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diff --git a/6633-h/6633-h.htm b/6633-h/6633-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f8d275 --- /dev/null +++ b/6633-h/6633-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,15768 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>A Popular History of Ireland Volume 2, by Thomas D'Arcy McGee</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 175%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} +h3 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: 90%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; } + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Popular History of Ireland Volume 2, by Thomas D'Arcy McGee + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: A Popular History of Ireland Volume 2 + +Author: Thomas D'Arcy McGee + +Release Date: January 6, 2003 [EBook #6633] +Last updated: June 26, 2019 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND *** + + + + +This etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan with help from +Charles Aldarondo and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>A Popular<br/> +History of Ireland:</h1> +<h5>from the</h5> +<h3>Earliest Period</h3> +<h5>to the</h5> +<h3>Emancipation of the Catholics </h3> + +<h2>by Thomas D'Arcy McGee</h2> + +<h5>In Two Volumes</h5> + +<hr /> + +<h3>Volume II</h3> + +<h3>CONTENTS—VOL. II</h3> + +<table summary=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part08"><b>BOOK VIII.</b> (Continued from Volume I)</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap56">CHAPTER IV.—Sir Henry Sidney's Deputyship—Parliament of +1569—The Second "Geraldine League"—Sir James Fitzmaurice</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap57">CHAPTER V.—The "Undertakers" in Ulster and Leinster—Defeat and +Death of Sir James Fitzmaurice</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap58">CHAPTER VI.—Sequel of the Second Geraldine League—Plantation of +Munster—Early Career of Hugh O'Neil, Earl of Tyrone—Parliament of +1585</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap59">CHAPTER VII.—Battle of Glenmalure—Sir John Perrott's +Administration—The Spanish Armada—Lord Deputy +Fitzwilliam—Escape of Hugh Roe O'Donnell from Dublin Castle—The +Ulster Confederacy formed</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap60">CHAPTER VIII.—The Ulster Confederacy—Feagh Mac Hugh +O'Byrne—Campaign of 1595—Negotiations, English and +Spanish—Battle of the Yellow Ford—Its Consequences</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap61">CHAPTER IX.—Essex's Campaign of 1599—Battle of the Curlieu +Mountains—O'Neil's Negotiations with Spain—Mountjoy Lord Deputy</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap62">CHAPTER X.—Mountjoy's Administration—Operations in Ulster and +Munster—Carew's "Wit and Cunning"—Landing of Spaniards in the +South—Battle of Kinsale—Death of O'Donnell in Spain</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap63">CHAPTER XI.—The Conquest of Munster—Death of Elizabeth, and +Submission of O'Neil—"The Articles of Mellifont"</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap64">CHAPTER XII.—State of Religion and Learning during the Reign of Elizabeth</a><br/><br/></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part09"><b>BOOK IX.</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap65">CHAPTER I.—James I.—Flight of the Earls—Confiscation of +Ulster—Penal Laws—Parliamentary Opposition</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap66">CHAPTER II.—Last years of James—Confiscation of the Midland +Counties—Accession of Charles I.—Grievances and +"Graces"—Administration of Lord Strafford</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap67">CHAPTER III.—Lord Stafford's Impeachment and Execution—Parliament +of 1639-'41—The Insurrection of 1641—The Irish Abroad</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap68">CHAPTER IV.—The Insurrection of 1641</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap69">CHAPTER V.—The Catholic Confederation—Its Civil Government and +Military Establishment</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap70">CHAPTER VI.—The Confederate War—Campaign of 1643—The +Cessation</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap71">CHAPTER VII.—The Cessation and its Consequences</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap72">CHAPTER VIII.—Glamorgan's Treaty—The New Nuncio +Rinuccini—O'Neil's Position—The Battle of Benburb</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap73">CHAPTER IX.—From the Battle of Benburb till the Landing of Cromwell at +Dublin</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap74">CHAPTER X.—Cromwell's Campaign—1649-1650</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap75">CHAPTER XI.—Close of the Confederate War</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap76">CHAPTER XII.—Ireland under the Protectorate—Administration of +Henry Cromwell—Death of Oliver</a><br/><br/></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part10"><b>BOOK X.</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap77">CHAPTER I.—Reign of Charles II.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap78">CHAPTER II.—Reign of Charles II. (Concluded)</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap79">CHAPTER III.—The State of Religion and Learning in Ireland during the +Seventeenth Century</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap80">CHAPTER IV.—Accession of James II.—Tyrconnell's Administration</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap81">CHAPTER V.—King James to Ireland—Irish Parliament of 1689</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap82">CHAPTER VI.—The Revolutionary War—Campaign of 1639—Sieges of +Derry and Enniskillen</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap83">CHAPTER VII.—The Revolutionary War—Campaign of 1690—Battle +of the Boyne—Its Consequences—the Sieges of Athlone and Limerick</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap84">CHAPTER VIII.—The Winter of 1690-91</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap85">CHAPTER IX.—The Revolutionary War—Campaign of 1691—Battle of +Aughrim—Capitulation of Limerick</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap86">CHAPTER X.—Reign of King William</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap87">CHAPTER XI.—Reign of Queen Anne</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap88">CHAPTER XII.—The Irish Soldiers Abroad, during the Reigns of William and +Anne</a><br/><br/></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part11"><b>BOOK XI.</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap89">CHAPTER I.—Accession of George I.—Swift's Leadership</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap90">CHAPTER II.—Reign of George II.—Growth of Public Spirit—The +"Patriot" Party—Lord Chesterfield's Administration</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap91">CHAPTER III.—The Last Jacobite Movement—The Irish Soldiers +Abroad—French Expedition under Thurot, or O'Farrell</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap92">CHAPTER IV.—Reign of George II. (Concluded)—Malone's Leadership</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap93">CHAPTER V.—Accession of George III.—Flood's +Leadership—Octennial Parliaments Established</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap94">CHAPTER VI.—Flood's Leadership—State of the Country between 1760 +and 1776</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap95">CHAPTER VII.—Grattan's Leadership—"Free Trade" and the Volunteers</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap96">CHAPTER VIII.—Grattan's Leadership—Legislative and Judicial +Independence Established</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap97">CHAPTER IX.—The Era of Independence—First Period</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap98">CHAPTER X.—The Era of Independence—Second Period</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap99">CHAPTER XI.—The Era of Independence—Third Period—Catholic +Relief Bill of 1793</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap100">CHAPTER XII.—The Era of Independence—Effects of the French +Revolution in Ireland—Secession of Grattan, Curran, and their Friends, +from Parliament, in 1797</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap101">CHAPTER XIII.—The United Irishmen</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap102">CHAPTER XIV.—Negotiations with France and Holland—The Three +Expeditions Negotiated by Tone and Lewines</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap103">CHAPTER XV.—The Insurrection of 1798</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap104">CHAPTER XVI.—The Insurrection of 1798—The Wexford Insurrection</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap105">CHAPTER XVII.—The Insurrection elsewhere—Fate of the Leading United +Irishmen</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap106">CHAPTER XVIII.—Administration of Lord Cornwallis—Before the Union</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap107">CHAPTER XIX.—Last Session of the Irish Parliament—The Legislative +Union of Great Britain and Ireland</a><br/><br/></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part12"><b>BOOK XII.</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap108">CHAPTER I.—After the Union—Death of Lord Clare—Robert +Emmet's Emeute</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap109">CHAPTER II.—Administration of Lord Hardwick (1801 to 1806), and of the +Duke of Bedford (1806 to 1808)</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap110">CHAPTER III.—Administration of the Duke of Richmond (1807 to 1813)</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap111">CHAPTER IV.—O'Connell's Leadership—1813 to 1821</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap112">CHAPTER V.—Retrospect of the State of Religion and Learning during the +Reign of George III</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap113">CHAPTER VI.—The Irish Abroad, during the Reign of George III</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap114">CHAPTER VII.—O'Connell's Leadership—The Catholic +Association—1821 to 1825</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap115">CHAPTER VIII.—O'Connell's Leadership—The Clare +Election—Emancipation of the Catholics</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3>HISTORY OF IRELAND</h3> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="part08"></a>BOOK VIII.<br/> +THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION.<br/> +(Continued from Volume I)</h3> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap56"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br/> +SIR HENRY SIDNEY'S DEPUTYSHIP—PARLIAMENT OF 1569—THE SECOND +"GERALDINE LEAGUE"—SIR JAMES FITZ-MAURICE.</h3> + +<p> +Sir Henry Sidney, in writing to his court, had always reported John O'Neil as +"the only strong man in Ireland." Before his rout at Lough Swilly, he could +commonly call into the field 4,000 foot and 1,000 horse; and his two years' +revolt cost Elizabeth, in money, about 150,000 pounds sterling "over and above +the cess laid on the country"—besides "3,500 of her Majesty's soldiers" +slain in battle. The removal of such a leader in the very prime of life was +therefore a cause of much congratulation to Sidney and his royal mistress, and +as no other "strong man" was likely soon to arise, the Deputy now turned with +renewed ardour to the task of establishing the Queen's supremacy, in things +spiritual as well as temporal. With this view he urged that separate +governments, with large though subordinate military as well as civil powers, +should be created for Munster and Connaught—with competent Presidents, +who should reside in the former Province at Limerick, and in the latter, at +Athlone. In accordance with this scheme—which continued to be acted upon +for nearly a century—Sir Edward Fitton was appointed first President of +Connaught, and Sir John Perrott, the Queen's illegitimate brother, President of +Munster. Leinster and Ulster were reserved as the special charge of the Lord +Deputy. +</p> + +<p> +About the time of O'Neil's death Sidney made an official progress through the +South and West, which he describes as wofully wasted by war, both town and +country. The earldom of the loyal Ormond was far from being well ordered; and +the other great nobles were even less favourably reported; the Earl of Desmond +could neither rule nor be ruled; the Earl of Clancarty "wanted force and +credit;" the Earl of Thomond had neither wit to govern "nor grace to learn of +others;" the Earl of Clanrickarde was well intentioned, but controlled wholly +by his wife. Many districts had but "one-twentieth" of their ancient +population; Galway was in a state of perpetual defence. Athenry had but four +respectable householders left, and these presented him with the rusty keys of +their once famous town, which they confessed themselves unable to defend, +impoverished as they were by the extortions of their lords. All this to the eye +of the able Englishman had been the result of that "cowardly policy, or lack of +policy," whose sole maxims had been to play off the great lords against each +other and to retard the growth of population, least "through their quiet might +follow" future dangers to the English interest. His own policy was based on +very different principles. He proposed to make the highest heads bow to the +supremacy of the royal sword—to punish with exemplary rigour every sign +of insubordination, especially in the great—and, at the same time, to +encourage with ample rewards, adventurers, and enterprises of all kinds. He +proposed to himself precisely the part Lord Stafford acted sixty years later, +and he entered on it with a will which would have won the admiration of that +unbending despot. He prided himself on the number of military executions which +marked his progress. "Down they go in every corner," he writes, "and down they +shall go, God willing!" He seized the Earl of Desmond in his own town of +Kilmallock; he took the sons of Clanrickarde, in Connaught, and carried them +prisoners to Dublin. Elizabeth became alarmed at these extreme measures, and +Sidney obtained leave to explain his new policy in person to her Majesty. +Accordingly in October he sailed for England, taking with him the Earl and his +brother John of Desmond, who had been invited to Dublin, and were detained as +prisoners of State; Hugh O'Neil, as yet known by no other title than Baron of +Dungannon; the O'Conor Sligo, and other chiefs and noblemen. He seems to have +carried his policy triumphantly with the Queen, and from henceforth for many a +long year "the dulce ways" and "politic drifts" recommended by the great +Cardinal Statesman of Henry VIII. were to give way to that remorseless struggle +in which the only alternative offered to the Irish was—uniformity or +extermination. Of this policy, Sir Henry Sidney may, it seems to me, be fairly +considered the author; Stafford, and even Cromwell were but finishers of his +work. One cannot repress a sigh that so ferocious a design as the extermination +of a whole people should be associated in any degree with the illustrious name +of Sidney. +</p> + +<p> +The triumphant Deputy arrived at Carrickfergus in September, 1568, from +England. Here he received the "submission," as it is called, of Tirlogh, the +new O'Neil, and turned his steps southwards in full assurance that this chief +of Tyrone was not another "strong man" like the last. A new Privy Council was +sworn in on his arrival at Dublin, with royal instructions "to concur with" the +Deputy, and 20,000 pounds a year in addition to the whole of the cess levied in +the country were guaranteed to enable him to carry out his great scheme of the +"reduction." A Parliament was next summoned for the 17th of January, 1569, the +first assembly of that nature which had been convened since Lord Sussex's +rupture with <i>his</i> Parliament nine years before. +</p> + +<p> +The acts of this Parliament, of the 11th of Elizabeth, are much more voluminous +than those of the 2nd of the same reign. The constitution of the houses is also +of interest, as the earlier records of every form of government must always be. +Three sessions were held in the first year, one in 1570, and one in 1571. After +its dissolution, no Parliament sat in Ireland for fourteen years—so +unstable was the system at that time, and so dependent upon accidental causes +for its exercise. The first sittings of Sidney's Parliament were as stormy as +those of Sussex. It was found that many members presented themselves pretending +to represent towns not incorporated, and others, officers of election, had +returned themselves. Others, again, were non-resident Englishmen, dependent on +the Deputy who had never seen the places for which they claimed to sit. The +disputed elections of all classes being referred to the judges, they decided +that non-residence did not disqualify the latter class; but that those who had +returned themselves, and those chosen for non-corporate towns, were +inadmissible. This double decision did not give the new House of Commons quite +the desired complexion, though Stanihurst, Recorder of Dublin, the Court +candidate, was chosen Speaker. The opposition was led by Sir Christopher +Barnewall, an able and intrepid man, to whose firmness it was mainly due that a +more sweeping proscription was not enacted, under form of law, at this period. +The native Englishmen in the House were extremely unpopular out of doors, and +Hooker, one of their number, who sat for the deserted borough of Athenry, had +to be escorted to his lodgings by a strong guard, for fear of the Dublin mob. +The chief acts of the first session were a subsidy, for ten years, of 13 +shillings 4 pence for every ploughland granted to the Queen; an act suspending +Poyning's act for the continuance of <i>that</i> Parliament; an act for the +attainder of John O'Neil; an act appropriating to her Majesty the lands of the +Knight of the Valley; an act authorizing the Lord Deputy to present to vacant +benefices in Munster and Connaught for ten years; an act abolishing the title +of "Captain," or <i>ruler</i> of counties or districts, unless by special +warrant under the great seal; an act for reversing the attainder of the Earl of +Kildare. In the sittings of 1570 and '71, the chief acts were for the erection +of free schools, for the preservation of the public records, for establishing +an uniform measure in the sale of corn, and for the attainder of the White +Knight, deceased. Though undoubtedly most of these statutes strengthened +Sidney's hands and favoured his policy, they did not go the lengths which in +his official correspondence he advocated. For the last seven years of his +connection with Irish affairs, he was accordingly disposed to dispense with the +unmanageable machinery of a Parliament. Orders in council were much more easily +procured than acts of legislation, even when every care had been taken to pack +the House of Commons with the dependents of the executive. +</p> + +<p> +The meeting of Parliament in 1569 was nearly coincident with the formal +excommunication of Elizabeth by Pope Pius V. Though pretending to despise the +bull, the Queen was weak enough to seek its revocation, through the +interposition of the Emperor Maximilian. The high tone of the enthusiastic +Pontiff irritated her deeply, and perhaps the additional severities which she +now directed against her Catholic subjects, may be, in part, traced to the +effects of the excommunication. In Ireland, the work of reformation, by means +of civil disabilities and executive patronage, was continued with earnestness. +In 1564, all Popish priests and friars were prohibited from meeting in Dublin, +or even coming within the city gates. Two years later, <i>The Book of +Articles</i>, copied from the English Articles, was published, by order of "the +Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical." The articles are twelve in +number:—1. The Trinity in Unity; 2. The Sufficiency of the Scriptures to +Salvation; 3. The Orthodoxy of Particular Churches; 4. The Necessity of Holy +Orders; 5. The Queen's Supremacy; 6. Denial of the Pope's authority "to be more +than other Bishops have;" 7. The Conformity of the Book of Common Prayer to the +Scriptures; 8. The Ministration of Baptism does not depend on the Ceremonial; +9. Condemns "Private Masses," and denies that the Mass can be a propitiatory +Sacrifice for the Dead; 10. Asserts the Propriety of Communion in Both Kinds; +11. Utterly disallows Images, Relics and Pilgrimages; 12. Requires a General +Subscription to the foregoing Articles. With this creed, the Irish +Establishment started into existence, at the command and, of course, with all +the aid of the civil power. The Bishops of Meath and Kildare, the nearest to +Dublin, for resisting it were banished their sees; the former to die an exile +in Spain, the latter to find refuge and protection with the Earl of Desmond. +Several Prelates were tolerated in their sees, on condition of observing a +species of neutrality; but all vacancies, if within the reach of the English +power, were filled as they occurred by nominees of the crown. Those who +actively and energetically resisted the new doctrines were marked out for +vengeance, and we shall see in the next decade how Ireland's martyr age began. +</p> + +<p> +The honour and danger of organizing resistance to the progress of the new +religion now devolved upon the noble family of the Geraldines of Munster, of +whose principal members we must, therefore, give some account. The fifteenth +Earl, who had concurred in the act of Henry's election, died in the year of +Elizabeth's accession (1558), leaving three sons, Gerald the sixteenth Earl, +John, and James. He had also an elder son by a first wife, from whom he had +been divorced on the ground of consanguinity. This son disputed the succession +unsuccessfully, retired to Spain, and there died. Earl Gerald, though one of +the Peers who sat in the Parliament of the second year of Elizabeth, was one of +those who strenuously opposed the policy of Sussex, and still more strenuously, +as may be supposed, the more extreme policy of Sidney. His reputation, however, +as a leader, suffered severely by the combat of Affane, in which he was taken +prisoner by Thomas, the tenth Earl of Ormond, with whom he was at feud on a +question of boundaries. By order of the Queen, the Lord Deputy was appointed +arbitrator in this case, and though the decision was in favour of Ormond, +Desmond submitted, came to Dublin, and was reconciled with his enemy in the +chapter house of St. Patrick's. A year or two later, Gerald turned his arms +against the ancient rivals of his house—the McCarthys of Muskerry and +Duhallow—but was again taken prisoner, and after six months' detention, +held to ransom by the Lord of Muskerry. After his release, the old feud with +Ormond broke out anew—a most impolitic quarrel, as that Earl was not only +personally a favourite with the Queen, but was also nearly connected with her +in blood through the Boleyns. In 1567, as before related, Desmond was seized by +surprise in his town of Kilmallock by Sidney's order, and the following autumn +conveyed to London on a charge of treason and lodged in the Tower. This was the +third prison he had lodged in within three years, and by far the most hopeless +of the three. His brother, Sir John of Desmond, through the representations of +Ormond, was the same year arrested and consigned to the same ominous dungeon, +from which suspected noblemen seldom emerged, except when the hurdle waited for +them at the gate. +</p> + +<p> +This double capture aroused the indignation of all the tribes of Desmond, and +led to the formidable combination which, in reference to the previous +confederacy in the reign of Henry, may be called "the second Geraldine League." +The Earl of Clancarty, and such of the O'Briens, McCarthys, and Butlers, as had +resolved to resist the complete revolution in property, religion, and law, +which Sidney meditated, united together to avenge the wrongs of those noblemen, +their neighbours, so treacherously arrested and so cruelly confined. Sir James, +son of Sir Maurice Fitzgerald of Kerry, commonly called James Fitz-Maurice, +cousin-germain to the imprisoned noblemen, was chosen leader of the +insurrection. He was, according to the testimony of an enemy, Hooker, member +for Athenry, "a deep dissembler, passing subtile, and able to compass any +matter he took in hand; courteous, valiant, expert in martial affairs." To this +we may add that he had already reached a mature age; was deeply and sincerely +devoted to his religion; and, according to the eulogist of the rival house of +Ormond, one whom nothing could deject or bow down, a scorner of luxury and +ease, insensible to danger, impervious to the elements, preferring, after a +hard day's fighting, the bare earth to a luxurious couch. +</p> + +<p> +One of the first steps of the League was to despatch an embassy for assistance +to the King of Spain and the Pope. The Archbishop of Cashel, the Bishop of +Emly, and James, the youngest brother of Desmond, were appointed on this +mission, of which Sidney was no sooner apprised than he proclaimed the +confederates traitors, and at once prepared for a campaign in Munster. The +first blow was struck by the taking of Clogrennan Castle, which belonged to Sir +Edmond Butler, one of the adherents of the League. The attack was led by Sir +Peter Carew, an English adventurer, who had lately appeared at Dublin to claim +the original grant made to Robert Fitzstephen of the moiety of the kingdom of +Cork, and who at present commanded the garrison of Kilkenny. The accomplished +soldier of fortune anticipated the Deputy's movements by this blow at the +confederated Butlers, who retaliated by an abortive attack on Kilkenny, and a +successful foray into Wexford, in which they took the Castle of Enniscorthy. +Sidney, taking the field in person, marched through Waterford and Dungarvan +against Desmond's strongholds in the vicinity of Youghal. After a week's siege +he took Castlemartyr, and continued his route through Barrymore to Cork, where +he established his head-quarters. From Cork, upon receiving the submission of +some timid members of the League, he continued his route to Limerick, where Sir +Edmond Butler and his brothers were induced to come in by their chief the Earl +of Ormond. From Limerick he penetrated Clare, took the Castles of Clonoon and +Ballyvaughan; he next halted some time at Galway, and returned to Dublin by +Athlone. Overawed by the activity of the Deputy, many others of the +confederates followed the example of the Butlers. The Earl of Clancarty sued +for pardon and delivered up his eldest son as a hostage for his good faith; the +Earl of Thomond—more suspected than compromised—yielded all his +castles, with the sole exception of Ibrackan. But the next year, mortified at +the insignificance to which he had reduced himself, he sought refuge in France, +from which he only returned when the intercession of the English ambassador, +Norris, had obtained him full indemnity for the past. Sir James Fitzmaurice, +thus deserted by his confederates, had need of all that unyielding firmness of +character for which he had obtained credit. Castle after castle belonging to +his cousins and himself was taken by the powerful siege trains of President +Perrott; Castlemaine, the last stronghold which commanded an outlet by sea, +surrendered after a three months' siege, gallantly maintained. The unyielding +leader had now, therefore, no alternative but to retire into the impregnable +passes of the Galtees, where he established his head-quarters. This mountain +range, towering from two to three thousand feet over the plain of Ormond, +stretches from north-west to south-east, some twenty miles, descending with +many a gentle undulation towards the Funcheon and the Blackwater in the earldom +of Desmond. Of all its valleys Aharlow was the fairest and most secluded. Well +wooded, and well watered, with outlets and intricacies known only to the native +population, it seemed as if designed for a nursery of insurrection. It now +became to the patriots of the South what the valley of Glenmalure had long been +for those of Leinster—a fortress dedicated by Nature to the defence of +freedom. In this fastness Fitzmaurice continued to maintain himself, until a +prospect of new combinations opened to him in the West. +</p> + +<p> +The sons of the Earl of Clanrickarde, though released from the custody of +Sidney, receiving intimation that they were to be arrested at a court which +Fitton, President of Connaught, had summoned at Galway, flew to arms and opened +negotiations with Fitzmaurice. The latter, withdrawing from Aharlow, promptly +joined them in Galway, and during the campaign which followed, aided them with +his iron energy and sagacious counsel. They took and demolished the works of +Athenry, and, in part, those of the Court of Athlone. Their successes induced +the Deputy to liberate Clanrickarde himself, who had been detained a prisoner +in Dublin, from the outbreak of his sons. On his return—their main object +being attained—they submitted as promptly as they had revolted, and this +hope also being quenched, Fitzmaurice found his way back again, with a handful +of Scottish retainers, to the shelter of Aharlow. Sir John Perrott, having by +this time no further sieges to prosecute, drew his toils closer and closer +round the Geraldine's retreat. For a whole year, the fidelity of his adherents +and the natural strength of the place enabled him to baffle all the President's +efforts. But his faithful Scottish guards being at length surprised and cut off +almost to a man, Fitzmaurice, with his son, his kinsman, the Seneschal of +Imokilly, and the son of Richard Burke, surrendered to the President at +Kilmallock, suing on his knees for the Queen's pardon, which was, from motives +of policy, granted. +</p> + +<p> +On this conclusion of the contest in Munster, the Earl of Desmond and his +brother, Sir John, were released from the Tower, and transferred to Dublin, +where they were treated as prisoners on parole. The Mayor of the city, who was +answerable for their custody, having taken them upon a hunting party in the +open country, the brothers put spurs to their horses and escaped into Munster +(1574). They were stigmatized as having broken their parole, but they asserted +that it was intended on that party to waylay and murder them, and that their +only safety was in flight. Large rewards were offered for their capture, alive +or dead, but the necessities of both parties compelled a truce during the +remainder of Sidney's official career—which terminated in his +resignation—about four years after the escape of the Desmonds from +Dublin. Thus were new elements of combination, at the moment least expected, +thrown, into the hands of the Munster Catholics. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap57"></a>CHAPTER V.<br/> +THE "UNDERTAKERS" IN ULSTER AND LEINSTER—DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SIR +JAMES FITZMAURICE.</h3> + +<p> +Queen Elizabeth, when writing to Lord Sussex of a rumoured rising by O'Neil, +desired him to assure her lieges at Dublin, that if O'Neil did rise, "it would +be for their advantage; for there will be estates for them who want." The +Sidney policy of treating Ireland as a discovered country, whose inhabitants +had no right to the soil, except such as the discoverers graciously conceded to +them—begat a new order of men, unknown to the history of other civilized +states, which order we must now be at some pains to introduce to the reader. +</p> + +<p> +These "Undertakers," as they were called, differed widely from the Norman +invaders of a former age. The Norman generally espoused the cause of some +native chief, and took his pay in land; what he got by the sword he held by the +sword. But the Undertaker was usually a man of peace—a courtier like Sir +Christopher Hatton—a politician like Sir Walter Raleigh—a poet like +Edmund Spencer, or a spy and forger like Richard Boyle, first Earl of Cork. He +came, in the wake of war, with his elastic "letters patent," or, if he served +in the field, it was mainly with a view to the subsequent confiscations. He was +adroit at finding flaws in ancient titles, skilled in all the feudal quibbles +of fine and recovery, and ready to employ the secret dagger where hard swearing +and fabricated documents might fail to make good his title. Sometimes men of +higher mark and more generous dispositions, allured by the temptations of the +social revolution, would enter on the same pursuits, but they generally +miscarried from want of what was then cleverly called "subtlety," but which +plain people could not easily distinguish from lying and perjury. What greatly +assisted them in their designs was the fact that feudal tenures had never been +general in Ireland, so that by an easy process of reasoning they could prove +nineteen-twentieths of all existing titles "defective," according to their +notions of the laws of property. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Peter Carew, already mentioned, was one of the earliest of the Undertakers. +He had been bred up as page to the Prince of Orange, and had visited the Courts +of France, Germany, and Constantinople. He claimed, by virtue of his descent +from Robert Fitzstephen, the barony of Idrone, in Carlow, and one half the +kingdom of Desmond. Sir Henry Sidney had admitted these pretensions, partly as +a menace against the Kavanaghs and Geraldines, and Sir Peter established +himself at Leighlin, where he kept great house, with one hundred servants, over +one hundred kerne, forty horse, a stall in his stable, a seat at his board for +all comers. He took an active part in all military operations, and fell +fighting gallantly on a memorable day to be hereafter mentioned. +</p> + +<p> +After the attainder of John the Proud in 1569, Sir Thomas Smith, Secretary to +the Queen, obtained a grant of the district of the Ards of Down, for his +illegitimate son, who accordingly entered on the task of its plantation. But +the O'Neils of Clandeboy, the owners of the soil, attacked the young +Undertaker, who met a grave where he had come to found a lordship. A higher +name was equally unfortunate in the same field of adventure. Walter Devereux, +Earl of Essex (father of the Essex still more unfortunate), obtained in 1573 a +grant of one moiety of Farney and Clandeboy, and having mortgaged his English +estates to the Queen for 10,000 pounds, associated with himself many other +adventurers. On the 16th of August, he set sail from Liverpool, accompanied by +the Lords Dacre and Rich, Sir Henry Knollys, the three sons of Lord Norris, and +a multitude of the common people. But as he had left one powerful enemy at +court in Leicester—so he found a second at Dublin, in the acting deputy, +Fitzwilliam. Though gratified with the title of President of Ulster and +afterwards that of Marshal of Ireland, he found his schemes constantly +counteracted by orders from Dublin or from England. He was frequently ordered +off from his head-quarters at Newry, on expeditions into Munster, until those +who had followed his banner became disheartened and mutinous. The O'Neils and +the Antrim Scots harassed his colony and increased his troubles. He attempted +by treachery to retrieve his fortunes. Having invited the alliance of Con +O'Donnell, he seized that chief and sent him prisoner to Dublin. Subsequently +his chief opponent, Brian, lord of Clandeboy, paid him an amicable visit, +accompanied by his wife, brother, and household. As they were seated at table +on the fourth day of their stay, the soldiers of Essex burst into the banquet +hall, put them all, "women, youths and maidens," to the sword. Brian and his +wife were saved from the slaughter only to undergo at Dublin the death and +mutilation inflicted upon traitors. Yet the ambitious schemes of Walter of +Essex did not prosper the more of all these crimes. He died at Dublin, two +years afterwards (1576), in the 36th year of his age, as was generally believed +from poison administered by the orders of the arch-poisoner, Leicester, who +immediately upon his death married his widow. +</p> + +<p> +It is apparent that the interest of the Undertakers could not be to establish +peace in Ireland so long as war might be profitably waged. The new "English +interest" thus created was often hostile to the soundest rules of policy and +always opposed to the dictates of right and justice; but the double desire to +conquer and to convert—to anglicize and Protestantize—blinded many +to the lawless means by which they were worked out. The massacre of 400 persons +of the chief families of Leix and Offally, which took place at Mullaghmast in +1577, is an evidence of how the royal troops were used to promote the ends of +the Undertakers. To Mullaghmast, one of the ancient raths of Leinster, situated +about five miles from Athy in Kildare, the O'Moores, O'Kellys, Lalors, and +other Irish tribes were invited by the local commander of the Queen's troops, +Francis Cosby. The Bowens, Hartpoles, Pigotts, Hovendons, and other adventurers +who had grants or designs upon the neighbouring territory were invited to meet +them. One of the Lalors, perceiving that none of those who entered the rath +before him emerged again, caused his friends to fall back while he himself +advanced alone. At the very entrance he beheld the dead bodies of some of his +slaughtered kinsmen; drawing his sword, he fought his way back to his friends, +who barely escaped with their lives to Dysart. Four hundred victims, including +180 of the name of O'Moore, are said to have fallen in this deliberate +butchery. Rory O'Moore, the chief of his name, avenged this massacre by many a +daring deed. In rapid succession he surprised Naas, Athy, and Leighlin. From +the rapidity with which his blows were struck in Kildare, Carlow, and Kilkenny, +he appeared to be ubiquitous. He was the true type of a guerilla leader, yet +merciful as brave. While Naas was burning, he sat coolly at the market cross +enjoying the spectacle, but he suffered no lives to be taken. Having captured +Cosby, he did not, as might be expected, put him to death. His confidence in +his own prowess and resources amounted to rashness, and finally caused his +death. Coming forth from a wood to parley with a party of the Queen's troops +led by his neighbour, the Lord of Ossory, a common soldier ran him through the +body with a sword. This was on the last day of June, 1578—a day mournful +through all the midland districts for the loss of their best and bravest +captain. +</p> + +<p> +While these events occupied the minds and tongues of men in the North and East, +a brief respite from the horrors of war was permitted to the province of +Munster. The Earl of Desmond, only too happy to be tolerated in the possession +of his 570,000 acres, was eager enough to testify his allegiance by any sort of +service. His brothers, though less compliant, followed his example for the +moment, and no danger was to be apprehended in that quarter, except from the +indomitable James Fitzmaurice, self-exiled on the continent. No higher tribute +could be paid to the character of that heroic man than the closeness with which +all his movements were watched by English spies, specially set upon his track. +They followed him to the French court, to St. Malo's (where he resided for some +time with his family), to Madrid, whence he sent his two sons to the famous +University of Alcala, and from Madrid to Rome. The honourable reception he +received at the hands of the French and Spanish Sovereigns was duly reported; +yet both being at peace with England, his plans elicited no open encouragement +from either. At Rome, however, he obtained some material and much moral +support. Here he found many zealous advocates among the English and Irish +refugees—among them the celebrated Saunders, Allen, sometimes called +Cardinal Alien, and O'Mulrian, Bishop of Killaloe. A force of about 1,000 men +was enlisted at the expense of Pope Gregory XIII., in the Papal States, and +placed under an experienced captain, Hercules Pisano. They were shipped at +Civita Vecchia by a squadron under the command of Thomas Stukely, an English +adventurer, who had served both for and against the Irish Catholics, but had +joined Fitzmaurice in Spain and accompanied him to Rome. On the strength of +some remote or pretended relationship to the McMurroghs, Stukely obtained from +the Pope the titles of Marquis of Leinster and Baron of Idrone and Ross; at +Fitzmaurice's urgent request—so it is stated—he was named +Vice-Admiral of the fleet. The whole expedition was fitted out at the expense +of the Pope, but it was secretly agreed that it should be supported, after +landing in Ireland, at the charge of Philip II. Fitzmaurice, travelling +overland to Spain, was to unite there with another party of adventurers, and to +form a junction with Stukely and Pisano on the coast of Kerry. So with the +Papal benediction gladdening his heart, and a most earnest exhortation from the +Holy Father to the Catholics of Ireland to follow his banner, this noblest of +all the Catholic Geraldines departed from Rome, to try again the hazard of war +in his own country. +</p> + +<p> +This was in the spring of the year 1579. Sir Henry Sidney, after many years' +direction of the government, had been recalled at his own request; Sir William +Drury was acting as Lord Justice; and Sir Nicholas Malby as President of +Munster. Expectation of the return of Fitzmaurice, at the head of a liberating +expedition, began to be rife throughout the south and west, and the coasts were +watched with the utmost vigilance. In the month of June, three persons having +landed in disguise from a Spanish ship, at Dingle, were seized by government +spies, and carried before the Earl of Desmond. On examination, one of them +proved to be O'Haly, Bishop of Mayo, and another a friar named O'Rourke; the +third is not named. By the timid, temporizing Desmond, they were forwarded to +Kilmallock to Drury, who put them to every conceivable torture, in order to +extract intelligence of Fitzmaurice's movements. After their thighs had been +broken with hammers, they were hanged on a tree, and their bodies used as +targets by the brutal soldiery. Fitzmaurice, with his friends, having survived +shipwreck on the coast of Galicia, entered the same harbour (Dingle) on the +17th of July. But no tidings had yet reached Munster of Stukely and Pisano; and +his cousin, the Earl, sent him neither sign of friendship nor promise of +co-operation. He therefore brought his vessels round to the small harbour of +Smerwick, and commenced fortifying the almost isolated rock of +<i>Oilen-an-oir</i>—or golden island, so called from the shipwreck at +that point of one of Martin Forbisher's vessels, laden with golden quartz, some +years before. Here he was joined by John and James of Desmond, and by a band of +200 of the O'Flaherties of Galway, the only allies who presented themselves. +These latter, on finding the expected Munster rising already dead, and the +much-talked-of Spanish auxiliary force so mere a handful, soon withdrew in +their own galleys, upon which an English ship and pinnace, sweeping round from +Kinsale, carried off the Spanish vessels in sight of the powerless little fort. +These desperate circumstances inspired desperate councils, and it was decided +by the cousins to endeavour to gain the great wood of Kilmore, near +Charleville—in the neighbourhood of Sir James' old retreat among the +Galtee Mountains. In this march they were closely pursued by the Earl of +Desmond, either in earnest or in sham, and were obliged to separate into three +small bands, the brothers of the Earl retiring respectively to the fastnesses +of Lymnamore and Glenfesk, while Fitzmaurice, with "a dozen horsemen and a few +kerne," made a desperate push to reach the western side of the Shannon, where +he hoped, perhaps, for better opportunity and a warmer reception. This proved +for him a fatal adventure. Jaded after a long day's ride he was compelled to +seize some horses from the plough, in the barony of Clanwilliam, in order to +remount his men. These horses were the property of his relative, Sir William +Burke, who, with his neighbour, Mac-I-Brien of Ara, pursued the fugitives to +within six miles of Limerick, where Fitzmaurice, having turned to remonstrate +with his pursuers, was fired at and mortally wounded. He did not instantly +fall. Dashing into the midst of his assailants he cleft down the two sons of +Burke, whose followers immediately turned and fled. Then alighting from his +saddle, the wounded chief received the last solemn rites of religion from the +hands of Dr. Allen. His body was decapitated by one of his followers, that the +noble head might not be subjected to indignity; but the trunk being but hastily +buried was soon afterwards discovered, carried to Kilmallock, and there hung up +for a target and a show. This tragical occurrence took place near the present +site of "Barrington's bridge," on the little river Mulkern, county of Limerick, +on the 18th day of August, 1579. In honour of his part in the transaction +William Burke was created Baron of Castleconnell, awarded a pension of 100 +marks per annum, and received from Elizabeth an autograph letter of condolence +on the loss of his sons: it is added by some writers that he died of joy on the +receipt of so many favours. Such was the fate of the glorious hopes of Sir +James Fitzmaurice. So ended in a squabble with churls about cattle, on the +banks of an insignificant stream, a career which had drawn the attention of +Europe, and had inspired with apprehension the lion-hearted Queen. +</p> + +<p> +As to the expedition under Stukely, its end was even more romantic. His +squadron having put into the Tagus, he found the King of Portugal, Don +Sebastian, on the eve of sailing against the Moors, and from some promise of +after aid was induced to accompany that chivalrous Prince. On the fatal field +of Alcacar, Stukely, Pisano, and the Italians under their command shared the +fate of the Portuguese monarch and army. Neither Italy nor Ireland heard of +them more. +</p> + +<p> +Gregory XIII. did not abandon the cause. On the receipt of all these +ill-tidings he issued another Bull, highly laudatory of the virtues of James +Fitzmaurice "of happy memory," and granting the same indulgence to those who +would fight under John or James of Desmond, "as that which was imparted to +those who fought against the Turks for the recovery of the Holy Land." This +remarkable document is dated from Rome, the 13th of May, 1580. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap58"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br/> +SEQUEL OF THE SECOND GERALDINE LEAGUE—PLANTATION OF +MUNSTER—EARLY CAREER OF HUGH O'NEIL, EARL OF TYRONE—PARLIAMENT OF +1585.</h3> + +<p> +We must continue to read the history of Ireland by the light of foreign +affairs, and our chief light at this period is derived from Spain. The death of +Don Sebastian concentrated the thoughts of Philip II. on Portugal, which he +forcibly annexed to the Spanish crown. The progress of the insurrection in the +Netherlands also occupied so large a place in his attention, that his projects +against Elizabeth were postponed, year after year, to the bitter disappointment +of the Irish leaders. It may seem far-fetched to assert, but it is not the less +certainly true, that the fate of Catholic Munster was intimately involved in +the change of masters in Portugal, and the fluctuations of war in the +Netherlands, +</p> + +<p> +The "Undertakers," who had set their hearts on having the Desmond estates, +determined that the Earl and his brothers should not live long in peace, +however peaceably they might be disposed. The old trick of forging letters, +already alluded to, grew into a common and familiar practice during this and +the following reign. Such a letter, purporting to be written by the Earl of +Desmond—at that period only too anxious to be allowed to live in +peace—was made public at Dublin and London. It was addressed to Sir +William Pelham, the temporary Lord Justice, and among other passages contained +this patent invention—that he (the Earl and his brethren) "had taken this +matter in hand with great authority, both from the Pope's holiness and King +Philip, who do undertake to further us in our affairs, as we shall need." It is +utterly incredible that any man in Desmond's position could have written such a +letter—could have placed in the hands of his enemies a document which +must for ever debar him from entering into terms with Elizabeth or her +representatives in Ireland. We have no hesitation, therefore, in classing this +pretended letter to Pelham with those admitted forgeries which drove the +unfortunate Lord Thomas Fitzgerald into premature revolt, in the reign of Henry +VIII. +</p> + +<p> +Sir John of Desmond had been nominated by the gallant Fitzmaurice in his last +moments as the fittest person to rally the remaining defenders of religion and +property in Munster. The Papal standard and benediction were almost all he +could bequeath his successor, but the energy of John, aided by some favourable +local occurrences, assembled a larger force for the campaign of 1579 than had +lately taken the field. Without the open aid of the Earl, he contrived to get +together at one time as many as 2,000 men, amongst whom not the least active +officer was his younger brother, Sir James, hardly yet of man's age. Drs. +Saunders and Allen, with several Spanish officers, accompanied this devoted but +undisciplined multitude, sharing all the hardships of the men, and the counsels +of the chiefs. Their first camp, and, so to speak, the nursery of their army, +was among the inaccessible mountains of Slievelogher in Kerry, where the +rudiments of discipline were daily inculcated. When they considered the time +ripe for action, they removed their camp to the great wood of Kilmore, near +Charleville, from which they might safely assail the line of communication +between Cork and Limerick, the main depots of Elizabeth's southern army. Nearly +half-way between these cities, and within a few miles of their new encampment, +stood the strong town of Kilmallock on the little river Lubach. This famous old +Geraldine borough, the focus of several roads, was the habitual stopping place +of the Deputies in their progress, as well as of English soldiers on their +march. The ancient fortifications, almost obliterated by Fitzmaurice eleven +years before, had been replaced by strong walls, lined with earthworks, and +crowned by towers. Here Sir William Drury fixed his head-quarters in the spring +of 1579, summoning to his aid all the Queen's lieges in Munster. With a force +of not less than 1,000 English regulars under his own command, and perhaps +twice that number under the banner of the Munster "Undertakers" and others, who +obeyed the summons, he made an unsuccessful attempt to beat up the Geraldine +quarters at Kilmore. One division of his force, consisting of 300 men by the +Irish, and 200 by the English account, was cut to pieces, with their captains, +Herbert, Price, and Eustace. The remainder retreated in disorder to their camp +at Athneasy, a ford on the Morning Star River, four miles east of Kilmallock. +For nine weeks Drury continued in the field, without gaining any advantage, yet +so harassed day and night by his assailants that his health gave way under his +anxieties. Despairing of recovery, he was removed by slow stages to +Waterford—which would seem to indicate that his communications both with +Cork and Limerick were impracticable—but died before reaching the first +mentioned city. The chief command in Munster now devolved upon Sir Nicholas +Malby, an officer who had seen much foreign service, while the temporary +vacancy in the government was filled by the Council at Dublin, whose choice +fell on Sir William Pelham, another distinguished military man, lately arrived +from England. +</p> + +<p> +Throughout the summer and autumn months the war was maintained, with varying +fortune on either side. In the combats of Gortnatibrid and Enagbeg, in +Limerick, the final success, according to Irish accounts, was with the +Geraldines, though they had the misfortune to lose Cardinal Allen, Sir Thomas +Fitzgerald and Sir Thomas Browne. Retiring into winter quarters at Aharlow, +they had a third engagement with the garrison of Kilmallock, which attempted, +without success, to intercept their march. The campaign of 1580 was, however, +destined to be decisive. Sir John of Desmond, being invited to an amicable +conference by the Lord Barry, was entrapped by an English force under Captain +Zouch, in the woods surrounding Castle Lyons, and put to death on the spot. The +young Sir James had previously been captured on a foray into Muskerry, and +executed at Cork, so that of the brothers there now remained but Earl Gerald, +the next victim of the machinations which had already proved so fatal to his +family. Perceiving at length the true designs cherished against him, the Earl +took the field in the spring of 1580, and obtained two considerable advantages, +one at Pea-field, against the English under Roberts, and a second at +Knockgraffon against the Anglo-Irish, under the brothers of the Earl of Ormond, +the recusant members of the original league. Both these actions were fought in +Tipperary, and raised anew the hopes of the Munster Catholics. An unsuccessful +attempt on Adare was the only other military event in which the Earl bore a +part; he wintered in Aharlow, where his Christmas was rather that of an outlaw +than of the Lord Palatine of Desmond. In Aharlow he had the misfortune to lose +the gifted and heroic Nuncio, Dr. Saunders, whose great services, at that +period, taken together with those of Cardinal Allen, long endeared the faithful +English to the faithful Irish Catholics. +</p> + +<p> +The sequel of the second Geraldine League may be rapidly narrated. In +September, 1580, the fort at Smerwick, where Fitzmaurice had landed from +Galicia, received a garrison of 800 men, chiefly Spaniards and Italians, under +Don Stephen San Joseph. The place was instantly invested by sea and land, under +the joint command of the new Lieutenant, Lord Grey de Wilton, and the Earl of +Ormond. Among the officers of the besieging force were three especially notable +men—Sir Walter Raleigh, the poet Spenser, and Hugh O'Neil, afterwards +Earl of Tyrone, but at this time commanding a squadron of cavalry for her +Majesty Queen Elizabeth. San Joseph surrendered the place on conditions; that +savage outrage ensued, which is known in Irish history as "the massacre of +Smerwick." Raleigh and Wingfield appear to have directed the operations by +which 800 prisoners of war were cruelly butchered and flung over the rocks. The +sea upon that coast is deep and the tides swift; but it has not proved deep +enough to hide that horrid crime, or to wash the stains of such wanton +bloodshed from the memory of its authors! +</p> + +<p> +For four years longer the Geraldine League flickered in the South. +Proclamations offering pardon to all concerned, except Earl Gerald and a few of +his most devoted adherents, had their effect. Deserted at home, and cut off +from foreign assistance, the condition of Desmond grew more and more +intolerable. On one occasion he narrowly escaped capture by rushing with his +Countess into a river, and remaining concealed up to the chin in water. His +dangers can hardly be paralleled by those of Bruce after the battle of Falkirk, +or by the more familiar adventures of Charles Edward. At length, on the night +of the 11th of November, 1584, he was surprised with only two followers in a +lonesome valley about five miles distant from Tralee, among the mountains of +Kerry. The spot is still remembered, and the name of "the Earl's road" +transports the fancy of the traveller to that tragical scene. Cowering over the +embers of a half-extinct fire in a miserable hovel, the lord of a country, +which in time of peace had yielded an annual rental of "40,000 golden pieces," +was despatched by the hands of common soldiers, without pity, or time, or +hesitation. A few followers watching their <i>creaghts</i> or herds, farther up +the valley, found his bleeding trunk flung out upon the highway; the head was +transported over seas, to rot upon the spikes of London Tower. +</p> + +<p> +The extirpation of the Munster Geraldines, in the right line, according to the +theory of the "Undertakers" and the Court of England in general, vested in the +Queen the 570,000 acres belonging to the late Earl. Proclamation was +accordingly made throughout England, inviting "younger brothers of good +families" to undertake the plantation of Desmond—each planter to obtain a +certain scope of land, on condition of settling thereupon so many +families—"none of the native Irish to be admitted." Under these +conditions, Sir Christopher Hatton took up 10,000 acres in Waterford; Sir +Walter Raleigh 12,000 acres, partly in Waterford and partly in Cork; Sir +William Harbart, or Herbert, 13,000 acres in Kerry; Sir Edward Denny 6,000 in +the same county; Sir Warham, St. Leger, and Sir Thomas Norris, 6,000 acres each +in Cork; Sir William Courtney 10,000 acres in Limerick; Sir Edward Fitton +11,500 acres in Tipperary and Waterford, and Edmund Spenser a modest 3,000 +acres in Cork, on the beautiful Blackwater. The other notable Undertakers were +the Hides, Butchers, Wirths, Berklys, Trenchards, Thorntons, Bourchers, +Billingsleys, &c., &c. Some of these grants, especially Raleigh's, fell +in the next reign into the ravening maw of Richard Boyle, the so-called +"<i>great</i> Earl of Cork"—probably the most pious hypocrite to be found +in the long roll of the "Munster Undertakers." +</p> + +<p> +Before closing the present chapter, we must present to the reader, in a formal +manner, the personage whose career is to occupy the chief remaining part of the +present Book—Hugh O'Neil, best known by the title of Earl of Tyrone. We +have seen him in the camp of the enemies of his country, learning the art of +war on the shores of Dingle Bay—a witness to the horrors perpetrated at +Smerwick. We may find him later in the same war—in 1584—serving +under Perrott and Norris, along the Foyle and the Bann, for the expulsion of +the Antrim Scots. The following year, for these and other good services, he +received the patent of the Earldom originally conferred on his grandfather, Con +O'Neil, but suffered to sink into abeyance by the less politic "John the +Proud," in the days when he made his peace with the Queen. The next year he +obtained from his clansmen the still higher title of O'Neil, and thus he +contrived to combine, in his own person, every principle of authority likely to +ensure him following and obedience, whether among the clansmen of Tyrone, or +the townsmen upon its borders. +</p> + +<p> +O'Neil's last official act of co-operation with the Dublin government may be +considered his participation in the Parliament convoked by Sir John Perrott in +1585, and prorogued till the following year. It is remarkable of this +Parliament, the third and last of Elizabeth's long reign, that it was utterly +barren of ecclesiastical legislation, if we except "an act against sorcery and +witchcraft" from that category. The attainder of the late Earl of Desmond, and +the living Viscount of Baltinglass, in arms with the O'Byrnes in Glenmalure, +are the only measures of consequence to be found among the Irish statutes of +the 27th and 28th of Elizabeth. But though not remarkable for its legislation, +the Parliament of 1585 is conspicuously so for its composition. Within its +walls with the peers, knights, and burgesses of the anglicized counties, sat +almost all the native chiefs of Ulster, Connaught, and Munster. The Leinster +chiefs recently in arms, in alliance with the Earl of Desmond, generally +absented themselves, with the exception of Feagh, son of Hugh, the senior of +the O'Byrnes, and one of the noblest spirits of his race and age. He appears +not to have had a seat in either House; but attended, on his own business, +under the protection of his powerful friends and sureties. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap59"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br/> +BATTLE OF GLENMALURE—SIR JOHN PERROTT'S ADMINISTRATION—THE +SPANISH ARMADA—LORD DEPUTY FITZWILLIAM—ESCAPE OF HUGH ROE O'DONNELL +FROM DUBLIN CASTLE—THE ULSTER CONFEDERACY FORMED.</h3> + +<p> +In pursuing to its close the war in Munster, we were obliged to omit the +mention of an affair of considerable importance, which somewhat consoled the +Catholics for the massacre at Smerwick and the defeat of the Desmonds. We have +already observed that what Aharlow was to the southern insurgents, the deep, +secluded valley of Glenmalure was to the oppressed of Leinster. It afforded, at +this period, refuge to a nobleman whose memory has been most improperly allowed +to fall into oblivion. This was James Eustace, Viscount Baltinglass, who had +suffered imprisonment in the Castle for refusing to pay an illegal tax of a few +pounds, who was afterwards made the object of a special, vindictive enactment, +known as "the Statute of Baltinglass," and was in the summer of 1580, on his +keeping, surrounded by armed friends and retainers. His friend, Sir Walter +Fitzgerald, son-in-law to the chief of Glenmalure, and many of the clansmen of +Leix, Offally and Idrone, repaired to him at Slieveroe, near the modern village +of Blessington, from which they proceeded to form a junction with the followers +of the dauntless Feagh McHugh O'Byrne of Ballincor. Lord Grey, of Wilton, on +reaching Dublin in August of that year, obtained information of this gathering, +and determined to strike a decisive blow in Wicklow, before proceeding to the +South. All the chief captains in the Queen's service—the Malbys, Dudleys, +Cosbys, Carews, Moors—had repaired to meet him at Dublin, and now +marched, under his command, into the neighbouring highlands. The Catholics, +they knew, were concentrated in the valley, on one of the slopes of which Lord +Grey constructed a strong camp, and then, having selected the fittest troops +for the service, gave orders to attack the Irish camp. Sir William Stanley, one +of the officers in command, well describes the upshot, in a letter to Secretary +Walshingham: "When we entered the glen," he writes, "we were forced to slide, +sometimes three or four fathoms, ere we could stay our feet; it was in depth, +where we entered, at least a mile, full of stones, rocks, logs and wood; in the +bottom thereof a river full of loose stones, which we were driven to Cross +divers times * * * * before we were half through the glen, which is four miles +in length, the enemy charged us very hotly * * * * it was the hottest piece of +service that ever I saw, for the time, in any place." As might have been +expected, the assailants were repulsed with heavy loss; among the slain were +Sir Peter Carew, Colonel Francis Cosby of Mullaghmast memory, Colonel Moor, and +other distinguished officers. The full extent of the defeat was concealed from +Elizabeth, as well as it could be, in the official despatches; but before the +end of August private letters, such as we have quoted, conveyed the painful +intelligence to the court. The action was fought on the 25th day of August. +</p> + +<p> +Lord Grey's deputyship, though it lasted only two years, included the three +decisive campaigns in the South, already described. At the period of his +recall—or leave of absence—the summer of 1582, that "most populous +and plentiful country," to use the forcible language of his eloquent Secretary, +Edmund Spenser, was reduced to "a heap of carcasses and ashes." The war had +been truly a war of extermination; nor did Munster recover her due proportion +of the population of the island for nearly two centuries afterwards. +</p> + +<p> +The appointment of Sir John Perrott dates from 1583, though he did not enter on +the duties of Lord Deputy till the following year. Like most of the public men +of that age, he was both soldier and statesman. In temper he resembled his +reputed father, Henry VIII.; for he was impatient of contradiction and control; +fond of expense and magnificence, with a high opinion of his own abilities for +diplomacy and legislation. The Parliament of 1585-6, as it was attended by +almost every notable man in the kingdom, was one of his boasts, though no one +seems to have benefited by it much, except Hugh O'Neil, whose title of Earl of +Tyrone was then formally recognized. Subordinate to Perrott, the office of +Governor of Connaught was held by Sir Richard Bingham—founder of the +fortunes of the present Earls of Lucan—and that of President of Munster, +by Sir Thomas Norris, one of four brothers, all employed in the Queen's +service, and all destined to lose their lives in that employment. +</p> + +<p> +The most important events which marked the four years' administration of +Perrott were the pacification of Thomond and Connaught, the capture of Hugh Roe +O'Donnell, and the wreck of a large part of the Spanish Armada, on the northern +and western coasts. The royal commission issued for the first-mentioned purpose +exemplifies, in a striking manner, the exigencies of Elizabeth's policy at that +moment. The persons entrusted with its execution were Sir Richard Bingham, the +Earls of Thomond and Clanrickarde; Sir Turlogh O'Brien, Sir Richard Bourke (the +McWilliam), O'Conor Sligo, Sir Brian O'Ruarc, and Sir Murrogh O'Flaherty. The +chief duties of this singular commission were, to fix a money rental for all +lands, free and unfree, in Clare and Connaught; to assess the taxation fairly +due to the crown also in money; and to substitute generally the English law of +succession for the ancient customs of Tanistry and gavelkind. In Clare, from +fortuitous causes, the settlement they arrived at was never wholly reversed; in +Connaught, the inhuman severity of Bingham rendered it odious from the first, +and the successes of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, a few years later, were hailed by the +people of that province as a heaven-sent deliverance. +</p> + +<p> +The treacherous capture of this youthful chieftain was one of the skilful +devices on which Sir John Perrott most prided himself. Although a mere lad, the +mysterious language of ancient prophecy, which seemed to point him out for +greatness, give him consequence in the eyes of both friends and foes. Through +his heroic mother, a daughter of the Lord of the Isles, he would naturally find +allies in that warlike race. His precocious prowess and talents began to be +noised abroad, and stimulated Perrott to the employment of an elaborate +artifice, which, however, proved quite successful. A ship, commanded by one +Bermingham, was sent round to Donegal, under pretence of being direct from +Spain. She carried some casks of Spanish wine, and had a crew of 50 armed men. +This ship dropped anchor off Rathmullen Castle on Lough Swilly, in which +neighbourhood the young O'Donnell—then barely fifteen—was staying +with his foster-father, McSweeny, and several companions of his own age. The +unsuspecting youths were courteously invited on board the pretended Spanish +ship, where, while they were being entertained in the cabin, the hatches were +fastened down, the cable slipped, the sails spread to the wind, and the vessel +put to sea. The threats and promises of the astonished clansmen as they +gathered to the shore were answered by the mockery of the crew, who safely +delivered their prize in Dublin, to the great delight of the Lord Deputy and +his Council. Five weary years of fetters and privation the young captives were +doomed to pass in the dungeons of the Castle before they breathed again the air +of their native North. +</p> + +<p> +But now every ship that reached the English or Irish ports brought tidings more +and more positive of the immense armada which King Philip was preparing to +launch from the Tagus against England. The piratical exploits of Hawkins and +Drake against the Spanish settlements in America, the barbarous execution of +Mary, Queen of Scots, and the open alliance of Elizabeth with the Dutch +insurgents, all acted as stimulants to the habitual slowness of the Spanish +sovereign. Another event, though of minor importance, added intensity to the +national quarrel. Sir William Stanley, whose account of the battle of +Glenmalure we lately quoted, went over to Philip with 1,300 English troops, +whom he commanded as Governor of Daventer, and was taken into the counsels of +the Spanish sovereign. The fleet for the invasion of England was on a scale +commensurate with the design. One hundred and thirty-five vessels of war, +manned by 8,000 sailors, and carrying 19,000 soldiers, sailed from the Tagus, +and after encountering a severe storm off Cape Finesterre, re-assembled at +Corunna. The flower of Spanish bravery embarked in this fleet, named somewhat +presumptuously "the invincible armada." The sons of Sir James Fitzmaurice, +educated at Alcala, Thomas, son of Sir John of Desmond, with several other +Irish exiles, laymen, and ecclesiastics, were also on board. The fate of the +expedition is well known. A series of disasters befell it on the coasts of +France and Belgium, and finally, towards the middle of August, a terrific storm +swept the Spaniards northward through the British channel, scattering ships and +men helpless and lifeless on the coasts of Scotland, and even as far north as +Norway. On the Irish shore nineteen great vessels were sunk or stranded. In +Lough Foyle, one galleon, manned by 1,100 men, came ashore, and some of the +survivors, it is alleged, were given up by O'Donnell to the Lord Deputy, in the +vain hope of obtaining in return the liberation of his son. Sir John O'Doherty +in Innishowen, Sir Brian O'Ruarc at Dromahaire, and Hugh O'Neil at Dungannon, +hospitably entertained and protected several hundreds who had escaped with +their lives. On the iron-bound coast of Connaught, over 2,000 men perished. In +Galway harbour, 70 prisoners were taken by the Queen's garrison, and executed +on St. Augustine's hill. In the Shannon, the crew of a disabled vessel set her +on fire, and escaped to another in the offing. On the coasts of Cork and Kerry +nearly one thousand men were lost or cast away. In all, according to a state +paper of the time, above 6,000 of the Spaniards were either drowned, killed, or +captured, on the north, west, and southern coasts. A more calamitous reverse +could not have befallen Spain or Ireland in the era of the Reformation. +</p> + +<p> +It is worthy of remark that at the very moment the fear of the armada was most +intensely felt in England—the beginning of July—Sir John Perrott +was recalled from the government. His high and imperious temper, not less than +his reliance on the native chiefs, rather than on the courtiers of Dublin +Castle, had made him many enemies. He was succeeded by a Lord Deputy of a +different character—Sir William Fitzwilliam—who had filled the same +office, for a short period, seventeen years before. The administration of this +nobleman was protracted till the year 1594, and is chiefly memorable in +connection with the formation of the Ulster Confederacy, under the leadership +of O'Neil and O'Donnell. +</p> + +<p> +Fitzwilliam, whose master passion was avarice, had no sooner been sworn into +the government than he issued a commission to search for treasure, which the +shipwrecked Spaniards were supposed to have saved. "In hopes to finger some of +it," he at once marched into the territory of O'Ruarc and O'Doherty; O'Ruarc +fled to Scotland, was given up by order of James VI., and subsequently executed +at London; O'Doherty and Sir John O'Gallagher, "two of the most loyal subjects +in Ulster," were seized and confined in the Castle. An outrage of a still more +monstrous kind was perpetrated soon after on the newly elected chieftain of +Oriel, Hugh McMahon. Though he had engaged Fitzwilliam by a bribe of 600 cows +to recognize his succession, he was seized by order of the Deputy, tried by a +jury of common soldiers, on a trumped up charge of "treason," and executed at +his own door. Sir Harry Bagnal who, as Marshal of Ireland, had his +head-quarters at Newry, next to Fitzwilliam himself, profited most by the +consequent partition and settlement of McMahon's vast estates. Emboldened by +the impunity which attended such high-handed proceedings, and instigated by the +Marshal, Fitzwilliam began to practise, against the ablest as well as the most +powerful of all the Northern chiefs, who had hitherto been known only as a +courtier and soldier of the Queen. This was Hugh O'Neil, Earl of Tyrone, +another of Sir Henry Sidney's "strong men," with the additional advantage of +being familiar from his youth with the character of the men he was now to +encounter. +</p> + +<p> +O'Neil, in the full prime of life, really desired to live in peace with +Elizabeth, provided he might be allowed to govern Ulster with all the authority +attached to his name. Bred up in England, he well knew the immense resources of +that kingdom, and the indomitable character of its queen. A patriot of Ulster +rather than of Ireland, he had served against the Desmonds, and had been a +looker on at Smerwick. To suppress rivals of his own clan, to check O'Donnell's +encroachments, and to preserve an interest at the English Court, were the +objects of his earlier ambition. In pursuing these objects he did not hesitate +to employ English troops in Ulster, nor to accompany the Queen and her Deputy +to the service of the Church of England. If, however, he really believed that +he could long continue to play the Celtic Prince north of the Boyne, and the +English Earl at Dublin or London, he was soon undeceived when the fear of the +Spanish Armada ceased to weigh on the Councils of Elizabeth. +</p> + +<p> +A natural son of John the Proud, called from the circumstances of his birth +"Hugh of the fetters," communicated to Fitzwilliam the fact of Tyrone having +sheltered the shipwrecked Spaniards, and employed them in opening up a +correspondence with King Philip. This so exasperated the Earl, that, having +seized the unfortunate Hugh of the fetters, he caused him to be hanged as a +common felon—a high-handed proceeding which his enemies were expert in +turning to account. To protect himself from the consequent danger, he went to +England in May, 1590, without obtaining the license of the Lord Deputy, as by +law required. On arriving in London he was imprisoned, but, in the course of a +month, obtained his liberty, after signing articles, in which he agreed to drop +the Celtic title of O'Neil; to allow the erection of gaols in his country; that +he should execute no man without a commission from the Lord Deputy, except in +cases of martial law; that he should keep his troop of horsemen in the Queen's +pay, ready for the Queen's service, and that Tyrone should be regularly reduced +to shire-ground. For the performance of these articles, which he confirmed on +reaching Dublin, he was to place sureties in the hands of certain merchants of +that city, or gentlemen of the Pale, enjoying the confidence of the Crown. On +such hard conditions his earldom was confirmed to him, and he was apparently +taken into all his former favour. But we may date the conception of his latter +and more national policy from the period of this journey, and the brief +imprisonment he had undergone in London. +</p> + +<p> +The "profound dissembling mind" which English historians, his cotemporaries, +attribute to O'Neil, was now brought into daily exercise. When he discovered +money to be the master passion of the Lord Deputy, he procured his connivance +at the escape of Hugh Roe O'Donnell from Dublin Castle. On a dark night in the +depth of winter the youthful chief, with several of his companions, succeeded +in escaping to the hills in the neighbourhood of Powerscourt; but, exhausted +and bewildered, they were again taken, and returned to their dungeons. Two +years later, the heir of Tyrconnell was more fortunate. In Christmas week, +1592, he again escaped, through a sewer of the Castle, with Henry and Art +O'Neil, sons of John the Proud. In the street they found O'Hagan, the +confidential agent of Tyrone, waiting to guide them to the fastness of +Glenmalure. Through the deep snows of the Dublin and Wicklow highlands the +prisoners and their guide plodded their way. After a weary tramp they at length +sunk down overwhelmed with fatigue. In this condition they were found +insensible by a party despatched by Feagh O'Byrne; Art O'Neil, on being raised +up, fell backward and expired; O'Donnell was so severely frost-bitten that he +did not recover for many months the free use of his limbs. With his remaining +companion he was nursed in the recesses of Glenmalure, until he became able to +sit a horse, when he set out for home. Although the utmost vigilance was +exercised by all the warders of the Pale, he crossed the Liffey and the Boyne +undiscovered, rode boldly through the streets of Dundalk, and found an +enthusiastic welcome, first from Tyrone in Dungannon, and soon after from the +aged chief, his father, in the Castle of Ballyshannon. Early in the following +year, the elder O'Donnell resigned the chieftaincy in favour of his popular +son, who was, on the 3rd of May, duly proclaimed the O'Donnell, from the +ancient mound of Kilmacrenan. +</p> + +<p> +The Ulster Confederacy, of which, for ten years, O'Neil and O'Donnell were the +joint and inseparable leaders, was now imminent. Tyrone, by carrying off, the +year previous to O'Donnell's escape, the beautiful sister of Marshal Bagnal, +whom he married, had still further inflamed the hatred borne to him by that +officer. Bagnal complained bitterly of the abduction to the Queen, charging, +among other things, that O'Neil had a divorced wife still alive. A challenge +was in consequence sent him by his new brother-in-law, but the cartel was not +accepted. Every day's events were hastening a general alliance between the +secondary chieftains of the Province and the two leading spirits. The O'Ruarc +and Maguire were attacked by Bingham, and successfully defended themselves +until the Lord Deputy and the Marshal also marched against them, summoning +O'Neil to their aid. The latter, feeling that the time was not yet ripe, +temporized with Fitzwilliam during the campaign of 1593, and though in the +field at the head of his horsemen, nominally for the Queen, he seems to have +rather employed his opportunities to promote that Northern Union which he had +so much at heart. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap60"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br/> +THE ULSTER CONFEDERACY—FEAGH MAC HUGH O'BYRNE—CAMPAIGN OF +1595—NEGOTIATIONS, ENGLISH AND SPANISH—BATTLE OF THE YELLOW +FORD—ITS CONSEQUENCES.</h3> + +<p> +In the summer of 1594 the cruel and mercenary Fitzwilliam was succeeded by Sir +William Russell, who had served the Queen, both in Ireland "and in divers other +places beyond sea, in martial affairs." In lieu of the arbitrary exaction of +county cess—so grossly abused by his predecessor—the shires of the +Pale were to pay for the future into the Treasury of Dublin a composition of +2,100 pounds per annum, out of which the fixed sum of 1,000 pounds was allowed +as the Deputy's wages. Russell's administration lasted till May, 1597. In that +month he was succeeded by Thomas, Lord Borough, who died in August following of +the wounds received in an expedition against Tyrone; after which the +administration remained in the hands of the Justices till the appointment of +the Earl of Essex. +</p> + +<p> +On the arrival of Russell, Tyrone for the last time ventured to appear within +the walls of Dublin. His influence in the city, and even at the Council table, +must have been considerable to enable him to enter the gates of the Castle with +so much confidence. He came to explain his wrongs against the previous Deputy, +to defend himself against Bagnal's charges, and to discover, if possible, the +instructions of Russell. If in one respect he was gratified by a personal +triumph over his brother-in-law, in another he had cause for serious alarm, on +learning that Sir John Norris, brother of the President of Munster, a commander +of the highest reputation, was to be sent over under the title of Lord General, +with 2,000 veterans who served in Brittany, and 1,000 of a new levy. He further +learned that his own arrest had been discussed at the Council, and, leaving +Dublin precipitately, he hastened to his home at Dungannon. All men's minds +were now naturally filled with wars and rumours of wars. +</p> + +<p> +The first blow was struck at "the firebrand of the mountains," as he was called +at Court, Feagh Mac Hugh O'Byrne. The truce made with him expired in 1594, and +his application for his renewal was not honoured with an answer. On the +contrary, his sureties at Dublin, Geoffrey, son of Hugh, and his own son, +James, were committed to close custody in the Castle. His son-in-law, Sir +Walter Fitzgerald, had been driven by ill-usage, and his friendship for Lord +Baltinglass, to the shelter of Glenmalure, and this was, of course, made a +ground of charge against its chief. During the last months of 1594, Mynce, +Sheriff of Carlow, informed the Lord Deputy of warlike preparations in the +Glen, and that Brian Oge O'Rourke had actually passed to and fro through Dublin +city and county, as confidential agent between Feagh Mac Hugh and Tyrone. In +January following, under cover of a hunting party among the hills, the Deputy, +by a night march on Glenmalure, succeeded in surprising O'Byrne's house at +Ballincor, and had almost taken the aged chieftain prisoner. In the flight, +Rose O'Toole, his wife, was wounded in the breast, and a priest detected hiding +in a thicket was shot dead. Feagh retired to Dromceat, or the Cat's-back +Mountain—one of the best positions in the Glen—while a strong +force was quartered in his former mansion to observe his movements. In April, +his son-in-law, Fitzgerald, was taken prisoner, near Baltinglass, in a retreat +where he was laid up severely wounded; in May, a party under the Deputy's +command scoured the mountains and seized the Lady Rose, who was attainted of +treason, and, like Fitzgerald, barbarously given up to the halter and the +quartering knife. Two foster-brothers of the chief were, at the same time and +in the same manner, put to death, and a large reward was offered for his own +apprehension, alive or dead. +</p> + +<p> +Hugh O'Neil announced his resort to arms by a vigorous protest against the +onslaught made on his friend O'Byrne. Without waiting for, or expecting any +answer, he surprised the fort erected on the Blackwater which commanded the +highway into his own territory. This fort, which was situated between Armagh +and Dungannon, about five miles distant from either, served, before the +fortification of Charlemont, as the main English stronghold in that part of +Ulster. The river Blackwater on which it stood, from its source on the borders +of Monaghan to its outlet in Lough Neagh, watered a fertile valley, which now +became the principal theatre of war; for Hugh O'Neil, and afterwards for his +celebrated nephew, it proved to be a theatre of victory. General Norris, on +reaching Ireland, at once marched northward to recover the fort lately taken. +O'Neil, having demolished the works, retreated before him; considering +Dungannon also unfit to stand a regular siege, he dismantled the town, burnt +his own castle to the ground, having first secured every portable article of +value. Norris contented himself with reconnoitring the Earl's entrenched camp +at some distance from Dungannon, and returned to Newry, where he established +his head-quarters. +</p> + +<p> +The campaign in another quarter was attended with even better success for the +Confederates. Hugh Roe O'Donnell, no longer withheld by the more politic +O'Neil, displayed in action all the fiery energy of his nature. Under his +banner he united almost all the tribes of Ulster not enlisted with O'Neil; +while six hundred Scots, led by MacLeod of Ara, obeyed his commands. He first +descended on the plains of Annally-O'Farrell (the present county of Longford), +driving the English settlers before him: he next visited the undertaker's +tenants in Connaught, ejecting them from Boyle and Ballymoate, and pursuing +them to the gates of Tuam. On his return, the important town and castle of +Sligo, the property of O'Conor, then in England, submitted to him. Sir Richard +Bingham endeavoured to recover it, but was beaten off with loss. O'Donnell, +finding it cheaper to demolish than defend it, broke down the castle and +returned in triumph across the Erne. +</p> + +<p> +General Norris, having arranged his plan of campaign at Newry, attempted to +victual Armagh, besieged by O'Neil, but was repulsed by that leader after a +severe struggle. He, however, succeeded in throwing supplies into Monaghan, +where a strong garrison was quartered, and to which O'Neil and O'Donnell +proceeded to lay siege. While lying before Monaghan they received overtures of +peace from the Lord Deputy, who continually disagreed with Sir John Norris as +to the conduct of the war, and lost no opportunity of thwarting his plans. He +did not now blush to address, as Earl of Tyrone, the man he had lately +proclaimed a traitor at Dublin, by the title of the son of a blacksmith. The +Irish leaders at the outset refused to meet the Commissioners—Chief +Justice Gardiner and Sir Henry Wallop, Treasurer-at-War—in Dundalk, so +the latter were compelled to wait on them in the camp before Monaghan. The +terms demanded by O'Neil and O'Donnell, including entire freedom of religious +worship, were reserved by the Commissioners for the consideration of the +Council, with whose sanction, a few weeks afterwards, all the Ulster chiefs, +except "the Queen's O'Reilly," were formally tried before a jury at Dublin, and +condemned as traitors. +</p> + +<p> +Monaghan was thrice taken and retaken in this campaign. It was on the second +return of General Norris from that town he found himself unexpectedly in +presence of O'Neil's army, advantageously posted on the left bank of the little +stream which waters the village of Clontibret. Norris made two attempts to +force the passage, but without success. Sir Thomas Norris, and the general +himself, were wounded; Seagrave, a gigantic Meathian cavalry officer, was slain +in a hand to hand encounter with O'Neil; the English retreated hastily on +Newry, and Monaghan was again surrendered to the Irish. This brilliant combat +at Clontibret closed the campaign of 1595. General Norris, who, like Sir John +Moore, two centuries later, commanded the respect, and frankly acknowledged the +wrongs of the people against whom he fought, employed the winter months in +endeavouring to effect a reconciliation between O'Neil and the Queen's +Government. He had conceived a warm and chivalrous regard for his opponent; for +he could not deny that he had been driven to take up arms in self-defence. At +his instance a royal commission to treat with the Earl was issued, and the +latter cheerfully gave them a meeting in an open field without the walls of +Dundalk. The same terms which he had proposed before Monaghan were repeated in +his <i>ultimatum</i>, and the Commissioners agreed to give him a positive +answer by the 2nd day of April. On that day they attended at Dundalk, but +O'Neil did not appear. The Commissioners delayed an entire fortnight, +addressing him in the interim an urgent remonstrance to come in and conclude +their negotiation. On the 17th of the month they received his reasons for +breaking off the treaty—the principal of which was, that the truce had +been repeatedly broken through by the English garrisons—and so the +campaign of 1596 was to be fought with renewed animosity on both sides. +</p> + +<p> +Early in May the Lord Deputy made another descent on Ballincor, which Feagh Mac +Hugh had recovered in the autumn to lose again in the spring. Though worn with +years and infirm of body, the Wicklow chieftain held his devoted bands well +together, and kept the garrison of Dublin constantly on the defensive. In the +new chieftain of the O'Moores he found at this moment a young and active +coadjutor. In an affair at Stradbally Bridge, O'Moore obtained a considerable +victory, leaving among the slain Alexander and Francis Cosby, grandsons of the +commander in the massacre at Mullaghmast. +</p> + +<p> +The arrival of three Spanish frigates with arms and ammunition in Donegal Bay +was welcome news to the Northern Catholics. They were delivered to O'Donnell, +who was incessantly in the field, while O'Neil was again undergoing the forms +of diplomacy with a new royal commission at Dundalk. He himself disclaimed any +correspondence with the King of Spain, but did not deny that such negotiations +might be maintained by others. It is alleged that, while many of the chiefs had +signed a formal invitation to the Spanish King to assume their crown, O'Neil +had not gone beyond verbal assurances of co-operation with them. However this +may be, he resolved that the entire season should not be wasted in words, so he +attacked the strong garrison left in Armagh, and recovered the primatial city. +According to the Irish practice, he dismantled the fortress, which, however, +was again reconstructed by the English before the end of the war. Some other +skirmishes, of which we have no very clear account, and which we may set down +as of no decisive character, terminated the campaign. +</p> + +<p> +In May, 1597, Lord Borough, who had distinguished himself in the Netherlands, +replaced Russell as Lord Deputy, and assumed the command-in-chief, in place of +Sir John Norris. Simultaneously with his arrival Feagh Mac Hugh O'Byrne, was +surprised in Glenmalure by a detachment from Dublin, and slain; he died as he +had lived, a hero and a free man. O'Neil, who was warmly attached to the +Wicklow chief, immediately despatched such succour as he could spare to Feagh's +sons, and promised to continue to them the friendship he had always entertained +for their father. Against Tyrone the new Lord Deputy now endeavoured to combine +all the military resources at his disposal. Towards the end of July, Sir +Conyers Clifford was ordered to muster the available force of Connaught at +Boyle, and to march into Sligo and Donegal. A thousand men of the Anglo-Irish +were assembled at Mullingar, under the command of young Barnewell of +Trimbleston, who was instructed to effect a junction with the main force upon +the borders of Ulster. The Lord Deputy, marching in force from Drogheda, +penetrated, unopposed, the valley of the Blackwater, and entered Armagh. From +Armagh he moved to the relief of the Blackwater fort, besieged by O'Neil. At a +place called Drumfliuch, where Battleford Bridge now stands, Tyrone contrived +to draw his enemies into an engagement on very disadvantageous ground. The +result was a severe defeat to the new Deputy, who, a few days afterwards, died +of his wounds at Newry, as his second in command, the Earl of Kildare, did at +Drogheda. Sir Francis Vaughan, Sir Thomas Waller, and other distinguished +officers, fell in the same action, but the fort, the main prize of the +combatants, remained in English hands till the following year. O'Donnell, with +equal success, held Ballyshannon, compelled Sir Conyers Clifford to raise the +siege with the loss of the Earl of Thomond, and a large part of his following. +Simultaneously, Captain Richard Tyrrell of West-Meath—one of O'Neil's +favourite officers—having laid an ambuscade for young Barnewell at the +pass in West-Meath which now bears his name, the Meathian regiment were sabred +to a man. Mullingar and Maryborough were taken and sacked, and in the North, +Sir John Chichester, Governor of Carrickfergus, was cut off with his troop by +MacDonald of the Glens. +</p> + +<p> +These successes synchronize exactly with the expectation of a second Spanish +Armada, which filled Elizabeth with her old apprehensions. Philip was persuaded +again to tempt the fortune of the seas, and towards the end of October his +fleet, under the Adelantado of Castille, appeared off the Scilly Islands, with +a view to secure the Isle of Wight, or some other station, from which to +operate an invasion the ensuing spring. Extraordinary means were taken for +defence; the English troops in France were recalled, new levies raised, and the +Queen's favourite, the young Earl of Essex, appointed to command the fleet, +with Raleigh and Lord Thomas Howard as Vice-Admirals. But the elements again +fought for the northern island; a storm, which swept the channel for weeks, +drove the English ships into their ports, but scattered those of Spain over the +Bay of Biscay. In this second expedition sailed Florence Conroy, and other +Irish exiles, who had maintained for years a close correspondence with the +Catholic leaders. Their presence in the fleet, the existence of the +correspondence, and the progress of the revolt itself, will sufficiently +account for the apparent vacillations of English policy in Ulster in the last +months of 1597. Shortly before Christmas, Ormond, now Lord Lieutenant, +accompanied by the Earl of Thomond, attended only by their personal followers, +visited Dungannon, and remained three days in conference with O'Neil and +O'Donnell. The Irish chiefs reiterated their old demands: freedom of worship, +and the retention of the substantial power attached to their ancient rank. They +would admit Sheriffs, if they were chosen from among natives of their counties, +but they declined to give hostages out of their own families. These terms were +referred to the Queen's consideration, who, after much protocoling to and fro, +finally ratified them the following April, and affixed the great seal to +O'Neil's pardon. But Tyrone, guided by intelligence received from Spain or +England, or both, evaded the royal messenger charged to deliver him that +instrument, and as the late truce expired the first week of June, devoted +himself anew to military preparations. +</p> + +<p> +In the month of June, 1598, the Council at Dublin were in a state of fearful +perplexity. O'Neil, two days after the expiration of the truce, invested the +fort on the Blackwater, and seemed resolved to reduce it, if not by force, by +famine. O'Donnell, as usual, was operating on the side of Connaught, where he +had brought back O'Ruarc, O'Conor Sligo, and McDermot, to the Confederacy, from +which they had been for a season estranged. Tyrrell and O'Moore, leading +spirits in the midland counties were ravaging Ormond's palatinate of Tipperary +almost without opposition. An English reinforcement, debarked at Dungarvan, was +attacked on its march towards Dublin, and lost 400 men. In this emergency, +before which even the iron nerve of Ormond quailed, the Council took the +resolution of ordering one moiety of the Queen's troops under Ormond to march +south against Tyrrell and O'Moore; the other under Marshal Bagnal, to proceed +northward to the relief of the Blackwater fort. Ormond's campaign was brief and +inglorious. After suffering a severe check in Leix, he shut himself up in +Kilkenny, where he heard of the disastrous fate of Bagnal's expedition. +</p> + +<p> +On Sunday, the 13th of August, the Marshal reached Newry with some trifling +loss from skirmishes on the route. He had with him, by the best accounts, six +regiments of infantry, numbering in all about 4,000 men and 350 horse. After +resting a day, his whole force marched out of the city in three divisions; the +first under the command of the Marshal and Colonel Percy, the cavalry under Sir +Calisthenes Brooke and Captains Montague and Fleming; the rear guard under Sir +Thomas Wingfield and Colonel Cosby. The Irish, whose numbers, both mounted and +afoot, somewhat exceeded the Marshal's force, but who were not so well armed, +had taken up a strong position at Ballinaboy ("the Yellow ford"), about two +miles north of Armagh. With O'Neil were O'Donnell, Maguire, and McDonnell of +Antrim—all approved leaders beloved by their men. O'Neil had neglected no +auxiliary means of strengthening the position. In front of his lines he dug +deep trenches, covered over with green sods, supported by twigs and branches. +The pass leading into this plain was lined by 500 kerne, whose Parthian warfare +was proverbial. He had reckoned on the headlong and boastful disposition of his +opponent, and the result showed his accurate knowledge of character. Bagnal's +first division, veterans from Brittany and Flanders, including 600 curassiers +in complete armour, armed with lances nine feet long, dashed into the pass +before the second and third divisions had time to come up. The kerne poured in +their rapid volleys; many of the English fell; the pass was yielded, and the +whole power of Bagnal debouched into the plain. His artillery now thundered +upon O'Neil's trenches, and the cavalry, with the plain before them, were +ordered to charge; but they soon came upon the concealed pitfalls, horses fell, +riders were thrown, and confusion spread among the squadron. Then it was O'Neil +in turn gave the signal to charge; himself led on the centre, O'Donnell the +left, and Maguire, famous for horsemanship, the Irish horse. The overthrow of +the English was complete, and the victory most eventful. The Marshal, 23 +superior officers, with about 1,700 of the rank and file fell on the field, +while all the artillery baggage and 12 stand of colours were taken: the Irish +loss in killed and wounded did not exceed 800 men. "It was a glorious victory +for the rebels," says the cotemporary English historian, Camden, "and of +special advantage: for hereby they got arms and provisions, and Tyrone's name +was cried up all over Ireland as the author of their liberty." It may also be +added that it attracted renewed attention to the Irish war at Paris, Madrid, +and Rome, where the names of O'Neil and O'Donnell were spoken of by all zealous +Catholics with enthusiastic admiration. +</p> + +<p> +The battle was over by noon of the 15th of August; and the only effort to +arrest the flight of the survivors was made by "the Queen's O'Reilly," who was +slain in the attempt. By one o'clock the remnant of the cavalry under Montague +were in full career for Dundalk, closely pressed by the mounted men of +O'Hanlon. During the ensuing week the Blackwater fort capitulated; the +Protestant garrison of Armagh surrendered; and were allowed to march south, +leaving their arms and ammunition behind. The panic spread far and wide; the +citizens of Dublin were enrolled to defend their walls; Lord Ormond continued +shut up in Kilkenny; O'Moore and Tyrrell, who entered Munster by O'Neil's +order, to kindle the elements of resistance, compelled the Lord President to +retire from Kilmallock to Cork. O'Donnell established his head-quarters at +Ballymoate, a dozen miles south of Sligo, which he had purchased from the +chieftain of Corran for 400 pounds and 300 cows. The castle had served for +thirteen years as an English stronghold, and was found staunch enough fifty +years later to withstand the siege trains of Coote and Ludlow. From this point +the Donegal chieftain was enabled to stretch his arm in every direction over +lower Connaught. The result was, that before the end of the year 1598, nearly +all the inhabitants of Clanrickarde and the surrounding districts were induced, +either from policy or conviction, to give in their adhesion to the Northern +Confederacy. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap61"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br/> +ESSEX'S CAMPAIGN OF 1599—BATTLE OF THE CURLIEU +MOUNTAINS—O'NEIL'S NEGOTIATIONS WITH SPAIN—MOUNTJOY, LORD +DEPUTY.</h3> + +<p> +The last favourite of the many who enjoyed the foolish, if not guilty, favours +of Elizabeth was Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, son of that unfortunate +nobleman spoken of in a previous chapter as the "undertaker" of Farney and +Clandeboy. Born in 1567, the Earl had barely reached the age of manhood when he +won the heart of his royal mistress, already verging on threescore. Gifted by +nature with a handsome person, undoubted courage, and many generous qualities, +he exhibited, in the most important transactions of life, the recklessness of a +madman and the levity of a spoiled child; it was apparent to the world that +nothing short of the personal fascination which he exercised over the Queen +could so long have preserved him from the consequences of his continual +caprices and quarrels. Such was the character of the young nobleman, who, as +was afterwards said, at the instigation of his enemies, was sent over to +restore the ascendancy of the English arms in the revolted provinces. His +appointment was to last during the Queen's pleasure; he was provided with an +army of 20,000 foot and 2,000 horse; three-fourths of the ordinary annual +revenue of England (340,000 pounds out of 450,000 pounds) was placed at his +disposal, and the largest administrative powers, civil and military, were +conferred on him. A new plan of campaign in Ulster was decided upon at the +royal council table, and Sir Samuel Bagnal, brother of the late Marshal, and +other experienced officers, were to precede or accompany him to carry it into +execution. The main feature of this plan was to get possession by sea and +strongly fortify Ballyshannon, Donegal, Derry, and the entrance to the Foyle, +so as to operate at once in the rear of the northern chiefs, as well as along +the old familiar base of Newry, Monaghan, and Armagh. +</p> + +<p> +Essex, on being sworn into office at Dublin, on the 15th of April, 1599, +immediately issued a proclamation offering pardon and restoration of property +to such of the Irish as would lay down their arms by a given day, but very few +persons responded to this invitation. He next despatched reinforcements to the +garrisons of Wicklow and Naas, menaced by the O'Moores and O'Byrnes, and to +those of Drogheda, Dundalk, Newry, and Carrickfergus, the only northern +strongholds remaining in possession of the Queen. The principal operations, it +had been agreed before he left England, were to be directed against Ulster, but +with the waywardness which always accompanied him, he disregarded that +arrangement, and set forth, at the head of 7,000 men, for the opposite quarter. +He was accompanied in this march by the Earls of Clanrickarde and Thomond, Sir +Conyers Clifford, Governor of Connaught, and O'Conor of Sligo, the only native +chief who remained in the English ranks. In Ormond he received the submission +of Lord Mountgarrett, son-in-law to Tyrone, and took the strong castle of Cahir +from another of the insurgent Butlers. After a halt at Limerick, he set out +against the Geraldines, who the previous year had joined the Northern league, +at the instance of Tyrrell and O'Moore. Although the only heir of the Earl of +Desmond was a prisoner, or ward of Elizabeth in England, James Fitzgerald, son +of Thomas Roe, son of the fifteenth Earl by that marriage which had been +pronounced invalid, assumed the title at the suggestion of O'Neil, and was +recognized as the Desmond by the greater portion of the relatives of that +family. Fitzmaurice, Lord of Lixnaw, the Knight of Glynn, the White Knight, the +Lord Roche, Pierce Lacy of Buree and Bruff, the last descendant of Hugh de Lacy +and the daughter of Roderick O'Conor, with the McCarthys, O'Donohoes, +O'Sullivans, Condons, and other powerful tribes, were all astir to the number, +as Carew supposes, of 8,000 men, all emulous of their compatriots in the North. +Issuing from Limerick, Essex marched southward to strengthen the stronghold of +Askeaton, into which he succeeded, after a severe skirmish by the way, in +throwing supplies. Proceeding to victual Adare, he experienced a similar check, +losing among others Sir Henry Norris, the third of those brave brothers who had +fallen a victim to these Irish wars. In returning to Dublin, by way of +Waterford and Kildare, he was assailed by O'Moore at a difficult defile, which, +to this day, is known in Irish as "the pass of the plumes" or feathers. The +Earl forced a passage with the loss of 500 lives, and so returned with little +glory to Dublin. +</p> + +<p> +The next military incident of the year transpired in the West. We have spoken +of O'Conor Sligo as the only native chief who followed Essex to the South. He +had been lately at the English Court, where he was treated with the highest +distinction, in order that he might be used to impede O'Donnell's growing power +in lower Connaught. On returning home he was promptly besieged by the Donegal +chief in his remaining castle at Colooney, within five miles of Sligo. Essex, +on learning this fact, ordered Sir Conyers Clifford to march to the relief of +O'Conor with all the power he could muster. Clifford despatched from Galway, by +sea, stores and materials for the refortification of Sligo town, and set out +himself at the head of 2,100 men, drafted from both sides of the Shannon, under +twenty-five ensigns. He had under him Sir Alexander Radcliffe, Sir Griffin +Markham, and other experienced officers. Their rendezvous, as usual, was the +old monastic town of Boyle, about a day's march to the south of Sligo. From +Boyle, the highway led into the Curlieu mountains, which divide Sligo on the +south-east from Roscommon. Here, in the strong pass of Ballaghboy, O'Donnell +with the main body of his followers awaited their approach. He had left the +remainder, under his cousin and brother-in-law, Nial Garve (or the +<i>rough</i>), to maintain the siege of Colooney Castle. O'Ruarc and the men of +Breffni joined him during the battle, but their entire force is nowhere stated. +It was the eve of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, and the first +anniversary of the great victory of the Yellow Ford. The night was spent by the +Irish in fasting and prayer, the early morning in hearing Mass, and receiving +the Holy Communion. The day was far advanced when the head of Clifford's column +appeared in the defile, driving in a barricade erected at its entrance. The +defenders, according to orders, discharged their javelins and muskets, and fell +back farther into the gorge. The English advanced twelve abreast, through a +piece of woodland, after which the road crossed a patch of bog. Here the thick +of the battle was fought. Sir Alexander Radcliffe, who led the vanguard, fell +early in the action, and his division falling back on the centre threw them all +into confusion. O'Ruarc arriving with his men at the critical moment completed +the rout, and pursued the fugitives to the gates of Boyle. The gallant +Clifford, scorning to fly, was found among the slain, and honourably interred +by his generous enemies in the monastery of Lough Key. On his head being shown +to O'Conor at Colooney, he at once surrendered to O'Donnell, and entered into +the Northern Confederacy. Theobald Burke, the commander of the vessels sent +round from Galway to fortify Sligo, also submitted to O'Donnell, and was +permitted to return to the port from which he had lately sailed, with very +different intentions. +</p> + +<p> +Essex, whose mind was a prey to apprehension from his enemies in England had +demanded reinforcements before he could undertake anything against Ulster. It +seems hardly credible that the 15,000 regular troops in the country at his +coming should be mostly taken up with garrison duty, yet we cannot otherwise +account for their disappearance from the field. He asked for 2,000 fresh +troops, and while awaiting their arrival, sent a detachment of 600 men into +Wicklow, who were repulsed with loss by Phelim, son of Feagh, the new Chief of +the O'Byrnes. Essex was thrown into transports of rage at this new loss. The +officers who retreated were tried by court-martial, and, contrary to his +usually generous temper, the surviving men were inhumanly decimated. +</p> + +<p> +Early in September, the reinforcement he had asked for arrived with a bitterly +reproachful letter from the Queen. He now hastened to make a demonstration +against Tyrone, although, from some cause unexplained, he does not seem to have +drawn out the whole force at his disposal. From Newry he proceeded northward +towards Carrickfergus, with only 1,300 foot and 300 horse. On the high ground +to the north of the river Lagan, overlooking Anaghclart Bridge, he found the +host of O'Neil encamped, and received a courteous message from their leader, +soliciting a personal interview. Essex at first declined, but afterwards +accepted the invitation, and at an appointed hour the two commanders rode down +to the opposite banks of the river, wholly unattended, the advanced guard of +each looking curiously on from the uplands. O'Neil spurred his horse into the +stream up to the saddle girth, and thus for an hour, exposed to the generous +but impulsive Englishman, the grievances of himself and his compatriots. With +all the art, for which he was distinguished, he played upon his knowledge of +the Earl's character: he named those enemies of his own whom he also knew to be +hostile to Essex, he showed his provocations in the strongest light, and +declared his readiness to submit to her Majesty, on condition of obtaining +complete liberty of conscience, an act of indemnity to include his allies in +all the four Provinces; that the principal officers of state, the judges, and +one half the army should in future be Irish by birth. This was, in effect, a +demand for national independence, though the Lord Lieutenant may not have seen +it in that light. He promised, however, to transmit the propositions to +England, and within presence of six principal officers of each side, agreed to +a truce till the 1st of May following. Another upbraiding letter from +Elizabeth, which awaited him on his return to Dublin, drove Essex to the +desperate resolution of presenting himself before her, without permission. The +short remainder of his troubled career, his execution in the Tower in February, +1601, and Elizabeth's frantic lamentations, are familiar to readers of English +history. +</p> + +<p> +In presenting so comprehensive an ultimatum to Essex, O'Neil was emboldened by +the latest intelligence received from Spain. Philip II., the life-long friend +of the Catholics, had, indeed, died the previous September, but one of the +first acts of his successor, Philip III., was to send envoys into Ireland, +assuring its chiefs that he would continue to them the friendship and alliance +of his father. Shortly before the conference at Anaghclart, a third Armada, +under the Adelantado of Castile, was awaiting orders in the port of Corunna, +and England, for the third time in ten years, was placed in a posture of +defence. The Spaniards sailed, but soon divided into two squadrons, one of +which passed down the British Channel unobserved, and anchored in the waters of +the Sluys, while the other sailed for the Canaries to intercept the Hollanders. +At the same time, however, most positive assurances were renewed that an +auxiliary force might shortly be expected to land in Ireland in aid of the +Catholics. The non-arrival of this force during the fortunate campaign of 1599 +was not much felt by the Catholics; and was satisfactorily explained by +Philip's envoys—but the mere fact of the existence of the Spanish +alliance gave additional confidence and influence to the confederates. That +fact was placed beyond all question by the arrival of two Spanish ships laden +with stores for O'Neil, immediately after the interview with Essex. In the +summer or autumn ensuing, Mathew of Oviedo, a Spaniard, consecrated at Rome, +Archbishop of Dublin, brought over 22,000 crowns towards the pay of the Irish +troops, and a year afterwards, Don Martin de la Cerda was sent to reside as +envoy with Tyrone. +</p> + +<p> +The year 1600 was employed by Hugh O'Neil, after the manner of his ancestors, +who were candidates for the Kingship of Tara, in a visitation of the Provinces. +Having first planted strong garrisons on the southern passes leading into +Ulster, he marched at the head of 3,000 men into West-Meath, where he obliged +Lord Delvin and Sir Theobald Dillon to join the Confederation. From Meath he +marched to Ely, whose chief he punished for a late act of treachery to some +Ulster soldiers invited to his assistance. From Ely he turned aside to venerate +the relic of the Holy Cross, at Thurles, and being there he granted his +protection to the great Monastery built by Donald More O'Brien. At Cashel he +was joined by the Geraldine, whom he caused to be recognized as Earl of +Desmond. Desmond and his supporters accompanied him through Limerick into Cork, +quartering their retainers on the lands of their enemies, but sparing their +friends; the Earl of Ormond with a corps of observation moving on a parallel +line of march, but carefully avoiding a collision. In the beginning of March +the Catholic army halted at Inniscarra, upon the river Lee, about five miles +west of Cork. Here O'Neil remained three weeks in camp consolidating the +Catholic party in South Munster. During that time he was visited by the chiefs +of the ancient Eugenian clans—O'Donohoe, O'Donovan, and O'Mahoney: +thither also came two of the most remarkable men of the southern Province, +Florence McCarthy, Lord of Carberry, and Donald O'Sullivan, Lord of Bearehaven. +McCarthy "like Saul, higher by the head and shoulders than any of his house," +had brain in proportion to his brawn; O'Sullivan, as was afterwards shown, was +possessed of military virtues of a high order. Florence was inaugurated with +O'Neil's sanction as McCarthy More, and although the rival house of Muskerry +fiercely resisted his claim to superiority at first, a wiser choice could not +have been made had the times tended to confirm it. +</p> + +<p> +While at Inniscarra, O'Neil lost in single combat one of his most accomplished +officers, the chief of Fermanagh. Maguire, accompanied only by a Priest and two +horsemen, was making observations nearer to the city than the camp, when Sir +Warham St. Leger, Marshal of Munster, issued out of Cork with a company of +soldiers, probably on a similar mission. Both were in advance of their +attendants when they came unexpectedly face to face. Both were famous as +horsemen and for the use of their weapons, and neither would retrace his steps. +The Irish chief, poising his spear, dashed forward against his opponent, but +received a pistol shot which proved mortal the same day. He, however, had +strength enough left to drive his spear through the neck of St. Leger, and to +effect his escape from the English cavalry. Saint Leger was carried back to +Cork where he expired; Maguire, on reaching the camp, had barely time left to +make his last confession, when he breathed his last. This untoward event, the +necessity of preventing possible dissensions in Fermanagh, and still more, the +menacing movements of the new Deputy, lately sworn in at Dublin, obliged O'Neil +to return home earlier than he intended. Soon after reaching Dungannon he had +the gratification of receiving a most gracious letter from Pope Clement VIII., +together with a crown of phoenix feathers, symbolical of the consideration with +which he was regarded by the Sovereign Pontiff. +</p> + +<p> +A new Deputy had landed at Howth on the 24th of February, 1600, and was sworn +in at Dublin the day following. This was Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, +afterwards Earl of Devonshire, a nobleman now in his 37th year. He had been the +rival, the enemy, and the devoted friend of the unfortunate Essex, whom he +equalled in personal gifts, in courage, and in gallantry, but far exceeded in +judgment, firmness, and foresight. He was one of a class of soldier-statesmen, +peculiar to the second half of Elizabeth's reign, who affected authorship and +the patronage of letters as a necessary complement to the manners of a courtier +and commander. On the 2nd of April, Mountjoy, still at Dublin, wrote to her +Majesty that the army had taken heart since his arrival, that he had no fear of +the loss of the country, but was more anxious for Connaught than any other +Province. He deplored the capture of Lord Ormond by the O'Moores, but hoped, if +God prospered her arms during the summer, either "to bow or to break the +crooked humours of these people." The three succeeding years of peace granted +to England—interrupted only by the mad <i>emeute</i> of Essex, and the +silly intrigues of the King of Scotland—enabled Elizabeth to direct all +the energies of the State, which had so immensely increased in wealth during +her reign, for the subjugation of the Irish revolt. +</p> + +<p> +The capture of Ormond by the O'Moores took place in the month of April, at a +place called Corroneduff, in an interview between the Earl, the President of +Munster, and Lord Thomond, on the one part, and the Leinster Chief on the +other. Ormond, who stood out from his party, had asked to see the famous +Jesuit, Father Archer, then with O'Moore. The Priest advanced leaning on his +staff, which, in the heat of a discussion that arose, he raised once or twice +in the air. The clansmen, suspecting danger to the Jesuit, rushed forward and +dragged the Earl from his horse. Lord Thomond and the President, taking the +alarm, plied their spurs, and were but too glad to escape. Ormond remained a +prisoner from April to June, during which interval he was received by Archer +into the Church, to which he firmly adhered till the day of his death. On his +liberation he entered into bonds for 3,000 pounds not to make reprisals, but +Mountjoy took vengeance for him. The fair, well-fenced, and well-cultivated +land of Leix was cruelly ravaged immediately after Ormond's release—the +common soldiers cut down with their swords "corn to the value of 10,000 pounds +and upwards," and the brave chief, Owny, son of Rory, having incautiously +exposed himself in an attack on Maryborough, was, on the 17th of August, killed +by a musket shot. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap62"></a>CHAPTER X.<br/> +MOUNTJOY'S ADMINISTRATION—OPERATIONS IN ULSTER AND +MUNSTER—CAREW'S "WIT AND CUNNING"—LANDING OF SPANIARDS IN THE +SOUTH—BATTLE OF KINSALE—DEATH OF O'DONNELL IN SPAIN.</h3> + +<p> +The twofold operations against Ulster, neglected by Essex, were vigorously +pressed forward by the energetic Mountjoy. On the 16th of May, a fleet arrived +in Lough Foyle, having on board 4,000 foot and 200 horse, under the command of +Sir Henry Dowcra, with abundance of stores, building materials, and ordnance. +At the same moment, the Deputy forced the Moira pass, and made a feigned +demonstration against Armagh, to draw attention from the fleet in the Foyle. +This feint served its purpose; Dowcra was enabled to land and throw up +defensive works at Derry, which he made his head-quarters, to fortify Culmore +at the entrance to the harbour, where he placed 600 men, under the command of +Captain Atford, and to seize the ancient fort of Aileach, at the head of Lough +Swilly, where Captain Ellis Flood was stationed with 150 men. The attempt +against Ballyshannon was, on a nearer view, found impracticable, and deferred; +the Deputy, satisfied that the lodgment had been made upon Lough Foyle, retired +to Dublin, after increasing the garrisons at Newry, Carlingford, and Dundalk. +The Catholic chieftains immediately turned their attention to the new fort at +Derry, appeared suddenly before it with 5,000 men, but failing to draw out its +defenders, and being wholly unprovided with a siege train and +implements—as they appear to have been throughout—they withdrew +the second day, O'Donnell leaving a party in hopes to starve out the +foreigners. This party were under the command of O'Doherty, of Innishowen, and +Nial Garve O'Donnell, the most distinguished soldier of his name, after his +illustrious cousin and chief. On the 28th of June, a party of the besieged, +headed by Sir John Chamberlaine, made a sally from the works, but were driven +in with loss, and Chamberlaine killed. On the 29th of July, O'Donnell, who had +returned from his annual incursion into Connaught and Thomond, seized the +English cavalry horses, and defeated the main force of the besieged, who had +issued out to their rescue. From this affair Dowcra was carried back wounded +into Derry. +</p> + +<p> +But treason was busy in the Irish camp and country among the discontented +members of the neighbouring clans. The election of chiefs for life, always a +fruitful source of bickering and envy, supplied the very material upon which +"the princely policie" of division, recommended by Bacon to Essex, might be +exercised. Dowcra succeeded in the summer in winning over Art O'Neil, son of +Turlogh, the early adversary of the great Hugh; before the year was over, by +bribes and promises, he seduced Nial Garve, in the absence of his chief in +Connaught, and Nial, having once entered on the career of treason, pursued it +with all the dogged courage of his disposition. Though his wife, sister to Red +Hugh, forsook him, though his name was execrated throughout the Province, +except by his blindly devoted personal followers, he served the English during +the remainder of the war with a zeal and ability to which they acknowledged +themselves deeply indebted. By a rapid march, at the head of 1,000 men, +supplied by Dowcra, he surprised the town of Lifford, which his new allies +promptly fortified with walls of stone, and entrusted to him to defend. Red +Hugh, on learning this alarming incident, hastened from the West to invest the +place. After sitting before it an entire month, with no other advantage than a +sally repulsed, he concluded to go into winter quarters. Arthur O'Neil and Nial +Garve had the dignity of knighthood conferred upon them, and were, besides, +recognized for the day by the English officials as the future O'Neil and +O'Donnell. In like manner, "a Queen's Maguire" had been raised up in Fermanagh, +"a Queen's O'Reilly" in Cavan, and other chiefs of smaller districts were +provided with occupation enough at their own doors by the "princely policie" of +Lord Bacon. +</p> + +<p> +The English interest in Munster during the first year of Mountjoy's +administration had recovered much of its lost predominance. The new President, +Sir George Carew, afterwards Earl of Totness, was brother to that knightly +"undertaker" who claimed the moiety of Desmond, and met his death at +Glenmalure. He was a soldier of the new school, who prided himself especially +on his "wit and cunning," in the composition of "sham and counterfeit letters." +He had an early experience in the Irish wars, first as Governor of Askeaton +Castle, and afterwards as Lieutenant General of the Ordnance. Subsequently he +was employed in putting England in a state of defence against the Spaniards, +and had just returned from an embassy to Poland, when he was ordered to join +Mountjoy with the rank of Lord President. He has left us a memoir of his +administration, civil and military, edited by his natural son and Secretary, +Thomas Stafford—exceedingly interesting to read both as to matter and +manner, but the documents embodied in which are about as reliable as the +speeches which are read in Livy. Some of them are admitted forgeries; others +are at least of doubtful authenticity. After escaping with Lord Thomond from +the scene of Ormond's capture, his first act on reaching Cork was to conclude a +month's truce with Florence McCarthy. This he did, in order to gain time to +perfect a plot for the destruction of O'Neil's other friend, called in +derision, by the Anglo-Irish of Munster, the <i>sugane</i> (or straw-rope) Earl +of Desmond. +</p> + +<p> +This plot, so characteristic of Carew and of the turn which English history was +about to take in the next reign, deserves to be particularly mentioned. There +was, in the service of the Earl, one Dermid O'Conor, captain of 1,400 hired +troops, who was married to lady Margaret Fitzgerald, daughter to the late, and +niece to the new-made Earl of Desmond. This lady, naturally interested in the +restoration of her young brother, then the Queen's ward or prisoner at London, +to the title and estates, was easily drawn into the scheme of seducing her +husband from his patron. To justify and cloak the treachery a letter was +written by Carew to the <i>sugane</i> Earl reminding him of <i>his</i> +engagement to deliver up O'Conor; this <i>letter</i>, as pre-arranged, was +intercepted by the latter, who, watching his opportunity, rushed with it open +into the Earl's presence, and arrested him, in the name of O'Neil, as a traitor +to the Catholic cause! Anxious to finger his reward—1,000 pounds and a +royal commission for himself—before giving up his capture, O'Conor +imprisoned the Earl in the keep of Castle-Ishin, but the White Knight, the +Knight of Glynn, Fitzmaurice of Kerry, and Pierce Lacy, levying rapidly 2,000 +men, speedily delivered him from confinement, while his baffled betrayer, +crest-fallen and dishonoured, was compelled to quit the Province. The year +following he was attacked while marching through Galway, and remorselessly put +to death by Theobald Burke, usually called Theobald of the ships. +</p> + +<p> +Another device employed to destroy the influence of O'Neil's Desmond was the +liberation of the young son of the late Earl from the Tower and placing him at +the disposal of Carew. The young nobleman, attended by a Captain Price, who was +to watch all his movements, landed at Youghal, where he was received by the +Lord President, the Clerk of the Council, Mr. Boyle, afterwards Earl of Cork, +and Miler Magrath, an apostate ecclesiastic, who had been the Queen's +Archbishop of Cashel. By his influence with the warders, Castlemaine, in Kerry, +surrendered to the President. On reaching Kilmallock, he was received with such +enthusiasm that it required the effort of a guard of soldiers to make way for +him through the crowd. According to their custom the people showered down upon +him from the windows handfuls of wheat and salt—emblems of plenty and of +safety—but the next day, being Sunday, turned all this joy into mourning, +not unmingled with anger and shame. The young lord, who had been bred up a +Protestant by his keepers, directed his steps to the English Church, to the +consternation of the devoted adherents of his house. They clung round him in +the street and endeavoured to dissuade him from proceeding, but he continued +his course, and on his return was met with hootings and reproaches by those who +had hailed him with acclamations the day before. Deserted by the people, and no +longer useful to the President, he was recalled to London, where he resumed his +quarters in the Tower, and shortly afterwards died. The capture of the strong +castle of Glynn from the knight of that name, and the surrender of Carrigafoyle +by O'Conor of Kerry, were the other English successes which marked the campaign +of 1600 in Munster. On the other hand, O'Donnell had twice exercised his severe +supremacy over southern Connaught, burning the Earl of Thomond's new town of +Ennis, and sweeping the vales and plains of Clare, and of Clanrickarde, of the +animal wealth of their recreant Earls, now actively enlisted against the +national confederacy. +</p> + +<p> +The eventful campaign of 1601 was fought out in almost every quarter of the +kingdom. To hold the coast line, and prevent the advantages being obtained, +which the possession of Derry, and other harbours on Lough Foyle gave them, +were the tasks of O'Donnell; while to defend the southern frontier was the +peculiar charge of O'Neil. They thus fought, as it were, back to back against +the opposite lines of attack. The death of O'Doherty, early in this year, threw +the succession to Innishowen into confusion, and while O'Donnell was personally +endeavouring to settle conflicting claims, Nial Garve seized on the famous +Franciscan monastery which stood at the head of the bay, within sight of the +towers of Donegal Castle. Hugh Roe immediately invested the place, which his +relative as stoutly defended. Three months, from the end of June till the end +of September, the siege was strictly maintained, the garrison being regularly +supplied with stores and ammunition from sea. On the night of the 29th of +September an explosion of gunpowder occurred, and soon the monastery was +wrapped in flames. This was the moment chosen for the final attack. The glare +of the burning Abbey reflected over the beautiful bay, the darkness of night +all round, the shouts of the assailants, and the shrieks of the fugitives +driven by the flames upon the spears of their enemies, must have formed a scene +of horrors such as even war rarely combines. Hundreds of the besieged were +slain, but Nial Garve himself, with the remainder, covered by the fire of an +English ship in the harbour, escaped along the strand to the neighbouring +monastery of Magherabeg, which he quickly put into a state of defence. All that +was left to O'Donnell of that monastery, the burial place of his ancestors, and +the chief school of his kinsmen, was a skeleton of stone, standing amid rubbish +and ashes. It was never re-inhabited by the Franciscans. A group of huts upon +the shore served them for shelter, and the ruined chapel for a place of +worship, while they were still left in the land. +</p> + +<p> +While Hugh Roe was investing Donegal Abbey the war had not paused on the +southern frontier. We have said that Mountjoy had made a second and a third +demonstration against Armagh the previous year; in one of these journeys he +raised a strong fort at the northern outlet of the Moira pass, which he called +Mount Norris, in honour of his late master in the art of war. This work, +strongly built and manned, gave him the free <i>entree</i> of the field of +battle whenever he chose to take it. In June of this year he was in the valley +of the Blackwater, menaced O'Neil's castle of Benburb, and left Sir Charles +Danvers with 750 foot and 100 horse in possession of Armagh. He further +proclaimed a reward of 2,000 pounds for the capture of Tyrone alive, or 1,000 +pounds for his head. But no Irishman was found to entertain the thought of that +bribe. An English assassin was furnished with passports by Danvers, and +actually drew his sword on the Earl in his own tent, but he was seized, +disarmed, and on the ground of insanity was permitted to escape. Later in the +summer Mountjoy was again on the Blackwater, where he laid the foundation of +Charlemont, called after himself, and placed 350 men in the works under the +command of Captain Williams, the brave defender of the old fort in the same +neighbourhood. There were thus quartered in Ulster at this period the 4,000 +foot and 400 horse under Dowcra, chiefly on the Foyle, with whatever companies +of Kerne adhered to Arthur O'Neil and Nial Garve; with Chichester in +Carrickfergus there were 850 foot and 150 horse; with Danvers in Armagh, 750 +foot and 100 horse; in Mount Norris, under Sir Samuel Bagnal, 600 foot and 50 +horse; in and about Downpatrick, lately taken by the Deputy, under Moryson, 300 +foot; in Newry, under Stafford, 400 foot and 50 horse; in Charlemont, with +Williams, 300 foot and 50 horse; or, in all, of English regulars in Ulster +alone, 7,000 foot and 800 horse. The position of the garrisons on the map will +show how firm a grasp Mountjoy had taken of the Northern Province. +</p> + +<p> +The last scene of this great struggle was now about to shift to the opposite +quarter of the kingdom. The long-looked for Spanish fleet was known to have +left the Tagus—had been seen off the Scilly Islands. On the 23rd of +September the Council, presided over by Mountjoy, was assembled in Kilkenny +Castle: there were present Carew, Ormond, Sir Richard Wingfield, Marshal of the +Queen's troops, uncle to Carew, and founder of the family of Powerscourt; also +Chief Justice Gardiner, and other members less known. While they were still +sitting a message arrived from Cork that the Spanish fleet was off that +harbour, and soon another that they had anchored in Kinsale, and taken +possession of the town without opposition. The course of the Council was +promptly taken. Couriers were at once despatched to call in the garrisons far +and near which could possibly be dispensed with for service in Munster. Letters +were despatched to England for reinforcements, and a winter campaign in the +South was decided on. +</p> + +<p> +The Spanish auxiliary force, when it sailed from the Tagus, consisted +originally of 6,000 men in fifteen armed vessels and thirty transports. When +they reached Kinsale, after suffering severely at sea, and parting company with +several of their comrades, the soldiers were reduced to 3,400 men—a +number inferior to Dowcra's force on the Foyle. The General, Don Jaun del +Aguila, was a brave, but testy, passionate and suspicious officer. He has been +severely censured by some Irish writers for landing in the extreme South, +within fourteen miles of the English arsenal and head-quarters at Cork, and for +his general conduct as a commander. However vulnerable he may be on the general +charge, he does not seem fairly to blame for the choice of the point of +debarkation. He landed in the old Geraldine country, unaware, of course, of the +events of the last few weeks, in which the <i>sugane</i> Earl, and Florence +McCarthy, had been entrapped by Carew's "wit and cunning," and shipped for +London, from which they never returned. Even the northern chiefs, up to this +period, evidently thought their cause much stronger in the South, and Munster +much farther restored to vigour and courage than it really was. To the bitter +disappointment and disgust of the Spaniards, only O'Sullivan Beare, O'Driscoll, +and O'Conor of Kerry, declared openly for them; while they could hear daily of +chiefs they had been taught to count as friends, either as prisoners or allies +of the English. On the 17th of October—three weeks from their first +arrival—they were arrested in Kinsale by a mixed army of English and +Anglo-Irish, 15,000 strong, under the command of the Deputy and President, of +whom above 5,000 had freshly arrived at Cork from England. With Mountjoy were +the Earls of Thomond and Clanrickarde, more zealous than the English themselves +for the triumph of England. The harbour was blockaded by ten ships of war, +under Sir Richard Leviston, and the forts at the entrance, Rincorran and +Castlenepark, being taken by cannonade, the investment on all sides was +complete. Don Juan's messengers found O'Neil and O'Donnell busily engaged on +their own frontiers, but both instantly resolved to muster all their strength +for a winter campaign in Munster. O'Donnell <i>rendezvoused</i> at Ballymote, +from which he set out, at the head of 2,500 men, of Tyrconnell and Connaught, +on the 2nd day of November. O'Neil, with McDonnell of Antrim, McGennis of Down, +McMahon of Monaghan, and others, his suffragans, marched at the head of between +3,000 and 4,000 men, through West-Meath towards Ormond. Holy Cross was their +appointed place of meeting, where they expected to be joined by such of the +neighbouring Catholics as were eager to strike a blow for liberty of worship. +O'Donnell reached the neighbourhood first, and encamped in a strongly +defensible position, "plashed on every quarter" for greater security. Mountjoy, +anxious to engage him before O'Neil should come up, detached a numerically +superior force, under Carew, for that purpose: but O'Donnell, evacuating his +quarters by night, marched over the mountain of Slieve Felim, casting away much +of his heavy baggage, and before calling halt was 32 <i>Irish</i> miles distant +from his late encampment. After this extraordinary mountain march, equal to 40 +of our present miles, he made a detour to the westward, descended on +Castlehaven, in Cork, and formed a junction with 700 Spaniards, who had just +arrived to join Del Aguila. A portion of these veterans were detailed to the +forts of Castlehaven, Baltimore, and Dunboy, commanding three of the best +havens in Munster; the remainder joined O'Donnell's division. +</p> + +<p> +During the whole of November the siege of Kinsale was pressed with the utmost +vigour by Mountjoy. The place mounted but three or four effective guns, while +20 great pieces of ordnance were continually playing on the walls. On the 1st +of December a breach was found practicable, and an assault made by a party of +2,000 English was bravely repulsed by the Spaniards. The English fleet, ordered +round to Castlehaven on the 3rd, were becalmed, and suffered some damage from a +battery, manned by Spanish gunners, on the shore. The lines were advanced +closer towards the town, and the bombardment became more effective. But the +English ranks were considerably thinned by disease and desertion, so that on +the last day of December, when the united Irish force took up their position at +Belgoley, a mile to the north of their lines, the Lord Deputy's effective force +did not, it is thought, exceed 10,000 men. The Catholic army has generally been +estimated at 6,000 native foot and 500 horse; to these are to be added 300 +Spaniards, under Don Alphonso Ocampo, who joined O'Donnell at Castlehaven. +</p> + +<p> +The prospect for the besiegers was becoming exceedingly critical, but the +Spaniards in Kinsale were far from being satisfied with their position. They +had been fully three months within walls, in a region wholly unknown to them +before their allies appeared. They neither understood nor made allowance for +the immense difficulties of a winter campaign in a country trenched with +innumerable swollen streams, thick with woods, which, at that season, gave no +shelter, and where camping out at nights was enough to chill the hottest blood. +They only felt their own inconveniences: they were cut off from escape by sea +by a powerful English fleet, and Carew was already practising indirectly on +their commander his "wit and cunning," in the fabrication of rumours, and the +forging of letters. Don Juan wrote urgent appeals to the northern chiefs to +attack the English lines without another day's delay, and a council of war, the +third day after their arrival at Belgoley, decided that the attack should be +made on the morrow. This decision was come to on the motion of O'Donnell, +contrary to the judgment of the more circumspect and far-seeing O'Neil. +Overruled, the latter acquiesced in the decision, and cheerfully prepared to +discharge his duty. +</p> + +<p> +A story is told by Carew that information was obtained of the intended attack +from McMahon, in return for a bottle of <i>aquavitae</i> presented to him by +the President. This tale is wholly unworthy of belief, told of a chief of the +first rank, encamped in the midst of a friendly country. It is also +said—and it seems credible enough—that an intercepted letter of +Don Juan's gave the English in good time this valuable piece of information. On +the night of the 2nd of January, new style (24th of December, O.S.—in use +among the English), the Irish army left their camp in three divisions, the +vanguard led by Tyrrell, the centre by O'Neil, and the rear by O'Donnell. The +night was stormy and dark, with continuous peals and flashes of thunder and +lightning. The guides lost their way, and the march, which, even by the most +circuitous route, ought not to have exceeded four or five miles, was protracted +through the entire night. At dawn of day, O'Neil, with whom were O'Sullivan and +Ocampo, came in sight of the English lines, and, to his infinite surprise, +found the men under arms, the cavalry in troop posted in advance of their +quarters. O'Donnell's division was still to come up, and the veteran Earl now +found himself in the same dilemma into which Bagnal had fallen at the Yellow +Ford. His embarrassment was perceived from the English camp; the cavalry were +at once ordered to advance. For an hour O'Neil maintained his ground alone; at +the end of that time he was forced to retire. Of Ocampo's 300 Spaniards, 40 +survivors were, with their gallant leader, taken prisoners; O'Donnell at length +arrived, and drove back a wing of the English cavalry; Tyrrell's horsemen also +held their ground tenaciously. But the rout of the centre proved irremediable. +Fully 1,200 of the Irish were left dead on the field, and every prisoner taken +was instantly executed. On the English side fell Sir Richard Graeme; Captains +Danvers and Godolphin, with several others, were wounded; their total loss they +stated at 200, and the Anglo-Irish, of whom they seldom made count in their +reports, must have lost in proportion. The Earls of Thomond and Clanrickarde +were actively engaged with their followers, and their loss could hardly have +been less than that of the English regulars. On the night following their +defeat, the Irish leaders held council together at Innishanon, on the river +Bandon, where it was agreed that O'Donnell should instantly take shipping for +Spain to lay the true state of the contest before Philip III.; that O'Sullivan +should endeavour to hold the Castle of Dunboy, as commanding a most important +harbour; that Rory O'Donnell, second brother of Hugh Roe, should act as +Chieftain of Tyrconnell, and that O'Neil should return into Ulster to make the +best defence in his power. The loss in men was not irreparable; the loss in +arms, colours, and reputation, was more painful to bear, and far more difficult +to retrieve. +</p> + +<p> +On the 12th of January, nine days after the battle, Don Juan surrendered the +town, and agreed to give up at the same time Dunboy, Baltimore, and +Castlehaven. He had lost 1,000 men out of his 3,000 during a ten weeks' siege, +and was heartily sick of Irish warfare. On his return to Spain he was degraded +from his rank, for his too great intimacy with Carew, and confined a prisoner +in his own house. He is said to have died of a broken heart occasioned by these +indignities. +</p> + +<p> +O'Donnell sailed from Castlehaven in a Spanish ship, on the 6th of January, +three clays after the battle, and arrived at Corunna on the 14th. He was +received with all the honours due to a crown prince by the Conde de Caracena, +Governor of Galicia. Among other objects, he visited the remains of the tower +of Betanzos, from which, according to Bardic legends, the sons of Milesius had +sailed to seek for the Isle of Destiny among the waves of the west. On the 27th +he set out for the Court, accompanied as far as Santa Lucia by the governor, +who presented him with 1,000 ducats towards his expenses. At Compostella the +Archbishop offered him his own palace, which O'Donnell respectfully declined: +he afterwards celebrated a Solemn High Mass for the Irish chief's intention, +entertained him magnificently at dinner, and presented him, as the governor had +done, with 1,000 ducats. At Zamora he received from Philip III. a most cordial +reception, and was assured that in a very short time a more powerful armament +than Don Juan's should sail with him from Corunna. He returned to that port, +from which he could every day look out across the western waves that lay +between him and home, and where he could be kept constantly informed of what +was passing in Ireland. Spring was over and gone, and summer, too, had passed +away, but still the exigencies of Spanish policy delayed the promised +expedition. At length O'Donnell set out on a second visit to the Spanish Court, +then at Valladolid, but he reached no further than Simancas, when, fevered in +mind and body, he expired on the 10th of September, 1602, in the 29th year of +his age. He was attended in his last moments by two Franciscan Fathers who +accompanied him, Florence, afterwards Archbishop of Tuam, and Maurice Donlevy, +of his own Abbey of Donegal. His body was interred with regal honours in the +Cathedral of Valladolid, where a monument was erected to his memory by the King +of Spain. +</p> + +<p> +Thus closed the career of one of the brightest and purest characters in any +history. His youth, his early captivity, his princely generosity, his daring +courage, his sincere piety won the hearts of all who came in contact with him. +He was the sword as O'Neil was the brain of the Ulster Confederacy; the Ulysses +and Achilles of the war, they fought side by side, without jealousy or envy, +for almost as long a period as their prototypes had spent in besieging Troy. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap63"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br/> +THE CONQUEST OF MUNSTER—DEATH OF ELIZABETH, AND SUBMISSION OF +O'NEIL—"THE ARTICLES OF MELLIFONT."</h3> + +<p> +The days of Queen Elizabeth were now literally numbered. The death of Essex, +the intrigues of the King of Scotland, and the successes of Tyrone, preyed upon +her spirits. The Irish chief was seldom out of her mind, and, as she often +predicted, she was not to live to receive his submission. She was accustomed to +send for her godson, Harrington, who had served in Ireland, to ask him +questions concerning Tyrone; the French ambassador considered Tyrone's war one +of the causes that totally destroyed her peace of mind in her latter days. She +received the news of the victory of Kinsale with pleasure, but, even then, she +was not destined to receive the submission of Tyrone. +</p> + +<p> +The events of the year, so inauspiciously begun for the Irish arms, continued +of the same disastrous character. Castlehaven was surrendered by its Spanish +guard, according to Del Aguila's agreement. Baltimore, after a momentary +resistance, was also given up, but O'Sullivan, who considered the Spanish +capitulation nothing short of treason, threw a body of native troops, probably +drawn from Tyrrell's men, into Dunboy, under Captain Richard Mageoghegan, and +Taylor, an Englishman, connected by marriage with Tyrrell. Another party of the +same troops took possession of Clear Island, but were obliged to abandon it as +untenable. The entire strength of the Dunboy garrison amounted to 143 men; +towards the end of April—the last of the Spaniards having sailed in +March—Carew left Cork at the head of 3,000 men to besiege Dunboy. Sir +Charles Wilmot moved on the same point from Kerry, with a force of 1,000 men, +to join Carew. In the pass near Mangerton Wilmot was encountered by Donald +O'Sullivan and Tyrrell, at the head of then remaining followers, but forced a +passage and united with his superior on the shores of Berehaven. On the 1st of +June the English landed on Bear Island, and on the 6th opened their cannonade. +They were 4,000 men, with every military equipment necessary, against 143. +After eleven days' bombardment the place was shattered to pieces; the garrison +offered to surrender, if allowed to retain their arms, but their messenger was +hanged, and an instant assault ordered. Over fifty of this band of Christian +Spartans had fallen in the defence, thirty attempted to escape in boats, or by +swimming, but were killed to a man while in the water. The remainder retreated +with Mageoghegan, who was severely wounded, to a cellar approached by a narrow +stair, where the command was assumed by Taylor. All day the assault had been +carried on till night closed upon the scene of carnage. Placing a strong guard +on the approach to the crypt, Carew returned to the charge with the returning +light. Cannon were first discharged into the narrow chamber which held the last +defenders of Dunboy, and then a body of the assailants rushing in, despatched +the wounded Mageoghegan with their swords, having found him, candle in hand, +dragging himself towards the gunpowder. Taylor and fifty-seven others were led +out to execution; of all the heroic band, not a soul escaped alive. +</p> + +<p> +The remaining fragments of Dunboy were blown into the air by Carew on the 22nd +of June. Dursey Castle, another island fortress of O'Sullivan's, had fallen +even earlier; so that no roof remained to the lord of Berehaven. Still he held +his men well together in the glens of Kerry, during the months of Summer, but +the ill-news from Spain in September threw a gloom over those mountains deeper +than was ever cast by equinoctial storm. Tyrrell was obliged to separate from +him in the Autumn, probably from the difficulty of providing for so many +mouths, and O'Sullivan himself prepared to bid a sad farewell to the land of +his inheritance. On the last day of December he left Glengariffe, with 400 +fighting men, and 600 women, children, and servants, to seek a refuge in the +distant north. After a retreat almost unparalleled, the survivors of this +exodus succeeded in reaching the friendly roof of O'Ruarc, at Dromahaire, not +far from Sligo. Their entire march, from the extreme south to the almost +extreme north-west of the island, a distance, as they travelled it, of not less +than 200 miles, was one scene of warfare and suffering. They were compelled to +kill their horses, on reaching the Shannon, in order to make boats of the +hides, to ferry them to the western bank. At Aughrim they were attacked by a +superior force under Lord Clanrickarde's brother, and Captain Henry Malby, but +they fought with the courage of despair, routed the enemy, slaying Malby, and +other officers. Of the ten hundred who left the shores of Glengariffe, but 35 +souls reached the Leitrim chieftain's mansion. Among these were the chief +himself, with Dermid, father of the historian, who at the date of this march +had reached the age of seventy. The conquest of Munster, at least, was now +complete. In the ensuing January, Owen McEgan, Bishop of Ross, was slain in the +midst of a guerilla party, in the mountains of Carberry, and his chaplain, being +taken, was hanged with the other prisoners. The policy of extermination +recommended by Carew was zealously carried out by strong detachments under +Wilmot, Harvey, and Flower; Mr. Boyle and the other "Undertakers" zealously +assisting as volunteers. +</p> + +<p> +Mountjoy, after transacting some civil business at Dublin, proceeded in person +to the north, while Dowcra, marching out of Derry, pressed O'Neil from the +north and north-east. In June, Mountjoy was at Charlemont, which he placed +under the custody of Captain Toby Caufield, the founder of an illustrious title +taken from that fort. He advanced on Dungannon, but discovered it from the +distance, as Norris had once before done, in flames, kindled by the hand of its +straitened proprietor. On Lough Neagh he erected a new fort called Mountjoy, so +that his communications on the south now stretched from that great lake round +to Omagh, while those of Dowcra, at Augher, Donegal, and Lifford, nearly +completed the circle. Almost the only outlet from this chain of posts was into +the mountains of O'Cane's country, the north-east angle of the present county +of Derry. The extensive tract so enclosed and guarded had still some natural +advantages for carrying on a defensive war. The primitive woods were standing +in masses at no great distance from each other; the nearly parallel vales of +Faughan, Moyala, and the river Roe, with the intermediate leagues of moor and +mountain, were favourable to the movements of native forces familiar with every +ford and footpath. There was also, while this central tract was held, a +possibility of communication with other unbroken tribes, such as those of +Clandeboy and the Antrim glens on the east, and Breffni O'Ruarc on the west. +Never did the genius of Hugh O'Neil shine out brighter than in these last +defensive operations. In July, Mountjoy writes apologetically to the Council, +that "notwithstanding her Majesty's great forces, O'Neil doth still live." He +bitterly complains of his consummate caution, his "pestilent judgment to spread +and to nourish his own infection," and of the reverence entertained for his +person by the native population. Early in August, Mountjoy had arranged what he +hoped might prove the finishing stroke in the struggle. Dowcra from Derry, +Chichester from Carrickfergus, Danvers from Armagh, and all who could be spared +from Mountjoy, Charlemont, and Mount Norris, were gathered under his command, +to the number of 8,000 men, for a foray into the interior of Tyrone. +Inisloghlin, on the borders of Down and Antrim, which contained a great +quantity of valuables, belonging to O'Neil, was captured. Magherlowney and +Tulloghoge were next taken. At the latter place stood the ancient stone chair +on which the O'Neils were inaugurated time out of mind; it was now broken into +atoms by Mountjoy's orders. But the most effective warfare was made on the +growing crops. The 8,000 men spread themselves over the fertile fields along +the valleys of the Bann and the Roe, destroying the standing grain with fire, +where it would burn, or with the <i>praca</i>, a peculiar kind of harrow, +tearing it up by the roots. The horsemen trampled crops into the earth which +had generously nourished them; the infantry shore them down with their sabres, +and the sword, though in a very different sense from that of Holy Scripture, +was, indeed, converted into a sickle. The harvest month never shone upon such +fields in any Christian land. In September, Mountjoy reported to Cecil, "that +between Tulloghoge and Toome there lay unburied a thousand dead," and that +since his arrival on the Blackwater—a period of a couple of +months—"there were about 3,000 starved in Tyrone." In O'Cane's country, +the misery of his clansmen drove the chief to surrender to Dowcra, and the news +of Hugh Roe's death having reached Donegal, his brother repaired to Athlone, +and made his submission to Mountjoy, early in December. O'Neil, unable to +maintain himself on the river, Roe, retired with 600 foot and 60 horse, to +Glencancean, near Lough Neagh, the most secure of his fastnesses. His brother +Cormac McMahon, and Art O'Neil, of Clandeboy, shared with him the wintry +hardships of that last asylum, while Tyrone, Clandeboy, and Monaghan, were +given up to horrors, surpassing any that had been known or dreamt of in former +wars. Moryson, secretary to Mountjoy, in his account of this campaign, +observes, "that no spectacle was more frequent in the ditches of towns, and +especially in wasted countries, than to see multitudes of these poor people +dead, with their mouths all coloured green, by eating nettles, docks, and all +things they could rend above ground." +</p> + +<p> +The new year, opening without hope, it began to be rumoured that O'Neil was +disposed to surrender on honourable terms. Mountjoy and the English Council +long urged the aged Queen to grant such terms, but without effect. Her pride as +a sovereign had been too deeply wounded by the revolted Earl to allow her +easily to forgive or forget his offences. Her advisers urged that Spain had +followed her own course towards the Netherlands, in Ireland; that the war +consumed three-fourths of her annual revenue, and had obliged her to keep up an +Irish army of 20,000 men for several years past. At length she yielded her +reluctant consent, and Mountjoy was authorized to treat with the arch-rebel +upon honourable terms. The agents employed by the Lord Deputy in this +negotiation were Sir William Godolphin and Sir Garrett Moore, of Mellifont, +ancestor of the Marquis of Drogheda—the latter, a warm personal friend, +though no partizan of O'Neil's. They found him in his retreat near Lough Neagh +early in March, and obtained his promise to give the Deputy an early meeting at +Mellifont. Elizabeth's serious illness, concealed from O'Neil, though well +known to Mountjoy, hastened the negotiations. On the 27th of March he had +intelligence of her decease at London on the 24th, but carefully concealed it +till the 5th of April following. On the 31st of March, he received Tyrone's +submission at Moore's residence, the ancient Cistercian Abbey, and not until a +week later did O'Neil learn that he had made his peace with a dead sovereign. +</p> + +<p> +The honourable terms on which this memorable religious war was concluded were +these: O'Neil abjured all foreign allegiance, especially that of the King of +Spain; renounced the title of O'Neil; agreed to give up his correspondence with +the Spaniards, and to recall his son, Henry, who was a page at the Spanish +Court, and to live in peace with the sons of John the Proud. Mountjoy granted +him an amnesty for himself and his allies; agreed that he should be restored to +his estates as he had held them before the war, and that the Catholics should +have the free exercise of their religion. That the restoration of his ordinary +chieftain rights, which did not conflict with the royal prerogative, was also +included, we have the best possible evidence: Sir Henry Dowcra having +complained to Lord Mountjoy that O'Neil quartered men on O'Cane, who had +surrendered to himself, Mountjoy made answer—"My Lord of Tyrone is taken +in with promise to be restored, as well to all his lands as to his honour and +dignity, and O'Cane's country is his, and must be obedient to his commands." +That the article concerning religion was understood by the Catholics to concede +full freedom of worship, is evident from subsequent events. In Dublin, sixteen +of the principal citizens suffered fine and imprisonment for refusing to comply +with the act of uniformity; in Kilkenny the Catholics took possession of the +Black Abbey, which had been converted into a lay fee; in Waterford they did the +same by St. Patrick's Church, where a Dominican preacher was reported to have +said, among other imprudent things, that "Jesabel was dead"—alluding to +the late Queen. In Cork, Limerick, and Cashel, the cross was carried publicly +in procession, the old Churches restored to their ancient rites, and +enthusiastic proclamation made of the public restoration of religion. These +events having obliged the Lord Deputy to make a progress through the towns and +cities, he was met at Waterford by a vast procession, headed by religious in +the habits of their order, who boldly declared to him "that the citizens of +Waterford could not, in conscience, obey any prince that persecuted the +Catholic religion." When such was the spirit of the town populations, we are +not surprised to learn that, in the rural districts, almost exclusively +Catholic, the people entered upon the use of many of their old Churches, and +repaired several Abbeys—among the number, Buttevant, Kilcrea, and +Timoleague in Cork; Quin Abbey in Clare; Kilconnell in Galway; Rosnariell in +Mayo, and Multifarnham in West-Meath. So confident were they that the days of +persecution were past, that King James prefaces his proclamation of July, 1605, +with the statement—"Whereas we have been informed that our subjects in +the kingdom of Ireland, since the death of our beloved sister, have been +deceived by a false rumour, to wit, that we would allow them liberty of +conscience," and so forth. How cruelly they were then undeceived belongs to the +history of the next reign; here we need only remark that the Articles of +Limerick were not more shamefully violated by the statute 6th and 7th, William +III., than the Articles of Mellifont were violated by this Proclamation of the +third year of James I. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap64"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br/> +STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNING DURING THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH.</h3> + +<p> +During the greater part of the reign of Elizabeth, the means relied upon for +the propagation of the reformed doctrines were more exclusively those of force +and coercion than even in the time of Edward VI. Thus, when Sir William Drury +was Deputy, in 1578, he bound several citizens of Kilkenny, under a penalty of +40 pounds each, to attend the English Church service, and authorized the +Anglican Bishop "to make a rate for the repair of the Church, and to distrain +for the payment of it"—the first mention of Church rates we remember to +have met with. Drury's method of proceeding may be further inferred from the +fact, that of the thirty-six executions ordered by him in the same city, "one +was a blackamoor and two were witches, who were condemned by the law of nature, +for there was no positive law against witchcraft [in Ireland] in those days." +That defect was soon supplied, however, by the statute 27th of Elizabeth, +"against witchcraft and sorcery." Sir John Perrott, successor to Drury, trod in +the same path, as we judge from the charge of severity against recusants, upon +which, among other articles, he was recalled from the government. Towards the +end of the sixteenth century, however, it began to be discovered by the wisest +observers that violent methods were worse than useless with the Irish. Edmund +Spenser urged that "religion should not be forcibly impressed into them with +terror and sharp penalties, as now is the manner, but rather delivered and +intimated with mildness and gentleness." Lord Bacon, in his "Considerations +touching the Queen's Service in Ireland," addressed to Secretary Cecil, +recommends "the recovery of the hearts of the people," as the first step +towards their conversion. With this view he suggested "a toleration of religion +(for a time not definite), except it be in some principal towns and cities," as +a measure "warrantable in religion, and in policy of absolute necessity." The +philosophic Chancellor farther suggested, as a means to this desired end, the +preparation of "versions of Bibles and Catechisms, and other works of +instruction in the Irish language." In accordance with these views of +conversion, the University of Trinity College was established by a royal +charter, in the month of January, 1593. The Mayor and Corporation of Dublin had +granted the ancient monastery of All Hallows as a site for the buildings; some +contributions were received from the Protestant gentry, large grants of +confiscated Abbey and other lands, which afterwards yielded a princely revenue, +were bestowed upon it, and the Lord Treasurer Burleigh graciously accepted the +office of its Chancellor. The first Provost was Archbishop Loftus, and of the +first three students entered, one was the afterwards illustrious James Usher. +The commanders and officers engaged at Kinsale presented it with the sum of +1,800 pounds for the purchase of a library; and at the subsequent confiscations +in Munster and Ulster, the College came in for a large portion of the forfeited +lands. +</p> + +<p> +Although the Council in England generally recommended the adoption of +persuasive arts and a limited toleration, those who bore the sword usually took +care that they should not bear it in vain. A High Commission Court, armed with +ample powers to enforce the Act of Uniformity, had been established at Dublin +in 1593; but its members were ordered to proceed cautiously after the Ulster +Confederacy became formidable, and their powers lay dormant in the last two or +three years of the century. Essex and Mountjoy were both fully convinced of the +wisdom of Bacon's views; the former showed a partial toleration, connived at +the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice, even in the capital, and liberated some +priests from prison. Mountjoy, in answer to the command of the English Council +"to deal moderately in the great matter of religion," replied by letter that he +had already advised "such as dealt in it for a time to hold a restrained hand +therein." "The other course," he adds, "might have overthrown the means of our +own end of a reformation of religion." This conditional toleration—such +as it was—excited the indignation of the more zealous Reformers, whose +favourite preacher, the youthful Usher, did not hesitate to denounce it from +the pulpit of Christ Church, as an unhallowed compromise with antichrist. In +1601, Usher, then but 21 years of age, preached his well-known sermon from the +text of the forty days, in which Ezekiel "was to bear the iniquity of the house +of Judah—a day for a year." "From this year," cried the youthful zealot, +"will I reckon the sin of Ireland, that those whom you now embrace shall be +your ruin, and you shall bear their iniquity." When the northern insurrection +of 1641 took place, this rhetorical menace was exalted, after the fact, into +the dignity of a prophecy fulfilled. After the victory of Kinsale, however, the +Ultra Protestant party had less cause to complain of the temporizing of the +civil power; the pecuniary mulct of twelve pence for each absence from the +English service was again enforced at least in Dublin, and several priests, +then in prison, were, on various pretences, put to death. Among those who +suffered in the capital was the learned Jesuit, Henry Fitzsimons, son of a +Mayor of the city, the author of <i>Brittanomachia</i>, with whom, while in the +Castle, Usher commenced a controversy, which was never finished. But the terms +agreed upon at Mellifont, between Mountjoy and Tyrone, again suspended for a +short interval the sword of persecution. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding its manifold losses by exile and the scaffold, the ancient +Church was enabled, through the abundance of vocations, and the zeal of the +ordained, to keep up a still powerful organization. Philip O'Sullivan states, +under the next reign that the government had ascertained through its spies, the +names of 1,160 priests, secular and regular, still in the country. There must +have been between 300 and 400 others detained abroad, either as Professors in +the Irish Colleges in Spain, France, and Flanders, or as ecclesiastics, +awaiting major orders. Of the regulars at home, 120 were Franciscans, and about +50 Jesuits. There are said to have been but four Fathers of the Order of St. +Dominick remaining at the time of Elizabeth's death. The reproach of Cambrensis +had long been taken away, since every Diocese might now point to its martyrs. +Of these we recall among the Hierarchy the names of O'Hely, Bishop of Killala, +executed at Kilmallock in 1578; O'Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, burned at the +stake in Dublin in 1582; Creagh, Archbishop of Armagh, who died a prisoner in +the Tower in 1585; Archbishop McGauran, his successor, slain in the act of +ministering to the wounded in the engagement at Tulsk, in Roscommon, in 1593; +McEgan, Bishop of Ross, who met his death under precisely similar circumstances +in Carberry in 1603. Yet through all these losses the episcopal succession was +maintained unbroken. In the early part of the next reign O'Sullivan gives the +names of the four Archbishops, Peter Lombard of Armagh, Edward McGauran of +Dublin, David O'Carny of Cashel, and Florence Conroy of Tuam. On the other +hand, the last trying half century had furnished, so far as we can learn, no +instance of apostacy among the Bishops, and but half a dozen at most from all +orders of the clergy. We read that Owen O'Conor, an apostate, was advanced by +letters patent to Killala in 1591; that Maurice O'Brien of Ara was, in 1570, by +the same authority, elevated to the See of Killaloe, which he resigned in 1612; +that Miler Magrath, in early life a Franciscan friar, was promoted by the Queen +to the Sees of Clogher, Killala, Anchory and Lismore successively. He finally +settled in the See of Cashel, in which he died, having secretly returned to the +religion of his ancestors. For the rest, "the Queen's Bishops" were chiefly +chosen out of England, though some few natives of the Pale, or of the walled +towns, educated at Oxford, may be found in the list. +</p> + +<p> +Of the state of learning in those troubled times the brief story is easily +told. The Bardic Order still flourished and was held in honour by all ranks of +the native population. The national adversity brought out in them, as in +others, many noble traits of character. The Harper, O'Dugan, was the last +companion that clung to the last of the Desmonds; the Bard of Tyrconnell, Owen +Ward, accompanied the Ulster chiefs in their exile, and poured out his Gaelic +dirge above their Roman graves. Although the Bardic compositions continued to +be chiefly personal, relating to the inauguration, journeys, exploits, or death +of some favourite chief, a large number of devotional poems on the passion of +our Lord and the glories of the Blessed Virgin are known to be of this age. The +first forerunners of what was destined to be a numerous progeny, the +controversial ode or ballad, appeared in Elizabeth's reign, in the form of +comparisons between the old and new religions, lamentations over the ruin of +religious houses, and the apostacy of such persons as Miler Magrath and the son +of the Earl of Desmond. The talents of many of the authors are admitted by +Spenser, a competent judge, but the tendency of their writings, he complains, +was to foster the love of lawlessness and rebellion rather than of virtue and +loyalty. He recommended them for correction to the mercies of the Provost +Marshal, whom he would have "to walk the country with half a dozen or half a +score of horsemen," in quest of the treasonable poets. +</p> + +<p> +As this was the age of the general diffusion of printing, we may observe that +the casting of Irish type for the use of Trinity College, by order of Queen +Elizabeth, is commonly dated from the year 1591; but as the College was not +opened for two years later, the true date must be anticipated. John Kearney, +Treasurer of St. Patrick's Church, who died about the year 1600, published a +Protestant Catechism from the College Press, which, says O'Reilly, "was the +first book ever printed in Irish types." In the year 1593, Florence Conroy +translated from the Spanish into Irish a catechism entitled "Christian +Instruction," which, he states in the preface, he had no opportunity of sending +into Ireland "until the year of the age of our Lord 1598." Whether it was then +printed we are not informed, but there does not seem to have been any Irish +type in Catholic hands before the foundation of the Irish College at Louvain in +1616. +</p> + +<p> +The merit of first giving to the press, in the native language of the country, +a version of the Sacred Scriptures, belongs clearly to Trinity College. +Nicholas Walsh, Bishop of Ossory, who died in 1585, had commenced, with the +assistance of John Kearney, to translate the Greek Testament into Gaelic. He +had also the assistance of Dr. Nehemiah Donnellan, and Dr. William Daniel, or +O'Daniel, both of whom subsequently filled the See of Tuam. This translation, +dedicated to King James, and published by O'Daniel in 1603, is still reprinted +by the Bible Societies. The first Protestant translation of the Old Testament, +made under Bishop Bedel's eye, and with such revision of particular passages as +his imperfect knowledge of the language enabled him to suggest, though +completed in the reign of Charles I., was not published before the year 1680. +It was Bedel, also, who caused the English liturgy to be recited in Irish, in +his Cathedral, as early as 1630. +</p> + +<p> +Ireland and her affairs naturally attracted, during Elizabeth's reign, the +attention of English writers. Of these it is enough to mention the Poet +Spenser, Secretary to Lord Grey de Wilton, Fynes Moryson, Secretary to Lord +Mountjoy, and the Jesuit Father, Campian. Campian, early distinguished at +Oxford, was employed as Cambrensis had been four centuries earlier, and as +Plowden was two centuries later, to write down everything Irish. He crossed the +Channel in 1570, and composed two books rapidly, without accurate or full +information as to the condition or history of the country. The nearer view of +Catholic suffering and Catholic constancy exercised a powerful influence on +this accomplished scholar; he became a convert and a Jesuit. For members of +that order there was but one exit out of life, under the law of England: he +suffered death at Tyburn in 1581. Richard Stanihurst, son of the Recorder of +Dublin, and uncle of Archbishop Usher, went through precisely the same +experiences as his friend Campian, except that he died, a quarter of a century +later, Chaplain to the Archdukes at Brussels, instead of expiring at the stake. +His English hexameters are among the curiosities of literature, but his +contributions to the history of his country, especially his allusions to events +and characters in and about his own time, are not without their use. Stanihurst +wrote his historical tracts, as did Lombard the Catholic and Usher the +Protestant Primate, O'Sullivan, White, O'Meara, and almost all the Irish +writers of that age, without exception, in the Latin language. The first Latin +book printed in Ireland is thought to be O'Meara's poem in praise of Thomas, +Earl of Ormond and Ossory, published in 1615. The earliest English books +printed in Ireland are unknown to me; the collection of Anglo-Irish statutes, +ordered to be published while Sir Henry Sidney was Deputy, was the most +important undertaking of that class in the reign of Elizabeth. +</p> + +<p> +As to institutions of learning, if we except Trinity College, which increased +rapidly in numbers and reputation under the patronage of the Crown, and the +College of Saint Nicholas, at Galway—protected by its remote situation on +the brink of the Atlantic—there was no famous seat of learning left in +the island. In the next reign 1,300 scholars are stated to have attended that +western "school of humanity," when the Ecclesiastical Commissioners +despotically ordered it to be closed, because the learned Principal, John +Lynch, "would not confirm to the religion established." But the greater number +of the children of Catholics, who still retained property enough to educate +them, were sent beyond seas, a fact with which King James, soon after his +accession, reproached the deputation of that body. A proclamation issued by +Lord Deputy Chichester, in 1610, alludes to the same custom, and commands all +noblemen, merchants, and others, whose children are abroad for educational +purposes, to recall them within one year from the date thereof; and in case +they refuse to return, all parents, friends, &c., sending them money, +directly or indirectly, will be punished as severely as the law permits. It was +mainly to guard against this danger that "the School of Wards" was established +by Elizabeth, and enlarged by James I., in which the great Duke of Ormond, Sir +Phelim O'Neil, Murrogh, Lord Inchiquin, and other sons of noble families, were +educated for the next generation. Early in the reign of James there were not +less than 300 of these Irish children in the Tower, or at the Lambeth +School,—and it is humiliating to find the great name of Sir Edward Coke +among those who gloried in the success of this unnatural substitution of the +State for the Parent in the work of education. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="part09"></a>BOOK IX.<br/> +FROM THE ACCESSION OF JAMES I. TILL THE DEATH OF CROMWELL.</h3> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap65"></a>CHAPTER I.<br/> +JAMES I.—FLIGHT OF THE EARLS—CONFISCATION OF +ULSTER—PENAL LAWS—PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION.</h3> + +<p> +James the Sixth of Scotland was in his 37th year when he ascended the throne +under the title of "James the First, King of Great Britain and Ireland." His +accession naturally excited the most hopeful expectations of good government in +the breasts of the Irish Catholics. He was son of Mary Queen of Scots, whom +they looked upon as a martyr to her religion, and grandson of that gallant King +James who styled himself "Defender of the Faith," and "<i>Dominus +Hiberniae</i>" in introducing the first Jesuits to the Ulster Princes. His +ancestors had always been in alliance with the Irish, and the antiquaries of +that nation loved to trace their descent from the Scoto-Irish chiefs who first +colonized Argyle, and were for ages crowned at Scone. He himself was known to +have assisted the late Catholic struggle as effectually, though less openly +than the King of Spain, and it is certain that he had employed Catholic agents, +like Lord Home and Sir James Lindsay, to excite an interest in his succession +among the Catholics, both in the British Islands and on the Continent. +</p> + +<p> +The first acts of the new sovereign were calculated to confirm the expectations +of Catholic liberty thus entertained. He was anxious to make an immediate and +lasting peace with Spain; refused to receive a special embassy from the +Hollanders; his ambassador at Paris was known to be on terms of intimacy with +the Pope's Nuncio; and although personally he assumed the tone of an Anglican +Churchman, on crossing the border he had invited leading Catholics to his +Court, and conferred the honour of Knighthood on some of their number. The +imprudent demonstrations in the Irish towns were easily quieted, and no +immediate notice was taken of their leaders. In May, 1603, Mountjoy, on whom +James had conferred the higher rank of Lord Lieutenant, leaving Carew as Lord +Deputy, proceeded to England, accompanied by O'Neil, Roderick O'Donnell, +Maguire, and other Irish gentlemen. The veteran Tyrone, now past threescore, +though hooted by the London rabble, was graciously received in that court, with +which he had been familiar forty years before. He was at once confirmed in his +title, the Earldom of Tyrconnell was created for O'Donnell, and the Lordship of +Enniskillen for Maguire. Mountjoy, created Earl of Devonshire, retained the +title of Lord Lieutenant, with permission to reside in England, and was +rewarded by the appointment of Master of the Ordnance and Warden of the New +Forest, with an ample pension from the Crown to him and his heirs for ever, the +grant of the county of Lecale (Down), and the estate of Kingston Hall, in +Dorsetshire, He survived but three short years to enjoy all these riches and +honours; at the age of 44, wasted with dissipation and domestic troubles, he +passed to his final account. +</p> + +<p> +The necessity of conciliating the Catholic party in England, of maintaining +peace in Ireland, and prosecuting the Spanish negotiations, not less, perhaps, +than his own original bias, led James to deal favourably with the Catholics at +first. But having attempted to enforce the new Anglican Canons, adopted in +1604, against the Puritans, that party retaliated by raising against him the +cry of favouring the Papists. This cry alarmed the King, who had always before +his eyes the fear of Presbyterianism, and he accordingly made a speech in the +Star Chamber, declaring his utter detestation of Popery, and published a +proclamation banishing all Catholic missionaries from the country. All +magistrates were instructed to enforce the penal laws with rigour, and an +elaborate spy system for the discovery of concealed recusants was set on foot. +This reign of treachery and terror drove a few desperate men into the gunpowder +plot of the following year, and rendered it difficult, if not impossible, for +the King to return to the policy of toleration, with which, to do him justice, +he seems to have set out from Scotland. +</p> + +<p> +Carew, President of Munster during the late war, became Deputy to Mountjoy on +his departure for England. He was succeeded in October, 1604, by Sir Arthur +Chichester, who, with the exception of occasional absences at Court, continued +in office for a period of eleven years. This nobleman, a native of England, +furnishes, in many points, a parallel to his cotemporary and friend, Robert +Boyle, Earl of Cork. The object of his life was to found and to endow the +Donegal peerage out of the spoils of Ulster, as richly as Boyle endowed his +earldom out of the confiscation of Munster. Both were Puritans rather than +Churchmen, in their religious opinions; Chichester, a pupil of the celebrated +Cartwright, and a favourer all his life of the congregational clergy in Ulster. +But they carried their repugnance to the interference of the civil magistrate +in matters of conscience so discreetly as to satisfy the high church notions +both of James and Elizabeth. For the violence they were thus compelled to +exercise against themselves, they seem to have found relief in bitter and +continuous persecution of others. Boyle, as the leading spirit in the +government of Munster, as Lord Treasurer, and occasionally as Lord Justice, had +ample opportunities, during his long career of forty years, to indulge at once +his avarice and his bigotry; and no situation was ever more favourable than +Chichester's for a proconsul, eager to enrich himself at the expense of a +subjugated Province. +</p> + +<p> +In the projected work of the reduction of the whole country to the laws and +customs of England, it is instructive to observe that a Parliament was not +called in the first place. The reformers proceeded by proclamations, letters +patent, and orders in council, not by legislation. The whole island was divided +into 32 counties and 6 judicial circuits, all of which were visited by Justices +in the second or third year of this reign, and afterwards semi-annually. On the +Northern Circuit Sir Edward Pelham and Sir John Davis were accompanied by the +Deputy in person, with a numerous retinue. In some places the towns were so +wasted by the late war, pestilence, and famine, that the Viceregal party were +obliged to camp out in the fields, and to carry with them their own provisions. +The Courts were held in ruined castles and deserted monasteries; Irish +interpreters were at every step found necessary; sheriffs were installed in +Tyrone and Tyrconnell for the first time; all lawyers appearing in court and +all justices of the peace were tendered the oath of supremacy—the refusal +of which necessarily excluded Catholics both from the bench and the bar. An +enormous amount of litigation as to the law of real property was created by a +judgment of the Court of King's Bench at Dublin, in 1605, by which the ancient +Irish customs, of tanistry and gavelkind, were declared null and void, and the +entire Feudal system, with its rights of primogeniture, hereditary succession, +entail, and vassalage, was held to exist in as full force in England. Very +evidently this decision was not less a violation of the articles of Mellifont +than was the King's proclamation against freedom of conscience issued about the +same time. +</p> + +<p> +Sir John Davis, who has left us two very interesting tracts on Irish affairs, +speaking of the new legal regulations of which he was one of the principal +superintendents, observes that the old-fashioned allowances to be found so +often in the Pipe-Rolls, <i>pro guidagio et spiagio</i>, into the interior, may +well be spared thereafter, since "the under sheriffs and bailiffs errant are +better guides and spies in time of peace than they were found in time of war." +He adds, what we may very well believe, that the Earl of Tyrone complained he +had so many eyes upon him, that he could not drink a cup of sack without the +government being advertised of it within a few hours afterwards. This system of +social <i>espionage</i>, so repugnant to all the habits of the Celtic family, +was not the only mode of annoyance resorted to against the veteran chief. Every +former dependent who could be induced to dispute his claims as a landlord, +under the new relations established by the late decision, was sure of a +judgment in his favour. Disputes about boundaries with O'Cane, about the +commutation of chieftain-rents into tenantry, about church lands claimed by +Montgomery, Protestant Bishop of Derry, were almost invariably decided against +him. Harassed by these proceedings, and all uncertain of the future, O'Neil +listened willingly to the treacherous suggestion of St. Lawrence and Lord +Howth, that the leading Catholics of the Pale, and those of Ulster, should +endeavour to form another confederation. The execution of Father Garnet, +Provincial of the Jesuits in England, the heavy fines inflicted on Lords +Stourton, Mordaunt, and Montague, and the new oath of allegiance, framed by +Archbishop Abbott, and sanctioned by the English Parliament—all events of +the year 1606—were calculated to inspire the Irish Catholics with +desperate councils. A dutiful remonstrance against the Act of Uniformity the +previous year had been signed by the principal Anglo-Irish Catholics for +transmission to the King, but their delegates were seized and imprisoned in the +Castle, while their principal agent, Sir Patrick Barnwell, was sent to London +and confined in the Tower. A meeting, at Lord Howth's suggestion, was held +about Christmas, 1606, at the Castle of Maynooth, then in possession of the +dowager Countess of Kildare, one of whose daughters was married to Christopher +Nugent, Baron of Delvin, and her granddaughter to Rory, Earl of Tyrconnell. +There were present O'Neil, O'Donnell, and O'Cane, on the one part, and Lords +Delvin and Howth on the other. The precise result of this conference, disguised +under the pretext of a Christmas party, was never made known, but the fact that +it had been held, and that the parties present had entertained the project of +another confederacy for the defence of the Catholic religion, was mysteriously +communicated in an anonymous letter, directed to Sir William Usher, Clerk of +the Council, which was dropped in the Council Chamber of Dublin Castle, in +March, 1607. This letter, it is now generally believed, was written by Lord +Howth, who was thought to have been employed by Secretary Cecil, to entrap the +northern Earls, in order to betray them. In May, O'Neil and O'Donnell were +cited to attend the Lord Deputy in Dublin, but the charges were for the time +kept in abeyance, and they were ordered to appear in London before the feast of +Michaelmas. Early in September O'Neil was with Chichester at Slane, in Meath, +when he received a letter from Maguire, who had been out of the country, +conveying information on which he immediately acted. Taking leave of the Lord +Deputy as if to prepare for his journey to London, he made some stay with his +old friend, Sir Garrett Moore, at Mellifont, on parting from whose family he +tenderly bade farewell to the children and even the servants, and was observed +to shed tears. At Dungannon he remained two days, and on the shore of Lough +Swilly he joined O'Donnell and others of his connexions. The French ship, in +which Maguire had returned, awaited them off Rathmullen, and there they took +shipping for France. With O'Neil, in that sorrowful company, were his last +countess, Catherine, daughter of Magenniss, his three sons, Hugh, John, and +Brian; his nephew, Art, son of Cormac, Rory O'Donnell, Caffar, his brother, +Nuala, his sister, who had forsaken her husband Nial <i>Garve</i>, when he +forsook his country; the lady Rose O'Doherty, wife of Caffar, and afterwards of +Owen Roe O'Neil; Maguire, Owen MacWard, chief bard of Tyrconnell, and several +others. "Woe to the heart that meditated, woe to the mind that conceived, woe +to the council that decided on the project of that voyage!" exclaimed the +Annalists of Donegal, in the next age. Evidently it was the judgment of their +immediate successors that the flight of the Earls was a rash and irremediable +step for them; but the information on which they acted, if not long since +destroyed, has, as yet, never been made public. We can pronounce no judgment as +to the wisdom of their conduct, from the incomplete statements at present in +our possession. +</p> + +<p> +There remained now few barriers to the wholesale confiscation of Ulster, so +long sought by "the Undertakers," and these were rapidly removed. Sir Cahir +O'Doherty, chief of Innishowen, although he had earned his Knighthood while a +mere lad, fighting by the side of Dowcra, in an altercation with Sir George +Paulett, Governor of Derry, was taunted with conniving at the escape of the +Earls, and Paulett in his passion struck him in the face. The youthful +chief—he was scarcely one and twenty—was driven almost to madness +by this outrage. On the night of the 3rd of May, by a successful stratagem, he +got possession of Culmore fort, at the month of Lough Foyle, and before morning +dawned had surprised Derry; Paulett, his insulter, he slew with his own hand, +most of the garrison were slaughtered, and the town reduced to ashes. Nial +<i>Garve</i> O'Donnell, who had been cast off by his old protectors, was +charged with sending him supplies and men, and for three months he kept the +field, hoping that every gale might bring him assistance from abroad. But those +same summer months and foreign climes had already proved fatal to many of the +exiles, whose co-operation he invoked. In July, Rory O'Donnell expired at Rome, +in August, Maguire died at Genoa, on his way to Spain, and in September, Caffar +O'Donnell was laid in the same grave with his brother, on St. Peter's hill. +O'Neil survived his comrades, as he had done his fortunes, and like another +Belisarius, blind and old, and a pensioner on the bounty of strangers, he lived +on, eight weary years, in Rome. O'Doherty, enclosed in his native peninsula, +between the forces of the Marshal Wingfield and Sir Oliver Lambert, Governor of +Connaught, fell by a chance shot, at the rock of Doon, in Kilmacrenan. The +superfluous traitor, Nial Garve, was, with his sons, sent to London, and +imprisoned in the Tower for life. In those dungeons, Cormac, brother of Hugh +O'Neil, and O'Cane also languished out their days, victims to the careless or +vindictive temper of King James. Sir Arthur Chichester received, soon after +these events, a grant of the entire barony of Innishowen, and subsequently a +grant of the borough of Dungannon, with 1,300 acres adjoining; Wingfield +obtained the district of Fercullan near Dublin, with the title of Viscount +Powerscourt; Lambert was soon after made Earl of Cavan, and enriched with the +lands of Carig, and other estates in that county. +</p> + +<p> +To justify at once the measures he proposed, as well as to divert from the +exiles the sympathies of Europe, King James issued a proclamation bearing date +the 5th of November, 1608, giving to the world the English version of the +flight of the Earls. The whole of Ulster was then surveyed in a cursory manner +by a staff over which presided Sir William Parsons as Surveyor-General. The +surveys being completed early in 1609, a royal commission was issued to +Chichester, Lambert, St. John, Ridgeway, Moore, Davis, and Parsons, with the +Archbishop of Armagh, and the Bishop of Derry, to inquire into the portions +forfeited. Before these Commissioners Juries were sworn on each particular +case, and these Juries duly found that, in consequence of "the rebellion" of +O'Neil, O'Donnell, and O'Doherty, the entire six counties of Ulster, enumerated +by baronies and parishes, were forfeited to the Crown. By direction from +England the Irish Privy Council submitted a scheme for planting these counties +"with colonies of civil men well affected in religion," which scheme, with +several modifications suggested by the English Privy Council, was finally +promulgated by the royal legislator under the title of "Orders and Conditions +for the Planters." According to the division thus ordered, upwards of 43,000 +acres were claimed and conceded to the Primate and the Protestant Bishops of +Ulster; in Tyrone, Derry, and Armagh, Trinity College got 30,000 acres, with +six advowsons in each county. The various trading guilds of the city of +London—such as the drapers, vintners, cordwainers, +drysalters—obtained in the gross 209,800 acres, including the city of +Derry, which they rebuilt and fortified, adding <i>London</i> to its ancient +name. The grants to individuals were divided into three classes—2,000, +1,500, and 1,000 acres each. Among the conditions on which these grants were +given was this—"that they should not suffer any labourer, that would not +take the oath of supremacy," to dwell upon their lands. But this despotic +condition—equivalent to sentence of death on tens of thousands of the +native peasantry—was fortunately found impracticable in the execution. +Land was little worth without hands to till it; labourers enough could not be +obtained from England and Scotland, and the Hamiltons, Stewarts, Folliots, +Chichesters, and Lamberts, having, from sheer necessity, to choose between +Irish cultivators and letting their new estates lie waste and unprofitable, it +is needless to say what choice they made. +</p> + +<p> +The spirit of religious persecution was exhibited not only in the means taken +to exterminate the peasantry, to destroy the northern chiefs, and to intimidate +the Catholics of "the Pale" by abuse of law, but by many cruel executions. The +Prior of the famous retreat of Lough Derg was one of the victims of this +persecution; a Priest named O'Loughrane, who had accidentally sailed in the +same ship with the Earls to France, was taken prisoner on his return, hanged +and quartered. Conor O'Devany, Bishop of Down and Conor, an octogenarian, +suffered martyrdom with heroic constancy at Dublin, in 1611. Two years before, +John, Lord Burke of Brittas, was executed in like manner on a charge of having +participated in the Catholic demonstrations which took place at Limerick on the +accession of King James. The edict of 1610 in relation to Catholic children +educated abroad has been quoted in a previous chapter, <i>apropos</i> of +education, but the scheme submitted by Knox, Bishop of Raphoe, to Chichester in +1611 went even beyond that edict. In this project it was proposed that whoever +should be found to harbour a Priest should forfeit all his possessions to the +Crown—that quarterly returns should be made out by counties of all who +refused to take the oath of supremacy, or to attend the English Church +service—that no Papist should be permitted to exercise the function of a +schoolmaster; and, moreover, that all churches injured during the late war +should be repaired at the expense of the Papist inhabitants for the use of the +Anglican congregation. +</p> + +<p> +Very unexpectedly to the nation at large, after a lapse of 27 years, during +which no Parliament had been held, writs were issued for the attendance of both +Houses, at Dublin, on the 18th of May, 1613. The work of confiscation and +plantation had gone on for several years without the sanction of the +legislature, and men were at a loss to conceive for what purpose elections were +now ordered, unless to invent new penal laws, or to impose fresh burdens on the +country. With all the efforts which had been made to introduce civil men, well +affected in religion, it was certain that the Catholics would return a large +majority of the House of Commons, not only in the chief towns, but from the +fifteen old, and seventeen new counties, lately created. To counterbalance this +majority, over forty boroughs, returning two members each, were created, by +royal charter, in places thinly or not at all inhabited, or where towns were +merely projected on the estates of leading "Undertakers." Against the issue of +writs returnable by these fictitious corporations, the Lords Gormanstown, +Slane, Killeen, Trimbleston, Dunsany, and Howth, signed an humble remonstrance +to the King, concluding with a prayer for the relaxation of the penal laws +affecting religion. The King, whose notions of prerogative were extravagantly +high, was highly incensed at this petition of the Catholic peers of Leinster, +and Chichester proceeded with his full approbation to pack the Parliament. At +the elections, however, many "recusant lawyers" and other Catholic candidates +were returned, so that when the day of meeting arrived, 101 Catholic +representatives assembled at Dublin, some accompanied by bands of from 100 to +200 armed followers. The supporters of the government claimed 125 votes, and +six were found to be absent, making the whole number of the House of Commons +232. The Upper House consisted of 50 Peers, of whom there were 25 Protestant +Bishops, so that the Deputy was certain of a majority in that chamber, on all +points of ecclesiastical legislation, at least. Although, with the facts before +us, we cannot agree with Sir John Davis that King James I. gave Ireland her +"first free Parliament," it is impossible not to entertain a high sense of +admiration for the constitutional firmness of the recusant or Catholic party in +that assembly. At the very outset they successfully resisted the proposition to +meet in the Castle, surrounded by the Deputy's guards, as a silent menace. They +next contended that before proceeding to the election of Speaker the Council +should submit to the Judges the decision of the alleged invalid elections. A +tumultous and protracted debate was had on this point. The Castle party argued +that they should first elect a Speaker and then proceed to try the elections; +the Catholics contended that there were persons present whose votes would +determine the Speakership, but who had no more title in law than the horseboys +at the door. This was the preliminary trial of strength. The candidate of the +Castle for the Speakership was Sir John Davis; of the Catholics, Sir John +Everard, who had resigned his seat on the bench rather than take the oath of +supremacy framed by Archbishop Abbott. The Castle party having gone into the +lobby to be counted, the Catholics placed Sir John Everard in the Chair. On +their return the government supporters placed Sir John Davis in Everard's lap, +and a scene of violent disorder ensued. The House broke up in confusion; the +recusants in a body declared their intention not to be present at its +deliberations, and the Lord Deputy, finding them resolute, suddenly prorogued +the session. Both parties sent deputies to England to lay their complaints at +the foot of the throne. The Catholic spokesmen, Talbot and Lutrell, were +received with a storm of reproaches, and committed, the former to the Tower, +the other to the Fleet Prison. They were, however, released after a brief +confinement, and a Commission was issued to inquire into the alleged electoral +frauds. By the advice of Everard and others of their leaders, a compromise was +effected with the Castle party; members returned for boroughs incorporated +after the writs were issued were declared excluded, the contestation of seats +on other grounds of irregularity were withdrawn, and the House accordingly +proceeded to the business for which they were called together. The chief acts +of the sessions of 1614, '15, and '16, beside the grant of four entire +subsidies to the Crown, were an act joyfully recognizing the King's title; acts +repealing statutes of Elizabeth and Henry VIII., as to distinctions of race; an +act repealing the 3 and 4 of Philip and Mary, against "bringing Scots into +Ireland," and the acts of attainder against O'Neil, O'Donnell, and O'Doherty. +The recusant minority have been heavily censured by our recent historians for +consenting to these attainders. Though the censure may be in part deserved, it +is, nevertheless, clear that they had not the power to prevent their passage, +even if they had been unanimous in their opposition; but they had influence +enough, fortunately, to oblige the government to withdraw a sweeping penal law +which it was intended to propose. An Act of oblivion and amnesty was also +passed, which was of some advantage. On the whole, both for the constitutional +principles which they upheld, and the religious proscription which they +resisted, the recusant minority in the Irish Parliament of James I. deserve to +be held in honour by all who value religious and civil liberty. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap66"></a>CHAPTER II.<br/> +LAST YEARS OF JAMES—CONFISCATION OF THE MIDLAND +COUNTIES—ACCESSION OF CHARLES I.—GRIEVANCES AND +"GRACES"—ADMINISTRATION OF LORD STRAFFORD.</h3> + +<p> +From the dissolution of James's only Irish Parliament in October, 1615, until +the tenth of Charles I.—an interval of twenty years—the government +of the country was again exclusively regulated by arbitrary proclamations and +orders in Council. Chichester, after the unusually long term of eleven years, +had leave to retire in 1616; he was succeeded by the Lord Grandison, who held +the office of Lord Deputy for six years, and he, in turn, by Henry Carey, +Viscount Falkland, who governed from 1622 till 1629—seven years. Nothing +could well be more fluctuating than the policy pursued at different periods by +these Viceroys and their advisers; violent attempts at coercion alternated with +the meanest devices to extort money from the oppressed; general declarations +against recusants were repeated with increased vehemence, while particular +treaties for a local and conditional toleration were notoriously progressing; +in a word, the administration of affairs exhibited all the worst vices and +weaknesses of a despotism, without any of the steadiness or magnanimity of a +really paternal government. Some of the edicts issued deserve particular +notice, as characterizing the administrations of Grandison and Falkland. +</p> + +<p> +The municipal authorities of Waterford, having invariably refused to take the +oath of supremacy, were, by an order in Council, deprived of their ancient +charter, which was withheld from them for nine years. The ten shilling tax on +recusants for non-attendance at the Anglican service was rigorously enforced in +other cities, and was almost invariably levied with costs, which not seldom +swelled the ten shillings to ten pounds. A new instrument of oppression was +also, in Lord Grandison's time, invented—"the Commission for the +Discovery of Defective Titles." At the head of this Commission was placed Sir +William Parsons, the Surveyor-General, who had come into the kingdom in a +menial situation, and had, through a long half century of guile and cruelty, +contributed as much to the destruction of its inhabitants, by the perversion of +law, as any armed conqueror could have done by the edge of the sword. Ulster +being already applotted, and Munster undergoing the manipulation of the new +Earl of Cork, there remained as a field for the Parsons Commission only the +Midland Counties and Connaught. Of these they made the most in the shortest +space of time. A horde of clerkly spies were employed under the name of +"Discoverers," to ransack old Irish tenures in the archives of Dublin and +London, with such good success, that in a very short time 66,000 acres in +Wicklow, and 385,000 acres in Leitrim, Longford, the Meaths, and King's and +Queen's Counties, were "found by inquisition to be vested in the Crown." The +means employed by the Commissioners, in some cases, to elicit such evidence as +they required, were of the most revolting description. In the Wicklow case, +courts-martial were held, before which unwilling witnesses were tried on the +charge of treason, and some actually put to death. Archer, one of the number, +had his flesh burned with red hot iron, and was placed on a gridiron over a +charcoal fire, till he offered to testify anything that was necessary. Yet on +evidence so obtained whole baronies and counties were declared forfeited to the +Crown. +</p> + +<p> +The recusants, though suffering under every sort of injustice, and kept in a +state of continual apprehension—a condition worse even than the actual +horrors they endured—counted many educated and wealthy persons in their +ranks, besides mustering fully ninety per cent, of the whole population. They +were, therefore, far from being politically powerless. The recall of Lord +Grandison from the government was attributed to their direct or indirect +influence upon the King. When James Usher, then Bishop of Meath, preached +before his successor from the text "He beareth not the sword in vain," they +were sufficiently formidable to compel him publicly to apologise for his +violent allusions to their body. Perhaps, however, we should mainly see in the +comparative toleration, extended by Lord Falkland, an effect of the diplomacy +then going on, for the marriage of Prince Charles to the Infanta of Spain. +When, in 1623, Pope Gregory XV. granted a dispensation for this marriage, James +solemnly swore to, a private article of the marriage treaty, by which he bound +himself to suspend the execution of the Penal laws, to procure their repeal in +Parliament, and to grant a toleration of Catholic worship in private houses. +But the Spanish match was unexpectedly broken off, immediately after his +decease (June, 1625), whereupon Charles married Henrietta Maria, daughter of +Henry IV. of France. +</p> + +<p> +The new monarch inherited from his father three kingdoms heaving in the throes +of disaffection and rebellion. In England the most formidable of the +malcontents were the Puritans, who reckoned many of the first nobility, and the +ablest members of the House of Commons among their chiefs; the restoration of +episcopacy, and the declaration by the subservient Parliament of Scotland, that +no General Assembly should be called without the King's sanction, had laid the +sure foundations of a religious insurrection in the North; while the events, +which we have already described, filled the minds of all orders of men in +Ireland with agitation and alarm. The marriage of Charles with Henrietta Maria +gave a ray of assurance to the co-religionists of the young Queen, for they had +not then discovered that it was ever the habit of the Stuarts "to sacrifice +their friends to the fear of their enemies." While he was yet celebrating his +nuptials at Whitehall, surrounded by Catholic guests, the House of Commons +presented Charles "a pious petition," praying him to put into force the laws +against recusants; a prayer which he was compelled by motives of policy to +answer in the affirmative. The magistrates of England received orders +accordingly, and when the King of France remonstrated against this flagrant +breach of one of the articles of the marriage treaty (the same included in the +terms of the Spanish match), Charles answered that he had never looked on the +promised toleration as anything but an artifice to secure the Papal +dispensation. But the King's compliance failed to satisfy the Puritan party in +the House of Commons, and that same year began their contest with the Crown, +which ended only on the scaffold before Whitehall in 1648. Of their +twenty-three years' struggle, except in so far as it enters directly into our +narrative, we shall have little to say, beyond reminding the reader, from time +to time, that though it occasionally lulled down it was never wholly allayed on +either side. +</p> + +<p> +Irish affairs, in the long continued suspension of the functions of Parliament, +were administered in general by the Privy Council, and in detail by three +special courts, all established in defiance of ancient constitutional usage. +These were the Court of Castle Chamber, modelled on the English Star Chamber, +and the Ecclesiastical High Commissioners Court, both dating from 1563; and the +Court of Wards and Liveries, originally founded by Henry VIII., but lately +remodelled by James. The Castle Chamber was composed of certain selected +members of the Privy Council acting in secret with absolute power; the High +Commission Court was constituted under James and Charles, of the principal +Archbishops and Bishops, with the Lord Deputy, Chancellor, Chief Justice, +Master of the Rolls, Master of the Wards, and some others, laymen and jurists. +They were armed with unlimited power "to visit, reform, redress, order, correct +and amend, all such errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, offences, contempts and +enormities," as came under the head of spiritual or ecclesiastical +jurisdiction. They were, in effect, the Castle Chamber, acting as a spiritual +tribunal of last resort; and were provided with their own officers, Registers +and Receivers of Fines, Pursuivants, Criers and Gaolers. The Court of Wards +exercised a jurisdiction, if possible, more repugnant to our first notions of +liberty than that of the High Commission Court. It retained its original power +"to bargain and sell the custody, wardship and marriage," of all the heirs of +such persons of condition as died in the King's homage; but their powers, by +royal letters patent of the year 1617, were to be exercised by a Master of +Wards, with an Attorney and Surveyor, all nominated by the Crown. The Court was +entitled to farm all the property of its Wards during nonage, for the benefit +of the Crown, "taking one year's rent from heirs male, and two from heirs +female," for charges of stewardship. The first master, Sir William Parsons, was +appointed in 1622, and confirmed at the beginning of the next reign, with a +salary of 300 pounds per annum, and the right to rank next to the Chief Justice +of the King's Bench at the Privy Council. By this appointment the minor heirs +of all the Catholic proprietors were placed, both as to person and property, at +the absolute disposal of one of the most intense anti-Catholic bigots that ever +appeared on the scene of Irish affairs. +</p> + +<p> +In addition to these civil grievances an order had lately been issued to +increase the army in Ireland by 5,000 men, and means of subsistence had to be +found for that additional force, within the kingdom. In reply to the murmurs of +the inhabitants, they were assured by Lord Falkland that the King was their +friend, and that any just and temperate representation of their grievances +would secure his careful and instant attention. So encouraged, the leading +Catholics convoked a General Assembly of their nobility and gentry, "with +several Protestants of rank," at Dublin, in the year 1628, in order to present +a dutiful statement of their complaints to the King. The minutes of this +important Assembly, it is to be feared, are for ever lost to us. We only know +that it included a large number of landed proprietors, of whom the Catholics +were still a very numerous section. "The entire proceedings of this Assembly," +says Dr. Taylor, "were marked by wisdom and moderation. They drew up a number +of articles, in the nature of a Bill of Rights, to which they humbly solicited +the royal assent, and promised that, on their being granted, they would raise a +voluntary assessment of 100,000 pounds for the use of the Crown. The principal +articles in these 'graces,' as they were called, were provisions for the +security of property, the due administration of justice, the prevention of +military exactions, the freedom of trade, the better regulation of the clergy, +and the restraining of the tyranny of the ecclesiastical courts. Finally, they +provided that the Scots, who had been planted in Ulster, should be seemed in +their possessions, and a general pardon granted for all offences." Agents were +chosen to repair to England with this petition, and the Assembly, hoping for +the best results, adjourned. But the ultra Protestant party had taken the +alarm, and convoked a Synod at Dublin to counteract the General Assembly. This +Synod vehemently protested against selling truth "as a slave," and +"establishing for a price idolatry in its stead." They laid it down as a dogma +of <i>their</i> faith that "to grant Papists a toleration, or to consent that +they may freely exercise their religion and profess their faith and doctrines, +was a grievous sin;" wherefore they prayed God "to make those in authority +zealous, resolute, and courageous against all Popery, superstition, and +idolatry." This declaration of the extreme Protestants, including not only +Usher, and the principal Bishops, but Chichester, Boyle, Parsons, and the most +successful "Undertakers," all deeply imbued with Puritan notions, naturally +found among their English brethren advocates and defenders. The King, who had +lately, for the third time, renewed with France the articles of his marriage +treaty, was placed in a most difficult position. He desired to save his own +honour, he sorely needed the money of the Catholics, but he trembled before the +compact, well organized fanaticism of the Puritans. In his distress he had +recourse to a councillor, who, since the assassination of Buckingham, his first +favourite, divided with Laud the royal confidence. This was Thomas, Lord +Wentworth, better known by his subsequent title of Earl of Strafford, a +statesman born to be the wonder and the bane of three kingdoms. Strafford (for +such for clearness we must call him) boldly advised the King to grant "the +graces" as his own personal act, to pocket the proposed subsidy, but to +contrive that the promised concessions he was to make should never go into +effect. This infamous deception was effected in this wise: the King signed, +with his own hand, a schedule of fifty-one "graces," and received from the +Irish agents in London bonds for 120,000 pounds, (equal to ten times the amount +at present), to be paid in three annual instalments of 40,000 pounds. He also +agreed that Parliament should be immediately called in Ireland, to confirm +these concessions, while at the same time he secretly instructed Lord Falkland +to see that the writs of election were informally prepared, so that no +Parliament could be held. This was accordingly done; the agents of the General +Assembly paid their first instalment; the subscribers held the King's +autograph; the writs were issued, but on being returned, were found to be +technically incorrect, and so the legal confirmation of the graces was +indefinitely postponed, under one pretext or another. As evidence of the +national demands at this period, we should add, that beside the redress of +minor grievances, the articles signed by the King provided that the recusants +should be allowed to practise in the courts of law; to sue the livery of their +lands out of the Court of Wards, on taking an oath of civil allegiance in lieu +of the oath of supremacy; that the claims of the Crown to the forfeiture of +estates, under the plea of defects of title, should not be held to extend +beyond sixty years anterior to 1628; that the "Undertakers" should have time +allowed them to fulfil the conditions of their leases; that the proprietors of +Connaught should be allowed to make a new enrollment of their estates, and that +a Parliament should be held. A royal proclamation announced these concessions, +as existing in the royal intention, but, as we have already related, such +promises proved to be worth no more than the paper on which they were written. +</p> + +<p> +In 1629 Lord Falkland, to disarm the Puritan outcry against him, had leave to +withdraw, and for four years—an unusually long interregnum—the +government was left in the hands of Robert Boyle, now Earl of Cork, and Adam +Loftus, Viscount Ely, one of the well dowered offspring of Queen Elizabeth's +Archbishop of Dublin. Ely held the office of Lord Chancellor, and Cork that of +Lord High Treasurer; as Justices, they now combined in their own persons almost +all the power and patronage of the kingdom. Both affected a Puritan austerity +and enthusiasm, which barely cloaked a rapacity and bigotry unequalled in any +former administration. In Dublin, on Saint Stephen's Day, 1629, the Protestant +Archbishop, Bulkley, and the Mayor of the city, entered the Carmelite Chapel, +at the head of a file of soldiers, dispersed the congregation, desecrated the +altar, and arrested the officiating friars. The persecution was then taken up +and repeated wherever the executive power was strong enough to defy the popular +indignation. A Catholic seminary lately established in the capital was +confiscated, and turned over to Trinity College as a training school. Fifteen +religious houses, chiefly belonging to the Franciscan Order, which had hitherto +escaped from the remoteness of their situation, were, by an order of the +English Council, confiscated to the Crown, and their novices compelled to +emigrate in order to complete their studies abroad. A reprimand from the King +somewhat stayed the fury of the Justices, whose supreme power ended with +Stafford's appointment in 1633. +</p> + +<p> +The advent of Stafford was characteristic of his whole course. The King sent +over another letter concerning recusants, declaring that the laws against them, +at the suggestion of the Lords Justices, should be put strictly in force. The +Justices proved unwilling to enter this letter on the Council book, and it was +accordingly withheld till Stafford's arrival, but the threat had the desired +effect of drawing "a voluntary contribution" of 20,000 pounds out of the +alarmed Catholics. Equipped partly with this money Stafford arrived in Dublin +in July, 1633, and entered at once on the policy, which he himself designated +by the one emphatic word—"THOROUGH." He took up his abode in the Castle, +surrounded by a Body Guard, a force hitherto unknown at the Irish Court; he +summoned only a select number of the Privy Council, and, having kept them +waiting for hours, condescended to address them in a speech full of arrogance +and menace. He declared his intention of maintaining and augmenting the army; +advised them to amend their grants forthwith; told them frankly he had called +them to Council, more out of courtesy than necessity, and ended by requiring +from them a year's subsidy in advance. As this last request was accompanied by +a positive promise to obtain the King's consent to the assembling of +Parliament, it was at once granted; and soon after writs were issued for the +meeting of both Houses in July following. +</p> + +<p> +When this long-prayed-for Parliament at last met, the Lord Deputy took good +care that it should be little else than a tribunal to register his edicts. A +great many officers of the army had been chosen as Burgesses, while the +Sheriffs of counties were employed to secure the election of members favourable +to the demands of the Crown. In the Parliament of 1613 the recusants were, +admitting all the returns to be correct, nearly one-half; but in that of 1634 +they could not have exceeded one-third. The Lord Deputy nominated their +Speaker, whom they did not dare to reject, and treated them invariably with the +supreme contempt which no one knows so well how to exhibit towards a popular +assembly as an apostate liberal. "Surely," he said in his speech from the +throne, "so great a meanness cannot enter your hearts, as once to suspect his +Majesty's gracious regard of you, and performance with you, once you affix +yourselves upon his grace." His object in this appeal was the sordid and +commonplace one—to obtain more money without rendering value for it. He +accordingly carried through four whole subsidies of 50,000 pounds sterling each +in the session of 1634; and two additional subsidies of the same amount at the +opening of the next session. The Parliament, having thus answered his purpose, +was summarily dissolved in April, 1635, and for four years more no other was +called. During both sessions he had contrived, according to his agreement with +the King, to postpone indefinitely the act which was to have confirmed "the +graces," guaranteed in 1628. He even contrived to get a report of a Committee +of the House of Commons, and the opinions of some of the Judges, against +legislating on the subject at all, which report gave King Charles "a great deal +of contentment." +</p> + +<p> +With sufficient funds in hand for the ordinary expenses of the government, +Strafford applied himself earnestly to the self-elected task of making his +royal master "as absolute as any King in Christendom" on the Irish side of the +channel. The plantation of Connaught, delayed by the late King's death, and +abandoned among the new King's graces, was resumed as a main engine of +obtaining more money. The proprietary of that Province had, in the thirteenth +year of the late reign, paid 3,000 pounds into the Record Office at Dublin, for +the registration of their deeds, but the entries not being made by the clerk +employed, the title to every estate in the five western counties was now called +in question. The "Commissioners to Inquire into Defective Titles" were let +loose upon the devoted Province, with Sir William Parsons at their head, and +the King's title to the whole of Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon, was found by +packed, bribed, or intimidated juries; the grand jury of Galway having refused +to find a similar verdict, were summoned to the Court of Castle Chamber, +sentenced to pay a fine of 4,000 pounds each to the Crown, and the Sheriff that +empanelled them, a fine of 1,000 pounds. The lawyers who pleaded for the actual +proprietors were stripped of their gowns, the sheriff died in prison, and the +work of spoliation proceeded. The young Earl of Ormond was glad to compound for +a portion of his estates; the Earl of Kildare was committed to prison for +refusing a similar composition; the Earl of Cork was compelled to pay a heavy +fine for his intrusion into lands originally granted to the Church; the +O'Byrnes of Wicklow commuted for 15,000 pounds, and the London Companies, for +their Derry estates, paid no less than 70,000 pounds: a forced contribution for +which those frugal citizens never forgave the thorough-going Deputy. By these +means, and others less violent, such as bounties to the linen trade, he raised +the annual revenue of the kingdom to 80,000 pounds a year, and was enabled to +embody for the King's service an army of 10,000 foot and 1,000 horse. +</p> + +<p> +These arbitrary measures were entirely in consonance with the wishes of +Charles. In a visit to England in 1636, the King assured Strafford personally +of his cordial approbation of all he had done, encouraged him to proceed +fearlessly in the same course, and conferred on him the higher rank of Lord +Lieutenant. Three years later, on the first rumour of a Scottish invasion of +England, Strafford was enabled to remit his master 30,000 pounds from the Irish +Treasury, and to tender the services of the Anglo-Irish army, as he thought +they could be safely dispensed with by the country in which they had been thus +far recruited and maintained. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap67"></a>CHAPTER III.<br/> +LORD STRAFFORD'S IMPEACHMENT AND EXECUTION—PARLIAMENT OF +1639-'41—THE INSURRECTION OF 1641—THE IRISH ABROAD.</h3> + +<p> +The tragic end of the despot, whose administration we have sketched, was now +rapidly approaching. When he deserted the popular ranks in the English House of +Commons for a Peerage and the government of Ireland, the fearless Pym +prophetically remarked, "Though you have left us, I will not leave you while +your head is on your shoulders." Yet, although conscious of having left able +and vigilant enemies behind him in England, Strafford proceeded in his Irish +administration as if he scorned to conciliate the feelings or interests of any +order of men. By the highest nobility, as well as the humblest of the mechanic +class, his will was to be received as law; so that neither in Church, nor in +State, might any man express even the most guarded doubt as to its +infallibility. Lord Mountnorris, for example, having dropped a casual, and +altogether innocent remark at the Chancellor's table on the private habits of +the Deputy, was brought to trial by court martial on a charge of mutiny, and +sentenced to military execution. Though he was not actually put to death, he +underwent a long and rigorous imprisonment, and at length was liberated without +apology or satisfaction. If they were not so fully authenticated, the +particulars of this outrageous case would hardly be credible. +</p> + +<p> +The examples of resistance to arbitrary power, which for some years had been +shown by both England and Scotland, were not thrown away upon the still worse +used Irish. During the seven years of Strafford's iron rule, Hampden had +resisted the collection of ship money, Cromwell had begun to figure in the +House of Commons, the Solemn League and Covenant was established in Scotland, +and the Scots had twice entered England in arms to seal with their blood, if +need were, their opposition to an episcopal establishment of religion. It was +in 1640, upon the occasion of their second invasion, that Strafford was +recalled from Ireland to assume command of the royal forces in the North of +England. After a single indecisive campaign, the King entertained the overtures +of the Covenanters, and the memorable Long Parliament having met in November, +one of its first acts was the impeachment of Strafford for high crimes and +misdemeanors. The chief articles against him related to his administration of +Irish affairs, and were sustained by delegates from the Irish House of Commons, +sent over for that purpose: the whole of the trial deserves to be closely +examined by every one interested in the constitutional history of England and +Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +A third Parliament, known as the 14th, 15th and 16th Charles I., met at Dublin +on the 20th March, 1639, was prorogued till June, and adjourned till October. +Yielding the point so successfully resisted in 1613, its sittings were held in +the Castle, surrounded by the viceregal guard. With one exception, the acts +passed in its first session were of little importance, relating only to the +allotment of glebe lands and the payment of twentieths. The exception, which +followed the voting of four entire subsidies to the King, was an Act ordaining +"that this Parliament shall not determine by his Majesty's assent to this and +other Bills." A similar statute had been passed in 1635, but was wholly +disregarded by Strafford, who no doubt meant to take precisely the same course +in the present instance. The members of this Assembly have been severely +condemned by modern writers for passing a high eulogium upon Strafford in their +first session and reversing it after his fall. But this censure is not well +founded. The eulogium was introduced by the Castle party in the Lords, as part +of the preamble to the Supply Bill, which, on being returned to the Commons, +could only be rejected <i>in toto</i>, not amended—a proceeding in the +last degree revolutionary. But those who dissented from that ingenious device, +at the next session of the House, took care to have their protest entered on +the journals and a copy of it despatched to the King. This second proceeding +took place in February, 1640, and as the Lord Lieutenant was not arraigned till +the month of November following, the usual denunciations of the Irish members +are altogether undeserved. At no period of his fortune was the Earl more +formidable as an enemy than at the very moment the Protest against "his manner +of government" was ordered "to be entered among the Ordinances" of the Commons +of Ireland. Nor did this Parliament confine itself to mere protestations +against the abuses of executive power. At the very opening of the second +session, on the 20th of January, they appointed a committee to wait on the King +in England, with instructions to solicit a bill in explanation of Poyning's +law, another enabling them to originate bills in Committee of their own House, +a right taken away by that law, and to ask the King's consent to the regulation +of the courts of law, the collecting of the revenue, and the quartering of +soldiers by statute instead of by Orders in Council. On the 16th of February +the House submitted a set of queries to the Judges, the nature of which may be +inferred from the first question, viz.: "Whether the subjects of this Kingdom +be a free people, and to be governed only by the common law of England, and +statutes passed in this Kingdom ?" When the answers received were deemed +insufficient, the House itself, turning the queries into the form of +resolutions, proceeded to vote on them, one by one, affirming in every point +the rights, the liberties, and the privileges of their constituents. +</p> + +<p> +The impeachment and attainder of Strafford occupied the great part of March and +April, 1641, and throughout those months the delegates from Ireland assisted at +the pleadings in Westminster Hall and the debates in the English Parliament. +The Houses at Dublin were themselves occupied in a similar manner. Towards the +end of February articles of impeachment were drawn up against the Lord +Chancellor, Bolton, Dr. Bramhall, Bishop of Derry, Chief-Justice Lowther, and +Sir George Radcliffe, for conspiring with Strafford to subvert the +constitution, and laws, and to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical +government. In March, the King's letter for the continuance of Parliament was +laid before the Commons, and on the 3rd of April, his further letter, declaring +that all his Majesty's subjects of Ireland "shall, from henceforth, enjoy the +benefit of the said graces [of 1628] according to the true intent thereof." By +the end of May the Judges, not under impeachment, sent in their answers to the +Queries of the Commons, which answers were voted insufficient, and Mr. Patrick +Darcy, Member for Navan, was appointed to serve as Proculator at a Conference +with the Lords, held on the 9th of June, "in the dining-room of the Castle," in +order to set forth the insufficiency of such replies. The learned and elaborate +argument of Darcy was ordered to be printed by the House; and on the 26th day +of July, previous to their prorogation, they resolved unanimously, that the +subjects of Ireland "were a free people, to be governed only by the common law +of England, and statutes made and established in the kingdom of Ireland, and +according to the lawful custom used in the same." This was the last act of this +memorable session; the great northern insurrection in October having, of +course, prevented subsequent sessions from being held. Constitutional agitators +in modern times have been apt to select their examples of a wise and patriotic +parliamentary conduct from the opposition to the Act of Union and the famous +struggles of the last century; but whoever has looked into such records as +remain to us of the 15th and 16th of Charles First, and the debates on the +impeachment of Lord Chancellor Bolton, will, in my opinion, be prepared to +admit, that at no period whatever was constitutional law more ably expounded in +Ireland than in the sessions of 1640 and 1641; and that not only the principles +of Swift and of Molyneux had a triumph in 1782, but the older doctrines also of +Sir Ralph Kelly, Audley Mervin, and Patrick Darcy. +</p> + +<p> +Strafford's Deputy, Sir Christopher Wandesford, having died before the close of +1640, the King appointed Robert, Lord Dillon, a liberal Protestant, and Sir +William Parsons, Lords Justices. But the pressure of Puritan influence in +England compelled him in a short time to remove Dillon and substitute Sir John +Borlace, Master of the Ordnance—a mere soldier—in point of +fanaticism a fitting colleague for Parsons. The prorogation of Parliament soon +gave these administrators opportunities to exhibit the spirit in which they +proposed to carry on the government. When at a public entertainment in the +capital, Parsons openly declared that in twelve months more no Catholics should +be seen in Ireland, it was naturally inferred that the Lord Justice spoke not +merely for himself but for the growing party of the English Puritans and +Scottish Covenanters. The latter had repeatedly avowed that they never would +lay down their arms until they had wrought the extirpation of Popery, and Mr. +Pym, the Puritan leader in England, had openly declared that his party intended +not to leave a priest in Ireland. The infatuation of the unfortunate Charles in +entrusting at such a moment the supreme power, civil and military, to two of +the devoted partizans of his deadliest enemies, could not fail to arouse the +fears of all who felt themselves obnoxious to the fanatical party, either by +race or by religion. +</p> + +<p> +The aspirations of the chief men among the old Irish for entire freedom of +worship, their hopes of recovering at least a portion of their estates, the +example of the Scots, who had successfully upheld both their Church and nation +against all attempts at English supremacy, the dangers that pressed, and the +fears that overhung them, drove many of the very first abilities and noblest +characters into the conspiracy which exploded with such terrific energy on the +23rd of October, 1641. The project, though matured on Irish soil, was first +conceived among the exiled Catholics, who were to be found at that day in all +the schools and camps of Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands. Philip III. +had an Irish legion, under the command of Henry O'Neil, son of Tyrone, which, +after his death was transferred to his brother John. In this legion, Owen Roe +O'Neil, nephew of Tyrone, learned the art of war, and rose to the rank of +Lieutenant-Colonel. The number of Irish serving abroad had steadily increased +after 1628, when a license of enlistment was granted by King James. An English +emissary, evidently well-informed, was enabled to report, about the year 1630, +that there were in the service of the Archduchess Isabella, in the Spanish +Netherlands alone, "100 Irish officers able to command companies, and 20 fit to +be colonels." The names of many others are given as men of noted courage, good +engineers, and "well-beloved" captains, both Milesians and Anglo-Irish, +residing at Lisbon, Florence, Milan and Naples. The emissary adds that they had +long been providing arms for an attempt upon Ireland, "and had in readiness +5,000 or 6,000 arms laid up in Antwerp for that purpose, <i>bought out of the +deduction of their monthly pay</i>." After the death of the Archduchess, in +1633, an attempt was made by the Franco-Dutch, under Prince Maurice and Marshal +Chatillon, to separate the Belgian Provinces from Spain. In the sanguinary +battle at Avien victory declared for the French, and on their junction with +Prince Maurice, town after town surrendered to their arms. The first successful +stand against them was made at Louvain, defended by 4,000 Belgians, Walloons, +Spaniards and Irish; the Irish, 1,000 strong, under the command of Colonel +Preston, of the Gormanstown family, greatly distinguished themselves. The siege +was raised on the 4th of July, 1635, and Belgium was saved for that time to +Philip IV. At the capture of Breda, in 1637, the Irish were again honourably +conspicuous, and yet more so in the successful defence of Arras, the capital of +Artois, three years later. Not yet strengthened by the citadel of Vauban, this +ancient Burgundian city, famous for its cathedral and its manufactures, dear to +the Spaniards as one of the conquests of Charles V., was a vital point in the +campaign of 1640. Besieged by the French, under Marshal Millerie, it held out +for several weeks under the command of Colonel Owen Roe O'Neil. The King of +France lying at Amiens, within convenient distance, took care that the +besiegers wanted for nothing; while the Prince-Cardinal, Ferdinand, the +successor of the Archduchess in the government, marched to its relief at the +head of his main force with the Imperialists, under Launboy, and the troops of +the Duke of Lorrain, commanded by that Prince in person. In an attack on the +French lines the Allies were beaten off with loss, and the brave commander was +left again unsuccoured in the face of his powerful assailant. Subsequently Don +Philip de Silva, General of the Horse to the Prince Cardinal, was despatched to +its relief, but failed to effect anything; a failure for which he was +court-martialed, but acquitted. The defenders, after exhausting every resource, +finally surrendered the place on honourable terms, and marched out covered with +glory. These stirring events, chronicled in prose and verse at home, rekindled +the martial ardour which had slumbered since the disastrous day of Kinsale. +</p> + +<p> +In the ecclesiastics who shared their banishment, the military exiles had a +voluntary diplomatic <i>corps</i> who lost no opportunity of advancing the +common cause. At Rome, their chief agent was Father Luke Wadding, founder of +Saint Isidore's, one of the most eminent theologians and scholars of his age. +Through the friendship of Gregory XV. and Urban VIII., many Catholic princes +became deeply interested in the religious wars which the Irish of the previous +ages had so bravely waged, and which their descendants were now so anxious to +renew. Cardinal Richelieu—who wielded a power greater than that of +Kings—had favourably entertained a project of invasion submitted to him +by the son of Hugh O'Neil, a chief who, while living, was naturally regarded by +the exiles as their future leader. +</p> + +<p> +To prepare the country for such an invasion (if the return of men to their own +country can be called by that name), it was necessary to find an agent with +talents for organization, and an undoubted title to credibility and confidence. +This agent was fortunately found in the person of Rory or Roger O'Moore, the +representative of the ancient chiefs of Leix, who had grown up at the Spanish +Court as the friend and companion of the O'Neils. O'Moore was then in the prime +of life, of handsome person, and most seductive manners; his knowledge of +character was profound; his zeal for the Catholic cause, intense; his personal +probity, honour, and courage, undoubted. The precise date of O'Moore's arrival +in Ireland is not given in any of the cotemporary accounts, but he seems to +have been resident in the country some time previous to his appearance in +public life, as he is familiarly spoken of by his English cotemporaries as "Mr. +Roger Moore of Ballynagh." During the Parliamentary session of 1640, he took +lodgings in Dublin, where he succeeded in enlisting in his plans Conor Maguire, +Lord Enniskillen, Philip O'Reilly, one of the members for the county of Cavan, +Costelloe McMahon, and Thorlogh O'Neil, all persons of great influence in +Ulster. During the ensuing assizes in the Northern Province he visited several +country towns, where in the crowd of suitors and defendants he could, without +attracting special notice, meet and converse with those he desired to gain +over. On this tour he received the important accession of Sir Phelim O'Neil of +Kinnaird, in Tyrone, Sir Con Magennis of Down, Colonel Hugh McMahon of +Monaghan, and Dr. Heber McMahon, Administrator of Clogher. Sir Phelim O'Neil, +the most considerable man of his name tolerated in Ulster, was looked upon as +the greatest acquisition, and at his castle of Kinnaird his associates from the +neighbouring counties, under a variety of pretexts, contrived frequently to +meet. From Ulster, the indefatigable O'Moore carried the threads of the +conspiracy into Connaught with equal success, finding both among the nobility +and clergy many adherents. In Leinster, among the Anglo-Irish, he experienced +the greatest timidity and indifference, but an unforeseen circumstance threw +into his hands a powerful lever, to move that province. This was the permission +granted by the King to the native regiments, embodied by Strafford, to enter +into the Spanish service, if they so desired. His English Parliament made no +demur to the arrangement, which would rid the island of some thousands of +disciplined Catholics, but several of their officers, under the inspiration of +O'Moore, kept their companies together, delaying their departure from month to +month. Among these were Sir James Dillon, Colonel Plunkett, Colonel Byrne, and +Captain Fox, who, with O'Moore, formed the first directing body of the +Confederates in Leinster. +</p> + +<p> +In May, 1641, Captain Neil O'Neil arrived from the Netherlands with an urgent +request from John, Earl of Tyrone, to all his clansmen to prepare for a general +insurrection. He also brought them the cheering news that Cardinal +Richelieu—then at the summit of his greatness—had promised the +exiles arms, money, and means of transport. He was sent back, almost +immediately, with the reply of Sir Phelim, O'Moore and their friends, that they +would be prepared to take the field a few days before or after the festival of +All Hallows—the 1st of November. The death of Earl John, the last +surviving son of the illustrious Tyrone, shortly afterwards, though it grieved +the Confederates, wrought no change in their plans. In his cousin-germain, the +distinguished defender of Arras, they reposed equal confidence, and their +confidence could not have been more worthily bestowed. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap68"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br/> +THE INSURRECTION OF 1641.</h3> + +<p> +The plan agreed upon by the Confederates included four main features. I. A +rising after the harvest was gathered in, and a campaign during the winter +months, when supplies from England were most difficult to be obtained by their +enemies. II. A simultaneous attack on one and the same day or night on all the +fortresses within reach of their friends. III. To surprise the Castle of +Dublin, which was said to contain arms for 12,000 men. IV. Aid in officers, +munitions, and money from abroad. All the details of this project were carried +successfully into effect, except the seizure of Dublin Castle—the most +difficult as it would have been the most decisive blow to strike. +</p> + +<p> +Towards the end of August, a meeting of those who could most conveniently +attend was held in Dublin. There were present O'Moore and Maguire, of the +civilians, and Colonels Plunkett, Byrne, and McMahon of the army. At this +meeting the last week of October, or first of November, was fixed upon as the +time to rise; subsequently Saturday, the 23rd of the first named month, a +market day in the capital was selected. The northern movements were to be +arranged with Sir Phelim O'Neil, while McMahon, Plunkett, and Byrne, with 200 +picked men, were to surprise the Castle guard—consisting of only a few +pensioners and 40 halbediers—turn the guns upon the city to intimidate +the Puritan party, and thus make sure of Dublin; O'Moore, Lord Maguire, and +other civilians, were to be in town, in order to direct the next steps to be +taken. As the day approached, the arrangements went on with perfect secrecy but +with perfect success. On the 22nd of October half the chosen band were in +waiting, and the remainder were expected in during the night. Some hundreds of +persons, in and about Dublin, and many thousands throughout the country, must +have been in possession of that momentous secret, yet it was by the mere +accident of trusting a drunken dependent out of sight, that the first knowledge +of the plot was conveyed to the Lords Justices on the very eve of its +execution. +</p> + +<p> +Owen O'Connolly, the informant on this occasion, was one of those ruffling +squires or henchmen, who accompanied gentlemen of fortune in that age, to take +part in their quarrels, and carry their confidential messages. That he was not +an ordinary domestic servant, we may learn from the fact of his carrying a +sword, after the custom of the class to which we have assigned him. At this +period he was in the service of Sir John Clotworthy, one of the most violent of +the Puritan Undertakers, and had conformed to the established religion. Through +what recklessness, or ignorance of his true character, he came to be invited by +Colonel Hugh McMahon to his lodgings, and there, on the evening of the 22nd, +entrusted with a knowledge of next day's plans, we have now no means of +deciding. O'Connolly's information, as tendered to the Justices, states that on +hearing of the proposed attack on the Castle, he pretended an occasion to +withdraw, leaving his sword in McMahon's room to avoid suspicion, and that +after jumping over fences and palings, he made his way from the north side of +the city to Sir William Parsons at the Castle. Parsons at first discredited the +tale, which O'Connolly (who was in liquor) told in a confused and rambling +manner, but he finally decided to consult his colleague, Borlase, by whom some +of the Council were summoned, the witness's deposition taken down, orders +issued to double the guard, and officers despatched, who arrested McMahon at +his lodgings. When McMahon came to be examined before the Council, it was +already the morning of the 23rd; he boldly avowed his own part in the plot, and +declared that what was that day to be done was now beyond the power of man to +prevent. He was committed close prisoner to the Castle where he had hoped to +command, and search was made for the other leaders in town. Maguire was +captured the next morning, and shared McMahon's captivity; but O'Moore, +Plunkett, and Byrne succeeded in escaping out of the city. O'Connolly was amply +rewarded in lands and money; and we hear of him once afterwards, with the title +of Colonel, in the Parliamentary army. +</p> + +<p> +As McMahon had declared to the Justices, the rising was now beyond the power of +man to prevent. In Ulster, by stratagem, surprise, or force, the forts of +Charlemont and Mountjoy, and the town of Dungannon, were seized on the night of +the 22nd by Sir Phelim O'Neil or his lieutenants; on the next day Sir Conor +Magennis took the town of Newry, the McMahons possessed themselves of +Carrickmacross and Castleblaney, the O'Hanlons Tandragee, while Philip O'Reilly +and Roger Maguire razed Cavan and Fermanagh. A proclamation of the northern +leaders appeared the same day, dated from Dungannon, setting forth their "true +intent and meaning" to be, not hostility to his Majesty the King, "nor to any +of his subjects, neither English nor Scotch; but only for the defence and +liberty of ourselves and the Irish natives of this kingdom." A more elaborate +manifesto appeared shortly afterwards from the pen of Rory O'Moore, in which +the oppressions of the Catholics for conscience' sake were detailed, the King's +intended "graces" acknowledged, and their frustration by the malice of the +Puritan party exhibited: it also endeavoured to show that a common danger +threatened the Protestants of the Episcopal Church with Roman Catholics, and +asserted in the strongest terms the devotion of the Catholics to the Crown. In +the same politic and tolerant spirit, Sir Conor Magennis wrote from Newry on +the 25th to the officers commanding at Down. "We are," he wrote, "for our lives +and liberties. We desire no blood to be shed, but if you mean to shed our +blood, be sure we shall be as ready as you for that purpose." This threat of +retaliation, so customary in all wars, was made on the third day of the rising, +and refers wholly to future contingencies; the monstrous fictions which were +afterwards circulated of a wholesale massacre committed on the 23rd were not as +yet invented, nor does any public document or private letter, written in +Ireland in the last week of October, or during the first days of November, so +much as allude to those tales of blood and horror, afterwards so industriously +circulated, and so greedily swallowed. +</p> + +<p> +Fully aroused from their lethargy by McMahon's declaration, the Lords Justices +acted with considerable vigour. Dublin was declared to be in a state of siege; +courts martial were established; arms were distributed to the Protestant +citizens, and some Catholics; and all strangers were ordered to quit the city +under pain of death. Sir Francis Willoughby, Governor of Galway, who arrived on +the night of the 22nd, was entrusted with the command of the Castle, Sir +Charles Coote was appointed Military Governor of the city, and the Earl, +afterwards Duke of Ormond, was summoned from Carrick-on-Suir to take command of +the army. As Coote played a very conspicuous part in the opening scenes of this +war, and Ormond till its close, it may be well to describe them both, more +particularly, to the reader. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Charles Coote, one of the first Baronets of Ireland, like Parsons, Boyle, +Chichester, and other Englishmen, had come over to Ireland during the war +against Tyrone, in quest of fortune. His first employments were in Connaught, +where he filled the offices of Provost-Marshal and Vice-Governor in the reign +of James I. His success as an Undertaker entitles him to rank with the +fortunate adventurers we have mentioned; in Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim, Queen's, +and other counties, his possessions and privileges raised him to the rank of +the richest subjects of his time. In 1640 he was a colonel of foot, with the +estates of a Prince and the habits of a Provost-Marshal. His reputation for +ferocious cruelty has survived the remembrance even of his successful plunder +of other people's property; before the campaigns of Cromwell there was no +better synonym for wanton cruelty than the name of Sir Charles Coote. +</p> + +<p> +James Butler, Earl, Marquis, and Duke of Ormond deservedly ranks amongst the +principal statesmen of his time. During a public career of more than half a +century his conduct in many eminent offices of trust was distinguished by +supreme ability, life-long firmness and consistency. As a courtier of the House +of Stuart, it was impossible that he should have served and satisfied both +Charleses without participating in many indefensible acts of government, and +originating some of them. Yet judged, not from the Irish but the Imperial point +of view, not by an abstract standard but by the public morality of his age, he +will be found fairly deserving of the title of "the great Duke" bestowed on him +during his lifetime. When summoned by the Lords Justices to their assistance in +1641, he was in the thirty-first year of his age, and had so far only +distinguished himself in political life as the friend of the late Lord +Strafford. He had, however, the good fortune to restore in his own person the +estates of his family, notwithstanding that they were granted in great part to +others by King James; his attachment to the cause of King Charles was very +naturally augmented by the fact that the partiality of that Prince and his +ill-fated favourite had enabled him to retrieve both the hereditary wealth and +the high political influence which formerly belonged to the Ormond Butlers. +Such an ally was indispensable to the Lords Justices in the first panic of the +insurrection; but it was evident to near observers that Ormond, a loyalist and +a churchman, could not long act in concert with such devoted Puritans as +Parsons, Borlase, and Coote. +</p> + +<p> +The military position of the several parties—there were at least +three—when Ormond arrived at Dublin, in the first week of November, may +be thus stated: I. In Munster and Connaught there was but a single troop of +royal horse, each, left as a guard with the respective Presidents, St. Leger +and Willoughby; in Kilkenny, Dublin, and other of the midland counties, the +gentry, Protestant and Catholic, were relied on to raise volunteers for their +own defence; in Dublin there had been got together 1,500 old troops; six new +regiments of foot were embodied; and thirteen volunteer companies of 100 each. +In the Castle were arms and ammunition for 12,000 men, with a fine train of +field artillery, provided by Stafford for his campaign in the north of England. +Ormond, as Lieutenant-General, had thus at his disposal, in one fortnight after +the insurrection broke out, from 8,000 to 10,000 well appointed men; his advice +was to take the field at once against the northern leaders before the other +Provinces became equally inflamed. But his judgment was overruled by the +Justices, who would only consent, while awaiting their cue from the Long +Parliament, to throw reinforcements into Drogheda, which thus became their +outpost towards the north. II. In Ulster there still remained in the possession +of "the Undertakers" Enniskillen, Derry, the Castles of Killeagh and Crohan in +Cavan, Lisburn, Belfast, and the stronghold of Carrickfergus, garrisoned by the +regiments of Colonel Chichester and Lord Conway. King Charles, who was at +Edinburgh endeavouring to conciliate the Scottish Parliament when news of the +Irish rising reached him, procured the instant despatch of 1,500 men to Ulster, +and authorized Lords Chichester, Ardes and Clandeboy, to raise new regiments +from among their own tenants. The force thus embodied—which may be called +from its prevailing element the <i>Scottish</i> army—cannot have numbered +less than 5,000 foot, and the proportionate number of horse. III. The Irish in +the field by the first of November are stated in round numbers at 30,000 men in +the northern counties alone; but the whole number supplied with arms and +ammunition could not have reached one-third of that nominal total. Before the +surprise of Charlemont and Mountjoy forts, Sir Phelim O'Neil had but a barrel +or two of gunpowder; the stores of those forts, with 70 barrels taken at Newry +by Magennis, and all the arms captured in the simultaneous attack, which at the +outside could not well exceed 4,000 or 5,000 stand—constituted their +entire equipment. One of Ormond's chief reasons for an immediate campaign in +the North was to prevent them having time to get "pikes made"—which shows +their deficiency even in that weapon. Besides this defect there was one, if +possible, still more serious. Sir Phelim was a civilian, bred to the profession +of the law; Rory O'Moore, also, had never seen service; and although Colonel +Owen O'Neil and others had promised to join them "at fourteen days' notice," a +variety of accidents prevented the arrival of any officer of distinction during +the brief remainder of that year. Sir Phelim, however, boldly assumed the title +of "Lord General of the Catholic Army in Ulster," and the still more popular +title with the Gaelic speaking population of "The O'Neil." +</p> + +<p> +The projected winter campaign, after the first week's successes, did not turn +out favourably for the northern Insurgents. The beginning of November was +marked by the barbarous slaughter committed by the Scottish garrison of +Carrickfergus in the Island Magee. Three thousand persons are said to have been +driven into the fathomless north sea, over the cliffs of that island, or to +have perished by the sword. The ordinary inhabitants could not have exceeded +one-tenth as many, but the presence of so large a number may be accounted for +by the supposition that they had fled from the mainland across the peninsula, +which is left dry at low water, and were pursued to their last refuge by the +infuriated Covenanters. From this date forward until the accession of Owen Roe +O'Neil to the command, the northern war assumed a ferocity of character foreign +to the nature of O'Moore, O'Reilly and Magennis. That Sir Phelim permitted, if +he did not sometimes in his gusts of stormy passion instigate, those acts of +cruelty, which have stained his otherwise honourable conduct, is too true; but +he stood alone among his confederates in that crime, and that crime stands +alone in his character. Brave to rashness and disinterested to excess, few +rebel chiefs ever made a more heroic end out of a more deplorable beginning. +</p> + +<p> +The Irish Parliament, which was to have met on the 16th of November, was +indefinitely prorogued by the Lords Justices, who preferred to act only with +their chosen quorum of Privy Counsellors. The Catholic Lords of the Pale, who +at first had arms granted for their retainers out of the public stores, were +now summoned to surrender them by a given day; an insult not to be forgiven. +Lords Dillon and Taafe, then deputies to the King, were seized at Ware by the +English Puritans, their papers taken from them, and themselves imprisoned. +O'Moore, whose clansmen had recovered Dunamase and other strongholds in his +ancient patrimony, was still indefatigable in his propaganda among the +Anglo-Irish. By his advice Sir Phelim marched to besiege Drogheda, at the head +of his tumultuous bands. On the way southward he made an unsuccessful attack +upon Lisburn, where he lost heavily; on the 24th of November he took possession +of Mellifont Abbey, from whose gate the aged Tyrone had departed in tears, +twenty-five years before. From Mellifont he proceeded to invest Drogheda; +Colonel Plunkett, with the title of General, being the sole experienced officer +as yet engaged in his ranks. A strongly walled town as Drogheda was, well +manned, and easily accessible from the sea, cannot be carried without guns and +engineers by any amount of physical courage. Whenever the Catholics were fairly +matched in the open field, they were generally successful, as at Julianstown, +during this siege, where one of their detachments cut off five out of six +companies marching from Dublin to reinforce the town; but though the investment +was complete, the vigilant governor, Sir Henry Tichburne, successfully repulsed +the assailants. O'Moore, who lay between Ardee and Dundalk with a reserve of +2,000 men, found time during the siege to continue his natural career, that of +a diplomatist. The Puritan party, from the Lord Justice downwards, were, +indeed, every day hastening that union of Catholics of all origins which the +founder of the Confederacy so ardently desired to bring about. Their avowed +maxim was that the more men rebelled, the more estates there would be to +confiscate. In Munster, their chief instruments were the aged Earl of Cork, +still insatiable as ever for other men's possessions, and the President St. +Leger; in Leinster, Sir Charles Coote. Lord Cork prepared 1,100 indictments +against men of property in his Province, which he sent to the Speaker of the +Long Parliament, with an urgent request that they might be returned to him, +with authority to proceed against the parties named, as outlaws. In Leinster, +4,000 similar indictments were found in the course of two days by the free use +of the rack with witnesses. Sir John Read, an officer of the King's Bedchamber, +and Mr. Barnwall, of Kilbrue, a gentleman of threescore and six, were among +those who underwent the torture. When these were the proceedings of the +tribunals in peaceable cities, we may imagine what must have been the excesses +of the soldiery in the open county. In the South, Sir William St. Leger +directed a series of murderous raids upon the peasantry of Cork, which at +length produced their natural effect. Lord Muskerry and other leading +recusants, who had offered their services to maintain the peace of the +Province, were driven by an insulting refusal to combine for their own +protection. The 1,100 indictments of Lord Cork soon swelled their ranks, and +the capture of the ancient city of Cashel by Philip O'Dwyer announced the +insurrection of the South. Waterford soon after opened its gates to Colonel +Edmund Butler; Wexford declared for the Catholic cause, and Kilkenny +surrendered to Lord Mountgarret. In Wicklow, Coote's troopers committed murders +such as had not been equalled since the days of the Pagan Northmen. Little +children were carried aloft writhing on the pikes of these barbarians, whose +worthy commander confessed that "he liked such frolics." Neither age nor sex +was spared, and an ecclesiastic was especially certain of instant death. +Fathers Higgins and White of Naas, in Kildare, were given up by Coote to these +"lambs," though each had been granted a safe conduct by his superior officer, +Lord Ormond. And these murders were taking place at the very time when the +Franciscans and Jesuits of Cashel were protecting Dr. Pullen, the Protestant +Chancellor of that Cathedral and other Protestant prisoners; while also the +Castle of Cloughouter, in Cavan, the residence of Bishop Bedell, was crowded +with Protestant fugitives, all of whom were carefully guarded by the chivalrous +Philip O'Reilly. +</p> + +<p> +At length the Catholic Lords of the Pale began to feel the general glow of an +outraged people, too long submissive under every species of provocation. The +Lords Justices having summoned them to attend in Dublin on the 8th of December, +they met at Swords, at the safe distance of seven miles, and sent by letter +their reasons for not trusting themselves in the capital. To the allegations in +this letter the Justices replied by proclamation, denying most of them, and +repeating their summons to Lords Fingal, Gormanstown, Slane, Dunsany, +Netterville, Louth, and Trimleston, to attend in Dublin on the 17th. But before +the 17th came, as if to ensure the defeat of their own summons, Coote was let +loose upon the flourishing villages of Fingal, and the flames kindled by his +men might easily be discovered from the round tower of Swords. On the 17th, the +summoned Lords, with several of the neighbouring gentry, met by appointment on +the hill of Crofty, in the neighbouring county of Meath; while they were +engaged in discussing the best course to be taken, a party of armed men on +horseback, accompanied by a guard of musketeers, was seen approaching. They +proved to be O'Moore, O'Reilly, Costelloe McMahon, brother of the prisoner, +Colonel Byrne, and Captain Fox. Lord Gormanstown, advancing in front of his +friends, demanded of the new-comers "why they came armed into the Pale?" To +which O'Moore made answer "that the ground of their coming thither was for the +freedom and liberty of their consciences, the maintenance of his Majesty's +prerogative, in which they understood he was abridged, and the making the +subjects of this kingdom as free as those of England." Lord Gormanstown, after +consulting a few moments with his friends, replied: "Seeing these be your true +ends, we will likewise join with you." The leaders then embraced, amid the +acclamations of their followers, and the general conditions of their union +having been unanimously agreed upon, a warrant was drawn out authorizing the +Sheriff of Meath to summon the gentry of the county to a final meeting at the +Hill of Tara on the 24th of December. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap69"></a>CHAPTER V.<br/> +THE CATHOLIC CONFEDERATION—ITS CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND MILITARY +ESTABLISHMENT.</h3> + +<p> +How a tumultuous insurrection grew into a national organization, with a senate, +executive, treasury, army, ships, and diplomacy, we are now to describe. It +may, however, be assumed throughout the narrative, that the success of the new +Confederacy was quite as much to be attributed to the perverse policy of its +enemies as to the counsels of its best leaders. The rising in the midland and +Munster counties, and the formal adhesion of the Lords of the Pale, were two of +the principal steps towards the end. A third was taken by the Bishops of the +Province of Armagh, assembled in Provincial Synod at Kells, on the 22nd of +March, 1642, where, with the exception of Dease of Meath, they unanimously +pronounced "the war just and lawful." After solemnly condemning all acts of +private vengeance, and all those who usurped other men's estates, this +provincial meeting invited a national synod to meet at Kilkenny on the 10th day +of May following. On that day accordingly, all the Prelates then in the +country, with the exception of Bishop Dease, met at Kilkenny. There were +present O'Reilly, Archbishop of Armagh; Butler, Archbishop of Cashel; O'Kealy, +Archbishop of Tuam; David Rothe, the venerable Bishop of Ossory; the Bishops of +Clonfert, Elphin, Waterford, Lismore, Kildare, and Down and Conor; the proctors +of Dublin, Limerick, and Killaloe, with sixteen other dignitaries and heads of +religious orders—in all, twenty-nine prelates and superiors, or their +representatives. The most remarkable attendants were, considering the +circumstances of their Province, the prelates of Connaught. Strafford's reign +of terror was still painfully remembered west of the Shannon, and the immense +family influence of Ulick Burke, then Earl, and afterwards Marquis of +Clanrickarde, was exerted to prevent the adhesion of the western population to +the Confederacy. But the zeal of the Archbishop of Tuam, and the violence of +the Governor of Galway, Sir Francis Willoughby, proved more than a counterpoise +for the authority of Clanrickarde and the recollection of Strafford: Connaught, +though the last to come into the Confederation, was also the last to abandon +it. +</p> + +<p> +The Synod of Kilkenny proceeded with the utmost solemnity and anxiety to +consider the circumstances of their own and the neighbouring kingdoms. No equal +number of men could have been found in Ireland, at that day, with an equal +amount of knowledge of foreign and domestic politics. Many of them had spent +years upon the Continent, while the French Huguenots held their one hundred +"cautionary towns," and "leagues" and "associations" were the ordinary +instruments of popular resistance in the Netherlands and Germany. Nor were the +events transpiring in the neighbouring island unknown or unweighed by that +grave assembly. The true meaning and intent of the Scottish and English +insurrections were by this time apparent to every one. The previous months had +been especially fertile in events, calculated to rouse their most serious +apprehensions. In March, the King fled from London to York; in April, the gates +of Hull were shut in his face by Hotham, its governor; and in May, the Long +Parliament voted a levy of 16,000 without the royal authority. The Earl of +Warwick had been appointed the Parliamentary commander of the fleet, and the +Earl of Essex, their Lord General, with Cromwell as one of his captains. From +that hour it was evident the sword alone could decide between Charles and his +subjects. In Scotland, too, events were occurring in which Irish Catholics were +vitally interested. The contest for the leadership of the Scottish royalists +between the Marquises of Hamilton and Montrose had occupied the early months of +the year, and given their enemies of the Kirk and the Assembly full time to +carry on their correspondence with the English Puritans. In April, all parties +in Scotland agreed in despatching a force of 2,500 men, under "the memorable +Major Monroe," for the protection of the Scottish settlers in Ulster. On the +15th of that month this officer landed at Carrickfergus, which was "given up to +him by agreement," with the royalist Colonel Chichester; the fortress, which +was by much the strongest in that quarter, continued for six years the +head-quarters of the Scottish general, with whom we shall have occasion to meet +again. +</p> + +<p> +The state of Anglo-Irish affairs was for some months one of disorganization and +confusion. In January and February the King had been frequently induced to +denounce by proclamation his "Irish rebels." He had offered the Parliament to +lead their reinforcements in person, had urged the sending of arms and men, and +had repeatedly declared that he would never consent to tolerate Popery in that +country. He had failed to satisfy his enemies, by these profuse professions had +dishonoured himself, and disgusted many who were far from being hostile to his +person or family. Parsons and Borlase were still continued in the government, +and Coote was entrusted by them, on all possible occasions, with a command +distinct from that of Ormond. Having proclaimed the Lords of the Pale rebels +for refusing to trust their persons within the walls of Dublin, Coote was +employed during January to destroy Swords, their place of rendezvous, and to +ravage the estates of their adherents in that neighbourhood. In the same month +1,100 veterans arrived at Dublin under Sir Simon Harcourt; early in February +arrived Sir Richard Grenville with 400 horse, and soon after Lieutenant-Colonel +George Monk, afterwards Duke of Albemarle, with Lord Leicester's regiment, +1,500 strong. Up to this period Ormond had been restrained by the Justices, who +were as timid as they were cruel, to operations within an easy march of Dublin. +He had driven the O'Moores and their Allies out of Naas; had reinforced some +garrisons in Kildare; he had broken up, though not without much loss, an +entrenched camp of the O'Byrnes at Kilsalgen wood, on the borders of Dublin; at +last the Justices felt secure enough, at the beginning of March, to allow him +to march to the relief of Drogheda. Sir Phelim O'Neil had invested the place +for more than three months, had been twice repulsed from its walls, made a last +desperate attempt, towards the end of February, but with no better success. +After many lives were lost the impetuous lawyer-soldier was obliged to retire, +and on the 8th of March, hearing of Ormond's approach at the head of 4,000 +fresh troops, he hastily retreated northward. On receiving this report, the +Justices recalled Ormond to the capital; Sir Henry Tichburne and Lord Moore +were despatched with a strong force, on the rear of the Ulster forces, and +drove them out of Ardee and Dundalk—the latter after a sharp action. The +march of Ormond into Meath had, however, been productive of offers of +submission from many of the gentry of the Pale, who attended the meetings at +Crofty and Tara. Lord Dunsany and Sir John Netterville actually surrendered on +the Earl's guarantee, and were sent to Dublin; Lords Gormanstown, Netterville, +and Slane, offered by letter to follow their example; but the two former were, +on reaching the city, thrust into the dungeons of the Castle, by order of the +Justices; and the proposals of the latter were rejected with contumely. About +the same time the Long Parliament passed an act declaring 2,500,000 acres of +the property of Irish recusants forfeited to the State, and guaranteeing to all +English "adventurers" contributing to the expenses of the war, and all soldiers +serving in it, grants of land in proportion to their service and contribution. +This act, and a letter from Lord Essex, the Parliamentarian Commander-in-Chief, +recommending the transportation of captured recusants to the West Indian +Colonies, effectually put a stop to these negotiations. In Ulster, by the end +of April, there were 19,000 troops, regulars and volunteers, in the garrison or +in the field. Newry was taken by Monroe and Chichester, where 80 men and women +and 2 priests were put to death. Magennis was obliged to abandon Down, and +McMahon Monaghan; Sir Philem was driven to burn Armagh and Dungannon, and to +take his last stand at Charlemont. In a severe action with Sir Robert and Sir +William Stewart, he had displayed his usual courage with better than his usual +fortune, which, perhaps, we may attribute to the presence with him of Sir +Alexander McDonnell, brother to Lord Antrim, the famous <i>Colkitto</i> of the +Irish and Scottish wars. But the severest defeat which the Confederates had was +in the heart of Leinster, at the hamlet of Kilrush, within four miles of Athy. +Lord Ormond, returning from a second reinforcement of Naas and other Kildare +forts, at the head, by English account, of 4,000 men, found on the 13th of +April the Catholics of the midland counties, under Lords Mountgarrett, Ikerrin, +and Dunboyne, Sir Morgan Cavenagh, Rory O'Moore, and Hugh O'Byrne, drawn up, by +his report, 8,000 strong, to dispute his passage. With Ormond were the Lord +Dillon, Lord Brabazon, Sir Richard Grenville, Sir Charles Coote, and Sir T. +Lucas. The combat was short but murderous. The Confederates left 700 men, +including Sir Morgan Cavenagh, and some other officers, dead on the field; the +remainder retreated in disorder, and Ormond, with an inconsiderable diminution +of numbers, returned in triumph to Dublin. For this victory the Long +Parliament, in a moment of enthusiasm, voted the Lieutenant-General a jewel +worth 500 pounds. If any satisfaction could be derived from such an incident, +the violent death of their most ruthless enemy, Sir Charles Coote, might have +afforded the Catholics some consolation. That merciless saberer, after the +combat at Kilrush, had been employed in reinforcing Birr, and relieving the +Castle of Geashill, which the Lady Letitia of Offally held against the +neighbouring tribe of O'Dempsey. On his return from this service he made a +foray against a Catholic force, which had mustered in the neighbourhood of +Trim; here, on the night of the 7th of May, heading a sally of his troop, he +fell by a musket shot—not without suspicion of being fired from his own +ranks. His son and namesake, who imitated him in all things, was ennobled at +the restoration by the title of the Earl of Mountrath. In Munster the President +St. Leger, though lately reinforced by 1,000 men from England, did not consider +himself strong enough for other than occasional forays into the neighbouring +county, and little was effected in that Province. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the condition of affairs at home and abroad when the National Synod +assembled at Kilkenny. As the most popular tribunal invested with the highest +moral power in the kingdom, it was their arduous task to establish order and +authority among the chaotic elements of the revolution. By the admission of +those most opposed to them they conducted their deliberations for nearly three +weeks with equal prudence and energy. They first, on the motion of the +venerable Bishop Rothe, framed an oath of association to be publicly taken by +all their adherents, by the first part of which they were bound to bear "true +faith and allegiance" to King Charles and his lawful successors, "to maintain +the fundamental laws of Ireland, the free exercise of the Roman Catholic faith +and religion." By the second part of this oath all Confederate +Catholics—for so they were to be called—as solemnly bound +themselves never to accept or submit to any peace "without the consent and +approbation of the general assembly of the said Confederate Catholics." They +then proceeded to make certain constitutions, declaring the war just and +lawful; condemning emulations and distinctions founded on distinctions of race, +such as "new" and "old Irish;" ordaining an elective council for each Province; +and a Supreme or National Council for the whole kingdom; condemning as +excommunicate all who should, having taken the oath, violate it, or who should +be guilty of murder, violence to persons, or plunder under pretence of the war. +Although the attendance of the lay leaders of the movement at Kilkenny was far +from general, the exigencies of the case compelled them, to nominate, with the +concurrence of the Bishops, the first Supreme Council of which Lord +Mountgarrett was chosen President, and Mr. Richard Belling, an accomplished +writer and lawyer, Secretary. By this body a General Assembly of the entire +Nation was summoned to meet at the same city, on the 23rd of October +following—the anniversary of the Ulster rising, commonly called by the +English party "Lord Maguire's day." The choice of such an occasion by men of +Mountgarrett's and Selling's moderation and judgment, six months after the date +of the alleged "massacre," would form another proof, if any were now needed, +that none of the alleged atrocities were yet associated with the memory of that +particular day. +</p> + +<p> +The events of the five months, which intervened between the adjournment of the +National Synod at the end of May, and the meeting of the General Assembly on +the 23rd of October, may best be summed up under the head of the respective +provinces. I. The oath of Confederation was taken with enthusiasm in Munster, a +Provincial Council elected, and General Barry chosen Commander-in-Chief. Barry +made an attempt upon Cork, which was repulsed, but a few days later the not +less important city of Limerick opened its gates to the Confederates, and on +the 21st of June the citadel was breached and surrendered by Courtenay, the +Governor. On the 2nd of July St. Leger died at Cork (it was said of vexation +for the loss of Limerick), and the command devolved on his son-in-law, Lord +Inchiquin, a pupil of the school of Wards, and a soldier of the school of Sir +Charles Coote. With Inchiquin was associated the Earl of Barrymore for the +civil administration, but on Barrymore's death in September both powers +remained for twelve months in the hands of the survivor. The gain of Limerick +was followed by the taking of Loughgar and Askeaton, but was counterbalanced by +the defeat of Liscarroll, when the Irish loss was 800 men, with several +colours; Inchiquin reported only 20 killed, including the young lord +Kinalmeaky, one of the five sons whom the Earl of Cork gave to this war. II. In +Connaught, Lord Clanrickarde was still enabled to avert a general outbreak. In +vain the western Prelates besought him in a pathetic remonstrance to place +himself at the head of its injured inhabitants, and take the command of the +Province. He continued to play a middle part between the President, Lord +Ranelagh, Sir Charles Coote the younger, and Willoughby, Governor of Galway, +until the popular impatience burst all control. The chief of the O'Flahertys +seized Clanrickarde's castle, of Aughrenure, and the young men of Galway, with +a skill and decision quite equal to that of the Derry apprentices of an after +day, seized an English ship containing arms and supplies, lying in the bay, +marched to the Church of Saint Nicholas, took the Confederate oath, and shut +Willoughby up in the citadel. Clanrickarde hastened to extinguish this spark of +resistance, and induced the townsmen to capitulate on his personal guarantee. +But Willoughby, on the arrival of reinforcements, under the fanatical Lord +Forbes, at once set the truce made by Clanrickarde at defiance, burned the +suburbs, sacked the Churches, and during August and September, exercised a +reign of terror in the town. About the same time local risings took place in +Sligo, Mayo, and Roscommon, at first with such success that the President of +the Province, Lord Ranelagh, shut himself up in the castle of Athlone, where he +was closely besieged. III. In Leinster, no military movement of much importance +was made, in consequence of the jealousy the Justices entertained of Ormond, +and the emptiness of the treasury. In June, the Long Parliament remitted over +the paltry sum of 11,500 pounds to the Justices, and 2,000 of the troops, which +had all but mutinied for their pay, were despatched under Ormond to the relief +of Athlone. Commissioners arrived during the summer, appointed by the +Parliament to report on the affairs of Ireland, to whom the Justices submitted +a penal code worthy of the brain of Draco or Domitian; Ormond was raised to the +rank of Marquis, by the King; while the army he commanded grew more and more +divided, by intrigues emanating from the castle and beyond the channel. Before +the month of October, James Touchet, Earl of Castlehaven, an adventurous +nobleman, possessed of large estates both in Ireland and England, effected his +escape from Dublin Castle, where he had been imprisoned on suspicion by Parsons +and Borlase, and joined the Confederation at Kilkenny. In September, Colonel +Thomas Preston, the brave defender of Louvain, uncle to Lord Gormanstown, +landed at Wexford, with three frigates and several transports, containing a few +siege guns, field pieces, and other stores, 500 officers, and a number of +engineers. IV. In Ulster, where the first blow was struck, and the first hopes +were excited, the prospect had become suddenly overclouded. Monroe took Dunluce +from Lord Antrim by the same stratagem by which Sir Phelim took +Charlemont—inviting himself as a guest, and arresting his host at his own +table. A want of cordial co-operation between the Scotch commander and "the +Undertakers" alone prevented them extinguishing, in one vigorous campaign, the +northern insurrection. So weak and disorganized were now the thousands who had +risen at a bound one short year before, that the garrisons of Enniskillen, +Derry, Newry, and Drogheda, scoured almost unopposed the neighbouring counties. +The troops of Cole, Hamilton, the Stewarts, Chichesters, and Conways, found +little opposition, and gave no quarter. Sir William Cole, among his claims of +service rendered to the State, enumerated "7,000 of the rebels famished to +death," within a circuit of a few miles from Enniskillen. The disheartened and +disorganized natives were seriously deliberating a wholesale emigration to the +Scottish highlands, when a word of magic effect was whispered from the sea +coast to the interior. On the 6th of July, Colonel Owen Roe O'Neil arrived off +Donegal with a single ship, a single company of veterans, 100 officers, and a +considerable quantity of ammunition. He landed at Doe Castle, and was escorted +by his kinsman, Sir Phelim, to the fort of Charlemont. A general meeting of the +northern clans was quickly called at Clones, in Monaghan, and there, on an +early day after his arrival, Owen O'Neil was elected "General-in-Chief of the +Catholic Army" of the North, Sir Phelim resigning in his favour, and taking +instead the barren title of "President of Ulster." At the same moment Lord +Lieven arrived from Scotland with the remainder of the 10,000 voted by the +Parliament of that kingdom. He had known O'Neil abroad, had a high opinion of +his abilities, and wrote to express his surprise "that a man of his reputation +should be engaged in so bad a cause;" to which O'Neil replied that "he had a +better right to come to the relief of his own country than his lordship had to +march into England against his lawful King." Lieven, before returning home, +urged Monroe to act with promptitude, for that he might expect a severe lesson +if the new commander once succeeded in collecting an army. But Monroe proved +deaf to this advice, and while the Scottish and English forces in the Province +would have amounted, if united, to 20,000 foot and 1,000 horse, they gave +O'Neil time enough to embody, officer, drill, and arm (at least provisionally), +a force not to be despised by even twice their numbers. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap70"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br/> +THE CONFEDERATE WAR—CAMPAIGN OF 1643—THE CESSATION.</h3> + +<p> +The city of Kilkenny, which had become the capital of the Confederacy, was +favourably placed for the direction of the war in Leinster and Munster. Nearly +equidistant from Dublin, Cork, and Limerick, a meeting place for most of the +southern and south-western roads, important in itself both as a place of trade, +and as the residence of the Duke of Ormond and the Bishop of Ossory, a better +choice could not, perhaps, have been made, so far as regarded the ancient +southern "Half-Kingdom." But it seems rather surprising that the difficulty of +directing the war in the North and North-West, from a point so far south, did +not occur to the statesmen of the Confederacy. In the defective communications +of those days, especially during a war, partaking even partially of the +character of civil strife, it was hard, if not impossible to expect, that a +supervision could be exercised over a general or an army on the Erne or the +Bann, which might be quite possible and proper on the Suir or the Shannon. A +similar necessity in England necessitated the creation of the Presidency of the +North, with its council and head-quarters in the city of York; nor need we be +surprised to find that, from the first, the Confederate movements combined +themselves into two groups—the northern and the southern—those +which revolved round the centre of Kilkenny, and those which took their law +from the head-quarters of Owen O'Neil, at Belturbet, or wherever else his camp +happened to be situated. +</p> + +<p> +The General Assembly met, according to agreement, on the 23rd of October, 1642, +at Kilkenny. Eleven bishops and fourteen lay lords represented the Irish +peerage; two hundred and twenty-six commoners, the large majority of the +constituencies. Both bodies sat in the same chamber, divided only by a raised +dais. The celebrated lawyer, Patrick Darcy, a member of the Commons' House, was +chosen as chancellor, and everything was conducted with the gravity and +deliberation befitting so venerable an Assembly, and so great an occasion. The +business most pressing, and most delicate, was felt to be the consideration of +a form of supreme executive government. The committee on this subject, who +reported after the interval of a week, was composed of Lords Gormanstown and +Castlehaven, Sir Phelim O'Neil, Sir Richard Belling, and Mr. Darcy. A "Supreme +Council" of six members for each province was recommended, approved, and +elected. The Archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, and Tuam, the Bishops of Down and +of Clonfert, the Lords Gormanstown, Mountgarrett, Roche, and Mayo, with fifteen +of the most eminent commoners, composed this council. It was provided that the +vote of two-thirds should be necessary to any act affecting the basis of the +Confederacy, but a quorum of nine was sufficient for the transaction of +ordinary business. A guard of honour of 500 foot and 200 horse was allowed for +their greater security. The venerable Mountgarrett, the head of the Catholic +Butlers, (son-in-law of the illustrious Tyrone, who, in the last years of +Elizabeth, had devoted his youthful sword to the same good cause,) was elected +president of this council; and Sir Richard Belling, a lawyer, and a man of +letters, the continuator of Sir Philip Sydney's <i>Arcadia</i>, was appointed +secretary. +</p> + +<p> +The first act of this Supreme Council was to appoint General O'Neil as +Commander-in-Chief in Ulster; General Preston, in Leinster; General Barry, in +Munster; and Sir John Burke as Lieutenant-General in Connaught; the supreme +command in the West being held over for Clanrickarde, who, it was still hoped, +might be led or driven into the Confederacy. We shall endeavour to indicate in +turn the operations of these commanders, thus chosen or confirmed; leaving the +civil and diplomatic business transacted by the General Assembly, or delegated +to the Supreme Council, for future mention. +</p> + +<p> +Contrary to the custom of that age, the Confederate troops were not withdrawn +into winter quarters. In November, General Preston, at the head of 6,000 foot +and 600 horse, encountered Monk at Tymahoe and Ballinakil, with some loss; but +before the close of December he had reduced Birr, Banagher, Burris, and Fort +Falkland, and found himself master of King's county, from the Shannon to the +Barrow. In February, however, he sustained a serious check at Rathconnell, in +endeavouring to intercept the retreat of the English troops from Connaught, +under the command of Lord Ranelagh, and the younger Coote; and in March, equal +ill success attended his attempt to intercept Ormond, in his retreat from the +unsuccessful siege of the town of Ross. Lord Castlehaven, who was Preston's +second in command, attributes both these reverses to the impetuosity of the +general, whose imprudence seems to have been almost as great as his activity +was conspicuous. In April and May, Preston and Castlehaven took several +strongholds in Carlow, Kildare, and West-Meath, and the General Assembly, which +met for its second session, on the 20th of May, 1643, at Kilkenny, had, on the +whole, good grounds to be satisfied with the success of the war in Leinster. +</p> + +<p> +In the Southern Province, considerable military successes might also be claimed +by the Confederates. The Munster troops, under Purcell, the second in command, +a capable soldier, who had learned the art of war in the armies of the German +Empire, relieved Ross, when besieged by Ormond; General Barry had successfully +repulsed an attack on his head-quarters, the famous old Desmond town of +Killmallock. In June, Barry, Purcell, and Castlehaven drove the enemy before +them across the Funcheon, and at Kilworth brought their main body, under Sir +Charles Vavasour, to action. Vavasour's force was badly beaten, himself +captured, with his cannon and colours, and many of his officers and men. +Inchiquin, who had endeavoured to form a junction with Vavasour, escaped to one +of the few remaining garrisons open to him—probably Youghal. +</p> + +<p> +In Connaught, the surrender of Galway, on the 20th of June, eclipsed all the +previous successes, and they were not a few, of Lieutenant-General Burke. From +the day Lord Ranelagh and the younger Coote deserted the Western province, the +Confederate cause had rapidly advanced. The surrender of "the second fort in +the Kingdom"—a sea-port in that age, not unworthy to be ranked with Cadiz +and Bristol, for its commercial wealth and reputation—was a military +event of the first importance. An English fleet appeared three days after the +surrender of Willoughby, in Galway harbour; but nine long years elapsed before +the Confederate colours were lowered from the towers of the Connaught citadel. +</p> + +<p> +In the North, O'Neil, who, without injustice to any of his contemporaries, may +certainly be said to have made, during his seven years' command, the highest +European reputation among the Confederate generals, gathered his recruits into +a rugged district, which forms a sort of natural camp in the north-west corner +of the island. The mountain plateau of Leitrim, which sends its spurs downwards +to the Atlantic, towards Lough Erne, and into Longford, accessible only by four +or five lines of road, leading over narrow bridges and through deep defiles, +was the nursery selected by this cautious leader, in which to collect and +organize his forces. In the beginning of May—seven months after the date +of his commission, and ten from his solitary landing at Doe Castle—we +find him a long march from his mountain fortress in Leitrim, at Charlemont, +which he had strengthened and garrisoned, and now saved from a surprise +attempted by Monroe, from Carrickfergus. Having effected that immediate object, +he again retired towards the Leitrim highlands, fighting by the way a smart +cavalry action at Clonish, with a superior force, under Colonels Stewart, +Balfour, and Mervyn. In this affair O'Neil was only too happy to have carried +off his troop with credit; but a fortnight brought him consolation for Clonish +in the brilliant affair of Portlester. He had descended in force from his hills +and taken possession of the greater part of the ancient Meath. General Monk and +Lord Moore were despatched against him, but reinforced by a considerable body +of Meathian Confederates, under Sir James Dillon, he resolved to risk his first +regular engagement in the field. Taking advantage of the situation of the +ground, about five miles from Trim, he threw up some field works, placed sixty +men in Portlester mill, and patiently awaited the advance of the enemy. Their +assault was overconfident, their rout complete. Lord Moore, and a large portion +of the assailants were slain, and Monk fled back to Dublin. O'Neil, gathering +fresh strength from these movements, abandoned his mountain stronghold, and +established his head-quarters on the river Erne between Lough Oughter +(memorable in his life and death) and the upper waters of Lough Erne. At this +point stood the town of Belturbet, which, in "the Plantation" of James I., had +been turned over exclusively to British settlers, whose "cagework" houses, and +four acres of garden ground each, had elicited the approval of the surveyor +Pynnar, twenty years before. The surrounding country was covered with the +fortified castles and loop-holed lawns of the chief +<i>Undertakers</i>—but few were found of sufficient strength to resist +the arms of O'Neil. At Belturbet, he was within a few days' march of the vital +points of four other counties, and in case of the worst, within the same +distance of his protective fastness. Here, towards the end of September, busied +with present duties and future projects, he heard, for the first time, with +astonishment and grief, that the requisite majority of "the Supreme Council" +had concluded, on the 13th of that month, a twelve-months' truce with Ormond, +thus putting in peril all the advantages already acquired by the bravery of the +Confederate troops, and the skill of their generals. +</p> + +<p> +The war had lasted nearly two years, and this was the first time the Catholics +had consented to negotiate. The moment chosen was a critical one for all the +three Kingdoms, and the interests involved were complicated in the extreme. The +Anglo-Irish, who formed the majority of the Supreme Council, connected by blood +and language with England, had entered into the war, purely as one of religious +liberty. Nationally, they had, apart from the civil disabilities imposed on +religious grounds, no antipathy, no interest, hostile to the general body of +English loyalists, represented in Ireland by the King's lieutenant, Ormond. On +his side, that nobleman gave all his thoughts to, and governed all his actions +by the exigencies of the royal cause, throughout the three Kingdoms. When +Charles seemed strong in England, Ormond rated the Catholics at a low figure; +but when reverses increased he estimated their alliance more highly. After the +drawn battle of Edgehill, fought on the very day of the first meeting of the +General Assembly at Kilkenny, the King had established his head-quarters at +Oxford, in the heart of four or five of the most loyal counties in England. +Here he at first negotiated with the Parliament, but finally the sword was +again invoked, and while the King proclaimed the Parliament rebels, "the solemn +league and covenant" was entered into, at first separately, and afterwards +jointly, by the Puritans of England and Presbyterians of Scotland. The military +events during that year, and in the first half of the next, were upon the whole +not unfavourable to the royal cause. The great battle of Marston Moor, (July +2nd, 1644,) which "extinguished the hopes of the Royalists in the Northern +counties," was the first Parliamentary victory of national importance. It was +won mainly by the energy and obstinacy of Lieutenant-General Cromwell, from +that day forth the foremost English figure in the Civil War. From his court at +Oxford, where he had seen the utter failure of endeavouring to conciliate his +English and Scottish enemies, the King had instructed Ormond—lately +created a Marquis—to treat with the Irish Catholics, and to obtain from +them men and money. The overtures thus made were brought to maturity in +September; the Cessation was to last twelve months; each party was to remain in +possession of its own quarters, as they were held at the date of the treaty; +the forces of each were to unite to punish any infraction of the terms agreed +on; the agents of the Confederates, during the cessation, were to have free +access and safe conduct to the King; and for these advantages, the Supreme +Council were to present his Majesty immediately with 15,000 pounds in money, +and provisions to the value of 15,000 pounds more. +</p> + +<p> +Such was "the truce of Castlemartin," condemned by O'Neil, by the Papal Nuncio, +Scarampi, and by the great majority of the old Irish, lay and clerical; still +more violently denounced by the Puritan Parliament as favouring Popery, and +negotiated by Popish agents; beneficial to Ormond and the Undertakers, as +relieving Dublin, freeing the channel from Irish privateers, and securing them +in the garrisons throughout the Kingdom which they still held; in one sense +advantageous to Charles, from the immediate supplies it afforded, and the +favourable impression it created of his liberality, at the courts of his +Catholic allies; but on the other hand disadvantageous to him in England and +Scotland, from the pretexts it furnished his enemies, of renewing the cry of +his connivance with Popery, a cry neither easily answered, nor, of itself, +liable quickly to wear out. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap71"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br/> +THE CESSATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.</h3> + +<p> +While the Confederate delegates, reverently uncovered, and Ormond, in hat and +plume, as representing royalty, were signing "the cessation" at Castlemartin, +the memorable Monroe, with all his men, were taking the covenant, on their +knees, in the church of Carrickfergus, at the hands of the informer O'Connolly, +now a colonel in the Parliamentary army, and high in the confidence of its +chiefs. Soon after this ceremony, Monroe, appointed by the English Parliament +Commander-in-Chief of all their forces in Ulster, united under his immediate +leadership, of Scots, English, and Undertakers, not less than 10,000 men. With +this force he marched southward as far as Newry, which he found an easy prey, +and where he put to the sword, after surrender, sixty men, eighteen women, and +two ecclesiastics. In vain the Confederates entreated Ormond to lead them +against the common enemy in the North; pursuing always a line of policy of his +own, in which their interest had a very slender part, that astute politician +neither took the field, nor consented that they should do so of themselves. But +the Supreme Council, roused by the remonstrances of the clergy, ordered Lord +Castlehaven, with the title of Commander-in-Chief, to march against Monroe. +This was virtually superseding O'Neil in his own province, and that it was so +felt, even by its authors, is plain from their giving him simultaneously the +command in Connaught. O'Neil, never greater than in acts of self-denial and +self-sacrifice, stifled his profound chagrin, and cheerfully offered to serve +under the English Earl, placed over his head. But the northern movements were, +for many months, languid and uneventful; both parties seemed uncertain of their +true policy; both, from day to day, awaited breathlessly for tidings from +Kilkenny, Dublin, London, Oxford, or Edinburgh, to learn what new forms the +general contest was to take, in order to guide their own conduct by the +shifting phases of that intricate diplomacy. +</p> + +<p> +Among the first consequences of the cessation were the debarkation at Mostyn, +in Scotland, of 3,000 well provided Irish troops, under <i>Colkitto</i> (the +left-handed,) Alexander McDonnell, brother of Lord Antrim. Following the banner +of Montrose, these regiments performed great things at Saint Johnstown, at +Aberdeen, at Inverlochy, all which have been eloquently recorded by the +historians of that period. "Their reputation," says a cautious writer, "more +than their number, unnerved the prowess of their enemies. No force ventured to +oppose them in the field; and as they advanced, every fort was abandoned or +surrendered." A less agreeable result of "the cessation," for the court at +Oxford, was the retirement from the royal army of the Earl of Newcastle, and +most of his officers, on learning that such favourable conditions had been made +with Irish Papists. To others of his supporters—as the Earl of +Shrewsbury—Charles was forced to assume a tone of apology for that truce, +pleading the hard necessities which compelled him: the truth seems to be, that +there were not a few then at Oxford, who, like Lord Spencer, would gladly have +been on the other side—or at all events in a position of +neutrality—provided they could have found "a salve for their honour," as +gentlemen and cavaliers. +</p> + +<p> +The year 1644 opened for the Irish with two events of great +significance—the appointment of Ormond as Viceroy, in January, and the +execution at Tyburn, by order of the English Parliament, of Lord Maguire, a +prisoner in the Tower since October, 1641. Maguire died with a courage and +composure worthy of his illustrious name, and his profoundly religious +character. His long absence had not effaced his memory from the hearts of his +devoted clansmen of Fermanagh, and many a prayer was breathed, and many a vow +of vengeance muttered among them, for what they must naturally have regarded as +the cold-blooded judicial murder of their chief. +</p> + +<p> +Two Irish deputations—one Catholic, the other Protestant—proceeded +this year to the King, at Oxford, with the approval of Ormond, who took care to +be represented by confidential agents of his own. The Catholics found a zealous +auxiliary in the queen, Henrietta Maria, who, as a co-religionist, felt with +them, and, as a Frenchwoman, was free from insular prejudices against them. The +Irish Protestants found a scarcely less influential advocate in the venerable +Archbishop Usher, whose presence and countenance, as the most puritanical of +his prelates, was most essential to the policy of Charles. The King heard both +parties graciously—censured some of the demands of both as extravagant, +and beyond his power to concede—admitted others to be reasonable and +worthy of consideration—refused to confirm the churches they had seized +to the Catholics—but was willing to allow them their "seminaries of +education"—would not consent to enforce the penal laws on the demand of +the Protestants—but declared that neither should the Undertakers be +disturbed in their possessions or offices. In short, he pathetically exhorted +both parties to consider his case as well as their own; promised them to call +together the Irish Parliament at the earliest possible period; and so got rid +of both deputations, leaving Ormond master of the position for some time +longer. +</p> + +<p> +The agents and friends of the Irish Catholics on the Continent were greatly +embarrassed, and not a little disheartened by the cessation. At Paris, at +Brussels, at Madrid, but above all at Rome, it was regretted, blamed, or +denounced, according to the temper or the insight of the discontented. His +Catholic Majesty had some time before remitted a contribution of 20,000 dollars +to the Confederate Treasury; one of Richelieu's last acts was to invite Con, +son of Hugh O'Neil, to the French Court, and to permit the shipment of some +pieces of ordnance to Ireland; from Rome, the celebrated Franciscan, Father +Luke Wadding, had remitted 26,000 dollars, and the Nuncio Scarampi had brought +further donations. The facility, therefore, with which the cessation had been +agreed upon, against the views of the agents of the Catholic powers at +Kilkenny, without any apparently sufficient cause, had certainly a tendency to +check and chill the enthusiasm of those Catholic Princes who had been taught to +look on the insurrection of the Irish as a species of Crusade. Remonstrances, +warm, eloquent, and passionate, were poured in upon the most influential +members of the Supreme Council, from those who had either by delegation, or +from their own free will, befriended them abroad. These remonstrances reached +that powerful body at Waterford, at Limerick, or at Galway, whither they had +gone on an official visitation, to hear complaints, settle controversies, and +provide for the better collection of the assessments imposed on each Province. +</p> + +<p> +An incident which occurred in Ulster, soon startled the Supreme Council from +their pacific occupations. General Monroe, having proclaimed that all +Protestants within his command should take "the solemn league and covenant," +three thousand of that religion, still loyalists, met at Belfast, to deliberate +on their answer. Monroe, however, apprised of their intentions, marched rapidly +from Carrickfergus, entered the town under cover of night, and drove out the +loyal Protestants at the point of the sword. The fugitives threw themselves +into Lisburn, and Monroe appointed Colonel Hume as Governor of Belfast, for the +Parliaments of Scotland and England. Castlehaven, with O'Neil still second in +command, was now despatched northward against the army of the Covenant. Monroe, +who had advanced to the borders of Meath as if to meet them, contented himself +with gathering in great herds of cattle; as they advanced, he slowly fell back +before them through Louth and Armagh, to his original head-quarters; +Castlehaven then returned with the main body of the Confederate troops to +Kilkenny, and O'Neil, depressed, but not dismayed, carried his contingent to +their former position at Belturbet. +</p> + +<p> +In Munster, a new Parliamentary party had time to form its combinations under +the shelter of the cessation. The Earl of Inchiquin, who had lately failed to +obtain the Presidency of Munster from the King at Oxford, and the Lord +Broghill, son of the great Southern Undertaker—the first Earl of +Cork,—were at the head of this movement. Under pretence that the quarters +allotted them by the cessation had been violated, they contrived to seize upon +Cork, Youghal, and Kinsale. At Cork, they publicly executed Father Mathews, a +Friar, and proceeding from violence to violence, they drove from the three +places all the Catholic inhabitants. They then forwarded a petition to the +King, beseeching him to declare the Catholics "rebels," and declaring their own +determination to "die a thousand deaths sooner than condescend to any peace +with them." At the same time they entered into or avowed their correspondence +with the English Parliament, which naturally enough encouraged and assisted +them. The Supreme Council met these demonstrations with more stringent +instructions to General Purcell, now their chief in command, (Barry having +retired on account of advanced age,) to observe the cessation, and to punish +severely every infraction of it. At the same time they permitted or directed +Purcell to enter into a trace with Inchiquin till the following April; and then +they rested on their arms, in religious fidelity to the engagements they had +signed at Castlemartin. +</p> + +<p> +The twelve-months' truce was fast drawing to a close, when the battle of +Marston Moor stimulated Ormond to effect a renewal of the treaty. Accordingly, +at his request, Lord Muskerry, and five other commissioners, left Kilkenny on +the last day of August for Dublin. Between them and the Viceroy, the cessation +was prolonged till the first of December following; and when that day came, it +was further protracted, as would appear, for three months, by which time, +(March, 1645,) Ormond informed them that he had powers from the King to treat +for a permanent settlement. +</p> + +<p> +During the six months that the original cessation was thus protracted by the +policy of Ormond, the Supreme Council sent abroad new agents, "to know what +they had to trust to, and what succours they might really depend on from +abroad." Father Hugh Bourke was sent to Spain, and Sir Richard Belling to Rome, +where Innocent X, had recently succeeded to that generous friend of the +Catholic Irish. Urban VIII. The voyage of these agents was not free from +hazard, for, whereas, before the cessation, the privateers commissioned by the +Council, sheltered and supplied in the Irish harbours, had kept the southern +coast clear of hostile shipping, now that they had been withdrawn under the +truce, the parliamentary cruisers had the channel all to themselves. Waterford +and Wexford—the two chief Catholic ports in that quarter—instead +of seeing their waters crowded with prizes, now began to tremble for their own +safety. The strong fort of Duncannon, on the Wexford side of Waterford harbour, +was corruptly surrendered by Lord Esmond, to Inchiquin and the Puritans. After +a ten-weeks' siege, however, and the expenditure of 19,000 pounds of powder, +the Confederates retook the fort, in spite of all the efforts made for its +relief. Esmond, old and blind, escaped by a timely death the penalty due to his +treason. Following up this success, Castlehaven rapidly invested other southern +strongholds in possession of the same party, Cappoquin, Lismore, Mallow, +Mitchelstown, Doneraile and Liscarroll surrendered on articles; Rostellan, +commanded by Inchiquin's brother, was stormed and taken; Boghill was closely +besieged in Youghal, but, being relieved from sea, successfully defended +himself. In another quarter, the Parliament was equally active. To compensate +for the loss of Galway, they had instructed the younger Coote, on whom they had +conferred the Presidency of Connaught, to withdraw the regiment of Sir +Frederick Hamilton, and 400 other troops, from the command of Monroe, and with +these, Sir Robert Stewart's forces, and such others as he could himself raise, +to invest Sligo. Against the force thus collected, Sligo could not hope to +contend, and soon, from that town, as from a rallying and resting place, 2,000 +horsemen were daily launched upon the adjoining country. Lord Clanrickarde, the +royal president of the province, as unpopular as trimmers usually are in times +of crisis, was unable to make head against this new danger. But the +Confederates, under Sir James Dillon, and Dr. O'Kelly, the heroic Archbishop of +Tuam, moved by the pitiful appeals of the Sligo people, boldly endeavoured to +recover the town. They succeeded in entering the walls, but were subsequently +repulsed and routed. The Archbishop was captured and tortured to death; some of +the noblest families of the province and of Meath had also to mourn their +chiefs; and several valuable papers, found or pretended to be found in the +Archbishop's carriage, were eagerly given to the press of London by the +Parliament of England. This tragedy at Sligo occurred on Sunday, October 26th, +1645. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap72"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br/> +GLAMORGAN'S TREATY—THE NEW NUNCIO RINUCCINI—O'NEIL'S +POSITION—THE BATTLE OF BENBURB.</h3> + +<p> +Ormond had amused the Confederates with negotiations for a permanent peace and +settlement, from spring till midsummer, when Charles, dissatisfied with these +endless delays, despatched to Ireland a more hopeful ambassador. This was +Herbert, Earl of Glamorgan, one of the few Catholics remaining among the +English nobility; son and heir to the Marquis of Worcester, and son-in-law to +Henry O'Brien, Earl of Thomond. Of a family devoutly attached to the royal +cause, to which it is said they had contributed not less than 200,000 pounds, +Glamorgan's religion, his rank, his Irish connections, the intimate confidence +of the King which he was known to possess, all marked out his embassy as one of +the utmost importance. +</p> + +<p> +The story of this mission has been perplexed and darkened by many +controversies. But the general verdict of historians seems now to be, that +Charles I., whose many good qualities as a man and a ruler are cheerfully +admitted on all hands, was yet utterly deficient in downright good faith; that +duplicity was his besetting sin; and that Glamorgan's embassy is one, but only +one, of the strongest evidences of that ingrained duplicity. +</p> + +<p> +It may help to the clearer understanding of the negotiations conducted by +Glamorgan in Ireland, if we give in the first place the exact dates of the +first transactions. The Earl arrived at Dublin about the 1st of August, and, +after an interview with Ormond, proceeded to Kilkenny. On the 28th of that +month, preliminary articles were agreed to and signed by the Earl on behalf of +the King, and by Lords Mountgarrett and Muskerry on behalf of the Confederates. +It was necessary, it seems, to get the concurrence of the Viceroy to these +terms, and accordingly the negotiators on both sides repaired to Dublin. Here, +Ormond contrived to detain them ten long weeks in discussions on the articles +relating to religion; it was the 12th of November when they returned to +Kilkenny, with a much modified treaty. On the next day, the 13th, the new Papal +Nuncio, a prelate who, by his rank, his eloquence, and his imprudence, was +destined to exercise a powerful influence on the Catholic councils, made his +public entry into that city. +</p> + +<p> +This personage was John Baptist Rinuccini, Archbishop of Fermo, in the Marches +of Ancona, which see he had preferred to the more exalted dignity of Florence. +By birth a Tuscan, the new Nuncio had distinguished himself from boyhood by his +passionate attachment to his studies. At Bologna, at Perugia, and at Rome, his +intense application brought him early honours, and early physical debility. His +health, partially restored in the seclusion of his native valley of the Arno, +enabled him to return again to Rome. Enjoying the confidence of Gregory XV. and +Uban VIII., he was named successively, Clerk of the Chamber, Secretary of the +Congregation of Rites, and Archbishop of Fermo. This was the prelate chosen by +the new Pope, Innocent X., for the nunciature in Ireland: a man of noble birth, +in the fifty-third year of his age, of uncertain bodily health, of great +learning, especially as a canonist, of a fiery Italian +temperament,—"regular and even austere in his life, and far from any +taint of avarice or corruption,"—such was the admission of his enemies. +</p> + +<p> +Leaving Italy in May, accompanied by the Dean of Fermo, who has left us a +valuable record of the embassy, his other household officers, several Italian +noblemen, and Sir Richard Belling, the special agent at Rome, the Nuncio, by +way of Genoa and Marseilles, reached Paris. In France he was detained nearly +five months, in a fruitless attempt to come to some definite arrangement as to +the conduct of the Catholic war, through Queen Henrietta Maria, then resident +with the young Prince of Wales—afterwards Charles II.—at the French +court. The Queen, like most persons of her rank, overwhelmed with adversity, +was often unreasonably suspicious and exacting. Her sharp woman's tongue did +not spare those on whom her anger fell, and there were not wanting those, who, +apprehensive of the effect in England of her negotiating directly with a papal +minister, did their utmost to delay or to break off their correspondence. A +nice point of court etiquette further embarrassed the business. The Nuncio +could not uncover his head before the Queen, and Henrietta would not receive +him otherwise than uncovered. After three months lost in Paris, he was obliged +to proceed on his journey, contenting himself with an exchange of complimentary +messages with the Queen, whom even the crushing blow of Naseby could not induce +to waive a point of etiquette with a Priest. +</p> + +<p> +On reaching Rochelle, where he intended to take shipping, a further delay of +six weeks took place, as was supposed by the machinations of Cardinal Mazarin. +Finally, the Nuncio succeeded in purchasing a frigate of 26 guns, the <i>San +Pietro</i>, on which he embarked with all his Italian suite, Sir Richard +Belling, and several Franco-Irish officers. He had also on board a considerable +sum in Spanish gold, (including another contribution of 36,000 dollars from +Father Wadding,) 2,000 muskets, 2,000 cartouch belts, 4,000 swords, 2,000 pike +heads, 400 brace of pistols, 20,000 pounds of powder, with match, shot, and +other stores. Weighing from St. Martin's in the Isle of Rhe, the <i>San +Pietro</i> doubled the Land's End, and stood over towards the Irish coast. The +third day out they were chased for several hours by two Parliamentary cruisers, +but escaped under cover of the night; on the fourth morning, being the 21st of +October, they found themselves safely embayed in the waters of Kenmare, on the +coast of Kerry. +</p> + +<p> +The first intelligence which reached the Nuncio on landing, was the negotiation +of Glamorgan, of which he had already heard, while waiting a ship at Rochelle. +The next was the surrender by the Earl of Thomond, of his noble old castle of +Bunratty, commanding the Shannon within six miles of Limerick, to the Puritans. +This surrender had, however, determined the resolution of the city of Limerick, +which hitherto had taken no part in the war, to open its gates to the +Confederates. The loss of Bunratty was more than compensated by the gaining of +one of the finest and strongest towns in Munster, and to Limerick accordingly +the Nuncio paid the compliment of his first visit. Here he received the mitre +of the diocese in dutiful submission from the hands of the Bishop, on entering +the Cathedral; and here he celebrated a solemn requiem mass for the repose of +the soul of the Archbishop of Tuam, lately slain before Sligo. From Limerick, +borne along on his litter, such was the feebleness of his health, he advanced +by slow stages to Kilkenny, escorted by a guard of honour, despatched on that +duty, by the Supreme Council. +</p> + +<p> +The pomp and splendour of his public entry into the Catholic capital was a +striking spectacle. The previous night he slept at a village three miles from +the city, for which he set out early on the morning of the 13th of November, +escorted by his guard, and a vast multitude of the people. Five delegates from +the Supreme Council accompanied him. A band of fifty students mounted on +horseback met him on the way, and their leader, crowned with laurel, recited +some congratulatory Latin verses. At the city gate he left the litter and +mounted a horse richly housed; here the procession of the clergy and the city +guilds awaited him; at the Market Cross, a Latin oration was delivered in his +honour, to which he graciously replied in the same language. From the Cross he +was escorted to the Cathedral, at the door of which he was received by the aged +Bishop, Dr. David Rothe. At the high altar he intonated the <i>Te Deum</i>, and +gave the multitude the apostolic benediction. Then he was conducted to his +lodgings, where he was soon waited upon by Lord Muskerry and General Preston, +who brought him to Kilkenny Castle, where, in the great gallery, which elicited +even a Florentine's admiration, he was received in stately formality by the +President of the Council—Lord Mountgarrett. Another Latin oration on the +nature of his embassy was delivered by the Nuncio, responded to by Heber, +Bishop of Clogher, and so the ceremony of reception ended. +</p> + +<p> +The Nuncio brought from Paris a new subject of difficulty, in the form of a +memorial from the English Catholics at Rome, praying that they might be +included in the terms of any peace which might be made by their Irish +co-religionists with the King. Nothing could be more natural than that the +members of the same persecuted church should make common cause, but nothing +could be more impolitic than some of the demands made in the English memorial. +They wished it to be stipulated with Charles, that he would allow a distinct +military organization to the English and Irish Catholics in his service, under +Catholic general officers, subject only to the King's commands, meaning +thereby, if they meant what they said, independence of all parliamentary and +ministerial control. Yet several of the stipulations of this memorial were, +after many modifications and discussions, adopted by Glamorgan into his +original articles, and under the treaty thus ratified, the Confederates bound +themselves to despatch 10,000 men, fully armed and equipped, to the relief of +Chester and the general succour of the King in England. Towards the close of +December, the English Earl, with two Commissioners from the Supreme Council, +set forth for Dublin, to obtain the Viceroy's sanction to the amended treaty. +But in Dublin a singular counterplot in this perplexed drama awaited them. On +St. Stephen's day, while at dinner, Glamorgan was arrested by Ormond, on a +charge of having exceeded his instructions, and confined a close prisoner in +the castle. The gates of the city were closed, and every means taken to give +<i>éclat</i> to this extraordinary proceeding. The Confederate Commissioners +were carried to the castle, and told they might congratulate themselves on not +sharing the cell prepared for Glamorgan. "Go back," they were told, "to +Kilkenny and tell the President of the Council, that the Protestants of England +would fling the King's person out at his window, <i>if they believed it +possible</i> that he lent himself to such an undertaking." The Commissioners +accordingly went back and delivered their errand, with a full account of all +the circumstances. Fortunately, the General Assembly had been called for an +early day in January, 1646, at Kilkenny. When, therefore, they met, their first +resolution was to despatch Sir Robert Talbot to the Viceroy, with a letter +suspending all negotiations till the Earl of Glamorgan was set at liberty. By +the end of January, on the joint bail, for 40,000 pounds, of the Earls of +Clanrickarde and Kildare, the English envoy was enlarged, and, to the still +further amazement of the simple-minded Catholics, on his arrival at Kilkenny, +he justified rather than censured the action of Ormond. To most observers it +appeared that these noblemen understood each other only too well. +</p> + +<p> +From January till June, Kilkenny was delivered over to cabals, intrigues, and +recriminations. There was an "old Irish party," to which the Nuncio inclined, +and an "Anglo-Irish party," headed by Mountgarrett and the majority of the +Council. The former stigmatized the latter as Ormondists, and the latter +retorted on them with the name of the Nuncio's party. In February came news of +a foreign treaty made at Rome between Sir Kenelm Digby and the Pope's +Ministers, most favourable to the English and Irish Catholics. On the 28th of +March, a final modification of Glamorgan's articles, reduced to thirty in +number, was signed by Ormond for the King, and Lord Muskerry and the other +Commissioners for the Confederates. These thirty articles conceded, in fact, +all the most essential claims of the Irish; they secured them equal rights as +to property, in the Army, in the Universities, and at the Bar; they gave them +seats in both Houses and on the Bench; they authorized a special commission of +Oyer and Terminer, composed wholly of Confederates; they declared that "the +independency of the Parliament of Ireland on that of England," should be +decided by declaration of both Houses "agreeably to the laws of the Kingdom of +Ireland." In short, this final form of Glamorgan's treaty gave the Irish +Catholics, in 1646, all that was subsequently obtained either for the church or +the country, in 1782, 1793, or 1829. Though some conditions were omitted, to +which Rinuccini and a majority of the Prelates attached importance, Glamorgan's +treaty was, upon the whole, a charter upon which a free church and a free +people might well have stood, as the fundamental law of their religious and +civil liberties. +</p> + +<p> +The treaty, thus concluded at the end of March, was to lie as an <i>escroll</i> +in the hands of the Marquis of Clanrickarde till the 1st of May, awaiting Sir +Kenelm Digby with the Roman protocol. And then, not withstanding the +dissuasions of Rinuccini to the contrary, it was to be kept secret from the +world, though some of its obligations were expected to be at once fulfilled, on +their side, by the Catholics. The Supreme Council, ever eager to exhibit their +loyalty, gathered together 6,000 troops for the relief of Chester and the +service of the King in England, so soon as both treaties—the Irish and +the Roman—should be signed by Charles. While so waiting, they besieged +and took Bunratty castle—already referred to—but Sir Kenelm Digby +did not arrive with May, and they now learned, to their renewed amazement, that +Glamorgan's whole negotiation was disclaimed by the King in England. In the +same interval Chester fell, and the King was obliged to throw himself into the +hands of the Scottish Parliament, who surrendered him for a price to their +English coadjutors. These tidings reached Ireland during May, and, varied with +the capture of an occasional fortress, lost or won, occupied all men's minds. +But the first days of June were destined to bring with them a victory of +national—of European importance—won by Owen O'Neil, in the +immediate vicinity of his grand-uncle's famous battle-field of the Yellow Ford. +</p> + +<p> +During these three years of intrigue and negotiation, the position of General +O'Neil was hazardous and difficult in the extreme. One campaign he had served +under a stranger, as second on his own soil. In the other two he was fettered +by the terms of "cessation" to his own quarters; and to add to his +embarrassments, his impetuous kinsman Sir Phelim, brave, rash, and ambitious, +recently married to a daughter of his ungenerous rival, General Preston, was +incited to thwart and obstruct him amongst their mutual clansmen and +connections. The only recompense which seems to have been awarded to him, was +the confidence of the Nuncio, who, either from that knowledge of character in +which the Italians excel, or from bias received from some other source, at once +singled him out as the man of his people. What portion of the Nuncio's supplies +reached the Northern General we know not, but in the beginning of June, he felt +himself in a position to bring on an engagement with Monroe, who, lately +reinforced by both Parliaments, had marched out of Carrickfergus into Tyrone, +with a view of penetrating as far south as Kilkenny. On the 4th day of June, +the two armies encountered at Benburb, on the little river Blackwater, about +six miles north of Armagh, and the most signal victory of the war came to +recompense the long-enduring patience of O'Neil. +</p> + +<p> +The battle of Benburb has been often and well described. In a naturally strong +position—with this leader the choice of ground seems to have been a first +consideration—the Irish, for four hours, received and repulsed the +various charges of the Puritan horse. Then as the sun began to descend, pouring +its rays upon the opposing force, O'Neil led his whole force—five +thousand men against eight—to the attack. One terrible onset swept away +every trace of resistance. There were counted on the field, 3,243 of the +Covenanters, and of the Catholics, but 70 killed and 100 wounded. Lord Ardes, +and 21 Scottish officers, 32 standards, 1,500 draught horses, and all the guns +and tents, were captured. Monroe fled in panic to Lisburn, and thence to +Carrickfergus, where he shut himself up, till he could obtain reinforcements. +O'Neil forwarded the captured colours to the Nuncio, at Limerick, by whom they +were solemnly placed in the choir of St. Mary's Cathedral, and afterwards, at +the request of Pope Innocent, sent to Rome. <i>Te Deum</i> was chanted in the +Confederate Capital; penitential psalms were sung in the Northern fortress. +"The Lord of Hosts," wrote Monroe, "had rubbed shame on our faces, till once we +are humbled;" O'Neil emblazoned the cross and keys on his banner with the Red +Hand of Ulster, and openly resumed the title originally chosen by his adherents +at Clones, "the Catholic Army." +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap73"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br/> +FROM THE BATTLE OF BENBURB TILL THE LANDING OF CROMWELL AT DUBLIN.</h3> + +<p> +The Nuncio, elated by the great victory of O'Neil, to which he felt he had +personally contributed by his seasonable supplies, provoked and irritated by +Ormond's intrigues and the King's insincerity, rushed with all the ardour of +his character into making the war an uncompromising Catholic crusade. In this +line of conduct, he was supported by the Archbishops of Dublin and Cashel, by +ten of the Bishops, including the eminent Prelates of Limerick, Killalla, +Ferns, and Clogher; the Procurator of Armagh; nine Vicars-general, and the +Superiors of the Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Augustinians. The peace +party, on the other hand, were not without clerical adherents, but they were +inconsiderable, as to influence and numbers. They were now become as anxious to +publish the Thirty Articles agreed upon at the end of March, as they then were +to keep them secret. Accordingly, with Ormond's consent, copies of the treaty +were sent early in August to the sheriffs of counties, mayors of cities, and +other leading persons, with instructions to proclaim it publicly in due form; +upon hearing which, the Nuncio and his supporters of the clergy, secular and +regular, assembled in council at Waterford, on the 12th of August, solemnly +declared that they gave no consent, and would not, "to any peace," that did not +grant "further, surer, and safer considerations for their religion, king, and +country," according to the original oath of the Confederacy. +</p> + +<p> +The rupture between the clergy and the laymen of the Council was now complete. +The prelates who signed the decree of Waterford, of course, thereby withdrew +from the body whose action they condemned. In vain the learned Darcy and the +eloquent Plunkett went to and fro between the two bodies: concord and +confidence were at an end. The synod decided to address Lord Mountgarrett in +future as President of "the <i>late</i> Supreme Council." The heralds who +attempted to publish the Thirty Articles in Clonmel and Waterford were hooted +or stoned; while in Limerick the mayor, endeavouring to protect them, shared +this rough usage. Ormond, who was at Kilkenny at the critical moment of the +breach, did his utmost to sustain the resolution of those who were stigmatized +by his name; while the Nuncio, suspicious of Preston, wrote urgently to O'Neil +to lead his army into Leinster, and remove the remnant of the late council from +Kilkenny. All that those who held a middle course between the extremes could +do, was to advocate an early meeting of the General Assembly; but various +exigencies delayed this much-desired meeting, till the 10th day of January, +1647. +</p> + +<p> +The five intervening months were months of triumph for Rinuccini. Lord Digby +appeared at Dublin as a special agent from the King, to declare his consent to +Glamorgan's original terms; but Ormond still insisted that he had no authority +to go beyond the Thirty Articles. Charles himself wrote privately to Rinuccini, +promising to confirm everything which Glamorgan had proposed, as soon as he +should come into "the Nuncio's hands." Ormond, after a fruitless attempt to +convert O'Neil to his views, had marched southward with a guard of 1,500 foot, +and 500 horse, to endeavour to conciliate the towns, and to win over the Earl +of Inchiquin. In both these objects he failed. He found O'Neil before him in +his county palatinate of Tipperary, and the Mayor of Cashel informed him that +he dared not allow him into that city, for fear of displeasing the northern +general. Finding himself thus unexpectedly within a few miles of "the Catholic +Army," 10,000 strong, the Viceroy retreated precipitately through Kilkenny, +Carlow, and Kildare, to Dublin. Lord Digby, who had accompanied him, after an +unsuccessful attempt to cajole the Synod of Waterford, made the best of his way +back to France; the Marquis of Clanrickarde, who had also been of the +expedition, shared the flight of Ormond. Towards the middle of September, +O'Neil's army, after capturing Roscrea Castle, marched to Kilkenny, and +encamped near that city. His forces had now augmented to 12,000 foot, and 1,500 +horse; on the 18th of the month, he escorted the Nuncio in triumph into +Kilkenny, where the Ormondist members of the old council were committed to +close custody in the castle. A new council, of four bishops and eight laymen, +was established on the 26th, with the Nuncio as president; Glamorgan succeeded +Castlehaven, who had gone over to Ormond, as commander in Munster; while O'Neil +and Preston were ordered to unite their forces for the siege of Dublin. The +sanguine Italian dreamt of nothing less, for the moment, than the creation of +Viceroys, the deliverance of the King, and the complete restoration of the +ancient religion. +</p> + +<p> +O'Neil and Preston, by different routes, on which they were delayed in taking +several garrisoned posts, united at Lucan in the valley of the Liffey, seven +miles west of Dublin, on the 9th of November. Their joint forces are +represented at 16,000 foot, and 1,600 horse—of which Preston had about +one-third, and O'Neil the remainder. Preston's head-quarters were fixed at +Leixlip, and O'Neil's at Newcastle—points equi-distant, and each within +two hours' march of the capital. Within the walls of that city there reigned +the utmost consternation. Many of the inhabitants fled beyond seas, terrified +by the fancied cruelty of the Ulstermen. But Ormond retained all his presence +of mind, and readiness of resources. He entered, at first covertly, into +arrangements with the Parliamentarians, who sent him a supply of powder; he +wrote urgently to Monroe to make a diversion in his favour; he demolished the +mills and suburbs which might cover the approaches of the enemy; he employed +soldiers, civilians, and even women, upon the fortifications,—Lady +Ormond setting an example to her sex, in rendering her feeble assistance. +Clanrickarde, in Preston's tent, was doing the work of stimulating the old +antipathy of that general towards O'Neil, which led to conflicting advices in +Council, and some irritating personal altercations. To add to the Confederate +embarrassment, the winter was the most severe known for many years; from twenty +to thirty sentinels being frozen at night at their posts. On the 13th of +November, while the plan of the Confederate attack was still undecided, +commissioners of the Parliament arrived, with ample stores, in Dublin Bay. On +the next day they landed at Ringsend, and entered into negotiations with +Ormond; on the 16th the siege was raised, and on the 23rd Ormond broke off the +treaty, having unconsciously saved Dublin from the Confederates, by the +incorrect reports of supplies being received, which were finally carried +northward to Monroe. +</p> + +<p> +The month of January brought the meeting of the General Assembly. The +attendance in the great gallery of Ormond Castle was as large, and the +circumstances upon the whole as auspicious as could be desired, in the seventh +year of such a struggle. The members of the old council, liberated from arrest, +were in their places. O'Neil and Preston, publicly reconciled, had signed a +solemn engagement to assist and sustain each other. The Nuncio, the Primate of +Ireland, and eleven bishops took their seats; the peers of oldest title in the +kingdom were present; two hundred and twenty-four members represented the +Commons of Ireland, and among the spectators sat the ambassadors of France and +Spain, and of King Charles. The main subject of discussion was the sufficiency +of the Thirty Articles, and the propriety of the ecclesiastical censure +promulgated against those who had signed them. The debate embraced all that may +be said on the question of clerical interference in political affairs, on +conditional and unconditional allegiance, on the power of the Pontiff speaking +<i>ex cathedra</i>, and the prerogatives of the temporal sovereign. It was +protracted through an entire month, and ended with a compromise, which declared +that the Commissioners had acted in good faith in signing the articles, while +it justified the Synod of Waterford for having, as judges of the nature and +intent of the oath of Confederation, declared them insufficient and +unacceptable. A new oath of Confederacy, solemnly binding the associates not to +lay down their arms till they had established the free and public exercise of +religion as it had existed in the reign of Henry VII., was framed and taken by +the entire General Assembly; the Thirty Articles were declared insufficient and +unacceptable by all but a minority of twelve votes; a new Supreme Council of +twenty-four was chosen, in whom there were not known to be above four or five +partisans of Ormond's policy. The church plate throughout the kingdom was +ordered to be coined into money, and a formal proposal to co-operate with the +Viceroy on the basis of the new oath was made, but instantly rejected; among +other grounds, on this, that the Marquis had, at that moment, his son and and +other sureties with the Puritans who, in the last resort, he infinitely +preferred to the Roman Catholics. +</p> + +<p> +The military events of the year 1647 were much more decisive than its politics. +Glamorgan still commanded in Munster, Preston in Leinster, and O'Neil in both +Ulster and Connaught. The first was confronted by Inchiquin, at the head of a +corps of 5,000 foot and 1,500 horse, equipped and supplied by the English +Puritans; the second saw the garrisons of Dundalk, Drogheda, and Dublin, +reinforced by fresh regiments of Covenanters, and fed by Parliamentary supplies +from the sea; the latter was in the heart of Connaught, organizing and +recruiting and attempting all things within his reach, but hampered for money, +clothing and ammunition. In Connaught, O'Neil was soon joined by the Nuncio, +who, as difficulties thickened, began to lean more and more on the strong arm +of the victor of Benburb; in Munster, the army refused to follow the lead of +Glamorgan, and clamoured for their old chief, Lord Muskerry; finally, that +division of the national troops was committed by the Council to Lord Taafe, a +politician of the school of Ormond and Clanrickarde, wholly destitute of +military experience. The vigorous Inchiquin had little difficulty in dealing +with such an antagonist; Cashel was taken without a blow in its defence, and a +slaughter unparalleled till the days of Drogheda and Wexford, deluged its +streets and churches. At Knocknos, later in the autumn (Nov. 12th), Taafe was +utterly routed; the gallant <i>Colkitto</i>, serving under him, lamentably +sacrificed after surrendering his sword; and Inchiquin enabled to dictate a +cessation covering Munster—far less favourable to Catholics than the +truce of Castlemartin—to the Supreme Council. This truce was signed at +Dungarvan, on the 20th of May, 1648, and on the 27th the Nuncio published his +solemn decree of excommunication against all its aiders and abettors, and +himself made the best of his way from Kilkenny to Maryboro', where O'Neil then +lay. +</p> + +<p> +The military and political situation of O'Neil, during the latter months of +1647 and the whole of 1648, was one of the most extraordinary in which any +general had ever been placed. His late sworn colleague, Preston, was now +combined with Inchiquin against him; the royalist Clanrickarde, in the western +counties, pressed upon his rear, and captured his garrison in Athlone; the +Parliamentary general, Michael Jones, to whom Ormond had finally surrendered +Dublin, observed rather than impeded his movements in Leinster; the lay +majority of the Supreme Council proclaimed him a traitor—a compliment +which he fully returned; the Nuncio threw himself wholly into his hands; +finally, at the close of '48, Ormond, returning from France to Ireland, +concluded, on the 17th of January, a formal alliance with the lay members, +under the title of "Commissioners of Trust," for the King and Kingdom; and +Rinuccini, despairing, perhaps, of a cause so distracted, sailed in his own +frigate, from Galway, on the 23rd of February. Thus did the actors change their +parts, alternately triumphing and fleeing for safety. The verdict of history +may condemn the Nuncio, of whom we have now seen the last, for his imperious +self-will, and his too ready recourse to ecclesiastical censures; but of his +zeal, his probity, and his disinterestedness, there can be, we think, no second +opinion. +</p> + +<p> +Under the treaty of 1649—which conceded full civil and religious equality +to the Roman Catholics—Ormond was once more placed at the head of the +government and in command of the royal troops. A few days after the signing of +that treaty, news of the execution of Charles I. having reached Ireland, the +Viceroy proclaimed the Prince of Wales by the title of Charles II., at Cork and +Youghal. Prince Rupert, whose fleet had entered Kinsale, caused the same +ceremony to be gone through in that ancient borough. With Ormond were now +cordially united Preston, Inchiquin, Clanrickarde, and Muskerry, on whom the +lead of the Supreme Council devolved, in consequence of the advanced age of +Lord Mountgarrett, and the remainder of the twelve Commissioners of Trust. The +cause of the young Prince, an exile, the son of that Catholic queen from whom +they had expected so much, was far from unpopular in the southern half of the +island. The Anglican interest was strong and widely diffused through both +Leinster and Munster; and, except a resolute prelate, like Dr. French, Bishop +of Ferns, or a brave band of townsmen like those of Waterford, Limerick, and +Galway, or some remnant of mountain tribes, in Wicklow and Tipperary, the +national, or "old Irish policy," had decidedly lost ground from the hour of the +Nuncio's departure. +</p> + +<p> +Owen O'Neil and the Bishops still adhered to that national policy. The former +made a three-months' truce with General Monck, who had succeeded Monroe in the +command of all the Parliamentary troops in his province. The singular spectacle +was even exhibited of Monck forwarding supplies to O'Neil, to be used against +Inchiquin and Ormond, and O'Neil coining to the rescue of Coote, and raising +for him the siege of Londonderry. Inchiquin, in rapid succession, took +Drogheda, Trim, Dundalk, Newry, and then rapidly countermarched to join Ormond +in besieging Dublin. At Rathmines, near the city, both generals were surprised +and defeated by the Parliamentarians under Michael Jones. Between desertions, +and killed and wounded, they lost, by their own account, nearly 3,000, and by +the Puritan accounts, above 5,000 men. This action was the virtual close of +Ormond's military career; he never after made head against the Parliamentary +forces in open field. The Catholic cities of Limerick and Galway refused to +admit his garrisons; a synod of the Bishops, assembled at Jamestown (in +Roscommon), strongly recommended his withdrawal from the kingdom; and Cromwell +had arrived, resolved to finish the war in a single campaign. Ormond sailed +again for France, before the end of 1649, to return no more until the +restoration of the monarchy, on the death of the great Protector. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap74"></a>CHAPTER X.<br/> +CROMWELL'S CAMPAIGN—-1649-1650.</h3> + +<p> +An actor was now to descend upon the scene, whose character has excited more +controversy than that of any other personage of those times. Honoured as a +saint, or reprobated as a hypocrite, worshipped for his extraordinary +successes, or anathematized for the unworthy artifices by which he +rose—who shall deal out, with equal hand, praise and blame to Oliver +Cromwell? Not for the popular writer of Irish history, is that difficult +judicial task. Not for us to re-echo cries of hatred which convince not the +indifferent, nor correct the errors of the educated or cultivated: the simple, +and, as far as possible, the unimpassioned narrative of facts, will constitute +the whole of our duty towards the Protector's campaign in Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +Cromwell left London in great state, early in July, "in a coach drawn by six +gallant Flanders mares," and made a sort of royal procession across the country +to Bristol. From that famous port, where Strongbow confederated with Dermid +McMurrogh, and from which Dublin drew its first Anglo-Norman colony, he went on +to Milford Haven, at which he embarked, arriving in Dublin on the 15th of +August. He entered the city in procession, and addressed the townsfolk from "a +convenient place." He had with him two hundred thousand pounds in money, eight +regiments of foot, six of horse, and some troops of dragoons; besides the +divisions of Jones and Monck, already in the country, and subject to his +command. Among the officers were names of memorable interest—Henry +Cromwell, second son of the Protector, and future Lord Deputy; Monck, Blake, +Jones, Ireton, Ludlow, Hardress Waller, Sankey, and others equally prominent in +accomplishing the King's death, or in raising up the English commonwealth. +</p> + +<p> +Cromwell's command in Ireland extends from the middle of August, 1649, to the +end of May, 1650, about nine months in all, and is remarkable for the number of +sieges of walled towns crowded into that brief period. There was, during the +whole time, no great action in the field, like Marston Moor, or Benburb, or +Dunbar; it was a campaign of seventeenth century cannon against mediaeval +masonry; what else was done, was the supplemental work of mutual bravery on +both sides. Drogheda, Dundalk, Newry, and Carlingford fell in September; +Arklow, Enniscorthy, and Wexford in October; Ross, one of the first seaports in +point of commerce, surrendered the same month; Waterford was attempted and +abandoned in November; Dungarvan, Kinsale, Bandon, and Cork were won over by +Lord Broghill in December; Fethard, Callan, and Cashel in January and February; +Carrick and Kilkenny in March; and Clonmel, early in May. Immediately after +this last capitulation, Cromwell was recalled to lead the armies of the +Parliament into Scotland: during the nine months he had commanded in Ireland, +he had captured five or six county capitals, and a great number of less +considerable places. The terror of his siege-trains and Ironsides was spread +over the greater part of three Provinces, and his well-reported successes had +proved so many steps to the assumption of that sovereign power at which he +already aimed. +</p> + +<p> +Of the spirit in which these several sieges were conducted, it is impossible to +speak without a shudder. It was, in truth, a spirit of hatred and fanaticism, +altogether beyond the control of the revolutionary leader. At Drogheda, the +work of slaughter occupied five entire days. Of the brave garrison of 3,000 +men, not thirty were spared, and these, "were in hands for the Barbadoes;" old +men, women, children and priests, were unsparingly put to the sword. Wexford +was basely betrayed by Captain James Stafford, commander of the castle, whose +midnight interview with Cromwell, at a petty rivulet without the walls, +tradition still recounts with horror and detestation. This port was +particularly obnoxious to the Parliament, as from its advantageous position on +the Bristol channel, its cruisers greatly annoyed and embarrassed their +commerce. "There are," Cromwell writes to Speaker Lenthall, "great quantities +of iron, hides, tallow, salt, pipe and barrel staves, which are under +commissioners' hands to be secured. We believe there are near a hundred cannon +in the fort and elsewhere in and about the town. Here is likewise some very +good shipping; here are three vessels, one of them of thirty-four guns, which a +week's time would fit for sea; there is another of about twenty guns, very +nearly ready likewise." He also reports two other frigates, one on the stocks, +which "for her handsomeness' sake" he intended to have finished for the +Parliament, and another "most excellent vessel for sailing," taken within the +fort, at the harbour's mouth. By the treachery of Captain Stafford, this strong +and wealthy town was at the mercy of those "soldiers of the Lord and of +Gideon," who had followed Oliver to his Irish wars. The consequences were the +same as at Drogheda—merciless execution on the garrison and the +inhabitants. +</p> + +<p> +In the third month of Cromwell's campaign, the report of Owen O'Neil's death +went abroad, palsying the Catholic arms. By common consent of friend and foe, +he was considered the ablest civil and military leader that had appeared in +Ireland during the reigns of the Stuart kings. Whether in native ability he was +capable of coping with Cromwell, was for a long time a subject of discussion; +but the consciousness of irreparable national loss, perhaps, never struck +deeper than amid the crash of that irresistible cannonade of the walled towns +and cities of Leinster and Munster. O'Neil had lately, despairing of binding +the Scots or the English, distrustful alike of Coote and of Monck, been +reconciled to Ormond, and was marching southward to his aid at the head of +6,000 chosen men. Lord Chancellor Clarendon assures us that Ormond had the +highest hopes from this junction, and the utmost confidence in O'Neil's +abilities. But at a ball at Derry, towards the end of August, he received his +death, it is said, in a pair of poisoned russet leather slippers presented to +him by one Plunkett; marching southward, borne in a litter, he expired at +Clough Oughter Castle, near his old Belturbet camp, on the 6th of November, +1649. His last act was to order one of his nephews—Hugh O'Neil—to +form a junction with Ormond in Munster without delay. In the chancel of the +Franciscan Abbey of Cavan, now grass-grown and trodden by the hoofs of cattle, +his body was interred; his nephew and successor did honour to his memory at +Clonmel and Limerick. It was now remembered, even by his enemies, with +astonishment and admiration, how for seven long years he had subsisted and kept +together an army, the creature of his genius; without a government at his back, +without regular supplies, enforcing obedience, establishing discipline, winning +great victories, maintaining, even at the worst, a native power in the heart of +the kingdom. When the archives of those years are recovered (if they ever are), +no name more illustrious for the combination of great qualities will be found +preserved there than the name of this last national leader of the illustrious +lineage of O'Neil. +</p> + +<p> +The unexpected death of the Ulster general favoured still farther Cromwell's +southern movements. The gallant, but impetuous Bishop of Clogher, Heber +McMahon, was the only northern leader who could command confidence enough to +keep O'Neil's force together, and on him, therefore, the command devolved. +O'Ferrall, one of Owen's favourite officers, was despatched to Waterford, and +mainly contributed to Cromwell's repulse before that city; Hugh O'Neil covered +himself with glory at Clonmel and Limerick; Daniel O'Neil, another nephew of +Owen, remained attached to Ormond, and accompanied him to France; but within +six months from the loss of their Fabian chief, who knew as well when to strike +as to delay, the brave Bishop of Clogher sacrificed the remnant of "the +Catholic Army" at the pass of Scariffhollis, in Donegal, and, two days after, +his own life by a martyr's death, at Omagh. At the date of Cromwell's +departure—when Ireton took command of the southern army—there +remained to the Confederates only some remote glens and highlands of the North +and West, the cities of Limerick and Galway, with the county of Clare, and some +detached districts of the province of Connaught. +</p> + +<p> +The last act of Cromwell's proper campaign was the siege of Clonmel, where he +met the stoutest resistance he had anywhere encountered. The Puritans, after +effecting a breach, made an attempt to enter, chanting one of their scriptural +battle-songs. They were, by their own account, "obliged to give back a while," +and finally night settled down upon the scene. The following day, finding the +place no longer tenable, the garrison silently withdrew to Waterford, and +subsequently to Limerick. The inhabitants demanded a parley, which was granted; +and Cromwell takes credit, and deserves it, when we consider the men he had to +humour, for having kept conditions with them. +</p> + +<p> +From before Clonmel he returned at once to England, where he was received with +royal honours. All London turned out to meet the Conqueror who had wiped out +the humiliation of Benburb, and humbled the pride of the detested Papists. He +was lodged in the palace of the king, and chosen "Captain-general of all the +forces raised, or to be raised, by the authority of the Parliament of England." +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap75"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br/> +CLOSE OF THE CONFEDERATE WAR.</h3> + +<p> +The tenth year of the contest of which we have endeavoured to follow the most +important events, opened upon the remaining Catholic leaders, greatly reduced +in numbers and resources, but firm and undismayed. Two chief seaports, and some +of the western counties still remained to them; and accordingly we find +meetings of the Bishops and other notables during this year (1650), at +Limerick, at Loughrea, and finally at Jamestown, in the neighbourhood of Owen +O'Neil's nursery of the first "Catholic Army." +</p> + +<p> +The Puritan commander was now Henry Ireton, son-in-law of Cromwell, by a +marriage contracted about two years before. The completion of the Protector's +policy could have devolved upon few persons more capable of understanding, or +more fearless in executing it; and in two eventful campaigns he proved himself +the able successor of the Protector. In August following Cromwell's departure, +Waterford and Duncannon were taken by Ireton; and there only remained to the +Confederates the fortresses of Sligo, Athlone, Limerick, and Galway, with the +country included within the irregular quadrangle they describe. The younger +Coote making a feint against Sligo, which Clanrickarde hastened to defend, +turned suddenly on his steps, and surprised Athlone. Sligo, naturally a place +of no great strength after the invention of artillery, soon after fell, so that +Galway and Limerick alone were left, at the beginning of 1651, to bear all the +brunt of Puritan hostility. +</p> + +<p> +Political events of great interest happened during the two short years of +Ireton's command. The Assembly, which met at Jamestown in August, and again at +Loughrea in November, 1650, made the retirement of Ormond from the Government a +condition of all future efforts in the royal cause, and that nobleman, deeply +wounded by this condition, had finally sailed from Galway, in December, leaving +to Clanrickarde the title of Lord Deputy, and to Castlehaven the command of the +forces which still kept the field. The news from Scotland of the young king's +subscription to the covenant, and denunciation of all terms with Irish Papists, +came to aid the councils of those, who, like the eloquent French, Bishop of +Ferns, demanded a national policy, irrespective of the exigencies of the Stuart +family. An embassy was accordingly despatched to Brussels, to offer the title +of King-Protector to the Duke of Lorraine, or failing with him, to treat with +any "other Catholic prince, state, republic, or person, as they might deem +expedient for the preservation of the Catholic religion and nation." A wide +latitude, dictated by desperate circumstances. The ambassadors were Bishop +French and Hugh Rochfort; the embassy one of the most curious and instructive +in our annals. +</p> + +<p> +The Duke expressed himself willing to undertake an expedition to +Ireland—to supply arms and money to the Confederates—on the +condition of receiving Athlone, Limerick, Athenry and Galway into his custody, +with the title of Protector. A considerable sum of money (20,000 pounds) was +forwarded at once; four Belgian frigates laden with stores were made ready for +sea; the Canon De Henin was sent as envoy to the Confederates, and this last +venture looked most promising of success, had not Clanrickarde in Galway, and +Charles and Ormond in Paris, taking alarm at the new dignity conferred upon the +Duke, countermined the Bishop of Ferns and Mr. Rochfort, and defeated by +intrigue and correspondence their hopeful enterprise. +</p> + +<p> +The decisive battle of Worcester, fought on the 3rd of September, 1651, drove +Charles II. into that nine years' exile, from which he only returned on the +death of Cromwell. It may be considered the last military event of importance +in the English civil war. In Ireland the contest was destined to drag out +another campaign, before the walls of the two gallant cities, Galway and +Limerick. +</p> + +<p> +Limerick was the first object of attack. Ireton, leaving Sankey to administer +martial law in Tipperary, struck the Shannon opposite Killaloe, driving +Castlehaven before him. Joined by Coote and Reynolds, fresh from the sieges of +Athenry and Athlone, he moved upon Limerick by the Connaught bank of the river, +while Castlehaven fled to Clanrickarde in Galway, with a guard of forty horse, +all that remained intact of the 4,000 men bequeathed him by Ormond. From the +side of Munster, Lord Muskerry attempted a diversion in favour of Limerick, but +was repulsed at Castleishen, by "the flying camp" of Lord Broghill. The +besiegers were thus not only delivered of a danger, but reinforced by native +troops—if the "Undertakers" could be properly called so—which made +them the most formidable army that had ever surrounded an Irish city. From +early summer till the last week of October, the main force of the English and +Anglo-Irish, supplied with every species of arm then invented, assailed the +walls of Limerick. The plague, which during these months swept with such +fearful mortality over the whole kingdom, struck down its defenders, and filled +all its streets with desolation and grief. The heroic bishops, O'Brien of Emly, +and O'Dwyer of Limerick, exerted themselves to uphold, by religious +exhortations, the confidence of the besieged; while Hugh O'Neil and General +Purcell maintained the courage of their men. Clanrickarde had offered to charge +himself with the command, but the citizens preferred to trust in the skill and +determination of the defender of Clonmel, whose very name was a talisman among +them. The municipal government, however, composed of the men of property in the +city, men whose trade was not war, whose religion was not enthusiastic, formed +a third party,—a party in favour of peace at any price. With the Mayor at +their head, they openly encouraged the surrender of one of the outworks to the +besiegers, and this betrayal, on the 27th of October, compelled the surrender +of the entire works. Thus Limerick fell, divided within itself by military, +clerical, and municipal factions; thus glory and misfortune combined to +consecrate its name in the national veneration, and the general memory of +mankind. The Bishop of Emly and General Purcell were executed as traitors; the +Bishop of Limerick escaped in the disguise of a common soldier, and died at +Brussels; O'Neil's life was saved by a single vote; Sir Geoffrey Gabney, +Aldermen Stritch and Fanning, and other leading Confederates, expiated their +devotion upon the scaffold. +</p> + +<p> +On the 12th of May following—seven months after the capture of Limerick, +Galway fell. Ireton, who survived the former siege but a few days, was +succeeded by Ludlow, a sincere republican of the school of Pym and +Hampden—if that school can be called, in our modern sense, republican. It +was the sad privilege of General Preston, whose name is associated with so many +of the darkest, and with some of the brightest incidents of this war, to order +the surrender of Galway, as he had two years previously given up Waterford. +Thus the last open port, the last considerable town held by the Confederates, +yielded to the overwhelming power of numbers and munitions, in the twelfth year +of that illustrious war which Ireland waged for her religious and civil +liberties, against the forces of the two adjoining kingdoms, sometimes +estranged from one another, but always hostile alike to the religious belief +and the political independence of the Irish people. +</p> + +<p> +With the fall of Galway, the Confederate war drew rapidly to a close. Colonels +Fitzpatrick, O'Dwyer, Grace, and Thorlogh O'Neil, surrendered their posts; +Lords Enniskillen and West-Meath followed their example; Lord Muskerry yielded +Ross Castle, on Killarney, in June; Clanrickarde laid down his arms at Carrick, +in October. The usual terms granted were liberty to transport themselves and +followers to the service of any foreign state or prince at peace with the +commonwealth; a favoured few were permitted to live and die in peace on their +own estates, under the watchful eye of some neighbouring garrison. +</p> + +<p> +The chief actors in the Confederate war not already accounted for, terminated +their days under many different circumstances. Mountgarrett and Bishop Rothe +died before Galway fell, and were buried in the capital of the Confederacy; +Bishop McMahon of Clogher, surrendered to Sir Charles Coote, and was executed +like a felon by one he had saved from destruction a year before at Derry; +Coote, after the Restoration, became Earl of Mountrath, and Broghill, Earl of +Orrery; Clanrickarde died unnoticed on his English estate, under the +Protectorate; Inchiquin, after many adventures in foreign lands, turned +Catholic in his old age, and this burner of churches bequeathed an annual alms +for masses for his soul; Jones, Corbet, Cook, and the fanatical preacher, Hugh +Peters, perished on the scaffold with the other regicides executed by order of +the English Parliament; Ormond having shared the evils of exile with the King, +shared also the splendour of his restoration, became a Duke, and took his +place, as if by common consent, at the head of the peerage of the empire; his +Irish rental, which before the war was but 7,000 pounds a year, swelled +suddenly on the Restoration to 80,000 pounds; Nicholas French, after some +sojourn in Spain, where he was coadjutor to the Archbishop of Saint James, +returned to Louvain, where he made his first studies, and there spent the +evening of his days in the composition of those powerful pamphlets which kept +alive the Irish cause at home and on the continent; a Roman patrician did the +honours of sepulture to Luke Wadding, and Cromwell interred James Usher in +Westminster Abbey; the heroic defender of Clonmel and Limerick, and the +gallant, though vacillating Preston, were cordially received in France; while +the consistent republican, Ludlow, took refuge as a fugitive in Switzerland. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Phelim O'Neil, the first author of the war, was among the last to suffer +the penalties of defeat. For a moment, towards the end, he renewed his sway +over the remnant of Owen's soldiers, took Ballyshannon, and two or three other +places. Compelled at last to surrender, he was carried to Dublin, and tried on +a charge of treason, a committee closeted behind the bench dictating the +interrogatories to his judges, and receiving his answers in reply. Condemned to +death, as was expected, he was offered his life by the Puritan colonel, Hewson, +on the very steps of the scaffold, if he would inculpate the late King Charles +in the rising of 1641. This he "stoutly refused to do," and the execution +proceeded with all its atrocious details. Whatever may have been the excesses +committed under his command by a plundered people, at their first +insurrection—and we know that they have been exaggerated beyond all +bounds—it must be admitted he died the death of a Christian, a soldier, +and a gentleman. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap76"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br/> +IRELAND UNDER THE PROTECTORATE—ADMINISTRATION OF HENRY +CROMWELL—DEATH OF OLIVER.</h3> + +<p> +The English republic rose from the scaffold of the King, in 1649; its first +government was a "Council of State" of forty-one members; under this council, +Cromwell held at first the title of Lord General; but, on the 16th December, +1653, he was solemnly installed, in Westminster Hall, as "Lord Protector of the +Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland." He was then in his +fifty-fourth year; his reign—if such it may be called—lasted less +than five years. +</p> + +<p> +The policy of the Protector towards Ireland is even less defensible than his +military severities. For the barbarities of war there may be some apology, the +poor one at least that such outrages are inseparable from war itself; but for +the cold-blooded, deliberate atrocities of peace, no such defence can be +permitted before the tribunal of a free posterity. +</p> + +<p> +The Long Parliament, still dragging out its date, under the shadow of +Cromwell's great name, declared in its session of 1652, the rebellion in +Ireland "subdued and ended," and proceeded to legislate for that kingdom as a +conquered country. On the 12th of August, they passed their Act of Settlement, +the authorship of which was attributed to Lord Orrery, in this respect the +worthy son of the first Earl of Cork. Under this Act, there were four chief +descriptions of persons whose status was thus settled: 1st. All ecclesiastics +and royalist proprietors were exempted from pardon of life or estate. 2nd. All +royalist commissioned officers were condemned to banishment, and the forfeit of +two-thirds of their property, one-third being retained for the support of their +wives and children. 3rd. Those who had not been in arms, but could be shown, by +a Parliamentary commission, to have manifested "a constant, good affection" to +the war, were to forfeit one-third of their estates, and receive "an +equivalent" for the remaining two-thirds west of the Shannon. 4th. All +husbandmen and others of the inferior sort, "not possessed of lands or goods +exceeding the value of 10 pounds," were to have a free pardon, on condition +also of transporting themselves across the Shannon. +</p> + +<p> +This last condition of the Cromwellian settlement distinguished it, in our +annals, from every other proscription of the native population formerly +attempted. The great river of Ireland, rising in the mountains of Leitrim, +nearly severs the five western counties from the rest of the kingdom. The +province thus set apart, though one of the largest in superficial extent, had +also the largest proportion of waste and water, mountain and moorland. The new +inhabitants were there to congregate from all the other provinces before the +1st day of May, 1654, under penalty of outlawry and all its consequences; and +when there, they were not to appear within two miles of the Shannon or four +miles of the sea. A rigorous passport system, to evade which was death without +form of trial, completed this settlement, the design of which was to shut up +the remaining Catholic inhabitants from all intercourse with mankind, and all +communion with the other inhabitants of their own country. +</p> + +<p> +A new survey of the whole kingdom was also ordered, under the direction of Dr. +William Petty, the fortunate economist, who founded the house of Lansdowne. By +him the surface of the kingdom was estimated at ten millions and a half +plantation acres, three of which were deducted for waste and water. Of the +remainder, above 5,000,000 were in Catholic hands in 1641; 300,000 were church +and college lands; and 2,000,000 were in possession of the Protestant settlers +of the reigns of James and Elizabeth. Under the Protectorate, 5,000,000 acres +were confiscate; this enormous spoil, two-thirds of the whole island, went to +the soldiers and adventurers who had served against the Irish, or had +contributed to the military chest, since 1641—except 700,000 acres given +in "exchange" to the banished in Clare and Connaught; and 1,200,000 confirmed +to "innocent Papists." Such was the complete uprooting of the ancient tenantry +or clansmen, from their original holdings, that during the survey, orders of +Parliament were issued to bring back individuals from Connaught to point out +the boundaries of parishes in Munster. It cannot be imputed among the sins so +freely laid to the historical account of the native legislature, that an Irish +parliament had any share in sanctioning this universal spoliation. Cromwell +anticipated the union of the kingdoms by a hundred and fifty years, when he +summoned, in 1653, that assembly over which "Praise-God Barebones" presided; +members for Ireland and Scotland sat on the same benches with the commons of +England. Oliver's first deputy in the government of Ireland was his son-in-law, +Fleetwood, who had married the widow of Ireton; but his real representative was +his fourth son, Henry Cromwell, Commander-in-Chief of the army. In 1657, the +title of Lord Deputy was transferred from Fleetwood to Henry, who united the +supreme civil and military authority in his own person, until the eve of the +restoration, of which he became an active partisan. We may thus properly +embrace the five years of the Protectorate as the period of Henry Cromwell's +administration. +</p> + +<p> +In the absence of a Parliament, the government of Ireland was vested in the +Deputy, the Commander-in-Chief, and four commissioners, Ludlow, Corbett, Jones, +and Weaver. There was, moreover, a High Court of Justice, which perambulated +the kingdom, and exercised an absolute authority over life and property, +greater than even Strafford's Court of Castle Chamber had pretended to. Over +this court presided Lord Lowther, assisted by Mr. Justice Donnellan, by Cooke, +solicitor to the Parliament on the trial of King Charles, and the regicide, +Reynolds. By this court, Sir Phelim O'Neil, Viscount Mayo, and Colonels O'Toole +and Bagnall, were condemned and executed; by them the mother of Colonel +Fitzpatrick was burnt at the stake; and Lords Muskerry and Clanmaliere set at +liberty, through some secret influence. The commissioners were not behind the +High Court of Justice in executive offices of severity. Children under age, of +both sexes, were captured by thousands, and sold as slaves to the tobacco +planters of Virginia and the West Indies. Secretary Thurloe informs Henry +Cromwell that "the Committee of the Council have authorized 1,000 girls and as +many youths, to be taken up for that purpose." Sir William Petty mentions 6,000 +Irish boys and girls shipped to the West Indies. Some cotemporary accounts make +the total number of children and adults so transported 100,000 souls. To this +decimation, we may add 34,000 men of fighting age, who had permission to enter +the armies of foreign powers, at peace with the commonwealth. The chief +commissioners, sitting at Dublin, had their deputies in a commission of +delinquencies, sitting at Athlone, and another of transportation, sitting at +Loughrea. Under their superintendence, the distribution made of the soil among +the Puritans "was nearly as complete as that of Canaan by the Israelites." +Whenever native labourers were found absolutely necessary for the cultivation +of the estates of their new masters, they were barely tolerated "as the +Gibeonites had been by Joshua." Such Irish gentlemen as had obtained pardons, +were obliged to wear a distinctive mark on their dress under pain of death; +those of inferior rank were obliged to wear a round black spot on the right +cheek under pain of the branding iron and the gallows; if a Puritan lost his +life in any district inhabited by Catholics, the whole population were held +subject to military execution. For the rest, whenever "Tory" or recusant fell +into the hands of these military colonists, or the garrisons which knitted them +together, they were assailed with the war cry of the Jews—"That thy feet +may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and that the tongues of thy dogs +may be red with the same." Thus penned in between "the mile line" of the +Shannon, and "the four mile-line" of the sea, the remnant of the Irish nation +passed seven years of a bondage unequalled in severity by anything which can be +found in the annals of Christendom. +</p> + +<p> +The conquest was not only a military but a religious subjugation. The 27th of +Elizabeth—the old act of uniformity—was rigorously enforced. The +Catholic lawyers were disbarred and silenced; the Catholic schoolmasters were +forbidden to teach, under pain of felony. Recusants, surrounded in glens and +caves, offering up the holy sacrifice through the ministry of some daring +priest, were shot down or smoked out like vermin. The ecclesiastics never, in +any instance, were allowed to escape. Among those who suffered death during the +short space of the Protectorate, are counted "three bishops and three hundred +ecclesiastics." The surviving prelates were in exile, except the bedridden +Bishop of Kilmore, who for years had been unable to officiate. So that, now, +that ancient hierarchy which in the worst Danish wars had still recruited its +ranks as fast as they were broken, seemed on the very eve of extinction. +Throughout all the island no episcopal hand remained to bless altars, to ordain +priests, or to confirm the faithful. The Irish church as well as the Irish +state, touched its lowest point of suffering and endurance in the decade which +intervened between the death of Charles I. and the death of Cromwell. +</p> + +<p> +The new population imposed upon the kingdom, soon split up into a multitude of +sects. Some of them became Quakers: many adhered to the Anabaptists; others, +after the Restoration, conformed to the established church. That deeper +tincture of Puritanism which may be traced in the Irish, as compared with the +English establishment, took its origin even more from the Cromwellian +settlement than from the Calvinistic teachings of Archbishop Usher. +</p> + +<p> +Oliver died in 1658, on his "fortunate day," the 3rd of September, leaving +England to experience twenty months of republican intrigue and anarchy. Richard +Cromwell—Lambert—Ludlow—Monck—each played his part in +this stormy interval, till, the time being ripe for a restoration, Charles II. +landed at Dover on the 23rd of May, 1660 and was carried in triumph to London. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="part10"></a>BOOK X.<br/> +FROM THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES II. TO THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE I.</h3> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap77"></a>CHAPTER I.<br/> +REIGN OF CHARLES II.</h3> + +<p> +Hope is dear to the heart of man, and of all her votaries none have been more +constant than the Irish. Half a century of the Stuarts had not extinguished +their blind partiality for the descendants of the old Scoto-Irish kings. The +restoration of that royal house was, therefore, an event which penetrated to +the remotest wilds of Connaught, lighting up with cheering expectation the most +desolate hovels of the proscribed. To the Puritans settled in Ireland, most of +whom, from the mean condition of menial servants, common soldiers and subaltern +officers, had become rich proprietors, the same tidings brought apprehension +and alarm. But their leaders, the Protestant gentry of an earlier date, +wealthy, astute and energetic, uniting all their influence for the common +protection, turned this event, which seemed at one time to threaten their ruin, +to their advantage and greater security. The chief of these greater leaders was +the accomplished Lord Broghill, whom we are to know during this reign under his +more famous title of Earl of Orrery. +</p> + +<p> +The position of the Irish as compared with the English Puritans, was +essentially different in the eyes of Ormond, Clarendon, and the other +counsellors of the king. Though the former represented dissent as against the +church, they also represented the English as against the Irish interest, in +Ireland. As dissenters they were disliked and ridiculed, but as colonists they +could not be disturbed. When national antipathy was placed in one scale and +religious animosity in the other, the intensely national feeling of England for +the Cromwellians, as Englishmen settled in a hostile country, prevailed over +every other consideration. In this, as in all other conjunctures, it has been +the singular infelicity of the one island to be subjected to a policy directly +opposite to that pursued in the other. While in England it was considered wise +and just to break down the Puritans as a party—through the court, the +pulpit, and the press; to drive the violent into exile, and to win the lukewarm +to conformity; in Ireland it was decided to confirm them in their possessions, +to leave the government of the kingdom in their hands, and to strengthen their +position by the Acts of Settlement and Explanation. These acts were hailed as +"the Magna Charta of Irish Protestantism," but so far as the vast majority of +the people were concerned, they were as cruelly unjust as the revocation of the +Edict of Nantes, or the edicts which banished the Moors and Jews from the +Spanish peninsula. +</p> + +<p> +The struggle for possession of the soil inaugurated by the confiscations of +Elizabeth and James was continued against great odds by the Catholic Irish +throughout this reign. Though the royal declaration of Breda, which preceded +the restoration, had not mentioned them expressly, they still claimed under it +not only the "liberty to tender consciences," but that "just satisfaction" to +those unfairly deprived of their estates, promised in that declaration. +Accordingly, several of the old gentry returned from Connaught, or places +abroad, took possession of their old homes, or made their way at once to Dublin +or London, to urge their claims to their former estates. To their dismay, they +found in Dublin, Coote and Broghill established as Lords Justices, and the new +Parliament—the first that sat for twenty years—composed of an +overwhelming majority of Undertakers, adventurers, and Puritan representatives +of boroughs, from which all the Catholic electors had been long excluded. The +Protestant interest, or "ascendancy party," as it now began to be commonly +called, counted in the Commons 198 members to 64 Catholics; in the House of +Lords, 72 Protestant to 21 Catholic peers. The former elected Sir Audley Mervyn +their Speaker, and the able but curiously intricate and quaint discourses of +the ancient colleague of Kelly and Darcy in the assertion of Irish legislative +independence, shows how different was the spirit of Irish Protestantism in 1661 +as compared with 1641. The Lords chose Bramhall, the long-exiled Bishop of +Derry, now Archbishop of Armagh, as their Speaker, and attempted to compel +their members "to take the sacrament" according to the Anglican ritual. The +majority of both Houses, to secure the good-will of Ormond, voted him the sum +of 30,000 pounds, and then proceeded to consider "the Bill of Settlement," in +relation to landed property. The Catholic bar, which had been apparently +restored to its freedom, presented a striking array of talent, from which their +co-religionists selected those by whom they desired to be heard at the bar of +the House. The venerable Darcy and the accomplished Belling were no longer +their oracles of the law; but they had the services of Sir Nicholas Plunkett, +an old confederate, of Sir Richard Nagle, author of the famous "Coventry +Letter," of Nugent, afterwards Lord Riverston, and other able men. In the House +of Lords they had an intrepid ally in the Earl of Kildare, and in England an +agent equally intrepid, in Colonel Richard Talbot, afterwards Earl of +Tyrconnell. The diplomatic and parliamentary struggle between the two +interests, the disinherited and the new proprietory, was too protracted, and +the details are too involved for elucidation in every part; but the result +tells its own story. In 1675—in the fifteenth year of the +restoration—the new settlers possessed above 4,500,000 acres, to about +2,250,000 still retained by the old owners. These relative proportions were +exactly the reverse of those existing before the Cromwellian settlement; a +single generation had seen this great revolution accomplished in landed +property. +</p> + +<p> +The Irish Parliament having sent over to England the heads of their bill, +according to the constitutional rule established by Poyning's Act, the Irish +Catholics sent over Sir Nicholas Plunkett to obtain modifications of its +provisions. But Plunkett was met in England with such an outcry from the mob +and the press as to the alleged atrocities of the Confederate war, and his own +former negotiations on the continent, that he was unable to effect anything; +while Colonel Talbot, for his too warm expostulations with Ormond, was sent to +the Tower. An order of Council, forbidding Plunkett the presence, and declaring +that "no petition or further address be made from the Roman Catholics of +Ireland, as to the Bill of Settlement," closed the controversy, and the Act +soon after received the royal assent. +</p> + +<p> +Under this act, a court was established at Dublin, to try the claims of +"nocent" and "innocent." Notwithstanding every influence which could be brought +to bear on them, the judges, who were Englishmen, declared in their first +session, one hundred and sixty-eight innocent to nineteen nocent. Proceeding in +this spirit "to the great loss and dissatisfaction of the Protestants," the +latter, greatly alarmed, procured the interference of Ormond, now Lord +Lieutenant (1662), in effecting a modification of the commission, appointing +the court, by which its duration was limited to an early day. The consequence +was, that while less than 800 claims were decided on when the fatal day +arrived, over 3,000 were left unheard, at least a third of whom were admitted +even by their enemies to be innocent. About 500 others had been restored by +name in the Act of Settlement itself; but, by the Act of Explanation (1665), +"no Papist who had not been adjudged innocent" under the former act could be so +adjudged thereafter, "or entitled to claim any lands or settlements." Thus, +even the inheritance of hope, and the reversion of expectation, were +extinguished for ever for the sons and daughters of the ancient gentry of the +kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +The religious liberties of this people, so crippled in property and political +power, were equally at the mercy of the mob and of the monarch. To combat the +war of calumny waged against them by the Puritan press and pulpit, the leading +Catholics resolved to join in an official and authentic declaration of their +true principles, as to the spiritual power of the Pope, their allegiance to the +prince, and their relations to their fellow subjects of other denominations. +With this intention a meeting was held at the house of the Marquis of +Clanrickarde, in Dublin, at which Lords Clancarty, Carlingford, Fingal, +Castlehaven, and Inchiquin, and the leading commoners of their faith, were +present. At this meeting, Father Peter Walsh, a Franciscan, and an old courtier +of Ormond's, as "Procurator of all the Clergy of Ireland," secular and regular, +produced credentials signed by the surviving bishops or their +vicars—including the Primate O'Reilly, the Bishops of Meath, Ardagh, +Kilmore, and Ferns. Richard Belling, the secretary to the first Confederate +Council, and Envoy to Rome, submitted the celebrated document known as "The +Remonstrance," deeply imbued with the spirit of the Gallican church of that +day. It was signed by about seventy Catholic peers and commoners, by the Bishop +of Kilmore, by Procurator Walsh, and by the townsmen of Wexford—almost +the only urban community of Catholics remaining in the country. But the +propositions it contained as to the total independency of the temporal on the +spiritual power, and the ecclesiastical patronage of princes, were condemned at +the Sorbonne, at Louvain, and at Rome. The regular orders, by their several +superiors, utterly rejected it; the exiled bishops withdrew their proxies from +Father Walsh, and disclaimed his conduct; the Internuncio at Brussels, charged +with the affairs of the British Isles, denounced it as contrary to the canons; +and the elated Procurator found himself involved in a controversy from which he +never afterwards escaped, and with which his memory is still angrily +associated. +</p> + +<p> +The conduct of Ormond in relation to this whole business of the Remonstrance, +was the least creditable part of his administration. Writhing under the +eloquent pamphlets of the exiled Bishop of Ferns, keenly remembering his own +personal wrongs against the former generation of bishops, of whom but three or +four were yet living, he resolved "to work that division among the Romish +clergy," which he had long meditated. With this view, he connived at a meeting +of the surviving prelates and the superiors of regular orders, at Dublin, in +1666. To this synod safe conduct was permitted to the Primate O'Reilly, +banished to Belgium nine years before; to Peter Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin, +John Burke, Archbishop of Tuam, Patrick Plunkett, Bishop of Ardagh, the +vicars-general of other prelates, and the superiors of the regulars. This +venerable body deliberated anxiously for an entire week, Father Walsh acting as +ambassador between them and the Viceroy; at length, in spite of all politic +considerations, they unanimously rejected the servile doctrine of the +"Remonstrance," substituting instead a declaration of their own dictation. +Ormond now cast off all affectation of liberality; Primate O'Reilly was sent +back to his banishment, the other prelates and clergy were driven back to their +hiding-places, or into exile abroad, and the wise, experienced, high-spirited +duke, did not hesitate to avail himself of "the Popish plot" mania, which soon +after broke out, to avenge himself upon an order of men whom he could neither +break nor bend to his purposes! Of 1,100 secular priests, and 750 regulars, +still left, only sixty-nine had signed the Clanrickarde House Remonstrance. +</p> + +<p> +An incident of this same year—1666—illustrates more forcibly than +description could do, the malignant feeling which had been excited in England +against everything Irish. The importation of Irish cattle had long been +considered an English grievance, it was now declared by law "a nuisance." The +occasion taken to pass this statute was as ungracious as the act itself was +despicable. In consequence of "the great fire," which still glows for us in the +immortal verse of Dryden, the Irish had sent over to the distressed, a +contribution of 15,000 bullocks. This was considered by the generous recipients +a mere pretence to preserve the trade in cattle between the two kingdoms, and +accordingly both Houses, after some sharp resistance in the Lords', gravely +enacted that the importation of Irish beef into England was "a nuisance," to be +abated. From this period most probably dates the famous English sarcasm against +Irish bulls. +</p> + +<p> +The act prohibiting the export of cattle from Ireland, and the equally +exclusive and unjust Navigation Act—originally devised by +Cromwell—so paralyzed every Irish industry, that the Puritan party became +almost as dissatisfied as the Catholics. They maintained a close correspondence +with their brethren in England, and began to speculate on the possibilities of +another revolution. Ormond, to satisfy their demands, distributed 20,000 stand +of arms among them, and reviewed the Leinster Militia, on the Curragh, in 1667. +The next year he was recalled, and Lords Robarts, Berkely, and Essex, +successively appointed to the government. The first, a Puritan, and almost a +regicide, held office but a few months; the second, a cavalier and a friend of +toleration, for two years; while Essex, one of those fair-minded but yielding +characters, known in the next reign as "Trimmers," petitioned for his own +recall and Ormond's restoration, in 1676. The only events which marked these +last nine years—from Ormond's removal till his reappointment—were +the surprise of Carrickfergus by a party of unpaid soldiers, and their +desperate defence of that ancient stronghold; the embassies to and from the +Irish Catholics and the court, of Colonel Richard Talbot; and the establishment +of extensive woollen manufactories at Thomastown, Callan, and Kilkenny, under +the patronage of Ormond. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap78"></a>CHAPTER II.<br/> +REIGN OF CHARLES II. (CONCLUDED.)</h3> + +<p> +For the third time, the aged Ormond, now arrived at the period usually allotted +to the life of man, returned to Ireland, with the rank of Viceroy. During the +ensuing seven years, he clung to power with all the tenacity of his youth, and +all the policy of his prime; they were seven years of extraordinary sectarian +panic and excitement—the years of the Cabal, the Popish plot, and the +Exclusion Bill, in England—and of fanatical conspiracies and explosions +almost as dangerous in Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +The Popish plot mania held possession of the English people much longer than +any other moral epidemic of equal virulence. In the month of October, 1678, its +alleged existence in Ireland was communicated to Ormond; in July, 1681, its +most illustrious victim, Archbishop Plunkett, perished on the scaffold at +Tyburn. Within these two points of time what a chronicle of madness, folly, +perjury, and cruelty, might be written? +</p> + +<p> +Ormond, too old in statecraft to believe in the existence of these incredible +plots, was also too well aware of the dangerous element of fanaticism +represented by Titus Oates, and his imitators, to subject himself to suspicion. +On the first intelligence of the plot, he instantly issued his proclamation for +the arrest of Archbishop Talbot, of Dublin, who had been permitted to return +from exile under the rule of Lord Berkely, and had since resided with his +brother, Colonel Talbot, at Cartown, near Maynooth. This prelate was of +Ormond's own age, and of a family as ancient; while his learning, courage, and +morality, made him an ornament to his order. He was seized in his sick bed at +Cartown, carried to Dublin in a chair, and confined a close prisoner in the +castle, where he died two years later. He was the last distinguished captive +destined to end his days in that celebrated state prison, which has since been +generally dedicated to the peaceful purposes of reflected royalty. +</p> + +<p> +Colonel Talbot was at the same time arrested, but allowed to retire beyond +seas; Lord Mountgarrett, an octogenarian, and in his dotage, was seized, but +nothing could be made out against him; a Colonel Peppard was also denounced +from England, but no such person was found to exist. So far the first year of +the plot had passed over, and proved nothing against the Catholic Irish. But +the example of successful villainy in England, of Oates idolized, pensioned, +and all-powerful, extended to the sister kingdom, and brought an illustrious +victim to the scaffold. This was Oliver Plunkett, a scion of the noble family +of Fingal, who had been Archbishop of Armagh, since the death of Dr. O'Reilly, +in exile, in 1669. Such had been the prudence and circumspection of Dr. +Plunkett, during his perilous administration, that the agents of Lord +Shaftesbury, sent over to concoct evidence for the occasion, were afraid to +bring him to trial in the vicinage of his arrest, or in his own country. +Accordingly, they caused him to be removed from Dublin to London, contrary to +the laws and customs of both Kingdoms, which had first been violated towards +state prisoners in the case of Lord Maguire, forty years before. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Plunkett, after ten months' confinement without trial in Ireland, was +removed, 1680, and arraigned at London, on the 8th of June, 1681, without +having had permission to communicate with his friends or to send for witnesses. +The prosecution was conducted by Maynard and Jeffries, in violation of every +form of law, and every consideration of justice. A "crown agent," whose name is +given as Gorman, was introduced by "a stranger" in court, and volunteered +testimony in his favour. The Earl of Essex interceded with the King on his +behalf, but Charles answered, almost in the words of Pilate—"I cannot +pardon him, because I dare not. His blood be upon your conscience; you could +have saved him if you pleased." The Jury, after a quarter of an hour's +deliberation, brought in their verdict of guilty, and the brutal Chief-Justice +condemned him to be hung, emboweled, and quartered on the 1st day of July, +1681. The venerable martyr, for such he may well be called, bowed his head to +the bench, and exclaimed: <i>Deo gratias!</i> Eight years from the very day of +his execution, on the banks of that river beside which he had been seized and +dragged from his retreat, the last of the Stuart kings was stricken from his +throne, and his dynasty stricken from history! Does not the blood of the +innocent cry to Heaven for vengeance? +</p> + +<p> +The charges against Dr. Plunkett were, that he maintained treasonable +correspondence with France and Rome, and the Irish on the continent; that he +had organised an insurrection in Louth, Monaghan, Cavan, and Armagh; that he +made preparations for the landing of a French force at Carlingford; and that he +had held several meetings to raise men for these purposes. Utterly absurd and +false as these charges were, they still indicate the troubled apprehensions +which filled the dreams of the ascendency party. The fear of French invasion, +of new insurrections, of the resumption of estates, haunted them by night and +day. Every sign was to them significant of danger, and every rumour of +conspiracy was taken for fact. The report of a strange fleet off the Southern +coast, which turned out to be English, threw them all into panic; and the +Corpus Christi crosses which the peasantry affixed to their doors, were nothing +but signs for the Papist destroyer to pass by, and to spare his fellows in the +general massacre of Protestants. +</p> + +<p> +Under the pressure of these panics, real or pretended, proclamation after +proclamation issued from the Castle. By one of these instruments, Ormond +prohibited Catholics from entering the Castle of Dublin, or any other fortress; +from holding fairs or markets within the walls of corporate towns, and from +carrying arms to such resorts. By another, he declared all relatives of known +<i>Tories</i>—a Gaelic term for a driver of prey—to be arrested, +and banished the kingdom, within fourteen days, unless such Tories were killed, +or surrendered, within that time. Where this device failed to reach the +destined victims—as in the celebrated case of Count Redmond +O'Hanlon—it is to be feared that he did not hesitate to whet the dagger +of the assassin, which was still sometimes employed, even in the British +Islands, to remove a dangerous antagonist. Count O'Hanlon, a gentleman of +ancient lineage, as accomplished as Orrery, or Ossory, was indeed an outlaw to +the code then in force; but the stain of his cowardly assassination must for +ever blot and rot the princely escutcheon of James, Duke of Ormond. +</p> + +<p> +The violence of religious and social persecution began to subside during the +last two or three years of Charles II. Monmouth's banishment, Shaftesbury's +imprisonment, the execution of Russell and Sidney on the scaffold, marked the +return of the English public mind to political pursuits and objects. Early in +1685, the king was taken mortally ill. In his last moments he received the +rites of the Catholic church, from the hands of Father Huddleston, who was said +to have saved his life at the battle of Worcester, and who was now even more +anxious to save his soul. +</p> + +<p> +This event took place on the 16th of February. King James was immediately +proclaimed successor to his brother. One of his first acts was to recall Ormond +from Ireland and to appoint in his place the Earl of Clarendon, son of the +historian and statesman of the Restoration. Ormond obeyed, not without regret; +he survived his fall about three years. He was interred in Westminster in 1688, +three months before the landing of William, and the second banishment of the +Stuarts. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap79"></a>CHAPTER III.<br/> +THE STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNING IN IRELAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH +CENTURY.</h3> + +<p> +Before plunging into the troubled torrent of the revolution of 1688, let us +cast a glance back on the century, and consider the state of learning and +religion during those three generations. +</p> + +<p> +If we divide the Irish literature of this century by subjects, we shall find +extant a respectable body, both in quantity and quality, of theology, history, +law, politics, and poetry. If we divide it by the languages in which that +literature was written, we may consider it as Latin, Gaelic, and English. +</p> + +<p> +I. Latin continued throughout Europe, even till this late day, the language of +the learned, but especially of theologians, jurists, and historians. In Latin, +the great tomes of O'Sullivan, Usher, Colgan, Wadding, and White, were +written—volumes which remain as so many monuments of the learning and +industry of that age. The chief objects of these illustrious writers were, to +restore the ancient ecclesiastical history of Ireland, to rescue the memory of +her saints and doctors from oblivion, and to introduce the native annals of the +kingdom to the attention of Europe. Though Usher differed in religion, and in +his theory of the early connection of the Irish with the Roman Church, from all +the rest, yet he stands pre-eminent among them for labour and research. The +Waterford Franciscan, Wadding, can only be named with him for inexhaustible +patience, various learning, and untiring zeal. Both were honoured of princes +and parliaments. The Confederates would have made Wadding a cardinal; King +James made Usher an archbishop; one instructed the Westminster Assembly; the +other was sent by the King of Spain to maintain the thesis of the Immaculate +Conception at Rome, and subsequently was entrusted by the Pope to report upon +the propositions of Jansenius. O'Sullivan, Conde de Berehaven, in Spain, and +Peter White, have left us each two or three Latin volumes on the history of the +country, highly prized by all subsequent writers. But the most indispensable of +the legacies left us in this tongue, are Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum"—from +January to March—and Dr. John Lynch's "Cambrensis Eversus." Many other +works and authors might be mentioned, but these are the great Latinists to whom +we are indebted for the most important services rendered to our national +history. +</p> + +<p> +II. In the Gaelic literature of the country we count Geoffrey Keating, Duald +McFirbis, and "the Four Masters" of Donegal. Few writers have been more rashly +judged than Keating. A poet, as well as a historian, he gave a prominence in +the early chapters of his history to bardic tales, which English critics have +seized upon to damage his reputation for truthfulness and good sense. But these +tales he gives as tales—as curious and illustrative—rather than as +credible and unquestionable. The purity of his style is greatly extolled by +Gaelic critics; and the interest of his narrative, even in a translation, is +undoubted. McFirbis, an annalist and genealogist by inheritance, is known to us +not only for his profound native lore, and tragic death, but also for the +assistance he rendered Sir James Ware, Dr. Lynch, and Roderick O'Flaherty. The +master-piece, however, of our Gaelic literature of this age, is the work now +called "The Annals of the Four Masters." In the reign of James I., a few +Franciscan friars, living partly in Donegal Abbey and partly in St. Anthony's +College, at Louvain, undertook to collect and collate all the manuscript +remains of Irish antiquity they could gather or borrow, or be allowed to copy. +Father Hugh Ward was the head of this group, and by him the lay brother Michael +O'Clery, one of the greatest benefactors his country ever saw, was sent from +Belgium to Ireland. From 1620 to 1630, O'Clery travelled through the kingdom, +buying or transcribing everything he could find relating to the lives of the +Irish saints, which he sent to Louvain, where Ward and Colgan undertook to edit +and illustrate them. Father Ward died in the early part of the undertaking, but +Father Colgan spent twenty years in prosecuting the original design, so far as +concerned our ecclesiastical biography. +</p> + +<p> +After collecting these materials, Father O'Clery waited, as he tells us, on +"the noble Fergall O'Gara," one of the two knights elected to represent the +county of Sligo in the Parliament of 1634, and perceiving the anxiety of +O'Gara, "from the cloud which at present hangs over our ancient Milesian race," +he proposed to collect the civil and military annals of Erin into one large +digest. O'Gara, struck with this proposal, freely supplied the means, and +O'Clery and his coadjutors set to work in the Franciscan Convent of Donegal, +which still stood, not more than half in ruins. +</p> + +<p> +On the 22nd of January, 1632, they commenced this digest, and on the 10th of +August, 1636, it was finished—having occupied them four years, seven +months and nineteen days. The MS., dedicated to O'Gara, is authenticated by the +superiors of the convent; from that original two editions have recently been +printed in both languages. +</p> + +<p> +These annals extend to the year 1616, the time of the compilers. Originally +they bore the title of "Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland," but Colgan having +quoted them as "The Annals of the Four Masters," that name remains ever since. +The "Four Masters" were Brother Michael O'Clery, Conary and Peregrine O'Clery, +his brothers, both laymen and natives of Donegal, and Florence Conroy of +Roscommon, another hereditary antiquary. +</p> + +<p> +The first edition of the New Testament, in the Gaelic tongue, so far as we are +aware, appeared at Dublin, in 1603, in quarto. The translation was the work of +a native scholar, O'Cionga (Anglicized King). It was made at the expense and +under the supervision of Dr. William O'Donnell, one of the first fellows of +Trinity, and published at the cost of the people of Connaught. Dr. O'Donnell, +an amiable man, and an enemy of persecution, became subsequently Archbishop of +Tuam, in which dignity he died, in 1628. A translation of the Book of Common +Prayer, by O'Donnell, appeared early in the century, and towards its close +(1685), a translation of the Old Testament, made for Bishop Bedell by the +Gaelic scholars of Meath and Cavan, was published at the expense of the famous +Robert Boyle. Bedell had also caused to be published Gaelic translations of +certain homilies of Saint Leo and Saint John Chrysostom, on the importance of +studying the holy Scriptures. The only other Gaelic publications of this period +were issued from the Irish colleges at Louvain and Rome. Thence issued the +devotional tracts of Conroy, of Gernon, and O'Molloy, and the Irish grammars of +O'Clery and Stapleton. The devotional tracts, with their fanciful titles, of +"Lamps," and "Mirrors," were smuggled across from Ostend and Dunkirk with other +articles of contraband, and did much to keep alive the flame of faith and hope +in the hearts of the Gaelic-speaking population. +</p> + +<p> +The bardic order also, though shorn of much of their ancient splendour, and +under the Puritan <i>regime</i> persecuted as vagrants, still flourished as an +estate of the realm. The national tendency to poetic writing was not confined +to the hereditary verse-makers, but was illustrated by such men as the martyred +Plunkett, and the Bishops of Meath and Kerry—Dr. Thomas Dease, and Dr. +John O'Connell. But the great body of Gaelic verse of the first half of this +century is known under the name of "The Contentions of the Bards," the subject +being the relative dignity, power, and prowess of the North and South. The +gauntlet in this poetic warfare, was thrown down by McDaire, the Bard of Donogh +O'Brien, fourth Earl of Thomond, and taken up on the part of Ulster by Lewy +O'Clery. Reply led to rejoinder, and one epistle to another, until all the +chief bards of the four provinces had taken sides. Half a dozen writers, +<i>pro</i> and <i>con</i>, were particularly distinguished; McDaire himself, +Turlogh O'Brien, and Art Oge O'Keefe on behalf of the Southerners; O'Clery, +O'Donnell, the two McEgans, and Robert McArthur on the side of the North. +</p> + +<p> +An immense mass of devotional Gaelic poetry may be traced to this period. The +religious wars, the calamities of the church and of the people, inspired many a +priest and layman to seize the harp of David, and pour forth his hopes and +griefs in sacred song. The lament of Mac Ward over the Ulster princes buried at +Rome, the odes of Dermod Conroy and Flan McNamee, in honour of our Blessed +Lady, are of this class. Thus it happened that the bardic order, which in +ancient times was the formidable enemy of Christianity, became, through +adversity and affliction, its greatest supporter. +</p> + +<p> +III. Our Hiberno-English literature is almost entirely the creation of this +century. Except some few remarkable state papers, we have no English writings +of any reputation of an earlier period. Now, however, when the language of the +empire, formed and enriched by the great minds of Elizabeth's era, began to +extend its influence at home and abroad, a school of Hiberno-English writers +appeared, both numerous and distinguished. This school was as yet composed +mainly of two classes—the dramatic poets, and the pamphleteers. Of the +latter were Bishop French, Sir Richard Nagle, Sir Richard Belling, Lord Orrery, +Father Peter Walsh, and William Molyneux; of the former, Ludowick Barry, Sir +John Denham, the Earl of Roscommon, and Richard Flecknoe,—the Mac +Flecknoe of Dryden. It is true there appeared as yet no supreme name like +Swift's; but as indicating the gradual extension of the English language into +Ireland, the popular pamphlets and pieces written for the stage, are +illustrations of our mental life not to be overlooked. +</p> + +<p> +Of the ancient schools of the island, after the final suppression of the +college at Galway in 1652, not one remained. A diocesan college at Kilkenny, +and the Dublin University, were alone open to the youth of the country. But the +University remained exclusively in possession of the Protestant interest, nor +did it give to the world during the century, except Usher, Ware and Orrery, any +graduate of national, not to say, European reputation. In the bye-ways of the +South and West, in the Irish colleges on the continent of Europe—at +Paris, Louvain, Lisle, Salamanca, Lisbon, or Rome—the children of the +proscribed majority could alone acquire a degree in learning, human or divine. +It was as impossible two centuries ago, to speak of Trinity College with +respect, as it is in our time, remembering all it has since done, to speak of +it without veneration. +</p> + +<p> +Though the Established Church had now completed its century and a half of +existence, it was as far from the hearts of the Irish as ever. Though the +amiable Bedell and the learned O'Donnell had caused the sacred Scriptures to be +translated into the Gaelic tongue, few converts had been made from the Catholic +ranks, while the spirit of animosity was inflamed by a sense of the cruel and +undeserved disabilities inflicted in the name of religion. The manifold sects +introduced under Cromwell gave a keener edge to Catholic contempt for the +doctrines of the reformation; and although the restoration of the monarchy +threw the extreme sectaries into the shade, it added nothing to the influence +of the church, except the fatal gift of political patronage. For the first +time, the high dignity of Archbishop of Armagh began to be regarded as the +inheritance of the leader of the House of Lords; then Brahmall and Boyle laid +the foundation of that primatial power which Boulter and Stone upheld under +another dynasty, but which vanished before the first dawn of Parliamentary +independence. +</p> + +<p> +In the quarter of a century which elapsed from the restoration to the +revolution, the condition of the Catholic clergy and laity was such as we have +already described. In 1662, an historian of the Jesuit missionaries in Ireland +described the sufferings of ecclesiastics as deplorable; they were forced to +fly to the herds of cattle in remote places, to seek a refuge in barns and +stables, or to sleep at night in the porticoes of temples, lest they should +endanger the safety of the laity. In that same year, Orrery advised Ormond to +purge the walled towns of Papists, who were still "three to one Protestant;" in +1672, Sir William Petty computed them at "eight to one" of the entire +population. +</p> + +<p> + "So captive Israel multiplied in chains." +</p> + +<p> +The martyrdom of the Archbishop of Dublin, in 1680, and of the Archbishop of +Armagh in 1681, were, however, the last of a series of executions for +conscience' sake, from the relation of which the historian might well have been +excused, if it was not necessary to remind our emancipated posterity at what a +price they have been purchased. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap80"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br/> +ACCESSION OF JAMES II.—TYRCONNELL'S ADMINISTRATION.</h3> + +<p> +From the accession of King James till his final flight from Ireland, in July, +1690, there elapsed an interval of five years and five months; a period fraught +with consequences of the highest interest to this history. The new King was, on +his accession, in his fifty-second year; he had served, as Duke of York, with +credit both by land and sea, was an avowed Catholic, and married to a Catholic +princess, the beautiful and unfortunate Mary of Modena. +</p> + +<p> +Within a month from the proclamation of the King, Ormond quitted the government +for the last time, leaving Primate Boyle, and Lord Granard, as Justices. In +January, 1686, Lord Clarendon, son of the historian, assumed the government, in +which he continued, till the 16th of March, 1687. The day following the +national anniversary, Colonel Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell, a Catholic, +and the former agent for the Catholics, was installed as Lord Deputy. Other +events, connecting these with each other, had filled with astonishment and +apprehension the ascendancy party. +</p> + +<p> +James proceeded openly with what he hoped to make a counter-reformation of +England, and to accomplish which he relied on France on the one hand, and +Ireland on the other. In both cases he alarmed the fears and wounded the pride +of England; but when he proceeded from one illegality to another, when he began +to exercise a dispensing power above the laws—to instruct the judges, to +menace the parliament, and imprison the bishops—the nobility, the +commons, and the army gradually combined against him, and at last invited over +the Prince of Orange, as the most capable vindicator of their outraged +constitution. +</p> + +<p> +The headlong King had a representative equally rash, in Tyrconnell. He was a +man old enough to remember well the uprising of 1641, had lived in intimacy +with James as Duke of York, was personally brave, well skilled in intrigue, but +vain, loud-spoken, confident, and incapable of a high command in military +affairs. The colonelcy of an Irish regiment, the earldom of Tyrconnell, and a +seat in the secret council or cabinet of the King, were honours conferred on +him during the year of James's accession. When Clarendon was named +Lord-Lieutenant at the beginning of 1686, Tyrconnell was sent over with him as +Lieutenant-General of the army. At his instigation, a proclamation was issued, +that "all classes" of his Majesty's subjects might be allowed to serve in the +army; and another, that all arms hitherto given out should be deposited, for +greater security, at one of the King's stores provided for the purpose in each +town or county. Thus that exclusively Protestant militia, which for twenty +years had executed the Act of Settlement and the Act of Uniformity in every +quarter of the kingdom, found themselves suddenly disarmed, and a new Catholic +army rising on their ruins. The numbers disbanded are nowhere stated; they +probably amounted to 10,000 or 15,000 men and very naturally they became warm +partisans of the Williamite revolution. The recriminations which arose between +the new and the old militia were not confined to the nicknames, Whig and Tory, +or to the bandying of sarcasms on each others' origin; swords were not +unfrequently drawn, and muskets discharged, even in the streets of Dublin, +under the very walls of the Castle. +</p> + +<p> +Through Tyrconnell's influence, a similar revolution had been wrought in the +exclusive character of the courts of justice, and the corporations of towns, to +that which remodelled the militia. Rice, Daly, and Nugent, were elevated to the +bench during Lord Clarendon's time; the Corporation of Dublin having refused to +surrender their exclusive charter, were summarily rejected by a <i>quo +warranto</i>, issued in the exchequer; other towns were similarly treated, or +induced to make surrender, and a new series of charters at once granted by +James, entitling Catholics to the freedom of the boroughs, and the highest +municipal offices. And now, for the first time in that generation, Catholic +mayors and sheriffs, escorted by Catholic troops as guards of honour, were seen +marching in open day to their own places of worship, to the dismay and +astonishment of the ascendancy party. Not that all Protestants were excluded +either from town councils, the militia, or the bench, but those only were +elected or appointed who concurred in the new arrangements, and were, +therefore, pretty certain to forfeit the confidence of their co-religionists in +proportion as they deserved that of the Deputy. Topham and Coghill, Masters in +Chancery, were deprived of their offices, and the Protestant Chancellor was +arbitrarily removed to make way for Baron Rice, a Catholic. The exclusive +character of Trinity College was next assailed, and though James did not +venture to revoke the charter of Elizabeth, establishing communion with the +Church of England as the test of fellowship, the internal administration was in +several particulars interfered with, its plate was seized in the King's name +under plea of being public property, and the annual parliamentary grant of 388 +pounds was discontinued. These arbitrary acts filled the more judicious +Catholics with apprehension, but gained the loud applause of the unreasoning +multitude. Dr. Macguire, the successor of the martyred Plunkett, who felt in +Ulster the rising tide of resistance, was among the signers of a memorial to +the King, dutifully remonstrating against the violent proceedings of his +Deputy. From Rome also, disapprobation was more than once expressed, but all +without avail; neither James nor Talbot could be brought to reason. The +Protestants of the eastern and southern towns and counties who could contrive +to quit their homes, did so; hundreds fled to Holland to return in the ranks of +the Prince of Orange; thousands fled to England, bringing with them their tale +of oppression, embellished with all the bitter exaggeration of exiles; ten +thousand removed from Leinster into Ulster, soon to recross the Boyne, under +very different auspices. Very soon a close correspondence was established +between the fugitives in Holland, England, and Ulster, and a powerful lever was +thus placed in the hands of the Prince of Orange, to work the downfall of his +uncle and father-in-law. But the best allies of William were, after all, the +folly and fatuity of James. The importation of Irish troops, by entire +battalions, gave the last and sorest wound to the national pride of England, +and still further exasperated the hatred and contempt which his majesty's +English regiments had begun to feel for their royal master. +</p> + +<p> +Tyrconnell, during the eventful summer months when the revolution was ripening +both in Holland and England, had taken, unknown even to James, a step of the +gravest importance. To him the first intelligence of the preparations of +William were carried by a ship from Amsterdam, and by him they were +communicated to the infatuated King, who had laughed at them as too absurd for +serious consideration. But the Irish ruler, fully believing his informants, and +never deficient in audacity, had at once entered into a secret treaty with +Louis XIV. to put Ireland under the protection of France, in the event of the +Prince of Orange succeeding to the British throne. No proposition could more +entirely suit the exigencies of Louis, of whom William was by far the ablest +and most relentless enemy. The correspondence which has come to light in recent +times, shows the importance which he attached to Tyrconnell's +proposition—an importance still further enhanced by the direct but +unsuccessful overture made to the earl by William himself, on landing in +England, and before embarking in the actual invasion of Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +William Henry, Prince of Orange, now about to enter on the scene, was in 1688 +in the thirty-seventh year of his age. Fearless of danger, patient, silent, +impervious to his enemies, rather a soldier than a statesman, indifferent in +religion, and personally adverse to persecution for conscience' sake, his great +and almost his only public passion was the humiliation of France through the +instrumentality of a European coalition. As an anti-Gallican, as the +representative of the most illustrious Protestant family in Europe, as allied +by blood and marriage to their kings, he was a very fit and proper chief for +the English revolutionists; but for the two former of these reasons he was just +as naturally antipathetic to the Catholic and Celtic majority of the Irish. His +designs had been long gradually maturing, when James's incredible imprudence +hastened his movements. Twenty-four ships of war were assembled at +Helvoetsluys; 7,000 sailors were put on board; all the veterans of the +Netherlands were encamped at Nimeguen, where 6,000 recruits were added to their +numbers. On the 5th of November, the anniversary of the gunpowder plot, "the +Deliverer," as he was fondly called in England, landed at Torbay; on the 25th +of December, James, deserted by his nobles, his army, and even his own +unnatural children, arrived, a fugitive and a suppliant, at the court of +France. +</p> + +<p> +A few Irish incidents of this critical moment deserve mention. The mania +against everything Irish took in England forms the most ludicrous and absurd. +Wharton's doggerel refrain of Lillibullero, was heard in every circle outside +the court; all London, lighted with torches, and marshalled under arms, awaited +during the memorable "Irish night" the advent of the terrible and detested +regiments brought over by Tyrconnell; some companies of these troops quartered +in the country were fallen upon by ten times their numbers, and cut to pieces. +Others, fighting and inquiring their way, forced a passage to Chester or +Bristol, and obtained a passage home. They passed at sea, or encountered on the +landing-places, multitudes of the Protestant Irish, men, women and children, +flying in exactly the opposite direction. Tyrconnell was known to meditate the +repeal of the Act of Settlement; the general rumour of a Protestant massacre +fixed for the 9th of December, originated no one knew how, was spread about no +one knew by whom. In vain the Lord Deputy tried to stay the panic—his +assurance of protection, and the still better evidence of their own experience, +which proved the Irish Catholics incapable of such a project, could not allay +their terrors. They rushed into England by every port, and inflamed still more +the hostility which already prevailed against King James. +</p> + +<p> +In Ulster, David Cairnes of Knockmany, the Rev. John Kelso of Enniskillen, a +Presbyterian, and Rev. George Walker of Donaghmore, an Anglican minister, were +active instruments of the Prince of Orange. On the 7th of December the gates of +Derry were shut by "the youthhood" against the Earl of Antrim and his +Highlanders. Enniskillen was seized by a similar impulse of the popular will, +and an association was quickly formed throughout Ulster in imitation of the +English association which had invited over William, under the auspices of Lord +Blaney, Sir Arthur Rawdon, Sir Clotworthy Skeffington, and others, "for the +maintenance of the Protestant religion and the dependency of Ireland upon +England." By these associates, Sligo, Coleraine, and the fort of Culmore, at +the mouth of the Foyle, were seized for King William; while the Town Council of +Derry, in order to gain time, despatched one ambassador with one set of +instructions to Tyrconnell, and another, with a very different set, to "the +Committee for Irish Affairs," which sat at Whitehall, under the presidency of +the Earl of Shrewsbury. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap81"></a>CHAPTER V.<br/> +KING JAMES IN IRELAND—IRISH PARLIAMENT OF 1689.</h3> + +<p> +A few days after his arrival in France, James despatched a messenger to +Tyrconnell, with instructions expressing great anxiety as to the state of +affairs in Ireland. "I am sure," wrote the fugitive monarch, "you will hold out +to the utmost of your power, and I hope this king will so press the Hollanders, +that the Prince of Orange will not have men to spare to attack you." All the +aid he could obtain from Louis at the moment was 7,000 or 8,000 muskets, which +were sent accordingly. +</p> + +<p> +Events succeeded each other during the first half of the year 1689 with +revolutionary rapidity. The conventions of England and Scotland, though far +from being unanimous, declared by immense majorities, that James had abdicated, +and that William and Mary should be offered the crowns of both kingdoms. In +February, they were proclaimed as king and queen of "England, France, and +Ireland," and in May, the Scottish commissioners brought them the tender of the +crown of Scotland. The double heritage of the Stuart kings was thus, after +nearly a century of possession, transferred by election to a kindred prince, to +the exclusion of the direct descendants of the great champion of "the right +divine," who first united under his sceptre the three kingdoms. +</p> + +<p> +James, at the Court of France, was duly informed of all that passed at London +and Edinburgh. He knew that he had powerful partizans in both conventions. The +first fever of popular excitement once allayed, he marked with exultation the +symptoms of reaction. There was much in the circumstances attending his flight +to awaken popular sympathy, and to cast a veil over his errors. The pathetic +picture drawn of parental suffering by the great dramatist in the character of +King <i>Lear</i>, seemed realized to the life in the person of King James. +Message followed message from the three kingdoms, urging him to return and +place himself at the head of his faithful subjects in a war against the +usurper. The French king approved of these recommendations, for in fighting +James's battle he was fighting his own, and a squadron was prepared at Brest to +carry the fugitive back to his dominions. Accompanied by his natural sons, the +Duke of Berwick and the Grand Prior Fitzjames, by Lieutenant-Generals de Rosen +and de Maumont, Majors-General de Pusignan and de Lery (or Geraldine), about a +hundred officers of all ranks, and 1,200 veterans, James sailed from Brest, +with a fleet of 33 vessels, and landed at Kinsale on the 12th day of March +(<i>old style</i>). His reception by the Southern population was enthusiastic +in the extreme. From Kinsale to Cork, from Cork to Dublin, his progress was +accompanied by Gaelic songs and dances, by Latin orations, loyal addresses, and +all the decorations with which a popular favourite can be welcomed. Nothing was +remembered by that easily pacified people but his great misfortunes and his +steady fidelity to his and their religion. Fifteen chaplains, nearly all Irish, +accompanied him, and added to the delight of the populace; while many a +long-absent soldier, now came back in the following of the king, to bless the +sight of some aged parent or faithful lover. The royal entry into Dublin was +the crowning pageant of this delusive restoration. With the tact and taste for +such demonstrations hereditary in the citizens, the trades and arts were +marshalled before him. Two venerable harpers played on their national +instruments near the gate by which he entered; a number of religious in their +robes, with a huge cross at their head, chanted as they went; forty young +girls, dressed in white, danced the ancient <i>Rinka</i>, scattering flowers as +they danced. The Earl of Tyrconnell, lately raised to a dukedom, the judges, +the mayor and corporation, completed the procession, which marched over newly +sanded streets, beneath arches of evergreens and windows hung with "tapestry +and cloth of Arras." Arrived at the castle the sword of state was presented to +him by the deputy, and the keys of the city by the recorder. At the inner +entrance, the primate, Dr. Dominick Macguire, waited in his robes to conduct +him to the chapel, lately erected by Tyrconnell, where <i>Te Deum</i> was +solemnly sung. But of all the incidents of that striking ceremonial, nothing +more powerfully impressed the popular imagination than the green flag floating +from the main tower of the castle, bearing the significant +inscription—"<i>Now or Never—Now and Forever</i>." +</p> + +<p> +A fortnight was devoted by James in Dublin to daily and nightly councils and +receptions. The chief advisers who formed his court were the Count d'Avaux, +Ambassador of France, the Earl of Melfort, principal Secretary of State, the +Duke of Tyrconnell, Lieutenant-General Lord Mountcashel, Chief Justice Nugent, +and the superior officers of the army, French and Irish. One of the first +things resolved upon at Dublin was the appointment of the gallant Viscount +Dundee as Lieutenant-General in Scotland—and the despatch to his +assistance of an Irish auxiliary force, which served under that renowned chief +with as much honour as their predecessors had served under Montrose. +Communications were also opened through the Bishop of Chester with the west of +England Jacobites, always numerous in Cheshire, Shropshire, and other counties +nearest to Ireland. Certain changes were then made in the Privy Council; Chief +Justice Keating's attendance was dispensed with as one opposed to the new +policy, but his judicial functions were left untouched. Dr. Cartwright, Bishop +of Chester, and the French Ambassador were sworn in, and writs were issued +convoking the Irish Parliament for the 7th day of May following. +</p> + +<p> +Intermitting, for the present, the military events which marked the early +months of the year, we will follow the acts and deliberations of King James's +Parliament of 1689. The Houses met, according to summons, at the appointed +time, in the building known as "the Inns of Court," within a stone's throw of +the castle. There were present 228 Commoners, and 46 members of the Upper +House. In the Lords several Protestant noblemen and prelates took their seats, +and some Catholic peers of ancient date, whose attainders had been reversed, +were seen for the first time in that generation in the front rank of their +order. In the Lower House the University and a few other constituencies were +represented by Protestants, but the overwhelming majority were Catholics, +either of Norman or Milesian origin. The King made a judicious opening speech, +declaring his intention to uphold the rights of property, and to establish +liberty of conscience alike for Protestant and Catholic. He referred to the +distressed state of trade and manufactures, and recommended to the attention of +the Houses, those who had been unjustly deprived of their estates under the +"Act of Settlement." +</p> + +<p> +Three measures passed by this Parliament entitle its members to be enrolled +among the chief assertors of civil and religious liberty. One was the "Act for +establishing Liberty of Conscience," followed by the supplemental act that all +persons should pay tithes only to the clergy of their own communion. An act +abolishing writs of error and appeal into England, established the judicial +independence of Ireland; but a still more necessary measure repealing Poyning's +Law, was defeated through the personal hostility of the King. An act repealing +the Act of Settlement was also passed, under protest from the Protestant Lords, +and received the royal sanction. A bill to establish Inns of Court, for the +education of Irish law students, was, however, rejected by the King, and lost; +an "Act of Attainder," against persons in arms against the Sovereign, whose +estates lay in Ireland, was adopted. Whatever may be the bias of historians, it +cannot be denied that this Parliament showed a spirit worthy of the +representatives of a free people. "Though Papists," says Mr. Grattan, our +highest parliamentary authority, "they were not slaves; they wrung a +constitution from King James before they accompanied him to the field." +</p> + +<p> +The King, unfortunately, had not abandoned the arbitrary principles of his +family, even in his worst adversity. His interference with the discussions on +Poyning's Law, and the Inns of Court bill, had shocked some of his most devoted +adherents. But he proceeded from obstructive to active despotism. He doubled, +by his mere proclamation, the enormous subsidy of 20,000 pounds monthly voted +him by the Houses. He established, by the same authority, a bank, and decreed +in his own name a bank restriction act. He debased the coinage, and established +a fixed scale of prices to be observed by all merchants and traders. In one +respect—but in one only—he grossly violated his own professed +purpose of establishing liberty of conscience, by endeavouring to force fellows +and scholars on the University of Dublin contrary to its statutes. He even went +so far as to appoint a provost and librarian without consent of the senate. +However we may condemn the exclusiveness of the College, this was not the way +to correct it; bigotry on the one hand, will not justify despotism on the +other. +</p> + +<p> +More justifiable was the interference of the King for the restoration of rural +schools and churches, and the decent maintenance of the clergy and bishops. His +appointments to the bench were also, with one or two exceptions, men of the +very highest character. "The administration of justice during this brief +period," says Dr. Cooke Taylor, "deserves the highest praise. With the +exception of Nugent and Fritton, the Irish judges would have been an honour to +any bench." +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap82"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br/> +THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR—CAMPAIGN OF 1689—SIEGES OF DERRY AND +ENNISKILLEN.</h3> + +<p> +When Tyrconnell met the King at Cork, he gave his Majesty a plain account of +the posture of military affairs. In Ulster, Lieutenant-General Richard +Hamilton, at the head of 2,500 regular troops, was holding the rebels in check, +from Charlemont to Coleraine; in Munster, Lieutenant-General Justin McCarthy, +Lord Mountcashel, had taken Bandon and Castlemartyr; throughout the four +provinces, the Catholics, to the number of fifty regiments (probably 30,000 +men), had volunteered their services; but for all these volunteers he had only +20,000 old arms of all kinds, not over 1,000 of which were found really +valuable. There were besides these, regiments of horse, Tyrconnell's, +Russell's, and Galmony's, and one of dragoons, eight small pieces of artillery, +but neither stores in the magazines, nor cash in the chest. While at Cork, +Tyrconnell, in return for his great exertions, was created a Duke, and +General-in-Chief, with De Rosen as second in command. +</p> + +<p> +A week before James reached Dublin, Hamilton had beaten the rebels at Dromore, +and driven them in on Coleraine, from before which he wrote urgently for +reinforcements. On receipt of this communication, the Council exhibited, for +the first time, those radical differences of opinion, amounting almost to +factious opposition, which crippled all King James's movements at this period. +One party strenuously urged that the King himself should march northward with +such troops as could be spared; that his personal appearance before Derry, +would immediately occasion the surrender of that city, and that he might in a +few weeks, finish in person the campaign of Ulster. Another, at whose head was +Tyrconnell, endeavoured to dissuade his Majesty from this course, but he at +length decided in favour of the plan of Melfort and his friends. Accordingly, +he marched out of Dublin, amid torrents of April rain, on the eighth of that +month, intending to form a junction with Hamilton, at Strabane, and thence to +advance to Derry. The march was a weary one through a country stripped bare of +every sign of life, and desolate beyond description. A week was spent between +Dublin and Omagh; at Omagh news of an English fleet on the Foyle caused the +King to retrace his steps hastily to Charlemont. At Charlemont, however, +intelligence of fresh successes gained by Hamilton and De Rosen, at Cladyford +and Strabane, came to restore his confidence; he instantly set forward, despite +the tempestuous weather, and the almost impassable roads, and on the eighteenth +reached the Irish camp at Johnstown, within four or five miles of Derry. +</p> + +<p> +It was now four months since "the youthhood" of Derry had shut the Watergate +against Lord Antrim's regiment, and established within their walls a strange +sort of government, including eighteen clergymen and the town democracy. The +military command remained with Lieutenant-Colonel Lundy, of Mountjoy's +regiment, but the actual government of the town was vested, first, in +"Governor" Baker, and afterwards in the Reverend George Walker, rector of +Donaghmore, best known to us as <i>Governor</i> Walker. The Town Council had +despatched Mr. Cairnes, and subsequently Captain Hamilton, founder of the +Abercorn peerage, to England for succour, and had openly proclaimed William and +Mary as King and Queen. Defensive works were added, where necessary, and on the +very day of the affair of Cladyford, 480 barrels of gunpowder were landed from +English ships and conveyed within the walls. +</p> + +<p> +As the Royalist forces concentrated towards Derry, the chiefs of the Protestant +Association fell back before them, each bringing to its garrison the +contribution of his own followers. From the valley of the Bann, over the rugged +summits of Carntogher, from the glens of Donegal, and the western sea coast +round to Mayo, troops of the fugitives hurried to the strong town of the London +traders, as to a city of refuge. Enniskillen alone, resolute in its insular +situation, and in a courage akin to that which actuated the defenders of Derry, +stood as an outpost of the main object of attack, and delayed the junction of +the Royalists under Mountcashel with those under Hamilton and De Rosen. +Coleraine was abandoned. Captain Murray, the commander of Culmore, forced his +way at the head of 1,500 men into Derry, contrary to the wishes of the +vacillating and suspected Lundy, and, from the moment of his arrival, infused +his own determined spirit into all ranks of the inhabitants. +</p> + +<p> +Those who had advised King James to present himself in person before the +Protestant stronghold, had not acted altogether, upon presumption. It is +certain that there were Jacobites, even in Derry. Lundy, the governor, either +despairing of its defence, or undecided in his allegiance between James and +William, had opened a correspondence with Hamilton and De Rosen. But the true +answer of the brave townsmen, when the King advanced too near their walls, was +a cannon shot which killed one of his staff, and the cry of "No Surrender" +thundered from the walls. James, awakened from his self-complacent dream by +this unexpected reception, returned to Dublin, to open his Parliament, leaving +General Hamilton to continue the siege. Colonel Lundy, distrusted, overruled, +and menaced, escaped over the walls by night, disguised as a common labourer, +and the party of Murray, Baker, Walker, and Cairnes, reigned supreme. +</p> + +<p> +The story of the siege of Derry—of the heroic constancy of its +defenders—of the atrocities of De Rosen and Galmoy—the clemency of +Maumont—the forbearance of Hamilton—the struggles for supremacy +among its magnates—the turbulence of the townsfolk—the joyful +raising of the siege—all these have worthily employed some of the most +eloquent pens in our language. The relief came by the breaking of the boom +across the harbour's mouth on the last day of July; the bombardment had +commenced on the 21st of April; the gates had been shut on the 7th of December. +The actual siege had lasted above three months, and the blockade about three +weeks. The destruction of life on both sides has never been definitely stated. +The besieged admit a loss of 4,000 men; the besiegers of 6,000. The want of +siege guns in the Jacobite camp is admitted by both parties, but, nevertheless, +the defence of the place well deserves to be celebrated, as it has been by an +imperial historian, "as the most memorable in British annals." +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely inferior in interest and importance to the siege of Derry, was the +spirited defence of Enniskillen. That fine old town, once the seat of the noble +family of Maguire, is naturally dyked and moated round about, by the waters of +Lough Erne. In December, '88, it had closed its gates, and barricaded its +causeways to keep out a Jacobite garrison. In March, on Lord Galmoy's approach, +all the outlying garrisons, in Fermanagh and Cavan, had destroyed their posts, +and gathered into Enniskillen. The cruel and faithless Galmoy, instead of +inspiring terror into the united garrison, only increased their determination +to die in the breach. So strong in position and numbers did they find +themselves, with the absolute command of the lower Lough Erne to bring in their +supplies, that in April they sent off a detachment to the relief of Derry, and +in the months of May and June, made several successful forays to Ballincarrig, +Omagh, and Belturbet. In July, provided with a fresh supply of ammunition from +the fleet intended for the relief of Derry, they beat up the Duke of Berwick's +quarters at Trellick, but were repulsed with some loss. The Duke being soon +after recalled to join De Rosen, the siege of Enniskillen was committed to Lord +Mountcashel, under whom, as commander of the cavalry, served Count Anthony +Hamilton, author of the witty but licentious "Memoirs of Grammont," and other +distinguished officers. Mountcashel's whole force consisted of three regiments +of foot, two of dragoons, and some horse; but he expected to be joined by +Colonel Sarsfield from Sligo, and Berwick from Derry. The besieged had drawn +four regiments of foot from Cavan alone, and were probably twice that number in +all; and they had, in Colonels Wolseley and Berry, able and energetic officers. +The Enniskilleners did not await the attack within their fortress. At +Lisnaskea, under Berry, they repulsed the advanced guard of the Jacobites under +Anthony Hamilton; and the same day—the day of the relief of +Derry—their whole force were brought into action with Mountcashel's at +Newtown-Butler. To the cry of "No Popery," Wolseley led them into an action, +the most considerable yet fought. The raw southern levies on the Royalist side, +were routed by the hardy Enniskilleners long familiar with the use of arms, and +well acquainted with every inch of the ground; 2,000 of them were left on the +field; 400 prisoners were taken, among them dangerously, but not mortally +wounded, was the Lieutenant-General himself. +</p> + +<p> +The month of August was a month of general rejoicing for the Williamites of +Ulster, De Rosen and Berwick had retreated from Derry; Sarsfield, on his way to +join Mountcashel, fell back to Sligo on hearing of his defeat at +Newtown-Butler; Culmore, Coleraine, and Ballyshannon, were retaken and well +supplied; fugitives returned triumphantly to their homes, in Cavan, Fermanagh, +Tyrone, and Armagh. A panic created by false reports spread among his troops at +Sligo, compelled Sarsfield to fall still further back to Athlone. Six months +after his arrival, with the exception of the forts of Charlemont and +Carrickfergus, King James no longer possessed a garrison in that province, +which had been bestowed by his grandfather upon the ancestors of those who now +unanimously rejected and resisted him. +</p> + +<p> +The fall of the gallant Dundee in the battle of Killicrankie, five days before +the relief of Derry, freed King William from immediate anxiety on the side of +Scotland, and enabled him to concentrate his whole disposable force on Ireland. +On the 13th of August, an army of eighteen regiments of foot, and four or five +of horse, under the Marshal Duke de Schomberg, with Count Solmes as second in +command, sailed into Belfast Lough, and took possession of the town. On the +20th, the Marshal opened a fierce cannonade on Carrickfergus, defended by +Colonels McCarthy More and Cormac O'Neil, while the fleet bombarded it from +sea. After eight days' incessant cannonade, the garrison surrendered on +honourable terms, and Schomberg faced southward towards Dublin. Brave, and long +experienced, the aged Duke moved according to the cautious maxims of the +military school in which he had been educated. Had he advanced rapidly on the +capital, James must have fallen back, as De Rosen advised, on the line of the +Shannon; but O'Regan, at Charlemont, and Berwick, at Newry, seemed to him +obstacles so serious, that nearly a month was wasted in advancing from Belfast +to Dundalk, where he entrenched himself in September, and went into winter +quarters. Here a terrible dysentery broke out among his troops, said to have +been introduced by some soldiers from Derry, and so destructive were its +ravages, that there were hardly left healthy men enough to bury the dead. +Several of the French Catholics under his command, also, deserted to James, +who, from his head-quarters at Drogheda, offered every inducement to the +deserters. Others discovered in the attempt were tried and hanged, and others, +still suspected of similar designs, were marched down to Carlingford, and +shipped for England. In November, James returned from Drogheda to Dublin, much +elated that Duke Schomberg, whose fatal camp at Dundalk he had in vain +attempted to raise, had shrunk from meeting him in the field. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap83"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br/> +THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR—CAMPAIGN OF 1690—BATTLE OF THE +BOYNE—ITS CONSEQUENCES—THE SIEGES OF ATHLONE AND LIMERICK.</h3> + +<p> +The armies now destined to combat for two kings on Irish soil were strongly +marked by those distinctions of race and religion which add bitterness to +struggles for power, while they present striking contrasts to the eye of the +painter of military life and manners. King James's troops were chiefly Celtic +and Catholic. There were four regiments commanded by O'Neils, two by O'Briens, +two by O'Kellys, one each by McCarthy More, Maguire, O'More, O'Donnell, +McMahon, and Magennis, principally recruited among their own clansmen. There +were also the regiments of Sarsfield, Nugent, De Courcy, Fitzgerald, Grace, and +Burke, chiefly Celts, in the rank and file. On the other hand, Schomberg led +into the field the famous blue Dutch and white Dutch regiments; the Huguenot +regiments of Schomberg, La Millinier, Du Cambon, and La Callimotte; the English +regiments of Lords Devonshire, Delamere, Lovelace, Sir John Lanier, Colonels +Langston, Villiers, and others; the Anglo-Irish regiments of Lords Meath, +Roscommon, Kingston, and Drogheda; with the Ulstermen, under Brigadier +Wolseley, Colonels Gustavus Hamilton, Mitchelburne, Loyd, White, St. Johns, and +Tiffany. Some important changes had taken place on both sides during the winter +months. D'Avaux and De Rosen had been recalled at James's request; Mountcashel, +at the head of the first Franco-Irish brigade, had been exchanged for 6,000 +French, under De Lauzan, who arrived the following March in the double +character of general and ambassador. The report that William was to command in +person in the next campaign, was, of itself, an indication pregnant with other +changes to the minds of his adherents. +</p> + +<p> +Their abundant supplies of military stores from England, wafted from every port +upon the channel, where James had not a keel afloat, enabled the Williamite +army to take the initiative in the campaign of 1690. At Cavan, Brigadier +Wolseley repulsed the Duke of Berwick, with the loss of 200 men and some +valuable officers. But the chief incident preceding William's arrival was the +siege of Charlemont. This siege, which commenced apparently in the previous +autumn, had continued during several months, till the garrison were literally +starved out, in May. The famished survivors were kindly treated, by order of +Schomberg, and their gallant and eccentric chief, O'Regan, was knighted by the +King, for his persistent resistance. A month from the day on which Charlemont +fell, (June 14th), William landed at Carrickfergus, accompanied by Prince +George of Denmark, the Duke of Wurtemburg, the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, the +second and last Duke of Ormond, Major-General Mackay, the Earls of Oxford, +Portland, Scarborough, and Manchester, General Douglas, and other distinguished +British and foreign officers. At Belfast, his first head-quarters, he +ascertained the forces at his disposal to be upwards of 40,000 men, composed of +"a strange medley of all nations"—Scandinavians, Swiss, Dutch, Prussians, +Huguenot-French, English, Scotch, "Scotch-Irish," and Anglo-Irish. Perhaps the +most extraordinary element in that strange medley was the Danish contingent of +horse and foot. Irish tradition and Irish prophecy still teemed with tales of +terror and predictions of evil at the hands of the Danes, while these hardy +mercenaries observed, with grim satisfaction, that the memory of their fierce +ancestors had not become extinct after the lapse of twenty generations. At the +Boyne, and at Limerick, they could not conceal their exultation as they +encamped on some of the very earthworks raised by men of their race seven +centuries before, and it must be admitted they vindicated their descent, both +by their courage and their cruelty. +</p> + +<p> +On the 16th of June, James, informed of William's arrival, marched northward at +the head of 20,000 men, French and Irish, to meet him. On the 22nd, James was +at Dundalk and William at Newry; as the latter advanced, the Jacobites retired, +and finally chose their ground at the Boyne, resolved to hazard a battle, for +the preservation of Dublin, and the safety of the province of Leinster. +</p> + +<p> +On the last day of June, the hostile forces confronted each other at the Boyne. +The gentle, legendary river, wreathed in all the glory of its abundant foliage, +was startled with the cannonade from the northern bank, which continued through +the long summer's evening, and woke the early echoes of the morrow. William, +strong in his veteran ranks, welcomed the battle; James, strong in his +defensive position, and the goodness of his cause, awaited it with confidence. +On the northern bank near to the ford of Oldbridge, William, with his chief +officers, breakfasting on the turf, nearly lost his life from a sudden +discharge of cannon; but he was quickly in the saddle, at all points reviewing +his army. James, on the hill of Donore, looked down on his devoted defenders, +through whose ranks rode Tyrconnell, lame and ill, the youthful Berwick, the +adventurous Lauzan, and the beloved Sarsfield—everywhere received with +cordial acclamations. The battle commenced at the ford of Oldbridge, between +Sir Neil O'Neil, and the younger Schomberg; O'Neil fell mortally wounded, and +the ford was forced. By this ford, William ordered his centre to advance under +the elder Schomberg, as the hour of noon approached, while he himself moved +with the left across the river, nearer to Drogheda. Lauzan, with Sarsfield's +horse, dreading to be outflanked, had galloped to guard the bridge of Slane, +five miles higher up the stream, where alone a flank movement was possible. The +battle was now transferred from the gunners to the swordsmen and +pikemen—from the banks to the fords and borders of the river, William, on +the extreme left, swam his horse across, in imminent danger; Schomberg and +Callimotte fell in the centre, mortally wounded. News was brought to William, +that Dr. Walker—recently appointed to the See of Derry—had also +fallen, "What brought him there?" was the natural comment of the +soldier-prince. After seven hours' fighting the Irish fell back on Duleek, in +good order. The assailants admitted five hundred killed, and as many wounded; +the defenders were said to have lost from one thousand to fifteen hundred +men—less than at Newtown-Butler. The carnage, compared with some great +battles of that age, was inconsiderable, but the political consequences were +momentous. The next day, the garrison of Drogheda, one thousand three hundred +strong, surrendered; in another week, William was in Dublin, and James, +terrified by the reports which had reached him, was <i>en route</i> for France. +It is hardly an exaggeration to say, that the fate of Europe was decided by the +result of the battle of the Boyne. At Paris, at the Hague, at Vienna, at Rome, +at Madrid, nothing was talked of but the great victory of the Prince of Orange +over Louis and James. It is one of the strangest complications of history that +the vanquished Irish Catholics seem to have been never once thought of by +Spain, Austria, or the Pope. In the greater issues of the European coalition +against France, their interests, and their very existence, were for the moment +forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +The defeat at the Boyne, and the surrender of Dublin, uncovered the entire +province of Leinster, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, Duncannon, Clonmel, and +other places of less importance, surrendered within six weeks. The line of the +Shannon was fallen back upon by the Irish, and the points of attack and defence +were now shifted to Athlone and Limerick. What Enniskillen and Derry had been, +in the previous year, to the Williamite party in the north, cities of refuge, +and strongholds of hope, these two towns upon the Shannon had now become, by +the fortune of war, to King James's adherents. +</p> + +<p> +On the 17th of July, General Douglas appeared before Athlone, and summoned it +to surrender. The veteran commandant, Colonel Richard Grace, a Confederate of +1641, having destroyed the bridge, and the suburbs on the Leinster side of the +Shannon, replied by discharging his pistol over the head of the drummer who +delivered the message. Douglas attempted to cross the river at Lanesborough, +but found the ford strongly guarded by one of Grace's outposts; after a week's +ineffectual bombardment, he withdrew from before Athlone, and proceeded to +Limerick, ravaging and slaying as he went. +</p> + +<p> +Limerick had at first been abandoned by the French under Lauzan, as utterly +indefensible. That gay intriguer desired nothing so much as to follow the King +to France, while Tyrconnell, broken down with physical suffering and mental +anxiety, feebly concurred in his opinion. They accordingly departed for Galway, +leaving the city to its fate, and, happily for the national reputation, to +bolder counsels than their own. De Boisseleau did not underrate the character +of the Irish levies, who had retreated before twice their numbers at the Boyne; +he declared himself willing to remain, and, sustained by Sarsfield, he was +chosen as commandant. More than ten thousand foot had gathered "as if by +instinct" to that city, and on the Clare side Sarsfield still kept together his +cavalry, at whose head he rode to Galway and brought back Tyrconnell. On the +9th of August, William, confident of an easy victory, appeared before the town, +but more than twelve months were to elapse before all his power could reduce +those mouldering walls, which the fugitive French ambassador had declared +"might be taken with roasted apples." +</p> + +<p> +An exploit, planned and executed by Sarsfield the day succeeding William's +arrival, saved the city for another year, and raised that officer to the +highest pitch of popularity. Along the Clare side of the Shannon, under cover +of the night, he galloped as fast as horse could carry him, at the head of his +dragoons, and crossed the river at Killaloe. One Manus O'Brien, a Protestant of +Clare, who had encountered the flying horsemen, and learned enough to suspect +their design, hastened to William's camp with the news, but he was at first +laughed at for his pains. William, however, never despising any precaution in +war, despatched Sir John Lanier with 500 horse to protect his siege-train, then +seven miles in the rear, on the road between Limerick and Cashel. Sarsfield, +however, was too quick for Sir John. The day after he had crossed at Killaloe +he kept his men <i>perdu</i> in the hilly country, and the next night swooped +down upon the convoy in charge of the siege-train, who were quietly sleeping +round the ruined church of Ballanedy. The sentinels were sabred at their posts, +the guards, half-dressed, fled in terror or were speedily killed. The +gun-carriages were quickly yoked, and drawn together to a convenient place, +where, planted in pits with ammunition, they were, with two exceptions, +successfully blown to atoms. Lanier arrived within view of the terrific scene +in time to feel its stunning effects. The ground for miles round shook as from +an earthquake; the glare and roar of the explosion were felt in William's camp, +and through the beleaguered city. On the morrow, all was known. Sarsfield was +safely back in his old encampment, without the loss of a single man; Limerick +was in an uproar of delight, while William's army, to the lowest rank, felt the +depression of so unexpected a blow. A week later, however, the provident prince +had a new siege-train of thirty-six guns and four mortars brought up from +Waterford, pouring red-hot shot on the devoted city. Another week—on the +27th of August—a gap having been made in the walls near Saint John's +gate, a storming party of the English guards, the Anglo-Irish, Prussians, and +Danes, was launched into the breach. After an action of uncommon fierceness and +determination on both sides, the besiegers retired with the loss of 30 +officers, and 800 men killed, and 1,200 wounded. The besieged admitted 400 +killed—their wounded were not counted. Four days later, William abandoned +the siege, retreated to Waterford, and embarked for England, with Prince George +of Denmark, the Dukes of Wurtemburg and Ormond, and others of his principal +adherents. Tyrconnell, labouring with the illness of which he soon after died, +took advantage of the honourable pause thus obtained, to proceed on his +interrupted voyage to France, accompanied by the ambassador. Before leaving, +however, the young Duke of Berwick was named in his stead as +Commander-in-Chief; Fitton, Nagle, and Plowden, as Lords Justices; sixteen +"senators" were to form a sort of Cabinet, and Sarsfield to be second in +military command. His enemies declared that Tyrconnell retired from the contest +because his early spirit and courage had failed him; he himself asserted that +his object was to procure sufficient succours from King Louis, to give a +decisive issue to the war. His subsequent negotiations at Paris proved that +though his bodily health might be wretched, his ingenuity and readiness of +resource had not deserted him. He justified himself both with James and Louis, +outwitted Lauzan, propitiated Louvois, disarmed the prejudices of the English +Jacobites, and, in short, placed the military relations of France and Ireland +on a footing they had never hitherto sustained. The expedition of the following +spring, under command of Marshal Saint Ruth, was mainly procured by his able +diplomacy, and though he returned to Ireland to survive but a few weeks the +disastrous day of Aughrim, it is impossible from the Irish point of view, not +to recall with admiration, mixed indeed with alloy, but still with largely +prevailing admiration, the extraordinary energy, buoyancy and talents of +Richard, Duke of Tyrconnell. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap84"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br/> +THE WINTER OF 1690-91.</h3> + +<p> +The Jacobite party in England were not slow to exaggerate the extent of +William's losses before Athlone and Limerick. The national susceptibility was +consoled by the ready reflection, that if the beaten troops were partly +English, the commanders were mainly foreigners. A native hero was needed, and +was found in the person of Marlborough, a captain, whose name was destined to +eclipse every other English reputation of that age. At his suggestion an +expedition was fitted out against Cork, Kinsale, and other ports of the south +of Ireland, and the command, though not without some secret unwillingness on +William's part, committed to him. On the 23rd of September, at the head of +8,000 fresh troops, amply supplied with all necessary munitions, Marlborough +assaulted Cork. After five days' bombardment, in which the Duke of Grafton, and +other officers and men were slain, the Governor, McEligot, capitulated on +conditions, which, in spite of all Marlborough's exertions, were flagrantly +violated. The old town of Kinsale was at once abandoned as untenable the same +day, and the new fort, at the entrance to the harbour, was surrendered after a +fortnight's cannonade. Covered with glory from a five weeks' campaign, +Marlborough returned to England to receive the acclamations of the people and +the most gracious compliments of the prince. +</p> + +<p> +Berwick and Sarsfield on the one side and Ginkle and Lanier on the other, kept +up the winter campaign till an advanced period, on both banks of the Shannon. +About the middle of September, the former made a dash over the bridge of +Banagher, against Birr, or Parsonstown, the family borough of the famous +<i>Undertaker</i>. The English, in great force, under Lanier, Kirke, and +Douglas, hastened to its relief, and the Irish fell back to Banagher. To +destroy "that convenient pass" became now the object of one party, to protect +it, of the other. After some skirmishing and manoeuvring on both sides, the +disputed bridge was left in Irish possession, and the English fell back to the +borough and castle of Sir Lawrence Parsons. During the siege of the new fort at +Kinsale, Berwick and Sarsfield advanced as far as Kilmallock to its relief, but +finding themselves so inferior in numbers to Marlborough, they were unwillingly +compelled to leave its brave defenders to their fate, +</p> + +<p> +Although the Duke of Berwick was the nominal Commander-in-Chief, his youth, and +the distractions incident to youth, left the more mature and popular Sarsfield +the possession of real power, both civil and military. Every fortunate accident +had combined to elevate that gallant cavalry officer into the position of +national leadership. +</p> + +<p> +He was the son of a member of the Irish Commons, proscribed for his patriotism +and religion in 1641, by Anna O'Moore, daughter of the organizer of the +Catholic Confederation. He was a Catholic in religion, spoke Gaelic as easily +as English, was brave, impulsive; handsome, and generous to a fault, like the +men he led. In Tyrconnell's absence every sincere lover of the country came to +him with intelligence, and looked to him for direction. Early in November he +learned through his patriotic spies the intention of the Williamites to force +the passage of the Shannon in the depth of winter. On the last day of December, +accordingly, they marched in great force under Kirke and Lanier to Jonesboro', +and under Douglas to Jamestown. At both points they found the indefatigable +Sarsfield fully prepared for them, and after a fortnight's intense suffering +from exposure to the weather, were glad to get back again to their snug +quarters at Parsonstown. +</p> + +<p> +Early in February Tyrconnell landed at Limerick with a French fleet, escorted +by three vessels of war, and laden with provisions, but bringing few arms and +no reinforcements. He had brought over, however, 14,000 golden louis, which +were found of the utmost service in re-clothing the army, besides 10,000 more +which he had deposited at Brest to purchase oatmeal for subsequent shipment. He +also brought promises of military assistance on a scale far beyond anything +France had yet afforded. It is almost needless to say he was received at Galway +and Limerick with an enthusiasm which silenced, if it did not confute, his +political enemies, both in Ireland and France. +</p> + +<p> +During his absence intrigues and factions had been rifer than ever in the +Jacobite ranks. Sarsfield had discovered that the English movement on the +Shannon in December was partly hastened by foolish or treacherous +correspondence among his own associates. Lord Riverston and his brother were +removed from the Senate, or Council of Sixteen—four from each +province—and Judge Daly, ancestor of the Dunsandle family, was placed +under arrest at Galway. The youthful Berwick sometimes complained that he was +tutored and overruled by Sarsfield; but though the impetuous soldier may +occasionally have forgotten the lessons learned in courts, his activity seems +to have been the greatest, his information the best, his advice the most +disinterested, and his fortitude the highest of any member of the council. By +the time of Tyrconnell's return he had grown to a height of popularity and +power, which could not well brook a superior either in the cabinet or the camp. +</p> + +<p> +On the arrival of the Lord Lieutenant, who was also Commander-in-Chief, the +ambition of Sarsfield was gratified by the rank of Earl of Lucan, a title drawn +from that pleasant hamlet, in the valley of the Liffey, where he had learned to +lisp the catechism of a patriot at the knee of Anna O'Moore. But his real power +was much diminished. Tyrconnell, Berwick, Sir Richard Nagle, who had succeeded +the Earl of Melfort as chief secretary for King James, all ranked before him at +the board, and when Saint Ruth arrived to take command-in-chief, he might +fairly have complained that he was deprived of the chief reward to which he had +looked forward. +</p> + +<p> +The weary winter and the drenching spring months wore away, and the Williamite +troops, sorely afflicted by disease, hugged their tents and huts. Some relief +was sent by sea to the Jacobite garrison of Sligo, commanded by the stout old +Sir Teague O'Regan, the former defender of Charlemont. Athlone, too, received +some succours, and the line of the Shannon was still unbroken from +Slieve-an-iron to the sea. But still the promised French assistance was +delayed. Men were beginning to doubt both King Louis and King James, when, at +length at the beginning of May, the French ships were signalled from the cliffs +of Kerry. On the 8th, the Sieur de Saint Ruth, with Generals D'Usson and De +Tesse, landed at Limerick, and assisted at a solemn <i>Te Deum</i> in St. +Mary's Cathedral. They brought considerable supplies of clothes, provisions, +and ammunitions, but neither veterans to swell the ranks, nor money to +replenish the chest. Saint Ruth entered eagerly upon the discharge of his +duties as generalissimo, while Sarsfield continued the nominal second in +command. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap85"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br/> +THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR—CAMPAIGN OF 1691—BATTLE OF +AUGHRIM—CAPITULATION OF LIMERICK.</h3> + +<p> +Saint Ruth, with absolute powers, found himself placed at the head of from +20,000 to 25,000 men, in the field or in garrison, regular or irregular, but +all, with hardly an exception, Irish. His and Tyrconnell's recent supplies had +sufficed to renew the clothing and equipment of the greater part of the number, +but the whole contents of the army chest, the golden hinge on which war moves, +was estimated in the beginning of May to afford to each soldier only "a penny a +day for three weeks." He had under him some of the best officers that France +could spare, or Ireland produce, and he had with him the hearts of nine-tenths +of the natives of the country. +</p> + +<p> +A singular illustration of the popular feeling occurred the previous August. +The Milesian Irish had cherished the belief ever since the disastrous day of +Kinsale, that an O'Donnell from Spain, having on his shoulder a red mark +(<i>ball derg</i>), would return to free them from the English yoke, in a great +battle near Limerick. Accordingly, when a representative of the Spanish +O'Donnells actually appeared at Limerick, bearing as we know many of his family +have done, even to our day, the unmistakable red mark of the ancient Tyrconnell +line, immense numbers of the country people who had held aloof from the +Jacobite cause, obeyed the voice of prophecy, and flocked round the Celtic +deliverer. From 7,000 to 8,000 recruits were soon at his disposal, and it was +not without bitter indignation that the chief, so enthusiastically received, +saw regiment after regiment drafted from among his followers, and transferred +to other commanders. Bred up a Spanish subject—the third in descent from +an Irish prince—it is not to be wondered at that he regarded the +<i>Irish</i> cause as all in all, and the interests of King James as entirely +secondary. He could hardly consider himself as bound in allegiance to that +king; he was in no way indebted to him or his family, and if we learn that when +the war grew desperate, but before it was ended, he had entered into a separate +treaty for himself and his adherents, with William's generals, we must +remember, before we condemn him, that we are speaking of an Hiberno-Spaniard, +to whom the house of Stuart was no more sacred than the house of Orange. +</p> + +<p> +The Williamite army rendezvoused at Mullingar towards the end of May, under +Generals De Ginkle, Talmash and Mackay. On the 7th of June, they moved in the +direction of Athlone, 18,000 strong, "the ranks one blaze of scarlet, and the +artillery such as had never before been seen in Ireland." The capture of +Ballymore Castle, in West-Meath, detained them ten days; on the 19th, joined by +the Duke of Wurtemburg, the Prince of Hesse and the Count of Nassau, with 7,000 +foreign mercenaries, the whole sat down before the English town of Athlone, +which Saint Ruth, contrary to his Irish advisers, resolved to defend. In +twenty-four hours those exposed outworks abandoned by the veteran Grace the +previous year, fell, and the bombardment of the Irish town on the opposite or +Connaught bank, commenced. For ten days—from the 20th to the 30th of +June—that fearful cannonade continued. Storey, the Williamite chaplain, +to whom we are indebted for many valuable particulars of this war, states that +the besiegers fired above 12,000 cannon shot, 600 shells and many tons of +stone, into the place. Fifty tons of powder were burned in the bombardment. The +castle, an imposing but lofty and antique structure, windowed as much for a +residence as a fortress, tumbled into ruins; the bridge was broken down and +impassable; the town a heap of rubbish, where two men could no longer walk +abreast. But the Shannon had diminished in volume as the summer advanced, and +three Danes employed for that purpose found a ford above the bridge, and at six +o'clock on the evening of the last day of June, 2,000 picked men, headed by +Gustavus Hamilton's grenadiers, dashed into the ford at the stroke of a bell. +At the same instant all the English batteries on the Leinster side opened on +the Irish town, wrapping the river in smoke, and distracting the attention of +the besiegers. Saint Ruth was, at this critical moment, at his camp two miles +off, and D'Usson, the commandant, was also absent from his post. In half an +hour the Williamites were masters of the heap of rubbish which had once been +Athlone, with a loss of less than fifty men killed and wounded. For this bold +and successful movement De Ginkle was created Earl of Athlone, and his chief +officers were justly ennobled. Saint Ruth, over-confident, in a strange +country, withdrew to Ballinasloe, behind the river Suck, and prepared to risk +everything on the hazard of a pitched battle. +</p> + +<p> +De Ginkle moved slowly from Athlone in pursuit of his enemy. On the morning of +the 11th of July, as the early haze lifted itself in wreaths from the +landscape, he found himself within range of the Irish, drawn up, north and +south, on the upland of Kilcommodan hill, with a morass on either flank, +through which ran two narrow causeways—on the right, "the pass of +Urrachree," on the left, the causeway leading to the little village of Aughrim. +Saint Ruth's force must have numbered from 15,000 to 20,000 men, with nine +field-pieces; De Ginkle commanded from 25,000 to 30,000, with four +batteries—two of which mounted six guns each. During the entire day, +attack after attack, in the direction of Urrachree or of Aughrim was repulsed, +and the assailants were about to retire in despair. As the sun sank low, a last +desperate attempt was made with equal ill success. "Now, my children," cried +the elated Saint Ruth, "the day is ours! Now I shall drive them back to the +walls of Dublin!" At that moment he fell by a cannon shot to the earth, and +stayed the advancing tide of victory. The enemy marked the check, halted, +rallied and returned. Sarsfield, who had not been entrusted with his leader's +plan of action, was unable to remedy the mischief which ensued. Victory +arrested was converted into defeat. The sun went down on Aughrim, and the last +great Irish battle between the Reformed and Roman religions. Four thousand of +the Catholics were killed and wounded, and three thousand of the Protestants +littered the field. Above five hundred prisoners, with thirty-two pairs of +colours, eleven standards, and a large quantity of small arms, fell into the +hands of the victors. One portion of the fugitive survivors fled to Galway, the +larger part, including all the cavalry, to Limerick. +</p> + +<p> +This double blow at Athlone and Aughrim shook to pieces the remaining Catholic +power in Connaught. Galway surrendered ten days after the battle; Balldearg +O'Donnell, after a vain attempt to throw himself into it in time, made terms +with De Ginkle, and carried his two regiments into Flanders to fight on the +side Spain and Rome had chosen to take in the European coalition. Sligo, the +last western garrison, succumbed, and the brave Sir Teague O'Regan marched his +600 men, survivors, southward to Limerick. +</p> + +<p> +Thus once more all eyes and all hearts in the British Islands were turned +towards the well-known city of the lower Shannon. There, on the 14th of August, +Tyrconnell expired, stricken down by apoplexy. On the 25th, De Ginkle, +reinforced by all the troops he could gather in with safety, had invested the +place on three sides. Sixty guns, none of less than 12 pounds calibre, opened +their deadly fire against it. An English fleet ascended the river, hurling its +missiles right and left. On the 9th of September the garrison made an +unsuccessful sally, with heavy loss; on the 10th, a breach, forty yards wide, +was made in the wall overhanging the river; on the night of the 15th, through +the treachery or negligence of Brigadier Clifford, on guard at the Clare side +of the river, a pontoon bridge was laid, and a strong English division crossed +over in utter silence. The Irish horse, which had hitherto kept open +communications with the country on that side, fell back to Six Mile Bridge. On +the 24th, a truce of three days was agreed upon, and on the 3rd of October the +memorable "Treaty of Limerick" was signed by the Williamite and Jacobite +commissioners. +</p> + +<p> +The <i>civil</i> articles of Limerick will be mentioned farther on; the +<i>military</i> articles, twenty-nine in number, provided that all persons +willing to expatriate themselves, as well officers and soldiers as rapparees +and volunteers, should have free liberty to do so, to any place beyond seas, +except England and Scotland; that they might depart in whole bodies, companies, +or parties; that if plundered by the way, William's government should make good +their loss; that fifty ships of 200 tons each should be provided for their +transportation, besides two men-of-war for the principal officers; that the +garrison of Limerick might march out with all their arms, guns and baggage, +"colours flying, drums beating, and matches lighting!" It was also agreed, that +those who so wished might enter the service of William, retaining their rank +and pay; but though De Ginkle was most eager to secure for his master some of +those stalwart battalions, only 1,000 out of the 13,000 that marched out of +Limerick filed to the left at King's Island, Two thousand others accepted +passes and protections; 4,500 sailed with Sarsfield from Cork, 4,700 with +D'Usson and De Tesse, embarked in the Shannon on board a French fleet which +arrived a week too late to prevent the capitulation; in English ships, 3,000 +embarked with General Wauchop; all which, added to Mountcashel's brigade, over +5,000 strong, gave an Irish army of from 20,000 to 25,000 men to the service of +King Louis. +</p> + +<p> +As the ships from Ireland reached Brest and the ports of Brittany, James +himself came down from Saint Germain to receive them. They were at once granted +the rights of French citizenship without undergoing the forms of +naturalization. Many of them rose to eminent positions in war and in diplomacy, +became founders of distinguished families, or dying childless, left their +hard-won gold to endow free bourses at Douay and Louvain, for poor Irish +scholars destined for the service of the church, for which they had fought the +good fight, in another sense, on the Shannon and the Boyne. The migration of +ecclesiastics was almost as extensive as that of the military. They were +shipped by dozens and by scores, from Dublin, Cork, and Galway. In seven years +from the treaty, there remained but 400 secular and 800 regular clergy in the +country. Nearly double that number, deported by threats or violence, were +scattered over Europe, pensioners on the princes and bishops of their faith, or +the institutions of their order. In Rome, 72,000 francs annually were allotted +for the maintenance of the fugitive Irish clergy, and during the first three +months of 1699, three remittances from the Holy Father, amounting to 90,000 +livres, were placed in the hands of the Nuncio at Paris, for the temporary +relief of the fugitives in France and Flanders. It may also be added here, that +till the end of the eighteenth century, an annual charge of 1,000 Roman crowns +was borne by the Papal treasury for the encouragement of Catholic Poor-schools +in Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +The revolutionary war, thus closed, had cost King William, or rather the people +of England, at least 10,000,000 of pounds sterling, and with the other wars of +that reign, laid the foundation of the English national debt. As to the loss of +life, the Williamite chaplain, Storey, places it "at 100,000, young and old, +besides treble the number that are ruined and undone." The chief consolation of +the vanquished in that struggle was, that they had wrung even from their +adversaries the reputation of being "one of the most warlike of +nations"—that they "buried the synagogue with honour." +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap86"></a>CHAPTER X.<br/> +REIGN OF KING WILLIAM.</h3> + +<p> +From the date of the treaty of Limerick, William was acknowledged by all but +the extreme Jacobites, at least <i>de facto</i>—King of Ireland. The +prevailing party in Ulster had long recognized him, and the only expression of +the national will then possible accepted his title, in the treaty signed at +Limerick on the 3rd of October, 1691. For three years Ireland had resisted his +power, for twelve years longer she was to bear the yoke of his government. +</p> + +<p> +Though the history of William's twelve years' reign in Ireland is a history of +proscription, the King himself is answerable only as a consenting party to such +proscription. He was neither by temper nor policy a persecutor; his allies were +Spain, Austria and Rome; he had thousands of Catholics in his own army, and he +gave his confidence as freely to brave and capable men of one creed as of +another. But the oligarchy, calling itself the "Protestant Ascendancy," which +had grown so powerful under Cromwell and Charles II., backed as they once again +were by all the religious intolerance of England, proved too strong for +William's good intentions. He was, moreover, pre-occupied with the grand plans +of the European coalition, in which Ireland, without an army, was no longer an +element of calculation. He abandoned, therefore, not without an occasional +grumbling protest, the vanquished Catholics to the mercy of that oligarchy, +whose history, during the eighteenth century, forms so prominent a feature of +the history of the kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +The civil articles of Limerick, which Sarsfield vainly hoped might prove the +<i>Magna Charta</i> of his co-religionists, were thirteen in number. Art. I. +guaranteed to members of that denomination, remaining in the kingdom, "such +privileges in the exercise of their religion as are consistent with the law of +Ireland, or as they enjoyed in the reign of King Charles II.;" this article +further provided, that "their majesties, as soon as their affairs will permit +them to summon a Parliament in this kingdom, will endeavour to procure the said +Roman Catholics such further security in that particular as may preserve them +from any disturbance on account of their said religion." Art. II. guaranteed +pardon and protection to all who had served King James, on taking the oath of +allegiance prescribed in Art. IX., as follows: +</p> + +<p> +"I, A. B., do solemnly promise and swear that I will be faithful and bear true +allegiance to their majesties, King William and Queen Mary; so help me God." +</p> + +<p> +Arts. III., IV., V. and VI. extended the provisions of Arts. I. and II. to +merchants and other classes of men. Art. VII. permits "every nobleman and +gentleman compromised in the said articles" to carry side arms and keep "a gun +in their houses." Art. VIII. gives the right of removing goods and chattels +without search. Art. IX. is as follows: +</p> + +<p> +"The oath to be administered to such Roman Catholics as submit to their +majesties' government <i>shall be the oath aforesaid, and no other</i>." +</p> + +<p> +Art. X. guarantees that "no person or persons who shall at any time hereafter +break these articles, or any of them, shall thereby make or cause any other +person or persons to <i>forfeit or lose the benefit of them</i>." Arts. XI. and +XII. relate to the ratification of the articles "within eight months or +sooner." Art. XIII. refers to the debts of "Colonel John Brown, commissary of +the Irish army, to several Protestants," and arranges for their satisfaction. +</p> + +<p> +These articles were signed before Limerick, at the well known "Treaty Stone," +on the Clare side of the Shannon, by Lord Scravenmore, Generals Mackay, +Talmash, and De Ginkle, and the Lords Justices Porter and Coningsby, for King +William, and by Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, Viscount Galmoy, Sir Toby Butler, and +Colonels Purcell, Cusack, Dillon, and Brown, for the Irish. On the 24th of +February following, royal letters patent confirmatory of the treaty were issued +from Westminster, in the name of the King and Queen, whereby they declared, +that "we do for us, our heirs, and successors, as far as in us lies, ratify and +confirm the same and every clause, matter, and thing therein contained. And as +to such parts thereof, for which an act of Parliament shall be found to be +necessary, we shall recommend the same to be made good by Parliament, and shall +give our royal assent to any bill or bills that shall be passed by our two +Houses of Parliament to that purpose. And whereas it appears unto us, that it +was agreed between the parties to the said articles, that after the words +Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, Mayo, or any of them, in the second of the said +articles; which words having been casually omitted by the writer of the +articles, the words following, viz.: 'And all such as are under their +protection in the said counties' should be inserted, and be part of the said +omission, was not discovered till after the said articles were signed, but was +taken notice of before the second town was surrendered, and that our said +justices and generals, or one of them, did promise that the said clause should +be made good, it being within the intention of the capitulation, and inserted +in the foul draft thereof: Our further will and pleasure is, and we do hereby +ratify and confirm the said omitted words, viz., 'And all such as are under +their protection in the said counties,' hereby for us, our heirs and +successors, ordaining and declaring that all and every person and persons +therein concerned shall and may have, receive, and enjoy the benefit thereof, +in such and the same manner as if the said words had been inserted in their +proper place in the said second article, any omission, defect, or mistake in +the said second article in any wise notwithstanding. Provided always, and our +will and pleasure is, that these our letters patent shall be enrolled in our +Court of Chancery, in our said kingdom of Ireland, within the space of one year +next ensuing." +</p> + +<p> +But the Ascendancy party were not to be restrained by the faith of treaties, or +the obligations of the Sovereign. The Sunday following the return of the Lords +Justices from Limerick, Dopping, Bishop of Meath, preached before them at +Christ's church, on the crime of keeping faith with Papists. The grand jury of +Cork, urged on by Cox, the Recorder of Kinsale, one of the historians of those +times, returned in their inquest that the restoration of the Earl of +Clancarty's estates "would be dangerous to the Protestant interest." Though +both William and George I., interested themselves warmly for that noble family, +the hatred of the new oligarchy proved too strong for the clemency of kings, +and the broad acres of the disinherited McCarthys, remained to enrich an alien +and bigoted aristocracy. +</p> + +<p> +In 1692, when the Irish Parliament met, a few Catholic peers, and a very few +Catholic commoners took their seats. One of the first acts of the victorious +majority was to frame an oath in direct contravention to the oath prescribed by +the ninth civil article of the treaty, to be taken by members of both Houses. +This oath solemnly and explicitly denied "that in the sacrament of the Lord's +supper there is any transubstantiation of the elements;" and as solemnly +affirmed, "that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary, or any other +saint, and the sacrifice of the mass, as they are now used in the church of +Rome, are damnable and idolatrous." As a matter of course, the Catholic peers +and commoners retired from both Houses, rather than take any such oath, and +thus the Irish Parliament assumed, in 1692, that exclusively Protestant +character which it continued to maintain, till its extinction in 1800. The Lord +Justice Sydney, acting in the spirit of his original instructions, made some +show of resistance to the proscriptive spirit thus exhibited. But to teach him +how they regarded his interference, a very small supply was voted, and the +assertion of the absolute control of the Commons over all supplies—a +sound doctrine when rightly interpreted—was vehemently asserted. Sydney +had the satisfaction of proroguing and lecturing the House, but they had the +satisfaction soon after of seeing him recalled through their influence in +England, and a more congenial Viceroy in the person of Lord Capel sent over. +</p> + +<p> +About the same time, that ancient engine of oppression, a Commission to inquire +into estates forfeited, was established, and, in a short time, decreed that +1,060,792 acres were escheated to the crown. This was almost the last fragment +of the patrimony of the Catholic inhabitants. When King William died, there did +not remain in Catholic hands "one-sixth part" of what their grandfathers held, +even after the passage of the Act of Settlement. +</p> + +<p> +In 1695, Lord Capel opened the second Irish Parliament, summoned by King +William, in a speech in which he assured his delighted auditors that the King +was intent upon a firm settlement of Ireland upon a Protestant interest. Large +supplies were at once voted to his majesty, and the House of Commons then +proceeded to the appointment of a committee to consider what penal laws were +already in force against the Catholics, not for the purpose of repealing them, +but in order to add to their number. The principal penal laws then in existence +were: +</p> + +<p> +1. An act, subjecting all who upheld the jurisdiction of the See of Rome, to +the penalties of a <i>premunire</i>; and ordering the oath of supremacy to be a +qualification for office of every kind, for holy orders, and for a degree in +the university. +</p> + +<p> +2. An act for the uniformity of Common Prayer, imposing a fine of a shilling on +all who should absent themselves from places of worship of the Established +Church on Sundays. +</p> + +<p> +3. An act, allowing the Chancellor to name a guardian to the child of a +Catholic. +</p> + +<p> +4. An act to prevent Catholics from becoming private tutors in families, +without license from the ordinaries of their several parishes, and taking the +oath of supremacy. +</p> + +<p> +To these, the new Parliament added, 1. An act to deprive Catholics of the means +of educating their children at home or abroad, and to render them incapable of +being guardians of their own or any other person's children; 2. An act to +disarm the Catholics; and, 3. Another to banish all the Catholic priests and +prelates. Having thus violated the treaty, they gravely brought in a bill "to +confirm the Articles of Limerick." "The very title of the bill," says Dr. Cooke +Taylor, "contains evidence of its injustice." It is styled "A Bill for the +Confirmation of Articles (not <i>the</i> articles) made at the Surrender of +Limerick." And the preamble shows that the little word <i>the</i> was not +accidentally omitted. It runs thus:—"That the said articles, or <i>so +much of them as may consist with the safety and welfare of your majesty's +subjects in these kingdoms</i>, may be confirmed," &c. The parts that +appeared to these legislators inconsistent with "the safety and welfare of his +majesty's subjects," were the first article, which provided for the security of +the Catholics from all disturbances on account of their religion; those parts +of the second article which confirmed the Catholic gentry of Limerick, Clare, +Cork, Kerry, and Mayo, in the possession of their estates, and allowed all +Catholics to exercise their trades and professions without obstruction; the +fourth article, which extended the benefit of the peace to certain Irish +officers then abroad; the seventh article, which allowed the Catholic gentry to +ride armed; the ninth article, which provides that the oath of allegiance shall +be the only oath required from Catholics; and one or two others of minor +importance. All of these are omitted in the bill for "The confirmation of +Articles made at the Surrender of Limerick." +</p> + +<p> +The Commons passed the bill without much difficulty. The House of Lords, +however, contained some few of the ancient nobility, and some prelates, who +refused to acknowledge the dogma, "that no faith should be kept with Papists," +as an article of their creed. The bill was strenuously resisted, and when it +was at length carried, a strong protest against it was signed by Lords +Londonderry, Tyrone, and Duncannon, the Barons of Ossory, Limerick, Killaloe, +Kerry, Howth, Kingston, and Strabane, and, to their eternal honour be it said, +the Protestant bishops of Kildare, Elphin, Derry, Clonfert, and Killala! +</p> + +<p> +The only other political incidents of this reign, important to Ireland, were +the speech from the throne in answer to an address of the English Houses, in +which William promised to discourage the woollen and encourage the linen +manufacture in Ireland, and the publication of the famous argument for +legislative independence, "The Case of Ireland Stated." The author of this +tract, the bright precursor of the glorious succession of men, who, often +defeated or abandoned by their colleagues, finally triumphed in 1782, was +William Molyneux, member for the University of Dublin. Molyneux's book appeared +in 1698, with a short, respectful, but manly dedication to King William. +Speaking of his own motives in writing it, he says, "I am not at all concerned +in wool or the wool trade. I am no ways interested in forfeitures or grants. I +am not at all concerned whether the bishop or the society of Derry recover the +lands they contest about." Such were the domestic politics of Ireland at that +day; but Molyneux raised other and nobler issues when he advanced these six +propositions, which lie supported with incontestible ability. +</p> + +<p> +"1. How Ireland became a kingdom <i>annexed</i> to the crown of England. And +here we shall at large give a faithful narrative of the first expedition of the +Britons into this country, and King Henry II.'s arrival here, such as our best +historians give us. +</p> + +<p> +"2. We shall inquire whether this expedition and the English settlement that +afterwards followed thereon, can properly be called a <i>conquest</i>; or +whether any victories obtained by the English in any succeeding ages in this +kingdom, upon any rebellion, may be called a <i>conquest</i> thereof. +</p> + +<p> +"3. Granting that it were a <i>conquest</i>, we shall inquire what <i>title</i> +a conquest gives. +</p> + +<p> +"4. We shall inquire what <i>concessions</i> have been from time to time made +to Ireland, to take off what even the most rigorous asserters of a conqueror's +title do pretend to. And herein we shall show by what degrees the English form +of government, and the English statute laws, came to be received among us; and +this shall appear to be wholly by the <i>consent</i> of the people and the +Parliament of Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +"5. We shall inquire into the precedents and opinions of the learned in the +laws relating to this matter, with observations thereon. +</p> + +<p> +"6. We shall consider the reasons and arguments that may be further offered on +one side and t'other; and we shall draw some general conclusions from the +whole." +</p> + +<p> +The English Parliament took alarm at these bold doctrines, seldom heard across +the channel since the days of Patrick Darcy and the Catholic Confederacy. They +ordered the book to be burned by the hands of the common hangman, as of +"dangerous tendency to the crown and people of England, by denying the power of +the King and Parliament of England to bind the kingdom and people of Ireland, +and the subordination and dependence that Ireland had, and ought to have, upon +England, as being united and annexed to the imperial crown of England." They +voted an address to the King in the same tone, and received an answer from his +majesty, assuring them that he would enforce the laws securing the dependence +of Ireland on the imperial crown of Great Britain. +</p> + +<p> +But William's days were already numbered. On the 8th of March, 1702, when +little more than fifty years of age, he died from the effects of a fall from +his horse. His reign over Ireland is synonymous to the minds of that people of +disaster, proscription and spoliation; of violated faith and broken compacts; +but these wrongs were done in his name rather than by his orders; often without +his knowledge, and sometimes against his will. Rigid as that will was, it was +forced to bend to the anti-Popery storm which swept over the British Islands +after the abdication of King James; but the vices and follies of his times +ought no more be laid to the personal account of William than of James or +Louis, against whom he fought. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap87"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br/> +REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE.</h3> + +<p> +The reign of Queen Anne occupies twelve years (1702 to 1714. The new sovereign, +daughter of James by his first marriage, inherited the legacy of William's +wars, arising out of the European coalition. Her diplomatists, and her troops, +under the leadership of Marlborough, continued throughout her reign to combat +against France, in Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands; the treaty of Utrecht +being signed only the year before her majesty's decease. In domestic politics, +the main occurrences were the struggle of the Whigs and Tories, immortalized +for us in the pages of Swift, Steele, Addison, and Bolingbroke; the limitation +of the succession to the descendants of the Electress Sophia, in the line of +Hanover; and the abortive Jacobite movement on the Queen's death which drove +Ormond and Atterbury into exile. +</p> + +<p> +In Ireland, this is the reign, <i>par excellence</i>, of the penal code. From +the very beginning of the Queen's reign, an insatiate spirit of proscription +dictated the councils of the Irish oligarchy. On the arrival of the second and +last Duke of Ormond, in 1703, as Lord-Lieutenant, the Commons waited on him in +a body, with a bill "for discouraging the further growth of Popery," to which +the duke having signified his entire concurrence, it was accordingly +introduced, and became law. The following are among the most remarkable clauses +of this act: The third clause provides, that if the son of an estated Papist +shall conform to the established religion, the father shall be incapacitated +from selling or mortgaging his estate, or disposing of any portion of it by +will. The fourth clause prohibits a Papist from being the guardian of his own +child; and orders, that if at any time the child, though ever so young, +pretends to be a Protestant, it shall be taken from its own father, and placed +under the guardianship of the nearest Protestant relation. The sixth clause +renders Papists incapable of purchasing any manors, tenements, hereditaments, +or any rents or profits arising out of the same, or of holding any lease of +lives, or other lease whatever, for any term exceeding thirty-one years. And +with respect even to such limited leases, it further enacts, that if a Papist +should hold a farm producing a profit greater than one-third of the amount of +the rent, his right to such should immediately cease, and pass over entirely to +the first Protestant who should discover the rate of profit. The seventh clause +prohibits Papists from succeeding to the properties or estates of their +Protestant relations. By the tenth clause, the estate of a Papist, not having a +Protestant heir, is ordered to be gavelled, or divided in equal shares between +all his children. The sixteenth and twenty-fourth clauses impose the oath of +abjuration, and the sacramental test, as a qualification for office, and for +voting at elections. The twenty-third clause deprives the Catholics of Limerick +and Galway of the protection secured to them by the articles of the treaty of +Limerick. The twenty-fifth clause vests in her majesty all advowsons possessed +by Papists. +</p> + +<p> +Certain Catholic barristers, living under protection, not yet excluded from the +practice of their profession, petitioned to be heard at the bar of the House of +Commons. Accordingly, Mr. Malone, the ancestor of three generations of scholars +and orators, Sir Stephen Rice, one of the most spotless characters of the age, +formerly chief-justice under King James, and Sir Theobald Butler, were heard +against the bill. The argument of Butler, who stood at the very head of his +profession, remains to us almost in its entirety, and commands our admiration +by its solidity and dignity. Never was national cause more worthily pleaded; +never was the folly of religious persecution more forcibly exhibited. Alluding +to the monstrous fourth clause of the bill, the great advocate +exclaimed:— +</p> + +<p> +"It is natural for the father to love the child; but we all know that children +are but too apt and subject, without any such liberty as this bill gives, to +slight and neglect their duty to their parents; and surely such an act as this +will not be an instrument of restraint, but rather encourage them more to it. +</p> + +<p> +"It is but too common with the son, who has a prospect of an estate, when once +he arrives at the age of one and twenty, to think the old father too long in +the way between him and it; and how much more will he be subject to it, when, +by this act, he shall have liberty, before he comes to that age, to compel and +force my estate from me, without asking my leave, or being liable to account +with me for it, or out of his share thereof, to a moiety of the debts, +portions, or other encumbrances, with which the estate might have been charged +before the passing of this act! +</p> + +<p> +"Is not this against the laws of God and man? Against the rules of reason and +justice, by which all men ought to be governed? Is not this the only way in the +world to make children become undutiful? and to bring the grey head of the +parent to the grave with grief and tears? +</p> + +<p> +"It would be hard from any man; but from a son, a child, the fruit of my body, +whom I have nursed in my bosom, and tendered more dearly than my own life, to +become my plunderer, to rob me of my estate, to cut my throat, and to take away +my bread, is much more grievous than from any other, and enough to make the +most flinty hearts to bleed to think on it. And yet this will be the case if +this bill pass into a law; which I hope this honourable assembly will not think +of, when they shall more seriously consider, and have weighed these matters. +</p> + +<p> +"For God's sake, gentlemen, will you consider whether this is according to the +golden rule, to do as you would be done unto? And if not, surely you will not, +nay, you cannot, without being liable to be charged with the most manifest +injustice imaginable, take from us our birthrights, and invest them in others, +before our faces." +</p> + +<p> +When Butler and Malone had closed, Sir Stephen Rice was heard, not in his +character of council, but as one of the petitioners affected by the act. But +neither the affecting position of that great jurist, who, from the rank of +chief baron had descended to the outer bar, nor the purity of his life, nor the +strength of his argument, had any effect upon the oligarchy who heard him. He +was answered by quibbles and cavils, unworthy of record, and was finally +informed that any rights which Papists "pretended to be taken from them by the +Bill, was in their own power to remedy, by conforming, which in prudence they +ought to do; and that they had none to blame but themselves." Next day the bill +passed into law. +</p> + +<p> +The remnant of the clergy were next attacked. On the 17th of March, 1705, the +Irish Commons resolved, that "informing against Papists was an honourable +service to the government," and that all magistrates and others who failed to +put the penal laws into execution, "were betrayers of the liberties of the +kingdom." But even these resolutions, rewards, and inducements were +insufficient to satisfy the spirit of persecution. +</p> + +<p> +A further act was passed, in 1709, imposing additional penalties. The first +clause declares, that no Papist shall be capable of holding an annuity for +life. The third provides, that the child of a Papist, on conforming, shall at +once receive an annuity from his father; and that the Chancellor shall compel +the father to discover, upon oath, the full value of his estate, real and +personal, and thereupon make an order for the support of such conforming child +or children, and for securing such a share of the property, after the father's +death, as the court shall think fit. The fourteenth and fifteenth clauses +secure jointures to Popish wives who shall conform. The sixteenth prohibits a +Papist from teaching, even as assistant to a Protestant master. The eighteenth +gives a salary of 30 pounds per annum to Popish priests who shall conform. The +twentieth provides rewards for the discovery of Popish prelates, priests, and +teachers, according to the following whimsical scale:—For discovering an +archbishop, bishop, vicar-general, or other person, exercising any foreign +ecclesiastical jurisdiction, 50 pounds; for discovering each regular clergyman, +and each secular clergyman, not registered, 20 pounds; and for discovering each +Popish schoolmaster or usher, 10 pounds. The twenty-first clause empowers two +justices to summon before them any Papist over eighteen years of age, and +interrogate him when and where he last heard mass said, and the names of the +persons present, and likewise touching the residence of any Popish priest or +schoolmaster; and if he refuse to give testimony, subjects him to a fine of 20 +pounds, or imprisonment for twelve months. +</p> + +<p> +Several other penal laws were enacted by the same Parliament, of which we can +only notice one; it excluded Catholics from the office of sheriff, and from +grand juries, and enacts, that, in trials upon any statute for strengthening +the Protestant interest, the plaintiff might challenge a juror for being a +Papist, which challenge the judge was to allow. +</p> + +<p> +By a royal proclamation of the same year, "all registered priests" were to take +"the oath of abjuration before the 25th of March, 1710," under penalty of +<i>premunire</i>. Under this proclamation and the tariff of rewards just cited, +there grew up a class of men, infamous and detestable, known by the nickname of +"priest hunters." One of the most successful of these traffickers in blood was +a Portuguese Jew, named Garcia, settled at Dublin. He was very skilful at +disguises. "He sometimes put on the mien of a priest, for he affected to be +one, and thus worming himself into the good graces of some confiding Catholic +got a clue to the whereabouts of the clergy." In 1718, Garcia succeeded in +arresting seven unregistered priests, for whose detection he had a sum equal to +two or three thousand dollars of American money. To such an excess was this +trade carried, that a reaction set in, and a Catholic bishop of Ossory, who +lived at the time these acts were still in force, records that "the +priest-catchers' occupation became exceedingly odious both to Protestants and +Catholics," and that himself had seen "ruffians of this calling assailed with a +shower of stones, flung by both Catholics and Protestants." But this creditable +reaction only became general under George II., twenty years after the passage +of the act of Queen Anne. +</p> + +<p> +We shall have to mention some monstrous additions made to the code during the +first George's reign, and some attempts to repair and perfect its diabolical +machinery, even so late as George III.; but the great body of the penal law +received its chief accessions from the oligarchical Irish Parliament, under +Queen Anne. Hitherto, we have often had to point out, how with all its +constitutional defects—with the law of Poynings, obliging heads of bills +to be first sent to England—fettering its freedom of +initiative;—how, notwithstanding all defects, the Irish Parliament had +asserted, at many critical periods, its own and the people's rights, with an +energy worthy of admiration. But the collective bigots of this reign were +wholly unworthy of the name of a parliament. They permitted the woollen trade +to be sacrificed without a struggle,—they allowed the bold propositions +of Molyneux, one of their own number, to be condemned and reprobated without a +protest. The knotted lash of Jonathan Swift was never more worthily applied, +than to "the Legion Club," which he has consigned to such an unenviable +immortality. Swift's inspiration may have been mingled with bitter +disappointment and personal revenge; but, whatever motives animated him, his +fearless use of his great abilities must always make him the first political, +as he was certainly the first literary character of Ireland at that day. In a +country so bare and naked as he found it; with a bigotry so rampant and united +before him; it needed no ordinary courage and capacity to evoke anything like +public opinion or public spirit. Let us be just to that most unhappy man of +genius; let us proclaim that Irish nationality, bleeding at every pore, and in +danger of perishing by the wayside, found shelter on the breast of Swift, and +took new heart from the example of that bold churchman, before whom the +Parliament, the bench of Bishops, and the Viceroy, trembled. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap88"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br/> +THE IRISH SOLDIERS ABROAD DURING THE REIGNS OF WILLIAM AND ANNE.</h3> + +<p> +The close of the second reign from the siege of Limerick imposes the duty of +casting our eyes over the map of Europe, in quest of those gallant exiles whom +we have seen, in tens of thousands, submitting to the hard necessity of +expatriation. +</p> + +<p> +Many of the Meath and Leinster Irish, under their native commanders, the +Kavanaghs and Nugents, carried their swords into the service of William's ally, +the Emperor of Austria, and distinguished themselves in all the campaigns of +Prince Eugene. Spain attracted to her standard the Irish of the north-west, the +O'Donnells, the O'Reillys, and O'Garas, whose regiments, during more than one +reign, continued to be known by flames of Ulster origin. In 1707, the great +battle of Almanza, which decided the Spanish succession, was determined by +O'Mahony's foot and Fitzjames's Irish horse. The next year Spain had five Irish +regiments in her regular army, three of foot and two of dragoons, under the +command of Lacy, Lawless, Wogan, O'Reilly, and O'Gara. But it was in France +that the Irish served in the greatest number, and made the most impressive +history for themselves and their descendants. +</p> + +<p> +The recruiting agents of France had long been in the habit of crossing the +narrow seas, and bringing back the stalwart sons of the western Island to serve +their ambitious kings, in every corner of the continent. An Irish troop of +horse served, in 1652, under Turenne, against the great Conde. In the campaigns +of 1673, 1674 and 1675, under Turenne, two or three Irish regiments were in +every engagement along the Rhine. At Altenheim, their commander, Count +Hamilton, was created a major-general of France. In 1690, these old regiments, +with the six new ones sent over by James, were formed into a brigade, and from +1690 to 1693, they went through the campaigns of Savoy and Italy, under Marshal +Catinat, against Prince Eugene. Justin McCarthy, Lord Mountcashel, who +commanded them, died at Bareges of wounds received at Staffardo. At Marsiglia, +they routed, in 1693, the allies, killing Duke Schomberg, son to the Huguenot +general who fell at the Boyne. +</p> + +<p> +The "New" or Sarsfield's brigade was employed under Luxembourg, against King +William, in Flanders, in 1692 and 1693. At Namur and Enghien, they were greatly +distinguished, and William more than once sustained heavy loss at their hands. +Sarsfield, their brigadier, for these services, was made mareschal-de-camp. At +Landen, on the 29th of July, '93, France again triumphed to the cry, "Remember +Limerick!" Sarsfield, leading on the fierce pursuers, fell, mortally wounded. +Pressing his hand upon the wound, he took it away dripping with blood, and only +said, "Oh, that this was for Ireland!" +</p> + +<p> +In the war of the Spanish succession, the remnants of both brigades, +consolidated into one, served under their favourite leader, the Marshal Duke of +Berwick, through nearly all his campaigns in Belgium, Spain and Germany. The +third Lord Clare, afterwards Field-Marshal Count Thomond, was by the Duke's +side at Phillipsburg, in 1733, when he received his death-wound from the +explosion of a mine. These exiled Clare O'Briens commanded for three +generations their famous family regiment of dragoons. The first who followed +King James abroad died of wounds received at the battle of Ramillies; the +third, with better fortune, outlived for nearly thirty years the glorious day +of Fontenoy. The Irish cavalry regiments in the service of France were +Sheldon's, Galmoy's, Clare's, and Killmallock's; the infantry were known as the +regiments of Dublin, Charlemont, Limerick, and Athlone. There were two other +infantry regiments, known as Luttrel's and Dorrington's—and a regiment of +Irish marines, of which the Grand Prior, Fitzjames, was colonel. During the +latter years of Louis XIV., there could not have been less, at any one time, +than from 20,000 to 30,000 Irish in his armies, and during the succeeding +century, authentic documents exist to prove that 450,000 natives of Ireland +died in the military service of France. +</p> + +<p> +In the dreary reigns of William, Anne, and the two first Georges, the pride and +courage of the disarmed and disinherited population abiding at home, drew new +life and vigour from the exploits of their exiled brethren. The channel +smuggler and the vagrant ballad-singer kept alive their fame for the lower +class of the population, while the memoirs of Marlborough and Eugene, issuing +from the Dublin press, communicated authentic accounts of their actions, to the +more prejudiced, or better educated. The blows they struck at Landen, at +Cremona, and at Almanza, were sensibly felt by every British statesman; when, +in the bitterness of defeat, an English King cursed "the laws that deprived him +of such subjects," the doom of the penal code was pronounced. +</p> + +<p> +The high character of the famous captains of these brigades was not confined to +the field of battle. At Paris, Vienna, and Madrid, their wit and courtesy +raised them to the favour of princes, over the jealousy of all their rivals. +Important civil and diplomatic offices were entrusted to them—embassies +of peace and war—the government of provinces, and the highest +administrative offices of the state. While their kinsmen in Ireland were +declared incapable of filling the humblest public employments, or of exercising +the commonest franchise, they met British ambassadors abroad as equals, and +checked or countermined the imperial policy of Great Britain. It was impossible +that such a contrast of situations should not attract the attention of all +thinking men! It was impossible that such reputations should shine before all +Europe without reacting powerfully on the fallen fortunes of Ireland! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="part11"></a>BOOK XI.<br/> +FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE I. TO THE LEGISLATIVE UNION OF GREAT BRITAIN +AND IRELAND.</h3> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap89"></a>CHAPTER I.<br/> +ACCESSION OF GEORGE I.—SWIFT'S LEADERSHIP.</h3> + +<p> +The last years of Queen Anne had been years of intrigue and preparation with +the Jacobite leaders throughout the three kingdoms. At their head stood Ormond, +the second and last <i>Duke</i> of his name, and with him were associated at +one stage or another of his design, Bolingbroke, Orrery, Bishop Atterbury, and +other influential persons. It was thought that had this party acted promptly on +the death of the Queen, and proclaimed James III. (or "the Pretender," as he +was called by the partisans of the new dynasty), the Act of Succession might +have remained a dead letter, and the Stuarts recovered their ancient +sovereignty. But the partisans of the elector were the first in the field, and +King George was accordingly proclaimed, on the 1st of August, at London, and on +the 6th of August, at Dublin. +</p> + +<p> +In Dublin, where serious apprehensions of a Jacobite rising were entertained, +the proclamation was made by the glare of torches at the extraordinary hour of +midnight. Two or three arrests of insignificant persons were made, and letters +to Swift being found on one of them, the Dean was thought by his friends to be +in some danger. But it was not correct to say, as many writers have done, that +he found it necessary to retire from Dublin. The only inconvenience he suffered +was from the hootings and revilings of the Protestant rabble in the street, and +a brutal threat of personal violence from a young nobleman, upon whom he +revenged himself in a characteristic petition to the House of Lords "for +protection against the said lord." Pretending not to be quite sure of his +assailant, he proceeds to explain: "Your petitioner is informed that the person +who spoke the words above mentioned is of your Lordships' House, under the +style and title of Lord Blaney; whom your petitioner remembers to have +introduced to Mr. Secretary Addison, in the Earl of Wharton's government, and +to have done him other good offices at that time, because he was represented as +a young man of some hopes and a broken fortune." The entire document is a +curious picture of the insolence of the ascendancy party of that day, even +towards dignitaries of their own church who refused to go all lengths in the +only politics they permitted or tolerated. +</p> + +<p> +It was while smarting under these public indignities, and excluded from the +society of the highest class in his own country, with two or three exceptions, +that Swift laid the foundations of his own and his country's patriotism, among +the educated middle class of the Irish capital. From the college and the clergy +he drew Dr. Sheridan—ancestor of six generations of men and women of +genius! Doctors Delaney, Jackson, Helsham, Walmsley, Stopford (afterwards +Bishop of Cloyne), and the three reverend brothers Grattan. In the city he +selected as his friends and companions four other Grattans, one of whom was +Lord-Mayor, another physician to the castle, one a schoolmaster, the other a +merchant. "Do you know the Grattans?" he wrote to the Lord-Lieutenant, Lord +Carteret; "then pray obtain their acquaintance. The Grattans, my lord, can +raise 10,000 men." Among the class represented by this admirable family of +seven brothers, and in that of the tradesmen immediately below them, of which +we may take his printers, Waters and Faulkner for types, Swift's haughty and +indignant denunciations of the oligarchy of the hour produced striking effects. +The humblest of the community began to raise their heads, and to fix their eyes +steadily on public affairs and public characters. Questions of currency, of +trade, of the administration of justice and of patronage, were earnestly +discussed in the press and in society, and thus by slow but gradually ascending +steps, a spirit of independence was promoted where hitherto only servility had +reigned. +</p> + +<p> +The obligations of his cotemporaries to Swift are not to be counted simply by +what he was able to originate or to advocate in their behalf—for not much +could be done in that way, in such times, and in such a position as +his—but rather in regard to the enemies and maligners of that people, +whom he exposed and punished. To understand the value of his example and +inspiration, we must read over again his castigations of Wharton, of Burnet, of +Boulter, of Whitshed, of Allan, and all the leaders of the oligarchy, in the +Irish Parliament. When we have done so, we shall see at once how his imperial +reputation, his personal position, and every faculty of his powerful mind were +employed alike to combat injustice and proscription, to promote freedom of +opinion and of trade, to punish the abuses of judicial power, and to cultivate +and foster a spirit of self reliance and economy among all +classes—especially the humblest. In his times, and in his position, with +a cassock "entangling his course," what more could have been expected of him? +</p> + +<p> +The Irish Parliament met in 1715—elected, according to the then usage, +for the lifetime of the King—commenced its career by an act of attainder +against the Pretender, accompanied by a reward of 50,000 pounds for his +apprehension. The Lords-Justices, the Duke of Grafton and the Earl of Galway, +recommended in their speech to the Houses, that they should cultivate such +unanimity among themselves as "at once to put an end to all other distinctions +in Ireland, but that of Protestant and Papist." In the same speech, and in all +the debates of that reign, the Catholics were spoken of as "the common enemy," +and all who sympathized with them, as "enemies of the constitution." But far as +this Parliament was from all our ideas of what a national legislature ought to +be, it was precisely at this period, when the administration could not be +worse, that the foundation was laid of the great contest for legislative +independence, which was to continue through three generations, and to +constitute the main staple of the Irish history of this century. +</p> + +<p> +In the year 1717, the English House of Lords entertained and decided, as a +court of last resort, an appeal from the Irish courts, already passed on by the +Irish Lords, in the famous real-estate case of Annesley <i>versus</i> Sherlock. +The proceeding was novel, and was protested against in the English House at the +time by the Duke of Leeds, and in the Irish, by the majority of the whole +House. But the British Parliament, not content with claiming the power, +proceeded to establish the principle, by the declaratory act—6th George +I.—for securing the dependence of Ireland on the crown of Great Britain. +This statute, even more objectionable than the law of Poynings, continued +unrepealed till 1782, notwithstanding all the arguments and all the protests of +the Irish patriot party. The Lords of Ireland, unsupported by the bigoted and +unprincipled oligarchy in the Commons, were shorn of their appellate +jurisdiction, and their journals for many years contain few entries of business +done, beyond servile addresses to successive Viceroys, and motions of +adjournment. +</p> + +<p> +In their session of 1723, the ascendancy party in the Commons proceeded to +their last extreme of violence against the prostrate Catholics. An act was +introduced founded on eight resolutions, "further to prevent the growth of +Popery." One of these resolutions, regularly transmitted to England by the +Viceroy-proposed that every priest, arrested within the realm, should suffer +the penalty of <i>castration</i>! For the first time, a penal law was rejected +with horror and indignation by the English Privy Council, and the whole +elaborate edifice, overweighted with these last propositions, trembled to its +base. But though badly shaken, it was yet far from coming down. +</p> + +<p> +"Do not the corruptions and villainies of men," said Swift to his friend +Delaney, "eat your flesh and exhaust your spirits?" They certainly gnawed at +the heart of the courageous Dean, but at the same time, they excited rather +than exhausted his spirits. In 1720 he resumed his pen, as a political writer, +in his famous proposal "for the universal use of Irish manufactures." Waters, +the printer of this piece, was indicted for a seditious libel, before +Chief-Justice Whitshed, the immortal "<i>coram nobis</i>" of the Dean's +political ballads. The jury were detained eleven hours, and sent out nine +times, to compel them to agree on a verdict. They at length finally declared +they could not agree, and a <i>nol. pros</i>. was soon after entered by the +crown. This trial of Swift's printer in 1720, is the first of a long series of +duels with the crown lawyers, which the Irish press has since maintained with +as much firmness and self-sacrifice as any press ever exhibited. And it may be +said that never, not even under martial law, was a conspicuous example of civic +courage more necessary, or more dangerous. Browne, Bishop of Cork, had been in +danger of deprivation for preaching a sermon against the well-known toast to +the memory of King William; Swift was threatened, as we see, a few years +earlier, with personal violence by a Whig lord, and pelted by a Protestant +rabble, for his supposed Jacobitism; his friend, Dr. Sheridan, lost his Munster +living for having accidentally chosen as his text, on the anniversary of King +George's coronation, "sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." Such was the +intolerance of the oligarchy towards their own clergy. What must it have been +to others! +</p> + +<p> +The attempt to establish a National Bank, and the introduction of a debased +copper coinage, for which a patent had been, granted to one William Wood, next +employed the untiring pen of Swift. The halfpenny controversy, was not, as is +often said, a small matter; it was nearly as important as the bank project +itself. Of the 100,000 pounds worth coined, the intrinsic value was shown to be +not more than 6,000 pounds. Such was the storm excited against the patentee, +that his Dublin agents were obliged to resign their connection with him, and +the royal letters-patent were unwillingly cancelled. The bank project was also +rejected by Parliament, adding another to the triumphs of the invincible Dean. +</p> + +<p> +During the last years of this reign, Swift was the most powerful and popular +person in Ireland, and perhaps in the empire. The freedom with which he advised +Carteret the Viceroy, and remonstrated with Walpole, the Premier, on the +misrule of his country, was worthy of the ascendancy of his genius. No man of +letters, no churchman, no statesman of any country in any age, ever showed +himself more thoroughly independent, in his intercourse with men of office, +than Swift. The vice of Ireland was exactly the other way, so that in this +respect also, the patriot was the liberator. +</p> + +<p> +Rising with the rise of public spirit, the great churchman, in his fourth +letter, in the assumed character of <i>M. B. Drapier</i>, confronted the +question of legislative independence. Alluding to the pamphlet of Molyneux, +published thirty years before, he pronounced its arguments invincible, and the +contrary system "the very definition of slavery." "The remedy," he concludes, +addressing the Irish people, "is wholly in your own hands, and therefore I have +digressed a little, in order to refresh and continue that spirit so seasonably +raised among you, and to let you see, that, by the laws of God, of nature, of +nations, and of your country, <i>you are, and ought to be, as free a people as +your brethren in England</i>." For this letter also, the printer, Harding, was +indicted, but the Dublin grand jury, infected with the spirit of the times, +unanimously ignored the bill. A reward of 300 pounds was then issued from the +castle for the discovery of the author, but no informer could be found base +enough to betray him. For a time, however, to escape the ovations he despised, +and the excitement which tried his health, Swift retired to his friend +Sheridan's cottage on the banks of Lough Ramor, in Cavan, and there recreated +himself with long rides about the country, and the composition of the Travels +of the immortal Gulliver. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Robert Walpole, alarmed at the exhibition of popular intelligence and +determination evoked by Swift, committed the government of Ireland to his +rival, Lord Carteret—whom he was besides not sorry to remove to a +distance—and appointed to the See of Armagh, which fell vacant about the +time of the currency dispute, Dr. Hugh Boulter, Bishop of Bristol, one of his +own creatures. This prelate, a politician by taste and inclination, modelled +his policy on his patron's, as far as his more contracted sphere and inferior +talents permitted. To buy members in market overt, with peerages, or secret +service money, was his chief means of securing a Parliamentary majority. An +Englishman by birth and education; the head of the Protestant establishment in +Ireland, it was inevitable that his policy should be English and Protestant, in +every particular. To resist, depress, disunite, and defeat the believers in the +dangerous doctrines of Swift and Molyneux, was the sole rule of his nearly +twenty years' political supremacy in Irish affairs. (1724-1742.) The master of +a princely income, endowed with strong passions, unlimited patronage, and great +activity, he may be said to have reigned rather than led, even when the nominal +viceroyalty was in the hands of such able and accomplished men as Lords +Carteret, Dorset and Devonshire. His failure in his first state trial, against +Harding the printer, nothing discouraged him; he had come into Ireland to +secure the English interest, by uprooting the last vestiges of Popery and +independence, and he devoted himself to those objects with persevering +determination. In 1727—the year of George the First's decease—he +obtained the disfranchisement of Catholic electors by a clause quietly inserted +without notice in a Bill regulating elections; and soon after he laid the +foundations of those nurseries of proselytism, "the Charter Schools." +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap90"></a>CHAPTER II.<br/> +REIGN OF GEORGE II.—GROWTH OF PUBLIC SPIRIT—THE "PATRIOT" +PARTY—LORD CHESTERFIELD'S ADMINISTRATION.</h3> + +<p> +The accession of King George II. in 1727, led to no considerable changes, +either in England or Ireland. Sir Robert Walpole continued supreme in the one +country, and Primate Boulter in the other. The Jacobites, disheartened by their +ill success in 1715, and repelled rather than attracted by the austere +character of him they called King James III., made no sign. The new King's +first act was to make public the declaration he had addressed to the Privy +Council, of his firm resolution to uphold the existing constitution "in church +and state." +</p> + +<p> +The Catholic population, beginning once more to raise their heads, thought this +a suitable occasion to present a humble and loyal address of congratulation to +the Lords Justices, in the absence of the Viceroy. Lord Delvin and several of +their number accordingly appeared at the Castle, and delivered their address, +which they begged might be forwarded to the foot of the throne. No notice +whatever was taken of this document, either at Dublin or London, nor were the +class who signed it permitted by law to "testify their allegiance" to the +sovereign, for fifty years later—down to 1778. +</p> + +<p> +The Duke of Dorset, who succeeded Lord Carteret as Viceroy in 1731, unlike his +immediate predecessor, refrained from suggesting additional severities against +the Catholics. His first term of office—two years—was almost +entirely occupied with the fiercest controversy which had ever waged in Ireland +between the Established Church and the Protestant Dissenters. The ground of the +dispute was the sacramental test, imposed by law upon the members of both +Houses, and all burgesses and councillors of corporate towns. By the operations +of this law, when rigidly enforced, Presbyterians and other dissenters were as +effectually excluded from political and municipal offices as Catholics +themselves. Against this exclusion it was natural that a body so numerous, and +possessed of so much property, especially in Ulster, should make a vigorous +resistance. Relying on the great share they had in the revolution, they +endeavoured, though ineffectually, to obtain under King William the repeal of +the Test Act of King Charles II. Under Queen Anne they were equally +unsuccessful, as we may still read with interest in the pages of Swift, De Foe, +Tennison, Boyse, and King. Swift, especially, brought to the controversy not +only the zeal of a churchman, but the prejudices of an Anglo-Irishman, against +the new-comers in the north. He upbraids them in 1708, as glad to leave their +barren hills of Lochaber for the fruitful vales of Down and Antrim, for their +parsimony and their clannishness. He denied to them, with bitter scorn, the +title they had assumed of "Brother Protestants," and as to the Papists, whom +they affected to despise, they were, in his opinion, as much superior to the +Dissenters, as a lion, though chained and clipped of its claws, is a stronger +and nobler animal than an angry cat, at liberty to fly at the throats of true +churchmen. The language of the Presbyterian champions was equally bold, +denunciatory, and explicit. They broadly intimated, in a memorial to +Parliament, that under the operation of the test, they would be unable to take +up arms again, as they had done in 1688, for the maintenance of the Protestant +succession; a covert menace of insurrection, which Swift and their other +opponents did not fail to make the most of. Still farther to embarrass them, +Swift got up a paper making out a much stronger case in favour of the Catholics +than of "their brethren, the Dissenters," and the controversy closed, for that +age, in the complete triumph of the established clergy. +</p> + +<p> +This iniquitous deprivation of equal civil rights, accompanied with the onerous +burthen of tithes falling heaviest on the cultivators of the soil, produced the +first great Irish exodus to the North American colonies. The tithe of agistment +or pasturage, lately abolished, had made the tithe of tillage more unjust and +unequal. Outraged in their dearest civil and religious rights, thousands of the +Scoto-Irish of Ulster, and the Milesian and Anglo-Irish of the other provinces, +preferred to encounter the perils of an Atlantic flitting rather than abide +under the yoke and lash of such an oligarchy. In the year 1729, five thousand +six hundred Irish landed at the single port of Philadelphia; in the next ten +years they furnished to the Carolinas and Georgia the majority of their +immigrants; before the end of this reign, several thousands of heads of +families, all bred and married in Ireland, were rearing up a free posterity +along the slopes of the Blue Ridge in Virginia and Maryland, and even as far +north as the valleys of the Hudson and the Merrimac. In the ranks of the +thirteen United Colonies, the descendants of those Nonconformists were to +repeat, for the benefit of George III., the lesson and example their ancestors +had taught to James II. at Enniskillen and at Derry. +</p> + +<p> +Swift, with all his services to his own order, disliked, and was disliked by +them. Of the bishops he has recorded his utter contempt in some of the most +cutting couplets that even he ever wrote. Boulter he detested; Narcissus Marsh +he despised; with Dr. King of Dublin, Dr. Bolton of Cashel, and Dr. Horte of +Tuam, he barely kept up appearances. Except Sterne, Bishop of Clogher, Berkely, +Bishop of Cloyne, and Stopford, his successor, he entertained neither +friendship nor respect for one of that order. And on their part, the right +reverend prelates cordially reciprocated his antipathy. They resisted his being +made a member of the Linen Board, a Justice of the Peace, or a Visitor of +Trinity College. Had he appeared amongst them in Parliament as their peer, they +would have been compelled to accept him as a master, or combine against him as +an enemy. No wonder, then, that successive Viceroys shrank from nominating him +to any of the mitres which death had emptied; "the original sin of his birth" +was aggravated in their eyes by the actual sin of his patriotism. No wonder the +sheets of paper that littered his desk, before he sunk into his last sad scene +of dotage, were found scribbled all over with his favourite lines— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"Better we all were in our graves,<br/> +Than live in slavery to slaves." +</p> + +<p> +But the seeds of manly thought he had so broadly sown, though for a season +hidden even from the sight of the sower, were not dead, nor undergoing decay. +With something of the prudence of the founder, "the Patriot party," as the +opposition to the Castle party began to be called, occupied themselves at first +with questions of taxation and expenditure. In 1729, the Castle attempted to +make it appear that there was a deficit—that in short "the country owed +the government"—the large sum of 274,000 pounds! The Patriots met this +claim, by a motion for reducing the cost of all public establishments. This was +the chosen ground of both parties, and a more popularly intelligible ground +could not be taken. Between retrenchment and extravagance, between high taxes +and low, even the least educated of the people could easily decide; and +thenceforward for upwards of twenty years, no session was held without a +spirited debate on the supplies, and the whole subject of the public +expenditure. +</p> + +<p> +The Duke of Devonshire, who succeeded the Duke of Dorset as Viceroy in 1737, +contributed by his private munificence and lavish hospitalities to throw a +factitious popularity round his administration. No Dublin tradesman could find +it in his heart to vote against the nominee of so liberal a nobleman, and the +public opinion of Dublin was as yet the public opinion of Ireland. But the +Patriot party, though unable to stem successfully the tide of corruption and +seduction thus let loose, held their difficult position in the legislature with +great gallantry and ability. New men had arisen during the dotage of Swift, who +revered his maxims, and imitated his prudence. Henry Boyle, speaker of the +House of Commons, afterwards Earl of Shannon; Anthony Malone—son of the +<i>confrere</i> of Sir Toby Butler, and afterwards Chancellor of the Exchequer, +Sir Edward O'Brien, member for Clare, and his son, Sir Lucius, member for +Ennis, were the pillars of the party. Out of doors, the most active spirit +among the Patriots was Charles Lucas, a native of Clare, who, from his +apothecary's shop in Dublin, attempted, not without both talents, zeal and +energy, to play the part of Swift, at the press and among the people. His +public writings, commenced in 1741, brought him at first persecution and exile, +but they afterwards conducted him to the representation of the capital, and an +honourable niche in his country's history. +</p> + +<p> +The great event which may be said to divide into two epochs the reign of George +II. was the daring invasion of Scotland in 1745, by "the young +Pretender"—Charles Edward. This brave and unfortunate Prince, whose +adventures will live for ever in Scottish song and romance, was accompanied +from France by Sir Thomas Sheridan, Colonel O'Sullivan, and other Irish +refugees, still fondly attached to the house of Stuart. It is not to be +supposed that these gentlemen would be without correspondents in Ireland, nor +that the state of that country could be a matter of indifference to the astute +advisers of King George. In reality, Ireland was almost as much their +difficulty as Scotland, and their choice of a Viceroy, at this critical moment, +showed at once their estimate of the importance of the position, and the +talents of the man. +</p> + +<p> +Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, a great name in the world of +fashion, in letters, and in diplomacy, is especially memorable to us for his +eight months' viceroyalty over Ireland. That office had been long the object of +his ambition, and he could hardly have attained it at a time better calculated +to draw out his eminent administrative abilities. By temper and conviction +opposed to persecution, he connived at Catholic worship under the very walls of +the Castle. The sour and jaundiced bigotry of the local oligarchy he +encountered with <i>bon mots</i> and raillery. The only "dangerous Papist" he +had seen in Ireland, he declared to the King on his return, was a celebrated +beauty of that religion—Miss Palmer. Relying on the magical effect of +doing justice to all classes, and seeing justice done, he was enabled to spare +four regiments of troops for the war in Scotland, instead of demanding +additions to the Irish garrisons. But whether to diminish the influence which +his brilliant administration had created in England, or through the +machinations of the oligarchy, still powerful at Dublin, within ten days from +the decisive battle of Culloden, he was recalled. The fruits of his policy +might be already observed, as he walked on foot, his countess on his arm, to +the place of embarkation, amid the acclamations of all ranks and classes of the +people, and their affectionate prayers for his speedy return. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap91"></a>CHAPTER III.<br/> +THE LAST JACOBITE MOVEMENT—THE IRISH SOLDIERS ABROAD—FRENCH +EXPEDITION UNDER THUROT, OR O'FARRELL.</h3> + +<p> +The mention of the Scottish insurrection of 1745 brings naturally with it +another reference to the history of the Irish soldiers in the military service +of France. This year was in truth the most eventful in the annals of that +celebrated legion, for while it was the year of Fontenoy and victory on the one +hand, it was on the other the year of Culloden and defeat. +</p> + +<p> +The decisive battle of Fontenoy, in which the Franco-Irish troops bore so +decisive a part, was fought on the 11th of May, 1745. The French army, +commanded by Saxe, and accompanied by King Louis, leaving 18,000 men to besiege +Namur, and 6,000 to guard the Scheldt, took a position between that river and +the allies, having their centre at the village of Fontenoy. The British and +Dutch, under the King's favourite son, the Duke of Cumberland, were 55,000 +strong; the French 45,000. After a hard day's fighting, victory seemed to +declare so clearly against France, that King Louis, who was present, prepared +for flight. At this moment Marshal Saxe ordered a final charge by the seven +Irish regiments under Counts Dillon and Thomond. The tide was turned, beyond +expectation, to the cry of "Remember Limerick!" France was delivered, England +checked, and Holland reduced from a first to a second-rate power upon that +memorable day. But the victory was dearly bought. One-fourth of all the Irish +officers, including Count Dillon, were killed, and one-third of all the men. +The whole number slain on the side of France was set down at 7,000 by English +accounts, while they admitted for themselves alone, 4,000 British and 3,300 +Hanoverians and Dutch. "Foremost of all," says the just-minded Lord Mahon, +"were the gallant brigade of Irish exiles." It was this defeat of his favourite +son which wrung from King George II. the oft-quoted malediction on the laws +which deprived him of such subjects. +</p> + +<p> +The expedition of Prince Charles Edward was undertaken and conducted by Irish +aid, quite as much as by French or Scottish. The chief parties to it, besides +the old Marquis of Tullibardine and the young Duke of Perth, were the Waterses, +father and son, Irish bankers at Paris, who advanced one hundred and eighty +thousand livres between them; Walsh, an Irish merchant at Nantz, who put a +privateer of eighteen guns into the venture; Sir Thomas Geraldine, the +Pretender's agent at Paris; Sir Thomas Sheridan, the prince's preceptor, who, +with Colonels O'Sullivan and Lynch, Captain O'Neil, and other officers of the +brigade, formed the staff, on which Sir John McDonald, a Scottish officer in +the Spanish service, was also placed. Fathers Kelly and O'Brien volunteered in +the expedition. On the 22nd of June, 1745, with seven friends, the prince +embarked in Walsh's vessel, the Doutelle, at St. Nazaire, on the Loire, and on +the 19th of July, landed on the northern coast of Scotland, near Moidart. The +Scottish chiefs, little consulted or considered beforehand, came slowly and +dubiously to the landing-place. Under their patriarchal control there were +still in the kingdom about a hundred thousand men, and about one-twelfth of the +Scottish population. Clanronald, Cameron of Lochiel, the Laird of McLeod, and a +few others, having arrived, the royal standard was unfurled on the 19th of +August at Glenfinin, where that evening twelve hundred men—the entire +army so far—were formed into camp, under the orders of O'Sullivan. From +that day until the day of Culloden, O'Sullivan seems to have manoeuvred the +prince's forces. At Perth, at Edinburgh, at Preston, at Manchester, at +Culloden, he took command in the field, or in garrison; and even after the sad +result, he adhered to his sovereign's son with an honourable fidelity which +defied despair. +</p> + +<p> +Charles, on his part, placed full confidence in his Irish officers. In his +proclamation after the battle of Preston, he declared it was not his intention +to enforce on the people of England, Scotland, or Ireland, "a religion they +disliked." In a subsequent paper, he asks, "Have you found reason to love and +cherish your governors as the fathers of the people of Great Britain and +Ireland? Has a family upon whom a faction unlawfully bestowed the diadem of a +rightful prince, retained a due sense of so great a trust and favour?" These +and his other proclamations betrayed an Irish pen; probably Sir Thomas +Sheridan's. One of Charles's English adherents, Lord Elcho, who kept a journal +of the campaign, notes, complainingly, the Irish influence under which he +acted. "The prince and his old governor, Sir Thomas Sheridan," are especially +objected to, and the "Irish favourites" are censured in a body. While at +Edinburgh, a French ship, containing some arms, supplies, and "Irish officers," +arrived; at the same time efforts were made to recruit for the prince in +Ireland; but the agents being taken in some cases, the channel narrowly +watched, and the people not very eager to join the service, few recruits were +obtained. +</p> + +<p> +The Irish in France, as if to cover the inaction of their countrymen at home, +strained every nerve. The Waterses and O'Brien of Paris were liberal bankers to +the expedition. Into their hands James "exhausted his treasury" to support his +gallant son. At Fontainebleau, on the 23rd of October, Colonel O'Brien, on the +part of the prince, and the Marquis D'Argeusson for Louis XV., formed a treaty +of "friendship and alliance," one of the clauses of which was, that certain +Irish regiments, and other French troops, should be sent to sustain the +expedition. Under Lord John Drummond a thousand men were shipped from Dunkirk, +and arrived at Montrose in the Highlands about the time Charles had penetrated +as far south as Manchester. The officers, with the prince, here refused to +advance on London with so small a force; a retreat was decided on; the sturdy +defence of Carlisle, and victory of Falkirk, checked the pursuit; but the +overwhelming force of the Duke of Cumberland compelled them to evacuate +Edinburgh, Perth, and Glasgow—operations which consumed February, March, +and the first half of April, 1746. +</p> + +<p> +The next plan of operations seems to have been to concentrate in the western +Highlands, with Inverness for head-quarters. The town Charles easily got, but +Fort-George, a powerful fortress, built upon the site of the castle where +Macbeth was said to have murdered Duncan, commanded the Loch. Stapleton and his +Irish, captured it, however, as well as the neighbouring Fort-Augustus. Joined +by some Highlanders, they next attempted Fort-William, the last fortress of +King George in the north, but on the 3rd of April were recalled to the main +body. +</p> + +<p> +To cover Inverness, his head-quarters, Charles resolved to give battle. The +ground chosen, flanked by the river Nairn, was spotted with marsh and very +irregular; it was called Culloden, and was selected by O'Sullivan. Brigadier +Stapleton and Colonel Kerr reported against it as a field of battle; but +Charles adopted O'Sullivan's opinion of its fitness for Highland warfare. When +the preparations for battle began, "many voices exclaimed, 'We'll give +Cumberland another Fontenoy!'" The Jacobites were placed in position by +O'Sullivan, "at once their adjutant and quarter-master-general," and, as the +burghers of Preston thought, "a very likely fellow." He formed two lines, the +great clans being in the first, the Ogilvies, Gordons, and Murrays; the French +and Irish in the second. Four pieces of cannon flanked each wing, and four +occupied the centre. Lord George Murray commanded the right wing, Lord John +Drummond the left, and Brigadier Stapleton the reserve. They mustered in all +less than five thousand men. The British formed in three lines, ten thousand +strong, with two guns between every second regiment of the first and second +line. The action commenced about noon of April 16th, and before evening half +the troops of Prince Charles lay dead on the field, and the rest were +hopelessly broken. The retreat was pell-mell, except where "a troop of the +Irish pickets, by a spirited fire, checked the pursuit, which a body of +dragoons commenced after the Macdonalds, and Lord Lewis Gordon's regiments did +similar service." Stapleton conducted the French and Irish remnant to +Inverness, and obtained for them by capitulation "fair quarter and honourable +treatment." +</p> + +<p> +The unhappy prince remained on the field almost to the last. "It required," +says Mr. Chambers, "all the eloquence, and, indeed, all the active exertion, of +O'Sullivan to make Charles quit the field. A cornet in his service, when +questioned on this subject at the point of death, declared he saw O'Sullivan, +after using entreaties in vain, turn the head of the prince's horse and drag +him away." +</p> + +<p> +From that night forth, O'Sullivan, O'Neil, and a poor sedan carrier of +Edinburgh, called Burke, accompanied him in all his wanderings and adventures +among the Scottish islands. At Long Island they were obliged to part company, +the prince proceeding alone with Miss Flora McDonald. He had not long left, +when a French cutter hove in sight and took off O'Sullivan, intending to touch +at another point, and take in the prince and O'Neil. The same night she was +blown off the coast, and the prince, after many other adventures, was finally +taken off at Badenoch, on the 15th of September, 1746, by the L'Heureux, a +French armed vessel, in which Captain Sheridan (son of Sir Thomas), Mr. +O'Beirne, a lieutenant in the French army, "and two other gentlemen," had +adventured in search of him. Poor O'Neil, in seeking to rejoin his master, was +taken prisoner, carried to London, and is lost from the record. O'Sullivan +reached France safely, where, with Stapleton, Lynch, and the Irish and Scotch +officers, he was welcomed and honoured of all brave men. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the last struggle of the Stuarts. For years after, the popular +imagination in both countries clung fondly to Prince Charles. But the cause was +dead. As if to bury it for ever, Charles, in despair, grew dissipated and +desponding. In 1755, "the British Jacobites" sent Colonel McNamara, as their +agent, to induce him to put away his mistress, Miss Walsingham, a demand with +which he haughtily refused to comply. In 1766, when James III. died at Avignon, +the French king and the Pope refused to acknowledge the prince by the title of +Charles III. When the latter died, in 1788, at Rome, Cardinal York contented +himself with having a medal struck, with the inscription "Henricus IX., Anglae +Rex." He was the last of the Stuarts. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding the utter defeat of the Scottish expedition, and the +scatterment of the surviving companies of the brigade on all sorts of service +from Canada to India, there were many of the exiled Irish in France, who did +not yet despair of a national insurrection against the house of Hanover. In the +year 1759, an imposing expedition was fitted out at Brest under Admiral +Conflaus, and another at Dunkirk, under Commodore Thurot, whose real name was +O'Farrell. The former, soon after putting to sea, was encountered at Quiberon +by the English under Hawke, and completely defeated; but the latter entered the +British channel unopposed, and proceeded to the appointed <i>rendezvous</i>. +While cruising in search of Conflaus, the autumnal equinox drove the intrepid +Thurot into the Northern ocean, and compelled him to winter among the frozen +friths of Norway and the Orkneys. One of his five frigates returned to France, +another was never heard of, but with the remaining three he emerged from the +Scottish Islands, and entered Lough Foyle early in 1760. He did not, however, +attempt a landing at Derry, but appeared suddenly before Carrickfergus, on the +21st of February, and demanded its surrender. Placing himself at the head of +his marines and sailors, he attacked the town, which, after a brave resistance +by the commandant, Colonel Jennings, he took by assault. Here, for the first +time, this earlier Paul Jones heard of the defeat of his admiral; after levying +contributions on the rich burgesses and proprietors of Carrickfergus and +Belfast, he again put to sea. His ships, battered by the wintry storms which +they had undergone in northern latitudes, fell in near the Isle of Man with +three English frigates, just out of port, under Commodore Elliott. A gallant +action ensued, in which Thurot, or O'Farrell, and three hundred of his men were +killed. The survivors struck to the victors, and the French ships were towed in +a sinking state, into the port of Ramsey. +</p> + +<p> +The life thus lost in the joint service of France and Ireland, was a life +illustrative of the Irish refugee class among whom he became a leader. Left an +orphan in childhood, O'Farrell, though of a good family, had been bred in +France in so menial a condition that he first visited England as a domestic +servant. From that condition he rose to be a dexterous and successful captain +in the contraband trade, so extensive in those times. In this capacity he +visited almost every port of either channel, acquiring that accurate knowledge +which, added to his admitted bravery and capacity, placed him at length at the +head of a French squadron. "Throughout the expedition," says Lord Mahon, "the +honour and humanity of this brave adventurer are warmly acknowledged by his +enemies." "He fought his ship," according to the same author, "until the hold +was almost filled with water, and the deck covered with dead bodies." +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap92"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br/> +REIGN OF GEORGE II. (CONCLUDED)—MALONE'S LEADERSHIP.</h3> + +<p> +The Earl of Harrington, afterwards Duke of Devonshire, succeeded Lord +Chesterfield in the government, in 1746. He was provided with a prime minister +in the person of the new Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. George Stone, whose +character, if he was not exceedingly calumniated by his cotemporaries, might be +compared to that of the worst politicians of the worst ages of Europe. +Originally, the son of the jailer of Winchester, he had risen by dint of +talents, and audacity, to receive from the hands of his sovereign, the +illustrious dignity of Primate of Ireland. But even in this exalted office, the +abominable vices of his youth accompanied him. His house at Leixlip, was at +once a tavern and a brothel, and crimes, which are nameless, were said to be +habitual under his roof. "May the importation of Ganymedes into Ireland, be +soon discontinued," was the public toast, which disguised under the transparent +gauze of a mythological allusion, the infamies of which he was believed to be +the patron. The prurient page of Churchill was not quite so scrupulous, and the +readers of the satire entitled "The Times," will need no further key to the +horrible charges commonly received on both sides of the channel, against +Primate Stone. +</p> + +<p> +The viceroyalty of Ireland, which had become an object of ambition to the first +men in the empire, was warmly contested by the Earl of Harrington and the Duke +of Dorset. The former, through his Stanhope influence and connections, +prevailed over his rival, and arrived in Ireland, warmly recommended by the +popular Chesterfield. During his administration, Primate Stone, proceeding from +one extreme to another, first put forward the dangerous theory, that all +surplus revenue belonged of right to the crown, and might be paid over by the +Vice-Treasurers, to his majesty's order, without authority of Parliament. At +this period, notwithstanding the vicious system of her land tenures, and her +recent losses by emigration, Ireland found herself in possession of a +considerable surplus revenue. +</p> + +<p> +Like wounds and bruises in a healthy body, the sufferings and deprivations of +the population rapidly disappeared under the appearance even of improvement in +the government. The observant Chesterfield, who continued through life warmly +attached to the country in which his name was remembered with so much +affection, expresses to his friend, Chevenix, Bishop of Waterford, in 1751, his +satisfaction at hearing "that Ireland improves daily, and that a spirit of +industry spreads itself, to the great increase of trade and manufactures." This +new-born prosperity the Primate and politicians of his school would have met by +an annual depletion of the treasury, instead of assisting its march by the +reduction of taxes, and the promotion of necessary public works. The surplus +was naturally regarded, by the Patriot party, in the light of so much national +capital; they looked upon it as an improvement fund, for the construction of +canals, highways, and breakwaters, for the encouragement of the linen and other +manufactures, and for the adornment of the capital with edifices worthy of the +chief city of a flourishing kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +The leader of the Patriot party, Anthony Malone, was compared at this period, +by an excellent authority, to "a great sea in a calm." He was considered, even +by the fastidious Lord Shelburne, the equal, in oratory, of Chatham and +Mansfield. He seems to have at all times, however, sunk the mere orator in the +statesman, and to have used his great powers of argument even more in Council +than in the arena. His position at the bar, as Prime Sergeant, by which he took +precedence even of the Attorney-General, gave great weight to his opinions on +all questions of constitutional law. The roystering country gentlemen, who +troubled their heads but little with anything besides dogs and horses, pistols +and claret, felt secure in their new-fledged patriotism, under the broad aegis +of the law extended over them by the most eminent lawyer of his age. The +Speaker of the Commons, Henry Boyle, aided and assisted Malone, and when left +free to combat on the floor, his high spirit and great fortune gave additional +force to his example and confidence to his followers. Both were men too +cautious to allow their adversaries any parliamentary advantage over them, but +not so their intrepid coadjutor out of doors, Apothecary Lucas. He, like Swift, +rising from local and municipal grievances to questions affecting the +constitution of Parliament itself, was in 1749, against all the efforts of his +friends in the House of Commons, declared by the majority of that House to be +"an enemy to his country," and a reward was accordingly issued for his +apprehension. For a time he was compelled to retire to England; but he +returned, to celebrate in his Freeman's Journal the humiliation of the primate, +and the defeat of the policy both of Lord Harrington, and his successor, the +Duke of Dorset. +</p> + +<p> +This nobleman, resolved to cast his predecessor into the shade by the +brilliancy of his success, proceeded to take vigorous measures against the +patriots. In his first speech to Parliament in 1751, he informed them his +Majesty "consented" to the appropriation of the surplus revenue, by the House +of Commons, and a clause was added to the annual supply bill in the English +Council, containing the same obnoxious word, "consent." On this occasion, not +feeling themselves strong enough to throw out the bill, and there being no +alternative but rejection or acceptance, the Patriots permitted it to pass +under protest. But the next session, when a similar addition was made, the +Commons rejected the supply bill altogether, by a majority of 122 to 117. This +was a measure of almost revolutionary consequence, since it left every branch +of the public service unprovided for, for the ensuing twelve months. +</p> + +<p> +Both the advisers of the King in England, and the Viceroy in Ireland, seemed by +their insane conduct as if they desired to provoke such a collision. Malone's +patent of precedence as Prime Sergeant was cancelled; the speaker was dismissed +from the Privy Council, and the surplus revenue was withdrawn from the +Vice-Treasurer, by a King's letter. The indignation of the Dubliners at these +outrages rose to the utmost pitch. Stone, Healy, Hutchinson, and others of the +Castle party, were waylaid and menaced in the streets, and the Viceroy himself +hooted wherever he appeared. Had the popular leaders been men less cautious, or +less influential, the year 1753 might have witnessed a violent revolutionary +movement. But they planted themselves on the authority of the constitution, +they united boldness with prudence, and they triumphed. The Primate and his +creatures raised against them in vain the cuckoo cry of disloyalty, both in +Dublin and London. The English Whigs, long engaged themselves in a similar +struggle with the overgrown power of the crown, sympathized with the Irish +opposition, and defended their motives both in society and in Parliament. The +enemies of the Dorset family as naturally took their part, and the duke himself +was obliged to go over to protect his interest at court, leaving the odious +Primate as one of the Lords-Justices. At his departure his guards were hardly +able to protect him from the fury of the populace, to that waterside to which +Chesterfield had walked on foot, seven years before, amid the benedictions of +the same people. +</p> + +<p> +The Patriots had at this crisis a great addition to their strength, in the +accession of James, the twentieth Earl of Kildare, successively Marquis and +Duke of Leinster. This nobleman, in the prime of life, married to the beautiful +Emily Lennox, daughter of the Duke of Richmond, followed Dorset to England, and +presented to the King, with his own hand, one of the boldest memorials ever +addressed to a sovereign by a subject. After reciting the past services of his +family in maintaining the imperial connection, he declared himself the organ of +several thousands of his Majesty's liege subjects, "as well the nobles as the +clergy, the gentry, and the commonalty of the kingdom." He dwells on the +peculation and extravagance of the administration, under "the Duumvirate" of +the Viceroy and the Primate, which he compares with the league of Strafford and +Laud. He denounces more especially Lord George Sackville, son to Dorset, for +his intermeddling in every branch of administration. He speaks of Dr. Stone as +"a greedy churchman, who affects to be a second Wolsey in the senate." This +high-toned memorial struck with astonishment the English ministers, who did not +hesitate to hint, that, in a reign less merciful, it would not have passed with +impunity. In Ireland it raised the hardy earl to the pinnacle of popular +favour. A medal was struck in his honour, representing him guarding a heap of +treasure with a drawn sword, and the motto—"Touch not, says Kildare." At +the opening of the next Parliament, he was a full hour making his way among the +enthusiastic crowd, from his house in Kildare street to College Green. In +little more than a year, the Duke of Dorset, whom English ministers had in vain +endeavoured to sustain, was removed, and the Primate, by his Majesty's orders, +was struck from the list of privy counsellors. +</p> + +<p> +Lord Harrington, now Duke of Devonshire, replaced the disgraced and defeated +Dorset, and at once surrounded himself with advisers from the ranks of the +opposition. The Earl of Kildare was his personal and political friend, and his +first visit, on arriving, was paid at Carton. The Speaker, Mr. Boyle, the Earl +of Bessborough, head of the popular family of the Ponsonbys, and Mr. Malone, +were called to the Privy Council. Lucas, exalted rather than injured by years +of exile, was elected one of the members for the city of Dublin, and the whole +face of affairs promised a complete and salutary change of administration. +</p> + +<p> +After a year in office, Devonshire returned to England in ill-health, leaving +Lord Kildare as one of the Justices, an office which he continued to fill, till +the arrival in September, 1756, of John, fourth Duke of Bedford, as +Lord-Lieutenant, with Mr. Rigby, "a good four bottle man," as chief secretary. +</p> + +<p> +The instructions of the Duke of Bedford, dictated by the genius and wisdom of +Chatham, were, to employ "all softening and healing arts of government." His +own desire, as a Whig, at the head of the Whig families of England, was to +unite and consolidate the same party in Ireland, so as to make them a powerful +auxiliary force to the English Whigs. Consistently with this design, he wished +well to the country he was sent to rule, and was sincerely desirous of +promoting measures of toleration. But he found the Patriots distracted by +success, and disorganized by the possession of power. The Speaker, who had +struggled so successfully against his predecessors, was in the Upper House as +Earl of Shannon, and the chair of the Commons was filled by John Ponsonby, of +the Bessborough family. The Ponsonby following, and the Earl of Kildare's +friends were at this period almost as much divided from each other in their +views of public policy, as either were from the party of the Primate. The +Ponsonby party, still directed by Malone, wished to follow up the recent +victory on the money bills, by a measure of Catholic relief, a tax upon +absentees, and a reduction of the pension list, shamelessly burthened beyond +all former proportion. Lord Kildare and his friends were not then prepared to +go such lengths, though that high spirited nobleman afterwards came into most +of these measures. After endeavouring in vain to unite, these two interests, +the Duke of Bedford found, or fancied himself compelled, in order to secure a +parliamentary majority, to listen to the overtures of the, obsequious Primate, +to restore him to the Council, and to leave him, together with his old enemy, +Lord Shannon, in the situation of joint administrators, during his journey to +England, in 1758. The Earl of Kildare, it should be remarked, firmly refused to +be associated with Stone, on any terms, or for any time, long or short. +</p> + +<p> +The closing of this important reign is notable for the first Catholic meeting +held since the reign of Queen Anne. In the spring of 1757, four hundred +respectable gentlemen attended by mutual agreement, at Dublin, among whom were +Lords Devlin, Taafe, and Fingal, the antiquary, Charles O'Conor, of Balanagar, +the historian of the <i>Civil Wars</i>, Dr. Curry, and Mr. Wyse, a merchant of +Waterford, the ancestor of a still better known labourer in the same cause. The +then recent persecution of Mr. Saul, a Dublin merchant, of their faith, for +having harboured a young lady whose friends wished to coerce her into a change +of religion, gave particular significance to this assembly. It is true the +proceedings were characterized by caution amounting almost to timidity, but the +unanimous declaration of their loyal attachment to the throne, at a moment when +French invasion was imminent, produced the best effect, and greatly +strengthened the hands of the Clanbrassils, Ponsonbys, Malones, Dalys, and +other advocates of an enlarged toleration in both Houses. It is true no +immediate legislation followed, but the way was prepared for future +ameliorations by the discretion and tact of the Catholic delegates of 1757. +They were thenceforth allowed at least the right of meeting and petitioning, of +which they had long been deprived, and the restoration of which marks the first +step in their gradual recovery of their civil liberties. +</p> + +<p> +In 1759 a rumour broke out in Dublin that a legislative union was in +contemplation by the Primate and his faction. On the 3rd of December, the +citizens rose <i>en masse</i>, and surrounded the Houses of Parliament. They +stopped the carriages of members, and obliged them to swear opposition to such +a measure. Some of the Protestant bishops, and the Lord Chancellor were roughly +handled; a privy counsellor was thrown into the river; the Attorney General was +wounded and obliged to take refuge in the college; Lord Inchiquin was abused +till he said his name was O'Brien, when the rage of the people "was turned into +acclamations." The Speaker, Mr. Ponsonby, and the Chief Secretary, Mr. Rigby, +had to appear in the porch of the House of Commons, solemnly to assure the +citizens that no union was dreamed of, and if it was proposed, that they would +be the first to resist it. Public spirit had evidently grown bold and +confident, and we can well believe Secretary Rigby when he writes to the elder +Pitt, that "the mob" declared, "since they have no chance of numbers in the +House, they must have recourse to numbers out of doors." +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap93"></a>CHAPTER V.<br/> +ACCESSION OF GEORGE III.—FLOOD'S LEADERSHIP—OCTENNIAL +PARLIAMENTS ESTABLISHED.</h3> + +<p> +George III., grandson of the late king, commenced, in October, 1760, at the age +of two and twenty, the longest reign in British history. Including the period +of the regency, he reigned over his empire nearly sixty years—an +extraordinary term of royal power, and quite as extraordinary for its events as +for its extreme length. +</p> + +<p> +The great movement of the Irish mind, at the beginning of this reign, was the +limitation of the duration of Parliament, hitherto elected for the King's life. +This reform, long advocated out of doors, and by the more progressive members +within the House, was reserved for the new Parliament under the new reign. To +this Parliament were returned several men of great promise, men of a new +generation, nurtured in the school of Swift and Malone, but going even beyond +their masters in their determination to liberate the legislature of their +country from the undue influence of the crown and the castle. Among those new +members were three destined to national celebrity, Dr. Lucas, Mr. Hussey Burgh, +and Mr. Dennis Bowes Daly; and one destined to universal reputation—Henry +Flood. This gentleman, the son of a former Chief Justice, intermarried into the +powerful oligarchical family of the Beresfords, was only in his 28th year when +first elected member for Kilkenny; but, in point of genius and acquirements, he +was even then the first man in Ireland, and one of the first in the empire. For +a session or two he silently observed the forms of the House, preparing himself +for the great contest to come; but when at last he obtained the ear of his +party he was heard to some purpose. Though far from advocating extreme +measures, he had abundant boldness; he was not open to the objection levelled +against the leader of the past generation, Mr. Malone, of whom Grattan said, +"he was a colony-bred man, and he feared to bring down England upon Ireland." +</p> + +<p> +The Duke of Bedford vacated the viceroyalty in 1761, and Lord Halifax took his +place. In the first parliamentary session, Dr. Lucas introduced his resolutions +limiting the duration of Parliament to seven years, a project which Flood +afterwards adopted and mainly contributed to carry. The heads of the bill +embodying these resolutions were transmitted to London by the Lord-Lieutenant, +but never returned. In 1763, under the government of the Marquis of Hertford, +similar resolutions were introduced and carried, but a similar fate awaited +them. Again they were passed, and again rejected, the popular dissatisfaction +rising higher and higher with every delay of the reform. At length, in the +session of 1767, "the Septennial Bill," as it was called, was returned from +England, changed to octennial, and with this alteration it passed into law, in +February, 1768. A new Parliament the same year was elected under the new act, +to which all the friends of the measure were triumphantly returned. The +faithful Lucas, however, survived his success little better than two years; he +died amid the very sincere regrets of all men who were not enemies of their +country. At his funeral the pall was borne by the Marquis of Kildare, Lord +Charlemont, Mr. Flood, Mr. Hussey Burgh, Sir Lucius O'Brien, and Mr. Ponsonby. +</p> + +<p> +Lord Halifax, and his chief secretary, Mr. Hamilton (known to us as "the +single-speech Hamilton," of literary history), received very graciously the +loyal addresses presented by the Catholics, soon after his Majesty's accession. +In a speech from the throne, the Viceroy proposed, but was obliged to abandon +the proposition, to raise six regiments of Catholics, under their own officers, +to be taken into the service of Portugal, the ally of Great Britain. His +administration was otherwise remarkable neither for its length nor its +importance; nor is there anything else of consequence to be mentioned of his +lordship, except that his nephew, and chief secretary, had the honour to have +Edmund Burke for his private secretary, and the misfortune to offend him. +</p> + +<p> +During the government of the Marquis of Hertford, and his successor, Lord +Townsend (appointed in 1768), the Patriot party contended on the ground of +rendering the judges independent, diminishing the pension list, and modifying +the law of Poynings, requiring heads of bills to be sent into England, and +certified by both Privy Councils, before they could be passed upon by the +legislature. The question of supply, and that of the duration of Parliament, +being settled, these reforms were the next objects of exertion. When we know +that the late King's mistresses, the Queen Dowager of Prussia, Prince +Ferdinand, and other connections of the royal family, equally alien to the +country, were pensioners to the amount of thousands of pounds annually on the +Irish establishment, we can understand more clearly the bitterness of the +battle Mr. Flood and his colleagues were called upon to fight in assailing the +old system. But they fought it resolutely and perseveringly. Death had removed +their most unscrupulous enemy, Primate Stone, during the Hertford +administration, and the improved tone and temper of public opinion would not +tolerate any attempt to raise up a successor of similar character. Lord +Townsend, an old campaigner and <i>bon vivant</i>, was expressly chosen as most +capable of restoring the old system of government by closeting and corruption, +but he found the Ireland of his day very materially altered from the +defenceless province, which Stone and Dorset had attempted to cajole or to +coerce, twenty years before. +</p> + +<p> +The Parliament of 1769—the first limited Parliament which Ireland had +seen since the revolution—proved, in most respects, worthy of the +expectations formed of it. John Ponsonby was chosen Speaker, and Flood +regarded, around him, well-filled benches and cheering countenances. The usual +supply bill was passed and sent up to the castle, but on its return from +England was found to be altered—15,000 men, among other changes, being +charged to the Irish military establishment, instead of 12,000, as formerly. +The Commons, resolute to assert their rights, threw out the bill, as had been +done in 1753, and the Lord Lieutenant, protesting in the House of Lords against +their conduct, ordered them to be prorogued. Prorogation followed prorogation, +till February, 1771, the interval being occupied in closeting and coquetting +with members of the opposition, in the creation of new places, and the disposal +of them to the relatives of those capable of being bought. No one was +surprised, when the Houses reassembled, to find that a bare majority of the +Commons voted a fulsome address of confidence to the Lord Lieutenant. But this +address, Speaker Ponsonby indignantly refused to present. He preferred +resignation to disgrace, and great was the amazement and indignation when his +friend, Mr. Perry, elected by a bare majority, consented to take the +post—no longer a post of honour. In justice to Mr, Perry, however, it +must be added, that in the chair as on the floor of Parliament, he still +continued the patriot—that if he advanced his own fortunes, it was not at +the expense of the country—that some of the best measures passed by this +and the subsequent Parliament, owed their final success, if not their first +suggestion, to his far-seeing sagacity. +</p> + +<p> +The methods taken by Lord Townsend to effect his ends, not less than those ends +themselves, aroused the spirit and combined the ranks of the Irish opposition. +The press of Dublin teemed with philippics and satires, upon his creatures and +himself. The wit, the scholarship, the elegant fancy, the irresistible torrent +of eloquence, as well as the popular enthusiasm, were against him, and in 1772, +borne down by these combined forces, he confessed his failure by resigning the +sword of state into the hands of Lord Harcourt. +</p> + +<p> +The new Viceroy, according to custom, began his reign by taking an exactly +opposite course to his predecessor, and ended it by falling into nearly the +same errors and abuses. He suggested an Absentee-tax, which was introduced by +Flood, but rejected through the preponderating influence of the landed +aristocracy. In preparing the tables of expenditure, he had caused arrears +amounting to 265,000 pounds, and an annual increase of 100,000 pounds, to be +added to the estimates. Moreover, his supply bill was discovered, at the second +reading, to extend over <i>two years</i> instead of one—a discovery which +occasioned the greatest indignation. Flood raised his powerful voice in +warning, not unmingled with menace; Burgh declared, that if any member should +again bring in such a bill, he would himself move his expulsion from the House; +while George Ogle, member for Wexford, proposed that the bill itself should be +burned before the porch, by the common hangman. He was reminded that the +instrument bore the great seal; to which he boldly answered, that the seal +would help to make it burn the better. It was not thought politic to take +notice of this revolutionary retort. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap94"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br/> +FLOOD'S LEADERSHIP—STATE OF THE COUNTRY BETWEEN 1760 AND 1776.</h3> + +<p> +England was engaged in two great wars during the period of Flood's supremacy in +the Irish Parliament—the seven years' war, concluded by the peace of +Paris in 1763, and the American war, concluded by the treaty of Versailles, in +1783. To each of these wars Ireland was the second largest contributor both as +to men and money; and by both she was the severest sufferer, in her +manufactures, her provision trade, and her general prosperity. While army +contracts, and all sorts of military and naval expenditure in a variety of ways +returned to the people of England the produce of their taxes, the Irish had no +such compensation for the burdens imposed on their more limited resources. The +natural result was, that that incipient prosperity which Chesterfield hailed +with pleasure in 1751, was arrested in its growth, and fears began to be +seriously entertained that the country would be driven back to the lamentable +condition from which it had slowly and laboriously emerged during the reign of +George II. +</p> + +<p> +The absence of employment in the towns threw the labouring classes more and +more upon the soil for sustenance, while the landlord legislation of the period +threw them as helplessly back upon other pursuits than agriculture. Agrarian +injustice was encountered by conspiracy, and for the first time in these pages, +we have to record the introduction of the diabolical machinery of secret +oath-bound associations among the Irish peasantry. Of the first of these +combinations in the southern counties, a cotemporary writer gives the following +account: "Some landlords in Munster," he says, "have let their lands to cotters +far above their value, and, to lighten their burden, allowed commonange to +their tenants by way of recompense: afterwards, in despite of all equity, +contrary to all compacts, the landlords enclosed these commons, and precluded +their unhappy tenants from the only means of making their bargains tolerable." +The peasantry of Waterford, Cork, and other southern counties met in tumultuous +crowds, and demolished the new enclosures. The oligarchical majority took their +usual cue on such occasions: they pronounced, at once, that the cause of the +riots was "treason against the state;" they even obtained a select committee to +"inquire into the cause and progress of the Popish insurrection in Munster." +Although the London Gazette, on the authority of royal commissioners, declared +that the rioters "consisted indiscriminately of persons of different +persuasions," the Castle party would have it "another Popish plot." Even Dr. +Lucas was carried away by the passions of the hour, and declaimed against all +lenity, as cowardly and criminal. +</p> + +<p> +A large military force, under the Marquis of Drogheda, was accordingly +despatched to the south. The Marquis fixed his head-quarters at Clogheen, in +Tipperary, the parish priest of which was the Rev. Nicholas Sheehy. The +magistracy of the county, especially Sir Thomas Maude, William Bagnel, John +Bagwell, Daniel Toler, and Parson Hewitson, were among the chief maintainers of +the existence of a Popish plot, to bring in the French and the Pretender. +Father Sheehy had long been fixed upon as their victim: largely connected with +the minor gentry, educated in France, young, popular, eloquent and energetic, a +stern denouncer of the licentious lives of the squires, and of the exacting +tithes of the parsons, he was particularly obnoxious. In 1763 he was arrested +on a charge of high treason, for drilling and enrolling Whiteboys, but was +acquitted. Towards the close of that year, Bridge, one of the late witnesses +against him, suddenly disappeared. A charge of murder was then laid against the +priest of Clogheen, and a prostitute named Dunlea, a vagrant lad named +Lonergan, and a convicted horse stealer called Toohey, were produced in +evidence against him, after he had lain nearly a year in prison, heavily +fettered. On the 12th of March, 1765, he was tried at Clonmel, on this +evidence; and notwithstanding an <i>alibi</i> was proved, he was condemned, and +beheaded on the third day afterwards. Beside the old ruined church of +Shandraghan, his well-worn tomb remains till this day. He died in his +thirty-eighth year. Two months later, Edward Sheehy, his cousin, and two +respectable young farmers, named Buxton and Farrell, were executed under a +similar charge, and upon the same testimony. All died with religious firmness +and composure. The fate of their enemies is notorious; with a single exception, +they met deaths violent, loathsome, and terrible. Maude died insane, Bagwell in +idiocy, one of the jury committed suicide, another was found dead in a privy, a +third was killed by his horse, a fourth was drowned, a fifth shot, and so +through the entire list. Toohey was hanged for felony, the prostitute Dunlea +fell into a cellar and was killed, and the lad Lonergan, after enlisting as a +soldier, died of a loathsome disease in a Dublin infirmary. +</p> + +<p> +In 1767, an attempt to revive the plot was made by the Munster oligarchy, +without success. Dr. McKenna, Bishop of Cloyne, was arrested but enlarged; Mr. +Nagle, of Garnavilla (a relative of Edmund Burke), Mr. Robert Keating, and +several respectable Catholic gentlemen, were also arrested. It appears that +Edmund Burke was charged by the ascendancy party with having "sent his brother +Richard, recorder of Bristol, and Mr. Nagle, a relation, on a mission to +Munster, to levy money on the Popish body for the use of the Whiteboys, who +were exclusively Papists." The fact was, that Burke did originate a +subscription for the defence of the second batch of victims, who, through his +and other exertions, were fortunately saved from the fate of their +predecessors. +</p> + +<p> +Contemporaneous with the Whiteboys were the northern agrarians, called "Hearts +of Steel," formed among the absentee Lord Downshire's tenants, in 1762; the +"Oak Boys," so called from wearing oak leaves in their hats; and the "Peep o' +Day Boys," the precursors of the Orange Association. The infection of +conspiracy ran through all Ireland, and the disorder was neither short-lived +nor trivial. Right-boys, Defenders, and a dozen other denominations descended +from the same evil genius, whoever he was, that first introduced the system of +signs, and passwords, and midnight meetings, among the peasantry of Ireland. +The celebrated society of United Irishmen was the highest form which that +principle, in our politics, ever reached. In its origin, it was mainly a +Protestant organization. +</p> + +<p> +From the first, the Catholic bishops and clergy strenuously opposed these +secret societies. The Bishop of Cloyne issued a reprobatory pastoral; Father +Arthur O'Leary employed his facile pen against them; the Bishop of Ossory +anathematized them in his diocese. Priests in Kildare, Kilkenny, and Munster, +were often in personal danger from these midnight legislators; their chapels +had been frequently nailed up, and their bishops had been often obliged to +remove them from one neighbourhood to another to prevent worse consequences. +The infatuation was not to be stayed; the evil was engrafted on society, and +many a long year, and woeful scene, and blighted life, and broken heart, was to +signalize the perpetuation of secret societies among the population. +</p> + +<p> +These startling symptoms of insubordination and lawlessness, while they +furnished plausible pretexts to the advocates of repression, still further +confirmed the Patriot party in their belief, that, nothing short of a free +trade in exports and imports, and a thorough system of retrenchment in every +branch of the public service, could save the nation from bankruptcy and ruin. +This was Flood's opinion, and he had been long recognized as the leading spirit +of the party. The aged Malone, true to his principles of conciliation and +constitutionalism to the last, passed away from the scene, in the midst of the +exciting events of 1776. For some years before his death, his former place had +been filled by the younger and more vigorous member for Kilkenny, who, however, +did not fail to consult him with all the deference due to his age, his +services, and his wisdom. One of his last official acts was presiding over the +committee of the whole House, which voted the American contingent, but rejected +the admission of German troops to supply their place. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap95"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br/> +GRATTAN'S LEADERSHIP—"FREE TRADE," AND THE VOLUNTEERS.</h3> + +<p> +The revolt of the American colonies against the oppressive legislation of the +British Parliament, was the next circumstance that deeply affected the +constitutional struggle, in which the Irish Parliament had so long been +engaged. The similarity in the grievances of Ireland and the colonies, the +close ties of kindred established between them, the extent of colonial commerce +involved in the result, contributed to give the American Declaration of +Independence more importance in men's eyes at Dublin, than anywhere else out of +the colonies, except, perhaps, London. +</p> + +<p> +The first mention made of American affairs to the Irish legislature, was in +Lord Townsend's message in 1775, calling for the despatch of 4,000 men from the +Irish establishment, to America, and offering to supply their place by as many +foreign Protestant (German) troops. The demand was warmly debated. The +proposition to receive the proffered foreign troops was rejected by a majority +of thirty-eight, and the contingent for America passed on a division, upon +Flood's plea that they would go out merely as "4,000 armed negotiators." This +expression of the great parliamentary leader was often afterwards quoted to his +prejudice, but we must remember, that, at the time it was employed, no one on +either side of the contest had abandoned all hopes of accommodation, and that +the significance of the phrase was rather pointed against Lord North than +against the colonies. The 4,000 men went out, among them Lord Rawdon +(afterwards Lord Moira), Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and many others, both officers +and men, who were certainly no enemies of liberty, or the colonies. +</p> + +<p> +Some slight relaxation of the commercial restrictions which operated so +severely against Irish industry were made during the same year, but these were +more than counterbalanced by the embargo on the export of provisions to +America, imposed in February, 1776. This arbitrary measure—imposed by +order in Council—was so near being censured by the Parliament then +sitting, that the House was dissolved a month afterwards, and a new election +ordered. To meet the new Parliament it was thought advisable to send over a new +Viceroy, and accordingly Lord Buckinghamshire entered into office, with Sir +Richard Heron as chief secretary. +</p> + +<p> +In the last session of the late Parliament, a young <i>protege</i> of Lord +Charlemont—he was only in his twenty-ninth year—had taken his seat +for the borough of Charlemont. This was Henry Grattan, son of the Recorder of +Dublin, and grandson of one of those Grattans who, according to Dean Swift, +"could raise 10,000 men." The youth of Grattan had been neither joyous nor +robust; in early manhood he had offended his father's conservatism; the +profession of the law, to which he was bred, he found irksome and unsuited to +his tastes; society, as then constituted, was repulsive to his over-sensitive +spirit and high Spartan ideal of manly duty; no letters are sadder to read than +the early correspondence of Grattan, till he had fairly found his inspiration +in listening enraptured to the eloquent utterances of Chatham, or comparing +political opinions with such a friend as Flood. At length he found a seat in +the House of Commons, where, during his first session, he spoke on three or +four occasions, briefly, modestly, and with good effect; there had been no +sitting during 1776, nor before October of the following year; it was, +therefore, in the sessions from '78 to '82 inclusive, that this young member +raised himself to the head of the most eloquent men, in one of the most +eloquent assemblies the world has ever seen. +</p> + +<p> +The fact of Mr. Flood, after fourteen years of opposition, having accepted +office under Lord Harcourt's administration, and defended the American +expedition and the embargo, had greatly lessened the popularity of that eminent +man. There was indeed, no lack of ability still left in the ranks of the +opposition—for Burgh, Daly, and Yelverton were there; but for a supreme +spirit like Grattan—whose burning tongue was ever fed from his heart of +fire—there is always room in a free senate, how many soever able and +accomplished men may surround him. +</p> + +<p> +The fall of 1777 brought vital intelligence from America. General Burgoyne had +surrendered at Saratoga, and France had decided to ally herself with the +Americans. The effect in England and in Ireland was immense. When the Irish +Houses met, Mr. Grattan moved an address to the King in favour of retrenchment, +and against the pension list, and Mr. Daly moved and carried an address +deploring the continuance of the American war, with a governmental amendment +assuring his Majesty that he might still rely on the services of his faithful +Commons. The second Catholic relief bill, authorizing Papists to loan money on +mortgage, to lease lands for any period not exceeding 999 years—to +inherit and bequeath real property, so limited, passed, not without some +difficulty, into law. The debate had been protracted, by adjournment after +adjournment, over the greatest part of three months; the main motion had been +further complicated by an amendment repealing the Test Act in favour of +Dissenters, which was, fortunately, engrafted on the measure. The vote in the +Commons, in favour of the bill so amended, was 127 <i>yeas</i> to 89 +<i>nays</i>, and in the Lords, 44 <i>Contents</i> to 28 <i>Noncontents</i>. +</p> + +<p> +In the English House of Commons, Lord Nugent moved, in April, a series of +resolutions raising the embargo on the Irish provision trade; abolishing, so +far as Ireland was concerned, the most restrictive clauses of the Navigation +Act, both as to exports and imports, with the exception of the article of +tobacco. Upon this the manufacturing and shipping interest of England, taking +the alarm, raised such a storm in the towns and cities that the ministry of the +day were compelled to resist the proposed changes, with a few trifling +exceptions. But Grattan had caught up, in the other island, the cry of "free +trade," and the people echoed it after their orator, until the whole empire +shook with the popular demand. +</p> + +<p> +But what gave pith and power to the Irish demands was the enrolment and arming +of a numerous volunteer force, rendered absolutely necessary by the defenceless +state of the kingdom. Mr. Flood had long before proposed a national militia, +but being in opposition and in the minority, he had failed. To him and to Mr. +Perry, as much as to Lord Charlemont and Mr. Grattan, the militia bill of 1778, +and the noble army of volunteers equipped under its provisions, owed their +origin. Whether this force was to be a regular militia, subject to martial law, +or composed of independent companies, was for some months a subject of great +anxiety at the castle; but necessity at length precipitated a decision in +favour of volunteer companies, to be supplied with arms by the state, but +drilled and clothed at their own expense, with power to elect their own +officers. The official announcement of this decision once made, the +organization spread rapidly over the whole kingdom. The Ulster corps, first +organized, chose as their commander the Earl of Charlemont, while those of +Leinster elected the Duke of Leinster. Simultaneously, resolutions against the +purchase of English goods and wares were passed at public meetings, and by +several of the corporate bodies. Lists of the importers of such goods were +obtained at the custom houses, and printed in handbills, to the alarm of the +importers. Swift's sardonic maxim, "to burn everything coming from England, +<i>except the coals</i>," began to circulate as a toast in all societies, and +the consternation of the Castle, at this resurrection of the redoubtable Dean, +was almost equal to the apprehension entertained of him while living. +</p> + +<p> +While the Castle was temporizing with both the military and the manufacture +movement, in a vague expectation to defeat both, the press, as is usual in such +national crises, teemed with publications of great fervour and ability. Dr. +Jebb, Mr. (afterwards Judge) Johnson, Mr. Pollock, Mr. Charles Sheridan, Father +Arthur O'Leary, and Mr. Dobbs, M.P., were the chief workers in this department +of patriotic duty. Cheered, instructed, restrained within due bounds by these +writings and the reported debates of Parliament, the independent companies +proceeded with their organization. In July, 1779, after all the resources of +prevarication had been exhausted, arms were issued to the several recognized +corps, and the Irish volunteers became in reality a national army for domestic +protection and defence. +</p> + +<p> +When this point was reached, Mr. Grattan and his friends took anxious council +as to their future movements. Parliament was to meet on the 12th of October, +and in that sweet autumnal month, Grattan, Burgh, and Daly, met upon the +sea-shore, near Bray, in view of one of the loveliest landscapes on earth, to +form their plan for the session. They agreed on an amendment to the address in +answer to the royal speech, demanding in explicit terms "free export and +import" for Irish commerce. When Parliament met, and the address and amendment +were moved, it was found that Flood, Burgh, Hutchinson, and Gardiner, though +all holding offices of honour and emolument under government, would vote for +it. Flood suggested to substitute the simple term "free trade," and with this +and one other verbal alteration suggested by Burgh, the amendment passed with a +single dissenting voice. +</p> + +<p> +The next day the Speaker, Mr. Perry, who was all along in the confidence of the +movers of the amendment, Daly, Grattan, Burgh, Flood, Hutchinson, Ponsonby, +Gardiner, and the whole House, went up with the amended address to the castle. +The streets were lined with volunteers, commanded in person by the Duke of +Leinster, who presented arms to the patriotic Commons as they passed. Most of +the leading members wore the uniform of one or other of the national companies, +and the people saw themselves at the same moment under the protection of a +patriotic majority in the legislature, and a patriotic force in the field. No +wonder their enthusiastic cheers rang through the corridors of the castle with +a strangely jubilant and defiant emphasis. It was not simply the spectacle of a +nation recovering its spirit, but recovering it with all military <i>éclat</i> +and pageantry. It was the disarmed armed and triumphant—a revolution not +only in national feeling, but in the external manifestation of that feeling. A +change so profound stirred sentiments and purposes even deeper than itself, and +suggested to the ardent imagination of Grattan the establishment of entire +national independence, saving always the rights of the crown. +</p> + +<p> +The next day, the Houses, not to be outdone in courtesy, voted their thanks to +the volunteers for "their just and necessary exertions in defence of their +country!" +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap96"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br/> +GRATTAN'S LEADERSHIP—LEGISLATIVE AND JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE +ESTABLISHED.</h3> + +<p> +The task which Mr. Grattan felt called upon to undertake, was not +<i>revolutionary</i>, in the usually accepted sense of the term. He was a +Monarchist and a Whig in general politics; but he was an Irishman, proud and +fond of his country, and a sincere lover of the largest religious liberty. With +the independence of the judiciary and the legislature, with freedom of commerce +and of conscience, he would be well content to stand by the British connection. +"The sea," he said, in his lofty figurative language, "protests against +union—the ocean against separation." But still, within certain legal +limits, his task <i>was</i> revolutionary, and was undertaken under all the +discouragements incident to the early stages of great constitutional reforms. +</p> + +<p> +Without awaiting the action of the English Parliament, in relation to free +trade, a public-spirited citizen of Dublin, Alderman James Horan, demanded an +entry at the custom house, for some parcels of Irish woollens, which he +proposed exporting to Rotterdam, contrary to the prohibitory enactment, the +10th and 11th of William III. The commissioners of customs applied for +instructions to the Castle, and the Castle to the Secretary of State, +Franklin's friend, Lord Hillsborough. For the moment a collision similar to +that which had taken place at Boston, on a not dissimilar issue, seemed +imminent. A frigate was stationed off Howth, with instructions, it was said, to +intercept the prohibited woollens, but Alderman Horan, by the advice of his +friends, allowed his application to remain on the custom house files. It had +served its purpose of bringing home practically to the people, the value of the +principle involved in the demand for freedom of exports and imports. At the +same time that this practical argument was discussed in every circle, Mr. +Grattan moved in the House of Commons, in amendment to the supply bill, that, +"At this time it is inexpedient to grant new taxes." The government divided the +House, but to their mortification found only 47 supporters; for Grattan's +amendment there were 170. A subsequent amendment against granting duties for +the support of the loan fund, was also carried by 138 to 100. +</p> + +<p> +These adverse votes were communicated with great trepidation, by the Lord +Lieutenant, to the British administration. At length Lord North thought it +essential to make some concessions, and with this view he brought in +resolutions, declaring the trade with the British colonies in America and +Africa, and the free export of glass and woollens, open to the Irish merchant. +A week later, similar resolutions were passed in the Irish Commons, and in +February, 1780, "a free trade" in the sense in which it had been demanded, was +established by law, placing Ireland in most respects, as to foreign and +colonial commerce, on an equality with England. +</p> + +<p> +In February, the Viceroy again alarmed the British administration, with the +reported movement for the repeal of "Poyning's law,"—the statute which +required heads of bills to be transmitted to, and approved in England, before +they could be legislated upon. He received in reply, the royal commands to +resist by every means in his power, any attempted "change in the constitution," +and he succeeded in eliciting from the House of Lords, an address, strongly +condemnatory of "the misguided men," who sought to raise such "groundless +jealousies," between the two kingdoms. But the Patriot Commoners were not to be +so deterred. They declared the repeal of Poyning's act, and the 6th of George +I., to be their ultimatum, and notices of motion to that effect were +immediately placed on the journals of the House of Commons. +</p> + +<p> +In the early days of April, Grattan, who, more than any of our orators, except +perhaps Burke, was sensitive to the aspects of external nature, and imbued with +the poetry of her works, retired from the city, to his uncle Dean Marlay's +house, Cellbridge Abbey, formerly the residence of Swift's ill-fated Vannessa. +"Along the banks of that river," he said, many years afterwards, "amid the +groves and bowers of Swift and Vannessa, I grew convinced that I was right; +arguments, unanswerable, came to my mind, and what I then presaged, confirmed +me in my determination to persevere." With an enthusiasm intensified and +restrained—but wonderful in the fire and grandeur of its +utterance—he rose in his place, on the 19th of the month, to move that +"the King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland, are the only power competent to enact +laws to bind Ireland." He was supported by Hussey Burgh, Yelverton, and Forbes; +Flood favoured postponement, and laid the foundation of his future estrangement +from Grattan; Daly was also for delay; Fitzgibbon, afterwards Lord Clare, +Provost Hutchinson, and John Foster, afterwards Lord Oriel, resisted the +motion. The Castle party moved in amendment that "there being an equivalent +resolution already on the journals of the House"—alluding to one of the +resolutions against Stafford's tyranny in 1641—a new resolution was +unnecessary. This amendment was carried by 136 to 79, thus affirming the +formula of independence adopted in 1641, but depriving Grattan of the honour of +putting it, in his own words, on the record. The substantial result, however, +was the same; the 19th of April was truly what Grattan described it, "a great +day for Ireland." "It is with the utmost concern," writes the Viceroy next day +to Lord Hillsborough, "I must acquaint your Lordship that although so many +gentlemen expressed their concern that the subject had been introduced, the +sense of the House <i>against</i> the obligation of <i>any statutes</i> of the +Parliament of Great Britain, within this kingdom, is represented to me to have +been almost unanimous." +</p> + +<p> +Ten days later, a motion of Mr. Yelverton's to repeal Poyning's law, as far as +related to the Irish privy council's supervision of heads of bills, was +negatived by 130 to 105. +</p> + +<p> +During the remainder of the session the battle of independence was fought on +the Mutiny Bill. The Viceroy and the Chief Secretary, playing the game of +power, were resolved that the influence of the crown should not be diminished, +so far as the military establishments were concerned. Two justices of the peace +in Sligo and Mayo, having issued writs of <i>habeas corpus</i> in favour of +deserters from the army, on the ground that neither the British Mutiny Act, nor +any other British statute, was binding on Ireland, unless confirmed by an act +of its own legislature, brought up anew the whole question. Lord North, who, +with all his proverbial tact and good humour, in the House of Commons, always +pursued the most arbitrary policy throughout the empire, proposed a perpetual +Mutiny Bill for Ireland, instead of the Annual Bill, in force in England. It +was introduced in the Irish House of Commons by Mr. Gervase Parker Bushe, and, +by a vote of two to one, postponed for a fortnight. During the interval, the +British authorities remained obdurate to argument and remonstrance. In vain, +the majority of the Irish privy counsellors advised concession; in vain, Flood, +who was consulted, pointed out the futility of attempting to force such a +measure; it was forced, and, under the cry of loyalty, a draft bill was carried +through both Houses, and remitted to England in June. Early in August it was +returned; on the 12th it was read a first time; on the 16th, a second; and it +was carried through Committee by 114 to 62. It was at this emergency the +Volunteers performed the second act of their great drama of Ireland's +liberation. A series of reviews were held, and significant addresses presented +to Lord Camden (then on a visit to the country), Lord Charlemont, Mr. Flood, +and Mr. Grattan. On the re-assembling of Parliament in August, when the bill +was referred to, Mr. Grattan declared that he would resist it to the last; that +if passed into law, he and his friends would <i>secede</i>, and would appeal to +the people in "a formal instrument." A new series of corporation and county +meetings was convened by the Patriot party, which warmly condemned the +Perpetual Mutiny Act, and as warmly approved the repeal of Poyning's Act, and +the 6th of George I.: questions which were all conceived to be intermixed +together, and to flow from the assertion of a common principle. Parliament +being prorogued in September, only threw the whole controversy back again into +the furnace of popular agitation. The British Government tried a lavish +distribution of titles and a change of Viceroys,—Lord Carlisle being +substituted in December for Lord Buckingham—but the spirit abroad was too +general and too earnest, to be quelled by the desertion of individuals, however +numerous or influential. With Lord Carlisle, came, as Chief Secretary, Mr. +Eden, afterwards Lord Auckland; he had been, with his chief, a peace +commissioner to America, two years before, and had failed; he was an intriguing +and accomplished man, but he proved himself as unequal as Heron or Rigby to +combat the movement for Irish independence. +</p> + +<p> +Parliament was not again called together till the month of October, 1781; the +interval being busily occupied on both sides with endeavours to create and +sustain a party. Soon after the meeting, Mr. Grattan, seconded by Mr. Flood, +moved for a limitation of the Mutiny Bill, which was lost; a little later, Mr. +Flood himself introduced a somewhat similar motion, which was also outvoted two +to one; and again, during the session, Mr. Yelverton, having abandoned his +promised motion against Poyning's law, on news of Lord Cornwallis's surrender +reaching Dublin, Flood took it up, moved it, and was defeated. A further +measure of relief for Roman Catholics, introduced by Mr. Gardiner, author of +the act of 1778, and warmly supported by Grattan, was resisted by Flood in the +one House, and Lord Charlemont in the other. It miscarried, and left another +deposit of disagreement between the actual and the former leader of the Patriot +party. +</p> + +<p> +Still no open rupture had taken place between the two Patriot orators. When the +convention of the volunteers was called at Dungannon for the 15th of February, +1782, they consulted at Charlemont House as to the resolutions to be passed. +They were agreed on the constitutional question; Grattan, of his own generous +free will, added the resolution in favour of emancipation. Two hundred and +forty-two delegates, representing 143 corps, unanimously adopted the +resolutions so drafted, as their own, and, from the old head-quarters of Hugh +O'Neil, sent forth anew an unequivocal demand for civil and religious liberty. +The example of Ulster soon spread through Ireland. A meeting of the Leinster +volunteers, Mr. Flood in the chair, echoed it from Dublin; the Munster corps +endorsed it unanimously at Cork; Lord Clanrickarde summoned together those of +the western counties at Portumna—an historic spot, suggestive of striking +associations. Strengthened by these demonstrations of public opinion, Mr. +Grattan brought forward, on the 22nd of February, his motion declaratory of the +rights of Ireland. An amendment in favour of a six months' postponement of the +question was carried; but on the 16th of April, just two years from his first +effort on the subject (the administration of Lord North having fallen in the +meantime), the orator had the satisfaction of carrying his address declaratory +of Irish legislative independence. It was on this occasion that he exclaimed: +"I found Ireland on her knees; I watched over her with a paternal solicitude; I +have traced her progress from injury to arms, and from arms to liberty. Spirit +of Swift! Spirit of Molyneux! your genius has prevailed! Ireland is now a +nation! in that new character I hail her! and bowing to her august presence, I +say, <i>Esto perpetua!</i>" +</p> + +<p> +Never was a new nation more nobly heralded into existence! Never was an old +nation more reverently and tenderly lifted up and restored! The Houses +adjourned to give England time to consider Ireland's <i>ultimatum</i>. Within a +month it was accepted by the new British administration, and on the 27th of +May, the new Whig Viceroy, the Duke of Portland, was authorized to announce +from the throne the establishment of the judicial and legislative independence +of Ireland. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap97"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br/> +THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE—FIRST PERIOD.</h3> + +<p> +The accession of the Rockingham administration to power, in 1782, was followed +by the recall of Lord Carlisle, and the substitution, as Viceroy, of one of the +leading Lords of the Whig party. The nobleman selected to this office was +William Henry, third Duke of Portland, afterwards twice prime minister; then in +the prime of life, possessed of a very ample fortune, and uniting in his own +person the two great Whig families of Bentinck and Cavendish. The policy he was +sent to represent at Dublin was undoubtedly an imperial policy; a policy which +looked as anxiously to the integrity of the empire as any Tory cabinet could +have desired; but it was, in most other respects, a policy of conciliation and +concession, dictated by the enlarged wisdom of Burke, and adopted by the +magnanimous candour of Fox. Yet by a generous people, who always find it more +difficult to resist a liberal than an illiberal administration, it was, in +reality, a policy more to be feared than welcomed; for its almost certain +effects were to divide their ranks into two sections—a moderate and an +extreme party—between whom the national cause, only half established, +might run great danger of being lost, almost as soon as it was won. +</p> + +<p> +With the Duke of Portland was associated, as Chief Secretary, Colonel +Fitzpatrick, of the old Ossory family, one of those Irish wits and men of +fashion, who form so striking a group in the middle and later years of King +George III. As the personal and political friend of Flood, Charlemont, and +Grattan, and the first Irish secretary for several administrations, he shared +the brilliant ovation with which the Duke of Portland was received, on his +arrival at Dublin; but for the reason already mentioned, the imperial, in so +far as opposed to the national policy, found an additional advantage in the +social successes and great personal popularity of the new secretary. +</p> + +<p> +The critical months which decided the contest for independence—April and +May—passed over fortunately for Ireland. The firmness of the leaders in +both Houses, the energy especially of Grattan, whose cry was "No time, no +time!" and the imposing attitude of the volunteers, carried the question. Lord +Rockingham and Mr. Fox by letter, the new Viceroy and Secretary in person, had +urged every argument for adjournment and delay, but Grattan's <i>ultimatum</i> +was sent over to England, and finally and formally accepted. The demands were +<i>five</i>. I. The repeal of the 6th of George I. II. The repeal of the +Perpetual Mutiny Act. III. An Act to abolish the alteration or suppression of +Bills. IV. An Act to establish the final jurisdiction of the Irish Courts and +the Irish House of Lords. V. The repeal of Poyning's Law. This was the +constitutional charter of 1782, which restored Ireland, for the first time in +that century, to the rank and dignity of a free nation. +</p> + +<p> +Concession once determined on, the necessary bills were introduced in both +Parliaments simultaneously, and carried promptly into law. On the 27th of May, +the Irish Houses were enabled to congratulate the Viceroy that "no +constitutional question any longer existed between the two countries." In +England it was proclaimed no less explicitly by Fox and his friends, that the +independency of the two legislatures "was fixed and ascertained for ever." But +there was, unfortunately, one ground for dispute still left, and on that ground +Henry Flood and Henry Grattan parted, never to be reconciled. +</p> + +<p> +The elder Patriot, whose conduct from the moment of his retirement from office, +in consequence of his Free Trade vote and speech in '79, had been, with +occasional exceptions, arising mostly from bodily infirmity, as energetic and +consistent as that of Grattan himself, saw no sufficient constitutional +guarantee in mere acts of Parliament repealing other acts. He demanded "express +renunciation" of legislative supremacy on the part of England; while Grattan +maintained the sufficiency of "simple repeal." It is possible even in such +noble natures as these men had—so strangely are we constituted—that +there was a latent sense of personal rivalry, which prompted them to grasp, +each, at the larger share of patriotic honour. It is possible that there were +other, and inferior men, who exasperated this latent personal rivalry. Flood +had once reigned supreme, until Grattan eclipsed him in the sudden splendour of +his career. In scholarship and in genius the elder Patriot was, taken all in +all, the full peer of his successor; but Grattan had the national temperament, +and he found his way more readily into the core of the national heart; he was +the man of the later, the bolder, and the more liberal school; and such was the +rapidity of his movements, that even Flood, from '79 to '82, seemed to be his +follower, rather than his coadjutor. In the hopeful crisis of the struggle, the +slower and more experienced statesman was for the moment lost sight of. The +leading motions were all placed or left in the hands of Grattan by the consent +of their leading friends; the bills repealing the Mutiny Act, the 6th George +I., and Poyning's law, were entrusted to Burgh, Yelverton, and Forbes; the +thanks of the House were voted to Grattan alone after the victory, with the +substantial addition of 50,000 pounds to purchase for him an estate, which +should become an enduring monument of the national gratitude. +</p> + +<p> +The open rupture between the two great orators followed fast on the triumph of +their common efforts. It was still the first month—the very honeymoon of +independence. On the 13th of June, Mr. Grattan took occasion to notice in his +place, that a late British act relating to the importation of sugars, was so +generally worded as apparently to include Ireland; but this was explained to be +a mere error of the clerk, the result of haste, and one which would be promptly +corrected. Upon this Mr. Flood first took occasion to moot the insufficiency of +"simple repeal," and the necessity of "express renunciation," on the part of +England. On the 19th, he moved a formal resolution on the subject, which was +superseded by the order of the day; but on the 19th of July, he again moved, at +great length, and with great power of logical and historical argument, for +leave to bring in an Irish Bill of Rights, declaring "the sole and exclusive +right of the Irish Parliament to make laws in all cases whatsoever, <i>external +and internal</i>." He was supported by Sir Simon Bradstreet, Mr. English, and +Mr. Walshe, and opposed by Grattan, who, in one of his finest efforts, proposed +a counter resolution, "that the legislature of Ireland is independent; and that +any person who shall, by writing or otherwise, maintain that a right in any +other country, to make laws for Ireland, <i>internally</i> or +<i>externally</i>, exists or can be revived, <i>is inimical to the peace of +both kingdoms</i>." This extreme proposition—pointing out all who +differed from himself as public enemies—the mover, however, withdrew, and +substituted in its stead the milder formula, that leave was refused to bring in +the bill, because the sole and exclusive right of legislation in the Irish +Parliament in all cases, whether externally or internally, hath been already +asserted by Ireland, and fully, finally, and irrevocably acknowledged by the +British Parliament. Upon this motion Flood did not think it advisable to divide +the House, so it passed without a division. +</p> + +<p> +But the moot point thus voted down in Parliament disquieted and alarmed the +minds of many out of doors. The volunteers as generally sided with Flood as the +Parliament had sided with Grattan. The lawyer corps of the city of Dublin, +containing all the great names of the legal profession, endorsed the +constitutional law of the member for Kilkenny; the Belfast volunteers did +likewise; and Grattan's own corps, in a respectful address, urged him to give +his adherence to the views of "the best informed body of men in the +kingdom,"—the lawyers' corps. Just at that moment Lord Abingdon, in the +English House of Lords, gave notice of a mischievous motion to assert the +external supremacy of the English Parliament; and Lord Mansfield, in the King's +Bench, decided an Irish appeal case, notwithstanding the recent statute +establishing the judicial independence of the Irish courts. It is true the case +had been appealed before the statute was passed; and that Lord Abingdon +withdrew his motion for want of a seconder; but the alarm was given, and the +popular mind in Ireland, jealously watchful of its new-born liberties, saw in +these attempts renewed cause for apprehension. In opposition to all this +suddenly awakened suspicion and jealousy, Grattan, who naturally enough assumed +his own interest in preserving the new constitution to be quite equal to those +who cast doubts on its security, invariably held one language. The settlement +already made, according to his view, was final; it was an international treaty; +its maintenance must depend on the ability and disposition of the parties to +uphold it, rather than on the multiplication of declaratory acts. Ireland had +gone to England with a charter, not for a charter, and the nation which would +insist upon the humiliation of another, was a foolish nation. This was the +lofty light in which he viewed the whole transaction, and in this light, it +must be added, he continued to view it till the last. Many of the chief English +and Irish jurists of his time, Lord Camden, Lord Kenyon, Lord Erskine, Lord +Kilwarden, Judges Chamberlain, Smith, and Kelly, Sir Samuel Rommilly, Sir +Arthur Pigott, and several others, agreed fully in Grattan's doctrine, that the +settlement of '82 was final and absolute, and "terminated all British +jurisdiction over Ireland." But although these are all great names, the +instinct of national self-preservation may be considered in such critical +moments more than a counterpoise to the most matured opinions of the oracles of +the law. Such must have been the conviction also of the English Parliament, +for, immediately on their meeting in January, 1783, they passed the <i>Act of +Renunciation</i> (23rd George III.), expressly declaring their admission of the +"exclusive rights of the Parliament and Courts of Ireland in matters of +legislature and judicature." This was Flood's greatest triumph. Six months +before his doctrine obtained but three supporters in the Irish Commons; now, at +his suggestion, and on his grounds, he saw it unanimously affirmed by the +British Parliament. +</p> + +<p> +On two other questions of the utmost importance these leading spirits also +widely differed. Grattan was in favour of, and Flood opposed to, Catholic +emancipation; while Flood was in favour of, and Grattan, at that moment, +opposed to, a complete reform of parliamentary representation. The Catholic +question had its next great triumph after Flood's death, as will be mentioned +further on; but the history of the Irish reform movement of 1783, '84, and '85, +may best be disposed of here. +</p> + +<p> +The Reformers were a new party rising naturally out of the popular success of +1782. They were composed of all but a few of the more aristocratic corps of the +volunteers, of the townsmen, especially in the seaports and manufacturing +towns, of the admirers of American example, of the Catholics who had lately +acquired property and recognition, but not the elective franchise, of the +gentry of the second and third degree of wealth, overruled and overshadowed by +the greater lords of the soil. The substantial grievance of which they +complained was, that of the 300 members of the House of Commons, only 72 were +returned by the people; 53 Peers having the power to nominate 123 and secure +the election of 10 others; while 52 Commoners nominated 91 and controlled the +choice of 4 others. The constitution of what ought to have been the people's +house was, therefore, substantially in the hands of an oligarchy of about a +hundred great proprietors, bound together by the spirit of their class, by +intermarriage, and by the hereditary possession of power. To reduce this +exorbitant influence within reasonable bounds, was the just and wise design to +which Flood dedicated all his energies, after the passage of the <i>Act of +Renunciation</i>, and the success of which would certainly have restored him to +complete equality with Grattan. +</p> + +<p> +In the beginning of 1783, the famous coalition ministry of Lord North and Mr. +Fox was formed in England. They were at first represented at Dublin Castle, for +a few months, by Lord Temple, who succeeded the Duke of Portland, and +established the order of <i>Knights of Saint Patrick</i>; then by Lord +Northington, who dissolved Parliament early in July. A general election +followed, and the reform party made their influence felt in all directions. +County meetings were held; conventions by districts and by provinces were +called by the reforming Volunteers, in July, August, and September. The new +Parliament was to be opened on the 14th of October, and the Volunteers resolved +to call a convention of their whole body at Dublin, for the 10th of November. +</p> + +<p> +The Parliament met according to summons, but though searching retrenchment was +spoken of, no promise was held out of a constitutional reform; the limitation +of the regular troops to a fixed number was declared advisable, and a vote of +thanks to the Volunteers was passed without demur. But the proceedings of the +Houses were soon eclipsed by the portentous presence of the Volunteer +Convention. One hundred and sixty delegates of corps attended on the appointed +day. The Royal Exchange was too small to accommodate them, so they adjourned to +the Rotunda, accompanied by mounted guards of honour. The splendid and +eccentric Bishop of Derry (Earl of Bristol), had his dragoon guards; the +courtly but anxious Charlemont had his troop of horse; Flood, tall, emaciated, +and solemn to sadness, was hailed with popular acclamations; there also marched +the popular Mr. Day, afterwards Judge; Robert Stewart, father of Lord +Castlereagh; Sir Richard Musgrave, a reformer also, in his youth, who lived to +confound reform with rebellion in his old age. The Earl of Charlemont was +elected president of this imposing body, and for an entire month Dublin was +divided between the extraordinary spectacle of two legislatures—one +sitting at the Rotunda, and the other at College Green, many members of each +being members of the other; the uniform of the volunteer sparkling in the +Houses, and the familiar voices of both Houses being heard deliberating and +debating among the Volunteers. +</p> + +<p> +At length, on the 29th of November, after three weeks' laborious gestation, +Flood brought before Parliament the plan of reform agreed to by the Convention. +It proposed to extend the franchise to every <i>Protestant</i> freeholder +possessed of a lease worth forty shillings yearly; to extend restricted borough +constituencies by annexing to them neighbouring populous parishes; that the +voting should be held on one and the same day; that pensioners of the crown +should be incapable of election; that members accepting office should be +subject to re-election; that a stringent bribery oath should be administered to +candidates returned; and, finally, that the duration of Parliament should be +limited to three years. It was, indeed, an excellent Protestant Reform Bill, +for though the Convention had received Father Arthur O'Leary with military +honours, and contained many warm friends of Catholic rights, the majority were +still intolerant of <i>religious</i> freedom. In this majority it is painful to +have to record the names of Flood and Charlemont. +</p> + +<p> +The debate which followed the introduction of this proposed change in the +constitution was stormy beyond all precedent. Grattan, who just one month +before (Oct. 28th) had that fierce vituperative contest with Flood familiar to +every school-boy, in its worst and most exaggerated form, supported the +proposal. The law officers of the crown, Fitzgibbon, Yelverton, Scott, +denounced it as an audacious attempt of armed men to dictate to the House its +own constitution. The cry of privilege and prerogative was raised, and the +measure was rejected by 157 to 77. Flood, weary in mind and body, retired to +his home; the Convention, which outsat the House, adjourned, amid the bitter +indignation of some, and the scarcely concealed relief of others. Two days +later they met and adopted a striking address to the throne, and adjourned +<i>sine die</i>. This was, in fact, the last important day of the Volunteers as +a political institution. An attempt a month later to re-assemble the Convention +was dexterously defeated by the President, Lord Charlemont. The regular army +was next session increased to 15,000 men; 20,000 pounds were voted to clothe +and equip a rival force—"the Militia"—and the Parliament, which had +three times voted them its thanks, now began to look with satisfaction on their +rapid disorganization and disbandment. +</p> + +<p> +This, perhaps, is the fittest place to notice the few remaining years of the +public life of Henry Flood. After the session of 1785, in which he had been +outvoted on every motion he proposed, he retired from the Irish Parliament, and +allowed himself to be persuaded, at the age of fifty-three, to enter the +English. He was elected for Winchester, and made his first essay on the new +scene, on his favourite subject of representative reform. But his health was +undermined; he failed, except on one or two occasions, to catch the ear of that +fastidious assembly, and the figure he made there somewhat disappointed his +friends. He returned to Kilkenny to die in 1791, bequeathing a large portion of +his fortune to Trinity College, to enrich its MS. library, and to found a +permanent professorship of the Irish language. "He was an oak of the forest," +said Grattan, "too old to be transplanted at fifty." "He was a man," said one +who also knew him well, Sir Jonah Barrington, "of profound abilities, high +manners, and great experience in the affairs of Ireland. He had deep +information, an extensive capacity, and a solid judgment." In his own +magnificent "Ode to Fame," he has pictured his ideal of the Patriot-orator, who +finds some consolation amid the unequal struggle with the enemies of his +country, foreign and domestic, in a prophetic vision of his own renown. +Unhappily, the works of this great man come down to us in as fragmentary a +state as those of Chatham; but enough remains to enable us to class him amongst +the greatest masters of our speech, and, as far as the drawbacks allowed, among +the foremost statesmen of his country. +</p> + +<p> +It is painful to be left in doubt, as we are, whether he was ever reconciled to +Grattan. The presumption, from the silence of their cotemporaries, is, that +they never met again as friends. But it is consoling to remember that in his +grave, the survivor rendered him that tribute of justice which almost takes the +undying sting out of the philippic of 1783; it is well to know, also, that one +of Grattan's latest wishes, thirty years after the death of Flood, when he felt +his own last hours approaching, was, that it should be known that he "did not +speak the vile abuse reported in the Debates" in relation to his illustrious +rival. The best proof that what he did say was undeserved, is that that rival's +reputation for integrity and public spirit has survived even his terrible +onslaught. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap98"></a>CHAPTER X.<br/> +THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE—SECOND PERIOD.</h3> + +<p> +The second period of the era of independence may be said to embrace the nine +years extending from the dissolution of the last Volunteer Convention, at the +end of 1784, to the passage of the Catholic Relief Bill of 1793. They were +years of continued interest and excitement, both in the popular and +parliamentary affairs of the country; but the events are, with the exception of +the last named, of a more secondary order than those of the previous period. +</p> + +<p> +The session of 1785 was first occupied with debates relating to what might be +called the cross-channel trade between England and Ireland. The question of +trade brought with it, necessarily, the question of revenue; of the duties +levied in both kingdoms; of the conflict of their commercial laws, and the +necessity of their assimilation; of the appropriations to be borne by each, to +the general expense of the army and navy; of the exclusive right of the English +East India Company to the Indian trade;—in short, the whole of the fiscal +and commercial relations of the two countries were now to be examined and +adjusted, as their constitutional relations had been in previous years. +</p> + +<p> +The first plan came from the Castle, through Mr. Thomas Orde, then Chief +Secretary, afterwards Lord Bolton. It consisted of eleven propositions, +embracing every division of the subject. They had been arrived at by +consultation with Mr. Joshua Pim, a most worthy Quaker merchant, the founder of +an equally worthy family; Mr. Grattan, Mr. Foster, and others. They were passed +as resolutions in Ireland, and sent by Mr. Orde to England to see whether they +would be adopted there also, the second Pitt, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, +gave his concurrence, but when he introduced to the English Parliament +<i>his</i> resolutions—twenty in number—it was found that in +several important respects they differed from the Irish propositions. On being +taken up and presented to the Irish Parliament, in August, the administration +found they could command, in a full House, only a majority of sixteen for their +introduction, and so the whole arrangement was abandoned. No definite +commercial treaty between the two kingdoms was entered into until the Union, +and there can be little doubt that the miscarriage of the Convention of 1785 +was one of the determining causes of that Union. +</p> + +<p> +The next session was chiefly remarkable for an unsuccessful attempt to reduce +the Pension List. In this debate, Curran, who had entered the House in 1783, +particularly distinguished himself. A fierce exchange of personalities with Mr. +Fitzgibbon led to a duel between them, in which, fortunately, neither was +wounded, but their public hostility was transferred to the arena of the courts, +where some of the choicest <i>morceaux</i> of genuine Irish wit were uttered by +Curran, at the expense of his rival, first as Attorney-General, and +subsequently as Chancellor. +</p> + +<p> +The session of 1787 was introduced by a speech from the throne, in which the +usual paragraph in favour of the Protestant Charter Schools was followed by +another advising the establishment of a general system of schools. This raised +the entire question of education, one of the most difficult to deal with in the +whole range of Irish politics. On the 10th of April, Mr. Orde—destined to +be the author of just, but short-lived projects—introduced his plan of +what might be called national education. He proposed to establish four great +provincial academies, a second university in some north-western county, to +reform the twenty-two diocesan schools, so richly endowed under the 28th Henry +VIII., and to affiliate on Trinity College two principal preparatory schools, +north and south. In 1784, and again in this very year, the humane John Howard +had reported of the Irish Charter Schools, then half a century established, +that they were "a disgrace to all society." Sir J. Fitzpatrick, the Inspector +of Prisons, confirmed the general impression of Howard: he found the children +in these schools "puny, filthy, ill clothed, without linen, indecent to look +upon." A series of resolutions was introduced by Mr. Orde, as the basis of +better legislation in the next session; but it is to be regretted that the +proposed reform never went farther than the introduction and adoption of these +resolutions. +</p> + +<p> +The session of 1788 was signalized by a great domestic and a great imperial +discussion—the Tithe question, and the Regency question. +</p> + +<p> +The Tithe question had slumbered within the walls of Parliament since the days +of Swift, though not in the lonely lodges of the secret agrarian societies. +Very recent outbreaks of the old agrarian combinations against both excessive +rents and excessive tithes, in the Leinster as well as in southern counties, +had called general attention to the subject, when Grattan, in 1787, moved that, +if it should appear, by the commencement of the following session, that +tranquillity had been restored in the disturbed districts, the House would take +into consideration the subject of tithes. Accordingly, very early in the next +ensuing session, he moved for a committee on the subject, in a three hours' +speech, which ranks among the very highest efforts of his own or any other age. +He was seconded by Lord Kingsborough, one of the most liberal men of his order, +and sustained by Curran and Brownlow; he was opposed by Attorney-General +Fitzgibbon, and by Messrs. Hobart, Browne, and Parsons. The vote was, +<i>for</i> the Committee of Inquiry, 49; <i>against</i> it, 121. A second +attempt, a little later in the session, was equally unsuccessful, except for +the moral effect produced out of doors by another of those speeches, which it +is impossible to read even at this day, without falling into the attitude, and +assuming the intonation, and feeling the heartfelt inspiration of the orator. +</p> + +<p> +The Regency question was precipitated upon both Parliaments by the mental +disorder, which, for the second or third time, attacked George III., in 1788. +The question was, whether the Prince of Wales should reign with as full powers +as if his father were actually deceased; whether there should be restrictions +or no restrictions. Mr. Pitt and his colleagues contended successfully for +restrictions in England, while Mr. Fox and the opposition took the contrary +position. The English Houses and people went with Pitt, but the Irish +Parliament went for an unconditional regency. They resolved to offer the crown +of Ireland to him they considered <i>de</i> facto their Sovereign, as freely as +they had rendered their allegiance to the incapable king; but the Lord +Lieutenant—the Marquis of Buckingham—declined to transmit their +over-zealous address, and by the time their joint delegation of both Houses +reached London, George III. had recovered! They received the most gracious +reception at Carlton House, but they incurred the implacable enmity of William +Pitt, and created a second determining cause in his mind in favour of an early +legislative union. +</p> + +<p> +The prospect of the accession of the Prince to power, wrought a wonderful and a +salutary change, though temporary, in the Irish Commons. In the session of +1789, Mr Grattan carried, by 105 to 85, a two months', in amendment to a +twelve-months' supply bill. Before the two months expired he brought in his +police bill, his pension bill, and his bill to prevent officers of the revenue +from voting at elections, but ere these reforms could be passed into law, the +old King recovered, the necessary majority was reversed, and the measures, of +course, defeated or delayed till better times. The triumph of the oligarchy was +in proportion to their fright. The House having passed a vote of censure on +Lord Buckingham, the Viceroy, for refusing to transmit their address to the +Regent, a threat was now held out that every one who had voted for the censure, +holding an office of honour or emolument in Ireland, would be made "the victim +of his vote." In reply to this threat, a "Round Robin" was signed by the Duke +of Leinster, the Archbishop of Tuam, eighteen peers, all the leading Whig +commoners—the Ponsonbys, Langrishes, Grattan, Connolly, Curran, O'Neil, +Day, Charles Francis Sheridan, Bowes Daly, George Ogle, etc., +etc.—declaring that they would regard any such proscription as an attack +on the independence of Parliament, and would jointly oppose any administration +who should resort to such proscription. But the bold and domineering spirit of +Fitzgibbon—the leader of the Castle party, then, and long +afterwards—did not shrink before even so formidable a phalanx. The Duke +of Leinster was dismissed from the honorary office of Master of the Rolls; the +Earl of Shannon, from the Vice-Treasurership; William Ponsonby from the office +of Postmaster-General; Charles Francis Sheridan, from that of Secretary at War, +and ten or twelve other prominent members of the <i>Irish</i> administration +lost places and pensions to the value of 20,000 pounds a year, for their +over-zeal for the Prince of Wales. At the same time, Mr. Fitzgibbon was +appointed Lord Chancellor, a vacancy having opportunely occurred, by the death +of Lord Lifford, in the very midst of the prescriptive crisis. This elevation +transferred him to the Upper House, where, for the remaining years of the +Parliament, he continued to dogmatize and domineer, as he had done in the +Commons, often rebuked, but never abashed. Indeed, the milder manners of the +patrician body were ill suited to resist this ermined demagogue, whose motto +through life was <i>audacity, again audacity, and always audacity</i>. The +names of Wolfe, Toler, Corry, Coote, Beresford, and Cooke, are also found among +the promotions to legal and administrative office; names familiar to the last +generation as the pillars of the oligarchical faction, before and after the +Union. To swamp the opposition peers, the Earls of Antrim, Tyrone, and +Hillsborough were made Marquises of Antrim, Waterford, and Downshire; the +Viscounts Glenawley, Enniskillen, Erne, and Carysfort, were created Earls of +Annesley, Enniskillen, Erne, and Carysfort. Then Judge Scott became Viscount +Clonmel; then the Lordships of Loftus, Londonderry, Kilmaine, Cloncurry, +Mountjoy, Glentworth, and Caledon, were founded for as many convenient +Commoners, who either paid for their patents, in boroughs, or in hard cash. It +was the very reign and carnival of corruption, over which presided the +invulnerable Chancellor—a true "King of Misrule." In reference to this +appalling spectacle, well might Grattan exclaim—"In a free country the +path of public treachery leads to the block; but in a nation governed like a +province, to the helm!" But the thunders of the orator fell, and were quenched +in the wide spreading waters of corruption. +</p> + +<p> +The Whig Club—an out-of-door auxiliary of the opposition—was a +creation of this year. It numbered the chief signers of the "Round Robin," and +gained many adherents. It exercised very considerable influence in the general +election of 1790, and for the few following years, until it fell to pieces in +the presence of the more ardent politics which preceded the storm of 1798. +</p> + +<p> +Backed though he was by Mr. Pitt, both as his relative and principal, the +Marquis of Buckingham was compelled to resign the government, and to steal away +from Dublin, under cover of night, like an absconding debtor. The Chancellor +and the Speaker—Fitzgibbon and Foster, Irishmen at least by birth and +name—were sworn in as Justices, until the arrival of the Earl of +Westmoreland, in the ensuing January. +</p> + +<p> +The last two Viceroys of the decade thus closed, form a marked contrast worthy +of particular portraiture. The Duke of Rutland, a dashing profligate, was sent +over, it was thought, to ruin public liberty by undermining private virtue, a +task in which he found a willing helpmate in his beautiful but dissipated +Duchess. During his three years' reign were sown the seeds of that reckless +private expenditure, and general corruption of manners, which drove so many +bankrupt lords and gentlemen into the market overt, where Lord Castlereagh and +Secretary Cooke, a dozen years later, priced the value of their parliamentary +cattle. Lord Rutland died of dissipation at little over thirty, and was +succeeded by the Marquis of Buckingham (formerly Lord Temple), the founder of +the Irish Order of Chivalry, a person of the greatest pretensions, as a +reformer of abuses and an enemy of government by corruption. Yet with all his +affected superiority to the base arts of his predecessor, the Marquis's system +was still more opposite to every idea of just government than the Duke's. The +one outraged public morals, the other pensioned and ennobled the betrayers of +public trusts; the one naturalized the gaming-table and the keeping of +mistresses as customs of Irish society; the other sold or allowed the highest +offices and honours of the state—from a weighership in the butter market +to an earl's coronet—to be put up at auction, and knocked down to the +highest bidder. How cheering in contrast with the shameful honours, flaunted +abroad in those shameful days, are even the negative virtues of the Whig +patricians, and how splendid the heroic constancy of Charlemont, Grattan, +Curran, and their devoted minority of honest legislators! +</p> + +<p> +With Lord Westmoreland was associated, as Chief Secretary, Mr. Hobart, formerly +in the army, a man of gay, convivial habits, very accomplished, and, +politically, very unprincipled. These gentlemen, both favourites of Pitt, +adopted the counsellors, and continued the policy of the late Viceroy. In +pursuance of this policy, a dissolution took place, and the general election of +1790 was ordered. We have already exhibited the influences which controlled the +choice of members of the House of Commons. Of the one hundred and five great +proprietors, who owned two-thirds of the seats, perhaps a fourth might be found +in the ranks of the Whig club. The only other hope for the national party was +in the boroughs, which possessed a class of freemen, engaged in trade, too +numerous to be bought, or too public spirited to be dictated to. Both +influences combined might hope to return a powerful minority, and, on this +occasion (1790) they certainly did so. Grattan and Lord Henry Fitzgerald were +elected for Dublin, over the Lord Mayor and one of the Aldermen, backed by the +whole power of the Castle; Curran, Ponsonby, Brownlow, Forbes, and nearly all +"the victims of their vote" were re-elected. To these old familiar names were +now added others destined to equal, if not still wider fame—Arthur +Wellesley, member for Trim; Arthur O'Conor, member for Phillipstown; Jonah +Barrington, member for Tuam; and Robert Stewart, one of the members for the +County Down, then only in his twenty-second year, and, next to Lord Edward +Fitzgerald, lately elected for Athy, the most extreme reformer among the new +members. Arthur O'Conor, on the other hand, commenced his career with the Court +by moving the address in answer to the speech from the throne! +</p> + +<p> +The new Parliament, which met in July, 1790, unanimously re-elected Mr. Foster, +Speaker; passed a very loyal address, and, after a fortnight's sitting, was +prorogued till the following January. The session of '91 was marked by no event +of importance, the highest opposition vote seems to have been from 80 to 90, +and the ministerial majority never less than 50. The sale of Peerages, the East +India trade, the Responsibility (for money warrants) Bill, the Barren Lands +Bill, and the Pension Bill, were the chief topics. A committee to inquire into +the best means of encouraging breweries, and discouraging the use of spirituous +liquors, was also granted, and some curious facts elicited. Nothing memorable +was done, but much that was memorable was said—for the great orator had +still a free press, and a home audience to instruct and elevate. The truth is, +the barrenness of these two sessions was due to the general prosperity of the +country, more even than to the dexterous management of Major Hobart and the +Cabinet balls of Lord Westmoreland. There was, moreover, hanging over the minds +of men the electric pressure of the wonderful events with which France shook +the Continent, and made the Islands tremble. There was hasty hope, or idle +exultation, or pious fear, or panic terror, in the hearts of the leading +spectators of that awful drama, according to the prejudices or principles they +maintained. Over all the three kingdoms there was a preternatural calm, +resembling that physical stillness which in other latitude precedes the +eruption of volcanoes. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap99"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br/> +THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE—THIRD PERIOD—CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL OF +1793.</h3> + +<p> +Before relating the consequences which attended the spread of French +revolutionary opinions in Ireland, it is necessary to exhibit the new and very +important position assumed by the Roman Catholic population at that period. +</p> + +<p> +The relief bills in 1774 and 1778, by throwing open to Catholics the ordinary +means of acquiring property, whether moveable or immoveable, had enabled many +of them to acquire fortunes, both in land and in trade. Of this class were the +most efficient leaders in the formation of the Catholic Committee of +1790—John Keogh, Edward Byrne, and Richard McCormick. They were all men +who had acquired fortunes, and who felt and cherished the independence of +self-made men. They were not simply Catholic agitators claiming an equality of +civil and religious rights with their Protestant fellow-countrymen; they were +nationalists, in the broadest and most generous meaning of the term. They had +contributed to the ranks and expenses of the Volunteers; they had swelled the +chorus of Grattan's triumph, and borne their share of the cost in many a +popular contest. The new generation of Protestant patriots—such men as +the Hon. Simon Butler, Wolfe Tone, and Thomas Addis Emmet, were their intimate +associates, shared their opinions, and regarded their exclusion from the pale +of the constitution as a public calamity. +</p> + +<p> +There was another and a smaller, but not less important class—the remnant +of the ancient Catholic peerage and landed gentry, who, through four +generations, had preferred civil death to religious apostasy. It was impossible +not to revere the heroic constancy of that class, and the personal virtues of +many among them. But they were, perhaps, constitutionally, too timid and too +punctilious to conduct a popular movement to a successful issue. They had, +after much persuasion, lent their presence to the Committee, but on some alarm, +which at that time seems to have been premature, of the introduction of French +revolutionary principles among their associates, they seceded in a mass. A +formal remonstrance against what remained, pretending to act for the Catholic +body, was signed by Lord Kenmare and sixty-seven others, who withdrew. As a +corrective, it was inadequate; as a preventive, useless. It no doubt hastened +in the end the evil it deprecated in the beginning; it separated the Catholic +gentry from the Catholic democracy, and thrust the latter more and more towards +those liberal Protestants, mainly men of the middle class like themselves, who +began about this time to club together at Belfast and Dublin, under the +attractive title of "United Irishmen." Whatever they were individually, the +union of so many hereditary Catholic names had been of very great service to +the committee. So long as they stood aloof, the committee could not venture to +speak for <i>all</i> the Catholics; it could only speak for a part, though that +part might be nine-tenths of the whole: this gave for a time a doubtful and +hesitating appearance to their proceedings. So low was their political +influence, in 1791, that they could not get a single member of Parliament to +present their annual petition. When at last it was presented, it was laid on +the table and never noticed afterwards. To their further embarrassment, Mr. +McKenna and some others formed "the Catholic Society," with the nominal object +of spreading a knowledge of Catholic principles, through the press, but +covertly, to raise up a rival organization, under the control of the seceders. +At this period John Keogh's talents for negotiation and diplomacy saved the +Catholic body from another term of anarchical imbecility. +</p> + +<p> +A deputation of twelve having waited this year on the Chief Secretary with a +list of the existing penal laws, found no intention, at the Castle, of further +concession. They were "dismissed without an answer." Under these circumstances, +the Committee met at Allen's Court. "It was their determination," says Keogh, +"to give up the cause as desperate, lest a perseverance in what they considered +an idle pursuit might not only prove ineffectual, but draw down a train of +persecution on the body." Keogh endeavoured to rally them; proposed a +delegation to London, to be sent at the expense of the Committee; offered, at +last, to go at his own charge, if they authorized him. This proposal was +accepted, and Keogh went. "I arrived in London," he adds, "without any +introduction from this country, without any support, any assistance, any +instructions." He remained three months, converted Mr. Dundas, brought back +with him the son of Burke as Secretary, and a promise of four concessions: 1st. +The magistracy. 2nd. The grand juries. 3rd. The sheriffs of counties. 4th. The +bar. It was in this interview that Keogh, after obtaining Mr. Dundas's express +permission and promise not to be offended, said to him, according to Charles +Butler's account, "Since you give me this permission, and your deliberate +promise not to be offended, I beg leave to repeat, that there <i>is</i> one +thing which you ought to know, but which you don't suspect: you, Mr. Dundas, +know nothing of Ireland." Mr. Dundas, as may be supposed, was greatly +surprised; but, with perfect good humour, told Mr. Keogh that he believed this +was not the case; it was true that he never had been in Ireland, but he had +conversed with many Irishmen. "I have drunk," he said, "many a good bottle of +wine with Lord Hillsborough, Lord Clare, and the Beresfords." "Yes, sir," said +Mr. Keogh, "I believe you have; and that you drank many a good bottle of wine +with them before you went to war with America." +</p> + +<p> +On the return of Keogh to Dublin, a numerous meeting was held to hear his +report. At this meeting, the fair promises of the English ministers were +contrasted with the hostility of the Castle. The necessity of a strong +organization, to overcome the one and hasten the other, was felt by all: it was +then decided to form the Committee into a Convention. By this plan, the +Catholics in each county and borough were called on to choose, in a private +manner, certain electors, who were to elect two or more delegates, to represent +the town or county in the general meeting at Dublin, on the 3rd day of December +following. A circular, signed by Edward Byrne, Chairman, and Richard McCormick, +Secretary, explaining the plan and the mode of election, was issued on the 14th +of January, and the Catholics everywhere prepared to obey it. +</p> + +<p> +The corporations of Dublin and other cities, the grand juries of Derry, +Donegal, Leitrim, Roscommon, Limerick, Cork, and other counties, at once +pronounced most strongly against the proposed Convention. They declared it +"unconstitutional," "alarming," "most dangerous;" they denounced it as a copy +of the National Assembly of France; they declared that they would "resist it to +the utmost of their power;" they pledged "their lives and fortunes" to suppress +it. The only answer of the Catholics was the legal opinion of Butler and +Burton, two eminent lawyers, Protestants and King's counsellors, that the +measure was entirely legal. They proceeded with their selection of delegates, +and on the appointed day the Convention met. From the place of meeting, this +Convention was popularly called "the Back Lane Parliament." Above 200 members +were present. +</p> + +<p> +The Convention proceeded (Mr. Byrne in the chair) to declare itself the only +body competent to speak for the Catholics of Ireland. They next discussed the +substance of the proposed petition to the King. The debate on this subject, +full of life and colour, has been preserved for us in the memoirs of Tone, who, +although a Protestant, had been elected Secretary to the Catholic Committee. +Great firmness was exhibited by Teeling of Antrim, Bellew of Galway, McDermott +of Sligo, Devereux of Wexford, Sir Thomas French, and John Keogh. These +gentlemen contended, and finally carried, without a division, though not +without a two-days' debate, a petition, asking complete and unrestricted +emancipation. With the addition of the Chairman and Secretary, they were +appointed as deputies to proceed to London, there to place the Catholic +ultimatum in the hands of King George. +</p> + +<p> +The deputies, whether by design or accident, took Belfast on their way to +England. This great manufacturing town, at the head of the staple industry of +the north, had been in succession the head-quarters of the Volunteers, the +Northern Whigs, and the United Irishmen. Belfast had demanded in vain, for +nearly a generation, that its 20,000 inhabitants should no longer be +disfranchised, while a dozen burgesses—creatures of Lord +Donegal—controlled the representation. Community of disfranchisement had +made the Belfastians liberal; the Catholic deputies were publicly received with +bonfires and ringing of bells, their expenses were paid by the citizens, and +their carriage drawn along in triumph, on the road to Port-Patrick. +</p> + +<p> +Arrived at London, after much negotiation and delay with ministers, a day was +fixed for their introduction to the King. It was Wednesday, the 2nd of January, +1793; they were presented by Edmund Burke and the Home Secretary to George +III., who "received them very graciously;" they placed in his hands the +petition of their co-religionists, and, after some compliments, withdrew. In a +few days, they were assured their case would be recommended to the attention of +Parliament in the next royal speech, and so, leaving one of their number behind +as "charge d'affaires," they returned to Dublin highly elated. +</p> + +<p> +The Viceroy, on their return, was all attention to the Catholics; the +Secretary, who, a year before, would not listen to a petition, now laboured to +fix a limit to concession. The demand of complete emancipation, was not +maintained in this negotiation as firmly as in the December debates of "the +Back Lane Parliament." The shock of the execution of the King of France; the +efforts of the secret committee of the House of Lords to inculpate certain +Catholic leaders in the United-Irish system, and as patrons of the Defenders; +the telling argument, that to press all was to risk all,—these causes +combined to induce the sub-committee to consent to less than the Convention had +decided to insist upon. Negotiation was the strong ground of the government, +and they kept it. Finally, the bill was introduced by the Chief Secretary, and +warmly supported by Grattan, Curran, Ponsonby, Forbes, and Hutchinson, Provost +of Trinity College. It was resisted in the Lower House by Mr. Speaker Foster, +Mr. Ogle, and Dr. Duigenan, an apostate, who exhibited all the bitterness of +his class; and in the Upper House, by the Chancellor, the son of an apostate, +and the majority of the lords spiritual. On the 9th day of April, 1793, it +became the law of Ireland. "By one comprehensive clause," says Tone, "all +penalties, forfeitures, disabilities, and incapacities are removed; the +property of the Catholic is completely discharged from the restraints and +limitations of the penal laws, and their liberty, in a great measure, restored, +by the restoration of the right of elective franchise, so long withheld, so +ardently pursued. The right of self-defence is established by the restoration +of the privilege to carry arms, subject to a restraint, which does not seem +unreasonable, as excluding none but the very lowest orders. The unjust and +unreasonable distinctions affecting Catholics, as to service on grand and petty +juries, are done away; the army, navy, and all other offices and places of +trust are opened to them, subject to exceptions hereafter mentioned. Catholics +may be masters or fellows of any college hereafter to be founded, subject to +two conditions, that such college be a member of the University, and that it be +not founded exclusively for the education of Catholics. They may be members of +any lay body corporate, except Trinity College, any law, statute, or bye-law of +such corporation to the contrary notwithstanding. They may obtain degrees in +the University of Dublin. These, and some lesser immunities and privileges, +constitute the grant of the bill, the value of which will be best ascertained +by referring to the petition." +</p> + +<p> +It is true, Catholics were still excluded from the high offices of Lord +Lieutenant, Lord Deputy, and Lord Chancellor. What was much more important, +they were excluded from sitting in Parliament—from exercising legislative +and judicial functions, Still the franchise, the juries, the professions, and +the University, were important concessions. Their first fruits were Daniel +O'Connell and Thomas Moore! +</p> + +<p> +The Committee having met to return thanks to the parliamentary supporters of +the bill, their own future operations came also under debate. Some members +advised that they should add reform to their programme, as the remnant of the +penal laws were not sufficient to interest and attract the people. Some would +have gone much further than reform; some were well content to rest on their +laurels. There were ultras, moderate men, and conservatives, even in the +twelve. The latter were more numerous than Wolfe Tone liked or expected. That +ardent revolutionist had, indeed, at bottom, a strong dislike of the Catholic +religion; he united himself with that body because he needed a party; he +remained with them because it gave him importance; but he chiefly valued the +position as it enabled him to further an ulterior design—an Irish +revolution and a republic on the French plan. The example of France had, +however, grown by this time rather a terror than an attraction to more cautious +men than Tone. Edward Byrne, Sir Thomas French, and other leading Catholics, +were openly hostile to any imitation of it, and the dinner at Daly's, to +celebrate the passage of the act, was strongly anti-Gallican in spirit and +sentiment. Keogh, McCormick, and McNevin, however, joined the United Irishmen, +and the two latter were placed on the Directory. Keogh withdrew, when, in 1795, +that organization became a secret society. +</p> + +<p> +The Bishops, who had cheered on, rather than participated in the late struggle, +were well satisfied with the new measure. They were, by education and +conviction, conservatives. Dr. Plunkett of Meath, Dr. Egan of Waterford, Dr. +Troy of Dublin, and Dr. Moylan of Cork, were the most remarkable for influence +and ability at this period. Dr. Butler of Cashel, and his opponent, Dr. Burke +of Ossory, the head of the resolute old ultramontane minority, were both +recently deceased. With the exception of Dr. James Butler, Bishop of Cloyne and +Ross, who deserted his faith and order on becoming unexpectedly heir to an +earldom, the Irish prelates of the reign of George III. were a most zealous and +devoted body. Lord Dunboyne's fall was the only cause of a reproach within +their own ranks. That unhappy prelate made, many years afterwards, a death-bed +repentance, was reconciled to his church, and bequeathed a large part of his +inherited wealth to sustain the new national college, the founding of which, +ever since the outbreak of the French revolution, the far-seeing Burke was +urging upon Pitt and all his Irish correspondents. +</p> + +<p> +In 1794, the Irish Bishops, having applied for a "royal license" to establish +academies and seminaries, were graciously received, and Lord Fitzwilliam's +government the next session brought in the Act of Incorporation. It became law +on the 5th of June, 1795, and the college was opened the following October with +fifty students. Dr Hussey, afterwards Bishop of Waterford, the friend of Burke, +who stood by his deathbed, was first President; some refugee French divines +were appointed to professorships; and the Irish Parliament voted the very +handsome sum of 8,000 pounds a year to the new foundation. Maynooth, whatever +its after lot, was the creation in the first instance of the Irish Parliament. +We have thus, in the third century after the reformation, after three great +religious wars, after four confiscations, after the most ingenious, cruel, and +unchristian methods of oppression and proselytism, had been tried and had +failed, the grand spectacle of the Catholics of Ireland restored, if not fully, +yet to the most precious of the civil and religious liberties of a people! So +powerless against conscience is and ever must be coercion! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap100"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br/> +THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE—EFFECTS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION IN +IRELAND—SECESSION OF GRATTAN, CURRAN, AND THEIR FRIENDS, FROM PARLIAMENT, +IN 1797.</h3> + +<p> +The era of independence which we have desired to mark distinctly to the +reader's mind, may be said to terminate in 1797, with the hopeless secession of +Grattan and his friends from Parliament. Did the events within and without the +House justify that extreme measure? We shall proceed to describe them as they +arose, leaving the decision of the question to the judgment of the reader. +</p> + +<p> +The session of 1793, which extended into July, was, besides the Catholic Relief +Bill, productive of other important results. Under the plea of the spread of +French principles, and the widespread organization of seditious +associations—a plea not wanting in evidence—an Arms Act was +introduced and carried, prohibiting the importation of arms and gunpowder, and +authorizing domiciliary visits, at any hour of the night or day, in search of +such arms. Within a month from the passage of this bill, bravely but vainly +opposed by Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and the opposition generally, the surviving +Volunteer corps, in Dublin and its vicinity, were disbanded, their arms, +artillery, and ammunition taken possession of either by force or negotiation, +and the very wreck of that once powerful patriot army swept away. In its stead, +by nearly the same majority, the militia were increased to 16,000 men, and the +regulars from 12,000 to 17,000—thus placing at the absolute control of +the Commander-in-Chief, and the chiefs of the oligarchy, a standing army of +33,000 men. At the same period, Lord Clare (he had been made an earl in 1792), +introduced his Convention Act, against the assemblage in convention of +delegates purporting to represent the people. With Grattan only 27 of the +Commons divided against this measure, well characterized as "the boldest step +that ever yet was made to introduce military government." "If this bill had +been law," Grattan added, "the independence of the Irish Parliament, the +emancipation of the Catholics, and even the English revolution of 1688, could +never have taken place!" The teller in favour of the Convention Act was Major +Wellesley, member for Trim, twenty years later—Duke of Wellington! It +became and still remains the law of Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +Against this reactionary legislation we must credit the session of '93, besides +the Catholic Relief Bill and the East India Trade Bill, with Mr. Grattan's +Barren Lands Bill, exempting all newly reclaimed lands from the payment of +tithes for a period of seven years; Mr. Forbes's Pension Bill, limiting the +pension list to 80,000 pounds sterling per annum, and fixing the permanent +civil list at 250,000 pounds per annum; and the excellent measure of the same +invaluable member, excluding from Parliament all persons holding offices of +profit under the crown, except the usual ministerial officers, and those +employed in the <i>revenue service</i>. This last salvo was forced into the +bill by the oligarchical faction, for whose junior branches the revenue had +long been a fruitful source of provision. +</p> + +<p> +Parliament met next, on the 21st of January, '94, and held a short two-months' +session. The most remarkable incidents of these two months were the rejection +of Mr. George Ponsonby's annual motion for parliamentary reform, and the +striking position taken by Grattan, Curran, and all but seven or eight of their +friends, in favour of the war against the French republic. Mr. Ponsonby +proposed, in the spirit of Flood's plan ten years earlier, to unite to the +boroughs four miles square of the adjoining country, thus creating a +counterpoise to the territorial aristocracy on the one hand, and the patrons of +boroughs on the other; he also proposed to extend the suffrage to every +tradesman who had served five years' apprenticeship, and gave each county +<i>three</i> instead of two members, leaving intact, of course, the +forty-shilling freehold franchise. Not more than 44 members, however, divided +in favour of the new project, while 142 voted against it! Had it passed, the +parliamentary history of the next six years could never have been written. +</p> + +<p> +It was on this Reform bill, and on the debate on the address, that Grattan took +occasion to declare his settled and unalterable hostility to those "French +principles," then so fashionable with all who called themselves friends of +freedom, in the three kingdoms. In the great social schism which had taken +place in Europe, in consequence of the French revolution of 1789-'91, those +kingdoms, the favourite seat of free inquiry and free discussion, could not +hope to escape. The effects were visible in every circle, among every order of +men; in all the churches, workshops, saloons, professions, into which men were +divided. Among publicists, most of all, the shock was most severely felt; in +England it separated Burke and Windham from Fox, Erskine, Sheridan, and Grey; +in Ireland it separated Grattan and Curran from Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Arthur +O'Conor, Addis Emmet, Wolfe Tone, and all those ardent, able, and honest men, +who hailed the French, as the forerunner of a complete series of European +republics, in which Ireland should shine out, among the brightest and the best. +</p> + +<p> +Grattan, who agreed with and revered Burke, looked upon the "anti-Jacobin war," +as a just and necessary war. It was not in his nature to do anything by halves, +and he therefore cordially supported the paragraph in the address pledging +Ireland's support to that war. He was a constitutionalist of the British, not +of the French type. In the subsequent Reform debate he declared that he would +always and ever resist those who sought to remodel the Irish constitution on a +French original. He asserted, moreover, that great mischief had been already +done by the advocates of such a design, "It"—this design—"has +thrown back for the present the chance of any rational improvement in the +representation of the people," he cried, "and has betrayed a good reform <i>to +the hopes of a shabby insurrection</i>." Proceeding in his own condensed, +crystalline antithesis, he thus enlarged on his own opinions: "There are two +characters equally enemies to the reform of Parliament, and equally enemies to +the government—the leveller of the constitution, and the friend of its +abuses; they take different roads to arrive at the same end. The levellers +propose to subvert the King and parliamentary constitution by a rank and +unqualified democracy—the friends of its abuses propose to support the +King and buy the Parliament, and in the end to overset both, by a rank and +avowed corruption. They are both incendiaries; the one would destroy government +to pay his court to liberty; the other would destroy liberty to pay his court +to government; but the liberty of the one would be confusion, and the +government of the other would be pollution." +</p> + +<p> +We can well understand that this language pleased as little the United Irishmen +as the Castle. It was known that in private he was accustomed to say, that, +"the wonder was not that Mr. Sheares should die on the scaffold, but that Lord +Clare was not there beside him." He stood in the midst of the ways, crying +aloud, with the wisdom of his age and his genius, but there were few to heed +his warnings. The sanguine innovator sneered or pitied; the truculent despot +scowled or menaced; to the one his authority was an impediment, to the other +his reputation was a reproach. It was a public situation as full of conflict as +man ever occupied, and we are not astonished, on a nearer view, that it led, +after three years hoping against hope, to the despairing secession of 1797. +</p> + +<p> +A bright gleam of better things shot for an instant across the gloomy prospect, +with which the year '94 closed for the country. Lord Westmoreland was recalled, +and Lord Fitzwilliam, largely connected with Ireland by property, and one of +the most just and liberal men in England, was to be his successor. The highest +expectations were excited; the best men congratulated each other on the certain +promise of better times close at hand; and the nation, ever ready to believe +whatever it wished to believe, saw in prospect, the oligarchy restrained, the +patriots triumphant, and the unfinished fabric of independence completed, and +crowned with honour. +</p> + +<p> +This new reign, though one of the shortest, was one of the most important +Ireland ever saw. Lord Fitzwilliam, the nephew of Lord Rockingham, the first to +acknowledge the constitution of 1782, had married a Ponsonby; he was a Burke +whig—one of those who, with the Duke of Portland, Earl Spencer, and Mr. +Windham, had followed the "great Edmund," in his secession from the +Fox-and-Sheridan majority of that party, in 1791. Pitt, anxious to conciliate +these new allies, had brought them all into office in 1794—Earl +Fitzwilliam being placed in the dignified position of President of the Council. +When spoken of for the Viceroyalty he wrote to Grattan, bespeaking his support, +and that of "his friends, the Ponsonbys;" this letter and some others brought +Grattan to London, where he had two or three interviews with Pitt, the Duke of +Portland, and Lord Fitzwilliam. Better still, he made a pilgrimage to +Beaconsfield, and had the benefit of the last advice of the aged Burke. With +Pitt he was disappointed and dissatisfied, but he still hoped and expected +great good from the appointment of Lord Fitzwilliam to the office of Viceroy. +It seems to have been fully understood that the new Lord Lieutenant would have +very full powers to complete the gracious work of Catholic emancipation: with +this express understanding, Mr. Grattan was pressed to accept the +Chancellorship of the Exchequer, but steadily declined; he upheld in that +position Sir Henry Parnell, an old personal, rather than political friend, one +of a family of whom Ireland has reason to retain a grateful recollection. He +was, however, with Ponsonby, Curran, and others of his friends in both Houses, +added to the Privy Council, where they were free to shape the measures of the +new administration. At the King's levee, on the 10th of December, when Lord +Fitzwilliam was sworn in, the aged Burke, in deep mourning for his idolized +son, attended; Grattan was so much spoken to by the King as to draw towards him +particular attention; Mr. Pitt, the Duke of Portland, and other ministers, were +present. All took and held the tone that complete emancipation was a thing +settled: Burke congratulated Grattan on the event, and the new Viceroy was as +jubilant and as confident as anybody, that the great controversy was at length +to be finally closed under his auspices. +</p> + +<p> +On the 4th of January, Lord Fitzwilliam reached Dublin; and on the 25th of +March he was recalled. The history of these three months—of this +short-lived attempt to govern Ireland on the advice of Grattan—is full of +instruction. The Viceroy had not for a moment concealed his intention of +thoroughly reforming the Irish administration. On his arrival at the Castle, +Mr. Cooke was removed from the Secretaryship, and Mr. Beresford from the +Revenue Board. Great was the consternation, and unscrupulous the intrigues of +the dismissed. When the Parliament met at the end of January, Grattan assumed +the leadership of the House of Commons, and moved the address in answer to the +speech from the throne. No opposition was offered—and it passed without a +division. Immediately, a bill granting the Catholics complete +emancipation—rendering them eligible even to the office of Chancellor, +withheld in 1829—was introduced by Grattan. Then the oligarchy found +their voices. The old cry of "the Church in danger" was raised, delegations +proceeded to London, and every agency of influence was brought to bear on the +King and the English cabinet. From the tenor of his letters, Lord Fitzwilliam +felt compelled in honour to tell Mr. Pitt, that he might choose between him and +the Beresfords. He did choose—but not till the Irish Parliament, in the +exuberance of its confidence and gratitude, had voted the extraordinary subsidy +of 20,000 men for the navy, and <i>a million, eight hundred thousand pounds, +towards the expenses of the war with France!</i> Then, the popular Viceroy was +recalled amid the universal regrets of the people. The day of his departure +from Dublin was a day of general mourning, except with the oligarchical clique, +whose leaders he had so resolutely thrust aside. To them it was a day of +insolent and unconcealed rejoicing; and, what is not at all uncommon under such +circumstances, the infatuated partisans of the French revolution, rejoiced +hardly less than the extremest Tories, at the sudden collapse of a government +equally opposed to the politics of both. Grattan, than whom no public man was +ever more free from unjust suspicion of others, always remained under the +conviction that Pitt had made merely a temporary use of Lord Fitzwilliam's +popularity, in order to cheat the Irish out of the immense supplies they had +voted; and all the documents of the day, which have since seen the light, +accord well with that view of the transaction. Lord Fitzwilliam was immediately +replaced by Lord Camden, whose Viceroyalty extended into the middle of the year +1798: a reign which embraced all that remains to us to narrate, of the +Parliamentary politics of the era of Independence. +</p> + +<p> +The sittings of Parliament were resumed during April, May, and June, but the +complete emancipation bill was rejected three to one—155 to 55; the +debates were now marked, on the part of Toler, Duigenan, Johnson, and others, +with the most violent anti-Catholic spirit. All this tended to inflame still +more the exasperated feeling which already prevailed in the country between +Orangemen and Defenders. Thus it came, that the High Court of Parliament, which +ought to have been the chief school of public wisdom—the calm correcting +tribunal of public opinion—was made a principal engine in the +dissemination of those prejudices and passions, which drove honest men to +despair of constitutional redress, and swelled the ranks of the secret +political societies, till they became co-extensive with the population. +</p> + +<p> +The session of 1796 was even more hopeless than the immediately preceding one. +A trade motion of Grattan's on the address commanded only 14 votes out of 140; +in the next session his motion in favour of equal rights to persons of all +religious creeds, obtained but 12 votes out of 160! From these figures it is +clear that above a third of the members of the House no longer attended; that +of those who did attend, the overwhelming and invariable majority—ten to +one—were for all the measures of repression and coercion which marked +these two sessions. The Insurrection Act, giving power to the magistrates of +any county to proclaim martial law; the Indemnity Act, protecting magistrates +from the consequences of exercising "a vigour beyond the law;" the Riot Act, +giving authority to disperse any number of persons by force of arms without +notice; the Suspension of the <i>habeas corpus</i> (against which only 7 +members out of a House of 164 voted)—all were evidences to Grattan, that +the usefulness of the House of Commons, as then constituted, was, for the tune, +lost or destroyed. It is quite clear that he came to this conviction slowly and +reluctantly; that he struggled against it with manly fortitude through three +sessions; that he yielded to it at length, when there was no longer a +possibility of resistance,—when to move or to divide the House, had +become a wretched farce, humiliating to the country, and unworthy of his own +earnest and enthusiastic patriotism. +</p> + +<p> +Under these circumstances, the powerless leader and his devoted staff resolved +to withdraw, formally and openly, from further attendance on the House of +Commons. The deplorable state of the country, delivered over to an +irresponsible magistracy and all the horrors of martial law; the spread among +the patriotic rising generation of French principles; the scarcely concealed +design of the Castle to goad the people into insurrection, in order to deprive +them of their liberties; all admonished the faithful few that the walls of +Parliament were no longer their sphere of usefulness. One last trial was, +however, made in May, 1797, for a reform of Parliament. Mr. George Ponsonby +moved his usual motion, and Curran, Hardy, Sir Lawrence Parsons, Charles +Kendall Bushe, and others, ably supported him. The division was 30 to 117. It +was on this debate, that Grattan, whose mournful manner contrasted so strongly +with his usual enthusiasm, concluded a solemn exposition of the evils the +administration were bringing on the country, by these affecting +words:—"We have offered you our measure—you will reject it; we +deprecate yours—you will persevere; having no hopes left to persuade or +to dissuade, and having discharged our duty, we shall trouble you no more, +<i>and after this day shall not attend the House of Commons</i>." The secession +thus announced was accomplished; at the general election, two months later, +Grattan and his colleague, Lord Henry Fitzgerald, refused to stand again for +Dublin; Curran, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Arthur O'Conor, and others, followed +his example. A few patriots, hoping against hope, were, however, returned, a +sort of forlorn hope, to man the last redoubt of the Constitution. Of these was +William Conyngham Plunkett, member for Charlemont, Grattan's old borough, a +constitutionalist of the school of Edmund Burke, worthy to be named among the +most illustrious of his disciples. +</p> + +<p> +In the same July, on the 7th of the month, on which the Irish elections were +held, that celebrated Anglo-Irish statesman expired at Beaconsfield, in the +sixty-seventh year of his age. His last thoughts—his last wishes, like +his first—were with his native land. His regards continued fixed on the +state of Ireland, while vision and faculty remained. His last efforts in +writing and conversation were to plead for toleration, concession and +conciliation towards Ireland. The magisterial gravity of Burke was not +calculated to permit him to be generally popular with an impulsive people, but +as years roll on, and education extends its dominion, his reputation rises and +brightens above every other reputation of his age, British or Irish. Of him no +less truly than powerfully did Grattan say in the Imperial Parliament, in 1815: +"He read everything, he saw everything, he foresaw everything. His knowledge of +history amounted to a power of foretelling; and when he perceived the wild work +that was doing in France, that great political physician, intelligent of +symptoms, distinguished between the access of fever and the force of health; +and what other men conceived to be the vigour of her constitution, he knew to +be no more than the paroxysm of her madness; and then, prophet-like, he +denounced the destinies of France, and in his prophetic fury, admonished +nations." +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap101"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br/> +THE UNITED IRISHMEN.</h3> + +<p> +Half measures of justice may satisfy the generation which achieves them, but +their successors will look with other eyes, as well on what has been won as on +that which is withheld. The part in possession will appear to their youthful +sense of abstract right and wrong far less precious than the part in +expectancy, for it is in the nature of the young to look forward, as it is of +the old to turn their regards to the past. The very recollection of their +fathers will stimulate the new generation to emulate their example, and will +render them averse to being bound by former compromises. So necessary is it for +statesmen, when they yield to a just demand long withheld, to yield gracefully +and to yield all that is fairly due. +</p> + +<p> +The celebrated group known to us as "the United Irishmen," were the birth of a +new generation, entering together on the public stage. With few exceptions, the +leading characters were all born within a few years of each other: Neilson in +1761, Tone, Arthur O'Conor and Lord Edward Fitzgerald in '62, McNevin in '63, +Sampson and Thomas Addis Emmet in '64, and Russell in '67. They had emerged +into manhood while the drums of the Volunteers were beating victorious marches, +when the public hopes ran high, and the language of patriotism was the familiar +speech of every-day life. +</p> + +<p> +In a settled state of society it would have been natural for the first minds of +the new generation to carry their talents, gratefully and dutifully, into the +service of the first reputations of the old; but Irish society, in the last +years of the last century, was not in a settled condition; the fascination of +French example, and the goading sense of national wrongs only half-righted, +inflamed the younger generation with a passionate thirst for speedy and summary +justice on their oppressors. We must not look, therefore, to see the Tones and +Emmets continuing in the constitutional line of public conduct marked out by +Burke in the one kingdom, and Grattan in the other. The new age was +revolutionary, and the new men were filled with the spirit of the age. Their +actions stand apart; they form an episode in the history of the century to +which there may be parallels, but a chapter in the history of their own country +original and alone. +</p> + +<p> +The United Irish Society sprung up at Belfast in October, 1791. In that month, +Theobold Wolf Tone, then in his 28th year, a native of Kildare, a member of the +bar, and an excellent popular pamphleteer, on a visit to his friend Thomas +Russell, in the northern capital, was introduced to Samuel Neilson, proprietor +of the <i>Northern Star</i> newspaper, and several other kindred spirits, all +staunch reformers, or "something more." Twenty of these gentlemen meeting +together, adopted a programme prepared by Tone, which contained these three +simple propositions: that "English influence" was the great danger of Irish +liberty; that a reform of Parliament could alone create a counterpoise to that +influence; and that such a reform to be just should include Irishmen of all +religious denominations. On Tone's return to Dublin, early in November, a +branch society was formed on the Belfast basis. The Hon. Simon Butler, a +leading barrister, was chosen Chairman, and Mr. Napper Tandy, an active +middle-aged merchant, with strong republican principles, was Secretary. The +solemn declaration or oath, binding every member "to forward a brotherhood of +affection, an identity of interests, a communion of rights, and a union of +power among Irishmen of all religious persuasions," was drawn up by the Dublin +club, and became the universal bond of organization. Though the Belfast leaders +had been long in the habit of meeting in "secret committee," to direct and +control the popular movements in their vicinage, the new society was not, in +its inception, nor for three years afterwards, a secret society. When that +radical change was proposed, we find it resisted by a considerable minority, +who felt themselves at length compelled to retire from an association, the +proceedings of which they could no longer approve. In justice to those who +remained, adopting secrecy as their only shield, it must be said, that the +freedom of the press and of public discussion had been repeatedly and +frequently violated before they abandoned the original maxims and tactics of +their body, which were all open, and above-board. +</p> + +<p> +In 1792, Simon Butler, and Oliver Bond—a prosperous Dublin merchant of +northern origin—was summoned to the bar of the House of Lords, condemned +to six months' imprisonment, and a fine of 500 pounds each, for having acted as +Chairman and Secretary of one of the meetings, at which an address to the +people, strongly reflecting on the corrupt constitution of Parliament, was +adopted. In '94, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, one of the purest and most +chivalrous characters of any age, was convicted, by a packed jury, of +circulating the famous "Universal Emancipation" address of his friend, Dr. +William Drennan, the poet-politician of the party. He was defended by Curran, +in the still more famous speech in which occurs his apostrophe to "the genius +of Universal Emancipation;" but he atoned in the cells of Newgate, for +circulating the dangerous doctrine which Drennan had broached, and Curran had +immortalized. +</p> + +<p> +The regular place of meeting of the Dublin society was the Tailors' Hall, in +Back Lane, a spacious building, called, from the number of great popular +gatherings held in it, "the Back Lane Parliament." Here Tandy, in the uniform +of his new National Guard, whose standard bore the harp without the crown, +addressed his passionate harangues to the applauding multitude; here Tone, +whose <i>forte</i>, however, was not oratory, constantly attended; here, also, +the leading Catholics, Keogh and McCormack, the "Gog" and "Magog," of Tone's +extraordinary <i>Memoirs</i>, were occasionally present. And here, on the night +of the 4th of May, 1794, the Dublin society found themselves suddenly assailed +by the police, their papers seized, their officers who were present arrested, +and their meeting dispersed. From that moment we may date the new and +<i>secret</i> organization of the brotherhood, though it was not in general +operation till the middle of the following year. +</p> + +<p> +This new organization, besides its secrecy, had other revolutionary +characteristics. For "reform of Parliament" was substituted in the test, or +oath, representation "of all the people of Ireland," and for petitions and +publications, the enrolment of men, by baronies and counties, and the +appointment of officers, from the least to the highest in rank, as in a regular +army. The unit was a lodge of twelve members, with a chairman and secretary, +who were also their corporal and sergeant; five of these lodges formed a +company, and the officers of five such companies a baronial committee, from +which again, in like manner, the county committees were formed. Each of the +provinces had its Directory, while in Dublin the supreme authority was +established, in an "Executive Directory" of five members. The orders of the +Executive were communicated to not more than one of the Provincial Directors, +and by him to one of each County Committee, and so in a descending scale, till +the rank and file were reached; an elaborate contrivance, but one which proved +wholly insufficient to protect the secrets of the organization from the +ubiquitous espionage of the government. +</p> + +<p> +In May, 1795, the new organization lost the services of Wolfe Tone, who was +compromised by a strange incident, to a very serious extent. The incident was +the arrest and trial of the Rev. William Jackson, an Anglican clergyman, who +had imbibed the opinions of Price and Priestley, and had been sent to Ireland +by the French Republic, on a secret embassy. Betrayed by a friend and +countryman, named Cockayne, the unhappy Jackson took poison in prison, and +expired in the dock. Tone had been seen with Jackson, and through the influence +of his friends, was alone protected from arrest. He was compelled, however, to +quit the country, in order to preserve his personal liberty. He proceeded with +his family to Belfast, where, before taking shipping for America, he renewed +with his first associates, their vows and projects, on the summit of "the Cave +Hill," which looks down upon the rich valley of the Laggan, and the noble town +and port at its outlet. Before quitting Dublin, he had solemnly promised Emmet +and Russell, in the first instance, as he did his Belfast friends in the +second, that he would make the United States his <i>route</i> to France, where +he would negotiate a formidable national alliance, for "the United Irishmen." +</p> + +<p> +In the year in which Tone left the country, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, brother of +the Duke of Leinster, and formerly a Major in the British Army, joined the +society; in the next year—near its close—Thomas Addis Emmet, who +had long been in the confidence of the promoters, joined, as did, about the +same time, Arthur O'Conor, nephew of Lord Longueville, and ex-member for +Phillipstown, and Dr. William James McNevin, a Connaught Catholic, educated in +Austria, then practising his profession with eminent success in Dublin. These +were felt to be important accessions, and all four were called upon to act on +"the Executive Directory," from time to time, during 1796 and 1797. +</p> + +<p> +The coercive legislation carried through Parliament, session after +session—the Orange persecutions in Armagh and elsewhere—the +domiciliary visits—the military outrages in town and country—the +free quarters, whipping and tortures—the total suppression of the public +press—the bitter disappointment of Lord Fitzwilliam's recall—the +annual failure of Ponsonby's motion for reform—finally, the despairing +secession of Grattan and his friends from Parliament—had all tended to +expand the system, which six years before was confined to a few dozen +enthusiasts of Belfast and Dublin, into the dimensions of a national +confederacy. By the close of this year, 500,000 men had taken the test, in +every part of the country, and nearly 300,000 were reported as armed, either +with firelocks or pikes. Of this total, 110,000 alone were returned for Ulster; +about 60,000 for Leinster, and the remainder from Connaught and Munster. A +fund, ludicrously small, 1,400 pounds sterling, remained in the hands of the +Executive, after all the outlay which had taken place, in procuring arms, in +extending the union, and in defending prisoners arrested as members of the +society. Lord Edward Fitzgerald was chosen Commander-in-Chief; but the main +reliance, for munitions, artillery, and officers, was placed upon the French +Republic. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap102"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br/> +NEGOTIATIONS WITH FRANCE AND HOLLAND—THE THREE EXPEDITIONS NEGOTIATED +BY TONE AND LEWINES.</h3> + +<p> +The close of the year 1795 saw France under the government of the Directory, +with Carnot in the cabinet, and Pichegru, Jourdain, Moreau, Hoche, and +Buonaparte at the head of its armies. This government, with some change of +persons, lasted from October, 1795, to November, '99, when it was supplanted by +the Consular Revolution. Within the compass of those four years lie the +negotiations which were carried on and the three great expeditions which were +fitted out by France and Holland, at the instance of the United Irishmen. +</p> + +<p> +On the 1st of February, 1796, Tone, who had sailed from Belfast the previous +June, arrived at Havre from New York, possessed of a hundred guineas and some +useful letters of introduction. One of these letters, written in cipher, was +from the French Minister at Philadelphia to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, +Charles Lacroix; another was to the American Minister in France, Mr. Monroe, +afterwards President of the United States, by whom he was most kindly received, +and wisely advised, on reaching Paris. Lacroix received him courteously, and +referred him to a subordinate called Madgett, but after nearly three months +wasted in interviews and explanations, Tone, by the advice of Monroe, presented +himself at the Luxembourg Palace, and demanded audience of the "Organizer of +Victory." Carnot also listened to him attentively, asked and obtained his true +name, and gave him another <i>rendezvous</i>. He was next introduced to Clarke +(afterwards Duc de Feltre), Secretary at War, the son of an Irishman, whom he +found wholly ignorant of Ireland; and finally, on the 12th of July, General +Hoche, in the most frank and winning manner, introduced himself. At first the +Directory proposed sending to Ireland no more than 5,000 men, while Tone +pleaded for 20,000; but when Hoche accepted the command, he assured Tone he +would go "in sufficient force." The "pacificator of La Vendee," as the young +general was called—he was only thirty-two,—won at once the heart of +the enthusiastic founder of the United Irishmen, and the latter seems to have +made an equally favourable impression. He was at once presented with the +commission of a <i>chef de brigade</i> of infantry—a rank answering to +that of colonel with us—and was placed as adjutant on the general's +staff. Hoche was all ardour and anxiety; Carnot cheered him on by expressing +his belief that it would be "a most brilliant operation;" and certainly Tone +was not the man to damp such expectations, or allow them to evaporate in mere +complimentary assurances. +</p> + +<p> +During the autumn months the expedition was busily being fitted out at Brest, +and the general head-quarters were at Rennes. The Directory, to satisfy +themselves that all was as represented by Tone, had sent an agent of their own +to Ireland, by whom a meeting was arranged on the Swiss frontier between Lord +Edward Fitzgerald, Arthur O'Conor, Dr. McNevin, and Hoche. From this +meeting—the secret of which he kept to himself—the young general +returned in the highest spirits, and was kinder than ever to his adjutant. At +length, early in December, all was ready, and on the 16th the Brest fleet stood +out to sea; 17 sail of the line, 13 frigates, and 13 smaller ships, carrying +15,000 picked troops, the <i>élite</i> of "the Army of the Ocean," and +abundance of artillery and munitions of war. Tone was in the +<i>Indomptable</i>, 80 guns, commanded by a Canadian, named Bedout; Hoche and +the Admiral in the frigate <i>Fraternité</i>; Grouchy, so memorable for the +part he played then and afterwards, was second in command. On the third +morning, after groping about and losing each other in Atlantic fog, one-half +the fleet (with the fatal exception of the <i>Fraternité</i>) found themselves +close in with the coast of Kerry. They entered Bantry Bay, and came to anchor, +ten ships of war, and "a long line of dark hulls resting on the green water." +Three or four days they lay dormant and idle, waiting for the General and +Admiral; Bouvet, the Vice-Admiral, was opposed to moving in the absence of his +chief; Grouchy was irresolute and nervous; but at length, on Christmas day, the +council of war decided in favour of debarkation. The landing was to take place +next morning; 6,500 veterans were prepared to step ashore at daylight, but +without their artillery, their military chest, and their general. Two hours +beyond midnight Tone was roused from sleep by the wind, which he found blowing +half a gale. Pacing the gallery of the <i>Indomptable</i> till day dawned, he +felt it rising louder and angrier, every hour. The next day it was almost a +hurricane, and the Vice-Admiral's frigate, running under the quarter of the +great 80-gun ship, ordered them to slip anchor and stand out to sea. The whole +fleet was soon driven off the Irish coast; that part of it, in which Grouchy +and Tone were embarked, made its entrance into Brest on New Year's day; the +ship which carried Hoche and the Admiral, only arrived at La Rochelle on the +15th. The Directory and the General, so far from being discouraged by this +failure, consoled themselves by the demonstration they had made, of the +possibility of a great fleet passing to and fro, in British waters, for nearly +a month, without encountering a single British vessel of war. Not so the Irish +negotiator; on him, light-hearted and daring as he was, the disappointment fell +with crushing weight; but he magnanimously carried Grouchy's report to Paris, +and did his utmost to defend the unlucky general from a cabal which had been +formed against him. +</p> + +<p> +While Tone was reluctantly following his new chief to the Meuse and the +Rhine—with a promise that the Irish expedition was delayed, not +abandoned—another, and no less fortunate negotiator, was raising up a new +ally for the same cause, in an unexpected quarter. The Batavian republic, which +had risen in the steps of Pichegru's victorious army, in 1794, was now eager to +imitate the example of France. With a powerful fleet, and an unemployed army, +its chiefs were quite ready to listen to any proposal which would restore the +maritime ascendancy of Holland, and bring back to the recollection of Europe +the memory of the puissant Dutch republic. In this state of affairs, the new +agent of the Irish Directory, Edward John Lewines, a Dublin attorney, a man of +great ability and energy, addressed himself to the Batavian government. He had +been sent abroad with very general powers, to treat with Holland, Spain, +France, or any other government at war with England, for a loan of half a +million sterling, and a sufficient auxiliary force to aid the insurrection. +During two months' stay at Hamburg, the habitual route in those days from the +British ports to the continent, he had placed himself in communication with the +Spanish agent there, and had, in forty days, received an encouraging answer +from Madrid. On his way, probably to Spain, to follow up that fair prospect, he +reached the Netherlands, and rapidly discovering the state of feeling in the +Dutch, or as it was then called, the <i>Batavian</i> republic, he addressed +himself to the Directors, who consulted Hoche, by whom in turn Tone was +consulted. Tone had a high opinion of Lewines, and at once proceeded with him +to the Hague, where they were joined, according to agreement, by Hoche. The +Dutch Committee of Foreign Affairs, the Commander-in-Chief, General Dandaels, +and the Admiral, De Winter, entered heartily into the project. There were in +the Texel 16 ships of the line and 10 frigates, victualled for three months, +with 15,000 men and 80 field guns on board. The only serious difficulty in the +way was removed by the disinterestedness of Hoche; the French Foreign Minister +having demanded that 5,000 French troops should be of the expedition, and that +Hoche should command in chief; the latter, to conciliate Dandaels and the +Dutch, undertook to withdraw the proposal, and gracefully yielded his own +pretensions. All then was settled: Tone was to accompany Dandaels with the same +rank he had in the Brest expedition, and Lewines to return, and remain, as +"Minister-resident" at Paris. On the 8th of July, Tone was on board the +flagship, the <i>Vryheid</i>, 74 guns, in the Texel, and "only waiting for a +wind," to lead another navy to the aid of his compatriots. +</p> + +<p> +But the winds, "the only unsubsidized allies of England," were strangely +adverse. A week, two, three, four, five, passed heavily away, without affording +a single day in which that mighty fleet could make an offing. Sometimes for an +hour or two it shifted to the desired point, the sails were unclewed and the +anchors shortened, but then, as if to torture the impatient exiles on board, it +veered back again and settled steadily in the fatal south-west. At length, at +the end of August, the provisions being nearly consumed, and the weather still +unfavourable, the Dutch Directory resolved to land the troops and postpone the +expedition. De Winter, as is known, subsequently found an opportunity to work +out, and attack Lord Duncan, by whom he was badly beaten. Thus ended Irish +hopes of aid from Holland. The indomitable Tone rejoined his chief on the +Rhine, where, to his infinite regret, Hoche died the following +month—September 18th, 1797—of a rapid consumption, accelerated by +cold and carelessness. "Hoche," said Napoleon to Barry O'Meara at Saint Helena, +"was one of the first generals France ever produced. He was brave, intelligent, +abounding in talent, decisive and penetrating. Had he landed in Ireland, he +would have succeeded. He was accustomed to civil war, had pacified La Vendee, +and was well adapted for Ireland. He had a fine, handsome figure, a good +address, was prepossessing and intriguing." The loss of such a patron, who felt +himself, according to Tone's account, especially bound to follow up the object +of separating Ireland from England, was a calamity greater and more irreparable +than the detention of one fleet or the dispersion of the other. +</p> + +<p> +The third expedition, in promoting which Tone and Lewines bore the principal +part, was decided upon by the French Directory, immediately after the +conclusion of peace with Austria, in October, 1797. The decree for the +formation of "the Army of England," named Buonaparte Commander-in-Chief, with +Desaix as his second. Buonaparte consulted Clarke as to who he most confided in +among the numerous Irish refugees then in Paris—there were some twenty or +thirty, all more or less known, and more or less in communication with the +Directory—and Clarke answered at once, "Tone, of course." Tone, with +Lewines, the one in a military, the other in an ambassadorial capacity, had +frequent interviews with the young conqueror of Italy, whom they usually found +silent and absorbed, always attentive, sometimes asking sudden questions +betraying great want of knowledge of the British Islands, and occasionally, +though rarely, breaking out into irresistible invectives against Jacobinism and +the English system, both of which he so cordially detested. Every assurance was +given by the General, by the Directors, by Merlin du Douai, Barras, and +Talleyrand especially, that the expedition against England would never be +abandoned. Tone, in high spirits as usual, joined the division under the +command of his countryman, General Kilmaine, and took up his quarters at Havre, +where he had landed without knowing a soul in France two years before. +</p> + +<p> +The winter wore away in busy preparations at Havre, at Brest, and at La +Rochelle,—and, which seemed mysterious to the Irish exiles—at +Toulon. All the resources of France, now without an enemy on the Continent, +were put forth in these preparations. But it soon appeared they were not put +forth for Ireland. On the 20th of May, 1798—within three days of the +outbreak in Dublin, Wexford, and Kildare—Buonaparte sailed with the +<i>elite</i> of all that expedition for Alexandria, and "the Army of England" +became, in reality, "the Army of Egypt." +</p> + +<p> +The bitterness, the despondency, and desperation which seized on the Irish +leaders in France, and on the rank and file of the United Irishmen at home, on +receiving this intelligence are sufficiently illustrated in the subsequent +attempts under Humbert and Bompart, and the partial, ineffectual risings in +Leinster, Ulster, and Connaught, during the summer and autumn of 1798. After +all their high hopes from France and her allies, this was what it had come to +at last! A few frigates, with three or four thousand men, were all that could +be spared for the succour of a kingdom more populous than Egypt and Syria +combined; the granary of England, and the key of her Atlantic position. It +might have been some comfort to the family of Tone to have read, thirty years +afterwards, in their American asylum, or for the aged Lewines to have read in +the Parisian retreat in which he died, the memorable confession of Napoleon at +Saint Helena: "If instead of the expedition to Egypt, I had undertaken that to +Ireland, what," he asked, "could England do now? On such chances," he +mournfully added, "depend the destinies of empires!" +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap103"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br/> +THE INSURRECTION OF 1798.</h3> + +<p> +It is no longer matter of assertion merely, but simple matter of fact, that the +English and Irish ministers of George III. regarded the insurrectionary +movement of the United Irishmen as at once a pretext and a means for effecting +a legislative union between the two countries. Lord Camden, the Viceroy who +succeeded Lord Fitzwilliam in March, '95—with Mr. Pelham as his Chief +Secretary, in a letter to his relative, the Hon. Robert Stewart, afterwards +Lord Castlereagh, announced this policy, in unmistakable terms, so early as +1793; and all the official correspondence published of late years, concerning +that period of British and Irish history, establishes the fact beyond the +possibility of denial. +</p> + +<p> +Such being the design, it was neither the wish nor the interest of the +Government, that the insurrection should be suppressed, unless the Irish +constitution could be extinguished with it. To that end they proceeded in the +coercive legislation described in a previous chapter; to that end they armed +with irresponsible power the military officers and the oligarchical magistracy; +with that view they quartered those yeomanry regiments, which were known to be +composed of Orangemen, on the wretched peasantry of the most Catholic counties, +while the corps in which Catholics or United Irishmen were most numerous, were +sent over to England, in exchange for Scotch fencibles and Welsh cavalry. The +outrages committed by all these volunteer troops, but above all by the Orange +yeomanry of the country, were so monstrous, that the gallant and humane Sir +John Moore exclaimed, "If I were an Irishman, I would be a rebel!" +</p> + +<p> +It was, indeed, impossible for any man, however obscure, or however eminent, to +live longer in the country, without taking sides. Yet the choice was at best a +hard and unhappy one. On the one side was the Castle, hardly concealing its +intention of goading on the people, in order to rob them of their Parliament; +on the other was the injured multitude, bound together by a secret system which +proved in reality no safeguard against traitors in their own ranks, and which +had been placed by its Protestant chiefs under the auspices of an infidel +republic. Between the two courses men made election according to their bias or +their necessities, or as they took local or general, political or theological +views of the situation. Both Houses of the legislature unanimously sustained +the government against the insurrection; as did the judges, the bar, and the +Anglican clergy and bishops. The Presbyterian body were in the beginning all +but unanimous for a republican revolution and the French alliance; the great +majority of the Catholic peasantry were, as the crisis increased, driven into +the same position, while all their bishops and a majority of the Catholic +aristocracy, adhered to that which they, with the natural tendency of their +respective orders, considered the side of religion and authority. Thus was the +nation sub-divided within itself; Protestant civilian from Protestant +ecclesiastic, Catholic layman from Catholic priest, tenant from lord, neighbour +from neighbour, father from son, and friend from friend. +</p> + +<p> +During the whole of '97, the opposing parties were in a ferment of movement and +apprehension. As the year wore on, the administration, both English and Irish, +began to feel that the danger was more formidable than they had foreseen. The +timely storm which had blown Grouchy out of Bantry Bay, the previous Christmas, +could hardly be reckoned on again, though the settled hostility of the French +government knew no change. Thoroughly well informed by their legion of spies +both on the Continent and in Ireland, every possible military precaution was +taken. The Lord Lieutenant's proclamation for disarming the people, issued in +May, was rigorously enforced by General Johnstone in the South, General +Hutchinson in the West, and Lord Lake in the North. Two hundred thousand pikes +and pike-heads were said to have been discovered or surrendered during the +year, and several thousand firelocks. The yeomanry, and English and Scotch +corps amounted to 35,000 men, while the regular troops were increased to 50,000 +and subsequently to 80,000, including three regiments of the Guards. The +defensive works at Cork, and other vulnerable points were strengthened at an +immense cost; the "Pigeon House" fort, near Dublin, was enlarged, for the city +itself was pronounced by General Vallancy, Colonel Packenham, and other +engineer authorities dangerously weak, if not wholly untenable. A system of +telegraphic signals was established from all points of the coast with the +Capital, and every precaution taken against the surprise of another French +invasion. +</p> + +<p> +During the summer assize, almost every considerable town and circuit had its +state trial. The sheriffs had been carefully selected beforehand by the Castle, +and the juries were certain to be of "the right sort," under the auspices of +such sheriffs. Immense sums in the aggregate were contributed by the United +Irish for the defence of their associates; at the Down assizes alone, not less +than seven hundred or eight hundred guineas were spent in fees and retainers; +but at the close of the term, Mr. Beresford was able to boast to his friend +Lord Auckland, that but one of all the accused had escaped the penalty of death +or banishment! The military tribunals, however, did not wait for the idle +formalities of the civil courts. Soldiers and civilians, yeomen and townsmen, +against whom the informer pointed his finger, were taken out, and summarily +executed. Ghastly forms hung upon the thick-set gibbets, not only in the market +places of country towns, and before the public prisons, but on all the bridges +of the metropolis. Many of the soldiers, in every military district were shot +weekly and almost daily for real or alleged complicity with the rebels. The +horrid torture of picketing, and the blood-stained lash, were constantly +resorted to, to extort accusations or confessions. Over all these atrocities +the furious and implacable spirit of Lord Clare presided in Council, and the +equally furious and implacable Luttrel, Lord Carhampton, as Commander-in-Chief. +All moderate councils were denounced as nothing short of treason, and even the +elder Beresford, the Privy Counsellor, was compelled to complain of the +violence of his noble associates, and his inability to restrain the ferocity of +his own nearest relatives—meaning probably his son John Claudius, and +his son-in-law, Sir George Hill. +</p> + +<p> +It was while this spirit was abroad, a spirit as destructive as ever animated +the Councils of Sylla or Marius in Old Rome, or prompted the decrees of +Robespierre or Marat in France, that the genius and courage of one man redeemed +the lost reputation of the law, and upheld against all odds the sacred claims +of personal liberty. This man was John Philpot Curran, the most dauntless of +advocates, one of the truest and bravest of his race. Although a politician of +the school of Grattan, and wholly untainted with French principles, he +identified himself absolutely with his unhappy clients, "predoomed to death." +The genius of patriotic resistance which seemed to have withdrawn from the +Island with Grattan's secession from Parliament, now re-appeared in the last +place where it might have been expected—in those courts of death, rather +than of justice—before those predetermined juries, besides the hopeless +inmates of the crowded dock, personified in the person of Curran. Often at +midnight, amid the clash of arms, his wonderful pleadings were delivered; +sometimes, as in Dublin, where the court rooms adjoined the prisons, the +condemned, or the confined, could hear, in their cells, his piercing accents +breaking the stillness of the early morning, pleading for justice and +mercy—pleading always with superhuman perseverance, but almost always in +vain. Neither menaces of arrest, nor threats of assassination, had power to +intimidate that all-daring spirit; nor, it may be safely said, can the whole +library of human history present us a form of heroism superior in kind or +degree to that which this illustrious advocate exhibited during nearly two +years, when he went forth daily, with his life in his hand, in the holy hope to +snatch some human victim from the clutch of the destroyer thirsting for his +blood. +</p> + +<p> +In November, '97, some said from fear of personal consequences, some from +official pressure in a high quarter, Lord Carhampton resigned the command of +the forces, and Sir Ralph Abercromby was appointed in his stead. There could +not be a more striking illustration of the system of terror patronized by +government than was furnished in the case of Sir Ralph as Commander-in-Chief. +That distinguished soldier, with his half century of services at his back, had +not been a week in Dublin before he discovered the weakness of the Viceroy, and +the violence of his principal advisers, the Chancellor, the Speaker, Lord +Castlereagh and the Beresfords. Writing in confidence to his son, he says, "The +abuses of all kinds I found here can scarcely be believed or enumerated." The +instances he cites of such abuses are sufficiently horrible to justify the +strong language which brought down on his head so much hostility, when he +declared in his proclamation of February '98, that the Irish army was +"formidable to every one but the enemy." These well-known opinions were so +repugnant to the Castle policy, that that party held a caucus in the Speaker's +Chambers, at which it was proposed to pass a vote of censure in Parliament on +the General, whom they denounced as "a sulky mule," "a Scotch beast," and by +other similar names. Though the Parliamentary censure dropped, they actually +compelled Lord Camden to call on him to retract his magnanimous order. To this +humiliation the veteran stooped "for the sake of the King's service," but at +the same time he proffered his resignation. After two months' correspondence, +it was finally accepted, and the soldier who was found too jealous of the +rights of the people to be a fit instrument of their destruction, escaped from +his high position, not without a profound sentiment of relief. His verdict upon +the barbarous policy pursued in his time was always expressed, frankly and +decisively. His entire correspondence, private and public, bears one and the +same burthen—the violence, cruelty, and tyranny of Lord Camden's chief +advisers, and the pitiful weakness of the Viceroy himself. Against the infamous +plan of letting loose a lustful and brutal soldiery to live at "free quarters" +on a defenceless and disarmed people—an outrage against which Englishmen +had taken perpetual security at <i>their</i> revolution, as may be seen in "the +Bill of Rights," he struggled during his six months' command, but with no great +success. The plan, with all its horrors, was upheld by the Lord-Lieutenant, and +more than any other cause, precipitated the rebellion which exploded at last, +just as Sir Ralph was allowed to retire from the country. His temporary +successor, Lord Lake, was troubled with no such scruples as the gallant old +Scotsman. +</p> + +<p> +Events followed each other in the first months of 1798, fast and furiously. +Towards the end of February, Arthur O'Conor, Father James Quigley, the brothers +John and Benjamin Binns, were arrested at Margate on their way to France; on +the 6th of March, the <i>Press</i> newspaper, the Dublin organ of the party, as +the <i>Star</i> had been the Ulster organ, was seized by Government, Lord +Edward Fitzgerald and William Sampson being at the time in the office. On the +12th of March, on the information of the traitor, Thomas Reynolds, the Leinster +delegates were seized in conclave, with all their papers, at the house of +Oliver Bond, in Bridge Street, Dublin. On the same information. Addis Emmet and +Dr. McNevin were taken in their own houses, and Sampson in the north of +England: of all the executive, Lord Edward alone escaping those sent in search +of him. This was, as Tone notes in his journal, on the ill news reaching +France, "a terrible blow." O'Conor's arrest in Kent, Sampson's in Carlisle, and +the other arrests in Belfast and Dublin, proved too truly that treason was at +work, and that the much-prized oath of secrecy was no protection whatever +against the devices of the Castle and the depravity of its secret agents. The +extent to which that treason extended, the number of associates who were in the +pay of their deadly enemies, was never known to the United Irish leaders; time +has, however, long since "revealed the secrets of the prison-house," and we +know now, that men they trusted with all their plans and hopes, such as McNally +and McGucken, were quite as deep in the conspiracy to destroy them as Mr. +Reynolds and Captain Armstrong. +</p> + +<p> +The most influential members of the Dublin Society remaining at large contrived +to correspond with each other, or to meet by stealth after the arrest at +Bond's. The vacancies in the Executive were filled up by the brothers John and +Henry Sheares, both barristers, sons of a wealthy Cork banker, and former +member of Parliament, and by Mr. Lawless, a surgeon. For two months longer +these gentlemen continued to act in concert with Lord Edward, who remained +undetected, notwithstanding all the efforts of Government, from the 12th of +March till the 19th of May following. During those two months the new directors +devoted themselves with the utmost energy to hurrying on the armament of the +people, and especially to making proselytes among the militia, where the gain +of one man armed and disciplined was justly accounted equal to the enlistment +of three or four ordinary adherents. This part of their plan brought the +brothers Sheares into contact, among others, with Captain John Warneford +Armstrong, of the Queen's County Yeomanry, whom they supposed they had won +over, but who was, in reality, a better-class spy, acting under Lord +Castlereagh's instructions. Armstrong cultivated them sedulously, dined at +their table, echoed their opinions, and led the credulous brothers on to their +destruction. All at last was determined on; the day of the rising was +fixed—the 23rd day of May—and the signal was to be the simultaneous +stoppage of the mail coaches, which started nightly from the Dublin +post-office, to every quarter of the kingdom. But the counterplot anticipated +the plot. Lord Edward, betrayed by a person called Higgins, proprietor of the +<i>Freeman's Journal</i>, was taken on the 19th of May, after a desperate +struggle with Majors Swan and Sirr, and Captain Ryan, in his hiding-place in +Thomas Street; the brothers Sheares were arrested in their own house on the +morning of the 21st, while Surgeon Lawless escaped from the city, and finally +from the country, to France. Thus, for the second time, was the insurrection +left without a head; but the organization had proceeded too far to be any +longer restrained, and the Castle, moreover, to use the expression of Lord +Castlereagh, "took means to make it explode." +</p> + +<p> +The first intelligence of the rebellion was received in Dublin on the morning +of the 24th of May. At Rathfarnham, within three miles of the city, 500 +insurgents attacked Lord Ely's yeomanry corps with some success, till Lord +Roden's dragoons, hastily despatched from the city, compelled them to retreat, +with the loss of some prisoners and two men killed, whom Mr. Beresford saw the +next day, literally "<i>cut to pieces</i>—a horrid sight." At Dunboyne +the insurgents piked an escort of the Reay Fencibles (Scotch) passing through +their village, and carried off their baggage. At Naas, a large popular force +attacked the garrison, consisting of regulars, Ancient Britons (Welsh), part of +a regiment of dragoons, and the Armagh Militia; the attack was renewed three +times with great bravery, but finally, discipline, as it always will, prevailed +over mere numbers, and the assailants were repulsed with the loss of 140 of +their comrades. At Prosperous, where they cut off to a man a strong garrison +composed of North Cork Militia, under Captain Swayne, the rising was more +successful. The commander in this exploit was Dr. Esmonde, brother of the +Wexford baronet, who, being betrayed by one of his own subalterns, was the next +morning arrested at breakfast in the neighbourhood, and suffered death at +Dublin on the 14th of the following month. +</p> + +<p> +There could hardly be found a more unfavourable field for a peasant war than +the generally level and easily accessible county of Kildare, every parish of +which is within a day's march of Dublin. From having been the residence of Lord +Edward, it was, perhaps, one of the most highly organized parts of Leinster, +but as it had the misfortune to be represented by Thomas Reynolds, as county +delegate, it laboured under the disadvantage of having its organization better +known to the government than any other. We need hardly be surprised, therefore, +to find that the military operations in this county were all over in ten days +or a fortnight; when those who had neither surrendered nor fallen, fell back +into Meath or Connaught, or effected a junction with the Wicklow rebels in +their mountain fastnesses. Their struggle, though so brief, had been creditable +for personal bravery. Attacked by a numerous cavalry and militia under General +Wilford, by 2,500 men, chiefly regulars, under General Dundas, and by 800 +regulars brought up by forced marches from Limerick, under Sir James Duff, they +showed qualities, which, if well directed, would have established for their +possessors a high military reputation. At Monastereven they were repulsed with +loss, the defenders of the town being in part Catholic loyalists, under Captain +Cassidy; at Rathangan, they were more successful, taking and holding the town +for several days; at Clane, the captors of Prosperous were repulsed; while at +Old Killcullen, their associates drove back General Dundas' advance, with the +loss of 22 regulars and Captain Erskine killed. Sir James Duff's wanton cruelty +in sabring and shooting down an unarmed multitude on the Curragh, won him the +warm approval of the extermination party in the Capital, while Generals Wilford +and Dundas narrowly escaped being reprimanded for granting a truce to the +insurgents under Aylmer, and accepting of the surrender of that leader and his +companions. By the beginning of June the six Kildare encampments of insurgents +were totally dispersed, and their most active officers in prison or fugitives +west or south. +</p> + +<p> +By a preconcerted arrangement, the local chiefs of the insurrection in Dublin +and Meath, gathered with their men on the third day after the outbreak, at the +historic hill of Tara. Here they expected to be joined by the men of Cavan, +Longford, Louth and Monaghan; but before the northerners reached the trysting +place, three companies of the Reay Fencibles, under Captain McClean, the Kells +and Navan Yeomanry, under Captain Preston, (afterwards Lord Tara,) and a troop +of cavalry under Lord Fingal, surrounded the royal hill. The insurgents, +commanded by Gilshine and other leaders, intrenched themselves in the graveyard +which occupies the summit of Tara, and stoutly defended their position. +Twenty-six of the Highlanders and six of the Yeomanry fell in the assault, but +the bullet reached farther than the pike, and the defenders were driven, after +a sharp action, over the brow of the eminence, and many of them shot or sabred +down as they fled. +</p> + +<p> +Southward from the Capital the long pent-up flame of disaffection broke out on +the same memorable day, May 23rd. At Dunlavin, an abortive attempt on the +barrack revealed the fact that many of the Yeomanry were thoroughly with the +insurgents. Hardly had the danger from without passed over, when a military +inquiry was improvised. By this tribunal, nineteen Wexford, and nine Kildare +Yeomanry, were ordered to be shot, and the execution of the sentence followed +immediately on its rending. At Blessington, the town was seized, but a +nocturnal attack on Carlow was repulsed with great loss. In this last affair, +the rebels had <i>rendezvoused</i> in the domain of Sir Edward Crosbie, within +two miles of the town. Here arms were distributed and orders given by their +leader, named Roche. Silently and quickly they reached the town they hoped to +surprise. But the regular troops, of which the garrison was chiefly composed, +were on the alert, though their preparations were made full as silently. When +the peasantry emerged from Tullow Street, into an exposed space, a deadly fire +was opened upon them from the houses on all sides. The regulars, in perfect +security themselves, and abundantly supplied with ammunition, shot them down +with deadly unerring aim. The people soon found there was nothing for it but +retreat, and carrying off as best they could their killed and wounded, they +retired sorely discomfited. For alleged complicity in this attack, Sir Edward +Crosbie was shortly afterward arrested, tried and executed. There was not a +shadow of proof against him; but he was known to sympathize with the sufferings +of his countrymen, to have condemned in strong language the policy of +provocation, and that was sufficient. He paid with the penalty of his head for +the kindness and generosity of his heart. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap104"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br/> +THE INSURRECTION OF 1798—THE WEXFORD INSURRECTION.</h3> + +<p> +The most formidable insurrection, indeed the only really formidable one, broke +out in the county of Wexford, a county in which it was stated there were not +200 sworn United Irishmen, and which Lord Edward Fitzgerald had altogether +omitted from his official list of counties organized in the month of February. +In that brief interval, the Government policy of provocation had the desired +effect, though the explosion was of a nature to startle those who occasioned +it. +</p> + +<p> +Wexford, geographically, is a peculiar county, and its people are a peculiar +people. The county fills up the south-eastern corner of the island, with the +sea south-east, the river Barrow to the west, and the woods and mountains of +Carlow and Wicklow to the north. It is about forty miles long by twenty-four +broad; the surface undulating and rising into numerous groups of detached +hills, two or more of which are generally visible from each conspicuous summit. +Almost in the midst flows the river Slaney, springing from a lofty Wicklow +peak, which sends down on its northern slope the better known river Liffey. On +the estuary of the Slaney, some seventy miles south of Dublin, stands the +county town, the traveller journeying to which by the usual route then taken, +passed in succession through Arklow, Gorey, Ferns, Enniscorthy, and other +places of less consequence, though familiar enough in the fiery records of +1798. North-westward, the only road in those days from Carlow and Kilkenny, +crossed the Blackstairs at Scollagh-gap, entering the county at Newtownbarry, +the ancient Bunclody; westward, some twenty miles, on the river Barrow, stands +New Ross, often mentioned in this history, the road from which to the county +town passes through Scullabogue and Taghmon (<i>Ta'mun</i>), the former at the +foot of Carrickbyrne rock, the latter at the base of what is rather +hyperbolically called "the <i>mountain</i> of Forth." South and west of the +town, towards the estuary of Waterford, lie the baronies of Forth and Bargy, a +great part of the population of which, even within our own time, spoke the +language Chaucer and Spenser wrote, and retained many of the characteristics of +their Saxon, Flemish, and Cambrian ancestors. Through this singular district +lay the road towards Duncannon fort, on Waterford harbour, with branches +running off to Bannow, Ballyhack, and Dunbrody. We shall, therefore, speak of +all the localities we may have occasion to mention as on or near one of the +four main roads of the county, the Dublin, Carlow, Boss, and Waterford roads. +</p> + +<p> +The population of this territory was variously estimated in 1798, at 150,000, +180,000, and 200,000. They were, generally speaking, a comfortable and +contented peasantry, for the Wexford landlords were seldom absentees, and the +farmers held under them by long leases and reasonable rents. There were in the +country few great lords, but there was little poverty and no pauperism. In such +a soil, the secret societies were almost certain to fail, and if it had not +been for the diabolical experiments of Lord Kingsborough's North Cork Militia, +it is very probable that that orderly and thrifty population would have seen +the eventful year we are describing pass over their homes without experiencing +any of the terrible trials which accompanied it. But it was impossible for +human nature to endure the provocations inflicted upon this patient and +prosperous people. The pitch-cap and the triangle were resorted to on the +slightest and most frivolous pretexts. "A sergeant of the North Cork Militia," +says Mr. Hay, the county historian, "nicknamed, <i>Tom the Devil</i>, was most +ingenious in devising new modes of torture. Moistened gunpowder was frequently +rubbed into the hair cut close and then set on fire; some, while shearing for +this purpose, had the tips of their ears snipt off; sometimes an entire ear, +and often both ears were completely cut off; and many lost part of their noses +during the like preparation. But, strange to tell," adds Mr. Hay, "these +atrocities were publicly practised without the least reserve in open day, and +no magistrate or officer ever interfered, but shamefully connived at this +extraordinary mode of quieting the people! Some of the miserable sufferers on +these shocking occasions, or some of their relations or friends, actuated by a +principle of retaliation, if not of revenge, cut short the hair of several +persons whom they either considered as enemies or suspected of having pointed +them out as objects for such desperate treatment. This was done with a view +that those active citizens should fall in for a little experience of the like +discipline, or to make the fashion of short hair so general that it might no +longer be a mark of party distinction." This was the origin of the nickname +"Croppy," by which, during the remainder of the insurrection, it was customary +to designate all who were suspected or proved to be hostile to, the government. +</p> + +<p> +Among the magistracy of the county were several persons who, whatever might +have been their conduct in ordinary times, now showed themselves utterly unfit +to be entrusted with those large discretionary powers which Parliament had +recently conferred upon all justices of the peace. One of these magistrates, +surrounded by his troops, perambulated the county with an executioner, armed +with all the equipments of his office; another carried away the lopped hands +and fingers of his victims, with which he stirred his punch in the carousals +that followed every expedition. At Carnew, midway between the Dublin and Carlow +roads, on the second day of the insurrection, twenty-eight prisoners were +brought out to be shot at as targets in the public ball alley; on the same day +Enniscorthy witnessed its first execution for treason, and the neighbourhood of +Ballaghkeen was harried by Mr. Jacob, one of the magistrates whose method of +preserving the peace of the county has been just referred to. The majority of +the bench, either weakly or willingly, sanctioned these atrocities, but some +others, among them a few of the first men in the county, did not hesitate to +resist and condemn them. Among these were Mr. Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey of Bargy +Castle, Mr. Fitzgerald of Newpark, and Mr. John Henry Colclough of Tintern +Abbey; but all these gentlemen were arrested on Saturday, the 26th of +May—the same day, or more strictly speaking, the eve of the day on which +the Wexford outbreak occurred. +</p> + +<p> +On the day succeeding these arrests, being Whitsunday, Father John Murphy, +parish priest of Kilcormick, the son of a small farmer of the neighbourhood, +educated in Spain, on coming to his little wayside chapel, found it laid in +ashes. To his flock, as they surrounded him in the open air, he boldly preached +that it would be much better for them to die in a fair field than to await the +tortures inflicted by such magistrates as Archibald Jacob, Hunter Gowan, and +Hawtrey White. He declared his readiness to share their fate, whatever it might +be, and in response, about 2,000 of the country people gathered in a few hours +upon Oulart Hill, situated about half-way between Enniscorthy and the sea, and +eleven miles north of Wexford. Here they were attacked on the afternoon of the +same day by the North Cork Militia, Colonel Foote, the Shilmalier Yeoman +cavalry, Colonel Le Hunte, and the Wexford cavalry. The rebels, strong in their +position, and more generally accustomed to the use of arms than persons in +their condition in other parts of the country, made a brave and successful +stand. Major Lambert, the Hon. Captain De Courcy (brother of Lord Kinsale), and +some other officers, fell before the long-shore guns of the Shilmalier fowlers; +of the North Cork detachment, only the colonel, a sergeant, and two or three +privates escaped; the cavalry, at the top of their speed, galloped back to the +county town. +</p> + +<p> +The people were soon thoroughly aroused. Another popular priest of the diocese, +Michael Murphy, on reaching Gorey, finding his chapel also rifled, and the +altar desecrated, turned his horse's head and joined the insurgents, who had +gathered on Kilthomas hill, near Carnew. Signal fires burned that night on all +the eminences of the county, which seemed as if they had been designed for so +many watch-towers; horns resounded; horsemen galloped far and near; on the +morrow of Whitsunday all Wexford arose, animated with the passions and purposes +of civil war. +</p> + +<p> +On the 28th, Ferns, Camolin, and Enniscorthy were taken by the insurgents; the +latter, after an action of four hours, in which a captain, two lieutenants, and +eighty of the local yeomanry fell. The survivors fled to Wexford, which was as +rapidly as possible placed in a state of defence. The old walls and gates were +still in good repair, and 300 North Cork, 200 Donegal, and 700 local militia +ought to have formed a strong garrison within such ramparts, against a mere +tumultuous peasantry. The yeomen, however, thought otherwise, and two of the +three imprisoned popular magistrates were sent to Enniscorthy to exhort and +endeavour to disperse the insurgents. One of them only returned, the other, Mr. +Fitzgerald, joined the rebels, who, continuing their march, were allowed to +take possession of the county town without striking a blow. Mr. Bagenal Harvey, +the magistrate still in prison, they insisted on making their +Commander-in-Chief; a gentleman of considerable property, by no means destitute +of courage, but in every other respect quite unequal to the task imposed upon +him. After a trial of his generalship at the battle of Ross, he was transferred +to the more pacific office of President of the Council, which continued to sit +and direct operations from Wexford, with the co-operation of a sub-committee at +Enniscorthy. Captain Matthew Keogh, a retired officer of the regular army, aged +but active, was made governor of the town, in which a couple of hundred armed +men were left as his guards. An attempt to relieve the place from Duncannon had +utterly failed. General Fawcett, commanding that important fortress, set out on +his march with this object on the 30th of May—his advanced guard of 70 +Meathian yeomanry, having in charge three howitzers, whose slower movements it +was expected the main force would overtake long before reaching the +neighbourhood of danger. At Taghmon this force was joined by Captain Adams with +his command, and thus reinforced they continued their march to Wexford. Within +three miles of the town the road wound round the base of the "three rock" +mountain; evening fell as the royalists approached this neighbourhood, where +the victors of Oulart, Enniscorthy, and Wexford had just improvised a new camp. +A sharp volley from the long-shore-men's guns, and a furious onslaught of pikes +threw the royal detachment into the utmost disorder. Three officers of the +Meathian cavalry, and nearly one hundred men were placed <i>hors de combat</i>; +the three howitzers, eleven gunners, and several prisoners taken; making the +third considerable success of the insurgents within a week. +</p> + +<p> +Wexford county now became the theatre of operations, on which all eyes were +fixed. The populace gathered as if by instinct into three great encampments, on +Vinegar Hill, above Enniscorthy; on Carrickbyrne, on the road leading to Ross, +and on the hill of Corrigrua, seven miles from Gorey. The principal leaders of +the first division were Fathers Kearns and Clinch, and Messrs. Fitzgerald, +Doyle, and Redmond; of the second, Bagenal Harvey, and Father Philip Roche; of +the last, Anthony Perry of Inch, Esmond Kyan, and the two Fathers Murphy, +Michael, and John. The general plan of operations was that the third division +should move by way of Arklow and Wicklow on the Capital; the second to open +communication with Carlow, Kilkenny, and Kildare by Newtownbarry and +Scollagh-gap; while the first was to attack New Ross, and endeavour to hasten +the rising in Munster. +</p> + +<p> +On the 1st of June, the advance of the northern division marching upon Gorey, +then occupied in force by General Loftus, were encountered four miles from the +town, and driven back with the loss of about a hundred killed and wounded. On +the 4th of June, Loftus, at the instance of Colonel Walpole, aid-de-camp to the +Lord Lieutenant, who had lately joined him with considerable reinforcements, +resolved to beat up the rebel quarters at Corrigrua. It was to be a combined +movement; Lord Ancram, posted with his militia and dragoons at the bridge of +Scaramalsh, where the poetic Banna joins the Slaney, was to prevent the arrival +of succours from Vinegar Hill; Captain McManus, with a couple of companies of +yeomanry, stationed at another exposed point from which intelligence could be +obtained and communicated; while the General and Colonel Walpole, marched to +the attack by roads some distance apart, which ran into one within two miles of +Corrigrua camp. The main body of the King's troops were committed to the lead +of Walpole, who had also two six-pounders and a howitzer. After an +hour-and-a-half's march he found the country changed its character near the +village of Clogh (<i>clo'</i>), where the road descending from the level arable +land, dips suddenly into the narrow and winding pass of Tubberneering. The +sides of the pass were lined with a bushy shrubbery, and the roadway at the +bottom embanked with ditch and dike. On came the confident Walpole, never +dreaming that these silent thickets were so soon to re-echo the cries of the +onslaught. The 4th dragoon guards, the Ancient Britons, under Sir Watkyn Wynne, +the Antrim militia, under Colonel Cope, had all entered the defile before the +ambuscade was discovered. Then, at the first volley, Walpole fell, with several +of those immediately about his person; out from the shrubbery rushed the +pikemen, clearing ditch and dike at a bound; dragoons and fencibles went down +like the sward before the scythe of the mower; the three guns were captured, +and turned on the flying survivors; the regimental flags taken, with all the +other spoils pertaining to such a retreat. It was, in truth, an immense victory +for a mob of peasants, marshalled by men who that day saw their first, or, at +most, their second action. Before forty-eight hours they were masters of Gorey, +and talked of nothing less than the capture of Dublin within another week or +fortnight! +</p> + +<p> +From Vinegar Hill the concerted movement was made against Newtonbarry, on the +2nd of June, the rebels advancing by both banks of the Slaney, under cover of a +six-pounder—the only gun they had with them. The detachment in command +of the beautiful little town, half hidden in its leafy valley, was from 600 to +800 strong, with a troop of dragoons, and two battalion guns, under command of +Colonel L'Estrange; these, after a sharp fusilade on both sides, were driven +out, but the assailants, instead of following up the blow, dispersed for +plunder or refreshment, were attacked in turn, and compelled to retreat, with a +reported loss of 400 killed. Three days later, however, a still more important +action, and a yet more disastrous repulse from the self-same cause, took place +at New Ross, on the Barrow. +</p> + +<p> +The garrison of Ross, on the morning of the 5th of June, when General Harvey +appeared before it, consisted of 1,400 men—Dublin, Meath, Donegal, and +Clare militia, Mid-Lothian fencibles, and English artillery. General Johnson, a +veteran soldier, was in command, and the place, strong in its well preserved +old walls, had not heard a shot fired in anger since the time of Cromwell. +Harvey was reported to have with him 20,000 men; but if we allow for the +exaggeration of numbers common to all such movements, we may, perhaps, deduct +one-half, and still leave him at the head of a formidable force—10,000 +men, with three field-pieces. Mr. Furlong, a favourite officer, being sent +forward to summon the town, was shot down by a sentinel, and the attack began. +The main point of assault was the gate known as "three bullet gate," and the +hour, five o'clock of the lovely summer's morning. The obstinacy with which the +town was contested, may be judged from the fact, that the fighting continued +for nearly ten hours, with the interruption of an hour or two at noon. This was +the fatal interruption for the rebels. They had, at a heavy cost, driven out +the royalists, with the loss of a colonel (Lord Mountjoy), three captains, and +above 200 men killed: but of their friends and comrades treble the number had +fallen. Still the town, an object of the first importance, was theirs, when +worn out with heat, fatigue, and fasting since sunrise, they indulged +themselves in the luxury of a deep unmeasured carouse. The fugitive garrison +finding themselves unpursued, halted to breathe on the Kilkenny bank of the +river, were rallied by the veteran Johnson, and led back again across the +bridge, taking the surprised revellers completely unprepared. A cry was raised +that this was a fresh force from Waterford; the disorganised multitude +endeavoured to rally in turn, but before the leaders could collect their men, +the town was once more in possession of the Bang's troops. The rebels, in their +turn, unpursued by their exhausted enemies, fell back upon their camping ground +of the night before, at Corbet hill and Slieve-kielter. At the latter, Father +Philip Roche, dissatisfied with Harvey's management, established a separate +command, which he transferred to a layman of his own name, Edward Roche, with +whom he continued to act and advise during the remainder of this memorable +month. +</p> + +<p> +The summer of 1798 was, for an Irish summer, remarkably dry and warm. The heavy +Atlantic rains which at all seasons are poured out upon that soil, seemed +suspended in favour of the insurgent multitudes, amounting to 30,000, or 40,000 +at the highest, who, on the different hill summits, posted their nightly +sentinels, and threw themselves down on turf and heather to snatch a short +repose. The kindling of a beacon, the lowing of cattle, or the hurried arrival +of scout or messenger, hardly interfered with slumbers which the fatigues of +the day, and, unhappily also, the potations of the night rendered doubly deep. +An early morning mass mustered all the Catholics, unless the very depraved, to +the chaplain's tent—for several of the officers, and the chaplains always +were supplied with tents; and then a hasty meal was snatched before the sun was +fairly above the horizon, and the day's work commenced. The endurance exhibited +by the rebels, their personal strength, swiftness and agility; their tenacity +of life, and the ease with which their worst wounds were healed, excited the +astonishment of the surgeons and officers of the regular army. The truth is, +that the virtuous lives led by that peaceful peasantry before the outbreak, +enabled them to withstand privations and hardships under which the better fed +and better clad Irish yeomen and English guardsmen would have sunk prostrate in +a week. +</p> + +<p> +Several signs now marked the turning of the tide against the men of Wexford. +Waterford did not rise after the battle of Ross; while Munster, generally, was +left to undecided councils, or held back in hopes of another French expedition. +The first week of June had passed over, and neither northward nor westward was +there any movement formidable enough to draw off from the devoted county the +combined armies which were now directed against its camps. A gunboat fleet +lined the coast from Bannow round to Wicklow, which soon after appeared off +Wexford bar, and forced an entrance into the harbour. A few days earlier, +General Needham marched from Dublin, and took up his position at Arklow, at the +head of a force variously stated at 1,500 to 2,000 men, composed of 120 cavalry +under Sir Watkyn Wynne, two brigades of militia under Colonels Cope and +Maxwell, and a brigade of English and Scotch fencibles under Colonel Skerrett. +There were also at Arklow about 300 of the Wexford and Wicklow mounted yeomanry +raised by Lord Wicklow, Lord Mountnorris, and other gentlemen of the +neighbourhood. Early on the morning of the 9th of June the northern division of +the rebels left Gorey in two columns, in order if possible to drive this force +from Arklow. One body proceeding by the coast road hoped to turn the English +position by way of the strand, the other taking the inner line of the Dublin +road, was to assail the town at its upper or inland suburb. But General Needham +had made the most of his two days' possession; barricades were erected across +the road, and at the entrance to the main street; the graveyard and bridge +commanding the approach by the shore road were mounted with ordnance; the +cavalry were posted where they could best operate, near the strand; the barrack +wall was lined with a <i>banquette</i> or stage, from which the musketeers +could pour their fire with the greatest advantage, and every other precaution +taken to give the rebels a warm reception. The action commenced early in the +afternoon, and lasted till eight in the evening—five or six hours. The +inland column suffered most severely from the marksmen on the <i>banquette</i>, +and the gallant Father Michael Murphy, whom his followers believed to be +invulnerable, fell leading them on to the charge for the third time. On the +side of the sea, Esmond Kyan was badly wounded in the arm, which he was +subsequently obliged to have amputated, and though the fearless Shilmaliers +drove the cavalry into and over the Avoca, discipline and ordnance prevailed +once again over numbers and courage. As night fell, the assailants retired +slowly towards Coolgreney, carrying off nine carloads of their wounded, and +leaving, perhaps, as many more on the field; their loss was variously reported +from 700 to 1,000, and even 1,500. The opposite force returned less than 100 +killed, including Captain Knox, and about as many wounded. The repulse was even +more than that at Ross, dispiriting to the rebels, who, as a last resort, now +decided to concentrate all their strength on the favourite position at Vinegar +Hill. +</p> + +<p> +Against this encampment, therefore, the entire available force of regulars and +militia within fifty miles of the spot were concentrated by orders of Lord +Lake, the Commander-in-Chief. General Dundas from Wicklow was to join General +Loftus at Carnew on the 18th; General Needham was to advance simultaneously to +Gorey; General Sir Henry Johnson to unite at Old Ross with Sir James Duff from +Carlow; Sir Charles Asgill was to occupy Gore's bridge and Borris; Sir John +Moore was to land at Ballyhack ferry, march to Foulke's Mill, and united with +Johnson and Duff, to assail the rebel camp on Carrickbyrne. These various +movements ordered on the 16th, were to be completed by the 20th, on which day, +from their various new positions, the entire force, led by these six general +officers, was to surround Vinegar Hill, and make a simultaneous attack upon the +last stronghold of the Wexford rebellion. +</p> + +<p> +This elaborate plan failed of complete execution in two points. <i>First</i>, +the camp on Carrickbyrne, instead of waiting the attack, sent down its fighting +men to Foulke's Mill, where, in the afternoon of the 20th they beat up Sir John +Moore's quarters, and maintained from 3 o'clock till dark, what that officer +calls "a pretty sharp action." Several times they were repulsed and again +formed behind the ditches and renewed the conflict; but the arrival of two +fresh regiments, under Lord Dalhousie, taught them that there was no farther +chance of victory. By this affair, however, though at a heavy cost, they had +prevented the junction of all the troops, and, not without satisfaction, they +now followed the two Roches, the priest and the layman, to the original +position of the mountain of Forth; Sir John Moore, on his part, taking the same +direction, until he halted within sight of the walls of Wexford. The other +departure from Lord Lake's plan was on the side of General Needham, who was +ordered to approach the point of attack by the circuitous route of Oulart, but +who did not come up in time to complete the investment of the hill. +</p> + +<p> +On the morning of the appointed day, about 13,000 royal troops were in movement +against the 20,000 rebels whom they intended to dislodge. Sir James Duff +obtained possession of an eminence which commanded the lower line of the rebel +encampment, and from this point a brisk cannonade was opened against the +opposite force; at the same time the columns of Lake, Wilford, Dundas, and +Johnson, pushed up the south-eastern, northern and western sides of the +eminence, partially covered by the fire of these guns, so advantageously +placed. After an hour and a half's desperate fighting, the rebels broke and +fled by the unguarded side of the hill. Their rout was complete, and many were +cut down by the cavalry, as they pressed in dense masses on each other, over +the level fields and out on the open highways. Still this action was far from +being one of the most fatal as to loss of life, fought in that county; the +rebel dead were numbered only at 400, and the royalists killed and wounded at +less than half that number. +</p> + +<p> +It was the last considerable action of the Wexford rising, and all the +consequences which followed being attributed arbitrarily to this cause, helped +to invest it with a disproportionate importance. The only leader lost on the +rebel side was Father Clinch of Enniscorthy, who encountered Lord Roden hand to +hand in the retreat, but who, while engaged with his lordship whom he wounded, +was shot down by a trooper. The disorganization, however, which followed on the +dispersion, was irreparable. One column had taken the road by Gorey to the +mountains of Wicklow—another to Wexford, where they split into two parts, +a portion crossing the Slaney into the sea-coast parishes, and facing northward +by the shore road, the other falling back on "the three rocks" encampment, +where the Messrs. Roche held together a fragment of their former command. +Wexford town, on the 22nd, was abandoned to Lord Lake, who established himself +in the house of Governor Keogh, the owner being lodged in the common jail. +Within the week, Bagenal Harvey, Father Philip Roche, and Kelly of Killane, had +surrendered in despair, while Messrs. Grogan and Colclough, who had secreted +themselves in a cave in the great Saltee Island, were discovered, and conducted +to the same prison. Notwithstanding the capitulation agreed to by Lord +Kingsborough, the execution and decapitation of all these gentlemen speedily +followed, and their ghastly faces looked down for many a day from the iron +spikes above the entrance of Wexford Court House. Mr. Esmond Kyan, the popular +hero of the district, as merciful as brave, was discovered some time +subsequently paying a stealthy visit to his family; he was put to death on the +spot, and his body, weighted with heavy stones, thrown into the harbour. A few +mornings afterwards the incoming tide deposited it close by the dwelling of his +father-in-law, and the rites of Christian burial, so dear to all his race, were +hurriedly rendered to the beloved remains. +</p> + +<p> +The insurrection in this county, while it abounded in instances of individual +and general heroism, was stained also, on both sides, by many acts of +diabolical cruelty. The aggressors, both in time and in crime were the yeomanry +and military; but the popular movement dragged wretches to the surface who +delighted in repaying torture with torture, and death with death. The +butcheries of Dunlavin and Carnew were repaid by the massacres at Scullabogue +and Wexford bridge, in the former of which 110, and in the latter 35 or 40 +persons were put to death in cold blood, by the monsters who absented +themselves from the battles of Ross and Vinegar Hill. The executions at Wexford +bridge would probably have been swelled to double the number, had not Father +Corrin, one of the priests of the town, rushing in between his Protestant +neighbours and the ferocious Captain Dixon, and summoning all present to pray, +invoked the Almighty "to show them the same mercy" they showed their prisoners. +This awful supplication calmed even that savage rabble, and no further +execution took place. Nearly forty years afterwards, Captain Kellet, of +Clonard, ancestor of the Arctic discoverer, and others whom he had rescued from +the very grasp of the executioner, followed to the grave that revered and +devoted minister of mercy! +</p> + +<p> +It would be a profitless task to draw out a parallel of the crimes committed on +both sides. Two facts only need be recorded: that although from 1798 to 1800, +not less than <i>sixty-five</i> places of Catholic worship were demolished or +burned in Leinster, (twenty-two of which were in Wexford county), only +<i>one</i> Protestant Church, that of Old Ross, was destroyed in retaliation; +and that although towards men, especially men in arms, the rebels acted on the +fierce Mosaic maxim of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," no outrage +upon women is laid to their charge, even by their most exasperated enemies. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap105"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br/> +THE INSURRECTION ELSEWHERE—FATE OF THE LEADING UNITED IRISHMEN.</h3> + +<p> +On the 21st of June, the Marquis Cornwallis, whose name is so familiar in +American and East Indian history, arrived in Dublin, to assume the supreme +power, both civil and military. As his Chief Secretary, he recommended Lord +Castlereagh, who had acted in that capacity during the latter part of Lord +Camden's administration in consequence of Mr Pelham's illness; and the +Pitt-Portland administration appointed his lordship accordingly, because, among +other good and sufficient reasons, "he was so unlike an Irishman." +</p> + +<p> +While the new Viceroy came to Ireland still more resolute than his predecessor +to bring about the long-desired legislative union, it is but justice to his +memory to say, that he as resolutely resisted the policy of torture and +provocation pursued under Lord Camden. That policy had, indeed, served its +pernicious purpose, and it was now possible for a new ruler to turn a new leaf; +this Lord Cornwallis did from the hour of his arrival, not without incurring +the ill-concealed displeasures of the Castle cabal. But his position gave him +means of protection which Sir Ralph Abercromby had not; he was known to enjoy +the personal confidence of the King; and those who did not hesitate three +months before to assail by every abusive epithet the humane Scottish Baronet, +hesitated long before criticising with equal freedom the all-powerful Viceroy. +</p> + +<p> +The sequel of the insurrection may be briefly related: next to Wexford, the +adjoining county of Wicklow, famous throughout the world for its lakes and +glens, maintained the chief brunt of the Leinster battle. The brothers Byrne, +of Ballymanus, with Holt, Hackett, and other local leaders, were for months, +from the difficult nature of the country, enabled to defy those combined +movements by which, as in a huge net, Lord Lake had swept up the camps of +Wexford. At Hacketstown, on the 25th of June, the Byrnes were repulsed with +considerable loss, but at Ballyellis, on the 30th, fortune and skill gave them +and their Wexford comrades a victory, resembling in many respects that of +Clough. General Needham, who had again established his head-quarters at Gorey, +detached Colonel Preston, with some troops of Ancient Britons, the 4th and 5th +dragoons, and three yeomanry corps, to attack the insurgents who were observed +in force in the neighbourhood of Monaseed. Aware of this movement, the Byrnes +prepared in the ravine of Ballyellis a well-laid ambuscade, barricading with +carts and trees the farther end of the pass. Attacked by the royalists they +retreated towards this pass, were hotly pursued, and then turned on their +pursuers. Two officers and sixty men were killed in the trap, while the +terrified rear-rank fled for their lives to the shelter of their head-quarters. +At Ballyraheene, on the 2nd of July, the King's troops sustained another check +in which they lost two officers and ten men, but at Ballygullen, on the 4th, +the insurgents were surrounded between the forces of General Needham, Sir James +Duff, and the Marquis of Huntley. This was the last considerable action in +which the Wicklow and Wexford men were unitedly engaged. In the dispersion +which followed, "Billy Byrne of Ballymanus," the hero of his county, paid the +forfeit of his life; while his brother, Garrett, subsequently surrendered, and +was included in the Banishment Act. +</p> + +<p> +Anthony Perry of Inch, and Father Kearns, leading a much diminished band into +Kildare, formed a junction with Aylmer and Reynolds of that county, and marched +into Meath, with a view of reaching and surprising Athlone. The plan was boldly +and well conceived, but their means of execution were deplorably deficient. At +Clonard they were repulsed by a handful of troops well armed and posted; a +combined movement always possible in Meath, drove them from side to side during +the midweek of July, until at length, hunted down as they were, they broke up +in twos and threes to seek any means of escape. Father Kearns and Mr. Perry +were, however, arrested, and executed by martial law at Edenderry. Both died +bravely; the priest sustaining and exhorting his companion to the last. +</p> + +<p> +Still another band of the Wexford men, under Father John Murphy and Walter +Devereux, crossed the Barrow at Gore's bridge, and marched upon Kilkenny. At +Lowgrange they surprised an outpost; at Castlecomer, after a sharp action, they +took the town, which Sir Charles Asgill endeavoured, but without success, to +relieve. Thence they continued their march towards Athy in Kildare, but being +caught between two or rather three fires, that of Major Mathews, from +Maryboro', General Dunne, from Athy, and Sir Charles Asgill, they retreated on +old Leighlin, as if seeking the shelter of the Carlow mountains. At Killcomney +Hill, however, they were forced into action under most unfavourable +circumstances, and utterly routed. One, Father Murphy, fell in the engagement, +the other, the precursor of the insurrection, was captured three days +afterward, and conveyed a prisoner to General Duff's headquarters at Tullow. +Here he was put on his trial before a Military Commission composed of Sir James +Duff, Lord Roden, Colonels Eden and Foster, and Major Hall. Hall had the +meanness to put to him, prisoner as he was, several insulting questions, which +at length the high-spirited rebel answered with a blow. The Commission thought +him highly dangerous, and instantly ordered him to execution. His body was +burned, his head spiked on the market-house of Tullow, and his memory gibbeted +in all the loyal publications of the period. On his person, before execution, +were found a crucifix, a pix, and letters from many Protestants, asking his +protection; as to his reputation, the priest who girded on the sword only when +he found his altar overthrown and his flock devoured by wolves, need not fear +to look posterity in the face. +</p> + +<p> +Of the other Leinster leaders, Walter Devereux, the last colleague of Father +Murphy, was arrested at Cork, on the eve of sailing for America, tried and +executed; Fitzgerald and Aylmer were spared on condition of expatriation; +months afterwards, Holt surrendered, was transported, and returned after +several years, to end his days where he began his career; Dwyer alone +maintained the life of a Rapparee for five long years among the hills of +Wicklow, where his adventures were often of such a nature as to throw all +fictitious conceptions of an outlaw's life into commonplace by comparison. +Except in the fastnesses frequented by this extraordinary man, and in the wood +of Killaughram, in Wexford, where the outlaws, with the last stroke of national +humour, assumed the name of <i>The Babes in the Wood</i>, the Leinster +insurrection was utterly trodden out within two months from its first +beginning, on the 23rd of May. So weak against discipline, arms, munitions and +money, are all that mere naked valour and devotion can accomplish! +</p> + +<p> +In Ulster, on the organization of which so much time and labour had been +expended for four or five years preceding, the rising was not more general than +in Leinster, and the actual struggle lasted only a week. The two counties which +moved <i>en masse</i> were Down and Antrim, the original chiefs of which, such +as Thomas Russell and Samuel Neilson, were unfortunately in prison. The next +leader on whom the men of Antrim relied, resigned his command on the very eve +of the appointed day; this disappointment and the arrest of the Rev. Steele +Dickson in Down, compelled a full fortnight's delay. On the 7th of June, +however, the more determined spirits resolved on action, and the first movement +was to seize the town of Antrim, which, if they could have held it, would have +given them command of the communications with Donegal and Down, from both of +which they might have expected important additions to their ranks. The leader +of this enterprise was Henry John McCracken, a cotton manufacturer of Belfast, +thirty two years of age, well educated, accomplished and resolute, with whom +was associated a brother of William Orr, the proto-martyr of the Ulster Union. +The town of Antrim was occupied by the 22nd light dragoons, Colonel Lumley, and +the local yeomanry under Lord O'Neil. In the first assault the insurgents were +successful, Lord O'Neil, five officers, forty-seven rank and file having +fallen, and two guns being captured; but Lumley's dragoons had hardly vanished +out of sight, when a strong reinforcement from Blaris camp arrived and renewed +the action, changing premature exultation into panic and confusion. Between two +and three hundred of the rebels fell, and McCracken and his staff, deserted by +their hasty levies, were arrested, wearied and hopeless, about a month later, +wandering among the Antrim hills. The leaders were tried at Belfast and +executed. +</p> + +<p> +In Down two actions were fought, one at Saintfield on the 7th of June, under +Dr. Jackson—where Colonel Stapleton was severely handled—and +another and more important one at Ballynahinch, under Henry Munro, on the 13th, +where Nugent, the district General, commanded in person. Here, after a gallant +defence, the men of Down were utterly routed; their leader, alone and on foot, +was captured some five or six miles from the field, and executed two days +afterwards before his own door at Lisburn. He died with the utmost composure; +his wife and mother looking down, on the awful scene from the windows of his +own house. +</p> + +<p> +In Munster, with the exception of a trifling skirmish between the West-Meath +yeomanry under Sir Hugh O'Reilly, with whom were the Caithness legion, under +Major Innes, and a body of 300 or 400 ill-armed peasants, who attacked them on +the 19th of June, on the road from Clonakilty to Bandon, there was no notable +attempt at insurrection. But in Connaught, very unexpectedly, as late as the +end of August, the flame extinguished in blood in Leinster and Ulster, again +blazed up for some days with portentous brightness. The counties of Mayo, +Sligo, Roscommon and Galway had been partially organized by those fugitives +from Orange oppression in the North, who, in the years '95, '96, and '97, had +been compelled to flee for their lives into Connaught, to the number of several +thousands. They brought with the tale of their sufferings the secret of +Defenderism; they first taught the peasantry of the West, who, safe in their +isolated situation and their overwhelming numbers, were more familiar with +poverty than with persecution, what manner of men then held sway over all the +rest of the country, and how easily it would be for Irishmen once united and +backed by France, to establish under their own green flag, both religious and +civil liberty. +</p> + +<p> +When, therefore, three French frigates cast anchor in Killalla Bay, on the 22nd +of August, they did not find the country wholly unprepared, though far from +being as ripe for revolt as they expected. These ships had on board 1,000 men, +with arms for 1,000 more, under command of General Humbert, who had taken on +himself, in the state of anarchy which then prevailed in France, to sail from +La Rochelle with this handful of men, in aid of the insurrection. With Humbert +were Mathew Tone and Bartholomew Teeling; and immediately on his arrival he was +joined by Messrs. McDonnell, Moore, Bellew, Barrett, O'Dowd, and O'Donnell of +Mayo, Blake of Galway, Plunkett of Roscommon, and a few other influential +gentlemen of that Province—almost all Catholics. Three days were spent +at Killalla, which was easily taken, in landing stores, enrolling recruits, and +sending out parties of observation. On the 4th, (Sunday,) Humbert entered +Ballina without resistance, and on the same night set out for Castlebar, the +county town. By this time intelligence of his landing was spread over the whole +country, and both Lord Lake and General Hutchinson had advanced to Castlebar, +where they had from 2,000 to 3,000 men under their command. The place could be +reached only by two routes from the north-west, by the Foxford road, or a long +deserted mountain road which led over the pass of Barnagee, within sight of the +town. Humbert, accustomed to the long marches and difficult country of La +Vendee, chose the unfrequented and therefore unguarded route, and, to the +consternation of the British generals, descended through the pass of Barnagee, +soon after sunrise, on the morning of Monday, August 27th. His force consisted +of 900 French bayonets, and between 2,000 and 3,000 new recruits. The action, +which commenced at 7 o'clock, was short, sharp, and decisive; the yeomanry and +regulars broke and fled, some of them never drawing rein till they reached +Tuam, while others carried their fears and their falsehoods as far inland as +Athlone—more than sixty miles from the scene of action. In this +engagement, still remembered as "the races," the royalists confessed to the +loss, killed, wounded, or prisoners, of 18 officers, and about 350 men, while +the French commander estimated the killed alone at 600. Fourteen British guns +and five stand of colours were also taken. A hot pursuit was continued for some +distance by the native troops under Mathew Tone, Teeling, and the Mayo +officers; but Lord Roden's famous corps of "Fox hunters" covered the retreat +and checked the pursuers at French Hill. Immediately after the battle a +Provisional Government was established at Castlebar, with Mr. Moore of Moore +Hall, as President; proclamations addressed to the inhabitants at large, +commissions to raise men, and <i>assignats</i> payable by the future Irish +Republic, were issued in its name. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the whole of the royalist forces were now in movement toward the +capital of Mayo, as they had been toward Vinegar Hill two months before. Sir +John Moore and General Hunter marched from Wexford toward the Shannon. General +Taylor, with 2,500 men, advanced from Sligo towards Castlebar; Colonel Maxwell +was ordered from Enniskillen to assume command at Sligo; General Nugent from +Lisburn occupied Enniskillen, and the Viceroy, leaving Dublin in person, +advanced rapidly through the midland counties to Kilbeggan, and ordered Lord +Lake and General Hutchinson, with such of their command as could be depended +on, to assume the aggressive from the direction of Tuam. Thus Humbert and his +allies found themselves surrounded on all sides—their retreat cut off by +sea, for their frigates had returned to France immediately on their landing; +three thousand men against not less than thirty thousand, with at least as many +more in reserve, ready to be called into action at a day's notice. +</p> + +<p> +The French general determined if possible to reach the mountains of Leitrim, +and open communications with Ulster, and the northern coast, upon which he +hoped soon to see succour arrive from France. With this object he marched from +Castlebar to Cooloney (35 miles), in one day; here he sustained a check from +Colonel Vereker's militia, which necessitated a change of route; turning aside, +he passed rapidly through Dromahaine, Manor-Hamilton, and Ballintra, making for +Granard, from which accounts of a formidable popular outbreak had just reached +him. In three days and a half he had marched 110 miles, flinging half his guns +into the rivers that he crossed, lest they should fall into the hands of his +pursuers. At Ballinamuck, county Longford, on the borders of Leitrim, he found +himself fairly surrounded, on the morning of the 8th of September; and here he +prepared to make a last desperate stand. The end could not be doubtful, the +numbers against him being ten to one; after an action of half an hour's +duration, two hundred of the French having thrown down their arms, the +remainder surrendered, as prisoners of war. For the rebels no terms were +thought of, and the full vengeance of the victors was reserved for them. Mr. +Blake, who had formerly been a British officer, was executed on the field; +Mathew Tone and Teeling were executed within the week in Dublin; Mr. Moore, +President of the Provisional Government, was sentenced to banishment by the +clemency of Lord Cornwallis, but died on shipboard; ninety of the Longford and +Kilkenny militia who had joined the French were hanged, and the country +generally given up to pillage and massacre. As an evidence of the excessive +thirst for blood, it may be mentioned that at the re-capture of Killalla a few +days later, four hundred persons were killed, of whom fully one-half were +non-combatants. +</p> + +<p> +The disorganization of all government in France in the latter half of '98, was +illustrated not only by Humbert's unauthorized adventure, but by a still weaker +demonstration under General Reay and Napper Tandy, about the same time. With a +single armed brig these daring allies made a descent, on the 17th of September, +on Rathlin Island, well equipped with eloquent proclamations, bearing the date +"first year of Irish liberty." From the postmaster of the island they +ascertained Humbert's fate, and immediately turned the prow of their solitary +ship in the opposite direction; Reay, to rise in after times to honour and +power; Tandy, to continue in old age the dashing career of his manhood, and to +expiate in exile the crime of preferring the country of his birth to the +general centralizing policy of the empire with which he was united. Twelve days +after the combat at Ballinamuck, while Humbert and his men were on their way +through England to France, a new French fleet, under Admiral Bompart, +consisting of one 74-gun ship, "the Hoche," eight frigates, and two smaller +vessels, sailed from Brest. On board this fleet were embarked 3,000 men under +General Hardi, the remnant of the army once menacing England. In this fleet +sailed Theobold Wolfe Tone, true to his motto, <i>nil desperandum</i>, with two +or three other refugees of less celebrity. The troops of General Hardi, +however, were destined never to land. On the 12th of October, after tossing +about for nearly a month in the German ocean and the North Atlantic, they +appeared off the coast of Donegal, and stood in for Lough Swilly. But another +fleet also was on the horizon. Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, with an equal +number of ships, but a much heavier armament, had been cruising on the track of +the French during the whole time they were at sea. After many disappointments, +the flag-ship and three of the frigates were at last within range and the +action began. Six hours' fighting laid the Hoche a helpless log upon the water; +nothing was left her but surrender; two of the frigates shared the same fate on +the same day; another was captured on the 14th, and yet another on the 17th. +The remainder of the fleet escaped back to France. +</p> + +<p> +The French officers landed in Donegal were received with courtesy by the +neighbouring gentry, among whom was the Earl of Cavan, who entertained them at +dinner. Here it was that Sir George Hill, son-in-law to Commissioner Beresford, +an old college friend of Tone's, identified the founder of the United Irishmen +under the uniform of a French Adjutant-General. Stepping up to his old +schoolmate he addressed him by name, which Tone instantly acknowledged, +inquiring politely for Lady Hill, and other members of Sir George's family. He +was instantly arrested, ironed, and conveyed to Dublin under a strong guard. On +the 10th of November he was tried by court-martial and sentenced to be hanged: +he begged only for a soldier's death—"to be shot by a platoon of +grenadiers." This favour was denied him, and the next morning he attempted to +commit suicide. The attempt did not immediately succeed; but one week +later—on the 19th of November—he died from the results of his +self-inflicted wound, with a compliment to the attendant physician upon his +lips. Truth compels us to say he died the death of a Pagan; but it was a Pagan +of the noblest and freest type of Grecian and Roman times. Had it occurred in +ancient days, beyond the Christian era, it would have been a death every way +admirable; as it was, that fatal final act must always stand between Wolfe Tone +and the Christian people for whom he suffered, sternly forbidding them to +invoke him in their prayers, or to uphold him as an example to the young men of +their country. So closed the memorable year 1798, on the baffled and dispersed +United Irishmen. Of the chiefs imprisoned in March and May, Lord Edward had +died of his wounds and vexation; Oliver Bond of apoplexy; the brothers Sheares, +Father Quigley, and William Michael Byrne on the gibbet. In July, on Samuel +Nelson's motion, the remaining prisoners in Newgate, Bridewell, and Kilmainham, +agreed, in order to stop the effusion of blood, to expatriate themselves to any +country not at war with England, and to reveal the general secrets of their +system, without inculpating individuals. These terms were accepted, as the +Castle party needed their evidence to enable them to promote the cherished +scheme of legislative Union. But that evidence delivered before the Committees +of Parliament by Emmet, McNevin, and O'Conor, did not altogether serve the +purposes of government. The patriotic prisoners made it at once a protest +against, and an exposition of, the despotic policy under which their country +had been goaded into rebellion. For their firmness they were punished by three +years' confinement in Fort George, in the Scottish Highlands, where, however, a +gallant old soldier, Colonel Stuart, endeavoured to soften the hard realities +of a prison by all the kind attentions his instructions permitted him to show +these unfortunate gentlemen. At the peace of Amiens, (1802), they were at last +allowed the melancholy privilege of expatriation. Russell and Dowdall were +permitted to return to Ireland, where they shared the fate of Robert Emmet in +1803; O'Conor, Corbet, Allen, Ware, and others, cast their lot in France, where +they all rose to distinction; Emmet, McNevin, Sampson, and the family of Tone +were reunited in New York, where the many changes and distractions of a great +metropolitan community have not even yet obliterated the memories of their +virtues, their talents, and their accomplishments. +</p> + +<p> +It is impossible to dismiss this celebrated group of men, whose principles and +conduct so greatly influenced their country's destiny, without bearing explicit +testimony to their heroic qualities as a class. If ever a body of public men +deserved the character of a brotherhood of heroes, so far as disinterestedness, +courage, self-denial, truthfulness and glowing love of country constitute +heroism, these men deserved that character. The wisdom of their conduct, and +the intrinsic merit of their plans, are other questions. As between their +political system and that of Burke, Grattan and O'Connell, there always will +be, probably, among their countrymen, very decided differences of opinion. That +is but natural: but as to the personal and political virtues of the United +Irishmen there can be no difference; the world has never seen a more sincere or +more self-sacrificing generation. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap106"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br/> +ADMINISTRATION OF LORD CORNWALLIS—BEFORE THE UNION.</h3> + +<p> +"Nothing strengthens a dynasty," said the first Napoleon, "more than an +unsuccessful rebellion." The partial uprising; of the Irish people in 1798 was +a rebellion of this class, and the use of such a failure to an able and +unscrupulous administration, was illustrated in the extinction of the ancient +legislature of the kingdom, before the recurrence of the third anniversary of +the insurrection. +</p> + +<p> +This project, the favourite and long-cherished design of Mr. Pitt, was +cordially approved by his principal colleagues, the Duke of Portland, Lord +Grenville, and Mr. Dundas; indeed, it may be questioned whether it was not as +much Lord Grenville's design as Pitt's, and as much George the Third's personal +project as that of any of his ministers. The old King's Irish policy was always +of the most narrow and illiberal description. In his memorandum on the recall +of Lord Fitzwilliam, he explains his views with the business-like brevity which +characterized all his communications with his ministers while he retained +possession of his faculties; he was totally opposed to Lord Fitzwilliam's +emancipation policy, which he thought adopted "in implicit obedience to the +heated imagination of Mr. Burke." To Lord Camden his instructions were, "to +support the old English interest as well as the Protestant religion," and to +Lord Cornwallis, that no further "indulgence could be granted to Catholics," +but that he should steadily pursue the object of effecting the union of Ireland +and England. +</p> + +<p> +The new Viceroy entered heartily into the views of his Sovereign. Though +unwilling to exchange his English position as a Cabinet Minister and +Master-General of Ordnance for the troubled life of a Lord-Lieutenant of +Ireland, he at length allowed himself to be persuaded into the acceptance of +that office, with a view mainly to carrying the Union. He was ambitious to +connect his name with that great imperial measure, so often projected, but +never formally proposed. If he could only succeed in incorporating the Irish +with the British legislature, he declared he would feel satisfied to retire +from all other public employments; that he would look on his day as finished, +and his evening of ease and dignity fully earned. He was not wholly +unacquainted with the kingdom against which he cherished these ulterior views; +for he had been, nearly thirty years before, when he fell under the lash of +<i>Junius</i>, one of the Vice-Treasurers of Ireland. For the rest he was a man +of great information, tact, and firmness; indefatigable in business; tolerant +by temperament and conviction; but both as a general and a politician it was +his lot to be identified in India and in Ireland with successes which might +better have been failures, and in America, with failures which were much more +beneficial to mankind than his successes. +</p> + +<p> +In his new sphere of action his two principal agents were Lord Clare and Lord +Castlereagh, both Irishmen; the Chancellor, the son of what in that country is +called a "spoiled priest," and the Secretary, the son of an ex-volunteer, and +member of Flood's Reform Convention. It is not possible to regard the conduct +of these high officials in undermining and destroying the ancient national +legislature of their own country, in the same light as that of Lord Cornwallis, +or Mr. Pitt, or Lord Grenville. It was but natural, that as Englishmen, these +ministers should consider the empire in the first place; that they should +desire to centralize all the resources and all the authority of both Islands in +London; that to them the existence of an independent Parliament at Dublin, with +its ample control over the courts, the revenues, the defences, and the trade of +that kingdom, should appear an obstacle and a hindrance to the unity of the +imperial system. From their point of view they were quite right, and had they +pursued their end, complete centralization, by honourable means, no stigma +could attach to them even in the eyes of Irishmen; but with Lords Clare and +Castlereagh the case was wholly different. Born in the land, deriving income as +well as existence from the soil, elected to its Parliament by the confidence of +their countrymen, attaining to posts of honour in consequence of such election, +that they should voluntarily offer their services to establish an alien and a +hostile policy on the ruins of their own national constitution, which, with all +its defects, was national, and was corrigible; this betrayal of their own, at +the dictate of another State, will always place the names of Clare and +Castlereagh on the detested list of public traitors. Yet though in such +treason, united and identified, no two men could be more unlike in all other +respects. Lord Clare was fiery, dogmatic, and uncompromising to the last +degree; while Lord Castlereagh was stealthy, imperturbable, insidious, bland, +and adroit. The Chancellor endeavoured to carry everything with a high hand, +with a bold, defiant, confident swagger; the Secretary, on the contrary, +trusted to management, expediency, and silent tenacity of purpose. The one had +faith in violence, the other in corruption; they were no inapt personifications +of the two chief agencies by which the union was effected—Force and +Fraud. +</p> + +<p> +The Irish Parliament, which had been of necessity adjourned during the greater +part of the time the insurrection lasted, assembled within a week of Lord +Cornwallis' arrival. Both Houses voted highly loyal addresses to the King and +Lord-Lieutenant, the latter seconded in the Commons by Charles Kendal Bushe, +the college companion of Wolfe Tone! A vote of 100,000 pounds to indemnify +those who had suffered from the rebels—subsequently increased to above +1,000,000 pounds—was passed <i>una voce</i>; another, placing on the +Irish establishment certain English militia regiments, passed with equal +promptitude. In July, five consecutive acts—a complete code of penalties +and proscription—were introduced, and, after various debates and delays, +received the royal sanction on the 6th of October, the last day of the session +of 1798. These acts were: 1. The Amnesty Act, the exceptions to which were so +numerous "that few of those who took any active part in the rebellion," were, +according to the Cornwallis' correspondence, "benefited by it." 2. An Act of +Indemnity, by which all magistrates who had "exercised a vigour beyond the law" +against the rebels, were protected from the legal consequences of such acts. 3. +An act for attainting Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Mr. Harvey, and Mr. Grogan, +against which Curran, taking "his instructions from the grave," pleaded at the +bar of the House of Lords, but pleaded in vain. (This act was finally reversed +by the Imperial Parliament in 1819.) 4. An act forbidding communication between +persons in Ireland and those enumerated in the Banishment Act, and making the +return to Ireland, after sentence of banishment by a court-martial, a +transportable felony. 5. An act to compel fifty-one persons therein named to +surrender before 1st of December, 1798, under pain of high treason. Among the +fifty-one were the principal refugees at Paris and Hamburg: Tone, Lewines, +Tandy, Deane Swift, Major Plunkett, Anthony McCann, Harvey Morres, etc. On the +same day in which the session terminated, and the royal sanction was given to +these acts, the name of Henry Grattan was, a significant coincidence, formally +struck, by the King's commands, from the roll of the Irish Privy Council! +</p> + +<p> +This legislation of the session of 1798, was fatal to the Irish Parliament. The +partisans of the Union, who had used the rebellion to discredit the +constitution, now used the Parliament to discredit itself. Under the influence +of a fierce reactionary spirit, when all merciful and moderate councils were +denounced as treasonable, it was not difficult to procure the passage of +sweeping measures of proscription. But with their passage vanished the former +popularity of the domestic legislature. And what followed? The constitution of +'82 could only be upheld in the hearts of the people; and, with all its +defects, it had been popular before the sudden spread of French revolutionary +notions distracted and dissipated the public opinion which had grown up within +the era of independence. To make the once cherished authority, which liberated +trade in '79, and half emancipated the Catholics in '93, the last executioner +of the vengeance of the Castle against the people, was to place a gulf between +it and the affections of that people in the day of trial. To make the +anti-unionists in Parliament, such as the Speaker, Sir Lawrence Parsons, +Plunkett, Ponsonby and Bushe, personally responsible for this vindictive code, +was to disarm them of the power, and almost of the right, to call on the people +whom they turned over, bound hand and foot, to the mercy of the minister in +'98, to aid them against the machinations of that same minister in '99. The +last months of the year were marked besides by events already referred to, and +by negotiations incessantly carried on, both in England and Ireland, in favour +of the Union. Members of both Houses were personally courted and canvassed by +the Prime Minister, the Secretaries of State, the Viceroy and the Irish +Secretary. Titles, pensions and offices were freely promised. Vast sums of +secret service money, afterwards added as a charge to the public debt of +Ireland, were remitted from Whitehall. An army of pamphleteers, marshalled by +Under-Secretary Cooke, and confidentially directed by the able but +anti-national Bishop of Meath, (Dr. O'Beirne,) and by Lord Castlereagh +personally, plied their pens in favour of "the consolidation of the empire." +The Lord Chancellor, the Chief Secretary and Mr. Beresford, made journeys to +England, to assist the Prime Minister with their local information, and to +receive his imperial confidence in return. The Orangemen were neutralized by +securing a majority of their leaders; the Catholics, by the establishment of +familiar communication with the bishops. The Viceroy complimented Dr. Troy at +Dublin; the Duke of Portland lavished personal attentions on Dr. Moylan, in +England. The Protestant clergy were satisfied with the assurance that the +maintenance of their establishment would be made a fundamental article of the +Union, while the Catholic bishops were given to understand that complete +Emancipation would be one of the first measures submitted to the Imperial +Parliament. The oligarchy were to be indemnified for their boroughs, while the +advocates of Reform were shown how hopeless it was to expect a House +constituted of <i>their</i> nominees, ever to enlarge or amend its own +exclusive constitution. Thus for every description of people a particular set +of appeals and arguments was found, and for those who discarded the affectation +of reasoning on the surrender of their national existence, there were the more +convincing arguments of titles, employments, and direct pecuniary purchase. At +the close of the year of the rebellion, Lord Cornwallis was able to report to +Mr. Pitt that the prospects of carrying the measure were better than could have +been expected, and on this report he was authorized to open the matter formally +to Parliament in his speech at the opening of the following session. +</p> + +<p> +On the 22nd of January, 1799, the Irish legislature met under circumstances of +great interest and excitement. The city of Dublin, always keenly alive to its +metropolitan interests, sent its eager thousands by every avenue towards +College Green. The Viceroy went down to the Houses with a more than ordinary +guard, and being seated on the throne in the House of Lords, the Commons were +summoned to the bar. The House was considered a full one, 217 members being +present. The viceregal speech congratulated both Houses on the suppression of +the late rebellion, on the defeat of Bompart's squadron, and the recent French +victories of Lord Nelson; then came, amid profound expectation, this concluding +sentence:—"The unremitting industry," said the Viceroy, "with which our +enemies persevere in their avowed design of endeavouring to effect a separation +of this kingdom from Great Britain, must have engaged your attention, and his +Majesty commands me to express his anxious hope that this consideration, joined +to the sentiment of mutual affection and common interest, may dispose the +Parliaments in both kingdoms to provide the most effectual means of maintaining +and improving a connection essential to their common security, and of +consolidating, as far as possible, into one firm and lasting fabric, the +strength, the power, and the resources of the British empire." On the paragraph +of the address, re-echoing this sentiment, which was carried by a large +majority in the Lords, a debate ensued in the Commons, which lasted till one +o'clock of the following day, above twenty consecutive hours. Against the +suggestion of a Union spoke Ponsonby, Parsons, Fitzgerald, Barrington, +Plunkett, Lee, O'Donnell and Bushe; in its favour, Lord Castlereagh, the Knight +of Kerry, Corry, Fox, Osborne, Duigenan, and some other members little known. +The galleries and lobbies were crowded all night by the first people of the +city, of both sexes, and when the division was being taken, the most intense +anxiety was manifested, within doors and without. At length the tellers made +their report to the Speaker, himself an ardent anti-Unionist, and it was +announced that the numbers were—"for the address 105, for the amendment +106," so the paragraph in favour of "consolidating the empire" was lost by one +vote! The remainder of the address, tainted with the association of the +expunged paragraph, was barely carried by 107 to 105. Mr. Ponsonby had +attempted to follow his victory by a solemn pledge binding the majority never +again to entertain the question, but to this several members objected, and the +motion was withdrawn. The ministry found some consolation in this withdrawal, +which they characterized as "a retreat after a victory," but to the public at +large, unused to place much stress on the minor tactics of debate, nothing +appeared but the broad, general fact, that the first overture for a Union had +been rejected. It was a day of immense rejoicing in Dublin; the leading +anti-Unionists were escorted in triumph to their homes, while the Unionists +were protected by strong military escorts from the popular indignation. At +night the city was illuminated, and the patrols were doubled as a protection to +the obnoxious minority. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Ponsonby's amendment, affirmed by the House of Commons, was in these +words:—"That the House would be ready to enter into any measure short of +surrendering their free, resident and independent legislature as established in +1782." This was the <i>ultimatum</i> of the great party which rallied in +January, 1799, to the defence of the established constitution of their country. +The arguments with which they sustained their position were few, bold, and +intelligible to every capacity. There was the argument from Ireland's +geographical situation, and the policy incident to it; the historical argument; +the argument for a resident gentry occupied and retained in the country by +their public duties; the commercial argument; the revenue argument; but above +all, the argument of the incompetency of Parliament to put an end to its own +existence. "Yourselves," exclaimed the eloquent Plunkett, "you may extinguish, +but Parliament you cannot extinguish. It is enthroned in the hearts of the +people—it is enshrined in the sanctuary of the constitution—it is +as immortal as the island that protects it. As well might the frantic suicide +imagine that the act which destroys his miserable body should also extinguish +his eternal soul. Again, therefore, I warn you. Do not dare to lay your hands +on the Constitution—it is above your powers!" +</p> + +<p> +These arguments were combated on the grounds that the islands were already +united under one crown—that that species of union was uncertain and +precarious—that the Irish Parliament was never in reality a national +legislature; that it existed only as an instrument of class legislation; that +the Union would benefit Ireland materially as it had benefited Scotland; that +she would come in for a full share of imperial honours, expenditure and trade; +that such a Union would discourage all future hostile attempts by France or any +other foreign power against the connection, and other similar arguments. But +the division which followed the first introduction of the subject showed +clearly to the Unionists that they could not hope to succeed with the House of +Commons as then constituted; that more time and more preparation were +necessary. Accordingly, Lord Castlereagh was authorized in March, to state +formally in his place, that it was not the intention of the government to bring +up the question again during that session; an announcement which was hailed +with a new outburst of rejoicing in the city. +</p> + +<p> +But those who imagined the measure was abandoned were sadly deceived. Steps +were immediately taken by the Castle to deplete the House of its majority, and +to supply their places before another session with forty or fifty new members, +who would be entirely at the beck of the Chief Secretary. With this view, +thirty-two new county judgeships were created; a great number of additional +inspectorships and commissioners were also placed at the Minister's disposal; +thirteen members had peerages for themselves or for their wives, with remainder +to their children, and nineteen others were presented to various lucrative +offices. The "Escheatorship of Munster"—a sort of Chiltern Hundreds +office—was accepted by those who agreed to withdraw from opposition, for +such considerations, but who could not be got to reverse their votes. By these +means, and a lavish expenditure of secret service money, it was hoped that Mr. +Pitt's stipulated majority of "not less than fifty" could be secured during the +year. +</p> + +<p> +The other events of the session of '99, though interesting in themselves, are +of little importance compared to the union debates. In the English Parliament, +which met on the same day as the Irish, a paragraph identical with that +employed by Lord Cornwallis in introducing the subject of the Union, was +inserted in the King's speech. To this paragraph, repeated in the address, an +amendment was moved by the celebrated Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and resisted +with an eloquence scarcely inferior to his own, by his former <i>protege</i> +and countryman, George Canning. Canning, like Sheridan, had sprung from a line +of Irish literateurs and actors; he had much of the wit and genius of his +illustrious friend, with more worldly wisdom, and a higher sentiment of +personal pride. In very early life, distinguished by great oratorical talents, +he had deliberately attached himself to Mr. Pitt, while Sheridan remained +steadfast to the last, in the ranks of the Whig or liberal party. For the land +of their ancestors both had, at bottom, very warm, good wishes; but Canning +looked down upon her politics from the heights of empire, while Sheridan felt +for her honour and her interests with the affection of an expatriated son. We +can well credit his statement to Grattan, years afterwards, when referring to +his persistent opposition to the Union, he said, he would "have waded in blood +to his knees," to preserve the Constitution of Ireland. In taking this course +he had with him a few eminent friends: General Fitzpatrick, the former Irish +Secretary, Mr. Tierney, Mr. Hobhouse, Dr. Lawrence, the executor of Edmund +Burke, and Mr., afterwards Earl Grey. Throughout the entire discussion these +just minded Englishmen stood boldly forward for the rights of Ireland, and this +highly honourable conduct was long remembered as one of Ireland's real +obligations to the Whig party. +</p> + +<p> +The resolutions intended to serve as "the basis of union," were introduced by +Mr. Pitt, on the 21st of January, and after another powerful speech in +opposition, from Mr. Grey, who was ably sustained by Mr. Sheridan, Dr. +Lawrence, and some twenty others, were put and carried. The following are the +resolutions:— +</p> + +<p> +1st. "In order to promote and secure the essential interests of Great Britain +and Ireland, and to consolidate the strength, power, and resources of the +British empire, it will be advisable to concur in such measures as may tend to +unite the two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland into one kingdom, in such +manner, and in such terms and conditions as may be established by acts of the +respective Parliaments of his Majesty's said kingdoms. +</p> + +<p> +2nd. "It would be fit to propose as the first article, to serve as a basis of +the said union, that the said kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall, on a +day to be agreed upon, be united into one kingdom, by the name of the United +Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +3rd. "For the same purpose it would be fit to propose, that the succession to +the monarchy and the imperial crown of the said United Kingdom, shall continue +limited and settled, in the same manner as the imperial crown of the said Great +Britain and Ireland now stands limited and settled, according to the existing +law, and to the terms of the union between England and Scotland. +</p> + +<p> +4th. "For the same purpose it would be fit to propose that the said United +Kingdom be represented in one and the same Parliament, to be styled the +Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and that such a +number of Lords, spiritual and temporal, and such a number of members of the +House of Commons, as shall be hereafter agreed upon by the acts of the +respective Parliaments as aforesaid, shall sit and vote in the said Parliament +on the part of Ireland, and shall be summoned, chosen, and returned, in such +manner as shall be fixed by an act of the Parliament of Ireland previous to the +said union; and that every member hereafter to sit and vote in the said +Parliament of the United Kingdom shall, until the said Parliament shall +otherwise provide, take, and subscribe the said oaths, and make the same +declarations as are required by law to be taken, subscribed, and made by the +members of the Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +5th. "For the same purpose it would be fit to propose, that the Churches of +England and Ireland, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government +thereof, shall be preserved as now by law established. +</p> + +<p> +6th. "For the same purpose it would be fit to propose, that his Majesty's +subjects in Ireland shall at all times be entitled to the same privileges, and +be on the same footing in respect of trade and navigation in all ports and +places belonging to Great Britain, and in all cases with respect to which +treaties shall be made by his Majesty, his heirs, or successors, with any +foreign power, as his Majesty's subjects in Great Britain; that no duty shall +be imposed on the import or export between Great Britain and Ireland, of any +articles now duty free, and that on other articles there shall be established, +for a time to be limited, such a moderate rate of equal duties as shall, +previous to the Union, be agreed upon and approved by the respective +Parliaments, subject, after the expiration of such limited time, to be +diminished equally with respect to both kingdoms, but in no case to be +increased; that all articles which may at any time hereafter be imported into +Great Britain from foreign parts shall be importable through either kingdom +into the other, subject to the like duties and regulations, as if the same were +imported directly from foreign parts: that where any articles, the growth, +produce, or manufacture of either kingdom, are subject to an internal duty in +one kingdom, such counter-vailing duties (over and above any duties on import +to be fixed as aforesaid) shall be imposed as shall be necessary to prevent any +inequality in that respect; and that all matters of trade and commerce, other +than the foregoing, and than such others as may before the Union be specially +agreed upon for the due encouragement of the agriculture and manufactures of +the respective kingdoms, shall remain to be regulated from time to time by the +United Parliament. +</p> + +<p> +7th. "For the like purpose it would be fit to propose, that the charge arising +from the payment of the interests or sinking fund for the reduction of the +principal of the debt incurred in either kingdom before the Union, shall +continue to be separately defrayed by Great Britain and Ireland respectively; +that, for a number of years to be limited, the future ordinary expenses of the +United Kingdom, in peace or war, shall be defrayed by Great Britain and Ireland +jointly, according to such proportions as shall be established by the +respective Parliaments previous to the Union; and that, after the expiration of +the time to be so limited, the proportion shall not be liable to be varied, +except according to such rates and principles, as shall be in like manner +agreed upon previous to the Union. +</p> + +<p> +8th. "For the like purpose, that all laws in force at the time of the Union, +and all the courts of civil or ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the +respective kingdoms, shall remain as now by law established within the same, +subject only to such alterations or regulations as may from time to time as +circumstances may appear to the Parliament of the United Kingdom to require." +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Pitt, on the passage of these resolutions, proposed an address stating that +the Commons had proceeded with the utmost attention to the consideration of the +important objects recommended in the royal message, that they entertained a +firm persuasion of the probable benefits of a complete and entire Union between +Great Britain and Ireland, founded on equal and liberal principles; that they +were therefore induced to lay before his Majesty such propositions as appeared +to them to be best calculated to form the basis of such a settlement, leaving +it to his wisdom in due time and in proper manner, to communicate them to the +Lords and Commons of Ireland, with whom they would be at all times ready to +concur in all such measures as might be found most conducive to the +accomplishment of that great and salutary work. +</p> + +<p> +On the 19th of March, Lord Grenville introduced the same resolutions in the +Lords, where they were passed after a spirited opposition speech from Lord +Holland, and the basis, so far as the King, Lords, and Commons of England were +concerned, was laid. In proroguing the Irish Houses on the 1st of June, Lord +Cornwallis alluded to these resolutions, and the anxiety of the King, as the +common father of his people, to see both kingdoms united in the enjoyment of +the blessings of a free constitution. +</p> + +<p> +This prorogation was originally till August, but in August it was extended till +January, 1800. In this long interval of eight months, the two great parties, +the Unionists and the anti-Unionists were incessantly employed, through the +press, in social intercourse, in the grand jury room, in county and city +meetings, by correspondence, petitions, addresses, each pushing forward its own +views with all the zeal and warmth of men who felt that on one side they were +labouring for the country, on the other for the empire. Two incidents of this +interval were deeply felt in the patriot ranks, the death at an advanced age of +the venerable Charlemont, the best member of his order Ireland had ever known, +and the return to the kingdom and to public life of Lord Charlemont's early +friend and <i>protege</i>, Henry Grattan. He had spent above a year in England, +chiefly in Wales and the Isle of Wight. His health all this time had been +wretched; his spirits low and despondent, and serious fears were at some +moments entertained for his life. He had been forbidden to read or write, or to +hear the exciting news of the day. Soothed and cheered by that admirable woman, +whom Providence had given him, he passed the crisis, but he returned to breathe +his native air, greatly enfeebled in body, and sorely afflicted in mind. The +charge of theatrical affectation of illness has been brought against Grattan by +the Unionists,—against Grattan who, as to his personal habits, was +simplicity itself! It is a charge undeserving of serious contradiction. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap107"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br/> +LAST SESSION OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT—THE LEGISLATIVE UNION OF GREAT +BRITAIN AND IRELAND.</h3> + +<p> +When the Irish Parliament met for the last time, on the 15th of January, 1800, +the position of the Union question stood thus: 27 new Peers had been added to +the House of Lords, where the Castle might therefore reckon with safety on a +majority of three to one. Of the Lords spiritual, only Dr. Marlay of Waterford, +and Dr. Dixon of Down and Conor, had the courage to side with their country +against their order. In the Commons there was an infusion of some 50 new +borough members, many of them general officers, such as Needham, and Pakenham, +all of them nominees of the Castle, except Mr. Saurin, returned for +Blessington, and Mr. Grattan, at the last moment, for Wicklow. The great +constitutional body of the bar had, at a general meeting, the previous +December, declared against the measure by 162 to 33. Another powerful body, the +bankers, had petitioned against it, in the interest of the public credit. The +Catholic bishops, in their annual meeting, had taken up a position of +neutrality as a body, but under the artful management of Lord Castlereagh, the +Archbishops of Dublin and Tuam, with the Bishop of Cork, and some others, were +actively employed in counteracting anti-Union movements among the people. +Although the vast majority of that people had too much reason to be disgusted +and discontented with the legislation of the previous three years, above +700,000 of them petitioned against the measure, while all the signatures which +could be obtained in its favour, by the use of every means at the command of +the Castle, did not much exceed 7,000. +</p> + +<p> +The Houses were opened on the 15th of January. The Viceroy not going down, his +message was read in the Lords, by the Chancellor, and in the Commons, by the +Chief Secretary. It did not directly refer to the basis laid down in England, +nor to the subject matter itself; but the leaders of the Castle party in both +Houses, took care to supply the deficiency. In the Lords, proxies included, +Lord Clare had 75 to 26 for his Union address: in the Commons, Lord Castlereagh +congratulated the country on the improvement which had taken place in public +opinion, since the former session. He briefly sketched his plan of Union, +which, while embracing the main propositions of Mr. Pitt, secured the Church +establishment, bid high for the commercial interests, hinted darkly of +emancipation to the Catholics, and gave the proprietors of boroughs to +understand that their interest in those convenient constituencies would be +capitalized, and a good round sum given to buy out their perpetual patronage. +In amendment to the address, Sir Lawrence Parsons moved, seconded by Mr. Savage +of Down, that the House would maintain <i>intact</i> the Constitution of '82, +and the debate proceeded on this motion. Ponsonby replied to Castlereagh; +Plunkett and Bushe were answered by the future judges, St. George Daly and Luke +Fox; Toler contributed his farce, and Dr. Duigenan his fanaticism. Through the +long hours of the winter's night the eloquent war was vigorously maintained. +One who was himself a distinguished actor in the struggle, (Sir Jonah +Barrington,) has thus described it: "Every mind," he says, "was at its stretch, +every talent was in its vigour: it was a momentous trial; and never was so +general and so deep a sensation felt in any country. Numerous British noblemen +and commoners were present at that and the succeeding debate, and they +expressed opinions of Irish eloquence which they had never before conceived, +nor ever after had an opportunity of appreciating. Every man on that night +seemed to be inspired by the subject. Speeches more replete with talent and +energy, on both sides, never were heard in the Irish Senate; it was a vital +subject. The sublime, the eloquent, the figurative orator, the plain, the +connected, the metaphysical reasoner, the classical, the learned, and the +solemn declaimer, in a succession of speeches so full of energy and enthusiasm, +so interesting in their nature, so important in their consequence, created a +variety of sensations even in the bosom of a stranger, and could scarcely fail +of exciting some sympathy with a nation which was doomed to close for ever that +school of eloquence which had so long given character and celebrity to Irish +talent." +</p> + +<p> +At the early dawn, a special messenger from Wicklow, just arrived in town, +roused Henry Grattan from his bed. He had been elected the previous night for +the borough of Wicklow, (which cost him 2,400 pounds sterling), and this was +the bearer of the returning officer's certificate. His friends, weak and feeble +as he was, wished him to go down to the House, and his heroic wife seconded +their appeals. It was seven o'clock in the morning of the 16th when he reached +College Green, the scene of his first triumphs twenty years before. Mr. Egan, +one of the staunchest anti-Unionists, was at the moment, on some rumour, +probably, of his approach, apostrophising warmly the father of the Constitution +of '82, when that striking apparition appeared at the bar. Worn and emaciated +beyond description, he appeared leaning on two of his friends, Arthur Moore and +W. B. Ponsonby. He wore his volunteer uniform, blue with red facings, and +advanced to the table, where he removed his cocked hat, bowed to the Speaker, +and took the oaths. After Mr. Egan had concluded, he begged permission from his +seat beside Plunkett, to address the House sitting, which was granted, and then +in a discourse of two hours' duration, full of his ancient fire and vigour, he +asserted once again, by the divine right of intellect, his title to be +considered the first Commoner of Ireland. Gifted men were not rare in that +assembly; but the inspiration of the heart, the uncontrollable utterance of a +supreme spirit, not less than the extraordinary faculty of condensation, in +which, perhaps, he has never had a superior in our language, gave the Grattan +of 1800 the same pre-eminence among his cotemporaries, that was conceded to the +Grattan of 1782. After eighteen hours' discussion the division was taken, when +the result of the long recess was clearly seen; for the amendment there +appeared 96, for the address 138 members. The Union majority, therefore, was +42. It was apparent from that moment that the representation of the people in +Parliament had been effectually corrupted; that that assembly was no longer the +safeguard of the liberties of the people. Other ministerial majorities +confirmed this impression. A measure to enable 10,000 of the Irish militia to +enter the regular army, and to substitute English militia in their stead, +followed; an inquiry into outrages committed by the sheriff and military in +King's county, was voted down; a similar motion somewhat later, in relation to +officials in Tipperary met the same fate. On the 5th of February, a formal +message proposing a basis of Union was received from his Excellency, and +debated for twenty consecutive hours—from 4 o'clock of one day, till 12 +of the next. Grattan, Plunkett, Parnell, Ponsonby, Saurin, were, as always, +eloquent and able, but again the division told for the minister, 160 to +117—majority 43. On the 17th of February, the House went into Committee +on the proposed articles of Union, and the Speaker (John Foster) being now on +the floor, addressed the House with great ability in review of Mr. Pitt's +recent Union speech, which he designated "a paltry production." But again, a +majority mustered, at the nod of the minister, 161 to 140—a few not fully +committed showing some last faint spark of independence. It was on this +occasion that Mr. Corry, Chancellor of the Exchequer, member for Newry, made +for the third or fourth time that session, an attack on Grattan, which brought +out, on the instant, that famous "philippic against Corry," unequalled in our +language, for its well-suppressed passion, and finely condensed denunciation. A +duel followed, as soon as there was sufficient light; the Chancellor was +wounded, after which the Castlereagh tactics of "fighting down the opposition," +received an immediate and lasting check. +</p> + +<p> +Throughout the months of February and March, with an occasional adjournment, +the Constitutional battle was fought on every point permitted by the forms of +the House. On the 25th of March, the Committee, after another powerful speech +from the Speaker, finally reported the resolutions which were passed by 154 to +107—a majority of 47. The Houses then adjourned for six weeks, to allow +time for corresponding action to be taken in England. There was little +difficulty in carrying the measure. In the Upper House, Lords Derby, Holland, +and King only opposed it; in the Lower, Sheridan, Tierney, Grey, and Lawrence +mustered on a division, 30 votes against Pitt's 206. On the 21st of May, in the +Irish Commons, Lord Castlereagh obtained leave to bring in the Union Bill by +160 to 100; on the 7th of June the final passage of the measure was effected. +That closing scene has been often described, but never so graphically, as by +the diamond pen of Jonah Barrington. +</p> + +<p> +"The galleries were full, but the change was lamentable. They were no longer +crowded with those who had been accustomed to witness the eloquence and to +animate the debates of that devoted assembly. A monotonous and melancholy +murmur ran through the benches; scarcely a word was exchanged amongst the +members; nobody seemed at ease; no cheerfulness was apparent; and the ordinary +business, for a short time, proceeded in the usual manner. +</p> + +<p> +"At length, the expected moment arrived: the order of the day for the third +reading of the bill for a 'legislative union between Great Britain and Ireland' +was moved by Lord Castlereagh. Unvaried, tame, cold-blooded, the words seemed +frozen as they issued from his lips; and, as if a simple citizen of the world, +he seemed to have no sensation on the subject. +</p> + +<p> +"At that moment he had no country, no God, but his ambition. He made his +motion, and resumed his seat, with the utmost composure and indifference. +</p> + +<p> +"Confused murmurs again ran through the House. It was visibly affected. Every +character, in a moment, seemed involuntarily rushing to its index—some +pale, some flushed, some agitated—there were few countenances to which +the heart did not despatch some messenger. Several members withdrew before the +question could be repeated, and an awful, momentary silence succeeded their +departure. The Speaker rose slowly from that chair which had been the proud +source of his honours and of his high character. For a moment he resumed his +seat, but the strength of his mind sustained him in his duty, though his +struggle was apparent. With that dignity which never failed to signalize his +official actions, he held up the bill for a moment in silence. He looked +steadily around him on the last agony of the expiring Parliament. He at length +repeated, in an emphatic tone, 'As many as are of opinion that THIS BILL do +pass, say <i>ay</i>! The affirmative was languid, but indisputable. Another +momentary pause ensued. Again his lips seemed to decline their office. At +length, with an eye averted from the object he hated, he proclaimed, with a +subdued voice, '<i>The, AYES have it</i>.' The fatal sentence was now +pronounced. For an instant he stood statue-like; then indignantly, and with +disgust, flung the bill upon the table, and sank into his chair with an +exhausted spirit. An independent country was thus degraded into a province. +Ireland, as a nation, was extinguished." +</p> + +<p> +The final division in the Commons was 153 to 88, nearly 60 members absenting +themselves, and in the Lords, 76 to 17. In England all the stages were passed +in July, and on the 2nd of August, the anniversary of the King's accession, the +royal assent was given to the twofold legislation, which declared the kingdoms +of Great Britain and Ireland one and inseparable! +</p> + +<p> +By the provisions of this statute, compact, or treaty, the Sovereignty of the +United Kingdom was to follow the order of the Act of Succession; the Irish +peerage was to be reduced by the filling of one vacancy for every three deaths, +to the number of one hundred; from among these, twenty-eight representative +Peers were to be elected for life, and four spiritual Lords to sit in +succession. The number of Irish representatives in the Imperial Parliament was +fixed at one hundred (increased to one hundred and five); the churches of +England and Ireland were united like the kingdoms, and declared to be one in +doctrine and discipline. The debt of Ireland, which was less than 4,000,000 +pounds in 1797, increased to 14,000,000 pounds in '99, and had risen to nearly +17,000,000 pounds in 1801, was to be alone chargeable to Ireland, whose +proportionate share of general taxation was then estimated at 2-17ths of that +of the United Kingdom. The Courts of Law, the Privy Council, and the +Viceroyalty, were to remain at Dublin, the cenotaph and the shadows of departed +nationality. +</p> + +<p> +On the 1st day of January, 1801, in accordance with this great Constitutional +change, a new imperial standard was run up on London Tower, Edinburgh Castle, +and Dublin Castle. It was formed of the three crosses of St. Patrick, Saint +Andrew, and Saint George, and is that popularly known to us as "the Union +Jack." The <i>fleur de lis</i>, and the word "France," were struck from the +royal title, which was settled, by proclamation, to consist henceforth of the +words <i>Dei Gratia, Britanniarum Rex, Fidei Defensor</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The foul means by which this counter revolution was accomplished, have, +perhaps, been already sufficiently indicated. It may be necessary, however, in +order to account for the continued hostility of the Irish people to the +measure, after more than sixty years' experience of its results, to +recapitulate them very briefly. Of all who voted for the Union, in both Houses, +it was said that only six or seven were known to have done so on conviction. +Great borough proprietors, like Lord Ely and Lord Shannon, received as much as +45,000 pounds sterling in "compensation" for their loss of patronage; while +proprietors of single seats received 15,000 pounds. That the majority was +avowedly purchased, in both Houses, is no longer matter of inference, nay, that +some of them were purchased twice over is now well known. Lord Carysfort, an +active partisan of the measure, writing in February, 1800, to his friend the +Marquis of Buckingham, frankly says: "The majority, which has been bought at an +enormous price, must be bought over again, perhaps more than once, before all +the details can be gone through." His lordship himself, and the order to which +he belonged, and those who aspired to enter it, were, it must be added, among +the most insatiable of these purchased supporters. The Dublin <i>Gazette</i> +for July, 1800, announced not less than sixteen new peerages, and the same +publication for the last week of the year, contained a fresh list of twenty-six +others. Forty-two creations in six months was a stretch of prerogative far +beyond the most arbitrary of the Stuarts or Tudors, and forms one, not of the +least unanswerable evidences, of the utterly corrupt considerations which +secured the support of the Irish majority in both Houses. +</p> + +<p> +It was impossible that a people like the Irish, disinterested and unselfish to +a fault, should ever come to respect a compact brought about by such means and +influences as these. Had, however, the Union, vile as were the means by which +it was accomplished, proved to the real benefit of the country—had equal +civil and religious rights been freely and at once extended to the people of +the lesser kingdom—there is no reason to doubt that the measure would +have become popular in time, and the vices of the old system be better +remembered than its benefits, real or imaginary. But the Union was never +utilized for Ireland; it proved in reality what Samuel Johnson had predicted, +when spoken of in his day: "Do not unite with us, sir," said the gruff old +moralist to an Irish acquaintance; "it would be the union of the shark with his +prey; we should unite with you only to destroy you." +</p> + +<p> +In glancing backward over the long political connexion of Ireland and England, +we mark four great epochs. The Anglo-Norman invasion in 1169; the statute of +Kilkenny decreeing eternal separation between the races, "the English pale" and +"the Irish enemy," 1367; the Union of the Crowns, in 1541, and the Legislative +Union, in 1801. One more cardinal event remains to be recorded—the +Emancipation of the Catholics, in 1829. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="part12"></a>BOOK XII.<br/> +FROM THE UNION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND TO THE EMANCIPATION OF THE +CATHOLICS.</h3> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap108"></a>CHAPTER I.<br/> +AFTER THE UNION—DEATH OF LORD CLARE—ROBERT EMMET'S +EMEUTE.</h3> + +<p> +The plan of this brief compendium of Irish history obliges us to sketch for +some years farther on, the political and religious annals of the Irish people. +Having described in what manner their distinctive political nationality was at +length lost, it only remains to show how their religious liberties were finally +recovered. +</p> + +<p> +The first striking effect of the Union was to introduce Catholic Emancipation +into the category of imperial difficulties, and to assign it the very first +place on the list. By a singular retribution, the Pitt administration with its +200 of a House of Commons majority, its absolute control of the Lords, and its +seventeen years' prescription in its favour, fell upon this very question, +after they had used it to carry the Union, within a few weeks of the +consummation of that Union. The cause of this crisis was the invincible +obstinacy of the King, who had taken into his head, at the time of Lord +Fitzwilliam's recall from Ireland, that his coronation oath bound him in +conscience to resist the Catholic claims. The suggestion of this obstacle was +originally Lord Clare's; and though Lord Kenyon and Lord Stowell had declared +it unfounded in law, Lord Loughborough and Lord Eldon were unfortunately of a +different opinion. With George III. the idea became a monomaniac certainty, and +there is no reason to doubt that he would have preferred abdication to its +abandonment. +</p> + +<p> +The King was not for several months aware how far his Prime Minister had gone +on the Catholic question in Ireland. But those who were weary of Pitt's +ascendancy, were, of course, interested in giving him this important +information. The minister himself, wrapped in his austere self-reliance, did +not volunteer explanations even to his Sovereign, and the King broke silence +very unexpectedly, a few days after the first meeting of the Imperial +Parliament (January 22nd, 1801). Stepping up to Mr. Dundas at the levee, he +began in his usual manner, "What's this? what's this? this, that this young +Lord (Castlereagh) has brought over from Ireland to throw at my head? The most +Jacobinical thing I ever heard of! Any man who proposes such a thing is my +personal enemy." Mr. Dundas replied respectfully but firmly, and immediately +communicated the conversation to Mr. Pitt. The King's remarks had been +overheard by the bystanders, so that either the minister or the Sovereign had +now to give way. Pitt, at first, was resolute; the King then offered to impose +silence on himself as regarded the whole subject, provided Mr. Pitt would agree +to do likewise, but the haughty minister refused, and tendered his resignation. +On the 5th of February, within five weeks of the consummation of the Union, +this tender was most reluctantly and regretfully accepted. Lord Grenville, Mr. +Dundas, and others of his principal colleagues went out of office with him; +Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh following their example. Of the new +Cabinet, Addington, the Speaker, was Premier, with Lord Hardwicke as +Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. By the enemies of Pitt this was looked upon as a +mere administration <i>ad interim</i>; as a concerted arrangement to enable him +to evade an unfavourable peace—that of Amiens—which he saw coming; +but it is only fair to say, that the private letters of the period, since +published, do not sanction any such imputation. It is, however, to be observed, +<i>per contra</i>, that three weeks after his formal resignation, he had no +hesitation in assuring the King, who had just recovered from one of his attacks +brought on by this crisis, that he would never again urge the Catholic claims +on his Majesty's notice. On this understanding he returned to office in the +spring of 1804; to this compact he adhered till his death, in January, 1806. +</p> + +<p> +In Ireland, the events immediately consequent upon the Union, were such as +might have been expected. Many of those who had been instrumental in carrying +it, were disappointed and discontented with their new situation in the empire. +Of these, the most conspicuous and the least to be pitied, was Lord Clare. That +haughty, domineering spirit, accustomed to dictate with almost absolute power +to the Privy Counsellors and peerage of Ireland, experienced nothing but +mortification in the Imperial House of Lords. The part he hoped to play on that +wider stage he found impossible to assume; he confronted there in the aged +Thurlow and the astute Loughborough, law lords as absolute as himself, who soon +made him conscious that, though a main agent of the Union, he was only a +stranger in the united legislature. The Duke of Bedford reminded him that "the +Union had not transferred his dictatorial powers to the Imperial Parliament;" +other noble Lords were hardly less severe. Pitt was cold, and Grenville +ceremonious; and in the arrangements of the Addington ministry he was not even +consulted. He returned to Ireland before the first year of the Union closed, in +a state of mind and temper which preyed upon his health. Before the second +session of the Imperial Parliament assembled, he had been borne to the grave +amid the revilings and hootings of the multitude. Dublin, true to its ancient +disposition, which led the townsfolk of the twelfth century to bury the +ancestor of Dermid McMurrogh with the carcass of a dog, filled the grave of the +once splendid Lord Chancellor with every description of garbage. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, Lord Castlereagh, younger, suppler, and more accommodating +to English prejudices, rose from one Cabinet office to another, until at +length, in fifteen years from the Union, he directed the destinies of the +Empire, as absolutely, as he had moulded the fate of Ireland. To Castlereagh +and the Wellesley family, the Union was in truth, an era of honour and +advancement. The sons of the spendthrift amateur, Lord Mornington, were +reserved to rule India, and lead the armies of Europe; while the son of Flood's +colleague in the Reform convention of 1783, was destined to give law to +Christendom, at the Congress of Vienna. +</p> + +<p> +A career very different in all respects from those just mentioned, closed in +the second year of Dublin's widowhood as a metropolis. It was the career of a +young man of four-and-twenty, who snatched at immortal fame and obtained it, in +the very agony of a public, but not for him, a shameful death. This was Robert, +youngest brother of Thomas Addis Emmet, whose <i>emeute</i> of 1803 would long +since have sunk to the level of other city riots, but for the matchless dying +speech of which it was the prelude and the occasion. This young gentleman was +in his 20th year when expelled with nineteen others from Trinity College, in +1798, by order of the visitors, Lord Clare and Dr. Duigenan. His reputation as +a scholar and debater was already established within the college walls, and the +highest expectations were naturally entertained of him, by his friends. One of +his early college companions—Thomas Moore—who lived to know all +the leading men of his age, declares that of all he had ever known, he would +place among "the highest of the few" who combined in "the greatest degree pure +moral worth with intellectual power"—Robert Emmet. After the expatriation +of his brother, young Emmet visited him at Fort-George, and proceeded from +thence to the Continent. During the year the Union was consummated he visited +Spain, and travelled through Holland, France, and Switzerland, till the peace +of Amiens. Subsequently he joined his brother's family in Paris, and was taken +into the full confidence of the exiles, then in direct communication with +Buonaparte and Talleyrand. It was not concealed from the Irish by either the +First Consul, or his minister, that the peace with England was likely to have a +speedy termination; and, accordingly, they were not unprepared for the new +declaration of war between the two countries, which was officially made at +London and Paris, in May, 1803—little more than twelve months after the +proclamation of the peace of Amiens. +</p> + +<p> +It was in expectation of this rupture, and a consequent invasion of Ireland, +that Robert Emmet returned to Dublin, in October, 1802, to endeavour to +re-establish in some degree the old organization of the United Irishmen. In the +same expectation, McNevin, Corbet, and others of the Irish in France, formed +themselves, by permission of the First Consul, into a legion, under command of +Tone's trusty aid-de-camp, McSheehey; while Thomas Addis Emmet and Arthur +O'Conor remained at Paris, the plenipotentiaries of their countrymen. On the +rupture with England Buonaparte took up the Irish negotiation with much +earnestness; he even suggested to the exiles the colours and the motto under +which they were to fight, when once landed on their own soil. The flag on a +tricolour ground, was to have a green centre, bearing the letters +<i>R.I.—Republique Irlandaise</i>. The legend at large was to be: +<i>L'independence de l'Irlande—Liberte de Conscience</i>; a motto which +certainly told the whole story. The First Consul also suggested the formation +of an Irish Committee at Paris, and the preparation of statements of Irish +grievances for the <i>Moniteur</i>, and the semi-official papers. +</p> + +<p> +Robert Emmet seems to have been confidently of opinion soon after his return to +Dublin, that nineteen out of the thirty-two counties would rise; and, perhaps, +if a sufficient French force had landed, his opinion might have been justified +by the fact. So did not think, however, John Keogh, Valentine Lawless (Lord +Cloncurry), and other close observers of the state of the country. But Emmet +was enthusiastic, and he inspired his own spirit into many. Mr. Long, a +merchant, placed 1,400 pounds sterling at his disposal; he had himself, in +consequence of the recent death of his father, stock to the amount of 1,500 +pounds converted into cash, and with these funds he entered actively on his +preliminary preparations. His chief confidants and assistants were Thomas +Russell and Mathew Dowdall, formerly prisoners at Fort-George, but now +permitted to return; William Putnam McCabe, the most adventurous of all the +party, a perfect Proteus in disguise; Gray, a Wexford attorney; Colonel Lumm of +Kildare, an old friend of Lord Edward Fitzgerald; Mr. Long, before mentioned; +Hamilton, an Enniskillen barrister, married to Russell's niece; James Hope of +Templepatrick, and Michael Dwyer, the Wicklow outlaw, who had remained since +'98 uncaptured in the mountains. +</p> + +<p> +In the month of March, when the renewal of hostilities with France was decided +on in England, the preparations of the conspirators were pushed forward with +redoubled energy. The still wilder conspiracy headed by Colonel Despard in +London, the previous winter, the secret and the fate of which was well known to +the Dublin leaders—Dowdall being Despard's agent—did not in the +least intimidate Emmet or his friends. Despard suffered death in February, with +nine of his followers, but his Irish confederates only went on with their +arrangements with a more reckless resolution. Their plan was the plan of +O'Moore and McGuire, to surprise the Castle, seize the authorities and secure +the capital; but the Dublin of 1803 was in many respects very different from +the Dublin of 1641. The discontent, however, arising from the recent loss of +the Parliament might have turned the city scale in Emmet's favour, had its +first stroke been successful. The emissaries at work in the Leinster and Ulster +counties gave besides sanguine reports of success, so that, judging by the +information in his possession, an older and cooler head than Robert Emmet's +might well have been misled into the expectation of nineteen counties rising if +the signal could only be given from Dublin Castle. If the blow could be +withheld till August, there was every reason to expect a French invasion of +England, which would drain away all the regular army, and leave the people +merely the militia and the volunteers to contend against. But all the Dublin +arrangements exploded in the melancholy <i>emeute</i> of the 23rd of July, +1803, in which the Chief-Justice, Lord Kilwarden, passing through the disturbed +quarter of the city at the time, was cruelly murdered; for which, and for his +cause, Emmet suffered death on the same spot on the 20th of September +following. For the same cause, the equally pure-minded and chivalrous Thomas +Russell was executed at Downpatrick; Kearney, Roche, Redmond and Howley also +suffered death at Dublin; Allen, Putnam, McCabe, and Dowdall escaped to France, +where the former became an officer of rank in the army of Napoleon; Michael +Dwyer, who had surrendered on condition of being allowed to emigrate to' North +America, died in exile in Australia, in 1825. Others of Emmet's known or +suspected friends, after undergoing two, three, and even four years' +imprisonment, were finally discharged without trial. Mr. Long, his generous +banker, and James Hope, his faithful emissary, were both permitted to end +their days in Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +The trial of Robert Emmet, from the wonderful death-speech delivered at it, is +perfectly well known. But in justice to a man of genius equal if not superior +to his own—an Irishman, whose memory is national property, as well as +Emmet's, it must here be observed, that the latter never delivered, and had no +justification to deliver the vulgar diatribe against Plunkett, his prosecutor, +now constantly printed in the common and incorrect versions of that speech. +Plunkett, as Attorney-General, in 1803, had no option but to prosecute for the +crown; he was a politician of a totally different school from that of Emmet; he +shared all Burke and Grattan's horror of French revolutionary principles. In +the fervour of his accusatory oration he may have gone too far; he may have, +and in reading it now, it is clear to us that he did press too hard upon the +prisoner in the dock. He might have performed his awful office with more sorrow +and less vehemence, for there was no doubt about his jury. But withal, he gave +no fair grounds for any such retort as is falsely attributed to Emmet, the very +style of which proves its falsity. It is now well known that the apostrophe in +the death-speech, commencing "you viper," alleged to have been addressed to +Plunkett, was the interpolation many years afterwards of that literary +Ishmaelite—Walter Cox of the <i>Hibernian Magazine</i>,—who through +such base means endeavoured to aim a blow at Plunkett's reputation. The +personal reputation of the younger Emmet, the least known to his countrymen of +all the United Irish leaders, except by the crowning act of his death, is safe +beyond the reach of calumny, or party zeal, or time's changes. It is embalmed +in the verse of Moore and Southey, and the precious prose of Washington Irvine. +Men of genius in England and America have done honour to his memory; in the +annals of his own country his name deserves to stand with those youthful +chiefs, equally renowned, and equally ready to seal their patriotism with their +blood—Sir Cahir O'Doherty and Hugh Roe O'Donnell. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap109"></a>CHAPTER II.<br/> +ADMINISTRATION OF LORD HARDWICKE (1801 TO 1806), AND OF THE DUKE OF BEDFORD +(1806 TO 1808).</h3> + +<p> +During the five years in which Lord Hardwicke was Viceroy of Ireland, the +<i>habeas corpus</i> remained suspended, and the Insurrection Act continued in +force. These were the years in which the power of Napoleon made the most +astonishing strides; the years in which he remodelled the German Empire, placed +on his head the iron crown of Lombardy, on his sister's that of Etruria, and on +his brother's that of Holland; when the Consulate gave place to the Empire, and +Dukedoms and Principalities were freely distributed among the marshals of the +Grand Army. During all these years, Napoleon harassed England with menaces of +invasion, and excited Ireland with corresponding hopes of intervention. The +more far-seeing United Irishmen, however, had so little faith in these +demonstrations that Emmet and McNevin emigrated to the United States, leaving +behind them in the ranks of the French Army, those of their compatriots who, +either from habit or preference, had become attached to a military life. It +must however be borne in mind, for it is essential to the understanding of +England's policy towards Ireland, in the first twelve or fourteen years after +the Union, that the wild hope of a French invasion never forsook the hearts of +a large portion of the Irish people, so long as Napoleon Buonaparte continued +at the head of the government of France. During the whole of that period the +British government were kept in constant apprehension for Ireland; under this +feeling they kept up and increased the local militia; strengthened garrisons, +and replenished magazines; constructed a chain of Martello towers round the +entire coast, and maintained in full rigour the Insurrection Act. They refused, +indeed, to the Munster magistrates in 1803, and subsequently, the power of +summary convictions which they possessed in '98; but they sent special +Commissions of their own into the suspected counties, who sentenced to death +with as little remorse as if they had been so many hydrophobic dogs. Ten, +twelve, and even twenty capital executions was no uncommon result of a single +sitting of one of those murderous commissions, over which Lord Norbury +presided; but it must be added that there were other judges, who observed not +only the decencies of everyday life, but who interpreted the law in mercy as +well as in justice. They were a minority, it is true, but there were some such, +nevertheless. +</p> + +<p> +The session of the Imperial Parliament of 1803-'4, was chiefly remarkable for +its war speeches and war budget. In Ireland 50,000 men of the regular militia +were under arms and under pay; 70,000 volunteers were enrolled, battalioned, +and ready to be called out in case of emergency, to which it was proposed to +add 25,000 sea-fencibles. General Fox, who it was alleged had neglected taking +proper precaution at the time of Robert Emmet's <i>emeute</i>, was replaced by +Lord Cathcart, as Commander-in-Chief. The <i>public</i> reports at least of +this officer, were highly laudatory of the discipline and conduct of the Irish +militia. +</p> + +<p> +In May, 1804, Mr. Pitt returned to power, as Chancellor of the Exchequer and +Prime Minister, when the whole Pitt policy towards Ireland, France, and +America, was of course resumed; a policy which continued to be acted on during +the short remainder of the life of its celebrated author. +</p> + +<p> +The year 1805 may be called the first year of the revival of public spirit and +public opinion after the Union. In that year Grattan had allowed himself to be +persuaded by Fox, into entering the Imperial Parliament, and his old friend +Lord Fitzwilliam found a constituency for him, in his Yorkshire borough of +Malton. About the same time, Pitt, or his colleagues, induced Plunkett to enter +the same great assembly, providing him with a constituency at Midhurst, in +Sussex. But they did not succeed—if they ever attempted—to match +Plunkett with Grattan. Those great men were warm and close friends in the +Imperial as they had been in the Irish Parliament; very dissimilar in their +genius, they were both decided anti-Jacobins; both strenuous advocates of the +Catholic claims, and both proud and fond of their original country. Grattan had +more poetry, and Plunkett more science; but the heart of the man of colder +exterior opened and swelled out, in one of the noblest tributes ever paid by +one great orator to another, when Plunkett introduced in 1821, in the Imperial +Parliament, his allusion to his illustrious friend, then recently deceased. +</p> + +<p> +Preparatory to the meeting of Parliament in 1805, the members of the old +Catholic Committee, who had not met for any such purpose for several years, +assembled in Dublin, and prepared a petition which they authorized their +chairman, Lord Fingall, to place in such hands as he might choose, for +presentation in both Houses. His lordship on reaching London waited on Mr. +Pitt, and entreated him to take charge of the petition; but he found that the +Prime Minister had promised the King one thing and the Catholics another, and, +therefore, declined acceding to his request. He then gave the petition into the +charge of Lord Grenville and Mr. Fox, and by them the subject was brought +accordingly before the Lords and Commons. This debate in the Commons was +remarkable in many respects, but most of all for Grattan's <i>debut</i>. A +lively curiosity to hear one of whom so much had been said in his own country, +pervaded the whole House, as Grattan rose. His grotesque little figure, his +eccentric action, and his strangely cadenced sentences rather surprised than +attracted attention, but as he warmed with the march of ideas, men of both +parties warmed to the genial and enlarged philosophy, embodied in the +interfused rhetoric and logic of the orator; Pitt was seen to beat time with +his hand to every curiously proportioned period, and at length both sides of +the House broke into hearty acknowledgments of the genius of the new member for +Malton. But as yet their cheers were not followed by their votes; the division +against going into Committee was 336 to 124. +</p> + +<p> +In sustaining Fox's motion, Sir John Cox Hippesley had suggested "the Veto" as +a safeguard against the encroachments of Rome, which the Irish bishops would +not be disposed to refuse. Archbishop Troy, and Dr. Moylan, Bishop of Cork, +gave considerable praise to this speech, and partly at their request it was +published in pamphlet form. This brought up directly a discussion among the +Catholics, which lasted until 1810, was renewed in 1813, and not finally set at +rest till the passage of the bill of 1829, without any such safeguard. Sir John +C. Hippesley had modelled his proposal, he said, on the liberties of the +Gallican Church. "Her privileges," he added, "depended on two prominent maxims: +1st. That the Pope had no authority to order or interfere in anything in which +the civil rights of the kingdom were concerned. 2nd. That notwithstanding the +Pope's supremacy was acknowledged in cases purely spiritual, yet, in other +respects, his power was limited by the decrees of the ancient councils of the +realm." The Irish Church, therefore, was to be similarly administered, to +obviate the objections of the opponents of complete civil emancipation. +</p> + +<p> +In February, 1806, on the death of Pitt, Mr. Fox came into power, with an +uncertain majority and a powerful opposition. In April, the Duke of Bedford +arrived, as Viceroy, at Dublin, and the Catholics presented, through Mr. Keogh, +a mild address, expressive of their hopes that "the glorious development" of +their emancipation would be reserved for the new government. The Duke returned +an evasive answer in public, but privately, both at Dublin and London, the +Catholics were assured that, as soon as the new Premier could convert the +King—as soon as he was in a position to act—he would make their +cause his own. No doubt Fox, who had great nobleness of soul, intended to do +so; but on the 13th of September of the same year, he followed his great rival, +Pitt, to the vaults of Westminster Abbey. A few months only had intervened +between the death of the rivals. +</p> + +<p> +Lords Grey and Grenville, during the next recess, having formed a new +administration, instructed their Irish Secretary, Mr. Elliot, to put himself in +communication with the Catholics, in relation to a measure making them eligible +to naval and military offices. The Catholics accepted this proposal with +pleasure, but at the opening of the session of 1807, in a deputation to the +Irish government, again urged the question of complete emancipation. The bill +in relation to the army and navy had, originally, the King's acquiescence; but +early in March, after it had passed the Commons, George III. changed his +mind—if the expression may be used of him—at that time. He declared +he had not considered it at first so important as he afterwards found it; he +intimated that it could not receive his sanction; he went farther—he +required a written pledge from Lords Grey and Grenville never again to bring +forward such a measure, "nor ever to propose anything connected with the +Catholic question." This unconstitutional pledge they refused to give, hurried +the bill into law, and resigned. Mr. Spencer Perceval was then sent for, and +what was called "the No-Popery Cabinet," in which Mr. Canning and Lord +Castlereagh were the principal Secretaries of State, was formed. Thus, for the +second time in six years, had the Catholic question made and unmade cabinets. +</p> + +<p> +The Catholics were a good deal dispirited in 1805, by the overwhelming majority +by which their petition of that year was refused to be referred to a committee. +In 1806, they contented themselves with simply addressing the Duke of Bedford, +on his arrival at Dublin. In 1807, the "No-Popery Cabinet," by the result of +the elections, was placed in possession of an immense majority—a fact +which excluded all prospects of another change of government. But the Committee +were too long accustomed to disappointments to despair even under these +reverses. Early in the next session their petition was presented by Mr. Grattan +in the Commons, and Lord Donoughmore in the Lords. The majority against going +into committee was, in the Commons, 153; in the Lords, 87. Similar motions in +the session of 1808, made by the same parties, were rejected by majorities +somewhat reduced, and the question, on the whole, might be said to have +recovered some of its former vantage ground, in despite of the bitter, +pertinacious resistance of Mr. Perceval, in the one House, and the Duke of +Portland, in the other. +</p> + +<p> +The short-lived administration of Mr. Fox, though it was said to include "all +the talents," had been full of nothing but disappointment to his Irish +supporters. The Duke of Bedford was, indeed, a great improvement on Lord +Hardwicke, and Mr. Ponsonby on Lord Redesdale, as Chancellor, and the +liberation of the political prisoners confined since 1803 did honour to the new +administration. But there the measures of justice so credulously expected, both +as to persons and interests, ended. Curran, whose professional claims to +advancement were far beyond those of dozens of men who had been, during the +past ten years, lifted over his head, was neglected, and very naturally +dissatisfied; Grattan, never well adapted for a courtier, could not obtain even +minor appointments for his oldest and staunchest adherents; while the Catholics +found their Whig friends, now that they were in office, as anxious to exact the +hard conditions of the Veto as Castlereagh himself. +</p> + +<p> +In truth, the Catholic body at this period, and for a few years subsequently, +was deplorably disorganized. The young generation of Catholic lawyers who had +grown up since the Relief Act of '93 threw the profession open to them, were +men of another stamp from the old generation of Catholic merchants, who had +grown up under the Relief Act of 1778. In the ten years before the Union, the +Catholic middle class was headed by men of business; in the period we have now +reached, their principal spokesmen came from "the Four Courts." John Keogh, the +ablest, wisest and firmest of the former generation, was now passing into the +decline of life, was frequently absent from the Committee, and when present, +frequently overruled by younger and more ardent men. In 1808, his absence, from +illness, was regretted by Mr. O'Connell in an eloquent speech addressed to the +Committee on the necessity of united action and incessant petitions. "Had he +been present," said the young barrister, "his powers of reasoning would have +frightened away the captious objections" to that course, "and the Catholics of +Ireland would again have to thank their old and useful servant for the +preservation of their honour and the support of their interests." It was a +strange anomaly, and one which continued for some years longer, that the +statesmen of the Catholic body should be all Protestants. A more generous or +tolerant spirit than Grattan's never existed; a clearer or more fearless +intellect than Plunkett's was not to be found; nobler and more disinterested +friends than Ponsonby, Curran, Burroughs and Wallace, no people ever had; but +still they were friends from without; men of another religion, or of no +particular religion, advising and guiding an eminently religious people in +their struggle for religious liberty. This could not always last; it was not +natural, it was not desirable that it should last, though some years more were +to pass away before Catholic Emancipation was to be accomplished by the union, +the energy and the strategy of the Catholics themselves. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap110"></a>CHAPTER III.<br/> +ADMINISTRATION OF THE DUKE OF RICHMOND (1807 TO 1813).</h3> + +<p> +Charles, fourth Duke of Richmond, succeeded the Duke of Bedford, as Viceroy, in +April, 1807, with Lord Manners as Lord Chancellor, John Foster, Chancellor of +the Exchequer—for the separate exchequer of Ireland continued to exist +till 1820—and Sir Arthur Wellesley as Chief Secretary. Of these names, +the two last were already familiar to their countrymen, in connection with the +history of their own Parliament; but the new Chief Secretary had lately +returned home covered with Indian laurels, and full of the promise of other +honours and victories to come. +</p> + +<p> +The spirit of this administration was repressive, anti-Catholic and high Tory. +To maintain and strengthen British power, to keep the Catholics quiet, to get +possession of the Irish representation and convert it into a means of support +for the Tory party in England, these were the leading objects of the seven +years' administration of the Duke of Richmond. Long afterwards, when the Chief +Secretary of 1807 had become "the most high, mighty and noble prince," whom all +England and nearly all Europe delighted to honour, he defended the Irish +administration of which he had formed a part, for its habitual use of corrupt +means and influence, in arguments which do more credit to his frankness than +his morality. He had "to turn the moral weakness of individuals to good +account," such was his argument. He stoutly denied that "the whole nation is, +or ever was corrupt;" but as "almost every man of mark has his price," the +Chief Secretary was obliged to use corrupt influences "to command a majority in +favour of order;" however the particular kinds of influence employed might go +against his grain, he had, as he contended, no other alternative but to employ +them. +</p> + +<p> +With the exception of a two months' campaign in Denmark—July to +September, 1807—Sir Arthur Wellesley continued to fill the office of +Chief Secretary, until his departure for the Peninsula, in July, 1808. Even +then he was expressly requested to retain the nominal office, with power to +appoint a deputy, and receive meanwhile the very handsome salary of 8,000 +pounds sterling a year. In the wonderful military events, in which during the +next seven years Sir Arthur was to play a leading part, the comparatively +unimportant particulars of his Irish Secretariate have been long since +forgotten. We have already described the general spirit of that administration: +it is only just to add, that the dispassionate and resolute secretary, though +he never shrank from his share of the jobbery done daily at the Castle, +repressed with as much firmness the over-zeal of those he calls "red-hot +Protestants," as he showed in resisting, at that period, what he considered the +unconstitutional pretensions of the Catholics. An instance of the impartiality +to which he was capable of rising, when influenced by partisans or religious +prejudices, is afforded by his letter dissuading the Wexford yeomanry from +celebrating the anniversary of the battle of Vinegar Hill. He regarded such a +celebration as certain "to exasperate party spirit," and "to hurt the feelings +of others;" he, therefore, in the name of the Lord-Lieutenant, strongly +discouraged it, and the intention was accordingly abandoned. It is to be +regretted that the same judicious rule was not at the same time enforced by +government as to the celebration of the much more obsolete and much more +invidious anniversaries of Aughrim and the Boyne. +</p> + +<p> +The general election which followed the death of Fox, in November, 1806, was +the first great trial of political strength under the Union. As was right and +proper, Mr. Grattan, no longer indebted for a seat to an English patron, +however liberal, was returned at the head of the poll for the city of Dublin. +His associate, however, the banker, La Touche, was defeated; the second member +elect being Mr. Robert Shaw, the Orange candidate. The Catholic electors to a +man, under the vigorous prompting of John Keogh and his friends, polled their +votes for their Protestant advocate; they did more, they subscribed the sum of +4,000 pounds sterling to pay the expenses of the contest, but this sum Mrs. +Grattan induced the treasurer to return to the subscribers. Ever watchful for +her husband's honour, that admirable woman, as ardent a patriot as himself, +refused the generous tender of the Catholics of Dublin. Although his several +elections had cost Mr. Grattan above 54,000 pounds—more than the whole +national grant of 1782—she would not, in this case, that any one else +should bear the cost of his last triumph in the widowed capital of his own +country. +</p> + +<p> +The great issue tried in this election of 1807, in those of 1812, 1818, and +1826, was still the Catholic question. All other Irish, and most other imperial +domestic questions were subordinate to this. In one shape or another, it came +up in every session of Parliament. It entered into the calculations of every +statesman of every party; it continued to make and unmake cabinets; in the +press and in every society, it was the principal topic of discussion. While +tracing, therefore, its progress, from year to year, we do but follow the main +stream of national history; all other branches come back again to this centre, +or exhaust themselves in secondary and forgotten results. +</p> + +<p> +The Catholics themselves, deprived in Ireland of a Parliament on which they +could act directly, were driven more and more into permanent association, as +the only means of operating a change in the Imperial legislature. The value of +a legal, popular, systematic, and continuous combination of "the people" acting +within the law, by means of meetings, resolutions, correspondence, and +petitions, was not made suddenly, nor by all the party interested, at one and +the same time. On the minds of the more sagacious, however, an impression, +favourable to such organized action, grew deeper year by year, and at last +settled into a certainty which was justified by success. +</p> + +<p> +In May, 1809, the Catholic Committee had been reconstructed, and its numbers +enlarged. In a series of resolutions it was agreed that the Catholic lords, the +surviving delegates of 1793, the committee which managed the petitions of 1805 +and 1807, and such persons "as shall distinctly appear to them to possess the +confidence of the Catholic body," do form henceforth the General Committee. It +was proposed by O'Connell, to avoid "the Convention Act," "that the noblemen +and gentlemen aforesaid are not representatives of the Catholic body, or any +portion thereof." The Committee were authorized to collect funds for defraying +expenses; a Treasurer was chosen, and a permanent Secretary, Mr. Edward Hay, +the historian of the Wexford rebellion—an active and intelligent officer. +The new Committee acted with great judgment in 1810, but in 1811 Lord Fingal +and his friends projected a General Assembly of the leading Catholics, contrary +to the Convention Act, and to the resolution just cited. O'Connell was opposed +to this proposition; yet the assembly met, and were dispersed by the +authorities. The Chairman, Lord Fingal, and Drs. Sheridan and Kirwan, +Secretaries, were arrested. Lord Fingal, however, was not prosecuted, but the +Secretaries were, and one of them expiated by two years' imprisonment his +violation of the act. To get rid of the very pretext of illegality, the +Catholic Committee dissolved, but only to reappear under a less vulnerable +form, as "the Catholic Board." +</p> + +<p> +It is from the year 1810 that we must date the rise, among the Catholics +themselves, of a distinctive line of policy, suited to the circumstances of the +present century, and the first appearance of a group of public men, capable of +maintaining and enforcing that policy. Not that the ancient leaders of that +body were found deficient, in former times, either in foresight or +determination; but new times called for new men; the Irish Catholics were now +to seek their emancipation from the imperial government; new tactics and new +combinations were necessary to success; and, in brief, instead of being +liberated from their bonds at the good will and pleasure of benevolent +Protestants, it was now to be tested whether they were capable of contributing +to their own emancipation,—whether they were willing and able to assist +their friends and to punish their enemies. +</p> + +<p> +Though the Irish Catholics could not legally meet in convention any more than +their Protestant fellow-countrymen, there was nothing to prevent them +assembling voluntarily, from every part of the kingdom, without claim to +delegation. With whom the happy idea of "the aggregate meetings" originated is +not certainly known, but to O'Connell and the younger set of leading spirits +this was a machinery capable of being worked with good effect. No longer +confined to a select Committee, composed mainly of a few aged and cautious, +though distinguished persons, the fearless "agitators," as they now began to be +called, stood face to face with the body of the people themselves. The disused +theatre in Fishamble Street was their habitual place of meeting in Dublin, and +there, in 1811 and 1812, the orators met to criticise the conduct of the Duke +of Richmond—to denounce Mr. Wellesley Pole—to attack Secretaries of +State and Prime Ministers—to return thanks to Lords Grey and Grenville +for refusing to give the unconstitutional anti-Catholic pledge required by the +King, and to memorial the Prince Regent. From those meetings, especially in the +year 1812, the leadership of O'Connell must be dated. After seven years of +wearisome probation, after enduring seven years the envy and the calumny of +many who, as they were his fellow-labourers, should have been his friends; +after demonstrating for seven years that his judgment and his courage were +equal to his eloquence, the successful Kerry barrister, then in his +thirty-seventh year, was at length generally recognized as "the counsellor" of +his co-religionists—as the veritable "Man of the People." Dangers, +delays and difficulties lay thick and dark in the future, but from the year, +when in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, the voice of the famous advocate was +recognized as the voice of the Catholics of Ireland, their cause was taken out +of the category of merely ministerial measures, and exhibited in its true light +as a great national contest, entered into by the people themselves for complete +civil and religious freedom. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Arthur Wellesley had been succeeded in 1810 in the Secretaryship by his +brother, Mr. Wellesley Pole, who chiefly signalized his administration by a +circular against conventions, and the prosecution of Sheridan and Kirwan, in +1811. He was in turn succeeded by a much more able and memorable +person—<i>Mr</i>., afterwards Sir Robert Peel. The names of Peel and +Wellington come thus into juxtaposition in Irish politics in 1812, as they will +be found in juxtaposition on the same subject twenty and thirty years later. +</p> + +<p> +Early in the session of 1812, Mr. Perceval, the Premier, had been assassinated +in the lobby of the House of Commons, by Bellingham, and a new political crisis +was precipitated on the country. In the government which followed, Lord +Liverpool became the chief, with Castlereagh and Canning as members of his +administration. In the general election which followed, Mr. Grattan was again +returned for Dublin, and Mr. Plunkett was elected for Trinity College, but Mr. +Curran was defeated at Newry, and Mr. Christopher Hely Hutchinson, the liberal +candidate, at Cork. Upon the whole, however, the result was favourable to the +Catholic cause, and the question was certain to have several additional Irish +supporters in the new House of Commons. +</p> + +<p> +In the administrative changes that followed, Mr. Peel, though only in his +twenty-fourth year, was appointed to the important post of Chief Secretary. The +son of the first baronet of the name—this youthful statesman had first +been elected for Cashel, almost as soon as he came of age, in 1809. He +continued Chief Secretary for six years, from the twenty-fourth to the +thirtieth year of his age. He distinguished himself in the House of Commons +almost as soon as he entered it, and the predictions of his future premiership +were not, even then, confined to members of his own family. No English +statesman, since the death of William Pitt, has wielded so great a power in +Irish affairs as Sir Robert Peel, and it is, therefore, important to consider, +under what influence, and by what maxims he regulated his public conduct during +the time he filled the most important administrative office in that country. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Robert Peel brought to the Irish government, notwithstanding his Oxford +education and the advantages of foreign travel which he had enjoyed, prejudices +the most illiberal, on the subject of all others on which a statesman should be +most free from prejudice—religion. An anti-Catholic of the school of Mr. +Perceval and Lord Eldon, he at once constituted himself the principal opponent +of Grattan's annual motion in favour of Catholic Emancipation. That older men, +born in the evil time, should be bigots and defenders of the Penal Code, was +hardly wonderful, but a young statesman, exhibiting at that late day, such +studied and active hostility to so large a body of his fellow subjects, +naturally drew upon his head the execrations of all those whose enfranchisement +he so stubbornly resisted. Even his great abilities were most absurdly denied, +under this passionate feeling of wrong and injustice. His Constabulary and his +Stipendiary Magistracy were resisted, ridiculed, and denounced, as outrages on +the liberty of the subject, and assaults on the independence of the bench. The +term <i>Peeler</i> became synonymous with spy, informer, and traitor, and the +Chief Secretary was detested not only for the illiberal sentiments he had +expressed, but for the machinery of order he had established. After half a +century's experience, we may safely say, that the Irish Constabulary have shown +themselves to be a most valuable police, and as little deserving of popular +ill-will as any such body can ever expect to be, but they were judged very +differently during the Secretaryship of their founder; for, at that time, being +new and intrusive, they may, no doubt, have deserved many of the hard and +bitter things which were generally said of them. +</p> + +<p> +The first session of the new Parliament in the year 1813—the last of the +Duke of Richmond's Viceroyalty—was remarkable for the most important +debate which had yet arisen on the Catholic question. In the previous year, a +motion of Canning's, in favour of "a final and conciliatory adjustment," which +was carried by an unexpected majority of 235 to 106, encouraged Grattan to +prepare a detailed Emancipation Bill, instead of making his usual annual motion +of referring the Catholic petitions to the consideration of the Committee. This +bill recited the establishment of the Protestant succession to the crown, and +the establishment of the Protestant religion in the State. It then proceeded to +provide that Roman Catholics might sit and vote in Parliament; might hold all +offices, civil and military, except the offices of Chancellor or Keeper of the +Great Seal in England, or Lord-Lieutenant, Lord Deputy, or Chancellor of +Ireland; another section threw open to Roman Catholics all lay corporations, +while a proviso excluded them either from holding or bestowing benefices in the +Established Church. Such was the Emancipation Act of 1813, proposed by Grattan; +an act far less comprehensive than that introduced by the same statesman in +1795, into the Parliament of Ireland, but still, in many of its provisions, a +long stride in advance. +</p> + +<p> +Restricted and conditioned as this measure was, it still did not meet the +objections of the opponents of the question, in giving the crown a Veto in the +appointment of the bishops. Sir John Hippesley's pernicious +suggestion—reviving a very old traditional policy—was embodied by +Canning in one set of amendments, and by Castlereagh in another. Canning's +amendments, as summarised by the eminent Catholic jurist, Charles Butler, were +to this effect:— +</p> + +<p> +"He first appointed a certain number of Commissioners, who were to profess the +Catholic religion, and to be lay peers of Great Britain or Scotland, possessing +a freehold estate of one thousand pounds a year; to be filled up, from time to +time, by his Majesty, his heirs, or successors. The Commissioners were to take +an oath for the faithful discharge of their office, and the observance of +secrecy in all matters not thereby required to be disclosed, with power to +appoint a Secretary with salary (proposed to be five hundred pounds a year), +payable out of the consolidated fund. The Secretary was to take an oath similar +to that of the Commissioners. +</p> + +<p> +"It was then provided, that every person elected to the discharge of Roman +Catholic episcopal functions in Great Britain or Scotland should, previously to +the discharge of his office, notify his then election to the Secretary; that +the Secretary should notify it to the Commissioners, and they to the Privy +Council, with a certificate 'that they did not know or believe anything of the +person nominated, which tended to impeach his loyalty or peaceable conduct;' +unless they had knowledge of the contrary, in which case they should refuse +their certificate. Persons obtaining such a certificate were rendered capable +of exercising episcopal functions within the United Kingdom; if they exercised +them without a certificate, they were to be considered guilty of a misdemeanor, +and liable to be sent out of the kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +"Similar provisions respecting Ireland were then introduced." +</p> + +<p> +"The second set of clauses," says Mr. Butler, "was suggested by Lord +Castlereagh, and provided that the Commissioners under the preceding +clauses—with the addition, as to Great Britain, of the Lord Chancellor, +or Lord Keeper, or first Commissioner of the Great Seal for the time being, and +of one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, being a Protestant, or +such other Protestant member of his Privy Council as his Majesty should +appoint—and with a similar addition in respect to Ireland—and with +the further addition, as to Great Britain, of the person then exercising +episcopal functions among the Catholics in London—and, in respect to +Ireland, of the titular Roman Catholic Archbishops of Armagh and +Dublin,—should be Commissioners for the purposes thereinafter mentioned. +</p> + +<p> +"The Commissioners thus appointed were to take an oath for the discharge of +their office, and observance of secrecy, similar to the former, and employ the +same Secretary, and three of them were to form a quorum. +</p> + +<p> +"The bill then provided, that subjects of his Majesty, receiving any bull, +dispensation, or other instrument, from the See of Rome, or any person in +foreign parts, acting under the authority of that See, should, within six +weeks, send a copy of it, signed with his name, to the Secretary of the +Commissioners, who should transmit the same to them. +</p> + +<p> +"But with a proviso, that if the person receiving the same should deliver to +the Secretary of the Commission, within the time before prescribed, a writing +under his hand, certifying the fact of his having received such a bull, +dispensation, or other instrument, and accompanying his certificate with an +oath, declaring that 'it related, wholly and exclusively, to spiritual +concerns, and that it did not contain, or refer to, any matter or thing which +did or could, directly or indirectly, affect or interfere with the duty and +allegiance which he owed to his Majesty's sacred person and government, or with +the temporal, civil, or social rights, properties, or duties of any other of +his Majesty's subjects, then the Commissioners were, in their discretion, to +receive such certificate and oath, in lieu of the copy of the bull, +dispensation, or other instrument. +</p> + +<p> +"Persons conforming to these provisions were to be exempted from all pains and +penalties, to which they would be liable under the existing statutes; +otherwise, they were to be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor; and in lieu of +the pains and penalties, under the former statutes, be liable to be sent out of +the kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +"The third set of clauses provided that, within a time to be specified, the +Commissioners were to meet and appoint their Secretary, and give notice of it +to his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State in Great Britain and Ireland; +and the provisions of the act were to be in force from that time." +</p> + +<p> +On the second reading, in May, the Committee of Parliament, on motion of the +Speaker, then on the floor, struck out the clause enabling Catholics "to sit +and vote in either House of Parliament," by a majority of four votes: 251 +against 247. Mr. Ponsonby immediately rose, and, observing that, as "the bill +without the clause," was unworthy both of the Catholics and its authors, he +moved the chairman do leave the chair. The committee rose, without a division, +and the Emancipation Bill of 1813 was abandoned. +</p> + +<p> +Unhappily, the contest in relation to the Veto, which had originated in the +House of Commons, was extended to the Catholic body at large. Several of the +noblemen, members of the board, were not averse to granting some such power as +was claimed to the crown; some of the professional class, more anxious to be +emancipated than particular as to the means, favoured the same view. The +bishops at the time of the Union, were known to have entertained the idea, and +Sir John Hippesley had published their letters, which certainly did not +discourage his proposal. But the second order of the clergy, the immense +majority of the laity, and all the new prelates, called to preside over vacant +sees, in the first decade of the century, were strongly opposed to any such +connexion with the head of the State. Of this party, Mr. O'Connell was the +uncompromising organ, and, perhaps, it was his course on this very subject of +the Veto, more than anything else, which established his pretensions to be +considered the leader of the Catholic body. Under the prompting of the +majority, the Catholic prelates met and passed a resolution declaring that they +could not accept the bill of 1813 as a satisfactory settlement. This resolution +they formally communicated to the Catholic Board, who voted them, on +O'Connell's motion, enthusiastic thanks. The minority of the Board were silent +rather than satisfied, and their dissatisfaction was shown rather by their +absence from the Board meetings than by open opposition. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. O'Connell's position, from this period forward, may be best understood from +the tone in which he was spoken of in the debates of Parliament. At the +beginning of the session of 1815, we find the Chief Secretary (Mr. Peel) +stating that he "possesses more influence than any other person" with the Irish +Catholics, and that no meeting of that body was considered complete unless a +vote of thanks to Mr. O'Connell was among the resolutions. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap111"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br/> +O'CONNELL'S LEADERSHIP—1813 TO 1821.</h3> + +<p> +While the Veto controversy was carried into the press and the Parliamentary +debates, the extraordinary events of the last years of Napoleon's reign became +of such extreme interest as to cast into the shade all questions of domestic +policy. The Parliamentary fortunes of the Catholic question varied with the +fortunes of the war, and the remoteness of external danger. Thus, in 1815, Sir +Henry Parnell's motion for a committee was rejected by a majority of 228 to +147; in 1816, on Mr. Grattan's similar motion, the vote was 172 to 141; in +1817, Mr. Grattan was again defeated by 245 to 221; in this session an act +exempting officers in the army and navy from forswearing Transubstantiation +passed and became law. The internal condition of the Catholic body, both in +England and Ireland, during all those years, was far from enviable. In England +there were Cisalpine and Ultramontane factions; in Ireland, Vetoists and +anti-Vetoists. The learned and amiable Charles Butler—among jurists, the +ornament of his order, was fiercely opposed to the no less learned Dr. Milner, +author of "The End of Controversy," and "Letters to a Prebendary." In Ireland, +a very young barrister, who had hardly seen the second anniversary of his +majority, electrified the aggregate meetings with a new Franco-Irish order of +eloquence, naturally enough employed in the maintenance of Gallican ideas of +church government. This was Richard Lalor Shiel, the author of two or three +successful tragedies, and the man, next to O'Connell, who wielded the largest +tribunitian power over the Irish populace during the whole of the subsequent +agitation. Educated at Stoneyhurst, he imbibed from refugee professors French +idioms and a French standard of taste, while, strangely enough, O'Connell, to +whom he was at first opposed, and of whom he became afterwards the first +lieutenant, educated in France by British refugees, acquired the cumbrous +English style of the Douay Bible and the Rheims Testament. The contrast between +the two men was every way extreme; physically, mentally, and politically; but +it is pleasant to know that their differences never degenerated into distrust, +envy or malice; that, in fact, Daniel O'Connell had throughout all his after +life no more steadfast personal friend than Richard Lalor Shiel. +</p> + +<p> +In the progress of the Catholic agitation, the next memorable incident was +O'Connell's direct attack on the Prince Regent. That powerful personage, the +<i>de facto</i> Sovereign of the realm, had long amused the Irish Catholics +with promises and pledges of being favourable to their cause. At an aggregate +meeting, in June, 1812, Mr. O'Connell maintained that there were four distinct +pledges of this description in existence: 1. One given in 1806, through the +Duke of Bedford, then Lord-Lieutenant, to induce the Catholics to withhold +their petitions for a time. 2. Another given the same year in the Prince's name +by Mr. Ponsonby, then Chancellor. 3. A pledge given to Lord Kenmare, <i>in +writing</i>, when at Cheltenham. 4. A verbal pledge given to Lord Fingal, in +the presence of Lords Clifford and Petre, and reduced to writing and signed by +these three noblemen, soon after quitting the Prince's presence. Over the +meeting at which this indictment was preferred, Lord Fingal presided, and the +celebrated "witchery" resolutions, referring to the influence then exercised on +the Prince by Lady Hertford, were proposed by his lordship's son, Lord Killeen. +It may, therefore, be fairly assumed, that the existence of the fourth pledge +was proved, the first and second were never denied, and as to the +third—that given to Lord Kenmare—the only correction ever made was, +that the Prince's message was delivered verbally, by his Private Secretary, +Colonel McMahon, and not in writing. Lord Kenmare, who died in the autumn of +1812, could not be induced, from a motive of delicacy, to reduce his +recollection of this message to writing, but he never denied that he had +received it, and O'Connell, therefore, during the following years, always held +the Prince accountable for this, as for his other promises. Much difference of +opinion arose as to the wisdom of attacking a person in the position of the +Prince; but O'Connell, fully persuaded of the utter worthlessness of the +declarations made in that quarter, decided for himself that the bold course was +the wise course. The effect already was various. The English Whigs, the +Prince's early and constant friends, who had followed him to lengths that +honour could hardly sanction, and who had experienced his hollow-heartedness +when lately called to govern during his father's illness; they, of course, were +not sorry to see him held up to odium in Ireland, as a dishonoured gentleman +and a false friend. The Irish Whigs, of whom Lord Moira and Mr. Ponsonby were +the leaders, and to whom Mr. Grattan might be said to be attached rather than +to belong, saw the rupture with regret, but considered it inevitable. Among +"the Prince's friends" the attacks upon him in the Dublin meetings were +regarded as little short of treason; while by himself, it is well known the +"witchery" resolutions of 1812 were neither forgotten nor forgiven. +</p> + +<p> +The political position of the Holy See, at this period, was such as to induce +and enable an indirect English influence to be exercised, through that channel, +upon the Irish Catholic movement. Pope Pius VII., a prisoner in France, had +delegated to several persons at Rome certain vicarious powers, to be exercised +in his name, in case of necessity; of these, more than one had followed him +into exile, so that the position of his representative devolved at length upon +Monsignor Quarrantotti, who, early in 1814, addressed a rescript to Dr. +Poynter, vicar-apostolic of the London district, commendatory of the Bill of +1813, including the Veto, and the Ecclesiastical Commission proposed by Canning +and Castlereagh. Against these dangerous concessions, as they considered them, +the Irish Catholics despatched their remonstrances to Rome, through the agency +of the celebrated Wexford Franciscan, Father Richard Hayes; but this clergyman, +having spoken with too great freedom, was arrested, and suffered several +months' confinement in the Eternal City. A subsequent embassy of Dr. Murray, +coadjutor to the Archbishop of Dublin, on behalf of his brother prelates, was +attended with no greater advantage, though the envoy himself was more properly +treated. On his return to Ireland, at a meeting held to hear his report, +several strong resolutions were unanimously adopted, of which the spirit may be +judged from the following—the concluding one of the series—"Though +we sincerely venerate the supreme Pontiff as visible head of the Church, we do +not conceive that our apprehensions for the safety of the Roman Catholic Church +in Ireland can or ought to be removed by any determination of His Holiness, +adopted or intended to be adopted, not only without our concurrence, but in +direct opposition to our repeated resolutions and the very energetic memorial +presented on our behalf, and so ably supported by our Deputy, the Most Reverend +Dr. Murray; who, in that quality, was more competent to inform His Holiness of +the real state and interests of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland than any +other with whom he is said to have consulted." +</p> + +<p> +The resolutions were transmitted to Rome, signed by the two Archbishops +present, by Dr. Everard, the coadjutor of the Archbishop of Cashel, by Dr. +Murray, the coadjutor of the Archbishop of Dublin, by the Bishops of Meath, +Cloyne, Clonfert, Kerry, Waterford, Derry, Achonry, Killala, Killaloe, Kilmore, +Ferns, Limerick, Elphin, Cork, Down and Conor, Ossory, Raphoe, Clogher, +Dromore, Kildare and Leighlin, Ardagh, and the Warden of Galway. Dr. Murray, +and Dr. Murphy, Bishop of Cork, were commissioned to carry this new +remonstrance to Rome, and the greatest anxiety was felt for the result of their +mission. +</p> + +<p> +A strange result of this new <i>embroglio</i> in the Catholic cause was, that +it put the people on the defensive for their religious liberties, not so much +against England as against Rome. The unlucky Italian Monsignor who had +volunteered his sanction of the Veto, fared scarcely better at the popular +gatherings than Lord Castlereagh, or Mr. Peel. "Monsieur Forty-eight," as he +was nicknamed, in reference to some strange story of his ancestor taking his +name from a lucky lottery ticket of that number, was declared to be no better +than a common Orangeman, and if the bitter denunciations uttered against him, +on the Liffey and the Shannon, had only been translated into Italian, the +courtly Prelate must have been exceedingly amazed at the democratic fury of a +Catholic population, as orthodox as himself, but much more jealous of State +interference with things spiritual. The second order of the clergy were hardly +behind the laity, in the fervour of their opposition to the rescript of 1814. +Their entire body, secular and regular, residing in and about Dublin, published +a very strong protest against it, headed by Dr. Blake, afterwards Bishop of +Dromore, in which it was denounced as "pregnant with mischief" and entirely +"non-obligatory upon the Catholic Church in Ireland." The several +ecclesiastical provinces followed up these declarations with a surprising +unanimity, and although a Vetoistical address to His Holiness was despatched by +the Cisalpine club in England, the Irish ideas of Church government triumphed +at Rome. Drs. Murray and Milner were received with his habitual kindness by +Pius VII.; the illustrious Cardinal Gonsalvi was appointed by the Pope to draw +up an explanatory rescript, and Monsignor Quarrantotti was removed from his +official position. The firmness manifested at that critical period by the Irish +church has since been acknowledged with many encomiums by all the successors of +Pope Pius VII. +</p> + +<p> +The Irish government under the new Viceroy, Lord Whitworth (the former +ambassador to Napoleon), conceiving that the time had come, in the summer of +1814, to suppress the Catholic Board, a proclamation forbidding his Majesty's +subjects to attend future meetings of that body issued from Dublin Castle, on +the 3rd of June. The leaders of the body, after consultation at Mr. O'Connell's +residence, decided to bow to this proclamation and to meet no more as a Board; +but this did not prevent them, in the following winter, from holding a new +series of Aggregate meetings, far more formidable, in some respects, than the +deliberative meetings which had been suppressed. In the vigorous and somewhat +aggressive tone taken at these meetings, Lord Fingal, the chief of the Catholic +peerage, did not concur, and he accordingly withdrew for some years from the +agitation, Mr. Shiel, the Bellews, Mr. Ball, Mr. Wyse of Waterford, and a few +others, following his example. With O'Connell remained the O'Conor Don, Messrs. +Finlay and Lidwell (Protestants), Purcell O'Gorman, and other popular persons. +But the cause sustained a heavy blow in the temporary retirement of Lord Fingal +and his friends, and an attempt to form a "Catholic Association," in 1815, +without their co-operation, signally failed. +</p> + +<p> +During the next five years, the fortunes of the great Irish question fluctuated +with the exigencies of Imperial parties. The second American war had closed, if +not gloriously, at least without considerable loss to England; Napoleon had +exchanged Elba for St. Helena: Wellington was the Achilles of the Empire, and +Castlereagh its Ulysses. Yet it was not in the nature of those free Islanders, +the danger and pressure of foreign war removed, to remain always indifferent to +the two great questions of domestic policy—Catholic Emancipation and +Parliamentary Reform. In the session of 1816, a motion of Sir John Newport's to +inquire into the state of Ireland, was successfully resisted by Sir Robert +Peel, but the condition and state of public feeling in England could not be as +well ignored by a Parliament sitting in London. In returning from the opening +of the Houses in January, 1817, the Regent was hooted in the street, and his +carriage riddled with stones. A reward of 1,000 pounds, issued for the +apprehension of the ringleaders, only gave additional <i>éclat</i> to the fact, +without leading to the apprehension of the assailants. +</p> + +<p> +The personal unpopularity of the Regent seems to have increased, in proportion +as death removed from him all those who stood nearest to the throne. In +November, 1817, his oldest child, the Princess Charlotte, married to Leopold, +since King of Belgium, died in childbed; in 1818, the aged Queen Charlotte +died; in January, 1820, the old King, in the eighty-second year of his age, +departed this life. Immediately afterwards the former Princess of Wales, long +separated from her profligate husband, returned from the Continent to claim her +rightful position as Queen Consort. The disgraceful accusations brought against +her, the trial before the House of Lords which followed, the courage and +eloquence of her counsel, Brougham and Denman, the eagerness with which the +people made her cause their own, are all well remembered events, and all beside +the purpose of this history. The unfortunate lady died after a short illness, +on the 7th of August, 1821; the same month in which Ms Majesty—George +IV.—departed on that Irish journey, so satirized in the undying verse of +Moore and Byron. +</p> + +<p> +Two other deaths, far more affecting than any among the mortalities of royalty, +marked the period at which we have arrived. These were the death of Curran in +1817, and the death of Grattan, in 1820. +</p> + +<p> +Curran, after his failure to be returned for Newry, in 1812, had never again +attempted public life. He remained in his office of Master of the Rolls, but +his health began to fail sensibly. During the summers of 1816 and '17, he +sought for recreation in Scotland, England and France, but the charm which +travel could not give—the charm of a cheerful spirit—was wanting. +In October, 1817, his friend, Charles Phillips, was suddenly called to his +bed-side at Brompton, near London, and found him with one side of his face and +body paralyzed cold. "And this was all," says his friend, "that remained of +Curran—the light of society—the glory of the forum—the +Fabricius of the senate—the idol of his country." Yes! even to less than +this, was he soon to sink. On the evening of the 14th of October, he expired, +in the 68th year of his age, leaving a public reputation as free from blemish +as ever did any man who had acted a leading part, in times like those through +which he had passed. He was interred in London, but twenty years afterwards, +the committee of the Glasnevin Cemetery, near Dublin, obtained permission of +his representatives to remove his ashes to their grounds, where they now +finally repose. A tomb modelled from the tomb of Scipio covers the grave, +bearing the simple but sufficient inscription—CURRAN. Thus was fulfilled +the words he had uttered long before—"The last duties will be paid by +that country on which they are devolved; nor will it be for charity that a +little earth will be given to my bones. Tenderly will those duties be paid, as +the debt of well-earned affection, and of gratitude not ashamed of her tears." +</p> + +<p> +Grattan's last days were characteristic of his whole life. As the session of +1820 progressed, though suffering from his last struggle with disease, he was +stirred by an irresistible desire to make his way to London, and present once +more the petition of the Catholics. Since the defeat of his Relief Bill of +1813, there had been some estrangement between him and the more advanced +section of the agitators, headed by O'Connell. This he was anxious, perhaps, to +heal or to overcome. He thought, moreover, that even if he should die in the +effort, it would be, as he said himself, "a good end." Amid— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"The trees which a nation had given, and which bowed<br/> +As if each brought a new civic crown to his head," +</p> + +<p> +he consulted with the Catholic delegates early in May. O'Connell was the +spokesman, and the scene may yet be rendered immortal by some great national +artist. All present felt that the aged patriot was dying, but still he would go +once more to London, to fall, as he said, "at his post." In leaving Ireland he +gave to his oldest friends directions for his funeral—that he might be +buried in the little churchyard of Moyanna, on the estate the people gave him +in 1782! He reached London, by slow stages, at the end of May, and proposed to +be in his place in the House on the 4th of June. But this gratification was not +permitted him: on the morning of the 4th, at six o'clock, he called his son to +his bed-side, and ordered him to bring him a paper containing his last +political opinions. "Add to it," he said, with all his old love of antithesis, +"that I die with a love of liberty in my heart, and this declaration in favour +of my country, in my hand." +</p> + +<p> +So worthily ended the mortal career of Henry Grattan. He was interred by the +side of his old friend, Charles James Fox, in Westminster Abbey; the mourners +included the highest imperial statesmen, and the Catholic orphan children; his +eulogium was pronounced in the House of Commons by William Conyngham Plunkett, +and in the Irish capital by Daniel O'Connell. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap112"></a>CHAPTER V.<br/> +RETROSPECT OF THE STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNING DURING THE REIGN OF GEORGE +III.</h3> + +<p> +Before relating the decisive events in the contest for Catholic Emancipation, +which marked the reign of George IV. we may be permitted to cast a glance +backward over the religious and secular state of Ireland, during the sixty +years' reign of George III. +</p> + +<p> +The relative position of the great religious denominations underwent a slow but +important revolution during this long reign. In the last days of George II., a +Chief-Justice was bold enough to declare that "the laws did not presume a +Papist to exist in the kingdom;" but under the sway of his successor, though +much against that successor's will, they advanced from one constitutional +victory to another, till they stood, in the person of the Earl Marshal, on the +very steps of the throne. In the towns and cities, the Catholic laity, once +admitted to commerce and the professions, rose rapidly to wealth and honour. A +Dublin Papist was at the head of the wine trade; another was the wealthiest +grazier in the kingdom; a third, at Cork, was the largest provision merchant. +With wealth came social ambition, and the heirs of these enfranchised merchants +were by a natural consequence the judges and legislators of the next +generation. +</p> + +<p> +The ecclesiastical organization of Ireland, as described in 1800 by the bishops +in answer to queries of the Chief Secretary, was simple and inexpensive. The +four archbishops and twenty bishops, were sustained by having certain parishes +attached to their cathedrals, <i>in commendam</i>: other <i>Cathedraticum</i> +there seems to have been none. Armagh had then 350 parish priests, Tuam 206, +Cashel 314, and Dublin 156: in all 1126. The number of curates or coadjutors +was at least equal to that of the parish priests; while of regulars then +returned the number did not exceed 450. This large body of religious—24 +prelates, nearly 3,000 clergy—exclusive of female religious—were +then, and have ever since been, sustained by the voluntary contributions of the +laity, paid chiefly at the two great festivals of Christmas and Easter, or by +customary offerings made at the close of the ceremonies of marriages, baptisms, +and death. Though the income of some of the churches was considerable, in the +great majority of cases the amount received barely sufficed to fulfil the +injunction of St. Patrick to his disciples, that "the lamp should take but that +wherewith it was fed." +</p> + +<p> +The Presbyterian clergy, though in some respects more dependent on their +congregations than the Catholics were, did not always, nor in all cases, depend +on the voluntary principle for their maintenance. The Irish Supply Bill +contained an annual item before the Union of 7,700 pounds for the Antrim Synod, +and some other dissenting bodies. The <i>Regium Donum</i> was not, indeed, +general; but that it might be made so, was one of the inducements held out to +many of that clergy to secure their countenance for the Legislative Union. +</p> + +<p> +The Established Church continued, of course, to monopolize University honours, +and to enjoy its princely revenues and all political advantages. Trinity +College continued annually to farm its 200,000 acres at a rental averaging +100,000 pounds sterling. Its wealth, and the uses to which it is put, are thus +described by a recent writer: "Some of Trinity's senior fellows enjoy higher +incomes than Cabinet ministers; many of her tutors have revenues above those of +cardinals; and junior fellows, of a few days' standing, frequently decline some +of her thirty-one church livings with benefices which would shame the poverty +of scores of continental, not to say Irish, Catholic archbishops. Even eminent +judges hold her professorships; some of her chairs are vacated for the +Episcopal bench only; and majors and field officers would acquire increased pay +by being promoted to the rank of head porter, first menial, in Trinity College. +Apart from her princely fellowships and professorships, her seventy Foundation, +and sixteen non-Foundation Scholarships, her thirty Sizarships, and her +fourteen valuable Studentships, she has at her disposal an aggregate, by +bequests, benefactions, and various endowments, of 117 permanent exhibitions, +amounting to upwards of 2,000 pounds per annum." The splendour of the highest +Protestant dignitaries may be inferred from what has been said formerly of the +Bishop of Derry, of the Era of Independence. The state maintained by the chief +bishop—Primate Robinson, who ruled Armagh from 1765 to 1795—is thus +described by Mr. Cumberland in his <i>Memoirs</i>. "I accompanied him," says +Cumberland, "on Sunday forenoon to his cathedral. We went in his chariot of six +horses attended by three footmen behind, whilst my wife and daughters, with Sir +William Robinson, the primate's elder brother, followed in my father's coach, +which he lent me for the journey. At our approach the great western door was +thrown open, and my friend (in person one of the finest men that could be seen) +entered, like another Archbishop Laud, in high prelatical state, preceded by +his officers and ministers of the church, conducting him in files to the robing +chamber, and back again to the throne. It may well be conceived with what +invidious eyes the barely tolerated Papists of the city of Saint Patrick must +have looked on all this pageantry, and their feelings were no doubt those in +some degree of all their co-religionists throughout the kingdom." +</p> + +<p> +The Irish Establishment, during the reign of George III., numbered among its +prelates and clergy many able and amiable men. At the period of the Union, the +two most distinguished were Dr. O'Beirne, Bishop of Meath, an ex-priest, and +Dr. Young, Bishop of Clonfert, a former fellow of Trinity College. As a Bible +scholar, Dr. Young ranked deservedly high, but as a variously accomplished +writer, Dr. O'Beirne was the first man of his order. His political papers, +though occasionally disfigured with the bigotry natural to an apostate, are +full of a vigorous sagacity; his contributions to general literature, such as +his paper on <i>Tanistry</i>, in Vallency's <i>Collectanea</i>, show how much +greater things still he was capable of. It is not a little striking that the +most eminent bishop, as well as the most celebrated Anglican preacher of that +age, in Ireland (Dean Kirwan), should both have been ordained as Catholic +priests. +</p> + +<p> +The national literature which we have noted a century earlier, as changing +gradually its tongue, was now mainly, indeed we might almost say solely, +expressed in English. It is true the songs of "Carolan the Blind," were sung in +Gaelic by the Longford firesides, where the author of "the Deserted Village" +listened to their exquisite melody, moulding his young ear to a sense of +harmony full as exquisite; but the glory of the Gaelic muse was past. He, too, +unpromising as was his exterior, was to be one of the bright harbingers of +another great era of Hiberno-English literature. When, within two generations, +out of the same exceedingly restricted class of educated Irishmen and women, we +count the names of Goldsmith, Samuel Madden, Arthur Murphy, Henry Brooke, +Charles Macklin, Sheridan, Burke, Edmund Malone, Maria Edgeworth, Lady Morgan, +"Psyche" Tighe, and Thomas Moore, it is impossible not to entertain a very high +opinion of the mental resources of that population, if only they were fairly +wrought and kindly valued by the world. +</p> + +<p> +One memorable incident of literary history—the Ossianic outbreak of +1760—aided powerfully though indirectly in the revival of the study of +the ancient Celtic history of Scotland and Ireland. Something was done then, by +the Royal Irish Academy, to meet that storm of Anglo-Norman incredulity and +indignation; much more has been done since, to place the original records of +the Three Kingdoms on a sound critical basis. The dogmatism of the unbelievers +in the existence of a genuine body of ancient Celtic literature has been +rebuked; and the folly of the theorists who, upon imaginary grounds, +constructed pretentious systems, has been exposed. The exact originals of +MacPherson's odes have not been found, after a century of research, and may be +given up, as non-existent; but the better opinion seems now to be, by those who +have studied the fragments of undoubted antiquity attributed to the son of the +warrior Fion, that whatever the modern translator may have invented, he +certainly did not invent Ossian. +</p> + +<p> +To the stage, within the same range of time, Ireland gave some celebrated +names: Quinn, Barry, Sheridan, Mrs. Woffington, Mrs. Jordan, and Miss O'Neill; +and to painting, one pre-eminent name—the eccentric, honest, and +original, James Barry. +</p> + +<p> +But of all the arts, that in which the Irish of the Georgian era won the +highest and most various triumphs was the art of Oratory, What is now usually +spoken of as "the Irish School of Eloquence," may be considered to have taken +its rise from the growth of the Patriot party in Parliament, in the last years +of George II. Every contemporary account agrees in placing its first great +name—Anthony Malone—on the same level with Chatham and Mansfield. +There were great men before Malone, as before Agamemnon; such as Sir Toby +Butler, Baron Rice, and Patrick Darcy; but he was the first of our later +succession of masters. After him came Flood and John Hely Hutchinson; then +Grattan and Curran; then Plunkett and Bushe; then O'Connell and Shiel. In +England, at the same time, Burke, Barre, Sheridan, and Sir Phillip Francis, +upheld the reputation of Irish oratory; a reputation generously acknowledged by +all parties, as it was illustrated in the ranks of all. The Tories, within our +own recollection, applauded as heartily the Irish wit and fervour of Canning, +Croker, and North, as the Whigs did the exhibition of similar qualities in +their Emancipation allies. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing can be less correct, than to pronounce judgment on the Irish School, +either of praise or blame, in sweeping general terms. Though a certain family +resemblance may be traced among its great masters, no two of them will be found +nearly alike. There are no echoes, no servile imitators, among them. In +vigorous argumentation and severe simplicity, Plunkett resembled Flood, but the +temperament of the two men—and Oratory is nearly as much a matter of +temperament as of intellect—was widely different. Flood's movement was +dramatic, while Plunkett's was mathematical. In structural arrangement, Shiel, +occasionally—very occasionally—reminds us of Grattan; but if he has +not the wonderful condensation of thought, neither has he the frequent +antithetical abuses of that great orator. Burke and Sheridan are as +distinguishable as any other two of their contemporaries; Curran stands alone; +O'Connell never had a model, and never had an imitator who rose above mimicry. +Every combination of powers, every description of excellence, and every variety +of style and character, may be found among the masterpieces of this great +school. Of their works many will live for ever. Most of Burke's, many of +Grattan's, and one or two of Curran's have reached us in such preservation as +promises immortality. Selections from Flood, Sheridan, Canning, Plunkett and +O'Connell will survive; Shiel will be more fortunate for he was more artistic, +and more watchful of his own fame. His exquisite finish will do, for him, what +the higher efforts of men, more indifferent to the audience of posterity, will +have forfeited for them. +</p> + +<p> +It is to be observed, farther, that the inspiration of all these men was drawn +from the very hearts of the people among whom they grew. With one or two +exceptions, sons of humble peasants, of actors, of at most middle class men, +they were true, through every change of personal position, to the general +interests of the people—to the common weal. From generous thoughts and a +lofty scorn of falsehood, fanaticism and tyranny, they took their inspiration; +and as they were true to human nature, so will mankind, through successive +ages, dwell fondly on their works and guard lovingly their tombs. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap113"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br/> +THE IRISH ABROAD, DURING THE REIGN OF GEORGE III.</h3> + +<p> +The fond tenacity with which the large numbers of the Irish people who have +established themselves in foreign states have always clung to their native +country; the active sympathy they have personally shown for their relatives at +home; the repeated efforts they have made to assist the Irish in Ireland, in +all their public undertakings, requires that, as an element in O'Connell's +final and successful struggle for Catholic Emancipation, we should take a +summary view of the position of "the Irish abroad." +</p> + +<p> +While the emigrants of that country to America naturally pursued the paths of +peace, those who, from choice or necessity, found their way to the European +Continent, were, with few exceptions, employed mainly in two +departments—war and diplomacy. An Irish Abbé, liked the celebrated +preacher, McCarthy—or an Irish merchant firm, such as the house of the +same name at Bordeaux, might be met with, but most of those who attained any +distinction did so by the sword or the pen, in the field or the cabinet. +</p> + +<p> +In France, under the revolutionary governments from '91 to '99, the Irish were, +with their old-world notions of God and the Devil, wholly out of place; but +under the Consulate and the Empire, they rose to many employments of the second +class, and a few of the very first. From the ranks of the expatriated of '98, +Buonaparte promoted Arthur O'Conor and William Corbet to the rank of General; +Ware, Allen, Byrne, the younger Tone, and Keating, to that of Colonel. As +individuals, the Emperor was certainly a benefactor to many Irishmen; but, as a +nation, it was one of their most foolish delusions, to expect in him a +deliverer. On the restoration of the Bourbons, the Irish officers who had +acquired distinction under Napoleon adhered generally to his fortunes, and +tendered their resignations; in their place, a new group of Franco-Irish +descendants of the old Brigades-men, began to show themselves in the +<i>salons</i> of Paris, and the Bureaus of the Ministers. The last swords drawn +for "the legitimate branch" in '91, was by Count Dillon and his friend Count +Wall; their last defender, in 1830, was General Wall, of the same family. +</p> + +<p> +Though the Irish in France, especially those resident at Paris, exercised the +greatest influence in favour of their original country—an influence which +met all travelled Englishmen, wherever the French language was +understood—their compatriots in Spain and Austria had also contributed +their share to range Continental opinion on the side of Ireland. Three times, +during the century, Spain was represented at London by men of Irish birth, or +Irish origin. The British merchant who found Alexander O'Reilly Governor of +Cadiz, or the diplomatist who met him as Spanish ambassador, at the Court of +Louis XVI., could hardly look with uninstructed eyes, upon the lot of his +humblest namesake in Cavan. This family, indeed, produced a succession of +eminent men, both in Spain and Austria. "It is strange," observed Napoleon to +those around him, on his second entry into Vienna, in 1809, "that on each +occasion—in November, 1805, as this day—on arriving in the +Austrian capital, I find myself in treaty and in intercourse with the +respectable Count O'Reilly." Napoleon had other reasons for remembering this +officer; it was his dragoon regiment which saved the remnant of the Austrians, +at Austerlitz. In the Austrian army list at that period, when she was the ally +of England, there were above forty Irish names, from the grading of Colonel up +to that of Field-Marshal. In almost every field of the Peninsula, Wellington +and Anglesea learned the value of George the Second's imprecation on the Penal +Code, which deprived him of such soldiers as conquered at Fontenoy. It cannot +be doubted that even the constant repetition of the names of the Blakes, +O'Donnells, and Sarsfields, in the bulletins sent home to England, tended to +enforce reflections of that description on the statesmen and the nation, and to +inspirit and sustain the struggling Catholics. A powerful argument for throwing +open the British army and navy to men of all religions, was drawn from these +foreign experiences; and, if such men were worthy to hold military commissions, +why not also to sit in Parliament, and on the Bench? +</p> + +<p> +The fortunes of the Irish in America, though less brilliant for the few, were +more advantageous as to the many. They were, during the war of the revolution, +and the war of 1812, a very considerable element in the American republic. It +was a violent exaggeration to say, as Lord Mountjoy did in moving for the +repeal of the Penal laws, "that England lost America by Ireland;" but it is +very certain that Washington placed great weight on the active aid of the +gallant Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Southern Irish troops, and the sturdy +Scotch-Irish of New Hampshire. Franklin, in his visit to Ireland, before the +rupture, and Jefferson in his correspondence, always enumerates the Irish, as +one element of reliance, in the contest between the Colonies and the Empire. +</p> + +<p> +In the immediate cause of the war of 1812, this people were peculiarly +interested. If the doctrines of "the right of search" and "once a subject +always a subject," were to prevail, no Irish emigrant could hope to +become—or having become, could hope to enjoy the protection of—an +American citizen. It was, therefore, natural that men of that origin should +take a deep interest in the war, and it seems something more than a fortuitous +circumstance, when we find in the chairman of the Senatorial Committee of 1812, +which authorized the President to raise the necessary levies—an Irish +emigrant, John Smilie, and in the Secretary-at-war, who acted under the powers +thus granted, the son of an Irish emigrant, John Caldwell Calhoun. On the +Canadian frontier, during the war which followed, we find in posts of +importance, Brady, Mullany, McComb, Croghan and Reilly; on the lakes, Commodore +McDonough, and on the ocean, Commodores Shaw and Stewart—all Irish. On +the Mississippi, another son of Irish emigrant parents, with his favourite +lieutenants, Carroll, Coffee, and Butler, brought the war to a close by their +brilliant defence of New Orleans. The moral of that victory was not lost upon +England; the life of Andrew Jackson, with a dedication "to the People of +Ireland" was published at London and Dublin, by the most generally popular +writer of that day—William Cobbett. +</p> + +<p> +In the cause of South American independence, the Irish under O'Higgins and +McKenna in Chili, and under Bolivar and San Martin in Colombia and Peru, were +largely engaged, and honourably distinguished. Colonel O'Conor, nephew to +Arthur, was San Martin's chief of the staff; General Devereux, with his Irish +legion, rendered distinguished services to Bolivar and Don Bernardo. O'Higgins +was hailed as the Liberator of Chili. During that long ten years' struggle, +which ended with the evacuation of Carraccas in 1823, Irish names are +conspicuous on almost every field of action. Bolivar's generous heart was +warmly attached to persons of that nation. "The doctor who constantly attends +him," says the English General, Miller, "is Dr. Moore, an Irishman, who had +followed the Liberator from Venezuela to Peru. He is a man of great skill in +his profession, and devotedly attached to the person of the Liberator. +Bolivar's first aide-de-camp, Colonel O'Leary, is a nephew of the celebrated +Father O'Leary. In 1818, he embarked, at the age of seventeen, in the cause of +South American independence, in which he has served with high distinction, +having been present at almost every general action fought in Colombia, and has +received several wounds. He has been often employed on diplomatic missions, and +in charges of great responsibility, in which he has always acquitted himself +with great ability." +</p> + +<p> +That these achievements of the Irish abroad produced a favourable influence on +the situation of the Irish at home, we know from many collateral sources; we +know it also from the fact, that when O'Connell succeeded in founding a really +national organization, subscriptions and words of encouragement poured in on +him, not only from France, Spain, and Austria, but from North and South +America, not only from the Irish residents in those countries, but from their +native inhabitants—soldiers and statesmen—of the first +consideration. The services and virtues of her distinguished children in +foreign climes, stood to the mother country instead of treaties and alliances. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap114"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br/> +O'CONNELL'S LEADERSHIP—THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION—1821 TO +1826.</h3> + +<p> +At the beginning of the year 1821, O'Connell, during the intervals of his +laborious occupations in court and on circuit, addressed a series of stirring +letters to "the People of Ireland," remarkable as containing some of the best +and most trenchant of his political writings. His object was to induce the +postponement of the annual petition for Emancipation, and the substitution +instead of a general agitation for Parliamentary reform, in conjunction with +the English reformers. Against this conclusion—which he ridiculed "as the +fashion for January, 1821"—Mr. Shiel published a bitter, clever, +rhetorical reply, to which O'Connell at once sent forth a severe and rather +contemptuous rejoinder. Shiel was quite content to have Mr. Plunkett continue +Grattan's annual motion, with all its "conditions" and "securities." O'Connell +declared he had no hope in petitions except from a reformed Parliament, and he, +therefore, was opposed to such motions altogether, especially as put by Mr. +Plunkett, and the other advocates of a Veto. Another session was lost in this +controversy, and when Parliament rose, it was announced that George IV. was +coming to Ireland "on a mission of Conciliation." +</p> + +<p> +On this announcement, Mr. O'Connell advised that the Catholics should take +advantage of his Majesty's presence to assemble and consider the state of their +affairs; but a protest against "connecting in any manner the King's visit with +Catholic affairs," was circulated by Lords Fingal, Netterville, Gormanstown, +and Killeen, Messrs. Baggott, Shiel, Wyse, and other Commoners. O'Connell +yielded, as he often did, for the sake of unanimity. The King's visit led to +many meetings and arrangements, in some of which his advice was taken, while in +others he was outvoted or overruled. Nothing could exceed the patience he +exhibited at this period of his life, when his natural impetuous temperament +was still far from being subdued by the frosts of age. +</p> + +<p> +Many liberal Protestants at this period—the King's brief visit—were +so moved with admiration of the judicious and proper conduct of the Catholic +leaders, that a new but short-lived organization, called "the Conciliation +Committee," was formed. The ultra Orange zealots, however, were not to be +restrained even by the presence of the Sovereign for whom they professed so +much devotion. In the midst of the preparations for his landing, they +celebrated, with all its offensive accompaniments, the 12th of July, and at the +Dublin dinner to the King—though after he had left the room—they +gave their charter toast of "the glorious, pious, and immortal memory." The +Committee of Conciliation soon dwindled away, and, like the visit of George +IV., left no good result behind. +</p> + +<p> +The year 1822 was most remarkable, at its commencement, for the arrival of the +Marquis of Wellesley, as Lord-Lieutenant, and at its close, for the assault +committed on him in the theatre by the Dublin Orangemen. Though the Marquis had +declined to interfere in preventing the annual Orange celebration, he was well +known to be friendly to the Catholics; their advocate, Mr. Plunkett, was his +Attorney General; and many of their leaders were cordially welcomed at the +Castle. These proofs were sufficient for the secret tribunals which sat upon +his conduct, and when his Lordship presented himself, on the night of the 14th +of December, at the theatre, he was assailed by an organized mob, one of whom +flung a heavy piece of wood, and another a quart bottle, towards the state box. +Three Orangemen, mechanics, were arrested and tried for the offence, but +acquitted on a technical defect of evidence; a general feeling of indignation +was excited among all classes in consequence, and it is questionable if +Orangeism, in Dublin, ever recovered the disgust occasioned by that dastardly +outrage. +</p> + +<p> +The great and fortunate event, however, for the Catholics, was the foundation +of their new Association, which was finally resolved upon at an Aggregate +Meeting held in "Townsend Street Chapel," on the 10th of May, 1823. This +meeting had been called by an imposing requisition signed with singular +unanimity by all the principal Catholic gentlemen. Lord Killeen presided. Mr. +O'Connell moved the formation of the Association; Sir Thomas Esmonde seconded +the motion; Mr. Shiel—lately and sincerely reconciled to +O'Connell—sustained it. The plan was simple and popular. The Association +was to consist of members paying a guinea a year, and associates paying a +shilling; a standing committee was to form the government; the regular meetings +were to be weekly—every Saturday; and the business to consist of +organization, correspondence, public discussions, and petitions. It was, in +effect, to be a sort of extern and unauthorized Parliament, acting always +within the Constitution, with a view to the modification of the existing laws, +by means not prohibited in those laws themselves. It was a design, subtle in +conception, but simple in form; a natural design for a lawyer-liberator to +form; and for a people strongly prepossessed in his favour to adopt; but one, +at the same time, which would require a rare combination of circumstances to +sustain for any great length of time, under a leader less expert, inventive, +and resolute. +</p> + +<p> +The Parliamentary position of the Catholic question, at the moment of the +formation of the Association, had undergone another strange alteration. Lord +Castlereagh, having attained the highest honours of the empire, died by his own +hand the previous year. Lord Liverpool remained Premier, Lord Eldon Chancellor, +Mr. Canning became Foreign Secretary, with Mr. Peel, Home Secretary, the Duke +of Wellington continuing Master-General of the Ordnance. To this cabinet, so +largely anti-Catholic, the chosen organ of the Irish Catholics, Mr. Plunkett, +was necessarily associated as Irish Attorney General. His situation, therefore, +was in the session of 1823 one of great difficulty; this Sir Francis Burdett +and the radical reformers at once perceived, and in the debates which followed, +pressed him unmercifully. They quoted against him his own language denouncing +cabinet compromises on so vital a question, in 1813, and to show their +indignation, when he rose to reply, they left the House in a body. His speech, +as always, was most able, but the House, when he sat down, broke into an uproar +of confusion. Party spirit ran exceedingly high; the possibility of advancing +the question during the session was doubtful, and a motion to adjourn +prevailed. A fortnight later, at the first meeting of the Catholic Association, +a very cordial vote of thanks to Plunkett was carried by acclamation. +</p> + +<p> +The new Catholic organization was labouring hard to merit popular favour. +Within the year of its organization we find the Saturday meetings engaged with +such questions as church rates; secret societies; correspondence with members +of both Houses; voting public thanks to Mr. Brougham; the penal laws relating +to the rights of sepulture; the purchase of a Catholic cemetery near Dublin; +the commutation of tithes; the admission of Catholic freemen into corporations; +the extension of the Association into every county in Ireland, and other more +incidental subjects. The business-like air of the weekly meetings, at this +early period, is remarkable: they were certainly anything but mere occasions +for rhetorical display. But though little could be objected against, and so +much might be said in favour of the labours of the Association, it was not till +nearly twelve months after its organization, when O'Connell proposed and +carried his system of monthly penny subscriptions to the "Catholic Rent," that +it took a firm and far-reaching hold on the common people, and began to excite +the serious apprehensions of the oligarchical factions in Ireland and England. +</p> + +<p> +This bold, and at this time much ridiculed step, infused new life and a system +hitherto unknown into the Catholic population. The parish collectors, +corresponding directly with Dublin, established a local agency, co-extensive +with the kingdom; the smallest contributor felt himself personally embarked in +the contest; and the movement became, in consequence, what it had not been +before, an eminently popular one. During the next six months the receipts from +penny subscriptions exceeded 100 pounds sterling per month, representing 24,000 +subscribers; during the next year they averaged above 500 pounds a week, +representing nearly half a million enrolled Associates! +</p> + +<p> +With the additional means at the disposal of the Finance Committee of the +Association, its power rose rapidly. A morning and an evening journal were at +its command in Dublin; many thousands of pounds were expended in defending the +people in the courts, and prosecuting their Orange and other enemies. Annual +subsidies, of 5,000 pounds each, were voted for the Catholic Poor schools, and +the education of missionary priests for America; the expenses of Parliamentary +and electioneering agents were also heavy. But for all these purposes "the +Catholic Rent," of a penny per month from each associate, was found amply +sufficient. +</p> + +<p> +At the close of 1824, the government, really alarmed at the formidable +proportions assumed by the agitation, caused criminal informations to be filed +against Mr. O'Connell, for an alleged seditious allusion to the example of +Bolivar, the liberator of South America; but the Dublin grand jury ignored the +bills of indictment founded on these informations. Early in the following +session, however, a bill to suppress "Unlawful Associations in Ireland," was +introduced by Mr. Goulburn, who had succeeded Sir Robert Peel as Chief +Secretary, and was supported by Plunkett—a confirmed enemy of all +extra-legal combinations. It was aimed directly at the Catholic Association, +and passed both Houses; but O'Connell found means "to drive," as he said, "a +coach and six through it." The existing Association dissolved on the passage of +the act; another, called "the <i>New</i> Catholic Association," was formed for +"charitable and other purposes," and the agitators proceeded with their +organization, with one word added to their title, and immensely additional +<i>éclat</i> and success. +</p> + +<p> +In Parliament, the measure thus defeated was followed by another, the +long-promised Relief Bill. It passed in the Commons in May, accompanied by two +clauses, or as they were called, "wings," most unsatisfactory to the Catholic +body. One clause disfranchised the whole class of electors known as the +"forty-shilling freeholders;" the other provided a scale of state maintenance +for the Catholic clergy. A bishop was to have 1,000 pounds per annum; a dean +300 pounds; a parish priest 200 pounds; a curate 60 pounds. This measure was +thrown out by the House of Lords, greatly to the satisfaction, at least, of the +Irish Catholics. It was during this debate in the Upper House that the Duke of +York, presumptive heir to the throne, made what was called his "ether +speech"—from his habit of dosing himself with that stimulant on trying +occasions. In this speech he declared, that so "help him God," he would never, +never consent to acknowledge the claims put forward by the Catholics. Before +two years were over, death had removed him to the presence of that Awful Being +whose name he had so rashly invoked, and his brother, the Duke of Clarence, +assumed his position, as next in succession to the throne. +</p> + +<p> +The Catholic delegates, Lord Killeen, Sir Thomas Esmonde, Lawless, and Shiel, +were in London at the time the Duke of York made his memorable declaration. If, +on the one hand, they were regarded with dislike amounting to hatred, on the +other, they were welcomed with cordiality by all the leaders of the liberal +party. The venerable Earl Fitzwilliam emerged from his retirement to do them +honour; the gifted and energetic Brougham entertained them with all +hospitality; at Norfolk House they were banqueted in the room in which George +III. was born: the millionaire-demagogue Burdett, the courtly, liberal Lord +Grey, and the flower of the Catholic nobility, were invited to meet them. The +delegates were naturally cheered and gratified; they felt, they must have felt, +that their cause had a grasp upon Imperial attention, which nothing but +concession could ever loosen. +</p> + +<p> +Committees of both Houses, to inquire into the state of Ireland, had sat during +a great part of this Session, and among the witnesses were the principal +delegates, with Drs. Murray, Curtis, Kelly, and Doyle. The evidence of the +latter—the eminent Prelate of Kildare and Leighlin—attracted most +attention. His readiness of resource, clearness of statement, and wide range of +information, inspired many of his questioners with a feeling of respect, such +as they had never before entertained for any of his order. His writings had +already made him honourably distinguished among literary men; his examination +before the Committees made him equally so among statesmen. From that period he +could reckon the Marquises of Anglesea and Wellesley, Lord Lansdowne and Mr. +Brougham, among his correspondents and friends, and, what he valued even more, +among the friends of his cause. Mr. O'Connell, on the other hand, certainly +lost ground in Ireland by his London journey. He had, unquestionably, given his +assent to both "wings," in 1825, as he did to the remaining one in 1828, and +thereby greatly injured his own popularity. His frank and full recantation of +his error, on his return, soon restored him to the favour of the multitude, and +enabled him to employ, with the best effect, the enormous influence which he +showed he possessed at the general elections of 1826. By him mainly the +Beresfords were beaten in Waterford, the Fosters in Louth, and the Leslies in +Monaghan. The independence of Limerick city, of Tipperary, Cork, Kilkenny, +Longford, and other important constituencies, was secured. The parish machinery +of the Association was found invaluable for the purpose of bringing up the +electors, and the people's treasury was fortunately able to protect to some +extent the fearless voter, who, in despite of his landlord, voted according to +the dictates of his own heart. +</p> + +<p> +The effect of these elections on the empire at large was very great. When, +early in the following spring, Lord Liverpool, after fifteen years' possession +of power, died unexpectedly, George IV. sent for Canning and gave him <i>carte +blanche</i> to form a cabinet without excepting the question of Emancipation. +That high spirited and really liberal statesman associated with himself a +ministry, three-fourths of whom were in favour of granting the Catholic claims. +This was in the month of April; but to the consternation of those whose hopes +were now so justly raised, the gifted Premier held office only four months; his +lamented death causing another "crisis," and one more postponement of "the +Catholic question." +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3><a name="chap115"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br/> +O'CONNELL'S LEADERSHIP—THE CLARE ELECTION—EMANCIPATION OF THE +CATHOLICS.</h3> + +<p> +A very little reflection will enable us to judge, even at this day, the +magnitude of the contest in which O'Connell was the great popular leader, +during the reign of George IV. In Great Britain, a very considerable section of +the ancient peerage and gentry, with the Earl Marshal at their head, were to be +restored to political existence, by the act of Emancipation; a missionary, and +barely tolerated clergy were to be clothed, in their own country, with the +commonest rights of British subjects—protection to life and property. In +Ireland, seven-eighths of the people, one-third of the gentry, the whole of the +Catholic clergy, the numerous and distinguished array of the Catholic bar, and +all the Catholic townsmen, taxed but unrepresented in the corporate bodies, +were to enter on a new civil and social condition, on the passage of the act. +In the colonies, except Canada, where that church was protected by treaty, the +change of Imperial policy towards Catholics was to be felt in every relation of +life, civil, military, and ecclesiastical, by all persons professing that +religion. Some years ago, a bishop of Southern Africa declared, that, until +O'Connell's time, it was impossible for Catholics to obtain any consideration +from the officials at the Cape of Good Hope. Could there be a more striking +illustration of the magnitude of the movement, which, rising in the latitude of +Ireland, flung its outermost wave of influence on the shores of the Indian +ocean? +</p> + +<p> +The adverse hosts to be encountered in this great contest, included a large +majority of the rank and wealth of both kingdoms. The King, who had been a Whig +in his youth, had grown into a Tory in his old age; the House of Lords were +strongly hostile to the measure, as were also the universities, both in England +and Ireland; the Tory party, in and out of Parliament; the Orange organization +in Ireland; the civil and military authorities generally, with the great bulk +of the rural magistracy and the municipal authorities. The power to overcome +this power should be indeed formidable, well organized and wisely directed. +</p> + +<p> +The Lord Lieutenant selected by Mr. Canning, was the Marquis of Anglesea, a +frank soldier, as little accustomed to play the politician as any man of his +order and distinction could be. He came to Ireland, in many respects the very +opposite of Lord Wellesley; no orator certainly, and so far as he had spoken +formerly, an enemy rather than a friend to the Catholics. But he had not been +three months in office when he began to modify his views; he was the first to +prohibit, in Dublin, the annual Orange outrage on the 12th of July, and by +subsequent, though slow degrees, he became fully convinced that the Catholic +claims could be settled only by Concession. Lord Francis Leveson Gower, +afterwards Earl of Ellesmere, accompanied the Marquis as Chief Secretary. +</p> + +<p> +The accession to office of a prime minister friendly to the Catholics, was the +signal for a new attempt to raise that "No-Popery" cry which had already given +twenty years of political supremacy to Mr. Perceval and Lord Liverpool. In +Ireland, this feeling appeared under the guise of what was called "the New +Reformation," which, during the summer of 1827, raged with all the proverbial +violence of the <i>odium theologicum</i> from Cork to Derry. Priests and +parsons, laymen and lawyers, took part in this general politico-religious +controversy, in which every possible subject of difference between Catholic and +Protestant was publicly discussed. Archbishop Magee of Dublin, the Rev. Sir +Harcourt Lees, son of a former English placeman at the Castle, and the Rev. Mr. +Pope, were the clerical leaders in this crusade; Exeter-Hall sent over to +assist them the Honourable and Reverend Baptist Noel, Mr. Wolff, and Captain +Gordon, a descendant of the hero of the London riot of 1798. At Derry, Dublin, +Carlow, and Cork, the challenged agreed to defend their doctrines. Father +Maginn, Maguire, Maher, McSweeney, and some others accepted these challenges; +Messrs. O'Connell, Shiel, and other laymen, assisted, and the oral discussion +of theological and historical questions became as common as town talk in every +Irish community. Whether, in any case, these debates conduced to conversion is +doubtful; but they certainly supplied the Catholic laity with a body of facts +and arguments very necessary at that time, and which hardly any other occasion +could have presented. The Right Rev. Dr. Doyle, however, considered them far +from beneficial to the cause of true religion; and though he tolerated a first +discussion in his diocese, he positively forbade a second. The Archbishop of +Armagh and other prelates issued their mandates to the clergy to refrain from +these oral disputes, and the practice fell into disuse. +</p> + +<p> +The notoriety of "the Second Reformation" was chiefly due to the ostentatious +patronage of it by the lay chiefs of the Irish oligarchy. Mr. Synge, in Clare, +Lord Lorton, and Mr. McClintock at Dundalk, were indefatigable in their +evangelizing exertions. The Earl of Roden—to show his entire dependence +on the translated Bible—threw all his other books into a fish pond on his +estate. Lord Farnham was even more conspicuous in the revival; he spared +neither patronage nor writs of ejectment to convert his tenantry. The reports +of conversions upon his lordship's estates, and throughout his county, +attracted so much notice, that Drs. Curtis, Crolly, Magauran, O'Reilly, and +McHale, met on the 9th of December, 1826, at Cavan, to inquire into the facts. +They found, while there had been much exaggeration on the part of the +reformers, that some hundreds of the peasantry had, by various powerful +temptations, been led to change their former religion. The bishops received +back some of the converts, and a jubilee established among them completed their +reconversion. The Hon. Mr. Noel and Captain Gordon posted to Cavan, with a +challenge to discussion for their lordships; of course, their challenge was not +accepted. Thomas Moore's inimitable satire was the most effective weapon +against such fanatics. +</p> + +<p> +The energetic literature of the Catholic agitation attracted much more +attention than its oral polemics. Joined to a bright army of Catholic writers, +including Dr. Doyle, Thomas Moore, Thomas Furlong, and Charles Butler, there +was the powerful phalanx of the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> led by Jeffrey and +Sidney Smith, and the English liberal press, headed by William Cobbett. Thomas +Campbell, the Poet of Hope, always and everywhere the friend of freedom, threw +open his <i>New Monthly</i>, to Shiel, and William Henry Curran, whose sketches +of the Irish Bar and Bench, of Dublin politics, and the county elections of +1826, will live as long as any periodical papers of the day. The indefatigable +Shiel, writing French as fluently as English, contributed besides to the +<i>Gazette de France</i> a series of papers, which were read with great +interest on the Continent. These articles were the precursors of many others, +which made the Catholic question at length an European question. An incident +quite unimportant in itself, gave additional zest to these French articles. The +Duke de Montebello, with two of his friends, Messrs. Duvergier and Thayer, +visited Ireland in 1826. Duvergier wrote a series of very interesting letters +on the "State of Ireland," which, at the time, went through several editions. +At a Catholic meeting at Ballinasloe, the Duke had some compliments paid him, +which he gracefully acknowledged, expressing his wishes for the success of +their cause. This simple act excited a great deal of criticism in England. The +Paris press was roused in consequence, and the French Catholics, becoming more +and more interested, voted an address and subscription to the Catholic +Association. The Bavarian Catholics followed their example, and similar +communications were received from Spain and Italy. +</p> + +<p> +But the movement abroad did not end in Europe. An address from British India +contained a contribution of three thousand pounds sterling. From the West +Indies and Canada, generous assistance was rendered. +</p> + +<p> +In the United States sympathetic feeling was most active. New York felt almost +as much interested in the cause as Dublin. In 1826 and 1827, associations of +"Friends of Ireland" were formed at New York, Boston, Washington, Norfolk, +Charleston, Augusta, Louisville, and Bardstown. Addresses in English and French +were prepared for these societies, chiefly by Dr. McNevin, at New York, and +Bishop England, at Charleston. The American, like the French press, became +interested in the subject, and eloquent allusions were made to it in Congress. +On the 20th of January, 1828, the veteran McNevin wrote to Mr. +O'Connell—"Public opinion in America is deep, and strong, and universal, +in your behalf. This predilection prevails over the broad bosom of our +extensive continent. Associations similar to ours are everywhere starting into +existence—in our largest and wealthiest cities—in our hamlets and +our villages—in our most remote sections; and at this moment, the +propriety of convening, at Washington, delegates of the friends of Ireland, of +all the states, is under serious deliberation. A fund will erelong be derived +from American patriotism in the United States, which will astonish your +haughtiest opponents." +</p> + +<p> +The Parliamentary fortunes of the great question were at the same time +brightening. The elections of 1826, had, upon the whole, given a large increase +of strength to its advocates. In England and Scotland, under the influence of +the "No-Popery" cry, they had lost some ground, but in Ireland they had had an +immense triumph. The death of the generous-hearted Canning, hastened as it was +by anti-Catholic intrigues, gave a momentary check to the progress of liberal +ideas; but they were retarded only to acquire a fresh impulse destined to bear +them, in the next few years, farther than they had before advanced in an entire +century. +</p> + +<p> +The <i>ad interim</i> administration of Lord Goderich gave way, by its own +internal discords, in January, 1828, to the Wellington and Peel administration. +The Duke was Premier, the Baronet leader of the House of Commons; with Mr. +Huskisson, Lord Palmerston, in the cabinet; Lord Anglesea remained as Lord +Lieutenant. But this coalition with the friends of Canning was not destined to +outlive the session of 1828; the lieutenants of the late Premier were doomed, +for some time longer, to suffer for their devotion to his principles. +</p> + +<p> +This session of 1828, is—in the history of religious liberty—the +most important and interesting in the annals of the British Parliament. Almost +at its opening, the extraordinary spectacle was exhibited of a petition signed +by 800,000 Irish Catholics, praying for the repeal of "the Corporation and Test +Acts," enacted on the restoration of Charles II., against the non-Conformists. +Monster petitions, both for and against the repeal of these acts, as well as +for and against Catholic emancipation, soon became of common occurrence. +Protestants of all sects petitioned for, but still more petitioned against +equal rights for Catholics; while Catholics petitioned for the rights of +Protestant dissenters. It is a spectacle to look back upon with admiration and +instruction; exhibiting as it does, so much of a truly tolerant spirit in +Christians of all creeds, worthy of all honour and imitation. +</p> + +<p> +In April, "the Corporation and Test Acts" were repealed; in May, the +Canningites seceded from the Duke's government, and one of the gentlemen +brought in to fill a vacant seat in the Cabinet—Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, +member for Clare—issued his address to his electors, asking a renewal of +their confidence. Out of this event grew another, which finally and +successfully brought to an issue the century-old Catholic question. +</p> + +<p> +The Catholic Association, on the accession of the Wellington-Peel Cabinet, had +publicly pledged itself to oppose every man who would accept office under these +statesmen. The memory of both as ex-secretaries—but especially +Peel's—was odious in Ireland. When, however, the Duke had sustained, and +ensured thereby the passage of the repeal of "the Corporation and Test Acts," +Mr. O'Connell, at the suggestion of Lord John Russell the mover of the repeal, +endeavoured to get his angry and uncompromising resolution against the Duke's +government rescinded. Powerful as he was, however, the Association refused to +go with him, and the resolution remained. So it happened that when Mr. +Fitzgerald presented himself to the electors of Clare, as the colleague of Peel +and Wellington, the Association at once endeavoured to bring out an opposition +candidate. They pitched with this view on Major McNamara, a liberal Protestant +of the county, at the head of one of its oldest families, and personally +popular; but this gentleman, after keeping them several days in suspense, till +the time of nomination was close at hand, positively declined to stand against +his friend, Mr. Fitzgerald, to the great dismay of the associated Catholics. +</p> + +<p> +In their emergency, an idea, so bold and original, that it was at first +received with general incredulity by the external public, was started. It was +remembered by Sir David De Roose, a personal friend of O'Connell's, that the +late sagacious John Keogh had often declared the Emancipation question would +never be brought to an issue till some Catholic member elect stood at the bar +of the House of Commons demanding his seat. A trusted few were at first +consulted on the daring proposition, that O'Connell himself, in despite of the +legal exclusion of all men of his religion, should come forward for Clare. Many +were the consultations, and diverse the judgments delivered on this proposal, +but at length, on the reception of information from the county itself, which +gave strong assurance of success, the hero of the adventure decided for +himself. The bold course was again selected as the wise course, and the +spirit-stirring address of "the arch-Agitator" to the electors, was at once +issued from Dublin. "Your county," he began by saying, "wants a representative. +I respectfully solicit your suffrages, to raise me to that station. +</p> + +<p> +"Of my qualification to fill that station, I leave you to judge. The habits of +public speaking, and many, many years of public business, render me, perhaps, +equally suited with most men to attend to the interests of Ireland in +Parliament. +</p> + +<p> +"You will be told I am not qualified to be elected; the assertion, my friends, +is untrue. I am qualified to be elected, and to be your representative. It is +true that as a Catholic I cannot, and of course never will, take the oaths at +present prescribed to members of Parliament; but the authority which created +these oaths (the Parliament), can abrogate them: and I entertain a confident +hope that, if you elect me, the most bigoted of our enemies will see the +necessity of removing from the chosen representative of the people an obstacle +which would prevent him from doing his duty to his king and to his country." +</p> + +<p> +This address was followed instantly by the departure of all the most effective +agitators to the scene of the great contest. Shiel went down as conducting +agent for the candidate; Lawless left his Belfast newspaper, and Father Maguire +his Leitrim flock; Messrs. Steele and O'Gorman Mahon, both proprietors in the +county, were already in the field, and O'Connell himself soon followed. On the +other hand, the leading county families, the O'Briens, McNamaras, Vandeleurs, +Fitzgeralds and others, declared for their old favourite, Mr. Fitzgerald. He +was personally much liked in the county; the son of a venerable anti-Unionist, +the well-remembered Prime Sergeant, and a man besides of superior abilities. +The county itself was no easy one to contest; its immense constituency (the +40-shilling freeholders had not yet been abolished), were scattered over a +mountain and valley region, more than fifty miles long by above thirty wide. +They were almost everywhere to be addressed in both languages—English and +Irish—and when the canvass was over, they were still to be brought under +the very eyes of the landlords, upon the breath of whose lips their subsistence +depended, to vote the overthrow and conquest of those absolute masters. The +little county town of Ennis, situated on the river Fergus, about 110 miles +south-west of Dublin, was the centre of attraction or of apprehension, and the +hills that rise on either side of the little prosaic river soon swarmed with an +unwonted population, who had resolved, subsist how they might, to see the +election out. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the eyes of the empire +were turned, during those days of June, on the ancient patrimony of King Brian. +"I fear the Clare election will end ill," wrote the Viceroy to the leader of +the House of Commons. "This business," wrote the Lord Chancellor (Eldon), "must +bring the Roman Catholic question to a crisis and a conclusion." "May the God +of truth and justice protect and prosper you," was the public invocation for +O'Connell's success, by the bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. "It was foreseen," +said Sir Robert Peel, long afterwards, "that the Clare election would be the +turning point of the Catholic question." In all its aspects, and to all sorts +of men, this, then, was no ordinary election, but a national event of the +utmost religious and political consequence. Thirty thousand people welcomed +O'Connell into Ennis, and universal sobriety and order characterized the +proceedings. The troops called out to overawe the peasantry, infected by the +prevailing good humour, joined in their cheers. The nomination, the polling, +and the declaration, have been described by the graphic pen of Shiel. At the +close of the poll the numbers were—O'Connell, 2,057; Fitzgerald, 1,075; +so Daniel O'Connell was declared duly elected, amidst the most extraordinary +manifestations of popular enthusiasm. Mr. Fitzgerald, who gracefully bowed to +the popular verdict, sat down, and wrote his famous despatch to Sir Robert +Peel: "All the great interests," he said, "my dear Peel, broke down, and the +desertion has been universal. Such a scene as we have had! Such a tremendous +prospect as is open before us!" +</p> + +<p> +This "tremendous prospect," disclosed at the hustings of Ennis, was followed up +by demonstrations which bore a strongly revolutionary character. Mr. O'Connell, +on his return to Dublin, was accompanied by a <i>levee en masse</i>, all along +the route, of a highly imposing description. Mr. Lawless, on his return to +Belfast, was escorted through Meath and Monaghan by a multitude estimated at +100,000 men, whom only the most powerful persuasions of the Catholic clergy, +and the appeals of the well-known liberal commander of the district, General +Thornton, induced to disperse. Troops from England were ordered over in +considerable numbers, but whole companies, composed of Irish Catholics, +signalized their landing at Waterford and Dublin by cheers for O'Connell. +Reports of the continued hostility of the government suggested desperate +councils. Mr. Ford, a Catholic solicitor, openly proposed, in the Association, +exclusive dealing and a run on the banks for specie, while Mr. John Claudius +Beresford, and other leading Orangemen, publicly predicted a revival of the +scenes and results of 1798. +</p> + +<p> +The Clare election was, indeed, decisive; Lord Anglesea, who landed fully +resolved to make no terms with those he had regarded from a distance as no +better than rebels, became now one of their warmest partisans. His favourite +counsellor was Lord Cloncurry, the early friend of Emmet and O'Conor; the true +friend to the last of every national interest. For a public letter to Bishop +Curtis, towards the close of 1828, in which he advises the Catholics to stand +firm, he was immediately recalled from the government; but his former and his +actual chief, within three months from the date of his recall, was equally +obliged to surrender to the Association. The great duke was, or affected to be, +really alarmed for the integrity of the empire, from the menacing aspect of +events in Ireland. A call of Parliament was accordingly made for an early day, +and, on the 5th of March, Mr. Peel moved a committee of the whole House, to go +into a "consideration of the civil disabilities of his Majesty's Roman Catholic +subjects." This motion, after two days' debate, was carried by a majority of +188. On the 10th of March the Relief Bill was read for the first time, and +passed without opposition, such being the arrangement entered into while in +committee. But in five days all the bigotry of the land had been aroused; nine +hundred and fifty-seven petitions had already been presented against it; that +from the city of London was signed by more than "an hundred thousand +freeholders." On the 17th of March it passed to a second reading, and on the +30th to a third, with large majorities in each stage of debate. Out of 320 +members who voted on the final reading, 178 were in its favour. On the 31st of +March it was carried to the Lords by Mr. Peel, and read a first time; two days +later, on the 2nd of April, it was read a second time, on motion of the Duke of +Wellington; a bitterly contested debate of three days followed; on the 10th, it +was read a third time, and passed by a majority of 104. Three days later the +bill received the royal assent, and became law. +</p> + +<p> +The only drawbacks on this great measure of long-withheld justice, were, that +it disfranchised the "forty-shilling freeholders" throughout Ireland, and +condemned Mr. O'Connell, by the insertion of the single word "hereafter," to go +back to Clare for re-election. In this there was little difficulty for him, but +much petty spleen in the framers of the measure. +</p> + +<p> +While the Relief Bill was still under discussion, Mr. O'Connell presented +himself, with his counsel, at the bar of the House of Commons, to claim his +seat as member for Clare. The pleadings in the case were adjourned from day to +day, during the months of March, April, and May. A committee of the House, of +which Lord John Russell was Chairman, having been appointed in the meantime to +consider the petition of Thomas Mahon and others, against the validity of the +election, reported that Mr. O'Connell had been duly elected. On the 15th of +May, introduced by Lords Ebrington and Duncannon, the new member entered the +House, and advanced to the table to be sworn by the Clerk. On the oath of +abjuration being tendered to him, he read over audibly these words—"that +the sacrifice of the mass, and the invocation of the blessed Virgin Mary, and +other saints, as now practised in the Church of Rome, are impious and +idolatrous:" at the subsequent passage, relative to the falsely imputed +Catholic "doctrine of the dispensing power" of the Pope, he again read aloud, +and paused. Then slightly raising his voice, he bowed, and added, "I decline, +Mr. Clerk, to take this oath. Part of it I know to be false; another part I do +not believe to be true." +</p> + +<p> +He was subsequently heard at the bar, in his own person, in explanation of his +refusal to take the oath, and, according to custom, withdrew. The House then +entered into a very animated discussion on the Solicitor General's motion "that +Mr. O'Connell, having been returned a member of this House before the passing +of the Act for the Relief of the Roman Catholics, he is not entitled to sit or +vote in this House unless he first takes the oath of supremacy." For this +motion the vote on a division was 190 against 116: majority, 74. So Mr. +O'Connell had again to seek the suffrages of the electors of Clare. +</p> + +<p> +A strange, but well authenticated incident, struck with a somewhat +superstitious awe both Protestants and Catholics, in a corner of Ireland the +most remote from Clare, but not the least interested in the result of its +memorable election. A lofty column on the walls of Derry bore the effigy of +Bishop Walker, who fell at the Boyne, armed with a sword, typical of his +martial inclinations, rather than of his religious calling. Many long years, by +day and night, had his sword, sacred to liberty or ascendancy, according to the +eyes with which the spectator regarded it, turned its steadfast point to the +broad estuary of Lough Foyle. Neither wintry storms nor summer rains had +loosened it in the grasp of the warlike churchman's effigy, until, on the 13th +day of April, 1829—the day the royal signature was given to the Act of +Emancipation—the sword of Walker fell with a prophetic crash upon the +ramparts of Derry, and was shattered to pieces. So, we may now say, without +bitterness and almost without reproach, so may fall and shiver to pieces, every +code, in every land beneath the sun, which impiously attempts to shackle +conscience, or endows an exclusive caste with the rights and franchises which +belong to an entire People! +</p> + +<p> +End of Volume 2 of 2. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Popular History of Ireland Volume 1, by Thomas D'Arcy McGee + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POPULAR HISTORY OF IRELAND *** + +***** This file should be named 6633-h.htm or 6633-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/6/3/6633/ + +This etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan with help from +Charles Aldarondo and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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