Ireland under the Stuarts and During the Interregnum, Vol. 2 (of 3), 1642-1660

by Richard Bagwell

FOOTNOTES:

[147] The two declarations, August 23 and 24, are in the new edition of Carlyle’s Cromwell, i. 455 and iii. 410.

[148] Wood’s Fasti, ed. Bliss, 77, and his Life and Times, ed. Clark, i. 110. The correspondence between Aston and Ormonde, from the Carte MSS., August 25 to September 10, is in Contemp. Hist. ii. 233-261. As to the composition of the garrison see also Gardiner’s Commonwealth, i. 124, and the note to Murphy’s Cromwell in Ireland, p. 86.

[149] The chief authority for the storm is Cromwell’s own letter to Lenthall, dated September 17; Ormonde’s account is dated September 29. The above, with those of Ludlow, Bate, and Wood, are collected in Contemp. Hist. ii. 262-276. For Cromwell’s battering train see Mr. Firth’s Cromwell’s Army, p. 170. Elaborate accounts of the siege, with maps, are in Gardiner’s Commonwealth, chap. v., and in Murphy’s Cromwell in Ireland, chaps. vii. and viii.

[150] Letters of Peters and Cromwell, September 15 and 16, in Whitelock, iii. 110, which were read in Parliament; letters of Ormonde and Aston, ut sup. For Talbot’s obligations to Reynolds see Clarke’s Life of James II. i. 326. Hugh Peters says shortly ‘Aston the governor killed, none spared.’

[151] The terms of the treaty between Ormonde and O’Neill from the Carte papers is in Contemp. Hist. ii. 300, the negotiations, ib. 237 sqq. The first mention of O’Neill’s illness is in his letter of September 19, ‘an unexpected fit of sickness in my knee, whereof I am not fully cleared yet.’

[152] Summons to Dundalk, September 12, 1640, in Carlyle. Venables to Cromwell, September 22, in Contemp. Hist. ii. 267; Brief Chronicle, ib. iii. 157; Ormonde’s report on the state of the armies, ib. ii. 465; O’Neill’s last letter to Ormonde, November 1, ib. 315; Aphorismical Discovery, chap. xiv. In Spicilegium Ossoriense, ii. 33, are four letters from O’Neill, dated May 18, 1649, to Rinuccini, to Dean Massari, and to Cardinals la Cuena and Pamphili. Daniel O’Neill’s letter of October 6 to Ormonde is in Contemp. Hist. ii. 294. There is no reason whatever to suppose that Owen Roe O’Neill was poisoned.

[153] Cromwell’s letters are in Carlyle, and the terms demanded by Synnott in Cary’s Memorials, ii. 181. Castlehaven’s Memoirs, p. 80.

[154] Cromwell’s despatch of October 11, 1649, in Carlyle. There are elaborate narratives of this siege in Murphy’s Cromwell in Ireland, chaps. xiii. and xiv., and in Gardiner’s Commonwealth, chap. v. There is a candid note by Father Meehan in the appendix to his Franciscan Monasteries, 4th ed., 1872, p. 296. See also Carte’s Ormonde and Castlehaven’s Memoirs, p. 80. Peters wrote on October 22, ‘It is a fine spot for some godly congregation, where house and land wait for inhabitants and occupiers; I wish they would come,’ in Collections of Letters, &c., London, November 13, 1649. The Taking of Wexford, a letter from an eminent officer (R. L.), London, October 26, 1649.

[155] The correspondence between Cromwell and Taaffe is in Carlyle. The articles of surrender, dated October 19, are printed in Murphy’s Cromwell in Ireland, p. 188, where there is a full account of the whole affair.

[156] Morrice’s Memoir prefixed to Orrery State Letters, i. 18; Inchiquin to Ormonde, December 9, 1649, in Clar. S.P.; Ludlow’s Memoirs, February 8, 1651. The authorities as to the revolt of Cork and Youghal are collected from various sources in the new edition of Carlyle’s Cromwell, some in the Supplement. Lady Fanshawe’s Memoirs, p. 53. Blake to Popham, November 5, Leyborne-Popham Papers, p. 49. Cork and Youghal declared for Cromwell about November 1, Kinsale a few days later.

[157] Cromwell to Lenthall, November 14, 1649, Ludlow’s Memoirs, i. 239; Carte’s Ormonde.

[158] Cromwell to Lenthall, November 14 and 25, in Carlyle; Ormonde to Charles II., November 30, in Contemp. Hist. ii. 329.

[159] Castlehaven’s Memoirs, p. 81. The siege of Duncannon was raised November 5.

[160] Cromwell to Lenthall, letter 116, in Carlyle; Carte’s Ormonde. The attempt on Carrick was on November 24.

[161] Ormonde to Charles II., November 30, Contemp. Hist. ii. 330; Cromwell to Lenthall, December 19, 1649, in Carlyle; Carte’s Ormonde, ii. 103. Concerning Jones see a note in Gardiner’s Commonwealth, i. 160. For Wogan see Clarke Papers, i. 421.

[162] Cromwell to Lenthall, December 19, 1649, in Carlyle. Brief Chronicle published by authority in 1650, and reprinted in Contemp. Hist. iii. 157; Gardiner’s Commonwealth, i. 163. note; Murphy’s Cromwell in Ireland, chap. xx.

[163] Relation of the Particulars of the Reduction of the Greatest Part of the Province of Munster, &c., London, 1649 (containing Broghill’s letters of November 22 and 26, and the Remonstrance and Resolution of the Protestant Army at Cork, October 23); Caulfield’s Council Book of Kinsale, pp. 55, 357-363; Bennett’s Hist. of Bandon, chap. xii.

[164] Two Letters from William Basil, A.G., to Bradshaw and Lenthall, London, December 12, 1649; War in Ireland, p. 100; MacSkimin’s Carrickfergus, p. 16, where Dalziel’s articles are given; Two Letters of Sir Charles Coote to Lenthall with Scobell’s imprimatur; December 8 and 13, London, 1649. Coote notes that ‘Colonel Henderson that betrayed Sligo was killed.’

[165] Certain Acts and Declarations made by the ecclesiastical congregation, &c., printed at Kilkenny and reprinted at London, 1650. Printed also, with some slight verbal differences, in Spicilegium Ossoriense, ii. 38-42.

[CHAPTER XXXII]
CROMWELL IN IRELAND, 1650

Ormonde and the Clonmacnoise decrees.

In their published utterances the bishops were careful to say nothing alarming to Protestants, and to lay stress upon the royalism or loyalty of those for whom they spoke. In writing to Rome they were silent about the King, but urged the necessity of union among Catholics. Ormonde, who had no illusions, thought it much that there had been no public demand for his own removal; but this too was to come later. He knew that Antrim had been intriguing to obtain such a declaration, and he begged the King to recall him before his position became quite untenable. Charles directed him to hold on as long as possible, and to leave Ireland when he was finally convinced that nothing more could be done.[166]

Cromwell’s Declaration, Jan. 1649-1650.

Liberty of conscience.

The laws of war.

Cromwell misunderstood Ireland.

The printed proceedings of the Clonmacnoise prelates reached Cromwell at Youghal, and he lost no time in answering it. The task of uniting clergy and laity, he said, was only necessary because the distinction had been invented by ‘the Antichristian Church’ of Rome, and maintained by her priests as the foundation of their own power. Their royalism was a ‘fig-leaf of pretence,’ whereas they really fought for their own supremacy. Cromwell had a right to say that they began the war, but he much exaggerated the goodness of the terms on which English and Irish had lived before the outbreak. No doubt there were some friendships, but all competent observers had long realised that the Ulster settlement would be disturbed whenever the children of the dispossessed natives had the chance. As to liberty of conscience, he took his stand upon the purely English ground that the mass had long been prohibited by law, and that he could not extirpate what had no root. He reiterated his statement to the governor of Ross and said plainly, ‘I shall not, where I have power, and the Lord is pleased to bless me, suffer the exercise of the mass where I can take notice of it.... As for the people, what thoughts they have in matters of religion in their own breasts I cannot reach; but think it my duty if they walk honestly and peaceably, not to cause them in the least to suffer for the same.’ He defended the raising of money by mortgaging lands which rebels would forfeit, but denied that there was any intention to extirpate the people. He defied anyone to give an instance since his arrival in Ireland of ‘one man not in arms, massacred, destroyed, or banished’ with impunity. Those who had been exiled to the West Indies were all in fact liable to be put to the sword according to the laws of war. All who had not been actors in the rebellion should be spared and protected. ‘And having said this,’ he concluded, ‘and purposing honestly to perform it,—if this people shall headily run on after the counsels of their prelates and clergy and other leaders, I hope to be free from the misery and desolation and blood and ruin that shall befall them; and shall rejoice to exercise utmost severity against them.’ Cromwell’s ideas about toleration were in advance of his age, but his knowledge of Ireland before 1641 was derived from the published histories of May and Temple.[167]

Lady Fanshawe at Cork, Nov. 1649.

When Lady Fanshawe joined her husband, a few weeks before Cromwell’s landing, she found Cork an agreeable place of residence enough, and so it remained for about six months. She lived in the old Augustinian Friary called the Red Abbey, which then belonged to Michael Boyle, Dean of Cloyne, who vied with Inchiquin and Roscommon in civility to her. She calls the latter Lord Chancellor, but he is not generally included in the list. ‘My Lord of Ormonde had a very good army, and the country was seemingly quiet.’ And so it continued outwardly for some time, though Inchiquin’s power had been gradually wasting away since Rathmines. Suddenly one night, at the beginning of November, Lady Fanshawe was roused from her bed by the sound of cannon, and by screams and cries outside. Opening the window, she saw a crowd, who informed her that they were ‘all Irish stripped and wounded and turned out of the town by Colonel Jeffries.’ Hurrying off to the Colonel she reminded him of her husband’s former civilities to him, which he handsomely acknowledged, and at once granted a free pass. She passed ‘through thousands of naked swords’ with her family, 1000l. in cash and other light property, and got to Kinsale where she was safe for the moment. Cromwell was much annoyed at Fanshawe’s papers having thus escaped him.[168]

Cromwell’s campaign in the South, Jan.-March, 1650.

Surrender of Fethard, Feb. 3.

The Parliamentary managers were alarmed by the negotiations of Charles with the Scots. They knew, too, that Fairfax could hardly be trusted to lead an attack on the Presbyterian kingdom, and they resolved to recall Cromwell. The letter was written on January 8, but it did not reach him until he was already in the field again, and he thought proper to treat the reports of its coming as Nelson treated the signal at Copenhagen. On January 29 he set out from Youghal with twelve troops of horse, three troops of dragoons, and between two and three hundred foot. Reynolds and Ireton, with about the same number of horse and dragoons and 2000 foot, were sent to Carrick to threaten Ormonde’s quarters at Kilkenny. Cromwell himself marched towards Mitchelstown, took Kilbenny Castle, Clogheen, and Rehill, near Cahir, and went from there to Fethard. The last-named walled town surrendered after a night’s discussion ‘upon terms which we usually call honourable; which I was the willinger to give, because I had little above two hundred foot, and neither ladders nor guns nor anything else to force them.’

Cashel protected.

Callan taken.

Enniscorthy surprised and retaken.

Ardfinane.

Cahir surrendered, Feb. 24

The besiegers had not fired a single shot. The honourable terms were that the garrison should march away with arms and baggage, and that the inhabitants, including priests, should be fully protected. Some Ulster foot at Cashel, hearing of Cromwell’s arrival at Fethard, ran away in confusion, and he protected the townsfolk at their own request. He then went onto Callan, which he found already in Reynolds’s hands. The garrison of two castles ‘refusing conditions seasonably offered were put all to the sword.’ Those in a larger castle surrendered, and were allowed to march away without their arms. Among the prisoners taken in a skirmish was one of those who had betrayed Enniscorthy, and he was hanged. Some Irish gentlemen had feasted the garrison and sent in women to sell them spirits. When most of the soldiers were drunk the enemy rushed in and killed all, except four who had been bribed to open the gates. Colonel Cooke, the governor of Wexford, soon retook Enniscorthy by storm, and in his turn put all the garrison to the sword. Reynolds was despatched to take Knocktopher, and after a fortnight in the field, Cromwell returned to Fethard, ‘having good plenty of horsemeat and man’s meat’ in that rich district. Ireton took Ardfinane, of which Henry II. himself had chosen the site, and which was important to bring guns ‘ammunition, and other things’ from Youghal and Cappoquin. Cromwell came before Cahir, which was surrendered without costing a man. He was told that it had stood an eight weeks’ siege against Essex, but that most incompetent of heroes really took it in two days. Kiltinan, Goldenbridge and Dundrum were also taken, and the county of Tipperary submitted to a contribution of 1500l.[169]

Operations in Leinster, Dec.-March, 1649-50.

Ballisonan taken, March 1.

The regicide John Hewson was governor of Dublin with a numerous garrison, consisting chiefly of sick and wounded. A division of these half-recovered invalids had won the fight at Glascarrig and joined Cromwell, and by the end of the year a good many more were fit for service, and some reinforcements had also arrived from England. Kildare, the hill of Allen, Castle Martin and other places were occupied, but Kilmeague was found too strong to attack without artillery. When his provisions were spent Hewson returned to Dublin, where he received a curious proposition from the strong garrison of Ballisonan or Ballyshannon near Kilcullen. This he describes as ‘having double works and double moats full of water, one within another, and a mount with a fort upon it, most of the officers with me esteeming the taking of it to be unfeazable.’ After the rout at Rathmines some of Ormonde’s fugitive cavalry had summoned this formidable stronghold, which surrendered to them under the impression that Dublin was taken. The defenders now offered to join the Parliament, on condition of being made a regiment with their own officers, liberty of religion, and two priests as chaplains. Their arrears since May were to be paid, Taaffe and Dillon to be excluded from any accommodation with the Parliamentary party. In fact, they preferred Cromwell to Ormonde, which shows how desperate the latter’s position had become. Such terms were of course unacceptable, and Hewson attacked Ballisonan with a force of 2000 foot and 1000 horse, with two guns and a mortar. An entrenched battery was erected, but the place capitulated before any breach had been made. Hewson was glad to give easy terms, as Castlehaven was at Athy, and might make an attempt to raise the siege. The garrison marched out with the honours of war, Maryborough and Kilmeague were abandoned by the Irish, and all Kildare except the extreme south was in Hewson’s power.[170]

Ormonde withdraws into Clare, February.

Castlehaven commands in Leinster.

The net drawn round Kilkenny.

After consulting the Commissioners of Trust, Ormonde allowed agents to meet at Kilkenny in January for the discussion of grievances affecting the different districts, but nothing was reduced to writing, and there were, as he expected, no results. The agents proposed an adjournment to Ennis, and to this he agreed. The approach of Cromwell’s forces on the south and of Hewson’s on the north had doubtless something to say to this, and the plague which began to rage in the town still more. Cromwell made a strong reconnaissance towards Kilkenny, where a Captain Tickle had been bribed or in some other way induced to undertake that one of the gates should be opened, but the plot was discovered and the captain hanged; so that Cromwell had to retire. In spite of the plague and of enemies within and without, Castlehaven used to go out fox-hunting in the early morning. Ormonde met him in the field, told him that it was decided to withdraw into Clare, and appointed him, much to his disgust, general of Leinster. Ormonde himself went to Limerick during the first week in February, and was not destined to see Kilkenny again until after the Restoration. Cromwell, having failed in the plot with Tickle, waited patiently and let the plague do his work. Castlehaven had one success, surprising Athy and taking Hewson’s garrison of 700 men, but he found the place untenable. ‘Not knowing,’ he writes, ‘what to do with my prisoners, I made a present of them to Cromwell, desiring him by letter to do the like to me ... but he little valued my civility, for in a very few days after he besieged Gowran, where Colonel Hammond commanded, and the soldiers mutinying and giving up the place, he caused Hammond with some English officers to be shot to death.’ Cromwell’s own account confirms this, and he adds that Hammond was ‘a principal actor in the Kentish insurrection,’ and so not entitled to mercy more than Lucas or Lisle. A priest who acted as chaplain to the Roman Catholic soldiers was hanged. ‘I trouble you with this the rather because this was the Lord of Ormonde’s own regiment.’ At Gowran Cromwell was joined by Hewson, who had taken Castledermot, Lea, Kilkea, and other castles in the meantime, he himself having taken Thomastown. Castlehaven did not find himself strong enough to meet Hewson in the field. Lord Dillon promised to join him with about 3000 men, but they never came, and all he could do was to provision Kilkenny and leave it with a garrison of 1000 foot and 200 horse. Soon afterwards an Ulster regiment, which was nearly half his army, deserted on account of the plague, saying that they were ready to fight against men but not against God. Having tried to relieve Kilkenny in vain he gave orders to the governors of the town and castle to make the best terms they could, and not to attempt to hold the latter after the former had surrendered. Cromwell and Hewson corresponded about this time by letters enclosed in balls of wax, so that the messenger might swallow them if necessary. Some of these reached Castlehaven, but only served to show him that he was hopelessly overmatched.[171]

Capitulation of Kilkenny, March 27.

Citizens and soldiers

Fair terms granted.

Cromwell approached Kilkenny by Bennet’s Bridge and sent in his summons on March 22. Sir Walter Butler, a cousin of Ormonde’s, was governor of the town, and briefly replied that he held it for the King. A battery with three guns was accordingly planted at St. Patrick’s Church, and on March 25 about a hundred shot struck the wall near the castle. An attempt to carry the breach failed with the loss of a captain and twenty or thirty men, the garrison having erected earthworks and palisades inside. At the same time a thousand men were detached to attack the Irish town near the cathedral, where the wall was but weakly defended by the townsmen, and the Cromwellians entered with a loss of only three or four men. After this, the walled portion of the town on the other side of the Nore was easily taken, and the victors endeavoured to enter the main city over St. John’s Bridge, but they were driven back with a loss of forty or fifty men. In the meantime fresh guns were brought up, and the mayor sent to represent the difficult position of the citizens. No doubt, he wrote, Cromwell would be willing to grant them fair terms, but they were in the power of the garrison, and so ‘in danger of ruin as well from our own party as from that of your Honour’s,’ and it was reasonable that the soldiers should be included. To avoid further loss, and perhaps to get away from the plague, Cromwell after some discussion acquiesced in this view, and on the next day Butler saw that further resistance would be useless. Considering that Kilkenny had been the very centre of the lately powerful Confederacy, the terms granted were liberal enough. The garrison marched out with the honours of war, surrendering their arms two miles out of town and then going where they pleased. The citizens submitted to a payment of 2000l. in two instalments, in consideration of which Cromwell had ‘made it death for any man to plunder.’ Those who wished to remove themselves or their property might do so, ‘none excepted,’ within three months. There was no armistice during the negotiations, and the garrison of Cantwell Castle, now called Sandford’s Court—‘very strong, situated in a bog, well furnished with provisions of corn’—surrendered, though specially ordered by Sir Walter Butler to abandon their post and strengthen the scanty garrison of Kilkenny. They were allowed to go beyond sea.[172]

The town not plundered.

Damage to the churches.

Death of Bishop Rothe.

Leaving the plague-stricken city with a small garrison, Cromwell went to Carrick. ‘The goodness of God,’ says a contemporary newswriter, ‘was exceedingly manifested in preventing the plunder of the place, which must needs have hazarded the army by infection.’ None of the soldiers, in fact, suffered, which was ‘the Lord’s own doing and marvellous in our eyes.’ The clergy were not in any way excepted from the terms granted to the citizens, and there is no evidence that violence was done to any priests. But the churches suffered terribly, Bishop Ledred’s beautiful painted windows, which even Bale had spared, were broken in pieces, and Thomas Earl of Ormonde’s splendid tomb was totally destroyed. A special interest attaches to the fate of the bishop, the learned David Rothe, who had opposed Rinuccini. There is nothing to show that he suffered from violence, but he was seventy-eight years old, and it is not surprising that he died in great discomfort, and in concealment. Bishop Lynch, who wrote from Clonfert in August, says he was stripped and mocked by the soldiers, but allowed to enter the nearest house, where he died within three weeks of old age and disease. Archbishop Fleming, who was also in Ireland, and who wrote in June, says much the same thing.[173]

Siege of Clonmel, May.

Vain appeals to Ormonde,

and to Preston.

Clonmel is assaulted.

Cromwell repulsed.

In the meantime Ennisnag Castle was taken, ‘where were gotten a company of rogues which had revolted from Colonel Jones. The soldiers capitulated for life and their two officers were hanged for revolting.’ Adjutant-General Sadleir, with two guns, took all the castles in the Suir valley from Clonmel to Waterford without resistance except at Poulakerry, five miles below the former town. This was taken by assault, thirty or forty being killed, ‘and the rest remaining obstinate were fired in the castle.’ On April 27 Cromwell came before Clonmel, and offered favourable terms, which were promptly rejected by the governor, Hugh Boy O’Neill, a nephew of Owen Roe, who had about 1500 Ulster men with him. O’Neill, whom Cliffe describes as ‘an old surly Spanish soldier,’ had expected to be attacked as far back as February, and Ormonde had written from Ennis at the beginning of March to say that he would ‘draw all the forces of the kingdom into a body for the town’s relief.’ But he could do nothing, for the Commissioners of Trust were more anxious to thwart him than Cromwell, and would not allow a levy to be made in the county of Limerick. An attempt to send an expedition from the county of Cork was foiled by Broghill, and Clonmel was left to its fate. Preston had promised, but failed, to send ammunition from Waterford, and with Carrick in an enemy’s hand it is not easy to see how he could have done so. O’Neill and the mayor, John White, made a last appeal to Ormonde. The long threatened attack had come at last, and the preservation of the town was almost Ireland’s last hope. ‘It is,’ they wrote, ‘our humble suit that the army, if in any reasonable condition, may march night and day to our succour.’ But no such army was available, and Cromwell planted his battery without hindrance. Reynolds and Theophilus Jones had a force in the field sufficient to prevent Castlehaven from giving any trouble. Approaches were made from the north side of the town, and there were many sallies and much fighting before the breach was practicable. A comparison of extant accounts fortified by local tradition seems to indicate that the spot was near a gate which stood a little to the eastward of St. Mary’s Church. The assault was made about eight in the morning of May 9, and the storming party entered without difficulty, but found that their work was still to do. O’Neill had manned the houses and erected two breastworks of ‘dunghills, mortar, stones and timber,’ making a lane about eighty yards inwards from the breach with a masked battery at the end. The ‘British Officer,’ who got his facts ‘not only from officers and soldiers of the besiegers,’ but also from the besieged, describes what followed. The stormers poured in and found themselves caught in a trap. Those in front cried ‘Halt,’ and those behind ‘Advance,’ ‘till that pound or lane was full and could hold no more.’ Two guns hailed chain-shot upon this dense mass, while a continual fire was kept up from the houses and the breastworks. Volleys of stones were thrown, and great pieces of timber hurled from slides which O’Neill’s ingenuity had provided, ‘so that in less than an hour’s time about a thousand men were killed in that pound, being atop one another.’ Colonel Culham, who led the stormers, and several other officers were among the slain, and the survivors were driven out again through the breach. Contemporary accounts estimate Cromwell’s total loss at Clonmel at somewhere from 1500 to 2500. This repulse, said Ireton afterwards, was ‘the heaviest we ever endured either in England or here.’ His own regiment lost most of all. It is stated that Major Fennell, who commanded the few cavalry within the town, had plotted, like Tickle at Kilkenny, to open one of the gates. This was certainly believed at the time, but if there was such a plot it came to nothing.[174]

The garrison escape,

and the town capitulates.

O’Neill had not ammunition to continue the defence, and he knew that there was no hope of relief. About 9 o’clock the same night he slipped out quietly by the bridge and made his way to Waterford, advising the mayor to make the best terms he could. White accordingly capitulated both for the inhabitants and for the garrison. All arms and ammunition in the town were surrendered, the civil population being guaranteed protection ‘for life and estate, from all plunder and violence of the soldiery.’ Next morning the besiegers marched in, and though Cromwell was angry at being outwitted, the conditions were kept. The garrison were pursued and stragglers cut off, amongst whom there were probably some women and at least one priest. On reaching Waterford admission was denied by Preston to O’Neill’s men. There was plague both in his camp and in the city, and after a time he ordered his foot soldiers to shift for themselves. He and Fennell, with the horse, made their way to Limerick.[175]

Inchiquin and Broghill march.

Battle of Macroom, April 10.

Inchiquin was in Kerry in January, whence he invaded Limerick with three regiments of cavalry, sweeping away the cattle and devastating most of the county. Broghill and Henry Cromwell fell upon his camp towards the end of March, and drove him across the Shannon ‘with more cows than horses.’ Inchiquin’s men were chiefly English, and some of the officers were shot as deserters from the Parliament. After this Broghill joined Cromwell, who was then preparing to attack Clonmel, and was detached by him to deal with a force of 4000 foot and 300 horse which had been raised in Kerry, chiefly by the exertions of Boetius Egan, Bishop of Ross, an Observant friar promoted by Rinuccini. The Irish, bent on relieving Clonmel, advanced to Macroom, and garrisoned Carrigadrohid Castle on the Lee, which Broghill reached on April 8. He had 1500 cavalry, and hurried on, leaving a like number of foot to guard his rear. He seems to have had no guns with him, but the Irish probably thought he had, for they burned Muskerry’s castle at Macroom, and assembled in the park. They were raw levies and probably badly armed, for they were routed in a very short time, ‘though in a place,’ says Broghill, ‘the worst for horse ever I saw, and where one hundred musketeers might have kept off all the horse of Ireland.’ Several hundred were killed, and among the prisoners were the bishop and Lord Roche’s son, the high sheriff of Kerry, who was in equal authority with him. Carrigadrohid was taken by parading pieces of timber with teams of oxen, as if they were guns. ‘I gave orders,’ says Broghill, ‘that if the garrison in it delivered it not up, we should hang the bishop before it. The former not being done the latter was.... The bishop was wont to say there was no way to secure the English but by hanging them. That which was his cruelty became his justice.’ The castle was then surrendered on fair terms, and Broghill went back to the siege of Clonmel.[176]

Cromwell leaves Ireland, May 26.

His plans of reform.

Cromwell quitted Ireland on May 26, leaving Ireton as his deputy. His last extant letter before going was to Hewson, in favour of young Lord Moore, son of the brave soldier who was killed at Portlester, and grandson of Lord Chancellor Loftus. Moore had fought against Cromwell, who nevertheless ordered that he should be ‘fairly and civilly treated, and that no incivility or abuse be offered unto him by any of the soldiery, either by restraining his liberty or otherwise; it being a thing which I altogether disprove and dislike that the soldiers should intermeddle in civil affairs farther than they are lawfully called upon.’ Necessity afterwards devised the major-generals, but it was to civil justice, to a Matthew Hale rather than a Desborough, that Cromwell looked for real improvement. It was a crime, he said, ‘to hang a man for six and eightpence, and I know not what—to hang for a trifle and commit murder.’ In Ireland particularly much might be done for the poor people by the cheap and impartial administration of justice. They had suffered more by the oppression of the great than any ‘in that which we call Christendom. And indeed they are accounted the bribingest people that are, they having been inured thereto.’ And he rightly considered that the best guarantee for purity was to pay good fixed salaries to the judges and to get rid of the fees and perquisites which had been a ‘colour to covetous practices.’[177]

Inchiquin charged with treachery

Submission of Protestant Royalists.

Easy terms given.

Safe conducts rejected by Ormonde and Inchiquin.

Some papers, which Broghill thought important, were found in Bishop Egan’s possession. An anonymous correspondent of Hyde’s says one of them was a letter in which Inchiquin proposed during the latter part of 1649 to go over to Cromwell. Carte, without giving his authority, says that some such letter was forged by Antrim, who was perhaps tricky enough to do it, and the editor of the Clarendon State Papers adopted Carte’s account. Probability seems against Inchiquin having made any such overtures, but his position after Rathmines was very uncomfortable, for his men left him and he knew that the Irish would always hate him for his proceedings at Cork, Cashel, and elsewhere. He admitted that he had talked too freely to one of the enemy’s trumpeters, and it may be that he asked questions which gave rise to the idea that he was wavering. But in April 1650, when Kilkenny had fallen and Ormonde had no army in the field, Protestant Royalists grew tired of the hopeless struggle, and Cromwell was ready enough to meet them halfway. Nor did Ormonde make any difficulties. Sir Robert Sterling, Colonel Daniell, and Michael Boyle, Dean of Cloyne, made the first advances ‘on behalf of the Protestant party in Ireland now under the command or obedience of the Lord Marquis of Ormonde.’ They were all, whether soldiers or civilians, allowed to go where they pleased on engaging not to act against the Parliament, taking all their movable property except horses, arms, and ammunition, and even these they might sell to the army or to English Protestants. Questions of land were reserved for the decision of Parliament, and until that was given were referred to the Commissioners for Revenue, and those who gave assurance of fidelity to the Parliament might enjoy their estates in the meantime. Colonel Wogan and the officer who helped him to escape from Cork were the only persons excepted. Lord Montgomery surrendered at Enniskillen, Sir Thomas Armstrong at Trim, and Colonel Daniell at Doneraile. Dean Boyle had strict orders not to make any overtures on behalf of Ormonde or Inchiquin, but Cromwell nevertheless sent them both passes to go beyond seas. Admiral Penn, whose squadron lay in the Shannon, was directed to make it easy for any of the Protestants who came in his way. Ormonde contemptuously rejected the safe conduct, which was civil enough in point of form, adding that if he ever had to return the compliment he would not use it ‘to debauch any that commanded’ under Cromwell. Inchiquin was angry, but his wife had already been allowed to depart with her family and servants under convoy to Middleburgh.[178]