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commands of his royal master, because his compliance or obedience would have promoted the welfare of the Catholics. For although on this occasion he confessed that by accepting the command of the army of the confederates "he might have "drawn their dependance upon him, and been able to dispose "of their forces according to his majesty's pleasure for the "advantage of the service either in Ireland or elsewhere;"* yet he declined putting himself at their head for this reason, that he should in that "case be suddenly and totally abandoned "by the Protestants." An unequivocal test of the loyalty of the Irish nation to King Charles. The great question upon this part of the Irish history is, whether the confederated Catholics were at this period rebels or royalists. His majesty anxiously wished his Catholic subjects of Ireland to be fully admitted into his favour and protection, as placing the utmost reliance upon their fidelity and zeal to serve him. The testimony of their sovereign on this occasion goes great lengths. He had not only by several letters strongly recommended to Ormond, but strictly commanded him to conclude a peace with his Irish Subjects, whatever it cost. And yet the virulence of this imperious governor, who commanded an uncommon sway over his royal master, against his Catholic countrymen, was such, that for three or four years he artfully contrived to delay the peace, notwithstanding the king's most pressing and positive commands, until it were rendered unavailing by the cessation of the exercise of the royal authority after the imprisonment of his majes ty's person in the year 1646.

Whatever allowances may be made to the pressure of distress and calamity, historical justice is a debt due to nations; for which delicacy even to a crowned head is no discharge. The Irish were openly, sincerely, and determinately attached to the cause of their sovereign of this their sovereign was sensible: though according to the principle of his family, he sacrificed their affection and loyalty, to the intrigues of his open and secret enemies. The king had full reliance upon the fidelity of his Catholic subjects of Ireland: and at that time depended more upon their succours and subsidies, than upon those of any other of his subjects he was fully apprized of the prejudices of Ormond against their religion; and rather than assume a manly and

⚫ Carte Orm. 3 vol. p. 322.

† Ibid. p. 322. “ If says he, I take the charge of their army upon me, or "denounce immediately an offensive war against the Scots, not ten Protes"tants will follow me, but rather rise as one man and adhere to the Scots." ‡ Vide the several different letters from the king to Ormond upon this subject, App. No. XXX.

Ormond made no secret of this detestation of Popery either to the king or his servants: in a letter to Lord Digby, (C. Orm. 3 v. p. 534) he says:

candid line of conduct towards them, descended to debase the royal character, by duplicity and an unconstitutional stretch of the royal prerogative. That the king knew, and was satisfied with the end for which his Catholic subjects had confederated, cannot be questioned: for on the 12th of March 1643, he wrote to Ormond concerning the very eminent good service of Antrim, and Daniel O'Neile, two powerful Catholics in the North: "only one thing I thought necessary earnestly to give you in "charge myself: which is, that you will unite yourself in a "strict and entire correspondence with Antrim, and contribute "all your power to further him in those services, which he hath "undertaken; for I find that almost that whole kingdom is so "much divided betwixt your two interests, that if you join in "the ways, as well as in the end for my service, you will meet "with small difficulties there, which I no way doubt, being thus "recommended by your assured friend, Charles R." Neither can it be doubted, but that the king wished and endeavoured to support and strengthen the confederacy of his Catholic subjects in Ireland, which evidently clears them of all possible guilt of rebellion or treason against their Sovereign. What posterity may judge from the king's conduct, is for those to determine The king having nothing who may know what it really was. more at heart, than peace with, and assistance from his Catholic subjects, whom he now alone confided in, adopted two measures, by which they were deluded, his Protestant subjects deceived, and his own interest considerably weakened.

Thwarted and provoked as Charles was at the inexorable firmness of Ormond, in resisting, neglecting, or counteracting all his efforts and wishes to ingratiate himself with the confederated Catholics, yet he had the weakness to encourage Ormond, whom he thought agreeable to the Protestant interest, even in the very acts of resistance and disobedience to his own commands. He even attempted to make him the vehicle of communicating to them the unconstitutional resolution of dispensing with all the penal laws against the Catholics, till they "A peace should be abrogated and repealed by parliament."

"one thing I shali beseech you to be careful of, which is to take order, that "what shall be directed to me touching these people (the Catholic confederates) "if any be, thwart not the grounds I have laid to myself in point of religion: "for in that, and in that only, I shall resort to the liberty left to a subject, to "obey by suffering." The king's letters to Ormond shew how much hurt his majesty was by this disobedience of Ormond: they rise gradually from recommendation, to anxious pressing, to positive and peevish commands. I command you to conclude a peace with the Irish, cost what it may. And lastlyI absolutely command you without reply, to execute the directions I sent you on the 27th of February last: which were to make peace even without the council. C. O. 3 v. p. 431.

• The Lord Chief Justice Herbert and others, who wrote in support of the royal prerogative of dispensing with penal statutes, contended only for it in

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"with the Irish is most necessary for my affairs in England, "wherefore I command you to dispatch it out of hand. "And I do hereby promise them, and command you to see it "done, that the penal laws against the Roman Catholics shall "not be put in execution, the peace being made, and they re"maining in due obedience. And further, when the Irish give "me that assistance, which they have promised, for the sup"pression of this rebellion, and I shall be restored to my rights, "I will consent to the repeal of them by a law."* In another letter written to the lord lieutenant within ten days, the king ascended to the most imperative tone, "I do therefore com"mand you to conclude a peace with the Irish, whatever it "cost: though I leave the management of this great and necessary work entirely to you."† Ormond appears so well satisfied with disobeying these commands of his royal master, that he boasted in a letter to the king, " that he treated with these commissioners in such a manner and gave them such answers as might let them conjecture he had directions to the contrary." He attributed his pertinacity in endeavouring to renew the war, in lieu of making peace, to the inflexible resolution of the council in Ireland never to treat with the confederates, although he had in the preceding December received unlimited power from his majesty (who foresaw the difficulties that would arise from that quarter) " to sequester from the "council board such members of it as he did not approve of." Nay, it will even be found by those who look impartially into the authentic annals of those days, that Ormond was at that time negotiating a treaty with the rebellious army of the Scots in Ulster to join his forces in renewing hostilities against the confederates.

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The king being fearful, that the harshness of Ormond towards the Catholics, and his inflexible reluctance to obey any commands favourable to them, should alienate their attachment to the royal cause, endeavoured to effect by the secret influence of his authority over those, who ever respected it, what the insincerity of his character prevented him from openly avowing. King Charles in his troubles, had experienced the most prominent zeal and signal support from the Marquis of Worcester,

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particular cases and such certainly was the ancient prerogative of the crown, though most wisely abridged at the revolution. But this was an attempt to counteract the whole statute law by royal proclamation, which no other sovereign had ever pretended to.

Let. to Orm. on the 18th of February 1644. 3. C. Orm.

Ibid. Let. of February 1644.

Ibid.

The confederates were apprized of his majesty's commands to Ormond, by their agents Lord Taaffe, Mr. Burke, and Mr. Brent, who then were with the king.

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who had expended above 150,000l. (an immense sum in those days) of his personal fortune in raising and maintaining 1500 foot, and 500 horse at his own expence. That family was then Catholic and the king placed an extraordinary confidence in the fidelity and the zeal of his eldest son Edward Somerset, Lord Herbert, whom he created Earl of Glamorgan. Being of the same religion as the Catholic confederates, his majesty undertook to avail himself of the influence, which he conceived this circumstance coupled with his connections in Ireland (he was married to Lady Margaret O'Bryen, daughter of the Earl of Thomond) must naturally give him, as early as the 1st of April, 1644, granted him a patent of very extraordinary powers, which seemed to be especially calculated to overawe or counteract the powers of Ormond, which the king thought proper to continue, though he evidently mistrusted the use, which Ormond would make of them. In about ten months from the granting of this patent, viz. on the 6th of January 1644,† the king granted a commission under the great seal to the Earl of Glamorgan for levying any number of men in Ireland, and other parts beyond seas, commanding them, putting officers over them, making governors in forts and towns, giving him powers to receive the king's rents, &c. This was again followed up by two other commissions for extending and enlarging his powers, even avowedly beyond the law; should circumstances call upon him to use a vigour of that nature and to do that, in which his lieutenant could not so well be seen, as not fit for his majesty then publicly to own. In these he pledged the honour of a king and a Christian, to ratify whatever Glamorgan should think fit to grant to the confederates under his hand and seal: the said confederate Catholics having, said he, " by their sup "plies testified their zeal to our service." If then the confederates were thus eminently acknowledged by their sovereign to be zealously engaged in his cause, the succour, aids, and assistance, which they endeavoured under the existing circumstances to draw from the King of Spain, the court of Rome, or afterwards from the Duke of Lorrain, cannot evidently be laid to the account of a traitorous and rebellious disposition in the Irish against their sovereign, for the king himself both petitioned, and actually received considerable succours from the same quarter.}

* Vide this patent App. No. XXXI.

N. B. Old Style.

For the two latter commissions vide App. No. XXXII. Whatever objections may be made to the propriety of these grants on behalf of the crown, they prove beyond question that the Irish Catholic confederates were properly at least now termed royalists-but Quidquid delirant reges plectuntur Achivi.

This fully appears from the king's letter to the Archbishop of Ferms dated from Oxford, April 30th, 1645: and also from a letter from Cardinal Pam

Still were these confederates made the dupes and victims of the duplicity of Charles, redoubled upon them by the malevolent intrigues of Ormond, who on this occasion professed loyalty, whilst he practised disobedience to his royal master, and pretended a confidence in Glamorgan and the confederates, whilst he was planning the ruin of both. The confederates were,

through the insinuations of Ormond, prevailed upon (though against the advice of the pope's agent and nuncio) to make peace publicly with the Marquis of Ormond, and privately with the Earl of Glamorgan, disjoining the religious from the political articles. The letter, which Ormond had written to Lord Muskerry* expressive of his readiness to concur with Glamorgan in every thing, which the latter should undertake for his majesty's service, was considered by the confederates at large as a solemn pledge on behalf of the king's lieutenant, t" and was delivered "to the nuncio by the supreme council of Kilkenny as a proof, "that the Marquis of Ormond would support the agreement, "which had been, or should be made between them and the "Earl of Glamorgan, though the marquis afterwards disappointed their expectations." The general assembly of the confederates which met at Kilkenny on the 6th of March, 1645....6, dispatched Lord Muskerry and other commissioners to Dublin, publicly to conclude the peace with the Marquis of Ormond, and it was accordingly concluded on the 28th of the same month, 1646. But the secret treaty had been concluded. with the Earl of Glamorgan on the 25th of the preceding month of August; the conditions of which chiefly related to the toleration of the Catholic religion, and the sending over subsidies to the king in England. It happened in the mean time, that the particulars of this secret treaty became public, and Ormond jointly with Lord Digby, although they well knew the commission and authority, under which Glamorgan acted, had him indicted of high treason for forging or surreptitiously obtaining these very commissions, and his person was immediately committed to close custody. The discovery was instantly reported philio to the queen at Paris, accompanied by a brief from the pope to the like purport, dated March the 2d, 1645. For the two letters vide App. No. XXXIII. See Ormond's letter to Lord Muskerry dated on the 12th of August, 1645, Appendix, No. XXXIV.

An Enquiry into the Share which Charles I. had in the Transactions of the Earl of Glamorgan: p. 64.

As it may be interesting to the reader to see how far the king rendered his royal faith, word, and authority, subservient to his interest and wishes, I have given the preamble to the treaty, together with the conditions of it, in the App. No. XXXV.

They were found upon the titular archbishop of Tuam, who was accidentally killed by the parliamentarian rebels before Sligo, who, together with some of Ormond's forces, were in open hostility notwithstanding the cessation and the then pending treaty for peace.

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