much as the earl could do to compofe the mutiny. When his lordship came to Dublin, he informed the lords juftices of the prifoner he had brought with him, and of the good testimony he had received of his peaceable carriage; and of the pains he had taken to reftrain those with whom he had credit, from entering into rebellion; and of many charitable offices he had performed; of all which there wanted not evidence enough, there being many then in Dublin, who owed their lives, and whatever of their fortunes was left, purely to him. Within a few days after, when the earl did not fufpect the poor man's being in danger, he heard that Sir Charles Coote, who was provoft marshal general, had taken him out of prison, and caused him to be put to death in the morning, before or as foon as it was light; of which barbarity the earl complained to the lords juftices; but was fo far from bringing the other to be queftioned, that he found himfelf upon fome difadvantage, for thinking the proceeding to be other than it ought to have been." "

a

"It was certainly a miferable fpectacle, as Lord Castlehaven obferves in his manufcript vindication of his memoirs, to fee every day numbers of people executed by martial law, at the difcretion, or rather caprice of Sir Charles Coote, an hot-headed and bloody man, and as fuch accounted even by the English and proteftants. Yet this was the man, whom the lords juftices picked out to entrust with a commiflion of martial law, to put to death rebels or traitors, that is (continues his lordship) all fuch, as he fhould deem to be fo; which

a Mr. Carte obferves, "that the hanging of this man (deferving in many respects, and exceptionable in none but that of his religion) by martial law, by Sir Charles Coote's authority, without a particular warrant from the state, seems perfectly well calculated to justify the fears which the lords of the pale pretended to have of trusting themselves in a place whereof that gentleman was governor." Life of Orm. vol. i. fol. 280.

Doctor Borlafe, in order to excuse this barbarous act of Sir Charles Coote, alleges, "that if he had not done it, his provost marshal's commiffion would have been violated, and that he might have been brought to answer his contempt at a council of war." Hift. of the Irish Rebel. p. 324.

which he performed with delight, and a wanton kind of cruelty; and yet, all this while the juftices fat in council; and the judges, in the ufual seasons, fat in their respective courts, fpectators of, and countenancing fo extravagant a tribunal as Sir Charles Coote's, and fo illegal an execution of justice." "

2

The Earl of Ormond, though lieutenant general of his majesty's army, had it not, it seems, in his power to fave the lives of any popish priests however innocent or meriting, whom he fhould happen to meet with in his march. For foon after,'" his lordfhip having promised the Countess of Westmeath to preserve her chaplain, Mr. White, whom he found at her house, from the fury of the foldiers while he remained there; the poor man having on fome occafion left it the next day, was taken abroad by them, and brought to the earl, whom he reminded of the protection he had promised him the night before; but he was only answered, that if he had stayed in the house he was in, this would not have befallen him; and that it was then out of his power to preserve him, himself being bound to pursue thofe orders which the lords juftices had given him. Nevertheless," continues Clarendon," he did endeavour to have faved him, at least, till he might be brought to Dublin; but the whole army, poffeffed with a bitter spirit against the Romish clergy, mutinied upon it; and in the end, compelled his lordship to leave him unto that justice which they were authorised to execute, and so put him to death.”

IT

The caufe of the infurrection in Munster.

T was in the middle of December 1641,' before any gentleman, in the province of Munster, appeared to favour the infurrection. Many of them had fhewn themselves

2 Cart. Orm. vol. i.

3 Clarend. History of the Irish Rebel. Cart. Orm. vol. i.

themselves zealous to oppofe it, and tendered their fervice to that end. Lord Mufkerry, who had married a fifter of the Earl of Ormond's, offered to raise a thoufand men, at his own charge; and, if the ftate could not supply them with arms, he was ready to raise money by a mortgage of his eftate, to buy them, if when the service was ended, he might either keep the arms, or be reimbursed what they coft him; nor did any figns of uneafinefs or difaffection appear among the gentry, till Sir William St. Leger, lord prefident of that province, came to Clonmell; which was on the first of that month. There had been, a few days before, fome robberies committed in the county of Tipperary, by a rabble of the vulgar fort, and a parcel of idle young fellows of the baronies of Eliogurty, Killemanna, Clanwilliam, and Middlethyrde; who, as foon as they had got their prey, divided it, and retired to their feveral parishes. Among other English who fuffered, a great number of cows and sheep were taken from Mr. Kingsmill of Ballyowen, brother-in-law to the lord prefident. Sir William St. Leger upon notice thereof came in two or three days with two troops of horse, in great fury, to Ballyowen; and being informed the cattle were driven to Eliogurty, he marched that way. As he fet forth, he killed three perfons at Ballyowen, who were faid to

have

a Sir William St. Leger himself informs us, that on the 8th of November, 1641, every thing was perfectly quiet in that province; for in a letter of that date to the Earl of Ormond, he. fays," thefe lines ferve to no other purpose than to give your lordship a confident affurance that if it should please God any commotion fhould rife in this part, of which, I thank God, as yet there is no manner of appearance, I should seriously endeavour to do your noble fweet lady, your mother and my fweet god-son, as much service as poffibly in me lay." Carte's Orm.

vol. iii. fol. 38.

"In Munfter the first symptoms of commotion appeared in fome petty ravages and robberies, which were punished by the lord prefident, Sir William St. Leger, with a barbarous severity. The difaffected remonftrated to St. Leger on the rigour of his executions, were received with difdain and infolence, pleaded the neceffity of felf-defence, and declared for war." Lel. Hift of Irel. vol. iii. p. 154.

have taken up fome mares of Mr. Kingfmill's; and not far off, at Grange, he killed or hanged four innocent, labourers; at Ballymurrin fix, and Ballygalburt eight; and burnt feveral houfes. From thence Capt. Paisly marching to Armail, killed there feven or eight poor men and women, whom he found standing abroad in the streets, near their own doors inoffenfively; and paffing over the river Ewyer, marched to Clonalta, where, meeting Philip Ryan, the chief farmer of the place, a very honeft and able man, not at all concerned in the robberies, he, without any enquiry, either gave orders for, or connived at his being killed, as appeared by his cherishing the murderer. The Captain went from thence to meet the lord prefident; where feveral of the chief nobility and gentry of the country, being furprized at thefe rafh and cruel proceedings, waited upon his lordship with their complaints, which were rejected, and the Captain applauded for what he had done. Among thefe gentlemen, was James Butler, Lord Baron of Dunboyne; Thomas Butler of Kilconnel, James Butler of Kilveylagher, Theobald Butler of Armail, Richard Butler of Ballynekill, Philip O'Dwyer, and several others of good quality.

66

They obferved to the lord president how generally the people were exasperated by these inconfiderate cruelties, running distractedly from house to house; and that they were on the point of gathering together in great numbers, not knowing what they had to trust to, and what was likely to be their fate. They told him that they waited upon his lordship, to be informed how affairs stood, and that they coveted nothing more than to ferve his majesty and preferve the peace, and defired that he would be pleased to qualify them for it with authority and arms; in which cafe they would not fail to fuppress the rabble and fecure the peace of the country. The prefident did not receive their reprefentation and offer in the manner they expected; but in an hafty furious way, anfwered them, that they were all rebels, and that he would not trust one foul of them; but thought it more prudent to hang the best of them. And in this extraordinary humour he continued all the while thefe and

other

other perfons of quality, their neighbours, were waiting upon him. This made them all withdraw and return to their houses; much refenting his rudeness and feverity, as well as very uncertain about their own safety; fome of them imagining that this diftrufting of their loyalty and deftroying of their reputations, was the preface to a defign of taking away their lives. From Clonmell, Sir William St. Leger marched into the county of Waterford, and his foldiers in the way, as they went and returned from the Wexford-rebels, killed several poor harmless people, not at all concerned in the rebellion, or in the plunder of the country; which also incenfed the gentlemen of that county, and made them prepare for standing on their defence."

For what wicked purposes the noblemen and gentlemen of that province were thus bafely infulted and threatened, so as to be driven to the neceffity of arming in their own defence, may be gathered from a letter of the old Earl of Cork (fo notorious for his rapacity in the two former reigns) to the speaker of the English house of commons on the 22d of Auguft, 1642, wherein

he

"In this fudden and violent commotion, the fouthern leaders, however provoked by the cruelties of St. Leger, yet expreffed a laudable folicitude to preferve both the perfons and the fortunes of the English from any outrage." Lel. ubi fupra, p. 154.

Temple informs us on this occafion, "that Sir William St. Leger gallantly pursued these rebels, and that after a long and tedious march, he came upon them unawares, and flew two hundred of them, befides feveral whom he took prifoners and hanged." Hift. of the Irish Rebel. p. 159.

Sir William himself, in a letter to the Earl of Ormond, November 8th, 1641, fays, " that they were then only a company of ragged, naked, rogues, that with a few troops of horfe would be presently routed." Cart. Orm. vol. iii. p. 38.

And in another letter on the fame fubject to the fame, December 11th, 1641, acquainting him with what fort of rebels he had been engaged, he says, " never was the like war heard of; no man makes head; one parish robs another, go home and fhare the goods, and there is an end of it; and this by a compaof naked rogues." Cart. Orm. vol. iii. fol. 47.

ny

He was fo keen in the pursuit of this bloody affair, that he says in the fame letter," his faddles had scarce been off his horses, or himself or his friends shifted for fourteen days." Id. ib.