66

corrupt enough to countenance and legalize any act of oppression. Charles, however, had a great hatred to the name of "parliament," having found it such an obstacle in the way of absolutism in England. But Wentworth soon showed him that an Irish parliament was a different thing, and that there would be no difficulty in wresting it to the purposes of tyranny. 'I shall labour," he says in one of his letters, "to make as many captains and officers burgesses in this parliament as I possibly can, who, having immediate dependence upon the crown, may almost sway the business between the two parties which way they please. Charles's scruples were thus satisfied, and a parliament was called, which was opened with extraordinary pomp and ceremony.

Wentworth's speech, on opening the houses, not a little startled the members. He informed them that two sessions were to be held, the first to be devoted to the sovereign in the way of granting of subsidies, and the second to the subject in the way of redress of grievances. In reference to the former affair, Wentworth insolently told the parliament that if they expected protection (such protection!) without contributing towards it, they looked for more than had ever been the portion of a "conquered kingdom." Wentworth, without allowing time for consultation or coalition among the catholics and protestants, demanded, on the following day, the enormous grant of six subsidies. The two parties, willing to rival each other in loyalty, at once granted the money unconditionally, the first "settled subsidies" that had ever been paid in Ireland. He also obtained, in the same manner, no fewer than eight subsidies from the convocation of the Irish clergy. Wentworth having thus triumphantly carried his money bills, the session closed, and he sent over congratulatory letters to his master, Charles, erowing over his success.

As the time approached for holding the second session, for the redress of grievances, and the granting of The Graces, Charles became apprehensive of the issue. He was again quieted by Wentworth, who assured him that he would take upon himself the whole responsibility and blame of refusing them. Parliament was opened, and Wentworth kept his word. Every concession was stoutly refused by him. The Catholics offered resistance; but Wentworth throwing all his influence on the Protestant side of the house, they were at once defeated. The Protestants expected a reward for defeating the Catholics; but they were immediately borne down too, in like manner, and the session ended-a complete blank. Wentworth hastened to assure Charles in a despatch, that his majesty was now, through the person of his deputy, the uncontrolled ruler of Ireland,- "So now I can say," observes he, "the king is as absolute here as any prince in the whole world can be, and may be still, if it be not spoiled on that side"-namely in England.

Wentworth next directed his efforts to the extension of Protestant conformity; to the increase and maintenance of the standing

army, "the great peace-maker," as Wentworth himself described it. He also directed his attention to the increase of the public revenue, and in four years the produce of the customs rose from £12,000 to £40,000 a-year. He applied himself to the increase of trade, and abolished several absurd restrictions and monopolies ; he established a victualling trade betwixt Ireland and Spain; and laid the foundations of the linen trade in Ulster, which continues to flourish down to the present day. By these means, in the course of about five years, the revenue exceeded the expenditure by about £60,000 per annum,-a proof of "completest success" in the eyes of the lord-deputy, as perhaps it would be in the opinion of most modern statesmen and financiers.

The lord-lieutenant next proceeded to put in execution the famous project of the wholesale confiscation and " plantation" of Connaught, which had been planned by the preceding monarch. Pledging himself to Charles that he would immediately reduce Connaught to the absolute possession of the crown, he at once proceeded to make good his word. He called together packed juries, who were terrified or bribed into obedience to his commands, and were ready to find verdicts in favour of the crown. The jurors who refused to give a favourable verdict, were heavily fined, and imprisoned for long periods. "Sometimes," says the Commons' Journals, "they were pilloried with loss of ears, and bored through the tongue, and sometimes marked in the forehead with a hot iron, and other infamous punishments." This plan was found effective in Roscommon, Leitrim, Mayo, and Sligo, the greater part of which counties were confiscated to the royal uses. Opposition was offered in Galway, where the jurors imagined they would have the protection of the powerful Earl of Clanricarde. But Wentworth soon bore down their opposition with a tyrant hand. Immediately on the jurors refusing to find for the crown, as in the preceding cases, they were cited to the Castle Chamber of Dublin and fined £4,000 each; the sheriff who had selected them was also fined £1,000.; and the Earl of Clanricarde received a heavy reprimand from the court, and otherwise suffered severely. This "just severity," as it was called by Wentworth, was expected to "make all the succeeding plantations pass with the greatest quietness that could be desired."

Heavy sums of money were next extorted from those who had neglected the original conditions of their grants of land. He exacted £17,000 from the O'Byrnes, and no less than £70,000 from the London Companies who held estates in Ulster. Henceforward these companies were the determined enemies of Wentworth, and did every thing they could to accelerate his downfall. Wentworth also treated the Irish nobility with great severity. He fined the Earl of Cork and Lord Wilmot; sent the Earl of Kildare to prison; and meanly compassed the ruin of Lord Mountnorris, the vicetreasurer, whom he had sentenced to military execution, but

afterwards dismissed with a mock pardon, a lowered and beggared man.

These arbitrary proceedings caused bitter murmurs and discontent in Ireland, and they extended also to England, where men spoke out more openly and fearlessly. The murmurs increased so much about court, that Wentworth resolved to make a sudden appearance in England, and boldly confound his accusers. He was received by the king with marks of great favour, and detailed the measures he had adopted for the government of Ireland at "a very full meeting of council." He left the court, loaded with the applause of the king and his courtiers. Before he returned to Ireland, he went into Yorkshire, where he signalized himself by his vigorous collection of ship-money, one of the arbitrary and unconstitutional taxes which Charles was now levying on his English subjects, and which at last drove them into open rebellion to his authority.

Wentworth then returned to Ireland, and carried on his government with the same vigour as before. But opinion was now fast drawing to a head in England, and every ship that arrived was freighted with intelligence that dashed his prosperity and his pride. A loud and violent voice was raised by the popular party, headed by Pym, Hampden, Vane, and others, against the tyrannous conduct of the lord-lieutenant of Ireland. Wentworth flung back these charges with contemptuous scorn, though, in his heart, he secretly feared the newly-sprung power of the people whom he openly affected to despise. Still indulging in his ambitious dreams and projects, he commenced the erection of a magnificent palace at Naas, the ruins of which still stand; the peasants, as they pass, venting their occasional execrations upon "Black Tom," (the name by which he is now remembered in the country,) whose memory has been handed down to them by tradition as one of the bloodiest and cruelest tyrants that ever lived. He also kept up an almost regal magnificence, maintaining at his own charge a retinue of 50 servants, and a troop of 100 horse splendidly mounted and accoutred. object in keeping up this style, he stated to Cottington was, that "having the great honour to represent his majesty's sacred person," he thought it becoming in him, "to set it forth, not in a penurious manner, before the eyes of a wild and rude people."

His

Wentworth was roused from his comparative inactivity by the alarming intelligence of the rising of the Scottish nation against Charles, in defence of their civil and religious liberties. The attempts of Laud to thrust an obnoxious creed upon them, stirred

The remains of this building, which was called Juggerstowne Castle, are visible still, and, I am informed by gentlemen who have seen them, sufficiently indicate its extraordinary grandeur and extent: they cover several acres. They are close to the road side, about sixteen Irish miles from Dublin, and provoke, even now, from many an unreflecting passer by, a curse upon the memory of "Black Tom." Such is the name by which the Irish peasantry still remember Strafford. When M. Boullaye-le-Gouz visited Ireland, he found the castle in the property and possession of Sir George Wentworth, Strafford's brother, and guarded by forty English soldiers.--MR. CROKER'S M.S., QUOTED IN FORSTER'S LIFE OF STRAFFORD, IN LARDNER'S CABINET CYCLOPEDIA, p. 351-4.

the whole people into rebellion. Wentworth immediately hastened to assist his master. He first forced down some rising commotions among the Scotch settlers in Ulster, and forwarded from Ireland a body of troops to garrison Carlisle. He also offered large contributions of money towards the expenses of resistance; and urged his friends in Yorkshire to make every exertion in the royal cause. Charles now looked on Wentworth as his great hope. He urged him to come over to England, where he desired his "counsel and attendance." Suffering under gout and "flux," Wentworth embarked and reached London; and was immediately engaged in close conclave with Laud and Hamilton. There they were, the tripleheaded tyrant executive of England, Scotland, and Ireland. They had to take measures against a people, who would no longer grind in their mill of slavery. What was to be done? The Scotch were up in arms! Wentworth at once declared for war. But where were the supplies to be found, to carry it on? The public treasury had been drained, parliament refused to grant subsidies, the levy of tonnage and poundage was no longer productive, and tyranny stood almost disarmed by mere passive resistance. But Wentworth had a brave heart, though a false one. He was now, as he had often before hinted, engaged ina work, which he was bound to go “thorough” with, at the "peril of his head." And, sure enough, he did the work, and lost his head. It was at one of the privy council meetings of this same junto, that Strafford uttered the memorable words, which were afterwards brought against him, and sealed his fate: "You have an army in Ireland," said he "that you may employ to reduce THIS kingdom to obedience."

Wentworth, with characteristic energy, at once subscribed £20,000 out of his own purse, and promised to bring a large subsidy from Ireland, if the king would call a parliament there. Writs were issued, and an Irish parliament was called together. Wentworth went over to meet it, as Earl of Strafford,-a title which had twice been solicited by him, and twice refused, but was now conferred unasked. The members of the Irish parliament crowded around him with lavish devotion, and at once granted him the four subsidies that he demanded. They also assured him that that was nothing in respect to their zeal, for that "his majesty should have the fee-simple of their estates for his great occasions. But how versatile is the adulation of slaves! Scarce two months had passed, when Strafford's fall was apparent, and the same parliament turned round upon him as a tyrant, and never lost sight of him until they had seen him executed on the scaffold.

Wentworth had been scarcely a fortnight in Ireland, when he had achieved these results with the parliament, and levied a body of 8,000 Irish troops as a reinforcement to the royal army. He again left for England, and on his arrival was put at the head of the army to march against the Scots. At the same time, he sent a commission to Ormond to bring over his army of 20,000 men from

Ireland. The campaign commenced, but it was rendered nugatory by the irresolution of the king. Negociations were entered into, a parliament was agreed to be called, and now Strafford felt himself to be lost. He prayed his master, Charles, that he might be allowed to retire to Ireland, and not deliver himself up into the hands of his enemies. Charles peremptorily refused, but assured him that "while there was a king in England not a hair of Strafford's head should be touched by the parliament." The storm soon burst. The new parliament met, and one of its first acts was to impeach Strafford for high treason. His friends at once fell away

from him; the king left him to his fate; and the man who had just been ruling Ireland with the power of a despot now paid the penalty of his crimes, and died on the scaffold like a felon. "Put not your trust in princes" was the final murmur of the mighty, but prostrate Strafford.

CHAPTER XIV.

Distracted state of parties-Rumours of Catholic extermination-General alarm among the Irish-Insurrection of 1641-The Irish leaders, Roger Moore, and Sir Phelim O'Neill-Alleged "massacre"-Cruelties of Sir Charles Coote-The Catholics in vain endeavour to effect a reconciliation-Sir William St. Leger-The LordsJustices Parsons and Borlase-Their savage orders to the Earl of OrmondPosition of affairs-The Parliaments of Ireland and England-Charles distrusted by all parties-Temporising policy of the Catholic Lords-Battle of KilrushThe English reduced to extremities-Lord Forbes and his army of fanatics— Lord Inchiquin defeats an Irish force-Arrival of the Scotch army in Ulster under General Monroe-Their cruelties-Condition of the Irish army-Owen Roe O'Neill-Arrival of Earl of Leven, with reinforcements-Successes of the Irish-The confederates proceed to organize a government-The Catholic clergy take the lead-Synods held at Kells and Kilkenny-General representative assembly of the nation at Kilkenny-Their measures-The provincial generalsSuccesses of the confederates.

We now arrive at a period of Irish history extremely confused and distracted, and difficult to unravel. There were now several distinct parties in the field, each animated by fierce hostility to the others. There were the native Irish, who constituted the great bulk of the population, the English Catholics of the Pale, known as the "Recusants",-the Royalists, for the most part English settlers on the estates confiscated by King James,-and the Parliamentarians, including the Puritans of the Pale, and the Scotch Presbyterians of Ulster :-an extraordinary spectacle of contending parties and conflicting interests. At this period, the powers of government were entrusted to Sir William Parsons and Sir John Borlase,―men who were both hostile to the king, and detested by almost all parties among the Irish people. These men did all that