II. 1641 the present work demands no more than the briefest CHAP. sketch of the leading incidents. It is almost enough to say, that the blood spilt in the winter of 1641-2 was not washed out till, according to the elaborate computation of Sir William Petty,' out of an entire population of a million and a half, more than half a million had, by sword, famine, and pestilence, been miserably destroyed. The conspiracy had spread over the island, and the southern provinces soon followed suit with Ulster. There was no second surprise, and scanty as they were in number, the Protestants were not long in making the insurgents feel that their game was not yet won. Wicklow and Wexford broke out in November. The expelled colonists in Dublin, burning for revenge, were drilled and armed; Sir Charles Coote, of Castle Coote, a veteran from the siege of Kingsale, led a few hundreds of them into the Wicklow mountains, and made free use there of shot and halter. But want of means pinioned the Lord Jus coming was still talked of, wrote to some one, it is uncertain who: 'If his majesty hold his resolution to come over to this kingdom to suppress the rebellion, and the Parliament consent to it, I hope he will come so well furnished with men and money as we shall go on gloriously to finish the work. I must not impart to you my own private thoughts at this distance; yet let me tell you that I cannot but with much regret consider how fatal this kingdom has been to all the kings of England that have set their foot within the isle. I wish that and many other particulars of far higher consequence may be seriously laid to heart before his majesty fix Temple thought the rebellion was 1 Political Arithmetic of Ireland. BOOK I. 1642 そ tices to Dublin and the immediate neighbourhood. The Lords of the Pale made Coote's severities an excuse for pretending to believe that there was to be a massacre of the Catholics. They too joined the insurrection; and the whole country was in flame from Dunluce to Cape Clear.1 at once. In England the effect was terrible. The bitterest invectives of the Puritans against the scarlet woman and her maintainers seemed justified by their new St. Bartholomew. Shocked at the catastrophe which he had assisted in forwarding, and to clear himself of all suspicion of complicity, the King made over to the Long Parliament the entire management of Ireland. A few companies of soldiers were sent over To raise a more sufficient force, two million acres and a half of the rebels' lands were declared forfeited, with Charles's consent, and were offered at easy rates to adventurers who were willing to advance money on the security of these estates. The bonds were taken up; an army was raised and sent to Bristol under Lord Wharton, to be transported to Dublin. Unhappily the war broke out in England before they could sail. The troops were detained for home service, and seven years passed before the Long Parliament was again in a position to pay effective attention. to Ireland. 1 'This county, the least disloyal in Ireland, is in general revolt; the English most miserable, fallen from plenty on a sudden to so much poverty that they own nothing. Every Irishman now declares himself a rebel, and only Kingsale, Cork, and Youghal, kept in awe by the castles, stand out for the King, There was a meeting on Tuesday last of the chief men of these parts, most of which pretended to be good subjects. They have all taken oaths to extirpate the English. There is very little quarter given of either side, and nothing to be expected but destruction.' 'Sir H. Stradling to Sir John Pennington, from Kingsale, March 6.' MSS. Record Office. Lord Ormond meanwhile commanded there for the King; and Ormond's own endeavour was not to punish the massacre, but to veil it, make peace with the Irish, and to renew the scheme which Sir Phelim's haste had marred. Infinite and intricate negociations followed. The English Parliament being occupied with fighting the King, the Scots sent a force (England providing the money) under General Monro, which gradually drove the rebels out of Ulster. Monro, declining to take orders from Ormond, contented himself with holding the ground which he had gained. The Catholics, meanwhile, established a council at Kilkenny, and undertook in form the government of Ireland, and, with the Pope's blessing on their gallant efforts, 'to extirpate and root out from among them the workers of iniquity.' 1 1 To this Kilkenny Council Ormond's efforts were now addressed. Could Ormond but come to an understanding with them, out of their united forces he might lead an army to England, which might dictate terms to the Parliament. Religion was of course the difficulty. The Irish Council demanded the restoration of the Catholic Church to its pre-reformation splendour and privileges. The King, though ready to promise unlimited toleration, could go no further, without alienating hopelessly such friends as remained to him in England. The Irish Catholic Peers understood and allowed for the difficulty, and were ready to meet Ormond half way. The Clergy, standing on Providence and Divine right, would abate no tittle of their pretensions; 1 Hibernia Anglicana, Appendix, p. 15. CHAP. II. 1642 BOOK I. 1644 and the Pope, to sustain their resolution, sent them a Legate, John Baptiste Rinuccini, Prince Archbishop of Firmo, with arms, powder, Spanish dollars, and a supply of Italian priests. The Legate and his chaplains ran a near chance of swinging at an English yard arm. Captain Plunket, in a ship belonging to the Parliament, chased him up the Kenmare river, and would have caught him but for the breaking out of an accidental fire. He landed safe and was received with becoming honour at Kilkenny. But the differences remained which had shown themselves at the meeting at the Westmeath abbey. The Lords and Gentlemen who, though Catholic, were of English blood or breeding, were for peace with the King, and the Legate would have no peace till the Church had her own again, threatening, if the Council were obstinate, to take the bishops to Italy with him and leave the kingdom unshepherded. The King's double dealing came to the Legate's help. More eager than ever, as the war went against him, for a peace which would bring him the swords of the Irish Catholics, he had empowered Ormond to treat on conditions which he could acknowledge to the world; and at the same time he had sent the Earl of Glamorgan with other conditions, pledging himself, if only the secret were kept till the war was over, to grant all that the clergy demanded. He had gone so far as himself to write to the Legate, promising to confirm whatever Glamorgan and he might agree on, and thus fortified the Archbishop of course insisted on the most complete concessions. The secret was betrayed. The Glamorgan articles were published, and Charles was forced to deny their authenticity. The question became thus hopelessly entangled. Two Catholic parties were formed, following the lines of division which had existed from the first. The native Irish went with the Legate and the priests, and had their own army, under Owen Roe O'Neill, who came over as he promised. The Council of Kilkenny had another army, composed of the Pale Lords and their retainers, still at issue with the Legate, but staggering under threats of excommunication. Ormond maintained himself with difficulty in Dublin, supported by the Church of England loyalists. Ulster was garrisoned by Monro and the Scots. To these four parties and their various forces, whom the miserable country was compelled to support, a fifth was now to be added. The war in England being ended by the surrender of the King, Ormond found his own position no longer tenable. The Pale Lords were too weak for the Legate and the Irish, and concluding honourably that it was better that Ireland should be governed by the Parliament than fall into the hands of the faction on which lay the guilt of the murders of 1641, Ormond surrendered Dublin to the Parliament, and left the kingdom. Colonel Michael Jones, one of the most distinguished officers in the Parliament's service, came over with strong reinforcements in the spring of 1647, reorganized the remnants of troops which Ormond left behind him, and, after trying his strength with General Preston and the Kilkenny army in two slight skirmishes, caught Preston at advantage at Dungan Hill, hunted his whole army into a bog, and cut it to pieces. The defeat cleared the confusion. The Kilkenny Council broke finally with the native Irish. The Legate withdrew to Owen Roe, preaching damnation to the traitors CHAP. II. 1647 |