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THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 IRELAND 
 
 ^, 
 
 /. 
 
 By JOHN O'DRISCOL. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 "'LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR 
 
 LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN, 
 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 1827. 
 
 lioSTOlff rniXFOl LIBRARY 
 
LoNDOK : 
 
 Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode, 
 New-Street- Square. 
 
 44430 
 
TO 
 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 JAMES ABERCROMBIE, M. P. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 It is an ancient privilege of authors to 
 dedicate their works — and I am inclined 
 to think, that, like the privileges of other 
 and greater public characters, it ought to 
 be considered as a trust for the benefit of 
 the Public, which might sometimes be 
 usefully employed, and ought not to be 
 entirely surrendered. 
 
 The lighter productions of taste are, 
 with great propriety, frequently dedicated 
 
 A 2 
 
IV 
 
 to private friendship ; but graver works, 
 which from their nature might perhaps be 
 considered national, ought to be inscribed 
 with names of pubhc worth. 
 
 It is my good fortune to unite the 
 pubhc object and the private purpose. 
 I do no more than record the judgment 
 which the voice of the pubhc has pro- 
 nounced of Mr. Abercrombie, — as one of 
 the purest of public characters, and one 
 of the truest friends of Ireland — and bear 
 witness that the judgment is true. 
 
 Many circumstances concurred to In- 
 duce me to attempt a brief History of Ire- 
 land. Such a work was wan tin o-. The 
 public called for it. Not for a heavy detail 
 of Irish grievances and disasters ; but for 
 a clear and distinct outline, drawn without 
 prejudice or favour, of the great events of 
 Irish history. I was solicited by several, 
 whose opinions I valued highly, to un- 
 dertake such a work. Many might be 
 found whose talents were equal to the 
 task ; but there were few, perhaps, whose 
 studies and pursuits had fitted them for 
 
such a labour, — that were placed like my- 
 self, as it were, in a central position between 
 the two great parties which divide Ire- 
 land — connected with both, and the slave 
 of neither. 
 
 I had obtained some reputation for 
 impartiality. The chief object of my hum- 
 ble efforts in literature had always been 
 to suppress faction, and to raise up in its 
 stead one great national interest in Ireland ; 
 to root out party spirit; to cultivate national 
 attachments, especially in the gentry of 
 that country ; to unite these with the po- 
 pular feelings ; and to bind the whole round 
 the throne and island of Great Britain. 
 
 I have reason to know and rejoice, that I 
 have not been entirely unsuccessful in this 
 my favourite object ; and I look confidently 
 to the time, as now near at hand, when, 
 the main obstacles which have hitherto 
 impeded every effort for the improvement 
 of Ireland being removed, all those who 
 have honestly laboured in her service may 
 expect to reap a full measure of success. 
 
 A 3 
 
VI 
 
 In the mean time, I have not been wholly 
 without my reward. The mere effort on 
 former occasions to accomplish so much 
 good, though with such inadequate powers, 
 won for me the regard of several of the 
 most excellent persons, and most distin- 
 guished names in the empire, and secured 
 to me that friendship which I am on this 
 occasion proud to claim. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, 
 Your very Faithful Servant, 
 
 JOHN O'DRISCOL. 
 
 London^ June 1827. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The intention of the Author in the following 
 Volumes, was to lay before the Public a correct 
 and faithful view of Irish History. He was 
 anxious to avoid encumbering his subject with 
 such matter as did not elucidate the leading 
 events or mark the character of the time. He 
 has done no more than sketch an outline of the 
 earlier periods of the history ; — for this is all that 
 can be faithfully accomplished. Far removed 
 in the distance of time, the details of those ages 
 have faded away from our view, but the outline 
 still remains strong and well defined upon the 
 horizon. 
 
 He has been more full in those portions of 
 the History which may be considered eras, 
 and which have had a powerful influence upon 
 the course of subsequent events ; and he has 
 
 A 4 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 been abundantly copious as he approached those 
 later periods, which ultimately fixed the po- 
 litical condition of Ireland. 
 
 It did not appear to him to be the duty of 
 the Historian to load his page with details of 
 every barbarity, and recitals of every treachery 
 and fraud. Such accuracy would overwhelm 
 the subject with a mass of heavy and disgusting- 
 matter, little connected with the progress of 
 events, and as disagreeable for its sameness 
 as revolting in its nature. The history of fierce 
 conflicts, the contrivances of fraud, the efforts 
 of oppression, and the struggles of despair, are 
 all marked by little variety ; and when they are 
 dragged from beneath the oblivion that covers 
 them, and brought together in the crowd in which 
 they unfortunately exist, they are apt to disgust 
 the reader with the subject with which they are 
 connected, or to distract his attention, and shut 
 him out from a clear view of the great land-marks 
 of history. Unless such a view be obtained, 
 the story of human affairs is but an idle tale, 
 without object, and incapable of instruction. 
 
 But he has been careful nevertheless to pre- 
 serve as much of this unhappy material as the 
 truth and fulness of history required. He has 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 not sought to remove the dark masses of shade 
 which belonged to the subject, but merely so to 
 dispose them upon the canvass, that they may 
 not obscure, but rather assist in throwing out a 
 vivid and strong delineation of the grand fea- 
 tures of the piece. 
 
 There is but one History of Ireland deserving 
 the name — that of Mr. Leland. But it is a 
 heavy work, overlaid with the rubbish of barba- 
 rous and unimportant details, and disfigured with 
 a degree of prejudice and unfairness still more 
 objectionable. Leland writes like a gentleman 
 and a scholar ; but he had no clear views of his 
 subject ; and he was unable, or unwilling to 
 disengage himself from the prejudices of the 
 period in which he lived. It is to be feared 
 that the latter was very much the case ; for 
 throughout his misrepresentations and glosses, 
 we are here and there struck with glimpses of 
 a conscience ill at ease. He is not, however, 
 often chargeable with misstating facts, but he 
 discolours them with observations strangely at 
 variance with the natural deductions from the 
 matter to which they relate. 
 
 That Leland yielded to the spirit of the times 
 was in him no ordinary error. The first and 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 the best historian of Ireland, he had before him 
 a glorious task, if he had been equal to its ac- 
 complishment. He might have soothed and 
 appeased the bitter hatreds, and baneful ani- 
 mosities of his country ; he might have done 
 much to reconcile his countrymen to each other ; 
 he might have taught them that they were the 
 children of one land, and the worshippers of one 
 Creator; he might have been the first to an- 
 nounce to them a ** new commandment," as 
 surprising to the Irish as to the Jews of old — 
 " to love one another'* — and have found 
 reasons and motives in abundance in the history 
 he unfolded. 
 
 But the sole design of his History seems to 
 have been to foster prejudice, and to flatter 
 power ; a poor and pitiful, but common appli- 
 cation of talent — and Leland's was considerable. 
 Undoubtedly it requires no ordinary courage 
 to deal honestly with such a subject. The 
 Author of this work has proved the peril of a 
 dangerous sincerity upon former occasions ; and 
 upon this he has been cautioned, by more than 
 one warning voice, how he ventured to tread 
 upon volcanic grounds — ** sepositos cineri do- 
 loso." 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 He might, indeed, have refused to write ; but, 
 having written, he could do no other than follow 
 the course he pursued in worse times, and do 
 " equal and indifferent justice " to all. 
 
 It was the advice of his Bookseller, and his 
 own wish, to treat the subject in as short a 
 compass as could be, without doing it any in- 
 justice ; and this he thinks he has accomplished. 
 
 In the Two Volumes which he now presents to 
 the Public, he has brought down his History to 
 the important epoch of the conclusion of the 
 civil wars by the treaty of Limerick. 
 
 Hereafter, if he should find leisure for the 
 task, he may probably continue the narrative to 
 a later period. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction ----- -_i 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Ancient State of Ireland - - - - 4 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Ancient Church and Learning in Ireland - - 25 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 From Henry II. to Elizabeth - - - 30 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Subject continued - - - - 43 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Subject continued - - - '53 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Reign of Elizabeth - - - - 59 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Page 
 
 Reign of Elizabeth cwitinued 
 
 - 80 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 
 Reign of Elizabeth continued 
 
 - 93 
 
 - 113 
 
 - 128 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Reign of Elizabeth continued 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 Reign of Elizabeth continued 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 Reign of James I. - - - - 149 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Reign of Charles I. - - - - 162 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 War of the Confederates - - -188 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 War of the Confederates continued - - 2 1 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 The CromweUian War - - - 230 
 
 CHAR XVII. 
 
 The CromweUian War continued - - 246 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 The CromweUian Settlement - - - 253 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAP. XIX. Page 
 
 Reign of Charles II. - - - 262 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 Reign of Charles II. continued - - - 278 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 Reign of Charles II. continued - _ - 294 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 Reign of James II. - - ... 306 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 TyrconneFs Administration - - - - 323 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 Flight of James from England - - - 353 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 IRELAND 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1 HE traditions of the ancient Irish ^x the mi- 
 gration of that people from Spain, and the coasts 
 of the Mediterranean, in a remote age of the 
 world. 
 
 They appear to have partially embraced 
 Christianity at an early period of the Christian 
 era ; and the conversion of the nation was 
 nearly completed, by the preaching of Saint 
 Patrick, about the fourth century. 
 
 For more than two centuries, commencing 
 about the year 800, Ireland was disturbed by 
 repeated invasions of the Danes, who succeeded, 
 for a period, in establishing their dominion in 
 the island, but were finally expelled the country. 
 
 The Danish wars were followed by an interval 
 of great national weakness and disorder, which 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
2 IIISTOHY Ol IIIKLANI). 
 
 seems to have invited the attempt of Henry the 
 Second, Kin^- of* Knoland, in 1177, to acqnire 
 tlie sovereignty of Ireland. 
 
 Henry's enterprise was snccessfui. He landed 
 in Ireland, in 117''^> ^vith a small force; and the 
 fcndal title which he claimed, as Lord Paramonnt, 
 was acknowledged by the Irish princes, and rati- 
 fied by treaty with Roderick, Kingof Connanght 
 and Lord of Ireland. 
 
 At the period of Henry's landing, Ireland 
 was divided into a number of [)etty independent 
 ]:)rincij)alities, which were incapable of any ex- 
 ertion of national strength, except occasionally, 
 when the king, or elective sovereign of the 
 toparchs, ha])pened to be a man who could re- 
 medy the defective constitution of his country, 
 and sup])ly his own want of power by ability 
 and vigour of character. 
 
 But Roderick was a weak man : under his 
 dominion the country had sunk into the utmost 
 disorder; and, in the opinion of the princes of 
 Ireland, (themselves distracted by their own 
 dissensions,) it contained within itself no remedy 
 of sullicient pow(M' to restore ])olitical order. 
 
 Ilemy was freely chosen Lord Paramount of 
 Ireland. Nor was his sovereignty an empty 
 name. He made grants of land, in vaiious parts 
 of the island, to several of his ibllowers ; and, 
 though in most places he was without a soldier to 
 enforce his grants, they took effect by permis- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 3 
 
 sion of the princes of the country, — a proof 
 that the Irish acted with good faith. 
 
 After Henry, a new order of things arose. 
 The kings of Enghmd seem to have abandoned 
 the sovereignty of Irehmd by mere desuetude, 
 and to have preserved no more tlian a precarious 
 and uncertain authority over a portion of the 
 province of Lehister, and some small spots upon 
 the coast in other parts of the country ; and, in 
 place of the frank and cordial allegiance which 
 had been tendered to Henry, distrust and jea- 
 lousy had sprung up between the Irish and 
 British, issuing sometimes in open hostilities, 
 and seldom subsiding into any thing better than 
 a languid and broken truce. 
 
 The effect of this state of things was to in- 
 crease the disorders of the country. There was 
 no general government, either British or Irish. 
 The Irish princes elected no king after Roderick; 
 and, for some centuries, the languid authority 
 of the British crown sapped the foundations of 
 order and civilisation more effectually than the 
 fierce invasions of the Danes. 
 
 B 2 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 At the commencement of the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth, the English power in Ireland was li- 
 mited to the small district called the Pale"; which 
 included the city of Dublin, and portions of the 
 adjacent counties. The boundaries of this petty 
 territory were occasionally enlarged, when it hap- 
 pened that the weakness of the Irish enemy ^ as 
 the nativ^e Irish were then called by the colonists, 
 or the strength of the British settlers, permitted 
 the latter to encroach upon the neighbouring 
 districts. , 
 
 But those aggressions upon the lands beyond 
 the Pale were frequently retaliated, when an 
 enterprising chief of Irish race was found to 
 lead his countrymen to the combat ; and it 
 often happened, that the limits of the Pale were 
 driven back, until even the walls of Dublin stood 
 for this fluctuating boundary. 
 
 Until Henry the Eighth, the Kings of Eng- 
 land assumed only the modest and doubtful title 
 of Lords of Ireland, to which they w^ere entitled 
 by the treaty made in 1 177 between Henry the 
 Second, King of England, and Roderick, King 
 of Connaught and Lord of Ireland. Roderick 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. O 
 
 was king of Connaiight, but he held the same 
 dominion over all the Irish princes, who exercised 
 regal power within their own small states, that 
 Henry claimed over him, and over his fenda- 
 tories. This species of dominion, little more 
 than honorary, was sufficiently recognised in 
 that age, though now hardly understood, ex- 
 cept by the antiquarian. 
 
 The kings of England have been blamed for not 
 having at an earlier period effectually reduced the 
 island under their dominion. If by " effectual 
 reduction" is understood, not the voluntary obe- 
 dience of the people to the British crowm, which 
 they had tendered to Henry, and which was 
 consistent with the preservation of their pro- 
 perty, and of many of their ancient customs and 
 institutions, but that violent and forcible change 
 in all these which was afterwards effected, we 
 are not sure that the kings of England, at the 
 period we allude to, could have acted much 
 otherwise than they did, even though our 
 Edwards and Henries had not been so mucb 
 engaged as they were upon the more splendid 
 theatre of ambition which the Continent then 
 afforded. 
 
 If we consider the state of Ireland in tlie 
 early ages of British connection, we shall be 
 satisfied, that though a victory might have been 
 more easily won over the scattered armies which 
 that country could then furnish, than over the 
 
 B 3 
 
6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 troops of France, disciplined by one authority 
 and acting under one head, yet the fruits of 
 the triumph were to be gathered with more 
 difficulty. A French army subdued opened the 
 country to the victors. An Irish army routed 
 left the conquerors pretty much where they were. 
 They could keep no possession of a country 
 having few towns or villages, covered with 
 forests, intersected by numerous rivers, defended 
 by chains of hills, and presenting every where 
 extensive lakes and morasses closing the passes 
 between the mountains. 
 
 The bold adventurers, who for centuries 
 poured into Ireland in quest of fortune, tra- 
 versed, indeed, frequently the most difficult of 
 those naturally fortified districts ; but they could 
 do no more. Sometimes they were suffered to 
 pass unmolested, because it was known that 
 with all their valour and discipline they could 
 but pass. More frequently they were followed 
 on their march by the active clansmen ; and 
 wherever the ground presented those advan- 
 tages which enable light and irregular troops to 
 triumph, by mere bravery and activity, over skill 
 and steadiness, they were sure to be assailed, 
 and to suffer for their rash adventure amongst 
 Irish fastnesses. 
 
 The original settlement of the Pale was formed 
 by accident ; if we can call that an accident 
 which fixes the destiny of nations. The expulsion 
 of the Prince of Leinster from his territory, — his 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 7 
 
 league^ under the sanction of Henry the Second, 
 with some Welsh noblemen and Norman lords, 
 by whose aid he was restored to his chiefry, — 
 these were the events which, in their ultimate 
 consequences, brought about the political union 
 of the two countries. 
 
 The Prince of Leinster had been expelled his 
 petty kingdom in consequence, though after a 
 long period, of the forcible abduction of the wife 
 of O'Rourk of Breffhy, and of various other ex- 
 cesses committed against his neighbours and his 
 subjects : but he did not owe his restoration 
 entirely to his Welsh and Norman associates ; he 
 had himself a very considerable party in his 
 principality, and had always been a favourite with 
 the lower classes of the people, who are easily 
 induced to pardon the irregularities of the pas- 
 sions. The people generally direct their in- 
 dignation against the violation of the natural 
 affections, not against their excess ; and Dermid, 
 though guilty of many cruelties and outrages, 
 was not unpopular. When his allies appeared 
 upon the field, his partisans and dependents 
 rallied round his standard, and presented so for- 
 midable a front to his enemies that he was soon 
 permitted to remain in peaceable possession of 
 his dominions. Strongbow, the most powerful 
 of his allies, married his daughter and only child, 
 and succeeded to an Irish title and principality. 
 
 But Strongbow was not merely an Irish prince, 
 
 B 4 
 
8 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 he was also a British subject. In the former cha- 
 racter there was nothing to which the jealousies 
 of the Irish could attach ; while, in the latter, he 
 served as a conductor for the first flowings of 
 that power which was destined, in a course of 
 ages, to spread itself over the whole island. 
 
 Strongbow, though an Irish prince, was a 
 stranger in the country, and felt that his new 
 title required the support of his old allegiance. 
 He could not forego British protection ; and, 
 under cover of that protection, the British power, 
 in a new form, was extended gradually over 
 Leinster ; and, by similar means, crept from time 
 to time, into remoter parts of the island. Partly 
 by force and stratagem, but chiefly by alliances, 
 many of the great English lords found means to 
 establish themselves in various distant parts of 
 Ireland, but more as Irish tanists, or chiefs, than 
 as English vassals. In this manner were the 
 great families of Fitzgerald, Grace, De Lacy, 
 De Burgo and others founded. These, like 
 their new kinsmen of Irish blood, affected some 
 times to acknowledge the supremacy of the 
 British crown, sometimes openly renounced it. 
 Yet their English descent made them always be 
 looked upon with an eye of favour by the 
 government of England, even in their transgres- 
 sions ; and in the vigorous periods of British 
 power, which sometimes occurred in Ireland, 
 their ofiences were passed over, or the measure 
 of punishment was poured out with a tender and 
 
HISTORY OB IRELAND. 9 
 
 reluctant hand ; while the vial was emptied upon 
 offenders of mere Irish blood. 
 
 The Anglo-Irish lords, like the native Irish 
 nobility, claimed royal authority upon their 
 estates, and exercised sovereign power. They 
 executed the laws, inflicted punishments, levied 
 taxes, and performed all other functions of ab- 
 solute dominion which the customs and institu- 
 tions of the country permitted. They very soon 
 also adopted the language, dress, and modes of 
 living of the island, and were in all respects 
 Irish, but descent. 
 
 Besides the territory of the Pale, and the 
 estates in sovereignty of the Anglo-Irish lords, 
 which were thinly scattered through the country, 
 the British government had also acquired pos- 
 session, at an early period, of the Danish towns 
 and settlements upon the coast. The Danes, 
 who were a commercial as well as military 
 people, had, during their partial dominion in 
 Ireland in the eighth and ninth centuries, 
 founded or improved the cities of Dublin, Water- 
 ford, Cork, Limerick, and others ; and the Irish 
 lords, after having broken their yoke, were not 
 disposed to molest the industrious citizens of the 
 towns, who supplied them, by means of their 
 commerce, with the foreign commodities they 
 required, and a revenue that was very accept- 
 able. The Danes were permitted to pursue 
 their traffic in peace. 
 
10 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 When the British got footing in the island, 
 they found the Danish settlements of the towns 
 in a prosperous state ; and being, hke those 
 northerns, of a commercial as well as warlike 
 character, they were not slow to discern the 
 advantages to be derived from the possession of 
 such convenient places of trade, or tardy in 
 making themselves masters of them. This was 
 easily accomplished. The Danes w^ere too feeble 
 to resist ; and the Irish lords, who looked upon 
 both Danish and British as but varieties of the 
 same species of craftsmen, whose skill might be 
 useful, but whose power could never become 
 formidable, took little notice of what was trans- 
 acted in those hives of commerce, where they 
 counted upon sharing the honey whether pro- 
 duced by the old inmates or the new swarm. 
 
 There is some evidence that in the period of 
 the Roman empire Ireland was known as a place 
 of trade ; and her ports, we are told, were moi'e 
 frequented than those of Britain. But this trade, 
 whatever w^as its nature, must have been con- 
 fined to the sea-ports ; for, even at the time of the 
 British settlements, the Irish were essentially a 
 pastoral people. The Irish lords, and even the 
 Irish of the lower classes, had at this period a 
 contempt for trade, which they long retained. 
 Their laws, usages, and manners were patriarchal ; 
 and, when the British introduced amongst them 
 a number of laborious arts and refinements, they 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 11 
 
 received them with the contempt and resistance 
 which they had successfully opposed to the 
 ruder skill and industry of Denmark. They 
 considered the wants of life as few, and easily 
 supplied; and the accommodations which can 
 be procured by great labour only, as a yoke of 
 slavery degrading to freemen. 
 
 But the Irish, though a pastoral nation, were a 
 civilised people. Tribes of hunters are mostly 
 savages ; pastoral nations are generally civilised. 
 They possess the few domestic arts which are 
 essential to comfort. The farm that yields 
 food furnishes clothing also, and building ma- 
 terials, furniture, and pottery. The weaver, the 
 potter, the carpenter, and the mason are found, 
 if not in the same cottage, yet on the same 
 ploughland. This is the second state of man- 
 kind ; and, simple as it is, it is consistent with a 
 considerable degree of intellectual culture, as 
 appears from what we know of the condition 
 of the Eastern tribes in distant ages, and even 
 in the time of Abraham, the great father of 
 nations. 
 
 We know that tlie mines of Ireland were 
 worked by no unskilful hands in ages exceed- 
 ingly remote ; and that the ancient nobiUty of 
 that country possessed arms, ornaments, and 
 domestic vessels of gold and silver of excellent 
 workmanship ; and linen and woollen manufac- 
 tures of great beauty. 
 
12 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The literature of the pastoral nations was by 
 no means contemptible. It was imaginative 
 and thoughtful. Confined to the higher and 
 more exalted subjects which exercise the human 
 mind, it formed the taste of the initiated to 
 poetry and philosophy. The early writings of 
 the Irish have a great resemblance to those of 
 the Jews and other Eastern people. 
 
 The civil institutions of the Irish were such 
 as suited a simple and pastoral people, and were 
 excellent ; the political institutions very bad. 
 The early British writers inveighed against the 
 laws of Ireland, as exceedingly barbarous, be- 
 cause they were mild and simple; but;^the pro- 
 gress of improvement in legislation seems to 
 indicate that the barbarism was upon the side of 
 the British. Those writers had formed their 
 notions of the perfection of law, upon the cramp 
 and puzzled jurisprudence which grew like a 
 fungus from the decay of the feudal system, and 
 which, instead of being, as Lord Coke pro- 
 nounces it, in the excess of his admiration, the 
 " perfection of human wisdom,'* seems to be 
 frequently the perfection of intricacy. But if 
 the British system was imperfect in detail, in 
 principle it was inestimable and complete. 
 
 The ancient Irish law supplied a prompt and 
 local administration of justice. The judge was 
 always in his district, and the law he had to 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 13 
 
 administer was well known. The accused and the 
 accuser were brought before him, and all the 
 parties to a cause were examined, taking their 
 evidence with the caution which their interest 
 made necessary. The most recent discoveries 
 in law-making seem to pronounce this to be the 
 best system. It is also ascertained that the 
 mild and bloodless criminal law of the Irish 
 was founded in true wisdom, though our old 
 writers pronounce the want of sanguinary and 
 violent punishments in the Irish code, as the dis- 
 tinguishing mark of its barbarity. The local 
 judge was also the register. Every deed was 
 publicly acknowledged before him, and authen- 
 ticated with his signature. 
 
 If the civil law of the Irish was good ; the 
 political constitution was exceedingly defective. 
 The country was parcelled out into a number of 
 chiefries or independent principalities, which 
 formed a scheme of admirable contrivance for 
 weakening a nation, and depriving it of all ex- 
 ternal power or internal strength. This sys- 
 tem of government must have been common to 
 all nations in the pastoral state, while yet land 
 was abundant, and tlie heads of families could 
 say to each other, as Abraham did to Lot : 
 " Lo, is not the whole land before thee? Separate 
 thyself, I pray thee, from me : if thou wilt take 
 the left hand, then I will go to the right 5 or if 
 
14 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to 
 the left." * 
 
 But when land was no longer plenty, those 
 families, now spread into clans or tribes, would 
 speedily come into conflict respecting bound- 
 aries, and universal disorder would prevail. To 
 apply a remedy to this evil, a feeble attempt was 
 generally made, by the heads of tribes electing 
 from their number a supreme chief or lord 
 paramount. This was the original constitution 
 of Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Ireland, 
 and most other parts of the world. But the 
 authority which the petty princes were willing 
 to confer upon their chief, was always limited 
 and unequal to the task of internal peace or ex- 
 ternal defence. And the confusion and bar- 
 barism generally consequent upon a number of 
 independent chiefries being crowded mto a nar- 
 row space, was only avoided where the inevit- 
 able conflict of the parties, or the progress of 
 circumstances, issued in the absolute dominion 
 of one potent prince over all the rest. This 
 took place at an early period in the great states 
 of the Continent, and in England, and finally 
 it was accomplished throughout the British 
 Islands, by the gradual flowing of that power 
 which was soonest concentrated, over the other 
 portions of the two islands. 
 
 * Gen. xiii, 9. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 15 
 
 The spreading of the British power over Ire- 
 land was of the same character as over Scotland 
 and Wales ; and presents us with nearly a simi- 
 lar train of events. The two islands, from their 
 circumstances and position, were naturally pre- 
 pared to become one state ; the narrow sea 
 which divides them presenting little greater 
 impediment, than the inarches which separated 
 the three states of the larger island. 
 
 The evil consequences of an aggregation of 
 small principalities was aggravated in Ireland 
 by the laws which prevented individuals from 
 acquiring property in land, and made the terri- 
 tory of the sept to be the common estate of all 
 its members. The tribe or clan, however nu- 
 merous, comprised each but one family, of which 
 the chief was elective, though always chosen 
 from a particular stock. 
 
 It is obvious, that such a law of property 
 must have discouraged agriculture and the arts ; 
 and, accordingly, we find that the Irish sub- 
 sisted chiefly upon their herds and flocks, which 
 were the property of the whole tribe, and were 
 suffered to roam at large over the district which 
 the clan claimed as their own. As tribes be- 
 came powerful and their cattle numerous, they 
 would not scruple to encroach upon their neigh- 
 bour's boundaries, and to support their encroach- 
 ments by force. Hence frequent and sanguinary 
 conflicts of tribes. The vanquished generally 
 
16 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 lost a portion of their territory, or were com- 
 pelled to submit to a tribute, almost always con- 
 sisting of cattle, with an occasional addition of 
 arms, plate, and in some instances of ships. 
 " Send me tribute — or else," said an Irish chief 
 to a neighbouring prince. ** I owe you none — 
 and if — " was the haughty and laconic reply : 
 for tribute was always refused, where the sub- 
 ject tribe had acquired strength enough to de- 
 fend its flocks and herds. The celebrated 
 Bryan Boru (cattle) derived his latter appel- 
 lation from the tributes he imposed upon his 
 vanquished enemies. 
 
 With all the disadvantages of the institutions 
 of the ancient Irish, there were intervals of 
 peace, and even of glory and refinement, occur- 
 ring from time to time, as accident and circum- 
 stances favoured them. The reigns of a few 
 powerful and fortunate princes furnish us with 
 those bright intervals, upon which the annalists 
 of Ireland dwell with so much pleasure and 
 pride. Nor is the literature and the arts they 
 boast of at all inconsistent with the genius and 
 condition of the people. 
 
 There is evidence that no small degree of 
 cultivation existed in Ireland from the remotest 
 times, probably derived from the parent states 
 on the shores of the Mediterranean, from which 
 the written and oral traditions of the Irish de- 
 rive their origin, and to which all the analogies 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 17 
 
 of language, manners, and customs strongly 
 refer. This early proficiency served as a found- 
 ation for Christianity, when first introduced into 
 the island by the predecessors of St. Patrick. 
 And when at length, under the preaching of the 
 patriarch, Christianity w^as fully and cordially 
 received, it served greatly to advance that an- 
 cient literature which had so long existed in the 
 country. 
 
 The Christian missionaries introduced, with 
 the civilisation of the Gospel, the language and 
 learning of Rome and Greece, always powerful 
 auxiliaries to refinement. Churches were built 
 for divine worship ; and colleges founded for 
 the instruction of the chiefs and priesthood, and 
 the accommodation of strangers. The pious 
 zeal and generous spirit of the Irish people 
 poured itself out in acts of liberality and kind- 
 ness towards all who visited their country in pur- 
 suit of knowledge, or with a view to promote the 
 great cause of Christianity, then the grand object 
 of the enlightened and liberal of mankind; and 
 in all ages the main instrument of liberty and 
 civilisation. 
 
 When the Irish annalists talk of the colleges 
 of Armagh and Lismore, and other parts of Ire- 
 land, and of the thousands of native and foreign 
 students who resorted to those places of instruc- 
 tion, it is not to be imagined that those col- 
 leges were sumptuous buildings resembling the 
 
 VOL. I. c 
 
18 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 marble palaces in which literature has been so 
 tastefully lodged in Italy, or even equalling the 
 fine Gothic structures consecrated to the muses 
 . in other parts of the world. 
 
 Buildings so extensive as those of Ireland 
 must have been of cheap materials ; and we 
 know that in the early ages of Christianity the 
 common dwelling-houses of the country, and 
 even those of the chiefs, were for the most part 
 built of timber, or a strong frame-work of tim- 
 ber, with wattles and plaster. These were the 
 ordinary buildings of the country, and conti- 
 nued so for ages after. There are unpublished 
 letters in existence, from some of the early Bri- 
 tish invaders, describing those dwellings as very 
 comfortable and commodious. 
 
 Something of this style of building prevailed 
 also at the same period in England, and we have 
 specimens of it remaining in that country to the 
 present day. The houses of the chiefs differed 
 from those of their humblest followers, in extent 
 and solidity only. The materials and the style 
 were the same. 
 
 But it is a mistake to imagine, that long be- 
 fore the landing of Henry the Second in Ire- 
 land there were not buildings of stone and 
 mortar, and of workmanship equal to what 
 were to be found, at that period, in France, 
 England, and other new countries. In the 
 sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, there 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 19 
 
 were churches, colleges, and other public build- 
 ings of stone, in various parts of Ireland, 
 though it is probable that the greater number 
 were of timber and other cheap materials. 
 These, as well as many of the more durable 
 edifices, were destroyed during the ravages of 
 the Danes, who visited every thing connected 
 with literature and Christianity, with their par- 
 ticular hatred and vengeance. Yet there are 
 remains of many stone buildings, of no mean 
 workmanship, still to be found, of a more an- 
 cient date than the British invasion. These are 
 chiefly to be found in Connaught, where the 
 remains of Irish antiquities have been least ex- 
 posed to injury. And in all parts of the coun- 
 try the round towers attest an acquaintance 
 with the art of building in stone and mortar 
 long prior to the age of the second Henry. 
 
 It is curious that a controversy should have 
 been carried on for a long period, in books, upon 
 this subject, when a slight inspection of the face 
 of the country would have put an end to the 
 debate. The stone and mortar would have 
 answered for itself, and a small degree of atten- 
 tion would have settled the date. But, independ- 
 ently of this conclusive evidence, there would 
 have been some strong proof from probability. 
 
 Nothing is better established in history, than 
 that Ireland, during part of the sixth, the 
 seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, was the 
 
 c 2 
 
*20 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 chief seat of learning in the west. The autho- 
 rities upon this head are very numerous. They 
 are of all nations, and above all suspicion. Stu- 
 dents from every part of the Christian world 
 resorted to Ireland for the purposes of study, 
 and crowded the halls of Armagh, Timolegue, 
 Lismore, and other schools and colleges. Here 
 tlie Holy Scriptures were preserved and stu- 
 died, and the learning and languages of anti- 
 quity cultivated. 
 
 It has been said, that the learning and refine- 
 ment which the Irish lay claim to in those ages 
 were confined to their schools and monasteries, 
 and had little or no effect upon the bulk of the 
 people, who still continued engaged with their 
 barbarous feuds and ferocious conflicts. This 
 is true, but it is not true of Ireland only : it is 
 true of all parts of the world where learning has 
 ever flourished. It is true of past ages and of 
 the present. Ireland, during part of that period 
 when learning was cultivated in her colleges, 
 and her name was famous throughout Europe, 
 was torn by the dissensions of her petty princes, 
 who waged a fierce and cruel warfare upon each 
 other. 
 
 But it was so also in Greece, in the best days 
 of her arts and oratory. It was so in Italy, 
 when the genius of that wonderful country 
 burst the bonds of the priests and the barba- 
 rians, and illuminated all Europe with a short 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 21 
 
 and dazzling glory. It has been so in many other 
 nations and ages of the world. 
 
 It is true, that the beams of this literature of 
 former ages, however brilliantly they illuminated 
 the halls of the colleges, left the outer courts, 
 and the country at large, in profound darkness, 
 or enjoying only some scattered and doubtful 
 gleams of the precious light of knowledge. 
 This was the case not in Ireland only, but every 
 where. 
 
 In ancient times learning was taught as a 
 kind of mystery, to be communicated only to 
 the initiated, and which it was not only impos- 
 sible, but would have been considered improper 
 to communicate to the vulgar. This notion pre- 
 vailed to a very late period. Tlie learned, 
 throughout Europe, disdained to write in the 
 language of their nations, and used only the 
 Latin tongue. There was, as it were, a double 
 seal upon the fountain of knowledge, — the 
 scarcity of manuscripts, and the difficulty of a 
 foreign dialect. 
 
 In the early ages the clergy were almost the 
 sole depositaries of learning : the laity through- 
 out Europe possessed only the pale light of 
 knowledge, reflected upon them from the cleri- 
 cal order. Yet this was something ; and it was 
 as much in Ireland as any where. The civilisa- 
 tion prevailing amongst the laity was not inferior 
 to what obtained in that age in any other part 
 
 c 3 
 
22 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of Europe. Nor was the warfare that raged in 
 Ireland (though petty wars are always most 
 cruel) distinguished for barbarity beyond the 
 wars of other nations, and of periods much more 
 recent. The cruelties practised by the republican 
 soldiery in the Cromwellian wars far exceed in 
 atrocity any thing recorded of the barbarous 
 conflicts of the Irish. The same can be testi- 
 fied of the wars of the League in France, the 
 wars of the Italian states, the struggles of the 
 French Revolution, and other sanguinary and 
 cruel conflicts in various parts of the world. 
 
 There is no weight in the argument drawn 
 from the comparative ignorance of the Irish 
 laity, or the cruelty of their petty wars. In 
 these respects they were nothing singular. 
 Their condition is easily comprehended. As 
 to learning, they were in the condition of the 
 other gentry of Europe. They had their bards 
 and historians ; men whose trade was the litera- 
 ture of their age. The gentry had no other 
 pursuit than war ; and the people were addicted 
 solely to agriculture, and a few simple arts of 
 life. The chiefs and the populace had, at an 
 early period, no literature beyond the rhymes 
 committed to memory. But as early as the 
 Norman invasion, under Henry the Second, 
 we find the Irish chiefs sufiiciently conversant 
 with the Latin language ; and in their letters of 
 subsequent date, written in that tongue, we find 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. ^3 
 
 them making constant allusion to the events of 
 Roman history. 
 
 The nation at large manufactured their own 
 woollen and linen clothing, and were skilful in 
 the manufacture of arms, and vessels of silver 
 and gold. They were remarkable for their taste 
 and skill in music, according to the simple 
 science of those early ages. They were power- 
 ful enough at sea, at a very early period, to 
 contend successfully against the Danes, then 
 bold and skilful navigators ; and when the 
 Irish monarchy had passed away, some of the 
 southern chieftains, in the decline of their for- 
 tunes, still continued to exercise a formidable 
 power upon the shores of the ocean. 
 
 Such a nation could not be a nation of bar- 
 barians ; neither were they in a condition of 
 much refinement. They were, as we have 
 stated, in the second stage of mankind : a 
 simple and pastoral people, with the cultivation 
 that belongs generally to that state of society. 
 Accidental circumstances made the island, for 
 three or four centuries, the seat of learning in 
 the west ; and the calamity of an unhappy 
 political constitution exposed the country to a 
 state of almost perpetual turbulence and war. 
 The Irish appeal, with just pride, to the happy 
 days of their ancient renown, when the youth 
 of Europe flocked to their schools ; and when 
 Irishmen, illustrious for their learning, were 
 
 c 4 
 
24 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 spread over the face of Britain and of the Con- 
 tinent, founding colleges in deserts, and strug- 
 gling to maintain, or to re-establish, the empire of 
 religion and letters. The renown of nations is 
 the best part of their inheritance, — and Ireland is 
 fully entitled to what she claims in this parti- 
 cular. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. - ^25 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 1 HE church of Ireland, down to the period of 
 the British invasion, had maintained the faith as 
 derived from Patrick and his predecessors. 
 Then first she submitted to the yoke of Rome, 
 imposed by the hand of Henry. The Roman 
 pontiffs had previously made frequent attempts 
 upon the Irish church, in vain, though their 
 efforts at the council of Kells, and upon other 
 occasions, were directed with all the skill and 
 management for which the court of Rome has 
 ever been remarkable. At the council of Lis- 
 more, at w^hich Henry assisted, the Irish church 
 was at length subdued, and submitted to the 
 Papal authority, which it had so long combated. 
 
 The ancient church of Ireland acknowledged 
 no higher authority on earth than the Arch- 
 bishop of Armagh. But the Danish churches 
 in Ireland acknowledged the supremacy of the 
 see of Canterbury. This originated in no dif- 
 ference of doctrine, but in the natural jealousies 
 of nations, and in the ancient connection which 
 subsisted between the Danes of the two islands. 
 
 The doctrine, discipline, and ceremonial, as 
 far as we know them, of the ancient Irish church. 
 
26 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 differed, in many important particulars, from 
 those of modern Rome. 
 
 The study of the holy writings appears to 
 have been the chief occupation of the pious, 
 not the modes and ceremonies of worship. The 
 bishops and parish clergy were generally married 
 men. But those who devoted themselves to the 
 propagation of the Gospel, or the advancement 
 of learning in foreign countries, were unincum- 
 bered with families or matrimonial ties. This 
 class of men were very numerous, and founded 
 many religious houses and schools of philosophy 
 in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Britain. 
 They were remarkable, generally, for consider- 
 able talent, and for bold, liberal, and vigorous 
 views. And when Rome first showed a disposi- 
 tion to encroach upon the other churches of 
 Europe, she encountered, from the learned Irish 
 throughout the world, the most determined re- 
 sistance. 
 
 The ceremonies of worship appear to have 
 been few and simple, and to have been derived 
 originally from the Eastern churches, previous to 
 the preaching of Patrick. The mode of observ- 
 ing Easter was Asiatic, as were many other ob- 
 servances of the Irish church, which supported 
 the tradition, that the first preachers of Christi- 
 anity in Ireland were disciples of Saint John. 
 
 The ancient order of the " Culdees " existed 
 in Ireland previous to Patrick ; and all their 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 27 
 
 institutions proved that they were derived from 
 a different origin from that of Rome. This 
 celebrated order gave many eminent men to 
 the Irish church, and to Scotland and other 
 parts of the world, among whom Columbkill has 
 still a name in Ireland as venerable and revered 
 as that of Patrick himself. 
 
 The church-discipUne of the Culdees seems 
 to have afforded the model for the modern Pres- 
 byterian establishment of Scotland. 
 
 The customs of the Irish, with respect to 
 marriage, admitted a freedom nearly amounting 
 to the polygamy of their Asiatic ancestors, from 
 whom they boasted to be derived, and a liberty 
 of divorce even more objectionable. They con- 
 tended, that the law of the New Testament had 
 imposed no restraint in this respect, except in the 
 case of the clergy, and that it was a matter left 
 entirely to the discretion of the civil power, and 
 to be regulated by the exigencies of society. 
 
 But the original British settlers, and those 
 who followed them from time to time, looked 
 with horror upon a people who made light of 
 having more wives than one, who did not punish 
 theft, nor even murder with death, and who 
 wore the beard upon the upper lip, — and con- 
 sidered them as out of the protection of all laws, 
 human and divine. 
 
 Upon this foundation of ignorant contempt 
 and abhorrence was raised that strange and 
 
28 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 ferocious code, and fiercer prejudice, under which 
 the Irish had to endure so many ages of perse- 
 cution. No nation ever suffered so much for 
 the laxity of their moral law and the humanity 
 of their civil institutions. 
 
 If we are struck with the number of schools 
 and colleges, the names of w^hich, and of the 
 teachers, and the numbers of the students, are in 
 many instances handed down to us, all which 
 appear in our age to be very astonishing, we shall 
 be equally surprised if we consider the vast 
 number of bishopricks, or as we should now call 
 them, rectories or parishes, into which the country 
 was divided, and which proves, beyond a doubt, 
 a high degree of national prosperity, and a popul- 
 ation greatly exceeding what we consider to be 
 an excess at the present day. A single parish 
 of our time, in most parts of Ireland, and which 
 is considered as affording only an extent of space 
 and population adequate to the maintenance of 
 one clergyman, in the ancient times we refer to, 
 supported three, four, five, or six, bishops or 
 rectors, and was divided into as many parishes, 
 having each its parish church. There is no 
 doubt of this fact ; for the names of the ancient 
 parishes, so grouped together to form one modern 
 parish, are on record, and in many instances the 
 ruins of the churches may still be traced. What 
 must be the numbers and the means of the 
 people who could build so many churches and 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 29 
 
 support SO many teachers? This drcumstance 
 proves that there is no exaggeration in the 
 historical accounts transmitted to us of the 
 numerous schools and colleges of Ireland in 
 remote times. 
 
30 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 From the settlement of Strongbow in Leinster 
 to the reign of Elizabeth, a period of four hun- 
 dred years, the people of Ireland, with the ex- 
 ception of the Anglo-Irish, dwelling within the 
 small territory of the Pale, continued to be 
 governed by their ancient laws and institutions. 
 The authority of the chiefs was still acknow- 
 ledged by the clansmen ; but among the chiefs 
 themselves there was no combination or con- 
 centration of power. The kings of England 
 had succeeded, under the treaty of 1177> by a 
 legitimate title to the monarchy of Ireland ; but 
 they had always acted as if they considered the 
 right they claimed to be but a mere shadow. 
 If their title to the crown of Ireland were sub- 
 stantial, it cast upon them the responsibility 
 of providing for the welfare, and promoting the 
 interests, of their new subjects. 
 
 That the title of the kings of England to the 
 crown of Ireland was a true and substantial 
 title cannot be doubted. It had been settled 
 by treaty, and repeatedly confirmed by the 
 voluntary submissions of the Irish princes. If 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 31 
 
 the throne of Ireland was not filled by the king 
 of England, it was vacant. 
 
 Henry the Eighth, with the consent of the 
 Irish princes, changed the title of Lord of Ire- 
 land, which he derived from Roderick, into that 
 of King, which the increasing power of the Bri- 
 tish monarchy, and the decay of feudalism, ren- 
 dered more appropriate. 
 
 Several of the most distinguished Irish lords, 
 among whom were the heads of the great houses 
 of O'Neil and O'Brien, both of which had for 
 ages given kings to Ireland, attended Henry at 
 his court in London, and acknowledged and 
 ratified his title. 
 
 Neither at this period, nor at any former time, 
 had there been a conquest of Ireland. Strong- 
 bow's right to the principality of Leinster had 
 accrued by treaty with Dermid, and by succes- 
 sion. The title of Henry the Second was 
 founded also upon treaty with Roderick, and 
 confirmed by the consent of his feudal lords. 
 Again, in the reign of Richard the Second, the 
 Irish princes did voluntary homage to the king, 
 then in Ireland. 
 
 Those princes and nobles were well aware of 
 the power of the British monarchy, united under 
 one head, and were perfectly sensible that Ire- 
 land, parcelled out into a multitude of independ- 
 ent chiefries, could escape from a frightful 
 state of disorder only by the measure they had 
 
32 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 1 
 
 adopted of conferring the ancient crown of 
 their nation upon the British monarch. The 
 two islands had, from the remotest times, main- 
 tained that intimate communication and con- 
 nection which grew out of their proximity ; 
 and when the crown of Ireland w^as placed 
 upon the head which already wore the diadem 
 of Britain, it was not a transfer made to an 
 alien or a stranger, nor was the transaction a 
 weak or pusillanimous surrender of the sove- 
 reignty of Ireland. A wiser measure could not 
 have been devised, to remedy the disorders of 
 the country, than the union of the two islands, 
 contemplated by the treaty between Henry and 
 Roderick. 
 
 If it failed, as undoubtedly it did in a great 
 degree, the fault was not with the princes or the 
 people of Ireland. These had done their part. 
 And as far as good intention went, the kings of 
 England had ever been disposed to do justice to 
 their subjects in Ireland. 
 
 But it was seldom in their power to accom- 
 plish this object of their wishes. Occupied with 
 continental wars, and foreign politics, or domes- 
 tic troubles, they were generally forced to leave 
 Ireland very much in the hands of the mini- 
 sters of the crown in that country. And these, 
 unhappily, for a series of ages, found their pri- 
 vate interest in direct opposition to their public 
 duty. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. SB 
 
 It was the private interest of all the great 
 officers of state in Ireland, to keep the Irish 
 people in a condition of perpetual discontent 
 and rebellion, as long as any lands remained in 
 the possession of the ancient proprietors, which 
 the crown might be willing to dispose of in 
 their favour. It was easy to excite the Irish, by 
 insult or injury, to insurrection; to subdue them 
 by the power of the state ; and to procure from 
 the crown a grant of the lands of the insur- 
 gents. 
 
 Undoubtedlv, there were cases in which the 
 insurrections of the Irish chiefs were unpro- 
 voked and inexcusable, but these were rare. 
 Though the Irish lords frequently turned their 
 arms against each other, in the prosecution of 
 their local feuds, few ever ventured, unless com- 
 pelled by oppression or injustice, to take arms 
 against the state. The Ulster prince, O'Neil, 
 when summoned to attend King Richard, at Car- 
 low, obeyed without hesitation, and declared, 
 that whenever he had taken arms, it was only 
 to protect himself against the aggressions of the 
 servants of the crown, who abused the authority 
 confided to them, and betraved the interests of 
 their master. The descendant of this chieftain 
 held the same language in the reign of Eliza- 
 beth. 
 
 The oppressions practised in Ireland, by the 
 servants of the government, took place often 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34< HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 without the knowledge, and rarely with the 
 consent of the crown. And when the consent 
 appears to have been obtained, we find, gene- 
 rally, that the truth had not reached the royal 
 ear, and that those whose interest lay in deceiv- 
 ing the monarch, had been successful in the 
 deceit which was necessary to cover their enor- 
 mities. 
 
 The interest and the glory of the crown was 
 opposed to the policy of government, as it long 
 prevailed in Ireland ; and though the Kings of 
 England were shut out at the period we are ad- 
 verting to, much more than they have since been, 
 from a knowledge of what was passing around 
 them and transacting m their name, they occa- 
 sionally obtained accidental glimpses of the enor- 
 mities, to which they were innocent and uncon- 
 scious parties, and they had generally sense 
 enough to discern the mischiefj though seldom 
 power to remedy the abuse. Kings rarely take 
 great delight in the oppressions practised in 
 their name, for the profit of other parties. 
 
 The press, which in modern times is the great 
 instructor of the people, is still more, perhaps, 
 the instructor of the prince. The people derive 
 instruction from many sources ; the king from 
 this source almost exclusively. The knowledge 
 which is open to him through this channel, is a 
 great security to the subject against the abuse 
 of his authority in the hands of his servants. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 85 
 
 The history of Ireland, from its first con- 
 nection with Britain down to the treaty of Lime- 
 rick, is Httle more than a history of confiscations, 
 of which the original Irish, and afterwards the 
 Anglo-Irish, were the victims ; and throughout 
 which we observe, from time to time, the crown, 
 sometimes vigorously, sometimes feebly, but 
 always vainly, interfering to check the rage of 
 spoliation. 
 
 The public of England were entirely igno- 
 rant of the real nature of the wars and distur- 
 bances which prevailed, almost without inter- 
 mission, for hundreds of years in Ireland. They 
 were altogether innocent of the oppressions 
 practised in that country ; and yet, there is no 
 doubt, that the prejudices they had conceived 
 against the Irish, and which had been artfully 
 impressed upon them, contributed greatly to 
 the calamities that had fallen upon that people. 
 English prejudice was the breast- work, under 
 cover of which the servants of the government 
 in Ireland wrought the ruin of the people, and 
 defied the threatenings, and disobeyed the in- 
 structions of the crown. 
 
 Those whose interest it was to procure for 
 themselves the shelter of public opinion, were 
 in exclusive possession of all the means by which 
 it is created. The press was in their hands. 
 And if we consider the small community of 
 readers which existed in those ages, we shall 
 
 D 2 
 
36 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 be surprised at the efforts which were made, and 
 the industry that was used to create an opinion, 
 that the Irish were a race incurably vicious, in- 
 capable of improvement and instruction, who 
 could be trained to no industry, or good or 
 honourable pursuit. It was boldly asserted, and 
 at length it was very generally believed, that it 
 was meritorious in the sight of God to exter- 
 minate a race so wicked ; and that public policy 
 required that the soil of Ireland should be in 
 the possession of a people capable of the ordinary 
 duties and obligations of humanity. 
 
 Hundreds of pamphlets have come down to 
 us inculcating this leading principle, which was 
 the grand foundation of all those schemes of 
 violence that were contrived and executed against 
 the Irish in the earlier periods of British con- 
 nection. 
 
 In the reign of Elizabeth those schemes ac- 
 quired their highest degree of activity and per- 
 fection. The Irish, who foresaw the coming 
 ruin, had, at various periods, besought the crown 
 that they should be admitted to the privileges 
 of British subjects ; and that the injurious dis- 
 tinctions which the acts of the small parliament 
 of the Pale had created between them and the 
 inhabitants of that little territory, for the most 
 unjust purposes, should be blotted out. But the 
 colonists of the Pale always contrived to defeat 
 those applications, which appeared to them 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND* 37 
 
 somewhat in the light in which some of the 
 privileged classes of Englishmen at the present 
 day, regard the numerous proposals for abolish- 
 ing the preserves of the kingdom, and repealing 
 the game laws. 
 
 The wild Irish of the three provinces of Ulster, 
 Munster, and Conn aught were the game which 
 the colonists of the Pale were most anxious to 
 preserve, by excluding them from the privileges 
 of British subjects. 
 
 In vain the Irish urged that they had con- 
 ferred the crown of their nation freely upon the 
 British monarch, and that they were entitled in 
 return to the protection of the king, and the 
 rights of subjects. The force of the argument 
 could not be discerned, because its effect would 
 have been to confirm those who used it in the 
 possession of their estates. 
 
 The name of wild Irish had done much to 
 promote the views of tlie colonists, or rather of 
 the numerous tribes of adventurers which poured 
 into Ireland in rapid succession, through the in- 
 let of the Leinster colony. Wild was taken to 
 be synonymous with barbarous, and it was easy 
 to persuade the British public, that manners and 
 customs different from their own must deserve 
 that appellation, and that barbarians were not 
 entitled to the rights of civihsed subjects. 
 
 All nations, in all ages, have considered man- 
 ners different from their own as barbarous. It 
 
 D O 
 
38 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was a common error founded upon pride, which 
 is common to all. There was no doubt of the 
 superior civilisation of the British at this period. 
 Then' institutions were in a state of vigour and 
 advancement, those of the Irish were in process 
 of decay, and had not yet been superseded by 
 the new graft from Britain. But the root whence 
 the institutions of Ireland had sprung, had given 
 proof, in the day of its strength, that it was not 
 of a barbarian stock. 
 
 The remonstrances of the Irish nobles were 
 frequent and vehement upon the indignity and 
 injustice with which they were treated. The 
 privileges of British subjects were the sole boon 
 they asked of Britain for the crown of their coun- 
 try which they had bestowed, and which, they 
 contended, was the most ancient and illustrious 
 in Europe, and had been recognised in the face 
 of the world, at an ancient council of deputies 
 from the chief powers of Christendom, as con- 
 ferring high and important privileges upon the 
 prince who wore it. 
 
 This was the unsettled state of things in Ire- 
 land after four hundred years of British con- 
 nection. In this long series of ages the limits 
 of the colony had scarcely been extended. The 
 parliament of the Pale consisted exclusively of 
 representatives, if they could be so called, from 
 the towns and villages of Leinster, and of the 
 nobles having estates within this small district, 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 39 
 
 and a few others whose possessions lay in remote 
 parts of the country, within the Irish territory, 
 but who being descended from the ancient stock 
 of the original, or Strongbonian settlers, were 
 considered by the Irish, as in fact they were, 
 perfectly naturalised, and were looked upon by 
 the more recent English as still enjoying the 
 privileges of British peerage and descent. 
 
 Notwithstanding that four fifths of Ireland 
 was not represented, or permitted to be re- 
 presented in the Leinster parliament, yet this 
 provincial assembly did not hesitate to legislate 
 for the whole kingdom. While they denied the 
 Irish the protection of the law, they held them 
 subject to its penal enactments. With astonish- 
 ing inconsistency the colonial parliament, when 
 adverting to the Irish people in their acts, de- 
 signate them as the " Irish Enemy," as aliens 
 and foreigners in a state of perpetual war, and 
 yet held them to be bound by, and to owe 
 obedience to, those very laws which so stigma- 
 tised them. 
 
 The Irish were placed in an awkward and 
 distressing position. The people could not tell 
 which code of laws they were to obey, their own 
 or the English. The nobles were at a loss to 
 comprehend by what titles they held their estates, 
 whether the ancient Irish tenure of Tainistry or 
 the British fee-simple. Tliey were denied the 
 
 D 4 
 
40 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 benefits of either, and subject to the penalties of 
 both. 
 
 If an Irishman killed an inhabitant of the Pale, 
 he was tried by the British law, and executed for 
 murder ; if an Englishman or Anglo-Irishman 
 slew a mere Irishman, he was tried by the Brehon 
 code, which subjected him to a fine only. It was 
 the same in the case of property, whenever a 
 question arose between the Irish and the colo- 
 nists. If the Brehon law invalidated the title of 
 the former, the rule of that abrogated code was 
 applied ; if it confirmed his possession, then the 
 law of England was appealed to, and he was 
 stripped of his inheritance. 
 
 These two codes met the Irish in every trans- 
 action of life like a doubly armed, adversary. If 
 the chieftain executed the ancient law within 
 his own territory, or collected the accustomed 
 dues from his clansmen, he was held to be guilty 
 of high treason by the law of England. If, on 
 his death, his heir claimed, by the same law, to 
 be entitled to the inheritance of his ancestor, he 
 was answered, that by the Brehon code the in- 
 heritance had lapsed to the clan, and the crown 
 therefore claimed it. 
 
 It is not wonderful that under circumstances 
 of so much hardship the Irish were impatient of 
 their condition. It was an object of the greatest 
 importance to the nobility to convert their titles 
 by Tainistry into British fee-simples. The Tainist 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 41 
 
 was an absolute prince upon his estate, subject 
 only to the laws which custom had established. 
 The inheritance was in his family, but was not 
 limited to his immediate kindred. The clans" 
 men might exclude his children, and elect a 
 distant branch of the same stock to the succes- 
 sion. Again, the Tainist had no property in the 
 land, which belonged to the clan generally, 
 and he could claim no more than a customary 
 usufruct for life. 
 
 The substantial advantages of a British title 
 were infinitely of more value than the power 
 and splendour of a Tainist's rank ; and the Irish 
 lords sought every means, and sometimes paid 
 considerable sums, to be permitted to exchange 
 their brilliant hereditary coronets, for the more 
 solid security of an English title. 
 
 The lower classes of the people were as anxious 
 as the nobility to obtain the advantages of a 
 British title. Every clan held its lands in com- 
 monage, and no man could claim a spot or farm 
 as his own. This system, which appears to have 
 worked well when the Irish institutions were in 
 their vigour, was found, in their decay, to be full 
 of inconvenience. Industry languished, and was 
 almost destroyed by the violence of the idle and 
 the profligate. The power of the chief, formerly 
 limited by the law, and w^ell defined in the an- 
 cient customs of the country, knew now no 
 bounds, and fell, with a force accumulated ten- 
 
4^ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 fold by the calamities and distresses of the coun- 
 try, upon the industry of the peaceable and well 
 disposed. From this oppression the people 
 longed to shelter themselves under the strong 
 fence of an English title, which permitted them 
 to rent a separate farm, each man to himself, 
 from which the chief could demand no more 
 than the reserved rent, and upon which the idle 
 clansman could make no exaction. 
 
 But down to the close of Elizabeth's reign, the 
 entreaties of chiefs and people were unavailing to 
 procure from the crown the privileges of British 
 subjects. The utmost energy of the Anti-Irish 
 faction was exerted to prevent this most desir- 
 able accommodation. Many of the Irish nobihty, 
 indeed, succeeded in obtaining patents from the 
 crown, applying to their individual case, and 
 converting their Irish into the British titles. 
 But these were almost always procured through 
 the influence of the officers of the crown in 
 Ireland ; and as they exacted great sums of 
 money for the occasional exertion of this in- 
 fluence, it is probable that the profit derived 
 from this source may have been an impediment 
 in the way of any general enactment, which 
 might give the Irish the benefit they sought, 
 without fee or solicitation. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 43 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 The reign of Elizabeth opened a new era in 
 Ireland. It was a reign of incessant war, the 
 results of which changed every thing in that 
 country. The wars of Elizabeth's reign grew 
 out of two principal causes. The first and chief 
 cause was the vastly increased influx of English 
 adventurers into Ireland, to whom war was ne- 
 cessary as the only means of fortune. The 
 second great cause was the reformation, which 
 afforded to all parties that wished it the means 
 and pretence of war. 
 
 About this period the population of England 
 had begun to rise considerably above the or- 
 dinary channels of business and occupation, 
 which before had sufficed for it. The revival of 
 learning had produced the reformation, and both 
 had concurred in giving a new impulse to the 
 human mind. Wealth began to be created with 
 increased rapidity, and to be coveted with added 
 eagerness. Trade put forth new powers and re- 
 sources ; and population followed keeping pace, 
 as is ever the case, and perhaps passing beyond 
 the means which the new intellectual activity 
 supplied. 
 
44i HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The alterations which took place in the state 
 of property in England, during the reigns of 
 Henry the Eighth and his children, concurred 
 powerfully, with the increase of population, to 
 throw forth from the bosom of society a multi- 
 tude of needy and daring spirits accustomed to 
 bold speculations, and prepared for desperate at- 
 tempts. To such men as these the state of 
 Ireland offered a rich harvest, and accordingly 
 we find them at this period crowding into that 
 country. Many found the death they dared ; 
 and some the wealth they sought for. 
 
 Henry the Eighth has been painted as a 
 tyrant, and so he was ; but his ability as a man 
 and a statesman has not been so generally re- 
 cognised ; nevertheless, he was a man of no 
 ordinary talent. He presented the first outline 
 of the reformation to Ireland, as he had done 
 to England, with a total carelessness of fitness 
 or preparation, and commanding assent rather 
 than seeking to win opinion. 
 
 The result, however, was different. The British 
 power in Ireland was too feeble, and the per- 
 sonal character of the king was too little felt, to 
 impose much restraint upon the people, in ex- 
 pressing their abhorrence of the innovation pro- 
 posed. Cromer, archbishop of Armagh, and an 
 Englishman, denounced the new doctrines as 
 heretical and abominable, and was supported by 
 the whole church of Ireland. Brown, a respect- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 45 
 
 able ecclesiastic, who had been sent to Ireland 
 upon his embracing the reformed religion, and 
 advanced to the see of Dublin, found himself 
 unable to make any progress in the great work 
 he had undertaken. He had probably imagined 
 that the power and character of the khig would 
 produce an effect in Ireland, similar to what he 
 saw it accomplish in the sister country. In his 
 letters to the Lord Cromwell, he confesses his 
 mistake, and acknowledges despondingly that the 
 English authorities had little power with the 
 people in Ireland. 
 
 The king, however, did not despond. He saw 
 that violence would accomplish nothing in this 
 case, and he took the course of an able and 
 judicious statesman : he waited till the rage 
 which had been kindled by the first proposition of 
 the reformation had somewhat abated ; and until 
 O'Neil, who had been excited to take arms by 
 Cromer and the pope, had returned voluntarily to 
 his allegiance, after having met some slight 
 checks in the field ; and he induced this great 
 chieftain to visit him at his court in London. 
 
 The king received the chief of Ulster with 
 the most flattering courtesies; he prevailed upon 
 him to accept the title of Earl of Tyrone ; he 
 placed a chain of gold on his neck ; and won 
 him not only to the strongest professions of at- 
 tachment and allegiance, but induced him with 
 
46 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 little difficulty to renounce the church of Rome 
 and adopt the reformed religion. 
 
 O'Neil's example was followed by some of the 
 chief nobles of Ireland, and even by some of the 
 Romish bishops, who were connected with their 
 famihes. O'Brien of Thomond, tlie Lord Des- 
 mond, M*William, Clanrickard, and others, 
 waited on the king at London, and were all 
 received with favour and attention, and pre- 
 sented with gifts, titles, and honours. They 
 returned to their country highly gratified with 
 the king, and well disposed towards his religion. 
 
 For the remainder of Henry's reign, universal 
 peace prevailed in Ireland ; and a groundwork 
 was laid for a gradual introduction of the great 
 change in the religion of the country, which was 
 necessary to assimilate the worship of the two 
 islands. 
 
 It is surprising that the success of this experi- 
 ment of Henry's, upon the vanity and good- 
 nature of his Irish subjects, seems never to have 
 tempted any of his successors to imitate this 
 cheap and easy mode of governing that precious 
 portion of their dominions. 
 
 The affairs of Ireland were not so happily 
 conducted under Edward the Sixth. Some petty 
 warfare having broken out between O'Connor 
 and O' Moore, lords of the districts of Leix and 
 O'Fally, (now King's and Queen's county,) and 
 the district of the Pale, the two insurgent 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 47 
 
 lords were speedily reduced by the Lord De- 
 puty Bellingham, and invited to repair to the 
 court of England, there to prefer their com- 
 plaints. They were told of the gracious recep- 
 tion accorded by King Henry to O'Neil and 
 other chiefs, who, like them, had been in arms, 
 and were, nevertheless, received into royal 
 favour. 
 
 The Irish chiefs followed the advice that was 
 pressed upon them, and, in full confidence, re- 
 paired to the court of Edward ; where, instead 
 of being received as Henry had received their 
 countrymen, they were closely imprisoned, and 
 their lands divided amongst those by whose 
 treacherous counsels they had been persuaded to 
 pass into England. 
 
 This imprudent conduct of the young prince, 
 who was understood to be a champion of the 
 reformation, alarmed the Irish people, and in- 
 disposed them to the British crown, and the com- 
 munion of the church of England. 
 
 The king ought at least to have heard the 
 Irish lords, and not to have stripped them of 
 their inheritances without judgment or legal 
 decision j especially as they had put themselves 
 in his hands, in a generous confidence in his 
 honour. 
 
 The descendants of O' Moore more than reta- 
 liated, in after times, upon the British colony, 
 the injuries he suffered. 
 
48 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The faithlessness and impolicy of the new 
 Protestant government, in their conduct towards 
 0*Moore and O'Connor, had indisposed the 
 minds of the Irish nobles to the cause of the 
 reformation, which they had embraced rather 
 in conformity to the wishes of Henry, who had 
 won their attacliment, than from motives of con- 
 viction. But their alienation was changed into 
 disgust and abhorrence, by the indecent and pre- 
 cipitate violence with which the reformers, under 
 the Protector Somerset, proceeded to plunder 
 the churches. The garrison of Athlone pillaged 
 the celebrated church of Clonmacnoise, carried 
 off the plate and valuable ornaments, broke the 
 stained windows, defaced the carvings, destroyed 
 the bells and books, and committed every species 
 of outrage. The same proceedings took place 
 in other parts of the country. 
 
 It was easy, indeed, to accomplish a reform- 
 ation of this description : and, unfortunately, the 
 reformers of Ireland seem always, as in this 
 instance, to have confined their zeal to the 
 reforms which might be effected in stone and 
 mortar, tapestry, gildings, and plate ; and when 
 these materials had undergone a thorough con- 
 version to Protestantism, they rested from their 
 labours, and were content. 
 
 But this process of reformation, like the ana- 
 logous one of penal and disqualifying statutes on 
 account of religious opinion, whatever success 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 49 
 
 it might have upon stone walls, and superstitious 
 carvings and gildings, had no other effect upon 
 the minds of the people, than to strengthen 
 their attachment to their old opinions, and to 
 create a vehement dislike against the new doc- 
 trine. 
 
 Christianity came forth from its author pure 
 and unconnected with the interests of this world, 
 and its success was rapid and wonderful, — ex- 
 tending in a few years almost to the limits of the 
 universe. The reformation was mingled with 
 all the business and affairs of the world, — its 
 wealth, its revenues, its state policy, and its 
 ambition ; and its progress was impeded, and 
 its purity was corrupted, and its usefulness was 
 circumscribed by all these entanglements. Nor 
 has it yet entirely purged itself of the evil pas- 
 sions which deformed it in its birth. 
 
 Probably the best mode of effecting a reform- 
 ation in religion, where the people are not 
 prepared to change their faith by royal edict, 
 would be, to deprive the erroneous church of the 
 support of a public establishment, to leave it to 
 its own resources, and then to turn loose the 
 new doctrines upon the same level, to contend 
 with error, as the first teachers of Christianity 
 did, without fee or reward, and to reserve the 
 comforts of an establishment as the washes of 
 
 victory 
 he 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
 The short reign of Edward the Sixth was the 
 
50 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 crisis of the reformation in Ireland. The ease 
 with which it was received by the Irish nobility, 
 under Henry the Eighth, proves that there was 
 not, if the business had been manao^ed with 
 ordinary prudence, any very considerable im- 
 pediment in its way. It had been received by 
 the Bishops of Kildare, Leighlin, Meath, Lime- 
 rick, and others ; and though Dowdal of Ar- 
 magh, who had been promoted to the archie- 
 piscopal see by King Henry, in opposition to 
 Waucop, the pope's nominee, became a violent 
 supporter of the privileges of Rome and the 
 ancient worship, his opposition would not 
 greatly have impeded the progress of the re- 
 formation, if the affairs of Ireland, at this impor- 
 tant period, had been administered with ordinary 
 judgment. 
 
 O'Neil, the newly created Earl of Tyrone, 
 became alarmed at tlie proceedings of the offi- 
 cers of the crown in Ireland, who had managed 
 to appropriate to themselves the two counties 
 of Leix and O'Fally ; and shocked by the sack- 
 ing of the churches, a measure which violently 
 offended his prejudices, though, perhaps, it did 
 not disturb his religion, of which he was supposed 
 to have no great share, he did not hesitate 
 openly to declare his discontent at what had 
 occurred : the effect was his immediate re- 
 lapse to the church of Rome, His example 
 was followed by the other great Irish lords who 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 51 
 
 had embraced the reformation, and by many of 
 the Anglo-Irish nobles of the Pale. 
 
 O'Neil had been greatly influenced, in break- 
 ing with the new government and the new 
 religion, by the persuasions of his eldest son 
 John, or Shane, O'Neil, and his second son 
 Hugh. Shane, now grown into manhood, 
 began to display considerable activity and abi- 
 lities, and promised to be an able leader of his 
 sept. His first measure was to induce his father 
 to displace his natural son Matthew, whom he 
 had intended to be his successor in the chiefry, 
 according to the custom of the Irish, who made 
 little distinction between children of legitimate 
 or illegitimate birth, and accounted priority of 
 age as giving no preference. Matthew, at the 
 instance of his father had, been created Baron 
 of Duncannon, by Henry the Eighth, and had 
 been publicly recognised as successor to the 
 titles and possessions of the O'Neil. But the 
 superior abilities displayed by Shane turned the 
 eyes of the sept upon him, and induced his 
 father to change his intentions with regard to 
 the succession, in favour of his eldest and legiti- 
 mate son. 
 
 These movements in the great family of the 
 O'Neil, created some uneasiness in the govern- 
 ment of the Pale. The lord deputy, with great 
 want of judgment, and with some want of faith, 
 concerted a scheme for seizing the person of the 
 
 E 2 
 
5^ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 old earl, and conveying him to Dublin. The 
 scheme succeeded 5 and the effect was to throw 
 the whole power of this great chiefry into the 
 hands of Shane, the young and intrepid leader 
 of his clansmen. Shane instantly declared war 
 against the deputy, and his brother Matthew, 
 the latter of whom he accused of having be- 
 trayed his father into the hands of the English 
 governor. 
 
 Matthew collected a few followers, and the 
 deputy joined him with the forces of the Pale ; 
 but Shane, who probably was a superior com- 
 mander to either, having secured the co-opera- 
 tion of a body of roving Scots, suddenly marched 
 to meet the British general, gave battle, and 
 obtained a complete victory. The British were 
 reinforced, and the command transferred to Sir 
 James Crofts, esteemed an officer of experience 
 and abihty. But the genius of Shane O'Neil 
 still triumphed ; and, in repeated and sanguinary 
 conflicts, he was uniformly victorious. 
 
 While the petty territory of the Pale was 
 pressed upon the north by the victorious arms 
 of young O'Neil, and threatened on the south 
 by the exasperated resentments of the O'Moores 
 and O'Connors, and everywhere distracted by 
 xeligious dissensions, Edward the Sixth died. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 53 
 
 CHAP. VL 
 
 The successes of Shane O'Neil had an evil in- 
 fluence upon the cause of the reformation in 
 Ireland, as almost every event of the short reign 
 of Edward seems to have had ; and the death 
 of the king completed the ruin of those pro- 
 spects, which promised so fair in the latter years 
 of his father's reign. 
 
 The accession of Mary blotted out the small 
 share of Protestantism which lingered in the 
 country. The officers of state found no difficulty 
 in conforming to the religion of the crown, and 
 making public and solemn avowal of their late 
 errors. The same persons were employed to 
 re-establish the Romish worship, who had been, 
 under Edward, actively engaged in suppressing 
 it. They had now the benefit of a double 
 experience, in setting up and pulling down 
 creeds. Some of the clergy who had been too 
 easily convinced of the truth of a dominant and 
 state-supported religion, became now suddenly 
 sensible of the mistake they had made, and were 
 reconciled to the church of Rome. Some had 
 unfortunately carried their convictions into the 
 bosom of beauty, and had taken wives. For 
 
 E 3 
 
^•>.. 
 
 54 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 these there was no retreat. It is easy to put off 
 a religion, but somewhat more difficult to get 
 rid of a wife. These unlucky churchmen were 
 deprived of their benefices. 
 
 Dowdal of Armagh, who had fled the country 
 to avoid the anger of Edward, returned in 
 triumph, to wreak the full measure of ecclesi- 
 astical rage upon his adversaries. Some of his 
 most obnoxious opposers, as Bayle of Ossory, 
 and the Bishop of Limerick, fled before him. 
 
 As the reformed faith had made little pro- 
 gress in Ireland, the ancient religion was re- 
 stored without difficulty or violence. It is much 
 to the credit of the people of Ireland, that, satis- 
 fied with a quiet and peaceable restoration of 
 their faith, they, in no instance, persecuted or 
 disturbed those who still thought proper to pro- 
 cess the religion of the reformation, and there 
 were many such. While the fires of a ferocious 
 proscription raged in the sister island, in Ire- 
 land the Protestants enjoyed their opinions in 
 full security and peace ; and numbers fled from 
 persecution in England, to find freedom and 
 protection amongst a people, whom they consi- 
 dered as almost savage, and blindly devoted to 
 the worst of superstitions. Neither in this reign, 
 nor afterwards in that of James the Second, 
 when the religion of the church of Rome was 
 triumphant, did the Catholics of Ireland per- 
 secute or proscribe on account of religion. A 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 55 
 
 rare merit ; and which proves that neither su- 
 perstition nor fanaticism had wholly blotted out 
 all religious principle, nor the misfortunes of the 
 nation extinguished entirely the natural kindness 
 of the Irish people. 
 
 The chief events of Mary's reign, beside the 
 re-establishment of the religion of Rome, were 
 the calling of a parliament, and the settlement 
 of the two districts of Leix and O'JFally, into 
 two counties, under the names of King's and 
 Queen's counties, in compliment to Mary and 
 her husband, Philip of Spain. The settlement 
 of the new counties was accompanied with great 
 severities towards the ancient inhabitants of 
 those districts. The Tainists O'Moore and 
 O'Connor had been expelled and imprisoned in 
 the former reign ; but the" sub-feudataries of 
 these chiefs, and the actual tillers of the soil, 
 claimed titles in their own right, which their 
 superior lords had not power to alienate or for- 
 feit. They urged that the superior lord could 
 only forfeit that which was his. But this argu- 
 ment, however just it appears at this day, 
 seemed utterly untenable to those who were 
 anxious that no title of any kind should stand 
 in the way of their newly acquired possessions. 
 They supported their view of the case by a con- 
 siderable military force ; and the population of 
 the two counties, unwilUng to relinquish their 
 lands, were subjected to military execution. A 
 
 £ 4f 
 
56 HISTORY OF IRELAND, 
 
 general massacre took place of those devoted 
 clans. Thus Marv maintained her character of 
 sanguiiiari/ ; she slew her Catholic subjects of 
 Ireland for their lands, and her Protestant people 
 of England for their religion. 
 
 A parliament had not sat in the Pale for 
 thirteen years previous to this period. It was 
 now deemed a fitting occasion to call together 
 that assembly, in order to regulate the affairs of 
 the re-estabhshed church, and to sanction the 
 proceedings which had taken place relative to 
 the new counties. The new parliament met in 
 June, 1556. They acknowledged the queen's 
 title, and that of the pope. They repealed all 
 acts since the twentieth of Henry the Eighth, in 
 restriction of the power or pretensions of His 
 Holiness. Thev restored the church lands and 
 other profits, which had been anciently paid to 
 the church, and had been seized into the pos- 
 session of the crown in the two former reigns : 
 but their piety did not extend to the restor- 
 ation of church lands or tithes, granted by the 
 crown to individuals of their own body. These 
 were permitted to remain with the grantees ; 
 and the church was too prudent to insist upon 
 restitution, satisfied with having got tolerably 
 well out of a very awkward business ; and per- 
 haps somewhat afraid that a demand of these 
 lands might produce an inconvenient leaning 
 to Protestantism in minds whose religious con- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 5? 
 
 victions seemed oddly affected by the weight 
 of acres. 
 
 A subsidy was granted to the queen to en- 
 able herto expel the Scotch out of Ireland ; and 
 it was declared high treason to invite them into 
 the country, and felony to intermarry with them. 
 The Scotch had been found very troublesome 
 in Shane O'Neil's late wars. This chief always 
 entertained a considerable body of these auxi- 
 liaries. They came chiefly from the islands, and 
 were at the service of any one who could afford 
 to feed them ; but their principal connection was 
 w^ith the O' Neil family. At a subsequent period, 
 these needy adventurers of the sword increased 
 in consequence, and acted a more distinguished 
 part in the north of Ireland. 
 
 By another act of Mary's parliament, the cele- 
 brated law called Poyning's law was explained 
 and defined, that in future there might be no 
 ground of mistake relative to an enactment of 
 so much consequence. It was declared, that no 
 parliament should thereafter be holden in Ire- 
 land, unless the chief governor and council cer- 
 tified to the crown the causes of holding the 
 same, and the considerations which were to be 
 submitted, and the laws that were to be proposed 
 to parliament ; and that no act could be pro- 
 posed or enacted in the Irish parliament, but 
 such as had previously been transmitted to the 
 
58 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 king and council, and approved by them, and 
 returned under the great seal of England. 
 
 This important law continued, down to a very 
 late period, to be considered by English states- 
 men as the great bond of connection between 
 the two countries. But such a bond was not 
 necessary while Ireland was weak ; her very 
 weakness secured her dependency : and when 
 she became strong, it was evident, as the fact 
 proved, that she would not bear it. It served, 
 for a long period, to check the improvement of 
 the country, and this seems to have been its 
 chief operation. Even James the Second, when 
 in Ireland, and in a state of entire dependency 
 upon the Irish nation, and while William wore 
 the crown of England, clung to this law, and 
 would not forego it. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 59 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Elizabeth was now on the throne, and those 
 events were about to be developed which have 
 made her reign one of the most remarkable in 
 Irish history, — not for wisdom in government j 
 not for lenity or humanity in executing judg- 
 ment ; not for temperance or discretion in 
 fitting the law to the subject of it, and evolving 
 the greatest amount. of good with the least 
 possible instrumentality of evil. The aspect 
 of the queen, even in the outset of her govern- 
 ment, was harsh and severe towards her Irish 
 subjects, and little calculated to win their aifec- 
 tions to her throne. 
 
 Her first measures were of a nature to defeat 
 the ends which apparently she had in view. 
 We must suppose, and there is no reason to 
 doubt it, that she must have intended the peace 
 and security of her realm of Ireland ; but her 
 first step, and all her subsequent measures, 
 tended to irritate and exasperate the people of 
 that country, until their discontent issued in a 
 war, or a series of wars, that exhausted the 
 finances of England, exposed both countries to 
 
60 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 foreign interferences and invasions, and embit- 
 tered the queen's life, even to her last hour. 
 Her death-bed was afflictingly disturbed by the 
 troubles of Ireland, and was denied the consol- 
 ation which the final conclusion of the peace 
 might have afforded. 
 
 The queen, though, like her fathei', a tyrant 
 in disposition, seems less to have understood the 
 character of the people upon whom her natural 
 inclination to despotism was to be exercised. 
 Accustomed from the beginning to absolute rule, 
 and to submit to no control in England, she 
 was surprised to find her authority disputed, and 
 her power resisted, in a country which she looked 
 upon as so inferior in every respect. She did 
 not consider, that the leading measure of her 
 reign, the re-establishment of Protestantism, which 
 was the foundation of her power in England, 
 and met the concurrence of the people of that 
 country, encountered the determined resistance 
 of the people of Ireland. 
 
 It was this inaptness of the measures of 
 the queen, — her mistakes and misgovernment, 
 which, by leading to a war almost of extermin- 
 ation, and, since the first annexation of Ireland 
 to the British crown, embracing the whole king- 
 dom, that changed the face of that country, and 
 led to a new, but, we hardly think, a happier 
 order of things. 
 
 The queen, if she had not the wisdom of her 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 6l 
 
 ancestors, had the energy of her race, and waged 
 the war with invincible constancy, which her 
 rigour and obstinacy provoked. She was not of 
 a spirit to yield to fortune, or to be subdued by 
 her own errors. 
 
 The efforts which Elizabeth made in the pro- 
 secution of her Irish wars were prodigious for 
 that period, and could only be sustained by the 
 spring-tide of wealth and population which was 
 then rising in England. Elizabeth ascended the 
 throne at a period when the nation began to feel 
 the consciousness of strength, and was proud of 
 the position which the boldness and decision of 
 the queen's character led her to take, as head 
 of the Protestant interest in Europe. This step 
 was the glory of Elizabeth's reign ; her admini- 
 stration in Ireland its reproach. 
 
 The first measure of Elizabeth's reign was the 
 re-establishment of Protestantism in England. 
 The same measure was to be accomplished in 
 Ireland ; and, as far as the mere ceremonial of 
 re-establishment, it might have been established 
 almost with as much ease. 
 
 We have shown, that the events of Edward's 
 reign were unfavourable to the cause of Pro- 
 testantism in Ireland, and that those of Mary's 
 were not less so, though of an opposite character. 
 It required, therefore, an uncommon degree of 
 prudence and sagacity, in taking the subject 
 again in hand, under circumstances so dis- 
 
62 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 couraging. A little consideration might have 
 shown the queen, that the Irish had ever yielded 
 to a small degree of flattery and kindness, but 
 that they had never been conquered by force 
 of arms ; and that a rule of policy, to which 
 even her father, of ferocious memory, had sub- 
 mitted, could not be disparaging to a female 
 monarch. 
 
 Henry had courted, soothed, and temporised 
 with his Irish subjects, in order to win them to 
 Protestantism. Elizabeth took another course, 
 and made a bold attempt to compel them to the 
 adoption of the new creed. 
 
 A parliament was summoned for the avowed 
 purpose of establishing the queen's religion, and 
 abrogating that of her sister. Elizabeth's parlia- 
 ment in England had been found as obsequious 
 as Mary's. In Ireland some greater difficulty 
 was experienced. The ancient Irish were now 
 thoroughly disgusted with the reformation ; and 
 the Anglo-Irish, whose families had been long 
 settled in the country felt the same dislike to- 
 wards a religion for which they had not been at 
 all prepared. Both these classes of British sub- 
 jects enjoyed a degree of power and independ- 
 ence in their own country which was unknown 
 to the highest and greatest of the nobility of 
 England. They had been used to question, and 
 often to treat with utter disregard, the mandates 
 of the crown relative to the affairs of Ireland ; 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 63 
 
 and it frequently happened, that this contempt 
 of the regal authority was fully justified by the 
 total ignorance of the circumstances of the coun- 
 try, in which the measures of the government in 
 England often originated. 
 
 The pride of the Irish lords, of pure Irish or 
 Anglo-Irish descent, was in proportion to their 
 power, and to their independence of the British 
 government J and they were more disposed to 
 quarrel with a religion than to support it, which 
 was to be established by a naked and despotic 
 ordinance of the crown, rather than through 
 their instrumentality who were the real deposi- 
 taries of power in Ireland. Their distaste for 
 the new doctrine was increased by their con- 
 tempt of its professors. These were almost 
 solely the new English, as they were sometimes 
 called, or the officers of the crown in Ireland, 
 and the adventurers who flocked into the coun- 
 try in search of wealth or employment. These 
 men were seen to change their religion without 
 shame or hesitation, according as the crown 
 commanded, — from the pope's to King Henry's, 
 from Henry's and Edward's to Mary's, and from 
 Mary's to Elizabeth's : this facility of con- 
 science increased the contempt and dislike which 
 the great lords of Anglo-Irish race always en- 
 tertained for the new English, and added to their 
 disgust for a religion connected with so much 
 meanness and hypocrisy. 
 
64 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Nor did the conduct of the first Protestant 
 clergy at all tend to recommend their religion 
 to the Irish people. These, like the civil 
 servants of the crown, seemed to possess a won- 
 derful facility of belief. With a criminal and 
 shocking mockery of Divine Providence they 
 were seen upon every change of faith by order 
 of the crown or act of parliament, addressing 
 their prayers to heaven with all the forms and 
 solemnities of worship, and calling at one time 
 for blessings, and at another for curses, upon 
 the same forms and modes of religion. 
 
 In England the piety of the reformed clergy 
 had contrasted favourably with the corruptions 
 of the old establishment. In Ireland the con- 
 trast was the other way : the new clergy, with 
 some few exceptions, were needy and unprin- 
 cipled adventurers, whose sole object was the 
 profits of their benefices ; and who were both 
 careless and incapable of the duties they had 
 undertaken to perform. 
 
 The Roman church in Ireland, at the time of 
 the reformation, was not corrupted in the same 
 degree as in England and on the Continent. The 
 clergy had sunk into great ignorance, nor were 
 their morals altogether pure ; but the disorders 
 of the country, and the habits of the people, made 
 slight deviations from a strict rule of morals be 
 looked upon as very venial offences, especially 
 as the discipline of Rome had been forcibly 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. <5j 
 
 imposed upon the church of Ireland, and never 
 fully submitted to. In learning, whatever might 
 be the deficiency of the clergy, they still held a 
 rank superior to the majority of the laity around 
 them. They practised no deceptions upon the 
 people, and are accused of few of the quackeries 
 by which the adherents of the church of Rome 
 maintained their power in other countries. 
 
 Elizabeth's parliament met in January 1560. 
 This assembly embraced by representation (if it 
 could be so called) a greater portion of the king- 
 dom than former parliaments of the Pale. Ten 
 counties were represented, and a few towns in 
 various parts of Ireland. The whole number of 
 the commons were seventy-six. It might be a 
 question whether such an assembly, bearing the 
 imposing name of parliament, could bind Ire- 
 land ? But though less than a third of the 
 kingdom was represented, 'it was notorious that 
 even in this third, the crown, for the most part, 
 nominated the members, and that the forms of 
 election were as yet in Ireland a mere mockery. 
 The forms of the British constitution were only 
 known within the territory of the Pale, and 
 very imperfectly there. Beyond this small dis- 
 trict nothing was understood of the forms or the 
 spirit of that celebrated constitution. 
 
 Notwithstanding much management on the 
 part of the Lord Deputy Sussex, the queen's 
 bills for the re-estabhshment of the reformed 
 
6b HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 worship were not passed without great oppo- 
 sition. But they were at length passed, and 
 the parliament was then hastily dissolved. 
 Queen Mary's acts were reversed as she had 
 reversed King Henry's ; the supremacy and 
 ecclesiastical jurisdiction were restored to 
 the crown ; and the first fruits and twentieths 
 of church revenues. The most objectionable 
 part of this reformation was the act which com- 
 pelled the people of all persuasions to attend the 
 service of the church of England, under severe 
 penalties. This act, at subsequent periods, be- 
 came an instrument of grievous oppression in 
 Ireland ; at the time of its enactment it only 
 evinced the summary mode in which the queen 
 intended to convert her Irish subjects. 
 
 This act informs us of a curious dilemma, in 
 which the founders of the reformation in Ire- 
 land were placed. The service of the church of 
 England, which the people were now commanded 
 to attend, was in English ; that of the church of 
 Rome was in Latin. The people were equally 
 strangers to both languages. But the principle 
 of the Reformation required that the congre- 
 gation should understmid the service of the 
 church. English was not the spoken language 
 in any part of Ireland outside the walls of 
 Dublin. The English colonists had every where 
 adopted the language of the country, and even 
 in the Pale, Irish was the universal tongue : the 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 67 
 
 English was used in Dublin ^only, and there but 
 partially. 
 
 There was no way of getting out of this diffi- 
 culty, except by reading the service in the Irish 
 language : but here another difficulty occurred; 
 nine-tenths of the reformed clergy were strangers 
 from England, who were totally ignorant of the 
 language of their congregations. In this con- 
 fusion of tongues the act permitted the service 
 of the church to be read in Latin ; a language 
 which the practice of Rome had consecrated to 
 divine worship. And, perhaps, it was imagined 
 that, by means of the similarity of the service in 
 this particular, the people might be reconciled to 
 the novelty of the new worship. 
 
 A more extaordinary anomaly cannot be 
 imagined than the reformed church of Ireland 
 now presented. The word Church, indeed, can- 
 not be correctly applied to a mere clergy without 
 congregations ; and who, with a strange dis- 
 regard for all fitness and propriety, were selected 
 from among strangers whom the Irish looked upon 
 with prejudice, and from whom they would hardly 
 receive the truth, even if they could understand 
 it. Between the new clergy and their flocks, 
 there was the prejudice of nation, which was 
 common to botli,and created a mutual and strong 
 dislike ; and there was the impossibility of com- 
 munication, neither understanding the language 
 of the other, 
 
 F S 
 
6s HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The consequence was, that the people revolted 
 from a religion which recommended itself to 
 them by no other means than pains, and penal- 
 ties, and acts of parliament. The new clergy 
 contented themselves with taking the profits of 
 their benefices in such parts of the country as 
 the law could be enforced in. In general their 
 appointments were merely nominal, as, in most 
 parts of Ireland, they dared not venture to show 
 themselves in their dioceses or parishes, and 
 they obtained only occasionally a scanty and 
 scrambled support when they visited their flocks 
 in the train of some military expedition, or as 
 humble dependents of some powerful nobleman. 
 
 The old clergy maintained their ground; and 
 in most places continued to receive the profits 
 of their livings, which long habit had legalised. 
 But they were occasionally visited by the venge- 
 ance of the law, especially in those parts of Ire- 
 land bordering upon the seat of British power. 
 
 The law, as it now stood in Ireland had no 
 relation whatever to the exigencies or circum- 
 stances of the country ; it was an imposition 
 of mere force and caprice ; and though it was a 
 dead letter as to most parts of the kingdom, 
 because to execute it was not possible, still it 
 was capable of extension to the whole surface 
 of the country, according as the power of the 
 crown might gain strength for its enforcement. 
 
 It was the duty of the crown to promote the 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 69 
 
 improvement of religion in Ireland, and pro- 
 bably the intentions of the queen towards her / 
 Irish subjects were just and good : but the > 
 means she employed were most unfortunate and 
 highly objectionable. 
 
 The great error of this reign was the violence 
 used in forcing the religion and constitution of 
 England upon a people unprepared for either. 
 This was, in some degree, the error of former 
 reigns also, but until the accession of Elizabeth 
 it was not pressed with much earnestness. 
 
 Shane O'Neil, who had put himself in pos- 
 session of the chiefly of the North, and had set 
 the British power at defiance in the former reign, 
 still continued to maintain an attitude very for* 
 midable to the government of the Pale. It was 
 humiliating to the sovereignty of the British 
 crown, that this proud chieftain should set aside, 
 with so much contempt, the deliberate arrange- 
 ments made by king Henry respecting the suc- 
 cession in this powerful family. Sir Henry 
 Sidney, who commanded for the Lord Deputy 
 Sussex, was ordered to summon O'Neil before 
 him, and to remonstrate upon this proceeding. 
 
 Sidney collected some forces, and proceeded 
 northwards to Dundalk, where he halted and 
 sent a summons to O'Neil, commanding his at- 
 tendance. O'Neil rephed in a letter full of polite- 
 ness towards the deputy, and of duty to the queen, 
 and requested tliat the former would honour him 
 
 F 3 
 
70 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 with his presence at his castle, and be sponsor to 
 his child, the ceremony of whose baptism, ac- 
 cording to the customs of the Irish, made it 
 impossible for him to have the pleasure of 
 waiting upon the deputy in his quarters, — and 
 entreated his excuse. 
 
 This evasion of O'Neil's cannot be blamed, 
 when it is recollected that his father was en- 
 trapped by a former deputy, and kept prisoner 
 till his death ; and that O'Moore and O'Connor 
 were but lately treated with still more rigour, 
 and equal breach of faith. 
 
 As O'Neil would not obey the deputy's sum- 
 mons, the deputy was forced to comply with his. 
 He waited upon the chief at his castle, and was 
 magnificently entertained. When the ceremo- 
 nial of the baptism was over, Sidney entered 
 upon the business of his visit, by remonstrat- 
 ing with O'Neil upon his conduct towards his 
 brother Matthew, Baron of Dungannon. 
 
 O'Neil acknowledged with perfect composure, 
 that he had dispossessed his brother Matthew. 
 He denied that the King of England had power 
 to confer the principality of the North, which 
 was elective in his family. He stated that he had 
 been duly elected tanist by the lords and vassals 
 of Ulster, that this was his title, and had been 
 the title of his ancestors for thousands of years ; 
 that even, according to the English law, his 
 brother Matthew was disqualified, being illegi- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 71 
 
 timate, and if that impediment were removed, 
 could yet have no title to the succession, without 
 an inquisition duly taken of all the lands and ter- 
 ritories to which he laid claim, and there had 
 been no such inquisition taken. 
 
 There was too much reason and good sense 
 in this defence to admit of an easy reply. Sid- 
 ney did not attempt it. He merely said, that 
 O'NeiPs argument involved matters which were 
 proper to be referred to the crown ; and, in the 
 mean time, he advised him strongly to preserve 
 his allegiance unsullied. O'Neil had no dif- 
 ficulty in promising this, and the conference 
 broke up. 
 
 But the English of the Pale, who lived in 
 constant terror of this powerful chiefj were by 
 no means satisfied with the result of this con- 
 ference. Some military movements which 
 O'Neil made shortly after, against several of his 
 own vassal lords, excited great terror, and a fort 
 which he built and called Foogh-na-gall (the 
 Terror of the Stranger), was considered very 
 alarming, especially the name. 
 
 The deputy Sussex was ordered to march 
 into the North, and ascertain the nature of 
 these dangerous proceedings. O'Neil, nothing 
 alarmed, collected his forces, and marched to 
 meet the deputy. Neither party were probably 
 disposed to fight. By the mediation of the Earl 
 of Kildare, overtures were made on each side 
 
 V 4 
 
72 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 towards accommodation, and a conference was 
 opened, in which, as usual, O'Neil had the ad- 
 vantage. He declared that he had not invaded 
 the British frontier ; and he denied the right of 
 the crown to interfere between him and his vas- 
 sals. The deputy acknowledged his title as 
 tanist, and held out hopes that the letters patent 
 to his brother Matthew would be revoked, and 
 the earldom of Tyrone confirmed to Shane and 
 his heirs. 
 
 In order to confirm his peace with the queen, 
 O'Neil proposed to repair to London, and attend 
 her Majesty at her court ; and relying, perhaps, 
 upon the personal character of Sussex, he made 
 no difficulty, upon this occasion, of accompany- 
 ing him to Dublin. Here he soon had reason to 
 suspect some scheme for seizing his person to 
 be in agitation, and he hastened his departure 
 to London. It is probable, that the deputy 
 might have found it difficult to resist a propo- 
 sition so tempting, and of such frequent prac- 
 tice. An opportunity of catching an Irish chief 
 had seldom been omitted ; and 0*Neil would 
 have been game of the highest order. 
 
 Whether the danger were real or imaginary, 
 O'Neil did not wait to investigate : he hurried 
 his preparations to attend the queen, and soon 
 appeared in London, at the head of a train which 
 excited no little astonishment in that great city. 
 He was attended by his chosen guard of gallow- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 7^ 
 
 glasses, men of great stature and beauty, armed 
 and clothed in the richest manner, according to 
 the fashion of their country. These guards 
 wore a light armour, with sabre and battle-axe. 
 Their dress consisted of a profusion of linen, 
 swathed round the person, and dyed of a saf- 
 fron colour. The head was bare, and the hair 
 long and flowing. Tlie effect of this novel 
 spectacle in London did credit to the bold 
 experiment of the chief in appearing as a sove- 
 reign prince at the court of England. 
 
 The people were delighted with this specimen 
 of genuine wild Irish, w^liom tliey had heard so 
 much of. The queen herself was pleased with 
 the romance of the affair 5 and the leader of so 
 strange and so noble a train could not but be 
 an interesting personage. The queen received 
 the Irish lord with more than condescension and 
 favour ; her conduct towards him wore the 
 aspect of kindness and partiality; and that he 
 was able to cultivate and confirm those dispo- 
 sitions towards him in the mind of the sovereign, 
 is no proof of the rudeness and barbarity which 
 some of the vulgar writers of that period charge 
 upon this powerful tanist. 
 
 He is represented as making the most pro- 
 found submissions to the queen, stating the na- 
 ture of his title and tenure as tanist, which he 
 could not put off without dishonour, and which 
 did not permit him to acknowledge the claims of 
 
74 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 his brother Matthew ; nor would his acknow- 
 ledgment be of any avail to estabhsh Matthew's 
 title, as the people of Ulster would not admit it. 
 He showed the necessity he was under, as well 
 in reference to his own dignity as with a view to 
 the public peace, to maintain his authority over 
 his own vassals. He offered to prove, by un- 
 questionable evidence, that in every instance in 
 which he had opposed the queen's officers, he 
 had been compelled to take arms by injuries or 
 insults, by which it was intended to embroil him 
 with her majesty, and sometimes by practices 
 against his life, which were contrived by per- 
 sons who were impatient for the confiscation of 
 Ulster, 
 
 This is represented by the old writers as an 
 artful and specious address, and as having, by 
 its apparent truth and simplicity, completely 
 captivated the queen : but none of these writers 
 attempt to deny the truth of these statements, 
 which was not only apparent but real. There 
 can be little doubt that it was the full conviction 
 of the truth of O'Neil's representations which 
 had the chief effect upon the queen. However 
 likely to be captivated by exterior and talent, 
 she was a woman of too strong mind to be 
 wholly under the influence of these. 
 
 O'Neil, on his return to Ireland, in perform- 
 ance of the service exacted from him by the 
 crown, and as proof of his obedience and recon- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. ^5 
 
 ciliation, broke his ancient treaties with the 
 Scots and declared war against those invaders, 
 who had ever been his most faithful allies. The 
 queen expressed her entire satisfaction at this 
 war, by which O'Neil completely broke the 
 power of the Scots in Ulster, and drove them out 
 of the kingdom with great slaughter. 
 
 By this important service rendered to the 
 crown, the Irish prince gave stronger proof of 
 his allegiance than of his prudence. He had 
 destroyed his own allies, but he had not made 
 friends of the Irish government. The officers of 
 the crown in Ireland continued to weary the ear 
 of the queen with representations of the designs 
 and intentions of the northern chief. The queen 
 replied, that if he were really to take arms 
 against the state, it would be only so much the 
 better for her servants in Ireland, as " there 
 would then be estates for them all." This' 
 vision of great northern estates seems to have 
 been incessantly before the eyes of the members 
 of the queen's government in Ireland ; and 
 there is reason to think that the project of sta- 
 tioning an English garrison in Derry, in the 
 heart of O'Neil's country, which was carried 
 into effect at this time, was intended to pro- 
 voke the proud chief to hostilities. 
 
 The garrison of Derry was mortifying to 
 O'Neil's pride, and calculated to lessen his im- 
 portance with his followers, who naturalJy ex- 
 
76 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 pected that the footing upon which he stood 
 with the queen would entitle him to the com- 
 mand of any forces of hers stationed within his 
 district. 
 
 Nothing had occurred since his treaty with 
 the queen to render such a step necessary ; on 
 the contrary, the chief had faithfully performed 
 his engagement with respect to the Scots, and 
 had carefully abstained from any collision with 
 the queen's officers. 
 
 O'Neil seems to have determined, as probably 
 had been foreseen, upon removing the garrison 
 of Derry at every risk ; and the sequel proved 
 that it was not without reason that he came to 
 this resolution. With his usual address he en- 
 deavoured to provoke the garrison to the first 
 acts of aggression, and succeeded. The war 
 was thus commenced. And O'Neil soon found 
 that the lord deputy had not been idle in pre- 
 paring for it, and that he had turned to good 
 account the convenience of his position in Derry. 
 He had practised successfully with O'Donnel 
 of Tirconnel, and M*Guire of Fermanagh, and 
 engaged both these chiefs, who complained of 
 injuries, or were jealous of the power of O'Neil, 
 in a confederacy against that lord. 
 
 O'Neil's exertions seem to have been equal 
 to his danger. As a set- off against the deputy's 
 success with M*Guire and O'Donnell, he en- 
 deavoured to create a diversion in the south, by 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 77 
 
 rousing Desmond and M*Carty More to arms. 
 He despatched agents to the court of Spain and 
 Rome ; and to prove his devotion to the Ca- 
 thoHc faith, which had been questioned amongst 
 his followers, in consequence of his treaty with 
 the queen, he took Armagh by assault, and 
 burned down the church where the reformed 
 worship had been celebrated. But the measures 
 of the deputy had been well taken ; and though 
 O'Neil defended himself with his usual ability, 
 he was unable to resist the combination which 
 had been formed against him, and which there 
 was not now time to concert means of opposing 
 by a similar combination. His southern allies 
 were not prepared to take the field, and Spain 
 and Rome were too slow and distant for the pre- 
 sent emergency. 
 
 When pressed to extremity, O'Neil sought to 
 renew his old alliances with the Scots. A small 
 body of these hardy soldiers were then encamped 
 in Ulster, under their chief Clan-huboy. O'Neil 
 sent to announce, that he was about to visit the 
 camp of his old ally, and to enquire whether he 
 should be welcome ? The answer was favour- 
 able, and O'Neil instantly set forward, attended 
 only by about fifty horse and some servants, for 
 the Scottish camp. 
 
 When the British garrison had been stationed 
 in Deny, a man of the name of Piers had been 
 placed there by the deputy, whose occupation 
 seems to have been very various. He appears 
 
78 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 to have been the chief agent in the intrigues 
 which forced O'Neil into the war, and which, 
 by exciting the neighbouring chieftains against 
 him, contributed to his defeat. This person 
 had immediate information of O'Neil's intended 
 visit to Clan-huboy, and he lost no time in being 
 before hand with the Irish lord. He waited 
 upon Clan-huboy himself^ and found means to 
 convince] the Scottish chief^ that it would 
 be for his interest to betray his guest. He 
 reminded him of the dreadful slaughter which 
 O'Neil had so lately made of the Scotch, and 
 the injuries which Clan-huboy's own family had 
 sustained at his hands. Piers prevailed ; and 
 the Scotsman, induced partly by the prospect 
 of reward, and partly by revenge, agreed to de- 
 liver up his guest to be assassinated. 
 
 At an entertainment given to the Irish lord 
 and his followers by the Scotch chief, a quarrel, 
 which had been preconcerted, was brought about 
 with O'Neil's attendants. On a signal given the 
 banquet room was filled with soldiers, and all the 
 Irish were slain. 
 
 This assassination, the contrivance of Piers, 
 who disgraced the character of a British officer, 
 proves, that it was not without reason that 
 O'Neil was so impatient of the garrison of 
 Deny, and that there was some foundation for 
 his complaint to the queen, that he had diffi- 
 culty in defending his life against the snares of 
 her servants in Ireland. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 79 
 
 The old writers who have treated of this por- 
 tion of Irish history, have chosen to measure 
 O'Neil's conduct, by the rules which apply to 
 the case of an ordinary British subject, and merely 
 to regard him as a nobleman of great power, but 
 standing precisely in the same condition in rela- 
 tion to the crown as any peer of England. But 
 this is a mistake : the allegiance which 0*Neil and 
 the other Irish princes, or nobles, acknowledged, 
 was of quite another character. It was in all re- 
 spects the same which the electoral princes of 
 Germany lately acknowledged towards the head 
 of the German empire. A slight inspection of the 
 numerous treaties upon record, made between the 
 kings of England and the Irish princes, down to 
 the reign of Elizabeth, would show the nature of 
 the allegiance which they professed to bear to the 
 British crown, and would exonerate them from 
 those charges of turbulence and rebellion which 
 are so lightly made. 
 
 In those treaties, these chiefs are recognized as 
 sovereign princes by the title of Rex ; and by 
 the regal power which they claimed to exercise, 
 
 Down to the period we treat of; their sovereignty 
 was frequently recognised by the government of 
 the Pale, in the substantial form of tribute, ex- 
 acted by the O'Moores, O'Neils, and other pow- 
 erful chiefs, for the protection they afforded the 
 colony in its periods of weakness. 
 
80 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Piers received a thousand marks from the go- 
 vernment as the price of this murder. O'NeiPs 
 head was sent to DubHn ; and the lord deputy, 
 thus satisfied of his death, marclied without 
 delay and without opposition into the territory 
 of Tirovven. He nominated an old man of the 
 family of O'Neil, of weak character and mild 
 manners, to the chiefry, to prevent, if possible, 
 by this contrivance any attempt on the part of 
 the clan to set up a more able chief; or, in such 
 a case, to weaken them by division. 
 
 Thus successful in the north, the queen's 
 officers turned their attention to the southern 
 provinces, where a chief almost as powerful as 
 Shane O'Neil was the object of nearly similar 
 jealousies. Fitzgerald of Desmond was the most 
 powerful nobleman of the great family of his 
 name : descended from the noble stock of the 
 first British adventurers into Ireland, he united 
 the privileges of Irish chief and British peer ; 
 his territories were richer, and almost as ex- 
 tensive as those of O'Neil of Ulster, comprising 
 very large portions of the counties of Cork, 
 Kerry, Limerick, and Waterford. Tlie analogies 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 81 
 
 of the cases of O'Neil and Desmond were further 
 sustained in the feuds of the latter with the 
 powerful family of the Butlers of Kilkenny, as in 
 the instance of the former, with M*Guire and 
 O'Donnel. 
 
 But there was little resemblance between the 
 . two men. O'Neil was a man of consummate 
 ability and address; Desmond was merely frank, 
 brave, and proud. Lord Ormond, though in- 
 ferior in wealth and territory, was more than a 
 match for the earl of Desmond in skill and 
 talent. Their disputes, which arose originally 
 upon some questions relating to boundary, were 
 proposed to be referred to the lord deputy, 
 who decided first for Desmond ; secondly, on 
 learning that Ormond had the ear of the queen, 
 he reversed his decision in favour of the latter 
 nobleman. Desmond complained of injustice, 
 and refused to submit to the award ; and Sidney, 
 apprehensive of the consequences of his dis- 
 content, laid a plan to seize his person, and 
 succeeded. 
 
 Desmond now entreated leave to attend the 
 queen in England, and her majesty graciously 
 granted permission ; but on his arrival in London, 
 the earl and his two brothers were committed 
 close prisoners to the Tower, and were not re- 
 leased for several years. 
 
 The death of O'Neil and the imprisonment of 
 Desmond seemed to afford the opportunity that 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
82 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was long wished for, to divide the spoil of one 
 or both those greac proprietors ; for this purpose 
 a parliament was an indispensable instrument. 
 
 The seizure of the earl of Desmond, the 
 vastly increasing numbers of new adventurers 
 from England, and the preference shown to 
 them over the old colonists, in the distribution 
 of all places of power or profit, had created 
 considerable discontent among the Anglo-Irish ; 
 and when the calling of a parliament was an- 
 nounced, they prepared to show their dissatis- 
 faction by a steady opposition to the measures 
 of government. 
 
 The lord deputy on his side was not idle in 
 preparing to encounter this threatened hostility, 
 and had recourse to practices, the palpable gross- 
 ness of which, in a constitutional view, prove 
 the absence of all control of public opinion in 
 Ireland at this period, even within the small 
 territory of the Pale. Many sheriffs and magis- 
 trates of towns returned themselves j a consi- 
 derable number of Englishmen, all new and 
 greedy adventurers, were returned for places 
 they had never seen or heard of, and where the 
 returning officer was the sole constituent. 
 
 When parliament met, considerable clamour 
 and collision took place ; but the houses were at 
 length soothed into good humour, and pro- 
 ceeded willingly in a work equally acceptable to 
 the old and new English, the attainder of Shane 
 O'Neil, and the confiscation of his great posses- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 83 
 
 sions, which were vested in the crown ; some 
 other acts of small moment passed, after a con- 
 siderable degree of opposition, and the parlia- 
 ment was adjourned. 
 
 More than half of Ulster had accrued to the 
 crown by the attainder of O'Neil ; but the paci- 
 fication of the kingdom, which was expected to 
 follow the death of this chieftain, had not taken 
 place, neither had the removal of Lord Desmond 
 from the south in any degree promoted the tran- 
 quillity of that portion of the island ; the whole 
 country never presented a greater scene of 
 tumult and disturbance than now, that all the 
 objects of the local government seemed attained ; 
 and the misfortune was, that those disturbances 
 being infinite in number, though inconsiderable 
 in kind, seemed incapable of cure or remedy. 
 
 The policy of the government seemed to be 
 to remove the great lords, and the effect was not 
 the civiliti/ which was expected, but anarchy. 
 The control of the great lords being removed, 
 universal disorder followed. A wise govern- 
 ment would have made those lords the instru- 
 ments of introducing civility, as it was called, 
 that is, the laws and customs of England. 
 
 It was not wonderful, therefore, that having 
 cut off the only channels of communication with 
 the population of the country, the government 
 found itself without the power of acting upon 
 society with effect. 
 
 G ^ 
 
84 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Various grants were made of the lands of 
 Tirowan, chiefly to new adventurers from 
 England, the sons and dependents of persons 
 about court. And some of these grantees made 
 vigorous efforts to settle their new estates, but in 
 every instance without success. They were 
 mostly frightened out of the country, or cut off 
 by the Irish population ; and some of the newly- 
 arrived proprietors from England were secretly 
 opposed and counteracted by individuals in the 
 local government, who thought they had a better 
 right to the spoils of O'Neil, as having contri- 
 buted tp, or contrived his overthrow. 
 
 The activity of EHzabeth's government in 
 Ireland, and the character of that activity, 
 directed chiefly against the power of the great 
 nobles, a system countenanced by the queen, 
 and which fell in with the views of her servants 
 and officers in Ireland, could not fail to be 
 attended with great expense. The profit of 
 this course of policy went exclusively to the new 
 adventurers, who zealously promoted it; the 
 expense fell upon the crown and the nation. 
 
 To meet the increasing expenses of govern- 
 ment. Sir Henry Sidney devised a plan for 
 raising assessments upon the county generally, 
 somewhat in the manner of a county rate, but 
 imposed by authority of the crown. This at- 
 tempt to push the queen's prerogative was met 
 by the most determined resistance on the part of 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 85 
 
 the whole nation, Irish and Anglo-Irish. They 
 resolutely refused to pay the assessment, and 
 denied the right of the queen or her deputy to 
 impose any tax in Ireland without the authority 
 of parliament. 
 
 The queen was surprised and greatly offended 
 by the tone of this opposition. It was evident 
 that she and her subjects of the Pale did not un- 
 derstand each other : the latter were very willing 
 to use the queen as an ally in their aggressions 
 upon the old Irish, but had no notion of per- 
 mitting her majesty to make aggressions upon 
 themselves. The queen, on the other hand, ac- 
 customed to use an almost despotic prerogative 
 in England, concluded that in so rude and un- 
 cultivated a province of her empire, as she con- 
 sidered Ireland to be, her power must be still 
 more absolute and unquestioned. The contrary, 
 however, was the fact ; the power of the crown 
 was little regarded in Ireland, except as an 
 instrument in the hands of the new or old EnHish 
 of the Pale for their own purposes. The Anglo- 
 Irish took fire at the very mention of the word 
 prerogative, and treated it with scorn. 
 
 The deputy was, however, committed to his 
 scheme of finance ; and, finding him obstinate, 
 the lords of the Pale sent agents to London to 
 lay their remonstrances before the queen. The 
 imperious princess sent the agents to the Fleet 
 
 G 3 
 
86 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 on their arrival, and afterwards to the Tower ; 
 and directed the deputy that he should commit 
 all those who had signed the remonstrance pri- 
 soners to the castle of Dublin. But her subjects 
 in Ireland were merely irritated, not dismayed 
 by those proceedings on the part of her majesty ; 
 they knew their power ; the assessment was not 
 collected, and finally the queen was forced to 
 yield, and shelter her dignity under cover of 
 a compromise. The Irish acknowledged that 
 they had not been sufficiently dutiful in the 
 manner of their remonstrance to the throne, and 
 the subject was suffered to drop. 
 
 Elizabeth had seen her error very speedily, 
 and with the good sense which formed the basis 
 of her character, lost no time in repairing the 
 mischief. She was aware that the Continent re- 
 sounded with a murmur of intrigue and pre- 
 paration against her throne and power. The 
 cabinets of Rome, Paris, and Madrid, were 
 busily employed in contriving schemes of war 
 and invasion ; all turned their eyes to Ireland, 
 the seat of British weakness and discontent. 
 The courts of the hostile powers were crowded 
 with Irish of rank, who had been forced by 
 their own misconduct or the persecutions of 
 the state to quit their country, and had been 
 converted into implacable foes to British con- 
 nection. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 87 
 
 But though many schemes of invasion were 
 projected, and some of them executed, they were 
 all of a description which could only insure 
 failure. One of these military expeditions, fitted 
 out by Spain, and led by one of the Desmond 
 family, consisted of no more than eighty or 
 ninety men, who landed upon the coast of Kerry, 
 and were joined by about an equal number of 
 the retainers of that family. 
 
 Trifling as this invasion was, it was a spark 
 fallen in the midst of combustible matter, which 
 called for the utmost activity to extinguish. 
 The entire amount of the royal army, which the 
 lord deputy was able to muster upon this occa- 
 sion, did not exceed three to four hundred men ; 
 but this was enough, as long as the great chief- 
 tains took no part. 
 
 The Earl of Desmond, who had been but a 
 short time released from his long and unjust 
 imprisonment in the tower of London, and had 
 but made his escape from a subsequent imprison- 
 ment, without colour of law or justice, in Dublin, 
 was now in his county palatine of Kerry, but 
 took no part in the dangerous enterprise in which 
 his brothers were engaged. The Earl of Clan- 
 carty, head of the great family of MCarty, 
 offered his services to expel the invaders. The 
 De Burgos of Connaught refused to countenance 
 or support them. Thus abandoned, the little 
 band of invaders and their Irish allies fought 
 
 G 4 
 
88 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 a hard battle with the royal army, and were de- 
 feated. 
 
 Though the Earl of Desmond had given no 
 countenance or support to this invasion, he could 
 not escape the suspicion of having favoured it. 
 He was known to have received sufficient cause 
 for discontent, and it could not, therefore, be 
 believed that he was not discontented. Besides, 
 he had taken no active part against the invasion, 
 and his connection with the leaders induced a 
 presumption of approbation. 
 
 The Earl felt the weight of the suspicion 
 which attached upon him, and was embarrassed. 
 He had had some correspondence with his bro- 
 thers, and though when produced it implicated 
 him in no w^ay in the guilt of their designs, it 
 proved a friendly communication. He was 
 commanded by the deputy to join the British 
 camp, and to rely on the queen's mercy for 
 pardon of what was passed. Desmond refused 
 to obey, but still professed the utmost duty and 
 allegiance to the queen. 
 
 It is not surprising that a great and proud 
 nobleman, like the Earl of Desmond, who once 
 before had been surprised and captured by a 
 lord deputy, and had spent many years of his 
 life in prison, should hesitate to commit himself 
 again to the good faith of an officer of the 
 queen's. His refusal, however, affi^rded ground 
 for hostile proceedings against him, and Des- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 89 
 
 mond was thus involved in a war with the go- 
 vernment. Sir Nicholas Malby, who com- 
 manded the queen's forces, marched and took 
 possession of the Earl's town of Rathkeal. 
 
 The Earl of Desmond appears to have been 
 a man of great personal courage, but of no moral 
 intrepidity, and quite unequal to guide himself 
 through the perils in which his rank and vast 
 possessions constantly involved him. His great 
 enemy, the Earl of Ormond, resided constantly 
 in England, and had the ear of the queen ; and 
 there is no doubt that her majesty was by this 
 means strongly prejudiced against the Lord 
 Desmond ; and this prejudice was acted upon 
 by her officers in Ireland, who looked forward 
 to profit by the spoils of the great southern pro- 
 prietor. The instance of the great northern 
 confiscation served but to whet the appetite of 
 the adventurers. 
 
 It is probable enough that Desmond wished 
 well to his brothers' invasion, but he had taken 
 no part ; and no one more loudly, and there is 
 reason to believe no one more sincerely, con- 
 demned the enormities with which it was stained. 
 His only oifence was his refusal to attend the 
 deputy in his camp, a refusal which, in his case, 
 was undoubtedly excuseable. 
 
 The war against Desmond was followed up 
 with a barbarity disgraceful to human nature. 
 His vast estates were ravaged with fire and 
 
90 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 sword, and the innocent population of the coun- 
 try deUvered up to slaughter and to famine. 
 Desmond, reduced to the utmost extremity, 
 offered to surrender and submit to the queen's 
 pleasure. But all accommodation was rejected ; 
 and it was hardly any longer concealed, that the 
 Desmond property was considered too great for 
 one proprietor. 
 
 Before the termination of this war, another 
 invasion took place from Spain, which, though 
 somewhat more considerable than the former, 
 was too trifling to have any effect on the war 
 in its present advanced stage. This invading 
 force consisted of seven or eight hundred men, 
 who were landed on the coast of Kerry, like the 
 former, and had just time to construct a fort, 
 where they resolved to wait the arrival of the Irish 
 forces, when they found themselves attacked by 
 Lord Grey, now lord deputy. As their position 
 was near the shore, Admiral Winter was able to 
 co-operate with the land forces in their reduction. 
 Their position was found untenable, and they 
 surrendered at discretion. It is painful to tell, 
 that after the Spaniards had laid down their 
 arms, some British companies were marched into 
 the fort, and the Spanish battalions underwent 
 a deViher ate Jusilade : the entire were butchered 
 in cold blood. 
 
 There was nothing in this horrible transaction 
 which was not in perfect consistency with the 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 91 
 
 whole course of the Desmond war. But the 
 massacre of the Spaniards made a noise through- 
 out Europe, and brought a reproach upon the 
 queen's government, which the mere slaughter 
 of her own subjects would never have occa- 
 sioned. The queen expressed the utmost horror 
 and displeasure at so foul a deed ; but none of 
 the agents in the transaction were punished or 
 disgraced. 
 
 There are two names implicated in this deed 
 dearer to humanity than her's who then wore 
 the crown of England — Spencer and Raleigh. 
 The former was secretary to Lord Grey, under 
 whose eye, and by whose authority the massacre 
 was committed; the latter commanded at the 
 slaughter. The intellect which lifts men above 
 the age they live in leaves the heart frequently 
 cold and hardened. Raleigh and Spencer were 
 adventurers and speculators in Irish forfeitures ; 
 the one was deeply engaged, the other even at- 
 tempts a defence of the crimes perpetrated in the 
 Desmond persecution. 
 
 Grey, who seems to have imbibed a taste for 
 blood in the Desmond war, pursued his career 
 with frequent and horrible murders, committed 
 upon the most distinguished persons and families 
 of the kingdom. His agents in these transac- 
 tions were profligate Englishmen, who swarmed 
 in all parts of the country, and were volunteers 
 in every guilt and mischief. They were men, 
 
9^ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 generally, who had fled from their debts, or from 
 the punishment due to their crimes ; or they 
 were needy dependents on great families, whose 
 object was to make a fortune on any terms. 
 The cry against Grey's enormities at length be- 
 came too loud and strong to be any longer un- 
 heeded, even by Elizabeth, who cannot be ac- 
 cused at this period of her reign of evincing any 
 weak compassion for her Irish subjects. The 
 deputy was at length removed, and Sir John 
 Perrot appointed to the Irish government. 
 
 The Earl of Desmond was dead ; he had 
 been surprised in a hut in Kerry, while weary, 
 and reposing himself before the fire. On the 
 alarm of surprise his few companions fled. The 
 earl, who was now an old man, and, perhaps, 
 willing to relinquish life, waited quietly for his 
 executioners. The soldiers entered, and, with- 
 out knowing who he might be, struck and 
 wounded him. " Spare me, for I am the Earl 
 of Desmond," said the old man ; but he was 
 instantly killed, and his head sent to his old rival 
 and antagonist, tlie Lord Ormond. Thus ter- 
 minated a feud which commenced in a question 
 concerning title to a few fields of meadow land ! 
 Ormond sent the head as a trophy to the queen. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 93 
 
 CHAR IX. 
 
 Sir John Perrot was a man of different cha- 
 racter from Sidney and Grey. Though tainted 
 with some of the vices of the age he Hved in, 
 which was Httle scrupidoas as to the means by 
 which any given end was to be accompHshed, 
 he was, in the main, a just and humane governor, 
 and seems to have been a kind and good man. 
 Those quahties were thought to render him a fit 
 instrument for the pacification of Ireland, as the 
 sanguinary propensities of Grey and Sidney had, 
 perhaps, been considered as proper quaHfications 
 for the overthrow of the Desmond family, and 
 the reduction of South Munster. Munster was 
 almost wholly depopulated and laid waste, the 
 inhabitants having been indiscriminately put to 
 the sword. 
 
 As in the case of the great Ulster confiscation, 
 a parliament was now to be called, to vest the 
 title of tlie Desmond property in the queen, and 
 enable her Majesty to dispose of it according to 
 her pleasure. The Desmond estates amounted 
 to six hundred thousand acres ; and the appor- 
 tionment of this great property amongst the 
 
94? HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 numerous body of expectants, was now a matter 
 of the deepest interest. 
 
 The parHament assembled in Dublin in April 
 1585. It was soon manifest that Perrot had no 
 great skill in the management of parliaments. 
 It was much more honestly chosen than that 
 which had been called together on the occasion 
 of O'Neil's forfeiture. It was also somewhat 
 more numerous : several new counties had been 
 laid out since that period, and a few of these 
 returned members to parliament. For the first 
 time, also, some of the most considerable mem- 
 bers of both houses were of old Irish families. 
 Cavan sent two of the noble house of O'Reily ; 
 Longford was represented by two of the O'Far- 
 rells, Clare by the O'Briens ; and other counties 
 and towns, in like manner, sent the chiefs of 
 clans to parliament. 
 
 In the peers' house, also, a few of the ancient 
 Irish nobility, who had accepted titles from the 
 crown, and some who had not, but who were 
 of noble Irish descent, and of great possessions, 
 appeared for the first time in their places in par- 
 liament. 
 
 Perrot condemned the queen's system of root- 
 ing out the ancient Irish nobility, and was 
 anxious to reconcile this proud aristocracy to the 
 crown, and to put them in a position to defend 
 themselves against the intrigues of rapacious 
 men in office. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 95 
 
 But parliament was disposed to no reconcile- 
 ment with the queen. The dreadful massacres 
 which had been committed by her troops in 
 Munster 5 the persecution almost to utter exter- 
 mination of the great family of Desmond, related 
 or connected with almost every noble house in 
 Ireland, and for the almost avowed purpose of 
 seizing its property ; — these proceedings had 
 not prepared the houses to receive her Majesty's 
 commands with much humility. They were 
 alarmed at the designs of the crown, and were 
 indignant at the favour shown to the new ad- 
 venturers from England, to whose councils they 
 attributed the violent and unconstitutional mea- 
 sures of the government. 
 
 The old Anglo-Irish nobility of the Pale, who 
 had looked on with great quietness at the de- 
 struction of the northern tanist, O'Neilj were 
 not disposed to view the proceedings against the 
 Earl of Desmond as equally defensible. These 
 were now the most resolute in their opposition 
 to the crown. All the bills proposed by govern- 
 ment were rejected ; even those which provided 
 for the ordinary subsidies were negatived. Two 
 bills only, of no great moment, were suffered to 
 pass the commons ; and it was then found 
 necessary to dissolve the parliament. 
 
 Perrot applied to the crown for those pecu- 
 niary resources of which the Irish government 
 was in the greatest need, and which could not 
 
96 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 be obtained from parliament : but the queen's 
 finances were in a state of the utmost exhaustion ; 
 and her Majesty's ill humour was at least equal 
 to that of her Irish parliament. She could not 
 be prevailed upon to give any assistance to her 
 governor in Ireland. 
 
 The justice and moderation of Perrot's go- 
 vernment, after a while, produced their natural 
 eifect. The deputy became every day more and 
 more popular. The old Irish nobility and gentry 
 were the first to come into his measures, won by 
 a degree of kindness and good faith, to which 
 they had scarcely ever been accustomed. The 
 ancient Anglo-Irish lords were slower to yield 
 to the influence of the deputy's character, but 
 some impression was made upon them also ; and 
 at length Sir John thought himself strong 
 enough to propose the grand measure to parlia- 
 ment, which was to vest the great estates of the 
 Desmond family in the crown. 
 
 This measure was introduced in the second 
 session of Perrot's administration, and passed, 
 but not even then without great opposition. One 
 hundred and forty of the family and connections 
 of the Earl of Desmond were attainted with him, 
 and all their estates forfeited to the crown. 
 
 The opposition made to this attainder by the 
 Anglo-Irish nobihty arose from the strong and 
 just apprehension, that in thus becoming parties 
 to the ruin of one of their own body, they were 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 97 
 
 establishing a precedent, which it would be in 
 the power of the crown, or its rapacious minis- 
 ters in Ireland, to use hereafter against any 
 of themselves. The whole of the subsequent 
 history of this powerful aristocracy bears ample 
 testimony to the justice of their fears. 
 
 It now became apparent, why it was that the 
 queen's ministers had given up the whole south 
 of Ireland to military execution, under colour of 
 prosecuting a war against so incapable a person 
 as the Earl of Desmond. Nearly the whole 
 population of Munster had perished by famine 
 and the sw^ord j and a grand scheme was now 
 announced for the re-peopling of the vacant 
 lands. From thirty to forty new lordships were 
 created and granted at small quit-rents to new 
 adventurers, with conditions that each should 
 plant (as it was called) a certain number of 
 English families upon his new estate, and that he 
 should not suffer any Irish to rent or otherwise 
 occupy any part thereof. 
 
 The great patronage which this immense for- 
 feiture threw into the hands of the ministers of 
 the crown, gave them a taste for wars and dis- 
 orders in Ireland, which was long in wearing 
 out, and which, as men find excuses for their 
 worst vices, was sometimes openly avowed, and 
 attempted to be justified by reasons of state. 
 The natural advantages of Ireland in soil and 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
98 HISTORY OF IRELAND, 
 
 situation, its rivers, harbours, the genius of its 
 inhabitants — every thing which rendered it in- 
 valuable as a portion of the British empire, and 
 made its peace and prosperity the first objects 
 of a British statesman — all were employed as 
 arguments to show that Ireland must be con- 
 sidered as a dangerous rival, which it was the in- 
 terest of England to weaken by misgovernment, 
 and distract by perpetual disorders. 
 
 The queen's ministers had now accomplished 
 the two grand objects of the policy of this reign, 
 the forfeitures of Ulster and Munster. Neither 
 were defensible in principle : in policy they were 
 grievous mistakes ; in their consequences they 
 shook the British empire almost to its founda- 
 tion, and embittered the queen's life, even to her 
 last agony. 
 
 The northern plantation had failed entirely. 
 The grantees of the Tiro wen territory could 
 not make good their possession, even with all 
 the aid of government. Warned by this dif- 
 ficulty, the southern plantation had been con- 
 ducted upon a surer principle, as it was supposed, 
 by removing the population. Nevertheless, it 
 was hardly more fortunate ; but few of the 
 grantees were enabled to keep possession of 
 their new estates ; those who were so successful 
 soon discovered that there was but one mode by 
 which their possession could be secured, and 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 99 
 
 that was by abandoning the system of plantation, 
 and making terms with the old Irish tenantry, 
 or such remnant of them as could be found. 
 
 Enough of Irish had escaped the sword of 
 Lord Grey to make it a very dangerous ad- 
 venture for any small number of English farmers 
 to set themselves down in the midst of the lands 
 they claimed. The few who attempted it soon 
 abandoned the undertaking, and disposed of 
 their leases, or underlet to the Irish. The 
 grantees of lordships found the Irish tenantry 
 willing enough to admit their title, provided 
 they had the lands upon easy terms, and were 
 protected from military exactions. They saw 
 the necessity of forgetting the queen's instruc- 
 tions concerning English plantations, and of 
 making terms with the old tenantry of the soil ; 
 and they were wise enough to adopt this only 
 course by which their estates could be trans- 
 mitted to their posterity. 
 
 Some portion of the Desmond property was 
 regranted to members of that family, and more 
 of it was kept possession of, in defiance of the 
 ordinances of the crown, by those who knew 
 how, without risk of rebellion, to defeat its pur- 
 poses. 
 
 Upon the whole the Desmond forfeiture was a 
 great evil ; it shook the whole frame of society in 
 Munster ; it unsettled the minds of men. The 
 
 H 2 
 
100 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 old British proprietors felt themselves no longer 
 secure, and the appetite of the new adventurers 
 acquired a dangerous keenness. Time would 
 have broken up the unwieldly possessions of 
 Lord Desmond, and scattered his estates amongst 
 his numerous family, a mode of distribution 
 much more beneficial than that of confiscation. 
 Nothing is of more benefit to a country, or gives 
 more security to the state than antiquity of title. 
 Ancient title is the more precious, because, like 
 ancient timber, at once the wealth and ornament 
 of the land, it is beyond the power of kings or 
 parliaments to create. Some of the branches of 
 the noble house of Desmond, which were for- 
 tunately preserved, became in after times, and 
 down to our own day, eminently useful in pre- 
 serving the peace of the country and the au- 
 thority of the crown, both of which found 
 their best support in a title admitted and re- 
 spected by the people. 
 
 It was thought necessary at this period to 
 counteract the tendency of Perrot's popular 
 system of government, by vesting a power in his 
 council to control his measures. Their appro- 
 bation of his plans was made indispensable to 
 their execution 5 and, as the council leaned to a 
 severe system of government, the effect was a 
 jarring and unsteady movement of the machine 
 of state. The provincial governors, and other 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 101 
 
 officers of the crown, acted in various parts of 
 the country with great harshness and oppression ; 
 and being supported by their partisans in the 
 council, were able to set the authority of the de- 
 puty at defiance. Great dissatisfaction prevailed 
 in consequence ; but there appeared no man of 
 ability sufficient to concentrate the popular dis- 
 content, and direct its power against the state. 
 The De Burgos of Connaught were driven into 
 rebellion by the severities of Bingham, Lord 
 President of that province ; but they were easily 
 subdued. 
 
 While the kingdom continued in this un- 
 settled state, the agents of Spain were busily 
 employed in preparing the minds of the people 
 for the grand invasion of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, threatened by King Philip ; they did 
 not find them ill disposed to any enterprise 
 which promised an escape from the yoke of 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 All the measures of the queen's government 
 in Ireland, from the commencement of her 
 reign, comprised a system of vigorous hostility 
 against the old proprietary and the ancient re- 
 ligion of the country. She had made war in 
 Ireland upon the two greatest interests of man- 
 kind — their enjoyments in this world, and their 
 hopes in the next. 
 
 Philip found the people well inclined to listen 
 to him ; they were still sore with the recollection 
 
 n 3 
 
102 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of the forfeitures of Desmond and O'Neil, and 
 impatient of the attempts which were con- 
 stantly making, though as constantly defeated, 
 to plant strangers upon their lands, and a new 
 religion in their churches. The queen was 
 embarrassed. She began to be sensible of the 
 failure of her plans in Ireland, and of the dangers 
 that threatened her in that country. On the 
 continent her perplexities were thickening ; and 
 the vast preparations of Spain shook even her 
 intrepid spirit. 
 
 The north of Ireland, especially, was in a 
 fearful state of disorder. All the efforts of the 
 crown or the deputy had failed in reducing 
 Ulster to a state of tranquillity, since the at- 
 tainder of Shane O'Neil. Tirlough O'Neil, who 
 had been nominated to the chiefry by the go- 
 vernment, was disowned by the sept, and had no 
 influence with them. 
 
 Elizabeth began at length to think, that as 
 she had failed in planting the district of Tirowen, 
 and had been unable to dispose of it by grant, 
 it would be better policy to keep so powerful 
 a sept in obedience to the state by means of a 
 chiefi at once acceptable to the people, and 
 faithful to the crown. And as it was evident 
 that the clan would not much longer delay pro- 
 ceeding to fill up by election the vacant tanistry, 
 the sagacious princess resolved that the crown 
 should have at least the appearance of conferring 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 103 
 
 this high dignity, by favouring the pretensions 
 of some one of the candidates. The candidates 
 were the sons of John or Shane O'Neil, and 
 their cousin the son of Matthew, Baron of Dun- 
 gannon. 
 
 The queen, by advice of the lord deputy, 
 determined in favour of the latter. By this de- 
 termination the order of succession was restored 
 in the line of Matthew, which had been settled 
 by letters patent of the crown in the reign of 
 Henry the Eighth, and had been broken through 
 by Shane O'Neil with such bold and haughty 
 contempt of the royal authority. Besides, Hugh 
 O'Neil, the son of Matthew, was an officer in her 
 majesty's army, and had served with great dis- 
 tinction in the Desmond war. He had been 
 bred in the very centre of what the queen called 
 civility, and was reported to be a man of great 
 accomplishments. As it was, therefore, unavoid- 
 able that there should be a tanist in Ulster, 
 Hugh O'Neil was in all respects the most pro- 
 per choice, and the most likely to preserve his 
 alleo-iance to the British crown. 
 
 O'Neil's first step was to petition parliament 
 to be admitted under the letters patent, granted 
 by King Henry to his father and grandfather, 
 to the title and dignity of earl of Tirowen. 
 His claim was allowed ; and, with respect to 
 the possessions annexed to the earldom, he was 
 referred to the queen. By advice of Sir John 
 
 H 4 
 
104 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Perrot the new earl resolved to attend the queen 
 in England, and prefer his own suit in person. 
 
 The spirit of his uncle Shane O'Neil seems 
 to have descended upon Hugh. It is remark- 
 able of this family, which swayed the sceptre 
 of Ireland for so many ages, that, though 
 Providence deprived them of power, it left 
 with them to the last the more glorious in- 
 heritance of genius. Unlike his uncle, Hugh 
 attended the court of Elizabeth with the mo- 
 desty of a British officer, not with the parade of 
 an Irish prince. But his success in recom- 
 mending himself to the queen was not inferior 
 to his uncle's. His address upon this occasion 
 is said to have been that of the most accom- 
 plished courtier. Versed in all the learning of 
 the age, well acquainted with the forms of 
 English society, and thoroughly informed re- 
 specting the interests and politics of the various 
 states of Europe, O'Neil was well fitted to make 
 a favourable impression upon a princess of ex- 
 alted understanding, and delighting, above all 
 things, in the homage of high and noble spirits. 
 
 O'Neil admitted the want of English civility 
 amongst his countrymen, and the desirableness 
 of introducing the habits of English life along 
 with the forms of British law and legislation, 
 and promised to do all in his power to promote 
 their introduction. The queen was so well sa- 
 tisfied with the new earl that she went far beyond 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 105 
 
 her original intentions, and granted him the 
 territory and earldom of Tirowen, without re- 
 servation even of quit-rent to the crown, and 
 with no more than some trifling stipulations in 
 favour of old Tirlou^h and the sons of Shane. 
 
 O'Neil returned to Ireland with all the ac- 
 cession of power and importance which the 
 queen's gifts, and, perhaps, her more flattering 
 courtesies conferred. But these procured for him 
 a host of enemies. The new and the old English 
 looked with equal jealousy upon any favour 
 shown to the old Irish ; but in this instance 
 the favour shown was particularly embarrassing. 
 The pride and high pretensions of the O'Neils, 
 sustained as they were by the great abilities of 
 that family, were most offensive to the whole 
 tribe of new and old English ; except, perhaps, 
 those few of the latter, who were connected with 
 the house of O'Neil, and boasted the noble blood 
 of the Strongbonians. What was more mortifying 
 still, was the sudden destruction of the hopes 
 which every official person in Ireland permitted 
 himself to entertain as long as the spacious dis- 
 trict of Tirowen remained under forfeiture and 
 unappropriated. 
 
 Some of the queen's attempts at planting the 
 district of Tirowen had been defeated by the 
 contrivance of her own officers, who had little 
 imagined that they were labouring merely to 
 
106 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 preserve an estate for a proud Irishman. All 
 this discontent and ill-humour found vent in 
 rumours of O'NeiPs disloyalty, hints of his 
 practices in Spain and Rome, and alarming 
 stories of outrages committed upon the neigh- 
 bouring lords. The whole artillery of reports 
 and insinuations were directed against the new 
 favourite, 
 
 O'Neil had the queen's commission to keep on 
 foot six companies of infantry for her majesty's 
 service, of which he had the command. It was 
 said, that by changing the men in these com- 
 panies frequently, he was training the whole 
 population of the North to arms, and was thus 
 preparing for a great rebellion. At the queen's 
 desire he had undertaken to build a mansion- 
 house for his own residence befitting his rank ; 
 and it was reported, that the lead which he im- 
 ported for the roof of his house was of vast 
 amount, and intended to be cast into bullets 
 for the meditated rebellion. It was evident 
 that these reports w^ere the workings of mere 
 malice, and intended solely to reach the ears of 
 the queen, whose jealousy of any assumptions of 
 power by a subject was known to be excessive. 
 Upon this point, indeed, her majesty seemed 
 invariably to lose all her usual sagacity ; no con- 
 trivance was too clumsy, or report too absurd, 
 for her belief. A ridiculous instance of this 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 107 
 
 credulity occurred in the credit she gave to a 
 silly story of Sir John Perrot having made pre- 
 tensions to royal authority in Ireland ; a tale 
 which was attempted to be supported by some 
 foolish forgeries, and was built upon his popu- 
 larity with the old Irish. 
 
 O'Neil had not yet time to prepare a rebellion. 
 But he was fully aware of the enmities by which 
 he was surrounded, and the necessity of being 
 on his guard. The fate of Shane O'Neil, and 
 the more recent catastrophe of Desmond, were 
 before his eyes. He knew that as long as Sir 
 John Perrot continued to administer the govern- 
 ment, he was safe; but he could not calculate 
 to what extremity a chief governor like Lord 
 Grey might drive him, if resolved upon his de- 
 struction. 
 
 Perrot's administration was now drawing to- 
 wards a close. His enemies in the government 
 had at length triumphed over his constancy, and 
 succeeded in tiring him out. They had long 
 laboured to ruin him with the queen, and would 
 have prevailed, but that it was indispensable to 
 her majesty's affairs to preserve at this junc- 
 ture the peace of Ireland. And to this end she 
 knew that Perrot's character for justice and hu- 
 manity was the best means she could employ. 
 But they so far succeeded in exciting the 
 queen's jealousy, that she consented to abridge 
 the power of her deputy, and to make him in i 
 
108 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 great measure dependant upon his council. 
 This was a great step. The council were ahnost 
 all opposed to Perrot's measures. 
 
 The principle of Perrot's government was to 
 do justice to the old Irish ; to protect them from 
 oppressions and confiscations, and give them their 
 due share of influence and employment in the 
 state. By such a system of government, he was 
 confident that he could preserve the peace of 
 Ireland, and answer for its security without a 
 mihtary establishment. 
 
 But Perrot's plan of government was hardly 
 relished by the old English, because it gave them 
 no preference over the mere Irish ; and it was 
 thoroughly detested by the new English, whose 
 object was not the peace and improvement of 
 Ireland, but war and confiscation. 
 
 The new English party, though they could 
 not prevail with tlie queen to remove Perrot, 
 had succeeded in weakening his influence with 
 her majesty. His representations were ne- 
 glected, his complaints were unheeded, and his 
 enemies in the council, feeling the encourage- 
 ment thus held out, urged their system of insult 
 and annoyance beyond the forbearance of the 
 deputy. He entreated the queen to be recalled. 
 He assured her majesty that he found no difii- 
 culty in governing her Irish subjects, but that it 
 was impossible to rule her English servants in 
 Ireland. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 109 
 
 The queen yielded to Perrot's wish and the 
 anxious solicitations of his enemies. He was 
 commanded to deliver the sword of state to Sir 
 William Fitz- William ; and having done so, he 
 declared that he left the kingdom in peace ; 
 and that, now a private man, he would engage to 
 procure, within twenty days, the submission of 
 any chief in Ireland, without employing force 
 of any kind. Such was the confidence which 
 this good man had in the power of his own cha- 
 racter for truth and faithfulness. 
 
 His departure from Ireland exhibited a scene 
 which has more than once occurred in that 
 country. He was accompanied to the shore by 
 the whole population of Dublin, and by the old 
 Irish of every rank and class, princes and people, 
 all in tears. The grateful recollection of the 
 past, and the fears of the future, pressed heavily 
 upon every heart. Every tongue was loud to 
 acknowledge him as a father and benefactor, and 
 to lament the public loss. 
 
 Sir John Perrot's administration was a proof 
 that, even in the worst state of society in Ireland, 
 and nothing could be worse than the state of so- 
 ciety in this reign, ordinary justice and common 
 humanity are all that are needed to govern the 
 Irish people. The short experiment which 
 Elizabeth made of this principle of government, 
 confirms the truth of Sir John Davis's testi- / 
 mony : that the Irish love justice so much, | 
 
110 HISTORY OF IRELAND* 
 
 that they will be content with it, even when its 
 decisions press most heavily against themselves. 
 
 Perrot's administration was a striking con- 
 trast to that which went before and followed 
 after it. Nor does he appear to have departed, 
 except in one instance only, from the strict rule 
 of uprightness and wisdom. But that instance 
 was a remarkable one ; and though softened by 
 the kindness of the deputy's character, it did 
 not fail to produce, in some years after, the rank 
 fruit of mischief, which is sown in every evil 
 deed. 
 
 The council in Dublin had been alarmed by 
 reports that O'Donnel, chief of Tyrconnel, was 
 preparing to take the field against the queen's 
 government, at a period when the resources of 
 the Pale were in a state of the greatest exhaus- 
 tion. What course was best to take, was 
 debated with the greatest anxiety — how to 
 intimidate the chief and divert him from his pur- 
 pose, or what force to oppose to him, — every 
 possible scheme and contrivance were proposed, 
 and all were rejected in despair. 
 
 In this extremity, Perrot proposed that, if the 
 matter were left to him, he would undertake to 
 reduce this formidable chief to terms, without 
 war or expense to the queen ; and the council 
 were glad to leave the matter in his hands, 
 though they were at a loss to imagine what his 
 scheme might be. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. Ill 
 
 Perrot's plan was extraordinary. He hired a 
 vessel in Dublin, and procured the captain, for a 
 large reward, to ship a quantity of Spanish wines, 
 and proceed with this cargo round the coast to 
 O'Donnel's country. The vessel made her voy- 
 age, and arrived safely in one of the fine har- 
 bours on the coast of Denegal. Here the Irish 
 gentry, and especially O'Donnel, was invited to 
 inspect her stock of wines. As was anticipated, 
 young O'Donnel, the chief's son, went on board 
 with some of his companions. They were hand- 
 somely entertained, the wine was circulated 
 freely, and they were urged to taste this and that 
 variety and flavour. While thus engaged, the 
 vessel had glided into the middle of the bay, 
 and having gained this distance, the hatches 
 were put down, and the sails spread to the 
 wind. O'Donnel and his companions were now 
 prisoners, and the captain accomplished his voy- 
 age back to Dublin, with the same success with 
 which he had made his prize. Perrot was thus 
 in possession of a hostage for the tranquillity of 
 O'Donnel's country. 
 
 The young man was kept prisoner at the 
 castle of Dublin during Perrot's administration, 
 and for a long time after ; and when at length 
 he made his escape, he became a formidable and 
 implacable enemy of the British power in Ire- 
 land. Perrot had served a temporary purpose 
 at the risk of a permanent evil, and had suUied 
 
112 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 liis fair fame with an act of practical falsehood 
 and grievous oppression. But the practice of 
 stealing Irish princes by fraud and stratagem, 
 had become so inveterate in the government, 
 that even Perrot's superior sense of rectitude did 
 not protect him from its influence. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 113 
 
 CHAR X. 
 
 Xhe new lord deputy seems to have entered 
 upon office with a determination to make it a 
 source of private profit, and to drain it to the 
 dregs, without the least regard to justice or de- 
 cency. About the time of his appointment, the 
 failure and dispersion of the great Spanish ar- 
 mada occurred ; and several ships having been 
 wrecked upon the coast of Ireland, it was re- 
 ported that considerable treasure had got into 
 the hands of some of the Irish lords upon the 
 coast. FitZ' William made diligent enquiries after 
 this treasure, but could discover no trace of 
 it, further than that it was supposed to have 
 got into the hands of Sir Owen O'Toole and 
 Sir John O'Dogherty, both Irish gentlemen of 
 rank, and who had always manifested the 
 steadiest attachment to the British government. 
 Notwithstanding this, Fitz- William, not being 
 able to extort a confession from them of having 
 become possessed of Spanish treasure, committed 
 both to a rigorous imprisonment, from which 
 they were not released for several years. 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
114 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Having failed as to treasure, the deputy re- 
 solved to try his fortune upon land. Upon pre- 
 tence of settling some disputed claims to pro- 
 perty he marched into Monaghan ; and having 
 there picked up a story that Mac Mahon, the 
 chieftain of this district, whose estates were 
 confirmed to him by patent from the crown, had, 
 two years before, levied some rents out of his 
 own lands, with an appearance of militaryforce ; 
 he tried the Irish lord upon the spot for this 
 imaginary offence, by a jury of English soldiers, 
 and having obtained a verdict from this extra- 
 ordinary tribunal, the deputy pronounced judg- 
 ment of death and instant execution upon the 
 astonished chieftain. 
 
 Notwithstanding the character of this trans- 
 action, the crown quietly appropriated the lands, 
 and bestowed a considerable portion of them 
 upon the deputy himself, Sir Henry Bagnal, and 
 other accomplices in the murder of Mac Mahon. 
 A small portion was restored to some individuals 
 of the sept. 
 
 Various other proceedings of this nature, and 
 of a cliaracter hardly less atrocious, on the part 
 of Fitz- William, Bagnal, and other officers of the 
 crown, w^ho all adopted the tone of the govern- 
 ment, spread universal alarm throughout Ire- 
 land. There was a general murmur of discon- 
 tent, such as usually precedes an appeal to arms, 
 in an unsettled country. All men now turned 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 115 
 
 their eyes upon O'Neil ; his countrymen looked 
 to him as their leader and hope ; the queen's 
 officers considered him as the most formidable 
 enemy to contend with, but as affording also the 
 richest spoil. The one solicited him to take 
 arms, the other would not believe that he meant 
 peace. O'Neil felt the awkwardness of his po- 
 sition, and, in his embarrassment, he took his 
 resolution suddenly, and appeared before Eliza- 
 beth in London. 
 
 Here he laid his own case, and the state of 
 the country, before the queen, and renewed his 
 submissions and professions of allegiance; but 
 Fitz- William was still continued in the govern- 
 ment, and Bagnal, who was the private and 
 personal enemy of O'Neil, was dignified with the 
 rank of marshal of the British army in Ireland. 
 
 The step which O'Neil had taken of passing 
 into England, without leave of the local govern- 
 ment in Ireland, had given great offence to the 
 latter, and had even been disapproved by the 
 queen, who not only abandoned her Irish subjects 
 to the mercy of her officers in that country, but 
 made any approach to the royal presence always 
 extremely difficult to them, and generally im- 
 possible. O'Neil sought to protect himself by 
 corresponding with the English council, or with 
 her Majesty directly ; but all the official de- 
 spatches from Ireland represented him as pre- 
 paring for and intending rebellion ; and the 
 
 I 2 
 
116 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 officers of the crown had frequently recourse to 
 the treachery of intercepting the letters of the 
 earl, in which he sought to explain and justify 
 his conduct. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the object of the 
 local government was to goad O'Neil into re- 
 bellion ; and it is equally certain that, whatever 
 might be the final intentions of this great noble- 
 man, he struggled anxiously, at this period, to 
 resist the goad. To convince the queen of his 
 allegiance, he took arms against his kinsman, 
 Mac Guire, and assisted his mortal enemy, Bag- 
 nal, to reduce this chief) who, but for O'Neil's 
 interference, would have inflicted a severe defeat 
 upon the marshal. This bold testimony of his 
 loyalty disconcerted his enemies for a short 
 time. 
 
 It w^as at length announced that Fitz- William 
 w^as to be recalled from the government; and 
 O'Neil resolved to wait upon the new lord deputy 
 in person. The new deputy was Sir William 
 Russell, son of the Duke of Bedford. When his 
 arrival was made known, O'Neil took the bold 
 step he had proposed of visiting him in Dublin ; 
 but he found that Bagnal had got the ear of the 
 new deputy before him ; and when he presented 
 himself at the castle, the only question debated 
 was, whether he should not be instantly com- 
 mitted to prison. O'Neil got notice of what 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 117 
 
 was proposed, and fled precipitately. It was now 
 evident that war could not be long postponed. 
 
 The young chief of Tirconnel, who had but 
 recently escaped from his long confinement, was 
 the first to appear in arms ; professing the utmost 
 abhorrence of the faithlessness and treachery 
 of the Irish government. This chief was O'NeiPs 
 son-in-law ; and a circumstance equally fatal to 
 his hopes of peace was his own marriage with 
 a sister of Marshal Bagnal's, an event which 
 seemed to have laid the foundation of the violent 
 inveteracy of the latter against him. Bagnal 
 might have pardoned the pride and power of the 
 Irish chief; but he could not endure the supe- 
 riority of his brother-in-law, nor forgive him the 
 sin of winning his sister's affections. This un- 
 natural caprice of Sir Henry Bagnal seems to 
 have been a principal means of bringing about 
 the war. 0*Neil might have baffled the most 
 obstinate politician, and contended with some 
 hope against the crookedest state policy ; but all 
 his skill and address could not defeat the rancour 
 of an exasperated relative. 
 
 The rising of O'Donnel was the signal of a 
 general war. The good government of Perrot 
 had laid so strong a foundation of peace, that it 
 endured even during the merciless administra- 
 tion of Fitz-William. But Russell and his suc- 
 cessors reaped the fruit of Fitz- William's ini- 
 quitous government. 
 
 I 3 
 
118 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 O'Donnel commenced the war with great 
 vigour. He attacked and took the castle of En- 
 niskillen, after defeating, with great slaughter, 
 a strong corps of British troops, which had been 
 detached to its relief. O'Neil took and de- 
 molished the British fort upon the Blackwater. 
 The De Burgos, of Connaught, still smarting 
 under the severities of Bingham, joined the 
 northern chiefs, with a considerable force. The 
 flame of war was spreading rapidly ; and hitherto 
 the operations of the Irish were attended with 
 uniform success. The queen was alarmed at 
 this aspect of her affairs, and proposed to treat 
 with her revolted subjects, at the same time that 
 she appointed Sir John Norris, an officer who 
 had gained great reputation on the Continent, 
 to the command of her forces in Ireland. 
 
 Norris soon perceived that the war had been 
 provoked by the practices of the queen's officers. 
 In the field he had gained no advantage over 
 the Irish, and he did all in his power to promote 
 the success of the negotiations for peace. Long 
 and fruitless negotiations followed between the 
 Irish in arms and commissioners appointed by 
 the queen, in which it is doubtful whether 
 any of the parties were sincere. The successes 
 of the Irish lords had been so considerable, as 
 to encourage them to a prosecution of the war ; 
 and they were sensible how easy it would be, in 
 the fulness of the royal power, to set aside any 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. IIQ 
 
 conditions made in its weakness. Neither were 
 the authorities in Ireland, with the exception of 
 Sir John Norris, very anxious for the success of 
 a negotiation which would extinguish the hope 
 so recently presented of rich and extensive con- 
 fiscations. 
 
 Philip of Spain was now in active corre- 
 spondence with the northern Irish lords, and 
 made magnificent promises of assistance. Every 
 thing tended to a renewal of the war. Sir John 
 Norris was removed from his command, and 
 Russell from the government ; and a new lord 
 deputy, a man of considerable military talents, 
 was appointed chief governor. 
 
 Lord Burgh assumed the command in Ire- 
 land, with a full resolution of prosecuting the 
 war, and of listening to no terms of composition ; 
 thus was O'Neil's observation verified — that he 
 miglit indeed readily make peace with Sir John 
 Norris ; but who could tell what might be the 
 system of the next lord deputy, or commander- 
 in-chief? Burgh was eager to make himself a 
 name, and make himself a fortune : the Irish 
 war presented a prospect of both. 
 
 0*Neil, on his side, laid aside all thoughts of ne- 
 gotiation, and prepared for a farther prosecution 
 of the contest. He occupied a strong position 
 near Armagh with the main body of his forces, 
 where he waited the arrival of Lord Burgh ; 
 
 I 4 
 
120 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 while he despatched his lieutenant Tyrell with 
 five hundred men into Leinster to create a di- 
 version in that province. Tyrrel on his way 
 encountered Lord Trimbleston, at the head of 
 a thousand British troops, and totally defeated 
 him. Another detachment of O'Neil's encoun- 
 tered Sir Conyers Clifford, on his march from 
 Connaught to join Lord Burgh, and forced him 
 to retreat with great loss. Animated by these 
 successes, O'Neil received the attack of the 
 British under Lord Burgh, and, after repeated 
 and murderous conflicts, was forced to retire 
 slowly from his lines ; but his retreat was only 
 to occupy a new position. Lord Burgh renewed 
 the attack, and fell, with the flower of his army, 
 in the conflict. 
 
 The command devolved on the Earl of Kildare; 
 but neither side seemed disposed to renew the 
 contest. 
 
 The queen appointed the Earl of Ormond to 
 the command of the army, and intrusted the 
 government to the chief justice and the Arch- 
 bishop of Dubhn. O'Neil renewed his negoti- 
 ation with Ormond, but seems to have had no 
 other object than to amuse the government while 
 he continued the most active preparations for 
 war. When quite prepared, he threw off the 
 semblance of negotiation, and opened the cam- 
 paign by an attack upon Armagh. Marshal 
 Bagnal was ordered to relieve the town. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 121 
 
 BagnaFs army consisted of five thousand of 
 Norris's veterans, who had served on the Con- 
 tinent, several Irish clans, and some of the old 
 forces of the Pale, inured to Irish warfare. The 
 Irish army were drawn up in order of battle at 
 a short distance from Armagh. It consisted of 
 O'Neil's own forces of Tirowen, those of Tircon- 
 nel, and the clan of the Mac William from Con- 
 naught. The battle was long and exceedingly 
 severe ; but tlie result was a complete victory 
 achieved by the Irish over the British army. 
 Thirty-four standards were taken ; all the artil- 
 lery, arms, baggage, and ammunition. Marshal 
 Bagnal was killed on the field; and a remnant 
 of the queen's army were saved only by the 
 bravery of O'Reilly, an Irish chief) who com- 
 manded a body of horse of his own clan, and 
 covered their retreat. 
 
 So considerable and complete a victory seemed 
 decisive of the fate of the war. An army of 
 five or six thousand men on each side was, at 
 that time, a great army in Ireland. All the 
 forts and towns in the north surrendered to the 
 victorious cliieftain ; and the flame which had 
 been smouldering so long in every part of Ire- 
 land, burst, at the match of O'Neil's victory, into 
 one vast and general conflagration. AH the 
 clans of Ulster joined the standard of their great 
 chief. In Leinster, O'Moore seized the moment 
 
1^2 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 to revenge the oppressions his family had suf* 
 fered, raised the old inhabitants to arms, and 
 chased the new settlers from his lands. In 
 Munster, the survivors of the Desmond family 
 called their vassals together, and drove out the 
 planters. The Lords of Lexnaw, Mountgarrett, 
 Fermoy, Cahir, the white knight, the Knight 
 of Glin, joined the general confederacy. The 
 nephew of the late Earl of Desmond stipulated 
 to hold his lands by grant from The O'Neil, and 
 was restored to his estates. 
 
 The ruined condition of the queen's affairs in 
 Ireland now required a large force and an able 
 commander to re-establish them. O'Neil was 
 indefatigable in improving his victory ; he had 
 despatched messengers to France and Spain, ac- 
 quainting those courts with his successes, and 
 soliciting succours. Spain sent ambassadors in 
 return, and promised speedy assistance. Ireland 
 had now become an object of attention to all the 
 powers of Europe, and Elizabeth was compelled 
 to direct a more than ordinary attention to this 
 portion of her dominions. She determined to 
 put an end to the war in Ireland, by sending into 
 that country an army of twenty thousand men, 
 commanded by the most gallant soldier of the 
 age, the Earl of Essex ; a force which she con- 
 sidered no power in Ireland could withstand. 
 
 Essex had imprudently sought this appoint- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 123 
 
 ment himself; nor were his suspicions awakened 
 by finding that his wishes were promoted by his 
 rivals and enemies as well as his friends. They 
 wished to remove him from court, and to expose 
 him to the jealousies and suspicions which the 
 queen seemed to entertain of all her commanders 
 in Ireland. It is not clear what were Lord 
 Essex's views in undertaking the war in Ireland ; 
 but he was, probably, not sorry to escape from 
 the irksome tenderness of his royal mistress. 
 
 Neither the earl's military renown nor the 
 great force he led seem to have excited much 
 alarm in Ireland. A degree of combination and 
 unity of purpose had been effected between the 
 Irish of all classes, such as had not prevailed for 
 centuries. This was a strong proof of the power 
 which O'Neil had acquired over the minds of 
 his countrymen ; but it was a proof still stronger 
 of the deep impression which the abuses of the 
 local government had made on the heart of the 
 country. 
 
 Lord Essex's powerful armament was received 
 with sullen indifference. There w^as no move- 
 ment of the people ; no one came forward to 
 tender their allegiance, or to make submission 
 to the lord lieutenant (such was Essex's new 
 title). The ascendency of O'Neil seemed for 
 the moment to have supplied tlie cure for the 
 dissensions of his countrymen, which had been 
 wanting for centuries. 
 
124 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 After much hesitation as to his plan of cam- 
 paign, Essex marched into Leinster. But his 
 troops were new levies, and he was himself 
 wholly unused to the war which he was now 
 to wage. One of his principal corps was de- 
 feated and cut to pieces by the O' Byrnes ; and 
 the main body of his cavalry was attacked in 
 a defile by O' Moore of Leix, and suffered se- 
 verely.* He returned to Dublin without effecting 
 any thing, and with his army greatly dispirited 
 and reduced. 
 
 The failure of Lord Essex in his first under- 
 takings in Ireland was a severe mortification to 
 the queen : she remarked, that the tone of his 
 despatches was quite different from the strain of 
 his discourses previous to his setting out for that 
 country. In England, he spoke of the Irish 
 forces with contempt, and of the reduction of 
 the country as an easy achievement to a British 
 army led by a general of competent ability. He 
 now represented the Irish as superior in strength 
 of body, activity, and use of their arms to the 
 troops he commanded, and spoke of the re- 
 duction of the country as a work of time and 
 infinite difficulty. 
 
 It is obvious, however, from Essex's despatches, 
 that he did not mean a mere military reduction 
 
 ^ This was called the battle of the " Pass of Plumes" 
 from the Jeathers lost by Essex's gay cavalry, who were 
 nearly cut to pieces. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 125 
 
 of the country ; his views were more statesman- 
 like and more humane : he evidently had in 
 view the reduction of the kingdom into peace 
 and good government, and the promotion of the 
 welfare of the people, Elizabeth answered the 
 earl's state papers with severe reprimands, and 
 ordered him to march into the North, and prose- 
 cute the war with vigour. 
 
 The earl required a reinforcement of two 
 thousand men for the northern campaign ; and 
 the queen, though astonished and alarmed at 
 the increasing expences of the war, complied 
 with his demand. Having received tliis rein- 
 forcement, the earl prepared to march north- 
 ward ; and ordered Sir Conyers Chfford to move 
 to Beleek with the force under his command, 
 amounting to near two thousand men. This 
 division, when on its march, was attacked in a 
 difficult pass, and totally defeated, by O'Rourke, 
 one of O'Neil's officers, at the head of no more 
 than two hundred men« 
 
 Essex at length marched with the main body 
 of the army, and soon encamped on the banks of 
 the Blackwater. O'Neil and his forces occu- 
 pied the other side of the river. It had not been 
 the intention of the Irish general to molest Lord 
 Essex on his march ; his object was to ascertain 
 what were Essex's real views, concerning which 
 there were various and extraordinary reports in 
 
1^6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 circulation, and to wear out the English army 
 by delays and the climate. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the address with which 
 O'Neil accommodated himself to the character 
 of the earl, and won his confidence. Essex was 
 a man of talent, but of little judgment; O'Neil 
 possessed both, and soon penetrated the inmost 
 secrets of the ambitious favourite. The British 
 general rode from his lines to the bank of the river 
 to meet the Irish chieftain, who was advancing 
 from his camp on the opposite side. The fore feet 
 of Lord Essex's charger were in the water, when 
 O'Neil spurred his horse into the river, and swam 
 him across. The English lord was flattered by 
 this mark of confidence and courtesy in a noble- 
 man of so much pride and power as O'Neil : 
 both continued their ride, unattended, along the 
 bank of the river, and were observed to be 
 engaged in deep and earnest conversation, while 
 both armies looked on, with surprise and doubt 
 of the event. 
 
 At length Essex beckoned to his officers to 
 join, and 0*Neil made signal to his train, and the 
 conversation became general, and a formal con- 
 ference followed, where O'Neil stated his griev- 
 ances and complaints, and proposed terms of 
 accommodation with the queen. To give time 
 to the consideration of these propositions, a ces- 
 sation of arms was agreed to for six weeks, to be 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. IT/ 
 
 renewed from time to time, as might be neces- 
 sary 5 and the British army marched back to 
 their quarters in Leinster. 
 
 The queen, who had been anxiously looking 
 for a victory over O'Neil, was exceedingly dis- 
 appointed and incensed at this termination of all 
 the mighty preparations for the march into 
 Ulster. Essex's enemies accused him of a private 
 understanding with O'Neil, in which the latter 
 had engaged to promote his ambitious views, and 
 to aid him in his designs upon the crow^n of 
 England. The clamour was so great, that Essex 
 thought it necessary to make his peace with the 
 queen in person. He committed the govern- 
 ment to the chancellor and Sir George Carew, 
 and set out for London. That this unfortunate 
 nobleman entertained criminal designs can hardlv 
 be doubted. He might be excused, perhaps, for 
 their folly, but cannot be pardoned their in- 
 gratitude. His administration in Ireland indi- 
 cated nothing of superior mind, even in the 
 prosecution of his supposed plans. If he did not, 
 as is probable, seriously intend to push the war 
 against O'Neil, he should at least have guarded 
 himself from the defeat and discomfiture which 
 attended all his enterprises, and which could not 
 in any way have promoted his objects. 
 
128 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 Essex was succeeded in the Irish government 
 by Blunt, Lord Mountjoy, a man very superior 
 to any of those who had yet contended with 
 O'Neil. Mountjoy was a man of studious habits, 
 and of great literary attainments, a circumstance 
 from which an opinion of his incapacity in the 
 field had been erroneously deduced. O'Neil 
 himself fell into the error, and is reported to have 
 expressed his joy at the appointment of a com- 
 mander, ** who would lose the season of action, 
 while his breakfast was preparing." 
 
 Mountjoy was not only an eminent man him- 
 self, but he was supported in the subordinate 
 departments of the government by several men 
 of great vigour and abilities, among whom Carew, 
 Lord President of Munster, and Ormond were 
 the most remarkable. 
 
 The war was waged in the outset with great 
 skill and activity, but for some time with no 
 decided success. O'Neil maintained his ground, 
 but he gained no victories ; and Mountjoy's ex- 
 traordinary caution guarded him from surprise 
 and ambuscade. This equal balance permitted 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND, 1^9 
 
 the British commanders to practise with the 
 Irish lords who adhered to O'Neil. Their in- 
 trigues were conducted with the greatest address, 
 and were very successful : they flattered, bribed, 
 and intimidated, and soon shook the confederacy 
 which O'Neil had formed. Their manner of 
 making war was almost as fatal to the Irish 
 league. The British commanders deriving their 
 provisions in a great measure from England, 
 were very mucli independent of home supply, 
 and adopted, in the very outset of Mountjoy's 
 administration, a systematic spoliation of the 
 country. They waged w^ar with the double in- 
 strument of sword and famine ; the corn was 
 every where committed to the flames; the houses 
 of the peasantry, and all the implements of 
 husbandry, were destroyed. The Irish forces 
 soon began to feel the effect of this system of 
 devastation, and to be cramped in all their 
 movements. 
 
 The expense of the Irish war increased in the 
 mean time daily, and filled the minds of the 
 queen and her ministers with alarm. The 
 annual expense was now not less than half a 
 million.. The queen tried the experiment of 
 debasing the coin ; and, like all such expedients, 
 it only served, ultimately, to increase her dif- 
 ficulties. 
 
 The talents of Mountjoy, and the vigour of 
 Carew, though restrained by no principle, had 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
130 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 yet reaped no very decisive advantage in the 
 war. O'Neil and his confederates still kept 
 the field and gained occasional triumphs, while 
 he sustained the spirits of his adherents by pro- 
 mises of great and effectual assistance from 
 Spain. 
 
 The long-promised succours from Spain were 
 now at hand ; the British generals had failed in 
 their great object of putting an end to the war 
 before the arrival of the Spanish expedition. 
 The Munster and Connaught Irish were con- 
 siderably reduced ; but O'Neil and O'Donnel 
 were still at the head of a large and unbroken 
 force ; and even where the queen's officers had 
 been most successful, the heart of the country 
 was unsubdued in its enmity to the British go- 
 vernment. The manner in which the war was 
 conducted by the officers of the crown, left no 
 ground in which reconcilement could take root. 
 Carew had succeeded in seizing the persons of 
 several of the chief lords of Munster, whom he 
 detained prisoners. One of these, on being ex- 
 amined by the president and his council, pro- 
 fessed his readiness to adhere to the queen's 
 allegiance. " But what if the Spaniards^should 
 arrive ?" said the president. " In that case," re- 
 plied the Irish lord, " let not your lordship rely 
 upon me, nor on any of those lords who seem 
 jnost attached to your service." 
 
 We may be somewhat surprised at the can- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 131 
 
 dour of this reply, when we consider what sort 
 of man the president of Munster was ; but we 
 cannot be astonished at the general and deep- 
 rooted hostility to the queen's government 
 which it proves to have then prevailed in the 
 country. 
 
 Carew was a man of great energy and activity 
 in the field, and at the same time cruel, subtle, 
 and deceitful ; a consummate intriguer ; rapa- 
 cious of property, and delighting in blood. When 
 he had hunted down an Irishman of rank, and 
 compelled him to sue for mercy to the queen's 
 officers, it was his custom to accede to such an 
 application upon condition only, that the subdued 
 offender should assassinate some friend or relative 
 of his own. By this means, says Carew% ** I sow 
 distrust among them, and make their enmities 
 irreconcileable, for they do not forgive blood." 
 
 The various expeditions which the Spaniards 
 had sent to Ireland in this reign had been all 
 wretchedly insufficient, and conducted without 
 ability or spirit. They had been fatal to the 
 Irish, by stimulating them into resistance to 
 their lawful sovereign, while they were vv^holly 
 unequal to support them in their time of need. 
 There is no doubt that O'Neil would have made 
 terms with the queen, and taken his chance for 
 baffling the intrigues of her local functionaries, 
 had he not been strongly stimulated to a con- 
 ic 2 
 
15^ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 tinuaiice of the war by the magnificent promises 
 of Spain. 
 
 The expedition which now appeared on the 
 coast consisted of less than two thousand men, 
 commanded by Don Juan D'Aquila, a man of 
 mean spirit and utter incapacity. This small 
 force landed, as it seemed, by accident, or with- 
 out considering fitness or convenience, at the 
 first port they made, which happened to be Kin- 
 sale, in October 1601. They took possession 
 of the town and forts. 
 
 Don Juan had been sent expressly to assist 
 O'Neil and O'Donnel, and he had contrived to 
 shut himself up in a corner of the kingdom the 
 most remote from those lords. But though the 
 Spaniards' position was a very awkward one for 
 O'Neil, it was very convenient for Lord Mount- 
 joy and the President Carew ; and, accordingly, 
 the first operation of the invading army was to 
 defend itself. The lord deputy having received 
 considerable reinforcements from England on 
 the first news of the invasion, was in a short 
 time able to collect an army of about ten thou- 
 sand men, and lay siege to Kinsale. Instead, 
 therefore, of the Spaniards assisting the Irish 
 lords, as was the purpose of their coming, they 
 were anxiously looking to the Irish army for 
 help and deliverance for themselves. This was 
 an unpromising commencement of the boasted 
 invasion from Spain. 
 
HISTORY OF IHELAND. 133 
 
 The reinforcements sent from England to Lord 
 Mountjoy greatly exceeded the numbers of the 
 Spanish invaders; and that they were much 
 better soldiers was proved by all the events of 
 the siege, in which the Spaniards were beaten 
 at every encounter with the British troops, and 
 frequently put to the rout by very inferior 
 numbers. 
 
 The whole number of the Spanish expedition 
 destined for Ireland was said to be six thousand 
 men, of which about a third part had arrived. 
 Neither the numbers nor the proceedings of the 
 Spaniards held out any encouragement to the 
 Irish, however well disposed, to join these 
 foreigners. On the contrary, some of the chief 
 lords of Munster joined the lord deputy with 
 their troops ; but the greater number remained 
 quiet, watching the progress of events. 
 
 O'Neil appears to have been embarrassed by 
 the awkward position in which Don Juan had 
 placed himself. A great part of his force was 
 in the nature of a militia, which would not con- 
 sent to march out of Ulster ; and a march of 
 nearly three hundred miles, in the depth of 
 winter, and through an exhausted country, was 
 an undertaking of great risk and peril. On the 
 other hand, the Spaniards were pressed so hard, 
 and made so poor a defience, that unless relieved 
 by the northerns, it was evident they must soon 
 surrender. Don Juan, who appeared to be 
 
134 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 already very much out of humour with his ex- 
 pedition, pressed O'Neil and 0*Donnel anxiously 
 and incessantly to hasten to his relief. O'Donnel 
 was the first to march. O'Neil followed with 
 more caution, at the head of all the clans in 
 alliance with him ; but the whole force that 
 could be brought out of Ulster did not much 
 exceed five thousand men. 
 
 Mountjoy despatched the President of Munster 
 to intercept the northern army, and prevent 
 their penetrating into the south. But O'Donnel, 
 who led the way, baffled him by a degree of 
 activity of which the English troops were wholly 
 incapable, marching through a very difficult coun- 
 try, with all his baggage and artillery, at a rate 
 of more than thirty Irish miles a day. Carew re- 
 turned to the camp without accomplishing any 
 thing. Many of the southern lords and chief- 
 tains who had taken no part with the Spaniards, 
 did not hesitate to join O'Neil when he reached 
 the south -y and they were further encouraged 
 by the appearance of another small division of 
 the Spanish expedition, which entered the bay 
 of Baltimore almost at the same moment that 
 O'Neil's army took up its position at Kinsale. 
 
 The appearance of the second expedition, 
 though consisting, like the first, of less than two 
 thousand men, seemed to indicate that the 
 Spaniards were in earnest. All the southern 
 and western Irish immediately declared against 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 135 
 
 the queen. Sir Finin 0*Driscol received the 
 Spaniards in all his castles and islands, from Kin- 
 sale to Bantrj ; the O'Sullivans and O'Donevans 
 in Cork and Kerry followed his example. 
 
 O'Neil had taken his position with great skill 
 in the rear of the British camp, and placed 
 Mountjoy and his army in an exceedingly critical 
 situation. The besieging army was now itself 
 besieged : its communications with Cork and 
 the surrounding country, and witli the sea, were 
 carefully cut off, and nothing was wanting but 
 that O'Neil should steadily keep his ground, in 
 order to compel the British army to surrender. 
 The Ulster chief had formed an intrenched camp, 
 and strongly fortified his position. Should Mount- 
 joy attempt to force it, he would be attacked in 
 the rear by the Spaniards from the town, and 
 exposed to destruction. Should he make a 
 serious assault upon the town, he would be ex- 
 posed to O'Neil's army in the rear. 
 
 The British army, however, was more than 
 equal to a single contest with O'Neil. They 
 were better provided with every thing, except 
 food and forage, and they were considerably su- 
 perior in numbers ; Mountjoy having received 
 different corps from England, amounting to about 
 four thousand men, besides Lord Clanricard's 
 and Lord Thomond's divisions, and various 
 troops of Lish, who still adhered to the queen's 
 cause. The army had suffered much by the se- 
 
 K 4- 
 
ISO HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 verity of the season, and the hardships of a 
 winter's siege ; but they had suffered much less 
 than was reported, and were in much less want 
 of provisions, having received large supplies 
 from England by Oysterhaven, and drawn all 
 their stores from Cork, previous to setting down 
 before Kinsale, Their situation in prospect, 
 however, was undoubtedly very alarming; nor 
 had they any chance of escape but in bringing 
 the Irish army to battle, by some stratagem or 
 contrivance. Mountjoy knew that in O'Neil he 
 had to deal with a general of uncommon wariness 
 and sagacity ; but he did not despair. 
 
 With extraordinary skill he contrived to con- 
 vert his Spanish enemies into allies. He knew 
 that the Spaniards were weary of the siege, and 
 of their confined position at Kinsale ; and he 
 spread reports, in every direction, of his own 
 army being worn out with fatigue, reduced to 
 half its numbers, and in a stateof utter despond- 
 ency and disorganization. Don Juan believed 
 every tale of this kind, or was willing to take 
 them as true, and pressed O'Neil, with great 
 earnestness, to attack the British camp, assuring 
 him of an easy victory, and promising to sally 
 from the town at the same moment, and over- 
 whelm the whole British army. It was long 
 before O'Neil could be induced to consent to 
 this plan of operations. He knew that the ac- 
 counts of the wants and sufferings of the English 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 137 
 
 army were gross exaggerations ; he had no very- 
 high opinion of his Spanish alhes ; and he had 
 learnt from long experience, what stufFan English 
 army is made of. 
 
 But the sagacious general was overruled ; the 
 entreaties and taunts of the Spanish officers 
 had wrought upon O'NeiPs generals. Some of 
 the chiefs of clans were impatient of their po- 
 sition, so remote from home, and all had been 
 induced to give some credit to the exaggerated 
 stories in circulation of the condition of Mount- 
 joy's army. Mountjoy had his spies in the Irish 
 camp, and knew all that occurred. A great 
 deal even of the correspondence between Don 
 Juan and his Irish allies passed through the 
 hands of the British commander. Such of the 
 letters as suited his purpose were faithfully for- 
 warded ; the rest were suppressed. 
 
 At length O'Neil gave a reluctant consent to 
 a plan for surprising the British camp. The 
 attack was to be made at night, and Don Juan 
 was to co-operate by a sally from the town with 
 his whole force. Mountjoy was instantly made 
 acquainted with this plan of surprising his camp. 
 The result was easy to conjecture : it was the 
 Irish who were surprised. 
 
 As O'Neil approached the British lines, he 
 saw that he was betrayed. He instantly coun- 
 termanded the attack, which had been planned 
 to meet other circumstances : but he was aware 
 
138 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 that he could not now avoid fighting, and he 
 made a bold and successful movement to gain a 
 position which afforded him some advantages. 
 But the Spaniards who had joined him from Bal- 
 timore mistook his intention, and delayed upon 
 their ground. The British adv^anced rapidly, 
 pierced between the two corps of the Irish 
 army, and followed up their attack with extra- 
 ordinary vigour. O' Neil's infantry had been 
 thrown into some disorder by the retreat and 
 the sudden change of plan : this was perceived 
 by Lord Clanricard who pushed forward to the 
 attack supported by the whole force of the 
 British army. 
 
 After some very severe fighting, O'Neil re- 
 treated in disorder ; the Spaniards were cut to 
 pieces, and several of the Irish clans totally 
 dispersed. Don Juan had not put his head out 
 of the town during the combat. 
 
 No quarter was given by the British, and the 
 few prisoners that were taken, amongst whom 
 were several Irish lords of rank, were hanged 
 the day after the battle, in the English camp. 
 
 Don Juan thought he was warranted now in 
 considering the war at an end, and hastened to 
 make the best terms he could with the British 
 general. Mountjoy treated him with the con- 
 tempt he deserved ; but the obvious policy of 
 getting the Spaniards quickly out of Ireland 
 induced him to yield to some points of pride 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 139 
 
 and etiquette, which the Spaniard was more 
 concerned about than for the success of his 
 expedition. He surrendered Kinsale upon con- 
 dition of being sent back to Spain at the cost 
 of the queen's government. Mountjoy lost no 
 time in sending off the Spaniards, keeping Don 
 Juan with him in Cork for some weeks, where the 
 poor Spaniard seems to have been hardly treated. 
 Despatches which arrived at Kinsale from the 
 king of Spain for Don Juan were forwarded 
 from that town to Cork by Spanish messengers. 
 Carew sent some of his soldiers, disguised as 
 Irish peasants, who robbed and abused the mes- 
 sengers on the way, and brought the despatches 
 to Cork. The deputy and the president had 
 been some time busily engaged in the perusal of 
 the despatches when word was brought to the 
 Spanish commander of the fate of his packet. 
 The Spaniard complained ; and the president 
 and deputy seemed affected with equal grief and 
 indignation as Don Juan himself) and inveighed 
 bitterly against the Irish as incorrigible rogues, 
 and incapable of gratitude or fidelity. Notwith- 
 standing this sympathy and honest indignation, 
 the Spaniard vehemently suspected the deputy 
 or the president, and hinted his suspicions. The 
 deputy swore upon his faith that the president 
 had them not, which, says Carew, in his account 
 of the transaction, *' he might safely do, as he 
 had them himself." 
 
140 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 O'Neil, though he had lost more than half his 
 numbers by the sword and by dispersion, still 
 kept a remnant of his army together. He attri- 
 buted his defeat as well to the cowardice of the 
 Spaniards, and to their arrogance and folly in 
 forcing him from his own measures, as to the 
 surprise which the betrayal of his plans had oc- 
 casioned. But he was still for continuing the 
 war, when the precipitate surrender of Kinsale 
 deprived him of his last hope. All the Irish of 
 the league, now exposed to the vengeance of the 
 British government, were loud in expressing their 
 contempt and indignation against the Spaniards. 
 Don Juan had stipulated with the deputy for the 
 surrender of the castles of the O'Driscols and 
 O'Sullivans, where his troops had been admitted 
 only as allies. Indignant at this presumption, 
 the western lords drove the Spaniards from their 
 castles, declaring that if they must be surren- 
 dered to the queen, they would themselves deliver 
 them up. Don Juan professed himself highly 
 offended at this bold proceeding, and declared 
 he would gladly take his share in reducing those 
 refractory lords. But the deputy declined the 
 favour of his assistance, and reserved that task 
 to himself. 
 
 When the Spaniards had been shipped off, the 
 reduction of the western islands and coasts was 
 committed to the lord president, and turned 
 out to be a task which required all his energy 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 141 
 
 and talent. The numerous castles and islands 
 commanded by the O'Driscols of Baltimore and 
 Castlehaven made a vigorous defence ; and 
 O'SuUivan's castle of Dunboy, commanding the 
 bay of Bantry, refused to surrender in its last 
 extremity ; and, when the besiegers were within 
 the walls, the governor made a last desperate 
 effort to blow up the fortress by flinging a lighted 
 torch into a magazine of gunpowder. 
 
 This brave garrison was put to the sword, and 
 their chaplain, who had prepared the soldiers 
 for death, was hanged. All the chiefs and 
 principal men on this coast, consisting of the 
 heads of the O'Driscol, Mac Carty, O'SuUivan, 
 and O' Donovan families, put to sea in their 
 own vessels and in some Spanish ships that 
 lingered on the coast, and passed into Spain, leav- 
 ing only some collateral branches of these once 
 powerful families in Ireland. The clans retired 
 into the mountains, while the British soldiers 
 burned and laid waste the accessible country. 
 The remnant of the mihtia, collected under 
 O'Sullivan Beare, maintained a vigorous war, 
 under cover of the ravines and morasses of the 
 western district. At length, having drawn to- 
 gether into a body, they set out to join O'Neil 
 in his march northward. Carew despatched a 
 strong corps of light troops in pursuit of them, 
 who annoyed the Irish exceedingly on their 
 march, putting all the stragglers and tired 
 
142 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 men to death. To rid themselves of this annoy- 
 ance, the Irish faced about, and, having chosen 
 their ground, gave battle to their pursuers. In 
 this desperate encounter the Irish suffered se- 
 verely, but every man of the British was put to 
 the sword. 
 
 This check made Mountjoy and Carew halt in 
 their career of blood and desolation. The lord 
 deputy saw that severity had been pushed be- 
 yond the point of intimidation, and that the 
 terrible spirit of a reckless vengeance was rising, 
 even in the desolate wilderness he had made. 
 He did not hesitate to retrace his steps ; he gave 
 orders to stop the burnings and military exe- 
 cutions, which had already renewed the scenes 
 of the Desmond v/ar, and wasted and depopulated 
 a great part of Munster. Perhaps another mo- 
 tive with Mountjoy was, that the queen's health 
 was reported to be precarious, and he was am- 
 bitious to finish the war. Putting aside, there- 
 fore, all dignity and ceremony, he despatched 
 Sir William Godolphin to O'Neil with proposi- 
 tions of peace. 
 
 The queen was really ill, and began to appre- 
 hend that she had shed too much blood in Ire- 
 land. She commanded the deputy to make peace 
 upon easy terms with O'Neil, if it could be done. 
 She ordered Sir Finin O'Driscol to be restored 
 to his estates in Carbery, and showed a dispo- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 143 
 
 sition, in some other instances, to remedy the 
 distractions that had occurred. 
 
 O'Neil was busy in reorganizing his army ; 
 and the clergy, throughout all Ireland, were 
 using every exertion to stimulate the country 
 to new efforts, when Godolphin made his pro- 
 posals. O'Neil did not hesitate to accept the 
 terms offered : he was weary of war, and dis- 
 gusted with his Spanish allies. He made the 
 humblest submissions to the queen, and was 
 restored to all his estates, honours, and titles. 
 The queen's orders, with respect to the O'Driscol 
 property, were evaded for a time ; the council 
 proposing several objections to her majesty. 
 Her commands were repeated, but not imme« 
 diately complied with ; and the death of the 
 queen sealed the confiscation. 
 
 Thus ended the wars of Elizabeth's reign, and 
 the life of that princess. It seemed as if there 
 could not be peace in Ireland while she lived. 
 Her last moments were disturbed by her anxie- 
 ties respecting the affairs of that country ; and 
 she died without having the satisfaction to hear 
 that O'Neil had accepted the terms she offered. 
 
 It was reported that when O'Neil heard of the 
 queen's death, he bitterly lamented the submis- 
 sions he had made to her deputy ; and with 
 good reason. Had he postponed his treaty with 
 Mountjoy, he might have submitted to the new 
 king with more grace j and the merit of his sub- 
 
144> HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 mission might, with the new sovereign, have 
 been some security that the terms of it would be 
 observed. 
 
 It has been a common observation of the his- 
 torians of this period, that the wars of Elizabeth's 
 reign, whatever may have been their principle 
 or their origin, served the important purpose of 
 extending the British laws and constitution over 
 the whole surface of the island, and of utterly 
 sweeping away the old and worn-out institutions 
 of the Irish. 
 
 But Elizabeth never extended to her Irish 
 subjects the benefit of the laws and constitution 
 of England ; nor were the fierce conflicts of her 
 reign at all necessary or useful in preparing the 
 way for their introduction. The landed pro- 
 prietors, Irish and Anglo-Irish, had always 
 earnestly solicited of the crown, that the laws of 
 the Pale might be extended throughout the 
 island. They were willing and anxious to assist 
 in this great undertaking ; and they would have 
 been the best and the only effectual instruments 
 by which it could have been accomplished. We 
 are rather inclined to think, that the bitter and 
 deadly feuds of this reign, with all their crimes 
 and horrors, had an evil and long-enduring 
 influence in retarding the improvement and pros- 
 perity of Ireland. 
 
 The wars of this reign, whatever colouring of 
 politics they may have received, were substan- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND, 145 
 
 tially mere struggles of the old proprietors of 
 the country, to preserve their property and im- 
 portance, against the tide of new adventurers, 
 which the rapid political and religious changes 
 then occurring in Great Britain, and the growing- 
 enterprise and population of the larger island, 
 threw upon the lesser. The new adventurers 
 had the ear of government, and the power of the 
 crown in their hands. With these advantages, 
 it was not surprising that they were able to con- 
 vert their antagonists into rebels, or to fix that 
 character upon them. But the bold and perse- 
 vering, and long successful resistance of the old 
 proprietors, when they found themselves driven 
 to extremity, must excite our adnjiration. 
 
 England, even in Elizabeth's reign, was the 
 greatest nation of Europe, and her afiairs were 
 never more ably, though sometimes more hon- 
 estly, administered. Ireland was broken by 
 adverse and jealous parties, and factions ; the 
 country was poor, with no foreign commerce, 
 and little internal trade ; wasted by long wars, 
 and without means or resources of any kind. 
 Under such circumstances did O'Neil wage a 
 ten years' war against the whole power of Eng- 
 land, directed by her ablest commanders, Noriis, 
 Russell, Burgh, Essex, Bagnal, Clifford, Ormond, 
 and Mountjoy, and was only subdued by the 
 fatal co-operation of liis allies of Spain. 
 
 It cannot be denied, that O'Neil was the most 
 VOL. I. h 
 
146 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 remarkable man of his time ; and it is deeply to 
 be regretted, that his extraordinary talents were 
 not employed by the queen in promoting the 
 power and the glory of the monarchy abroad, 
 or in establishing her throne in the hearts of her 
 subjects in Ireland. O'Neil had the pride and 
 the ambition of a man conscious of great talents. 
 The queen might have opened to him a career 
 of honour and distinction, and won him on easy 
 terms to her service. It was evident that she 
 was more the victim, and the instrument, than the 
 accomplice, of those designs, which, during her 
 reign, were so perseveringly directed against the 
 old proprietary of Ireland. But there is little 
 doubt that she was at length brought to coun- 
 tenance the opinion first publicly avowed in her 
 time, that the only means of establishing true 
 religion and civilization in Ireland, were by 
 rooting out the old inhabitants, and planting a 
 new population from Great Britain in their 
 place. This notion gained ground in subse- 
 quent reigns, and afforded to the worst passions 
 of bad men the plausible pretext of political 
 expediency, and even of religious motive. Mas- 
 sacre and spoliation took the name of " plant- 
 ing religion and civility," and were no longer 
 crimes. 
 
 The reformation had made no progress in 
 Ireland during the reign of Elizabeth. Those 
 who were compelled to war with the power. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELANDT. 147 
 
 would not be disposed to favour the religion of 
 the queen. The authority of the queen did not 
 extend beyond her camp, and the religion of the 
 reformation had even narrower limits. Two- 
 thirds of the British army who won the victory 
 at Kinsale, were Irish Catholics ; and the Earl of 
 Clanricard, to whom it was chiefly due, was 
 remarkable for his steady attachment to the 
 religion of Rome. 
 
 The wars of this reign served, on the contrary, 
 to raise up a powerful and permanent obstruc- 
 tion to the progress of the reformation. The 
 Irish knew it only as the religion of those 
 strangers who contended with them in mortal 
 strife for their inheritances. They knew it only 
 as the profession of those English ecclesiastics 
 who were sent from time to time from the other 
 island, and are described by all the British 
 writers of that day as a class of men remarkable 
 for their profligate lives, their ignorance, and 
 entire neglect of the few duties they had to 
 perform. 
 
 The religion of Rome, on the contrary, was 
 not only their own, but it was the religion of 
 their allies of Spain, Italy, and France. Their 
 political struggles drew closer the ties that bound 
 them to their ancient faith. 
 
 The short administration of Sir John Perrot 
 was the only interval of peace and good govern- 
 ment in the reign of this celebrated queen 5 and 
 
 L 2 
 
148 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 to this excellent man Ireland is also indebted 
 for the establishment of the university of Dub- 
 lin, which was built upon the foundation of the 
 monastery of All-Hallows, a religious house 
 founded and endowed by Dermod Mac Mur- 
 ichad, king of Leinster, in the vicinity of Dub- 
 lin. The queen highly approved and promoted 
 Perrot's benevolent views, and after some delays 
 and opposition, the building proceeded rapidly. 
 The queen is well deserving of her share of 
 fame, as founder of this distinguished seat of 
 learning; nor is Mac Murchad's merit to be 
 overlooked, whose bounty sustained the learn- 
 ing and piety of his own age and supplied 
 Elizabeth with the means of liberality. 
 
 A severe famine prevailed in Ireland at the 
 close of Elizabeth's reign, the consequence of 
 the long wars and frequent wastings of the 
 country. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 149 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 REIGN OF JAMES I. 
 
 1 HE state of Ireland, on the accession of James, 
 presented that prince with an opportunity of 
 doing good, which, though arising out of the 
 errors and calamities of the former reign, must 
 be considered as the noblest inheritance of kings. 
 But James had no sooner succeeded to the crown 
 of Ireland, than, instead of healing the wounds of 
 the nation, and securing, by wise measures, 
 the permanency of the peace that had been so 
 dearly purchased, he set himself earnestly to 
 work in laying the foundations of a war which, 
 in his son's reign, was again to desolate and lay 
 waste the country. 
 
 He began by stirring the question of religious 
 conformity. The Catholic inhabitants of Dublin 
 were ordered to attend divine service in the 
 Protestant churches. This order was not com- 
 plied with ; the Catholics, on the contrary, re- 
 monstrated boldly, and stated the reasonableness 
 of being permitted to worship God according 
 to the manner which they conscientiously pre- 
 ferred. The government of Ireland, which had 
 imbibed the high prerogative spirit of the first 
 
 L 3 
 
150 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Stuart, was astonished and incensed at the ex- 
 travagance of the proposition, and the boldness 
 of the remonstrance, and met the argument ac- 
 cording to the mode of controversy in that age. 
 The remonstrators were committed to prison and 
 heavily fined. 
 
 In the provinces the same efforts were made 
 to suppress the public exercise of the Romish 
 worship. To the representations of the lord 
 deputy upon this head, the citizens of Cork 
 replied, ** that they only exercised now publicly 
 that which ever before they had been suffered 
 to exercise privately, and as their public prayers 
 gave testimony of their faithful hearts to the 
 king, so they were bound to be no less careful 
 to manifest their duties to God, in which they 
 would never be dissembling temporisers." 
 
 To quell this ** seditious spirit," says Leland, 
 Mountjoy determined to march into Munster at 
 the head of a royal army. On his arriving 
 before Waterford tlie citizens closed their gates, 
 but sent a deputation of their clergy and laity 
 to wait upon the deputy, and pray the benefit 
 of a charter of King John, which exempted the 
 city of Waterford from the quartering of soldiers. 
 Mountjoy replied, that " if they did not open 
 their gates, he would draw King James's sword, 
 and cut King John's charter in pieces." 
 
 Charters have but little chance of victory in 
 contending against swords. Mountjoy soon 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 151 
 
 reduced the southern cities to obedience, and 
 suppressed the public worship of the Romish 
 religion ; by his advice, a proclamation was 
 issued under the great seal for a general pacific- 
 ation and oblivion of all past offences against the 
 state, and for receiving the whole body of the 
 Irish as subjects of the crown. Hitherto they 
 had always been liable to the severe penal inflic- 
 tions of the law of England, but denied the 
 benefits of its protection. 
 
 The proclamation procured by Lord Mount- 
 joy at length remedied this mischief. Sheriffs 
 were appointed, and assizes and circuits estab- 
 lished all over the kingdom ; and, for the first 
 time, the British dominion in Ireland embraced 
 the whole island, and the narrow boundaries 
 of the Pale were pushed to the shores of the 
 ocean. The King's Bench now declared Irish 
 tenures to be at an end ; and that all lands 
 should henceforward be taken to be held under 
 the law of England. The Irish lords were in- 
 vited to surrender their chiefries, and take grants 
 of their lands by patent from the crown. Some 
 difficulties occurred in treating the interests of 
 the inferior and superior chiefs ; the superior 
 lords taking frequently grants in fee of all the 
 territory over which they claimed title according 
 to the law of Ireland, while, for a great part, the 
 substantial property was in the inferior or tribu- 
 tary lords. 
 
 L 4 
 
15^ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 An instance of this kind occurred in Munster 
 in thecaseofMCarty More, who, having taken 
 a grant in fee of his vast estates, his numerous 
 vassals became alarmed, and besieged him in his 
 castle at Blarney, until they forced him to an 
 adjustment. The higher nobility of old Irish 
 race, or those who, according to the Irish law, 
 were held to be really noble, were not many. 
 There were but eight families deemed noble or 
 princely in Munster. The inferior lords were 
 very numerous. 
 
 It had formerly been the practice for the 
 crown to grant patents of dnefries to the Irish 
 lords, where there were rival claimants, or for 
 the mere purpose of forming a connection with 
 the chief. This custom was now entirely discon- 
 tinued. A rent was fixed in lieu of the duties 
 which the inferior lord was accustomed to pay 
 his chief; and, subject to this rent, he was 
 henceforth entitled to hold his lands to himself 
 and his heirs. These were all important changes 
 in the political condition of Ireland, and might 
 well have justified James's claim to the title he 
 was so ambitious of obtaining, that of Legislator 
 of Ireland, if he had been satisfied to have 
 stopped there. But, with an inconsistency be- 
 coming a Stuart, he professed a reverence for 
 the Roman religion, while he denounced its 
 ceremonies, and persecuted its professors. The 
 Irish people at this time had no choice of any 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 153 
 
 other religion, being wholly without a clergy of 
 the Protestant communion that could speak their 
 language ; they could be no other than Ca- 
 tholics, and were persecuted for a faith which it 
 was impossible for them to renounce. 
 
 But Jmnes^s pla?italion of Ulster was his grand 
 and favourite scheme. The gunpowder plot 
 had excited a taste for plots which could hardly 
 be satiated. It had raised in England a storm 
 against popery which made any enormity told 
 of that religion or its professors easily credited 
 and hardly requiring proof. This was an op- 
 portunity which the traders in confiscations, now 
 for some years deprived of their accustomed 
 traffic, could not suffer to pass. While the fer- 
 ment of the gunpowder plot still existed, and the 
 public mind was agitated by reports, and whis- 
 pers, and surmises industriously propagated, a 
 sham plot was prepared in Ireland, the object of 
 which was to carry on by a new process the old 
 attack upon the northern counties which had so 
 frequently been baffled by the ability and activity 
 of O'Neil. 
 
 Sham plots have, in past times, been favourite 
 political instruments in England, and in Ireland 
 they are still frequently resorted to ; a real plot 
 has sometimes been a useful engine of party, 
 but having a real existence, its form and cha- 
 racter can seldom be so exactly suited to the 
 occasion, as one expressly manufactured for the 
 
154' HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 purpose ; accordingly a sham plot is always a 
 more powerful machine than a real one, the 
 latter being chiefly valuable as aflfording the 
 rude material out of which the more convenient 
 instrument may be constructed. 
 
 The material which the gunpowder plot af- 
 forded was eagerly seized upon by the fabricators 
 of better contrived schemes, and an excellent 
 piece of mechanism was speedily manufactured 
 in Dublin, which worked so well, that in a very 
 short space of time the contrivers divided profits 
 to the extent of six counties. 
 
 Yet the merit of this plot did not consist in 
 the reasonableness of it. It was apparently a 
 most clumsy and unpromising plot, and one 
 which in ordinary times would have been laughed 
 at by the most simple. Its merit was in its suit- 
 ableness to the moment, which required proof of 
 nothing, and only demanded, for the ruin of any 
 person, three simple ingredients, property, po- 
 pery, and Irishry. The two latter amounted to 
 presumptive proof of the plot, the former was 
 confirmation. 
 
 The chief actor in this plot was a person of 
 the name of St. Laurence, a man notorious for 
 extraordinary wickedness, but he was probably 
 only an agent in the hands of the real contrivers 
 of the scheme. 
 
 A letter dropped in the council chamber inti- 
 mating darkly a conspiracy of the great catholic 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 155 
 
 lords against the state, was taken to apply particu- 
 lai'Iy to the Lords Tyrone and Tirconnel. And 
 these two lords were immediately informed by 
 persons prepared for the purpose, that the con- 
 trivers of the plot were ready with suborned 
 witnesses, and were fully determined to pursue 
 them to death and confiscation. 
 
 O'Neil knew the difference between a sham 
 plot and a real one ; against the latter he could 
 have guarded himselfj against the former he 
 knew there was no defence. Some of the most 
 powerful men in the kingdom were concerned in 
 the plot ; and the mind of the king, prejudiced 
 by the occurrences in England, was prepared to 
 believe it. O'Neil knew he had no resource but 
 arms, and for that he was not prepared, because 
 as to this plot he was innocent. Nothing re- 
 mained but flight ; and this was the point which 
 the parties were anxious to bring him to. 
 
 He fled to the continent, accompanied by 
 O'Donnel; and thus ended the career of this 
 extraordinary man. He lived for some years at 
 Rome on a pension from the pope, and was 
 blind for a considerable time before his death, 
 which happened in I616. A few years after, 
 his son was assassinated at Brussels, and in him 
 the chief branch of the distinguished family of 
 Hy Nail became extinct, the origin of which lies 
 hid in the remotest antiquity. 
 
 James published a very curious proclamation 
 
156 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 upon this occasion, in which he attempts to 
 justify the proceedings with respect to O'Neil, 
 and scolds the earl in very coarse language. 
 This remarkable publication tends to show, that 
 his conscience was not convinced. 
 
 The flight of O'Neil and O'Donnel, and the 
 senseless rebellion of Sir Cahir O'Dogherty, 
 placed five hundred thousand acres at the dis- 
 posal of the king; the chief management of 
 which was committed to the care of Sir Arthur 
 Chichester, while James matured his grand 
 schemes for the " plantation of Ulster." 
 
 O'Neii and O'Donnel were deprived of their 
 estates by proclamation, and their lands were 
 seized by the crown. It is remarkable that there 
 were innumerable tenures held under O'Neii by 
 lease, and in fee, subject to quit-rent, and that 
 the holders of all this property, though not im- 
 plicated or accused of the supposed offence of 
 the earl, and though their titles were confirmed 
 by the recently established law, were all forcibly 
 driven from their possessions. 
 
 The lands of the northern chiefs were divided 
 into regular portions of two thousand, fifteen 
 hundred, and one thousand acres, and disposed 
 of by the crown by grant or sale to new proprie- 
 tors, English or Scotch, but chiefly the latter, 
 that nation having already a considerable footing 
 in the north of Ireland, and being closely con- 
 nected with the northern Irish by blood and 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 157 
 
 affinity. Part of the scheme was, according to 
 the rule laid down in all other settlements of 
 this kind, to exclude the original Irish tenants ; 
 but this was found impracticable, as it had been 
 in all former instances. This settlement was 
 remarkable for tlie city of London becoming a 
 chief undertaker of forfeited lands in Ireland, 
 and for the erection of a new order of knight- 
 hood called Baronets. 
 
 The city built or improved the town of Derry, 
 afterwards called London- Derry ; but it does 
 not appear that the order of baronets ever con- 
 tributed to the advantage or improvement of 
 \hQ plantation, with which in its origin it was 
 connected. 
 
 James soon became enamoured of his new 
 trade of projector and legislator. The spirit of 
 planting grew upon him, and demanded per- 
 petual gratification. To satisfy this appetite he 
 created another novelty, or at least a novelty in 
 the extent to which it was carried bv him and 
 his family : this was a commission for enquiring 
 into defective titles of his subjects. His order 
 of baronets was a mere harmless vanity : his 
 commission of defective titles was a grievous 
 oppression. Both had their source in the sordid 
 love of money, which formed the basis of the 
 Stuart character, and which afterwards induced 
 the unhappy princes of that house to sell their 
 crown and honour for a price to the kings of 
 France. 
 
158 HISTORY OF IRELAND^ 
 
 It is easy to imagine, that under such a mon- 
 arch as James, and with such an instrument in his 
 hands as this commission, few titles were found 
 technically perfect. Accordingly he contrived, 
 by this scheme, to add about half a million of 
 acres in other parts of the kingdom to the vast 
 forfeitures of the northern counties. 
 
 James had been for some time dealing freely 
 with the private property and the religious 
 opinions of his subjects. He now undertook 
 to improve the constitution of parliament. He 
 created forty new boroughs. They can hardly 
 be called rotten : in point of fact some of them 
 had little existence beyond a name. But it 
 must be admitted, that the constitution of the 
 Irish parliament required extension, since the 
 abolition of the old boundaries of the Pale. It 
 is to be feared, however, that this scheme had 
 more in view the increase of the royal authority 
 than the wise object of connecting the people 
 with the administration of the laws. 
 
 James's schemes for procuring money seemed, 
 with the usual and just fate of rapacity, but to 
 augment his distresses. Towards tlie close of 
 his reign, the kingdom was in a frightful state 
 of disorder. The Catholics were exasperated 
 by a bitter, petty, and teasing spirit of persecu- 
 tion on account of religion, the only object of 
 which seemed to be, to collect a few pence in 
 the way of fines for non-attendance at pro- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 1^9 
 
 testant places of worship. The old Irish were 
 exasperated at the spoliations of which they had 
 been the victims, and at the king's incessant 
 breaches of faith with them. All the inhabitants 
 of every race felt that there was no longer any 
 security for property, and that they were ex- 
 posed to a profligate extortion that knew no 
 limits. 
 
 These disorders were aggi'avated by the violent 
 conduct of the soldiery, and the exactions of the 
 church. ** Such,*' says Leland, " were the ex- 
 tortions and oppressions of the soldiers in various 
 excursions from their quarters for levying the 
 king's rents, or supporting the civil power ; a 
 rigorous and tyrannical execution of martial law 
 in time of peace ; a dangerous and unconstitu- 
 tional power assumed by the privy council in 
 deciding causes, determinable by common law ; 
 their severe treatment of witnesses and jurors 
 in the Castle-chamber, whose evidence or ver- 
 dicts had been displeasing to the state ; the 
 grievous exactions of the established clergy for 
 the occasional duties of their function ; and the 
 severity of their ecclesiastical courts. These 
 and other matters of complaint were loudly and 
 incessantly enforced, even by those who were 
 not immediately affected by the more enormous 
 abuses of the royal autliority." 
 
 James died while he was meditating a scheme 
 of a very aggravated character. The lords and 
 
l60 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 gentlemen of Connaught had surrendered their 
 estates to the crown in the reign of Elizabeth, 
 and taken back grants from the queen. Again, 
 they were surrendered to King James himself 
 for a supposed defect in the former convey- 
 ances, and new grants made to the proprietors 
 by that prince. But it was discovered that 
 these new grants, by the neglect of the officer 
 of the court, had not been enrolled in Chancery, 
 though a sum of three thousand pounds had 
 been paid for the enrolment. The king now 
 proposed to take advantage of this clerical omis- 
 sion, and to deprive the gentry of an entire pro- 
 vince of their estates, with a view to a plantation 
 on the plan of the Ulster settlement, but with 
 an intention to make it a much more profitable 
 affair. 
 
 The men of Connaught, in this alarming 
 emergency, did not attempt to appeal to the 
 king's justice, honour, or humanity. They did 
 better ; they addressed themselves to his avarice, 
 and proposed to pay heavy fines for another con- 
 firmation of their titles. The king hesitated ; 
 the temptation of an immediate sum of money 
 was hard to be resisted ; and, while he struggled 
 between the allurement of a larger sum in pro- 
 spect, and the bait of a smaller one close by, 
 the unhappy prince expired. 
 
 The rapacity and violence of James's govern- 
 ment in Ireland, seemed to flow from his high 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. I6l 
 
 notions of prerogative, which were not checked 
 or guided, as in the case of EHzabeth and her 
 father, by a strong and vigorous understanding. 
 His education had given him large views, and 
 his natural incapacity had made him unable to 
 deal with them. His plans in Ireland were 
 without system or consistency ; but they were 
 not all without good effect : the evil, however, 
 greatly predominated. 
 
 If he had done nothing more than suffer the 
 country to rest, after the grievous struggles of 
 Elizabeth's reign, he would have been a bene- 
 factor to Ireland. To the exhaustion occasioned 
 by those struggles, he owed the little opposition 
 he encountered in his government of that coun- 
 try. As James succeeded to the tranquillity 
 purchased by Elizabeth's wars, so Charles reaped 
 the troubles sown by his father's despotism. 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
162 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAP. XIIL 
 
 REIGN OF CHARLES I. 
 
 The reign of Charles the First, including the 
 period of the Cromwellian war, was the second 
 great era in Irish history. Charles resembled his 
 father in character ; he possessed the same 
 childish and erroneous views of the nature of 
 kingly power, with the same weakness and un- 
 steadiness of principle ; but was perhaps, upon 
 the whole, a better and more amiable man. His 
 reign in Ireland was a mere continuation of the 
 former, though he appears to have been more in- 
 clined than James, if he had been permitted, to 
 do justice to his Irish subjects. 
 
 It was the good or evil fortune of Charles, to 
 possess in Ireland a much abler servant, and per- 
 haps a more unprincipled one, in Lord Strafford 
 than his father had in Chichester. Under this 
 new lord-deputy the inquisitions into titles were 
 resumed and eagerlyprosecuted ; and the wicked- 
 ness of this scheme of spoliation and extortion 
 received a frightful lustre and relief from the 
 rank and talents of the man who avowed and 
 seemed to glory in its enormity. Jurors who 
 refused to find for the crown against evidence 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. l63 
 
 and facts, were, for such a daring adherence to 
 justice and their oaths, committed to prison and 
 fined in excessive penalties. 
 
 To put an end to those vexations, and the 
 persecutions for recusancy, that is, the non-atten- 
 dance at the protestant worship, and various 
 other grievances of which the people loudly 
 complained, the catholic lords and gentry, as- 
 sisted by many protestants of rank, drew up a 
 number of articles, in the nature of a Bill of 
 Rights, for the security of the subject and the 
 peace and tranquillity of the realm, which were 
 presented to the king, and his assent and con- 
 firmation humbly solicited. The catholics of- 
 fering, at the same time, upon the granting of 
 those Graces, as they were called, to assess them- 
 selves in a sum of one hundred and twenty 
 thousand pounds for the use of the crown. 
 
 The meeting at which this measure was settled 
 was held in Dublin in 1628, and the whole trans- 
 action does credit to the spirit and wisdom of 
 those concerned. It is but fair towards Charles 
 to say, that he seems at all times to have been 
 sensible of the justice and expediency of the 
 measures proposed, and very willing to concur in 
 giving them effect, if left to his own natural im- 
 pressions. Upon the first proposition, the king 
 accepted of the subsidies, and assented to the 
 Graces, and promised his royal confirmation. 
 
 If Charles had, in this instance, but possessed 
 
 M 2 
 
l6i HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 firmness and resolution enough to be honest, 
 Ireland, it is likely, would have been saved the 
 most violent revolution she ever experienced, 
 and the king might have preserved his crown 
 and life ; such is the importance of fixed prin- 
 ciples, and the danger of a mere fluctuating 
 expediency. But, unhappily, the king was a 
 man of weak mind and weaker principle, and 
 he was frightened from his better resolution by 
 the clamours of the puritan party in Ireland 
 and England, and seduced by the dishonest 
 councils of Strafford, who advised postponing the 
 Graces, relying upon his own address to extort 
 the money without them, and reserving those 
 important concessions as instruments of another 
 and future extortion. 
 
 The Charter of Graces forms the great subject 
 of all the leading transactions of this reign, and 
 explain of themselves the views of those who so 
 anxiously and perseveringly sought, as well as 
 the spirit which actuated the party who opposed 
 them. 
 
 '* The most important articles of this charter 
 were those which secured the subjects of the 
 realm in the quiet enjoyment of their lands, by 
 limiting the king's title to sixty years, and declar- 
 ing void all claims of any earlier period j — that 
 which relieved catholics from the necessity of 
 taking the oath of supremacy in various cases 
 in which it was occasionally required when the 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. l65 
 
 chief governor was inclined to annoy or extort 
 money from them ; — that which allowed the in- 
 habitants of Connaught to make a new enrol- 
 ment of their titles. 
 
 *' By other articles provision was made for re- 
 straining the burden and oppressions of the 
 soldiery ; for preventing grants of protection to 
 persons guilty of crimes ; for resuming or limit- 
 ing various patents of monopolies; for regulating 
 the collection of the king's rents and assessments 
 for robberies ; for restraining the abuse of re- 
 prieving malefactors ; for moderating the fees of 
 courts and sheriffs ; for reducing the provosts 
 marshals to one in each province ; and confining 
 the execution of martial law to times of war and 
 rebellion. 
 
 " Witnesses in private causes were no longer 
 to be bound over to the castle-chamber; nor 
 jurors to any court, but on very apparent evi- 
 dence of corruption and partiality. Custodiams 
 of lands, granted upon outlawries, were to be 
 discharged immediately, on a certificate of re- 
 versal. The testimony of persons notoriously 
 infamous, or capitally convicted, was not to be 
 taken in evidence on trials, except under due 
 restrictions. 
 
 " The Court of Wards was also regulated and 
 abridged in the exercise of its powers* No 
 grants, or alienations, or leases of men's lands 
 were to be made by that court, before the parties 
 
 M 3 
 
166 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 interested were personally summoned. No relief 
 was to be paid for lands not exceeding five 
 pounds a-year. No clerk, or inferior officer in 
 that court, was to be a commissioner for taking 
 offices, and various other abuses of the Court of 
 Wards were regulated and reformed. 
 
 ** For the more equal distribution of public 
 burdens and charges, bishops, and patentees of 
 dissolved monasteries, who pretended to certain 
 privileges and exemptions, w^er^ made subject 
 to them. 
 
 *' It was provided, that pluralities of benefices 
 should not be bestowed upon unqualified per- 
 sons ; that incumbents should be compelled to 
 preach, or keep efficient curates ; that commis- 
 sions should be issued, for enquiring into en- 
 dowed vicarages, possessed by lay impropriators, 
 and to reform the abuse ; and that the incumbents 
 of extensive rectories should be enjoined to main- 
 tain preaching ministers in chapels of ease. 
 
 *' It was provided, that all unlawful exactions, 
 taken by the established clergy, be reformed and 
 regulated. That no extraordinary warrants of 
 assistance, touching clandestine marriages, chris- 
 tenings, or burials, or any contumacies, pretended 
 against ecclesiastical jurisdiction, are to be issued 
 or executed by any chief governor, nor are the 
 clergy to be permitted to keep any private pri- 
 sons of their own for these causes ; but delin- 
 quents, in that kind, are, henceforth, to be com- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. iGj 
 
 mitted to the king's public gaols, and by the 
 king's officers. 
 
 ** It was provided, for the advancement of 
 trade, that several commodities might be trans- 
 ported from Ireland into any of the king's do- 
 minions, or other countries in amity with him ; 
 that live cattle might be shipped to any of his 
 dominions without restraint or licence ; and 
 wool transported into England, only paying the 
 ordinary customs and duties. 
 
 " The new settlers in Ulster were confirmed 
 in their estates, and an act of parHament sti- 
 pulated to be passed, for a free and general 
 pardon of all past offences." 
 
 Such were the Graces which were supposed 
 to be exclusively for the benefit of the catholics, 
 and for which, they proposed to pay his majesty 
 a sum of one hundred and twenty thousand 
 pounds! in three subsidies of forty thousand 
 pounds each. 
 
 Strafford not only prevented the grant of the 
 Graces, but he boldly avowed that he had done 
 so. And not satisfied with this injury to the 
 people and country which he governed, and 
 which it was his duty to serve, he took up the 
 wicked project of a new plantation of Connaught, 
 which James had not lived to accomphsh, and 
 proceeded in the work with a zeal and vigour 
 which, whether in good or evil, were peculiarly 
 
 M 4 
 
168 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 his own. In other quarters he was equally 
 active in raising money. He extorted seventeen 
 thousand pounds from the O'Byrnes of Wicklow, 
 on pretence of defect of title ; and seventy, from 
 the city of London, as proprietors of northern 
 estates ; a step which, probably, contributed to 
 cost him his life, as it increased the clamour 
 which was already rising against him in London, 
 and added some powerful enemies to the number 
 which his arrogance and his talents had already 
 procured him. 
 
 Strafford's administration, though an exceed- 
 ingly guilty one, was not wholly without merit. 
 He attempted to reform the established church, 
 then known in Ireland only as an engine of 
 oppression, and to make it, what it ought to be, 
 an instrument of popular instruction. He at- 
 tempted to improve and new-model the college 
 of Dublin ; he was the first to encourage and 
 promote the linen manufacture, and expended 
 large sums of money of his private property in 
 the undertaking. It is true, that he also did all 
 in his power to injure and destroy the woollen 
 trade of Ireland, then beginning to flourish. 
 But it was the genius of the man to mingle good 
 and evil -, and he had become apprehensive that 
 the woollen manufacture of Ireland might arrive 
 at a degree of prosperity injurious to the trade of 
 England j and it was the notion of the day, to 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 169 
 
 consider that the pre-eminence of the latter 
 country was to be promoted by the depression 
 of all others. 
 
 The discontent occasioned by the insincerity 
 of the king, on the subject of the Graces ; the 
 terror of Strafford's violent proceedings ; the 
 menaces of the puritans (a party then rising into 
 power) against the catholics ; the decline of the 
 royal authority, and the approaching commo- 
 tions in England, — all these circumstances fur- 
 nished ground of hope to the dispossessed Irish 
 of the late reign, that the time was arrived for 
 making a struggle, with fair prospect of success, 
 for the recovery of their ancient inheritances. 
 
 The higher classes of the expelled Irish had 
 been received with distinction in France, Spain, 
 Germany, and Italy. Many of them held high 
 rank in the armies of the three former powers. 
 Those were now in close and frequent commu- 
 nication with each other, and with the conti- 
 nental courts. Ireland was full of their vassals 
 and connections, with whom they held constant 
 intercourse, and who endured with impatience 
 the neighbourhood of the strangers who held 
 possession of their lands. 
 
 The great Earl of Tyrone was dead, but his 
 son held a command in the Spanish army, and 
 was well disposed to attempt the recovery of his 
 father's extensive possessions. In this design 
 he was assisted by a young Irishman, who is 
 
170 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 represented as having possessed great accom- 
 plishments and talents, and considerable popu- 
 larity with his countrymen. Like young O'Neil, 
 he inherited only the claims and titles of his 
 ancestors. His family had experienced great 
 vicissitudes, and they had struggled long and 
 gallantly with their fate. The O'Moores were 
 expelled their lands, in the reigns of Edward and 
 of Mary, and their sept almost extirpated by mili- 
 tary execution. But during O^NeiPs wars in 
 the reign of Elizabeth, they regained their pa- 
 ternal possessions, and waged a fierce and spirited 
 \varfare with the English power, throughout the 
 whole of that period ; and were at length only 
 subdued by the final overthrow of that chief. 
 
 O'Moore had been the able and active lieut- 
 enant of Hugh O'Neil, and his son was well 
 fitted to fill the same place towards the descend- 
 ant of that distinguished lord. They consulted 
 and arranged their plans upon the continent ; 
 and having received the strongest assurances of 
 support from Cardinal Richlieu, then governing 
 in France, and from the courts of Spain and 
 Rome ; and having communicated their designs 
 to several of their countrymen, and engaged the 
 services of the numerous Irish officers, then 
 serving in the armies of the continental powers, 
 — O'Moore at length proceeded to Ireland. 
 
 The state of Ireland had been such, since the 
 first years of Elizabeth's reign, that it had never 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. I7I 
 
 been very difficult to bring about an insurrec- 
 tion. O' Moore found every thing, in this re- 
 spect, in a much greater state of forwardness 
 than he had anticipated ; and he soon disco- 
 vered that he had coadjutors whom he could not 
 have hoped for. The most effectual of these 
 were the lords justices Parsons and Borlase. 
 
 Strafford had paid the penalty of his offences, 
 and fallen a victim to the ingratitude of an un- 
 worthy master. The same folly and infatuation 
 which led the unhappy Charles to abandon his 
 most attached friend, induced him also to ap- 
 point two treacherous enemies to the same im- 
 portant trust. Parsons and Borlase were the 
 tools and creatures of the parliament. 
 
 The justices were glad to forward O'Moore's 
 plans of insurrection, of which they had perfect 
 knowledge, with a view of embarrassing the 
 king, and with a hope of forfeitures ; and though 
 they have been treated by Leland and other 
 writers, as persons of mean and contemptible 
 abilities, they appear to have conducted their 
 scheme of perplexing the government, and 
 creating insurrection and confusion in Ireland, 
 with considerable address and ingenuity. With 
 the assistance of those able associates, O' Moore 
 found his task easy of rousing the northern Irish 
 to arms, and inflaming them with a sense of the 
 injuries they had suffered. 
 
 The assistance of the lords justices happened 
 
17^ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 at this period to be indispensable to the plot of 
 the young adventurer. O'Neil was assassinated 
 while preparing to set out for Ireland ; and 
 the northern portion of the enterprise fell into 
 the hands of Sir Phelim O'Neil, a man of little 
 power and mean abilities, and the whole scheme 
 would probably have failed, if in this emergency 
 it had rested upon the support of the northerns 
 alone. 
 
 The lords justices were aware that the north 
 was likely to be the scene where the insurrection 
 would first break into violence, because it was 
 the most recently confiscated portion of Ire- 
 land, and those were still alive who had been 
 forcibly ejected from their lands, and were eager 
 to retaliate the violence of which they had been 
 the victims"; but it was not to that quarter they 
 looked for the rich harvest of confiscation which 
 they anticipated. The north was too recently 
 planted, and the new proprietors were all pro- 
 testants. Confiscations could only be expected 
 of catholic property. 
 
 The justices, therefore, cast their eyes upon 
 the Anglo-Irish lords of the Pale, as having the 
 largest and most valuable estates, and being, 
 both as catholics and loyalists, most likely to be 
 given up by the parliament to plunder. 
 
 The nature and cause of the rebellion of 1641, 
 require little explanation : they are apparent 
 upon the face of the first transactions of that 
 
^ 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 1J3 
 
 period. The first movements were made upon 
 the planted lands of Ulster, and the first pro- 
 ceedings of the rebels were simply to take pos- 
 session of the properties from which they had 
 been so recently expelled. 
 
 The inhabitants of Tyrone, Monaghan, Lei- 
 trim, Longford, Cavan, Fermanagh, Deny, and 
 Donegal, had all been driven from their farms 
 and cottages, and forced into the mountains at 
 the point of the pike, for certain offences of 
 which the tanists, or chiefs of those districts, 
 were adjudged guilty. But as the people of 
 those districts acknowledged in the tanist no 
 more than a life interest, they were not, accord- 
 ing to their construction of law and justice, ac- 
 countable for his offences. The property of the 
 land was in the clan, and could not be forfeited 
 for the transgression of the chief. They would 
 have submitted to a change of landlord ; but 
 could not acknowledge the justice of the sen- 
 tence, which expelled the occupant of the soil 
 from his paternal acres. 
 
 The expelled tenantry of these counties had 
 continued pent up in the mountains, till the 
 disorders of the government in England afford- 
 ed them the opportunity of combining with their 
 exiled chiefs, in one great effort, for their mutual 
 restoration. The time was now arrived, and in 
 the winter of 1641, in the month of October, 
 they descended in vast torrents from the moun- 
 
/ 
 
 i 
 
 174^ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 tains, swept the new plantations from the face of 
 the land, and obtained full possession of their 
 ancient settlements. 
 
 This great change was accomplished without 
 bloodshed. The plan of the insurrection pre- 
 scribed, that the English settlers should be dis- 
 possessed peaceably, and that the Scotch should 
 not be at all disturbed or molested. The latter 
 were, many of them, connected in the country, 
 and some of their settlements had been made 
 with the sanction of the Irish chiefs. 
 
 But this wise and humane principle of the 
 insurrection did not endure long, nor perhaps 
 was it in the nature of the case that it should 
 do so. The first military movements were 
 directed by Sir Phelim O'Neil ; and though 
 successful from the overwhelming nature of the 
 force collected, and the total absence of any 
 effectual opposition, yet when at length a vigo- 
 rous resistance was made, and the incapacity of 
 the leader began to display itself, the fury of the 
 collision produced its natural effect upon the 
 tumultuous mass now in movement, on both 
 sides. Both parties shed blood freely. The 
 rage of the Irish exhausted itself upon the in- 
 truders upon their lands. The British and 
 Scotch retaliated in the massacre at Island 
 Magee, and wherever else an opportunity pre- 
 sented itself. 
 
 Nor ought we to be surprised that the 
 
\ 
 
 HISTORY OF IRFLAND. 175 
 
 slaughter committed by the Irish in the first 
 burst of the rebellion was grossly exaggerated. 
 It is in the nature of fear to exaggerate ; but 
 in this case there was even a greater exaggerator 
 than fear. The cause of the quarrel was pro- 
 perty ; and it was the interest of the party whose 
 claim was opposed to that of the old Irish pro- 
 prietors, to represent them as monsters, who 
 could not be satiated with blood. Accordingly 
 the Irish were represented as having put to death 
 thirty thousand protestant inhabitants of the 
 north. It was, however, admitted, that a great 
 proportion of the northern protestants were 
 saved and protected, for this fact could not be 
 denied. And it is also ascertained, that the 
 entire protestant population of the north of 
 Ireland did not then amount to twenty thou- 
 sand. Cromwell's commission of enquiry es- 
 timated the number killed at six thousand ; 
 and this also was probably an exaggeration, as 
 Ci'omwelPs commissioners were neither inclined 
 to underrate, nor very strict observers of the 
 truth. 
 
 Sir William Petty considers this rebellion as a 
 game played for the vast estates which in the late 
 and present reign had passed into the hands of 
 new proprietors. Beside the plantations of James 
 and Charles, and tlie Desmond forfeitures, and 
 the King's and Queen's counties, the new lords 
 deputies had just expelled the Irish inhabitants 
 
176 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 and proprietors from the counties of Wicklow 
 and Longford, and appropriated the greater part 
 of the lands as their private property. ** But 
 upon playing this game or match," says Petty, 
 *« upon so great odds, the English won, and 
 have among, and besides, other pretences, a 
 gamester's right at least to their estates ; but 
 as for the blood shed in the contest, God 
 best knows who did occasion it." 
 
 This is the right view of the case ; and there 
 was no one more competent to form a correct 
 view than Petty ; he was a man of cool head 
 and sound understanding, and an actor in the 
 scenes he describes. 
 
 The cruelties committed by the Irish were 
 confined to the first collision of the insurrection. 
 When Owen O'Neil took the command, he 
 punished every act of inhumanity with the 
 utmost rigour. It is but justice to the Irish to 
 say, that throughout their long wars during the 
 period of Elizabeth's reign, though for many 
 years triumphant, and in possession of most part 
 of the kingdom, they disgraced their cause with 
 no cruelties or excesses committed out of the 
 field of battle, notwithstanding the example 
 shown them by the inhuman outrages perpe- 
 trated by Grey, Carew, and others. Hugh 
 O'Neil, who led his countrymen in the severe 
 conflicts of that reign, is well entitled to add to 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 177 
 
 the praise of talent, the higher commendation 
 of humanity. 
 
 The northerns being now in arms, the great 
 point with the lords justices was to compel by in- 
 sult, injury, or force, the Anglo-Irish lords to take 
 part in the insurrection; and though the prudence 
 and wariness of these lords made the scheme 
 difficult of accomplishment, it was ultimately 
 found not to be beyond the skill and perseverance 
 of the justices. 
 
 While the war raged around them, and the Irish 
 were every where masters of the field, the lords 
 of the Pale were, on various pretences, refused 
 permission to reside in Dublin, or other places 
 of security ; and though compelled to remain 
 at their houses in the country, they were not 
 allowed to have arms for their defence. They 
 were thus left exposed to force and solicitation 
 from the Irish, while the government continued 
 to heap petty vexations and disgraces upon them. 
 Still the patience and steadiness of the great 
 proprietors seemed unshaken, and the justices 
 were compelled to push the game with more 
 vigour. 
 
 Parliament had stood adjourned to November, 
 and the public looked forward to its meeting 
 with great anxiety, when the lords justices 
 further prorogued it to February. This extra- 
 ordinary measure, at such a crisis, excited 
 general discontent. The great lords of the 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
; 
 
 178 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Pale remonstrated boldly, and urged tlie neces- 
 sity of calling parliament together to consider 
 of the state of the nation. At length the justices 
 consented that the houses should be permitted 
 to meet for 07ie day, in order to prepare a de- 
 claration against the rebels, and for this pur- 
 pose only : the object being to obtain a parlia- 
 mentary recognition that the proceedings in the 
 north were a rebellion against the king's autho- 
 rity, which the Irish universally denied ; stating, 
 that their taking arms was solely directed against 
 the king's enemies in Ireland, who abused his au- 
 tliority for their private profit, as the parliament 
 of England did, in order to overturn his throne. 
 
 Sir Phelim O'Neil not only stated broadly that 
 he acted with the concurrence of the king, but 
 produced a commission, purporting to be from 
 his majesty, with the broad seal attached, autho- 
 rising him to take arms. The commission was 
 a forgery, but seems to have produced some 
 effect at the moment ; and tlie character of the 
 king was unfortunately so bad for veracity, 
 as to make it at the time difficult to say whether 
 the commission was genuine or not. 
 
 The declaration that the northern armament 
 was rebellious was obtained from parliament, 
 but with some difficulty, the houses being more 
 inclined to treat those formidable movements 
 with the gentler term of discontent. It was 
 now thought right to enquire into the nature 
 
I 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. IJQ 
 
 of the discontents which had occasioned such 
 alarming proceedings, and to take measures 
 for the pacification of the kingdom. They had 
 obtained from the justices with difficulty a second 
 day ; but more than two days were necessary 
 for the work they now proposed. 
 
 Borlase and Parsons took fright at the notion 
 of a speedy termination of hostihties, and re- 
 fused peremptorily to prolong the session be- 
 yond the two days. It was the purpose of the 
 British parliament to protract and encourage the 
 war in Ireland, as it furnished them with a con- 
 venient excuse for raising troops, purchasing 
 arms and ammunition, and levying war against 
 the king. The Irish lords justices, in inter- 
 posing to prevent any accommodation with the 
 northerns, acted from the double motive of obe- 
 dience to the views of the English parHament, 
 and the hope of profit by confiscation. 
 
 They prorogued parliament, and, under pre- 
 tence of private information, seized some of the 
 principal cathohcs of both houses, and com- 
 mitted them to prison, with every circumstance 
 of rigour and indignity. After a little time they 
 proceeded to prosecute their prisoners on charges 
 of high treason ; while, without any attempt at 
 concealment, they hired false witnesses to swear 
 against them. A charge for the hire of those 
 witnesses was read at the council-board, at the 
 castle of Dublin, and seems to have passed with- 
 
 N 2 
 
180 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 out notice, as an ordinary occurrence. It was 
 not the object of the justices to conceal the 
 wickedness of their proceedings : their inten- 
 tion was, that their purposes should be known, 
 in order to the accomplishment of their great 
 object, the forcing of the catholic proprietors 
 into insurrection by terror. 
 
 Finally, they succeeded : the lords of the 
 Pale found themselves compelled to join the 
 insurrection. But in taking this decisive step, 
 they still preserved their caution, and were 
 anxious to give to their conduct the appearance 
 not only of a proceeding forced upon them, but 
 as one also fully as necessary to the real interests 
 of the crown, as indispensable to their own 
 safety. They stated truly that the justices were 
 the king's enemies, as well as theirs, and the 
 tools and agents of the English parliament. 
 
 It is remarkable of this powerful and devoted 
 party, that they acted under circumstances of 
 almost irresistible compulsion, and that, in the 
 outset of their career, they used as much pru- 
 dence and caution, perhaps, as the case admitted 
 of. They joined the northern Irish at a solemn 
 meeting, upon the hill of Crofty, and soon after 
 published a declaration, stating their unalterable 
 allegiance to the king, and recounting the rea- 
 sons and motives for their taking arms. 
 
 There were now four great parties in Ireland, 
 all actuated by different motives : that of the 
 
\ 
 
 i 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 181 
 
 ancient, or pure Irish ; that of the Anglo-Irish, 
 both of which formed the great body of the 
 Confederates ; that of the king's party, as it 
 was called ; and that of the puritans, or parlia- 
 ment party. 
 
 These four apparently composed but two great 
 divisions ; the king's party and the parliament 
 party affecting to acknowledge but one interest ; 
 and the Irish and Anglo-Irish parties seeming 
 to be bound by one principle, and to act to- 
 gether for one object. But they were all really 
 distinct. The separation between the two latter, 
 however, was much broader and more decisive 
 than between the former. 
 
 The arming of the northern Irish, which had 
 been concerted by the Irish officers on the Con- 
 tinent, had for its object the recovery of their 
 ancient estates, and some few went the length of 
 a separation of Ireland from the crown of Great 
 Britain. The views of the Anglo-Irish went no 
 further than a confirmation of the Charter of 
 Graces, and protection against the designs of the 
 puritans. They were opposed to any restoration 
 of property to the ancient Irish, and still more 
 hostile to every scheme of Irish independence. 
 They feared that if Ireland were severed from 
 the British crown, it would give such a prepon- 
 derance to the old Irish interest, as would en- 
 danger their own possessions, or at least affect 
 the rank and station they then held in the coun- 
 
 N S 
 
182 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 try. Instead of being the first in power and im- 
 portance, they could only, after such an event, 
 look to a second place in the nation. Nothing, 
 therefore, was more sound and sincere than the 
 loyalty of the Anglo-Irish lords. They were 
 united with the ancient Irish in the insurrection, 
 by force of circumstances, not by choice. A 
 community of religion was the chief bond, as it 
 was the pretext of a common persecution ; next, 
 the necessity of self-defence ; and, in some in- 
 stances, the force of kindred and relationship. 
 
 The third party was a small one ; but it was 
 one of great importance, as w^ell from the persons 
 composing it, as from the part they had to per- 
 form. The party of the confederates, in its two 
 great branches of Irish and Anglo-Irish, were 
 all catholics. The king's party was catholic and 
 protestant : it consisted of catholic lords, whose 
 horror of Irishry was too strong for any fears 
 on the score of religion to compel them into 
 even a temporary union with that interest, or 
 whose loyalty could not be shaken by any de- 
 linquencies of the crown, or made to yield to 
 the safety of the nation. Of this class was Lord 
 Clanrickard, a man of too much firmness and 
 decision to be driven into a position of danger 
 by the practices of the local government, and 
 of loyalty too exalted to submit to the rule of 
 ordinary motive. 
 
 But the most considerable person of this party 
 
I 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 18S 
 
 * 
 
 was the Eaii of Ormoiid, a man of great ability, 
 but more remarkable for prudence, firmness, 
 and discretion than for the higher qualities of 
 mind. Ormond, in any conjuncture of affairs, 
 would have been a leading man, but in that 
 which was now at hand he was eminently qua- 
 lified to shine. The politics of that period in 
 Ireland were difficult, puzzled, and embroiled to 
 the last degree, and no man was better fitted 
 than the earl to tread his way through the mazes 
 in which so many were bewildered. That he 
 was loyal to the king there can be no doubt, 
 but, unlike Clanrickard, he had other passions, 
 to which his loyalty would at any time give 
 way; — these were, his hatred of popery, his dis- 
 like of the Irishry, and his love of wealth. Or- 
 mond never hesitated to sacrifice the king's in- 
 terest when wealth was to be acquired, or popery 
 or Irishry to be subdued. He was a man of in- 
 finite management, shrewd, patient, false, a pro- 
 found dissembler, abounding in resources, of 
 moderate capacity in the field, and always pre- 
 serving, in the intercourse of society, a quiet 
 self-possession, and a lofty and dignified de- 
 meanour. 
 
 The other chief members of this party were 
 Inshiquin and Broghil, both able men, both re- 
 sembling the Lord Ormond in some particulars. 
 Of talents equal or perhaps superior in the field, 
 
 N 4 
 
184 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 but in personal dignity and political address very 
 inferior ; in war both these men were sanguinary 
 and cruel, a reproach from which Ormond him- 
 self was not exempt. They both commanded in 
 the service of the king, and occasionally against 
 him, transferring their swords to the parliament, 
 when that happened to be the prevailing side. 
 On whatever side Inshiquin commanded, he 
 was the scourge of his country. Of one of the 
 noblest and most ancient Irish families, he 
 seemed actuated by a thirst for the blood of his 
 countrymen hardly to be satiated ; wherever he 
 marched, the burnt crops, the ruined cottages of 
 the peasants, the dead and mangled bodies of 
 age and infancy strown upon the way, pointed 
 out the route of the lord Inshiquin. 
 
 On taking Cashel, he massacred the priests at 
 their altars, and put to death several hundreds of 
 the inhabitants ; he committed similar deeds of 
 barbarity in other towns. The memory of his 
 murders is still engraven upon the heart of the 
 country, and his name will remain for ever 
 united with that of Grey, and Coote, and Crom- 
 well, a curse and an anathema in Ireland. The 
 peasants of Clare and Limerick still scare their 
 children with the name of the bloody Morough 
 O'Brien, and tell of the judgment that has 
 descended upon his posterity, that no male child 
 should ever be born to the name of Inshiquin. 
 
 Lord Broghil was the son of the earl of Cork, 
 

 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 185 
 
 and undoubtedly a man of talent, though less re- 
 markable than the other two. 
 
 The king's party, it is plain, during the whole 
 parliamentary war, were occupied only with their 
 own interests, and were little attentive to those 
 of his majesty. Ormond frequently tried nego- 
 tiation with the parliamentarians, and afterwards 
 with Cromwell, but he never was entirely sa- 
 tisfied that he could trust them. Their coarse- 
 ness and vulgarity disgusted him, and they were 
 offended at the fastidiousness and aristocratic 
 demeanour of the proud nobleman. Inshiquin 
 and Broghil had less reserve in betraying their 
 trust. Clanrickard was, perhaps, the only man 
 of the party true to his sovereign ; his loyalty was 
 a kind of antique idol, to which he was ready to 
 make any sacrifice. 
 
 The puritan or commonwealth party had 
 nothing remarkable in its composition. It had 
 been gradually gaining ground in parliament, and 
 amongst the protestants in Ireland, in propor- 
 tion as it obtained power in Great Britain, but it 
 continued a very small party till the arrival of 
 the Cromwellian army \ before that period, and 
 afterwards, it derived its chief strength, not from 
 its own resources, but from the treachery of the 
 king's party, as this party again owed all its 
 power and importance, not to its own means, 
 but to the jealousies and dissensions of the 
 confederates. 
 
/ 
 
 186 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Lord Ormond avowed, that if Ireland was to 
 be surrendered, his resolution was taken, to sur- 
 render it rather to the Enghsh rebels, than to 
 those who in Ireland professed to be in arms for 
 the king. Rather than give the victory to the 
 confederates, he had made up his mind to ruin 
 the king's cause. In the same manner, amongst 
 the confederates themselves, the Anglo-Irish 
 party lost their cause rather than give a triumph 
 to their associates in arms of the old Irish race. 
 The jealousy of these two parties paralyzed all 
 their operations, placed the country at the feet 
 of Cromwell, and ultimately cost the Anglo- 
 Irish proprietors their estates. 
 
 A scheme had been contrived for seizing the 
 castle of Dublin, and getting possession of that 
 city, which seems to have been easy of execu- 
 tion, and failed only through the defection of 
 one of the conspirators. This conspiracy afforded 
 the lords justices the pretext they desired for 
 practising all sorts of enormities ; military par- 
 ties were sent from Dublin to make excursions 
 into the neighbouring country, with instructions 
 to plun4er, burn, and destroy indiscriminately, 
 and to put all persons to the sword, without re- 
 gard to age, sex, rank, or condition. At the 
 castle the rack was in full employment ; all who 
 had the taint of Irishry or popery were obliged to 
 fly the city ; and the terror of the torture haunted 
 the imaginations of all men. Such was the rage 
 
/ 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 187 
 
 for applying this horrid torment, that ordinary 
 messengers, arriving at the castle with letters 
 and despatches, were seized and put upon the 
 wheel. All those particulars are so extraordinary, 
 that if they were not authenticated beyond all 
 question they would hardly be credible. 
 
 On the approach of revolutions, the wicked- 
 ness that lounges in our drawing-rooms, or 
 creeps in our streets, often throws away its 
 mask of smiles or humility, and glories to 
 confess the depravity that secures its pre- 
 eminence. 
 
 The ruling powers in Ireland, at this time, 
 were not only wicked, but had need of the 
 reputation of wickedness, for the accomplish- 
 ment of their purposes. 
 
188 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 WAR OF THE CONFEDERATES* 
 
 The breaking out of this war fell heavily upon 
 two of the most distinguished men of Ireland, 
 or of any age or country ; James Usher, arch- 
 bishop of Armagh, and Robert Boyle, distin- 
 guished by the name (and well entitled to it) of 
 the philosopher. 
 
 Usher was born in Dublin, in 1581, and gra- 
 duated in Trinity College, of which he was one 
 of the first students ; he was made bishop of 
 Meath, and afterwards archbishop of Armagh, 
 by James the First, who was scholar enough 
 to be able to appreciate his extraordinary talents. 
 
 The war drove him from his see, and his 
 country, and reduced him from affluence to com- 
 parative indigence. He lived to the advanced 
 age of seventy-five, an uncomfortable and un- 
 settled life in England, in the midst of the dis- 
 orders of the time, to which the eminence of his 
 character and talents particularly exposed him. 
 
 Usher devoted his great talents to the service 
 of his country, and especially to what he consi- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 189 
 
 dered the greatest work that could be accom- 
 plished in Ireland, the conversion of his Roman 
 Catholic countrymen from the communion of 
 the church of Rome. To this great object his 
 preaching was particularly directed, and it oc- 
 cupied in a great degree the literary labours of 
 his life. With this view, he employed himself 
 in researches into the condition of the primitive 
 church of Ireland, and of the other Christian 
 churches throughout the world which existed 
 previous to the establishment of the authority of 
 the church of Rome in the West, the constitution 
 of the Asiatic churches, and the history of the 
 Jews and other ancient nations connected with 
 the divine economy of the old and new law. 
 
 Usher's labours produced little effect in his 
 life time ; men's minds were too much exasper- 
 ated by mutual injuries, and temporal interests 
 mingled too largely in the debate, to permit any 
 one to listen, without a bias, to the voice of rea- 
 son. And it is to be regretted, that in calmer 
 times, neither his country, of which he was justly 
 the boast, nor the college, of which he was the 
 brightest ornament, have yet produced a scholar 
 of taste or power enough to clothe himself with 
 the fame of this great author, and to give his 
 country a complete edition of his works. 
 
 Usher enjoyed the friendship and esteem of 
 the wise and learned throughout Europe, The 
 French government offered him an asylum and 
 
190 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 a pension ; the unhappy Charles distinguished 
 him with his particular regard ; and Cromwell 
 contended for the honour of directing and su- 
 perintending his funeral. 
 
 Though holding the highest rank in the esta- 
 blished church of Ireland, Usher's religion seems 
 to have been simple Christianity, and capable of 
 being accommodated to any unobjectionable 
 mode or ceremonial of worship. He consi- 
 dered, however, the church of Rome as being 
 in error, not in ceremonial merely, but in fun- 
 damental doctrine, and was, from the purest 
 motives, the determined enemy of that com- 
 munion. 
 
 Usher was, in private life, as simple, as good, 
 and as amiable a man as he was distinguished in 
 public. His virtues were equal to his renown. 
 He was an impressive and eloquent preacher ; 
 but his habits of severe study unfitted him for 
 many of the duties of his office of archbishop. 
 Even in this high office he was nothing more 
 than the humble Christian pastor, and the retired 
 student of sacred literature and philosophy. 
 
 Boyle was born at Lismore, in the county of 
 Cork. He was, like Usher, a Christian philo- 
 sopher. His life was devoted to the study of 
 the works of the Creator, and an admiration of 
 his wisdom and power. His researches in the 
 physical creation were as various, profound, and 
 successful as were the labours of his great coun- 
 
1 
 
 i 
 I 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. IQl 
 
 tryman and contemporary in exploring the anti- 
 quities of Christianity and the oracles of God. 
 
 Boyle is distinguished throughout the world 
 for his eminent services in the cause of science, 
 for modesty, piety, and private worth rarely 
 equalled amongst mankind. 
 
 When the war broke out he was a young man, 
 and was travelling on the Continent ; and his 
 father, then the greatest and wealthiest individual 
 in Ireland, was so overwhelmed by the burst of 
 the insurrection, as to be unable to supply his son 
 with the means of returning home, or of living 
 abroad. For some years his sole resource was 
 in the kindness of his friends on the Continent. 
 The conclusion of the war restored him to afflu- 
 ence, which he always employed in the service 
 of his country and of humanity. Like Usher, he 
 employed his wealth and talents in the great 
 work of promoting the reformation in Ireland, 
 having, at his private expense, printed and dis- 
 tributed large editions of the Bible in the Irish 
 language. But his zeal in the cause of his 
 country was not confined to the distribution of 
 Bibles, — his wealth, his talents, and the influ- 
 ence of his reputation, were actively employed 
 in promoting every scheme for tlie happiness 
 and improvement of the people of Ireland. 
 
 The father of Robert Boyle was a remarkable 
 man, but more distinguished for having been the 
 father of such a son, than for all his wealth and 
 honours. He had come to Ireland as an adven- 
 
192 HISTORY OF IRELAND* 
 
 turer in Elizabeth's reign. The younger son of 
 a respectable English family ; his outfit for Ire- 
 land, then the land of fortune and enterprise, con- 
 sisted of a sum of money not amounting to thirty 
 pounds, and some letters of recommendation. 
 
 His first appearance in a public capacity was 
 as secretary to Carew, lord president of Mun- 
 ster, at the siege of Kinsale, when Ireland was 
 so nearly wrested from the crown of Great Bri- 
 tain. Upon the extraordinary termination of 
 that siege, Richard Boyle was despatched by the 
 lord deputy to the queen with the glad tidings 
 of her great and unexpected victory. Deter- 
 mined to be the first to communicate the im- 
 portant news, he is reported to have crossed the 
 sea from Kinsale tp Bristol, in an open boat, in 
 the depth of winter, and in a gale of wind, and 
 travelling rapidly from the latter town, reached 
 London in a space of time, then almost miracu- 
 lous, and seldom even since equalled. The 
 queen received her messenger as those are 
 always received who bring glad tidings. But 
 the amazing rapidity of the communication, and 
 the boldness of Boyle's exploit in crossing the 
 sea, interested the queen in his own history 
 and affairs, and he was too able a man not to 
 know how to improve the interest he had created. 
 The message to the queen laid the foundation of 
 his fortune. 
 
 His rapid and successful voyage in a stormy 
 sea, and in an open boat from Kinsale to Bristol, 
 
/ 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 193 
 
 is not SO wonderful a circumstance as it appears. 
 Those who know the Kinsale hookers, are aware 
 that they can live in almost any sea, and can go 
 before the wind with little risk, though blowing 
 the heaviest gale. Boyle knew that his under- 
 taking required only courage, and a firm mind, 
 and that the peril was really not great. 
 
 Boyle was not distinguished for brilliancy of 
 character, but he was remarkable for prudence 
 and sagacity. He soon surpassed all those who 
 had set out with him, and most who had gone 
 before him, in the extent of property and the 
 height of power which he obtained in Ireland. 
 Carew, Raleigh, Mountjoy, Grey, these and 
 many others, whose acquisitions in Ireland 
 were sprinkled with blood and tears, hardly left an 
 acre to their posterity. Boyle's acquisitions were 
 much more extensive, but they were unstained 
 with guilt, and they have remained permanent 
 and enduring in the family of the first acquirer 
 even to our own times. Much of the Boyle 
 property was obtained by grant from the crown, 
 and a great part also by purchase. 
 
 Boyle was remarkable above all the other 
 landholders in Ireland, for the skill and care he 
 bestowed in the improvement of his estates. He 
 made roads, built bridges, planted towns, esta- 
 blished manufactories, and spared no expense or 
 labour in promoting the happiness of the people, 
 
 VOL. I. o 
 
194 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 and the improvement of the vast extent of coun- 
 try which had come into his hands. 
 
 His wealth, influence, and power soon be- 
 came immense, and he lost no opportunity of 
 increasing them. He added office to office, and 
 place to place, and those honours and emolu- 
 ments which he could not accumulate upon him- 
 self he distributed even to his infant children. 
 There was little delicacy or reserve in those 
 days respecting such matters ; and we are not 
 quite sure that the modesty we observe in our 
 own times is not more to be attributed to the 
 restraint of public opinion than to individual 
 moderation. 
 
 When Strafford was sent to Ireland in the 
 reign of Charles the First, it happened, as was 
 natural, that the genius of that ambitious and 
 able man instantly discerned a rival and an 
 enemy in Boyle, then in the fulness of his power. 
 They encountered with the instinct and the 
 fierceness of spirits of equal power and engaged 
 in similar pursuits. Strafford was, like Boyle, 
 not merely a rapacious acquirer of property, he 
 was also an improver ; then an exceedingly 
 rare character. The views of both went beyond 
 mere personal ambition, and extended to the 
 general good of the country. Boyle was a man 
 of less brilliancy, but much more judgment, than 
 Strafford. The good sense of the one preserved 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 195 
 
 him from those excesses which the genius of the 
 other did not guard him from. 
 
 Boyle added to the other feUcities of his life 
 a signal triumph over his rival. He lived to see 
 him perish on the scaffold ; and if he had not 
 contributed to shed his blood, his character 
 would have been almost perfect. Unhappily he 
 lent his aid to overwhelm his great antagonist in 
 his last struggle for life, by volunteering evi- 
 dence against him on his trial. This is the only 
 great blot upon the fame and character of Ri- 
 chard Earl of Cork. 
 
 The great Earl of Cork, as he is justly called, 
 lived a long life of uninterrupted prosperity, in 
 the midst of affluence almost unbounded, — sur- 
 rounded with the state and splendour of a 
 prince, and the family of a patriarch consisting 
 of eighteen or twenty children mostly sons. 
 But this brilliant and happy career closed in 
 clouds and darkness. The inevitable destiny of 
 mortality, which will not bear uninterrupted 
 prosperity, descended upon his latter days. He 
 died, at nearly eighty years of age, in the heat of 
 the war of 1641, deprived of all his estates by 
 the successes of the confederates, unable to send 
 a small sum of money to his favourite son, then 
 on the continent, and at a moment when every 
 event seemed to tell him, that the labours of his 
 life were made void, and his property and power 
 
 o ^ 
 
196 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 were passed away for ever, from him and from 
 his posterity. 
 
 Among the officers who had planned upon the 
 continent the great war of 1641, in concert 
 with Cardinal Richlieu and the court of Spain, 
 Owen O'Neil was the most considerable. He 
 was a near kinsman of the young Earl of Ty- 
 rone, lately deceased, and was now head of that 
 ancient and noble family, so long illustrious for 
 the splendid inheritance of talent. Owen proved 
 the purity of his descent by the vigour of his 
 genius. He had served upon the continent in 
 the Spanish and Imperial armies with great re- 
 putation ; and had been-governor of Arras when 
 the French besieged that fortress in 1640, and, 
 though the town was surrendered, his defence 
 extorted the admiration of the enemy. 
 
 As a commander, he was circumspect, pru- 
 dent, resolute, and intrepid ; never suffering his 
 enemy to make a mistake unpunished, and never 
 committing himself unawares. He was said to 
 excel in defensive war, and to be, of all military 
 commanders of that age, the most accomplished 
 general of the Fabian school. He was, there- 
 fore, particularly fitted for the task he had to 
 perform in Ireland, where he had not only to 
 wage a war, but to create an army ; and where 
 the nature of the climate and the character of 
 the country, abounding in lakes, rivers, and 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 197 
 
 mountains, made a defensive war, if steadily 
 pursued, sure to be successful. 
 
 O'Neil, upon his landing, was elected ** tanist" 
 and general-in-chief by the northern Irish. Their 
 joy was unbounded in thus restoring the dignity 
 of <« The O'Neil,'* in the person of a soldier 
 worthy to bear it. The first public act of the 
 general was, to express his strongest abhorrence 
 and detestation of the cruelties which had been 
 perpetrated on the British settlers by Sir Phelim 
 and the mob who followed his standard. He 
 declared, that if such acts were persevered in, 
 he would join the enemy, or quit the country. 
 
 The presence of such a man in Ireland at 
 this crisis was no small event ; uniting, as he 
 did, great military talent and experience with 
 all the influence and power which the name 
 of ** O'Neil" commanded. His first operation 
 was to form an army of the undisciplined crowd 
 which had followed Sir Phelim O'Neil into the 
 field. He exercised his soldiers only in petty 
 affairs, and where the success was almost certain, 
 with a view to create that confidence in them- 
 selves and their leaders, the want of which had 
 been the chief cause of the failures of the Irish 
 troops in their own country. 
 
 The courage of an army is different from the 
 courage of the individuals who compose it. An 
 army of brave men may, as a military body, 
 
 o 3 
 
198 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 want the requisite courage. Courage must be 
 sustained by confidence, and he who has perfect 
 confidence in his individual power may have 
 none at all in the perfectness or capability of 
 the body of which he is a member. The vulgar 
 do not discern that defeat is more generally the 
 result of a want of skill or confidence than of 
 cowardice ; and they ignorantly attribute the lat- 
 ter defect sometimes to the bravest of mankind. 
 It used to be remarked, that the Irish, who 
 were some of the best troops in Europe on 
 foreign service, were frequently very inferior in 
 their own country ; and most writers have con- 
 tented themselves with noticing the fact, without 
 attempting to account for it, though the cause 
 lay upon the very surface of the case. Their 
 own country had been to the Irish the theatre 
 of an unbroken series of calamities. The de- 
 fects of their political institutions, and the want 
 of any national government for ages, had made 
 skill and courage in the field of little avail. 
 This was felt, and the feeling was like the hand 
 of death upon the heart of an Irish army : they 
 could not shake it off; and yet, with all this, 
 no country ever made a longer and more ob- 
 stinate struggle, but it was a struggle in the 
 midst of despair. 
 
 While O'Neil was occupied in disciplining 
 his army, he was every day receiving small sup- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 199 
 
 plies of arms, ammunition, and stores of various 
 kinds from France. These were generally ac- 
 companied by valuable accessions of skill and 
 military talent, in the persons of considerable 
 numbers of Irish and foreign veteran officers 
 lately discharged from the French service by 
 Cardinal Richlieu. Those important acquisitions 
 did not, however, tempt the cautious O'Neil 
 into active operations : he continued to exercise 
 his troops in marches, encampments, and con- 
 structing field fortifications, and especially in 
 the great art of military obedience, in which, 
 from the almost voluntary nature of the service, 
 the Irish troops were very deficient. 
 
 While O'Neil was thus employed in the mili- 
 tary department, the clergy and Anglo-Irish 
 lords were active in organizing a system of civil 
 government. In this indispensable work the 
 clergy took the lead ; and the order of ecclesi- 
 astical jurisdiction, which subsisted in the church, 
 furnished a model for the construction of the new 
 fabric of civil polity. 
 
 It was easy to convene the clergy under 
 their various authorities which had stood un- 
 broken and unimpaired amidst the shocks of 
 war and the dissolution of the civil power, — a 
 power exposed to perpetual alteration and decay, 
 while the forms and ordinances of ecclesiastical 
 establishments seem to partake of the imperish- 
 able nature of the subject with which they are 
 
 o 4 
 
^00 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 conversant. How many thrones, empires, and 
 constitutions have perished since the Bishop of 
 Rome fixed his chair upon the ruins of the 
 Capitol ? And still, in the slow and impercep- 
 tible decline of that power, how admirably re- 
 gulated and combined is its discipline and au- 
 thority ! — scarcely yielding before the measured 
 progress of liberty and philosophy, which have 
 at length learned, that it is their true interest 
 not to extinguish the source of light, but to cor- 
 rect its impurities. 
 
 The first step was made by the Catholic 
 archbishop of Armagh summoning his clergy 
 to a synod. This synod declared the war law- 
 ful and pious ; and published various ordinances 
 denouncing all violent and unlawful proceedings, 
 and strictly prohibiting the killing, plundering, 
 or otherwise abusing the enemy. 
 
 A general synod of the Catholic clergy of 
 Ireland was next held at Kilkennv, in the month 
 of May I6i2. " The acts of this assembly," 
 says Leland, " were numerous and solemn. 
 They began with declaring, that the war main- 
 tained by the Catholics against sectaries and 
 puritans, for the defence of the Catholic religion ; 
 the prerogative of the king ; the honour and safety 
 of the queen and royal issue ; the conservation 
 of the rights and liberties of Ireland, and of 
 their own lives and fortunes, to be just and law- 
 ful. They disclaim all belief or acceptance 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. SOI 
 
 of any letters or proclamations, published in the 
 king's name, until their own agents should be 
 assured of his real will and intentions. They 
 direct, that all the confederates should be united 
 by an oath of association, and denounce sentence 
 of excommunication on all who should refuse to 
 take it, — against all neuters ; against all who 
 assisted the enemy ; against all who should in- 
 vade the possessions of any Catholic, or any 
 Irish Protestant not an adversary to their cause. 
 They forbid all distinctions and comparisons 
 between the old Irish and the new Irish ; they 
 direct, that exact registers should be kept in 
 every province of the cruelties and murders 
 committed by the puritans ; and denounce 
 ecclesiastical censures on those of their own 
 people who should commit the like excesses. 
 
 " They ordain, that provincial councils, com- 
 posed of clergy and laity, and a general national 
 council be formed, to which the others should 
 be subordinate j that embassies should be sent 
 from this assembly to foreign potentates ; and 
 that the emperor, the King of France, and the 
 pope should be particularly solicited to grant 
 assistance to their cause." 
 
 These were the principal acts of the clergy. 
 The nobihty and gentry then resident at Kil- 
 kenny united with them in framing tlie oath of 
 association, in naming the members of the " su- 
 preme council," of which Lord Mountgarret 
 
202 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was chosen president, and in appointing a general 
 assembly of the whole nation to meet in that city 
 in the ensuing month of October. 
 
 The convention of Kilkenny was soon organ- 
 ized in pursuance of those resolutions ; and it 
 will not suffer by comparison with any conven- 
 tion, English or French, which political events 
 have at any time produced. Their proceedings 
 were temperate, orderly, and firm. Their plan 
 of general and provincial government was 
 arranged upon a principle which established a 
 due administration of the laws, and a wise dis- 
 tribution and subordination of authority. A 
 council of twelve was appointed for eacli county, 
 with judicial and executive powers, and were 
 authorised to decide upon all questions of a 
 public or private nature within the county. 
 From these councils there lay an appeal to 
 the provincial councils, which consisted of two 
 deputies from each county ; and from the 
 provincial councils there was an appeal to the 
 
 SUPREME COUNCIL of IRELAND, which WaS COm- 
 
 posed of twenty-four persons chosen by the con- 
 vention. 
 
 A majority of two-thirds was necessary to 
 decide upon any measure in the supreme coun- 
 cil, which was invested with the executive powers 
 of the government, and was furnished with a 
 guard of honour of five hundred foot and two 
 hundred horse. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. ^03 
 
 The convention declared their adherence to 
 the common law of England, and the statute law 
 of Ireland, where not repugnant to the rights of 
 the Catholic church, or the liberties of Ire- 
 land ; and they commanded all persons to bear 
 faith and allegiance to the king ; renouncing at 
 the same time and denying the authority of the 
 government administered in Dublin in his name 
 " by a malignant party, to his Highnesses great 
 disservice, and in compliance with their con- 
 federates, the malignants of England/' 
 
 The proceedings of the convention of Kil- 
 kenny were creditable to that assembly. It is 
 to their honour that they steadily resisted the 
 encroachments of the clergy of their own body, 
 while they were actively engaged in fixing and 
 securing the foundations of civil liberty against 
 the attempts of the crown, which had lately 
 been so formidable in Ireland under Chichester 
 and Strafford, while, at the same time, they were 
 contending with all their might against the par- 
 liamentary government in Dublin. 
 
 There are several Acts of this convention 
 extant, which show that they were sincerely 
 actuated by a sense of duty to their country, 
 and desirous to promote its real interests. The 
 character of their proceedings resemble very 
 much that of James's parliament at a later 
 period. 
 
 The supreme council proceeded to appoint 
 
^04 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 their general officers for conducting the war; 
 and to fill up their civil appointments. O'Neil 
 was commissioned to command in Ulster, Pres- 
 ton in Leinster. General Barry commanded in 
 Munster, and Burke in Connaught. While the 
 convention were thus preparing for war, and 
 arranging the administration of their civil affairs, 
 they earnestly solicited " for leave to lay their 
 grievances at the foot of the throne, and for an 
 adjustment of the affairs of the kingdom." 
 
 The king himself, now pressed to extremity 
 by the British parliament, was exceedingly de- 
 sirous to come to an accommodation with the 
 confederates, which might enable him to derive 
 some aid of men and money from Ireland ; but 
 his majesty's confidential servants in that coun- 
 try were decidedly opposed to those views of 
 their master. As a middle course, it was pro- 
 posed that a cessation of hostilities should take 
 place, in order to a final accommodation ; but 
 Lord Ormond, and the other friends of the king 
 in Ireland, were as little inclined to promote a 
 ** cessation" as to facilitate a complete adjust- 
 ment. Such an arrangement, though it would, 
 in all probability, have effectually relieved the 
 king, and retrieved his -afiairs, yet would have 
 given a triumph to the popish party, to which 
 Ormond was opposed with the exasperation of 
 hatred, not a little increased by the circumstance 
 that that party included amongst the foremost 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. S05 
 
 and most active of its members Ormond's own 
 brothers and nearest relatives and kindred. 
 
 Ormond was too acute a man not already to 
 discern the seeds of destruction in the confe- 
 derate party ; a destruction fi-om which nothing 
 could save them but the early accommodation 
 which was now proposed, which the confeder- 
 ates and the king were equally desirous of, and 
 which was the only measure that could snatch 
 them both from a common /uin. Both finally 
 perished j the king upon the scaffold, and the 
 confederates in the field, or in miserable exile ; 
 and this wide waste of life and property was 
 principally due to the unmanly jealousies of this 
 able and artful man ; and to his insatiable ava- 
 rice, w^hich anticipated the vast harvest of confis- 
 cation which the destruction of three-fourths of 
 the noble families of Ireland must afford, and 
 which he relied upon his own ability to reap. 
 It was not a mistaken reliance. 
 
 Ormond concurred cordially with the parlia-- 
 mentarian party in defeating the king's views ; 
 while those views could only be accomplished 
 by giving a triumph or an advantage to the con- 
 federates ; but he laboured with great skill and 
 some success to procure assistance for the king 
 without conferring any benefit upon that body. 
 He succeeded in obtaining occasional supplies of 
 men and money from the confederates, which were 
 of the utmost importance to the king's service, 
 
206 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 while he played with so much skill upon their 
 generosity and compassion for his majesty's 
 situation, that he contrived to cheat them of 
 those benefits to which they were fairly entitled, 
 and which the king was anxious to confer. 
 
 The king, when he could be persuaded to 
 cheat his Irish subjects, found a ready and able 
 agent in Ormond ; but whenever his majesty 
 chose to be sincere, the earl became suddenly 
 impracticable, and disobeyed his instructions. 
 Ultimately the king found it necessary to em- 
 ploy another agent with the confederates. 
 
 Previous to the arrival of the new negotiator, 
 a cessation had been concluded with the con- 
 federates, which was signed by Ormond and his 
 officers on the part of the king, and by the lords- 
 justices at Dublin, (now Sir Henry Tichburn, 
 and Borlase, Parsons having been removed.) 
 Ormond consented to this cessation with re- 
 luctance, and not until his affairs in the field 
 (for they could not be called the king's) were 
 utterly desperate, and that he had totally failed 
 in every effort to retrieve them. The confe- 
 derates were masters of the whole kingdom, 
 except Dublin and a few small posts. 
 
 No one could then tell, nor can it now be dis- 
 covered, what this war with the confederates was 
 waged for; the Charter of Graces for which 
 they contended was in every particular extremely 
 moderate and just, and what in the profoundest 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 207 
 
 peace and the greatest power of the crown ought 
 not for a moment to have been denied. That 
 this charter was not immediately granted seems 
 owing entirely to the councils of Ormond and 
 the opposition of the parliamentarians, who 
 dreaded an accommodation between the king 
 and his Irish subjects, and the assistance which 
 the latter were anxious and were able to afford 
 him. 
 
 On the cessation being concluded, the confe- 
 derates voted supplies of money to his majesty, 
 and sent three or four thousand of their best 
 troops into England to reinforce the royal 
 army. 
 
 Ormond had concluded the " cessation" of 
 164S, not merely with an intention of assisting 
 his royal master, but for the purpose of stopping 
 the current of success, which was flowing rapidly 
 on the side of the confederates, and which, if not 
 interrupted, was likely to render their cause para- 
 mount in Ireland. His own operations in the 
 field had been unfortunate, though he had ob- 
 tained some partial successes over Preston, 
 general of the Leinster Irish forces. Inshi- 
 quin had been defeated in Munster by Lord 
 Castlehaven; Clanrickard made not even a 
 show of maintaining himself against the troops 
 of the confederation in Connaught ; in Ulster 
 0*Neil had repeatedly foiled and defeated 
 Monk, Monroe, Leven, and all the parliament- 
 
QOS HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 arian officers. The cessation, therefore, was a 
 matter of necessity, to stop the prosperous career 
 of the confederates ; and it is a remarkable proof 
 of Ormond's talents, that while this truce was a 
 measure of the most urgent necessity for himself^ 
 he made it appear to be a matter of favour and 
 concession to the Irish, and procured from them 
 important supplies of men and money, while in 
 return he gave nothing but vague promises and 
 loose assurances of the king's dispositions and 
 intentions. 
 
 There were two parties who clamoured loudly 
 against the cessation — the parliamentarians, who 
 feared the advantage it might be of to the king ; 
 and that portion of the confederates which con- 
 sisted of the old Irish and the clergy. The 
 parliament sent immediate orders to their officers 
 in Ireland not to observe the truce, so that as to 
 them the war was continued. 
 
 The old Irish and the church party saw tliat 
 nothing had been gained, and that much had 
 been lost by the cessation ; they were vehement 
 in their condemnation of it ; some of their best 
 troops had been sent into England, and were lost 
 to tlieir cause j great sums of money had been 
 voted to his majesty, while they were in want of 
 means to pay their own soldiers, and supply their 
 own expenses : but, above all, their cause, which 
 had been advancing so rapidly to a height of 
 prosperity, was arrested in its course, and was 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. S09 
 
 now in danger of retrograding. The parliamen- 
 tarians would recruit their forces, the Ormond 
 party would recover its ground, and dissension 
 was introduced into the councils of the con- 
 federates by a measure which had not the ap- 
 probation of the whole body. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
210 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 The cessation was a fatal blow to the cause of 
 the confederates ; it never recovered it. The 
 secret of this measure was to be found in the in- 
 fluence which Ormond possessed over several of 
 the most considerable men of the league, amongst 
 whom were his own brothers and many of his 
 near relatives ; but chiefly, in the jealousies 
 which existed, and the different views which 
 were entertained by the two great parties which 
 composed the confederation. The leading ob- 
 ject of the old Irish interest, at the head of which 
 was the northern general, O'Neil, was to push 
 the war vigorously, with a view of compelling the 
 crown, or whatever other party might become 
 predominant in Britain, to a final and equitable 
 adjustment of those claims to property and 
 questions of civil rights which remained unsettled, 
 and were a source of infinite grievance and vex- 
 ation in Ireland. Those who looked to a se- 
 paration of the two islands, were not numerous ; 
 and O'Neil himself was not among them. 
 . If such had been their object, there is no 
 doubt that the confederates could, at this period, 
 easily have accomplished it. The force at their 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 211 
 
 disposal was more than sufficient; their funds 
 were ample. They had in their service officers 
 of greater talent than any that were opposed to 
 them. The united forces of the parliamentarians, 
 and of Ormond's party, hardly deserved to be 
 called an army. But the Anglo-Irish were jea- 
 lous of the predominance of the Northerns, and 
 were not willing to push their own cause to 
 a point of success, which would have placed the 
 fate of Ireland, and their own, in the hands of 
 the old Irish interest. They were fully sensible 
 of the ground they lost by the cessation, and 
 submitted to it with a view to check the velocity 
 of their own progress, which was running immi- 
 nent risk of a success, dangerous to the limited 
 views and middle course they had marked out 
 for themselves. It is obvious, too, that O'Neil 
 and the clergy, who took his side, suspected this 
 design. 
 
 O'Neil had not been consulted on the cessa- 
 tion ; he disapproved of tlie wliole proceeding, 
 and was offended at the manner of it. And the 
 total disregard of the truce, by the parlia- 
 mentarian officers in the north, afforded him 
 an opportunity of paying it no attention on his 
 part. Here, then, was that disunion of the 
 Irish party created, which Ormond had dis- 
 cerned in the distance ; v/hich he had relied 
 upon from the beginning, and which lie well 
 knew how to improve. 
 
 r '^2 
 
212 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 By the terms of the cessation, the confe- 
 derates were permitted to send commissioners 
 to the king, in order to treat for a definitive ar- 
 rangement and settlement of Ireland. Those 
 commissioners reached his majesty at Oxford, 
 in March, 1644. They were instructed to sti- 
 pulate for " freedom of religious worship and 
 opinion, and a repeal of all penal statutes on this 
 head ; a free parliament, with a suspension of 
 Poyning's law during its session ; the repeal of all 
 acts and ordinances of the Irish parliament since 
 August, 1G41, the date of the fatal prorogation, 
 to which tliey imputed all the disorders of the 
 kingdom ; the vacating all indictments, attain- 
 ders, and outlawries in prejudice of Irish Catho- 
 lics since that day; a release of debts, and a 
 general act of oblivion ; the vacating all offices 
 found for the king's title to lands since the 
 year 1634, and an act of limitation for the se- 
 curity of estates ; the establishment of inns of 
 court; and seminaries of education in Ireland, 
 for the benefit of Catholic subjects ; a free and 
 indifferent appointment of all natives of Ireland, 
 without exception, to places of trust and honour ; 
 that no persons, not estated and usually resident 
 in Ireland, should sit and vote in the parliament 
 of tliis realm ; that an act should pass, formally 
 declaring the independency of the Irish par- 
 liament on that of England; that the jurisdiction 
 of the Irish privy council should be limited to 
 
HISTORY OF IRELx\ND. 213 
 
 matters of state ; that no chief governor should 
 be continued above three years, and that during 
 his government lie should be disqualified to pur- 
 chase or acquire any lands in Ireland ; that a 
 parliamentary enquiry should be made into all 
 murders, breaches of quarter, and barbarities 
 committed on either side, and that offenders, in 
 these respects, should be excluded from the act 
 of oblivion, and brought to condign punish- 
 ment." 
 
 These were the propositions which the Irish 
 submitted to the king ; and upon granting which, 
 they promised to devote their lives and fortunes 
 to his majesty's service, and to contribute imme- 
 diately ten thousand men for suppressing the 
 rebelUon in England. 
 
 It will strike the reader of these propositions, 
 submitted by the Irish to King Charles, in 1644, 
 that they include the celebrated conditions ob- 
 tained by Mr. Grattan, in 1782, in the most 
 material points, as well as those relating to reli- 
 gious liberty, or disqualification on the ground of 
 religion, which the Irish have ever since con- 
 tended for. 
 
 They appear to have been drawn up with 
 much wisdom and prudence. The provision 
 which they make against the rapacity of chief 
 governors deserves particular notice, as tliis was 
 one of the chief sources of the calamities of 
 Ireland. Every successive chief governor en- 
 
 r o 
 
^14< HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 deavoLiring, witli all his might, to create an 
 insurrection for the purpose of making a fortune 
 by confiscation. 
 
 The king, with his usual indecision, neither 
 accepted nor rejected the propositions. He 
 referred them to Lord Ormond, with instruc- 
 tions to that nobleman to conclude a peace ; and 
 he satisfied himself with making a speech to 
 the commissioners, in which he expressed his 
 willingness to do justice to his Cathohc subjects 
 of Ireland, and leave them no reasonable ground 
 of complaint, even though his present circum- 
 stances might not permit him openly to assent 
 to such terms as they required; which, how- 
 ever, he intimated, might, in more favourable 
 times, be fully confirmed : and he expressed his 
 hope that they would rely upon his royal word, 
 and not delay the succours that were now in- 
 dispensable to his cause and to theirs ; for if the 
 royal cause were overborne in England, they 
 would soon feel the consequences, in an entire 
 overthrow of their power in Ireland. 
 
 It is an amusing instance of the prejudices of 
 even a few years past, that Carte and Leland 
 are quite scandalized at this speech of the king, 
 and consider it as containing the most alarming 
 concessions to popery. " Such," exclaims Le- 
 land, " w^ere the declarations of a king who 
 had repeatedly protested against tolerating 
 popery 1*' 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 215 
 
 Ormond had no intention of making peace 
 upon the terms proposed by the Irish ; but he 
 had no objection to amuse them with a nego- 
 tiation. He rejected, however, very candidly 
 and immediately, the article for the repeal of the 
 penal laws, and made difficulties upon almost all 
 the other articles. The obstacles thrown in the 
 way by Ormond were reported to the king, and 
 his majesty, from time to time, urged him to an 
 accommodation, which the lord-lieutenant (for 
 he was now lord-lieutenant) as repeatedly de- 
 clined, though, in terms, he professed obedience 
 to the king's commands. 
 
 There is no doubt that Ormond, at this pe- 
 riod, cultivated an occasional and indirect inter- 
 course with the rising party in England. He 
 knew the feebleness of Charles, and expected 
 his destruction, and he was resolved not to make 
 a treaty which could not fail to subject him to 
 the implacable hostility of the new and formi- 
 dable power with which he might hereafter have 
 to make conditions for himself. He avoided all 
 collision and hostility with the parliamentarian 
 officers, and positively refused to obey the king's 
 command to declare them rebels. 
 
 While Ormond disobeyed the king's instruc- 
 tions, and amused the confederates with a show 
 of negotiation, which he knew and intended 
 should come to nothing, the king's affiiirs were 
 
 p 4 
 
216 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 every day becoming more desperate. In this 
 extremity Charles found it necessary to hasten 
 his negotiation with the confederates, and Lord 
 Glamorgan was dispatched into Ireland with 
 instructions to conclude a peace ; but his ma- 
 jesty had lost time and opportunity. As the 
 king's affairs declined, the Catholics, wearied 
 with the trifling of Ormond, and disgusted with 
 the want of faith that had been observed towards 
 them, rose in their demands, and the more reso- 
 lute of their body, and especially the clergy, 
 took advantage of the delay to obtain a decided 
 superiority over the moderate party. 
 
 In the session of the convention which met 
 in May, 1645, the clergy assumed a tone of au- 
 thority which they had not before ventured to 
 use, and their power was still further increased 
 by the decisive battle of Naseby, which was 
 fought during this session, and which destroyed 
 almost the last hopes of Charles. Ormond now 
 at length proposed to grant the repeal of the 
 penal laws. This concession would have been, 
 a short time before, gratefully accepted ; but 
 the offer had now lost all grace, and almost all 
 value ; for of what importance were the con- 
 cessions of a king nearly deposed, and utterly 
 without power ? 
 
 The Earl of Glamorgan was a Roman Catholic, 
 and a favourite with the king. He found the 
 confederates now disposed to insist upon more 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 217 
 
 advantageous terms than they would lately have 
 been content with ; but his instructions were 
 to make peace at all events, and he was able to 
 prevail upon the Catholics to divide their ne- 
 gotiation into two separate treaties, one of which 
 was to be public, and one private. The public 
 treaty included the propositions submitted to 
 the king at Oxford ; the private treaty had 
 reference to religious matters. The terms of 
 the latter were stated by Glamorgan as too 
 favourable to the Catholics to be published 
 at the present moment without injury to the 
 king's interest with the puritans ; and the con- 
 federates had the weakness and good-nature to 
 yield to such an argument. The secret treaty 
 provided that a perfect equaHty should be en- 
 joyed by both religions, the Catholic and Pro- 
 testant ; the Catholics to pay tithes and church 
 dues to the Catholic clergy, and the Protestants 
 to the pastors of their own church ; and that 
 both parties should continue to hold possession 
 of such churches as might be in their custody 
 and occupation at the time of the signature of 
 the treaty. 
 
 While this negotiation was in progress, tlie 
 pope's nuncio, Renuncini, arrived from Rome, 
 as ambassador from his lioliness. Renuncini 
 raised a clamour against the treaty on two 
 grounds ; first, he did not think it made a suffi- 
 ciently glorious and ample provision for the 
 
218 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 dignity and splendour of the Catholic church ; 
 next, he objected to the religious treaty (in his 
 opmion the most important) being secret. This 
 was a reasonable objection ; for there could be 
 no doubt that the king's ministers would be 
 fully prepared to deny and disown the secret 
 treaty, w^henever it might suit their convenience 
 to do so. 
 
 Ormond was party to the public treaty -, of 
 the secret one he professed to have no know- 
 leds^e. An incident soon occurred which showed 
 the justice of the nuncio's objections against 
 the secret negotiations, and placed all the parties 
 to it in awkward positions. 
 
 A copy of the secret articles had accidentally 
 fallen into the hands of the parliamentarians : 
 they were printed and circulated, and the most 
 violent outcry was raised against those awful and 
 alarming concessions to popery, as they were 
 deemed. The king, in this difficulty, conde- 
 scended to a falsehood, and disowned the treaty. 
 The lord-lieutenant, and Lord Digby, the king's 
 minister then in Dublin, caused Glamorgan to 
 be arrested, and aifected to treat him as having 
 abused the royal authority, and presumed un- 
 warrantably to commit the king. Glamorgan 
 made a defence very disgraceful to himself, and 
 more dishonourable to his master than even his 
 denial of the treaty. It appeared, that though he 
 was furnished with full powers to grant the secret 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 219 
 
 articles, he was provided also with a defeasance^ 
 signed by his majesty, revoking and annulling 
 the act. The whole proceeding was a tissue of 
 the most diso-ustino; fraud and falsehood that 
 ever disgraced a throne, or shamed a private 
 station. 
 
 At this distance of time it is amazing to con- 
 sider the flame which the publication of this 
 treaty kindled. The religious articles were in 
 themselves exceedingly reasonable and fair; they 
 gave the tithes to those who did religious duty ; 
 they gave the Churches to the congregations ; 
 they did not compel Protestants to pay tithes to 
 Catholic priests, they merely permitted Catholics 
 to pay the tithe to that body of men who dis- 
 charged towards them the duties of pastors ; 
 and such is the astonishing power of prejudice, 
 that this equitable and fair arrangement was con- 
 sidered the most enormous grievance : at that 
 time nine tenths of the wealth as well as the 
 population of Ireland was Catholic ; there were 
 few Protestants in any class of society, and those 
 were only to be found in some of the towns 
 and cities. 
 
 The arguments, whatever may be their weight, 
 which have since been urged by the establishment 
 in support of its claim to ecclesiastical property 
 in Ireland, did not then apply. 
 
 Ormond now objected to the private treaty as 
 inadmissible and disowned by the king ; and 
 
2'iO HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 after much negotiation on both sides the confede- 
 rates at length consented to waive this portion of 
 the treaty, and to ratify the pubHc articles, which 
 contained the substance of the long-contested 
 graces. The peace was concluded in July 1646. 
 
 It came too late to be of any service to the 
 king, or of any value to the confederates. If 
 Ormond had sooner consented to the terms now 
 made, the king, perhaps, would have been saved : 
 if the confederates, instead of wasting years in 
 fruitless negotiations, had followed up their suc- 
 cesses in the field, they would long since have 
 been masters of the country, and might have 
 dictated their own terms to king or parliament : 
 but during the long period of the truce, their 
 army had been neglected, and the defence of the 
 kingdom but badly provided for. It was now 
 too late to send troops into England ; the royal 
 cause was at an end, and the Irish army was by 
 no means in a condition to meet the veteran 
 forces of the commonwealth, accustomed to 
 victory, and trained in a series of severe conflicts. 
 Yet it was now certain that the confederates would 
 speedily have to meet those formidable troops 
 upon their own shores : the republicans talked 
 loudly of sending a large army into Ireland. 
 
 While this threat hung over the confederates, 
 the most alarming dissension and disorganisation 
 prevailed in their body, and portended its total 
 destruction. The nuncio Renuncini furiously 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 2*21 
 
 denounced the peace as a surrender of the 
 CathoHc interest; and having made a party 
 amongst the clergy, he easily procured the mob 
 to follow him. But Renuncini had even a more 
 powerful ally than the mob. 
 
 He was supported by Owen O'Neil and the 
 northern army. Not, that O'Neil was a more 
 devoted servant of the church than the Ans:lo- 
 Irish lords ; he was in fact much less so ; but he 
 had been disgusted and offended at the proceed- 
 ings of the convention of Kilkenny. He saw that 
 their cause was hopeless, and if they should 
 succeed, they had sufficiently proved how little 
 it was their intention to promote the interest of 
 the '' mere Irish." They had been weak enough 
 to betray their jealousy of that class of their 
 countrymen, and to treat O'Neil himself with 
 neglect and distrust ; and in stipulating with the 
 king, upon the peace, for places and honours for 
 themselves, they had wholly forgotten the claims 
 of this descendant of a long line of princes. 
 
 At another time, perhaps, the rank and preten- 
 sions of O'Neil might have been forgotten with 
 impunity, though this family had not been used 
 to suffer themselves to be easily neglected ; but 
 on the present occasion it was rather a perilous 
 discourtesy towards the commander of twenty 
 thousand men. 
 
 The nuncio, wielding with great vigour the 
 arm of the church, and the more powerful arm 
 
22Q HfSTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of O'Neil, soon obtained an ascendancy in Ire- 
 land which ahnost annihilated the power of the 
 lords of the convention. He assumed the style 
 and authority of a dictator ; he summoned the 
 bishops to attend him, and procured the concur- 
 rence of a considerable number of them to liis 
 measures. He excommunicated all those who 
 observed the peace, and removed those who did 
 not adopt his views, from their places and em- 
 ployments ; appointed his own creatures to situ- 
 ations of trust and profit, and exercised, almost 
 V, ithout control, the functions of absolute power. 
 
 The triumph and astonishing elevation of the 
 nuncio, though the natural effect of an appeal to 
 the passions of the crowd in disturbed times, and 
 made more effectual at this period by the ac- 
 cidental concurrence of O'Neil in the views of 
 the Italian, were felt by every sensible and re- 
 flecting person in Ireland, as the sure forerunner 
 of that fate which had ever devoted the cause of 
 the Catholics to defeat and ruin. The dissen- 
 sions of tlie confederates were become incurable ; 
 for the violence of the nuncio had dissolved the 
 very elements of unity. 
 
 Even now, if the confederates could have 
 acted together, they might have been saved. 
 They possessed a numerous army, though, from 
 long inactivity ill trained, and shaken in its 
 organisation by the dissensions which prevailed 
 throughout the country. They were masters 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 223 
 
 of the whole kingdom, except some few posts 
 held by the parliamentarians, and from which 
 they could easily be dislodged. A vigorous effort, 
 and a sincere reconcilement between O'Neil and 
 the convention, would have re-established the 
 Irish army upon a footing more than equal to 
 contend with any force which the commonwealth 
 could send into Ireland. 
 
 But their dissensions could not be appeased. 
 Upon this the parliamentarians relied ; upon 
 this conviction Ormond acted, when, through- 
 out his negotiations with the Catholics, he ven- 
 tured to treat a whole nation in arms with super- 
 ciliousness and contempt. " Let them alone," 
 was his favourite observation ; *' my countrymen 
 will be sure to ruin themselves." This was 
 true ; but it was also certain, that he had power- 
 fully assisted them in the work of self-destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 O'Neil knew that Ormond, despairing of the 
 king's affairs, and despising the confederates, 
 had been looking towards the parliamentarians 
 with a view of making terms with that party, 
 likely soon to become the prevailing ©ne in 
 Ireland, as in the other island. The northern 
 general- agreed in opinion with the marquess : 
 like him he despised the confederates of Kil- 
 kenny, and was persuaded, from the vigour 
 and ability with which the affairs of the com- 
 monwealth were conducted, that the new power 
 
224 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 must prevail. He saw, that if he must make 
 terms with any party, for himself) or for 
 his country, the parliament was that party. 
 The treaty with the king was a nullity; the 
 parliament disowned it ; and Ormond himself 
 considered it only as an expedient to meet a 
 temporary emergency. 
 
 But to treat with effect with the new govern- 
 ment in England, it was necessary to force them 
 into respect for their opponent. To put him- 
 self, therefore, into a position for treating with 
 the republic on an equal footing, O'Neil recom- 
 menced active operations. 
 
 Tlie Scottish general Munroe commanded 
 the troops of the covenant in the north. Munroe 
 had been about four years in Ireland, during 
 which time his operations were not very bril- 
 liant. They were chiefly confined to the lifting 
 of cattle, without much regard to the creed 
 or party of the owners, across the narrow 
 strait that divides this part of Ireland from 
 Scotland. Occasionally, however, he employed 
 himself in other matters : he put sixty men, 
 and eighteen women rebels to death, at Newry, 
 After this exploit he invited himself to dine 
 with the Earl of Antrim, and being hospitably 
 received and entertained, he introduced his 
 guards into the house during dinner, and made 
 the earl and all his household prisoners for the 
 crime (the only one alleged) of popery. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 225 
 
 Though not unwilling to carry on a campaign 
 against the popery of the Earl of Antrim in his 
 own house, he was very reluctant to confront in 
 the field the theological errors of Owen O'Neil ; 
 and some small experiments which he made in 
 that way rather increased his disinclination to 
 any interference of the kind. 
 
 Munroe was followed by his countryman 
 Count Lieven, who landed in the north with 
 about eight thousand men, which made the 
 parliamentarian force in that quarter little short 
 of twenty thousand. With this force some con- 
 siderable operations were expected ; but the 
 count confined himself merely to writing a letter 
 to O'Neil, in which he expressed his surprise 
 and regret " that a commander of such high 
 reputation should come to Ireland and engage in 
 so bad a cause." O'Neil replied, " that he had 
 better reason for coming to the relief of his 
 country, than His Lordship could allege for 
 marching against his King.'^ Satisfied with this 
 correspondence, Lieven withdrew from Ireland, 
 leaving Munroe in command of the army, and 
 assuring him on parting, that O'Neil would very 
 soon give him a " sound drubbing." 
 
 This prophetic warning was realized at 
 Benburb, where Munroe having ventured to 
 engage with O'Neil was defeated with great 
 loss, the force on both sides in this affair was 
 not large, but Munroe had considerably the 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
2^6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 advantage. O'Neil counted about five thousand 
 live hundred men, Munro about seven thousand, 
 more than three thousand of the British fell on 
 the field of battle, and all the arms, baggage, 
 artillery, and treasure of the army fell into the 
 hands of the victors, whose loss did not exceed 
 a hundred men. 
 
 The nuncio was now busily engaged denounc- 
 ing the peace, and excommunicating all who 
 adhered to it. Proclamation of peace had been 
 made in Dublin, and some attempts were made at 
 a similar formality in Limerick, Waterford, and 
 Clonmel, and other towns within the Irish 
 quarters ; but they were evaded or opposed in all 
 those places at the instance and under the direc- 
 tion of the nuncio. At his instance a new oath 
 of association was adopted, in which it was 
 declared, " that no peace ought to be consented 
 to that was not approved by the congregation of 
 the Irish clergy.'^ 
 
 Ormond and O'Neil were both now convinced 
 that the time was arrived for decisive measures ; 
 the former had wasted much time in insincere 
 negotiation, the latter had carried his system of 
 caution to a degree of inaction, which had suf- 
 fered many important opportunities to pass un- 
 improved. Ormond resolved to conclude by 
 treating with the predominant party in England, 
 and made his approaches boldly to the parlia- 
 mentarians. O'Neil determined to bring the fatal 
 dissensions of the confederates to an end, by 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 2^7 
 
 seizing upon the supreme power, and concentrat- 
 ing all authority in his own person. 
 
 The party of the nuncio were perishing under 
 the etiect of their own violence. The influence 
 of the church is sometimes a support, but always 
 a bad foundation for political power. 
 
 Ormond's negotiation with the parliamenta- 
 rians was carried on in a different spirit from his 
 feigned treaties with the confederates, and was 
 speedily concluded. He stipulated for a sum of 
 thirteen thousand pounds to be paid to himself 
 immediately, on pretence of having laid out an 
 equal amount of his private property in the 
 service of the state ; and for a pension of three 
 thousand a year to be paid to Lady Ormond, 
 upon what pretence is not stated; and for liberty 
 to reside in England on submitting, and con- 
 forming to the authority of parliament. All these 
 stipulations, and the latter especially is conclu- 
 sive proof that Ormond had finally resolved to 
 abandon the cause of his unhappy master. 
 
 Having arranged the whole affair to his satis- 
 faction, the troops and the commissioners of par- 
 liament were admitted into Dublin ; and Or- 
 mond, who had still some little matters of 
 etiquette to arrange, was shocked to discover, 
 that the rude republicans were little disposed 
 to consult the dignity of the person they had 
 purchased. He hastened his preparations accor- 
 dingly, and embarked for England ; but he had no 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 sooner arrived in that country than a warrant 
 was issued for his arrest ; and he escaped only 
 by a precipitate flight to France. Thus were 
 the plans which he had laid for embarking his 
 fortunes on the rising tide of the commonwealth 
 overturned by that spirit of good fortune which 
 guided the footsteps of this nobleman through- 
 out his long career. 
 
 O'Neil addressed himself to the parliamenta- 
 rian commanders in the north, about the time 
 that Ormond had completed his negotiation. 
 The Irish general was also successful. He ob- 
 tained a supply of money and ammunition, and 
 was permitted, without opposition, to pass through 
 the parliamentary forces, and march southward, 
 in order to effect his great object of suppressing 
 the convention of Kilkenny, and uniting, if it 
 were possible, the whole Catholic body under 
 one authority, before they were called on to sus- 
 tain the shock of the threatened invasion from 
 England. 
 
 But O'NeiPs genius did not lie in a coup de 
 main. For such an enterprise, he was far too 
 prudent and circumspect. While he weighed 
 and calculated his plans, the convention became 
 alarmed. They hastily negotiated a truce with 
 Inshiquin, who, thinking himself not sufficiently 
 rewarded for his treason, had just deserted the 
 parliament, and declared for the King, and was 
 now advanced by forced marches to Kilkenny, at 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 2^9 
 
 the head of about six thousand veteran soldiers. 
 Inshiquin having effected a junction with Pres- 
 ton, commanding the Leinster forces of the 
 confederates ; O' Neil's enterprise was no longer 
 practicable, and all his skill was now required 
 to avoid being forced into an engagement, under 
 circumstances of great disadvantage, and against 
 greatly superior numbers. With consummate 
 skill he baffled the enemy, and effected his re- 
 treat, without other loss than some desertions, to 
 the Leinster army. 
 
 The failure of this attempt plunged the affairs 
 of the confederates in still deeper ruin. They 
 were not only now divided, but at war. The 
 council of Kilkenny published a manifesto 
 against O'Neil, declaring him a traitor. The 
 violence and folly of the nuncio, which had been 
 so destructive to the council of Kilkenny, had 
 been injurious even to the party he espoused. 
 O'Neil had not escaped from its withering in- 
 fluence : the blight of the nuncio's furious fanati- 
 cism was upon his cause. And though the 
 general used the priest merely as an instrument, 
 he learned what the whole experience of history 
 teaches, that there is no worse instrument in 
 politics than blind fanaticism, because none less 
 capable of control. 
 
 O'Neil having regained his northern quarters, 
 opened anew his negotiations with the officers 
 of the parhament. 
 
 Q 3 
 
230 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 THE CROMWELLIAN WAR. 
 
 Ormond was soon impatient of a life of repose 
 and obscurity in France, and was easily pre- 
 vailed upon to return to Ireland with the rank 
 of lord lieutenant. He was received at Kilkenny 
 by the Anglo- Irish party of the confederates 
 with extravagant demonstrations of joy. In 
 their confidence and exultation, they indulged 
 themselves without limit in their hostility against 
 O'Neil, and renewed their proclamation declar- 
 ing him a rebel and traitor. 
 
 But Ormond was now an altered man, and 
 trembled at that dissension which lately he 
 would have rejoiced at. He sought to appease 
 the virulence of the Kilkenny party against the 
 northern general, and made sincere and anxious 
 efforts to conciliate that commander. He found 
 O'Neil, who, like himself, was sensible of the 
 alarming condition of the country, ready and 
 willing to make reasonable terms. But the per- 
 verseness of the Kilkenny party was not to be 
 subdued. On the brink of the precipice which 
 yawned under their feet, they could attend to 
 nothing but their animosities; and they soon 
 fell headlong into the gulph. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 231 
 
 Orinond was at length sincere. The rough 
 reception which his treasons and intrigues had 
 met with from the repubhcans had cured him of 
 that treachery. When he ought not to have 
 been trusted, the confederates reposed unHmited 
 confidence in him ; but now that there was no 
 doubt of his good faith, they could not be in- 
 duced to place any reliance upon him. They 
 limited his authority by the appointment of 
 what were called Commissioners of Trust, 
 whose assent was made necessary to all his mea- 
 sures. Thus fettered, Ormond could do nothing. 
 He possessed but the shadow of power. But 
 the urgency of the case made him continue to 
 use every effort to bring about an accom- 
 modation with O'Neil. 
 
 The northern general had speedily repaired 
 the injury his army had sustained by desertion, 
 and it was now in a very effective condition. 
 The Leinster or confederate army had, however, 
 been almost destroyed by a series of defeats 
 sustained by the incapacity of Preston in his 
 encounters with the parliamentarians ; and this 
 calamity was aggravated by the disaster which 
 befel Ormond before Dublin ; where he met a 
 signal overthrow from Jones the parliamentarian 
 general. Alarmed by the preparations of Crom- 
 well for the Irish war, he had made a weak 
 effort to get possession of the city, but suffered 
 an inglorious defeat at Rath mines. Immediately 
 
 0. 4 
 
232 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 after this favourable omen, Cromwell landed with 
 about ten thousand men at Dublin. 
 
 Cromwell arrived in Ireland with the title of 
 lord lieutenant.. He spent a short time in Dub- 
 lin, making dispositions and arrangements in his 
 new government. When these affairs were des- 
 patched he put his army in march, and his first 
 movement was upon Drogheda. Ormond had 
 anticipated that the siege of this town would be 
 Cromwell's first enterprize ; and he had pro- 
 vided for its defence with great care. 
 
 The governor, Sir Arthur Aston, was a Catho- 
 lic, and a man of great judgment and undaunted 
 courage. The garrison consisted of about two 
 thousand five hundred men, picked troops. 
 But Cromwell had come provided with a train 
 of artillery which the walls of Drogheda were 
 unable to resist. He kept up an incessant fire 
 upon the town till a breach was made, and 
 then" ordered an assault, which was sustained 
 with the whole power of his army, and led by 
 the flower of his troops. Two such assaults 
 were driven back and defeated by the garrison. 
 The third was led by Cromwell himselfj and 
 succeeded only by weight of numbers and 
 prodigious efforts of valor on the part of the as- 
 sailants. The garrison continued the combat 
 in the streets, disputing every inch of ground, 
 till all were destroyed, except a remnant, who 
 submitted upon terms. But Cromwell was no 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. QS3 
 
 sooner master of the town, than, alarmed at the 
 opposition he had encountered, he ordered his 
 prisoners to be put to the sword. About thirty 
 only were saved ; and these were sent to the 
 Island of Barbadoes and sold as slaves ; so that 
 of the brave garrison of Drogheda hardly a man 
 escaped. 
 
 From Drogheda Cromwell marched southward ; 
 took Wexford on his way, and put the garrison 
 of that town also to the sword. It does not ap- 
 pear that those repeated crimes and inhumanities 
 had any effect in opening the kingdom, as is 
 commonly supposed, . to the protector. The 
 determined resistance he encountered at Clon- 
 mel, Kilkenny, and other places, proved to him 
 that he had not succeeded in creating terror, and 
 that he had shed this deluge of blood in vain. 
 
 The fate of the war depended upon his 
 making an impression quickly, and before he 
 came to measure swords with Owen O'Neil ; and 
 as yet he had made little. Cromwell relied 
 upon the dissensions which he knew to prevail 
 between O'Neil and the confederates of Kil- 
 kenny. He had also tried the effect of negoti- 
 ation with that general. He was an able and 
 straight forward negotiator; and like most con- 
 querors won as much by intrigue as the sword. 
 But he failed with O'Neil as he had done in his 
 plan of terrifying the Irish garrisons. If the 
 northern general had ever looked to more than 
 temporary convenience in his negotiations with 
 
234 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Cromwell's generals, the massacre at Drogheda 
 and Wexford decided him against any accommo- 
 dation. He sent for his officers, acquainted 
 them with what had occurred, and stated his re- 
 solution to pardon the confederates their ill 
 usage and hostility towards him, and his deter- 
 timation to march immediately to the south and 
 undertake the war against Cromwell in person. 
 
 O'Neil was himself bound by the terms of his 
 truce with the parliamentarian generals of the 
 north, and could not for several days undertake 
 the expedition ; but he sent his Lieutenant Ge- 
 neral O'Farrel immediately at the head of from 
 three to four thousand men, as an advanced 
 guard. His instructions to his lieutenant were 
 " to avoid an engagement without a certain pros- 
 pect of success," and to rely upon the " passes 
 and the season." "These," said O'Neil, ** will 
 defeat Cromwell without risk." 
 
 O'Neil had had various negotiations with 
 Cromwell and his officers in the north, and had 
 contrived to supply himself with money, arms, 
 and ammunition, by making them pay for a 
 cessation of arms. He had also occasionally 
 tried what terms he could make for himself or 
 for the country with this powerful party ; but 
 there is reason to believe that he found them 
 undeserving of any trust or reliance. Even 
 Cromwell himself was not powerful enough to 
 grant the terms he wished to a Roman Catholic, 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. ^35 
 
 or secure their observance. His great object 
 therefore was to amuse O'Neil by negotiation, 
 and in the mean time to push the war with vigor. 
 
 CromwelPs invasion would have been an ad- 
 vantage to the confederates, if O'Neil had Uved, 
 as it cured their dissensions for a while, and 
 would have thrown the whole conduct of the 
 war, and therefore the whole power of the coun- 
 try, into the hands of that commander. From the 
 opposition which the protector encountered, from 
 the inert and undirected resistance of the people, 
 and the imminent danger and losses that he met 
 with, we are warranted in thinking, that if the 
 war had been directed by O'Neil, he would have 
 been defeated or compelled to make terms. 
 
 O'Farrel reached Kilkenny with the advanced 
 guard of O'Neills army on the 28th of October ; 
 and the Ulster general himself was following at 
 the head of the main body. But on his march 
 he was seized with a defluxion of the knees, a 
 disease reported to have been produced by poi- 
 son. He ordered himself to be carried in a lit- 
 ter, that the march of the army should not be 
 retarded, or the soldiers discouraged by his ab- 
 sence. But the motion is said to have exasper- 
 ated the complaint, and he died at Clough- 
 Oughter Castle on the 6th of November 1649, 
 and was buried in the abbey at Cavan. 
 
 The death of the Ulster general, at the critical 
 moment it occurred, (which perhaps was the 
 
236 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 only ground for the imputation of poison) was 
 a remarkable event, and decisive of the fate of 
 the Cromwellian war. It accomplished for 
 Cromwell what his massacres could not effect, 
 and laid the kingdom at his feet. 
 
 O'Neil well deserves to be ranked amongst the 
 few Irishmen whom the calamities of their country 
 have permitted to be illustrious. He was un- 
 doubtedly one of the great men of Ireland. His re- 
 putation as a commander was of the highest order. 
 His moral character was without a stain. He can- 
 not be charged with an error of any magnitude 
 in his military operations, nor with a crime or a 
 cruelty in the exercise of power. He created 
 his own army, and maintained it for eight years 
 without supplies, stores, money, or any visible 
 means but what he drew from his own quarters 
 in Ulster. The confidence of his soldiers in 
 their general was unbounded. During the whole 
 period of his command they exhibited but one 
 instance of disobedience ; which arose out of the 
 disgust the army had conceived towards the 
 confederates of Kilkenny for their ill treatment 
 of their general. When ordered to march 
 to the relief of the supreme council after Pres- 
 ton's defeat at Dangan Hill, the whole army re- 
 fused to move. O'Neil tried persuasion ; but 
 did not succeed. The mutineers were drawn 
 up in order of battle : the general went to 
 his own regiment, and his brigade of artillery, 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 237 
 
 and asked, Would they follow him ? The soldiers 
 replied by a cheer ; he then advanced at the 
 head of these troops towards the mutineers, and 
 having made his dispositions for attack, and 
 pointed his cannon, the steadiness and determin- 
 ation of his conduct produced their effect, and 
 the army submitted. 
 
 But O'Neil's genius as a commander, though 
 admirably fitted to defend his country from a 
 foreign enemy, was hardly calculated for the 
 part he had to act in the internal broils of the 
 state. The only chance there was of safety for 
 the cause he was engaged in, was by putting 
 down the rival faction of the confederates of 
 Kilkenny, and for this he does not appear to 
 have possessed sufficient boldness and decision. 
 He had a horror of shedding blood, except in 
 the field of battle ; and a good faith which almost 
 shut him out from the grand and desperate 
 career of a revolutionary chief Kingdoms may 
 be preserved by virtues, but are rarely won ex- 
 cept by crimes. 
 
 In his negotiations, whether with Ormond or 
 Cromwell, it is true, that he always stipulated 
 for property and title for himself; but he had a 
 just claim upon both as head of the chief branch 
 of the O'Neil family. 
 
 On the death of O'Neil, nothing remained for 
 the confederates but to submit ; and make the 
 
238 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 best terms they could with Cromwell. Why 
 they did not do so, can only be accounted for 
 by the fatuity which seems to have kept them 
 steadily in the path of ruin. 
 
 The case of the confederates of Kilkenny, in 
 their opposition to the parliamentarians, had 
 several points of remarkable coincidence with 
 the conduct pursued by the original Irish in 
 reference to the old British invaders. The con- 
 federates were, at any time, more than competent 
 to expel or destroy the small corps of parliamen- 
 tarian troops that lingered in the country ; but 
 fully occupied with their own dissensions and 
 disputes, they neglected to do so ; and they were 
 ultimately subdued and destroyed in detail, by a 
 force which they might have so easily crushed. 
 
 Again, the same game, in every particular, 
 was played against them which their ancestors 
 had used against the Irish. They were driven 
 into an appearance of rebellion, while anxiously 
 striving to avoid it ; and by a similar system of 
 management, irritation, and falsehood. The an- 
 cestors of many of those nobles had been, like 
 Parsons and Borlase, lords deputies of Ireland, 
 and had acquired their possessions by such arts 
 as were now practised against their descendants. 
 
 Cromwell's army in Ireland was composed 
 of the most furious and fanatical portion of the 
 revolutionary soldiery. They were selected for 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 239 
 
 this expedition with a view to get rid of them. 
 Cromwell had begun at this period to entertain 
 those ambitious views which his great success 
 naturally inspired, and which coming upon him 
 suddenly, and in all their power, speedily over- 
 came the original sternness and moderation of 
 his character. Having ceased to be a fanatic, 
 it was necessary for him to rid himself as quickly 
 as possible of the fanatical portion of his army. 
 The Irish war presented the means. 
 
 When the regiments intended for the expedi- 
 tion assembled at Bristol, they saw instantly 
 in the character of the soldiery, what was in- 
 tended ; — they were all " levellers ;" a name they 
 derived from their hostility to authority of al- 
 most any kind. In religion they were chiefly 
 anabaptists and independents, but included por- 
 tions of the vast variety of sects which then 
 prevailed in England. Their religious and poli- 
 tical prejudices were highly inflamed by the 
 struggles they had undergone, and the success 
 tliey had conquered. They were drunk with 
 the blood of their countrymen ; for nothing in- 
 toxicates like blood, or produces more horrible 
 frenzy. 
 
 When these haggard and toil-worn battalions, 
 
 found themselves assembled at Bristol, and had 
 
 - time to reflect on the object of such a selection 
 
 as they perceived their general had made, they 
 
 demurred without hesitation to the order of em- 
 
240 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 barkation. The choice of such regiments con- 
 firmed them in the suspicions they had long 
 entertained of Cromwell's intentions against their 
 darling republic, their holy, though earthly Sion, 
 of which they were saints and the chosen priest- 
 hood. They hated Ireland ; the very name was 
 odious and horrible to them, and presented only 
 ideas of *' a howling wilderness," a den of 
 popery, and abounding with all profaneness and 
 abomination. 
 
 The levellers refused to embark. It required 
 Cromwell's presence, and the command which 
 he exercised over these intractable spirits, to over- 
 come their reluctance, and bend their stubborn 
 wills. Cromwell appeared suddenly amongst 
 them, and they obeyed ; but they looked upon 
 themselves as devoted men ; a holocaust laid upon 
 the altar ; which was indeed to purchase the 
 purification of Ireland from the uncleanness of 
 popery ; a great and glorious work, but hardly 
 worthy of so great a sacrifice. 
 
 Thus was laid the foundation of the Crom- 
 wellian interest in Ireland : an interest still sub- 
 sisting in great vigor in that country. It is 
 w^orthy of observation, that this fanatical soldiery, 
 which crossed the sea to the Irish expedition 
 with such reluctance and almost despair, attained 
 in Ireland to a degree of eminence and fortune 
 which the voluntary and eager adventurers of 
 former reigns seldom arrived atj and escaped 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 241 
 
 the severe visitation of penury and disgrace, 
 which, upon the Restoration, fell so heavily upon 
 the British portion of the revolutionary army. 
 
 The officers, subalterns, and great numbers 
 of the privates of this army, came into possession 
 of large estates in Ireland, and laid the found- 
 ation of families now of considerable wealth and 
 consequence in that kingdom ; while their as- 
 sociates in arms on the British side of the Chan- 
 nel fell suddenly into poverty, and became 
 objects of scorn and derision, in a country they 
 had so lately governed. 
 
 'The arm of a special Providence seems to 
 have gone before the " Levellers," and prepared 
 their dominion in Ireland, which was to be esta- 
 blished on the ruin of most of those British-de- 
 scended families, whose fathers, since the days 
 of Henry II., had toiled to acquire property in 
 that country. 
 
 Cromwell's operations in Ireland were con- 
 fined to the attack of a few towns, which were, 
 for that period, well fortified and provided. The 
 confederates had not been inattentive to that 
 important branch of their duty, the strength- 
 ening of their fortresses. The defence made 
 by those towns was very honourable to the 
 Irish military. Kilkenny was defended by 
 one of the Butler family, at the head of a few 
 soldiers, not exceeding four or five hundred 
 men. This small garrison, as well as the citi- 
 
 VOL. I. R 
 
S4^ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 zens of the town, were suffering during the 
 siege from the attacks of an enemy within their 
 walls more formidable than the foe without. 
 The plague was desolating the city. With 
 a wasted population, and a small and sickly 
 garrison, Sir Walter Butler repelled Cromw^elPs 
 repeated attacks ; and the Protector was retiring 
 in disgrace, when some of the corporate author- 
 ities offered to treat. The city was surrendered 
 upon the most honourable terms ; and Crom- 
 well complimented the garrison upon their brave 
 defence. He had found that his system of 
 massacre had not succeeded. 
 
 The defence of Clonmel was still more obsti- 
 nate. The garrison was composed of a small 
 corps of about fifteen hundred of that army 
 which Owen O'Neil had formed with so much 
 care ; and was commanded by Henry O'Neil, 
 a near relative of that general. Henry O'Neil 
 proved, by his defence of Clonmel, and after- 
 wards of Limerick, that he was not unequal to 
 the name he bore. In the first assault Cromw^ell 
 lost two thousand of his best troops. But im- 
 patient to finish the Irish war he continued his 
 attacks, and during two months every assault 
 he made was repulsed and defeated with great 
 slaughter. 
 
 But the provisions and ammunition of the gar- 
 rison w^ere at length exhausted. Ormond pressed 
 the Lord Roche to raise some troops, and hasten 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 243 
 
 to the relief of the town ; and the Catholic 
 Bishop of Ross, a determined and able enemy of 
 the Cromwellian power in Ireland, used his in- 
 fluence with so much effect to raise and arm the 
 men, that they were soon in a condition to march. 
 On the other hand, Cromwell, tired, and his army 
 almost destroyed by the siege, earnestly besought 
 Lord Broghil to hasten to his assistance. In his 
 march to Clonmel, Broghil encountered Lord 
 Roche's division of raw levies, and easily put 
 them to the route, and took the Bishop of Ross 
 prisoner. There was a small fort in the posses- 
 sion of the Irish, near the spot where this 
 encounter took place : Broghil erected a gal- 
 lows upon the field, and having showed the 
 Bishop the preparations made for his exe- 
 cution, he commanded him to go to the fort and 
 use his influence with the garrison to procure 
 its surrender. If it should be immediately sur- 
 rendered, his life was to be spared, and he was 
 to be set at liberty ; if not, certain death awaited 
 him. He compelled the Bishop to take an oath 
 that he would return, and then suffered him to 
 proceed to the fort. 
 
 The Bishop went to the fort, and having col- 
 lected the garrison about him, set before them 
 in strong and glowing language the duty they 
 owed to God and their country to defend the 
 fortress committed to their charge to the last 
 extremity ; and never to cease from their hos- 
 
 R 2 
 
S44 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 tility to the enemies of Ireland. Having thus 
 excited the enthusiasm of the garrison, the 
 Bishop returned quietly to the EngHsh camp, and 
 submitted to the executioner. He was hanged. 
 
 This incident displays the spirit that actuated 
 both parties : — The fierce and barbarous inhu- 
 manity of the parliamentarians, restrained by no 
 rule, and respecting no obligation ; pouring out 
 the blood of their prisoners, and of the quiet and 
 peaceable inhabitants of the country, as water, 
 with utter contempt of the ordinary laws of war, or 
 the common rights of humanity. On the other side 
 we find an opposition without direction or com- 
 bination ; a war carried on without plan or head 
 to guide it, yet exhibiting powers and resources, 
 and above all, a spirit in the people capable of 
 the highest and greatest achievements. They 
 wanted but a presiding spirit to drive Cromwell 
 and his levellers out of the country ; but that 
 spirit was not to be found. 
 
 Ormond was at the head of the confederates. 
 But no party had confidence in him : nor was 
 he a man of sufficient elevation of character for 
 the task. He was a prudent man ; not a great 
 one. A man of extraordinary discretion, never 
 attempting any thing beyond his powers, and 
 cautious of incurring any great risks. Though 
 he urged the miserable levies collected hastily 
 about Clonmel to the relief of that town, he 
 avoided committing himself in any conflict with 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 245 
 
 Cromwell. When that general crossed the 
 Barrow, and on two or three other occasions, 
 Ormond was presented with opportunities of 
 attacking him with great advantage, and Owen 
 O' Neil's troops, whom he commanded, clamoured 
 for battle ; but nothing could induce the mar- 
 quis to risk his fortune against the Protector. 
 
 Acting on the same principle, he never once 
 attempted to grapple with O'Neil during all 
 the time he was opposed to that general. Or- 
 mond chose his antagonists wisely. He did not 
 object to meet Preston and some other generals 
 of the confederation, whose talents in the field 
 he regarded as even inferior to his own. 
 
 Lord Ormond is a proof of the truth of the 
 Latin adage, which places discretion above all 
 other gifts of nature, and far above those more 
 shining endowments that the w^orld admires. 
 With this homely instrument, he reaped a share 
 of solid wealth, and substantial power in Ireland, 
 which has been seldom gathered by the glittering 
 sickle of a superior intellect. 
 
 The defeat and death of the Bishop of Ross 
 put an end to the hopes of the garrison of 
 Clonmel. Cromwell offered the most honourable 
 terms, and the town was surrendered. O'Neil, 
 refusing to be a party to the capitulation, had 
 previously withdrawn with his corps from the 
 town. 
 
 R 3 
 
246 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 After the surrender of Clonmel, Cromwell 
 hastened to return to England. He had done 
 little in Ireland, more than reduce a few towns. 
 He had fought no battle, nor did he court a 
 conflict in the field. His authority, when he 
 withdrew, was limited to the ground occupied 
 by his soldiers. After his departure, Ludlow 
 and Ireton, to whom he committed the conduct 
 of the war, remained almost inactive. Nor was 
 activity necessary. They merely looked on, and 
 waited the' dissolution of the confederacy which 
 was now rapidly taking place under the influ- 
 ence of the incurable dissensions of the Irish. 
 
 Ormond was still at the head of a few troops ; 
 but was utterly without power. Distrusted by 
 the Catholics, and despised by the parliamenta- 
 rians, he found it necessary, in a short time, to 
 preserve his dignity by a second retreat to 
 France. 
 
 The army which had served under Owen 
 O'Neil had nearly disbanded itself; from dis- 
 gust with the incapacity of Ormond ; and the 
 dissensions of the convention of Kilkenny. 
 
^ \ 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 247 
 
 The old Irish of the confederacy, hopeless now 
 of achieving any thing for their country, and 
 weary of the eternal and absurd negotiations of 
 the convention lords, entered into terms with 
 the Cromwellians. Many laid down their arms 
 and submitted ; but far the greater number made 
 conditions to be sent at the cost of the parlia-i 
 ment to France or Spain, and were furnished 
 with stores and shipping for that purpose. The 
 military were gladly received into the service of 
 those two powers ; and in the course of three 
 years about forty thousand men, chiefly of the 
 Irish army, left their country in this manner, and 
 were conveyed abroad at the cost of the new go- 
 vernment of England. The whole number, how- 
 ever, of Irish who quitted their country in 
 the course of the Cromwellian wars is estimated 
 at about two hundred thousand. A dispersion 
 which formed a remarkable event of the time ; 
 and which is still to be traced in France, Spain, 
 and various other parts of Europe. 
 
 The Ormond party was extinct. The party 
 of the convention was in a state of utter decay. 
 Their own army, which was of necessity com- 
 posed of mere Irish, followed the example of the 
 northern battalions, and disbanded or retired by 
 regiments into foreign service. 
 
 The Cromwellians found themselves in quiet 
 possession of the kingdom almost without firing 
 a shot, and to their own great amazement. 
 
 R 4 
 
248 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 They proceeded without a moment's delay to 
 appropriate to themselves the great estates of 
 the lords and gentlemen of the confederation. 
 
 Those devoted persons who had clamoured 
 against their old Irisli associates for having in- 
 sisted upon a vigorous prosecution of the w^ar, 
 when it could have been successfully conducted, 
 now renewed their cry against them for sub- 
 mitting to a power which could no longer be 
 resisted. They had refused to carry on the war 
 on the only plan which promised the least 
 chance of success, and they now blamed the 
 Irish for adopting the only course which pro- 
 mised the least hope of safety. 
 
 The Irish clergy, though led into great extra- 
 vagance by the folly and presumption of the 
 nuncio, had soon discovered how little he was 
 to be relied upon, and had shaken off his author- 
 ity. They had laboured from the beginning to 
 accomplish a cordial union between the two great 
 parties into which the Catholics were divided, 
 and they had not succeeded. They had urged 
 the necessity of appointing a commander in 
 chief with full powers, instead of a number of 
 local and provincial generals, all acting upon 
 different plans, without concert or system. But 
 this advice was thought to point to O'Neil, and 
 would not be listened to. They represented 
 that it was in vain to deal with the King, who was 
 not a free agent, and who might at a future time, 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 249 
 
 upon a plea of the coercion of his necessities, 
 refuse to confirm what he might then concede. 
 They represented that their own safety, the secu- 
 rity of their country, and even the safety of 
 the King required, that, without looking to 
 the right or left, they should exert the abundant 
 means they possessed of acquiring the sovereign 
 power in Ireland ; and they pointed out the dan- 
 ger they otherwise incurred, of being treated 
 both as rebels to the crown and enemies to the 
 commonwealth. 
 
 These representations and remonstrances were 
 unavailing. It is only justice to the Catholic 
 clergy to say, notwithstanding the violence into 
 which they were frequently betrayed by their 
 excess of zeal, and the injury which their indis- 
 cretion did their own cause, that they appear to 
 have been uniformly actuated more by a love of 
 country, than any bigoted attachment to the see 
 of Rome. 
 
 As the confederacy dissolved, the clergy be- 
 came loud in their exclamations against the folly 
 of the lords of Kilkenny, and violent in their 
 measures. They saw that the country was 
 ruined, and that they were themselves devoted 
 to destruction. The nobles of Kilkenny ex- 
 claimed in their turn against the excesses and 
 disloyalty of the clergy. The parliamentarians 
 stood by at the head of their little paltry corps, 
 and day after day the great fortresses of the 
 
S50 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 kingdom fell without an effort into their hands ; 
 and armies of ten times their numbers dis- 
 persed without a blow before them. 
 
 The fortune of the parliamentarians in Ireland 
 is one of the most extraordinary occurrences in 
 history. But they used it with little moderation. 
 Ireton sat down with a small corps before the 
 impregnable fortress of Limerick. He had no 
 means of making any impression upon the town, 
 which was defended by a large garrison, com- 
 manded by Henry O'Neil, the brave and able 
 officer whose defence of Clonmel had bafHed 
 every effort of Cromwell, and nearly ruined his 
 army. But the town was a scene of the most 
 violent contentions between the Irish and the 
 Ormond party, as the loyalists of Kilkenny were 
 called. The fury of these contending parties 
 raged so violently, that the governor lost all 
 control over the garrison ; a general confusion 
 and disorganisation took place ; and some of the 
 rioters, having got possession of one of the gates, 
 let in the enemy. 
 
 Ireton hanged a number of the principal 
 citizens and clergy. He brought the governor 
 to trial by court-martial, and had him con- 
 demned to death for the strange crime of having 
 done his duty bravely. O'Neil calmly stated, 
 that he had come from the Continent at the 
 invitation of his countrymen to take a command 
 in the Irish army ; and that he had done his 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 251 
 
 duty, and no more. He was saved, with dif- 
 ficulty, by the interposition of Ireton's officers, 
 who had the grace to be ashamed of the pro- 
 ceeding. The ground upon which Ireton pro- 
 fessed to bring O'Neil to trial was curious, and 
 shows the notions entertained by those cham- 
 pions of liberty in their own case. O'Neil was 
 told that the people of England possessed ab- 
 solute dominion, and right of conquest, over Ire- 
 land ; and as he was taken in arms against the 
 British authority, then vested in the parliament, 
 he was guilty of rebellion, and deserved death. 
 
 The confederates in their despair now sent 
 ambassadors all over Europe to tender the crown 
 of Ireland to any one who would deign to 
 accept of it. It was offered to Spain, to France, 
 to the Pope, and the Duke of Lorrain. The 
 Pope rejected it with an expression of contempt 
 for those whose love of slavery sent them about 
 the world to beg a master. The Duke of Lor- 
 rain entered into a foolish negotiation by which 
 he lost twenty thousand pounds, which he ad- 
 vanced upon a mortgage of Limerick and Gal- 
 way, a security of about as much value as a 
 mortgage on the moon. France and Spain de- 
 clined the eleemosynary diadem. The confe- 
 derates at this period resembled the ancient 
 Britons when they besought the assistance of 
 Rome, complaining that the Saxons drove into 
 the sea, and the sea upon the Saxons. Little 
 
Q5^ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 pity was excited for the condition of men who 
 were known to have obstinately counteracted 
 every effort made to save them, and stupidly 
 misemployed the most abundant means for their 
 own protection. 
 
 The Irish war was now concluded. Cromwell 
 sent over his son Henry to superintend a settle- 
 ment of the kingdom. This was soon effected 
 in Cromwell's usual style of decision and dis- 
 patch. Conn aught was set apart for the Irish 
 who had not made terms. Ulster was already 
 disposed of to the London companies and the 
 Scotch : these were to remain undisturbed. 
 The other two provinces were allotted almost 
 entirely to the Cromwellian soldiers and adven- 
 turers, in satisfaction of their arrears of pay and 
 advances towards the expenses of the war. In 
 this partition of the land, which was as complete 
 as that of Canaan to the children of Israel, the 
 Anglo-Irish nobility and gentry were the chief 
 sufferers. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 253 
 
 CHAP XVIII. 
 
 THE CROMWELLIAN SETTLEMENT. 
 
 The Cromwellians thus established in Ireland 
 were a bold and hardy race of men ; and su- 
 perior, perhaps, to any of the swarms which 
 had passed the channel from time to time, 
 and settled on the rich lands of Ireland. They 
 were not like the crafty land-jobbers, who came 
 over constantly to traffic in forfeited estates, 
 many of whom laid the foundations of wealthy 
 families ; neither did they belong to the class 
 of needy and dissolute adventurers whose ob- 
 ject was to rebuild a fortune, which vice and 
 depravity had destroyed ; nor were they of the 
 low and unprincipled stock of official and mili- 
 tary speculators in confiscations, whose deter- 
 mination was to make a fortune, no matter 
 how. 
 
 The Cromwellian soldiers came to Ireland 
 unwillingly. They were for the most part men 
 who had engaged from principle in the cause of 
 the parliament ; or, as they believed, the cause 
 of civil and religious liberty. They were en- 
 thusiasts, with somewhat of the dignity of en- 
 
Q5i HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 thusiasm about them. They had not deprived, 
 by personal management or contrivance, any man 
 of his estate in Ireland. The lands were vacant. 
 The events of the war had swept away the late 
 possessors ; and the Protector, assuming a right 
 over those lands, assigned them to his soldiers 
 in lieu of pay. 
 
 The conduct of the Cromwellian army and of 
 their great leader, in Ireland, is abundant proof 
 that there is no tyranny like the tyranny of 
 republicans. All the despotism of corrupt courts, 
 unprincipled monarchs, and profligate cour- 
 tiers, had been exhausted upon Ireland ; and all 
 which these instruments could accomplish in a 
 course of a^es fell infinitely short of what was 
 effected in as many years by the army of the 
 commonwealth. Nothing in history is more 
 dreadful than the slaughter committed by the 
 Cromwellians when the country fell into their 
 power. They spared neither age, nor sex, nor 
 infancy. But there is little doubt that these 
 gloomy fanatics imagined they would have 
 sinned in sparing. When they became weary of 
 slaughter, they transported the people in thou- 
 sands to the West Indies, and to all parts of the 
 Continent ; and it is probable that, like the Jews 
 when they spared a remnant of the people of 
 Canaan, they considered this lenity to popery as 
 an offence that would be visited upon their chil- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 255 
 
 dren. Like all fanatics, they were iiiore conver- 
 sant with the horrors of the Old Testament than 
 the mild precepts of the New. 
 
 The Cromwellians did not regard Ireland as 
 a part, but as a dependency of the British empire; 
 and upon this ground, also, they thought them- 
 selves entitled to grind the country to the dust. 
 They viewed it as a conquest^ and as having, there- 
 fore, no rights. The few peasantry, whom they 
 permitted to remain in the country to till the 
 ground for them were reduced to a state of 
 slavery. They were forbid to leave their pa- 
 rishes, or to assemble for purposes of public 
 worship, or any other purposes. The clergy 
 were commanded to quit the island on pain of 
 death ; and the few that ventured to remain 
 continued to exercise their ministry in the 
 woods, and in caverns, and in inaccessible cliffs 
 of the mountains ; and even there they were ex- 
 posed to be discovered by blood-hounds which 
 the new proprietors had introduced and trained 
 to priest-hunting. 
 
 The Cromwellians were no sooner established 
 in quiet possession of their new properties than 
 they began to set up a miscellaneous assortment 
 of petty conventicles in all parts of Ireland, upon 
 the models of the innumerable sects which diver- 
 sified the religious surface of England at that 
 day. Some of those continued to exist about 
 " sixty years since j" and were to be seen in the 
 
S56 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 villages and country places, forming a strange 
 contrast with the habits and customs of the sur- 
 rounding population. Many of the Cromwellian 
 soldiers became quakers after the war. The 
 excitement of a high mysticism was necessary to 
 those men, now that the excitement of war was 
 at an end ; and as they had revelled in blood to 
 an excess which ordinary wars seldom admit of, 
 they were the more ready to seize upon the 
 strongest contrast which the varieties of religious 
 opinion offered. But time, and the effect of 
 wealth, and the genial influence of the climate, 
 made way for gayer impressions of human affairs, 
 and finally destroyed all those little congrega- 
 tions. The anabaptists, the independents, the 
 quakers, all gave way before the seductions of 
 prosperity, the balmy atmosphere of Ireland, 
 and the merry character of the population ; and 
 were absorbed in the two great establishments 
 of the country — the poorer classes of dissenters 
 in the catholic, and the richer in the episcopal 
 church. 
 
 The Cromwellian wars had left the country a 
 desert. Famine and the sword had done their 
 work of desolation. The lands had changed 
 proprietors ; but there were no cultivators. 
 There were soldiers, adventurers, undertakers, 
 all sorts of claimants and pretenders to the soil ; 
 but there were no peasantry. Nor could this 
 class of men be procured from Scotland, England, 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND, ^5^ 
 
 or any where ; and without them the lands were 
 of no vahie. In the north, only, a Scoto-Irish po- 
 pulation had grown up to some extent ; but this 
 had been the slow result not of the plantation 
 but of long intercourse with the coast of Scotland. 
 Cromwell was compelled to relax his decree for 
 the transportation of the Irish across the Shan- 
 non and beyond sea ; and in a few years the in- 
 eradicable weed of the indigenous population 
 spread itself over the soil as before, and con- 
 cealed the scattered transplants from England. 
 
 The middle districts of Ireland received in 
 the changes of the Cromwellian wars the first 
 impressions of that character which they have 
 since so frequently exhibited. From the blood 
 that had been shed, sprung up a fierce race of 
 men 5 beautiful in person, capable of enduring 
 extraordinary fatigue and privation, of gigantic 
 strength and stature, passionate, vindictive, 
 cruel, easily roused to anger, determined in 
 purpose, delighting to shed blood, even their 
 own, and scorning alike the judicial and military 
 execution. 
 
 In a country almost vacant the applotments 
 of land amongst the soldiers were easily ar- 
 ranged. Many of the privates, liowever, were 
 religious men ; and had scruples about receiving 
 the property of others from hands that had 
 no title but force. Several of this class sold 
 for nominal or trivial considerations to the 
 
 VOL. I. s 
 
^5S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 original proprietors. Some, who did not like 
 the country, or wished to return to their own, 
 generously presented their portions to the Irish 
 owners, and refused any recompense. Numbers 
 of the privates sold their shares to their officers ; 
 and there are rolls of troops and companies ex- 
 tant with the signatures of the soldiers conveying 
 their portions for small, or for no consideration, 
 to their captains. 
 
 The Cromwellian army of Ireland was now a 
 considerable body, and in possession of a large 
 share of political power. That of England was 
 still a mere soldiery. Property had its influence 
 upon the Irish army ; and though originally the 
 most suspicious, and the most adverse, from the 
 designs of their general, their hostility at this 
 time was considerably subdued. They felt that 
 though Cromwell might be dangerous to the 
 liberties of England, he was necessary to the 
 security of their new possessions. They did not 
 quarrel therefore with the style and title of ma- 
 jesty which he assumed in Ireland long before 
 he ventured to make any demonstrations of the 
 kind in the other island. Writs, decrees, and all 
 the proceedings of the government and of the 
 courts of law ran in the name of His Majesty 
 the Lord Protector, and in the year of his Reign, 
 But His Majesty the Protector was the most de- 
 spotic of sovereigns. 
 
 The trial by jury was set aside, and every sem- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 259 
 
 blance of justice was abolished. Various courts, 
 unknown to the law and the constitution, were 
 established in different parts of the country, before 
 which men were brought to trial, without any 
 forms of justice, or any rules of evidence being 
 observed. The judges in those courts were 
 Cromwellian soldiers, or the most profligate ad- 
 venturers of the war, who having covered them- 
 selves with crimes, were rewarded by their 
 master with Irish appointments, and who seemed 
 to imagine that the sole duty of their new 
 vocation was to condemn and execute all who 
 came before them. There was no escape for 
 any one arraigned before those new courts. 
 
 In England Cromwell did not dare corrupt 
 the superior courts of justice. In Ireland he 
 did not hesitate to appoint his basest minions 
 to the highest places on the bench. All honest 
 men resigned their situations, and the courts of 
 law became dens of thieves. Cromwell had the 
 grace to offer the chief-justiceship to Judge Do- 
 negan, a man of high reputation for learning 
 and integrity, but he declined to preside on a 
 bench so polluted, and preferred retiring to an 
 honourable poverty. 
 
 The courts of the lords presidents, and the 
 courts for the trial of rebels and maUgnants, were 
 in full activity during this period. The former 
 courts had been established in the four provinces 
 in the reign of Elizabeth, if not earlier. The 
 
 s 2 
 
260 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 lords presidents presided in person, and heard all 
 causes, and decided them of their own will and 
 judgment without appeal. They were such 
 courts as those of the Cadi in Turkey, and other 
 parts of the East ; and it is probable that they 
 were sometimes very useful and well administer- 
 ed, as the eastern courts are known frequently 
 to be. 
 
 It is curious that the lords presidents' courts 
 still continue to exist in Ireland, though now 
 under the authority of judges of the legal pro- 
 fession, who observe the rules of law in their 
 decrees, as they are called. The assistant bar- 
 rister's court is directly derived from that of 
 the lord president. 
 
 Cromwell's plan for the settlement of Ireland 
 consisted of a legislative union of the three 
 nations, incorporated now into one great repub- 
 lic. By an order, called an instrument of 
 GOVERNMENT, he directed that thirty Irish mem- 
 bers should be elected to represent Ireland in 
 the united parliament. His plan of represent- 
 ation seems to have been very crude and defec- 
 tive : but it was worthy of his bold and com- 
 manding intellect to furnish the first outline of 
 the only scheme, consistent with the connection 
 with Great Britain, which could supply a remedy 
 forthe enormous abuses then prevailingin Ireland. 
 The Restoration put an end to his plan of union ; 
 which, if it had been adopted by Charles II., 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 261 
 
 would probably have prevented the two years* 
 war of the Revolution. 
 
 But Cromwell's plans of improvement were 
 not confined to his scheme of union : he directed 
 that particular attention should be paid to the 
 advancement of learning ; and that a second 
 college should be erected in the neighbourhood 
 of Dublin, or some other part of Ireland, Crom- 
 well had alw^ays paid marked attention to learning 
 and learned men, and was well aware how much 
 the glory and prosperity of nations depend upon 
 their degree of knowledge and reputation in the 
 world. 
 
 It is greatly to the honour of the Cromwellian 
 officers that they purchased, at their private 
 expense, for a sum of two thousand five hundred 
 pounds, the valuable library of Primate Usher, 
 which was sold after his death for the benefit of 
 his daughter. Usher had intended to leave his 
 library to Trinity College, Dublin ; but the war 
 having driven him from his see, he became in- 
 volved in difficulties, and had no other property 
 to leave his only child. 
 
 The officers intended the library for the new 
 college, and it was deposited in the Castle till 
 the building should be erected. But the Re- 
 storation having put an end to the scheme of the 
 college as to other plans of improvement, the 
 library fell into the hands of the University of 
 Dublin, which had so good a claim to it. 
 
 s 3 
 
262 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 REIGN OF CHARLES II. 
 
 On the death of Cromwell tlie train which 
 political events were likely to take was instantly 
 discerned. The Cromw^ellians had always been 
 remarkable for decision ; they were so now. 
 They saw that there was no man capable of 
 wielding Cromwell's truncheon. His sons, 
 Richard and Henry, were too good to be 
 usurpers, and too wise to be kings. They 
 were therefore out of the question. The party 
 of the republicans, though still full of energy, 
 
 were few. 
 
 The British people are essentially aristocratic, 
 or have been so. They are pleased with a 
 small mixture of democracy, for appearance- 
 sake, and for utility, and with a show of monar- 
 chy for ornament. But the solid substance of 
 the state has ever been an aristocracy, and was 
 so even under the Commonwealth. 
 
 The Cromwellians of Ireland, the levellers, 
 and the sons of the levellers, whose zeal against 
 monarchy was like a devouring fire, hastened to 
 declare for the King, before yet Monk had time 
 to mature his measures ; and the movements in 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 263 
 
 Ireland had probably some effect in quickening 
 the proceedings of that cautious betrayer of his 
 party. Charles was already invited to Ireland, 
 and was on the point of embarking, when the 
 movements of Monk made him turn his eyes to 
 England. 
 
 Coote and Broghil, still wet with the blood of 
 the King's friends and soldiers, and Inshiquin, 
 whose hand was but a little while withdrawn 
 from the slaughter, were now the most forward 
 loyalists of the land. They were graciously re- 
 ceived and rewarded with titles, employments, 
 and estates. 
 
 Charles is censured for having distinguished 
 and rewarded these men. But the King was 
 still uncertain of the ground he stood upon. 
 These men did not rest upon their loyalty alone, 
 or at all : they stood upon their power, and they 
 knew that the Stuarts always truckled to power. 
 Besides, they had long managed a communication 
 with Charles, which was to serve as a bower-an- 
 chor, in case the cable of the Commonwealth or 
 that of the Protectorate gave way. Ormond was 
 this anchor. They were necessary to Ormond, 
 and he to them. They connected him with 
 Cromwell and the Commonwealth ; he con- 
 nected them with the crown. Their acceptance 
 by the King, therefore, was a matter of course. 
 Ormond persuaded Charles that the Crom- 
 wellians had, without intending it, done import- 
 
 s 4 
 
264 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 ant service to the crown, by establishing a strong 
 Enghsh interest in Ireland, and rooting out the 
 Irish proprietors. Charles readily adopted this 
 notion, because it fell in with his indolence and 
 his fears, both which inclined him to leave things 
 as they were, and do nothing. It served him 
 also as a kind of political excuse, for the in- 
 gratitude and injustice of his conduct tow^ards 
 his Irish adherents. This notion of rooting out 
 the old Irish had always been a favourite one 
 with the Stuarts. James had acted upon it to 
 the utmost extent of his power, and his son 
 Charles had a longing desire to imitate his father, 
 which was only checked by the difficulties and 
 troubles of his reign. 
 
 Charles would gladly have escaped from the 
 consideration of the great questions relative to 
 Ireland, which pressed upon him at the moment 
 of his accession. But it could not be. They 
 called imperiously for a decision. The chief 
 was, what was to be done with the confederates ? 
 He and his father had repeatedly treated with 
 them, and confirmed the terms of their treaties. 
 They had both been in incessant intercourse 
 with them. The Catholics had powerfully as- 
 sisted the royal cause in England, Scotland, and 
 on the Continent, with liberal supplies of men 
 and money. They had continued the war against 
 Cromwell in Ireland to the last extremity ; and 
 their loyalty had been such that they had re- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 265 
 
 jected the most favourable terms from the par- 
 liament y had quarrelled with the nuncio and the 
 clergy ; and broken with O'Neil and the northern 
 Irish, whose loyalty was too much mixed with 
 common motive. And finally, to crown their 
 merits, they were abandoned by the old Irish, 
 subdued by the new English, and had lost tlieir 
 estates, property, power, every thing. 
 
 They had, in fact, done too much to expect 
 any recompense. The King might have remu- 
 nerated ordinary services, but when such a 
 mass of obligation as this was cast upon him, 
 there was no way of treating it but by throwing 
 it off in a lump. Charles had already decided 
 the point with his conscience, upon the arguments 
 of state which Ormond had suggested. But he 
 had the grace to make a show of looking into 
 the matter. The claims of the Irish w^ere de- 
 bated before the English privy council, at which 
 the King attended regularly. The matter in dis- 
 pute respected the estates which the confederates 
 had lost, and the Cromwellians had gained. The 
 council first decided as a preliminary that the 
 Cromwellians should not be disturbed, and then 
 gravely proceeded to enquire into the case. 
 
 It was clear that the only object the council 
 had in view was to discover some means of 2:et- 
 ting rid of the confederates and their claims, with 
 decency, if possible, but, at all events, to get rid 
 of them. Charles found it necessary to treat 
 
266 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 them with some show of attention, because of the 
 interest which the French king took in their cause, 
 upon whom he was ah^eady a dependent. The 
 council were puzzled, on looking into the matter, 
 to find that a great number of the claims of the 
 confederates were of a nature that could not be 
 shuffled off. This was embarrassing. It had 
 been decided, and it was still determined, that 
 the Cromwellians should not suffer. It was now 
 resolved that those of the confederates, whose 
 claims could not be, in some way or other, de- 
 feated, should be restored to their estates ; but 
 that the present Cromwellian possessors should 
 get lands of equal value in exchange, or, as it 
 was called, should be r^j^m^c/ ; and further, that 
 until the reprisal was made, no " royalist suf- 
 ferer" should be put in possession. This reso- 
 lution changed nothing ; but it opened a door 
 for hearing claims ; and that those claims might 
 be properly heard and determined, a Court of 
 Commissioners was appointed to sit in Dublin, 
 and hear and decide upon all cases of forfeitures 
 arising out of the late war. 
 
 Instructions were given to the commissioners, 
 which it was thought would not fail to exclude 
 so great a number of the claimants as would 
 bring the business within the compass of an easy 
 adjustment. The claimants were divided into 
 two classes, invocents and nocents. The first, to 
 be entitled to restitution of their lands, on the 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. ^67 
 
 Cromwellian possessors being reprised or indem- 
 nified ; the second, to be dismissed without 
 remedy. No man was to be deemed innocent 
 w4io had joined the confederacy before the 
 peace of 1648 ; or who, previously to that 
 period, had lived within the quarters of the con- 
 federates, though he might not have joined them 
 or concurred with them, and though he might 
 not have had the means or possibility of living 
 elsewhere. And none who had at any time ad- 
 hered to the nuncio, or having been excom- 
 municated by that person, had acknowledged 
 himself in error, and received absolution. There 
 were a variety of other qualifications of innocency, 
 which it was hoped would limit to a very small 
 fraction the number of those entitled to restor- 
 ation. Upon this presumption the commissioners 
 were directed to proceed. The confederates 
 complained bitterly and justly of the qualifi- 
 cations, but there was no remedy. 
 
 But the amazement and dismay of king, 
 council, and Cromwellians, were extreme, when 
 it was found that, afiter all these precautions, 
 nearly two hundred claimants were pronounced 
 innocent in the first sittings of the court, and 
 only about twenty nocent. Ormond, who was 
 the contriver of the whole scheme of the court 
 and the qualifications, was confounded. The 
 Cromwellians w^ere outrageous : they talked 
 loudly of appealing to arms, and actually took 
 
268 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 some steps with that view : they held meetings, 
 appointed committees, and estabHshed corre- 
 spondences throughout the kingdom. But Or- 
 mond, who was now again lord-Heutenant, acted 
 with vigour. He arrested some, soothed others, 
 and by timely management diverted the storm, 
 and saved the Cromwellians, whom he was anxious 
 to preserve. This failure tended to subdue the 
 spirit of those hot republicans, whose abhorrence 
 of king and kingly government always mingled 
 with their seditions, and easily burst, on the 
 slightest concussion, from beneath the thin, ex- 
 ternal, coating of loyalty which prudence made 
 them wear. 
 
 The surprise of the Cromwellians had been 
 the greater on the first decisions of the court of 
 claims, because great management had been 
 used to procure the nomination o^ friendly com- 
 missioners. But the cases made by the claimants 
 were too strong for mere partiality. Another 
 and more effectual security against those embar- 
 rassing claims was now proposed and adopted. 
 The time for the sitting of the commission was 
 limited to a certain number of days, during 
 which it was calculated that it would be im- 
 possible, with the utmost despatch, to get 
 through more than a very small portion of the 
 claims, and this portion might be further di- 
 minished by various contrivances to create delay. 
 The number of claims entered for hearing were 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. QGQ 
 
 about four thousand ; of these about one thou- 
 sand were heard, when the court rose and never 
 sat after. And though the sufferers made strong 
 and repeated supphcations to the King and the 
 commissioners to be heard, His Majesty was ad- 
 vised not to accede to their request. These 
 persons were finally and irretrievably ruined. 
 
 Even the small proportion of claims that had 
 been heard and admitted created much embar- 
 rassment. It was found that there were no lands 
 out of which to satisfy the Cromwellians who 
 were to be dispossessed. This led to an enquiry 
 into the mode which had been originally adopted 
 of satisfying the claims of the soldiers and ad- 
 venturers ; and such abuses were speedily dis- 
 covered as made those persons extremely ready 
 to make such reductions and compositions of 
 their portions as afforded a sufficient fund for 
 reprisals. Whole baronies and districts had been 
 assigned in consideration of small portions of 
 pay. Lord Antrim's estate, consisting of 107,000 
 acres, had been granted to Sir John Clotworthy, 
 afterwards Lord Massarene, and some others, in 
 consideration of a sum of 7OOO/., alleged to be 
 due for their pay and adventures. 
 
 To prevent further investigation, the soldiers 
 and adventurers, who were ahuuned at this kind 
 of enquiry, came forward and offered voluntarily 
 to abate. The Lish claimants also made abate- 
 ments. All parties became impatient to have 
 
S70 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the matter closed. The Acts of Settlement and 
 Explanation were prepared and pushed rapidly 
 through parliament, and soon received the 
 royal assent. 
 
 Thus a great portion of the lands of Ireland 
 changed owners ; and a Protestant proprietary 
 was substituted in place of a Catholic one. The 
 great body of the Irish land-owners who were 
 deprived of their estates carried their indignation 
 to the Continent, and filled all Europe with their 
 complaints. Then were first formed those cele- 
 brated battalions, which, under the name of the 
 Irish brigade, became afterwards so distinguished 
 in the military history of Europe. 
 
 As between the three great parties to the 
 arrangement under the celebrated ** Act of 
 Settlement," the King, the confederates, and the 
 Cromwellians, there can be no doubt that 
 the confederates were sacrificed to the policy or 
 necessities of the King, and that the Crom- 
 wellians, whatever were their merits, had none 
 to plead in respect of the crown, against which 
 they had waged a bitter and successful warfare. 
 The confederates had lost all in supporting the 
 monarchy ; the Cromwellians had gained every 
 thing in making war upon it. The fate of both 
 exhibits the crown as something dangerous to 
 serve, and ruinous to lay under obligation ; but 
 which may be attacked or betrayed, if with suf- 
 ficient boldness and success, without apprehen- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 271 
 
 sion of ultimate disfavour or disadvantage. But 
 it is to be hoped, for the honour of monarchy, 
 that such men as the Stuarts are seldom to be 
 found wearing crowns. The history of the 
 British islands furnishes no instance of a parallel. 
 
 There is no doubt that to have restored the 
 confederates to their estates would have required 
 an exertion of vigour far beyond what Charles 
 was capable of. The Cromwellians were deter- 
 mined not to resign them without battle : they 
 were prepared to fight. They had their friends 
 and fellow-soldiers scattered throughoutEngland, 
 with whom they maintained a constant corre- 
 spondence. The army in Ireland was at their 
 disposal. The King's position was still critical ; 
 and these men would undoubtedly have raised 
 a storm that would have embarrassed so weak a 
 man. It was some sign of grace that he anxiously 
 cast about in search of some shadow of excuse 
 for abandoning his old and burdensome friends, 
 the confederates. The Cromwellians, observing 
 the nature of his perplexity, set themselves to 
 work to relieve him. 
 
 By great exertion and industry they procured 
 copies of the instructions sent by the supreme 
 council of the confederates to their agents at 
 Rome and the other continental courts. Those 
 instructions authorised the Irish agents to make 
 a tender of the kingdom to the Pope, or to 
 France, Spain, or any country or government 
 
^72 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 that would deliver them from the burden of their 
 own affairs. These papers were read before the 
 council ; the King affected the utmost in- 
 dignation and surprise, and ordered that in 
 future no petitions should be received from the 
 Catholics. The door was thus closed upon those 
 mendicant loyalists. The indignation of Charles 
 was but dissembled, for he was well acquainted 
 with the instructions, and had been a concurring 
 party to some of them. His anger would have 
 been well warranted in any other man, and even 
 in him, some contempt might be pardoned, if 
 sincere, for those who could traverse Europe in 
 search of a meaner servitude. 
 
 Charles had consented to the Act of Settlement, 
 partly from weakness of character and partly 
 from necessity. Ormond had persuaded him 
 that it was an indispensable measure, as well as 
 founded upon good policy. But the King had 
 occasional misgivings of conscience, and some- 
 times even doubts of the wisdom of the decisive 
 step he had taken ; the court of France was 
 decidedly against it ; and at length he went so 
 far as to issue a commission of enquiry to ex- 
 amine and report whether any, and what, errors 
 inconsistent with his original declaration (which 
 was stated to be the true groundwork of the 
 settlement) had crept into those famous acts. 
 The Cromwellians remonstrated, and, as was 
 their custom, threatened an appeal to arms. But 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 273 
 
 the King was now a pensioner of France, and, 
 supported by the French monarch, thought less 
 than formerly of the seditions and discontents 
 of his Irish subjects. 
 
 Nor is it wonderful, if, upon reflection, (if 
 Charles ever reflected,) he should have suspected 
 the effect and tendency of the Act of Settlement. 
 It was a revolutionary measure of an extremely 
 violent character. It confirmed and fortified 
 the power of the men who had dethroned his 
 father and brought him to the block. And 
 though they were now placed at a little distance, 
 yet their position in Ireland, which gave them 
 the command of a kingdom, might in certain 
 events become very dangerous. 
 
 The ingratitude of the Stuarts to their Irish 
 adherents, if it was a sin, like other sins, worked 
 its own punishment. The weakness and insin- 
 cerity of the first Charles led him to the scaffold; 
 and the ingratitude of the second, precipitated 
 James from the throne. James paid the penalty 
 of his brother's offences, as well as his own. 
 
 The Cromwellians acted upon all occasions 
 with great spirit and prudence. They seemed, 
 every man, to have inhaled a portion of their 
 great leader's craftiness and decision. They re- 
 stored Charles to his father's throne, but not 
 until they were fully sensible, that if they did 
 not put their hands to the work it would be done 
 without them. They were aware that the great 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
!274^ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 body of the people had never been with them ; 
 and they knew that the eyes of the multitude 
 were turned towards the prince who claimed 
 them for his inheritance. The imbecility of 
 Charles was his grand recommendation to the 
 republicans. They trusted to his weakness for 
 a confirmation of the power and property they 
 had acquired in Ireland ; and rehed upon his 
 imprudence ultimately to restore to them the 
 people. 
 
 The British parliament were alarmed at Charles* 
 " Commissions of Inquiry." That assembly 
 felt all the importance of the Cromwellian settle- 
 ment in Ireland. They considered it as the 
 grand sheet-anchor of liberty ; — the foundation 
 upon which the hopes of England rested, as far 
 as there was yet a love of freedom in that coun- 
 itry. The eyes of the *' scattered remnant" of 
 ihoae resolute and spirited men whose magnifi- 
 cent schemes of civil and religious liberty were 
 for the present defeated, all turned towards Ire-" 
 land as the point of salvation. 
 
 What was liberty in England, was in Ireland 
 slavery. The question lay in the former country 
 between the King and the people -, in the latter, 
 between the people and- the Cromwellians. The 
 King might have been disposed to be a tyrant in 
 England, but had not the power. In Ireland, the 
 Cromwellians formed a great and ferocious oli- 
 garchy, which, interposed between king and peo- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. ^"^5 
 
 pie, annihilated the authority of the former, and 
 ruled the latter with a whip of scorpions. 
 So extraordinary a power has seldom been seen 
 in the world as that of the Cromwellian oligarchy 
 of Ireland. In aid of the dominion it exercised, 
 it sometimes put the parliament and the council 
 of England into motion ; and in return, when 
 occasion required, it supported these, by demon- 
 strations of extraordinary strength and vigour. 
 
 The high tone assumed by the English par- 
 liament compelled Charles to give up his Com- 
 mission of Inquiry. The commissioners were 
 withdrawn. But the dispossessed Irish still che- 
 rished hopes : and as the chief point urged 
 against them at that day, as it has been since, 
 was the temporal power assumed, or alleged to 
 be assumed, by the Pope \ to deliver themselves 
 from this imputation a priest of the name of 
 Walsh undertook to draw up an address of con- 
 gratulation to the King on the part of his Roman 
 catholic subjects, in which they take occasion 
 to renounce and deny in the most explicit terms 
 any power or authority in the Pope to absolve 
 the King's subjects of the Roman communion 
 from their allegiance, or in any way to exercise 
 or assume temporal jurisdiction. 
 
 But it was soon found that the clergy were 
 by no means agreed upon the point of papal 
 authority. 
 
 Walsh's address was called the Remonstrance ; 
 
 T % 
 
^7^ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 and two parties were speedily formed in the church, 
 called the Remonstrants, and Anti-remonstrants, 
 or the supporters and opposers of the address. 
 The catholic laity have ever been divided into two 
 bodies ; which have been sometimes designated 
 by the terms Catholic, and Papist. The former, 
 including those wdio simply concur in the reli- 
 gious opinions of the church ; the latter, marking 
 the adherents to the power and authority of the 
 papacy. Again, the professed adherents of the 
 papacy were divided into two other parties, reli- 
 gious and political. The latter were mere poli- 
 tical papists, who contended for the power of 
 the papacy to its utmost extent ; solely because 
 their own political power depended upon it, or 
 was intimately connected with it. They had 
 need of the pope as a political ally ; and there- 
 fore did not choose to question his political pre- 
 tensions. These parties amongst the catholics 
 have existed down to our own times. 
 
 Notwithstanding the hostility of the Cromwel- 
 lians, and the operation of the Acts of Settlement 
 which passed sentence of beggary upon the 
 catholic proprietary, we find that the old acts of 
 Elizabeth's and James's reigns touching con- 
 formity in worship were hardly put in force. 
 At this time, the catholic clergy held their 
 national, provincial, and other meetings without 
 molestation. Catholics were admissible in both 
 houses of parliament. The truth was, that the 
 spirit of the Cromwellians was somewhat awed 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 277 
 
 after the Restoration by the well known disposi- 
 tions of the King as to religion. They were also 
 so fully occupied in the defence of their tem- 
 poral interests that they were willing to com- 
 pound the matter somewhat as to their spiritual 
 concerns : they were content to suffer the great 
 lady of Babylon to establish her dominion over 
 the minds of the Irish for a season, while they 
 secured possession of their estates. 
 
 An attempt, however, was made to impose the 
 oath of supremacy on members of parliament, 
 which did not succeed ; and a bill was also pro- 
 posed for that purpose, but was rejected by the 
 council in England. Another effort was then 
 made to exclude Catholics by a *' vote of the 
 House," that all their members should take the 
 oath of supremacy and receive the sacrament 
 from the hands of the primate. This vote, how- 
 ever, had no effect, and was understood to apply 
 to protestant members only. In the Lords the 
 catholic peers continued to sit as before, and 
 were excused from the ceremony of the oath 
 and the sacrament, or from attending the prayers 
 of the House. It has ever been to be lamented 
 that the established religion has been used as an 
 instrument of faction : this abuse of the sacra- 
 ment, with an intention of annoying an adverse 
 political party, is a painful instance of the pro- 
 fanation of the solemn services of Christianity. 
 
 T 3 
 
278 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 The first parliament that sat in Ireland after 
 the Restoration was composed of even stranger 
 materials than the celebrated long parliament of 
 England. The members were all adventurers 
 and soldiers of Cromwell's stock. Many of these 
 had lately found themselves in the oddest situ- 
 ations. Great numbers were private soldiers, 
 who being suddenly advanced to the situations 
 of magistrates, sheriffs, and other dignitaries, 
 were entangled in a thousand awkwardnesses, 
 from which they had no means of escape, but in 
 the audacity of their old trade as revolutionists. 
 When they got together in parhament their em- 
 barrassments increased. But, hke true soldiers, 
 they still relied upon the resource of boldness. 
 In their intercourse with the House of Lords, they 
 got into many perplexities in consequence of 
 their ignorance of the forms and ceremonies of 
 proceeding towards their Lordships' house ; and 
 some of the disputes between the two Houses 
 upon this subject were perfectly ludicrous. The 
 Lords accused them in plain terms of ignorance 
 and vulgarity ; and finally refused to hold any 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 279 
 
 conference with such a shabby House of Com- 
 mons. The Lords' House was now a thin one, 
 but it was still the ancient House of Lords. The 
 Commons were almost entirely new. 
 
 After the restoration, Ormond, now Duke of 
 Ormond, was repeatedly lord-lieutenant. The 
 King found him almost an indispensable person 
 in the strange and awkward circumstances of 
 the country. Ormond had, himself, in a great 
 degree, created that state of things which made 
 him indispensable. He had contrived to manage 
 an interest with every party. He was intimately 
 acquainted with the state of the country, and 
 the views, character, and means of every indivi- 
 dual of rank or power. He was the great patron 
 of the Cromwellian interest, which he had ren- 
 dered the predominant interest in Ireland ; and 
 though the Catholics knew, that, next to their 
 own weakness and folly, they owed their ruin to 
 Ormond, many of them still looked up to him, 
 as the only individual who could preserve a 
 remnant of their body from being utterly de- 
 stroyed, if yet conscience or compassion had any 
 influence upon that extraordinary man. 
 
 He had now recovered his hereditary property, 
 which, all his management with the Cromwellian 
 government had not been able to preserve from 
 its grasp. Ormond's property, previous to the 
 war, had been greatly incumbered ; it owed by 
 judgment and mortgage about nine tenths of its 
 
 T 4 
 
280 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 value. He now procured an act vesting all in- 
 cumbrances affecting landed property in Ireland 
 in the King, and then obtained from His Majesty 
 a grant to himself of all incumbrances affecting 
 his own estates. In addition to this important 
 acquisition he obtained various grants of forfeited 
 lands of the confederates, estimated at that time 
 at about 600,000/. in value. His hereditary 
 estates, independently of this accession, produced 
 him, before the war, about 7OOO/. per annum. 
 They now yielded about 80,000/. a year. In 
 addition to this, the Cromwellian parliament, 
 with the " wisdom of the serpent," voted him a 
 grant of 30,000/. ; by which bribe they fixed 
 him steadily in their interest ; and stifled any 
 relentings he might have for the ruin of his own 
 connections and friends. 
 
 These enormous gains, by the calamities of 
 his country, darkened the shade which had for 
 a long time rested upon the character of this 
 eminent man. When we recollect that he was 
 the contriver and adviser of the '* Act of Settle- 
 ment," by which such immense acquisitions 
 were confirmed to himself; that the estates 
 thus acquired were the property of the old no- 
 bility of the land, with most of whom he was 
 connected by blood and long and intimate asso- 
 ciation ; that they were the very men with whom 
 he had treated in the King's name, and pledged 
 his own and his master's faith, — with whom he 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 281 
 
 had acted in the King's service, and who had even 
 served under his command ; — when all this is 
 considered, we shall not be surprised to observe, 
 even at that period, in the midst of the extraor- 
 dinary pomp and splendor wdth which he was 
 surrounded after the Restoration, and which vied 
 with, if it did not surpass, the lustre of majesty, — 
 that the finger of reproach was pointed at him, 
 and the voice of frantic suffering poured its im- 
 precations on his head ; accused him of treach- 
 ery, and made its loud and solemn appeal to 
 heaven against the splendid betrayer of his kin- 
 dred and his country. 
 
 Ormond, though he seems to have prepared 
 himself for the clamour of *' undone men," was 
 not wholly insensible to this voice when it broke 
 forth in all its violence. But while he endea- 
 voured to suppress it, he did not attempt to 
 answer. He w^as assailed by a number of pub- 
 lications printed in England and Ireland. One 
 of these, " The unkind Deserter," seemed to call 
 for a reply. But the Duke contented himself 
 with suppressing the publication and punishing 
 the printer. He did not dare to bring the ques- 
 tion into court. 
 
 During the whole war he had practised with 
 the confederates, and had prevented, by his in- 
 fluence, the Anglo-Irish from coalescing with 
 the old Irish, promising them at the Restoration 
 a triumphant restitution of their estates. When 
 
S82 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 now, therefore, he forsook those whom he had 
 betrayed, he well deserved the name of " unkind 
 deserter." 
 
 As if to atone for his sharp practice as a poli- 
 tician, and to reconcile the country to his ill- 
 gotten magnificence, he exerted himself now to 
 promote the trade and agriculture of his ruined 
 country. He made vigorous efforts to establish 
 manufactures, and exerted his great influence 
 with the British government to obtain their con- 
 currence in his plans for the improvement of 
 Ireland. His schemes were directed with skill 
 and judgment. But he had no sooner entered 
 upon this line of policy than he" was encountered 
 by the prejudices of the English people. While 
 the Duke had employed his great abilities in 
 dividing and subduing his countrymen, — even 
 while he was enriching himself with their spoils, 
 he heard from the other side of the Channel 
 nothing but voices of cheering and applause. 
 But the moment he directed his attention to 
 promote the industry, and add to the wealth of 
 Ireland, he was met by the narrow prejudices of 
 the time, and murmurs and disapprobation fol- 
 lowed his efforts. This subject was first opened 
 by the question relative to the export of cattle 
 from Ireland to Great Britain. 
 
 England, though not utterly reduced to a 
 mass of ruins Uke Ireland, had still suffered 
 severely by the war. On the Restoration, when 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 283 
 
 the excitement of the civil conflict had ceased, 
 and the energy which the genius of Cromwell 
 had breathed into the nation had passed away, 
 there came a season of extreme exhaustion. 
 Trade seemed extinguished. The revenue had 
 fallen off alarmingly. The manufacturer was 
 idle, and the merchant found no demand for 
 his wares. This state of things, which was the 
 natural consequence of the violent exertions of 
 the nation in the wars lately concluded, puzzled 
 all the poUticians of that day to account for. 
 
 The Duke of Buckingham, and other eminent 
 economists of that period, pronounced that it 
 was all owing to the importation of lean cattle 
 from Ireland. The English nation eagerly 
 adopted the profound exposition, and beset 
 the throne with remonstrances, and the par- 
 liament with petitions, against the mischief of 
 Irish cattle. Those lords and commoners, who 
 were interested in Irish estates, combated the 
 notion ; and the King seems to have had sense 
 enough to see that the evil had no connection 
 with Irish cattle. Ormond exerted himself to 
 preserve this, almost only, branch of Irish com- 
 merce then existing. 
 
 The commercial jealousy of England had 
 placed Ireland in a state of blockade. Her ports 
 were closed against external commerce ; and 
 she was interdicted all trade with foreign 
 nations. Those prohibitions had been, until 
 
^84 HISTORY OF IRELAND* 
 
 now, but imperfectly obeyed. On the coast, 
 where the Irish nobiUty of the old race had 
 longest preserved their power, they were little 
 regarded. During the power of the parliament, 
 or convention of Kilkenny, they were wholly 
 laid aside, and Ireland enjoyed an interval of 
 free trade. On the Restoration they were re- 
 newed in all their force. 
 
 It had been for a series of ages the political 
 creed of British statesmen, that Ireland was a 
 country to be governed, not with a view to the 
 happiness or well-being of its people, nor yet to 
 increase, by means of its population or resources, 
 the wealth or power of Great Britain. The 
 only ends proposed in the occupation and go- 
 vernment of that country were to preserve it 
 from falling into the hands of foreign and 
 hostile nations ; and especially to prevent it from 
 using its own energies, so as to become a power- 
 ful, prosperous, or united nation ; and, therefore, 
 as it was believed, a dangerous rival to the com- 
 mercial greatness of England, if not to her po- 
 litical power. Her natural advantages of soil, 
 climate, position, harbours, rivers, &c. were ex- 
 aggerated by the fears and jealousies of the 
 statesmen of those times ; and they looked for- 
 ward with serious apprehensions to the period 
 when the wisdom of her inhabitants, or other un- 
 happy accident, might put an end to the miseries 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. S85 
 
 of that country, and place her under the full 
 operation of her envied natural advantages. 
 
 This system of government was extremely ex- 
 pensive. It occasioned a perpetual struggle, 
 and an incessant warfare, which hardly even the 
 resources of Britain could sustain. The imaginary 
 commercial advantages, which England in this 
 way procured, were dear purchases. It had 
 always been the policy of the British adven- 
 turers in Ireland to flatter this notion, that under 
 a native government, or under a good govern- 
 ment of any kind, Ireland would become a 
 dangerous rival to Great Britain ; and they 
 eagerly promised, if assisted in their plunder 
 of the country, to keep it as poor, powerless, 
 and dependent, as could be desired. The 
 Cromwellians adopted the same idea; and in the 
 outset of their government, and at all times, it 
 was their practice to court the ruling powers 
 in England, by a systematic depression, and 
 sacrifice of the interests, of their new country. 
 In all their publications, which were very nu- 
 merous after the Restoration, and during: the 
 reigns of James and William, they put forward 
 strongly, their great merit and utility to Great 
 Britain, in paralysing the natural advantages of 
 Ireland, and preventing her from ever becom- 
 ing so considerable as to excite the fears of the 
 British government. They represented them- 
 selves as an incubus upon Ireland, or as a 
 
286 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 vampire which sucked her veins, and kept her 
 in a state of perpetual exhaustion and debiUty ; 
 and as deserving, on that account, of being en- 
 couraged and supported by all the power and 
 resources of England. 
 
 But the supposed interests of either England 
 or Ireland were of little consequence at this 
 period, compared with the great and paramount 
 question which was now at issue between the 
 Lords Buckingham and Ormond. These two 
 noblemen divided the King's favour, and the 
 British dominions between them. Ormond ap- 
 pears to have been content with the dominion of 
 Ireland, but did not brook any interference in 
 this his domain. Buckingham was not satisfied 
 that the kingdom of Ireland should be abstracted 
 from the wide extent of empire to which he 
 pretended. 
 
 The Cattle Bill was the arena upon which 
 the combatants met. The British House of 
 Commons declared the importation of Irish 
 cattle a nuismice. The lords, more discreet, 
 changed the word into detriment and mischiejl 
 The Commons, in a rage, insisted upon their 
 « nuisance ;" the Lords, with more dignity, but 
 equal pertinacity, refused to abandon their fa- 
 vourite " detriment and mischief.'' A third 
 party proposed to make the importation of Irish 
 cattle a premunire or " felony ;" and a fourth 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 28? 
 
 proposed, with more wit, but as much reason, 
 that it should be held to be " adultery." 
 
 While this contest raged, advices were received 
 of an insurrection in Scotland ; upon which the 
 Commons became suddenly appeased upon the 
 question of Irish cattle. But unluckily for the 
 Irish cattle-trade, the Scotch did not hold out 
 long ; the insurrection was subdued ; and the 
 Commons renewed their violence against the lean 
 cattle of Ireland. While this was going on, the 
 fire of London took place ; but the contest about 
 the lean cattle survived the flames, and what 
 was more extraordinary, gathered strength from 
 the conflagration. 
 
 The Irish, in the kindness of their hearts, 
 thought it necessary to make a collection for the 
 relief of the sufferers by the fire. But having 
 no money, and little other property than cattle, 
 and the land upon which they grazed, their col- 
 lection for the poor sufferers in London consisted 
 only of some thousand head of four-footed beasts. 
 The people of England, not attending to the 
 poverty of the nation, saw a deep design in this 
 plan of relief; and far from being thankful for 
 the kind intentions of their Irisli friends towards 
 them, they ascribed the proceeding to an artful 
 scheme for the introduction of Irish cattle into 
 England ; with a design thereby to ruin and de- 
 stroy the nation. The burning of London, great 
 as the calamity was, fell but upon one city ; but 
 
288 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the Irish contribution of horned cattle was 
 pointed against the well-being of the whole king- 
 dom. The gift-horse of the Greeks was not more 
 pregnant with mischief to the state of Troy, than 
 the subscription-cows of Ireland, to Great Britain. 
 The Duke of Buckingham, though probably 
 not so much alarmed as many of his countrymen 
 at the cows, still continued to oppose the im- 
 portation, and used all his influence to push the 
 bill with the nidsmice clause through the House. 
 He declared that no one would oppose the bill, 
 but such as had ** Irish estates," or ** Irish un- 
 derstandings :" this was considered, it seems, in 
 that day, as a sarcasm, and one which ought to 
 be resented. Lord Ossory, son to the Duke of 
 Ormond, sent a challenge to His Grace of Buck- 
 ingham, who, not choosing to fight a man " with 
 an Irish understanding," preferred complaining 
 to the House, and Lord Ossory was sent to the 
 Tower. Thousrh the Duke of Buckingham's ob- 
 jection was not an uncommon one, yet it did not 
 appear perfectly satisfactory, and the young 
 Lord was soon released ; and we find him a short 
 time after, still contending against the bill, and 
 taunting the promoters of it with exercising a 
 virulence *' fitting only for the counsellors of 
 Cromwell." This expression fell upon sore 
 places. But none of the Cromwellian Lords 
 challenged the young man with the " Irish un- 
 derstanding." They were, however, the stronger 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 289 
 
 party, and the Bill passed with the ** nuisance" 
 clause. 
 
 Lord Ossory appears to have been a young 
 man of excellent character. He was much ad- 
 mired in England 5 and in Ireland he was beloved. 
 Full of courage, candour, and nobleness of mind, 
 his ambition seems to have been of a higher order 
 than his father's. Valuing power and posses- 
 sions less, he was free to exercise his talents, 
 (and they seem to have been considerable,) in 
 the more glorious pursuit of doing good, and pro- 
 moting the welfare of his country and dependents. 
 
 In contending against the Cattle Bill, Ormond 
 and Ossory had, no doubt, taken the course which 
 their own interest, as well as that of Ireland, sug^ 
 gested. All foreign trade being prohibited, the 
 trade with England alone remained ; and this con- 
 sisted chiefly in the exchange of live cattle for 
 manufactured commodities or for money. With- 
 out this trade Irish estates could pay no rents, 
 or pay them only in cattle or corn. Accordingly, 
 when the Cattle Bill put an end to the remnant 
 that remained of Irish commerce, all contracts 
 and other dealings in Ireland were transacted by 
 way of exchange ; cattle was the sole currency 
 of the country. The subscriptions to relieve the 
 sufferers by the fire of London had been of ne- 
 cessity in this inconvenient coin. There was no 
 other. Taxes, rents, and subsidies to the crown, 
 were collected and paid in cattle. 
 
 VOL. I. u 
 
290 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 This extraordinary state of things was brought 
 about by the severe coercion of the British sys- 
 tem, never before completely established, but 
 now executed in all its rigour, through the agency 
 of the Cromwellian settlement. In the remotest 
 times of history, Ireland abounded in gold and 
 silver. The most ancient Irish deeds, and books 
 of rents and tributes, all specify their reservations 
 in ounces of the precious metals, as well as in 
 corn and cattle, and in horses, arms, and manu- 
 factured cloth. 
 
 The scarcity of gold and silver at this period 
 was occasioned, in a great measure also, no 
 doubt, by the immense emigration which had 
 taken place. Those who abandoned their homes 
 and country for ever carried with them as large 
 a supply of the precious metals as they could 
 collect, converting all their property, at whatever 
 sacrifice, into money, and thus sweeping the 
 country of all its store of gold. Another cause 
 of the drain of the metals was, perhaps, the new 
 class of absentee proprietors, which was formed, 
 or extended, by the late wars, and to whom now 
 a large portion of the rents of Ireland began to 
 be remitted. 
 
 The Scotch parliament, thinking, no doubt, that 
 the parliament of London was the perfection of 
 political wisdom, and that if Irish cattle were a 
 nuisance in England, they could not be less de- 
 structive of Scotch prosperity, passed an act pro- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. ^91 
 
 hibiting the importation of cattle and corn from 
 Ireland into Scotland. The Scotch at that 
 period took their political economy from Eng- 
 land ; since then, the English have been supplied 
 with this manufacture by the Scotch. The 
 English article was then, undoubtedly, of bad 
 quality. The modern science is certainly a great 
 improvement, though far from having arrived at 
 that certainty or perfection which it so confi- 
 dently boasts. 
 
 Finding themselves persecuted by the Scotch 
 and English economists, the Irish were driven to 
 measures of relief and retaliation, in which the 
 Cromwellian parliament were forced, from the 
 severe pressure of the case upon themselves, to 
 concur* The importation of manufactured 
 goods from Scotland, consisting of linens, 
 woollens, stockings, gloves, and a variety of 
 other articles, were prohibited by the Irish par- 
 liament. And the King, by an order of council, 
 which he contrived to procure ** for the further 
 relief of his Irish subjects," permitted them a 
 free trade to all foreign countries, whether at 
 war or peace with His Majesty. This was an 
 extraordinary permission, and deserves to be 
 noticed for its singularity and wisdom. 
 
 The King had made every effort to conquer 
 the prejudices of his English subjects, or to 
 soften the hostility of Buckingham, whose only 
 object was to distress and annoy Ormond, and 
 
 u 2 
 
^92 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 he could not succeed. He therefore permitted 
 his Irish subjects to carry on that trade with 
 foreigners, which the EngUsh decUned, when 
 they refused the only medium of exchange 
 which the country afforded. But when he per- 
 mitted them to trade with foreign nations, 
 whether at war or peace with the King, he set 
 an example of wisdom and humanity, which it 
 is to be regretted has never been followed by 
 Christian belligerents. The vices of this prince 
 found imitators in all ages ; this single instance of 
 virtue and sound policy has never found one. 
 
 Ormond, in the mean time, pursued steadily 
 his plan of promoting the internal improvement 
 of the country. He imported a number of 
 foreigners from the Low Countries, skilled in the 
 woollen and linen manufactures, and settled them 
 on his own estates at Clonmel and Carrick, in 
 the county of Tipperary, and in the neighbour- 
 hood of Dublin. He had an ambition to rival 
 Strafford in his improvements, as he certainly imi- 
 tated him in his ambition and love of wealth. 
 But Ormond had neither the elevation of Straf- 
 ford's character nor his imprudence. Ormond 
 was a trimmer ; Strafford was a direct and 
 straight-forward man. Like Ormond, he loved 
 wealth and power, but he would stoop to no 
 compromise to obtain them. Strafford did not 
 suffer death for his vices but for his honesty. 
 Ormond reaped unmeasured wealth and honours. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. ^93 
 
 not by means of his virtues or his talents, but as 
 the reward of his treachery and meanness. 
 
 About this time the Duke lost his distinguished 
 son Ossory, the honour and ornament of his 
 house. But this severe domestic calamity does 
 not seem to have abated in the old man his 
 passion for wealth or power : he still clung to his 
 place, and continued his contest with Buck- 
 ingham. 
 
 While contending with the intrigues of his 
 powerful rival, and occupied with the cares of 
 his government, he was suddenly alarmed with 
 the rumour of a plot, which reached him while 
 at a distance from Dublin. As he approached 
 the city the report gained strength, though still 
 it was indistinct and confused, like the sound of 
 distant thunder ; but there was enough to give 
 note of the storm that was mustering its rage. 
 
 At length a despatch from the Secretary of 
 State in England reached him, with the official 
 announcement of the popish plot; a ramification 
 of which, he was informed, extended to Ireland, 
 where great numbers were implicated. The 
 despatch concluded with the alarming intelli- 
 gence that the Duke himself was marked out as 
 one of the destined victims of the plot in that 
 country. 
 
 u 3 
 
294' HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 Ormond was too old and experienced a plot- 
 maker not to discern instantly the true character 
 of this new fabrication ; but he was also too 
 well acquainted with the force and power of the 
 machine, to make any attempt to stop its action 
 or impede its movement. He knew that the 
 only means of safety were to be found in per- 
 mitting it full play, and suffering it to exhaust 
 its momentum upon its appointed victims. He 
 affected to give full credence to the plot ; seemed 
 to be duly alarmed, and hastened to take im- 
 mediate measures to disarm the Catholics, and 
 secure all suspected persons. 
 
 Three persons were named to Ormond as prin- 
 cipals in the plot in Ireland, whom he was directed 
 immediately to apprehend and secure ; and it 
 deserves notice, that in the choice of these three 
 persons, the plot-makers were particularly un- 
 happy. One of these, Lord Mountgarret, was 
 dying of old age ; another, Peter Talbot, was 
 dying of disease ; and the third, Colonel Pep- 
 pard, happened never to have been in existence. 
 There was no such person. The two dying 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 295 
 
 men were easily secured ; the other baffled all 
 pursuit. Notwithstanding Ormond's admirable 
 acting upon this occasion, and some measures 
 of great severity against the catholics, which he 
 found it absolutely necessary to adopt, the 
 fabricators of the plot were not content. They 
 suspected him of incredulity, and called for 
 stronger proofs of his faith. And they conde- 
 scended to assist the wisdom of the chief go- 
 vernor, by pointing out, that all persons of rank 
 or pretended rank, of Irish name^ should be 
 secured and imprisoned. 
 
 From the reign of Elizabeth, when the power 
 of the old Irish nobility was first broken, we 
 find this odium, and proscription of names, pre- 
 vailing very generally in Ireland. It was an 
 affectation of the descendants of the Cromwellian 
 soldiers and adventurers to consider the names 
 of the old nobility of Ireland as ungenteel, and 
 whenever a plot could be got up, or a disturbance 
 excited, it was the fashion to suspect all who 
 bore those ancient appellations, and sometimes to 
 take the name as proof of treason. But on this 
 occasion the Duke ventured to disregard the in- 
 timations he received. He understood them too 
 well. They hinted at a game he had himself 
 played with success, but which he was nowtoo old 
 to attempt, and little inclined to practise for the 
 benefit of others. He was too proud a man to 
 be the instrument of another's villany. He had 
 
 u 4 
 
296 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 done too much against the Irish, and did not 
 choose to goad the remnant of that body to de- 
 struction. 
 
 Ormond's prudence preserved the tranquilhty 
 of Ireland. But the contrivers of the plot were 
 enraged at the address with which he met and 
 foiled their artifices. They had counted upon 
 creating a great combustion in Ireland ; and, 
 contrary to all former precedent, it continued 
 tranquil. Efforts, however, were still made to 
 push the plot into active operation, though 
 with a strange fatality of folly and absurdity. 
 Reports were spread of an intended invasion 
 from France ; and a vessel was named as having 
 sailed for Waterford with arms and military 
 stores. The vessel arrived at Waterford, and 
 was seized and examined, and it was found that 
 her whole cargo consisted of salt. But it was 
 in vain that every attempt to establish the plot, 
 upon any foundation of credibility, failed one 
 after another. A victim was indispensable ; and 
 one was at length found in Plunkett, the Roman 
 catholic Archbishop of Armagh. 
 
 The Bishop was tried in London, for an offence 
 alleged to be committed in Ireland. The most 
 profligate witnesses, and the most improbable 
 testimony, were produced against him. Time 
 was refused him to bring evidence from Ireland, 
 which would have proved the impossibility of 
 the charges. He was eagerly convicted and 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 297 
 
 hurried to execution. There are many instances 
 in Irish history of the shocking violation of 
 justice committed in the case of Bishop Plunkett, 
 by trying him out of his own country, at a dis- 
 tance from all means of defence, and where the 
 characters of the accused and of the witnesses 
 must be wholly unknown. In the previous reign 
 Lord Maguire had been so tried ; and though 
 there is no doubt that he was concerned in the 
 conspiracy for which he suffered, it is equally 
 certain that the proceedings against him were 
 illegal and unjust : to the last moment of his 
 existence he was tortured with a persecution on 
 account of his religion, and with efforts to extort 
 from him an accusation against the King, that 
 present us with a frightful picture of the cruelty 
 and wickedness of our species. 
 
 Plunkett was a man of virtuous and mild 
 character : he was distinguished in Ireland for 
 having always used the influence which his high 
 rank in the church gave him, to promote peace 
 and obedience to the government. It was pro- 
 bably thought that he was just such a man as 
 would be likely to rouse indignation in Ireland, 
 by his death and sufferings. But if Plunkett's 
 murder was a trap for disturbances it did not 
 succeed. Horror and dismay were the only 
 effects produced upon the minds of the people 
 by this atrocious proceeding. While Oates and 
 his accomplices were running their career of 
 
298 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 blood in England, Ireland was preserved chiefly 
 by the humanity and good sense of Lord Or» 
 mond, from the full power of the visitation, 
 
 Ify as there is strong reason to suspect, the po- 
 pish plot was the contrivance of Shaftesbury 
 and his accomplices ; we are not therefore to 
 hold that person guilty to the full extent of all 
 the enormities with which it became charged in 
 its progress. When once launched from his hand 
 the plot probably went its own train, and its 
 original contriver might have lost all control 
 over it. It is likely that it soon became the sole 
 property of the base and horrible wretches who 
 were intended, by the first movers, to be no 
 more than mere instruments. They had tasted 
 of blood ; and we are too near the period of real 
 and fictitious plots in Ireland not to know that 
 the hvformer soon acquires a rabid appetite for 
 human gore, which grows upon him, and is 
 only to be appeased by large and promiscuous 
 slaughter. 
 
 There is no country where fictitious plots 
 have been so much employed as political engines 
 as in Great Britain and Ireland. The reason, 
 perhaps, is to be found in the degree of political 
 liberty enjoyed in these countries* They have 
 been resorted to as a means of acting upon the 
 government, by first acting upon the people. 
 In the absolute governments of the Continent 
 the state takes no impression from the populace. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 299 
 
 Such instruments, therefore, could effect nothing, 
 and could hardly be put into action in those 
 countries. It is only in England that it is some- 
 times possible to acquire, or to preserve, high 
 political station by the base artifice of exciting 
 the passions of the people by false represent- 
 ations. 
 
 It is not very clear what was the original ob- 
 ject or design of Oates's plot. That any virtu- 
 ous intent could have been contemplated, it is 
 difficult to believ^e. Yet it is certain that this 
 foul plot served as a bulwark against the encroach- 
 ing despotism of the Stuarts. It kept alive 
 the spirit of liberty in England, then accidentally 
 associated with the spirit of protestantism ; and 
 perhaps gave courage to the treason and support 
 to the patriotism, which afterwards, under Wil- 
 liam, accomplished the deliverance of England 
 from the yoke of the imbecile James. 
 
 The King, who must have known the falsehood 
 of the plot, like his Lieutenant Ormond, suffered 
 it to take its course, and never interposed the 
 prerogative of mercy in favour of its innocent 
 victims. It is said, he dared not. But the power 
 that was too feeble for justice was sufficient for 
 oppression. In a short time after the plot had 
 spent its force, Charles found means to establish 
 the most formidable despotism that ever pre- 
 vailed in Britain ; and this, notwithstanding the 
 recent enactment of some of the best laws and 
 
300 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 most important provisions for the preservation of 
 liberty that have been ever devised in any coun- 
 try. A remarkable instance of the inefficacy of 
 laws, before their spirit is imbibed by the people. 
 During this period of " the best laws and the 
 worst government," the Cromwelhan settlers in 
 Ireland were in a state of great alarm. Exceed- 
 ingly apprehensive when any passing cloud of 
 events appeared to throw a shade upon their new 
 possessions, they were terrified at the boundless 
 power which Charles seemed to have acquired, 
 and his reported popish propensities. They would 
 have pardoned him his unjust prosecutions and ex- 
 orbitant fines, — the expulsion of Locke from 
 Oxford, and the death of Sidney and Russel. 
 They might have been consoled even when they 
 beheld the nation, from end to end, glorying in 
 its servility, and enamoured of its chains, and 
 when they saw the universities, which ought to be 
 the strong holds of liberty, pouring forth their 
 hosts of learned, pious, and enlightened men, to 
 fawn upon the footstool of power, and record 
 their satisfaction at their country's disgrace. 
 They would not have quarrelled with the King's 
 abuse of authority, provided they could have 
 shared with him a fellow^ship of tyranny. But 
 his propensity to popery threatened the alarming 
 prospect of justice or indulgence to the catholics, 
 and filled them with dismay. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 301 
 
 The King now thought himself strong enough 
 to take decided steps in favour of that religion, 
 to which, as far as he was capable of valuing any 
 religion, he seemed inclined ; and which, proba- 
 bly, he looked upon as affording the surest basis 
 whereupon to erect a permanent structure of 
 absolute power. With these views it was deter- 
 mined to change the executive government in 
 Ireland ; and the King, in a letter written with 
 his own hand, notified to Ormond the necessity 
 he was under of relieving him from the weight 
 of government in that country. 
 
 Ormond could not conceal his mortification in 
 parting with power, even in his extreme old age. 
 " I was much to seek,^' said he, ** what it could 
 be that was fit for the King to command, and 
 yet would be hard to impose upon me to exe- 
 cute." While yet the Viceroy was lamenting 
 the loss of his viceregal sceptre, the crown itself 
 fell from the head of Charles. The King died 
 suddenly. 
 
 The character of Charles has been often drawn ; 
 and those who have drawn it latest, have drawn 
 it blackest. In proportion as the scenes with 
 which he was connected have passed into dis- 
 tance not too remote, we have seen them more 
 distinctly. The troubled politics of the period, 
 the splendour and gaiety of Charles's court, have 
 faded away, and we discern the figures of the 
 pageant, and among them, Charles himself in 
 
302 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the sober light with which time, and distance, and 
 death, invest all mortal subjects. 
 
 Charles stood between his father and brother, 
 a more agreeable and worse man than either. 
 Cold, cruel, profligate, false, he was yet instru- 
 mental, by his very faults, in laying the found- 
 ations of British liberty, and, by the only virtue 
 he possessed, of preparing the ruin and overthrow 
 of his family. If he had been a prince of any 
 character or energy, those securities against ar- 
 bitrary power, which were the fruit of his reign, 
 would probably not have been sought for, or 
 would not have been obtained. If he had not 
 had some small regard for religion, and some 
 slight degree of principle as connected with that 
 subject, it would have been easy for him to have 
 established, upon a protestant foundation, the 
 most grievous tyranny the country ever experi- 
 enced. But his inclination towards the catholic 
 church made him disregard the prostrations of 
 the universities, and turn a cold eye upon the 
 long train of churchmen that crept in the dust 
 at his feet, and courted even his most scornful 
 regard. By this conscientious conduct the King 
 fostered that discontent of the establishment, 
 which, after renewing its vain submissions to his 
 successor, at length took arms against the throne, 
 and helped to overturn it. 
 
 The extreme anxiety of the church to preserve 
 its connection with the crown was not surprising. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 303 
 
 The established religion of England is the reli- 
 gion of the rich and the polite ; but as these 
 classes are rarely religious, the church has little 
 hold upon society, whatever may be its import- 
 ance as a parliamentary or state machine. De- 
 prived of the countenance of government, the 
 episcopal church would lose almost its sole sup- 
 port. The middle and lower orders of the peo- 
 ple hang loosely upon it, or are scattered among 
 the sectaries. 
 
 The church of England has never been able 
 to attain what that of Rome has so perfectly ac- 
 complished, to be the religion of the rich and the 
 poor. The secret, perhaps, is to be found in the 
 grand spectacle of the sacrifice which the Roman 
 church presents in her celibacy ; which gives 
 her ministry the semblance if not the reality 
 of a vocation, while the British church has all 
 the appearance, and in many cases the reality, 
 of a mere profession. 
 
 The reformed church had in the outset the 
 taint of impure motive. The great men of the 
 Reformation had little other object in view than 
 the plunder of the old establishment. Nor when 
 the new church had accumulated wealth was 
 the contrast favourable, which she presented, 
 with the old. The old establishment, like the 
 new, had been greedy of wealth, but had used 
 it differently. Notwithstanding many abuses, 
 the poor were provided for : at her expense the 
 
304f HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 sick and the stranger had provision made for 
 their wants. Her '^ orders of charity" were 
 multipUed as the exigencies of the people in- 
 creased. Mansions of " hospitaUty" were erected 
 for the way-farer in the desert. Her " missions" 
 extended over the globe, and were often zealous 
 and devoted. At home, her tenants lived in 
 ease and abundance on her domains, and hardly 
 felt the light rents they paid, while she reared 
 every where costly and beautiful churches at 
 her own expense, and without charge to the peo- 
 ple, for the worship of God and the ornament of 
 the country. 
 
 All this was changed at the Reformation. 
 With the purer doctrines of the reformed 
 church came an increase of the burdens of the 
 people. Charity and zeal (odd effect) seemed 
 extinguished by the truth. The poor, and the 
 sick, and the stranger, were left to the tender 
 mercies of the parish officers ; the missions 
 ceased ; the orders of mercy were no more ; 
 the expense of building churches was thrown 
 upon the laity ; and a new and meaner order of 
 architecture showed the melancholy change 
 which had taken place. The tithe was collected 
 with severity ; and the pastors and the flock ex- 
 hausted their animosities in the courts of law. 
 
 The reformation in England and Scotland, as 
 on the Continent, derived its chief support from 
 the division of the church domains amongst the 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 305 
 
 first reformers. Those who had got church and 
 abbey lands contended strenously for the truth 
 of the reformation, and the gospel purity of 
 the new worship. In Ireland there was still a 
 stronger interest combined with the cause of 
 the reformation. The entire CromwelHan inter- 
 est rested upon it. The re-estabhshment of the 
 Roman church would include the re-establish- 
 ment of the Irish proprietors in their estates. 
 The preservation of the Protestant worship was 
 considered as a security for the possessions of 
 the CromwelHan soldiers. Hence the zeal for 
 the Protestant faith, and the struggles for the 
 reformed religion which prevailed at this period, 
 and long after in Ireland. A rare and happy 
 union of the interests of this world and the next ; 
 though pronounced to be impossible. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
306 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAP. XXIL 
 
 REIGN OF JAMES II. 
 
 James the Second was a professed Catholic in 
 religion ; in poUtics he entertained the high 
 prerogative notions of his father and grand- 
 father. He was a man of too httle mind to dis- 
 cern that those notions were unsuited to the age 
 and nation that he Kved in. The storm which 
 drove him from his throne had been felt even 
 in his brother's reign ; but James had not sense 
 enough to be warned. He relied too much 
 upon the support of France, and upon the appa- 
 rent submission of the people of England. The 
 easy defeat of Monmouth's rebellion was fatal to 
 him ; but what was more fatal still was the ge- 
 neral corruption which prevailed at his court, 
 and of which he himself set the first unhappy 
 example. 
 
 Charles and James were humble pensioners of 
 France; Lewis feared the power of England. 
 He had seen what she could accomplish, when, 
 for the short period of the Commonwealth, she 
 put forth her strength and took her place, with- 
 out question, the first and greatest of the nations 
 of Europe. This place he had himself assumed, 
 and was ambitious to preserve for the kingdom. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 307 
 
 whose glory and splendour were all concentrated 
 in his own person. He had an idea of the 
 magnificence of simple despotism ; and was by 
 no means disposed to suffer Charles to be in- 
 vested with this high and enviable dignity. Lewis 
 was too refined a politician, and frequently de- 
 feated his own schemes, by excess of artifice and 
 finesse. If he had gone directly to his object, 
 and chosen to make Charles, or at a later period, 
 James, absolute in England, he might probably 
 have accomplished it. But in attempting to 
 keep up a balance of parties in the state, for the 
 purpose of creating a general weakness and dis- 
 traction of all, he left place for some strong and 
 straight-forward power to pierce through the 
 confusion, whenever in the progress of events 
 such a power should appear. 
 
 Lewis pensioned the king, his family, his fa- 
 vourites, his mistresses, his ministers. A gene- 
 ral system of foreign bribery was established. 
 But it was not confined to the court ; the French 
 minister bribed all parties ; the Catholic party 
 and the Protestant party ; the king's party and 
 the country party ; the episcopalians and the 
 dissenters ; the monarchy-men and the repub- 
 licans. All, or almost all, received stipendiary 
 or occasional biibes from France, not to accom- 
 plish a common object, but that the general 
 conflict and collision of parties might be so 
 
 X 2 
 
308 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 sustained and kept up that the result might be 
 a eceneral weakness and distraction of the nation. 
 
 It would be unjust, perhaps, to conclude that 
 every one who took the money of France re- 
 ceived it with a concurrence in the donor's 
 views, or with a knowledge of the part he was 
 acting towards others. Possibly some of the 
 popular leaders, who are now known to have 
 taken the money of France, might have thought 
 themselves justified in supporting the cause of 
 liberty and their country even by such means. 
 The whole was a game of chicane and duplicity ; 
 and the French minister might sometimes have 
 been the dupe of as cunning intriguers as those 
 of his own schooh 
 
 On James's accession to the throne the po- 
 litical agitation was greater in Ireland than in 
 England. The property which depended for its 
 security on the colour of James's politics and 
 creed, was much greater in the former country 
 than in the latter, and was also of much more 
 recent acquirement. In England the church 
 lands were almost the only property that was 
 threatened. The question in Ireland included 
 not only the church lands, but the right also of 
 private property to about two-thirds of the king- 
 dom. In England the church claim was neces- 
 sarily a general one, in which no particular in- 
 dividuals could state themselves to be aggrieved. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 309 
 
 In Ireland the dispossessed proprietors, or their 
 heirs, were on the spot, and clamoured loudly for 
 their ancient inheritances. They pointed to the 
 fields, the farms, the castles, and mansion houses, 
 which had been theirs, which they had lost in the 
 service of the crown, and which were now in the 
 possession of the men who had brought the first 
 Charles to the block. They enlarged upon this 
 strange retribution, this singular fortune of loyalty 
 and treason, under a religious and absolute prince, 
 whose sacred duty it was to do justice, and 
 whose power was without bounds. 
 
 The new proprietors heard all this clamour, 
 and were fully sensible of their danger. But 
 James was on the throne, and there was no 
 remedy. Ormond in this crisis used to comfort 
 the new settlers in their despair with his old 
 maxim, "Let my countrymen alone, and they 
 will ruin their own cause ; — that is your only 
 security, but it is enough." The result justified 
 Ormond's sagacity on this as upon former occa- 
 sions. But it must be observed that fortune as 
 well as their own imprudence was against the 
 Catholics. 
 
 James's outset in his new character of mon- 
 arch was promising. He began by calming 
 the religious fears of his subjects by a formal 
 declaration in the shape of a speech to his coun- 
 cil, in which he announced the principle which 
 was to govern the new reign in civil, and 
 
 X 3 
 
310 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 especially in religious matters. He promised 
 favour and protection to the church of England, 
 and respect for the property of his subjects, and 
 the rights and liberties of the nation. 
 
 In Ireland the Duke of Ormond was removed 
 from the government ; not to make way for 
 any supporter of Cathohcity, but to give place 
 to Lord Clarendon, who was known to be zeal- 
 ously attached to the interest of the church of 
 Encrland. In like manner Lord Lauderdale 
 was appointed to the government of Scotland, 
 a nobleman distinguished for his zeal in the 
 cause of Episcopacy. Thus in England, Ire- 
 land, and Scotland, James's first care was to 
 allay the fears, and win the confidence of the 
 established religion. In this he appears to have 
 succeeded. Finding that the church answered 
 to the spell he had used, and was ready to com- 
 pound for his attachment to Rome, on condition 
 of being permitted to share in the luxury of per- 
 secution, James hastened to enter upon this 
 scene of enjoyment in the plenitude of powder. 
 
 His first experiments were made in Scotland, 
 where, even under his brother's reign, he had 
 tasted the delicious draught which power can 
 extract from misery. The most enormous 
 wickedness, the most cruel murders, were com- 
 mitted by the government of Scotland upon the 
 devoted people of that nation. During these 
 transactions, which have never been surpassed 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 311 
 
 in barbarity, James's popularity in England 
 continued every day to increase. The par- 
 liament, the universities, the legal profession, 
 all ranks and orders of the people, pressed 
 round the throne, declaring their admiration of 
 the oppressor, and especially of the oppression ; 
 and their devotion to the usual extent of *' life 
 and fortune'* in defence of both. So true it is 
 that the people delight in tyranny when they 
 are not the object of it, but are permitted to 
 imagine some identity with the tyrant. 
 
 The king's proceedings in Scotland produced 
 resistance in that country, and led to Argyle's 
 feeble insurrection and Monmouth's disastrous 
 invasion. James drank to the dregs the intox- 
 icating cup of cruelty, in the blood of those two 
 men. The death of two such victims seemed 
 calculated to consolidate his authority, and ^x 
 his power on as solid a basis as that of his bro- 
 ther Charles, which had resisted the assaults of 
 exasperated patriotism without, and the under- 
 minings of corruption within. But it was at 
 this very moment of his utmost triumph that his 
 throne was shaken. 
 
 The barbarities that had been long practised 
 in Scotland with impunity were now brought 
 home to the people of England, by the defeat 
 of Monmouth. The people were roused by the 
 excesses of the soldiery and the brutality of Jef- 
 fries ; and they were shocked by the cruelty and 
 
 X 4 
 
312 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 hardness of heart which James exhibited towards 
 his unhappy nephew. James did not feel the 
 shock his power had received. He only saw his 
 enemies vanquished and bleeding, and the nation 
 prostrate at his feet. Emboldened by these ap- 
 pearances, he now considered that the time was 
 arrived when that portion of his scheme of policy 
 which regarded religion might be carried into 
 effect with safety. He declared his intention of 
 opening the army to Roman Catholics. He sent 
 Richard Talbot, with the title of Earl of Tyrcon- 
 nel, a Roman Catholic, into Ireland as commander 
 in chief, with full powers to remodel the army 
 in that country without the control or concur- 
 rence of the Lord Lieutenant. He removed the 
 Duke of Queensbury from the government of 
 Scotland, and placed the Earl of Murray, who 
 had embraced the Catholic religion, in that high 
 office. He sent an ambassador to Rome, and 
 received one from the Pope, at his court, in re- 
 turn. He issued a declaration o^ indulgence, as 
 it was called ; the object of which was to esta- 
 blish a perfect equality, as to civil rights amongst 
 all the Christian sects. This last measure was no 
 more than simple justice. But simple justice is 
 often the greatest merit that can be imagined, 
 and it was so in this case. There is reason to 
 believe that James really intended no more, than 
 to establish equality of religious rights, and 
 freedom of religious opinion J and higher merit 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 313 
 
 there could not be than such an intention in the 
 age in which he lived. 
 
 But the chastisement due to men's vices is fre- 
 quently inflicted by their virtues. Often do they 
 run a course of triumphant wickedness, until 
 some solitary virtue, which God bestowed upon 
 them in his wrath, attracts the lightning, and 
 they are destroyed. The idea of a perfect equal- 
 ity amongst sects and creeds could not, in James's 
 time, be understood. One simple notion pre- 
 vailed universally, that all the sects were hostile 
 bodies, and the one which by fortune or favour 
 obtained the ascendency, was entitled to perse- 
 cute and oppress all others. James's measures 
 in favour of religious liberty were therefore taken 
 to be nothing more than preparatory movements 
 towards the establishment of Popery, and the 
 exaltation of the Romish church upon the ruins 
 of the Protestant worship. Parliament was roused, 
 and the nation from end to end took the alarm. 
 
 The sensation in Ireland was extraordinary. 
 A rumour was in circulation that the king was 
 bound by treaty with France to effect a restor- 
 ation of the dispossessed proprietors of Ireland 
 to their estates, now in the possession of the 
 CromwelUan party, or their descendants. We 
 have, since, the authority of the French Minister 
 at London (Barrillon), that such at least was 
 James's determination. 
 
 James proceeded rapidly. He issued an order 
 
314 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 for the reading of the declaration of *' Indul- 
 gence" in the churches in England and Ireland ; 
 and in the latter country an order still more 
 alarming was made, (if any thing could then be 
 more alarming than a cessation of religious per- 
 secution,) for disarming the Protestants. The 
 pretence for this order was Monmouth's rebel- 
 lion. There is undoubtedly reason to think that 
 the Irish Protestants were concerned, to some 
 extent, in that unhappy enterprize ; and there is 
 no doubt at all that if it had met with any suc- 
 cess, they were ready and prepared to take the 
 field against James. Some slight movements 
 had been made, but fortunately for the Irish of 
 that party, the struggle was too short to commit 
 them. 
 
 The disarming occasioned deep murmurs and 
 discontent, and was not effected without diffi- 
 culty ; and perhaps was only peaceably accom- 
 plished through the persuasions of Clarendon, 
 who was himself already engaged in the con- 
 spiracy forming against James, but who saw that 
 the time of action was not yet arrived, and that 
 for the present submission was the better policy. 
 
 It was not without reason that the Cromwel- 
 lians murmured against a measure which exposed 
 them naked and unarmed to the resentments of 
 a population against whom they had so deeply 
 offended. The cry of the settlers, now exposed 
 to the resentment of the people, resounded 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 315 
 
 throughout the land; and it is only surprising 
 that the account of their sufferings extends very 
 little beyond mere waste and spoil committed by 
 Tories and other banditti, the natural growth 
 of unsettled times. 
 
 Forty years had passed since the Cromwellians 
 had swept the great provinces of Leinster and 
 Munster, and much of Ulster and Connaught, 
 with fire and sword, and had not left a babe 
 at the breast, nor youth, nor helpless age, 
 male or female, which their remorseless but vain 
 policy had not destroyed ; and now they were 
 surrounded on all sides by a tide of population 
 which threatened to swallow them up. This 
 population had descended from the mountains, 
 — from springs concealed in the cliffs, and inac- 
 cessible heights and declivities, and had spread 
 and expanded in the plains. A remnant of the 
 people had taken shelter in the wastes and wil- 
 dernesses of the country, and were saved; these 
 were the fountains of the new population, which 
 now again pressed the invaders upon all sides 
 with a full measure of the spirit of their ancestors. 
 The Cromwellians saw that the time was draw- 
 ing near when it would be necessary to fight the 
 battle over again. Their fathers had left them 
 the inheritance of a perpetual conflict. 
 
 James had laid his plans with no small share 
 of sagacity ; and he carried them into execution, 
 at the commencement of his reign, with some 
 
316 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 degree of skill and address. His objects were 
 despotic power and the Roman religion. It is 
 not easy to tell, nor is it material to settle, which 
 of those he valued the more highly. Perhaps 
 he thought that one would have been incomplete 
 without the other. There were two great parties 
 in the nation ; the Whigs, with whom the dis- 
 senters chiefly concurred, and the Tories, who en- 
 joyed the support of the establishment. The 
 church and the Tories were the natural allies of 
 absolute power. They never quarrelled with 
 despotism, except when their own preservation 
 made it indispensable. The king wisely com- 
 menced his projected career, by making gentle 
 advances towards those confederate powers. He 
 easily won their willing confidence ; and with 
 their aid he found no difficulty in subduing his 
 great enemies, the Whigs. Despotism was esta- 
 blished. But when the king, flushed with the 
 victory he had won, turned round upon his eccle- 
 siastical allies, and would have sacrificed them to 
 their old rivals of Rome, they were amazed ; — 
 and hesitated, in an agony of sorrow and de- 
 spair, as to the course they should pursue. But 
 at length they took their resolution, and joined 
 the Whigs in a body. 
 
 The crown was strong enough to beat down 
 one portion of its subjects with the aid of 
 another, but was too weak to stand against both. 
 All the great parties in England were now 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 317 
 
 arrayed against James. A number of the bishops 
 remonstrated with him against his order for 
 reading the declaration of religious toleration 
 in the churches ; and rested their refusal upon 
 the constitutional ground that such a toleration 
 was contrary to the existing laws, and was an 
 assumption of the old abuse of a dispensing 
 power in the crown. The church, in fact, was 
 forced to adopt for the occasion the language 
 and principles of Whiggism. 
 
 The king lost his temper. He had been so 
 long used to unqualified submission and arbitrary 
 power, that he knew not how to accommodate 
 himself to any questioning of his commands. 
 He hesitated however ; but the folly of imbeci- 
 lity, or treacherous counsels, pushed him on, and 
 the bishops were sent to the Tower. This was 
 the fatal step that decided James's destiny. He 
 tells us himself that he was led to this false step 
 by recollecting that his father had suffered the 
 loss of his crown and life by the want of steadi- 
 ness and decision. This was true. But the 
 obstinacy of weakness is as fatal as its oscillation. 
 It was wisdom and strength of character that 
 Charles wanted, and which James vainly en- 
 deavoured to supply by an inflexibihty of folly. 
 He saw his father's defect, but did not perceive 
 that it was also his own, and that nature had de- 
 nied him the remedy. 
 
 The bishops were tried and acquitted. Their 
 
318 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 acquittal was the first grand overthrow of the 
 king ; and was celebrated throughout England 
 as a national triumph. James now encountered 
 resistance on every side. The lately obsequious 
 universities, which had licked the dust under 
 his feet, struggled stoutly against his authority, 
 and refused to obey his commands. He stood 
 alone in a conflict with all England. In Ireland 
 only, he had a powerful party, which, if he had 
 known how to use, might still have established 
 his throne. But as he lost his temper he became 
 confused. His schemes and plans, all deranged 
 by a single check, were falling in ruin around 
 him. He was a man of no resources. Though 
 his plans were not badly laid, the slightest ac- 
 cident was sufficient to produce irremediable 
 confusion. The insincerity and flexibility of 
 the first Charles had occasioned the destruction 
 of that prince. The obstinacy and honesty of 
 James's character produced similar results. It 
 was, in both cases, the m.ere want of ordinary ca- 
 pacity, or weakness taking opposite courses. 
 
 The power of the church as a political body 
 has been magnified in consequence of the ruin 
 of James following upon its desertion. No body 
 of men have been more industrious or successful 
 in exaggerating their political influence ; and 
 they have found their account in this practice. 
 Of itself the church could not have shaken the 
 throne of James ; but it was a considerable ac- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. SIQ 
 
 cession to the power of the Whigs, which was 
 now directed with great vigour to that object. 
 Aided by the church, the Whigs had succeeded 
 in inoculating the nation once more with its 
 old epidemic abhorrence of Popery. While this 
 phrensy raged, that party were always sure to 
 climb the summit of power. In its progress 
 they became independent of the church, and 
 even masters of its destiny, by directing against 
 it that very zeal for Protestantism on which it 
 seemed founded. 
 
 The Protestantism of the people was a horror of 
 Popery. The Protestantism of the establishment 
 was an approximation to it, as close as a consi- 
 deration for its own safety and emoluments would 
 permit. The churches of England and Rome were 
 distinguished by the same high claims to authority 
 and power, and the same deference and regard 
 for all endowed with those attributes. The 
 church of England had taken her position at no 
 very great distance in point of doctrine, ritual 
 and ceremonial, from her high and exalted 
 parent. She hated Whiggism in politics, as 
 cordially as dissent in religion ; her connexion 
 with that party had ever been constrained, as 
 it was in the present instance, and never en- 
 dured beyond the emergency which created it. 
 
 James sat in the centre of a net-work of 
 treachery and corruption, which he had himself 
 been weak and wicked enough to assist in 
 
320 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 weaving. There was not in his councils, in all 
 his associations, in his family, even to the very 
 outward verge of the circle that surrounded 
 him, one honest or true man. There is hardly 
 an instance of so total an abandonment, so wide- 
 spread and disgusting a profligacy ; and, bad 
 as human nature is, we cannot escape the con- 
 clusion that James must have been the most un- 
 amiable man living, with the worst and the coldest 
 heart, or he could not have been so totally 
 bereaved. Many owed him favours, but no one 
 loved him ; numbers were indebted to him for 
 fortune and advancement, but no one was his 
 friend. 
 
 There prevailed at this time a double, and 
 sometimes treble treachery in the councils of 
 the king. His ministers and servants took his 
 pay and that of France, and were unfaithful to 
 both. There were some in whose pockets the 
 gold of Holland mingled with that of France 
 and England, and who were traitors to all three. 
 Lord Sunderland seems to have surpassed all of 
 his own time in political falsehood and profligacy. 
 And unquestionably there can be no higher 
 deg:ree than the school of James II. afforded. 
 Sunderland betrayed James to France, and 
 France to Holland, and Holland to France. 
 Our astonishment at the variety of his treasons 
 can only be exceeded by our admiration of their 
 skilfulness and success. James was in the 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND, 3^1 
 
 hands of this man as a child in the paws of a 
 tiger, whose sufferings were prolonged by the 
 wantonness and caprice of the monster, but 
 whose fate w^as inevitable. 
 
 The king did not fall into this state of total help- 
 lessness till after his cruel murder of his brother's 
 son. His mean and guilty vengeance on the 
 man who had so often threatened, and at length 
 assailed his throne, with an incapacity that 
 proved his birth, was a chief cause of his de- 
 struction. Monmouth stood in the way of Wil- 
 liam : he divided the hostile power that menaced 
 his uncle's throne ; he had too little energy or 
 capacity to effect his own purpose, but he had 
 enough to weaken and paralyse the cause of the 
 Revolution. It was the interest of James that 
 Monmouth should live and be his enemy. His 
 death united the whole revolutionary interest 
 under one chief, and that an able one. The 
 stroke that severed the head of Monmouth de- 
 prived James of his crown. 
 
 While the king's affairs were in the utmost 
 jeopardy in England, Tyrconnel continued to 
 push the re-organisation of the army in Ireland 
 with a zeal that increased every hour the alarm 
 and consternation of the Cromwellian proprietors. 
 James's instructions were that persons of all 
 religions should be admissible to serve in the 
 army. But the Protestants vehemently accused 
 Tyrconnel of admitting none but Catholics ; a 
 
 VOL. I. Y 
 
322 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 charge which, however justly it might excite 
 suspicion of the commander-in-chief, they were 
 little entitled to make, who had always acted upon 
 the same principle, and admitted only Protestants. 
 Neither was the outcry which was raised against 
 him, upon the ground of the alleged heat and pre- 
 cipitancy with which he conducted his measures, 
 better entitled to attention. No intemperance 
 could be charged upon Tyrconnel, that could not 
 be surpassed by the violence upon the other side. 
 The truth was that Tyrconnel was a warm and 
 zealous partisan, but entirely free from that 
 fierce and sanguinary cruelty which was always 
 the sin of the Cromwellians. 
 
 But the alarm of the new proprietors was at 
 its height, when their grand enemy was advanced 
 from his post of commander-in-chief to be chief 
 governor of Ireland. This appointment had 
 been long spoken of as likely to take place ; but 
 when at length it occurred, the dismay it oc- 
 casioned seemed as great as if it had never been 
 anticipated, 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 3^S 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 tyrconnel's administration. 
 
 Clarendon surrendered the sword of state to 
 Earl Tyrconnel in the midst of an unparalleled 
 consternation of the city of Dublin. Fifteen 
 hundred Protestant families abandoned their 
 homes and occupations in the city, and embarked 
 with the abdicating governor for England ; a 
 sufficient test of the degree of alarm that pre- 
 vailed. The triumph of the Catholic party was 
 now considered complete. The Protestants be- 
 held the horrible spectre of a popish lord-lieu- 
 tenant seated on the vice-regal throne, and 
 all the visions of the Apocalypse danced before 
 their eyes ; and the kingdom of the beast and 
 the frightful destruction of God's people became 
 realities to their disturbed and excited imagin- 
 ations. They crowded from all parts of the 
 country into the towns, abandoning their houses, 
 lands, and improvements ; and multitudes, pur- 
 sued by terror, continued their flight across the 
 sea to England and Holland. In the latter 
 countrv the Cromwellians had for some time 
 established a communication with the Prince of 
 
 Y ^ 
 
324 ■ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Orange, to whom they ah'eady looked as their 
 deliverer from James and popery. 
 
 It was remarkable at this period that there 
 were now two sets of Irish refugees wandering 
 over Europe, and trailing their grievances and 
 wretchedness through France, Spain, England, 
 and Holland, and other protestant and catholic 
 states of the Continent. The first were the 
 Catholics that had been expelled their estates by 
 the Cromwellian settlers ; the second were those 
 settlers themselves, now in their turn threatened 
 with expulsion from their recent acquisitions. To 
 these were added a considerable number of 
 soldiers of the Cromwellian army, discharged by 
 Tyrconnel, or who voluntarily quitted an army 
 that had received the taint of popery. 
 
 The Protestant refugees and soldiers went 
 through England, exciting by their complaints, 
 and the exaggerations natural to suffering persons, 
 the pity and commiseration of the people, and 
 inflaming their prejudices against Irish papists to 
 the highest possible degree of excitement. No 
 tale of terror, or story of monstrous enormity, 
 was too much for the credulity of their auditors, 
 when coupled with the twin-terms so obnoxious 
 at that time to the prejudices of the British 
 populace — Irish and Papist. Subscriptions 
 were every where made for the knaves and suf- 
 ferers who traded upon the good nature and 
 simplicity of the English people. Large sums 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 3Q5 
 
 were collected ; and as the benevolence of the 
 public was called into action, their indignation 
 rose, and the outcry against the popish lord- 
 lieutenant became at length so loud and strong, 
 that Tyrconnel thought it necessary to appeal 
 to the pubhc in his justification. 
 
 This he did in a pamphlet entitled " A Vindi- 
 cation of the present Government of Ireland, 
 under His Excellency Richard Earl of Tyrconnel, 
 in aLetter to a Friend;" printed (with allowance) 
 London, 1688. In this letter Lord Tyrconnel 
 sets forth the advantages to Ireland of a native 
 chief governor, in whom the Irish people could 
 place confidence, and whom the British could 
 not distrust, seeing that he was of an ancient 
 and noble English stock, and moreover " mar- 
 ried to a lady of English birth." He alludes to 
 the exploits of his ancestors in France under the 
 Henrys and Edwards, and his own conduct in 
 the defence of Drogheda against Cromwell. He 
 adverts to *' the embargo upon our West India 
 trade," which he says is ** without parallel, con- 
 sidering that we are the same prince's subjects;" 
 — " the like," he continues, " upon our Irish 
 cattle, by an act made for the interest and Jaction 
 of a few British landlords, not only to the pre- 
 judice of a kingdom as big and fertile almost as 
 England, but to the disaccommodation of many 
 thousands in England as often as they are hun- 
 gry." He dwells upon the justice and good 
 
 Y 3 
 
3^6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 policy of persons of all religious opinions being 
 permitted to serve the state. He denies using 
 any strong measures to put Protestants out of 
 the army ; or that any man that did not desire 
 it, was put out ; but admits that some were dis- 
 charged at their own request after the inspection 
 at Mullingar. ** Nothing," he says, " contri- 
 buted more to the consternating of poor innocent 
 people, or proved so noisie as false relations of 
 what passed upon that occasion." 
 
 Lord Tyrconnel then enlarges upon the capa- 
 bilities of Ireland, and the good capacity of her 
 people ; and it is remarkable that his observ- 
 ations are pretty much in the same style as we 
 are accustomed to hear at the present day ; so 
 little in this respect has nearly a century and a 
 half altered the state of the case. *' It is very 
 apparent," he says, ** that Ireland breeds a peo- 
 ple capable of such instructions as may be of as 
 much use and advantage to the king and coun- 
 try as any of his dominions doth ; for example, 
 those who have applied themselves to the law 
 have all arrived at that perfection, that it would 
 be injurious to name particulars. And how 
 adroit in arms foreign countries can witness, 
 how unfortunate so ever at home." Lord Tyr- 
 connel concludes his letter (under a feigned 
 name) with some high commendations of him- 
 self. 
 
 It deserves to be noticed that at this period 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 3{^ 
 
 the press, particularly in England, teemed with 
 publications relative to Ireland. The coming 
 events cast their shadows before them. The 
 vast accumulations of pamphlets, which followed 
 each other in dense clouds, and passed away like 
 the first smoke from a volcano, mark strongly in 
 their form and character the nature and inten- 
 sity of the agitation which then disturbed the 
 public mind. The Protestant proprietors were 
 the most industrious and energetic in their ap- 
 peals to the king and the people of England. 
 No resource of skill, or ingenuity of manage- 
 ment, was left untried to ward off the coming 
 blow, or break its force. In the multitude and 
 variety of their efforts, there was an anxiety, 
 and almost a despair, which was hardly recon- 
 cilable with the general character of this reso- 
 lute body of men ; who had so lately, as one of 
 them said in a letter to a friend, come into pos- 
 session of " houses they had not built, and vine- 
 yards they had not planted." This pious person 
 besought his correspondent to pray for them, 
 ** that in this great temptation they may not be 
 overcome." But the violence of their fears in 
 that crisis of their fate, which came on shortly 
 after the writing of this letter, sufficiently proves, 
 that however alive the godly soldiery were to the 
 danger of the temptation, they were by no 
 means disposed to withdraw themselves from its 
 power. 
 
 Y 4 
 
328 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The catholics were not inactive on their side ; 
 and they seem also to have possessed the supe- 
 riority of talent. The " Coventry Letter," the 
 work of Sir Richard Nagle, a distinguished Irish 
 barrister, was far superior to any thing which 
 appeared on the other side. This celebrated 
 letter was dated from Coventry, 26th October, 
 1686, and was followed on the same side by 
 *' The Sale and Settlement of Ireland ;" also a 
 work of considerable power. 
 
 The letter was a direct and vigorous attack 
 upon the " Act of Settlement," the great palla- 
 dium of the Cromwellian property. It was 
 immediately assailed by a host of pamphlets, 
 amongst which by far the ablest is that entitled 
 " The State of Ireland ; with a Vindication of 
 the Act of Settlement and Commissioners' Pro- 
 ceedings. Also Reflections on the late Coventry 
 Letter writ by an eminent Counsellor of that 
 kingdom." By a Person of Honour. London, 
 1688. The writer, who appears superior to 
 much of the vulgar prejudices of party then 
 prevailing, admits that he has an interest in the 
 preservation of the Act of Settlement, and that 
 he wrote his work '' for the satisfaction of those 
 to whom that share I have in Ireland may come, 
 to set down what I know of that settlement 
 whilst fresh in memory, that they may hereafter 
 understand upon what foundation their title is 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 3^ 
 
 built, and endeavour (and that without scruple) 
 by all lawful means to enjoy and defend it." 
 
 He proceeds to consider the arguments of the 
 ** Coventry Letter," and the narrative of *' The 
 Sale and Settlement of Ireland," and begins by 
 acknowledging that, " were I not forced, to it, 
 I should esteem it indecent to use the term 
 * Irish Rebellion' towards the arming of 1641." 
 This is a remarkable confession, because it was 
 always upon the fiction of that arming being a 
 " Rebellion," that the Irish were not restored to 
 their estates when the king was restored to 
 his crown. However, the " Person of Honour," 
 finding himaelfjbrced to treat the Irish confeder- 
 ation as a rebellion, proceeds to prove his 
 case by a very safe, though not very conclusive 
 process. He quotes the preambles of various 
 acts of parliament, all which declare the war of 
 the confederates to be a rebellion ; and then he 
 shows that an act of parliament must be taken 
 to be the highest authority, — and therefore he 
 concludes that the confederacy is demonstrated 
 to be a rebellion. But not relying wholly upon 
 this, he argues further, that the fact of the con- 
 federates having concluded a treaty of peace 
 with Charles the First in 1648 is proof that they 
 must have been at war with him, and if they 
 were at war with the king, what could it be 
 but a rebellion ? 
 
 There are many other ingenious arguments in 
 this essay which throw much light upon the state 
 
330 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of the question at that time between the pro* 
 prietors in possession and the ex-proprietors of 
 Irish estates. After the writer had proved that 
 the confederates were rebels, he finds himself 
 much embarrassed by the articles of the peace 
 of 1648, by which they were received into the 
 peace of the king, and all offences pardoned and 
 forgiven. Upon this difficult part of the case the 
 "Person of Honour" argues thus : "Many," he 
 says, " of the confederates broke the peace," and 
 therefore with respect to them, the king was 
 not bound to regard it. And as to those of the 
 confederates who did not break it, he contends 
 that it was an unreasonable peace ; " and being 
 of such a nature as loyal subjects would never 
 have required," the king ought not to be bound 
 to observe it. 
 
 A few instances of what this writer considers 
 such unreasonable terms as to discharge the 
 king and government from all obligation to ob- 
 serve the peace they had made will further illus- 
 trate the spirit of those singular times. The first 
 he mentions is, " article 12." of the peace, by 
 which it was agreed, — 
 
 " That it should be left to both houses of 
 parliament in Ireland to declare what they 
 thought agreeable to the law of Ireland, con- 
 cerning the independency of the law of Ireland 
 upon the parliament of England." 
 
 The next very objectionable article the writer 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 831 
 
 states to be that in which the confederates stipu- 
 late ; and it is declared, — 
 
 " That absentee noblemen, or British noble- 
 men with Irish titles, should be restrained from 
 voting in the Irish House of Peers" (except 
 under certain qualifications). 
 
 A third objectionable article he considers to 
 be that in which the confederates boldly declared 
 by implication that ** they would not rely upon 
 the king's word.*' They stipulated, — 
 
 " That they would continue on foot an army 
 of seventeen thousand five hundred men, and 
 that all cities, towns, forts, and castles within 
 their quarters, should continue in their posses- 
 sion until the articles were passed into acts of 
 parliament." 
 
 These articles, this writer contends, were so 
 extravagant and unreasonable, that the king 
 must be considered as discharged from all obli- 
 gation to observe the terms of the treaty solemnly 
 made and ratified with the confederate Irish. 
 And yet this is one of the ablest and most mode- 
 rate of the innumerable " apologies" made at that 
 time for the infraction of the treaty of 1648. 
 
 It is obvious why those articles gave so much 
 offence to the Cromwellian writer. Their scope 
 and object was to foster and support an Irish 
 interest in Ireland. The confederates argued 
 and stipulated as Irishmen. The Cromwellian 
 argues as a foreigner, to whom an Irish interest 
 
352 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was odious. The Cromwellians had got Irish 
 estates, but all their prejudices were anti-Irish. 
 They supported all those restrictions and impo- 
 sitions of the British parliament upon the com- 
 merce of Ireland which were so injurious to 
 their new country, without much knowledge of 
 their principle or bearing, but from the pride 
 and pleasure they felt in supporting whatever 
 was directed against Ireland. Most of those 
 men were in the reign of James not only posses- 
 sors of Irish estates, but natives of Ireland. But 
 they would shudder at the thought of being con- 
 sidered Irishmen ; and took a strange delight in 
 being the enemies, and as far as they could the 
 oppressors, of the country of their birth and 
 property. Strange as it may appear, much of 
 this feeling has descended to our own times, and 
 is not wholly worn out in the reign of the fourth 
 George. 
 
 We learn from this writer that the Irish in 
 Charles the First's reign contended strongly 
 against the authority of the British parliament 
 to bind Ireland, and insisted upon being bound 
 by the acts of the Irish legislature only ; and 
 he charges this against them as a grievous offence : 
 «' His countrymen," he says (Nagle's), ** not ad- 
 mitting, against all reason and precedents, that 
 laws made in England bind Ireland." The 
 Cromwellian writer is of course a stickler for 
 this power. The Irish Catholics, whether of 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 333 
 
 British or Irish descent, uniformly protested 
 against it. In the peace of 1648 they stipulate 
 against this assumption of the British parliament ; 
 and afterwards, under James, we perceive them 
 using the power they had acquired, the moment 
 it fell into their hands, to declare and confirm 
 the independence of the Irish legislature. 
 
 The Cromwellians, on the contrary, contended 
 for the supremacy of the British parliament, 
 and maintained that the interests of Ireland, of 
 whatever nature, were to be considered as sub- 
 ordinate to those of England, and liable to be 
 sacrificed to the supposed advantage or preju- 
 dices of that nation. They looked to England 
 as the great protector of their recent acquisitions ; 
 and they were ready to make any sacrifice of 
 their new country to ensure the safety of their 
 new estates. It was not until time and full pos- 
 session of power had calmed their apprehensions 
 for the security of the " houses they had not 
 built, and the vineyards they had not planted,^' 
 that the flame of a new patriotism began to be 
 kindled in their bosoms. Molleneux's little work 
 was the first sparkle of that fire which at length ' 
 burst forth amongst the Protestants of Ireland 
 with such energy at the period of the American 
 war, when Grattan constructed in its blaze the 
 short-lived constitution of 1782 ; and furnished 
 a glorious vindication of the Confederation of 
 1648 and the Parliament of 1689. 
 
334 HISTORY OF IRELAJSID. 
 
 The great subject of debate at this period in 
 Ireland was the " Act of Settlement." Every 
 thing announced that James was preparing for 
 the repeal of this famous statute ; and the Crom- 
 wellians no longer resting their title upon power 
 were busy making out an equitable right to their 
 lands. Their best title, however, was their pos- 
 session, which was now of forty years' con- 
 tinuance, though it had not been a quiet or 
 an undisputed one. 
 
 The soldiers and adventurers who disdained 
 formerly any other title than their swords seemed 
 disposed at present to rest their titles upon pur- 
 chase. They contended that their lands had 
 been assigned to them in lieu of pay, or of ad- 
 vances made to government. 
 
 In the accounts published by the Cromwellian 
 proprietors at this period, the surface of Ireland 
 was estimated at ten millions four hundred thou- 
 sand Irish acres. Of these they counted that 
 there were three millions of unprofitable land, 
 consisting of wood and mountain, &c. Of the 
 remaining seven millions four hundred thousand 
 acres, two millions four hundred thousand were 
 computed to have been in the hands of Protestant 
 proprietors previous to the war of the confeder- 
 ation in 1641. At which period they estimated 
 the Catholic property in land to be five millions 
 of acres. 
 
 In 1653, when the CromwelHan war was an- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 835 
 
 nounced by proclamation to have ceased, they 
 state these five milUons of acres to have been 
 disposed of by the Cromwellian government as 
 follows : 
 
 "Restored to Catholic proprietors, one hun- 
 dred thousand acres. 
 
 " To catholic proprietors who proved inno- 
 cency before CromwelPs commissioners at 
 Loughrea and at Athlone, and were decreed 
 restitution or compensation in the province of 
 Connaught and the county of Clare, about seven 
 hundred thousand acres. 
 
 " To the officers and soldiers who served in 
 Ireland before the arrival of Cromwell in 1649, 
 in Wicklow, Longford, Leitrim, Donnegal, and 
 between the sea and the Shannon, about four 
 hundred thousand acres. 
 
 ** To the adventurers who advanced money 
 under the acts of the 17th and 18th of Charles 
 the First * to carry on the war in Ireland,* about 
 eight hundred thousand acres. 
 
 *' To the soldiers and officers who served 
 under Cromwell from his arrival in Ireland in 
 1649 to the year 1653, when the war was de- 
 clared to be at an end, two millions of acres. 
 
 " To several individuals, favourites of Crom- 
 well, &c. &c., about one hundred thousand 
 acres. 
 
 ** Retained in the hands of government for 
 its own use, but set to British Protestants upon 
 
336 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 profitable leases in the counties of Dublin, 
 Louth, Cork, Cavan, and Kildare, about eight 
 hundred thousand acres, besides a considerable 
 number of houses in the cities and walled towns." 
 
 This last item of eight hundred thousand 
 acres, there is reason to believe, w^as intended 
 by Cromwell for his own private share of the 
 spoil. 
 
 From the whole account it appears that there 
 remained at the peace of 1653 in the hands of 
 the original Irish proprietors, of the whole soil 
 of Ireland, eight hundred thousand acres. The 
 remainder of the island, or, according to the 
 computation, nine milhons six hundred thousand 
 acres, were transferred to new proprietors ; two 
 millions and a half nearly of this quantity being 
 the produce of former confiscations, chiefly in 
 the reign of Elizabeth. 
 
 The consideration given for those extensive 
 grants is contained in two accounts published at 
 the time by the Cromwellians themselves, one 
 referring to soldiers' pay, the other to loans made 
 by " the Adventurers" to the state. 
 
 " By an account settled in 1649, and including 
 the eight previous years, there appeared to be due 
 to the officers and soldiers of the king's army 
 on account of pay a sum of eighteen hundred 
 thousand pounds. 
 
 «« By another account taken from 1649 to 
 1653, the conclusion of the Cromwellian war, 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 837 
 
 there appeared due to the officers and soldiers 
 of Cromwell's army, a sum of 1,200,000/. From 
 these accounts one fourth was to be deducted 
 for quarters and provisions. Another deduction 
 was to be made for a small advance of money, 
 made on settling the accounts ; the remainder 
 was satisfied in lands.'* 
 
 By an account settled with the money 
 lenders, and " Adventurers " in 1655 and 1656, 
 it appeared that those persons advanced to 
 government in 1641 and 1642, in expectation 
 of Irish forfeitures to be assigned to them in re- 
 payment, a sum of about 400,000/. which, with 
 the interest, was satisfied in lands. 
 
 These accounts of money due, both to soldiers 
 and adventurers, there is reason to believe, were 
 grossly over-stated. The whole sum, however, 
 makes a debt considerably less than two millions, 
 which was discharged by a transfer of lands, to 
 the amount of seven millions of acres. 
 
 In 1641, at the breaking out of the war of the 
 confederation, the average price of land in 
 Ireland was about four shillings an acre, and 
 twelve years' purchase. In 1653, at the close 
 of the Cromwellian war, when the country was 
 completely a desert, the value of land was esti- 
 mated at less than one shilling per acre, and 
 eight years' purchase. In ten years after, lands 
 were valued at two shillings an acre, and ten 
 years' purchase ; and towards the close of Charles 
 
 VOL. I. z 
 
338 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the Second's reign, they recovered their value 
 of four shilhngs the acre, and twelve years' pur- 
 chase. 
 
 At one shilling an acre, the lands transferred 
 to the Cromwellians would have been worth 
 nearly four millions in money. The sum, with 
 all exaggerations, due to them, was little over 
 a million and a half. But if estimated at their 
 value at the breaking out of the war, which was 
 the fair rate of computation, as the reduction in 
 price was owing to the desolation committed by 
 the soldiers themselves, their value would have 
 been about sixteen millions. 
 
 The number of Cromwellian refugees in 
 England and Holland increased every day, and 
 became at length so considerable, that they 
 thought it necessary to make some apologies to 
 the world for the panic which had seized them, 
 and the burden they had become to the com- 
 munity abroad. 
 
 On the twenty-third of October, 1689, the 
 anniversary of the rising of the Irish in the 
 great war of the confederation, and appointed 
 by parliament to be observed as a day of thanks- 
 giving for the deliverance of the Protestants 
 *' from the bloody massacre and rebellion of 
 the Irish papists," a sermon was preached to 
 the Cromwellian refugees in London, at St. 
 Mary Le Bow, in Cheapside, by His Grace 
 the Archbishop of Tuam, at which the Lord 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 3^9 
 
 Mayor, Sheriffs, and Corporation of London 
 attended. The sermon was published by the 
 bishop, and dedicated to " The Right Hon. Sir 
 T. Pilkinton, Lord Mayor of London." From 
 the tenor of this discourse, it is evident that the 
 preacher was fully aware of the negotiations 
 then pending with the Prince of Orange, for 
 the invasion of England. He took his text 
 from Psalm cii. ver. 13. ** Thou shalt arise 
 and have mercy upon Sion, for the time to 
 favour her, yea the set time, is come." With 
 a confident spirit of prophecy he promises his 
 congregation a speedy termination of their 
 sufferings, and restoration to their homes, and 
 assures them they will not always be a burden 
 to benevolent strangers ; to the latter he excuses 
 his countrymen, for having abandoned their 
 homes, and become a burden upon their charity ; 
 and he instances the mistake of Job's friends 
 who supposed, ** because he was miserable, that 
 therefore he was guilty." 
 
 In the same spirit a number of pamphlets 
 were published by the refugees themselves, to 
 prove that their flight was unavoidable, and that 
 it was even useful to the general cause of the 
 Protestants. *' We could bear," said the writer 
 of one of those tracts, entitled * A Second Apology 
 for the Protestants of Ireland,' — " we could 
 bear the taunts and reproaches of our enemies 
 the Papists, — but that any Protestants of Eng- 
 
 z 2 
 
340 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 land, whom the ligaments of the same religion 
 and blood have inseparably conjoined to our 
 interest, should discover not only an insensibility 
 to our miseries, but aggravate them by mis- 
 prision and contempt, not only arraign our ac- 
 tions, but misjudge our sufferings, is a contem- 
 plation so abstruse and so grievous, that it would 
 require the wisdom of Solomon to understand it, 
 and the patience of Job to bear it. Yet all this 
 is outdone by a more sensible stroke of mis- 
 fortune. We are upbraided with the king's in- 
 difference towards us (to give it no worse a 
 name) ; and because, for reasons and consider- 
 ations best known to himself, he hath thought 
 it fit to command the services of strangers and 
 foreigners, while the gentlemen of Ireland walk 
 the streets neglected and unemployed, it is ma- 
 liciously imputed to his dislike of their proceed- 
 ings, as if unconstrained, and out of pure w^an- 
 tonness they had left their own country to 
 take the air in this ; — deserted the conveniency 
 of a cheap dwelling at home, to pay dear for 
 lodgings in London ; given up their stock of 
 wealth to the lust of their enemies, only to 
 make experiment of the mercy of their friends ; 
 cast off the homage of tenants, and trifled away 
 their own revenue, only to become pensioners 
 to the poor man's box and the brief money." 
 London : printed for Tim. Godwin, at the 
 Maidenhead in Fleet Street, 1690. 
 
 No painting of ours could exhibit the striking 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 341 
 
 outline, which is here drawn by one of themselves 
 of the condition of the Protestant refugees at 
 this period, suffering as they were under the 
 contempt, though existing by the compassion of 
 the people of England. The bold spirit of their 
 fathers seems to have departed from them, and 
 they never afterwards did any thing worthy of 
 the ancient renown of the " Lev^ellers." 
 
 We do not find the Catholic refugees, though 
 at various times scattered over Europe, making 
 those plaints or practising this mendicancy. 
 They took swords and muskets at once in 
 the service of foreign powers ; or applied them- 
 selves to pursuits of commerce in the cities of 
 France and Spain. In comparing the conduct 
 of the Irish and Cromwellian refugees, it is re- 
 markable of the former with what readiness they 
 were in the habit of abandoning their country 
 and estates. Cromwell found little difficulty in 
 inducing them to transport themselves to the 
 Continent ; and when his army in Ireland hardly 
 exceeded ten thousand men, forty thousand 
 Irish troops abandoned their own cause as hope- 
 less, and entered into foreign service. The same 
 occurred in the reign of Elizabeth, though not 
 in so remarkable a degree ; and again, under 
 William, an Irish army, more numerous than his, 
 surrendered upon terms of being sent to the 
 Continent. The Cromwellians, on the contrary, 
 having once got possession of the ricli lands of 
 
 z 3 
 
342 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Ireland, struggled hard to keep them ; and in 
 good or evil fortune never relinquished their 
 hold. Their firmness proved that tliey deserved 
 them. 
 
 The States of Holland had not been inattentive 
 to what was passing in Ireland. They had from 
 time to time kept alive the spirit of the Protestants 
 in that country by important succours. One ship 
 is mentioned at this period as having arrived 
 from Holland, containing, stores and provisions 
 for the Protestants, to the value of thirty thousand 
 pounds. France was not less mindful of the 
 critical state of Ireland, then well known all over 
 Europe from the reports of the Irish of both 
 sides, who were every where dispersed. Wil- 
 liam had his agents in every part of the country ; 
 so also had Lewis. William, like Cromwell, took 
 a straight-forward and masterly view of the case. 
 He saw that, without a sure footing in Ireland, 
 his meditated hold of England would be insecure. 
 The policy of Lewis was crooked, wicked, and 
 contemptible. His object in Ireland, as in 
 Great Britain, was to distract and destroy the 
 country, by exciting all parties to hostility, and 
 feeding a perpetual and wasting warfare. If he 
 had known how to have taken a direct course 
 (very difficult for ordinary politicians), he could, 
 with very small exertion, and with certainty 
 of success, have given the victory to James 
 in the war that was now preparing in Ireland, 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 343 
 
 and by that means have secured the triumph of 
 France upon the Continent. 
 
 Lewis now governed England ; James having 
 sunk, in effect, into a mere viceroy of the court 
 of France. The king was, from time to time, 
 alarmed at the aspect of affairs, and hesitated as 
 to the course he was pursuing. Sometimes he 
 doubted the wisdom of continuing Tyrconnel in 
 the lieutenancy of Ireland : but Lewis was 
 peremptory. Whether he entertained the same 
 opinion of this nobleman's imprudence and 
 warmth of temper that James evidently did, and, 
 therefore, thought him on that account a fit person 
 to embroil and embarrass things further in Ire- 
 land, does not appear. 
 
 Tyrconnel, who understood the position of 
 James in respect of Lewis, may be considered 
 the lieutenant of the latter much more than of 
 the former. He often received his instructions 
 direct from Paris ; and after William had pos- 
 sessed himself of England, Lewis amused the 
 Irish lieutenant occasionally with vague notions of 
 creating him king of Ireland, under the protec- 
 tion of France. Lewis's real object was to annex 
 Ireland to the French crown, after he had first 
 used it as a means of dividing and exhausting 
 the force of his rival. 
 
 Tyrconnel does not appear to have been so 
 unfit a person for the crisis as is generally 
 thought. He was the arch-enemy of the Crom- 
 
 z 4 
 
344 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 wellians, and his character has been unfah'ly 
 drawn by them. He was an open enemy ; hasty 
 from temper, but candid, generous, and decided ; 
 he was a warm friend ; and a brave soldier, as 
 bis conduct at Drogheda proved ; and he was, in 
 every respect, the reverse of the cold and subtle 
 character of the Cromwellians. His close cor- 
 respondence with the French court made him 
 aware that William was seriously preparing an 
 invasion of England. His measures upon this 
 information were not unwise : he lost no time 
 in enlisting and organising an army ; and the 
 conduct of these raw levies, when confronted 
 afterwards with the best ti'oops in Europe, proved 
 that they were not ill prepared. It was not 
 Tyrconnel that lost Ireland ; it was James. 
 
 Like all sanguine characters, Tyrconnel seems 
 sometimes to have had misgivings. His reso- 
 lution faltered, though his courage did not. A 
 man of more discretion and equal boldness might 
 have steered the vessel of the state with more 
 address, through the perilous navigation before 
 her ; but Tyrconnel's courage at such a moment 
 was better than the hesitation of a more cautious 
 man. Undoubtedly he was not equal to the 
 great crisis which was approaching ; but he was 
 bold, popular, and decided ; and if he had pos- 
 sessed but a larger share of prudence, he would 
 have been every way fitted for the emergency. 
 He is accused of violence, but his violence went 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 84f5 
 
 no further than the ordinary measures for giving a 
 political ascendancy to his party. He procured, 
 by the usual manoeuvres, a Catholic majority in 
 parliament. He promoted Catholic lawyers to 
 the bench and at the bar ; but few that did not 
 well deserve it. He enlisted Catholic soldiers, 
 and gave commissions to Catholic officers. He 
 nominated Catholic sheriffs, procured the ad- 
 mission of Catholics into corporations, and ap- 
 pointed Catholic governors of counties. He was 
 a partisan, but not a bad man. 
 
 It has been surmised of Tyrconnel that he 
 owed his high appointment to a bribe bestowed 
 upon Sunderland; and it is likely enough that 
 no considerable appointment could take place 
 without the proper fees to that corrupt minister. 
 But the favour which Tyrconnel enjoyed with 
 James and Lew^is is enough to account for his 
 advancement. He is accused also of having 
 proposed to assassinate Cromwell ; and, after- 
 wards, when disease did execution upon that 
 great and bad man, he is reported to have 
 threatened to turn his dagger upon the Duke of 
 Ormond. It is impossible to give any credit to 
 stories so absurd. His challenging Ormond, 
 and Ormond's refusal to fight, is no confirmation 
 of his entertaining a design to assassinate him. 
 
 Tyrconnel, after the example of his master, 
 was soon involved in a war with the corporations 
 and the university. His predecessor Clarendon 
 
346 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 had received instructions from James to provide 
 for the admission of Cathohcs into the corpor- 
 ations ; but Clarendon on this and other occasions 
 had the meanness to retain office and to evade 
 obedience to his instructions. Tyrconnel was 
 as precipitate as Clarendon was slow. Dublin 
 being found refractory was deprived of its 
 charter ; and James rejected the petition of the 
 corporation against this arbitrary proceeding, 
 though presented by the recorder and the Duke 
 of Ormond. 
 
 Other corporations were treated in the same 
 manner, or were prev^ailed upon to surrender 
 their charters. In the new corporations two 
 thirds were appointed to be Catholics and one 
 third Protestant. The only justification, and a 
 very bad one, which can be suggested for those 
 proceedings of the viceroy, is, that the Catholics 
 had been expelled the corporations in exactly 
 the same manner when the Protestants were in 
 power, and that no Catholics whatever were then 
 admitted, so that Tyrconnel had precedent for 
 much more than he attempted. 
 
 He could, indeed, plead the same justification 
 for all his other proceedings against the Pro- 
 testants. In all those cases not only the same 
 course had been held towards the Catholics in 
 times of protestant predominancy, but, generally, 
 much more severity had been used. There was 
 a penal code existing against the Catholics from 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 347 
 
 Elizabeth's reign. But though in the reign of 
 Mary, Charles the First, and James the Second, 
 the Cathohcs were predominant in Ireland, there 
 never existed in that country a penal code against 
 Protestants. On several occasions, as now under 
 Tyrconnel, the Catholics gave their own religion 
 the preference. But they made no law exclud- 
 ing their Protestant countrymen ; a singular 
 instance of moderation in a religion that seems 
 almost to sanction persecution — while the whole 
 history of Protestantism in Ireland is, in theory, 
 liberty, — in practice, intolerance. 
 
 James himself undertook the dispute with the 
 university ; and as he seldom undertook any 
 thing which he did not mismanage, so on this 
 occasion he made several mistakes. The king's 
 mandate was presented to the university, order- 
 ing them to admit a Boman Catholic to the pro- 
 fessorship of the Irish language. But, to the 
 disgrace of the college, there was no such pro- 
 fessorship upon the foundation. It was a natural 
 mistake of the king, and he ought to be acquitted 
 in this instance. He thought better of the col- 
 lege than it deserved. He did not know that 
 the university had undertaken to instruct the 
 people in Protestantism, but had forgotten to 
 learn their language. That learned body made 
 the same blunder which Goldsmith did when he 
 undertook to teach the Hollanders English, 
 without first learning Dutch. Goldsmith, how- 
 
3i8 . HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 ever, soon discovered his mistake, but the Dub- 
 lin university never found out theirs. 
 
 Disappointed as to the professorship, the 
 king commanded that a person of the name of 
 Doyle should be admitted to a fellowship, "taking 
 only the oath of a fellow." Doyle was a Catho- 
 lic. Here another mistake occurred. The oath 
 of a fellow included, according to the custom of 
 the college, the oath of supremacy. Doyle re- 
 fused to take it ; and the king was again foiled. 
 It was odd enough that the oath which recog- 
 nised the king as head of the Protestant church 
 should be insisted upon by Protestants, who knew 
 the king to be a Catholic, professing openly, and 
 glorying in, his religion. 
 
 Those attempts of the king to force open the 
 college-gates to the Catholics created great alarm 
 in that body. In their terror they resolved to 
 convert the college-plate into money, for the 
 purpose, as they pretended, of " erecting new 
 buildings, and purchasing new lands." No one 
 was deceived by this absurd pretence for an act 
 so violent as the sale of the public plate of the 
 college. Tyrconnel seized the plate after it had 
 been sold, and deposited it in the king's stores ; 
 and was proceeding with great anger against the 
 college and the purchaser, when Nagle the at- 
 torney-generaf interfered, and extricated the 
 parties. The heads of the college can only be 
 excused for this attempt to convert the college- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 319 
 
 plate to their private use, by considering that 
 they were alarmed to that degree which frequently 
 has the effect of confounding all distinct notions 
 of the laws of property. 
 
 The college addressed the king ; declaring 
 boldly their steady adherence to their religion, 
 but professing at the same time an unalterable 
 attachment to the throne. It was the language 
 of the English universities ; and was much more 
 creditable to those learned bodies than the ad- 
 dresses, in which, in the early period of his reign, 
 they cheered the king in his unconstitutional 
 attempts upon the liberties of his subjects. It 
 was manly and honest language, and almost re- 
 deemed the attempt which the addressers had so 
 lately made upon the college-plate. 
 
 About this period the Cromwellians made 
 another attempt to obtain from James a public 
 declaration that he did not intend to alter or 
 change the " Act of Settlement." Their appli- 
 cation met with a direct and positive refusal. 
 On the other hand, the Catholics attacked the 
 foundation of the act with much ingenuity. 
 Chief-baron Rice and the Attorney-general 
 Nagle, both distinguished lawyers, and men of 
 great ability, drew up " Heads of a Bill " for the 
 approbation of the privy council in England, to 
 be afterwards submitted to the Irish parliament 
 according to the provisions of " Poyning's Law.'* 
 The bill professed to do no more for the Catholics 
 
350 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 than what, according to the severest rules of 
 justice, they were entitled to. It provided " that 
 those Catholics who had been declared innocent 
 by the Court of Claims, and were, therefore, en- 
 titled, by former acts of parliament, to be re- 
 stored to their estates, or indemnified, should be 
 restored or indemnified accordingly ; and if there 
 were any that had not already had justice done 
 them," it provided further, " that a new com- 
 mission should issue for hearing and deciding 
 upon such claims as had not yet been heard, 
 for want of time or other cause, without fault of 
 the parties." 
 
 This was no more than what mere justice re- 
 quired ; but even this measure of justice would 
 have been fatal to the Cromwellian interest; 
 and, if executed fairly, would have deprived the 
 settlers of almost every foot of land in Ireland. 
 The proposition was warmly supported by the 
 king, who saw no more perhaps than its fair- 
 ness and justice, and was probably little aware 
 of the power or extent of its operation. Not so 
 the Cromwellians : they were alive to the full 
 import of those just and equitable propositions, 
 and they exerted themselves with their usual 
 activity to ward off the blow. 
 
 The Lord Chief-baron Rice and the Chief- 
 justice Nugent were sent to London as a deputa- 
 tion from the Catholics to support the new bill, 
 when it should come to be discussed before the 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 351 
 
 privy council. The Catliolics had been anxious 
 to leave the matter solely in the hands of Rice ; 
 but Nugent, with the officiousness of incapacity, 
 had forced himself upon the deputation. He 
 was a weak, meddling person. The council 
 heard Chief-baron Rice at great length in sup- 
 port of the bill, and found themselves in the 
 awkward predicament of men who could not 
 resist the argument, but were determined against 
 the measure. From this embarrassment they 
 were relieved by Nugent, whose folly becoming 
 apparent as soon as he began to speak, afforded 
 the council the pretence they were anxiously 
 looking for. A clamour was raised, and the 
 bill was rejected. 
 
 The Catholics in the council had joined as 
 eagerly in this rejection as the Protestants. 
 They had taken alarm at the tumult which had 
 been excited in the city by the multitude of 
 Cromwellian refugees ; who having due notice 
 of the proceedings of the deputation had acted 
 their parts well. The most vigorous efforts 
 were made to rouse and excite the mob of Lon- 
 don, and not without some success. The hor- 
 rors of Irishri/, and the abominations of popery, 
 were set forth in placards, and by means of 
 emissaries sent through the town ; and the 
 dreadful designs of the Irish deputation upon 
 the religion and liberties of England were paint- 
 ed in glowing colours. Mobs were collected 
 
35^ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 who assailed the deputation with hisses and re- 
 proaches in their way to and from the council ; 
 and when their ill success was known, the popu- 
 lace in scorn carried potatoes elevated upon 
 poles before them, crying out as they went 
 along, " Room for the Irish ambassadors." 
 
 The Catholics of the council, upon whom the 
 deputation relied, had listened to the suggestions 
 of their own fears, and the whispers of the Crom- 
 wellian party ; " that they might endanger their 
 own estates in trying to restore those of the 
 Irish ;*' they were alarmed at the appearances in 
 England — the popular excitement, the impru- 
 dence and incapacity of the king, and the pre- 
 parations of the Prince of Orange, hardly now 
 a secret to any one but the king himself 
 
 Sunderland, we are informed, claimed the 
 merit of this defeat of the deputation ; and de- 
 clared that he rejected a bribe of 40,000/. to 
 carry the measure. It is more probable that he 
 failed in carrying it than that he refused the 
 bribe ; and still more likely that he took a 
 higher bribe on the other side ; or took both, 
 and left the project to its fate, his conscience 
 being equally balanced in regard of it. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 333 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 FLIGHT OF JAMES FROM ENGLAND. 
 
 1 HE birth of a Prince of Wales was a subject 
 of general joy to the Catholics of Ireland, as it 
 was of sorrow and dismay to the Protestants. 
 The latter had always looked forward to the 
 succession of Mary, the wife of the Prince of 
 Orange, as a relief from all their troubles, and a 
 re-establishment of their declining interest. 
 The former contemplated the same succession 
 as the ruin of their hopes. As the queen had 
 not had a child for many years, the Catholics 
 considered the birth of a Prince as almost a mi- 
 raculous interposition of Providence in their 
 favour. It is a remarkable instance of the 
 vanity of human hopes and fears, that the birth 
 of this Prince undoubtedly hastened, if it did 
 not occasion, the ruin of the Catholic cause, and 
 established the triumph of the Protestant interest 
 upon a solid foundation. 
 
 William had been long solicited to attempt 
 the crown of England. Powerful parties from 
 every quarter of the three kingdoms held out 
 their hands to him, and urged him to the enter- 
 
 VOL. I, A A 
 
354 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 prise. But his succession by lawful means, was 
 almost certain. James was advanced in years, 
 and had no son. What motive, then, could he 
 have to incur the odium of attacking his wife's 
 father, an old man, the last of a long line of 
 princes, and driving him, by violence and blood- 
 shed, from the throne of his ancestors ? What, if 
 he were to fail in the attempt ? Would not the 
 world pronounce that it was a just judgment 
 upon a wicked deed ? And if he succeeded, 
 would he not set an example of guilty disobe- 
 dience, which might thereafter return upon him- 
 self? — merely to anticipate by a few years, the 
 possession of a crown, which, in a short period, 
 would be presented to him by the hand of 
 Heaven ? These motives probably weighed with 
 William to dissuade him from an attempt which 
 ambition and his immediate interests prompted. 
 His immediate interest urged him strongly to 
 the enterprise against James. The United States 
 w^ere sinking under the pressure of the war with 
 France. James and Charles had been the pen- 
 sioners of that power, and had thrown the weight 
 of England into the scale that pressed so heavily 
 upon the fortunes of Holland. William's enmity 
 to Lewis was almost personal, and excessive. 
 He owed little to James, who, instead of sustain- 
 ing him as a father in his extremity, or consulting 
 the interests of his own kingdom, made common 
 cause with the foes of England and the enemies 
 of his son-in-law. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 355 
 
 The latter considerations probably balanced 
 the former ; and both kept William in suspense, 
 till the birth of a prince turned the scale. It 
 was not merely the crown of England that was 
 now to be contended for. The safety of his 
 throne in Holland required that he should use 
 the opportunity that offered, to seize upon the 
 government of England, and cover the republic 
 with that power which was now substantially 
 directed against her. Without the aid of Britain 
 he could not hope to sustain the contest with 
 France : and if he omitted the present season, 
 the claims of the young prince would gather 
 strength, and exclude him for ever. 
 
 This is the apology which must be made for 
 William. That some apology was necessary there 
 is no doubt. As a private individual he cannot 
 be justified for what he did. As a prince at the 
 head of the Dutch nation, he could perhaps 
 hardly be excused if he did not attempt it. His 
 public duty required perhaps the sacrifice of 
 private obligation. 
 
 William affected to believe that the young 
 prince was a supposititious child, brought forward 
 with intent to exclude his wife from the inherit- 
 ance. This notion was also industriously spread 
 amongst the pubHc, by the partizans of the prince 
 in England. The friends of the revolution must 
 regret that recourse was had to so poor an arti- 
 fice. It was no doubt intended only for the 
 
 A A S 
 
356 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 crowd, whose prejudices are to be managed even 
 when they are to be served ; as medicine is ad- 
 ministered to children in sweetmeats. A blind 
 admiration for the privileges of birth is one of 
 the chief characteristics of the lower classes of 
 the people, and useful as it is, (and for which 
 perhaps it w^as implanted in human nature,) in 
 fixing securely the basis of authority, it is a 
 quality which requires to be managed with much 
 address in those great crises, wlien nations pre- 
 pare themselves to cast the slough of old and 
 worn out despotisms. 
 
 William had long been intriguing ; and feeling 
 his way in England and Ireland ; he now thought 
 it necessary to act openly. He published a de- 
 claration addressed to the British nations, on the 
 10th of October, 1688, dated from the Hague. 
 In this manifesto he details the grievances which 
 the Protestants in England and Ireland com- 
 plained of; and which he alleges to amount to 
 a despotic power assumed by the king; — his 
 dispensing with the laws against Papists, and 
 other laws ; permitting the erection of monas- 
 teries, colleges of Jesuits, and other Popish 
 houses, " for the corrupting the youth of the 
 nation." He promises to call a free parliament 
 without delay for the settlement of those mat- 
 ters ; and to this parliament he proposes to leave 
 also the question of the birth of the "pretended 
 Prince of Wales." 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 357 
 
 The 26th article of the declaration states, that 
 ** we will also study to bring the kingdom of 
 Ireland to such a state that the settlement there 
 may be religiously observed, and that the Protes- 
 tant and British interest may be secured/' 
 
 On the thirtieth of the month of June, previous 
 to this declaration, William had been formally 
 invited to England by seven noblemen and gen- 
 tlemen assembled at the house of the Earl of 
 Shrewsbury. A written instrument was drawn 
 up and signed by the Lords Devonshire, Danby, 
 Shrewsbury, Lumbly, the Bishop of London, 
 Russel and Sidney. It stated the motives and 
 necessity for William's immediate appearance in 
 England at the head of an army ; and pointed 
 out some important ill consequences which must 
 result from delay. These lords and gentlemen 
 w^ere in communication with Zuylestein the 
 Dutch Ambassador, who had been sent over os- 
 tensibly to congratulate the king on the birth 
 of his son, but really to assist in preparing the 
 plot, which was to be built upon a denial of the 
 young prince's birth and title. 
 
 The king's son had been prayed for in the 
 prince's chapel at the Hague ; but when it was 
 settled that his birth was to be disputed, the 
 prayers were ordered to be discontinued. The 
 king, on being informed of this circumstance, 
 remonstrated, through the British Ambassador; 
 and the Princess Mary, so celebrated for herpieti/, 
 
 A A 3 
 
358 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 condescended to write to her father ** that they 
 had never been ^rop^r^ discontinued, but only 
 sometimes forgot/* It must be admitted, that 
 the statement of the princess to her father was 
 not properly the truth, and that upon this occa- 
 sion she forgot her piety. 
 
 The publication of the prince's declaration 
 alarmed the king. He at length began to open 
 his eyes to the danger that threatened him ; and 
 his first movement w^as to retrace his steps. He 
 restored the charter of the city of London. He 
 made friends with the bishop, and with Mag- 
 dalen college ; and he succeeded in alarming 
 William in his turn, lest those measures should 
 win upon the nation, still attached to its king 
 and willing to be reconciled. In his fright 
 William published a second declaration, setting 
 forth the faithlessness of his father-in-law, and 
 the little depen dance that was to be placed upon 
 his promises, or present good conduct. The 
 nation reaped the glorious result of William's 
 enterprise ; but undoubtedly the prince and his 
 wife gathered neither honor or credit in the 
 transaction. Towards their unhappy and almost 
 contemptible parent, their plot was disgusting in 
 its outset, and cruel in its progress and accom- 
 plishment. 
 
 On the 5th of November, 1688, the prince 
 landed at Torbay. He had encountered various 
 disasters and disappointments in his voyage, 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 3^9 
 
 but he did not encounter the British fleet which 
 might have been the greatest calamity of all ; 
 nor does it appear that the Biitish admiral had 
 any inclination to encounter him. There is no 
 doubt that Dartmouth, who commanded the 
 English fleet, could have intercepted and de- 
 feated the expedition ; but he chose not to meet 
 with it. This admiral was one of the few who 
 were under particular obligations to James. 
 The first blow, therefore, struck against the 
 king, was an instance of that ingratitude for 
 which the Stuarts themselves w^ere so remarkable; 
 and which they left so little room, generally, to 
 exercise towards themselves. 
 
 After William landed, the nation paused. 
 People waited for events ; and few joined him. 
 It was a critical moment ; the country hesitated 
 to plunge into a civil war. The conspiracy ma- 
 naged with William had been confined to a few 
 in the upper ranks of society ; the mass of the 
 population had not been greatly excited, and 
 were still attached to the king, and averse from 
 foreign interference. 
 
 William waited ; but after a while the spirits 
 of the Dutch prince, though not easily depressed, 
 began to sink, and he talked of re-embarking 
 his army and returning to Holland. With a 
 little courage and activity James might now 
 have retrieved his affairs. The army were still 
 faithful, and were eager to be led against the 
 
 A A 4y 
 
360 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 enemy. The eyes of the political speculators 
 were anxiously fixed upon the king ; they were 
 now to read their fortunes in his countenance, 
 and to take their places in the drama that was 
 about to be acted, according to the spirit or 
 prudence he might display. They were soon 
 convinced that James was lost ; and that fate, 
 or fortune, or the fidelity of his army, or people, 
 would in vain attempt to save him. The king 
 was all terror and dismay ; he ordered nothing ; 
 or what he ordered he immediately counter- 
 manded. The means at his disposal were use- 
 less in his hands. Even the talent and intrepidity 
 of Dundee could not serve the miserable prince 
 to whom he was so devoted. There was no 
 longer any hesitation amongst that large portion 
 of the friends of the revolution who were still 
 more friendly to their own interests. 
 
 Numbers of the higher classes now flocked to 
 the standard of the Dutch prince. In the mid- 
 dle and lower classes, the people w^ere almost 
 passive, except, perhaps, in London, and some 
 other towns, where they had been excited by the 
 efforts of the clergy and the bugbear of popery. 
 Even in London there were, at times, some 
 relentings of the populace, and more than one 
 opportunity was presented to the pusillanimous 
 king to retrieve his fortunes and expel the in- 
 vader. 
 
 There is something exceedingly revolting in 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 361 
 
 the heartlessness and inhumanity witli which 
 the old man was deserted by his most intimate 
 and trusted friends. Bad as the world is, and 
 selfish and cold as is the region of politics, James 
 himself must divide the blame. He seems to 
 have been incapable of attaching any one. 
 His gifts called forth no gratitude, and his 
 affection excited no love. He was, as it were, 
 alone in the world. In the crowd that sur- 
 rounded his throne no heart ever responded to 
 his. Cold, cruel, mean, selfish, timid, he could 
 excite no sympathy, and purchase no esteem. 
 His attachment to the Catholic worship was the 
 only bond that united James with any portion 
 of his species ; but in this attachment there was 
 little of the spirit of religion, which requires 
 feeling and purity of heart ; it was a sterile 
 bigotry, calculated to injure the very creed to 
 which it fastened itself like a blur, and for which 
 even the pope himself expressed aversion and 
 contempt. 
 
 Yet the last scenes of the king's expulsion 
 from England were pitiful. James was still 
 capable of feeling the bitterness of being aban- 
 doned by all the world. When it was deter- 
 mined to practise upon his fears, and force him 
 into flight by hardships and indignity, it is im- 
 possible not to feel compassion for the man who 
 felt for no one. His attempt to escape to 
 France in an open boat, his capture by a few 
 
36^ HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 fishermen, his return to London, his rude expul- 
 sion from Whitehall, and, finally, his ignominious 
 flight from Rochester ; — all these excite our 
 commiseration. 
 
 James, when he returned to London, after his 
 first attempt to leave the kingdom, was surprised 
 and flattered by being received with shouts of 
 applause, and tears of joy, by the populace of the 
 great city that had a few days before indulged 
 in the most riotous excesses against his religion 
 and authority. The populace do not reason, 
 they only feel ; and this return of kindness 
 towards the king was a natural feeling, and 
 presented him, once more, with an opportunity 
 to retrieve his fortune, if he had known how to 
 use it. 
 
 The Revolution was not popular. It was 
 decidedly, and almost solely, aristocratic. It 
 was the work of a few great families, who, having 
 acquired large estates of the spoil of the church 
 domains, feared that James's bigotry to the Ro- 
 man worsliip would endanger their possessions. 
 With these were associated many who con- 
 sidered that the king had not capacity to keep 
 the crown upon his head, and that the intrigues 
 and fortune of the Prince of Orange must ulti- 
 mately prevail to strip him of his dignity and 
 authority. Beside the latter class of enemies, 
 James attracted the hostility of all the real lovers 
 of liberty and their country. These were few, 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 363 
 
 but they served to give grace and dignity to the 
 cause, and were the most formidable, because 
 they were honest adversaries. 
 
 But spite of all his errors and offences the 
 vast majority of the people were with James ; 
 and if he had known how to use them, the 
 universe could not have shaken tlie foundations 
 of his throne. The army also was with him, 
 spite of the treason of their officers. The troops 
 received the orders to retreat from Salisbury with 
 rage and indignation. It was one of the strangest 
 spectacles the world had ever witnessed, to ob- 
 serve a king abandoning a faithful army, supe- 
 rior in numbers to that opposed to them, and 
 certain to be victorious ; and throwing away his 
 crown and kingdom in mere causeless panic. 
 
 The landing of William in England, and the 
 events that followed, created a powerful sens- 
 ation in Ireland. The Catholics were thrown 
 into violent agitation. The Protestants recovered 
 from their long depression. Both took arms. 
 And the whole nation rose almost en masse. 
 The Catholics felt that they had now to fight 
 for property, liberty, and life. After the con- 
 clusion of the Cromwellian war, the most dis- 
 tinguished of their countrymen, who had sup- 
 ported the cause of Charles, suffered death upon 
 the scaffold as common malefactors ; and the 
 entire proprietary of the kingdom underwent 
 
364f HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the sentence of transportation and beggary. 
 This lesson was before them now. 
 
 The movements amongst the Irish excited the 
 utmost alarm in the Cromwellian population 
 throughout the kingdom. Reports were spread 
 that a general massacre was to take place of all 
 Protestants, preparatory to the war which was 
 at hand. Such reports were common in Ireland, 
 and were often employed to excite, or to excuse, 
 barbarities against the Catholics, similar to what 
 were rumoured to be intended by them. They 
 were, however, sometimes the effect of mere 
 terror. 
 
 The uproar in Dublin was excessive ; and ex- 
 ceeded even what occurred on the depaj'ture of 
 Clarendon. Multitudes ran to the sea shore 
 and filled every ship, entreating to be saved from 
 the daggers of the Irish. From all parts of the 
 country the Protestants crowded into the towns, 
 and thought themselves hardly safe within the 
 walls. 
 
 The town of Deny, upon the banks of Lough 
 Foyle, became the refuge of the Protestant po- 
 pulation of the north. The inhabitants of Deny 
 received the fugitives, and the news of the in- 
 tended massacre, at the same moment. The 
 frightful story, and the trembling and miserable 
 wretches who brought it, spread universal dis- 
 may through the town. The inhabitants were 
 assembled in groups in the streets, debating 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 365 
 
 anxiously upon the fate that awaited the devoted 
 Protestants of Ireland, when a regiment of 
 Irish infantry appeared suddenly beyond their 
 walls, marching directly towards the city. Fear 
 exaggerated the numbers, and even the size of 
 the soldiers — they were represented as of a 
 height and fierceness, even beyond what nature 
 has ever bestowed upon Irish grenadiers. The 
 alarmed citizens considered them as sent by 
 Tyrconnel the popish Lord Lieutenant, to ex- 
 ecute the sentence of general massacre, which 
 had been pronounced upon the whole Protestant 
 population of Ireland. Under this impression 
 they closed their gates, more in terror than in 
 bravery ; and thus commenced the celebrated 
 siege of Derry. 
 
 The closing of the gates had been resisted by 
 the older and more respectable portion of the 
 citizens of Derry. It was the work of a few 
 hot-headed and inconsiderate young men, and 
 of some of the lowest rabble : and nothing 
 certainly could be more unlucky for the comfort 
 and happiness of the then population of Derry, 
 than this hasty proceeding, or more fortunate 
 for the general cause of the Cromwellians, then 
 in great peril. Two thirds of the inhabitants 
 perished in the siege, victims of famine, misery, 
 and disease 5 and few of the survivors ever reco- 
 vered the dreadful effects of that struggle. 
 
 Tyrconnel liad withdrawn the garrison of 
 
366 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Deny, to reinforce James's useless army in 
 England, on the first rumour of William's in- 
 vasion ; and, after a while, had sent Lord An- 
 trim's regiment to replace it. It was this re- 
 giment whose appearance outside the walls, at 
 a critical moment, produced such an effect upon 
 the fears of the citizens. 
 
 Enniskillen, like Derry, a Protestant settle- 
 ment in the county of Fermanagh, followed the 
 example of the other town, and closed its gates 
 against an Irish garrison. The Protestants of 
 the north took courage from those bold pro- 
 ceedings, and formed various armed associations, 
 which, in the progress of the war, became 
 famous under the general designation of Ennis- 
 killeners, and Derrymen. 
 
 Tyrconnel felt he had done wrong in weaken- 
 ing the army of Ireland. His detachment had 
 been of no use to James, who had not courage 
 to employ them. Dundee alone turned his 
 Irish auxiliaries to account. But the fame they 
 acquired under that gallant commander, in vain 
 and useless victories in Scotland, was poor com- 
 pensation for their loss in the present emergency. 
 Dundee, writing to James of those new levies, 
 says, " that they behaved themselves with equal 
 gallantry to whatever he had seen in the hottest 
 battles fought abroad by disciplined armies," 
 and he begs for ** such another detachment of 
 the Irish army.'* 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 367 
 
 Tyrconnel appears to have been alarmed by 
 the arming in the north ; and frightened by the 
 events which had just occurred in England. 
 It hardly required the re-action of a sanguine 
 character, like his, to despair of a prosperous 
 issue to the contest which was impending in 
 Ireland ; after the pusillanimous part which 
 James had just played in the other island. 
 While in this temper some overtures were made 
 to him on the part of William, and were so favour- 
 ably received, that the prince was induced to 
 send General Hamilton, then a prisoner in his 
 custody, to conclude the negotiations thus happily 
 commenced. 
 
 Hamilton professed the utmost desire to pro- 
 mote an accommodation between William and 
 James's Irish subjects ; but in this he was not 
 sincere ; his only object being to obtain his 
 liberty. He had been made a prisoner by 
 Wilham, contrary to his proclamation, and 
 to the practice which had been observed to- 
 wards James's officers, and he took ample 
 revenge in the stratagem by which he obtained 
 his release ; but not without some imputation 
 upon his own honour. 
 
 Hamilton had no sooner arrived in Ireland 
 than he used all his influence with Tyrconnel to 
 break off his negotiation with William. The 
 earl was easily brought back to his original and 
 natural attachment to James and the Catholic 
 - VOL. I. *aa8 — BB 
 
S6S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 cause. He entered into Hamilton's views and 
 feelings, and was soon persuaded that all was 
 not lost, and that with the means which Ireland 
 possessed, and the powerful aid of France, if 
 England could not be recovered, Ireland at least 
 might be secured, and the Catholic interest 
 firmly established in it. These arguments, sup- 
 ported as they were by William's declaration, 
 touching the Protestant interest, and the Act of 
 Settlement, confirmed Tyrconnel in his resolution 
 of a vigorous and determined prosecution of 
 the war. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 B B 2 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 TREATY BETWEEN HENRY AND RODERICK. 
 
 The Treaty or Articles of Windsor* 
 
 " Hic est finis et concordia quae facta fuit apud Winde- 
 sore, in octabis Sancti Michaelis anno Gratise 1177, 
 inter Dominum Regem Anglise Henricum Secundum, 
 et Rodericum Regem Conacise per Catholicum Tua- 
 mensem Archiepiscopum et Abbatem C. Sancti Bran- 
 dani, et Magistrum Laurentium cancellarium Regis 
 Conaciae. 
 
 " Irao. Quod Rex Angliae concedit praedicto Ro- 
 derico, ligeo homini suo Regnum Conaciae, quamdiu ei 
 fideliter serviet, ut sit Rex sub eo, paratus ad servitium 
 suum, sicut homo suus ; et ut teneat terram suam, ita 
 bene, et in pace sicut tenuit antequam Dominus Rex 
 Angliae intravit Hiberniam, reddendo ei tributum : et 
 totam illam terram et habitatores terrae habeat sub se; 
 et justitiae ut tributum Regi Angliae integre persolvant, 
 et per manum ejus sua jura sibi conservent, et illi qui 
 modo tenent, teneant in pace, quamdiu manserint in 
 fidelitate Regi Angliae; et fideliter et integre persol- 
 verint tribuUim et alia jura sua, quae ei debent, per 
 
 B B 3 
 
37-i< APPENDIX, 
 
 manum Regis Conacise ; salvo in omnibus jure et honore 
 Domini Regis Angliae et suo. 
 
 " 2do. Et siqui ex eis Regi Angliae, et ei rebelles 
 fuerint, et tributum et alia jura Regis Angliae, per 
 manum ejus solvere noluerint, et a fidelitate Regis 
 Angliae recesserint, ipse eos justitiet et amoveat, et si 
 eos per se injustiare non poterit, constabularius Regis 
 Angliae et familia sua de terra ilia juvabunt eum ad hoc 
 faciendum, cum ab ipso fuerint requisiti, et ipsi 
 viderint quod necesse fuerit, et propter hunc finem 
 reddet praedictus Rex Conaciae Domini Regi Angliae 
 tributum singulis annis, scilicet, de singulis decem ani- 
 malibus unum corium placabile mercatoribus, tam de 
 tota terra sua, quam de aliena. 
 
 " 3o. Excepto quod de terris illis, quas Dominus Rex 
 Angliae retinuit in dominio suo, et in dominio Baronum 
 suorum, nihil se intromittet ; scilicet Durelina cum per- 
 tinentiis suis, sicut unquam Murchait, Warnai, Leth- 
 lachlin eam melius et plenius tenuit, aut aliqui qui eam 
 de eo tenuerint. Et excepta Wexfordia, cum omnibus 
 pertinentiis suis ; scilicet, cum tota Lagenia, et excepta 
 Waterfordia usque ad Dungarvan, ita ut Dungarvan 
 sit, cum omnibus pertinentiis suis infra terram illam. 
 
 " 4to. Et si Hibernensis illi qui aufugerint, rcdire 
 voluerint ad terram Baronum Regis Angliae, redeant in 
 pace, reddendo tributum praedictum quod alii reddunt, 
 vel faciendo antiqua servitia, qua facere solebant pro 
 terris suis ; et hoc sit in arbitrio Dominorum suorum ; 
 et si aliqui eorum redire noluerint Domini eorum et 
 Rex Conaciae accipiat obsides, omnibus quos ei com- 
 misit Dominus Rex Angliae, ad voluntatem Domini 
 Regis et suam, et ipse dabit obsides ad voluntatem 
 Domini Regis Angliee illos vel alios; et ipsi servient 
 Domino de canibus et avibus suis singulis annis de per- 
 tinentiis suis, et nullum omnino de quacumque terr^ 
 
APPENDIX. 375 
 
 Regis sit, retinebunt contra voluntatem Domini Regis. 
 His testibus Richardo Episcopo Wintoniae, Gaufrido 
 Episcopo Eliensi, Laurentio Duveliensi Archiepiscopo, 
 Gaufrido, Nicholas et Rogero Capellanis Regis, Gulielmo 
 Comite Essexii, et aliis raultis," etc. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 " Leinster, divided into several inferior principalities, as 
 that of Ossory, Decies, and the septs of Ostmen, formed 
 of the remains of the Danes, and other foreigners, 
 seated principally in Dublin and Waterford, and go- 
 verned generally by their own chieftains, gave the title 
 of royalty to Dermod, surnamed Mac-Murchad, a 
 prince represented by his countrymen in the most odious 
 colours : and although his vices have been evidently 
 exaggerated, yet even in an age and country of rudeness, 
 he appears to have been distinguished by a rude, fierce, 
 turbulent, and oppressive spirit. His father had 
 governed Leinster with a tyrannical severity. Seven- 
 teen of his dependent lords, we are assured, were either 
 capitally executed, or lost their eyes by his cruelty, 
 within one year: and Dermod, with his principality, 
 inherited too great a portion of the same temper. His 
 stature, and bodily strength, together with a boisterous 
 valour, had rendered him the admiration of all the in- 
 ferior orders of his subjects : and these, as the proper 
 instruments of his ambition, he was careful to protect 
 and favour. His donations and endowments of religious 
 houses recommended him to the clergy ; but his tributary 
 chieftains felt the full weight of his pride and tyranny^ 
 
 B B 4 
 
376 APPENDIX. 
 
 To them his government was odious; so that in his at- 
 tachments to the reigning factions of the island, he was 
 without principle or steadiness, determined to that side 
 which, for the present time, seemed most likely to sup- 
 port him. 
 
 " The chief competitors for the rank of monarch of 
 Ireland, were the heirs of the two houses, of O'Connor, 
 and the northern Hi-Nial. Of these, Torlogh O'Con- 
 nor was in possession % and though not generally re- 
 cognised, and opposed especially by his northern rival 
 O'Lochlan, he yet maintained his state with magnificence, 
 and supported his title with sufficient vigour. A de- 
 cisive victory gained over the forces of O'Brien encreased 
 his renown, but served at the same time to awaken the 
 jealousy of his rival ; who, in a general convention of 
 the states, obliged him to consent to a tacit partition of 
 authority, by which O'Lochlan was left sovereign of the 
 northern province; and such dispositions were to be 
 made in other districts as their joint interests might re- 
 quire. Such treaties between two superiors generally 
 ended in a design dictated by some irregular passion, 
 and executed against the peace and welfare of their 
 neighbours. It was soon resolved to transfer the terri- 
 tory of O'Ruarc to a more favourite partisan; and the 
 expedition was undertaken by the Connaught and 
 the Leinster princes. O'Ruarc was surprised, defeated, 
 and driven from his dominions. He had married the 
 daughter of the prince of Meath, a lady distinguished 
 by her beauty, but of a gay and amorous disposition. 
 She had inspired the king of Leinster with an unlawful 
 passion, and enflamed it by the freedom of her deport- 
 
 " ^ The Irish annalists have a particular name for a monarch thus 
 circumstanced ; and which they apply to Turlogh. They call him 
 High go Fresaura, King with reluctance^ i. e. monarch who had not 
 his authority recognized in all the provinces. 
 
APPENDIX. 377 
 
 ment ; and if the present expedition had not been 
 secretly contrived or fomented for the purposes of his 
 adulterous love, Dermod at least resolved to take ad- 
 vantage of the distresses of her husband, and to possess 
 himself of Dervorghal, (so the lady was called.) By 
 the assistance of a base brother she was conveyed to his 
 arms, and with an affected reluctance carried off in 
 triumph into his own province. ^ 
 
 " An outrage of this kind was not always regarded 
 by the Irish with abhorrence ; they considered it rather 
 as an act of pardonable gallantry, or such an offence at 
 most as a reasonable pecuniary compensation mi/j-ht 
 
 " ^ Giraldus assigns this incident as the immediate cause of the 
 expulsion of Dermod, and the first English invasion : and all the 
 English historians have implicitly followed his authority. But the 
 monk was neither a cautious examiner of the reports he heard in 
 Ireland, nor an accurate enquirer into the true causes which opened 
 the way to the successful progress of his countrymen. He came 
 into Ireland with an apparent contempt of the country and its in* 
 habitants; and that contracted mind which produced this contempt, 
 made him satisfied with the reports of those who were of the same 
 rank of understanding with himself. He asked the cause of that 
 resentment which drove Dermod from his province. He was 
 answered, that it arose from the seizure of O'Ruarc's wife : and he 
 mistook the first rise of personal animosity between two chiefs for 
 the immediate occasion of the revenge executed against Dermod. 
 But the Irish annalists are of authority in this case, if in any; and 
 they uniformly agree that this outrage was committed full sixteen 
 years before Fitz-Stephen was invited into Ireland. Dermod and 
 O'Ruarc, during this period, had frequently contended with various 
 success; and private injuries were apparently forgotten in the 
 tumult of faction and public contention ; till the death of his pro* 
 tector O'Lochlan left Dermod exposed to all the rage of his political 
 as well as his personal enemies. The resentnients of O'Ruard 
 might have revived upon a fair occasion; but their operation could 
 not have been considerable, if the political attachments of Dermod 
 had not been particularly offensive. It was the partizan of O'Lochlan 
 who was pronounced unwortiiy to fill the throne of Leinster; not 
 the ravisher of Dervorghal. 
 
 *» 
 
378 APPENDIX. 
 
 atone for. But the sullen and haughty Breffnian, pro- 
 voked more by the insolence and treachery of the 
 ravisher, than the infidelity of his wife, conceived the 
 most determined animosity against Dermod. He prac- 
 tised secretly with Torlogh, promised the most inviolable 
 attachment to his interest, and prevailed on him, not 
 only to reinstate him in his possessions, but to revenge 
 the insult of Mac-Murchad, whom he represented (and 
 justly) as a faithless vassal, really devoted to the service 
 of his rival. The king of Connaught led his forces into 
 Leinster, rescued Dervorghal from her paramour, and 
 restored her to her friends ; with whom she lived, if not 
 in a state of reconciliation with her husband, at least in 
 that opulence and splendour, which enabled her to 
 atone for the crime of infidelity by the usual method of 
 magnificent donations to the church. 
 
 " This service naturally formed a close connection 
 between O'Ruarc and the Connaught prince, with 
 whom he remained in firm union, and by whose assist- 
 ance he was enabled to revenge his wrongs, by frequently 
 joining with the discontented chieftains of Leinster, and 
 harassing his enemy king Dermod; till the death of 
 Torlogh, in the year one thousand one hundred and 
 fifty-six, rewarded the vigorous efforts of O'Loghlan 
 with the dignity of monarch. Dermod was the first to 
 acknowledge this new sovereign, and by the merit both 
 of his former attachment, and his new submission, found 
 support in his private quarrels, and in his turn was 
 enabled to wreak his animosity on the prince of Breffney. 
 But he had taken his party with too great precipitation. 
 His patron, with the most outrageous defiance of all the 
 precepts of humanity and good faith, seized on Dunleve, 
 the prince of Uladh, with whom he had but now con- 
 cluded a solemn treaty, and put out his eyes : which so 
 provoked the neighbouring chieftains, that they instantly 
 
 r^ 
 
APPENDIX. 379 
 
 took arms to avenge their associate, and defend them- 
 selves from the like barbarity. O'Lochlan was defeated, 
 and by falling in the battle of Litterluin, as it was called, 
 extinguished the hopes and pretensions of his family, 
 and left the long-contested title of monarch to Roderic, 
 son and successor of the late kins: of Connaught, 
 
 " Roderic, during the reign of his father and his own 
 government of Connaught, had been for the most part 
 engaged in the field, and though not always victorious, 
 had acquired the reputation of valour, which was now 
 confirmed in his present exaltation, to which the pre- 
 vailing power of his faction had raised him. Determined 
 to strike his enemies with terror, and to approve him- 
 self worthy of pre-eminence, he led a numerous army 
 to Dublin, immediately after the death of O'Lochlan; 
 was there solemnly inaugurated ; engaged the Ostmen- 
 inhabitants in his pay; and, thus reinforced, marched 
 towards the nordi, and was received by the chieftains 
 with every mark of submission. Dermod, justly dread- 
 ing the vigour of this new monarch, and expecting all 
 the fury of a triumphant resentment against the partizan 
 of his fallen rival, was seized with the utmost constern- 
 ation, and, in the phrenzy of vexation and despair, set 
 fire to his own town of Ferns, lest his enemies should 
 have the satisfaction of spoiling it. Nor was he mis- 
 taken in his apprehensions. Roderic soon returned, 
 attended by O'Ruarc, still the inveterate enemy of the 
 Leinster prince. They over-ran the whole province 
 with an irresistible force. All the inferior lords were at 
 once driven to make their peace and acknowledge the 
 supremacy of Roderic ; Dermod was deposed, as a man 
 utterly unworthy of his station; to which another of 
 his family was nominated, and gave sureties for his sub- 
 mission and fidelity to the monarch ; who in the full 
 career of glory pierced into Munster, regulated this 
 
380 APPENDIX. 
 
 province at his pleasure, and returning to Meath, held 
 a numerous and magnificent convention of the states, 
 in which his grandeur and authority were so strikingly 
 displayed, that the ancient honours of his country seemed 
 to revive, at the very moment when all such expect" 
 ations were on the point of being utterly extinguished ; 
 and the insolence of triumphant faction was ready to 
 produce a revolution more important than Ireland had 
 yet experienced. 
 
 " On the very first appearance of an invasion, Der- 
 mod felt the effects of his tyrannical government. His 
 tributaries had at once deserted him ; and some of the 
 most considerable among them, as the Danish lord of 
 Dublin, and the chieftain of Ossory, united with his 
 enemies. His abject flattery and submission could not 
 efface the memory of his former severities. The chief 
 of the O'Birnes, a powerful sept in that part of Leinster 
 now called Wicklow, was with difficulty persuaded by 
 the clergy to admit him to his presence, disavowed all 
 attachment to him, and with the haughtiness of a 
 superior commanded him to depart, as he regarded his 
 personal safety. And now, defeated, and degraded, in 
 the bitterness of insulted pride, and the rage of malig- 
 nant resentment, he formed the desperate purpose of 
 abandoning his kingdom, and seeking in foreign countries 
 the means of regaining his state, and gratifying his 
 revenge. The situation of his territory naturally pointed 
 out England as his place of immediate refuge ; he em- 
 barked with sixty followers, and arrived at the port of 
 Bristol. 
 
 " In England the odious part of his character was 
 unknown. He was considered as an injured prince, 
 deserted by rebellious vassals, and forced from his 
 dominions by an iniquitous confederacy ; and he was 
 received with a suitable degree of pity and respect, 
 
APPENDIX. 381 
 
 especially by the clergy, who entertained the friend and 
 benefactor of their order, in the monastery of Augustines, 
 with the utmost hospitality. Here he learned that 
 Henry the king of England, whom he now professed to 
 consider as his sole resource, was engaged in Acquitain, 
 and thither he immediately proceeded. He appeared 
 before the king in all the marks of distress and sorrow, 
 and falling at his feet, made a passionate and affecting 
 narrative of his misfortunes, enlarged on the malice of 
 his countrymen, the treachery of his pretended friends, 
 and the rebellion of his subjects, imploring the protec- 
 tion and assistance of Henry, the fame of whose mag- 
 nanimity and generosity had prompted him to this 
 address ; adding that if he should be so happy as to 
 obtain his powerful interposition, he would acknowledge 
 him as his liege lord, and hold his dominionsj which he 
 was thus confident of regaining, in vassalage to Henry 
 and his heirs. 
 
 " Nothing could have been more acceptable to the 
 king than this petition, which revived the flattering 
 ideas he had formerly conceived, and afforded a new 
 pretence for leading an army into Ireland. But his 
 affairs were still perplexed. His contest with the clergy 
 subsisted ; and he had but now received new proof of 
 the obstinacy and violence of Becket ; while the insur- 
 rections of his subjects in the provinces of France, 
 fomented secretly by Louis, engaged him busily both in 
 war and negociation. Yet still determined to improve 
 the present incident as far as his situation might permit, 
 he received the Irish prince with the utmost kindness, 
 affected to commiserate his wrongs, made him mu- 
 nificent presents, accepted his tender of allegiance, 
 and dismissed him with a letter of credence addressed 
 to all his subjects, notifying his grace and protection 
 granted to the king of Leinster, and declaring that who- 
 
382 APPENDIX. 
 
 soever within his dominions should be disposed to aid 
 him in the recovery of his territory, might be assured 
 of his free Hcence and royal favour. Dermod returned 
 to England, highly elevated by his favourable reception, 
 and still more by the hopes of deriving important ad- 
 vantages from this letter. He repaired once more to 
 Bristol, the usual resort of Irish vessels, and where of 
 consequence he expected intelligence from his own 
 country. Here he made publication of Henry's letter, 
 repeated his piteous tale, and lavished his promises on 
 all those who should assist the friend and vassal of their 
 sovereign ; but without effect. Whether his character 
 and conduct had by this time been represented in an 
 unfavourable light, or whether a disadvantageous opinion 
 had been formed of his country, no one could be found, 
 even in those days of adventure, to listen to his flattering 
 promises, and take arms in his cause. 
 
 <* A month thus elapsed without any prospect of 
 succours, and Dermod began to abandon all hopes of a 
 restoration, when, as his last desperate effort, he was 
 persuaded to address himself to Richard earl of Chep- 
 stow, or Strigul, as it was anciently named, son of 
 Gilbert, a nobleman of the illustrious house of Clare, 
 known by the titles both of Chepstow and Pembroke, 
 and of considerable note and consequence in Wales. 
 His son was distinguished as well by his military genius, 
 as by his station and alliances ; attended by a powerful 
 train of followers, whose affections he had gained by his 
 courtesy and generosity ; but, estranged from the royal 
 favour, retired and disengaged, his fortune dissipated, 
 his distresses urgent, and his prospects gloomy, he was 
 thought likely to comply with the overtures of Dermod, 
 who pressed him with the most urgent solicitations. 
 These, however, were received with a coldness and 
 reserve little suited to his present views. The earl, 
 
APPENDIX. 383 
 
 better fitted for the execution, than the conduct of a 
 bold design, was scrupulous and embarrassed ; and, 
 where he was to take a leading part, considered every 
 difficulty minutely, and stated every objection in its full 
 force. He could not consider the general licence of 
 Henry as a sufficient warrant for a measure of such 
 consequence, as that of leading his vassals into a foreign 
 country. Dermod renewed his instances, and redoubled 
 his promises. He engaged even to give him his 
 daughter Eva in marriage, and to make him heir to his 
 kingdom ; though sensible that he had no power to no- 
 minate his heir, by the ancient usage and institutions of 
 his country : such tempting offers at length prevailed 
 over the scruples of earl Richard. He covenanted to 
 assist him with a considerable force, which he appointed 
 to transport into Ireland in the ensuing spring, provided 
 he could obtain the king's particular licence and ap- 
 probation. 
 
 " Elevated by the success of this negociation, Der- 
 mod conceived that he had most effectually provided for 
 his re-establishment ; and now advanced as far as to 
 St. David's in South Wales, in order to return privately 
 into Ireland, to collect the remains of his adherents, 
 and to prepare for the reception of his expected ally. 
 He was received by the bishop of this see with parti- 
 cular kindness, who affected the utmost indignation at 
 his wrongs, and pity of his sufferings, and was particu- 
 larly studious to gain friends to a prince, whose munifi- 
 cence to his clergy had every where made him a favourite 
 of the order, in despite of tyranny and adultery. Rice 
 Fitz-Griffith, who commanded in this country, had for 
 some time meditated a revolt from the king of England, 
 Robert Fitz- Stephen, an active, brave, and skilful 
 soldier, had been entrusted by the Welchman with the 
 government of Cardigan ; but as he proved not well 
 
384f APPENDIX. 
 
 disposed to favour his rebellious designs, he was seized 
 by his order, and confined three years in prison. Such 
 was the opinion formed of his abilities in war, that Rice 
 now made him a voUintary offer of his liberty, provided 
 he would unite with him against king Henry. Fitz- 
 Stephen, though nearly allied to this chief by his 
 mother's side, was yet utterly averse from such a service. 
 His fether was a Norman, and he himself, of conse- 
 quence, attached to the interests of the English monarch. 
 Solicitous, at the same time, to regain his liberty, he 
 represented to Fitz-Griffith, that although he could not 
 take arms against his liege -lord, he was yet willing to 
 decline all part in the projected contest; that the Irish 
 prince solicited assistance; that he would gladly hazard 
 his life and fortune in a foreign land, so as not to oppose, 
 since he could not assist him. These instances were 
 urgently enforced by the bishop, and by Maurice Fitz- 
 Gerald, maternal brother to Fitz-Stephen, a loiJ of 
 distinguished worth and valour, who with some other 
 adventurous knii^hts of Wales, now consented to take 
 part in the Irish expedition. Robert, thus set at liberty, 
 covenanted to enfjage with all his followers in the 
 service of Dermod, who on his part promised to cede to 
 the two principal leaders, Fitz-Stephen, and Fitz-Gerald, 
 the entire dominion of the town of Wexford, with a 
 large adjoining territory, as soon as by their assistance 
 he should be reinstated in his rights. 
 
 " Such was the original scheme of an invasion, which 
 in the event proved of so great importance. An odious 
 fugitive, driven from his province by faction and re- 
 venge, gains a few adventurers in Wales, whom youthful 
 valour or distress of fortune led into Ireland, in hopes 
 of some advantageous settlements. Dermod, who, no 
 doubt, encouraged his new allies by the assurance of a 
 powerful reinforcement of his countrymen, was obliged 
 
APPENDIX. 385 
 
 to affect impatience to depart, and to provide for their 
 reception. He paid his vows in the church of St. David, 
 embarked, landed in Ireland, passed without discovery 
 through the quarters of his enemies, arrived at Ferns, 
 and was entertained and concealed in the monastery 
 which he himself had erected; waiting impatiently for 
 the return of spring, when the English powers were to 
 come to his assistance. To the clergy he took care to 
 magnify his gracious reception by king Henry, the dis- 
 positions of the English in his favour, and the number, 
 force, and valour of the confederates he expected. The 
 intelligence was industriously spread abroad, and served 
 to animate his adherents ; who incautiously crowded in 
 considerable numbers to their old master, and received 
 his assurances of a speedy and effectual support. As 
 the secret of his return could not be long concealed, he 
 assumed the appearance of the utmost confidence. He 
 even /narched at the head of his adherents, and pos- 
 sessed him of a part of his dominions called Hi-Kense- 
 lagh. Yet secretly distracted and terrified, tormented 
 by delay, and dreading a disappointment, he dispatched 
 Regan, his faithful domestic, into England to hasten the 
 succours already promised, and to solicit others, with 
 an assurance of rich settlements and large rewards to 
 all adventurers. 
 
 " Roderic, who was still busily employed in establish- 
 ing his authority, confirming his adherents, and terrify- 
 ing his secret enemies, was not long uninformed of the 
 return of Dermod. Fame magnified the force he had 
 collected, and converted a few followers of Wales, who 
 embarked with this prince, into an army of foreigners. 
 Possibly the new chieftain of Leinster was author of this 
 report, as he seems to have found no resources in his own 
 valour and abilities, but to have relied entirely on the 
 protection of Roderic. The monarch had lately obliged 
 
 VOL. r. CO 
 
386 APPENDIX. 
 
 the northern chieftains, whom he most suspected, to 
 acknowledge his supremacy ; and was now impatient to 
 regulate the disorders both of Meath and Thomond, in 
 each of which provinces the violence of local feuds and 
 factions had ended in the murder of the reigning 
 princes. Yet still resolving to chastise the insolence of 
 the Leinster chief, he suddenly collected some forces, 
 and, with his faithful associate O'Ruarc, marched into 
 the country of Hi-Kenselagh. 
 
 '• Dermod, terrified at this incursion of his inveterate 
 enemies, fled into his woods for shelter ; and, favoured 
 by the advantage of situation, made a show of resistance, 
 and even skirmished with the enemy, without any con- 
 siderable disadvantage or disgrace. In the first action 
 the forces of Connaught were repelled with some loss : 
 another battle ensued, in which the Tainist, or successor 
 elect of O'Ruarc, fell; and on the part of Dermot, a 
 young lord of Wales, whom the Irish annals, in the 
 style of their nation, call a king's son, together with 
 others of inferior note, were killed. But this chieftain, 
 sensible of his own weakness, and the necessity of 
 amusing his assailants, artfully proposed to treaty made 
 solemn professions of the most abject submission to 
 Roderic, and formally renounced his claim to the go- 
 vernment of Leinster; requesting, as an object of com- 
 passion, to be allowed to retain ten canfreds only of the 
 province, which he promised to hold in absolute depend- 
 ance upon Roderic, and in perfect submission to that 
 monarch. To him he tendered seven hostages as a 
 surety for his obedience; and to O'Ruarc, one hundred 
 ounces of gold, as an inducement to bury all old ani- 
 mosities in oblivion, and to grant his favour and pro- 
 tection to an unhappy prince, whom he could no longer 
 consider as a rival, divested, as he was, of all the antient 
 rights and honours of his family. Roderic, intent on 
 
APPENDIX. 387 
 
 objects apparently more important, accepted his insidi- 
 ous submission ; consented to remit this small portion 
 of territory to Dermod, received his hostages, and 
 hastened to make the necessary dispositions in other 
 provinces. 
 
 " But the period at length arrived, when Dermod 
 was to discover his insincerity, and to assert, at the 
 head of an army, the rights he had so solemnly relin- 
 quished. Robert Fitz-Stephen had collected his forces, 
 consisting of thirty knights, sixty men in armour, and 
 three hundred archers, all chosen men of Wales, and em- 
 barking in three ships about the beginning of the month of 
 May, in the year eleven hundred and seventy, arrived 
 at a creek called the Bann, near the city of Wexford. 
 With these came Hervey of Mountmorres, not with any 
 military train, but as the emissary of his nephew, the 
 earl of Chepstow, to survey the country, and to report 
 its state and circumstances to Richard, so as to direct 
 him in his intended enterprize. This troop was the 
 very next day reinforced by Maurice of Pendergast, a 
 valiant Welshman, at the head of ten knights and two 
 hundred archers. The commotion which was naturally 
 produced through the adjacent country by the landing 
 of a foreign force, served to alarm the Britons, who, 
 before they adventured to march forward, sent immedi- 
 ately to Dermod to notify their arrival, and to demand 
 his assistance. The Irish prince was filled with the 
 utmost exultation. Numbers of his subjects, who had 
 abandoned him in his distress, considered this event as 
 a certain assurance of his speedy restoration, and now 
 crowded eagerly to his standard. He instantly sent 
 five hundred men, headed by his natural son Donold, a 
 youth of distinguished bravery, to join the invaders. 
 He himself soon followed, received his foreign allies with 
 every expression of joy and affection, renewed those 
 
 c c 2 
 
388 APPENDIX. 
 
 promises he had made in England ; and their mutual 
 stipulations being adjusted and ratified with all due 
 solemnity, they proceeded to concert the operations of 
 war, and the measures most effectual for their own 
 interests and the service of the prince of Leinster." — 
 LelaiuVs Ireland, 
 
 No. III. 
 
 PLOW-LAND. 
 
 " All Ireland was anciently divided into farms, which 
 were called plow-lands, and in some parts went by other 
 appellations. They varied in size : the plow-lands 
 in the rich grounds being generally small, in poor 
 and mountainous districts, larger. Each plow-land 
 supplied all its inhabitants with every comfort and 
 necessary of life. The farmer, who occupied the whole, 
 was at the head of a little community ; he had his 
 labourers, his smyth, his mason, carpenter, weaver, pot- 
 ter, schoolmaster, musician, &c. ; all these dwelt upon 
 the plow-land, and earned their subsistence by their 
 industry; each having generally his cottage and garden 
 rent free. The plow-land was a community not exactly 
 upon Mr. Owen's principle, but, perhaps, upon one 
 better suited to the nature of the human being. 
 
 " The division by plow-lands still subsists, but there 
 are few that have not been subdivided into many farms. 
 The origin of the division by plow-lands is beyond the 
 memory of man, but it appears to have been generally 
 made with great judgment," 
 
APPENDIX. 389 
 
 No. IV. 
 
 ON THE FORMER WEALTH OF IRELAND. 
 
 " Cambrensis, who visited this country long after the 
 Danes had robbed its inhabitants of their treasures, 
 asserts, that even in his day it abounded with gold. ^ 
 Hadrianus Junius says that pure veins of silver were 
 found in Ireland : — 
 
 (( ( 
 
 Stannique Fodinas 
 
 Et puri argenli venaSy quas terra refossis 
 Visceribus manes imos visura recludit.* '* 
 
 "* And mines of tin, and veins of silver ore, 
 Which Mother Earth, unlocking all her store. 
 From her deep bosom yields, as if to show 
 A nearer passage to the shades below.' " 
 
 " Helmets and different kinds of armour, ornamented 
 with gold, have been frequently dug up in various parts 
 of the kingdom. A corslet, cased with pure ductile 
 gold, was found by a farmer at Tulla, near Clare, who 
 sold it, about the year 1772, to a silversmith in Lime- 
 rick. O'Halloran, who had seen many similar ones, 
 informs us that it weighed nine ounces. ^ Bits of bri- 
 dles, of solid gold, have been often foimd in Ireland. 
 One of these, which weighed ten ounces, was presented 
 by Lord Strafford to Charles I. *^ Golden gorgets, or 
 neck-collars, called by Irish antiquaries lodhain Morain, 
 and worn by the ancient law judges, have been dug up 
 in many districts of this country. A very beautiful one 
 
 " Expug. Hib. lib. ii. c. 75. 
 ^ O'Halloran, vol.i. p. 121. 
 ''■ Warner's Introduction to Irish History. 
 c c 3 
 
390 APPENDIX. 
 
 of these curious gorgets is now in the possession of the 
 Rev. Francis Gervais, rector of Tartarraghan. This 
 remnant of antiquity, which is elegantly adorned with 
 a kind of chase- work engraving, was found, about three 
 years ago, in the townland of Tullynafoile, barony of 
 Clogher, and county of Tyrone. Another lately dis- 
 covered golden lodhain Morain is now deposited in the 
 cabinet of Mr. Thomas Lindley, Armagh. Golden 
 cups, connected by a curvilinear bar of the same metal, 
 have been dug up from time to time in various parts of 
 every province in the kingdom. 
 
 " Dr. Ledwich, in the first edition of his Antiquities, 
 page 114., says, " that Ireland possesses mines of lead, 
 iron, and copper, is incontestably true; and it is equally 
 certain she has none of gold or silver^ hut so far as the 
 latter is united ivith lead.'' Of the learned doctor's cer- 
 tai?ities we may form a due estimate from the following 
 passage in the second edition of his Antiquities, p. 213., 
 in which he says, " that Ireland possesses mines of iron 
 and copper is incontestably true, and it is probable she 
 has some of gold or silver.'' He was then aware, it may 
 be presumed, that gold had been discovered in con- 
 siderable quantities in the Wicklow mountains, and that 
 measures had been taken, under the sanction of the 
 state, for working the mines of that district, near the 
 close of the last century. But long prior to the first 
 publication of his work, Harris had stated, in the year 
 1746, that gold had been found in the copper mines of 
 Wicklow. ^ 
 
 " It is recorded by some Norwegian writers that the 
 Ostmans got considerable treasure in Dublin in the 
 ninth century. ^ Indeed, Saxo Grammaticus says, that 
 
 <' Harris's Ware's Ant. p. 203. 
 
 *^ Gram. Hist. Dan. vi. Barthol. p. 15. 
 
appendix". 391 
 
 so " great was the quantity found by tlie victors, that 
 little care was taken in its division." 
 
 " Our annalists relate, that Cormac M'Cuillionain pre- 
 sented to the abbey of Armagh twenty-four ounces of 
 gold and twenty-four of silver, and that King Brian 
 Boruhme gave twenty ounces of gold to the cathedral. 
 Gelasius granted sixty ounces of gold to the abbatial 
 church of Mellifont, in the year 1158. Donat O' Carrol, 
 kingof Ergal, and Dervogilla, wife of Tiernan O'Rourke, 
 gave each the same quantity. In 1152 Tirloch O'Con- 
 nor received sixty ounces of gold, a golden cup, and 
 sixty golden bracelets, as a ransom for the chieftain of 
 Munster, then his prisoner. *^ In 1162 the people of 
 Ossory collected four hundred and twenty ounces of 
 silver for the use of a prelate named O'Brolcan. ^ 
 
 " In the year 1692 a golden crown was dug up on the 
 summit of a hill called Barnanely, or the DeviVs Bit, in 
 the county of Tipperary, adorned with chase- work, and 
 resembling the crowns worn in the Eastern empire, 
 which were composed of a helmet and diadem. ^ Part 
 of a golden tiara was found about sixteen years ago in 
 the drained bed of Loughadian, near Pointzpass, and is 
 yet in possession of William Fivey, Esq. 
 
 " But the wealth of ancient Scotia, or Ireland, was de- 
 rived from various other sources besides gold, silver, 
 tin, lead, and copper mines. We have already shown 
 from the Roman historian, Tacitus, that her ports were 
 better known to commercial men than those of Great 
 Britain. The following line^, written by Donat, who 
 was bishop of Fesulae, near Florence, in Italy, about 
 the year 802, show that her lands produced in abundance 
 
 *' Annals of Ulster. 
 e Ware's Ant. p. 204. 
 
 '' Ibid. p. G5. Seidell, Tit. Hon. parti, c. 8. p. 166. Keat. Prcf. 
 
 c c 4 
 
392 APPENDIX. 
 
 various articles essentially necessary to the well-being of 
 society. 
 
 " ' Finibus occiduis describitur optima Tellus 
 Nomine et antiquis Scotia scripta libris 
 Insula dives opum, gemraarum, vestis, et auri, 
 Commoda corporibus aere, sole, solo. 
 Melle fluit pulchris et lacteis Scotia carapis 
 Vestibus atque armis, frugibus, arte, viris. 
 Ursorum rabies nulla est ibi ; saeva leonum 
 Semina nee unquam Scotica terra tulit. 
 Nulla venena nocent, nee serpens serpit in herba 
 Nee conquesta canit garrula rana lacu. 
 In qua Scotorum gentes habitare merentur. 
 Incl}ta gens hominum, milite, pace, fide/ " 
 
 Sttiart's Armagh. 
 
 No. V. 
 
 *' ON THE ANCIENT SCHOOL OR COLLEGE OF ARMAGH, 
 AND THE STATE OF ANCIENT IRISH LITERATURE. 
 
 *' The school of Armagh was founded by St. Patrick 
 himself % and continued for a long time one of the most 
 celebrated seminaries of literature in Europe. From 
 time to time it received the patronage of the kings of 
 Ireland, and even Roderick O'Connor, the last of its 
 native monarchs, made a new grant to the professors of 
 this college in the year 1169.^ From this school many 
 learned men, not only of the Irish nation, but students 
 from every part of Christendom, issued forth to instruct 
 their respective countrymen, and to diffuse knowledge 
 throughout Europe. Some of these scholars became 
 martyrs for the truths of Christianity. Swithbert*^, the 
 
 * Vita Trip. ^ Lucius, p. 89, 90. 
 
 •^ Jus. Prim. Armac. cap. 578. 
 
APPENDIX. 393 
 
 apostle of Westphalia, and Willibrord, archbishop of 
 Utrecht, two learned Anglo-Saxons, were educated at 
 Armagh. We learn from Alcuin, the preceptor of 
 Charlemagne"^, that Willibrord studied ' twelve years 
 in Ireland, under masters of high reputation, being in- 
 tended for a missionary-preacher to many people.' He 
 styles him — 
 
 *' ' Vir Virtiite potens divino plenus amore 
 Ore sagax, et mente vigil, et fervidus actu.* 
 
 This learned missionary founded the monastery of Ep- 
 ternach, where he died, A. D. 739. ® 
 
 " Gildas Albanius, the most ancient of the British 
 historians, who was, according to Bayle \ a disciple of 
 St. Patrick, presided over the Armagh college, from 
 whence he returned to Britain, when he heard of the 
 death of his brother, who was slain by King Arthur, as 
 we learn from his biographer, Caradocus Lhancarva- 
 nensis. s He died on the 29th of January, 512. — St. 
 Catroe was also an alumnus of Armagh college. ^ 
 
 " The annals of Ulster state, that in the year 1162' 
 an ecclesiastical synod, assembled by Gelasius at Cle- 
 onad, decreed that no persons should be permitted to 
 teach or publicly lecture on the science of theology, 
 except those who had studied at the Armagh academy. 
 Hence an assertion made by Florence Macarthy \ that 
 7000 pupils were, at one period, to be found in that 
 college, is by no means incredible. From this synodical 
 
 d Vita Willib. lib. i. et ii. 
 ^ Caspar Bruschius. 
 
 *" See also Harpsfeld and Pitceus, who agree with Bayle on this 
 point. 
 
 s Caradoc. in vita Gildae, cap. 9. 12. 
 •» Jus. Prim. cap. 579. 
 ' According to our calculation, 1 165. 
 '' Citantibus Usscr et Ware. 
 
894 APPENDIX. 
 
 decree we may fairly infer, that the school had retained 
 its high character from age to age, and was at all periods 
 the chief seminary of literature in this kingdom. Hence 
 it is probable that the Irish philosopher and mathema- 
 tician, Feargall, known on the Continent by the names 
 of Virgil and Solivagus \ was educated here. So early 
 as the year 748, this eminent man maintained the 
 sphericity of the earth, the existence of the antipodes, 
 and the plurality of worlds, as is manifest from a letter 
 written by pope Zacharias to bishop Boniface on that 
 subject. "" Here, also, it is probable that Erigena de- 
 rived those liberal sentiments in religion and philosophy 
 which rendered him illustrious on the Continent in the 
 ninth century. The same, also, may be rationally con- 
 jectured of Albin, (the friend of Charles the Great,) 
 who afterwards presided over the university of Ticinum, 
 and of Clement", (provost of the university of Paris,) 
 and of other learned Hibernian Scots. Be this as it 
 may, the names of many professors in the Armagh col- 
 lege are yet on record ; and amongst these, that of Imar 
 O'Hedagain, the rebuilder of St. Paul and St. Peter's 
 church, and the preceptor of Malachy Morgair. ^ 
 
 '* Foreign students were gratuitously furnished in the 
 Irish colleges with lodging, diet, clothes, and books ; 
 and we have the authority of Bede p and Alcuin % as 
 well as of Erric, of Auxerre ^, and of the writer of the 
 
 ' Stannihurst, Descript. Hib. c. 7. 
 
 •" Vet. Epist. Hib. Syl. p. 49, 50. 
 
 " A writer of the fourteenth century affirms, " that by the works 
 of Clement, an Irishman, the French might be compared to the 
 Athenians and Romans." — Vide Bebenbiirgius de Zelo Veter. 
 Princip. German, citante G* Halloran. 
 
 « Tria Thaum. Sept. Append, ad acta S. Pat. 
 
 p Hist. Eccl. Brit. lib. iii. c. 7. 27. — lib. iv. c. 26. 
 
 1 Vita S. Willibrord. Hb. ii. c. 4. 
 
 ' De Mirac. S. Germani, lib. i. c. ult. 
 
APPENDIX. 395 
 
 Life of Sulgenus, that numbers of Saxons, Gauls, &c. 
 flocked to Ireland for instruction. This account is cor- 
 roborated by Camden, Spencer, Llhuid, and Roland. 
 It is certain, that whoever wished to perfect himself in 
 theology and in the other sciences, deemed it necessary 
 to reside in some of the literary seminaries of this 
 country. Hence Camden quotes the following passage 
 fioni the Life of Sulgen : — 
 
 " * Exemplo patrum commotus araore legend! 
 Ivit ad Hibernos, Sophia mirabile claros.' 
 
 He alleges, also, that the ancient English even learned 
 the form of their letters from the Irish. ® Indeed the 
 Irish language seems to have been formerly held in 
 considerable repute, even by British monarchs ; for when 
 Aidan preached in that tongue to the Northumbrians, 
 King Oswin himself interpreted his discourse to the 
 people.^ When any learned man on the Continent had 
 disappeared, it was generally said of him, ' Amaii- 
 datiis est ad disciplinam in HiberniaJ Aldelm, an au- 
 thor of the seventh century, the very first of the English 
 nation who wrote Latin poetry, was a pupil of the Hi- 
 bernian Scot, Maidulph, as Camden testifies. " Aigil- 
 bert, the first bishop of the Western Saxons, and after- 
 wards bishop of Paris, and Alfred, king of Northum- 
 berland, were educated in Ireland. ^ 
 
 " The sciences and liberal arts, taught in the Irish 
 colleges, were. Theology, Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, 
 Arithmetic, Music, Geometry, and Astronomy. Of 
 these, the last seven were methodically comprised and 
 digested in a disquisition, which had been written by 
 
 * Camden's Ireland, p. 68. Holland's trans. 
 
 * Bede, Hist. Eccl. Brit. lib. ii. c. 5. 
 
 " Camden, Wiltshire, p. 242. Holland's trans. 
 
 " Bedic, lib. iii. c. 7 — 27. Id. in Carm. de vita S. Cuthbert, c. 21, 
 
396 APPENDIX. 
 
 Martianus Capella in the fifth century. ^ On this au- 
 thor, Johannes Scotus Erigena wrote comments, and 
 Duncant, an Irish bishop, delivered lectures in St. 
 Remigius's monastery, in Down; and these works are 
 still extant. ^ From such materials we may learn the 
 nature of the studies to which the Irish literati dedicated 
 their time. The works of Cumian, abbot of Hi, are 
 honourable to the Irish seminary in which he studied. 
 In some of these there is a considerable display of eru- 
 dition, talent, and research. References are made by 
 Cumian to Hieronymus% St. Augustine, Origen, Cy- 
 prian, Cyril, and Gregory. In treating of cycles, he 
 refers to the authority of Patrick, discusses those of 
 Anatolius, Theophilus, Dionysius, Cyril, and Victorius ^, 
 &c. &c. Indeed, Cumian's erudite letter to Segien fur- 
 nishes an example of Hibernian literature, and, of course, 
 of the nature of the collegiate studies successfully cul- 
 tivated in Ireland during the seventh century. 
 
 " Erigena was admirably well versed in the Greek 
 and Latin languages. From the Greek, he translated 
 the books of Dionysius, the Areopagite % in such a 
 manner as to astonish the royal Charles. He translated 
 also Aristotelis Moral ia de secretis secretorum into 
 Chaldaic, Arabic, and Latin. *^ He is deemed to have 
 been the author of the Excerpta in Macrobius, concern- 
 ing the affinities and discrepances of the Greek and 
 
 y Fabric. Bibliotb. lat. p. 638. Barth. Advers. lib. viii. Ledw. 
 Ant. p. 351, 552. 
 
 ' Fabric. Bib. lat. p. 640. Warton's Hist, of English Poetry, 
 vol. ii. p. 75, 76. Ledwich. Ant. p. 352. 
 
 » Vet. Epist. Syl. 25—31. 
 
 •» Ibid. p. 32. 
 
 *= Guliel. Malm. lib. ii. de Gest. Reg. Ang. c. 4. Tritheni. de 
 Script. Eccles. Gul. Eysengren. Catal. test, verit. Polychron. Ran. 
 Higden. 
 
 ^ Bayle, centur. 2. Script. Brit. cap. 24. 
 
APPENDIX. 397 
 
 Latin Syntaxes % as well of a treatise Trsgi (pvascav. He 
 was an adept in theology and the other sciences, and 
 from his works we may appreciate the classic taste of 
 the Irish literati in the ninth century. The enlightened 
 system of astronomy adopted before that period in the 
 Hibernian schools may be inferred from what we have 
 already said concerning Virgil. 
 
 " The study of their vernacular tongue was not ne- 
 glected by Irish scholars. A glossary of that language 
 was written by Cormack Mac Cuillionain, king of Mun- 
 ster and bishop of Cashel, who was slain at the battle 
 of Bealach Muchna, A. D. 908. ^ A very ancient copy 
 of this work, on vellum, is deposited in the library of 
 Sir William Betham, and another in the collection of 
 the learned Irish lexicographer, Edward Reilly.^ — 
 There is some probability that the ancient Danes, as 
 well as the Saxons, acquired their knowledge of letters 
 from Ireland ; and Wormius admits that his country- 
 men have an old alphabet called Ira Letur, or Irlando- 
 rum Literae. ^ 
 
 " To Hibernian Scots the literati of Europe owe the 
 introduction of scholastic divinity, and the application 
 of philosophic reasoning to illustrate the doctrines of 
 theology, as we learn from the works of Benedict, 
 abbot of Aniam, in Languedoc, a writer of the eighth 
 century. ' 
 
 " Giraldus Cambrensis (no favourer of the Irish) 
 seems to have been quite enraptured with their music, 
 
 * MSS. in Trin. Col. Cantab, citante Usser. in Epist. Recen. 
 p. 155. 
 
 ^ Act. Sanct. p. 5. Ogyg. p. 208. 
 
 K See Preface to his excellent Dictionary of the Irish Language. 
 '» Worm. Lit. Run. cap. 1. and see also the Preface to the Irish 
 Historic Library of Bishop Nicholson, p. 15. 
 
 • Bahiz. Miscell. citante Mosheim, vol. ii. p. 256. 
 
398 APPENDIX. 
 
 which was taught scientifically in their colleges. Their 
 skill, he says, was ' incomparably superior to that of 
 any other nation. For their modulations are not slow 
 and morose, as in the instruments of Britain, to which 
 we are habituated ; but the sounds are rapid and pre- 
 cipitate, yet sweet and pleasing. It is wonderful that 
 the musical proportion is preserved amidst such preci- 
 pitate velocity of the fingers, and that the melody is 
 rendered full and perfect, by an undeviating art, amidst 
 such trembling modulations — such organic tones, so 
 infinitely intricate — possessed of such pleasing swift- 
 ness — such unequal parity — such discordant concord. 
 Whether the chords of the diatesseron or diapente be 
 struck together, they begin and terminate in dulce, that 
 all may be perfectly completed in delightful, sonorous 
 melody. They commence and close their modulations 
 with so much subtilty, and the tinklings of the slender 
 strings sport so freely with the deep tones of the bass 
 chords — so delicately pleasing — so softly soothing — 
 that the perfection of their art lies in concealing art,' 
 &c. &c. 
 
 " To the same effect testify Ranulph Higden ^, and 
 Polydore Virgil, who styles the Irish musica peritissimi, 
 Vincentio Galilei, a Florentine, and father of the great 
 Galileo, quotes the poet Dante, who lived about the 
 year 1300, to prove that the harp or altered cithera 
 had, in its improved form, been introduced by the Irish 
 into Italy. ^ Fuller, in his account of the Holy War"", 
 says, ' Yea, we might well think that all the concert of 
 Christendom, in this war, would have made no music, 
 if the Irish harp had been wanting.' In modern times, 
 Geminiani was delighted and astonished by the harmony 
 
 ^ Apud Gale, p. 122. 
 
 ' Vide Critical Dissert, prefixed to Bunting's Collection, p. 25. 1. 
 
 •" B. V. c. 23. citante Walker. 
 
APPENDIX. 399 
 
 of some of our ancient airs ; and Handel " declared that 
 he would rather have been the author of Eallen a Rodn 
 than of the most exquisite of his own musical compo- 
 sitions. Perhaps this simple, original air contains more 
 melody, in fewer notes, than any other in existence. 
 
 " Since such has uniformly been the power of Irish 
 music, we need not wonder that Gertrude, the daucrhter 
 of the illustrious Pepin, maire of the palace to Dagobert 
 and Sigebert, in the seventh century, sent to Ireland 
 not only for iearned men to instruct the religeuse of the 
 abbey of Neville, but for musicians and chanters to teach 
 them church-harmony^ or psalm-singing. ° 
 
 " With music poetry was intimately connected. That 
 classic poetry was cultivated in Ireland at a very early 
 period, the writings of Sedulius (who styles himself ' a 
 Scot of Hibernia,' in his Comment on St. Paul's Epis- 
 tles,) demonstrate. Maidulph, the preceptor of Aldelm, 
 (the first Englishman who wrote Latin verses,) was 
 himself an Irishman and a poet, and flourished A. D. 
 676. P The classic Alcuin % who also wrote Latin 
 verses, styles the Irish prelector, Colcus, his master. "^ 
 Spenser, the English poet, says, that even in his day 
 the verses of the Irish bards ' savoured of sweet wit and 
 good invention.* ^ And Mr. Warton proves that the 
 Welsh bards derived their knowledge of music from 
 instructions which they received in Ireland. ' 
 
 " O'Connor's Dissert, p. 58. 
 
 " Fleiiry, Hist. Ecclesiast. torn. viii. p. 421. 
 
 p Camden, Brit. v. i. p. 104. Vide Holland's trans, p. 242. Malm, 
 de Gest. Reg. Ang. lib. i. c. 2. Ware's Writers, p. 42. 
 
 *> It may be worth noting that this Alcuin, after having stated 
 that Willibrord was educated in Ireland, informs us again, c. 33. 
 Vit. Willi., that he had studied in the country of the Scots. 
 
 ' Vet. Epist. Hib. Syll. p. 31. 
 
 « Ibid. p. 112, 113. 
 
 * Hist, of English Poetry, dissert, i. 
 
400 APPENDIX. 
 
 " The Irish literati of the middle ages did not con- 
 fine their useful labours to their own colleges, but formed 
 various literary, hospitable, and religious establishments 
 in foreign countries. In the council of Meaux, A. D. 
 845, it was decreed, that complaints should be made to 
 the king of the ruin of hospitable houses, jparticularly 
 of those of the Irish nation, founded by benevolent natives 
 of that caimtry. " In the seventh century Columban, an 
 Irishman, founded the abbey of Luxevil, in Burgundy, 
 a second at Fontanelle ^, and a third at Bobio, near 
 Naples. Gall, another Hibernian, founded the abbey 
 of Stinace, or Stinaha, near the lake Constance. ^ In 
 the sixth century, Columba, the Irish Culdee, founded 
 the famous monastery of Hi, or lona ^, and converted 
 the Picts. Arbogast, an Hibernian Scot, about the 
 year Q^:Q> founded an oratory in Alsace, where Hagenau 
 was afterwards built ^ Maidulph erected the monastery 
 of Ingleborne, where, about the year 676, he instructed 
 the English youth in classic literature. ^ Fursey founded 
 a monastery at Cnobersburgh, now Burgh Castle, in 
 Suffolk, about the year 637, and, shortly afterwards, 
 the abbey of Laigni, in the diocese of Paris. '^ He died 
 on the 16th of January, 648.'^ — It is unnecessary to 
 pursue this subject further. We may, however, remind 
 
 " Fleury, Hist. Eccl. torn. x. p. 382. 
 
 " Jonas, Vita Columb. c. 7, 8, 9. Marian. Scotus, 
 
 y Wal. Strab. in vita S. Galli apud Surium, torn. v. ad 16 Oct. et 
 Messing. Florileg. p. 255. et sequent. 
 
 ^ Cumian vita Columb. Tria Thaum. p. 525. et sequent. Adam 
 Vit. Col. Tria Thaum. p. 336. et sequent. Bede, Eccl. Hist. Gent. 
 Angl. lib. iii. cap. 4. 
 
 ^ Gaspar Bruscli, de Episc. Gerra. p. 55. 
 
 ^ Holland's Camden, p. 242. 
 
 <= Miroeus de Colleg. Canon, p. 41. Desm. vita Furs, c. 13, 14, 
 15, 16. 
 
 ^ Bed. Martyr. 
 
APPENDIX. 401 
 
 our readers ihat Charlemagne of France placed ihe uni- 
 versity of Paris and that of Ticinum, (z. e. Pavia,) the 
 two first-formed establishments of the kind on the Con- 
 tinent of Europe, under the care of two Irishmen, Albin 
 and Clements, as best qualified to preside over institu- 
 tions at once so novel and so useful.^ 
 
 " Since Bede informs us ^ that, in the days of the 
 bishops Finan and Colman, multitudes of the nobility 
 and of the middle ranks of the English nation studied 
 in Ireland, and were there supplied with books and food 
 without charge ; it may be presumed that the abbots 
 and head professors were in possession of considerable 
 funds to bear the expenses of such very liberal establish- 
 ments. To prove the truth of this supposition, we now 
 subjoin an account of some of the possessions belonging 
 to the abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, to which the 
 school of Armagh was annexed. The revenue resulting 
 from this and similar property was quite independent of 
 all occasional regal donations. — 
 
 ** The abbey and twelve gardens in the city — the 
 townlands of Ballyleanmore, Clawdoughe, Killemek}'-, 
 Ballyleanbegge, Dromvolly, Ballyneydarragh, Drountee, 
 Lourgowergh, Ballyvically, Downlyr, Cavanaghan, 
 Prosnawhyge, Crecanmore, Fallee, Correcleigh, Agha- 
 goran, Tassaagh, Tearrarlee ^, Crewroe — the third 
 part of Annagh — third of Dromcote — sixth of Tyrn- 
 arnunagell — fourth of Tullaloyst — fourth of Enagh- 
 buidhe — third of Achanoyce — third of Tullachel- 
 mayne — sixth of Downalloghe — a tract of land called 
 
 « See Notker Balbulus, apud Canisium. Antige Lut. torn. i. 
 p. 560. et Vine Spec. Hist. lib. xxiii. cap. 173. et Anton. Chron. 
 tit. xiv. c. 4. sec. 12. 
 
 ' Lib. iii. c. 27. 
 
 8 t. e. Tiriarle, the Western Land, because it lay west of the royal 
 residence at Creeve Roe (Craobh Ruadh). 
 
 VOL. I. li D 
 
402 APPENDIX. 
 
 Knock Ederyn, iiear the abbey — the lands of Cloghan, 
 Corraghe, Cloghiim, Tullongh O'Sarran, Aughan 
 O'Cloyghy, Crossereen, Moulegournagh, near Armagh, 
 and all tithes of the said districts — the two townlands 
 of Corheenan, and the tovvnland of Clonarbe, in the 
 parish of Tynan — the advowson of Tynan church, and 
 the townland of Maugergrene, appurtenant thereto.'' 
 
 " In 1557 James Donelly, the prior, was found seized 
 of the abbey, &c. in the city of Armagh, and of a parcel 
 of land called Garry, Templemurray, and Garryne- 
 manus ; and a considerable tract in the following dis- 
 tricts, viz. Knockadrain, Dromcoote, Lurgaboyourah, 
 Aghamoote, the Grange of Lurgaboy — townland of 
 Dromnemuickee, Tallynemalloroogh, Mullinesillagh — 
 Grange of Ballymacally, Broaghucclogh, Leatery, In- 
 clonconoghy, Lurgalachtnemingle, TuUochbofin — 
 Grange of Sessiaghneogrechanphy, Carnevanaghran — • 
 townland of Rieskyroddeh, Foallee, Fullynoroy, Ty- 
 ranegargill, Aghanore, Knockenbog, Lurgaboyligragh, 
 Seskinultagh, Agheter Toyl, alias Knock Toyl, Cor- 
 negillagh, Broaghcullen, Dromenecheghy, Shancarragh, 
 Lismore, Dromentee, Cavenaghgroah, Tulloghboreagh, 
 Drumlirk, Carnafinagher, Knockedderdshrogh de Foalle, 
 Knocknegressegh, Tulloghlosky, Tullyelinane, Agha- 
 gonnell, Knockatreely, Carrigennare, Aghavallagh, 
 Coolaghill, Aghacarragh — Grange of Tubbersuawght, 
 Doonlish, Mallaghdromerbeh — Grange of Odeneg- 
 reanan, Rieskenefedoge, Annaghboy, Dunollagh, Tyre- 
 garve, Lurgaboy, and one hundred and twenty-one 
 other denominations of land, which the reader may find 
 fully recited in Archdall's Monasticon Hibernicum, 
 pages 26, 27, 28, 29. ' 
 
 ^ The above account is exti'acted from art inquisition taken A. D. 
 1 559, when Patrick Hagan was abbot. 
 
 ' The abbey and property appurtenant was granted to Sir Toby 
 Caulfeild, in May 1612, at 51. rent. — Lodge, vol. iii. p. 86. 
 
APPENDIX. 403 
 
 ** The abbot was also seized of the tithes of all those 
 lands, and Sessiogh, Lurgaboy, Ballyvanran, and Knoc- 
 tanty in Clanchoncy, as well as of the lands of Dro- 
 marge, alias Dooghmuinterdogan, Coolcummery, Jen- 
 gooda, Tinenesken, Balliboe, Cavan, Tullyasnech, Tire- 
 tragh, Tirenesagart, and Downe. "^ " — Stuarfs Armagh, 
 
 No. VI. 
 
 " ON THE STATE OF THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH. 
 
 " It is probable that in the very days of the apostles 
 themselves Christianity had extended to some parts of 
 this island, and had continued here till the time of 
 Chrysostom, who, in demonstrating that Christ is God, 
 says, ' The British isles, situated beyond this sea, and 
 which are in the very ocean, have perceived the power 
 of the word ; for even there churches are founded and 
 altars erected.' * Eusebius (Pamphili) says, in lib, iii. 
 that ' some of the apostles had passed into the isles 
 which we name Britannic ;' and hence Nicephorus al- 
 leges that some of the apostles had selected Egypt and 
 Syria — others the extreme regions of ocean and the 
 Britannic isles, for their pious missions. ^ 
 
 " It is shown by Ussher that Mansu, or Mansuetus, 
 a Scot of Ireland, was converted and ordained by St. 
 Peter the apostle, and in the year 66 made bishop of 
 Toul, now Lorraine, where he died, on the 3d of Sep- 
 
 ^ King, p. 252. citante Archdall. 
 
 * Chrys. Op. torn. vi. edit. Groec. Savil. p. 65.5. Tom. viii. p. iii, 
 
 ^ Niceph. Hist. lib. iii. c. i. 
 
 I) D 2 
 
404 APPENDIX. 
 
 tember, 105.'' Here he built and dedicated a church 
 
 to St. Stephen. — Adso, his biographer, writes thus of 
 
 him: — 
 
 * Inclyta, Mansueti claris natalibus orti 
 Progenies titulis fulget in orbe suis 
 Insula Christicoles gestabat Hibernia gentes 
 Unde genus traxit et satus inde fuit.* 
 
 " It is not necessary to inquire minutely into the 
 exact time when Christianity was first preached in Ire- 
 land. Suffice it, that it reached this country at a very 
 early period. We find that, in the year 350, Elephius, 
 son of a Scoto-Hibernian king, suffered martyrdom, 
 having been decapitated by order of the emperor Julian, 
 who was enraged at this pious man for having baptized 
 a number of his subjects. Rupert mentions that the 
 apostate himself was present at his execution. ^ 
 
 " In the fourth century it appears that Christian mis- 
 sionaries had here founded some churches and schools, 
 and thus prepared the way for the more effectual preach- 
 ing of St. Patrick. Celestius, an Irishman, who studied 
 under the learned heresiarch, Pelagius, wrote three let- 
 ters, from the monastery in which he resided, to his 
 parents in Ireland, and exhorted them to the exercise of 
 piety and virtue, in terms which sufficiently show that 
 they were Christians. ^ 
 
 " Ailbcj Declan, Ibar, and Kiaran, all natives of this 
 country, were the immediate precursors of Palladius, 
 who had preceded St. Patrick in his mission to Ireland. *^ 
 
 • Irenic German. Exeg. lib. iii. c. 49. — Demochar. de Missa. lib. 
 ii. c. 33. Eysengrein, centen. 1. part 1. distinct 3. citante Usser. 
 Brit. Ecc. Ant. p. 590. 
 
 ^ Rupert in Vit. Elephii. cap. 12. apud Surium, torn. v. Oct. 16. 
 
 " Gennad. Massil. Eccl. Scrip. Cat. cap. xliv. citante Usser. Brit. 
 Ecc. Ant. p. 411. 
 
 ^ Vita Dec. Vita Kiaran. Vita Alb. &c. citante Usser. Brit. 
 Eccl. Ant. p. 409. 
 
APPENDIX. 405 
 
 These pious men are said, in the Lives of Declan and 
 Ailbe, to have been consecrated bishops at Rome, and 
 to have established churches in Ireland in the beginning 
 of the fifth century. ^ Declan was baptized by Colman, 
 an Irish presbyter; and Ailbe by another Christian 
 priest. Cairbre, the preceptor of the former, was also 
 a Christian. Hence we may infer that the religion of 
 Jesus was systematically taught in this country in the 
 fourth century. '' 
 
 " Be this as it may — St. Patrick was not sent to 
 convert a nation altogether heathen. The venerable 
 Bede says, that in the eighth year of the emperor Theo- 
 dosius, Palladius was sent by Celestine, bishop of the 
 Roman church, to the Scots believing in Christ'; and 
 Prosper, in his Chronicle ad Ann. page 431, testifies to 
 the same effect. Now, we have already shown that 
 Ireland was anciently denominated Scotia, and her peo- 
 ple Scots, and that Palladius had actually visited this 
 kingdom to fulfil his mission. As a further corroboration 
 of our argument, we may add, that Ireland is called 
 Scotia by Issidor, Jonas, Eginhard, secretary to Charles 
 the Great, as well as by Nennius, Gretser, Canisius, 
 Marianus Scotus, Archbishop Raban, Wandelbert, and 
 Ceolfrid.'' The latter author, who wrote in the begin- 
 ning of the eighth century, calls Ireland the proper 
 country of the Scots. ^ Giraldus Cambrensis"^, Henry 
 
 » Usser. Brit. Eccl. Ant. p. 412. 
 
 ^ Ibid. 
 
 * Bed. Hist. Eccl. lib. i. c. 13. 
 
 ^ Ceolfrid in Epist. ad Naitanum Regem, apud Bedam, lib. v. 
 
 Hist. c. 22. 
 
 > Ibid. c. 16. lib. i. c. 1. lib. iii. c. 27. ct Martyr, ejiisd. viii. Id, 
 
 Julii. 
 
 •" Distinct, iii. c. 7. 
 
 D D 3 
 
406 APPENDIX. 
 
 of Huntingdon ", John of Tinmouth °, and John Majoi', 
 make similar assertions. 
 
 " To the same effect wrote Orosius, in the fifth cen- 
 tury; and a letter, which is yet extant, was addressed, 
 in the seventh century, by the Enghsh prelates, Lau- 
 rentius, Mellitus, and Justus, to the Scots who inhabit 
 Ireland ; and another was written by the Roman clergy, 
 in 639, to Tomian, bishop of Armagh, and other Irish 
 prelates and presbyters, who are styled in the epistle 
 Scots.^ 
 
 "The distinction betwixt Scotia Major (Ireland) and 
 Scotia Minor (Albanian Scotland) is well known. Thus, 
 in an ancient hymn in the Ratisbon Breviary, we have 
 these lines — 
 
 " ' Verus hie Israelita 
 
 Quem fraus omnis fiigit 
 Hunc exortum pusionem 
 Major Scotia nutriit.' "^ 
 
 And in an ancient breviary of Aberdeen it is said, St. 
 Winnius, born in a province of Scotia, was by a pros- 
 perous gale wafted to Scotia Minor, 
 
 " Thus it appears manifest that what Bede and Pros- 
 per have said with respect to Palladius's mission to the 
 Scots, must have had a direct reference to the Christians 
 of Ireland. 
 
 " But although the pure religion of Jesus had made 
 some progress in this country before the arrival of St. 
 Patrick, it does not appear to have been universally or 
 even generally received. The mighty work of national 
 
 °Fol. 170. 
 ° Vit. Col. c. 2—7. 
 
 p Bed. Hist. Eccl. lib. ii, c. 4—19. Usser. Vet. Epist. Hib. Syll. 
 22, 23. 18. 
 '1 Citante Ubser. Brit. Ecc. Ant. p. 579. 
 
APPENDIX. 407 
 
 conversion remained for him to effect; and he is, there- 
 fore, justly entitled to the name and character of ' The 
 Apostle of Ireland/ We may, therefore, conclude that 
 the ancient church of Ireland, viewed as a religious 
 system acknowledged and adopted by the people, was 
 founded by him after the building of the city of Armagh, 
 near the middle of the fifth century. 
 
 " St. Patrick seems to have exercised a kind of pa- 
 triarchal power in this infant church. He is stated to 
 have ordained 365 bishops and 3000 presbyters, and to 
 have founded 365 churches. "^ It is manifest that such 
 a multitude of prelates could not have been of the nature 
 of diocesan bishops, and it is probable that one of these 
 dignified ecclesiastics was allotted by him to each church. 
 It is, indeed, by no means unlikely that they officiated 
 in their respective churches at stated times, and occa- 
 sionally acted as itinerant preachers, diffusing the light 
 of the Gospel from district to district, like their great 
 preceptor, Patrick. A populous nation, from which 
 heathenism was not yet effectually banished, required 
 active and intelligent missionaries of this nature. The 
 system of appointing numerous bishops, which was the 
 offspring of convenience, seems to have been perpetuated 
 by custom, as we learn from the following remarkable 
 passage in St. Bernard's Life of Malachy. — ' The bi- 
 shops,' said he, ' are changed and multiplied at the will 
 of the metropolitan, so that one bishopric was not limited 
 to (or content with) one bishop, but almost every church 
 had its own particular bishop.' "■ 
 
 " Besides these, the church of Ireland seems to have 
 acknowledged a species of auxiliary bishop, denominated 
 Comorban, Comharbo, or Corbhanus. Some etymolo- 
 gists assert, that this name was synonymous with ' part- 
 
 3 
 
 •1 Nennius, Hist. Brit. c. 59. 
 ' Vita Malach. apud Messingli. c. 7. 
 D D 4« 
 
408 APPENDIX. 
 
 ner,' or ' joint-tenant,' and that he who possessed the 
 office acted during the Hfe of the principal ecclesiastic, 
 to whom he was attached as his suffi'agan and assistant 
 bishop. The bishops of Armagh had various Comor - 
 bans, many of whose names are recorded in Ware's and 
 in Colgan's elaborate works. ^ It is probable that many 
 of the 365 bishops, ordained originally by St. Patrick, 
 were of the order of Comorbans, &c. — at once coad- 
 jutors, suffragans, and successors elect to their princi- 
 pals. 
 
 " In the same sense of the word, there were Comor- 
 ban abbots and friars. There was also an order of Co- 
 morbans to whom certain free lands, named Termon 
 lands, were allotted by the delivery of a ring from the 
 metropolitan of the see. This kind of comorbanship, 
 though collative, was always made to one of the same 
 sept. Thus, in the year 1406, Hugh Mac Theig was 
 collated to the comorbanship of Re, in the diocese of 
 Derry, by Nicholas Fleming, archbishop of Armagh, 
 after it had been held by John Mac Theig, and prior 
 to him by Augustine Mac Theig, (John's father,) who 
 had been appointed by jNIilo, archbishop of Armagh, in 
 1367.' 
 
 *' The episcopal Comorbans were not only coadjutors 
 to their principals whilst living, but were frequently 
 held in high respect, as their appointed successors; and, 
 in this sense of the word, we read of the Comorbans of 
 St. Patrick, Albe, Columba, Fechin, and others. " 
 
 " The ancient clergy of Ireland were, in a great mea- 
 sure, supported by donations of cattle, &c. from the 
 people "", but they also possessed some other essential 
 sources of emolument. 
 
 * Vide Tria Thaum. p. 293. et sequent. Ware, Ant. p. 252. 
 
 ♦ Reg. Milo. f. 40, a. 42, b. Harris's Ware's Ant. p. 235. 
 " Tria. Thaum. p. 295. et sequent. 
 
 ' Ibid. p. 299. 
 
APPENDIX. 409 
 
 " In former times the founder of a church was obliged 
 to endow it with certain properties, prior to its conse- 
 cration by the bishop y, to whom the disposal of the 
 endowment then belonged. Thus each church had a 
 certain proportion of land, free from temporal impo- 
 sitions % and a number of servants appurtenant to the 
 premises.^ To these lands, which were denominated 
 Erenach and Termon lands, were annexed various im- 
 portant privileges. The Termon grounds became sanc- 
 tuaries, and were strictly ' territorium ecclesiasticumJ' 
 Thus an ancient synod of Ireland, a remnant of which 
 is in the Cottonian library, says ^, ' Terminus sajicti loci 
 habeat signa circa se,^ and the old Bavarian Law, lib. iv. 
 sec. ] . ^ Si quis servum ecclesice vel ancillam adfugiendum 
 siiaserit et eos Jbras Terminum duxerit et exinde prohatus 
 fucrit revocet eiim celeriter.'^ These lands were, how- 
 ever, tributary to the church, and not of the nature of 
 some monastic possessions, which were freed from both 
 secular and ecclesiastic claims, and said to have been 
 * 7ion in fisco non in terra ecclesiastica.' ^ 
 
 " Tenants of Erenach and Termon lands were, se?vi 
 ecclesiastici, managing the grounds for the benefit of the 
 church, as well as of themselves and their families. In 
 ancient times, the founders of abbeys and churches 
 stocked the endowed lands with sepls and races of people, 
 bound to perform certain services for those to whom 
 they were assigned : and in old grants me?i are classed 
 amongst other property given in Frank Almoigne. Thus, 
 
 y Concil Braccarens, c. 5. 
 
 » Concil Cas. 
 
 ^ Capitular ab Ansegiso Collect, lib. i. c. 9. citante Usser. MSS* 
 de orig. Corb. Eren. et Term. 
 
 *" Citante Usser. 
 
 ^ Usser MSS. 
 
 ■^ Ccntur. chartarum a GolUasto edit, toin.ii. Al. Antiq. charta 96, 
 citante Usser. 
 
410 APPENDIX. 
 
 Henry II., in a charter ratifying a donation of Earl 
 Strongbovv, enumerates men^ rents, oblations, and tithes 
 amongst the matters granted — * et omnes res, (says the 
 deed,) et: possessiones, et homines et reditus in ecclesiis, et 
 ohlationihus et decimis, Sfc.'' — Ecclesiastic servants were 
 of two kinds. The first were servi ecclesiastici cum (mere 
 — in the nature of villeins; and the second v/ere liheri 
 or colonii ecclesiastici, who had some disposable property 
 in the premises. To vassals of this kind John Walton, 
 archbishop of Dublin, alludes, in a sequestration of the 
 corbeship of Glendaloch, which he issued in the year 
 1437, and addressed, ' clericis, vassalis, adscriptitiis et 
 aliis haUtatorihus dominii nostri de Glendelache,' Sfc, ^ 
 That human beings were transferable and saleable arti- 
 cles, appears manifest from two ancient books of canons, 
 written about nine hundred years ago. One of these is 
 in Bennet college, the other in the Cottonian library ; 
 and from these works we learn, that in an ancient synod 
 of Ireland, a bishop's legacy, out of the church, is pro- 
 portioned by the price of a \Sjife, or a maidservant. ^ 
 
 " The Corhes and Erenachs were a species of head 
 lords over the homines ecclesiastici ; for it had been 
 found, expedient that each church should have an 
 economist to regulate its affairs, s The archdiaconi or 
 archpresbyteri originally possessed this office. Hence, 
 in the Irish language, the archdiacons and Erenach 
 bore the same title — Eireinach or Oirchindeach. The 
 Corbes and Erenachs collected the bishops' rents, 
 maintained hospitality, relieved the poor, and entertained 
 travellers and strangers. A fine called Luach impige 
 was due to the prelate by the Erenach, on the marriage 
 of any of his daughters. ^ 
 
 « Ex regist. Arch. Dublin, citante Usser, 
 
 *" These books of canons are quoted by Ussher. 
 
 8 Concil Chalcedon, Can. 26. Concil Nicen, 2 Can. ii. 
 
 '' Usser. de orig. corb. &c. 
 
APPENDIX. 411 
 
 " It appears that the Erenach belonging to that ancient 
 Older of Archidiaconi, who were a degree inferior to the 
 Presbyteri : and not to that higher rank whose members 
 exercised jurisdiction under the bishop. They were 
 admissible, ad jprimam tonmram et diaconatum^ but not 
 promoted ad. iwesbyterium, ' The Corbe was of a 
 higher grade, and stationed in ecclesine mati'ice, and in 
 many places had one (or more) Erenach under him. 
 In Latin he was styled PJebanus^ which seems to have 
 been synonymous with archpresbyter, coripiscojms, or 
 rural dean. ^ The Corbes and Erenach s were well 
 educated men, capable of conversing in Latin, and 
 subject to the visitation of the bishop, to whom, on his 
 entrance, they gave a subsidy. They were chargeable, 
 also, with proxies and refections. The Erenachs held 
 their lands by virtue of grants from the bishop, dean 
 and chapter, renewable on the consecration of every 
 new bishop, and first entry of every Erenach. They 
 were bound to manure, cultivate and reside on the 
 Termon lands, which they were prohibited from 
 alienating to a stranger. Their profits were applicable 
 to the maintenance of hospitality, the repair of their re-" 
 spective churches, and to the payment of rent reserved 
 to the see. Some free land called Honor villde re- 
 mained to themselves. In Ireland, the tithes, and 
 the profits of temporal lands due to the church, seem, as 
 in other parts of Christendom, to have been divisible 
 into four equal portions — one for the bishop — the 
 second for his clergy — the third for repair of sacred 
 edifices — and the fourth for the relief of the poor and 
 of strangers. ^ 
 
 ' Usser. cle orig. corb. &c. 
 
 '' Isodori. Moponii. lib. i. de majestate miiitantis ccclcsiaL', p. i. 
 c. xiii. citantc Usser. 
 
 ' See Sir John Davib's Letter to the Earl of Salisbury, &c. Usser. 
 de orig. corb. &c. 
 
41^ APPENDIX. 
 
 " Dr. Ledwich conceives that the term Corhe was an 
 opprobrious name given by the Romans, about the 
 twelfth century, to the married clergy of the Irish 
 church, as if they indulged in incest and lewdness. But 
 the word was used by the Irish themselves in an honour- 
 able sense. In the Annals of Ulster, the name is 
 written Comhurba or Comorba; and it is recorded 
 that in the year of Christ 858, Imfeathna, Patrick's 
 Corbe, and Imsuarlech Finno, his Corbe, interfered 
 betwixt O'Carrol, king of Ossory, and the king of 
 Tarauge, who were about to enter into hostilities against 
 each other ; and O'Carrol was persuaded to yield to 
 St. Patrick's Corbe. So, also, in the year 920, Comghall 
 the Corbe of Moenrach, is styled ' the chief head of 
 all the learning or antiquities of Ireland.' "" 
 
 " In fact the word Comorban is a mere variation of 
 Comharbha, a coadjutor, copartner and successor. 
 Corba, is evidently an abbreviation of Cohli-orha tribute 
 land; and the Corbe was the manager of such pro- 
 perty. " The term Erenach is derived from Er^ noble, 
 and einach, generosity ; for it was a part of the Erenach's 
 duty to relieve the poor and entertain strangers. Hence, 
 also, it was synonymous with archeannach, an archdeacon. 
 Termon is clearly the same as the Irish word Tearmon 
 or Tarmon, a limit, sanctuary, or resource ; and Luach 
 iinpighe, or more properly impidhe, is ' the price of the 
 petition.' ° 
 
 "» Annals of Ulster. Usser. de orig. Corb. 
 
 *" Comhorban is compounded of comh, a ward, protector, or pre- 
 server, and orban, a patrimony. Hence Comhorban signified a suc- 
 cessor, that is, the ward of a certain patrimony. — Collect, de rebus 
 Hib. num. ii. p. 127. 
 
 " This petition was, we presume, presented to the bishop on the 
 marriage of the Erenach's daughter. The fine was paid so late as 
 the seventeenth century, when it was received by the bisiiop of 
 Kilmore, as we are informed by Ussher, 
 
APPENDIX. 413 
 
 ** St. Patrick seems to have been vested by Pope Celes- 
 tine with an ample discretionary authority to regulate 
 the ecclesiastical affairs of Ireland, p7'o re nata. Yet, in 
 the establishment of 365 bishops in the course of his 
 long and laborious mission, which lasted above sixty- 
 one years, he acted in perfect accordance with the 
 practice of the church. In the fourth and fifth centuries. 
 Christian prelates were more numerous than in sub- 
 sequent periods. Thus we find that the council of 
 Sardis, in the year 374, determined ' that no bishop 
 shall be consecrated for a village where a presbyter shall 
 suffice; but a bishop may be appointed over a city, or 
 to superintend presbyters.' 
 
 " The church of Ireland was perfectly distinct from 
 that established in Great Britain. It is indeed certain, 
 that after the settlement of the Danes in this country, 
 the Ostman bishops of Dublin, Waterford, and Lime- 
 rick, were consecrated at Canterbury, and acknowledged 
 the primatial right of that see ; and the practice was 
 continued till the twelfth century, p This example, 
 however, was not imitated by the other prelates of 
 Ireland, but rejected as derogatory to the honour and 
 independence of the national religion. We find that 
 when the archbishop of Canterbury wished to usurp a 
 more extended authority in the Irish church, he was 
 openly resisted by the see of Armagh, and its suffragan 
 prelates. Thus a letter addressed to him in the year 
 1122, by the clergy and burgesses of Dublin, contains 
 the following remarkable expressions : — ' Sciatis vos 
 reve7'a, quod Episcopi Hiheniie maximum zelum erga nos 
 hahent et maxime Ille Episcopus qui habitat Ardimachce 
 quia nolumus obedire eorum ordinationi^ sed semper sub 
 vestro dominio esse volumus' — ' Truly you ought to 
 
 f Ware's Bishops, p. 312. 
 
414 APPENDIX. 
 
 know, that the bishops of Ireland, and particularly the 
 prelate who resides at Armagh, are exceedingly angry 
 with ns, because we are unwilling to submit to their 
 ordination, but still wish to be under your authority.' *^ 
 Thus it is manifest that the Irish hierarchy, under its 
 chief prelate, Celsus of Armagh, felt indignant at the 
 interference of a foreign bishop in their ecclesiastical con- 
 cerns. 
 
 '' After the decease of the Irish apostle, ecclesiastical 
 dignities were soon monopolized by certain princely 
 families, and transmitted in the same septs from gene- 
 ration to generation. Even in Armagh, the primatial 
 right seems to have been converted into a kind of pro- 
 perty, by a particular branch of the Hi Nial race, which 
 was probably sprung from Daire, the donor of Druim- 
 saillech, to the founder of the see. St. Bernard re- 
 probates this practice in very vehement terms. He 
 styles it ' an execrable succession,' and affirms that 
 prior to the primacy of Celsus, the see had been thus 
 held by fifteen successive generations. — ' Verum^ says 
 he, ' mos pessi?nus i7ioleverat quorundam diahoUca am.' 
 bitione jpotentum sedem sanctam ohtentum iri hereditaria 
 successione. Nee enim patiehanUir Episcopari^ nisi qui 
 essent de tribu et familia sua. Nee parmm processerat 
 EXECRANDA succEssio decursis jam liac malitia quasi 
 generationibus qiiindecim et eo usque Jirmaver at sihi jus 
 p7^a'vum imo om7ii morte punie?idam injuriam generatio 
 mala et aduUera^ ut etsi interdum defecissent clerici de 
 sanguine illo^ sed Episcopi nunquarn* "^ 
 
 " We have already seen that some other dignities, 
 offices, and employments in the Irish church, were 
 limited to certain septs. Thus, in the election of an 
 Erenach, the bishop and his clergy were limited in their 
 
 1 Vet. Epibt. Hib. Syl. p. 100. 
 
 ' Sanct. Bern. Vita Mai. apud Mess. c. vii. p. 358. 
 
APPENDIX. 415 
 
 choice to the members of a particular clan, until it be- 
 came extinct, when they were at liberty to nominate 
 another in its place. 
 
 " Another characteristic of the Irish church, as it 
 existed for a long period of time, prior to the days of 
 Malachy Morgair, is to be found in the marriage of its 
 clergy *, a circumstance which is mentioned by St. Ber- 
 nard in terms of the strongest reprobation. He calls 
 the married hereditary archbishops of Armagh a wicked 
 and adulterous race, and bitterly complains that, before 
 Celsus, ' eight of them had been married men and un- 
 ordained, though literate." In forming matrimonial 
 connections, which was a manifest departure from the 
 regulations and established customs of the Roman see, 
 the whole clergy of Ireland seem to have imitated the 
 example of their bishops. In a very ancient Irish ca- 
 non it is decreed, * that the wife of any clergyman who 
 does not wear a veil when she goes abroad, shall be 
 separated from the church.' * In the twelfth century. 
 Pope Innocent III. directed John Salernitan, his legate 
 in Ireland, to have the practice abolished by which sons 
 and grandsons were accustomed to succeed their fathers 
 and grandfathers in ecclesiastic benefices." " — Stuart's 
 Armagh, 
 
 s Vita Mai. ut supra, p. 359. 
 
 * This is quoted by Ussher and Ware, from a manuscript book of 
 canons in Bennet's college, Cambridge. 
 
 " Alph. Ciac Vit. Pont. 
 
 * The marriage of the clergy of the ancient church of Ireland, is 
 a proof, which concurs with the mode of celebrating Easter, and a 
 trreat number' of other fects, to establish the point, of which there 
 can now belittle doubt, that the ancient Irish church was, long before 
 St. Patrick, in connection with the churches of Asia, and derived 
 originally from that source. In the Greek, Armenian, and all the 
 Asiatic churches, the secular clergy have always been, and still arc, 
 married men ; but a second marriage is not permitted. 
 
416 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. VII. 
 
 Adrian's bull. 
 
 ** Adrian, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, 
 to his dearest son in Christ, the illustrious king of Eng- 
 land, greeting, and apostolic benediction. 
 
 '' Full laudably and profitably hath your magnificence 
 conceived the design of propagating your glorious re- 
 nown on earth, and completing your reward of eternal 
 happiness in heaven ; while, as a Catholic prince, you 
 are intent on enlarging the borders of the church, teach- 
 ing the truth of the Christian faith to the ignorant and 
 rude, exterminating the roots of vice from the field of 
 the Lord, and, for the more convenient execution of 
 this purpose, requiring the counsel and favour of the 
 apostolic see. In which, the maturer 3'our deliberation, 
 and the greater the discretion of your procedure, by so 
 much the happier, we trust, will be your progress, with 
 the assistance of the Lord ; as all things are used to 
 come to a prosperous end and issue, which take their 
 beginning from the ardour of faith and the love of re- 
 ligion. 
 
 *' There is indeed no doubt but that Ireland, and all 
 the islands on which Christ the Sun of Righteousness 
 hath shone, and which have received the doctrines of 
 the Christian faith, do belong to the jurisdiction of St. 
 Peter and of the holy Roman church, as your excel- 
 lency also doth acknowledge. And therefore we are 
 the more solicitous to propagate the righteous plantation 
 of faith in this land, and the branch acceptable to God, 
 as we have the secret conviction of conscience that this 
 is more especially our bounden duty. 
 
APPENDIX. 417 
 
 " You, then, most dear son in Christ, have signified 
 to us your desire to enter into the island of Ireland, in 
 order to reduce the people to obedience unto laws, and 
 to extirpate the plants of vice; and that you are wilHng 
 to pay from each house a yearly pension of one penny 
 to St. Peter, and that you v^^ill preserve the rights of the 
 churches of this land whole and inviolate. We, there- 
 fore, with that grace and acceptance suited to your pious 
 and laudable design, and favourably assenting to your 
 petition, do hold it good and acceptable, that, for ex- 
 tending the borders of the church, restraining the pro- 
 gress of vice, for the correction of manners, the planting 
 of virtue, and the increase of religion, you enter this 
 island, and execute therein whatever shall pertain to the 
 honour of God and welfare of the land ; and that the 
 people of this land receive you honourably, and reve- 
 rence you as their lord: the rights of their churches 
 still remaining sacred and inviolate ; and saving to St. 
 Peter the annual pension of one penny from every 
 
 house. 
 
 » 
 
 " If then you be resolved to carry the design you 
 have conceived into effectual execution, study to form 
 this nation to virtuous manners ; and labour, by your- 
 self, and others whom you shall judge meet for this 
 work, in faith, word, and life, that the church may be 
 there adorned, that the religion of the Christian faith 
 may be planted and grow up, and that all things per- 
 taining to the honour of God and the salvation of souls 
 be so ordered, that you may be entitled to the fulness of 
 eternal reward from God, and obtain a glorious renown 
 on earth throughout all ages." 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
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