pend the law of Poynings, by which the deliberations of the Irish legislature were directed and restrained. Such claims could not be acceded to by the royal commissioners; but the pressure of the king's difficulties were now so severe, that it became a question of prudence to yield to the pretensions of the Irish. A cessation of hostilities was secretly proposed by the Marquis of Ormond, and candidly and honourably accepted by the Irish. They wanted no more than a redress of that injustice under which they suffered; and the increasing embarrassments of their sovereign did not raise their tone of complaint or remonstrance. They agreed to a cessation for twelve months, on such conditions as their agents and the Marquis of Ormond might hereafter agree upon. The misfortunes of the king continued to press the necessity of adopting the most expeditious plan of conciliation in Ireland. He gave orders to Ormond to accede to the wishes of the Irish confederacy, and he manifested his sincerity in the negociation, by committing to close custody the most virulent and odious enemies of the IrishParsons, Temple, Loftus, and Meredith. The Irish arms were triumphant in almost every part of the country, and the Irish convention, assembled at Kilkenny, partook of the general spirit which pervaded all ranks of their countrymen.

The present imposing attitude of the Irish attracted the attention of foreign courts; and all the expedients, drawn from policy and religion, were employed to extend the flame of national independence. Peter Scramp, a minister from the pope,

brought supplies of money and ammunition to the confederate Irish. He boldly animated them to an assertion of their country's freedom; that the king of England was no longer formidable to his Eng. lish subjects, and much less to Ireland; that the partizans of the English parliament were now at their mercy; and that a most disgraceful spirit of slavery alone would suggest any measure short of national independence; that they would command the respect and the co-operation of foreign powers; and that a nation who would not seize the oppor tunity which providence had offered her to assert her rights, deserved to remain in everlasting bondage. The suggestions of the pope's envoy were not attended to by the more moderate among the leaders of the Irish, and a simple redress of the grievances of which they complained was the extent of their demands the object for which they 'took up arms, and the sole condition on which they would agree to lay them down. The Earl of Clanrickard and Lord Castlehaven were most prominent in moderating the spirit of their countrymen. A 'cessation was finally concluded on the 15th of September, agreeable to both parties, and confirmed by the lords justices with all due solemnities. Thus was the current of Irish victory checked by a judicious concession on the part of the Marquis of Or. mond; and the connection between the two countries preserved, which at this moment trembled on the feeble support of a single act of conciliation. The success of Ormond's treaty with the Irish, was a serious counterpoise to the rising strength of the

enemies of Charles; or, as they were accustomed to observe, the Irish forces would now unite with the popish party in England. The immediate ef fect of this cessation, was the sending forward a considerable Irish army to the assistance of Charles. They were met by Sir Thomas Fairfax, who gave them a complete defeat.

Ormond was created lord lieutenant of Ireland, in which station he displayed that sound and penetrating judgment which so successfully combated with the greatest difficulties. The fanaticism of the Scotch, headed by Munroe, in the north; the patriotic enthusiasm of the Irish confederacy; and the loyal zeal of the king's party, were difficult of management and direction, unless under the hands of so accomplished a politician as Ormond. So ably did he now conduct himself between the friends of the king and the confederacy, that the Irish made overtures to him to accept the command of their armies; to consolidate the royal and the Irish force, and make common cause against the Scotch, who seemed to have determined on the extinction of the Irish name and religion. The peculiar situation of Ormond protested against the adoption of such a measure. His anxiety for his royal master dictated the policy of rejecting a proposal which might strengthen the arm and the arguments of his enemies, the parliament of England; and on the other hand, the present formidable power of the Irish, made it necessary to avoid all causes of irritation and insult. In the mean time the agents of the Irish confederacy negociat

ed with their sovereign at Oxford, according to the articles of cessation, and the conditions of a final peace between Charles and his Irish subjects were here proposed, which would for ever secure the loyalty and tranquillity of Ireland. The best evidence of the humiliation of the king, and the proud and imposing attitude of Ireland in 1644, is to be found in the spirited and independent character which distinguishes the demands of the Irish agents.

They claimed from Charles the freedom of their religion; a repeal of all penal statutes; a free parliament a suspension of Poynings' law, during its session; the annulling of all acts and ordinances since the first of August, 1641; a general act of oblivion; a free and indifferent appointment of all Irish natives, without exception, to places of trust and honour. They also insist upon the formal declaration of the independency of an Irish parliament on that of England. They propose an in ́quiry to be instituted into all the cruelties and barbarities which have been committed on either side in the late unfortunate struggles; and that the perpetrators should be brought to condign punishment. In the spirit of truth and candour, the Irish agents declared, that the granting of such demands as have been here set forth, would insure the steady and ardent loyalty of the people of Ireland; that the latter sought no more than that protection which a free and impartial constitution would give them; and that they were ready to sacrifice, in return for its blessings, their lives and their properties. On these conditions, ten thousand Irish soldiers were ready

to draw their swords in defence of their monarch, against the insatiable and fanatical licentiousness of English enemies.

The protestants of the pale were not inattentive to those important transactions at Oxford. They sent forward their delegates to plead their cause, to repel misrepresentation, and defend the ascendancy of their party. It is distressing to be obliged to record the furious denunciations of the protestant Irishman against his catholic fellow subject, who was seeking nothing more than a participation in that constitution which the protestant would monopolize and it is afflicting to remark the impotent vanity with which monopoly asserts its pretensions to royal partiality. Mr Leland says, "the extravagance of intolerance exhibited by the deputies of the protestants, astonished the king and his ministers; for what did they require, in the face of those events which had so lately deluged their country with blood? They prayed his majesty to perpetuate the causes of public irritation. They proposed the banishment of the catholic clergy; that the confederacy should be disarmed; that the utmost vengeance should be taken on those who carried arms; that the oath of supremacy should be enforced, and the law of Poynings (which degraded our Irish parliament) piously maintained; and that all forfeited estates should be vested in English planters. In a word, they proposed that the catholic religion, and all its followers, should be proscribed, and, if possible, exterminated. The historians of these times attribute the malignity of such pro