The lord-deputy, finding that De Burgho had virtually renounced his allegiance by making peace and war at his pleasure, advanced with a numerous army to reduce him to obedience. He was joined by several of the Irish princes, who equally feared and hated the powerful bliron; and thus reinforced, Meiler Fitz- Henry soon forced De Bursrho to submission. A! S4 HISTORY OF IRELAND the same time new treaties were formed with the Irish princes of the south and west, which for a short time restored tranquillity to that part of the country. While Fitz-Henry was employed against De Burgho, Lacy with his brother marched against De Courcy, who was said to have abjured allegiance to John as a usurper and murderer. The entire details of the subsequent transactions are unknown; but the writers of Irish history have invented an in- genious romance, which, though improbable in all its parts, and contradicted by authentic documents yet in existence, has been gravely narrated by all the earlier writers. They tell us that De Courcy was betrayed to Lacy by his servants ; but though sur- prised he made a fierce resistance, and with a wooden cross slew thirteen of his assailants. Lacy retained the noble prisoner, but punished with death the traitors who had sold their master. De Courcy was sent to England, and confined in the Tower, where he long remained neglected and forgotten. At length, a French champion comes over in the train of King Philip, and challenges all the chivalry of England. No one ventures to enter the lists with a knight of his fame, when John at length recollects the hero whom he had so long confined in a dungeon. De Courcy readily agrees to meet the Frenchman. On the appointed day he appears in the lists; but the challenger, terrified by his Herculean proportions, refuses the combat, and returns home in disgrace. To gratify the curiosity of the two monarchs, De Courcy orders a coat-of-mail to be placed on a post driven firmly into the eart.li. He strikes it with his sword, divides the mail as it, were gossamer-threads, and drives the sword so deep into the stake, that it < - an be extricated by him alone. Hereupon he is restored to the royal favour, and reinstated in his title and estates. He is offered any additional favour that he may desire ; and asks and obtains, for himself HISTOUY OF IRELAND. 85 and his descendants, the privilege of remaining cov- ered in the presence of their sovereign. The only portion of truth in the entire legend is, that De C..urcy was sent a prisoner to England. John and the King of France never presided in the same lists ; and the restoration to the royal favour is manifestly false, because the earldom of Ulster, and all the lands belonging to it, were granted to Hugh De Lacy ; and the privilege of wearing a hat in the royal presence, enjoyed by the barons of Kin- sale, De Courcy's descendants, is a harmless privi- lege, originating nobody knows how, and few would care for ascertaining. It is justly remarked by Le- land, that this instance of the falsification of history by the Irish sennachies, fully justifies the skepticism with which their boasts of extravagant antiquity and early civilization are icceived ; for the earlier the date assigned to their legends, the more difficult will be their detection. The vigorous administration of Fitz-Henry released the English settlers fiom the imminent dangers with which they were threatened. Cork was reco- vered and secured by new fortifications; the in- cursions of the northern septs were restrained by castles erected along their frontiers ; and the toparchs of Desmond and Thomond were either terrified into submission, or so engaged in domestic feuds that they had no inclination to renew their attacks on the for- eigners. At this tranquil moment John resolved to pay Ireland a visit, for the purpose of chastising Braosa by whose wife he had been insulted and restraining the power of the Lacys, who, by John's injudicious grants, had been raised almost to the rank of princes (A. D. 1210). On the king's arrival in Dublin, Braosa and the Lacys fled to France, where the latter were reduced to such distress, that they could only support themselves by becoming gardeners in a monastery. Their dignified bearing after some lime betrayed their rank to the abbot ; and, having 96 HISTORY OF IRELAND. learned their history, he interceded so powerfully for them with John, that, on paying a heavy fine, they were eventually restored to their titles and estates. John's military operations were confined to the re- duction of several castles belonging to the Lacys in Month ; and, though he received the homage of several Irish princes, he did not in any instance extend the bounds of the English dominion. The allegiance tendered by the toparchs was merely nominal ; and one of them, the chief of the Hy-Nials, set the king at defiance a few days after he had performed the idle ceremony of submission. There was, however, a beneficial change made by the introduction of the English laws and jurisprudence into those districts which the Anglo-Normans possessed, and which, from this time forward, were usually called the Eng- lish Pale ; the lands subject to the king were divided into counties ; sheriffs and other officers necessary to the administration of justice appointed; and su- preme courts of law established in Dublin. The twelve counties established by John were, Dublin, Meath, Argial now (tailed Louth, Kildare, Katherlagh now Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary. To these were sub- sequently added Koscommon and Connaught, but at what period is uncertain. After John's return to England, the administration was confined to John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, who kept Ireland tranquil during the remainder of this troubled and disgraceful rrign. We find that several Irish nobles and prelates shared in John's councils during his long contest with the pope, and afterward with his own -subjects. Among these, Henry de Londres, who had succeeded Comyn as Archbishop of Dublin in 12'3, was honourably con- spicuous, by his opposition to the insolent demands of Pandulph the papal legate, and by the indignant remonstrance he made against the humiliating sub- missions demanded from his sovereign. The powei HISTORY OF IRELAND. 87 f the native Irish princes seemed rapidly declining, The northern sept of Hy-Nial, indeed, still main- tained their independence and their inveterate hos- tility to the foreign dynasty; but Cathal O'Connor, no longer able to resist De Burgho in the field, was forced to petition the British monarch for protection, and to exchange his character as a warrior for that of a suppliant. The toparchs of Thomond and Des- mond were similarly humbled ; and, had proper ad- vantage been taken of the opportunity, Ireland might at this time have been, without difficulty, entirely subjected to the English dominion. The early part of the reign of Henry III. was dis- tinguished by several wise measures, which tended greatly to remedy the evils produced by the mis- government of John, both in England and Ireland. William Earl of Pembroke and Earl Marshal, the young monarch's guardian during his minority, was possessed of extensive estates in both islands, and set an example, rarely followed by English statesmen and Irish proprietors, of paying equal regard to the interests of both countries. The great charter was confirmed, and its provisions extended to Ireland ; the administration of the local government intrusted to Geoffrey de Maurisco, a knight celebrated for mili- tary skill; and with him was joined Henry de Lon- dres, a prelate still more eminent for political wisdom. The reconciliation of the native Irish to the dominion of their invaders was the best evidence of the supe- rior ability that now ruled the councils of the state; and so completely had they resigned all hopes of in- dependence, that they petitioned the king to send one of the royal family to rule in Ireland, in order that his lustre might obscure the disgrace of submission, and the respect due to royal blood might control the turbulence of the powerful barons. Unfortunately this request was rejected. The death of the Earl of Pembroke followed soon after; his policy died with 88 HISTORY OF IRELAND. him; and Ireland entered on a new careei of dis traction, and suffering, and desolation. A. D. 1219. Immediately after his father's dead . William, the young Earl of Pembroke, was suddenl) called into Ireland, to check the inroads of the Lucys, who had attacked his castles, and determined to seize his estates. While this struggle devastated Leinster, the lord-deputy was engaged in war with the MacArthys of Desmond, and the De Burghos were involved in a fierce struggle with the O'Con- nors of Connaught. After a bloody but desultory warfare, the Lacys were defeated, and the Princes of Desmond forced to submission. The De Burghos, however, were defeated in Connaught; and Fedlim O'Connor, taking advantage of the disgrace of Hu- bert de Burgho in England, not only obtained from Henry a confirmation of his title and possessions, but a mandate to the Lord-deputy Maurice Fitz-Gerald to assist in restraining his enemy's usurpations. On the death of William Earl of Pembroke, his title and estates devolved on his brother Richard, a popular young nobleman, odious to the king and his unworthy favourites, on account of his spirited resist- ance to their unwise and arbitrary measures. Under the most frivolous pretexts, an attempt was made to strip him of his inheritance; and he, provoked by such outrage, had recourse to arms. He levied some forces in Ireland; and, returning to Wales, fortified himself in his castle of Pembroke. The royal forces sent against him were defeated ; and the unpopularity of the ministry rendered it probable that this example of successful resistance would lead tu a general insur- rection. The king and his creatures, unable to sub- due Earl Richard, determined to deprive him of his Irish estates, and sent over letters declaring his ex- tensive possessions forfeited, and ordering them to be shared between Maurice Fitz-Gerald the lord-de- puty, the Lacys, the De Burghos, Geoffrey de Mau- haco, and some other barons. Such an allurement HISTORY OF IRELAND. 89 was not to be resisted by the avaricious adventurers. They immediately proceeded to take possession; and, just as tranquillity was restored in Wales, Earl Richard was recalled to the defence of his estates in Ireland. On his landing-, he was joined by the treacherous De Maurisco, who pretended to aid his quarrel, in order to ensure his destruction. Several successful expeditions were undertaken ; but at the moment when the earl was about to engage his enemies in a pitched battle, De Maurisco drew off his forces, and Richard was left with only fifteen followers to support the attack of one hundred and forty chosen men. Even under these circumstances, the gallant earl disdained to yield. His followers, with equal spirit, shunned not the hopeless contest. They fell, overwhelmed by numbers ; and Richard, having- fallen senseless by a dagger-wound, was car- ried to a neighbouring castle, where he soon expired. The death of this heroic and popular nobleman excited universal indignation, both in England and Ireland ; and the king, with dissimulation equal to his former perfidy, disavowed all knowledge of the transaction, and threw the blame on the Bishop of Winchester. But he did not check the depredations committed on the estates of the deceased earl, nor restore his inheritance to his brother Gilbert, until compelled by fear of the King of Scotland, whose sister Gilbert had married. At length, a hollow pa- cification was effected ; Gilbert was allowed to enjoy his estates without interruption; and Fitz-Gerald pur- chased pardon for the destruction of Earl Richard, by founding a monastery where masses should be celebrated periodically for the repose of his soul. About the same time, Fedlim O'Connor appeared at court, to complain of the usurpation of the De Burghos, who steadily pursued their career of vio- "MICC and extortion. Moved by a dread of this p> Jud and powerful sept, perhaps also in some degren influenced by a sense of justice, Henry sent strict I. G 90 HISTORY OF IRELAND. orders that the territories of O'Connor should b protected from further depredations. In return for this unusual act of equity, Fedlim led a strong body of a jxiliaries to the king's assistance in the Welsh war, and performed good service against Princt David. The rest of this troubled reign presents an unvary- ing scene of petty wars, produced by baronial usurp- ations. The Geraldines seized on several districts of Desmond, in spite of the resistance made by the powerful sept of the MacArthys. The De Buighos, with less success, endeavoured to make themselves masters of Connaught ; and the inferior barons, equally bent on aggrandizement, seized on the lands of those toparchs who were too weak to make effective resistance. So little was the royal author- ity respected, that the Geraldines seized and im- prisoned a lord-deputy for opposing their usurpations; and it was not without difficulty that they were per- suaded to set him at liberty. The barons were at war, not only with the natives, but with each other; and the devastations committed in their several ex- peditions, added to the failures of several successive harvests, reduced the wretched country to a state which the imagination may possibly conceive, but which no human pen can portray. The miseiies of this calamitous period were Ag- gravated by the extortions of the pope and th tyranny of the clergy. The royal troops were em- ployed in levying the tribute claimed by his holiness ; and the enormous demands of the king were in turn sanctioned by the pope. Efforts were made by both to fill all valuable ecclesiastical offices with foreign- ers. The native clergy made a spirited resistance; b'.it the powers against which they had to strive were too forini:!aHr. Their real strength, the con- fiil'p.cc M!" !' ' '!'. h;'.| b<"'M destroyed forever fit the crnr.c'I >! '. " ':' !. i\'rr was the conduct ol the ii!-' ; ' ' "'< 'li l-i-Mi-r than that of their np- HISTORY OF IRELAND. 91 pressors. The records of the period, scanty as they are, contain several instances of prelatic rapacity and insolence, which would scarcely be credible, "MM-e they not supported by the authority of official documents, and in perfect accordance with the spirit manifested by the church in that misguided age. The administration of justice was almost wholly neglected; and, thougli repeated proclamations were issued, commanding the observance of the English laws and charters under the severest penalties, we find that they were all ineffectual; and that a man- date was obliged to be issued, entreating, rather than commanding, the barons, that for the sake of public tranquillity they would permit the country to be governed by the laws of England. The Irish still preserved their Brehon code ; and, in a curious re- monstrance of Fedlim O'Connor to King Henry, we find, among other claims of damages for the cruelties and robberies of De Burgho, a charge of three thou- sand marks for the burning of churches and the massacre of the clergy. Several of the native Irish, in the immediate vicinity of the Pale, finding the in- convenience of this motley mixture of jurisdiction, purchased charters of denization, by which they be came entitled to the benefits of English subjects, but the barons vigorously opposed the extension of such privileges, and the English government had not sufficient strength to overcome their resistance. In the latter part of his reign, Henry invested his son Edward with the title of Lord of Ireland ; but the young prince never visited the country. The barons disregarded his authority; and, after his departure to the o-nsades, his title v. T 2s utterly neg- lected. HISTORY OF IRELAND CHAPTER VI. The Reigns of Edward I., II., and III. A. D. 1272. THE accession of Edward I. pro. duced no beneficial change in the state of Ireland. The Geraldines, now become the most powerful of the Norman barons, waged incessant wars both on the native princes and their rival peers, in order to extend their influence and possessions ; and the mar- riage of the young Lord de Clare to a daughter of their house, promised them the means of gratifying their ambition. Edward inconsiderately gave De Clare a grant of extensive domains in Thomond, without paying any regard to the rights of the native possessors ; but when De Clare came to enforce his claims, the O'Briens laughed him to scorn, and he was forced to have recourse to arms. Aided by his father-in-law Maurice, De Clare invaded Thomond ; but was completely defeated, and obliged to accept peace on the most mortifying conditions. De Clare returned to England, and laid his complaints before the king; at the same time intelligence of fresh commotions in various districts was received ; and Edward, justly indignant, recalled Uffbrd, the lord- deputy. But the troubles in Scotland began now to engross all the attention of the English monarch ; and, after a brief inquiry, he restored Ufford to his government, having recommended him to exert ali his vigour in repressing these disgraceful commo- tions. A century had now elapsed since the Norman in- rasion ; repeated defeats had broken down the spirit of the Irish princes ; all hopes of repelling the for HISTORY OF IRELAND. 93 eigners were resigned ; and those who lay contigu- ous to the English settlements were only eager to secure the protection of the English law. To obtain this valuable privilege, they offered to the king, through his deputy, a subsidy of eight thousand marks, on condition of being admitted to the rights of British subjects; and Edward, vvho was attached to justice when it did riot interfere with the schemes of his ambition, eagerly hastened to perform their reasonable request. In this, as in a thousand subse- quent instances, the wise and benevolent measures of the government were defeated by the local aris tocracy. They preferred their own ascendency to the interests of the state. They were eager to pre- vent a body of men whom they could tax and op- press at pleasure from sharing in the immunities of English subjects. Exclusion was the first and almost the only principle recognised by the different oligarchies which successively held under their con- trol the destinies of Ireland ; and to preserve this darling principle, they unhesitatingly sacrificed the peace and prosperity of that country, and not unfre- quently perilled its connexion with England. An evasive answer was returned to the royal mandate; but the sufferings of the people urged them to re- newed applications, and two years after they re- peated their request. On this occasion, the king earnestly recommended the consideration of the pe- tition to the lords spiritual and temporal of Ireland; but both were too deeply interested in perpetuating abuses, and Edward's wise designs were again de- feated. The civil wars between the barons were soon re- newed with all their former violence- They took advantage of their disorders, and laid waste the new settlements. The lords-deputies were destitute of power or influence, and the royal authority was scarcely recognised. William de Vesey was sent over to remedy these disorders ; but unfortunately 94 HISTORY OF IRELAND. he became involved in a contest with the Geraldines, which ended in his ruin. A more vigorous and suc- cessful effort was made by his successor Sir John Wogan. He prevailed on the rival houses of De Burgho and Fitz-Gerald to consent to a truce ; and having thus partially restored tranquillity, he sum- moned a parliament to take the public grievances into consideration (A. D. 1295). Several judicious acts were made by this assembly, the first that ap- pears to have been constitutionally convened in lie- land ; but the general corruption of morals could not be cured by legislative enactments ; and though peace was so far restored that several Irish barons were enabled to attend Edward in his wars against Scotland, hostilities were continued by their follow- ers, a/id their settlements devastated during their ab- sence. The death of Edward I. while marching against the Scotch, and the pusillanimous retreat of Edward II., was followed by the dispersion of the army, and the Irish nobles returned home. De Burgho, having obtained by marriage the title of Earl of Ulster, and the extensive estates of the Lacys, was now virtually the lord of Ireland ; but he did not abuse his power ; and, content with the barbarous pomp of feudalism, he allowed his weaker neighbours to remain unmo- lested. The insane attachment of Edward to his un- worthy favourite Gavestone, whom he had recalled in spite of the solemn promise plighted to his dying father, gave so much displeasure to the English no- bility, that they formed an association too powerful for the sovereign to resist, and compelled the dis- missal of the obnoxious minister. The king was very reluctant to part with his minion ; and at length appointed him governor of Ireland, whence he might be recalled at the first favourable opportunity. The administration of Gavestone was distinguished by vigour and ability. He repressed the incursions of the hostile Irish, and repaired the castles that were HISTORY OF IRELAND. 95 erected along the marches of the English Pale. Un- fortunately, his haughtiness and love of ostentation, which had been the cause of his expulsion from Eng- land, still continued, and excited against him the hatred of the barons, whom he affected to despise. Before these angry feelings could produce open war, Gavestone was recalled by his unwise master ; and soon after, Sir John Wogan was reappointed to the government. He came in time to witness a new civil war between the De Burghos and Geraldines, whose violence it was not in his power to restrain. The issue of the contest, however, proved favourable to a temporary restoration of tranquillity; for De Burgho, being taken prisoner, entered into terms of accommodation, which were cemented by the mar- riage of his daughters to Maurice and Thomas Fitz- John, afterward the heads of the illustrious houses of Desmond and Kildare. A. D. 1314. This alliance between the leaders of the two parties, whose hostility had hitherto been the great source of intestine broils, promised to secure the country an interval of tranquillity ; but a new storm from an unexpected quarter was impending, which produced fresh and greater calamities. The memorable triumph of the Scotch over the mighty army of England on the field of Bannockburn pro duced great excitement in Ulster. Constant tra- dition declared that the northern Irish were de- scended from the same stock as the Albanian Scotch, though antiquaries had not yet begun to discuss the relative antiquity of the branches. The Ulster princes were delighted at the success of their breth- ren, and anxious to emulate such an example of successful resistance. At the same time, Robert Bruce had reason to dread the impetuous ambition of his brother Edward, and was consequently anx ious to find some employment which might prevent him from engaging 'a an insurrection at home. The 06 HISTORY OF IRELAND, condition of Ireland presented to one brother the tempting prospect of a new kingdom, and assured to the other the tranquillity of his recovered dominions. Both eagerlyembraced the opportunity; and emissa- ries were immediately sent through Ulster to stimu- late the people to strike for freedom. The enter- prise, however, had been nearly defeated in the very beginning by the impatience of Edward Bruce. He crossed over with a small force, before his friends were prepared for his reception, and was forced to make a precipitate retreat. The news of this attempt created some alarm in England. The deputy, Lord Edmund Butler, a worthy descendant of the gallant Fitz-Walter, was summoned over, with some other noblemen, to consult about the state of the kingdom ; and orders were issued to take all proper precautions of defence. The winter was spent in deliberations ; and Butler, with the other barons, returned in spring, barely in time to rescue the kingdom. A. D. 1315. On the 25th of May, Edward Bruce, at the head of six thousand hardy veterans, landed on the north-eastern coast, and was immediately joined by the principal toparchs of Ulster. There was no force in Ireland able to resist the combined armies. They fell on the unprotected settlements in the north, and butchered the colonists with as little mercy as they had themselves experienced. Castles were stormed ; Dundalk, Atherdee, and al- most every town of note burned ; and, in a very short space of time, no trace of the English remained in Ulster but the desolation of their former dwellings. The news of these transactions spread dismay through the English Pale. Several barons were dis- posed to make terms with the invader; others has- tened to secure their possessions in the south and west. The Earl of Ulster and the lord-deputy alone determined on a courageous resistance. The un- reasonable pride of De Burgho, exhibited even at this important crisis, increased the danger. He re HISTORY OF IRELAND. 97 jected the proferred aid of the lord-deputy, and as- sumed the entire conduct of the war. Being joined by Fedlim O'Connor, he advanced against Bruce; but was defeated, though not decisively. Before the earl could retrieve his losses Fedlim was recalled by an insurrection in his own dominions; and De Burgho, thus weakened, was soon after compelled to retire. The army of Fedlim suffered so severely in this retreat from the hostility of the northern septs that he was unable to resist his rival; and the dispirited forces of De Burgho could lend him no effectual as- sistance. He was, however, soon relieved by the arrival of Sir Richard Bermingham with a select body of English soldiers. By the aid of this rein- forcement he was enabled to take the field. His rival fell in the engagement that ensued ; and Fedlim was restored to his former dignity and possessions. But gratitude had no place in the breast of the Irish prince. The first use he made of his recovered power was to enter into a strict alliance with Bruce, and draw his sword against his deliverers. The O'Briens of Thomond, and a great proportion of the toparchs of Minister and Meath followed his example. Even the descendants of English settlers, and es- pecially the once powerful Lacys, declared them- selves adherents of the Scottish invader. A great body of the native clergy eagerly embraced his cause; the rest waited for the pope's decision, for they knew that the Bruces were not on the best of terms with his holiness. Confident of success, Edward Bruce was solemnly cro\vned at Dundalk, and immediately afterward prepared to march southwards a step now become imperatively necessary, for the re- sources of the north were exhausted, and his army suffering the extremity of famine. Fitz-Thomus, Baron of O'Phaly, the head of the Geraldines, and ButL-r, the lord-deputy, made every exertion to pn pare for the coining irruption, aru] I H 98 HISTORY OF IRELAND. were immediately rewarded with the titles of earls ; the former of Kildare, the latter of Carrick. The other lords of the Pale also declared themselves de- termined to support the king with their lives and fortunes, and readily gave hostages for their allegi- ance to Hotham, the royal commissioner. The most pressing danger arose from the revolt of Fed I:' in O'Connor, who had already defeated several in- ferior leaders, and severely harassed the settlements in Connaught. A powerful army, commanded by William de Burgho, brother of the Earl of Ulster, and Sir Richard Bermingham, was therefore sent into the western districts, to restrain and chastise these ravages. Fedlim, encouraged by previous success, ventured to hazard a pitched battle. The engage- ment took place near the town of Athenry, and was long and bloody. At length, the Irish were routed with terrible slaughter ; their monarch, and most of their princes, were among the slain. This was the most decisive victory which the settlers had ever obtained. The power of the O'Connor family was irretrievably destroyed, and the entire province of Connaught placed at the mercy of the De Burghos. An interesting anecdote of fidelity is recorded by the original narrators of this battle. They tell us, that after the battle Sir Richard Bermingham directed one of his attendants, named Hussey, to searc-h the field, and try whether the body of his great enemy O'Kelly was among the slain. Accompanied by a single attendant, Hussey commenced his search; and O'Kelly, who had heard the orders, came with his squire from a thicket in which he had been con- cealed, and, presenting himself to Hussey, endea- voured to seduce him from his allegiance. He rep- resented to the young page the inferiority of the station assigned him by Bermingham, and made the most liberal promises of wealth and preferment if he would desert his master's banners. Dazzled by such splendid offers, Hussey's servant eagerly be HISTORY OF IRELAND. 99 sought him to comply ; but the young page indig- nantly slew him as a traitor. He was immediately assailed by O'Kelly and his servant : the latter he luckily felled to the earth by a single blow; and, after a tedious combat, he struck down O'Kelly with a mortal wound. The servant, in the mean time, had partially recovered , and Hussey compelled him to take up the body of his master, and bear it to the English camp. When Bermingham heard the ac- count of this gallant exploit, he immediately con- ferred the honour of knighthood on his page, and assigned him a large estate out of the forfeited pos sessions of the O'Connors. The death of his ally did not check the operations of Edward Bruce. He extended his ravages to the very walls of Dublin, and filled the capital with con- sternation. The Earl of Ulster, having been mar- ried to a sister of the Scottish king, was suspected of favouring the pretensions of Bruce ; and his in- action during the incursion seemed to prove that he was not a steady supporter of his rightful sovereign. On this account he was seized and thrown into prison by the chief magistrate of Dublin : nor could all the remonstrances of the English government procure for a long time his liberation. Walter de Lacy, after having solemnly disavowed all connexion with the Scotch, joined Bruce, and acted as his guide in the march of the invaders through Meath and Leinster. Led by this traitor, Bruce traversed Ossory, and even penetrated into Minister; but the savage devastations of his licentious soldiery alien ated the affections of the inhabitants, who were pre- viously disposed to regard him as a liberator, and the Geraldines were easily enabled to collect an army sufficient to prevent his farther advance. The soldiers of the Geraldines were too deficient in arms and discipline for the leaders to hazard a regular battle ; but they were soon reinforced by the new lord-deputy, Roger Mortimer, who 'anded at 100 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Waterford with a train of forty knights and then attendants. Bruce was now compelled to retreat, which he did with precipitation, leaving the Lacys exposed to all the consequences of their rash rebel- lion. Mortimer exacted a heavy vengeance from the faithless chieftains. He seized all their castles and estates in Meath, and compelled them to seek refuge in the wilds of Connaught. The English in- terest soon began to revive ; and the pope lent his powerful assistance to restore its ascendency. Sen- tence of excommunication was solemnly pronounced against Bruce and all his adherents, but more par- ticularly those priests who had preached so zeal- ously in his cause. This interference seems to have been anticipated ; for the northern Irish princes sent a deputation to Rome, in order to lay before the pontiff a full statement of all the evils which the English had inflicted on their country. It was, in- deed, a black catalogue of crimes, and yet there is something irresistibly ludicrous in the manner of describing the grievances. The massacre of thou- sands is placed on the same scale as the imprison- ment of a prelate; and HIP injury done to a cathe- dral described as more atrocious than the robber) 1 of a nation. Pope John XXII. transmitted the ap- peal to Edward, with a recommendation to redress all these wrongs, lay and clerical; but the state of the country prevented the introduction of any im- provements. After the departure of Mortimer, the administra- tion was intrusted successively to the Archbishops of Oashel and Dublin. They published the bulls of excommunication, and ordered them to be read daily at every mass celebrated in the English army. The Archbishop of Armagh did not confine himself to spiritual weapons; he resided constantly in the camp, and took an active part in directing all mili- tary operations. In the mean time, Bruce's army wa? enduring flip most horriMp extremities of fain HISTORY OF IRELAND. 101 me. Shut up in the northern districts, which had ain desolate since the commencement of the war, he could not procure any subsistence for his follow- ers. The most loathsome and revolting objects were eagerly sought by the famishing wretches ; and we are assured that they even fed on the dead bodies of their brethren ! Robert Bruce, hearing of his brother's precarious situation, made hasty prepa- rations to bring him relief; but by this means only accelerated his ruin. Jealous of his brother's fame, Edward determined that victory should be entirely his own, and hastily led his forces against Sir Richard Bermingham, who had advanced into Ul- ster at the head of fifteen thousand men (A. D. 1318). The fate of Ireland was decided at the battle of Dundalk. The famished Scots were broken by the physical strength of their opponents ; the Irish felt that they fought under the curse of the church ; while the English were roused by the belief that Heaven was on their side, and that the blessing pronounced on their arms by the primate, that very morning, rendered them invincible. In the midst of the en- gagement Bruce was singled out by an English knight named Maupas ; and so furious was the en- counter that both fell dead together on the plain. The carnage was frightful ; for quarter was refused to wretches who had incurred the penalties of ex- communication. A few escaped by their superior knowledge of the country, and carried to their breth- ren certain intelligence that their hopes of independ- ence were frustrated for ever. In a few days after, Robert Bruce arrived on the coast ; but hearing of his brother's fate, he immediately retired; and Ber mingham, thus freed from all apprehensions of the Scotch, led back his victorious troops, having first expelled from their lands the toparchs that had been the most zealous supporters of Bruce. The suc- cessful general was created Earl of Louth and 102 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Baron of Atherdee, a distinction which he will deserved. The evils of war are not to be measured merely by the number of the slain, or the extent of devas- tation; there are frequently calamities more oppres- Hve, and more permanent, which escape the notice of the ordinary historian. Bruce had been slain, his followers dispersed, and tranquillity of some kind restored ; but the land was desolate, the exchequer empty, the soldiers mutinous for pay, the people starving for lack of food. The great barons, who always maintained a large train of followers, were unable to support their retainers, and they began to exact what they called " coyne and livery," in other words, pay and food for their soldiers. This compendious mode of supporting an army, by quar- tering it immediately on the people, has been more than once tried in Ireland. It has been found an excellent means of converting a petty disturbance into a formidable insurrection, and of diffusing through some devoted district intense hatred of a government that exposed the peasant's little prop- erty to licensed plunder, and his wife and daugh- ters to insult and pollution. But the Irish oligar- chies never were famous for looking to remote con- sequences. They did not fear the serf whom they crushed down by their brute force ; but the wretch, incapable of obtaining open redress, sought for se- cret revenge. They believed that the money wrung from their oppressed tenants was clear gain ; but they saw not that when the substantial yeomanry fled before extortion, and their places were sup- plied by miserable thralls, the land was no longer efficiently cultivated, and that their actual receipts bore an amazing disproportion to their nominal rent-roll. The fable of the boy and the goose that laid golden eggs has been often faithfully and fatally realized in Ireland. The landlord that robs his ten HISTORY OF IRELAND. 103 antry of a fair share of their profits is his own worst enemy: he destroys all motives to industry; he puts a stop to the improvement of his own ground ; he actually offers a premium for exhausting the fer- tility of his own land. If no better motive has any influence over the minds of Irish proprietors, self- interest ought long since to have shown them the ruin that such short-sighted avarice was bringing on themselves as well as on their country; and it might, if miserable pride had not interfered, the pride of showing an enormous rent-roll, in which the first figure to the left was rarely significant. " It is well to have at least the name of the thing," is recorded as an Anglo-Irish proverb in the earliest times ; and this love of the name without the reality continues to the present day. It is easy to swell the nominal income by demanding 101. per acre for ground not worth half the sum ; but the tenant will be unable to perform his promise. In many such cases he will pay very little ; in most nothing. But we have digressed from the first establishment of the system to its present modified operation, and must now resume the regular course of our nar- ration. The exaction of coyne and livery was first com- menced by Maurice Fitz-Thomas of Desmond ; and the severity with which this arbitrary tax was levied was so great, that Baron Finglas declares "it would destroy hell, if used in the same." Finglas was chief baron of the Irish exchequer, and subsequently chief justice of the King's Bench in the reign of Henry VIII. ; and his brief account of the evils that followed from this tyranny comes to us recommended by the weight of judicial authority, independent of the internal evidence of its truth. He says, " Nevir sithence did the Geraldines of Mounster, the But- lers, ne Geraldines of Leinster obediently obey the kyng's lawes in Irelaund ; but continually allied them- selves with Irishmen, useing continually coyne and 104 HISTORY OF IRELAND. livery, whereby all the londe is now of Irish rule, ex. cept the little English Pale, within the counties of Dublin and Myeth, and Uriell (Louth), which passe not thirty or fourty miles in compasse. Item, in the Ibrsaid mannere for the lacke of punishment of the grete lordes of Mounster by ministracione of jus- tice, they, by ther extortione of coyne and livery, and othir abusions, have expelled all the English free holders and inhabitants out of Mounster; so that iu fiftie yeres passid was none ther obedient to the kyng's lawes, except cities and walled townes; and soo this hath been the decaie of Mounster." The Geraldines unhesitatingly seized on the lands of all the proprietors whom their oppression drove into ex- ile ; and in a very few years Desmond was the prince, rather than the proprietor, of Waterford, Cork, Kerry, and Limerick. Thus began the fatal system under which Ireland continues to suffer at the present hour; a system pursued with little variation by every race of landlords which the different revolutions intro- duced ; a system of giving the land only to miserable serfs, and discouraging, by every means, the growth of an independent middle class. The feudal barons drove out the first race of freeholders ; the under- lakers in the reigns of Elizabeth and James refused 1o grant leases on such terms as would encourage a tenant to expend capital and industry on the land ; the Cromwellian settlers steadily pursued the same course; their descendants, through the greater part of the last century, invariably discouraged the Protest- ant or English tenant, who refused to pay a rent which would deprive him of every comfort, and who felt himself entitled to the rights of a citr/en, and the protection of equal laws. The natural conse- quence has been, that the landloids have heaped up the materials of a servile war, ever ready to explode ; and have kept the country on the verge of a general agrarian insurrection, whose danger is increased by the violent means used to check its partial eruptions HISTORY OF IRELAND. 105 The conduct of the clergy, at this period, was not such as should have been expected from ministers of the gospel of peace. The ecclesiastics only imitated the barons in setting he English government at de- fiance ; but there was more consistency, more unity of purpose and design, in the opposition of the spir- itual aristocracy. The barons were frequently forced to yield; but the prelates uniformly prevailed in every contest. One circumstance illustrative of tha daring spirit manifested by the bishops, as well as of the ludicrous fanaticism of the age, deserves to be recorded (A. D. 1324). Richard Led red, Bishop of Ossory, having, for some unknown reason, become the enemy of a noble lady, named Dame Alice Kel- ler, summoned her, with her son and several of her dependants, before his spiritual court, on a charge of witchcraft. The indictment was wondrously spe- cific, and the overt acts charged as precise as possible. She was accused of going through Kilkenny every evening, immediately before curfew, sweeping the refuse of the streets to her son's door, and mutter- ing the poetic incantation " To the house of William my son, Hie all the wealth of Kilkenny town." It was further alleged, that she made assignations near a cross-road with a demon named Robin Ar- tysson, and provided a strange supper for her strange paramour, to wit, nine red cocks' and eleven pea- cocks' eyes. After this delicate repast, it was stated that Alice and Robin were accustomed to help diges- tion by taking an evening excursion all the world over; and the broomstick which served as her chargf-r was produced in court. Finally, it was stated that a sacramental wafer, on which the name of the devil was inscribed, had been found in her chamber. Not- withstanding this body of evidence the lady was ac- quitted; but one of her attendants was found ffiu'lty. 106 HISTORY OF IRELAND. and executed. But the bishop was not so easily foiled. The lady was again brought to trial, on a new charge of heresy, convicted, and burned at the stake; and Adam Duff, a gentleman of a respectable family in Leinster, being convicted of the same of- fence, shared the same fate. Lord Arnold de la Poer, seneschal of the palatinate to which Kilkenny then belonged, disgusted at these exhibitions of' mingled folly and barbarity, interfered to check Led red's proceedings. The bishop immediately arrested him as a heretic ; and when the lord-deputy inter- fered for his protection, the undaunted prelate ex- tended his charge to that personage himself. In Ireland now was exhibited the extraordinary spectacle of the chief governor arraigned before the bench of bishops on a formal charge of heresy. All the business of the state was suspended, for the, lord-deputy was also chancellor. Parliament, then sitting, was unable to proceed with any business, and the courts of law were closed. After a long and tedious trial, the lord-deputy was formally ac- quitted, and testified his joy by a magnificent ban quet open to all comers. Lord de la Poer was not equally fortunate. He had been seized by the bishop in the first instance, and perished in the miserable dungeon to which he had bten confined. Not satis fied with this vengeance, the bishop appealed tr Rome, and obtained a papal brief, exhorting tht king to prevent the growth of heresy in Ireland But the mischief luckily reverted on the head of itf author. Ledred was himself accused of heresy be fore his metropolitan, and forced to save himself b\ a precipitate retreat. The remainder of his woitli less life was spent in poverty and exile; but the effects of his mischievous efforts were long and lasting. A. D. 1327. During the administration of the Karl of Kildare, a civil war commenced, in which the greater part o f the English barons were engaged HISTORY OF IRELAND. 107 The canst; of this furious contest was the most tri- vial imaginable. The Lord de la Poer had called Maurice of Desmond a rhymer ; and Maurice, prob- ably believing that the imputation of any literary attainment was inconsistent with the barbarous dig- nity which he affected, resolved to revenge the af front by arms. The Butlers and Berminghams joined the side of Maurice. De la Poer was assisted by the De Burghos. The struggle was long and du- bious ; for, though Poer was easily driven from his territories, his allies could not be subdued with equal facility. The lands were laid waste by the furious inroads of the rival partisans; and the Irish septs in Leinster took advantage of these commotions to revolt. In the midst of these tumults Kildare died, and was succeeded by Roger Outlaw, Prior of Kil mainham. The first effort of the prelate was to reconcile the barons ; and in this he succeeded the more easily as they were alarmed at the extent of their own devas- tations. The Irish septs, hopeless of success, also tendered their submission, and again petitioned to be admitted to the privileges of British subjects. But the barons were too fond of their old system of policy to allow those whom they destined to be their serfs to obtain the privileges of freemen. They declared the proposed grace injurious to the cause of English ascendency, and by their com- bined influence disappointed at once both king and people. The Irish were justly indignant at this gross in. stance of tyranny mid injustice. They immediately took up arms, and ranging themselves under the ban- ners of O'Brian, Prince of Thomond, obtained several advantages over the English in Leinster. Their career was marked by ruthless massacre and deso- lation. We are told, that on one occasion they sur- rounded a church in which about eighty English ettlers were assembled. These unfortunate victims i08 HISTORY OF IRELAND. nopeless of escape, petitioned for the safety of their pastor; but even this was refused. The priest was the first victim. He was slain at the very altar, and the consecrated elements trampled in the dust. The invaders had first shown the example of despising all that was in that age deemed holy. The example now reverted on themselves, and they were doomed to pay a heavy penalty for their former excesses. The lord-deputy, finding the forces of the govern- ment unable to quell the insurrection, solicited the aid of Maurice of Desmond, and treated with this haughty dynast more as an independent prince than a feudal baron. To secure the support of Maurice, he was created Earl of Desmond, and his territories erected into a county palatine, in which he was al- lowed to exercise independent jurisdiction. The number of palatinates was shortly after increased to nine, Carlow, "VVexford, Kilkenny, Leix, Meath, Ulster, and the territories of the Earls of Desmond and Ormond. The palatine lords in these districts exercised all the rights of sovereign princes ; made borons and knights; exercised both criminal and civil jurisdiction; appointed their own officers of justice, and claimed the right of making war and peace at their pleasure. Under such circumstances the authority of government was merely nominal, and the country was in effect divided into several inde- pendent sovereignties beyond the control of the crown. Such was the condition of affairs when Sir An- thony Lucy was appointed to the government. He was an English knight, eminently distinguished for wisdom, firmness, and valour, and there was rarely an occasion when such qualifications were more re- quisite in a lord-deputy. Suspecting that the Irish were secretly encouraged in their depredations by the barons, he summoned a parliament to meet him at Kilkenny. The thinness of the attendance, and the pretexts used by those who did come for depart- HISTORY OF IRELAND. 109 ing again, converted his suspicions into certainty, and he took the decisive measure of arresting all the leading nobles. Desmond, Maadeville, the two De Burghos, and the two Berminghams were thrown into prison by the spirited deputy, and soon after brought to trial. William Bermingham was con- victed on the clearest evidence, and immediately ex- ecuted. Desmond was forced, after a long confine- ment, to give great surety for his appearance, and was then sent into England. The Irish nobles would scarcely have submitted to this rigour, but that Edward was expected to come over in person, and strictly investigate the state of affairs in Ireland. Extensive preparations were made, apparently for this expedition ; but they were only intended to veil the monarch's real de- signs against Scotland. The forces collected on the western coast were suddenly ordered to march north- wards ; and Ireland was, as usual, neglected. The only measure taken to tranquillize the country was the most injudicious that could possibly be adopted. The Prior of Kilinainham was directed to enter into terms of accommodation with all the insurgents of English and Irish race. He thus, indeed, for a time restored a hollow tranquillity ; but he revealed to the disaffected the secret of their own strength, and the royal weakness. About the same time an event fraught with the most pernicious consequences oc- curred. The Earl of Ulster was assassinated by his own servants at Carrickfergus ; and his countess, with her infant daughter, fled to England in con- sternation. The vast estates of De Burgho were thus left without any adequate defence ; and the king, who, as guardian of the infant heir, ought to have held them in ward, took no measures for their security. Of course they became the prey of rapine and violence. The sept of the O'Nials took up arms, and, passing the river Bann, drove out the English settlers after a desperate resistance. They then 110 HISTORY OF IRELAND. parcelled out the conquered territories among them- selves, and gave them the name of Upper and Lowei Clan-Hugh-Boy, in honour of their leader, Hugh-Boy 0'Nial. The earl's possessions in Connaught were seized by the junior branches of the De Burghos; and as the usurpers were conscious that the law of England would deprive them of their acquisition, they resigned at once the English law, language, and name, and assumed the character of Irish toparchs, under the title of MacWilliam Oughter and Mac Wil- liam Eighter, that is, the farther and nether Mac- William. Similar degeneracy was exhibited in al- most every part of the country; and it soon became proverbial that the descendants of English settlers were Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores, " more Irish than the Irish themselves." The course adopted by the government under these circumstances was so unsteady and vacillating that the evils hourly increased. In a moment of impetu- ous indignation, Edward issued a proclamation that none but those of English birth should be eligible to any office ; but, finding the Irish aristocracy pre- paring for resistance, he limited the exclusion to the native Irish, and eventually excepted from its opera- tion all those who had obtained charters of privileges. Again, he encouraged the Lord-deputy Ufford in his vigorous efforts to control the Earls of Desmond and Kildare ; but immediately after, he took both these lords into favour, in order to procure their aid in the invasion of France. The Irish forces were honour- ably distinguished by their achievements in the French war ; and Kildare showed so much valour at the siege of Calais, that he received the honour of knighthood from the king's own hand. But these favours only served to exalt the pride of the Gerald- tnes, and to make them less inclined to yield obe- dience as subjects. A. D. 1353. The only gleam of sunshine in this long and gloomy period was the brief administration HISTORY OF IRELAND. Ill of Sir Thomas Rokeby. Mild in his manners, and upright in his conduct, this excellent governor suc- cessfully laboured to conciliate all parties by justice and moderation. When advised to enrich himself Dy arts well known to all that went before, and many that succeeded him, he nobly replied, " I am served without parade or splendour; but let my dishes be wooden, rather than my creditors unpaid." Hut the abilities of Rokeby were not equal to the purity of his intentions. Indeed, powers absolutely miracu- lous were required to tranquillize a land where every spot was filled with the elements of discord, and where every person felt an interest in creating public disturbance. A. D. 1361. Edward, seeing the little respect paid to his deputies, resolved to commit the government of Ireland to his second son Lionel Duke of Clarence, who had married the heiress of the Earl of Ulster Extensive preparations were made to enable the young prince to conduct himself with vigour in his new government ; and the highest expectations were formed of the benefits that were to follow from his visit. By one fatal error all these well-grounded hopes were disappointed. The youthful duke was surrounded by men of English birth, who induced him to slight the lords of the Pale ; and these haughty nobles refused to give him the least assist- ance in his military operations. Left to the guidance of his own inexperienced followers, Lionel marched against the O'Briens of Thomond ; and, from his ignorance of the country, was soon involved in diffi- culties from which he saw no means of escape. In this mortifying condition, he was obliged to ap- peal to the compassion of the lords of the Pale, by whom he was speedily relieved, and even enabled to gain some advantages ove* the enemy. He returned soon after to England, having added a nesv and dan- gerous distinction to the parties by which the coun- try was already distracted. Henceforth the terms, 112 HISTORY OF IRELAND. English by birth, and English by blood, became in vidious marks of separation, and caused new hostili- ties as violent and inveterate as any yet recorded. After a brief absence, during which the reins of government were held successively by the Earl of Ormond and Sir Thomas Dale, the Duke of Clarence returned, and summoned a parliament to consult on the state of the country (A. D. 1367). The most numerous and respectable assembly that had hitherto been convened in Ireland met on this occasion at Kilkenny. The result of their labours was an act memorable in the dark annals of Irish legislation, the celebrated STATUTE OK KILKENNY. It provided that marriage, fosterage, or gossipred with the Irish, or submission to the Irish law, should be considered and punished as high-treason. It declared that if any man of English descent should use an Irish name, the Irish language, or observe Irish customs, he should forfeit his estates until security was given for his conformity to English habits. It was also declared penal to present a mere Irishman (that is, one who had not purchased a charter of denization) to any benefice, or to receive him into any monastery. And finally, it was strictly forbidden to entertain any native bard, minstrel, or story-teller; or to admit an Irish horse to graze on the pasture of a liege subject ! This precious specimen of legislation was lauded as a masterpiece of policy by those who thought that the conversion of the English into mere Irish was the great danger to be apprehended ; and even in later times there have been found some to join in the eulogy. Yet, could there be. any thing more impoli- tic than thus to denounce all the institutions, civil and religious, of a people not. yet subdued and this, too, after all their petitions for admission within the pale of the English law had heen contumeliously neglected? In fact, the Irish were forced by their oppressors to retain their ancient system, and then HISTORY OF IRKLAND. 113 punished for their adherence to what they would gladly have resigned. In the words of Lord Clare, " it was a declaration of perpetual war, not only against the native Irish, but against every person of English blood who had settled beyond the limits of the Pale, and from motives of personal interest, or convenience, had formed connexions with the natives, or adopted their laws and customs : and it had the full effect which might have been expected ; it drew closer the confederacy it was meant to dissolve, and implicated the colony of the Pale in cease- less warfare and contention with each other, and with the inhabitants of the adjacent district." The conduct of the clergy is not the least astounding part of this extraordinary proceeding. Not satisfied with their efforts in conveying the statute through the parliament, they denounced anathemas and excom- munications on all those who disobeyed its pro- visions ; declaring that every thing Irish was an object of abhorrence to God and man. Three of these bishops were themselves Irishmen ; and we may well be surprised at the virulence with which these apostates branded the institutions of their vio- lence. But our wonder ceases when we learn that tithes and other ecclesiastic exactions were always resisted in those districts where the Brehon law pre- vailed. But the Statute of Kilkenny failed to produce the effects that Edward anticipated. The insurrections and civil wars continued ; the authority of the lords- deputies was disregarded ; and the expense of the Irish government became a serious burden to the British parliament (A. D. 1376). Sir William Wind- sor, the lord-deputy, by the royal command assem- bled the parliament of the Pale ; but they pleaded poverty, and refused the supplies. Edward had re- course to the extraordinary measure of summoning a species of Irish parliament to meet him in England. The bishops were directed to send over two of the I I 114 HISTORY OF IRELAND. clergy from every diocess ; the commons were or dered to send two representatives from each county and two burgesses from each city and borough. Tha returns made to these writs of summons prove clearly that the prelates were as little disposed to submit to the royal power as the barons. The greater number of diocesses expressly prohibited their deputies from consenting to any subsidies ; and the counties and cities folio wed their exam pie. Cork,Youghal, Ross, and a few other places gave full powers to their repre- sentatives; but the limitation placed on the majority rendered the whole proceeding nugatory. Money was the only thing the king wanted, and money was precisely the subject on which the different constitu- encies prevented the deputies from deliberating. The deputies went over and assembled at Westmin- ster; but as they had no authority, their debates were a mere idle form, and they soon separated. During the remainder of Edward's reign, the roy^ authority continually declined, and the unrestrained excesses of the barons kept the country in a state of the utmost misery. Foreign merchants refused to visit the hapless land without special letters of protection. Trade and commerce were consequently all but extinguished. New adventurers coming over from England inflamed dissensions by their grasping avarice ; and the clergy, already demoralized, were further degraded by being employed to raise and lead armies, which the crown feared to intrust to the barons. These were the fatal consequences of Ed- ward's foreign wars, which withdrew his attention from his domestic concerns, and prevented him from applying any remedy to the evils which he saw and vainly lamented. BISTORT OF IRELAND. 115 CHAPTER VII. Tlu History of Ireland, during the Civil Wars between tht Hautr: of York and Lancaster. THE accession of the unfortunate Richard II. had no immediate effect upon the affairs of Ireland. The expenses, however, of its misgovernment called the attention of the British parliament to the state of that country, and they adopted the judicious measure of compelling absentees to return under pain of for- feiture. The war with France and Scotland, though not vigorously maintained by any of the belligerent powers, wasted them all by the encouragement it afforded to predatory expeditions. The coast of Ireland was long infested by a French fleet, until at length the enemy was overtaken in the harbour of Kinsale by the English, and completely defeated. Little of importance occurred during the administra- tions of the Earl of March and Sir Philip Courtney. The latter governor was removed in consequence of his illegal extortions ; but historians have not record- ed the particulars of his crimes and punishment. The government was next conferred on the king's prime favourite, Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford and Marquis of Dublin. Extraordinary preparations were made for his departure ; but when he had proceeded as far as Wales, Richard found himself unable to part with his minion, and the administration was managed by his deputies. The English nobility soon revolted against the dominion which Oxford exercised ; and, after a brief struggle, he was driven into Flanders. His creatures in Ireland shared his fate. They were stripped of their power, and the ndm'"HnUion confided to Sh i!6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. John Stanley, and afterward to the Eail of Onnond The latter acted with more vigour than his predeces- sors. He compelled the O'Neals of Ulster to give hostages for their fidelity ; and he gained a great victory at Kilkenny over a numerous army of Irish insurgents. The disordered state of Ireland, how- ever, continued to be the subject of bitter complaints in the English parliament: and the king at length resolved r,o lead over a sufficient army, and complete the conquest of the country. He is said to have formed this resolution, partly because he dreaded the Duke of Gloucester, who was first nominated to the command, but principally on account of a sarcasm uttered by some princes of Germany, when Richard canvassed them for his election to the empire. Having married a Bohemian princess, he trusted that, by this connexion, he had acquired sufficient interests to be chosen emperor. But the electors refused to confer the dignity on one who had been unable to defend the acquisitions made by his ances- tors in France who could not control the factions of his English subjects, nor subdue the enemies of his authority in Ireland. The truth of this reproach made it the more bitter ; and Richard determined to acquire military fame in Ireland, where he had the fairest prospects of success. A powerful army, led by the king in person, could not be resisted by the Irish toparchs. As soon ns Richard landed the native princes and the barons hastened to tender their allegiance, and perform homage. The vainglorious king was satisfied with this appearance of submission; he traversed the country in all the pomp of military triumph, and soon returned to England, after having expended enormous sums, and performed absolutely nothing. The you tiff Earl of March, "ho remained in Ire- laud as lord-d-pii!y. fatallv experienced bow deh;.vive were th^ siibnijs:- -.I'l-i* v. let h |{if them had evinced, he displayed an anxious desire ) improve the condition of the peasantry, and tc HISTORY OF IRELAND. 123 protect them from the oppressive exactions of their lords. Such a paternal government, as excellent as it was rare, was rewarded by the most enthusiastic attachment of all classes. Its longer continuance vould probably have made the growing reconcilia- tion of hostile interests permanent: but unfortunately it has been too often tne fate of Ireland to lose her best governors at the very moment when their mea- sures, were most likely to be beneficial. The rebellion of Jack Cade, who assumed the popular name of Mortimer, was supposed to have been secretly contrived by the Duke of York, in order to feel the pulse of the English people. With- out making any inquiry into the truth of this surmise, the king, at the instigation of his haughty queen, sent letters to the sheriffs of the western counties, declaring the traitorous designs of the duke, and commanding them to oppose his landing. This in discreet declaration of the fears and suspicions en tertained by the court afforded the duke a pretext for returning to England. He declared his anxiety to justify his conduct, and his determination to face his accusers. Embarking with a small train, he landed in Wales, and, eluding all opposition, speeded to London, where he was apparently reconciled to the king. The duke at his departure intrusted the adminis (ration to Ormond. The earl, being summoned over to England, was succeeded by the Archbishop of Armagh ; but troubles arising which the peaceful prelate could not allay, he resigned his charge to Sir Edward Fitz-Eustace, a knight of great military fame, and well fitted for a government which required more than ordinary exertions. The O'Connors of Ofally were the first who experienced the vigour of the new deputy. He surprised this turbulent sept while engaged in a predatory expedition, and inflicted on them a severe defeat. In the rout, the toparch O'Connor fell from his horse. He was remounted 124 HISTORY OF IRELAND. by his son, the companion of his flight, but fell a second time from exhaustion. It was long before the chieftain could persuade the youth to leave him to his fate ; but at length he commanded him to fly, under pain of incurring his displeasure. O'Connor remained a prisoner, but was only detained a short time. The deputy, finding that he had no design of revolting, liberated him without ransom. The sept of the O'Nials, ever the most hostile to the English, after long remaining quiet, were induced to take up arms by the hope of plunder. Hearing that a rich fleet was sailing from the bay of Dublin, they fitted out some barks, attacked and took the ships, plundered the cargoes, and made all the pas- sengers, among whom was the Archbishop of Dublin, prisoners. The deputy immediately has- tened to punish these marauders ; and O'Nial, being joined by some other toparchs, advanced to antici- pate the invasion. The two armies met at Ard- glass; and after a fierce engagement, the Irish were defeated witli the loss of seven hundred slain, and a still greater number, including all the principal leaders, made prisoners. By this defeat the O'Nials were so humbled, thai, they long continued quiet, and af- forded the deputy leisure to attend to the regulation of public affairs. In the mean time, the dissatisfaction of the Eng- lish public had produced a general revolt. The un- fortunate Henry was made prisoner at St. Alban's, and the whole authority of the crown was transferred to the Duke of York. To strengthen his authority in Ireland, the duke appointed the Earl of Kildare lord-deputy; and this nobleman, being considered the chief of ths old settlers, was gladly acknowledged by the descendants of the original conquerors. The death of his great rival Ormond, and of several ,ur- bulent toparchs, freed Kildare from the fear of civil commotions. The Butlers indeed, at first, made some resistance, but they were quickly subdued. HISTORY OF IRELAND. 125 Margaret of Anjou was by no means disposed to submit to the loss of power, consequent on her hus- band's degradation. She assembled the partisans of the house of Lancaster, and defeated the Yorkists at Blore Heath with great slaughter. Deserted and betrayed, Duke Richard fled for safety to Ireland, while he and his adherents were attainted by the English parliament. The Irish received their fa- vourite governor rather as a sovereign prince than a destitute fugitive. The parliament passed an act for his protection ; and further decreed, that whoever should attempt to disturb him or his adherents, under pretence of writs from England, should be deemed guilty of high-treason. An agent of Ormond violated the law, and was immediately executed. Several laws, equally designed for the duke's service, were passed with the utmost enthusiasm ; and the prince, who, a short time before, wanted a refuge, now found himself in possession of a kingdom. Edward Earl of March, the duke's eldest son, had followed his father into Ireland, but was soon sum- moned to Calais, where the Yorkists, headed by the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury, had prepared a mighty armament. They passed into England ; and having obtained a great victory at Northampton, invited the duke to come over and head his partisans in person. On this occasion the attachment of his Irish adherents was eminently displayed. They crowded to his standard with the utmost zeal; and the district of Meath, in particular, was almost de- serted by the English settlers, who hasted to enrol themselves under the banners of the white rose. With a gallant train of devoted followers Richard returned to London ; but Margaret unexpectedly renewed the war, and attacked the duke before he could make adequate preparations. With only five thousand men, mostly his Irish adherents, he was encountered at Wakefield by an army four times 126 HISTORY OF IRELAND. more numerous than his own, and, in this unequal contest, fell with the greater part of his followers. This battle in its consequences proved fatal to the English interests. The best and bravest of the settlers had accompanied their beloved governor, and shared his fate. The Irish septs seized on the dis- tricts now stripped of their defenders ; and the colo- nists were forced to purchase a precarious security, by paying a heavy tribute to the toparchs in their neighbourhood. The Earl of Kildare was chosen by the Irish privy council to administer the govern- ment until a new lord-deputy was appointed. He preserved the country tranquil during the brief struggle between Henry VI. and Edward IV., which terminated in favour of the house of York. One of Edward's first acts was to appoint his brother George Duke of Clarence to the government of Ireland, and to reward the fidelity of his adherents in that kingdom by elevating the leaders to the peerage. Clarence appointed Fitz-Eustace, now created Lord Portlester, his deputy. His former administration had been characterized by vigour and talent qualities again imperatively required by the struggle which the Butlers were about to make for the house of Lancaster. The Earl of Ormond, whom the late king had raised to the English peer- age by the title of Earl of Wiltshire, had been seized and beheaded by the triumphant Yorkists; but his brothers and retainers were nothing daunted by his fate : they resolved not to mourn, but revenge it. Being joined by some Irish septs, and a great num- ber of Lancastrian fugitives from England, they formed a party too numerous for the troops of the deputy, who was forced to rely for success on the exertions of the Earl of Desmond. The hostility at this time between the Gevaldines and the Butlers was continually manifested by predatory incursions; and the eastern counties of Minister were inces- ftantly disturbed by the war-cries of the contending HISTORY OV IRELAND. 127 (actions. The Geraldines of Kildare took for their warison Croom-aboo, from the Castle of Croom, in the county of Limerick, where the chief resided. The Geraldines of Desmond shouted Shannatt-aboo, from the Castle of Shannatt, in the same county, where the earl maintained a kind of barbarous court. The Butlers' war-cry was the name of their sept ; and Butler-aboo was the cognizance of the troops in the palatinate of Ormond, which included the coun- ties of Kilkenny and Tipperary. In the long con- test that was maintained by these rival septs, he Geraldines were honourably distinguished by daunt less valour, and a daring heroism which bordered upon rashness. The Butlers, less valiant in the field, were more prudent in council. Artful, steady in purpose, crafty in intrigue, they frequently gained the fruits of victory after the severest defeat ; and finally destroyed the gallant house of Desmond by cunning and fraudful policy. The O'Briens of Thomond, whose war-cry was the imposing sen- tence, " Lamh-laider-aboe" (the cause of the strong hand), sometimes joined one and sometimes the other of these factions ; but, even when allies, they feared to trust the Butlers. " Fair and false like those of Ormond," was a proverbial expression with the sept, which is still preserved, though the cause is forgotten. While on this subject, it may not be amiss to mention some few particulars of these baronial wars : The general war-cry of the native Irish was " Far- rah! Farrah!" an exclamation of encouragement. The gathering cries of the different chiefs were taken either from their cognizance, as in the case of the O'Briens whose crest is a naked arm holding a sword, or from some accidental circumstance, as in the in- stance of the Geraldines. The other most remark- able warisons were of the O'Neals, " Lamh-dearg- aboe" (the cause of the red or bloody hand), from their cognizance ; of the Fitz-Patricks, " Gear-laidir 128 HISTORY OF IRELAND. aboe" (the cause of the strong and sharp), from the same circumstance ; and of the De Burghos " Gal- riagh-aboe" (the cause of the Red Englishman), in honour of the second Earl of Ulster, who was com- monly called the " Red Earl," and looked upon as the founder of the prosperity of the De Burghos. The Irish and baronial cavalry were mounted on small but active horses, called hobbies. They formed part of the forces with which Edward invaded France, and were found very useful as light troops. The Irish hobellers are frequently mentioned in the early English chronicles, and praised highly for their daring and activity. They wore scarcely any defen- sive armour, and used short spears and sabres, or battle-axes. They could not, of course, stand for a moment against the charge of the mail-clad Norman chivalry; but they could act efficiently in a difficult country where the others would be wholly useless, encumbered by the weight of their armour, and un- able to manage their heavy steeds. There were two kinds of infantry ; the galloglasses (a corruption of " gall-oglach," English servant), a heavy-armed infantry; they wore an iron headpiece, a coat of de- fence studded with nails, and bore a sword and broad axe. The light troops were named kernes ; they used no defensive armour but the headpiece, and their weapons were a retractile javelin and a long knife called a skene. In the wars of Edward III. and Henry V. several troops of kernes were employed in the invasion of France. They per- formed the useful but not very honourable service of cutting the throats of those knights and men-at- arms who were overthrown in the combat ; and the Irish skene was more dreaded by the French knights than the lances of the English. The arbitrary ex- actions by which these irregular armies were sup- ported have been already mentioned. It is only necessary to add, that robbery was considered hon- ourable bv tbn.se soldiers, since plunder enabled HISTORY OF IRELAND. 129 them to avoid becoming burdens to their chieftain and their friends. The war maintained by Desmond against the But- lers was desultory and of varied fortunes ; but the Lancastrian fugitives from England were found of little service to their Irish allies. They could not bear the fatigues of inarches through bogp and mountains ; they eagerly desired to try their fortune in the open field, and prevailed on their leader to accept the challenge of Desmond. The battle was fought near Wexford; and the overwhelming num- bers of the Geraldines afforded them an easy victory. Kilkenny and the other towns belonging to Orniond were soon after seized and plundered ; the Butlers were driven from their ancient possessions, and forced to seek safety in their mountain-forts and fastnesses. As a reward for this service Desmond was created lord-deputy an office for which he was every way unfitted. In his first expedition against the Irish septs, who had seized on the settlements in Meath, he was taken prisoner, but was soon lib- erated by O'Connor of Ofally, who had been always a zealous partisan of the Geraldines. Equally in- glorious was the termination of the war with the O'Briens of Thomond. On the advance of this sept and some others beyond the marches, Desmond could find no better method of securing the Pale than purchasing the forbearance of the invaders by a promise of regular tribute. An unsuccessful at- tempt to remove the lord-deputy being defeated by the partiality of the king, he was encouraged to pur- sue his career of headlong extravagance ; but though permitted to plunder and spoil the people at his will, Desmond was destined to find that royal failings could not be mocked with impunity. On the mar- riage of the king with Elizabeth Grey, Desmond in- cautiously ridiculed the meanness of the lady's ori- gin. His watchful enemies transmitted the news to England, and the queen immediately resolved on m* I. K 130 HISTORY OF IRELAND. destruction. Tiptoft Earl of Worcester was soon sent over to Ireland as lord-deputy ; and he was se- cretly instructed to examine his predecessor's con- duct with the greatest strictness, and to punish him with the utmost rigour if any charge could be estab- lished. A new parliament was summoned, which, with the usual servility of Irish parliaments, was ready to sanction any measure that their rulers would propose. Several acts were passed, indirectly condemning the conduct of the late governor, and, among others, one against paying tribute to the Irish, which every one of its supporters was notoriously violating at the moment. Another act of this parlia- ment is too important to be omitted. It declared that the Kings of England held the lordship of Ireland by a direct grant from the holy see ; and therefore di- rected that all archbishops and bishops of Ireland, on a monition of forty days, should excommunicate all disobedient subjects as heretics. The parliament was then adjourned to Drogheda, and deeming it unnecessary to dissemble any longer, they hurried through both houses an act "for at- tainting of treason the Earls of Kildare and Des- mond, with Edward Plunket, Esq., for alliance, fos- tering, and alterage with the king's Irish enemies," &c. Kildare was arrested, but luckily made his escape to England. Desmond, confiding in his in- nocence or his power, came boldly to the chief governor to justify his conduct. He was imme- diately seized, and without the formality of a tria. hurried to instant execution. This monstrous act of tyranny and injustice did not remain long unpunished. Kildare so effectually justified himself to Edward, that he was not only restored to his title and estates, but appointed lord- deputy; and Tiptoft was recalled into England, where, in a new revolution, he suffered the same fate which he had inflicted on Desmond. The administration of Kildare was distinguished HISTORY OF IRELAND. 131 by the institution of a military order for the defence of the Pale, called the Fraternity of St. George. It consisted of thirteen great proprietors, one hundred and twenty mounted archers, forty knights, and as many esquires. To show their attachment to Eng- land, they assembled annually on St. George's day in Dublin, and elected a captain. It is evident that a force consisting of thirteen officers and two hun- dred soldiers would have been unable to resist any general effort of the native Irish ; and, consequently, it appears that all idea of a national resistance was abandoned, and that the settlers had only to dread predatory expeditions and tumultuous incursions. The depression of the house of Ormond did not long continue. John, the eldest surviving brother of the late earl, contrived to obtain the favour of his sovereign, and even his personal friendship. The partisans of the Butlers formed cabals against Kil- dare, and forwarded complaints to England, which the heir of Ormond supported with all his influence. The earl was soon removed from the government, which was transferred to his personal enemy the Bishop of Meath. A parliament was assembled, which immediately repealed the acts of attainder against the Butlers, and restored the heir of Ormond to his titles and estates. The Butlers and Geraldines soon renewed their former feuds. The war-cries of Croom-aboo and Butler-aboo were raised in every quarter ; and there was reason to dread that the entire Pale would be involved in the quarrel of these great rivals. Ed- ward sent over a commission to the Archbishop of Armagh, to act as mediator between the parties but the discord was too fierce to be so easily al- layed. Fortunately, superstition proved more effi- cacious than the royal mandate. Ormond suddenly resolved to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Sep- ulchre, and quitted the country. Kildare ended hi 132 HISTORY OF IRELAND. life shortly after; and when the chiefs were removed, their followers tacitly agreed on a truce. The Geraldines seem about this time to have be- come the prevailing faction ; for we find Gerald, the young Earl of Kildare, appointed lord-deputy, and retaining his power in defiance of the king, when Lord Grey was appointed his successor. After a vigorous contest, in which each party summoned a parliament, the viceroy appointed by the king was forced to yield. Lord Gormanstown was appointed lord-deputy, and he soon resigned in favour of the Earl of Kildare. The earl strengthened himself by forming a matrimonial alliance with the chief of the O'Nials, to whose son he save his daughter in mar- riage ; and the influence which he thus obtained with the native Irish enabled him to preserve the country in peace during the remainder of Edward's life, and the short and troubled reign of Richard III. CHAPTER VIII. From the Accession of Hinry YH. to the Refnrmnfion. THE accession of Henry VII. was an event that threatened to destroy the power of the Yorkists in Ireland ; but, to the surprise of everybody, Kildaie was continued in the government, and his adherents permitted to retain the great offices of state. There was no person in Ireland to control the pride of the potent earl. His great rival Ormond, having be^n restored to the title of Earl of Wiltshire, resided ni England, and became a member of the privy coun- cil. Dfsmond resided in his own principality; and if he paid any attention to the concerns of the Pals, it was to aid the deputv in extending tlip influent 1 * HISTORY OF IRELAND. 1-33 of the Geraldines. The De Burghos had become virtually an Irish sept, and no longer regarded the colonists as brethren. The bane of Henry's government in England was his jealousy of the partisans of the house of York. He unwisely kept up the distinction of party, which would have soon sunk into oblivion ; and the cruelty with which he treated his queen, for no other cause but her descent from the family of his former rivals, convinced the lovers of Edward's memory that the king was their deadly enemy. Rumours of plots and conspiracies were spread abroad. It was said that Richard III. had not succeeded in murdering both his nephews ; that Richard Duke of York had escaped, and would soon appear in Ireland among the devoted friends of his house. Alarmed by these reports, the king summoned Kildare to appear at court, and give an account of his administration; but the earl was not to be caught so easily. H.J saw that this artifice was designed for his destruc tion, and took his measures accordingly. Summon ing an assembly of the peers, he laid the royal man date before them, which he professed the utmost anxiety to obey ; but, at the same time, he secretly contrived that the barons should present a remon strance, declaring his departure inconsistent wit! the safety of the reaim. The earl forwarded thi* instrument to England ; and the king, unwilling to avow his suspicions, affected to be satisfied. The imposture of Simnel soon proved that Henrj had just grounds for caution. This young man wa? taught by a priest to personate the Earl of War- wick, then a prisoner in the Tower. The detection of such a fraud in England would have been easy. Warwick was still alive, and his person was known to most of the nobility, who had frequently met him at the court of Edward. It was therefore resolved to make the experiment in Ireland ; and there was another reason for selecting that country. War- 134 HISTORY OF IRELAND wick's father, the late Duke of Clarence, was bom in Dublin, and the Irish, it was hoped, would readily support the son of their countryman (A. I). 1487). The success of this attempt surprised the contrivers themselves. Kildare received the impostor as his lawful sovereign, surrounded him with all the pomp of royalty, and proclaimed him king in Dublin, under the title of Edward VI. The enthusiasm with which the impostor's claims were acknowledged seems like a national insanity. Throughout Ireland none were found to impugn this title but the Butlers, the Ber- rniiighams, and the citizens of Waterford. He was solemnly crowned in the cathedral of Dublin, with a diadem taken from a statue of the Madonna; and, .immediately after, his writs to summon a parliament met with general obedience. The arrival of some German auxiliaries from F'nnders, commanded by Martin Swart, filled the partisans of Simnel with such confidence that they determined to invade England. The deputy's two brothers were appointed to lead the Irish forces ; and on their landing in England, they were joined by the Earl of Lincoln, Lord Lovel, Sir Thomas Broughton, and some other persons of distinction. The invaders directed their course to York, but were disappointed in their hope of raising the country. The English have ever shown a proper jealousy of foreigners ; and the peo- ple generally dreaded the fortune that had hitherto attended all the opponents of Henry. Simnel's army, while hastening to attack Newark, were met by the royal forces at the village of Stoke, in the county of Nottingham. The engagement was long doubtful, though the army of Henry was far superior to that of his adversaries, both in quantity and quality. The Irish, being most.'y light armed, in vain made the most desperate efforts to break through the iron lines of their opponents ; they were driven back, charged in their turn, and thrown into remediless confusion. But, though rou'^d. they disdained to fly ; each re- HISTORY OF IRELAND. 135 sisted singly, and fell overwhelmed by numbers. Four thousand of the rebels, including the principal leaders, fell in this bloody engagement. Simnel and his tutor were made prisoners. Henry, with af- fected magnanimity, spared the life of the impostor, and made him a scullion in the royal kitchen ; the priest by whom he had been instructed was treated more harshly, being sentenced to perpetual im- prisonment. Though Henry was naturally inclined to punish severely the Irish partisans of Simnel, the state of Ireland compelled him to restrain his indignation. The barons, who had supported the impostor, were the defenders of the English interest; and if they were destroyed the country must again revert to the native Irish. Henry, therefore, contented himself with rewarding his friends, deferring the punishment of his enemies to a more favourable opportunity. He sent a letter, written with his own hand, to the citi- zens of Waterford, thanking them for their fidelity; and at the same time he graciously received the deputies from Dublin, and readily granted a general pardon. To secure the fidelity of his repentant sub- jects, he sent Sir Richard Edgecombe to Ireland, with a train of five hundred men, to receive anew the oaths of allegiance, and take under the royal pro- tection all who gave assurance of their loyalty. Edgecombe arrived in Kinsale, and received the sub- mission of the neighbouring barons. He then pro- ceeded coastwise to Dublin, and was welcomed by the magistrates with apparent submission. It was not so easy to prevail on Kildare to perform homage. He invented several pretexts for delay ; and when all these failed, he appears to have intended a religious fraud to save him from being bound by the oath of allegiance. It is not universally known, that in the Romish church the intention of the officiating priest is held necessary to the perfection of a sacrament. If, then, 136 HISTORY OF IRKLAND. the Host on which the Irish lords should tie swom was consecrated by a priest on whom they could prevail to withhold his intention, transnbstantiation would not take place ; the wafer would still be sim- ply bread, and the whole an idle ceremony, which imposed no religious obligation. It was not without difficulty that Edgecombe, who suspected the fraud, prevailed on Kildare to permit the Host to be conse- crated by his own private chaplain. Soon after, Kildare and several of the Irish no- bility came over to England, and did homage to the king in person. They were magnificently enter- tained by Henry at Greenwich ; but had the morti- fication to see their former idol Simnel waiting as butler at table. Kildare on his return continued to exercise all his former authority, and preserved the Pale in greater tranquillity than it had enjoyed for a long time. In the south, the Geraldines of Desmond extended their territories at the expense of their neighbours the MacArthys and O'Carrolls, whom they severely defeated. In the north, O'Nial, the brother-in-law of the deputy, declared war against the chieftain of Tyrconnell. The diplomatic cor- respondence between these petty princes, before the declaration of war, evinces a Spartan spirit worthy of a nobler contest. O'Nial wrote, " Send me tribute, ttr else ." To which the other replied, " / owe you none; and if- ." The war that followed produced no incident of importance ; but it terminated to the disadvantage of the O'Nials. Walter Archbishop of Dublin and the Earl of Ormond had been long engaged in a series of in- trigues to remove Kildare from the government, and finally succeeded. The archbishop was appointed in his place, and the office of lord-treasurer was bestowed on Sir James Ormond, a natural son of that earl, who had died on his pilgrimage. Imme- diate measures were taken to depress the Geraldip"* HISTORY OF IRELAND. 137 which oi course readily met the sanction of a servile parliament. The attainders against the Butlers and their adherents were reversed, and an act passed for the resumption of all grants made since the first year of King Henry VI. While the Geraldines were smarting under these wrongs, an adventurer, claiming to be Richard Duke of York, son of Edward IV., arrived in Cork. This is not the place to examine the validity of Perkin Warbeck's claims. It is difficult to prove that he was the prince ; it is equally difficult to demonstrate that he was an impostor ; on the whole, the present writer inclines to believe that his pretensions were well founded. Warbeck wrote from Cork to the Earls of Kildare and Desmond; he was cheerfully recognised by the latter; but before Kildare could decide on the part he should take, the adventurer was summoned to the French court, and immediately accepted the invitation. The king sent for Walter, the lord-deputy, to inquire into the state of a country that seemed at every moment ripe for revolution; and after some deliberation he resolved to confide the administration of Ireland to Sir Edward Poyn- ings, a knight of distinguished ability. He was sent over to Ireland v/ith an army of one thousand men. Several of the best English lawyers accompanied him, to fill the offices of judges ; for those who then occupied the bench were notorious for their inca- pacity, and owed their elevation to the favour of parties. A. D. 1494. The administration of Sir Edward Poynings forms a new era in the history of Ireland. For the first time, the government began to manifest the fixed intention of breaking down the enormous power of the barons, and restraining within proper limits a factious oligarchy, whirh frequently insulted the sovereign, and always oppressed the people. The first military enterprise of the lord-deputy was against the northern sept of O'Hanlons, whose incur I. L 138 HISTORY OF IRELAND. sions had been very frequent and injurious. The difficulties of the country rendered the superior forces of the English useless; and Poynings would have been forced to retire in disgrace had not the rash- ness of the Geraldines furnished him with an hon- ourable pretext for withdrawing. The brother of the Earl of Kildare seized on the castle of Carlow, and garrisoned it with his own retainers. Kildare was immediately arrested on suspicion; and the deputy, advancing to Carlow, soon forced the castle to surrender. A parliament was now summoned, in which seve- ral very useful and important laws were enacted ; but one, well known to Irishmen by the name of Poynings's Law, more particularly demands our at- tention. This statute enacted that no parliament should be held in Ireland until the lord-lieutenant and privy council had first certified to the king in council in England the causes and considerations of its being assembled, and all such acts as seemed to them necessary to pass; and that these had been approved by the sovereign, and his license for the affirmation of these acts, as well as for the holding of parliament, had been obtained. This act was afterward confirmed and extended in the reign of Mary, where it will be more convenient to discuss its policy and effects. It is sufficient to say here that its immediate consequences were highly bene- ficial, since it armed the government with additional power to restrain the excesses of the oligarchy. Warbeck now made a second descent on Ireland and was openly assisted by the Earl of Desmond . but being defeated before Waterford, the unhappy adventurer fled to the King of Scotland. The But- lers thought this an excellent opportunity to crush their great rival the Earl of Kildare. They inipor tuned the deputy to imitate the example of Tiptoft, and consign him to the executioner. But Poynings was too wise and too good to listen to these treach HISTORY OF IRELAND. 139 erous suggestions. He refused their solicitations, and sent the earl to England to answer for his con- duct in presence of his sovereign. The emissaries of the Butlers were not idle in the court of Henry. They besieged the king with all manner of calumnies and accusations against the accused ; but they were not a little confounded when Henry directed that the earl should be brought to confront his accusers. Great was the king's aston- ishment to behold, instead of a crafty conspirator, a frank, blunt soldier, of manners so simple that they bordered on rudeness, and of a demeanour so easy and confident, that it could only be supported by con- scious innocence. Henry advised the earl to provide himself with able counsel. " Yea," replied Kildare, grasping the king by the hand, " I choose the ablest in the realm ; I take your highness to be my counsel against these false knaves." Gratified by this rude compliment to his equity and discernment, Henry looked with favour on the accused, and coldly lis- tened to the long catalogue of suspicions and sur- mises which his adversaries brought forward. The charge of treason was decisively refuted, the greater part of the others were found to be frivolous and vexatious ; at length the accusers alleged that he had sacrilegiously burned the church of Cashel. " Spare your evidence," exclaimed Kildare, " I did burn the church, for I thought the bishop had been in it." This extraordinary justification produced a shout of laughter, which threw ridicule over the whole proceeding. Driven almost to despair, the accusers exclaimed, " All Ireland cannot govern this earl." " Well, then," replied Henry, " he shall govern alt Ireland !" and forthwith he appointed him lord deputy. Kildare repaid the confidence of his sovereign by the zeal, energy, and fidelity which he displayed in his administration. The boundaries of the Pale, which had been gradually narrowing during the pre- 140 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ceding half-century, were now enlarged; and severe, septs whose forbearance had been purchased by tribute were forced to submission. He endeavoured to effect a reconciliation with his rival of Ormond; but unfortunately the train that accompanied the chief of the Butlers to Dublin on the occasion be- came involved in a quarrel with the citizens, and though the deputy successfully interfered to protect his rival, yet Ormond could not conceal his angry suspicions. After a long, but not satisfactory inter- view, the earls parted with mutual professions of attachment, but with more than their former ani- mosity, not the less violent because it was concealed. The deputy soon after engaged in a war of very questionable policy. He had given his daughter in marriage to Ulick de Burgho of Clanricarde, the head of a powerful sept of degenerate English in Con- naught ; and having heard that she was badly treated by her husband, he determined to use the royal army as an instrument of vengeance. Clanricarde, nothing daunted by the po\ver of his enemies, boldly prepared for resistance, and obtained the aid of the O'Briens and other septs of Minister. Kilclare was joined by the nobles of the Pale, the numerous re- tainers of all the Geraldines, and the northern 1 O'Nials. The armies met at Knocktow, near Gal- way, and the deputy obtained a decisive victory. The triumph was stained by the cruelty of the con- querors, who sternly refused to grant quarter, and continued the massacre until forced to desist by fa- tigue and darkness. The hostility of the most an- cient settlers to the aboriginal inhabitants of the country seems not to have abated with the lapse of time. After the battle of Knocktow, Lord Gormans- town, in all the insolence of success, said to Kilclare, " We have slaughtered our enemies ; but to complete the good deed, we should cut the throats of the Irish by whom we have been assisted." This feeling, how. over, was not general. Several of the English fami- HISTORY OF IRELAND. 141 Ees, but especially the Geraldines and De Burghos, were closely connected with different Irish princes by numerous intermarriages ; and we find the native annalists of this period recording the exploits ol some nobles of the Pale with the same enthusiasm as the deeds of their own toparchs. The victory of Knocktow reduced Connaught to obedience ; and the O'Nials and O'Briens were almost the only septs which continued to withhold their allegiance. The accession of Henry VIII. produced no imme- diate change in the government of Ireland. Kildare, whose services had been rewarded by the Order of the Garter, was continued as deputy, and daily ex- tended the English influence (A. D. 1513). So great was the confidence reposed in this gallant nobleman, that on his death the army suddenly dispersed, and there was every reason to dread a new series of tu- mults. This was fortunately prevented by the privy council. They met in a hurry, and unanimously elected Gerald, the young Earl of Kildare, deputy, until the royal pleasure could be known ; and this nomination was confirmed in England. Gerald in- herited the valour of his illustrious family, but unfor- tunately a more than ordinary share of their charac- teristic pride and imprudence. He was soon called on to display his military skill, by a dangerous insur- rection of the Irish, whom some fabricated prophe- cies had stimulated to revolt. False prophecies have been often used by the lovers of sedition in Ireland as the most powerful stimulants of its enthusiastic population. It is not long since the whole island vas thrown into confusion by a misprint in a ridi- culous commentary on the Revelations. Pastorini's Prophecies, as this precious work was named, con- tained a calculation by which it appeared that the year 1835 would be the era of the restoration of the Catholic religion. It was unfortunately printed 1825; and the alarm which consequently prevailed through the entire of that devoted year, will not 142 HISTORY OF IRELAND. easily be forgotten. The question of emancipation was then in debate. Pastorini's Prophecies, whim- sically enough, furnished both parties with an argu ruent, the more valuable because it was perfectlj novel. One side used it as a threat, the other as a warning, until the delusion became so extravagan'. as to cure itself, and perished in a storm of ridicule If a piophecy even in the nineteenth centurj could produce such commotions, we must not bt surprised at its powerful effects in the beginning ol the sixteenth. The Irish were everywhere in arms but the promptitude and celerity of Kildare baffled all their efforts. They were vanquished in detail, and forced to remain quiet until the calculations of some more accurate seer should discover another period more fortunate for the cause of insurrection. But though Kildare was able to subdue his ene- mies in the field, he could not contend with his se- cret foes in the intrigues of the cabinet. Too haughty to court the favour of Wolsey by mean- ness and subserviency, he incurred the displeasure of that proud prelate ; while his rival, the Earl of Ormond, submitted to every degrading compliance, in order to conciliate the powerful cardinal. In consequence of these machinations, Kildare was removed, and the Earl of Surrey appointed in his stead. The Earl of Kildare was summoned to England, to give an account of his conduct. Soon after his arrival, he obtained the daughter of the Marquis of Dorset in marriage, and by the aid of this influential nobleman, was enabled to baffle the malice of the cardinal. Conscious, however, that his absence would give his enemies a great advantage, he re- solved to remain at court. He attended Henry to Calais at the time of his celebrated interview with Francis, and contributed largely to the splendour of the " Field of the Cloth of Gold," by the brilliancy of his suite and equipage. Surrey displayed great HISTORY OF IRELAND. 143 rigour and ability in Ireland. He chastised the re- volt of several septs, and received the submissions of some powerful toparchs; but, unfortunately, he was a stranger in the country, and was led into many errors by the interested deception of his advisers. The successor of Surrey was Pierce Earl of Ormond, commonly called Pierce the Red. His administra- tion was principally directed to extend the power and influence of the Butlers, and he was not very scrupulous in the use of any means by which this object might be effected. One Irish chieftain, Mac- Gillapatrick, prince of Ossory, having been plundered by Ormond, sent an ambassador to lay his com- plaints before the king. The execution of this commission was intrusted to the chieftain's bard or sennachy ; who, impressed with a lofty sense 01 his lord's dignity, stopped Henry on his road to church, and denounced war against him in the name of the high and mighty MacGillapatrick, if he re- fused to chastise the tyranny of Pierce the Red. No notice seems to have been taken of this extra- ordinary threat. Ormond was allowed to continue his excesses with impunity, and the hostility of MacGillapatrick was checked by the most powerful of all reasons, a total want of means. The return of Kildare proved a much more formidable event to the deputy. The Geraldines, relying on his con- nexions in the English court, renewed their strug- gle with the Butlers ; and the contest soon became so important that commissioners were sent from England to investigate the wrongs of which both complained. After a brief inquiry, they decided in favour of Kildare. Their report was then sent to the sovereign, who immediately removed Pierce the Red from his office, and, fatally for himself, ap- pointed Kildare lord-deputy. Desmond, the head of the southern Geraldines, had long acted as an independent prince. He claimed the privilege of absenting himself from par- i ii HISTORY OF IRELAND. lic.nient, and of being never obliged to come within the walls of a fortified town. Living thus entirely among his vassals and dependants, he naturally over-estimated his power and importance, and was easily led to believe himself a match for his sove- reign. Francis King of France, finding that Henry had joined the emperor against him, determined to raise some commotion in Ireland, and for this pur- pose sent an embassy to Desmond. The vain baron, proud of being treated as a sovereign prince, readily entered into an alliance offensive and defen- sive with the French king; but ere the treaty could produce any effect, Francis was made a prisoner in the fatal battle of Pavia, and Desmond left exposed to the vengeance of an outraged and vindictive sovereign. Orders were sent to Kildare, command- ing him in the strongest terms to punish the pre- sumption of his kinsman; but the deputy ventured to elude the performance, and marched into Ulstei <)n the pretence of some disorders in that province, but really to support his brother-in-law O'Nial. The enemies of Kildare represented this suspicious conduct at court, and the deputy was ordered to appear before the king and answer to these charges. After a short interval, during which Ireland re- mained in a state of shocking distraction, the earl recovered the confidence of the king, and was once more restored to the government. This victory over his rivals would have danger- ously elated a man of stronger mind and cooler passions than Kildare possessed; and his actions soon showed that his little remnant of prudence was destroyed by his recent elevation. It is said also that his intellects were partially injured about this time, in consequence of a wound in his head ; but it is not necessary to have recourse to such an explanation for the extravagant effects produced by repeated triumphs on a character naturally weak and haugiity. The officers of the Irish government HISTORY OF IRELAND. 145 became reasonably alarmed. They met in secret conclave, and prepared a representation of the evils by which Ireland was affected, which was soon laid before the king. Though Kildare was not named in this petition, the evils mentioned were such as could not have occurred without his sanction or connivance. The jealous temper of Henry was fired by the recital, and he sent Kildare a peremptory mandate to come at once to London. Aware that his conduct would not bear a strict investigation, the earl, by means of his wife's relations, endeavoured to obtain delay; but, finding that the king's resolution was not to be shaken, he supplied his castles with arms and am- munition from the royal stores, and intrusted the government to his son Thomas, a youth scarcely twenty years old. A. D. 1534. Kildare, on his arrival in London, was sent to the Tower; and this mark of disfavour was reported in Ireland with the usual exaggeration. Skeffington, who had been formerly lord-deputy, and the faction of the Butlers, reported that he had been sentenced to death, and soon after pretended to have received an account of his execution. The young Lord Thomas lent a credulous ear to these inventions of his enemies. Determined on revenge, he consulted with his Irish adherents ; and having received promises of support, determined to raise the standard of rebellion. The chivalrous manner in which this young nobleman proceeded to execute his insane designs fills us at once with surprise arid pity. Attended by a body of one hundred and forty armed followers, he entered the city of Dub- lin, and immediately proceeded to St. Mary's Ab- bey, where the council was assembled in delibera- tion. The sudden and tumultuous entrance oi armed men filled all with consternation ; but their fears were calmed by Lord Thomas, who, repress- ing the violence of his attendants, declared that 146 HISTORY OF IRELAND. lie came to resign the sword of state, to renounce his allegiance to the tyrant Henry, and to proclaim himself the mortal foe of the English government and its adherents. While the other lords remained astonished and silent, Cromer, who was both chancellor and pri- mate, rose, and taking the young lord by the hand, remonstrated witli him in terms the most affection- ate and winning. Unfortunately, an Irish rhymer at the end of his address, burst forth into a wild rhapsody on the glory of the Geraldines, and the high destiny for which the present heir of the house was designed ; and Thomas, kindling with enthu- siasm, made no reply to the chancdijr, but rushed out of the house. The war, thus madly begun, was supported with the same disregard to the simplest dictates of pru- dence; and if is but fair to add, with the same generous attention to the laws of humanity. With the exception of Archbishop Alan, whom the Irish murdered, not wholly without his concurrence, Lord Thomas sanctioned no act of cruelty, but laboured strenuously to restrain the excesses of his followers. His career, however, was brief. Without adequate force or engines, he laid siege to Dublin, and wasted his time and forces in vain assaults on the city. Succours soon arrived from England ; and, though one division was severely defeated, and almost an- nihilated, two others, commanded by Sir William Brereton, and the new deputy Sir William Skeffing- ton, made good their entrance into the city, and soon forced Lord Thomas to raise the siege. The deputy, infirm in body and vacillating in mind, made no efforts to follow up this success. Lord Thomas not only escaped, but, by entering into a treaty witli the O'Connors and O'Nials, soon became formidable. Roused by the strong repre- sentations of the military officers, Skeffington at length took the field, and laid siege to Maynooth HISTORY OF IRELAND. 147 one of the strongest Geraldine fortresses. The spirit of the garrison and the strength of the place baffled the besiegers for fourteen days. They were about to raise the siege, when the unexpected treach- ery of Lord Thomas's foster-brother laid it at their mercy. Skeffington paid this double traitor the stipulated reward, and then ordered him to be in- stantly executed an act of substantial justice, which may well redeem many of the deputy's mis- demeanours. The greater part of the irregular army assembled by the young Geraldine dispersed when the capture of Maynooth became known, and as the heir of the great Desmond had been gained by Henry, he was driven to maintain a desultory warfare in the woods and mountains. Even thus, he made such a formidable resistance that he ob tained from the English general. Lord Grey, the most solemn assurances of safety and protection on condition of dismissing his troops. The indolent Skeffington died about the time that this war was concluded, and was succeeded by Lord Grey. The first act of the new governor was one of atrocious perfidy. In spite of his former prom- ise, he sent the unfortunate Lord Thomas a prisoner to London, where he hud the mortification to find that his father had not fallen by the hand of the ex ecutioner, but had died of grief when he heard of his insane rebellion. This crime was followed by a greater. The five uncles of Lord Thomas, three of whom had notoriously opposed the insurrection, were invited to a banquet by the deputy, and in the midst of the entertainment seized, hurried on ship- board, and sent to England as victims to the indis- criminate vengeance of Henry. Even these were not enough to glut the royal appetite for blood. A child of twelve years old, whom his aunt had con- veyed to Minister, was sought for so eagerly, that he was forced to be sent to the continent for safety. Even there he was folio wd Vv the enmity of the i48 HISTORY OF IRELAND. tyrant. Henry had the inconceivable meanness to demand him from the King of France as a rebellious subject ; but the French monarch connived at his escape to Flanders. A similar demand was made to the emperor ; but, before an answer was obtained, the youth had been taken under the protection of Cardinal Pole, by whom lie was treated as a son CHAPTER IX. The Fffictg qf the Refonnation in Ireland. THE great moral convulsion which changed the ecclesiastical establishment throughout the north of Europe produced a new era in Irish history. Hitherto, the papal and priestly influence had been employed in the support of the English government, because the interests of both were in a great degree identified; but from henceforth we must look upon the Romish church as the great engine of opposition to the royal power, and find it earnestly supported by a people which it had long injured and insulted. The long baronial wars, and the desultory struggles of the natives, had effaced the memory both of the "earning and piety of Ireland's national church; the new discipline introduced by Henry II. had tri- umphed over all resistance ; and the church had be- come a third power, placed between the king and people, able to command and control both. The barons and toparchs looked upon the influence of the energy with no little jealousy. Of doctrines and dogmas they knew little ; but they knew that there had been a time when these prelates, now their livals and compeers, depended on the chieftains foi protection and support. They were, therefore, not HISTORY OF IRELAND. 149 averse from any change by which the paramount authority of the church might be diminished. Henry, in consequence, found as little trouble in introducing the first principles of the Reformation in Ireland as he had experienced in England (A. D. 1536). The parliament summoned by Lord Leonard Grey commenced by enacting a declaratory statute, which excluded from the privilege of voting the proctors that had been previously returned from the several diocesses ; and, having thus secured a ma- jority of the laity, proceeded with all speed to the regulation of the state. The king's supremacy was formally established ; his marriage with Catharine of Arragon declared null and void ; and the succes- sion of the crown pronounced to be in the heirs of the king and the Lady Anne. The last act had scarcely passed when news of Anne Boleyn's dis- grace reached the assembly. With equal readiness they changed the inheritance to the descendants of Queen Jane ; and, in default of such heirs, acknow- ledged the king's right to dispose of the kingdom of England and the lordship of Ireland, by letters- patent or by will. Several acts of a similar tendency were passed with little opposition ; but Lord Grey was too politic to rely on statutes alone ; he collected a numerous army, and, marching through Leinster, received not only the submission of the septs, but hostages for the fidelity of the chieftains. Unfortunately, he at the same time showed that the government was about to adopt a new line of policy in other matters, fully as beneficial as the religious reformation, but one for which the country was not prepared, and which, consequently, added to its distractions. Henry had firmly resolved to break down the ex- travagant power of the barons and toparchs, and check the insolence of an oligarchy, whose au- thority more than rivalled his own. With his usual impetuosity, he overlooked all the difficulties which 150 HISTORY OF IRELAND. impeded the execution of such a plan ; he pushed on the civil and religious reformation together; and thus united in determined opposition the advocates of the abuses in both. The Butlers, triumphant over the Geraldines of Kildare, were the most vio- lent antagonists of the deputy. Secretly encouraged by Cromer, Archbishop of Armagh, the most zealous adherent of Rome, they openly resisted the deputy, and even assailed him by force of arms. They were, however, too wise to undertake open rebel lion ; and, while engaged in resisting the local go- vernment, sent over the most fulsome professions of allegiance to the court of England. A. D. 1539. O'Nialdid not use even this thindis guise. He proclaimed himself chieftain of the North ern Irish ; and having, by the aid of the clergy, as- sembled a numerous army, he advanced to Tara, the seat of ancient monarchy, and there indulged his pride in an ostentatious review of his numerous forces. But this champion of Rome was incapable of any great enterprise. He contented himself with wasting the country ; and, having collected a great booty, prepared to return home. The deputy had expected this storm ; but it burst forth before his pieparations were completed. He summoned Sir William Brereton to his aid from Cheshire ; and be- ing joined by volunteers from Dublin and Drogheda he pursued the Irish army, and overtook them at a place called Bellahoe, on the borders of the county of Meath. The van of the Irish army was the only part engaged; the rest looked tamely on until their associates were totally routed, and then fled without a blow. About four hundred were killed in the battle and the flight. The superior celerity of the fugi- tives, and their knowledge of the difficult country, haved them from a vigorous pursuit. With this victory ended the administration of Lord Grey. He was recalled to Kngland, and sent to the Tower, on charges equally futile and malicious ; but HISTORY OF IRELAND. 151 Knowing the irritable temper of Henry, he dared not prepare a defence, but pleaded guilty, and threw him- self on the royal mercy. But justice and mercy were in vain opposed to a tyrant's caprice. Grey was ordered to execution, and perished by the same fate which he had treacherously prepared for the unfortunate Geraldines. Some trifling insurrections afvr the departure of Lord Grey were so effectually quelled by Brereton, that the partisans of Rome were completely discour- aged; and the new lord-deputy, on his arrival,found all parties prepared to submit to the royal will. Taking advantage of these favourable circumstances, he summoned a parliament, and proposed to them a change in the government of Ireland, which, though apparently nominal, was really of great importance. The English monarchs had hitherto only borne the title of Lords of Ireland. The style and title of king was now conferred on Henry and his heirs; by which act the authority of the pope to bestow the kingdom was virtually disclaimed. Peerages and promotions were at the same time liberally bestowed on the most powerful descendants of the original settlers and the native chieftains; further honours were promised to those who showed zeal in the king's service ; and sur.h a spirit of loyalty was created, that when the SOD of Fitzpatrick, Baron of Upper Ossory, committed some outrages, he was delivered up to justice by his own father. The most formida- ble enemies of the English power were invited to parliament as peers. De Burgho was created Earl of Clanricarde, O'Brien became Earl of Thomond, and O'Nial resigned the title of his sept for that of Earl of Tirowen or Tyrone. Unfortunately, in the case of the last chieftain, the government eounton?nced some of the anomalies of the Brehon code ; for the inheritance to his title and estates was taken from his legitimate offspring, and conferred by patent on his natural son Matthew, created Lord Dun^annou 152 HISTORY OF IRELAND. The good effects of Henry's wise policy we a shown by the restoration of public tranquillity, and the submission of all to his claim of supremacy. The groundwork of the reformation was laid; and nothing was wanting to its complete success but a continuance of the wisdom and justice, the min- gled moderation and firmness which marked the Irish administration during the remainder of Henry'? reign. The reign of Edward VI. was the crisis of the re- formation in Ireland. The guardians of the young king, intent on their own schemes of petty ambition, neglected the important interests of the nation ; and the fabric which Henry had erected with so much labour soon fell to ruin. The first recorded incident of importance in the new reign is a monstrous in- stance of impolicy and injustice. The O'Moores of Leix, and the O'Connors of Ofally, excited some disturbances in Leinster. An army, commanded by Bellingham, was sent to restrain their excesses, and soon drove them to seek refuge in their fast- nesses. A. D. 1548. Representations were made to these chieftains of the favour that Henry had shown to O'Nial and others in similar circumstances, by which they were easily induced to submit, and to under- take a journey into England. Scarcely, however, had they arrived at court, when they were treache- rously seized and thrown into prison, while their estates were seized by the rapacious adventurers who had advised this base act of perfidv. The high Rpirit of O'Moore sank under the indignity of con- finement. He died, bequeathing to his family the memory of his wrongs, and a heavy debt of ven- geance, which they failed not subsequently to exact. O'Carroll was less fortunate, and long lingered in hopeless captivity and exile. The effect of this detestable transaction on the mind of the Irish princes and the colonial oaron? HISTORY OF IRELAND. 153 may be easily conceived. Their nascent confidence in the government was destroyed ; and Bellingham, who had been appointed deputy for his treachery, found it impossible to restrain the agitation which everywhere prevailed. At this unfavourable mo- ment, the Protector Somerset determined to intro- duce the reformed liturgy into Ireland, and sent over Saint Leger again as deputy for the purpose. The reformation in England was supported by the majority of the people, and a great body of the clergy, weary of the papal yoke. Even before the preach- ing of Luther, the English church had obtained a qualified independence, and the nomination to its dignities was virtually vested in the crown. The sovereign, in asserting his supremacy, only consum- mated what had been commenced by the constitu- tions of Clarendon, and completed an influence which had been already exercised. The condition of the Irish church was far different. The English owed their possession of Ireland to a bargain made with the pope and the prelates. The Romish church was the guarantee of their security ; and they gladly as- sisted in strengthening the power which seemed alone able to ensure their safety. The Romish church in Ireland had consequently been long an estate of the realm paramount to all the rest, com- pared with which the power of the crown and the oligarchy was as nothing. As for the people, they did not possess as yet. a voice in the state. Had the judicious measures of Henry been steadily pursued had the barons and toparchs been conciliated by kindness had the people been won by gentle remon- strance, the papacy would soon have lost its Irish followers ; but measures far different were pursued, and we all know the consequence. The reformed clergy were strangely and culpably negligent. We are told by an Irish chancellor of the time, that they did not preach more than once a year; and that this annual sermon was the only instruction they vouch- I. M 154 HISTORY OF IRELAND. safed to afford their flocks. Tn default of more effi- cacious means, they placed their reliance on acts of parliament and bands of soldiers, substituting the law and the sword for the gospel and the cross. Saint Leger would willingly have used expedients less violent, but more efficacious. He was, however, stripped of his office, on the representations of the reformed Archbishop of Dublin, and the administra- tion given to Sir James Crofts, who was supposed not to be troubled with unnecessary scruples. The means of conversion which the Protector de- signed to use in Ireland were soon exemplified. A party, issuing from the garrison of Athlone, attacked the ancient church of Clonmacnoise, destroyed it? ornaments, and defiled its altars. Similar excesses were committed in other parts of the country ; and the first impression produced by the advocates of the reformed religion was, that the new system sanctioned sacrilege and robbery. Dowdal, \vho had been appointed to the Arch- bishopric of Armagh by Henry, on the death of Cromer, in opposition to the papal nominee, unex- pectedly became the most violent impugner of the royal supremacy. But Dowdal was a coward; and when the parliament, to punish his obstinacy, trans- ferred the primacy from Armagh to Dublin, he aban- doned the contest and his diocess together. O'Nial, the Earl of Tyrone, was a much more formidable enemy. The fate of the O'Moore and the O'Carroll excited his fears. The plundering of Clonmacnoise alarmed his prejudices; and the eldest of his legiti- mate children, Shane, or John O'Xial, successfully laboured to prejudice him against Matthew, on whom the late king had settled the inheritance. While Tyrone yet wavered, Matthew, seeing the danger by which he was threatened, made the most alarming representations to Crofts, the lord-deputy; and the governor, \\iili the short-sitrhted policy which char- actt-ri/ti! II.N H< ministration, contrived, by treach- HISTORY OF IRELAND. 156 ery, to secure the persons of Tyrone and his count- ess, whom he instantly placed in close confinement. The inevitable consequence was, to place the clan entirely at the disposal of the turbulent Shane, who, assisted by a body of Scots, committed the most fearful depredations. While affairs were thus in confusion, the death of Edward VI. produced a new revolution. The offi- cers of state changed their religion with the same facility they had displayed on former occasions, and the great body of the clergy followed their example. Unfortunately, some priests and prelates had evi- denced the sincerity of their conversion by marrying. Wives were not so easily got rid of as creeds ; and they were unwillingly forced to preserve their consis- tency, and retire. Dowdal was restored to his see and the primacy, while the most violent of his oppo- nents were compelled to fly. The queen commenced her reign by several acts equally just, humane, and politic. She granted an amnesty to those who had proclaimed Lady Jane Grey in Dublin ; she restored the heir of Kildare to his title and estates ; and she liberated O'Connor of Ofally, who had been so long a prisoner. The restoration of the old religion was effected without violence ; no persecution of the Protestants was attempted ; and several of the English who fled from the furious zeal of Mary's inquisitors found a safe retreat among the Catholics of Ireland. It is but justice to this maligned body to add, that on the three occasions of their obtaining the upper hand, they never injured a single person in life or limb for professing a religion different from their own. " They had suffered persecution and learned mercy," as they showed in the reign of Mary, in the wars from 1641 to 1648, and during the brief triumph ot James II. Even in Ireland, however Mary fully proved her right to the title of Bloody. The septs of O'Moore 156 HISTORY OF IRELAND. and O'Carroll argued, with great justice, that ihey had no right to forfeit their lands for the erro -s of their chiefs. The ground was the property of the clan; and the guilt of the leaders, though ever so clearly proved, could by no means involve their feu datories, against whom not the shadow of a charge could be brought. The Irish government answered by an argument sufficiently characteristic. They deigned no reply, verbalor written, but sent an army to drive the people of Leix and Ofally from their possessions, and to punish by martial law all who dared to make any resistance. Military violence and martial law are species of reasoning to which the local governors of Ireland have, on more than one occasion, had recourse, to silence the clamours of suffering innocence, or to punish resistance to in- tolerable oppression. In this instance they were successful. The inhabitants of the devoted districts were pursued with fire and sword. In the words of an old historian, " the fires of burning huts were slaked by the blood of the inhabitants ;" and it WHS with difficulty that a miserable remnant was saved by the generous interference of the Earls of Kildare and Ossory. To perpetuate the memory of the mas- sacre, it was directed by the government that Ofally and Leix should for the future be named the King's and Queen's county, and their chief towns Philips- town and Maryborough, in honour of King Philip and Queen Mary. The turbulent Shane O'Nial, or O'Neill, as the name now began to be written, was as little inclined to submit to Mary as he had been to Edward. In n- temptofthe deputy's remonstrance, he renewed the war against his brother Matthew, and procured his assassination. He then joined a son of the chieftain of Tyrconnel in an attempt to subdue Calvah, the heir of that chieftaincy, who had deprived his father of power, and detained him in prison. This expedi- tion nearly proved fatal to the adventurous youth. HISTORY OF IRELAND. 157 His caup was surprised by night, his followers routed, and he himself escaped with difficulty by a rapid flight. John, though thus defeated, lost neither his courage nor his spirit. On the death of his father he unhesitatingly took upon himself the com- mand of the sept, and thus openly set the govern- ment at defiance. A. D. 1558. Elizabeth, on her accession, found Ireland in a state of the utmost distraction. Daniel O'Brien and the Earl of Tbomond were engaged in a fierce war for the chieftaincy of North Minister. The Geraldines of Desmond and the Butlers of Or- mond filled the entire south with confusion by their incessant hostilities. In Connaught, the De Burghos of Clanricarde were fiercely assailed by the rival branch descended from Mac William Oughter. In Leinster, the plundered refugees from L< ix and Ofally sought revenge by marauding and laying waste the country in small bands ; and in Ulster, John O'Neill WHS fast making himself master of the entire province. The Earl of Sussex, the lord- deputy, on his departure for England, intrusted the government to Sir Henry Sydney, and directed him lo march to Dundalk, and demand from O'Neill an explanation of his proceedings. The enemies of O'Neill have described him in the most inconsistent colours. They assert that he was addicted to the most brutal excesses, particularly to beastly intoxication ; that he was rude, ignorant, and barbarous ; while, at the same time, they represent him as cautious, circumspect, and acute. A man, however, who was able to win the confidence of the gallant Sydney, and subsequently to obtain a more than ordinary share of Elizabeth's favour, couid neither have been uncivilized nor brutal. They who plundered his estates by their rapacity slandered him by their malice ; but time, the redresser of inju- ries, permits us now to do justice to the unfortunate with imounity. 158 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Warned by the fate of O'Moore and O'Carroll, John was too wise to enter the English camp. When summoned he replied, that he was engaged in celebrating the christening of his child ; and added ? request that Sydney would come and witness the ceremony, and become sponsor to the new-born babe. To the great annoyance of those underlings who in- fested the seat of government, and hoped to carve out fortunes for themselves by confiscation and plunder, Sydney accepted the invitation. He was entertained with great hospitality, and even magnifi- cence. The ceremony was performed with more than ordinary solemnity, and Sydney then proceeded to enter on the real business of his visit. To his great astonishment, the account given by O'Neill of all former transactions was totally different from the representations made at the castle. So far from being an obstinate rebel, he proved himself a man "more sinned against than sinning;" one who had been driven to take up arms as the only means left for protecting his property and person. With great dignity and composure, he stated his right to the succession of Tyrone, which was equally clear by the English and the Irish law. According to the former, he was the heir, as being the eldest legitimate son ; and, in accordance with the latter, he had been unani- mously chosen tanist by the sept. He denied the authority of any letters-patent to destroy a right of succession derived from a long line of illustrious an- cestors ; and though he professed himself a liege subject of the queen, he claimed his right to the sov- ereignty of Tyrone, both by descent and the free election of the clansmen. Sydney was struck with the force and justice of these arguments. He con- sulted his counsellors, whom the candour and firm- ness of O'Neill had thrown into confusion. By their advice he declared that the matters stated were too important for him to decide, but promised to lay them before the queen. In the mean time he advised the HISTORY OF IRELAND. 159 chieftain to preserve his allegiance, and to confide in the royal honour for such an arrangement as would oe found right and equitable. O'Neill promised to observe this advice, and they parted in the utmost amity. This incident has been detailed at some length, on account of the important light it throws on the character and motives of this gallant but un- fortunate chief, whose future career must occupy no inconsiderable portion of this history. The Earl of Sussex soon returned from England, with special directions to restore the reformed wor- ship. So far as the prelates and parliament were concerned, the deputy found little opposition. Out of nineteen bishops, seventeen abjured popery, as readily as in the former reign they had rejected Prot- estantism ; and the two recusants were speedily pun- ished for their obstinacy, by being ejected from their sees. The peers, whose descendants in our days are for the most part Roman Catholics, did not at this time show any particular zeal for a religion in whose cause they subsequently suffered so severely ; and the commoners, though rather more obstinate, had little ambition to become martyrs. After some op position, acts were passed for securing the royal su- premacy, establishing the use of the reformed liturgy, vesting the appointment of bishops in the crown without the formality of a conge cTelire, and inflicting severe penalties on all who absented themselves from the service of the Church of England. Having thus accomplished the purpose for which it was con- vened, the parliament was dissolved. There were two parties overlooked by the wise legislators in this transaction, who were not to be changed so rapidly and so easily as the peers and pielates. These were the inferior clergy and the Irish people. Notwithstanding the introduction of ne papal system by Henry II., much of the primi- ire simplicity and Christian kindliness of their na- tional church was preserved among the lower ranks 160 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of the Irish ecclesiastics. They lived on terms of familiar intercourse with their flocks, imbibed many of their prejudices, and shared in most of their suf- ferings. While the prelates looked to Rome or Eng- land as the source whence their wealth and power flowed, the native clergy, excluded by a jealous policy from the higher offices of the church, consoled themselves for the disappointment of ambition in the love of their congregations. They disliked the He- formation, because it was a system introduced by a people whose conduct had given too much reason for their being esteemed oppressors. They were dis- gusted at the marvellous celerity with which their superiors changed creeds and religions, as if they were matters in which it was only necessary to fol- low the example of the sovereign. Under these cir- cumstances, they readily lent an ear to the emissaries of Rome, who encouraged them to maintain the "ancient religion ;" and by this equivocal term they were led to become advocates of those papal usurpa- tions which their predecessors had strenuously re- sisted when introduced by the English. Whether this influential body could have been induced to sup- port the new system if measures were taken to con- ciliate their affections is uncertain. The experi- ment never was tried. They were not even asked to change their opinions, but were unceremoniously driven from their cures, and their places filled by strangers, the refuse of the English church. The conversion of the people was seemingly not meditated by those who patronised the Reformation in Ireland. Compulsion was the only means of dif- fusing the reformed doctrine which they could un- derstand ; and their unsparing use of it soon made the name of Protestantism detested. The very first and most essential part of the Protestant discipline was neglected. The boast of the Reformers justly was, that, the prayers being no longer read in an un- known tongue, all the congregation might share with HISTORY OF IRELAND. 16 1 heait and spirit in the worship of their heavenly Father. But, though it was notorious that no Ian guage but Irish was intelligible beyond the walls of Dublin, no provision was made for a liturgy or preach- ing in the only language known to the great majority of the population. In the very act that established the reformed liturgy, its framers, with whimsical inconsistency, introduced a clause permitting the service to be celebrated in Latin, where an English reader could not be procured. Of English and Latin the multitude being equally ignorant, preferred that which was sanctioned by old associations. With greater reason, they adhered to a clergy who under- stood their language, felt for their wants, and sym- pathized with their feelings, in preference to a host of foreigners, with whom they could maintain no conversation, and by whom they were regarded as an inferior order of beings. The attachment of the Irish to popery is not unfrequently brought as a serious charge against them when, in truth, they were driven to embrace that religious system by the per tinacious folly of their Protestant governors. The clergymen imported into Ireland by the gov- ernment were for the most part needy adventurers, as bankrupt in reputation as they were in fortune. They were collected from the candidates that had been refused admission to the English church, and sent over, like a band of conscripts, to Ireland. A few made some exertions to discharge their duty ; but the difference of language was a stumbling-block which they had not the industry to remove. The rest paid no regard to the matter ; they collected their revenues in those districts where the authority of government was supported by the presence of an army ; where that protection was wanting they abandoned the field to the native clergy, and con- tented themselves with petitioning the government against the horrid abuse of allowing their tithes to be diverted to the support of popery. One of the 162 HISTORY OF IRELAND. statutes for establishing the reformed religion in re land enacted, that every rector, on induction, should take an oath to establish and maintain a school in his parish for the education of the poor. So far, the statute was obeyed. The oath was regularly taken, and its obligation as regularly disregarded, down to the commencement of the present century. The intentions of the queen and her advisers in England were doubtless wise and good ; but, igno- rant of all the circumstances of the country, and surrounded by those who thought it their interest to mislead her, she made use of means, not only inade- quate, but ruinous to the cause they were designed to support. Thus it happened that the Reformation, the primary and great cause of the happiness and the glory of England, produced in Ireland nothing but confusion and misery and degradation. There were many golden opportunities offered, when, by temperate and judicious measures, Protestantism might have been fixed in Ireland on a secure basis. They were all lost by the culpable negligence of some, or the more culpable profligacy of others. It is painful to dwell on the sins of omission and com- mission of the Church of England, of which the writer is a devoted member; but it is worse than useless to disguise the truth. Its establishment in Ireland exhibits the most flagrant instances of both positive and negative delinquency, which, as our his- tory will show, have produced the most pernicious and fatal consequence*. HISTORY OF IRELAND. 163 CHAPTER X. The Wars against John O'Neill and the Earl oj Desmona THE proceedings of John O'Neill continued to fill the inhabitants of the Pale with alarm : he had forced the O'Reilly's to become his tributaries, and give hostages for their fidelity ; he had revenged his late loss in Tyrconnel, by a new and successful invasion of that district ; and he had erected a strong fort on one of his islands, whose name, Foogh- ne-Gall (the terror of the stranger), showed that he was determined to assert his independence. The representations of the colonists induced the deputy to march with all his forces against this powerful chief; and O'Neill, assembling his vassals, prepared for a desperate resistance. Neither party was will- ing to commence hostilities. O'Neill dreaded to encounter the entire power of England; Sussex, the deputy, a blunt honest soldier, was disinclined, by an unnecessary war, to gratify the rapacity of those who longed to enrich themselves by confiscations. By the mediation of the Earl of Kildare, an accom- modation was effected. O'Neill, as before, professed entire submission; but stated that he was compelled to take arms by the artifices of his enemies, who seduced his vassals to revolt, and had even attempted to destroy him by assassination. Of such detestable practices he offered the strongest proofs; and Sus- sex, satisfied with the apology, acknowledged his title as tanist, and gave him reason to hope that the patent formerly granted to his brother Matthew would oe revoked, and that he should himself be acknow- ledged heir to the earldom of Tyrone. *64 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Encouraged by the deputy, O'Neill resolved on proceeding to London, and laying his claims before the queen in person. He even accompanied the deputy to Dublin, though he well knew that the un- derlings of the government there were bent on his destruction. Soon after his arrival, the Irish chief was informed that a plot was formed for his arrest ; and that nothing but a speedy departure for England could save him from imprisonment. The character of Sussex forbids us to believe that he had any con- cern in the meditated treachery. It is however doubtful, if it had succeeded, whether he could have esisted his colleagues at the council-board. O'Neill lost no time in making his escape. He set sail with a trusty band of followers, armed and dressed after the manner of their country, and soon arrived in London. The actual appearance of a native chief, attended by his escort of wild Irishmen, created a sensation in the English capital that has rarely been equalled. O'Neill had judiciously selected the tallest and best looking of his Galloglasses ; their heads were bare, protected only by long and flowing tresses ; they wore linen vests of a deep saffron colour, with wide open sleeves, protected by a light and graceful coat- of-mail ; their arms were broad battle-axes and short swords, forming altogether a spectacle equally novel and interesting. The citizens of London, then as now ardent admirers of novelty, were enraptured ; they crowded round the chief, and loudly cheered him as he passed through the streets. Elizabeth herself was delighted at so romantic an incident ; she received O'Neill with more than ordinary favour; listened to his allegations with complacency ; prom- ised to do his claims full justice : and added to these substantial benefits flattering courtesies of a more intoxicating nature. The return of O'Neill, confirmed in all his honours, and the complete acknowledgment of his right to the HISTORY OF IRELAND. 165 Htle and estates of Tyrone immediately after, filled the queen's Irish servants with dismay. The Irish chief, with more loyalty than prudence, proceeded to give the strorgest proof of the sincerity of his alle- giance, by attacking the Hebridean Scots, who had been hitherto his most zealous allies in the wars with the English. O'Neill completely conquered these marauders, and obtained the warmest thanks from the queen as his reward ; but her gratitude was limited to words, and was more than counter- balanced by the jealousy and hatred with which the lords of the Pale regarded this great leader. The services of O'Neill could not be misrepresented ; his conduct defied the strictest scrutiny ; but it was easy to attribute to him evil designs and dangerous inten- tions. The officers of the crown in Ireland were liberal in discovering motives for the most innocent actions of the great northern earl. They sent over countless letters, detailing the dangers to be appre- hended from the revolt which they asserted he medi- tated. His success over the Scots was, in their re- presentations, a mere cloak for treason ; his war against these invaders, a pretext for maintaining an army without suspicion. Worn out by a succession of such messages, Elizabeth at length replied, that " if he revolted, it would be the better for her ser- vants, as there would be estates enough for them all." This memorable answer has often been quoted as an exemplification of the detestable policy subse- quently practised in numerous instances ; namely, to provoke the Irish proprietors to revolt, in order that their estates might be forfeited, and shared among the rapacious retainers of government. Such, how- ever, was not perhaps Elizabeth's design. Though she was indisputably a heartless tyrant, and on more occasions than one openly and atrociously violated toe first principles of justice, it would be too violent 166 HISTORY OF IRELAND. an inference to say that her hasty reply to calm groundless fears and check absurd terrors, was in- tended as a serious avowal of abominable treachery, adopted as a principle of government. But what- ever meaning- the queen affixed to this ill-omened phrase, her servants in Ireland interpreted it in the worst sense. Thenceforward, the hope of acquiring great northern estates became their ruling principle of action, and the commencement of a rebellion the object of their earnest prayers. Sir Henry Sydney, the new lord-deputy, was per- suaded by the council to station a garrison at Derry, in the very heart of O'Neill's country a measure equally unnecessary and insulting. It was unneces- sary, for the country was perfectly tranquil ; and, at all events, the distance of Derry from the Pale made the garrison useless in case of commotion. It was insulting, for it showed O'Neill that he was suspected by the government ; and it besides lowered his dig- nity with his followers, who thought that, having been received into favour by the queen, he had a right to the command of any royal force stationed within his districts. Many modern writers, looking upon the relation between O'Neill and Elizabeth as precisely the same as that which existed between the queen and any PLiglish nobleman, have taken the pains to show that this garrison formed no just ground of complaint. But the Irish chief stood in no such relation. He was a petty prince, and not a feudal baron. The allegiance which he owed the crown was the same as that which the German princes an- ciently gave to the emperor, as may easily be proved by referring to the numerous treaties made at differ- ent times between the O'Nials and the English gov- ernment. As had been foreseen, O'Neill resolved to remove the garrison of Derry at all hazards ; but with his usual policy, he contrived to nnke the English the HISTORY OF IRELAND. 16? aggressors. He led a body of forces before the walls of the garrison, which Randolph the governor im- mediately attacked, but was defeated and slain. O'Neill sent a strong remonstrance to the deputy against this unwarrantable act of hostility, and pro- posed a conference at Dundalk, in order to explain his grievances. But before any amicable arrange- ment could be made, news arrived that the magazine of Derry had been blown up by accident, and the garrison forced to evacuate the town. This event was magnified into a stupendous miracle by some idle fanatics. It was asserted that the holy Kolum- kill, indignant at the profanation of his favourite residence, had sent an enormous wolf, with a blazing brand in her mouth, which she dropped in the church desecrated by the heretics to an arsenal. This monstrous fiction could scarcely have imposed on O'Neill, but it was greedily received by his ignorant followers. Pretended miracles in favour of the Romish religion have been of frequent occurrence in Ireland, and are not quite laid aside at the present day. The writer of this history remembers to have heard of at least a hundred within the last twenty years, which, though to the full as absurd as that of the incendiary wolf, were firmly believed by the lower orders. Inspired either by belief in the miracle, or the confidence which the tale gave his adherents, O'Neill refused to meet the deputy, and openly raised the standard of revolt. His first enterprise was an at- tack upon Ardmagh, which he took by assault, and burned down the cathedral, because it had been pol- luted by the reformed worship. He then devastated Fermanagh, and even ventured to attack Dundalk, but was repulsed with loss and disgrace. O'Neill soon found that the deputy had anticipated the war, and that the emissaries quartered at Derry had been secretly undermining his power, from the first mo- ment of their arrival in his country. O'Donnell of 168 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Tyrconnell and M'Guire of Fermanah were per- suaded lo support the English government; and several inferior septs which had hitherto acknow- ledged his power now refused obedience. Still the gallant chief was undaunted. He sent emissaries to the Earl of Desmond and the chiefs of Connaught, inciting them to revolt; and even despatched agents to the courts of Rome and Spain, requesting them to assist him in restoring the Catholic church of Ire- land. But all his efforts were vain ; he was now fairly in the toils, and escape was impossible. Des- mond, his chief hope, declared for the government, and from abroad there appeared no sign of relief. His faithful followers, surrounded by enemies on all sides, fell gallantly, but fell in vain ; and at last the chief was unwillingly forced to acknowledge that further resistance was useless. He now resolved to surrender himself to the deputy, and throw himself on the mercy of the government. But just as he iVas about to depart, his secretary reminded him of the fate of O'Moore, and recommended him to seek in preference, the protection of his old allies the He- bridean Scots. A large body of these adventurers was now encamped at Clan-hu-boy ; and though they had lately suffered severely from O'Neill's hostility, he trusted that they would aid him against the Eng- lish, their common enemy. Having sent an embassy to Clan-hu-boy, and ob- tained a favourable answer, O'Neill, with a few faith- ful followers, proceeded to the Scottish camp. But an emissary of government had preceded him. Piers, a British officer, a disgrace to his country and his profession, had undertaken the task of persuading the Scottish chief to murder his unsuspecting guest. The desire of revenge united with the thirst of gain in seducing Clan-hu-boy to consent. At an enter- tainment given by an Irish lord, a preconcerted quarrel was raised with some of O'Neill's followers. HISTORY OP IRELAND 169 At a given signal the banqueting-room was filled with soldiers, and all the Irish were slain. O'Neill's head was sent to Dublin, and Piers received a thou- sand marks from the government as a reward foi the murder. The deputy then marched through Ty- rone without meeting any resistance, and nominated a feeble old man tanist of the sept, to prevent the clan from choosing a more efficient leader. Thus terminated the first important civil war after the Reformation. It cannot without a gross abuse of terms be called a rebellion ; and the authors who have chosen to describe it as a religious rebellion are guilty of positive and wanton falsehood. The burning of the cathedral at Ardmagh, the only evi- dence of hostility to the newly established form of religion, was, in O'Neill's circumstances, an act of necessary policy. When his old feudatories and friends were bribed to desertion ; when his allies in the west and south became either neutral or hostile ; when he was left almost alone amid his enemies, the only chance of escape remaining was to obtain aid from abroad. The orthodoxy of the chieftain was more than suspected. Tn fact, he was supposed to have become attached to the principles of the Reform- ation during his visit to England, and to have been deterred from a public acknowledgment of his con- version by a well-grounded fear of losin.tr the confi- dence of his followers, without in the slightest de- gree abating the rancorous and rapacious enmity of the Irish government. He burned the cathedral a< an evidence of his sincerity in the cause of the old religion ; but the Romish party still refused to trust him ; and some of its most violent supporters united with the deputy for his destruction. But though the war against O'Neill had no connexion with religion, ?ither in its cause or progress, its consequences ivere most injurious to the cause of the Reformation. The detestable policy by which their favourite leader was destroyed inspired the Irish with a fierce hatred 1. N 170 HISTORY OF IRELAND. against every English institution, civil and religious. They judged of the new system by its effects ; ana these they found were treachery, robbery, and as- sassination. The lords of the Pale and the other barons ol Norman descent witnessed the destruction of O'Neill with indifference. They little thought that the gov- ernors looked with equal cupidity on the estates of the native Irish, and the extensive domains acquired by the descendants of the early settlers. But they were soon taught that rapacious avarice is indiscrim- inate in its objects ; and that one successful act of treacherous policy soon leads to the commission of another. The vast estates of the Earl of Desmond were not likely to escape the notice of those whom a contemporary justly calls " the hungry vultures that haunted the castle of Dublin." His power, from the union of the privileges both of an English peer and an Irish chief, was viewed by the government with a jealous eye; and the several lords-deputy were offended by the style of haughty independence as- sumed on all occasions by the proud nobleman. His wars with the Butlers were frequent. On one oc- casion he was wounded, made prisoner, and borne by his enemies in a litter from the field. " Where now is the great Earl of Desmond ?" asked the in- sulting victors. " Where, but in his proper place ?" replied the gallant lord, " still upon the necks of the Butlers." Ormond, his great rival, inferior to the Geraldine in wealth, power, and valour, more than atoned for this deficiency by his political skill and superior talents as a courtier. He visited England, and soon insinuated himself into the confidence of the queen. He returned to Dublin, justly believing that the royal favour would more than counter- balance the valour of his rival, or the justice of his claims. The dispute about the boundaries of their several estates was referred to Sydney, the lord- deputy. After a c;ireful investigation he decided in HISTORY OF IRELAND. ,71 favour of Desmond. Ormond appea'ed to the queen, and accused Sydney of partiality. Without the slightest inquiry Elizabeth severely reprimanded the chief governor, and commanded him to examine the case again. Sydney, on the second trial, reversed his former decision, and not only commanded Des mond to restore the disputed lands, but also to re- imburse Ormond for the losses he had sustained. Irritated at such flagrant injustice, Desmond flatly refused obedience; whereupon he was seized by the deputy, and sent a prisoner to Dublin. The earl requested permission to lay his grievances before the queen, which was granted. He proceeded to Lon- don with several Irish lords, who were graciously received ; but Desmond and his brother were, with- out the slightest investigation sent to the Tower, where they were detained as prisoners for several years. It is not surprising that such monstrous tyr- anny should inspire both with an aversion to the English government that ended only with their lives. The murder of O'Neill and the imprisonment of Desmond became the signal for new commotions in Ireland. Sir Edmund Butler, brother to the Earl of Ormond, seized the opportunity of attacking the Gerald ines, now deprived of their head, and dis- tracted by internal dissensions. The Earl of Cian- carty deemed the moment favourable for claiming The sovereignty of Minister, and took up arms for the purpose. Even Tirlough of Tyrone, who had been set up in O'Neill's place, was about to show the usual ambition of his family. In the midst of these disorders Sydney summoned a parliament, and at the same time took very extraordinary pre- caut ; ons to secure a majority. Several members were returned for towns that had never been incor- porated ; not a few of the sheriffs and magistrates returned themselves ; and a number of the depend- ants of the court were nominally elected for places of which they did not even know the name. Tha 172 HISTORY OF IRELAND. latter circumstance is not imparalleled in the modem history of the Irish legislature, if we may credit an anecdote that was publicly related in the Irish par- liament. Shortly before the union, a member for a Munster borough, being in London, wished to hear a debate in the English House of Commons. He pre- sented himself to the doorkeeper, and asked to be shown to the place set apart for Irish members. The doorkeeper asked his name, and the place which he represented. The former query was readily an- swered, but the latter could not meet a reply. " We are obliged to be particular," said the officer, " for Barrington the pickpocket got admittance here some nights since as an Irish member." " Really, I for- get the name of my borough," said this worthy rep- resentative of an independent constituency ; " but if you bring rne the Irish Directory, I will show i to you immediately." Notwithstanding all the care of Sydney, the op- ponents of government constituted a respectable minority, and the loudness of their clamours in some degree compensated for their numerical deficiency. Headed by Sir Edmund Butler and Sir Christopher Barnewal, a gentleman of great legal acquirements, the opposition arraigned the constitution of the par- liament, and expressly denied its competency to pass any single act. The judges were consulted on this important topic, and of course decided in favour of the crown. They were, however, obliged to go to the House of Commons and deliver their opinions in person, before Barnewal and his party could be awed into submission. At length a bill was intro- duced, in the support of which all showed wondrous leal and unanimity. This was an act for the for- feiture of O'Neill's estates, and vesting the property of Tyrone in the crown. The hope of sharing the spoil for once reconciled the English by birth and the English by blood ; and this wholesale confis- cation passed without a dissentient voice. In otlwr HISTORY OF IRELAND. 173 matters the opposition showed less compliance ; and a stormy session, in which much was said and little done, was at length abruptly terminated by an angry prorogation. Sir Edmund Butler returned home, determined to resist the government by every means in his power. Sir Peter Carew laid claim to some lands possessed by this turbulent knight ; and Butler, aware that the law was in favour of his adversary, prepared to de- fend his possessions by force of arms. At the same time the Geraldines of Desmond, enraged at the im- prisonment of the earl, were said to have received a Spanish emissary, and to have united with their mortal enemies the Butlers in preparing a general revolt. Carew was ordered to march against Butler, and immediately put his army in motion. He stormed one of his rival's castles, ravaged his lands, and then, advancing to Kilkenny, took quiet posses- sion of the town. Hearing that a party of Butlers were in the neighbourhood, he marched out and found an unarmed multitude, seemingly collected from mere curiosity. Carew, however, anxious to signalize his valour, assailed the unsuspecting assem- blage, and slew four hundred without the least resistance. This of course was represented by the partisans of government as a glorious victory ; but there were many who denounced it as a barbarous and inhuman carnage. About this time Sir John Perrot began to take a lead in the affairs of Ireland. He was supposed to be the natural son of Henry the Eighth, and he in- herited much of the better parts of that monarch's character. Proud, fiery, and inflexible, he braved every danger and faced every difficulty ; but equally politic and humane, he restrained the rabid appetite for blood which Elizabeth's officers too frequently exhibited. By a judicious exertion of military skill and conciliating measures he reduced the south to 174 HISTORY OF IRELAND. tranquillity, and made Fitz-Maurice the leader of the Geraldines a prisoner. Sir William Fitz-William succeeded Sydney in the government of Ireland. During 1 his administration several grants of the forfeited lands were made by Elizabeth ; but by the acts of her own servants they were all rendered ineffectual. The retainers of gov- ernment thought that, as they had struck down the victim, the spoil should be shared solely among themselves. Elizabeth had no such design. She meditated a project, afterward executed by her suc- cessor, the plantation of Ulster with English colo nies, holding their possessions from the crown by a species of military tenure. The most remarkable adventurer that embarked in this scheme was Wal- ter Devereux Earl of Essex, whose hopes were so sanguine, that he mortgaged his estate to the queen for ten thousand pounds, in order to have sufficient funds for the expedition. Opposed by the inveterate hostility of the native Irish and the secret artifices of the local govern- ment, the Earl of Essex and the other adventurers, after a great waste of blood and treasure, at length began to despair of success. Essex petitioned to be recalled ; but, by the influence of his rival the Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth was persuaded to refuse the request, and the disturbed state of Ireland afforded a sufficient pretext for detaining him in that country. The Earl of Desmond and his brother, who had been transmitted to Dublin, and still detained in custody, made their escape by the connivance of the mayor, and were supposed to be disposed to excite new dis- turbances. The tyranny and cruelty of Sir Edward Fitton, the President of Connaught, had driven the De Burghos into open insurrection, arid the old sept of Mac Murchard began to renew hostilities in Lein- ster. The perfidious conduct of Essex, who mur- dered a chieftain of the O'Neills, after having ireacherously invited him to dinner, increased the HISTORY OF IRELAND. 176 hatred which the northern Irish felt towards the in- truders into their possessions. He was also har- assed by the jealousy of Leicester and by the secret practices of the local government. At length he fell a victim to this combination of perplexities, and died of vexation; though others assert that he was poi- soned by Leicester's a^ent, a suspicion partly con- firmed by the immediate marriage of that nobleman to the Countess of Essex. A. D. 1576. Sir Henry Sydney was again sent to Ireland, at a time when plague and pestilence were added to the calamities under which that wretched country laboured. The deputy, by a vigorous dis- play of power, overawed the discontented m the west and north. On the removal of Perrot, he sent Sir William Drury as president into M mister, trust- ing that his firmness and valour would establish the supremacy of the law in that province. Drury, who had displayed considerable abilities as Governor of Berwick, seems to have been in many respects well calculated for this important office. Unfortunately he laboured under the disadvantage of being wholly ignorant of the usages of the people over whom he had to preside, and, like most of Elizabeth's cour- tiers, was inclined to despise the ancient nobility of the country. The presidentiary courts, from which the present Irish courts of quarter-session are de- rived, were regulated more by the discretion of the president than by established principles of law ; con- sequently, their efficiency and utility depended alto- gether on the personal character of the judge. In Connaught, Sir Edward Fitton had made these courts shocking engines of oppression. In Munster, under the administration of Drury, they were made to contribute essentially to the tranquillity of the country. Edward III. had granted the royalties of Kerry to the Geraldines of Desmond ; and the male- factors, whom the vigour of Drury had driven from other parts of Munster, found refuge in that palati 176 HISTORY OF IRELAND. nate. Drury resolved to disregard all patent rights and vested interests which endangered the public peace ; and declared his intention of proceeding to hold his court in Kerry. Desmond at first remon- strated ; but finding the president obstinate, he con- tented himself with making a formal protest, and in- vited Drury to his house in Tralee. The invitation was accepted ; the president with his train pro- ceeded to Kerry, and was met on his entrance into the district by a large body of the Geraldines, whom Desmond had sent to welcome his arrival. Drury, filled with the suspicions and jealousies of an Eng- lish stranger, mistook these men for enemies ; and without waiting for a moment's parley ordered his soldiers to charge. The Geraldines, without at- tempting the least resistance, fled in utter amaze- ment, leaving the Countess of Desmond to explain the extraordinary incident. Drury had the grace to be ashamed of his suspicions, and harmony was soon restored. fSir Henry Sydney, having thus tranquillized the country, determined to relieve the English govern- ment from some part of the great expenses which the state of Ireland had imposed upon it The tax of purveyance, or a certain supply of provisions for the royal garrisons and the support of the governors table, had been levied irregularly for several years in the English pale. Most of the nobles, however, claimed the privilege of exemption, and threw the entire burden on the labouring classes. Sydney now resolved to convert this occasional subsidy into a permanent revenue, and to levy it equitably on all, somewhat in the manner of a county rate That this was an undue extension of the royal pre- rogative cannot be doubted ; but similar violations of the constitution were not unfrequent during the reigns of the Tuclors, and the measure itself was manifestly equitable and beneficial. The loyalists af the pale, however, cared little for jastice or na- HISTORY OF IRELAND. 177 nonal interests, and resolved to make a determined resistance. They expressly denied the right of the queen or her deputy to levy taxes without the au- thority of Parliament, that is, without their own ; for as yet few, if any, but the proprietors of the pale, had a share in the Irish legislature. The queen was confounded and provoked by this unexpected oppo- sition. The outrageous professions of loyalty made by the lords of the pale, when they wished that their unprincipled aggress%ns on the Irish should be sanctioned by royal authority, were forgotten when the power was to be exercised against them- selves. The passive obedience and non-resistance which they had preached was found to mean nothing more than the support of the royal power when it did not interfere with their own intf rested views. The deputy, however, encouraged by the queen, determined to persevere ; and the proprietors of the pale were equally resolute not to yield. They sent over a deputation to remonstrate with the queen ; and that imperious princess at once threw the agents into prison. Even this spirited proceed- ing failed to humble the factious oligarchy; they persisted in their opposition, and finally triumphed Elizabeth compromised the affair by accepting an apology for the undutiful manner of the remon- strance, and the proposed assessment was laid aside. Thus terminated a transaction which most Irish historians have studiously misrepresented. The advocates of the oligarchy describe it as an unwar- rantable usurpation on the part of the government, which ought to have been vigorously resisted. The few who support the cause of the native Irish pro- fess to see in it a continuation of the systematic tyranny which they attribute to all English rulers. Impartial posterity rejects both, even though both coincide for once in sentiment. The adoption of the measure would have given strength to the gov- 178 HISTORY OF IRELAND. eminent and security to the nation. It would also have circumscribed the power of a factious ascend- ency, whose extravagant privileges were ever op- posed to the justice and benevolence of the prince to the peace and the happiness of the people. The state of Ireland began now to attract the at- tention of foreign nations. The courts of Rome and Madrid, inveterately hostile to Elizabeth, re- ceived with kindness the numerous exiles whom the tyranny of the local government had driven into banishment; and it soon became manifest that new and more formidable calamities impended over that wretched island. The pope had really some plausible grounds of complaint. Ireland had been literally a donation from the holy see to the crown of England; and, up to the reign of Henry VIII., the English monarchs professed to govern the island as deputies to the successors of Saint Peter. So far, then, as law could be supposed to regulate the affairs of nations, Elizabeth had, by her heresy, forfeited her claim to Ireland, and the pope was fully justified in reclaiming the grant. These plausi- ble arguments were so frequently repeated that they began to make a deep impression on the minds of many who had hitherto acquiesced in Elizabeth's supremacy ; and the systematic cruelty and injustice of the local government in Ireland disposed a great part of the people to seek for relief in a change of dynasty, conscious that almost any alteration would be for the better. Fitz-Maurice, one of the Geraldines, having been long detained a prisoner, was at length dismissed without a trial. Inflamed with resentment, he vis- ited successively the courts of Paris, Rome, and Madrid, representing to the several sovereigns the hostility of the Irish to their present rulers, and the ease with v hich the conquest of that island might be effected. In France the adventurer met no en- couragement; at Rome he received promises and HISTORY OF IRELAND. 178 spiritual aids in abundance, but neither men nor money ; and Philip of Spain was too busily engaged in preparing for the conquest of Portugal to lend him any assistance (A. D. 1578). Fitz-Maurice, however, was not discouraged ; he assembled a troop of eighty Spaniards, and with this handful of men determined to invade Ireland. So little was the government prepared for such an attempt that the fleet had been withdrawn from the southern coast, and Sydney allowed to resign the office of deputy to Sir William Drury. The ill-omened expedition arrived safely in the bay of Smerwick, in the county of Kerry ; but scarcely had the invaders landed when their vessels were taken by an English ship of war. The Earl of Desmond positively refused to countenance this insane undertaking; but his brothers were not equally prudent. Sir James and Sir John, with a small troop of their retainers, joined the adventurers. Fitz-Maurice, enraged at the coolness of the earl, pretended to doubt the sincerity of Sir John of Des- mond, and thus induced that turbulent knight to prove his zeal in the cause by an atrocious murder. Henry Davels, an English gentleman, from his well- known attachment to the Geraldines, was supposed to possess considerable influence over the family of Desmond, and was therefore sent by the deputy, on the first news of the invasion, to persuade them to continue their allegiance. He succeeded with the earl, and did not altogether despair of rescuing Sir John from his dangerous enterprise. But while Davels was quietly waiting the effect of his remon- strances in Tralee, Sir John suddenly attacked the house and put all within it to the sword. The invaders were everywhere unsuccessful, and Fitz-Maurice was slain in a petty skirmish with the De Burghos. The lord-deputy advanced into Mun- ster, but unfortunately received a repulse from Sir John Desmond. This disgrace l * T as, however/ 180 HISTORY OF IRELAND. retrieved by Sir Nicholas Malby, who completely overthrew the insurgents near Kilmallock, and pur- sued them with considerable slaughter. Among- the slain was found the body of Allen, a Jesuit, who had a principal share in prevailing on the Geraldines tr. take up arms. The Earl of Desmond was now in z most embarrassing situation. He had taken no share in the insurrection ; he had loudly denounced the atrocities which his brother sanctioned ; but he knew that he was viewed with suspicion and hatred by the local government, and that he could expect no aid from England, where his rival Ormond pos- sessed the unlimited confidence of the queen. No prudence could probably have saved this unfortunate nobleman, whose destruction was long predeter- mined. His professions of loyalty, his complaints of unmerited injuries, were equally disregarded. Sir William Pelham, who had been elected deputy on the death of Drury, sent him a peremptory order to surrender himself a prisoner within twenty days; and on his refusal, war was proclaimed against hirn as a traitor. That Desmond was justified in re- fusing is evident. The political history of Ireland, and especially the state trials in that country, fully exemplify the maxim of honest old Fuller, " It is quarrel and cause enough to bring a sheep that is fat to the shambles." In fact, the partisans of gov- ernment deigned not to disguise that the possessions of Desmond were deemed too extensive for a subject, and that their forfeiture was irrevocably determined. Besides, the earl remembered his former severe im- prisonment, and was naturally disinclined to trust a second time those who had previously treated him v.'ith tyranny and treachery. The war against Desmond was conducted with ferocious cruelty, unsurpassed in the history of mankind. Fire, famine, and slaughter together de- solated the most IV i tile p;irts of Munster. From the savage rage of a relentless soldiery innocence HISTORY OF IRELAND. 181 Airnished no protection. Helpless infancy and tottering age found no mercy. Admiral Winter, with the humanity natural to a British sailor, was shocked by the horrid massacre, and granted protec- tion to a few that escaped to his fleet. Will it be believed that even this partial mercy was denounced by the zealous partisans of government, who would oe satisfied with nothing short of extermination 1 Yes, it must be believed ; for, within the memory of man, the merciful policy of Lord Cornwallis was similarly honoured by the opposition of those who were maddened by a rabid appetite for blood. The unfortunate earl bravely prepared to sell his life as dearly as he could, and made several gallant attacks on his adversaries. In one of these he captured the town of Youghal, and soon after de- feated the Earl of Ormond, who was advancing to succour the town. Yet, from the very beginning, Desmond despaired of final success. He made the most humble tenders of submission and allegiance, which were uniformly rejected. He even offered to surrender to Winter, on condition of being con- veyed to England to plead his cause before the queen, and was sternly refused. The government of Ireland was now transferred to one whose name enjoys a bad pre-eminence in the list of those who rivalled in Europe the barbari- ties of the Spaniards in South America. Arthur Lord Grey superseded Pelham, and hastened, by what he called vigorous efforts, to put an end to the Irish war. His first enterprise was an attack on the sept of the O'Byrnes, who were said to have joined Lord Baltinglass in alliance with the Geral- dhies, and to have formed a camp within twenty-five miles of Dublin. The station chosen by the in- surgents was in the midst of those wild and romantic valleys in the county of Wicklow which are now o often visited by the admirers of sublime scenery. 182 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Their principal station was Glendalough,* where the massive ruins of seven churches attest the, for- *er piety and civilization of Ireland. Here, se- t-ured by rock and mountain, and lake and morass, a numerous force collected, unable, indeed, to meet even a detachment of regular troops in the field, but strong enough to defy myriads in their fastnesses. The officers, experienced in the Irish wars, vainly remonstrated with the deputy when commanded to attack this impregnable position ; but they were answered with reproach and insult, and an imme- diate assault was ordered. The soldiers advanced through ground which became more difficult with every step, and at length were entangled in a bog between two wooded hills, where it became impos- sible to preserve any longer the semblance of order. While thus confused and broken, they were sud- denly exposed to a murderous fire, that opened at once on front, flank, and rear, from the woods and rocks that skirted the ravine. No exertion of the officers could save this devoted army. They were cut off almost to a man. A miserable remnant * For details regarding the present state of Glendalough the reader may refer to the woiks of tourists, and road-books ; but whoever would become Mxjuamted with its early history, and the splendour of its city and sacred edifices, must consult Lertwich's valuable "Antiquities of Ireland," Dublin. 1790. It appears, that so early as the ninth century a large and ]x>pulous city of undefined rrm<: lovely valley ; that wealth flowed in it aburida did, in riches and votive offerings, and co object of plunder to the piratical freebooters o fell to decay that, according to a letter still ext O'Ruardan, Archbishop of Tuam. to 1'opn Inno hack it had become a den and nest of thieves a murders were committed in that valley than i i licence existed in this itly; but abounding, as iseqnently becoming an f the north, it so rapidly nt, addressed in 1214 by ent III., " 1'or forty years id robbers, so that moro any other place in Ire- land, occasioned by the waste and desert solitude thereof." The seven churches, the ruins of which are still visible, seem to have been erected at different periods, and are unquestionably of great antiquity. Their names are, 1. the Abbey; 2. the Cathedral; 3. St. Kevin's Kitchen, 4. Teampall na Skellig; 5. Our Lady's Church; fi. Trinity Church ; and, 7. Ivy Church. These interesting ruins are situated in the barony of liallynaeor, about twenty-two miles south of Dublin, and eleven torth-wt'Bt of Wicklow. HISTORY OF IRELAND. 183 escaped to the lord-deputy, who returned to Dublin covered with shame and confusion. This severe repulse bitterly enraged the deputy, and probably rendered his hatred of the Irish insur- gents more inveterate. To retrieve his fame, he re- solved to bring the Desmond war to a speedy con- clusion, and made instant preparations for a march to Minister. His proceedings were accelerated by alarming intelligence. He learned that a body ot' Spaniards, seven hundred strong, had landed in Minister ; that they brought with them arms for five thousand men, and a considerable sum of money, which they were directed to place at the disposal of the Ear3 of Desmond, and Saunders, a Jesuit who had taken a part in the former expedition. The forces of the Spaniards were miserably inadequate ; and, as they had been sent without previous concert, the Irish were unprepared for their reception. Scarcely had the foreigners landed when they were attacked by the Earl of Ormond. He, indeed, ob- tained only a slight advantage ; but he was still able DO hold them in check until the coming up of the royal forces from Dublin. At this critical moment Admiral Winter arrived on the coast; and the Spaniards were blockaded in the intrenchment, which they had named Golden Fort, by sea and land. It is uncertain whether the garrison finally surrendered on terms or at discretion. The atrocity that followed is in either case inexcusable. Grey ordered the whole to be butchered; and his orders were executed in the spirit that they were given. There are two names mixed up with this detestable transaction among the proudest in the annals of English literature, and the highest in the records of fame, Sir Walter Raleigh and Edmund Spenser. It is with feelings of pain for the degradation of human nature that we see Raleigh presiding at the ruthless massacre, and Spenser, who was Grey's 184 HISTORY OF IRELAND. secretary, sharing in the counsels by which it was sanctioned, and subsequently writing in its vindi- cation. The news of this revolting butchery excited the indignation of all Europe, and raised an outcry against the English government, which Elizabeth was forced to allay by declaring her public displea- sure against the perpetrators ; but as they were all continued in office, her anger was manifestly a mere hollow pretence. The war with Desmond if, in- deed, the name of war could be given to a systematic career of devastation and cruelty that met no resist- ance was continued; and efforts were made to en- large the expected forfeitures, by involving all the Catholic proprietors in the guilt of pretended rebel- lion. Raleigh distinguished himself in the south by insulting those who dared not resist, and seizing on the persons of men whose wealth formed their only crime. Among other heroic exploits, we find him taking the Lord Roche by surprise, and dragging him to Cork, whence, after a painful imprisonment, he was dismissed, after having satisfactorily established his innocence. Grey's proceedings in Leinster were still more enormous. He seized Nugent, a baron of the exchequer, the Earl of Kildare, Lord Delvin, and others, on a charge of conspiracy, and hastened to bring them to trial Nugent was the only victim. To be accused and convicted were long synonymous terms in Iiish courts of law; and Nugent was found guilty, on evidence which no historian has yet ven- tured to pronounce worthy of credit. His execution followed with indecent precipitation ; and the retain- ers of government themselves were ashamed of the outrageous conduct of the deputy. Kildare, his son Lord Ofally, and his son-in-law Lord Delvin were sent for trial to England. The charges brought against them were disproved to the satisfaction of even the jealous Elizabeth. She pronounced them acouitted not only of the guilt, but of the very BUS- HISTORY OF IRELAND. 185 picion of disloyalty. The outcry against Grey's military cruelties and judicial murders became now too loud to be disregarded. The acquittal of Kildare, the principal, as was asserted, in the pretended con- spiracy, proved the innocence of Nugent and the others who had been executed as accessaries. The people of England, always just when their passions and prejudices are not artificially roused, joined in the clamour ; and the Continental nations repeated the accounts of the barbarities and butcheries per- petrated in Ireland. The queen at length yielded to these representations. She was assured, with truth, that, in consequence of Grey's tyranny, little re- mained for her to rule over in Munster but ashes and carcasses. Moved by pity or policy, she recalled her deputy, appointed Loftus, Archbishop of Dublin, and Sir Henry Wallop, the treasurer, lords-jus- tices ; and offered pardon to all insurgents who would lay down their arms. But before this, the Desmond war was finished. The miscreant Sir John Desmond fell in battle. Saunders perished by famine in i miserable hovel, where his body was found mangled by wild beasts ; and the hapless old earl had become "A hunted wanderer on the wild." A. D. 1583. Ormond, with disgraceful zeal, con- tinued to pursue his old rival, and chased him from all his miserable retreats. At length he was reduced to such straits that there was reason to dread that he and his small train would perish by famine. Two horsemen and a few kernes seized on some cattle to supply the necessities of their old master. They were unfortunately watched by the owner, and r,hased by a party of English soldiers. It was even- ing when the pursuers came to the opening of a wooded valley, where they resolved to halt. Sud- denly they saw a light in a small hut. at a distance, and, supposing thatlhey had discovered a party of 186 HISTORY OF IRELAND. rebels, they cautiously advanced under the guidance of Kelly of Morierta, a man of Irish race. On enter- ing the hovel, they found in it only one old man of a venerable aspect, but exhausted by famine and fa- tigue, stretched languidly before the expiring embers Kelly struck and wounded him. " Spare me," he exclaimed, "I am the Ivarl of Desmond!" Kelly repeated his blow, and the aged nobleman was slain. His head was sent to Ormond, by whom it was for warded to the queen, a fit present for such a sove- reign, and by her direction it was impaled on London Bridge. Thus fell the head of the eldest branch of the Ge- raldines; a family which, during four centuries, had held the chief power in Minister, and had frequently proved too strong to be governed. The whole course of the detestable policy by which the catas- trophe was effected was perfectly consistent. He was driven against his will into rebellion by the subtle malignity of Ormond, and others envious of his power, and desirous of his estates. The war against him was marked by every cruelty and ou'- rage which could disgrace human nature; and the tranquillity thus effected was continuity of desolation and the stillness of the grave : " They made a solitude, ami callad it peace." CHAPTER XI. Tkt Mmmittratinn. of Sir John Perrot A. D. 1584. SIR JOHN I'I:RKOT, who had given such satisfaction as president, of Minister, was sent over as chief governor to Ireland. No appointment could have been more judicious. fTis character was not HISTORY Of IRELAND. 187 sullied by the craft of Sydney, or the cruelty of Groy ; in abilities he was superior to both; and, unlike either, his integrity was unquestionable. He was the first governor, since the days of Duke Richard, \vtio attempted to conciliate the native Irish by im- partial justice ; and the success which attended the experiment proves how easily might England have conciliated the affections of that ardent race. The first act of his administration was to publish a general amnesty, and to issue a strict prohibition against the outrages and spoliations of the soldiers, too often encouraged by their commanders. The youthful son of the unfortunate Desmond, who had been given into his hands by his followers, he sent over to England, in order that he might receive an education suitable to his rank. The Desmond estates amounted to six hundred thousand acres ; and it was necessary to summon a parliament, in order that this vast property should be vested in the crown. A host of hungry expect- ants eagerly waited the event, hoping that rich es- tates would reward the crimes which had brought about the confiscation. Perrot soon proved that he had not learned Sydney's art of constructing an obe- dient parliament. There was no secret interference with the elections ; and an independent House of Commons, fairly representing the people, was iv> turned. In this assembly we find, for the first time, several of the original Irish families joined in de- liberation with the settlers of the Pale. Cavan was represented by two of the ancient house of O'Reilly O'Brien was returned for Clare; the county of Down sent Sir Hugh Macgennis ; John MacBrien was member for Antrim ; and the representatives of Longford were the O'Ferghals or O'Ferrals. In the Upper House sat two bishops, professed Roman Ca- tholics, from the sees of Clogher and Raphoe, over which Elizabeth had as yet exercised no control 188 HISTORY OF IRELAND. and Turlough, the nominal head of the O'Nials, took nis seat as Earl of Tyrone. Never did any government meet a more hostile legislature. The suspension of Poynings's Law, now an ordinary mark of confidence in a new chief gov- ernor, was refused ; thirteen bills, transmitted from England, were rejected ; the ordinary subsidies were withheld ; and two acts, of trifling importance, con- cluded the labours of the session. The cause of this spirit, so totally unparalleled in the annals of Irish legislation, was the general horror which the iniqui- tous proceedings against the Earl of Desmond had occasioned. The great lords of English descent, that had cheered the bloodhounds to run down. O'Neill, were alarmed by the destruction of the greatest of their own party, and felt sympathy for the fate of one connected with most of them by marriage or by blood. The massacres and devasta- tions in Munster excited the indignation of many who had been previously attached to the govern- ment. They saw the country placed at the mercy of bankrupt adventurers and a licentious soldiery, whose excesses had been encouraged, rather than controlled. The policy of exciting rebellions, in order to reward the retainers of the Castle by con- fiscation, had been openly avowed. And, finally, the barbarous system of crushing the resources, lest, if cultivated, they might enable that country to rival England, or perhaps attain independence, had been zealously advocated in the English parliament. The members of the Irish legislature have frequently been deaf to the claims of justice and patriotism, but never blind to their own private interest. They saw or thought they saw, measures taken for their de- struction, and therefore met the government with the most obstinate resistance. Perrot, aware that the opposition had too good grounds for suspicion and complaint, showed neither HISTORY OF IRELAND. 189 surprise nor resentment at the defeat of his measures He diligently applied himself to the improvement of the country, and trusted that his actions would give the best evidence of his claims to confidence. His first care was to assure all parties of protection in person and property ; to administer justice without regard to sect or party; and to reform the gros? abuses that had been encouraged by his predeces- sors. His scheme was crowned with success. The native Irish, conciliated by an appearance of equal government, vied with each other in expressions of loyalty and allegiance. The lords of the Pale laid aside their sullenness, and crowded to the court of the deputy ; the feuds between the barons were sus pended ; and an opportunity was apparently offered of removing at once, and for ever, the intolerable load of evil which had been accumulating for cen- turies. But Perrot found his wise schemes counteracted in the very quarters where he naturally looked for support. Elizabeth was just in as bad a humour as her Irish parliament, and refused to furnish her deputy with men or money. She even yielded to the secret whispers of the malevolent, and received the news of his popularity with suspicion. The creatures of the late government still held their offices in the castle. Nurtured in corrupt practices, they naturally detested an equitable administration, and laboured, not wholly without success, to coun- teract the wise and liberal measures of the lord- deputy. Nor are we to be surprised at this state of affairs. Within our own memory, Ireland has exhibited the strange scene of a conciliating gov- ernment checked, controlled, and insulted by its own underlings, who formed a cabal which the nominal executive wanted either the spirit or the power to break up. Unfortunately, Perrot added the church to the number of his enemies, by pro- posing a scheme which evinced more wisdom and 190 HISTORY OF IRELAND. generosity than prudence. Conceivingthat one cathe- dral was quite sufficient for Dublin, he proposed that the other should be converted into a university, and its revenues employed for the diffusion of education. Loftus, the archbishop, immediately became, not only Perrot's political opponent, but his bitter and violent enemy. The most wicked perversions of his svords and actions were transmitted to England. Even the most audacious forgeries were framed 3ne, a pretended complaint from Turlough O'Neill, which the old chieftain denounced by a solemn em- bassy to Elizabeth. The second and more mis- chievous, was a pretended protection granted to a Romish priest, in which the deputy was made to issume the style of a sovereign. It was easy to ;xpose these abominable frauds; but it was impos- ible to remove the jealous suspicions with which hey filled the mind of Elizabeth. Thenceforward she treated Perrot with mortifying coldness, and leglected the advice of the only honest servant she ever employed in Ireland. She employed Fenton, the under-secretary of state, as a spy upon his ac- tions ; and found this functionary anxious to fulfil his duties in such an honourable situation. The popularity of Perrot was fully proved in the second session of the Irish parliament. The bills for the regulation of public affairs, and the raising of necessary supplies were passed almost unani- mously ; but the forfeiture of the Desmond property was still resisted. At length, after a fierce struggle, acts were passed for the attainder of the deceased vord, and one hundred and forty of his associates, all of whose immense estates were vested in the crown. The great object which Elizabeth's ministers had so long pursued, was now attained. An opportunity was offered for planting, as it w;-s called, an English colony in Ireland. The needy followers of court, the younger brothers of noble families, and Driven HISTORY OF IRELAND. 191 hirers of more questionable description, were in. vited to become undertakers, as those who received grants were called. The lands were granted at a nominal rent, on the condition that the undertakers should let them to none but English tenants; should support garrisons on the frontiers of the province ; and should not permit any of the native Irish to settle on their estates. A portion of the property was also granted to some of the Geraldines ; and a very considerable share of it was seized by the re- tainers of the local government, who well knew the means of resisting the royal rights without in- curring the penalties of rebellion. The scheme of the plantation totally failed. The undertakers scandalously violated their contracts. They, as others of the same class before and since have done, preferred the Irish serf to the independent freeholder ; and the opportunity of introducing an orderly middle class into Ireland, which Eliza- beth had acquired at the expense of so much blood, was lost by the venality of her unprincipled ser- vants. The confiscation in Minister proved as ruin- ous to the power and interest of the crown as it was iniquitous in itself. The new proprietors, sud- denly raised to wealth and station from comparative insignificance, disregarded the royal authority ; and, being supported by the local government, were en- abled to indulge in excesses and outrages with im- punity. The jealousy of Elizabeth induced her to limit the power of Perrot, by giving the privy council a control over his proceedings. The loss of his in fluence was soon felt. Bingham, the president of Connaught, by exct-ssive tyranny, drove the De Burghos to revolt; and, when censured for his cruelty by the deputy, pleaded the old excuse of state necessity. The disturbance was quelled, not without some barbarous murders, which Perrot was unable to prevert ; and the queen's officers, no 192 HISTORY OF IRELAND. longer dreading the deputy, fleeced and persecuted '.'he unfortunate Irish with fresh severity. The agents of Rome and Spain took advantage of this unwise policy to spread among the nation a deter- mined hostility to the English, and a desire to be placed under the protection of his Catholic majesty. But during the administration of Perrot, the great bulk of the native Irish clergy remained loyal, and successfully counteracted the machinations of the foreigners. The news of these secret proceedings greatly alarmed Elizabeth. She was even induced to make an effort to conciliate her Irish subjects : and, with her usual promptitude, at once acted on her resolu- tion. By the patent of Henry VIII. the succession to the earldom of Tyrone, and chieftainry of Hy- Niall, had been granted to Matthew Lord Dungan- non, and his heirs. Hugh, the eldest son of the baron, had been educated in England, and had served with great eclat in the royal army. His valour, ac- tivity, and skill had been commemorated by several generals, and his fidelity proved in the long war against Desmond. He petitioned for permission to take his seat in the Lords as Earl of Tyrone, and also the restoration of his estates. The first re- quest was readily granted by Perrot ; for the second, he was referred to the queen in person. Hugh O'Neill appeared at the court of England, not like his uncle John, as an Irish chief, but as an accom- plished courtier, versed in all the politeness of the age. His easy manners, his superior information, and his winning address, delighted a queen never blind to such accomplishments. She treated him with the greatest partiality, and finally granted him the ancient possessions of his family. Nothing could exceed the rage and disappoint- ment of the faction that directed the Irish govern- ment when they received the intelligence of this event. Little did they dream, when opposing the HISTORY OF IRELAND. 193 plantation of Ulster, that, instead of securing es- tates for themselves, they were only preserving for O'Neill the inheritance of his ancestors. They felt like ravenous beasts whose prey is rent from their jaws, and were unable to control some indiscreet displays of their vexation. Their malice soon found vent in calumny ; and Elizabeth, ever prone to jealousy, lent too ready an ear to their insinua- tions. She had ordered O'Neill to raise six com- panies for the defence of Ulster. It was reported, that by continually changing his soldiers, he was training the entire province to arms. She had directed him to build a house in the English fashion, suited to his rank; it was asserted that the lead which he purchased for the battlements was de- signed to form bullets. She requested him to use his influence over the neighbouring chieftains foi the maintenance of tranquillity. His exertions for the purpose were stigmatized as a direct assump- tion of royal authority. O'Neill disregarded these plots while Perrot continued to hold the reins of power; but his administration was fast drawing to a close. Almost his last act of government was the only one which cast a shade upon his character. On the reported defection of the chieftain of Tyr- connel, he procured a ship disguised as a Spanish vessel laden with wine. By his orders, the captain proceeded to the coast of Tyrconnel, invited the chieftain's son to come on board to taste his wines; and, as soon as he stepped on the deck, made him a prisoner, and conveyed him to Dublin, where he was detained as a hostage for his father's fidelity Shortly after Perrot was permitted to resign, he assured the queen that he could govern her Irish subjects without difficulty, but that no power could control her English servants. Before his departure, he assembled most of the Irish lords, explained to them the dangers that menaced the country from a Spanish invasion, and exhorted them to preserve I. P 194 HISTORY OF IRELAND. their allegiance. By this affectionate remonstrance, a great number were melted almost to tears, and all faithfully promised to observe his advice. He re- signed the sword of state to Sir William Fitz- Wil- liam, declaring that he left the kingdom in peace, and that even as a private man, he would engage to quell any disturbance in twenty days, without vio- lence or contest. The day on which this meritori- ous governor embarked, displayed a scene which, unfortunately, is not without a parallel in the annals of Ireland. It was a day of national mourning, in which the native Irish and the English settlers joined, with the exception of the official plunderers, whose rapacity he had restrained. Vast crowds accompanied him to the water-side, whose shouts in his praise were mingled with lamentations for his loss; and not the least interesting figure of the group was old Turlough of Tirowen, whose grief for the departure of his protector was inconsolable CHAPTER Xll. The War against Hugh CTJfeiU. THE judicious administration of Sir John Perrot had given to Ireland unusual peace and prosperity. The conduct of his successor produced a new train of calamities and crimes, whose consequences are scarcely yet effaced. Sir William Fitz- William had but one object in view, his own private emolument; and in pursuit of this lie disregarded the very ap- pearances of justice and decency. After the defeat of that Armada which Philip of Spain had proudly named Invincible, several of the ships were wrecked on the noithern and north-western coasts of Ireland. HISTORY OF IRELAND. 195 Reports were circulated that these vessels contained enormous wealth, and that the Irish chieftains were secreting the treasures which ought to enrich the state. Blinded by avarice, Fitz-William, without examining the accuracy of the intelligence, seized Sir Owen Mac-Toole and Sir John O'Dogherty, on suspicion of having concealed these supposed stores, and consigned them to a painful imprison- ment, which lasted for several years. This unjust severity towards two gentlemen conspicuous for their zealous loyalty, revived the jealous hatred of the English government, which Perrot had so hap- pily suppressed. O'Neill, who had long been aware of the antipathy of the local governments, resolved to anticipate the danger ; and, without waiting for the deputy's license, presented himself at the court of Elizabeth. Here he was accused by one of his relatives, a natural son of John O'Neill, of having entered into a secret alliance with the Spaniards, and endeavoured to form a general confederacy against tl>e English. These calumnies were easily refuted : and Elizabeth, persuaded of O'Neill's in- tegrity, dismissed him with marks of confidence and favour. About the same time, several hostages of the northern lords, who were detained as prison- ers in Dublin, nu.de their escape, as was suspected, by the secret connivance of the deputy. They were hotly pursued. Hugh O'Donnel, whose sei- zure by Perrot has been already mentioned, and one of the O'Neills, sought refuge among the septs in the vicinity of the capital. The season was un- commonly rigorous, the power of the government justly dreaded, and the friends on whom the young noblemen relied, too weak or too cowardly to afford them protection. AfU-r some days, their pursuers found them in a miserable hovel, where young O'Neill was expiring of famine, and O'Donnel de- prived of the use of his limbs by cold and fatigue. The latter was brought, to Dublin, where his health 196 HISTORY OF IRELAND. was finally restored ; but his hatred of the govern- ment which had subjected him to such misery be- came, for the future, a fixed principle of action. A still more atrocious outrage increased the hos- tility of the Irish. Fitz-William, under pretence of settling some disputed claims to property, marched into Monaghan, the territory of a chief named Mac- Mahon, and arrested that lord on a charge of trea- son. The accusation was, that he had two years before, employed a military force to collect his rents an offence pronounced treasonable within the limits of the English jurisdiction, but which was no unusual practice in Monaghan and other districts beyond the Pale. For this pretended crime Mac- Mahon was tried by a jury of common soldiers, found guilty, and, to his utter astonishment, ordered to be immediately executed. This judicial murder was followed by the immediate forfeiture of the chieftain's lands, which were shared between the unprincipled Fitz-William and Sir Henry Bagnal, his worthy associate. O'Neill viewed with just alarm this infamous transaction, and began secretly to prepare for a struggle which he knew could not much longer be averted. His marriage with Bagnal's sister had procured him the bitter enmity of that powerful officer; and this unnatural hatred was manifested by a pertinacious system of misrepresentation at the English court, which soon revived the natural jealousy of Elizabeth. The prudence and political wisdom of O'Neill enabled him to baffle the artifices of his insidious enemies ; and he soon gave a proof of his loyalty too unequivocal to be misrepresented or denied. MacGuire, the chieftain of Fermanagh, had been guilty of some outrages which the deputy determined to chastise ; and Bairnal was ordered to lead an army against him. O'Neill immediately brought his forces to aid his mortal enemy against his kinsman. He rescued Bagnal from the dangers HISTORY OF IRELAND. 197 uito which he had been brought by his presumption and was severely wounded in a successful battle which he fought against his countrymen. His ene- mies were for a time disconcerted by this bold proof of loyalty, and their crafty insinuations were for a season silenced or disregarded. About this time the University of Dublin was founded. The suppressed monastery of All- hallows, which stood at a short distance from the city gate, was assigned by Elizabeth for the site of the new college ; and by the strenuous exertions of those to whom the care of the new institution was intrusted, it soon obtained considerable eminence and prosperity. Fitz- William was succeeded in the government of Ireland by Sir John Russell, son to the Duke of Bedford. O'Neill presented himself to the new deputy, but found himself unable to efface the un- favourable impressions which the slanders of Bag- nal and his other enemies had produced. The ex- pediency of arresting the chief was debated at the council board, and negatived by a small majority. O'Neill soon learned his danger, and fled to his own country with the utmost precipitation. Hugh O'Donnel, soon after his escape from Dub- lin, married the daughter of O'Neill, and about the same time succeeded his father as tanist at Tyrcon nel. Irritated by his unmerited sufferings, he took up arms against his sovereign, and prevailed on several other septs, particularly the degenerate De Burghos, to follow his example. The situation of O'Neill was now in the highest degree embarrass- ing; his countrymen unanimously invited him to become their leader in war: the royal officers were resolved to discredit his sincere anxiety for peace ; the perfidy and treachery of the Irish government was so notorious that it would have been madness to place any confidence in it ; and his letters to England were interceoted b" 1 ' the malignant vigilance 198 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of Bagnal. Driven forward by such a combination of circumstances, O'Neill, after a long and anxious delay, took the decisive step of attacking the Eng- lish garrison stationed at a fort called lilackwater. On the first news of these hostilities, a force ol two thousand veterans was sent into Ireland; and soon after Sir John Norri.s, a general of approved skill and valour, was appointed to take the com- mand of the army. O'Neill, dreading the chances of civil war, wrote to the general, detailing his grievances, and the arts by which he was driven to revolt. Bagnal, as before, intercepted some of the letters; but others reached their destination, and led to a general conference. The Irish chiefs de- tailed their grievances in simple but forcible terms. Morris, who was an honest as well as an able man, was convinced of the injustice which had driven them to arms, and zealously laboured to effect a negotiation. The arrangement of a treaty was protracted to a very unusual length, and was not (infrequently interrupted by renewed hostilities. In fact, with the single exception of Norris, none of the parties sincerely laboured for peace. The Irish lords were now conscious of their strength. The successes they had already obtained were sufficiently r decisive to inspire confidence, and they had received many promises of assistance from Spain. The (fiioers of the Irish government were eager to en- nrh themselves by now confiscations, and threw every obstacle in the way of an equitable adjust- ment. The Earl of Tyrone's judicious question, in fact, showed that a reconcilement was scarcely possible. "Though," said O'Neill, "I might safely .nake peace with men of honour, like Norris and Russell, what security have I for the character and conduct of their successors'?" The little progress made by Norris in subduing the Irish, created equal disappointment and displea- sure in England. The statesmen of Elizabeth's HISTORY OF IRELAND. 199 court made no allowances for the difficulties of a country where a defensible military position may be found at every mile ; where morasses and forests, and rocxs and mountains, baffled the valour and dis- cipline of the invaders. The Earl of Essex, Eliza- beth's prime favourite, was also personally opposed to Norris. By his influence, both the general and the deputy were deprived of their power, and his partisan, Lord Burgh, invested both with the civil and military authority. Norris retired to his presi- dency, where he died of a broken heart, in con- sequence of the unmerited stain cast upon his reputation. The career of Lord Burgh was brief and disas- trous. He hoped to acquire fame and fortune by a vigorous prosecution of the war, and by his activity to prove the culpable negligence of which Norris was accused. He collected his forces with extreme diligence ; he summoned the lords of the Pale to attend his standard ; and advanced towards Ulster with a power apparently sufficient to bear down all opposition. O'Neill, on his part, displayed equal industry, and greater skill. He sent Tyrrel, his lieutenant, to rouse the septs in Connaught, while he collected all his partisans in Ulster. Tyrrel ob- tained some signal advantages. He defeated and captured the son of Lord Trimblestown, while leading his father's vassals to the assistance of the deputy; and he forced Sir Conyers Clifford, who headed another reinforcement to make a calamitous retreat. Lord Burgh, undaunted by these reverses, boldly attacked Tyrone in his lines near Armagh, and, after a fierce fight, drove the Irish from their intrench- ments. O'Neill retired to another and better position, which the English inconsiderately assailed. They were defeated ; and Lord Burgh, with the flower of his army, fell in the conflict. The command devolved on Kildare, who was disinclined to make any new 200 HISTORY OF IRELAND. effort. Indeed, the earl did not long retain his post : he died of grief for the loss of his two foster- brothers, who were slain in rescuing him from the enemy. The civil administration was now committed to Archbishop Loftus, and Gardiner the lord chan- cellor, while Orrnond was intrusted with the com- mand of the army. To this lord O'Neill made overtures for an accommodation, and a new treaty was commenced. The object of Tyrone in this negotiation, was manifestly only to gain time, for the double purpose of recruiting his own strength, and wearing out the patience of his opponents. When his preparations were complete, he threw off the mask, summoned to his aid the sept of the O'Donnels, and that clan of the De Burghos which bore the name of Mac William, boldly declared his independence, and laid close siege to the fort of Blackwater. Bagnal was ordered to relieve the place ; and the armies of two generals, nearly con- nected by marriage, and yet animated with more than mortal enmity, met near Armagh. The forces on both sides were nearly equal. The English pos- sessed superior advantages in arms and discipline ; the Irish were animated by a fiercer spirit, and had a more skilful commander. In the heat of the en- gagement, an explosion of some gunpowder threw 'the royalists into confusion ; at the same time Bag- nal, while raising his beaver was shot through the brain. The victory of the Irish was decisive ; fifteen hundred of the royal soldiers, and many Ctf their best officers, fell. Thirty-four standards, all the ar- tillery, arms, and ammunition remained in the pos- session of the conquerors. The bravery of O'Reilly, an Irish chieftain attached to the royal cause, alone saved the army from annihilation. He covered the retreat with a body of his own clan, and was ably assisted by Montague, the commander of the English cavalry. The fort of BJackwater was immediately HISTORY OF IRELAND. 201 surrendered, and the town of Armagh abandoned by the royal garrison. This great victory was apparently decisive. The flame of insurrection spread rapidly through the west and south. The Irish who had been deprived of their lands, with one accord attacked the under- takers, and drove them from their settlements The O'Moores in Leinster, the remnant of the Geraldines in Munster, the Irish septs in Kerry, were all in arms. The English everywhere sought refuge in the fortified towns on the east coast, and dared not move beyond their walls. O'Neill made every use of his advantages; he reconciled old feuds, allayed former animosities, and gave to the Irish septs a degree of union and combination which they never before had possessed. He also sent ambassadors to the Spanish court, earnestly entreating Philip to send him effective assistance. Elizabeth was now really alarmed. The base sycophants whose avarice and cruelty had driven the Irish into insurrection stood aghast at the con- sequences. Reports arrived that Philip was pre- paring two immense armaments, one to invade Eng- land, and the other to aid O'Neill in Ireland. It became manifest that without great and speedy exertion the queen would irretrievably lose the fairest possession of the crown. She acted on this trying occasion with her usual promptitude. She sent into the country an army of twenty thousand men, commanded by the Earl of Essex, esteemed the most gallant soldier of the age. Essex received the title of lord-lieutenant, and more ample powers than the caution of Elizabeth had hitherto permitted her to confer on a subject. It is not easy to discover the real motives that im- pelled the unfortunate earl to seek this fatal com- mand. Probably he expected a cheap victory, and hoped that military glory would increase his ascend- ency over the mind of his fond mistress. His 203 HISTORY OF IRELAND friends and enemies alike were eager to hurry hw departure ; the former, in delusive anticipation of triumph ; the latter, more wisely calculating on the diminution of his influence by his absence from court, and on the probable effects of his presumptuous folly in rousing the jealous anger of Elizabeth. The news of the arriv;W of such an immense ar- mament did not diminish the confidence of O'Neill and his supporters. They waited with stern indif- ference the proceedings of the lord-lieutenant, and determined to wear him down by a tedious defensive war. There is reason to believe that a part of the Irish privy council had engaged in the service of the enemies of Essex in the English cabinet ; at all events, their persuasions precipitated his ruin. In- stead of marching into Ulster, and bringing O'Neill at once to a decisive engagement, he marched south- ward to an exhausted country, where his troops were wasted by fatigue and famine. The Irish avoided any decisive battle, but obtained several ad- vantages over detached parties. The cavalry, in their passage through Leix, suffered severely from an attack of the O'Moores ; and such was the quan- tity of feathers lost by the brilliant corps, that the Irish named the place of action the Pass of Plumes. The O'Byrnes of Le'mster, with inferior forces, se- verely and shamefully defeated another division of the army ; and Essex could only show his vexation by decimating the unfortunate soldiers, and cashier- ing the officers. Elizabeth, who had expected rapid success from the well-known valour of her favourite, was irritated by the news of these reverses. She answered his letters, detailing plans of pacification, with severe reprimands, and could with difficulty be persuaded to grant him a reinforcement. The gallant earl's despatches evince equal benevolence and political wisdom. He earnestly presses on the cabinet the necessity of conciliation and concession, and solicits HISTORY OF IRELAND. 203 their attention to the interests of the people. The answer to all his state-papers was a peremptory order to march into the north. While the earl was advancing through Ulster Sir Conyers Clifford, who led an army to his assistance, full into an ambuscade, contrived by O'Ruarc, in Connaught, and was slain. His army suffered only a trifling loss ; but the soldiers were so dispirited that they retreated to their garrison. Essex ad- vanced to the banks of the Blackwater ; but O'Neill had, by this time, learned the character of his oppo- nent, and determined to open a negotiation. The earl willingly lent an ear to the flattering and sub missive messages of the crafty chief, and granted him the favour of a personal interview. The two generals led their armies to the opposite banks of the river, and then rode to a neighbouring ford. Scarcely had the feet of the lord-lieutenant's charger touched the water, when O'Neill spurred his horse through the stream, while the water rose above his saddle, and crossed over to pay his respects. This union of a delicate compliment and generous con- fidence completely won the noble soul of Essex. He at once entered into an animated conversation with the Irish chieftain, and rode with him along the banks of the river in the sight of the wondering ar- mies. Their private conference lasted a long time, and speculation has been busy in guessing at the subjects they discussed. It is probable that O'Neill, well acquainted with the intrigues of the English court, called the attention of Essex to the machina- tions of his enemies, and promised to assist in their overthrow. Finally, the officers of both armies were summoned, and, in their presence, O'Neill, having stated the grievances by which he was driven to revolt, proposed terms of accommodation. A truce for six weeks was established, in order to afford time for the due consideration of the several 204 HISTORY OF IRELAND. articles ; and the royal army returned to their quar- ters in Leinster. The indignation of Elizabeth at this strange ter- mination of a campaign from which she had ex- pected so much was violent. She wrote a severe letter to the lord-lieutenant, reprobating- his conduct in no measured terms. Essex at first meditated the insane project of leading the flower of his army into England, and forcing his way to the royal presence ; but, being dissuaded by his friends, he adopted a course scarcely less pernicious ; and, resigning his power to two lords-justices, departed to England alone. The rest of his tragical story is known to the readers of English history. We must return to he affairs of Ireland. Ormond, who had been appointed to the command of the army, wished to maintain the peace with O'Neill ; but that chief was no longer disinclined to war. He had lately received assurances of assist- ance from Spain. The pope incited him to continue steadfast in the support of the Catholic faith ; and sent him a sacred plume, which the holy father gravely asserted was composed of the feathers of a phenix ! A war of petty skirmishes, interrupted by truces which neither party regarded, continued for some time ; and in some of these little encounters Sir Warham Saint Leger and Sir T. Norris, the ablest of the English officers, were slain. A. D. 1590. Blount Lord Montjoy was appointed by the queen to the hazardous post of lord-lieutenant of Ireland. His military skill and political know- ledge were adorned by the rarer graces of literature ; und O'Neill, who regarded these accomplishments as a mark of effeminacy, is said to have expressed his pleasure at the appointment of a general " who would lose the season of action while his breakfast was preparing." The chief soon learned by expe- rience that a taste for refinement is by no means inconsistent with the most vigorous exertion. Mont- HISTORY OF IRELAND. 205 joy was assisted by several men of great abilities in the inferior departments of government, among whom the Earl of Ormond and Sir George Carew, president of Munster, were the most conspicuous. The war recommenced with great activity, but no decisive action was fought. O'Neill, with consum- mate ability, avoided every attempt to force him to a general engagement, and broke through the hostile lines when attempts were made to blockade his troops. The lord-lieutenant suspected that some of the Irish lords secretly supplied the insurgents with information ; and a strange event made him believe that Ormond was the traitor. When Sir George Carew was proceeding to his presidency in Munster, he was invited by the Earl of Ormond to attend a conference with O'Moore, who had made proposals of submission. Carew and the Earl of Thomond wished that they should be attended by a sufficient guard, but Ormond steadfastly refused to take more than seventeen. The place of meeting was in the vicinity of a wood, behind which O'Moore had stationed a numerous band, in addition to a large body of pikemen by whom he was openly escorted. During the discussion, O'Moore's followers gradually advanced, while Carew in vain warned Ormond of his danger ; at length they seized the earl, but Carew and Thomond escaped by the swiftness of their horses. Ormond was long detained a prisoner; for Montjoy rejected the terms of ransom offered by O'Moore. They were sufficiently exorbitant to justify this refusal, even if the deputy was not se- cretly pleased with the removal of a nobleman whom he regarded as the rival of his power. The system of war pursued by Montjoy and Ca- rew was that which had been found so efficacious in destroying the Earl of Desmond. Bribes were offered to the inferior chiefs for desertion. Rivals were encouraged to assail the claims of those tanists who still adhered to O'Neill. The houses were de- 206 HISTORY OF mELAND. stroyed, the cornfields consumed, fire and famine were once more brought to the aid of slaughter. Carevv was more merciless in establishing this cruel system than Montjoy. He was naturally cruel and rapacious, a deliberate encourager of treachery, and not ashamed to avow and defend perfidy and assassi- nation. When any of the insurgent leaders, broken by calamity, sued for permission to return to his allegiance, Carew granted pardon only on the con- dition that the offender should prove his new zeal for the royal service by murdering- a friend or rela- tive ; and this detestable practice he vindicates in his writings as wise and sound policy. Devastation greatly reduced O'Neill's strength. His adversaries derived their supplies from England ; his resources were destroyed when his own fields were wasted. Still he bravely continued the war, relying on the promised aid of the Spaniards, and stimulated by the numerous emissaries of Rome, who exhorted him to perseverance. He was besides well aware that the late submissions to the govern- ment were hollow and insincere, especially as no provision was made for the removal of the grievances which had caused the insurrection. Grievous ex- actions were made from the proprietors of land. Jurors were packed in the most open and shameful manner. Innocent persons were executed some- times without the formality of a trial, or, when that was granted, by the verdict of a tribunal whose forms were a cruel mockery. The penal laws against re- cusants were enforced, and English settlers drove the natives from their land without the pretence of' a claim. The knowledge of these circumstances induced O'Neill to persevere, though lie knew that his chances of final success were diminishing' every hour with fearful rapidity. In Minister, Sir George Carew had reduced the most powerful septs, and gained possession of the persons of several chiefs. To one of these, who was loud in his professions of HISTORY OF IRELAND. 207 loyalty, Carew put the question, "What if the Spaniards should arrive ?" The Irish lord candidly answered, " In that case, do not confide in me, nor in any of the lords who seem most devoted to your service." The long-expected succours from Spain at length appeared ; but the English had sufficient warning, and were prepared for their reception. The expedi- tion was altogether the worst planned and worst executed ever sent by a blundering government. It had been delayed too long. Its preparation was made so openly that one would suppose observation had been courted. It was miserable in amount ; and its leader was wretchedly incompetent. Don Juan d'Aquila, to whom Philip had intrusted a small fleet and two thousand men, with the most inconceivable folly determined to land in the south of Ireland, while Tyrone, to whose assistance he had come, was shut up in the extreme north. Scarcely had he landed, when he personally insulted O'Sullivan Beare, the first toparch who offered him assistance ; and thus at once disgusted the southern septs. To add to his confusion, Carew and Montjoy, having collected a powerful army, invested Kinsale, and pushed the siege with vigour. O'Neill was not a little perplexed by the awkward situation of the Spaniards. A march through an exhausted country, in the depth of a severe winter, and with forces already disheartened by calamity, was an enterprise full of danger. On the other hand, it was clear that Don Juan, unless speedily relieved, would be forced to surrender. The Spaniard was already disgusted with the expedition ; and, while he answered the summons of Montjoy with ridicu- lous gasconade, he sent the most urgent and angry letters to O'Neill and O'Donnel, soliciting their aid. The march of the Irish army sufficiently proves the ability of the leaders, and the zeal of their followers. Notwithstanding the difficulties of the country, tJioy 208 HISTORY OF IRELAND. advanced with their baggage and artillery at the rate of forty miles a day ; and, by their extraordinary ce- lerity, baffled the lord-president, who marched to in- tercept them. Nearly at the time that O'Neill arrived before Kinsale, a second Spanish armament reached the Bay of Baltimore, and were enthusiastically re- ceived by the neighbouring septs. Several that had hitherto preserved their allegiance now took up arms, and O'Neill was thus enabled to blockade the lord- lieutenant in his camp. Montjoy's army was thus placed in a most perilous situation ; they were at once besiegers and besieged ; their supplies from the country were cut off; and the sea, which the British fleet kept open to them, was still a precarious ground of confidence. In fact, nothing was necessary for the complete ruin of an army on which the fate of a kingdom depended, but that Tyrone should remain quietly in the position he had selected. O'Neill knew his advantages well, and could not be tempted, by all the arts of the British leader, to quit his in- trenchments ; but the presumptuous Spaniard was eager to exhibit his valour in a pitched battle. Montjoy, having discovered by his spies the feel- ings of Don Juan, made use of the most ingenious artifices to increase his daring. He sent pretended deserters into the town, who described the English army as reduced to a shocking state of disorganiza- tion ; and asserted that the soldiers were so worn down with fatigue and famine as to be incapable of aft effective resistance. Don Juan wrote the most pressing letters to O'Neill, urging him to crush the English at once, and promising to aid him by a sally from the town. O'Neill continued to re- fuse ; but the chiefs by whom he was supported joined in the solicitations of the Spaniard, and an unwilling assent was at length wrung from the gal- .ant chieftain. It was resolved to attack the English camp by night. The spies revealed the plan to Montjoy, HISTORY OF IRELAND. 209 and he made his preparations accordingly. The moment that O'Neill saw the English lines, he knew that he was betrayed. On the instant he determined to change his plan of action ; but his orders were misunderstood by a portion of the troops, and his lines were thus broken. The Earl of Clanricarde, and Wingfield, marshal of the horse, precipitated their cavalry through this fatal gap, and the fate of the battle was decided. O'Neill made several des- perate efforts to retrieve the fortune of the day ; but he was badly seconded by the other leaders, and forced at length to fly. O'Donnel, who commanded the rear, made no attempt at resistance, but fled without striking a blow. The carnage was dreadful. No quarter was given, except to a few of the Span- iards ; and the Irish lords who were made prisoners were hanged the morning after the action. O'NeilJ wished to persuade his followers to resume their former station, or to try the chances of a second battle ; but their spirits were effectually broken, and they almost unanimously resolved to return home. Don Juan now offered to capitulate, and terms of surrender were proposed. Like a true Spaniard, he raised numberless scruples on trifling points of etiquette, but neglected matters of greater import- ance. Montjoy, whose interest it was to terminate the war as speedily as possible, made some sacrifices to Castilian pride, and obtained quiet possession of the castles garrisoned by the Spaniards. O'Sullivan, an Irish chieftain of some note, was by no means satisfied with this arrangement. He turned the Spaniards out of his castle at Dunboy, garrisoned it with his own followers, and resolved on an obsti- nate defence. The strength of the castle severely taxed the ingenuity of the general and the valour of his soldiers. At length a lodtrment was effected on the walls, but the garrison refused to yield. They fought the besiegers from room to room ; and when 1.-Q 210 HISTORY OF IRELAND. at last driven to the cellar, the governor made a desperate, but fortunately a vain attempt to blow up victors and vanquished, by plunging a torch into a barrel of gunpowder. The war in Munster was now virtually over. The principal Irish lords that escaped the sword rted to Spain, where their descendants still may be found. O'Sullivan Beare refused to become an exile ; and, collecting the remnant of the southern insurgents, maintained a predatory warfare undei cover of the western bogs and mountains. This hopeless contest was attended by a horrid waste of life, for both parties invariably murdered their pris- oners. O'Sullivan was finally reduced to such straits by the vigour of Carew that he resolved to force his way into Ulster, and unite his shattered troops with those of Tyrone. Carew sent a strong body of light troops to harass the fugitives; but, mad- dened by despair, they turned on their pursuers, and boldly gave them battle. The Irish suffered severely in the contest ; but not a single Englishman escaped. The war of desolation was now renewed in the north ; and O'Neill saw, every day, his bravest fol- lowers perishing by the slow and painful death of famine. His hopes from Spain were gone ; his allies were either exiles, or had purchased precarious safety by submission ; and his proud heart was humbled by witnessing calamities which he could not avert, and misery he was unable to relieve. He offered terms of accommodation, which Montjoy as readily accepted. Elizabeth was now on her death- bed ; and the enormities which she had sanctioned in Ireland weighed heavily on her conscience. She now endeavoured to make some tardy reparation. Orders were issued to restore Sir Finin O'Uriscol to his estate in Carbery, and to make peace with O'Neill on easy terms. As O'Driscol did not happen to be particularly formidable, the Irish privy counc-J HISTORY OF IRELAND. 211 first evaded, and then openly disobeyed the royal command ; but the name of O'Neill was still dreaded, and terms of peace were arranged. Before the news of this pacification could be sent to England, the intelligence of the queen's death was received. O'Neill, on hearing of it, burst into a passion of tears. The cause he assigned for this unusual emo- tion was regret for the death of a princess whose personal kindness he had requited by ingratitude. It is more probable that he grieved for having lost the opportunity of making his return to allegiance a personal compliment to the new sovereign. The imperfect subjugation of Ireland cost Eliza beth more than three millions sterling, and an in- calculable number of her bravest soldiers. The un- fortunate country was reduced to a desert ; and at least one-half of the population perished by famine or the sword. The submission purchased at this tremendous cost could not be sincere or permanent; and the system to which Elizabeth trusted for secu- rity manifestly increased the perils of her govern- ment. To extirpate the ancient nobility, and to divide their estates among the minions of the Eng- lish and Irish courts, was avowedly the object of several successive administrations ; and in pursuit of that object, the common principles of justice and humanity were flagrantly outraged. The under- takers were, in general, unprincipled adventurers, who showed no gratitude to the c r own, and no mercy to the country ; they were faithless subjects and cruel masters. The great body of the peasantry hated them as intruders, and despised them as up- starts ; nor was their conduct such as to diminish either feeling. Situated as Ireland was, the ancient aristocracy might easily have been made the bond of union between the people and the sovereign. Time would have broken up overgrown estates, and the ordinary progress of events ameliorated the feudal system ; but when the nobles were sacrificed to a 212 HISTORY OF IRELAND. faction, all the links of society were broken, and i .v eminent deprived of the natural means of introducing improvements. An additional danger resulted from the numbers of the Irish nobility who, when driven into exile, fled to the Continent, and obtained em- ployment in the armies of France and Spain. They never resigned the hope of returning to their country, and recovering in a new struggle the estates of which they had been plundered. The commerce and trade of the country was ar.- nihilated by these protracted contests. The finances were so dilapidated, that they were inadequate to the ordinary expenses of the government. Eliza- beth, in her distress, proceeded to debase the coin an expedient which of course only multiplied the difficulties. Religion could not bo expected to possess much influence amid the incessant din of arms. It was, to use the language of an old divine, "in everybody's mouth, and in nobody's heart." Efforts were made by many partisans of the government and by the papal emissaries to give the struggle the character of a religious war ; but they signally failed. Many of Elizabeth's bravest soldiers were bigoted Catholics, and yet they never for a moment swerved from their allegiance. Desmond, the leader in the second great war, notoriously offered to profess the reformed re- ligion if his estates could be secured ; and Hugh O'Neill was so openly regardless of disputed doc- trines, that his profession of anxiety to defend the true faith was hailed with shouts of ridicule by all parties. " Hang thee," said the Earl of Essex, with equal humour and truth, "thou talkest of a free ex- ercise of religion ! thou carest as much for religion as mv horse !" HISTORY OF IRELAND. 213 CHAPTER XIII The Reign of James I THE accession of James I. caused no little anxiety among all parties in Ireland. His real character was nnknown to the leaders of the English interest: the Irish Catholics believed that in him they would find a patron and a friend. They argued that the son of Mary Queen of Scots, who had died a martyr to the faith, would not long continue to support heresy ; and acting on this mistaken notion, they forthwith, in defiance of law, proceeded to establish the public exercise of the Romish religion. The cities of Mun- ster were the foremost in this incautious display ; and the lord-lieutenant immediately marched south- ward to crush this dangerous spirit. When Mont- joy arrived before Waterford, he was met by a depu- tation of the citizens, accompanied by two monks, eager to exhibit their skill in argumentative oratory. The ecclesiastics pleaded the crime of proclaiming as king an enemy to the faith. The citizens showed a charter of King John, by which Waterford was excused from quartering soldiers. Montjoy silenced the monks by detecting them in a misquotation from St. Austin ; and terrified the citizens by threatening, if the gates were not instantly opened, that "he would cut asunder the charter of King John with the sword of King James !" Such reasoning was ir- resistible ; the city at once yielded ; and in a few days Clonrnel and Cashel imitated the example. Cork showed rather more obstinacy ; but it surren- dered after a short siege, and a few of the leaders were executed. The last act of Montjoy's government was one 214 HISTORY OF IRELAND. that confers deserved honour on his name. He pub lished an act of general oblivion and indemnity for all offences committed before his majesty's acces sion : and he received under the protection of the British law the whole body of the Irish peasantry, who had been hitherto left at the absolute disposal of their chieftains. Montjoy appointed Sir George Carew his deputy, and returned to England, accom- panied by Hugh O'Neill and Roderick O'Donnel. The king received both the chieftains very gra- ciously. He confirmed O'Neill in his title of Ty- rone and all his honours and estates. He revived, in favour of O'Donnel, the dormant title of Tyrcon- nel. The Irish lords returned to Ireland, but were soon destined to experience, a second time, how frail a defence was afforded by the protection of the sovereign, against the inveterate hostility of the fac- tion that monopolized the local government. Sir Arthur Chichester, the new lord-lieutenant, laboured strenuously to accomplish the great work of introducing the system of English law, which his predecessor had begun. The customs of tanistry and gavelkind were declared illegal; the tenures of land modelled after the English form ; the division of the island into counties completed; and the cir- cuits of the judges permanently established. Un- fortunately, the good effects of these beneficial mea- sures were more than counterbalanced by the revival of the penal code, which Sir Arthur Chichester ad- ministered witli a vigour beyond the law. The king was a vain and contemptible pedant, proud of his talents as a theologian, and seriously persuaded that his pen ought to be sufficient for the conversion of a people. Chichester, his lieutenant, was cruel and avaricious. His great anxiety was to make a for- tune, and we shall soon see how perfectly he suc- ceeded. The punishment of recusants at this time was the more strange as James was more than sus- pected of a secret attachment to the Romish doc- HISTORY OF IRELAND. 218 trines. It was equally impolitic and unjust, for the Irish had no choice ; they must either have adopted the Catholic religion or none, as they were wholly destitute of Protestant instructers. The act of Elizabeth inflicted a pecuniary fine on recusants. Chichester added deprivation of office and imprison merit. The Catholics of the Pale humbly remon strated against these illegal hardships. Chichester, unable to confute their arguments, sent the remon- strants to prison likewise. In the midst of the confusion occasioned by these proceedings, the hearts of the local functionaries were delighted by the news of a plot. The dis- covery of what is usually called Gunpowder Trea- son, and the real nature of the conspiracy formed by Catesby, Percy, and Guy Fawkes, are problems of which the solution is not yet quite complete. The accounts published by royal authority are obscure and perplexed in the extreme ; the statements made by the counsel for the crown on the trials are not borne out by the evidence ; and the witnesses do not seem to have been the persons who could have given the best information. Still there can be no doubt of the existence of this atrocious conspiracy, though all the details are uncertain. The account given by Dryden of another plot is much more applicable to this : " Succeeding times did equal folly call, Believing nothing, or believing all." The Irish privy council felt, or pretended, a great alarm when they received the news of the danger to which the king had been exposed. With much more reason the Catholic lords were filled with con- sternation; for the crime was unhesitatingly ascribed to all the professors of the Romish religion. A let- ter was dropped in the council-chamber, darkly hint- ing that there was a plot formed by the Irish Ca- tholic lords against the state. No names were 216 HISTORV OF IRELAND. mentioned, no particulars given; and yet the local government at once fixed upon the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel as the agents of this pretended con- spiracy. Both these lords were certainly discon- tented. They knew that they were viewed with jealousy and hostility by the officers of state; and they were conscious that they had frequently, in conversation, uttered sentiments which might easily he distorted into proofs of disaffection. They had learned, by bitter experience, in a former leign, that the Irish government was not very scrupulous in the use of means for increasing confiscations; and as they were wholly unprepared for resistance, they fled to the Continent. Strange it is that grave his- torians should quote their flight, an undeniable proof of their innocence, as an evidence of their guilt. Had any such conspiracy existed, O'Neill, who had before maintained a brave war against Elizabeth, would have been prepared with forces sufficient for his defence, and perhaps powerful enough to peril the security of the state. But he was totally desti- tute of soldiers, money, arms, or ammunition, for he had entertained no thoughts of war. In his case, innocence was weakness, and consequently ruin. It has been asked, " Why then did he not stand his trial ?" He might have answered, as another unfor- tunate Irish exile did in a similar case, " What chance would a fat goose have before a jury of foxes '?" Those who have looked into those records of guilt and oppression, the State Trials, and espe- cially those of Ireland, will entertain no doubt of what the event would have been if he had appeared before the royal court. The charge for hiring wit- nesses was long in Ireland one of the ordinary ex- penses of the civil government. The name of O'Xeill was well known on the Con- tinent; and in every Kuropeau nation the treatment he had received became a subject of reproach against England. James, in consequence, published a prof HISTORY OF IRELAND. 217 tarnation, unfortunately too long for insertion, as it is a curiosity in its way, stating in general terms the guilt of the fugitive earls. This document, which contains nothing hut vague and genera] rharges, mixed with no small share of personal abuse, served only to prove that the king's injustice could neither be excused nor defended. Sir Cahir O'IDogherty, another chieftain of the north, took up arms under circumstances that seem to prove his insanity. He was easily crushed, and his immense estates added to the forfeitures of Tyrone and Tyrconnel. The confiscations thus made by James included the six counties of Tyrconnel, now called Donegal, Tyrone, Derry, Fermanagh, Cavan, and Armagh, containing more than half a million of acres. The king, without paying any regard to the rights of the occupants, determined to settle in these districts colonies from England and Scotland, and to drive the actual inhabitants into the woods and moun- tains. This iniquitous scheme is wholly inexcusable. The Irish chiefs possessed the sovereignty but not the property of the soil : consequently, the guilt of O'Neill and O'Donnel, though ever so clearly proved, could not affect the rights of their feudato- ries, who were not even accused of treason. The English law of forfeiture, in itself sufficiently unjust, never declared that the interests of innocent tenants should be sacrificed for the rebellion of the landlord ; it only placed the king in the place of him whose property had been forfeited, and left all the relations of the tenantry unaltered. Yet were all the actual holders of land in these devoted districts dispos- sessed without even the shadow of a pretence; and this abominable wickedness is eulogized by many even at the present day as the very consummation of political wisdom ! The scheme of plantation devised by James sur- passed v hat of his predecessor. The lands were di- i. K 218 HISTORY OF IRELAND. vided into portions of two thousand, fifteen hundred, and one thousand acres, according to the capacity of the undertake) s. They were bound to sublet only to English tenants ; to give these secure leases on equitable terms; to erect houses after the English fashion; and to adopt the English system of agricul- ture. They were strictly prohibited from giving land to the mere Irish, or to such persons as refused the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. The com- panies in the city of London obtained very large grants as undertakers ; and it is but justice to add, that their estates are, and long have been, the best managed in Ireland. Few complaints would be made of absenteeism, if the estates of all absentees were managed with so much attention to the comforts of the tenantry and the general welfare of the country as those of the London companies. In the com- mencement of the plantation their conduct was, however, far different; they openly, and almost avowedly, violated every part of their contract ; they acted entirely by agents, in whose selection little care was taken; and they permitted them to exhaust, in private emolument, resources of which they were slow in learning the value. The order of baronetage was instituted by James; and this title was curiously connected with the plan- tation of Ulster. The number of baronets was limited to two hundred; and each who received the dignity was forced to pay to the crown a sum suf- ficient to support thirty men for the space of three years, in order to defend the new settlement. The money was never applied to this purpose, but was wasted in the riotous extravagance of the royai household. Sir Arthur Chichester, the great contriver of this extensive scheme of spoliation, received as a reward the territory of I:iisho\ven and the greater part of the estates "that ha. I belonged to Sir Cahir O'Dog- herty. It ^'a* manifestly o 1 ' importance to have this HISTORY OF IRELAND 2l9 extensive transfer of property secured by legislative enactment ; and for this purpose it was resolved to summon a parliament, for the first time during a space of twenty-seven years. There was every rea- son to dread that the government would encounter a vigorous opposition if the members of the Lower House were fairly elected ; for the illegal violence of Chichester, his rigorous exclusion of recusants from office, and his determination to continue the penalties for refusing to attend the established wor- ship, had excited universal alarm among the lords of the Pale as well as the native Irish. To provide against this danger James created forty boroughs at once. Created is the proper term ; for, in the great majority of them, it would have been difficult to dis- cover the town or village which was thus suddenly incorporated. Even those places which had some- thing more than nominal existence received charters full of blunders and inconsistencies, which placed the result of the elections at the discretion of the returning officers. A. D. 1613. Notwithstanding all these precau- tions, the recusants mustered in great strength, and made a public entry into Dublin, with numerous trains of attendants and retainers. The Upper House con- sisted of sixteen barons, five viscounts, four earls, and twenty-five spiritual peers. As the prelates were unanimous in the support of government, and were supported by a majority of the temporal peers, the influence of the crown in the Upper House was irresistible. Parties were more nearly balanced in the House of Commons, and both eagerly embraced the first opportunity of trying their strength in the ei-iction of a speaker. The friends of the court pro- posed the attorney-general, Sir John Davies; and the country party nominated Sir John Everard, a law- yer of a respectable family, and equally eminent for his ability and integrity. After a long time had been wasted in violent altercation, the courtiers called foi 220 HISTORY OF IRELAND. i division. It was agreed that the ayes, or support ers of Davies, should go out, and the noes 'emain The votes were, for Sir John Davies 127 for Su John Everard 97. But the election was not decided immediately by this vote. A scene took place pre- viously, so utterly absurd that we can with difficulty bring ourselves to believe that any such could have taken place in a deliberative assembly. No soonei had the ayes withdrawn, than the recusants voted themselves the House of Commons by acclamation, and unanimously called on Sir John Everard to take the chair. When the government party returned they were equally surprised and indignant at the trick. They attempted to pull Everard from the chair, but failing in this effort, they placed Sir John Davies in his lap. This only added to the confusion. A disgraceful tumult followed, which at last termi- nated in the retirement of the recusants, who pro- tested against the entire constitution and proceed- ings of the parliament, as informal and illegal. The recusant lords in the Upper House imitated this example. A convention of all who had with- drawn was formed, and a deputation chosen to pre- sent a remonstrance to the king. The lord-lieu- tenant, on the other hand, sent over the Earl of Thomond, the chief-justice of the King's Bench, and the lord-treasurer, to defend the Irish govern ment. Both parties were heard before the king iu council; and James, as might easily have been fore- seen, decided in favour of his servants. He fa- voured the remonstrants with a lecture on the pater nal kindness of his government, in his own peculia. 1 yle of eloquence ; and ended with a threat of pun- >htnent for their late hardihood, and a promise 01 favour if they made atonement by future sub- Tiission. The country party, though still powerful, made no further opposition. The bills for ratifying the attain tiers of O'Neill, O'Donnel, and O'Dogherty were HISTORY OF IRELAND. 221 passed unanimously, and a subsidy was granted to the king with great alacrity ; for the rival factions eagerly Bought to claim the exclusive merit of the grant. The success of the northern plantation gave James a taste for confiscations, \\ Inch the Irish officers of the crown were eager to encourage. .All their inge- nuity was not, however, equal to the invention of a new plot; they therefore devised a scheme more certain in its effects, and more glaringly iniquitous. This was the " commission for the discovery of de- fective titles;" at the head of which was placed Sir William Parsons, an unprincipled adventurer, on whom craft and crime has conferred an unenviable notoriety. During the long civil wars that had de- vastated the island in the preceding reigns, and espe- cially the last, property had been in a state of con- stant fluctuation. Deeds were lost documents de- stroyed feudal services left unperformed and rents to the crown unpaid. By taking advantage of these circumstances the king obtained the forfeiture of an- other half million of acres. A class of informers, called discoverers, was regularly employed by the officers of the crown to search out defective titles. They were rewarded by grants of concealed lands belonging to the crown ; and the king was interested in their support, by the hope of an advanced rent, or a heavy composition. The united avarice and prodi- gality of the king thus induced him to make his ad- ministration nothing better than a system of robbery ; but his officers in Ireland went far beyond their master in iniquity, and plundered with strict impar- tiality the loyal and the suspected, the opponents of Lhe government, and those who had been taken under the protection of the crown. One case may be quoted as a specimen of Irish justice in those days. Bryan and Turlogh Byrne were the rightful owners of a tract in Leinster, called the Ranelaghs. Its vicinity to the capital made it a 222 HISTORY OF IRELAND. desirable plunder; and accordingly Parsons, Lori Esmond, and some others determined that it should be forfeited. The Byrnes, however, had powerful in'erest in England, and obtained a patent grant of their lands from the king. Parsons and Esmond were not to be disappointed so easily. They flatly refused to pass the royal grant ; and deeming the de- struction of the Byrnes necessary to their safety, they had them arrested on a charge of treason. The witnesses provided to support the charge were Duffe, whom Turlogh Byrne, as a justice of the peace, had sent to prison for cow-stealing, MacArt and Mac- Griffin, two notorious thieves, and a farmer named Archer. This last long resisted the attempts to force him to become a perjured witness; and his ob- stinacy was punished by the most horrible tortures. He was burned in the fleshy parts of the body with hot irons; placed on a gridiron over a charcoal fire; and, finally, flogged until nature could support him no longer, and he promised to swear any thing that the commissioners pleased. Bills of indictment were presented to two successive grand juries in the county of Carlow, and at once ignored, as the sub- orned witnesses were unworthy of credit, and con- tradicted themselves and each other. For this oppo- sition to the will of government, the jurors were sum- moned to the Star-chamber in Dublin, and heavily fined. The witnesses MacArt and MacGriffin,being no longer useful, were given up to the vengeance of the law. They were hanged for robbery at Kilkenny ; and with their dying breath declared the innocence of the Byrnes. The ingenuity of Parsons and his accomplices was not yet exhausted. The Byrnes presented them- selves before the court of King's Bench in Dublin, to answer any charge that might be brought against them. No prosecutor appeared, and yet the chief- justice refused to grant their discharge. During two years, repeated orders were transmitted from HISTORY OF IRELAND. 229 England, directing that the Byrnes should be freed from further process, and restored to their estates but the faction in the Castle evaded and disobeyed every mandate. At length, on learning that the Duke of Richmond, the generous patron of the persecuted Irishmen, was dead, it was determined by Parsons to complete the destruction of the victims. He had before been baffled by the integrity of a grand jury ; on this occasion he took proper precautions to pre- vent a similar disappointment. The bills were sent before the grand jurors of Wicklow the majority of whom had obtained grants of the Byrne property, and all were intimately connected with the prose- cutors. The evidence placed before this impartial body was the depositions of four criminals, who were pardoned on condition of giving evidence ; but even these wretches were not brought in person be- fore the jury. Their depositions were taken in Irish by one of the prosecutors, and translated by one of his creatures. These suspicious documents, how- ever, proved sufficient, and the bills were found. To procure additional evidence, it was necessary to use expedients still more atrocious. A number of persons were seized, and subjected to the mock- ery of trial by martial law, though the regular courts were sitting. The most horrid tortures were in- flicted on those who refused to accuse the Byrnes ; and some of the most obstinate were punished with death. But the firmness of the victims presented obstacles which were not overcome before some vir- tuous Englishmen represented the affair so strongly to the king that he was shamed into interference He sent, over commissioners from England to inves- tigate the entire affair. The Byrnes were brought before them, and honourably acquitted. Their lives were thus saved ; but Parsons had previously con- trived to obtain a great portion of their estates by patent, and was permitted to keep them undisturbed. This narrative, which has been rather softened .a 224 HISTORY OF IRELAND. its horrible details, may appear to many too shock- ing to be believed ; but all the documents connected with it are still preserved in the library of the Dublin University, and it is circumstantially related by Carte, an historian remarkable for his hostility to the Irish. Neither have the worst parts of the transaction been without a parallel in more modern times. Evidence obtained by indiscriminate torture was used for the destruction of individuals whose political sentiments were adverse to those of the dominant faction, at a period not yet removed beyond the memory of man. The local government of Ireland, during the re- mainder of this disgraceful reign, was in every re- spect consonant to the specimen already given. Mar- tial law was proclaimed in times of peace ; refrac- tory witnesses were tortured; obstinate jurors fined and imprisoned ; the ecclesiastical courts became in- struments of intolerable oppression ; the judges of the land were cruel, venal, and profligate. Pecula- tion pervaded every office of the state ; the army mouldered away, for the commanders were mem- bers of the privy council, and voted themselves the pay for full companies, while the number of soldiers actually employed scarcely exceeded one-third of those entered on the returns ; and such was the ex- tent of public plunder, that the annual charge of the government exceeded by sixteen thousand pounds the annual revenue of the kingdom. The rapacity of the discoverers, and the avarice of the monarch were still unsatisfied; and a new scheme of confiscation was devised, which, if put into execution, would have forfeited the entire prov- ide of Connaught. During the reign of Elizabeth, the lords and gentry of this province had surren- dered their lands to Sir John Perrot, and received them back as grants from the queen. Having neglected the enrolment of their patents, they again surrendered them to James, and paid a sum of three thousand pounds to have them enrolled. The offi HISTORY OF IRELAND. 226 wrs of the court of chancery, from negligence or ome other more culpable motive, omitted this form ; and the king, at the close of his reign, pre- pared to take advantage of this clerical error, and seize on Connaught as he had on Ulster. The pro prietors were filled with consternation at this alarm ing project, and immediately prepared to avert the blow. They knew that it would be useless to appeal to the king's justice, his honour, or his humanity ' out they were aware that he was greedy and neces- sitous, and therefore tendered him a bribe of ten thousand pounds. While James hesitated between the temptation of this sum in hand and a larger in prospect, he was seized with mortal illness, and died, bequeathing to his son three kingdoms filled with internal discord, and involved in external wars, from which neither honour nor profit could oe derived. CHAPTER XIV. From the Accession of Charles I. to the Commencement of the great Civil War in Ulster. THERE never was a time in which the spirit of religious fanaticism was more fierce and intolerant, .han the period to which we have now arrived. In England and Scotland, the Episcopalians and the Puritans were violently opposed ; in Ireland, the Protestant and Catholic interests were guided by the fiercest animosity. The Catholics received jvith the utmost reverence, a bull from Pope Urban VIII., in which his holiness asserted, that the oath >f supremacy "wrested the sceptre of the Catholic church from the hand of the Almighty." The P x>t- 226 HISTORY OF IRELAND. estant prelates, headed by Archbishop Usher, pub- lished a declaration, stating that those who tolerated popery were " guilty of a grievous sin, and rendered themselves accessory to idolatry, abomination, and the perdition of souls, which perished in the deluge of Catholic apostacy." The political condition of Ireland was still more perplexing. The faction which had hitherto ruled the country had squandered the revenue, neglected the defences, and exhausted the resources of the nation. In Ulster, the original inhabitants, deprived of their lands, supported a miserable existence in mountains and remote dis- tricts, waiting patiently for a favourable time when the possessions of which they had been despoiled might be recovered. The unprincipled attempt of the late king to seize on all the lands in Connaught spread great alarm among all the old proprietors of Irish estates. There was no tenure sufficiently se- cure to resist the arts of the discoverers, especially when the officers of state and the judges of the realm had joined in their alliance. Much, however, was to be hoped from a new sovereign; and the Catholic recusants, then forming an overwhelming majority of the Irish proprietary, joined by several Protestants of rank, held a meeting in Dublin to propose measures for tranquillizing the country. A. D. 1628. The entire proceedings of this as- sembly were marked by wisdom and moderation. They drew up a number of articles in the nature of a bill of rights, to which they humbly solicited the royal assent, and promised that, on their oeing granted, they would raise a voluntary assessment of one hundred thousand pounds for the use of the crown. The principal articles in these Graces, as they are called, were provisions for the security of property, the due administration of justice, the pre- vention of military exactions, the freedom of trade, the better regulation of the clergy, and the restrain- HISTORY OF IRELAND. 227 Ing* of the tyranny of the ecclesiastical courts. Finally, they provided, that the Scots who had been planted in Ulster, should be secured in their posse' sions, and a general pardon granted for all offences. It is manifest, that these articles were not only founded in equity, but in policy ; that they were we,l calculated to tranquillize the nation, by securing the blessings of good government ; and that a sovereign possessing the least spark of wisdom or beneficence, ought gladly to have seized so splendid an oppor tunity of restoring peace and prosperity to his dis- tracted subjects. It is but just to add, that Charles seemed impressed by the reasonableness of the pro- posals made by his Irish subjects ; his heart was not naturally bad, but he was weak and wavering. A clamour was raised by the faction of the ascend- ency in Ireland, and echoed by the Puritans in England, that these Graces were exclusively designed tor the benefit of the Catholics ; Charles became alarmed, and in an evil hour yielded to the treacher- ous advice of Strafford. With detestable duplicity he accepted the proffered money, while he secretly resolved that the promised Graces should never be granted. A technical informality in the writs for summoning parliament served as an excuse for de- laying the Graces during the administration of Lord Falkland. When he departed, the sword was com- mitted to two lords-justices, Loftus the chancellor, and Richard Earl of Cork. They were said to be disinclined to concession, and their unwillingness was made a pretence for further delay. At length the government was transferred to Thomas Viscount * The wording of this clause proves, that however the established clemy of the day ma\ have neglected their spiritual duties, they took care of their temporal concerns. It runs thus : '-That no extraordinary warrants of assistance, touching clandestine marriages, christenings, or burials, or any contumacies. pretended against ecclesiastical jurisdic- tion, are to be issued or executed by any chief governor : nor are the slerL-y to be permitttd to keep any private prisons of their own for their own causes ; but delinquents in that kind are henceforth to be committeo to the king's public jails, and by the king's officers." 228 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Wentworth, better known by his subsequen ,itle of Earl of Strafford, who voluntarily took upon him- eelf the odium of refusing them altogether. The administration of the Earl of Strafford forms an important era in the history of Ireland. He came over at the moment of a crisis which was to deter- mine whether the country was to enjoy peace and prosperity, or be subjected to a new course of dis- cord and calamity. Through ignorance rather than design, he adopted a system which inevitably led to the latter, and involved himself and his master in the general ruin. His character has often been the theme of unmeasured eulogy and equally extrava- gant vituperation, because he was himself great in his qualities both of good and evil. While, however, in England some are found to advocate the cause of this unfortunate statesman, his name is at this hour intensely detested in Ireland. There is not a peasant who passes the rums of the magnificent edifice which he began to erect near Naas that does not vent an execration against " Black Tom," the tyrant and persecutor. The traditions respecting his vio- lence and oppression, contain the most exaggerated tales of cruelty, bloodshed, and robbery, more like the anecdotes of a leader of banditti in the eleventh century, than of a civil governor in the seventeenth. The Catholics, whom he certainly outraged by per- suading the king to break his promise solemnly plighted, and the puritanical Protestants, whose party he detested, have both combined to blacken his memory, as they both joined to destroy his life. His very virtues have been tortured into crimes ; the benefits which he unquestionably laboured to confer represented as instances of malignity and hate. It is impossible to deny that his government was the great source of that terrible flood of evil which soon after overwhelmed the land ; but the character of an action is not always to be determined by its conse- quences. Strafford must not btr, condemned because HISTORY OF IRELAND. 229 that circumstances which he could not have foreseen made his best measures productive of naught but evil. His history should be a warning to those statesmen who scruple not to use bad means for the accomplishment of a good purpose : they may, like him, be hurried away before their labour is accom- plished ; and the evil means, falling into less pure and less able hands, may be directed to work incalcula ble mischief. Strafford had heard that Ireland was turbulent and disaffected. He regarded it as a conquered country, whose inhabitants possessed no civil rights but by the mercy of the crown. He therefore resolved to make the sternest despotism the principle of his gov- ernment, and to admit of no opposition to his impe- rious will. He avowed and defended these senti- ments on his trial, when he was accused of endeav- ouring to make the king absolute in Ireland, prepara- tory to a similar attempt in England ; and there can be no doubt that he conceived himself fully justified in his opinions. He was also prepossessed against all the leading men of Ireland, but more especially against the best and most truly patriotic nobleman of the day, Richard Earl of Cork. Originally a cadet in the army of Elizabeth, Richard Boyle had risen to fame and fortune by honourable services. A fortunate marriage, and the purchase of the grants made to Sir Walter Raleigh, gave him extensive estates in the south of Ireland. These he diligently improved by introducing English Protestants, by en- couraging manufactures, and by erecting useful pub- lic works at his own expense. While he thus per- manently benefited the country, he extended his own resources ; but there was no foul blot on his charac- ter ; he had not trafficked in plots, nor traded in con- fiscations, but ever acted consistently with the prin- ciple expressed in his motto, " God's providence is my inheritance." Schools and alms-houses, which he erected in his towns of Youghal, Lismore, and 230 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Bandon, still testify his benevolence ; and the crimes which led to the extensive confiscations in the reign of Elizabeth would have been forgiven, and perhaps forgotten, if all the new proprietors had acted as well, and as wisely, as Richard Earl of Cork. The Earl of Straiford, not contented with denying the promised Graces, prepared to execute the project of a new plantation in Connaught, which James had planned. His proceedings in this undertaking were characterized by more than ordinary vigour, and by more open violations of justice than had been ex- pected. His own letters inform us of the prelimina- ries which he deemed necessary before entering on a judicial investigation of the king's title to the estates in the west of Ireland. " He took with him to each town where an inquisition was held five hundred horsemen, as good lookers-on. He treated with such persons as might give furtherance in find- ing for the king. He inquired out fit men to serve upon juries. He obtained a grant of four shillings in the pound out of the first year's rent of every estate vested in the crown by these inquisitions, to the lord chief-justice and the chief baron." In Leit- rim, Roscommon, Mayo, and Sligo these precautions were found effective: the juries in every instance found a verdict for the crown. In Galway, however, the jurors, trusting that they would be supported by the influence of the Earl of Clanricarde, ventured to give a contrary verdict. The irritated lord-lieutenant immediately fined the sheriff a thousand pounds for returning an improper jury, and bound over the jurors to answer for themselves before the Star chamber. The compositions which the lord-lieutenant ex- torted from those who had neglected the conditions of their grants, were exorbitant in the extreme. He compelled the O'Byrnes to pay seventeen thousand pounds to remedy a pretended defect of title, and xtorted no less than seventy thousand from the HISTORY OF IRELAND. 2H1 London companies that had obtained estates in Ulster. This latter circumstance added in no small degree to the popular clamour which had been raised in Eng- land against the pride and tyranny of Strafford. In deed, it was probably one of the principal causes of his ruin; for thenceforward the citizens of London became his deadly enemies, and exerted all their in- fluence to procure his destruction. The conduct pursued by the haughty governor to- wards the Irish nobility was incredibly rigorous. Lord Wilmot and the Earl of Cork were fined for alleged usurpations of property ; the Earl of Kil- dare was sent to prison ; but the amazing severity shown to Lord Mountnorris transcended all the others so much, that the outcry was general through- out England and Ireland. Sir Francis Annesley, afterward created Lord Mountnorris, was one of the few adventurers, in the reigns of Elizabeth and James, that amassed a for- tune by honourable means. He was a pattern of in- tegrity, and was particularly remarkable for the rare virtue of doing justice to the native Irish. He was the principal means of rescuing the O'Byrnes from the machinations of Parsons and Esmond, and had, on several occasions, come forward as the advocate of the innocent and the oppressed. His stern inde- pendence was displeasing to Strafford, who took every opportunity of mortifying him in the official situation which he held, that of vice-treasurer. Mountnorris suppressed his resentment ; but as he had cause to be offended, it was, of course, con eluded that he cherished some seciet hostility; and he was closely watched by the spies of the govern ment. At a dinner given by the lord-chancellor, it was casually observed by one of the guests, that Straf- ford had been much provoked by a domestic, who had hurt his gouty foot while removing a stool. This domestic had formerly been insulted by the chief 232 HISTORY OF IRELAND. governor; in reference to which, Mountnorris ob- sei ved that he had probably acted by design ; " but," added he, " the gentleman has a brother who would not have taken such a revenge." For this very inno- cent remark Mountnorris was arrested, and brought to trial before a court-martial, over which Strafford presided in person. The pretence for this species of trial was, that Mountnorris commanded a company in the royal army, and that the words which he ut- tered were mutiny. The proceedings of the court were brief and decided. Mountnorris was found guilty of " impeaching the obeying his general," and sentenced to military execution. The infamy of this transaction is not lessened by the sentence not hav- ing been put in force. The fact that a nobleman was subjected to a long and tedious imprisonment to every indignity which the insolence of office could dictate, and to the mortification of an ignominious sentence, for an innocent remark made in the midst of conviviality, cannot be extenuated because a tardy pardon was wrung from the reluctant shame of his bitter persecutors. The general administration of Strafford, though criminal in the extreme, possessed merits of a supe- rior order, though not sufficient to redeem its guilt. He laboured successfully to improve the character of the established church, by raising the qualifications of the clergy. He exacted from the rectors and cu- rates a stricter attention to their parochial duties than they had previously bestowed, and rewarded them by restoring to the church a large portion of eccle- siastical revenue, which had been illegally seized by the aristocracy. In enforcing the penal laws, Straf- ford showed so much moderation that he was ac- cused by the puritans of encouraging popery ; but this was in some degree counterbalanced by his at- tack on the proprietors of Connaught. The scheme of a western plantation, which he had matured at the expense ol so much guilt, was finally laid a'id* in HISTORY OF IRELAND. 233 consequence of the universal outcry raised against such monstrous iniquity. The greatest blessing that Strafford conferred on Ireland was the establish- ment of the linen manufactory, long afterward the staple manufacture of the country. It must, however, be added, that he also successfully laboured to de- stroy the manufacture of cloths, which was beginning to flourish, fearing that the Irish, having wool cheaper, would rival the trade of England. This was, how- ever, the political economy of his day, and has not wanted advocates and imitators in more enlightened periods. The trade and commerce of Ireland increased rapidly under the firm and vigorous government of Strafford. The revenue improved with amazing rapidity ; and the exchequer, exhausted at his arrival, was full when he departed. The army, which had fallen into a shocking state of disorganization, was, by his exertion, made available for the support of the government and the defence of the country. The revolt of his Scottish subjects compelled Charles to recall the ablest of his ministers from the government of Ireland. Before Strafford departed, he obtained the vote of a large subsidy from the Irish parliament, which was declared to be an act of grati- tude for the benefits that the country had received from the wise administration of the lord-lieutenant. In a few months after his departure, the vote for the subsidy was virtually rescinded, and Strafford was impeached by the very parliament that, had lately loaded him with fulsome adulation. Wandesford whom Strafford had left in Ireland as his deputy, died of a broken heart, in consequence of the vex tions to which he was subjected by the recusants and puritans, who had suddenly formed an alliance against the government. The unfortunate monarch was now in the begin- aing of those troubles that afterward deprived him f his life and crown. He knew that the puritans I. S 234 HISTOR\ OF IRELA-iD. were his most zealous enemies ; arid yet at this criti- cal moment he intrusted the government of Ireland to Parsons and Borlase, men completely at the dis- posal of the English parliament. We have already given some account of the conduct of Parsons in his office of commissioner of forfeitures. It is only necessary to add that he professed the most rigid principles of Puritanism, and veiled his insatiable rapacity under the cloak of affected sanctity. His colleague, Sir John Borlase, was a mere soldier. He had received little or no education ; his understand- ing was mean and contemptible ; and he had imbibed all the prejudices and all the ferocity which distin- guished the violent factions of that unhappy period. Borlase was governed by his wily colleague ; and both immediately joined in employing all their power to oppose the interests and thwart the wishes of their sovereign. They aided the parliament in pre- venting the levies which the King of Spain wished to make in Ireland, and thus kept in the country those men whom ambition, when left ungratified by mili- tary fame abroad, urged to seek distinction by civil war at home. They, however, soon found that the Irish parliament, having thrown oft" its customary submission to the crown, began to lose its respect for the delegated authority of lords-justices ; and they therefore put an end to the session by pro- rogation. The disputes between the king and his subjects in Britain were daily becoming more alarming; and the Irish exiles in every part of Europe began to contemplate an attempt to recover the property of which they had been deprived. The Irish of Ulster were notoriously eager to engage in any enterprise which would afford a promise of redeeming their wrongs. The people of Connaught, threatened \\ith confiscation, were looking to arms as their best de- fence. The recusants, dreading fhe intolerance of the puritans, contemplated a struggle which could HISTORY OF IRELAND. 23S not be far distant. From the very beginning of the year 1641, it must have been evident to an accurate observer that some commotion was near at hand ; but the lords-justices were blind to approaching dan ger. They thought that the Irish, having been so long used to tyranny and oppression, would no* make any defence for their religion and property, both of which were openly threatened by the gov- ernment ; and they persevered in this state of falla- cious security, until they had wellnigh been made the victims of their folly. CHAPTER XV. The War of 1641 in Ulster. WE are now about to enter on the history of a period whose strange vicissitudes, extraordinary chances, and dreadful calamities are unequalled in the annals of any age or nation. The great civil war of 1641 presented the novel spectacle of four armies animated by mutual hatred, wasting the country in desultory warfare, and exhausting themselves by in- sincere negotiations, until at length that which was infinitely the weakest triumphed, and consigned the rest to hopeless ruin. The native Irish, the confed- erates or Catholics of the Pale, and the royalists had common interests and common enemies, yet they could never be induced to form a sincere union ; and the parliamentarians, almost without an effort, con- quered all three, though inferior in strength and num- bers to each sepaiately. The three defeated parties ihrew the blame of their ruin on each other; the victors libelled all ; and thus every narrative of these transactions is full of the grossest misrepresentations. 236 HISTORY OF IRELAND. to such an extent that, in many instances, the truth cannot be discovered with any certainty. In such circumstances the historian has z right to claim the indulgence of his readers, if in some instances his account be found to contradict ancient prejudices, and to differ very materially from statements so often repeated that they have almost received the author- ity of axioms. There has been no little confusion introduced into former histories of this eventful period, by the au- thors having- neglected to distinguish between the causes and the occasions of the war. Most writers have argued, that there could have been little cause of complaint against the government, when the tran- quillity of the country had remained undisturbed for nearly half a century ; forgetting that every insur- rection which tyranny had provoked broke out only when circumstances seemed favourable to the hopes of redress. The materials of a conflagration may be for years accumulating, but the presence of a torch is necessary to the bursting forth of the flame. The plantation in Ulster, and the menace of similar spoliation in Connaught, completely and justly alien- ated the minds of the native Irish from the govern- ment. They believed that a determination had been taken to strip them of all their property, by a mix- ture of vioCence and chicanery ; and the conduct of the king and his ministers proved that they were not mistaken. In fact, the royalists and the parliament- arians in England distinctly avowed their fixed reso- lution to colonize Ireland with good subjects ; and ooposed as they were in every thing else, Charles and the Commons showed wondrous unanimity in devising plans for fresh confiscations. The virulent declarations of the English parliament against popery were justly alarming to the Irish Catholics ; and the shameful execution, or rather judicial murder, of several priests in London, for the offence of saying mass, showed that the persecution threatened by the HISTORY OF IRELAND. 237 puritans would not long be confined to pecuniary penalties and disqualifications. The sin of tolerating popery was a favourite theme with the Irish clergy of the established and Scottish church. Similar de- nunciations had been made even in the Irish parlia- ment, and were only suppressed when the aid of th? recusants was required to complete the ruin of Strafford. The character of Parsons was a third cause of the rancorous hostility to government which was generally prevalent among the Irish. The ap- pointment of such a man to the office of lord-jus- tice was felt to be a direct sanction of the principles on which he acted. The tragedy of the O'Byrnes was too enormous and too recent to be forgotten. There was every reason to expect that spoliation, and not protection, would be the chief object of an administration at the head of which was a wicked And unprincipled adventurer. The successful resistance of the Scotch was the occasion of which the Irish lords determined to avail themselves. The attempt of the king to impose his religion and an arbitrary government on his country- men had been signally defeated. The rebellion, if so it must be termed, of the Scotch, had been re- warded by the establishment of the religion of their choice, the security of constitutional freedom, and the general approbation of the English people. The flame of insurrection easily spreads from one coun try to another. We have ourselves witnessed count less examples of the contagion of resolution. It i$ no wonder then that the Irish, who had suffered under severer wrongs, and had far greater grievances to redress, should have resolved to emulate the suc- cessful revolt of their brethren in Scotland. The chief heads of the Irish conspiracy were de- scended from those ancient families that had beea robbed of their hereditary estates in former reigns. O'Neill, the son of the deceased Earl of Tyrone, who held an important command in the service of Spain, 238 HISTORY OF IRELAND. and Roger Moore, a descendant of the old lords of Leix, appear to have been, if not the contrivers of the conspiracy, at least the principal agents in bring- ing it to maturity. Moore was the darling of his countrymen. He united the generous and liberal disposition of the ancient chieftain to the high and lofty principles of chivalry, which had not yet been totally extinguished in southern Europe. Ardent, enthusiastic, and daring, he resembled a hero of ro- mance rather than the leader of an insurrection; but these shining qualities were at that crisis less valua- ble than political wisdom ; and of this Moore pos- sessed a very small share. The multitude were so taken with the brilliant accomplishments of their favourite, that it was a common expression among them, " God and our Lady be our help, and Roger Moore." The plan of revolt was sanctioned by Car- dinal Richelieu, and by several Catholic potentates, principally through the influence of young O'Neill; and the death of that able young man by assassina- tion was the principal cause of the irregularity which soon appeared in the councils of the other conspir- ators. In fact, the whole of the plan was made known to the lords-justices from a very early period. They were warned from England that numbers of Irish officers had quitted the continental armies to return home; that ecclesiastical emissaries were flocking to Ireland ; and, at the same time, information was brought that suspicious assemblages were frequently held at the houses of the Catholic lords. But Par- sons looked forward to a rebellion as his harvest. He had already gained a large fortune by trading in confiscations ; and he trusted that a new insurrection would place at his disposal more estates than even Straffbrd had ventured to contemplate. In fact, as Sir Wiiliam Petty judiciously observes, there was now a greaf game to be played for the estates of the Irish oroprietors. He adds, " But upon so great HISTORY OF IRELAND. 239 odds the English won, and have, among and besides other pretences, a gamester's right at least to their estates ; but as for the bloodshed in the contest, God alone knows who did occasion it." On the 22d of October, 1641, at a late hour in the evening, Parsons received information from a gen- tleman named Owen Conolly, that a conspiracy had been formed for seizing the castle of Dublin, and all the strong places in the kingdom, on the next day. He said that he had been invited to join in the plot by MacMahon, a grandson of the great Earl of Ty- rone ; and that he had with difficulty made his escape from that gentleman's house to convey the informa- tion to government. Parsons paid very little atten- tion to the detail. He desired Conolly to return to MacMahon and endeavour to learn further particu- lars. Borlase, on hearing the account, was more alarmed than his colleague. He immediately directed the council to be summoned, and instant search to be made for Conolly, who was found wandering in the streets. The delay and indecision of the justices gave the principal leaders time to escape ; but Mac- Mahon and Lord MacGuire were taken, and being examined before the privy council, fully confirmed all Conolly's statements. The war commenced in the north. The peasantry that had been so cruelly driven from their lands rushed down from their mountains, and swept over the English plantations. There was little or no re- sistance made. The astonished settlers fied every where before the original proprietors ; and the roads 'eading to Dublin were filled with miserable crowds, driven from the lands which they had so long culti- vated. At first the Irish were contented with merely expelling the intruders ; but a mob soon adds cruelty to violence, and in several instances the English were injured, and even murdered. Sir Phelim O'Neill, who headed the insurrection in UL ter, was e man of mean canacitv. unimproved by education 240 HISTORY OF IRELAND. He could not, even if he was inclined, restrain tht excesses of his followers; but he seems not to have mads an effort. The English and Scotch settlers retorted these outrages ; and whenever they had an opportunity massacred the Irish without mercy, of distinction of sex or age. These cruelties, however, have keen scandalously exaggerated by the writers on bot'i sides. After a very careful examination of all the statements, the present writer believes that the number of persons killed by the insurgents was less than five thousand ; and that about an equal number was slain by their opponents. The great majority of the Irish gentry invariably made every exertion to restrain the ferocity of their followers ; but the officers of the government, both by precept and example, recommended cruelty and extermi- i ation. In the county of Cavan little or no blood was shed. This was partly owing to the exertions of Philip O'Reilly, the head of his illustrious family ; and partly to the respect which the Irish had for the character of Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore. Bedell was one of the very few prelates of the established church who regarded the people as the principal objects of his charge. He was deeply impressed with the necessity of winning the affections of his flock, and anxious to redeem the establishment from the op- probrium of being a church without a congregation. For this purpose he procured a translation of the Bible into Irish, and circulated copies at his own ex- pense. The apostolical simplicity of his character, his affectionate manners, and his pure zeal attached to him the hearts of the lower ranks ; and even the Romish clergy regarded him with esteem and admi- ration. His house was the place of refuge for all the English who had been driven from lands in the neighbourhood, and there they long continued un molested, protected bv the general respect felt foi I he bishop. He was subsequently removed to th HISTORY OF IRELAND. 24* quarters of the army ; but continued to be treated as a companion, rather than a prisoner. So convinced was this pious man of the justice of the Irish cause, that he drew up the remonstrance which they trans- mitted to the Castle, in justification of their having taken up arms. During his illness he was attended with the greatest care, and his dying moments were soothed by every attention which ardent attachment could dictate. He was interred with military hon- ours by the Irish soldiers, who had no better way of showing respect to his remains ; and when the grave closed over him, all joined in the simple prayer, " Requiescat in pace, ultimus Anglorum !" So far were the Irish leaders from aiming at estab- lishing the independence of their country, that Sir Phelim O'Neill actually pretended that he was in arms for the king, and produced a forged commission as his authority. The character of the unhappy Charles is, unfoitunately, too notorious for treach ery and duplicity to render it wholly incredible that he would have countenanced the insurgents. But the dying declaration of O'Neill exonerates him in this instance, since that chieftain might have saved his life if he had consented to confirm this calumny against his sovereign. The lords-justices, in the mean time, took proper precautions to ensure their personal safety, and then directed their attention, not to the suppression of the insurrection, but to the discovery of the means by which they could prolong the struggle, and derive advantages from its continuance. Their great object was, by some means, to bring in the Catholic lords of the Pale as participators ; for their great estates had remained untouched in former struggles, and were, from their vicinity to the capital, particularly desirable to the creatures of government. The lords-justices issued a proclamation, declaring that the Irish papists had formed a dangerous conspiracy aerainst the state. The lords of the Pale were justly HISTORY OF IRELAND. alarmed at the sweeping 1 generality of the phrase " Irish papists ;" they remonstrated, and the justices were obliged to publish a second proclamation, ex- onerating the Catholic lords of English descent. At the same time, they transmitted to the king, who -vas then in Scotland, and to the English parliament, an account of the dangerous insurrection which had taken place. It is remarkable, that neither in their proclamations, nor in the despatches sent over to th king and parliament, do the lords-justices say one word about the horrible massacres which subsequent authors have detailed ; a clear proof that none such had taken place. Yet the Earl of Leicester, in his address to the British House of Commons, unhesi- tatingly asserted that the object of the Irish was the general massacre of the Protestants ! The historian Warner deems this unwarrantable assertion of the earl quite unaccountable. But it was manifestly in- tended to increase the hatred of popery, which the parliament had already found to be a formidable in- strument for extending their influence, and diminish- ing that of the king. Charles at once saw the dangers to which he was < xposed by the Irish insurrection, in causing which his own perfidious conduct respecting the Graces had so large a share. He felt convinced that the Irish wen; more "sinned against than sinning." But the time when he could have done justice was passed; avarice and prejudice both stimulated the parliament of England and ScolLuid to seize on Irish property, and destroy Irish popery. The king was forced to go with the current, and to issue a proclamation denouncing the Irish insurgents as rebels. The men of property in Ulster were anxious to avoid the hazards of war, and were also shocked at the cruelties which began to be committed by infu riate leaders on both sides. They made offers to the government of accommodation, on terms re HISTORY OF IRELAND 243 tnarkable for moderation and equity. The O'Fer- ralls of Longford, who had suffered severely at the time of the Ulster plantation, though their sept had been conspicuous for loyalty, after having-, without violence, seized the forts and castles in their county, sent a remonstrance to be presented to the king and his ministers by Lord Dillon. Their petition begins with setting forth an oath of allegiance which they had taken, and which they profess themselves will- ing to seal with their blood. They complain of the persecution of their religion, the insecurity of their property by the delay of the Graces, and their being treated as aliens in their native land. They petition for a general amnesty for all offences except murder , fora repeal of the penal laws; and for a general charter of freedom to all Irish subjects. There were many, both in England and Ireland, anxious to restore tranquillity on these conditions ; and the king's friends especially, foreseeing the struggle impending between him and his parliament, were eager to terminate transactions which in every way threatened his ruin. The English parliament had at once undertaken the management of the Ijish war ; and, with a complete disregard of the royal prerogative, had begun to levy an army, and to pro- vide munitions of war. The leaders of the popular party in the long parliament were the great founders of liberty in Europe. Their names will be honoured by remote posterity for their noble resistance to ar- bitrary governnien*. It is therefore with feelings of deep regret we feel ourselves compelled to re- cord the duplicity with which they acted upon this memorable occasion. While they affected the most ardent zeal for the cause of the Irish Protestants, and sent them the most magnificent promises of as- sistance, they kept the supplies which they had col- lected, and the army which they had assembled, fu overawe their sovereign in England. It was then, and long after, the fashion to look upon the Irish 244 HISTORY OF IRELAND. with contempt. It was supposed that an Irish insur- rection could he suppressed at any time by a vigor ous effort. While, therefore, the English parliament promised speedy exertion, the leaders were deter- mined to secure England first, and leave Ireland fa a more convenient season. The conduct of the lords-justices fully proved the justice of the suspicions with which they wen; viewed by the Irish lords. So far from exerting themselves to check the progress of revolt, they used all their influence to discourage the efforts of others. The Earl of Ormond and some other lords offered to join the forces of government with their adherents, and, inarching directly against the insur- gents, crush their undisciplined forces ; but these offers were peremptorily rejected. Their military operations were confined to sending out Sir Charles Coote, a monster of cruelty, to lay waste the coun- try; and he, with little scrur.>, massacred indis- criminately the loyal and the disaffected, a system which, as had probably been foreseen, rendered the spirit of revolt more general and more inveterate. The designs of Parsons were more signally dis- played in another instance. Both the king and the British parliament had directed that a proclamation should be issued, offering pardon to all who woul<; return to their allegiance. After a long delay, th< lords-justices did indeed issue such a proclamation, but clogged with so many exceptions that it was wholly nugatory. It WHS limited to four counties, in two of which there had not been even the slight- est symptom of revolt ; and in the others all were excepted who had shed blood in any action, who were imprisoned for spoil or robbery, or who pos- sessed freehold property. Finally, the time for re- ceiving submissions was limited to ten days; and it was declared that Itin amnesty would he invalid un- less a complete restitution of property was effected HISTORY OF IRELAND. 245 within that period, a condition which manifestly could not be fulfilled. The hopes of the nation were now fixed on the meeting of parliament, which had been adjourned Jo November ; but Parsons, dreading that this as- sembly would be disposed to offer terms of pacifica- tion, adjourned the meeting to the 24th of February. The true friends of the king and the country were opposed to this strange proceeding ; but all argu- ments of justice and policy were disregarded by their governors. The arguments of the lawyers, however, produced a better effect. They averred that such a prorogation would be tantamount to a dissolution ; and their opinions being supported by the judges, Parsons and Borlase were with difficulty persuaded to allow parliament to meet for one day. The session lasted two days, during which a pro- testation against those who had taken arms was passed ; but not without considerable opposition. A large minority refused to stigmatize the insur- gents as rebels, preferring the milder and more ap- propriate phrase discontented gentlemen ; but the in- fluence of the government secured the insertion of the harsher epithet. The justices, however, were unable to prevent the appointment of a committee of both houses to confer with the leaders of the in- surgents, and to lay their complaints and grievances before the king and council. Alarmed at this ap- pearance of concession, the justices, in spite of every remonstrance, prorogued the parliament. The king's friends and the moderate party did not yet despair ; they made two efforts to avert the horrors of a general war, and in both were unfortu- nately unsuccessful. The deputation sent to the leaders of the insurgents was received with every demonstration of respect; but when they produced the order of the two houses, in which these gentle- men were stigmatized as traitors, Roger Moore seized the insulting document, and, tearing- it in 846 HISTORY OF IRELAND. pieces, haughtily declined any further conference. In the mean time, a great number of members of the Irish parliament met privately in Dublin, and deputed two of their number, Lord Dillon and Lord Taafe, to go over to England and represent to the king the real condition of the country, the conduct of the lords-justices, and the beneficial conse- quences that would result from transferring their power to the Earl of Ormoud, or any other noble- man of approved loyalty and integrity. This salu- tary measure was also defeated by the contrivance of Parsons. He sent a private message to the leaders of the English House of Commons, desiring that no attention should be paid to the representa- tions of Lord Dillon, declaring that his schemes would prevent the perfect establishment of English ascendency in Ireland. This was decisive ; Lords Dillon and Taafe, having been delayed by a storm which drove them on the coast of Scotland, did not arrive until measures had been taken to destroy all chance of their success. They were arrested near London by order of the House of Commons, and detained in prison, from whence they were not liberated until all negotiation was fruitless. From October until the middle of December the insurrection had been confined to Ulster, a small part of Leinster, and one county in Connaught The Catholic lords of the Pale, preserving theii ancient jealousy of the native Irish, persevered in their allegiance, and offered their assistance to gov- ernment. Some had even distinguished themselves against the northerns in the field, especially Sir Robert Talbot, whose castle was destroyed in revenge by the insurgents. The lords-justices, deeming the aid of these Catholic lords necessary to their own security, had, in the first instance, supplied them with arms to defend themselves against the northern Irish ; but being now encouraged by prom- ises of large armaments from England, they recalled HISTORY OF IRELAND. 247 the arms which they had granted, and issued a proclamation ordering those who had fled to Dublin for protection to quit the city within twenty-four hours under pain of death. Exposed thus to the vengeance of the insurgents on one hand, and to the persecution of the government on the other, these devoted men long struggled to preserve their loyalty ; but at length they received certain intelligence that the English parliament and Irish government had determined on their ruin, and that their only hope of safety was in arms. In fact, on the 8th of De- cember, 1641, it was resolved, on solemn debate by both houses of parliament in England, " that they would not consent to the toleration of popery in Ireland, or any of his majesty's dominions ;" a reso- lution which was virtually a declaration of a war of extermination against seven-eighths of the landed proprietors in Ireland, and almost the entire of the lower orders. Under these circumstances, Lord Gormanstown and several others proposed a con- ference with Moore ; and the war which had been hitherto confined to the northern province became general through the entire country. Before entering on the history of the new war, it may be permitted us to take a brief retrospect, es- pecially as the incident! 1 ? of the two months which we have been contemplating have been so often and so foully misrepresented. The Irish massacre in 1641 has been a phrase so often repeated, even in books of education, that one can scarcely conceal his surprise when he learns that the tale is as apoc- ryphal as the wildest fiction of romance. No men- tion is made of these extensive murders in any of the proclamations issued by the lords-justices, even so late as the 23d of December ; and truly the character of Parsons does not induce us to believe that he would have suppressed any thing likely to make his adversaries odious. The protestation of the Irish parliament is equally silent on the subject CIS HISTORY OF IRKLAN0. nor does any state paper of the local government afford the slightest ground lor the charge. Stories of massacre and horrid cruelty were indeed stu- diously circulated in England, because it was the interest of the patriot party in parliament to propa gate such delusions. They increased the popular hatred of popery, and rendered the king's suspected attachment to that religion more generally odious ; and they afforded a pretence for assembling an army, on whose officers and soldiers the parliament could rely. When, at a later period, it became ne- cessary to excuse the monstrous iniquity of the act of settlement, advantage was taken of the general belief in this unfounded calumny to justify an in- stance of royal ingratitude and shameless injustice not to be paralleled even in the dark annals of the Stuarts. The accounts published by the Catholics on the Continent are full of misrepresentations almost equally glaring. If one side avers that there was a conspiracy for the universal slaughter of the Protest- ants, the other, with similar falsehood, accuses the professors of the reformed religion of designing the extermination of the papists. If one exaggerates the murders and cruelties perpetrated by O'Neill and his savage mob, the other adds to the excesses com- mitted by the Scotch in the island of Magee, and by Coote at" Santry and Clontarf, in the same propor- tion. There were doubtless many disgraceful atro- cities on both sides ; but are they not inseparable from civ ;i war? These crimes were owing to the wickedness of particular men. "We wish neither to palliate nor disguise them ; but they were disap- proved of by the leaders on both sides ; and it is but fair to add that all atrocities were not only discour- aged, but punished by the Catholic nobility and gen- try. It is equally wicked and foolish to make these sad events the subject of cha/ge against sects and parties at the present day. This '."as a war for HISTORY OF IRELAND. 249 property, rather tnan religion The northern Irish wished to recover their estates ; Parsons and his supporters desired to enrich themselves by new con- fiscations. Both employed the sacred name of the Deity to cover their real designs ; but assuredly re- ligious principle of any kind had little influence on either. The present generation is not answerabl > for the crimes and follies of those which have pre ceded. The errors of our ancestors are recorded for our instruction, that they should be avoided and not imitated. But though religious animosity was not the first, nor even the principal cause of the calami- ities during this disastrous period, it materially strengthened and continued the evil. The hatred of popery on the one hand, and of heresy on the other, led men even of the purest minds to excuse and pal- liate crimes from the contemplation of which they would, under other circumstances, have shrunk with horror. It would be a desirable consummation, if the view of the evils attendant on discord would lead to the more zealous cultivation of Christian charity, not only the most sublime of virtues, but that which contributes most to the peace, the harmony, and consequently the happiness and prosperity of a nation. CHAPTER XVI. The War nfthe Confederates. THE Catholic lords of the Pale, driven to revolt by compulsion which could not be resisted, pro ceeded with the deliberate caution of men well aware of the danger they were about to encounter, and of the hazardous game they had to play. They held a conference with Roger Moore and other Irish leaders I T 250 HISTORY OF IRELAND. at the hill of Crofly, and demanded of the chief tain for what purpose he had taken arms ? Moore replied, "To maintain the royal prerogative, and make the subjects of Ireland as free as those of Eng- land." Lord Gormanstown, on the part of his asso- ciates, asked if Moore had any further design 1 He solemnly answered in the negative. The lords of the Pale then promised to assist him with all their might, and, having agreed on a second meeting at the hill of Tarah, separated to raise their respective friends. The lords-justices, not having yet received the expected supplies from England, were alarmed at the success of their own machinations. They sent letters to the lords of the Pale, requiring them to com** $ p with all speed to Dublin, assuring them that they were wanting to confer on the state of the na- tion, and, as was added, with a manifest conscious- ness of being suspected, for no other end. Even if these lords could repose any confidence in the sin- cerity of Parsons and his colleague, they had now gone too far to retreat. They excused themselves, by referring to the sanguinary speeches of Coote at the council-board, and to his indiscriminate massa cres in his several exclusions, declaring that they would not peril their lives by coining within the sphere of his influence. They next prepared an address to the king, drawn up in a moderate and submissive tone. They com- plained of the injurious treatment which they had received from the lords-justices, whom they justly denominated enemies to the king as well as them- selves. They declared their intention to support the royal prerogative as well as th^ir own rights, and their readiness to confer with such commissioners as the government should appoint, on the means for the advancement of his majesty's service, and the resto- ration of tranquillity to the kingdom, in any place where they could be protected from the malice of j'lieir deadly enemies. A manifesto, worded in the BISTORT OF IRELAND. 251 same spirit of loyalty and moderation, was exten- sively circulated through the kingdom. Finally, they wrote a letter to the queen, soliciting her interference with his majesty, and despatched it, together with a copy of their address, by Sir John Reid, who held a situation in the royal household. The proclamation of the confederates produced a powerful effect. The lords of the Pale who had not joined in the conference at Tarah were induced now to join the alliance. Every county in Leinster was soon at the disposal of the insurgents ; and the authority of the lords-justices was confined to the city of Dublin and the town of Drogheda, which lat- ter was closely besieged. In Connaught, the county of Galway was preserved in its fidelity by the ex- ertions and influence of Lord Clanricarde, a Catholic nobleman remarkable for his devoted and chivalrous loyalty. In Munster, the Irish leaders found a pow- erful assistant in Sir Warhani St. Leger, the presi- dent of that province, whose cruelties rivalled, if they did not exceed, those of Coote. Having heard ol a robbery committed on the lands of his brother-in-law, in the county of Tipperary, St. Leger marched into the country, put to death several innocent individu- als, burned their houses, and encouraged his soldiers in the commission of indiscriminate outrage. The gentry of the country remonstrated against these ex- cesses ; but he dismissed them with studied insult, and even threats of violence. There have not been wanting advocates who attempt to palliate the crim- inal fury of St. Leger, though they are reduced to plead an excuse absolutely ridiculous. They say that he merely retaliated the outrages of the insur- gents in Ulster ! They might just as well assert that the people of Wales should have been subjected to military execution for a rebellion in the north of Scotland. The nobility of Munster, alarmed at the proceed- ings of the president, applied to the lords-justices 52 HISTORY OF IRELAND. in Dublin for permission to take proper measures for securing the public tranquillity. Lord Muskerry of- fared to raise a thousand men in support of the gov- ernment at his own expense, and to mortgage his estate in order to supply them with arms. A similar tender of service was made by Lord Mountgarret ; but both received a peremptory refusal. They waited until the middle of December before they could bring themselves to take any decided course ; but having then every reason to believe that arms were necessary for their preservation, they de- termi" 'A to join the confederates. The first pro- cee/ ngs of the Munster lords were characterized by -great promptitude and forbearance. Richard Bi ler of Kilcash seized Clonmel, Carrick, and Dun- gi van, without meeting any resistance. Martin H -cket, the sovereign of the town, admitted Butler o- Ardmayle into Fethard ; and Cashel was taken by G J Dwyer of Dundrum. The entire of the county of Kilkenny was easily secured by Lord Mountgarret, and the western part of the county of Cork as quietly mastered by Lord Roche. The Earl of Tho- mond was averse to the cause of the confederates ; but his followers and relatives set his authority at defiance, and added the county of Clare to the pa- triotic association. In all these transactions, the lives and properties of the English Protestants were carefully protected by the Catholic nobility. The only place where any murders were committed was Cashel ; in that town, twelve or thirteen persons were killed hy the relations of those whom St. Leger had recently slaughtered. The exertions of the Catholic clergy* saved the rest ; and by their influ- ence, the English were sent under an escort to Cork. * The names of the persons who thus generously interfered were James Saul, a Jesuit, and Joseph Kvcrard and Redmond, English Fran- ciscan (riars. Their meritorious interposition was proved at an assize* held in Clonmol, A. I). Ifi52, and was rewarded by their receiving pro lections troni the Croiawullian government. HISTORY OF IRELAND. 3 Lord Dunboyne sent the prisoners taken at Fethnn'l to Youghall. Sir R. Everard and Lord Muskerry gave an asylum in their houses to all the distressed English who sought their protection ; and Lord Mountgarret shot Richard Cantwell, a man of great influence, being the brother of the superior of Holy- cross, for daring to plunder some of his prisoners. All Munster would have been reduced with the great- est facility, but for the unreasonable pride of Lord Roche, who insisted on being appointed commander- in-chief in his own county, and refused obedience to Lord Mountgarret, whom the Minister confederates had appointed as their leader. The lords-justices, having received some rein- forcements from England, were now encouraged to pursue openly the scheme of confiscation which they had long meditated. Finding the number of prison- ers brought, in by the leaders of their marauding parties an encumbrance, they issued a commission for trying them by martial law, under the pretence that they could not find freeholders to form juries. Men possessing estates were kept for a more regular trial, in order to preserve the king's escheats upon attainders; and so diligent were the retainers of gov- ernment in hunting for forfeitures, that in two days bills of indictment for high-treason were found against all the Catholic nobility and gentry in the counties of Meath, Wicklow, and Dublin, and three hundred gentlemen of fortune in the county of Kildare. To implicate the king in the alleged" guilt of the Irish revolt was a favourite object with the leaders of the English parliament ; and their creature Parsons dili- gently exerted himself to discover some plausible pretence for the imputation. Hugh MacMahon, who had been seized on the information of Conolly, Sir John Reid, who had voluntarily come to the quarters of the Earl of Ormond, as bearer of the address of the confederates to the king, and Patrick Barnewall, an old and respectable gentleman, who had attended 254 HISTORY OF IRELAND. the meeting on the hill of Crol'ty, but had taken no part in the insurrection, were subjected to the ex- cruciating tortures of the rack ; but nothing import- ant was elicited. Of this useless cruelty the justices seem to have been ashamed, since they permitted Barnewall afterward to reside peaceably in Dublin, and protected his estates from the general havoc of the soldiery. The mode in which these precious governors chose to conduct the war, may be best learned from their instructions to the Earl of Ormond, the com- mander-in-chief of the royal army. He was di- rected, not only " to kill and destroy rebels, and their adherents and relievers ;" but also " to burn, waste, consume, and demolish all the places, towns, and houses where they had been relieved and harboured, with all the com and hay there ; and also to kill and destroy all the male inhabitants capable of bear- ing arms !" Nor were these sanguinary edicts dis regarded. Dr. Borlase, who wrote a history of these transactions, professedly to vindicate the character of his near relative, the lord-justice, boasts that Sir W. Cole's regiment killed two thousand five hundred rebels in several engagements ; and adds, with horrid complacency, " there were starved and famished, of the vulgar sort, whose goods were seized on by this regiment, SEVEN THOUSAND !" The mas- sacres in Ulster, we have shown by the report of the parliamentary commissioners, to have been grossly exaggerated ; but, at all events, they were the acts of a mob, and were not only discouraged, but punished by the Irish leaders. But what are we to say of this mandate, deliberately issued by the chief governors of a country, and obeyed by those who bore the honourable name of British officers 1 The confederates, after their first vigorous efforts, became alarmed at the consequences of their own success. They were afraid of their allies, the old HISTORY OP IRELAND. 255 Irish ; and feared that their influence would be de- stroyed by the preponderance which the native in- terest would obtain. Orinond was anxious to avail himself of this indecision, and obtained so many advantages over the insurgents, in several engage- ments, that the war would have been speedily ter- minated had not the lord-justice issued the most positive prohibition against his improving the ad- vantages he had acquired. The design of the con- federates appears to have been simply to maintain such a warlike attitude as would ensure them safe and equitable conditions of peace. They hoped that the king would come over to undertake the management of the war in person ; and they trusted that they could then prove their innocency of re bellious designs. The unfortunate Charles was fully sensible of the injury he sustained from the report of his secret partiality to the Irish Catholics. He issued proc- lamations denouncing them as rebels and traitors ; he even expressed his anxiety to prove his sincerity by leading an army against them himself. But the king's falsehood and duplicity were too notorious for either party to credit his proclamations or pro- fessions. The lords of the Pale were persuaded of his secret attachment to their cause. The English House of Commons, with much better reason, sus- pected that the expedition to Ireland was a mere pretext for removing to a place where he would be free from the domination of parliament ; and refused their consent in no very respectful terms. Gormanstown, the leader of the confederates in Lemster, seeing the last hope of a tranquil settle- ment of the kingdom thus destroyed, died of a broken heart. His followers and friends united themselves to Lord Moimtgarret's forces. Mount- garret led his army into the county of Kildare, where Ormond was employed in relieving the cas- tles blockaded by the insurgents. A battle was 256 HISTORY OP IRELAND. fought at a place called Kilrush, in which the dis- cipline of the royalists enabled them to triumph over the superior number of their opponents. The confederates were totally defeated ; but Ormond, being destitute of ammunition and provisions, could not follow up his success. For some months the war lingered on both sides. The confederates were disunited ; they were unpre- pared for war ; and they had no leader possessing military talent. The royalists, on the other hand, were in a wretched condition : their soldiers were mutinous for want of pay ; their provisions were exhausted; and the supplies they received from England were scanty in the extreme. Notwith- standing all their affected zeal for the relief of their Protestant brethren in Ireland, the English Com- mons made no exertions adequate to the crisis. They sent over, indeed, some few troops of fanatics, who vented their vexation for the miseries they en- dured, by insulting the old army as Irishmen and rebels. But, in another respect, they showed an attention to Irish affairs not very creditable to their character. They passed an act for the sale of two millions and a half of acres belonging to those whom they were pleased to designate as rebels ; and they introduced several clauses by which the king was prevented from entering into any terms of accommodation with his unfortunate subjects. In this detestable plan of reducing a nation to de- spair, the lords-justices eagerly concurred. They severely censured the Earl of Clanricarde for hav- ing entered into terms with the confederates in Gal- way; and strictly commanded all their officers to grant no protections, and to hold no correspondence with Irish or papists. These measures were sanc- tioned by an Irish parliament, which sat for three days in Dublin. By expelling all who had joined the confederates, and excluding all who refused to take the oath of supremacy, the number of members rilSTORV uf ;iii.L.>M>. ^5? was so reduced that the creatures of government had a decided majority. The only business done in this brief session was the enactment of new penal laws, the denouncing of popery in unmeasured terms, and the preparation of an address to the English parliament for new and more severe laws against recusants. Having thus performed its part in exasperating the insurgents, and rendering the restoration of tranquillity hopeless, the parliament was prorogued. Like their masters in England, the lords-justices totally neglected the war. St. Leger, in Munster, waj so mortified by the vexations which he suffered for want of aid, that he died of grief and was succeeded by Lord Inchiquin. The con federates were unable to avail themselves of tht misconduct of the government, and were so dispirited by repeated reverses, and by the arrival of a large body of troops sent to the north by the Scottish parliament, that they almost resolved to give up the Contest, and become voluntary exiles. The arrival of Owen O'Neill, who had acquired a high character in continental warfare, revived the hopes of the Irish. He was a leader whose noble qualities would have done honour to any cause ; a skilful and circumspect soldier, and a prudent states- man. Cool, cautious, and calculating, he was cele- brated for his Fabian policy in protracting war. Mild, generous, and humane, he was respected by his enemies, and beloved by those whom he pro- tected. On assuming the command, Ke denounced in the strongest terms, the excesses which his kins- man Sir Phelim had sanctioned, and declared, that if any cruelties were again perpetrated, he would quit the country. About the same time, the Ban of Leven arrived with reinforcements to the Scotch in Ulster; but though his army was sufficient to crush the raw levies of O'Neill, the earl made no warlike effort. Having advanced a short dis- tance into Tyrone, Leven addressed a letter to the 1. U 258 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Irish hero, expressing his surprise that a man of his reputation would have quitted his dignities abroad, to maintain so bad a cause as that of the Irish. O'Neill replied, that he f-ould assign better reasons for coming to the relief of his country, than his lordship for marching into England against his king. Thus terminated the correspondence. Leven retired, after having received this reply, and soon after returned to Scotland, assuring Monroe, to whom he resigned the command, that when O'Neill had collected his forces he would give him a very sound drubbing. This strange termination of an expedition from which so much had been expected, greatly encouraged the northern Irish. They hastened with alacrity to range themselves under the banners of O'Neill ; while Monroe, remember- ing Leven's prophecy, confined himself to his quar- ters ; and his army, neglected by the parliament, had to struggle against the miseries of nakedness and famine. The confederates now determined to organize a civil government ; and, in this necessary work the clergy, being already a constituted body, took the lead. A provincial synod was held at Armagh ; and soon after a general assembly from all the provinces at Kilkenny. Their acts were numerous and solemn, and breathe a spirit of charity and mod- eration, powerfully contrasted with the sanguinary and intolerant declarations issued by the fanatics in Dublin. They began with sanctioning the war which had been undertaken " against sectaries and puritans for defence of the Catholic religion, the prerogative of the king, the honour and safety of the queen and royal issue, the preservation of the rights and liberties of Irishmen, and the lives and fortunes of the confederates," as just and necessary. They declare that no order of the king, whom they very properly regarded as an unwilling instrument in the hands of their enemies, should be obeyed HISTORY OP IRELAND. 259 until they were certified by their own agents of his real intentions. They directed that an oath of as- sociation should be taken by all the members of the confederacy, and that no distinction should be made between the old and new Irish. They denounce the heaviest censures of the church on those who remain neutral in the contest ; and prohibit, under pain of excommunication, any injury to a Protestant who was not an adversary to their cause. They direct that exact registers should be kept of all murders and cruelties committed by the puritans in the several provinces, but prohibit retaliation under the severest penalties. They ordain that provin- cial assemblies, composed of the laity and clergy, should be formed for local government, but that the chief authority should be lodged with a national council, to which the others should be subordinate. There were some other regulations of minor im- portance, but the above articles contain the sub- stance of the ordinances published by the Catholic clergy ; and we can discover in them no trace of the bigotry and persecuting spirit vulgarly attributed to that much calumniated body. The national assembly was soon after convened at Kilkenny ; it consisted principally of the Anglo- Irish nobility, and was conducted with all the form and order of a regular parliament. The proceed- ings of this noble but unfortunate body will not suffer by comparison with those of any other con- vention that has ever assembled under similar cir- cumstances. Having first solemnly professed their unshaken allegiance to the king, they renounce the authority of the Irish government administered in Dublin, u by a malignant party, to his highness's great disservice, and in compliance with their con- federates, the malignant party in England." They declared that they would maintain the rights and immunities of their national church (the Roman Catholic), as established by the great charter. They 260 HISTORY OF IRELAND. profess to accept the common law of England and the statutes of Ireland, so far as they were not contrary to the national religion or the national liberties. They erected provincial councils for the administration, but allowed an appeal from their decisions to THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE CONFEDER- ATE CATHOLICS OF IRELAND. This body, which was to exercise all the functions of the executive gov- ernment, was to consist of twenty-four persons chosen by the general assembly. Nine members should be present to transact any business ; and a majority of two thirds was required to give validity to any act. For the greater honour and security of this important body, a guard was assigned, con- sisting of five hundred foot and two hundred horse. The generals appointed for the conduct of the war were Owen O'Neill in Ulster ; Preston, who had lately come from France with arms and ammuni- tion furnished by Cardinal Richelieu, for Leinster ; Garret Barry for Munster ; and Colonel John Burke for Connaught. The latter bore only the title of lieutenant-general ; for the confederates designed the chief command for the Earl of Clanricarde : but that nobleman refused to join the alliance. Though disappointed by Clanricarde, the confed- erates obtained a valuable assistant in Lord Cas- tlehaven, whom the lords-justices had forced into their ranks. This nobleman was a peer of England as well as Ireland. On the breaking out of the northern insurrection, he hastened to tender his ser- vices to the government, but was mortified by a re fusal. He then asked for a passport to return to England, which was also denied ; and he was then prohibited from residing in Dublin. Castlehaven retired to his estates in Kilkenny, determined to interfere no more in politics, and affording a refuge to the distressed English who were driven from their settlements by the insurgents. He was em- ployed by the lords of the Pale as a. mediator, U.v HISTORY OF IRELAND. 261 transmit their remonstrance to the lords-justices, and received, in reply, a severe reprimand for daring to correspond with rebels. He again solicited per- mission to return to his English estates, and again met a peremptory refusal. After the battle of Kil- rush, he prepared a dinner for the victorious Earl of Ormond, and feasted him and his principal offi- cers. The wretched creatures of government cir- culated a report that this feast was originally de- signed for Lord Mountgarret and the confederates ; and soon after, on a report that one of his servants had stolen a horse, he was indicted for high-treason. Castlehaven, with the boldness of conscious inno- cence, hastened to Dublin, and presented himself at the council-board. The lords-justices refused him a hearing, and committed him to prison. His brother, Colonel Mervin Touchett, applied to the king, who was then at York, that the earl should be tried by his peers. Charles referred the matter to the parliament, and the parliament refused to inter- fere without the king. After having been detained a prisoner for twenty weeks, Castlehaven, justly dreading the insidious practices of Parsons, con- trived to make his escape. He fled to Kilkenny, and was received with open arms by the confeder- ates, who, delighted by the accession of an Eng- lish peer, appointed him to command the Leinster cavalry under Preston. The civil war had now broken out in England, and the parliament sent over agents to engage the Irish army on their side. These attempts were directly encouraged by Parsons, who admitted the parliamentary emissaries into the privy council with- out waiting for the royal sanction. Ormond, on the other hand, strenuously laboured to keep the soldiers in their allegiance, and partially succeeded. A re- monstrance, complaining of the manner in which the war had been conducted, was transmitted to Eng- land, notwithstanding all the resistance of Parsons. 262 HISTORY OF IRELAND. and soon after, the justices were further mortified by being forced to send over the address of the con- federates. Conscious that the charges contained in this document were true, and the requests reason- able, they addressed themselves craftily to the avarice of the king, and the prejudices of the people. They sent a letter with the document, stating that con- cessions " would be inconsistent with the means of raising a considerable revenue to the crown, and establishing religion and civility in Ireland." But Charles was no longer under the necessity of dis- sembling with his parliament; he issued a commis- sion to the Earl of Ormond, Clanricarde, and others, empowering them to treat with the confederates ; he removed Parsons from the government, and nom- inated Sir H. Tichburne in his stead. The affairs of the confederates were now in a pros- perous condition. Owen O'Neill obtained a victory over Monroe in Ulster; the Lords Castlehaven and Muskerry defeated Sir Charles Vavasor at Kilworth in Minister, and confined Inchiquin to his garrisons. Connaught was totally at their disposal ; and through the rashness of Preston, though they had suffered a defeat near Ross, yet Ormond, having been pre- vented from improving his victory by the treachery of the parliamentarian general Lord Lisle, could not boast of any decisive advantage. Yet the violent party in the Irish privy council and the English House of Commons, whose neglect had reduced the Protestant forces to so low an ebb, exclaimed vio- lently against any negotiation with the insurgents. To remove every pretext from these infuriate bigots, Ormond proposed that they should suggest any other mode for the " /reservation of the kingdom ; and offered to continue the war, if tney would supply him with ten thousand pounds, one half in money, and the rest in victuals. This negotiation proved the ruin of the confeder- ates, and the destruction of the king. This was HISTORY OF IRELAND. 263 principally owing to the conduct of the Earl of Or- mond, who was far more bitterly opposed to the Catholic lords than to the English parliament. His hatred of popery and his love of wealth were too powerful for his loyalty ; and in the hope of some favourable circumstances arising, he craftily pro- tracted the negotiations until his insincerity was manifest to all, and his royal master ruined. Un- questionably, in the situation of affairs at the time, the wisest plan would have been to assemble a new parliament, which would instantly have superseded the council at Kilkenny, and to have united the roy- alists and confederates into one body. The lords of the Pale eagerly desired such a consummation ; they knew the secret of their own weakness. Dissensions had already appeared in the supreme council. Some violent ecclesiastics had insisted on the establish- ment of the Roman Catholic religion in all its splen- dour, and denounced their more moderate brethren as traitors to the cause of religion. The jealousies between the new and old Irish had manifested themselves on more than one occasion, and the confederates at once envied and dreaded the power and popularity of O'Neill. Ormond knew all these circumstances ; and hoping at, once to crush popery, and reap some share of the future harvest of con- fiscations, he basely sacrificed to these unworthy motives the happiness of his country and the life of his sovereign. The cessation of arms was at length signed ; for Ormond steadily resisted any proposals for a final arrangement. The confederates, however, grateful for such a respite, stipulated for the payment of thirty thousand pounds to the king ; one half in money, and the other half in cattle. The war ought now to have been at an end ; for it is impossible to dis- cover any reasonable pretext that the most zealous royalist could adduce for regarding the confederates any longer as enemies. The charter of Graces, for 264 BISTORT OF IRELAND. which alone they contended, had been purchased from the king at the very beginning of his reign. The conditions which it contained were just and reasonable, such as a monarch anxious for the wel- fare of his people ought to have conceded in an in- stant. The loyalty of these noblemen to their sov- ereign was unquestioned ; they were all animated with a generous zeal to rescue him from the puri- tans ; but by the contrivance of Ormond they were kept in a hostile position, and at the same time pre- vented from making use of their arms. The clergy and the old Irish were justly dissatis- fied with the truce, which had checked their full tide of success, and weakened their strength by the loss of the men and money sent to aid the king in Eng- land; they, however, confined themselves to remon- strances. The parliamentarians, on the other hand, declared that this alliance with murderous papists, as they designated the lords of the Pale, was a cry- ing sin, and sent orders to their generals to disre- gard the truce. Monroe and his followers took the solemn league and covenant, which had been framed by the Scotch in the beginning of their war against the king. He was soon after appointed by the English parliament commander-in-chief of all their forces, and directed to lead them against all opponents of their cause. The confederates now eagerly besought Ormond to place himself at their head, and lead them against the Ulster Scots. This would, however, have been fatal to his avaricious views. He refused to pro- claim the Scots rebels ; and he would not acknowl- edge the confederates as good subjects. He pro- fessed, nevertheless, his willingness to employ in the king's service any men or money that might be placed at his disposal. The Catholic lords were not, however, now so foolishly confident in Or- mond's integrity as they had been ; and they in- trusted the command of the forces sent against HISTORY OF IRELAND. 288 Monroe to the Earl of Castlehaven. Owen O'Neill was provoked at the distrust manifested by the council of Kilkenny in withholding from him the command of the forces employed in Ulster. Indeed, he seems to have foreseen that the credulity and folly of the confederates would prove the ruin of their cause, and to have determined on a separation of interests. Castlehaven, unsupported by O'Neill, could do nothing ; and Monroe persevering in his usual inactivity, the campaign in the north produced no important result. In the mean time, a deputation from the Catholic confederates proceeded to lay their demands before the king ; and a committee from the Protestants of Dublin was also sent over to state their proposals for the pacification of the country. The articles presented by the rival parties are full of instruction : and we request the reader to compare them atten- lively, as they illustrate the objects and motives of this protracted contest. The Catholics demanded " the freedom of their religion, and a repeal of the penal laws ; a free parliament, with a suspension of Poynings' law during its session ; seminaries in Ire- land for the education of the Catholic lawyers and clergy; a general act of pardon and oblivion, and the reversal of all attainders against those who had shared in the war ; the exclusion from the Irish parliament of all who were not estated and resident in Ireland ; an act declaring the Irish parliament in- dependent of that in England ; an act that no chief governor should retain his office more than three years, and that during that time he should be dis- qualified from acquiring new lands in the country a parliamentary inquiry into all the breaches of quarter and acts of inhumanity committed on either side during the contest ; the exclusion of all who had been guilty of such crimes from the act of ob livion, and their punishment in due course of law.** On the granting of these propositions, the confeder 966 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ates engaged to support the king with their lives and fortunes, and to contribute ten thousand men immediately for his assistance in England. The Protestant deputation demanded "the ligor- ous execution of all penal statutes against recu- sants ; the immediate and total disarming of all Catholics ; the compelling them to repair all damages sustained by Protestants ; the punishment of all of- fences committed by recusants, without pardon or mitigation ; the vesting of all the estates forfeited under the administration of Parsons in the crown ; and, after satisfaction had been made to such as claimed under the acts of parliament, the distribution of the residue entirely to the British planters." It must be remembered that at the time these proposals were made the confederates were in possession of the entire kingdom, except Dublin and a few posts ; and that six-sevenths of the property and popula- tion of Ireland were Catholic. It is scarcely ne- cessary to add, that the claims then made by the confederates have been granted by degrees, as the light of knowledge has become gradually more dif- fused ; though, in that age, the system advocated by those violent Protestants prevailed, and brought on the country more than a century of misery and degradation. Charles, with his usual indecision, neither accepted nor rejected the proposals of the confederates. He addressed them in kind and soothing terms ; patheti- cally lamented the difficulties of his situat : on ; as- sured them that he felt a tender interest in their wel- fare ; and then threw the burden of negotiation on the Marquis of Ormond. This fatal vacillation, to give it no harsher term, was ruinous. The confederates could not be expected to rely on the simple word of a sovereign who had already deceived them so grossly respecting the charter of the Graces. They would not, therefore, move until the treaty of pacifi ration was signed; and this was delayed by the HISTORY OF IRELAND. 267 reluctance of Ormond, until the king's cause hopeless. In the midst of the negotiations an unexpected revolution took place in Munster. Inchiquin, having been refused the office of lord-president by the king, declared for the parliament, and made himself mas- ter of Cork, Youghall, and Kinsale, from which he expelled all the Catholic inhabitants. His examph was followed by Lord Esmond, who betrayed Dun- cannon to the parliamentary forces. The Earl of Inchiquin was the lineal representative of the royal race of the O'Briens ; but there was never a scourge of Ireland animated by a greater hatred of his coun- trymen. Whether fighting for the king or the par- liament, and he changed sides more than once, he was invariably the bitter enemy of his countrymen, and the savage profaner of those religious edifices in which the ashes of his own ancestors reposed. His name is preserved in the traditions of Munster as the symbol of every thing that is wicked and terrible. Nurses scare their children by the threat of calling black Morough O'Brien; and the superstitious pea- sant tells of the curse that he brought upon his family, and the failure of male-heirs to the title of Inchiquin. His cruelty on one occasion presents a remarkable contrast to the conduct of the Catholics at the same place : when he stormed Cashel he pur- sued the fugitives into the splendid cathedral of that city called from its situation The Rock; there he mercilessly slaughtered the unresisting multitude, and the blood of no less than twenty priests polluted the altars of the God of mercy. When the news of this revolution reached the council at Kilkenny, they directed Lord Castlehaven to march against the Earl of Inchiquin, while Pres- ton was sent to besiege D-mcannon. The English parliament seemed in no hurry to succour their new partisans. Duncannon was forced to surrender after a short but vigorous siege ; and Castlehaven, having 368 HISTORY OF IRELAND. iefeated Inchijuin in the field, proceeded to reduce ihe different castles along the rivers Lee and Black- water. His enterprises were crowned with suc- cess ; he reduced several places of importance ; made a great number of leading men prisoners; and finally, advancing to the coast, laid siege to Youghall, though the town was well garrisoned, and further protected by two parliamentary frigates that lay in the harbour. Castlehaven directed his lieutenant- general, Purcell, to attack Croker's works, which formed an advanced post on the south of the walls, while he, crossing the river Blackwater, planted some cannon on the ferry point, which juts out op- posite the town. The fire of Castlehaven's guns de- stroyed one of the frigates ; but Purcell was defeated in a sally of the garrison ; and before this calamity could be remedied the siege was raised by the ar- rival of Lord Broghill. The winter soon after set in, and military operations were laid aside to resume the long pending negotiations. Orniond was resolved not to grant the terms de- manded by the confederates ; and they, feeling that they had been more moderate than what prudence or even justice required, refused to recede from a single claim. He tried in vain to persuade them of the expediency of assisting the king as promptly as possible. They very properly replied that they would not weaken themselves until the signature of the treaty had secured their future safety. During this delay, Rinunccini, archbishop of Fermo, ar- rived in Ireland as legate from the pope, and showed himself as hostile to any pacification which did noi. secure the public establishment of the Romish re- ligion, as the ultra-Protestants were to terms that granted simple toleration. Charles, harassed by the increasing difficulties of his affairs, and anxiously Loping that the promised aid from Ireland would retrieve his losses, determined to employ another negotiator, since he found Ormond disobedient BISTORT OF IRELAND. 260 This envoy was Edward Lord Herbert, son of the Marquis of Worcester, whom, for his warm attach- ment to the royal cause, the king had created Earl of Glamorgan. He found the confederates inclined to insist on more favourable terms than they had previously demanded, in consequence of Castle- haven's recent successes; but he had influence enough to prevail upon them to make both a public and a private treaty ; the latter of which, Glamorgan declared, contained terms too favourable to the Ca- tholics to be published at a time when the rage against popery absolutely amounted to a national insanity. There has been a long dispute whether Glamorgan did not exceed his instructions by agreeing to cer- tain articles in the private treaty ; and some warm defenders of Charles assert that the earl certainly exceeded his instructions. The question is not really important, because the principal additional concession could have been no disgrace to the king. It was simply that the Catholics should pay tithes to their own ecclesiastics, and the Protestants to the teachers of their own church. Protestant historians, however, describe this article, and a statute of simi- lar tendency in the reign of James, a cruel mockery ; because that many ministers of the establishment had notoriously no congregations. To which the Catholic writers reply by asking, why then should they be paid for their instruction ? And it has not been our good fortune to meet with a satisfactory answer to the question. A second article was, " that the churches should remain in the hands of their present, possessors;" which has been impugned and defended on the same grounds as the preceding. Rinunccini and the papal party objected to the treaties, as not sufficiently securing the establish- ment of the ancient religion ; but found few sup- porters among the laity. The legate, on his way to Ireland, had stopped some time at Paris ; and had 270 HISTORY OF IRELAND. there entered into some negotiations with the Queen of England, then at the French court soliciting as- sistance. Her bigoted attachment to the Church of Rome, and extraordinary influence over her husband, gave the legate reason to hope that he would be able to restore The influence of the holy see over Ireland in all its former strength ; but he found the great ma- jority of the Irish leaders little disposed to the cause of priestly domination. The resistance of Rinunc- cini to the peace has been made the subject of count- less invectives ; but he can hardly be blamed, when he had obtained a promise of more favourable terms from one whom he describes in his Memoirs, as " queen over the king himself, rather than over the nation." With much more reason Rinunccini objected to the treaty with Glamorgan being kept secret. He said, that " if the publication of these articles would offend the Protestant royalists, there was reason to dread that the Catholic princes on the Continent would be displeased by their concealment ;" and added, " that a secret treaty might easily be dis- owned by the king and his ministers whenever it was their convenience to do so." The latter argu- ment made a deep impression, especially on the minds of the old Irish, who had so often suffered by the violation of royal promises ; and an accidental circumstance soon proved that the legate's appre- hensions were not altogether groundless. A second Sir Charles Coote, for the former had been killed in a skirmish during the first year of the war, had been sent by the parliament to aid Monroe in Ulster, and, unlike that general, soon distinguish- ed himself by zeal and activity. He advanced into Connaught, and made himself master of Sligo, and extended his depredations into the neighbouring counties. Sir James Dillon was sent with a body of eight hundred men to aid the titular archbishop of Tuam in recovering this important post. The HISTORY OF IRELAND. 271 warlike prelate assaulted Sligo, and had nearly suc- ceeded, when his soldiers were alarmed by the re- port of another army advancing from the north. Coote sallied out, attacked the Irish army in its re- treat, and put it to the rout. The baggage of the archbishop was taken, and in it was found a copy of the treaty that had been made with Glamorgan. The victorious general immediately transmitted the document to the English parliament, by whom it was at once published, and extensively circulated in Britain and Ireland. All the parties to the treaty were now in a singu- larly awkward position ; and the efforts they made to extricate themselves exhibit scenes of treachery, meanness, and duplicity in high places, which would be ludicrous if they were not disgusting. The king set the example. He boldly denied having given Glamorgan any authority to conclude such a treaty ; he declared to the English parliament that the only purpose for which the earl had been sent to Ireland was to raise forces for his majesty's service. This he contradicts in a letter to the Irish privy council, in which he states " that it is possible he might have thought fit to have given the Earl of Glamor- gan such a credential as might give him credit with the Roman Catholics, in case the marquis (of Or- mond) should find occasion to make use of him, either as a further assurance to them of what he should privately promise, or in case he should judge it necessary to manage those matters for their greater confidence apart by the earl, of whom they might be less jealous." To complete the whole inconsistency of his excuses, the king wrote a private letter to the Marquis of Ormond, in which he declared "on the word of a Christian, he never intended Glamorgan should treat of anything without his (the marquis's) approbation, much less his knowledge." Glamorgan next appears upon the stage : the lord- lieutenant and Lord Digby affecting to believe that he had ex- 872 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ceeded his powers, caused him to be arrested on a charge of high-treason, and brought for examination before the council. Glamorgan's defence was as extraordinary and as disgraceful as any part of the transaction. He astounded his hearers by declaring that " what he did was not, as he conceived, any way obligatory on his majesty;" to which he added, after some recollection, " and yet without any just blemish of my honour, honesty, or conscience !'' To explain this strange speech he produced a de~ feazance, signed the day after the signature of the treaty, and by the same parties. It declared that the earl, by his engagements, no way intended " to oblige his majesty, other than he himself should please, after he had received the ten thousand men. Yet he faithfully promised, on his word of honour, not to acquaint his majesty with his defeazance till he had used his utmost endeavours to procure the fulfilment of the treaty ; but when he had made these exertions he was to be relieved from all further re- sponsibility ; he was also bound by oath never tc disclose this defeazance without the consent of the commissioners." The king sent a letter to the Irish privy council, ordering that Glamorgan should be detained a pris- oner ; but at the same time he wrote privately to Ormond, " to suspend the execution of any sentence against him until the king was informed fully of all the proceedings." It will not lessen the reader's surprise to learn that, notwithstanding all this heat, Ormond had long before received instructions from the king to conclude a peace with the confederates, on terms nearly, if not fully, as favourable to the Catholics as those granted by Glamorgan. While the earl remained in prison he received two letters from the king, one designed to be seen by Ormond and Digby, the other private and confi- dential. Both are still preserved in the Harleian collection of manuscripts at the British Museum; BISTORT OF IRELAND. 273 and they illustrate the king's share in these trans- actions too forcibly to be omitted. The first is the ostensible letter, and was trans- mitted officially. " GLAMORGAN, " I must clearly tell you, both you and I have been abused in this business ; for you have been drawn to consent to conditions beyond your instructions, and your treaty hath been divulged to all the world. If you had advised with my lord-lieutenant, as you promised me, all this had been helped But we must look forward. Wherefore, in a word, I have com- manded as much favour to be shown to you as may possibly stand with my service or safety; and if you will yet trust my advice which I have commanded Digby to give you freely 1 will bring you so off, that you may be still useful to me, and I shall be able to recompense you for your affection. If not, I cannot tell what to say. But I will not doubt your compliance in this, since it so highly concerns the good of all my crowns, my own particular, and to make me have still means to show myself " Your most assured friend, " CHARLES R. " Oxford, Feb. 3, 1645-6." The second letter was sent oy Sir. J. Winter, Glamorgan's cousin-german, a Roman Catholic gen- tleman high in the confidence of the queen, and who had been once her private secretary. Its address is much more familiar than that of the preceding. " HERBERT, " I am confident that this honest, trusty bearer will give you good satisfaction why I have not in every thing done as you desired ; the want of con- fidence in you being so far from being the cause thereof, that I am every day more and more con- I. X 274 BISTORT OF IRELAND. firmed in the trust that I have of you. For, believe me, it is not in the power of any to make you suffer in my opinion by ill offices. But of this and divers other things I have given to Sir J. Winter so full instructions, that I will say no more, but that I am " Your assured and constant friend, "CHARLES R. " Oxford, Feb. 28, 1645-6." Before these letters reached Ireland Glamorgan had been liberated on bail. At the first news of his arrest, the confederates at Kilkenny determined to rescue him by force of arms ; but learning that the threatened prosecution was a mere pretence, they resolved to remain quiet. We have detailed the transactions with Glamor- gan at rather disproportionate length, not only on account of its intrinsic importance, but because of the scandalous manner in which it has been misrep- resented by several historians. Clarendon omits the proceedings altogether ; and his silence is a con- clusive proof that he believed the king's conduct in- defensible. Hume, by a long and laboured argu- ment, endeavours to prove that the entire blame rests on Glamorgan; and declares that the king never could have designed to show such favour to the Catholics. Carte, who saw the original docu- ments, by suppressing some and misrepresenting others, labours to show that the ascendency of the Protestant church in Ireland had been always made by Charles a primary article in all instructions con- cerning the peace. And Smollett declares that *' the king was incapable of dissimulation." If there be any person who entertains any hesitation in pro- nouncing the f'onduct of the king a tissue of fraud and falsehood, his doubts must be removed by the perusal of the two following letters, addressed by the wretched monarch to Lord Glamorgan, the ori- ginals of which are also still preserved in the British BISTORT OF IRELAND. 275 Museum. The first is partially ostensible ; Irat the i oncluding words (printed in italics) are written in ripher. " GLAMORGAN, " I have no time, nor do you expect that I shall make unnecessary repetitions to you. Wherefore, referring you to Digby for business, this is only to give you assurance of my constant friendship for you, which, considering the general defection of common honesty, is in a sort requisite. Howbeit, I know you cannot but be confident of my making good all instructions and promises to you and the nuncio. u Your most assured constant friend, " CHARLES R. " Oxford, April 5th, 1646." The other letter is as follows ; and its contents decisively prove that Glamorgan's concessions to the confederate Catholics had the king's full consent and approbation. " HERBERT, " As I doubt not but you have too much courage to be dismayed or discouraged at the usage you have had, so I assure you that my estimation of you is nothing diminished by it, but rather begets in me a desire of revenge and reparation to us both ; for in this I hold myself equally interested with you. Wherefore, not doubting of your accustomed care and industry in my service, I assure you of the continuance of my favour and protection to you, and that in deeds, more than in words, I shall show myself to be ** Your most assured constant friend, " CHARLES R. "Oxford, April 6th, 1646." So much for the sincerity of the royal martyr, in his disavowal of Glamorgan's negotiations ! The publication o> *he d^feazance, and the refusal 276 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of Ormond to recognise the secret articles to which Glamorgan had consented, destroyed the last re- mains of harmony in the council of the confederates. The Anglo- Irish lords had been driven to revolt by irresistible compulsion, and were anxious to con- elude the war on any terms. The old Irish were justly suspicious of Ormond, and as justly indignant that no care had been taken of their peculiar inter- ests in either of the treaties. Rinunccini, who knew that negotiations were in progress at Paris between Charles and the pope, insisted that they should wait for the pope's peace. The Irish clergy declared that no terms should be accepted which did not in- clude the ecclesiastical articles in Glamorgan's secret treaty. Meantime, the king's affairs had become desperate ; and Ormond, at length awakened to the dangers of delay, when it was too late, consented to the repeal of the penal laws, and signed the treaty with the confederates on the 28th of March, 1646. Owen O'Neill had been, during all this time, em- ployed in training his forces, and making such prep- arations as would ensure his success. He con- trived to bring Monroe to an engagement at Ben- burb ; and though the Scottish general had forces superior to the Irish in number and discipline, O'Neill completely fulfilled Leven's prophecy, and gained the most decisive victory that had occurred during the war. While preparing to improve his success, and completely expel the parliamentarians from Ulster, the northern general received a letter from Rinunccini, requiring him to inarch into Leinster to overawe the confederates. The nuncio had not only disavowed the peace, but had prevailed upon a large body of the clergy to join with him in excommuni- cating the commissioners by whom it had been signed, and all who ventured to observe it. In con- sequence of this denunciation, the heralds appointed to proclaim the treaty were violently assaulted by the populace in several towns; and at Limerick HISTORY OF IRELAND. $77 the mayor and king-at-arms hardly escaped with their lives. The king had now surrendered himself to the Scots ; and Ormond, seeing the royal cause hopeless, began to negotiate with the parliament. The violence and fury of the nuncio soon spread ruin through the armies of the confederates. Even those who had at first been his most strenuous sup- porters became alarmed at the pernicious conse- quences. Charles himself unfortunately increased the arrogance of this haughty prelate, by declaring, in a letter to Glamorgan,* that if he could contrive by any means to make his escape, he would throw himself into the arms of the nuncio. Rinunccini, elated by such a prospect, prevailed on Preston and O'Neill to join him, and, with the two armies, laid siege to Dublin. Lord Digby, who was in Ireland on behalf of the king, and was willing to make any sacrifice in his master's service, endeavoured to moderate the stubbornness of Ormond. Clanricarde made similar exertions with the nuncio ; but both were too obstinate to be moved. * This letter was first published on the Continent; but Carte must have been aware of its existence, since he quotes, from the nuncio's Memoirs, the pages immediately preceding und succeeding that in which it occurs. It will at once be seen that it contains a complete refutation of his defence of Charles. The following is a copy : " GLAMORGAN, " I am not so strictly guarded but that, if you send to me a prudent and secret person, I can receive a letter, and you may signify to me your mind ; 1 having always loved your person and conversation, which I ardently wish for at present more than ever, if it could be had without prejudice to you, whose safety is dear to me as my own. If you can raise a large sum of money by pawning my kingdoms for that purpose, I am content you should do it ; and if I recover them, I will fully repay that money; and tell the nuncio that if once I come into his and your hands, which ought extremely to be wisher! for by you both, as well for the sake of England as Ireland, since all the rest, as 1 see, despise rne, I will do it; and if I do not say this from my heart, or if in any future time I fail you in this, may God never restore me to my kingdom in this world, nor give me ecernal happiness in the next ; to which I hope this tribulation will conduct me at last, after I have satisfied my obligation! to my friends ; to none of whom I am so much obliged as to yoursellj whose merits towards me exceed all expressions that can be used by " Your constant friend, Newcastle July 20, 1&46." CHARLES R. 278 HI8TORT Or IRELAND. Ormond was soon avowedly engaged in a nego- tiation with the parliamentarians ; he even declared that he had received an intimation from the king to submit to that party rather than the Irish. That this was utterly false is clear from the following letter of Charles : " ORMONDE, " The large despatch from you and Digby of the 2d and 3d of December, with the full account of your London treaty, I have received by sev- eral messengers ; thereby finding, with great con- tentment, that I am no ways deceived in my confi- dence of you. For I really and heartily approve of all that you have done hitherto, and, in partic- ular, concerning Colonel Preston ; but, for far- ther directions, I can only say that you must, in no case, submit to the CW JK,* and that you en- deavour what you can to repiece your breach with the Irish, in case you can do it with honour and a good conscience ; both which are so rightly under- stood by you, that I will neither trouble you nor myself with more particulars. I command you to follow such orders as the queen and my son shall send you ; and so desiring to hear often from you, I rest " Your most assured, real, faithful, * and constant friend, " CHARLKS R. Newcastle, Jan. 5, 1647." While the council of the confederates, distracted by the violence of the nuncio, and the intemperate zeal of his followers, could neither be persuaded to maintain peace nor prosecute the war with vigour, Ormond completed his treaty with the English par- It is scarcely necessary to mention, what is sufficiently evident from the context, that these ciphers designate the English and Scottish par liamenta BISTORT OF IRELAND. 979 foment, and received their troops into Dublin. The terms for which he stipulated were, a sum of four- teen thousand pounds to reimburse himself for his private expenses during the war, a pension of three thousand pounds per annum for his wife, and per- mission to reside in England, on condition of sub- mitting to the authority of parliament. The puri- tans, under the command of Colonel Jones, had no sooner obtained possession of Dublin, than they treated Ormond with the greatest harshness and con- tempt. Alarmed for his safety, he hastily embarked for England, but had scarcely arrived there when he learned that the parliament had given orders for his arrest, and he escaped precipitately to France. O'Neill had long despised the confederates ; he was now equally weary of the nuncio, whose presump- tuous folly had given disgust to every reasonable man in his own party. Even the court of Rome had signified its disapprobation of his proceedings, and refused to ratify his promises. The Catholic armies, too, had been generally unsuccessful. Pres- ton, after having gained a splendid victory near Dublin, failed to improve his advantages, and soon after suffered a defeat. Inchiquin gained severa triumphs over the confederates in Munster, and pushed his depredations almost to the walls of Kil- kenny. O'Neill refused to obey the general council, declaring himself the soldier of the nuncio. At this crisis an attempt was made by O'Neill to negotiate with the English parliament, whose cause he fore- saw must be victorious, from the superior abilities of those by whom it was supported. The particu- lars are recorded by Ludlow, who was one of the committee appointed to confer with the Ulster dele- gates by the council of state. The Irish demanded indemnity for the past, the future security of their estates, and liberty of conscience. They complain- ed bitterly of the king's duplicity, and declared that they would have made application to the parliament 280 HISTORY OF IRELAND. sooner, had not the men in power been obstinately determined on their extirpation. The puritans, however, hated popery too sincerely to grant it tot eration, and the treaty was broken off abruptly. The defeat of the confederates under Lord Taafe by the Earl of Inchiquin so alarmed the council at Kilkenny, that, in spite of the nuncio's exertions, it was resolved to renew the treaty that had been con- cluded with Ormond, and the Lords Muskerry and Geoffrey Browne were sent to confer with the queen and the Prince of Wales on the subject at Paris. By the influence of the nuncio, ambassadors were also sent to solicit assistance from the courts of Rome, Paris, and Madrid. The declining influence of Rinunccini was also shown in another important instance. A treatise was published by an Irish Jesuit, advising the nation to throw off its allegiance to the English crown, and choose a Catholic prince as an independent sovereign. The council, by an overwhelming majority, voted that this mischievous work should be publicly burned by the common hangman. Muskerry and Browne, on their arrival in France, earnestly entreated that Prince Charles should come over and place himself at the head of the Irish roy- alists, a measure which would probably have pro- duced a complete revolution. This was refused ; but a promise was made that a person should soon be sent over, empowered to give the confederates every satisfaction ; and they were secretly assured that the person intended was Ormond. The answers received from Paris and Rome com- pleted the destruction of Rinunccini's power. The papal court had refused to assist the confederates with money or munitions of war, and had farther left them at liberty to make any terms for their re- ligion suitable to the circumstances of the time. They now determined to make a truce with Inchi- i, who had of late resolved to return to the king. HISTORY OF IRELAND. 281 party, being disgusted with the ingratitude shown him by the parliament, and shocked by the abolition of royal power m England. While a secret nego- tiation was proceeding, the puritans in Cork and Youghall, suspecting the designs of their leader, de- termined to secure these towns ; but the plot being discovered, the principal leaders were thrown into prison. Inchiquin was thus forced into a premature avowal of his designs ; and the nuncio became ac- quainted with the secret of the armistice. He de- nounced this treaty, as he had done that of 1646, with the most intemperate violence. He excom- municated all those by whom it was favoured, and denounced an interdict against the places where it should be maintained. But these spiritual weapons had been used so often, and on such frivolous occa- sions by the nuncio, that they were no longer for- midable. The armistice was signed, and a formal appeal made to the pope against Rinunccini's cen- sures. It was signed by two archbishops, twelve bishops, all the secular clergy, and by the Jesuits, the Carmelites, and a great majority of the Augus- tinians, Dominicans, and Franciscans. The nuncio, and the small portion of the clergy that adhered to him, now proposed that O'Neill should advance to Kilkenny, disperse the council of the confederates, and assume the dictatorship of Ire- land; but O'Neill wanted energy of character, and, besides, was unwilling to shed blood unless on the field of battle. He advanced for the purpose of overawing the council ; but while on his march, the armistice was concluded, and he was exposed to the attack of the armies both of Inchiquin and Preston, each of which was superior to his own. By an ex- ertion of the most consummate ability he extricated himself Kom these difficulties, and retreated with little loss to Ulster, while he was proclaimed a traitor by the supreme council. 283 BISTORT OF IRELAND. Another partisan of the nuncio was the Marquie of Antrim, who during the whole struggle had ex- hibited the greatest vanity and incapacity. Through the favour of the queen, on whom his boasts pro- duced a very powerful impression, he had been com- missioned by the king to raise a body of forces in Ulster to assist the projects of Montrose in Scot- land. Though he had failed to execute his promises, he solicited now the appointment of chief governor of Ireland ; and finding that it was already bestowed on Ormond, he resolved to harass the royalists, whom he could not command. He appeared before Wex- ford with a body of Scotch Highlanders and discon- tented Irish ; but was totally defeated by the con- federates. He then entered into terms with Jones, the parliamentarian governor, and was permitted by him to pass with the relics of his followers to O'Neill's quarters. O'Neill was at first duped by Antrim's boasting, and placed himself under his com- mand ; but soon discovering his insignificance, he resumed his place as general of the northern Irish. It is remarkable, that Rinunccini sanctioned the ne- gotiations of O'Neill and Antrim with the puritans, who had vowed the extirpation of popery, while he denounced vengeance on all who treated with those who were willing to give the professors of the Ro- mish religion every reasonable security. Such are the inconsistencies of bigotry and fanaticism. Ormond returned to Ireland with a much more sincere inclination for peace than he had previously manifested. The treatment he had received from the parliament convinced him that nothing was to be hoped from that party ; and he resolved to devote himself entirely to the king. But it was now too late : the confederates could no longer trust a man who had so grossly betrayed the confidence which they had formerly bestowed; and Ormond found that opportunities neglected never again return. He HISTORY OF IRELAND. 283 poshed on the negotiations with a vigour quite un- like his former tardiness; and was stimulated to greater speed by the following letters, which he re- ceived from the king, then a prisoner in the Isle of Wight: " ORMOND, * Lest you might be misled by false rumours, I have thought fit by this to tell you my true con- dition. I am here in a treaty ; but such a one as if I yield not to all that is proposed to me, I must be a close prisoner, being still under restraint. Wherefore, I must command you two things ; first, to obey all my wife's commands ; then, not to obey any public command of mine, until I let you know I am free from restraint. Lastly, be not startled at my great concessions concerning Ireland, for that they will come to nothing. This is all at this time i'rom, " Your most real, faithful, constant friend, * CHARLES R. ' Newport, in the Isle of Wight, Oct. 10th, 1648." ** ORMOND, **I hope before this, mine of the 10th of this month will have come to your hands. I sent it by the way of France. This is not only to confirm the contents of that, but also to approve of certain commands to you ; likewise, to command you to prosecute certain instructions, until I shall, under my own hand, give you other commands. And though you will hear that this treaty is near, or at least most likely to be concluded, yet believe it not; but pursue the way that you are in with all possible vigour. Deliver also that my command to all your friends, but not in a public way ; because, otherwise, it may be inconvenient to me, and parti 284 HISTORY OF IRELAND. cularly to Inchiquin. So being confident of yom punctual observance of these my directions, I rest, ** Your most real, faithful, constant friend, " CHARLES R. * Newport, Saturday, "Ktk Oct. 1648." A few days after having despatched this letter, the king, whom sundry historians declare " incapable of dissimulation," declared to the parliamentary com- missioners who remonstrated against Ormond's re- newing his treaty with the Irish, " Since the first votes passed for the treaty (between the king and British parliament) in August, I have not transacted any affairs concerning Ireland, but with you, the commissioners, in relation to the treaty itself." The treaty with the confederates was, however, protracted by various delays until the 16th of Jan- uary, 1649; and before any advantage could be taken of the pacification Charles had perished on a scaffold. It is not necessary to recount the particu lars of this treaty,* which by the king's death be- came waste paper. It is sufficient to say that it im- bodied the greater part of Glamorgan's concessions, and provided for the summoning of a new parlia- ment ; until which time the power of the lord-lieu- tenant was to be shared by a council, called Com- missioners of Trust, elected by the confederates. Thus terminated the second act of this eventful drama. The fatal catastrophe by which it was to be terminated could not be foreseen ; and every one rejoiced in the hope that the distractions of the coun- try were at an end. The wars might have been concluded long before, * On* of the articles is too curious to be omitted. It prorides, " Thai II law* prohibiting ploughing by horse-tails, and the burning of oats i> (tM straw (an Irish substitute for thrashing-machines), should be re- pealed." The reformed systems or religion and agriculture wer both tnujfht, it sppaar, by th* eomprebensive agency of penal law* HISTORY OF 1RKLAN0. f8f had any of the parties acted with vigour, consistency, or honesty. The king's notorious duplicity, mani- fested in every act of his Irish government, made him suspected by all. The cruelty and tyranny of Parsons, Coote, St. Leger, and others prevented the confederates from laying down their arms until suffi- cient security had been given for their lives and prop- erty. Ormond, avaricious and bigoted, was reluc- tant to grant such security; and they themselves prevented O'Neill from obtaining it by force. The council of Kilkenny yielded to ancient prejudices and the spleen of party. The fanaticism of Ri- nunccini and his associates created a new source of irreconcilable discord. And finally, O'Neill, the only man who could have saved the country, was cursed by the support of the intolerant clergy; and justly fearing the increase of their power, showed inde- cision when promptitude was most necessary. Bitter was the penalty paid for these errors. An avenger was now at hand, who involved the foolish and th criminal in one common ruin. un> or voi. *. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-1 7?n-8, '55 (B3339s4) 444 DA 910 Taylor - T21h History of 1833 Ireland. *i v.3T A 001 238 828 6 iNIVER fe DA 910 T21h 1333 v.l