king, or from any deriving lawful authority from him, and holding it from him, are obliged in conscience to resist, with the peril of their lives and fortunes. This being our answer, we thereunto put our hands.*

The marquis of Ormond proceeds in his treaty with the

parliament.

I'

"On the 14th of November 1646, commissioners from the English parliament arrived in Dublin, with men, ammunition, and provisions of all kinds; who seeing the weakness of the place, and knowing his excellency stood in need of every thing necessary for its defence, made no doubt of his receiving the supplies they had brought upon any terms. The lord lieutenant expected the commissioners had brought specific answers to the propositions+ which he had sent to England; but they

1 Carte's Orm.

* The papists of Dublin,” says lord Digby in a letter to Ormond on this occasion, "will be faithful against O'Nial's army, if assaulted.”— Cart. Orm. vol. iii. fol. 511.

† These were, 1st, “That the said lord lieutenant will prosecute the war against the Irish rebels, as vigorously as he shall be enabled thereunto by the parliament of England, and that he will faithfully serve the crown of England therein;" against which the parliament was then in open rebellion.

2d. "That whilst he hath the government of this kingdom, and the command of the armies therein, none of the supplies of men, money, arms, ammunition, victuals, or any other provisions of what kind or nature soever, which shall, by the parliament of England, be sent over, or joined with the forces already under his command, nor any other forces that shall be under his command, shall in any wise be employed either within this kingdom or without it, but by the express direction of the said parliament of England.

3d, "That he will not, upon any command, or by virtue of any power or authority whatsoever, enter into any treaty with the said Irish rebels, or conclude any peace or cessation with them, without the consent and ex

had brought no such answers, nor any instructions about them. And when he offered them a copy of the propositions, they would not receive it, nor enter into any debate upon the subject; their instructions confined them to treat only for the sword and garrisons; for which they offered to take the protestants of Ireland under their protection, on condition of their submitting to the ordinances of parliament. But no protestant," continues Mr. Carte," that would not renounce his allegiance to the king, could depend upon that protection for his security." His lordship, on his part, proposed, until their instructions from the parliament could be enlarged, to distri bute their forces into his garrisons, if they would submit to his orders, and to martial law, and if they would lend him three thousand pounds to support the army; but these proposals were refused. So resolving to break off the treaty, his excellency told them, that he could not, consistent with his duty, part with so great a trust, without his majesty's command, and asked them, whether they could produce it? But the com

2 Cart. Orm. vol. i. fol. 591.

press command of the king and parliament of England." A favorite expression, at that time, with those who in the king's name fought against his person.

4th, He will engage himself to the true performance of all these things, by oath, or any other means that can be proposed to a man of honor and conscience.

"Sept. 26th, 1646

Borl. Irish Rebel. f. 220.

ORMOND,"

NOTE, 1st, These propositions were rejected by the English parliament, although Ormond, in order to induce their acceptance, offered to wave the first proposition, in which, for form's sake, he thought it necessary to mention his faithfully serving the crown of England.—Id. ib.

2dly, That English parliament, to which Ormond made these offers, had voted lord viscount Lisle, lord lieutenant of Ireland, in April preceding, in opposition to the king's appointment.—Id. ib.

And in March following, the marquis of Ormond accepted of a present of twenty barrels of powder from him.--Barlase's Reduct. of Irel. p. 348. In his final agreement with the parliament, Borlase seems to say, that he waved the first proposition.-Ib.

"On the 10th of March, 1646, the marquis of Ormond was supplied from the parliament ships, in the bay of Dublin, with 20 barrels of gunpowder, by the permission of lord Lisle, the parliament's lord lieutenant."-16. p. 220.

missioners wondering, with good reason, that he should expect any such authority from them, embarked on board their ships, with all their men, whom they carried into Ulster."

THE marquis of Ormond, with a view of gaining time to better his conditions with the English parliament, to prevail with the Scots in Ulster to march to his assistance, and to avert the impending storm from Dublin, sent the lords Clanrickard and Digby to Leixslip, where, agreeably as they thought to his excellency's sentiments, they entered into a private engagement* with general Preston and his officers," that,' upon their submitting to the peace, sufficient security should be given to the Roman catholics for the free exercise of their religion; that part of Preston's army should be admitted into the king's garrisons; that the marquis of Ormond should obey his majesty's free commands, the queen's and those of the prince of Wales, and lord Digby's signification of them; and that his excellency should not, for the future obey such commands, to the prejudice of what was undertaken, as should be procured by the advan tage of his majesty's want of freedom."

But this not being consented to, or rather being peremptorily refused by his excellency, lord Digby wrote to him on the 18th of November," that the utmost that was to be expected by Preston and his officers was, a declaration from his excellency to the following effect, which being granted, they would immediately submit to the peace, viz.3" that whereas it is well known, even by his majesty's printed letters,† that his majesty's gracious in

Cart. Orm. vol. iij. fol. 591.

2 Id. ib. vol. iii.

3 Ib.

"This engagement" says Mr. Carte, " was of eminent service in a time of the greatest danger, and the means of saving Dublin.”—Or, vol. i. fol. 592. The zealots (among the confederates, says Dr. Leland) considered armond as secretly disaffected, and in conjunction with a presbyterian council (as they called them) determined to defeat the king's hopes of succor, by obstructing the Irish peace. To this they attributed every delay; and when the seizure of the king's cabinet at Naseby discovered his private instructiona

tentions were to secure his catholic subjects of this kingdom in the free exercise of their religion, by the repeal of the penalties of the laws against them; which in the last articles of the peace was left out, by the subtilty of some of their own party, who intended to found this late mischief upon it: that it was far from his majesty's or excellency's intention to take advantage of that omission; but that they may rest as secure of his majesty's favor in the repeal of the said penalties, as if it had been positively expressed in the articles."

*

The marquis of Ormond having in his answer to this letter, given a positive denial to every part both of the above-mentioned engagement and this declaration, not without some indecent reflections on general Preston and his officers, who had already signed the engagement, and expected nothing but his excellency's commands to prosecute, in action, what they had thereby promised. Lord Digby replied, that he could not consider these answers of his excellency without such an heartbreaking amazement as rendered him almost unable to make any reply." He, however, reminded him, as did Clanrickard also, that they had entered into that engagement with general Preston,† not without sufficient grounds given them by himself; that by such variance of his excellency, or mistake of their own, not only the business wherein they had labored all that time, so essential to his majesty's present service, and all his future hopes, but the honor and personal safety of his faithful servants, was upon the point of being made absolutely desperate." As for the admission of Preston's forces into his excellency's garrisons, which was the article chiefly objected to, lord Digby

4 Id. vol. iii.

5 76.

6 Ib.

7 Id. lb..

to Ormond to conclude a peace whatever it might cost, they were enraged, and printed the letter with severe animadversions on the marquis (Ormond)."-History of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 253.

Preston, in a letter to the mayor and citizens of Kilkenny after having signed this engagement, tells them, "that by God's help, in four days, Dublin, Drogheda, Dundalk and Trim, would be garrisoned by his army." MSS. communicated by Mr. James Laffan, of Kilkenny.

"The marquis of Clanrickard had an entire trust, answerable to what he had begun to treat of with General Preston, from the lord lieutenant himself, as a person superior to all temptations which might endeavor to lessen or divert his affection and integrity to the king, or his zeal to the Roman catholic religion, in which he had been bred and to which he constantly adhered."-Borl. Irish Rebel. fol. 223,

declared, in his own and Clanrickard's name," that, " upon a full examination of the whole proceedings of Preston and his ariny, they were most confident, that upon this engagement of theirs, they deserved to be trusted, as having originally never had any intention of hostility against his excellency; but on the contrary that they had purposely delayed and kept off from him the mischief that would otherwise long before have overwhelmed him. That if his excellency had expressed a confidence even in words, without engagement, he might have employed Preston's forces instantly, upon what other design he thought best; and have deferred the admitting any of them into his garrisons, until their service against the Nuncio's party, had confirmed his confidence in them. In short, that he could not, but with astonishment, receive the strange invective against them in his excellency's letter; wherein" adds his lordship, "all the reason of your dislike to the whole business seems to be founded."

CHAP. XV.

Ormond consents to the engagement.

THE marquis of Ormond, thus warmly and frequently importuned, and perhaps ashamed totally to reject an expedient first moved by himself, condescended at last to write' two letters, one to general Preston ratifying and confirming the engagement made by him with Clanrickard; and the other to Clanrickard himself, which was to be shewn to Preston's officers and contained likewise his excellency's agreement to the engagement now mentioned, with some flattering expressions of his confidence in the valor and fidelity of these officers.*

1 See Cart. Orm. vol. iii. fol. 532.

Clanrickard during this treaty with Preston, "found that Preston and his officers had been wrought on by two conclusions, which had been speciously infused into them; the first was, that the lord lieutenant was 50 great an enemy to their religion, that though they should obtain any conditions from the king to their advantage in that particular, he would oppose and not consent unto the same: the other, that the king was in the hands of the Scots, who were not like to approve that peace had been made, all of that nation in Ulster refusing to submit to it; and if they should be able to procure any order from his majesty to disavow it, the lord lieutenant