bound themselves, by a new oath, never to lay down their arms until they had secured their civil and religious rights.

The Ormondists, for so were the Irish adherents to the peace now called, fled to Dublin, with the

tentates, able and willing to assist the Irish, if they saw them sincere and earnest in their endeavours to support the cause of royalty and their religion. The abandonment of one of these, in a public treaty, and that considered in an age of bigotry the most important, was enough to drown the Irish cause with the catholic powers of Europe, who must consider their dereliction of their just demand of a claim to the toleration of the catholic faith, in a solemn treaty, while they were craving the aid of catholic princes for the maintenance of their church, as egregious folly and downright imprudence. Those who are so hasty to reprove the Irish clergy for insisting on the confederates to keep to their oath of association, and accept no peace that did not include the toleration of their religion, seem neither guided by candour or love of truth. They should first prove that the clergy stepped beyond the limits of their office; and, secondly, required impracticable terms-neither can be proved. It is hard to prove that it is foreign to the character of a clergyman to procure toleration for his flock, or that the Irish were then incompetent to obtain it, if unanimous in the demand. Let the clergy of the opposite parties be compared. In England and Scotland the pulpit thundered treason, sedition, persecution. No writer has ventured to condemn thè op. position of Owen O'Neal to that treaty with what colour could they? At a time when England and Scotland were in arms for their privileges, and the Irish confederates contending for their civil and religious liberties, was it for the brave men of Ulster to relinquish their claims to their patrimonial estates, swindled from them? The Ultonians could not, and ought not, approve of any treaty that did not stipulate an entire restitution of their patrimonial estates. Here was the blow. The majority of the assembly were possessed of forfeited estates, and restitution to

1

earl at their head. Owen O'Neal, Rinuccini, and the Irish army, took possession of Kilkenny. The nuncio assumed the direction of Irish affairs, appointed a council, and selected his generals. So formidable was his power, that Glamorgan became his vassal; and even Charles flattered himself with the hope of finding protection under his authority. The Irish had now taken a station better calculated, under prudent and spirited councils, to accomplish the liberty of Ireland, than any we have yet witnessed. There were no connections in the new Irish association, which could corrupt by their influence, or betray by their insincerity. The men who now took the lead were the old Irish, as Mr Leland calls them; the most determined, and the most devoted to the cause of Irish liberty. It is true, they acknowledged the authority of Rinuc cini, the pope's nuncio; and it may here be asked, why not acknowledge his authority? Rinuccini had brought them money and arms; he had procured the aid of foreign powers; he was zealous, able, and eloquent; capable of filling the high sta tion in which he was placed, and possessing the unlimited confidence of the power which commissioned him: the Irish therefore submitted to his councils, in common with those of their most distinguished countrymen. Ormond's resources were

Owen O'Neal would encourage other claims, consequently civil war, of which the Ormondists and advocates of that scandalous treaty were the real promoters, not the Irish clergy, or the dis inherited Milesians of Ulster,"

exhausted; his duplicity was defeated; his services to his unfortunate sovereign were fruitless, because insincere; and so little of zeal had he for the royal cause, that, rather than strike to the demands of the Irish, to which Charles had often secretly desired him to concede, he surrendered to the bitterest enemies of his sovereign-to those men, and that nation, which could only be satiated with his blood, and the ruin and destruction of that unfortunate family.

Ormond applied to the English parliament, represented his distress, the insecurity of English power in Ireland, and the immediate necessity of a force to preserve it. The parliament ordered two thousand foot and three hundred horse to go forward immediately for Dublin. In the mean time, the Irish army, amounting to sixteen thousand foot and six hundred horse, with O'Neal at their head, marched to the siege of Dublin. Preston commanded the Leinster forces; and those two generals, if united, might have determined the fate of their country. It appears that Preston was vain, credulous, and violent; that O'Neal was cautious, watchful, and jealous of every overture made by Ormond, or any of his friends. The latter calculated on gaining upon the weakness of Preston; and thus, by division, blasting the fairest prospects Ireland ever enjoyed. While the Irish were negotiating, the army of the English parliament were marching to the support of Ormond. The English arrive in Dublin, and O'Neal retires with his army. Preston continues an idle negotiation with

Ormond, and the opportunity of action is lost. Though Preston was willing to betray the Irish cause, yet he could not influence his officers to follow his example. They would not abandon their true, uncompromising countrymen, under the command of O'Neal. The feeble mind of Preston once more changed, and again he is seen taking his place under the standard of the Irish council at Kilkenny. The latter send forward their ultimate propositions of peace to Ormond, characterized by their wonted spirit, being an unequivocal and unconditional assertion of civil and religious freedom. This was too much for the loyal Ormond; he preferred the degradation and humility of his persecuted sovereign to the liberties of his country, and consented to arm those hands with the sword which, he well knew, would willingly sheath it in the bosom of the unfortunate Charles. He concludes his treaty with the English parliament, and sends forward his second son, Lord Richard Butler, the Earl of Roscommon, Colonel Chichester, and Sir James Ware, as hostages for the faithful performance of his stipulations.The articles were signed on the 19th of June 1647, and the English parliament immediately became masters of the Irish metropolis.

On the departure of Ormond from Ireland, faction seemed to raise her head with multiplied terrors to the people. They were now visited by a rapacious and insatiable enemy, who thirsted for the extinction of the Irish name. The royalists, parliamentarians, and Irish, tore the country to

pieces; and the jealousies, rivalships, and enmi. ties of those who should have been leagued in the common cause, completed the victory of the English. The precipitate zeal of Rinuccini frequently defeated the steady and judicious valour of Owen O'Neal; and the half loyal and half patriotic leaders of the confederate army exposed them to their more decided, although less powerful opponents. Owen O'Neal would sometimes rejoice in the disappointment of the royal hopes, though the success of the latter would have contributed to promote his own favourite object of Irish freedom; and so infatuated were the leaders of the confederacy, that they could smile at the defeats of Owen O'Neal, and the triumphs of their country's enemies. That a people wretchedly divided could succeed against the well combined efforts of England, would be weakness to suppose. Ireland was doomed to be the prey of her own divisions; and though possessed of strength sufficient to struggle with the world, we shall see her the victim of folly and indecision. The leaders of the confederate army were Preston and Lord Taaffe. Those men should be considered more as the champions of Ormond and the king, than the defenders of their coun try, or the assertors of its rights. They idly identified the royal interests with Irish liberty, and weakly conceived that what promoted the one established the other. It is not surprising, therefore, that Owen O'Neal, whose language was always intelligible, whose cause was plain, clear and unequivocal; who never mingled the question of