The Lords juftices violate the public faith. THE juftices feeming to comply with these gentle men's ardent defire above-mentioned, iffued a manifefto, dated the 14th of December, but not published till the 15th;' wherein they allowed them the space of two days, viz. until the 17th of that month, for their appearing before them in Dublin; and in order to induce them to appear then," they gave them the word of the state, that they might fafely and securely repair thither, without danger of any trouble or stay whatsoever." And yet, on the fame 15th of that month, they detached a party of horse and foot to Clontarf, under the command of Sir Charles Coote, with orders" to fall upon and cut off" the inhabitants, and burn the houses of that village, which belonged to Mr. King, one of those gentlemen affembled at Swords, to whom, by name, the public faith had been given." These orders," fays Borlafe, "were excellently well executed;"" though it is confeffed," that a Borlafe fays it was dated the 13th, and gave them till the 18th of December to come in; and yet he owns, "that the order to Sir Charles Coote to burn Clontarf (which he recites with Ormond's name to it among the reft) is dated the 14th of that month." Hift. of the Irish Reb. f. 61. "This proclamation was fent and delivered to Lord Gormanfton on the 15th, by father Cahill, whom the justices had lately employed in a treaty with the Ulfter rebels." Carte's Orm. vol. i. fol. 249. "Sixteen of the poor towns-people were killed by Sir Charles Coote's foldiers, on that occafion." Collect. of Maffac. committed on the Irish. "In the fame week fifty-fix men, women and children, being frighted at what was done at Clon tarf, that "no oppofition was made." "Sir Charles Coote,' who by the lords justices special defignation, was appointed to go on this expedition, as the fittest perfon to execute their orders, and one who best knew their minds, at this time pillaged and burned houses, corn, and other goods belonging to Mr. King, to the value of four thousand pounds." d The pretended plunder of an English bark, by fome of the common people of that village (part of which plunder is faid to have been put into Mr. King's house in his abfence, and is made the fole pretence for this breach of public faith), must have happened, if at all, fome time before this manifefto was published. For R 2 the 5 Carte's Orm. vol. i. tarf, took boats and went to fea, to fhun the fury of a party of foldiers come out of Dublin, under the command of Colonel Crafford; but being pursued by the foldiers in other boats, were overtaken and thrown overboard." Ib. "Which was but a forry encouragement to him," fays Mr. Carte, "to accept their invitation to Dublin, and gave just grounds of apprehending, at least, fome danger of trouble; from which danger the manifefto pretended to fecure him, as well as the rest that were affembled at Swords." Orm. vol. i. fol. 254 d Mr. Carte's obfervation on this occafion is pertinent and juft: "No account of this affair," fays he, " takes the least notice of any men on board the bark, or of any ill treatment that they met with; which had there been any, would have been unavoidable, and could not have failed of being mentioned by those who relate it; so that it seems to have been a vessel deferted or wrecked; in which cafe, people that live on the feacoafts, influenced by a common but barbarous notion, are apt to deem and treat goods aboard as lawful plunder." Life of Orm. vol. i. fol. 246. N. B. In the lords juftices order to burn Clontarf, and deftroy its inhabitants, there is no mention made of the inhabitants having plundered an English bark being the cause of that order. See Borl. Ir. Rebel. f. 61. Borlafe adds, that the number of fishing-boats at Clontarf, and this plunder, "did much difquiet the lords juftices and council, fufpecting that, thereby, the port of Dublin might have been blocked up." Id. ib. fol. 62. Sir Charles Coote burnt Clontarf the 15th of December, 1641. Id. ib. the justices made exprefs mention of it, in their letter to the Earl of Leicester of the 14th of December;" on which day too, their order to pillage and burn Clontarf is dated, although their manifefto was not published till the 15th. In that letter, their lordships exprefs their intention of ordering that expedition; and after betraying a guilty confcioufnefs," "that the gentlemen of the pale would take new offence thereat ;" they add," but that we will adventure upon." From whence it evidently appears, that on the very day before that on which they published their manifefto, they had taken a refolution to violate it." CHA P. XVI. The order for a general pardon limited by the juftices. BUT if even this perfidious measure should be found infufficient to excite thefe gentlemen to any hoftile or difloyal attempt, the juftices had ftill in referve, divers other means equally calculated for that iniquitous purpofe. Their lordships had, about this time, received an order of both houfes of the English parliament,' dated November 30th, directing them, to grant his majesty's pardon to all thofe who, within a convenient time, fhould return to their obedience." Yet, notwithstanding this order for a general pardon," they See Temp. Irish Rebel. 7 Id. ib. 1 Id. ib. ftill • "The lords juftices, as soon as they were fatisfied that the lords of the pale would not truft themfelves in the city in the hands of Sir Charles Coote, though they were ready to treat with commiffioners fent from thence to any place out of his power, took measures in order to convict them of treason, and forfeit their eftates." Carte's Orm. vol. i. fol. 275-6. "It was not the (English) parliament's intention to extirpate that whole nation, but they ordered mercy and pardon, both as to life and eftate, fhould be extended to all hufbandmen, labourers, artificers, yea to (persons of) higher rank and qua lity, 3 66 ftill continued their former proclamation, which was fo limited, with refpect to perfons, places and time; and clogged, befides, with fuch impracticable conditions, that they must have been themselves fenfible, that it was apter to prevent than to produce fubmiffions. For first, it abfolutely precluded freeholders from all hopes of pardon; "because," fays Lord Caftlehaven, they had estates to lofe." And on the other hand, the poorer Irish, who alone had been guilty of the depredations, and other mifchiefs then committed, were to be pardoned upon fuch terms only, as it was not in their power to comply with. "For their pardon," fays Temple," was to be granted only, on condition. of restoring the goods and chattels taken from the British;" which reftitution, the fame writer confeffes," "it was impoffible for them to make." Befides this pardon, instead of being general (as both houfes of the English parliament intended it fhould be), extended only to the lower people of four counties, viz. Meath, Weftmeath, Louth and Longford, "in two of which counties, no body of infurgents had yet appeared." And the time allowed for their coming in, being ftinted to ten days, it was hardly poffible, as the nation was then circumstanced, for half the perfons concerned to 2 Id. ib. 3 Memoirs. + Ib. p. 48. receive 5 Ib. p. 49. lity, according to the refpective demerits and confiderations under which they fell, and that all fhould enjoy the benefit of their articles." Scobel's Acts, fol. 197. from Borl. Hist. of the Irish Rebel. fol. 70. "In another inftance," fays Dr. Leland," the conduct of thefe wretched governors was ftill more fufpicious; they received instructions for a general pardon to fuch rebels as thould submit within a certain time, to be limited by the lords juftices. But no proclamation was published, no pardon offered in confequence of these inftructions. A pardon offered in the name of the English parliament, must have had greater influence than any act of an Irish ministry, despised and fufpected by the body of the nation. But the chief governors, and their creatures, were experienced in the art of converting forfeitures to their own advantage." Hift. of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 339-40. receive even notice of the proclamation, much less to furrender themselves on fo fhort a warning. 66 In like manner, when his majefty afterwards fent these justices his proclamation of January 1ft, 1641, granting a general pardon to thefe infurgents, upon their fubmiffion; 7" they fecreted the copies of it to fuch a degree, that the lords and gentlemen of the pale, who lay nearest Dublin, could not get a fight of one of them." Nay, instead of purfuing fuch pacific and conciliating measures, they, on the 1ft of February following, commanded out the Earl of Ormond, with a powerful army, on an expedition to the county of Kildare; where," pursuant to his orders,' fays Mr. Carte," "he burnt Newcastle and Lyons, and gave up Naas to his foldiers to plunder; having fent out parties to burn Castle-Martin, Kilcullen-bridge, and in fhort, all the country for feventeen miles in length, and twenty-five in breadth." " 7 Carte's Orm. vol. i. fol. 296. s Ib. The About the beginning of February 1641, "the prifons of Dublin were fo filled with prifoners, that the lords juftices, on account of the scarcity of victuals, thought it neceffary to thin them; but as it was difficult, or rather impoffible, for want of freeholders, to find juries of the proper counties where the crimes were acted, fo there was no bringing these criminals to a legal trial. In this neceffity it was determined, to caufe a confiderable number of them to be executed by martial law. Men of estates were exempted from the rigour of that law, in order to preserve the king's efcheats upon legal attainders, so that thefe execution fell intirely upon the poorer fort, and fuch as had no freeholds; particularly upon the Romish priests, whofe execution would exafperate the Irish to the highest degree: and yet these lords justices pretended, in the postscript of their letter to the lord lieutenant, January 20th 1741, that they had juries to find indictments for the counties of Meath, Wicklow, and Kildare; for the two firft of which, as well as for that of Dublin, within two days afterwards, bills of high treafon were found against all the lords and prime gentlemen, as alfo against three hundred perfons of quality and eftate in the county of Kildare, among whom were the old Countefs of Kildare, Sir Nicholas White, his fon Captain Nicholas White, and others, who had never joined the rebels, fo much expedition was ufed in this affair." Cart. Orm. vol. i. fol. 278. |