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the necessity of the present service, the house growing thin on a sudden, it was only agreed to have it kept, and such as pleased to read or take copies thereof.

The marquis of Clanrickard had scarce accepted the government, when some deputies arrived from the county of Kilkenny to propose a treaty with the enemy. Colonel Axtel, governor of the city of that name, asking some gentlemen of the county, met before him, why they did not, as their neighbours of Tipperary, Wexford, and Waterford had done, send agents to treat with the parliament of England; and being answered, that they might not conveniently do so without the allowance of the assembly then sitting at Loghreagh, he gave leave for captain John Grace and John Brian of Bawnemore to be employed, with letters of credence from them to the assembly, but with instructions of his own penning. The substance thereof was, that they should represent their sufferings, with the application made from other parts to the parliament, and press the assembly to do the same, because, he believed, better conditions might be had for the kingdom in general than for any particular persons or places. This occasioned the motion for a treaty (which had been rejected before the holydays) to be revived on Jan. 10, the very day to which the house was adjourned. The letters and message were referred to a committee; 143 the bishop of Ferns urged more vehemently than ever what he had before insisted on, that a treaty was necessary to undeceive the people, and cure them of all expectations of good terms from the enemy. The lord deputy taking notice of the draught of an answer, which might encourage the rebels to hope for an overture of that kind, expressed his dislike of an answer, which, under pretence of undeceiving the people, was the ready way to inveigle them, and make them stupid and negligent of their own preservation. He represented to them on this q D. D. 452, 174, 112.

occasion, "that it was inconsistent with the king's authority to admit of any treaty of submission to the parliament-party; that the danger and distraction was much greater at the former sitting of the assembly than at the present, as was evident by the arrival of shipping at Galway with arms and ammunition, and the recovery of several garrisons from the enemy; that if there were any ground for their despair, they ought to have discovered it, before their importunities to have the king's authority continued amongst them; that at his first entrance upon the government, he had sent despatches to the king with an account of the dangerous condition of the kingdom, and the impossibility of opposing the enemy without a speedy relief, and was confident of receiving very soon either such relief or license, in case of extremity, to withdraw his majesty's authority, and permit his subjects to treat with the enemy for their own preservation; that till he received the king's pleasure, (unless upon inevitable necessity,) he could not, consistent with his duty, honour, and safety, admit of any treaty; that any connivance at an affair of such a nature would dishearten the forces ready to be drawn into the field, fix every body's mind only upon expectations of the treaty, encourage the enemy to believe the nation was already conquered, and incapable of any conditions, and (which was their principal design) be made use of into England, to discourage the king's party there and in Scotland, now growing in a prosperous condition, and leave an infamy upon the kingdom, so soon and so poorly to treat of a submission after their solemn declarations of adhering to the king's authority and government; that the undeceiving of the people was not to be done by a seeming treaty, but by maintaining strong forces in the field, by appearing careless of the enemy's power, by an excommunication against the Irish that serve actually under them, or such as advise a submission to them, by proclamations of

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giving no quarter to any of them, and forbidding, upon the highest penalties, any addresses, communication, or treaty, private or public, by any province, county, town, or particular person, and also by frequent preaching and inculcating to the people the impiety, cruelty, and perfidiousness of a merciless enemy; which would much better become the pulpit, than for a "prelate in his sermons to expostulate about the extent and power of the king's authority, under the denomination or character of being but an useless idol, set up in men's fancies, without power to relieve or support them; a practice which could not fail of deceiving and abusing the people, if suffered to pass without reprehension and punishment, and of fixing a belief in them that it was the sense and opinion of the rest of the prelates, and would let loose the tongues of the inferior and less considerate clergy to follow their example; and lastly, that, except there and in some factious persons in Galway, seduced by such like practices, he found every where in the provinces a forwardness to rise against the enemy, to be freed of their oppression and tyranny." Upon this representation made by the lord deputy, an answer was returned, "that the king's authority was vested in the marquis of Clanrickard, and 144 that to him all application ought to be made." Another consequence of it was, an excommunication denounced by the bishops, and a proclamation issued out by the deputy, upon the advice of the assembly, against all persons that either served in the army of the rebels, or entertained any treaty with, or made any submission to them, declaring them guilty of high treason, and punishable with death, unless within twenty-one days they quitted the service, and left off all communication with the rebels.

The arms and ammunition mentioned in the marquis of Clanrickard's representation, as arrived at Galway, were r The bishop of Clonfert.

sent thither by Charles duke of Lorrain, with whom a treaty had been carrying on some time before; of which it will be necessary to give some account. It hath been already observed that Hugh Rochfort, recorder of Wexford, a violent partisan of the nuncio and clergy's faction, had in the beginning of the foregoing year waited upon the king in Jersey, and by underhand practices endeavoured the removal of the marquis of Ormond from the government of Ireland. He came thither so little authorized, having only a trifling letter from lieutenant general Ferral to introduce him to somebody about the court, and behaved himself in so suspicious a manner, that he was taken by many to be a spy of Cromwell's. He did not omit however to promise great matters for the king's service, and was by some, who knew little of him, and were ill judges of business, favoured on account of those pretences, which, how groundless soever, will ever be hearkened to in the courts of distressed princes. He afterwards waited on his majesty at Breda, with proposals for mortgaging the fort of Duncannon to a person who would advance twenty-four thousand pounds for his service upon that security. The terrible distress of his majesty's affairs in Ireland at that time for want of money, and the hopes of retrieving them by such a seasonable supply, induced the king to hearken to the proposal. He gave on April authority to sir Henry De Vic his resident at Bruxelles, and to Rochfort, to make the agreement, and sent orders to the marquis of Ormond, (if he deemed it convenient for his service,) upon his approbation of the contract and receipt of the money, to deliver the fort into the hands of the persons authorized by the lender of that sum to receive the place, which was to be maintained at the lender's charge during his possession. The king agreed to this the rather, because Duncannon

* B. B. 102, 154, 161, 163, 186, 194, 260, 362, 375, 380, 332, 416, 420, 422.

was at that time in danger of being lost, and for fear of being loaded with the odium of any loss or misfortune that should happen in Ireland through the want of money and a seasonable supply of the army there, for the support of which this sum was to be employed. The duke of Lorrain was the person with whom Rochfort had been treating on this subject, and insisted upon terms different from sir H. de Vic's instructions in a material point. The king designed the money should be paid at Galway or some other place in Ireland to the marquis of Ormond's order, upon delivery of the fort; but the duke would only consign the money in Flanders, and to be paid there only to his majesty's order, when it should be certified that the place was put into the hands of such as he appointed to take possession. This difficulty was increased by accounts which the duke received, that it was doubtful whether Duncannon was not already in the rebels' hands, which made [him] decline accepting of that security. He expressed however great inclination to serve the king; and to improve the overture to his own advantage, he sent on April 29 colonel Oliver Synot to raise recruits and levy men for his service in Ireland, as he had been formerly allowed to do. This was all the purport of the duke's letter to the marquis of Ormond; but Synot, when 145 he arrived about May 21 in Ireland, pretended it was only a cover to the real and chief design of his journey, which was to see the condition of the place that was to be mortgaged to his master, and to be satisfied that the Irish. would consent to have it put in his possession. He pretended to have had letters from the duke and powers to treat on that subject; but that danger had made him throw them overboard. Rochfort, who came along with him, pretended likewise to have brought letters from his majesty to the lord lieutenant, but with directions to throw them overboard in case he was in danger of being taken at sea; and that being chased by two parliament