gave his express warrant empowering him to appoint his officers; yet such was the difficulty of the king's position, and the necessity of conciliating his powerful enemies, that it was thought wise to keep this warrant secret for a time; a most unwise course and evidently tending to cause future misunderstandings, if the earl should in any way have recourse to what would thus seem to be an unwarranted assumption of authority. And such indeed was the actual consequence when on the death of Sir C. Coote, the earl appointed lord Dillon to his command. The earl of Leicester was violently offended; while the earl of Ormonde was placed in an embarrassing situation, and both parties were impelled to maintain their assumed right, by complaints and angry representations. The earl of Ormonde on this occasion felt himself obliged to assert his right and support lord Dillon, whose claims on the score of public service and private friendship were such as to make it both unjust and embarrassing to insult him by withdrawing his appointment. Another instance of the same nature occurred on the appointment of Sir Philip. Perceval, and on this occasion the language of the earl of Leicester, seems strangely inconsistent with the fact that he really took no concern in the duties of his office, and that, unless for the purpose of embarrassing the king and the actual administration of Ireland, he took no part in the affairs of a country which he did not even think fit to visit. The assertion that "the lieutenant-general had not given him so much as the respect due to a private colonel, who in most places have the naming of their own officers," involves a singular confusion of ideas, as it precisely describes the injustice which the earl sustained from his lordship's interference, and has very much the tone of the wolf accusing the lamb in one of Æsop's fables. Yet this absurd resentment of lord Leicester was genuine; so great was his wrath on this occasion, that he would not write to the earl, but sent over to his own son lord Lisle, a commission for another to fill the command given to Perceval. The inconvenience of this proceeding was no less apparent than the injustice was glaring, and Perceval himself had probably some interest in the castle, for the council interfered in his behalf. The earl sent over Sir Patrick Wemyss, when the earl of Leicester met him before the king at York, and had the effrontery to justify his own conduct, and to hazard a declaration that no one should be admitted to any command without the consent of parliament. The king felt himself compelled to support his own servant, and from the house of Sir Thomas Leigh, where he was then residing, he wrote to the Irish lords-justices and council "that it was by his own special command and authority under his hand, that the earl of Ormonde had, in the absence of the lord-lieutenant, conferred upon divers persons several places in the army; that he had given him this authority to encourage the soldiers to exert themselves with greater readiness and vigour, in obeying and executing his commands in the important services wherein they were employed against the rebels there; for which it was necessary that the commander in chief should have a power to prefer them, and that it was his will and command, that all such persons as had been already, or should hereafter be so preferred by the said lieutenant

general of the army, in the absence of the lord-lieutenant, should be continued in places and commands.” *

The resolution of the king on this occasion was become necessary. The commissions of the earl of Ormonde, were still subject to be rendered of little avail if the lord-lieutenant should think proper to visit Ireland in person. Of these commissions the first was terminable on such an event, and the second placed his authority entirely under the discretion of the lord-lieutenant; there is also much reason to think that such is the course which would have been adopted for the mere purpose of setting aside one whose known principles were not to be reconciled with the parliamentary policy of keeping Ireland disturbed to weaken the king; the castle of Dublin was even got ready for the reception of the earl of Leicester. But this part of the design was rendered null, by a new commission to the earl of Ormonde appointing him to hold his command directly from the king and independently of any other authority; he was also at the same time advanced to the dignity of marquess. These arrangements had an immediate and salutary effect, and very much tended to counteract the efforts then made to engage the army in Ireland to declare for parliament. For this purpose, among other means of a less ostensible character, a draught of a declaration to be signed by the officers of the army was prepared, and submitted to the marquess of Ormonde, who objected to its main averments ascribing the success of the government in keeping down the rebellion, to the counsels of the administration, and praying in the king's name for a compliance with his parliament. The marquess produced an amended draught, removing these objectionable points, and changing the last mentioned prayer into a form, "that the parliament by its timely compliance with the king, would save the nation," the declaration in consequence fell to the ground.

The military events of this interval, composing chiefly the history of the year 1642, have been already related. The battle of Liscarrol was won by the earl of Inchiquin. The various battles and other incidents which marked this period of the rebellion in the counties of the west and south, are not such as to need repetition. Owen O'Neile's arrival in July, and the confederacy in Kilkenny are fully detailed in the memoir of this leader. We have also had occasion to mention the use which the king's enemies in England made of these incidents to embarrass him more deeply and to increase their own strength, by levies of men and money under the cover of an Irish expedition. As the rupture between the king and parliament rapidly approached its full maturity, the lordsjustices encroached with more boldness, decision and success, on the authority of every adherent of the king in Ireland; and the marquess found himself involved in deeper difficulties. The absolute exhaustion of all resources of a public or private nature, reduced him to the painful position of looking on during the entire mismanagement of affairs which were nominally under his charge. His own debts were accumulated to a great amount, and his property had become unproductive. In the same year he was attacked by a violent fever, which brought him

Carte.

to the brink of the grave, and he had not well recovered when the marchioness and lord Thurles were seized with an illness of the most alarming nature. During his illness the marquess dictated a letter to Sir Philip Perceval, addressed to the king, a part of which will give the reader a lively idea of the condition of things at that time:—He represented the condition of his own estate, which he said "was torn and rent from him by the fury of the rebellion, and nothing left to support his wife and children whilst the rebellion should last, but his majesty's great goodness, which had never failed him, and which he besought his majesty to extend towards them, by making some honourable provision for them, till his own estate might be so settled as thereout they might receive convenient maintenance. He added, that his estate was at present in such circumstances, that if his majesty did not in his abundant goodness think of some course, how his debts (as great part whereof had been contracted and drawn upon him in his majesty's service) might be thereafter satisfied, his house and posterity must of necessity sink under the weight thereof, since they were many and great, and the interest growing thereupon would in a short time exceed the debts. As an help towards the payment thereof, or at least as a means to prevent their increasing, he besought his majesty to grant him, or (if he died of that sickness) to the lord Thurles, so much of the tenements and hereditaments in the city and suburbs of Kilkenny, as should accrue to his majesty by forfeiture, and owed rent or service to him or his wife; this being conceived to be in the king's free disposal, as not being within the intent of the late act in England, which seemed to extend only to lands to be admeasured, and not to houses."*

The lords-justices availed themselves of the illness of the marquess, to make some very influential alterations in the army. These we must pass in order to confine this memoir within reasonable limits. At this time, and during the year 1643, the efforts made to draw the army into the service of the parliament were unremitting and unconcealed: but the main sinew of all such efforts was wanting: the parliament had no desire to waste its resources on Irish ground. The army was found untractable: the soldiers had nothing more than a penurious subsistence, and the condition of the officers was deplorable indeed: they did not receive any pay, and were suffering all conceivable privations. An insidious attempt was made to bribe them with a most fallacious expectation: a book was made and sent round to the officers for subscription, in which they were to declare their free consent to take portions of the rebels' lands, "when they should be declared to be subdued,"† in lieu of their arrears and pay. To give the more speciousness to this trick, the official persons of the Irish government subscribed; and thus, many officers were drawn in. The officers however who had subscribed, and many who had not, insisting on certain further security, soon found reason to suspect the real design, and retracted; nor could they be satisfied until the book was given up to a committee of their own body. A remonstrance which the earl of Kildare, and other principal officers in consequence drew up, will give the most authentic view of

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the real state of military affairs at that time, and no small insight into the views of every party. In their preamble they mention their having appealed in vain to the parliament for the supply of their wants, and having failed in every application, they were obliged to appeal to his sacred majesty, &c., and they then go on to state, “ that as well by the act of parliament in England, as by the covenants with the lord-lieutenant, and by the promises of the lords-justices and council of Ireland, they were to have their pay made good to them as well for their carriages as themselves and their soldiers. That both officers and soldiers had faithfully answered all services that could be expected from them, not only in the frequent hazard of their lives, but also in the constant discharge of their duties. That notwithstanding the starving. condition of the army, all the extremity of strictness in musters was put upon them, with an oath tendered as well to the soldiers as officers, which could not but leave upon them a character of distrust of their integrity in the cause; and yet they had no assured hopes of assistance, but rather their fears increased of having the highest severities used to them in these checks, which in an army so ill paid and oppressed with want and misery, was without precedent. That in all armies military offences, of what nature soever, had been punishable by martial law only, and no other; a privilege which they pleaded, and maintained to be inseparable to their profession. That there never had since the beginning of the service been any account made with them, so as if they should miscarry, their heirs were ignorant what to demand, which not only discouraged the officers, but disabled them to subsist and continue in the service. That with all humility they craved leave to present to the memories of the lords-justices and council, what vast sums of money had been raised and paid in England for the advancement of the service and supply of their wants in Ireland; a great part whereof had been otherwise applied, even when their necessities were most pressing, and the cause most hopeful. That when their expectations were most set upon the performance of what was justly due to them, the small pay issued out was given them in a coin, much a stranger to that wherein the parliament had paid it, and yet continued to be so, though publicly disallowed by them; by which means the officers suffered an insupportable loss, whilst others wanted not the confidence to advance their own fortunes out of their general calamities: a crime they conceived highly censurable; and if in indigent times so much strictness were needful in the army, they conceived it as necessary for the state to find out such offenders, and to measure out a punishment suitable to an offence of so high an abuse. That their arrears, which were great, might be duly answered them in money, and not in subscriptions, which they conceived to be an hard condition for them to venture their lives on and likewise humbly offered it to consideration, whether they might not be thought to deserve rewards in land without other price, as well as in former rebellions in that kingdom, others had done. For these reasons, in acquittal of themselves to God, the king, the cause, the country, and the state of Ireland, they had thus represented their condition, craving what their rights and necessities required for them, that they might be duly answered what was, or should be due to them in their employ

ment according to their capitulation, their services being justly esteemed. Musters without oath, unless duly paid; checks according to the articles of war; their offences limited to the proper judicatory, their own oppressors found out, and punished exemplarily, with satisfaction to those they had wronged; that their pay might be converted only to the use the act of parliament had prescribed; their accompts speedily made up according to their several musters; their arrears secured, and due provision to be made for the subsistence of officers and soldiers. All this they desired might be answered otherwise than by verbal expressions, and that their lordships would speedily make it appear that there was a real care taken for their subsistence; or otherwise, by receiving so small hope of further assistance from the parliament (of England) their lordships would leave them to themselves, to take such course as should best suit to the glory of God, the honour of the king, and their own urgent necessities."

This remonstrance was entrusted to the care of the marquess, who communicated it to the council. The lords-justices were anxious to appease the army, and equally unwilling to forward their petition to the king. They suppressed the paper, but made an attempt, at the same time ineffective and oppressive, to levy a small sum for the relief of the officers. The marquess when he ascertained their design of withholding the petition, himself enclosed it to the king.

At this time an anxious effort was made by the nobles of the rebel party, and seconded as anxiously by the king's friends, to effect a pacification. The lords-justices opposed the proceedings adopted for this purpose by every method in their power: among other courses adopted for this end, none was so likely to be successful as the promotion of active hostilities: a course indeed otherwise rendered necessary by the active operations of an enemy which moved unresisted in every direction. The presence also of an army which they found no means to pay, and could ill restrain, was not very convenient, and it was on every ground desirable to send them out of town on some expedition where they might be more useful and less troublesome. With this view, the army was ordered out to take possession of Ross and Wexford, under the command of lord Lisle; this expedition had already been strongly urged by the marquess, but deferred by the lords-justices for the expected arrival of the lord-lieutenant. The marquess now came forward and declared his intention to command the troops in person, and the declaration was a shock to the council. They had subscribed to facilitate their object, but on this disappointment, they were strongly urged by the parliament committee, who governed all their conduct, and in fact, presided over the Irish council, to withhold the money. With this intention the council passed a vote, declaring that "the intended expedition should be left wholly to the lieutenant-general and the council of war, notwithstanding any former debate or resolution taken by the board concerning the same.'

On March 2d, 1648, the marquess left town with 2500 foot, and 500 horse. After taking Castle Martin, Kildare and other castles cu

* Carte.