was not permanent, and that Ormond, as time went on, was not treated with even the outward show of civility, on account of his disingenuousness, and the efforts he continued to make to induce them to receive a garrison. The officers of the city guards neither went to him for orders, nor would they take orders from him. Without special leave of the mayor no officer of the army was admitted to his presence to receive directions to suppress the Parliamentarians, who at the moment were roaming over the country and in the neighbourhood. Lord Kilmallock, a Catholic peer, and officer of the army, was committed to gaol for no other reason than that he quartered a few horsemen, with Ormond's own orders, within the city. These and other reasons worked on him to quit Limerick, and proceed to Loughrea, where he was followed by the Bishops, and where he complained that their Lordships did not treat him in a fair manner. He stated that as soon as he left Limerick, the Bishops of Limerick and Ross waited on Lord Inchiquin, who was then in the city; that they desired Inchiquin not to quit the kingdom, stating that he was of an ancient race, and offering him, if he would join them, and put off the Commissioners of Trusts, to place all things in his hands. Ormond and Inchiquin had held up a constant correspondence; they made these facts known to each other, and concluded, perhaps, with great truth, that the Bishops were anxious to obtain a riddance of both. Negociations continued to be pressed. The city seemed to desire Colonel Pierce Walsh to be sent to command the militia; this was done; they demurred about a garrison; they thought 3000 foot and 300 horse, the numbers proposed, too great; they insisted the garrison should be Ulster men; that the county of Clare should be set apart entirely for their subsistence and pay; that the city should be charged with no loans or levies on that account; that the troops should be quartered in huts without the walls, and under the command of the Bishop of Limerick, Hugh O'Neil, or Mortagh O'Brien. The jealousy and suspicion of Ormond continued. Dominick Fanning, gathering a body of resolute young men, entered a Dutch ship in which the Marquis was sending abroad two trunks of papers which he desired to secure, and which Fanning supposed was money. When it was found that the trunks contained papers only, they desisted; but they took a solemn oath to stand by one another in that action. Sir Nicholas Comyn, mayor, who had received knighthood from Ormond, convened the town council, and called before him the rioters; they said they were ignorant that the trunks belonged to Ormond, and asked pardon. The mayor compelled them to disclaim their oath of combination, and to take a new one of obeying the Lord Lieutenant, and of doing nothing without license of the magistrates. Ormond, to encourage these good inclinations, removed to Clare, quartering the troops he had with him (1700 foot and 350 horse) in the neighbourhood, with orders to be ready to draw to a rendevouz. He did this the rather because Cromwell had at this time sent propositions to Limerick, offering the citizens the free exercise of their religion, the enjoyment of their estates, churches and church livings, a free trade and commerce, without garrison, provided they would give a free passage through the city for his forces into the county of Clare. While visiting, on the 11th of June, some troops in Clare, within four miles of the city, two aldermen, Creagh and Bourke, waited on the Marquis, with a request that he would settle a garrison in Limerick. 1 Carte. 3 2 These, Carte says, would destroy the troops on foot at the charge of the Province. 3 Carte's Ormond. According to appointment these aldermen met him at the mayor's stone-stating the city had accepted his proposals, with the exception of the guards. He sent them back with assurances that the guards he meant to take with him, should consist of but 100 foot and 50 horse, all Roman Catholics, such as had constantly been of the Confederacy, and were interested in all the benefits of the articles of the peace. But when near the city gates, the same aldermen came to him, with an account that Father Wolfe, the Dominican Friar, who had distinguished himself before, when peace was proclaimed, had raised a tumult in the city to oppose his entrance, and having forced or wheedled the keys from Rochfort, the sheriff, had seized the gates; so that it was impossible for him to come until the tumult had ended. The same night, Dominick Fanning called in Colonel Murtagh O'Brien, a man entirely devoted to the old Irish party, whose cause Fanning and Wolfe had so zealously espoused, with his regiment increased by 200 recruits; but though the mayor opposed his entrance at the gates, they forced their way in, seized the corn laid up for the supply of the army, which Ormond thought would be at his disposal, and a quantity of corn which belonged to Ormond exclusively. Ormond forthwith retired to Shanbally, four miles from the city. The bishop followed him with a proposal to forgive Colonel Murtagh O'Brien, to which he consented, if they submitted to his proposals, which not being done, the Commissioners of Trust and the Marquis of Clanrickard insisted that the bishop should excommunicate Fanning and O'Brien, which he peremptorily refused. Soon after Ireton advanced with his troops towards the city, and threatened to besiege it. The magistrates asked Ormond that Hugh O'Neill might be made their governor; he agreed, offering also to put himself in the city and share the fate of the citizens, but they refused, insisting particularly on O'Brien's regiment, and troops of their own choosing. Being near at hand in Clare, Ormond sent orders to the mayor and Hugh O'Neill to seize on Colonel O'Brien, and deliver him a prisoner to the guard appointed to receive him. The mayor who took a week to consider, answered that the government of the city was intrusted to Hugh O'Neill, who wrote in turn to say, that he was merely a cypher, not suffered to stir, except as the mayor and town council thought fit. Ormond was ready to forgive O'Brien, though he insisted that he should not hold command; but the citizens would on no account admit Ormond inside the walls; and under these circumstances it was impossible to keep the body of his army together, as to attempt it, except at the other side of the Shannon, and near Limerick, with the absolute command of the city to secure it, would have been utterly ruinous, and to have done it in the county of Clare or north side of the river was impossible, since the ground work of the army, must be raised and supported from thence; which, whilst forming, would have exhausted all the substance of Clare, and not have effected the work 2 Galway also refused to receive him; he was thus shut out from every expected advantage. The dominant men in the city, and the clergy, knew him too well, to repose the slightest faith in any one of his principles. It was urged by him, that they had received proposals and listened to overtures from the Parliamentarians, without his consent, or so much as giving him notice. They denied sympathy with the Parliamentarians, but he came to the conclusion that his protracted stay in 1 Carte. This correspondence is given at full length in Cox Hib. Angli., but is not of sufficient interest to demand more of space than this reference to it. * Carte. Ireland would tend to no good; however he resolved to remain until he had received the king's directions as to his conduct. Meantime, application was being made by the Catholic party to Leopold, governor of the Low countries, to Spain and to Austria, offering to each, that they would place themselves under which ever power granted them protection. Carte states, that they knew Ormond's attachment to the king, for when the Nuncio and the Confederates in the fulness of their strength, offered him the crown of Ireland, he rejected it. This, however, by no means agrees with the recorded opinion of the Nuncio, to which we have already referred, nor to the estimate formed of the character and conduct of Ormond throughout by the Catholics. Carte asserts that the Bishops with the full concurrence of the Nuncio, and when the Confederates were in the zenith of their power, offered Ormond the crown of Ireland, if he would change his religion and embrace their cause; but that his fidelity to the king prevented him accepting any such proposal. This, however, cannot be proved. Indeed the truth appears to be altogether the other way. In accordance with this resolution they assembled at Jamestown, in the county of Leitrim, on the 6th of August; and on the 10th, they commissioned the Bishop of Dromore, and Dr. Charles Kelly, the Dean of Tuam, to acquaint him with their desires "that he would speedily quit the kingdom, and leave the king's authority in the hands of some persons faithful to his Majesty and trusty to the nation, and such as the affections and confidence of the people would follow." He professed to be astonished at these overtures, but the Bishops intimated to him that instead of his returning a direct reply to their letter, they would meet him at Loughrea on the 26th of the month. Ormond went to Loughrea, where the Bishops of Cork and Clonfert proceeded to receive his answer to their propositions, which, according to Dr. French, Bishop of Ferns, were loyal, dutiful, and moderate. He replied in a long letter that he was not willing to withdraw out of Ireland, as they for the peace of the kingdom and the reconcilement of differences among the Catholics, expressed a desire that he should do. They told him plainly that the people seeing no visible army for their defence, despaired of recovering what they had lost or of preserving what remained to them. Finding that they could not persuade him to change his resolution or bend to a just view of affairs, on the 15th of December, they published a declaration against the continuance of the king's authority in Ormond, and a solemn excommunication, by which they delivered to Satan, all that should oppose or disobey it, or feed, or help, or adhere to Ormond by giving him subsidy, contribution or intelligence, or by obeying his commands. Dr. John O'Moloney, Bishop of Killaloe, was among the Bishops who attached his sign manual to this edict; and well did he pay for his boldness, as we shall soon see. The synod of Jamestown, before their breaking up, appointed a committee to act by their authority during the recess; and commissions were given out by this committee for levying soldiers, for which a rendevous was fixed at Ballintober. The Bishop of Killaloe had raised a troop and appointed a rendevous at Quin. Ormond sent Edward Wogan against them; the party was dispersed, the Bishop taken prisoner, and he would have been put to death had not Ormond saved him, though he had signed and promulgated the excommunication. On this memorable occasion Ormond laid hands on a sum of money amounting to £1400, which the Bishop had hidden away in sacks of wool-a circumstance which elicited from Dr. Thomas Arthur a pasquinade which reflects no high credit on his good taste or judgment.1 That Dr. Arthur was well disposed towards Lord Ormond is evident from many proofs which have been given from time to time of his sentiments, from his practice, as a physician, among those who belonged to the government, &c. I find the following memorandum which I translate in evidence of the fact, in his MSS. "On account of the service rendered to him about the 4th of the November, of last year, (1650), when at length on the 21st day of May, of this year, His Excellency Lord James Marquis of Ormond, Viceroy of king Charles the second in Ireland, was at Loughrea, and I made him aware that I received no recompence for my exertions, he decided that I should immediately be paid £10 sterling out of the public treasury, which the treasurer paid me on the next day." Well indeed may Dr. French designate Ormond, "an unkinde deserter of loyal friends." Even the king from his retreat in Scotland, sent him a letter in which he expressed regret that a better understanding did not prevail between him and the Nuncio; but this letter, which had been brought to Waterford by Captain Roche, was not delivered until it was too late, as Colonel Roche alleged, owing to the state of the country between Limerick and that city. The Bishops and Clergy were not supported by the forces they expected from a distance, which Carte attributes to the refractoriness of the Prelates, rather than to the successes of the Cromwellians. A second letter to the same end and purpose was sent by John King, the Dean of Tuam, who arrived from Scotland on the 13th of August, 1650; it conveyed to Ormond irresistible confirmation of the truth, but the fact is, notwithstand 1 "The clergy of Ireland (says Dr. Arthur) being weary of the unlucky administration of Lord James Marquis of Ormond, Viceroy of Charles II. in Ireland; and suspecting him of being too favourable to the party of their enemies, whom by his supine neglect he permitted to invade three provinces of the kingdom, and to take all the strongest cities, towns, and fortresses, and to overrun the country at pleasure with impunity; at last, having assembled a genuine provincial synod, one held at Clonmacnoise, the other at James' town, they determined to withdraw forthwith, all the orthodox subjects from their fealty and obedience to him having signed a public edict [to this effect] enforced by the threat of excommunication. Whereupon the Marquis, being thereby filled with indignation, having caught the Lord Bishop of Killaloe, John O'Molouna, an economical and thrifty man, who had signed that edict, and who, he had heard, had a large treasure at home; while staying in a certain castle in the neighbourhood, he dispatched some English spies, followers of his own, who seized upon him and upon £1400 sterling, which he had wrapped up in large woolsacks, and placed him before his judgment seat; after committing him to custody, and thus making him pay the penalty of his own rashness and that of others, at last, after one or two months upon his asking pardon he let him go; having in the meantime allocated all the money to the King's army. In reference to which I wrote the following verses.' -Which verses we may add, with every respect for the worthy Doctor's memory, by no means reflect credit upon his muse, as will appear from the following translation, in which it will be seen we rigidly observe the critical canon of rising and falling with the original :— "A cool fourteen hundred the bishop had hoarded, And the wolf smelled the blood of the sheep on the scrapings, And bolted at once with the trifle of ha'pence. ""Twas the cursed greed of gold made the bishop to save so, 'Twas the cursed greed of food made the wolf misbehave so- Had the bishop discharged his episcopal duty, My lord had no blame and the robber no booty." ing the assertion of Father Peter Walshe, who compared Ormond to Joseph in Egypt, Ormond's determination to desert and to betray the Catholics, is indisputable, as he proved under his own hand in a letter to Lord Orrery.Ormond now resolved to remain no longer in Ireland. On the 11th of December he set sail, and landed in Bas Bretagne three weeks afterwards, the weather being stormy. He took with him, in his little frigate, which was provided by the Duke of York, Lord Inchiquin, Colonel Wogan and forty other officers, besides several passengers, Sir George Hamilton, Receiver General, Mr. Belling, Lady Clanrickarde and other persons of quality who went to France afterwards. He appointed Lord Clanrickarde his Deputy.1 Notwithstanding the occurrences at Jamestown and Clonmacnoise, where Dr. French thinks a zeal, more unseasonable than prudent was manifested, but which was corrected afterwards by a general assembly of the Clergy at Loughrea, where the nobility and gentry of the kingdom had met, when advantageous proposals from Cromwell's agents being unanimously rejected by the confederates, the country remained loyal to the monarch, and resolved to stand or to fall with his destinies. The result proved that their confidence was misplaced. 3 The events which followed in rapid succession, left the kingdom an easy prey to Cromwell. Notwithstanding the efforts of Edmond Dwyer, Bishop of Limerick, who manifested great address and talent for public affairs, and who wrote a powerful document in defence of the position he sustained, and those of the Bishops who continued to struggle against the tide which threatened every moment to overwhelm them, there was alas! a faction in the country which still adhering to Ormond, gave such aid by their divisions to Ireton as enabled him in a very short time to prove the danger of divided councils. Limerick contained a party of Catholics who not only did not provide for the emergency, but which painted honester men than themselves in odious colours, and informed his excellency secretly that they were to be suspected and feared! It was those who spoke in this way of others that would in reality become traitors, and those they would cover with suspicion, proved honest men, true to God, to country, to king. Cromwell at this period had perpetrated the bloody massacres of Drogheda and Wexford, and had made his name a terror to the entire people of Ireland. 1 Ormond having appointed Clanrickard to command in his absence, as the King's Deputy, to whom the nation showed all due obedience and submission, is a manifest argument that he was not banished out of the kingdom by the confederate Catholics, for whom he named a commander in his absence.-Bleeding Iphegenia, p. 111. 2 Bleeding Iphegenia, p. 111. Dr. French, Bishop of Ferns. |