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

by Richard Bagwell

FOOTNOTES:

[12] Sir James Turner’s Memoirs, pp. 26, 28; Spalding’s Memorials; Burton’s History of Scotland, chap. 73; May’s Long Parliament, p. 431; Rushworth, iv. 407, 501; Gardiner’s History of England, x. 70.

[13] Monro’s despatch to Leslie, May 18, printed in Contemporary History of Affairs in Ireland, i. 419; Sir James Turner’s Memoirs, 22; Roger Pike’s narrative in Ulster Archæological Journal, viii. 77; O’Mellan’s narrative in Young’s Old Belfast, p. 211.

[14] An exact Relation of the good service of Sir Frederick Hamilton, 1643, Information of Sir Frederick Hamilton ... to the committee of both kingdoms, 1645. Audley Mervyn’s Relation, 1642. The first of these contains a letter from O’Connor Sligo, who urged Hamilton to capitulate, all Sligo, Mayo, and Leitrim being against him. Hamilton answered: ‘Your loyalty to your King, your faith to your friends, once broke, never more to be trusted by me, but revenged as God shall enable the hands of him who was loving to your loyal predecessors, whose course will contribute to your destruction, for extinguishing the memory of their loyalties. Thus I rest with contempt and scorn to all your base brags. Your scourge, if I can.—F. H.’

[15] Bellings, i. 80, with a plan of the battle; Aphorismical Discovery, i. 31; Carte’s Ormonde; Captain Yarner’s Relation, May 4, 1642. Yarner, who was personally consulted, testifies that Ormonde made all the dispositions himself. He guesses at 500 as the probable number killed; but Bellings says ‘scarce one hundred and no prisoners.’

[16] Bellings’ narrative and documents in Confederation and War, ii. 34, 47, 210. The acts of the ecclesiastical congregation are in English, but the Latin version (probably the original form) is in Spicilegium Ossoriense, i. 262.

[17] State Papers, Ireland, July 22, 1607 (No. 297); Aphorismical Discovery in Contemp. Hist. ed. Gilbert, with the evidence of Henry MacCartan, ib. i. 396, and O’Neill’s letter to Wadding, ib. 476; Colonel O’Neill’s Journal in Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica, vol. ii.; Clarendon’s Hist. xii. 108; Clarendon S.P. ii. 144.

[18] Bellings in Confederation and War, and the documents there, i. xxxix.; ii. 67; Carte’s Ormonde; Martin’s Hist. de France, chap. 70.

[19] Bellings, i. 92; Carte’s Ormonde, i. 343; Smith’s Hist. of Cork; A most exact Relation of a Victory, &c., London, October 3, 1642; Digitus Dei, or a miraculous victory, London, September 20. The latter writer notes that Stephenson had ‘an exceeding rich saddle.’ A Journal of the most memorable passage in Ireland, London, October 19, 1642, by an eye-witness, notes that ‘almost all the Lords of Munster were present’—Roche, Muskerry, Ikerrin, Dunboyne, Brittas, Castleconnell, and one of Ormonde’s brothers. As to Ardmore, besides the Journal, see A True Relation of God’s Providence in Munster, which says between seventy and eighty were hanged. The letter quoted in Several Passages, &c., London, September 16, says 116, adding, ‘this is most true.’

[20] A Relation from Viscount Conway, from June 17 to July 30, London, 1642. This was sent to a worthy M.P., who published it; it is well written, but badly printed.

[21] A True Relation of the Taking of Mountjoy, &c., June 25 to July 8, London, August 4, 1642; A Relation from Belfast, London, August 17, carries this a little further. A good many cows were caught, and the country, without taking Charlemont, was swept for some twelve miles from Mountjoy.

[22] Bellings in Confederation and War, i. 111; Acts of General Assembly, ib. ii. 73; Richard Martin’s letter of December 2, 1642, in Clanricarde’s Memoirs, 296.

[23] Acts of General Assembly, ut sup. ii. 88.

[24] Letters from the Supreme Council to foreign powers, November and December 1642, Confederation and War, ii. 99-129. The oath of association of the Confederates, ib. 210; also in Cox, appx. xiv. and (omitting the last paragraph) in Walsh’s Remonstrance, appx. i. p. 31. The latter, dated July 26, 1644, is evidently not the earliest form. In Vindiciæ Catholicorum Hiberniæ, Paris, 1650, p. 6, is a much shorter Latin oath, which places the Church first, the King second, and the national liberties third, but is called ‘associationis juramentum,’ like the others.

[25] Bellings, i. 90; Castlehaven, 35.

[26] Tucker’s Journal in Confederation and War, ii. 189, January 30, 1642-3. The Commission, dated January 11, is in Carte’s Ormonde, iii. No. 117. Castlehaven.

[27] Tucker’s Journal in Confederation and War, ii.; Creichton’s faithful account, ib. ii. 248.

[28] Creichton’s Faithful Account and that of Bellings, p. 130, give the official views on the two sides. The Aphorismical Discovery is much to the same effect, adding the usual bad language, and describing Preston as ‘either drunk, a fool, or a traitor.’ Creichton exaggerates the number of Preston’s army; while Bellings unduly diminishes the number of slain. ‘Scarce one hundred slain upon the place’ takes no account of the pursuit. See also Truth from Ireland expressed in Two Letters, London, April 22, 1643.

[29] Bellings, i. 149-151; Aphorismical Discovery, i. 65; Castlehaven, p. 36.

[30] Clanricarde to Gormanston, December 21, 1642, in Carte’s Ormonde, iii. No. 115; O’Hartegan (Paris) to Wadding (Rome), November 7, 1642, in Roman Transcripts, R.O.

[CHAPTER XXIII]
THE WAR TO THE FIRST CESSATION, 1642-1643

The Adventurers for Irish land.

To gain possession of the land in English hands was at least one main object of the Irish rebellion. Much property had been acquired by various confiscations and plantations, but there was no idea of abandoning that policy. The war would be extremely costly, and the Irish were to be made to pay for it by giving up some of the land which was still theirs. It was assumed that at least 2500 acres of good land would be forfeited; and upon that security a large sum was subscribed by Adventurers, as they were always called. It was provided that the money should all go to the reduction of Ireland; but necessity has no law, and much of it was spent in making head against the King in England. It was not till the quarrel at home was settled that Parliament could act effectively on the other side of St. George’s Channel.[31]

Expedition of Lord Forbes, July 1642.

Gallant defence of Rathbarry.

In June 1642 the Adventurers determined to send an expedition to Ireland. The arrangements were completed in a fortnight by a committee of fifteen under the presidency of Sir Nicholas Crispe, afterwards the noted Royalist, who had subscribed 1500l. Ten ships were hired, each of which carried or towed a flat-bottomed barge for landing men and ascending rivers. The admiral was Captain Benjamin Peters, with the famous Rainsborough, one of the committee, a vice-admiral, and Captain Thompson, also a member of the committee, as Rear-Admiral. Hugh Peters was chaplain. One thousand soldiers were embarked under Alexander Lord Forbes, and the expedition sailed from Dover on July 1, having lost two of the barges in an easterly gale. In Mount’s Bay they spoke a King’s ship with the late garrison of Limerick Castle on board. In mid-channel a vessel was detached with a letter to St. Leger, reciting a commission from the King and both Houses to raise additional forces, and asking the Lord President to say where the expedition could be most usefully employed. St. Leger had died before the letter was written, and Forbes turned a deaf ear to Inchiquin’s entreaties for help. On July 11 the squadron was off the old head of Kinsale, and the town was found to be full of justly suspected Irish and of Protestant refugees, ‘living in miserable holes and huts.’ Lord Kinalmeaky came in from Bandon, of which he was governor, and Peters preached on a Thursday. Next day Forbes marched to Bandon with 600 men, of whom 100 were seamen, and two small brass guns. Seven thousand English, including many clergymen, had gathered round Kinalmeaky, many of them being in great distress. Peters notes that the river was full of salmon. Next day Forbes went to the relief of Captain Freke, who had been beset at Rathbarry ever since the middle of February. About 1800 sheep, 200 cows, and 50 horses had been captured by the troops and driven as far as Clonakilty, through which the line of march lay. Forbes foolishly divided his force, leaving three companies to guard the cattle. As soon as the main body were out of sight the Irish attacked the detachment, and Captain Weldon was killed with a great part of two companies. Captain Groves, whose men were part of the Bandon garrison, and understood the work better, fought his way through the enemy to a rath on the Rosscarbery road, and there maintained himself till he was relieved. The Irish fled towards the sea, and many of them were killed on the shore. After rescuing Groves, Forbes went back to Bandon, and left Freke in worse case than ever, for most of his men took the opportunity of deserting. A few sick soldiers were left in their places, ‘and so factious that I and my servants were often endangered of our lives among them, and some that had fled from the fight at Clonakilty much discouraged us with that relation.’ They held out, enduring almost incredible hardships, for eleven weeks longer, when relief came under a more capable commander than Forbes.[32]

Ill conduct of Forbes’s army.

Forbes at Galway.

The mayor appeals to Clanricarde.

Forbes was repulsed with loss from Timoleague Castle. Lady O’Shaughnessy, whose husband, Sir Roger, was loyal, offered to surrender it to Kinalmeaky and Sir William Hull, but not to strangers. The soldiers then burned the town and abbey containing a thousand hogsheads of wine. Two spies were taken, but, says Ensign Jones, ‘the rogues slight death, for we could get nothing out of them; so our men mangled them to pieces.’ So Forbes returned to Kinsale, and on July 25 sailed to Castlehaven. The Irish appeared in force on the hills, and the castle of their chief, O’Donovan, was blown up with one barrel of powder. It was sixty feet high with very thick walls, but it fell half on one side and half on the other. O’Driscol’s castle at Baltimore was burned, and the neighbouring islands harried. About 100 camp-followers of the worst kind followed Forbes’s wake. They entered and plundered houses without provocation, and even killed children within sight of the soldiers. Meanwhile Forbes had been summoned to Galway, without Clanricarde’s knowledge, by Willoughby, who having a commission to execute martial law from the Lords Justices, had hanged a sergeant in Lord Clanmorris’s company for extortion. Clanmorris retaliated by hanging some soldiers of the fort who had strayed into the open country. The Lords Justices sent Captain Ashley with his frigate to Galway, and he and Willoughby combined to seize corn, cattle, and timber upon requisition. Only tickets were given in exchange, and Clanricarde’s friends and tenants were injured. Forbes anchored off the town on August 9, Willoughby and Ashley coming on board the same night, and at once sent letters to Ranelagh, Clanricarde and the corporation of Galway. The lieutenant-general of the additional forces by sea and land, so he styled himself, proposed to join hands with the Lord President, and so to subdue the rebellion. Ranelagh answered that he would come from Athlone to Galway, though at some personal risk. ‘I observe,’ he said, ‘in your lordship’s letter an inclination to make a distinction of persons; and truly, my lord, if that course shall not be held, I see little hope of a speedy reducing this kingdom to obedience, seeing most men are possessed of an opinion that an utter extirpation is intended, and that conceit being fomented by the priests and friars, all are falling into such a course of desperation, that being once engaged and their counsels and force united, will certainly be an occasion to lengthen the war, and draw a vast charge upon the Crown to make a complete conquest.’ The only chance of peace, he thought, was in ‘a just distinction between practick and passive rebels, with severity to the one and moderation to the other.’ Of the citizens of Galway Forbes demanded that they should lay down their arms, admit a garrison, and place themselves under his protection, submitting absolutely to the King ‘and the state of England, under whose blessed government they had enjoyed a sweet and long-continued peace.’ The mayor in reply urged his grievances against Willoughby, and declined all further answer till Clanricarde had been consulted, under whose government and by whose mediation they had lately enjoyed some degree of peace. To Clanricarde himself Forbes made much the same proposals as to Ranelagh, with the additional suggestion that he should allow him to garrison Tirellan as a basis of operation against the O’Flahertys, whom the Earl had acknowledged to be ‘out of protection and fit persons to receive chastisement.’ The invitation to give up a convenient private residence to the soldiers who had burned his cousin’s town of Timoleague was politely declined, but Clanricarde was ready to come from Loughrea and to receive Lord Forbes as a guest.[33]

Clanricarde’s difficulties.

Forbes harries co. Galway.

Peters thought Clanricarde’s letter in which he excused the Galway people and laid the blame on Willoughby was well written and showed the writer to be ‘a man of wisdom and parts.’ In the meantime John de Burgo, titular bishop of Clonfert, let the head of his family know that no one would fight for him if he sided with Forbes. While the correspondence proceeded, a detachment from the English squadron was landed on the Clare shore, and harried the lands of Daniel and Tirlogh O’Brien, who had both helped to provision the fort. Peters says they burned ‘a whole town.’ Two demi-culverins were landed on the west side of Galway, but it was ‘as strong and compact as most towns in Europe for houses and walls.’ Forbes said he would raze the latter if the townsmen did not agree to his terms, but the task did not prove easy. In the meantime Forbes’s men landed at various points on the north side of Galway Bay, burning every house and hamlet that they could reach as in an enemy’s country.

The pragmatic chaplain.

The country was so little safe that Clanricarde went to meet Ranelagh at Carrowreagh ford on the Suck with 200 horse. Ranelagh brought the same and as many foot, but no attack took place, and with the horse only they rode the first night to Clonbrock and the second to Loughrea. Clanricarde then sent to invite Forbes to dinner at Tirellan, but he did not care to venture so far inland, and proposed that the place of meeting should be the fort. Clanricarde, who took his stand upon the royal commission to him as governor of Galway, objected to this as beneath his dignity, especially after Forbes had refused his hospitality, and also because some attempt might be made to detain him. Ranelagh, who thought it unwise to stand upon mere points of honour, and who did not believe any one would dare to touch him, made no difficulty about entering the fort. He found Forbes much under the influence of Peters—a ‘pragmatic chaplain from London’—who urged him to attack the town. In the meantime soldiers both from the fleet and the fort ravaged the coast, many men and some women were killed, and Clanricarde had the pleasure of seeing his tenants’ houses burning. Forbes propounded large schemes of conquest with the aid of the Scots army in Ulster, over the impracticability of which Ranelagh and Clanricarde had a good laugh together. The President tried to persuade Forbes to go to Sligo, or to Tralee, whence help might be given from the sea, but he preferred to press Clanricarde to admit his garrison to Tirellan. Some forty guns were landed, but there was no wood to make platforms, and Forbes soon recognised that he could not take Galway, where every house was like a castle. Sir Charles Coote had been expected, but he did not come. Clanricarde returned to Loughrea and Ranelagh to Athlone, while Willoughby remained in command of the fort, and on the worst terms with the townsmen.[34]

Forbes repulsed from Galway.

Tralee taken.

The Earl of Thomond.

Glin taken.

Result of Forbes’s campaign.

Opinions of Hugh Peters.

The officers knew that a strong town could not be taken with the means at their disposal, but the sailors were ‘readier to fall on nakedly than forsake the work, and the soldiers no way backward.’ The guns were taken on board, and Forbes departed to the Shannon. Askeaton, which had made so gallant a stand in the last Desmond war, surrendered without a blow. Sir Edward Denny continued to press for the relief of his castle at Tralee, but Forbes wasted two or three days in harrying the poor islands of Arran, and when at last he arrived off Ballingarry in Kerry it was only to hear that Tralee had fallen, the garrison having been reduced to eating hides. The expedition then returned to the Shannon, and captured a great piece of ordnance called ‘roaring Meg’ with which the Irish had taken most of the castles thereabouts. The gun was found in one boat and the carriage in another, so that this was an easy task. It was then proposed to destroy Sir Daniel O’Brien’s house at Clare Castle on the ground that he was no friend to the Parliament. Yet he acted in strict unison with the loyal and Protestant Earl of Thomond. Even the latter was doubted, ‘and in truth,’ says Peters, ‘his case is nice, the chief of the country being his kindred and himself without power saving fifty horses in his stable.’ He was, however, unwilling to see his country laid waste, and declined to join in the work. The Limerick shore was devastated instead. The Knight of Glin sent a letter of recommendation from Clanricarde, and offered to give cattle for the use of the squadron. Glin Castle was nevertheless battered and stormed, the defenders being short of bullets. ‘Most matters,’ says Peters, ‘fell as at the last siege forty years since,’ but in shorter time and with the loss of only four men. ‘The plate and silver were gone for Limerick, which receives most of which is in Ireland.’ A garrison was put in, and guns mounted on the walls. This was done on September 26, and so the expedition ended, for the ships had only been hired till Michaelmas. Five vessels had been taken worth 20,000l., including one from Barbadoes with a cargo of tobacco, and corn to the same value had been destroyed. Many Irish towns had been burned, and many English relieved. Thousands of cattle had been taken or spoiled, and a diversion had been made on the west coast. This is Peters’s own summary, and it does not amount to much. It is more certain that Forbes did everything in his power to aggravate the bitterness of a war which was already sufficiently horrible. The pragmatic chaplain’s political remarks are interesting. He had been assured that a million of English had been murdered, and he hoped many more Irish slain. The cause of the war was Popery on the one side and profaneness on the other. The royalism of the Irish was a mere catchword. ‘An Irish rebel and an English cavalier in words and actions we found as unlike as an egg is to an egg,’ he adds rather ambiguously. Among the English there were many abuses both in ecclesiastical and civil government, many unfaithful ministers, and many scurrilous and ignorant congregations. Ireland, he prophetically concludes, will be reduced ‘when soldiers and commanders there shall rather attend the present work than the continuance of their trade.’[35]

The King praises Clanricarde,

and repudiates Forbes.

Galway fort besieged.

The fort surrendered.

Galway occupied by the Irish, Aug. 1648.

When Clanricarde returned from the conference at Trim he found things in a bad way at Galway. Little or no support was given him from Dublin, while agents of the confederates did all in their power, ‘both by spiritual and temporal practices,’ to seduce his men and to sap his great local influence. He was somewhat comforted by a letter from the King, who approved of his conduct, protested that Lord Forbes had no orders from him, and declared that he would support him rather than ‘those who pretend that they do really serve us by rebelling against us.’ Colonel John Bourke was acting as lieutenant-general for the confederates on Christmas Eve, and the question of closely besieging the fort was at once entertained. Willoughby had exasperated the townsmen by firing into their houses, and many were ready to retaliate, though the more prudent hesitated. His necessities forced him to drive cattle wherever he could, and he was not particular about the exact opinions of the owners. On one occasion fifty of his men were intercepted by a party from Galway, several being killed and others taken prisoners. From accounts given by the latter general Bourke was convinced that the fort might be starved out, and breastworks were erected on the points at the mouth of the river to prevent relief by sea. Chains were afterwards drawn across the channel. Of relief by land there was little chance, for Clanricarde’s castle of Claregalway had been betrayed to the Irish, and it was as much as he could do to provide for the safety of Loughrea and Portumna. Bourke had a garrison at Athenry, and some of his troops watched Roscommon so as to prevent Ranelagh from making any move. Preston had occupied Banagher, and Inchiquin, though he wrote civil letters, could find neither men nor money. Early in May Bourke besieged the fort in force, with about 1000 men, but he made no approaches, and trusted to famine. On or about June 10 Captain Brooke, who commanded a man-of-war in the bay, sent in a flotilla of boats to attempt the relief of the fort, but they were beaten back by boats from the town, assisted by the fire from the breastworks. Willoughby believed this to be his last chance, and as a choice of evils proposed to surrender his post into Clanricarde’s hands. This could not be done without the consent of the Irish, and the terms offered by Bourke were such as Clanricarde could not in honour entertain. He held the King’s commission, and yet he was required to take the confederate oath of association, and to do nothing without the consent of the corporation of Galway, and of several other persons, the betrayer of Claregalway being one. Negotiations upon this basis necessarily failed, and Willoughby capitulated on the 20th without making Clanricarde a party. The garrison marched out with the honours of war, and were allowed to go on board ship. The post at Oranmore, which belonged to Clanricarde, was surrendered on the same terms without his consent. The day after the capitulation was signed a squadron sailed into the bay, which had it come sooner would have been able to relieve the fort. On August 6 Galway opened its gates to Bourke and granted him 300l., which enabled him to proceed to the siege of Castle Coote. The castles of Athlone and Roscommon in the Lord President’s hands, Loughrea, Portumna and Kildogan in Clanricarde’s, were the only other places in Connaught of which the Irish were not by this time masters.[36]

Owen Roe and Sir Phelim O’Neill.

Leven leaves Ireland.

Owen Roe O’Neill had been appointed general of Ulster by the confederates, but it was some time before he was fully acknowledged, for Sir Phelim was very unwilling to yield the first place. It was found necessary to send primate O’Reilly as a peacemaker. Leven arrived in Ireland soon after O’Neill, but attempted little, and left the country in November, driven out, as Turner believed, by the insubordinate action of the officers. O’Neill claimed him as an ally if he was for the King, but would consider him an enemy if he was for the Parliament. ‘I charitably advise you,’ he wrote, ‘to abandon the kingdom and defend your own native country.’ According to O’Neill’s panegyrist this letter drove him away, but perhaps he really went because the Parliament of England invited him. According to Turner he appropriated 2500l. sent to him from England for the use of the army; ‘and truly this earl who lived till past fourscore, was of so good a memory that he was never known to forget himself, nay, not in extreme old age.’ When leaving Ireland he told Monro that O’Neill would be too much for him, if ever he succeeded in getting an army together.[37]

O’Neill and Monro.

O’Neill defeated at Clones

O’Neill in Meath. Lord Moore killed, Sept. 12.

O’Neill could get as many men as he wanted, but arms and ammunition were not so plentiful. He succeeded, however, in equipping a force of about 1500 men during the winter. In May 1643 Monro attacked him with superior numbers near Charlemont, but without much result, though he himself fought on foot to encourage his men, calling out ‘Fay, fay, run away from a wheen rebels.’ A second attack some weeks later also ended in nothing, but in July O’Neill was defeated by Robert Stewart near Clones, with the loss of 150 men. Shouts of ‘Whar’s Macart?’ showed that the great object was to capture the Irish leader, and he had a very narrow escape. O’Neill afterwards made his way to Mohill in Leitrim, where he procured a small supply of arms from Kilkenny and then encamped near Boyle. This camp was surprised in August by a small English force, and about 160 men killed and wounded, the sentries having been made drunk by Irish sutlers who brought them spirits from the neighbouring garrisons. Immediately afterwards O’Neill was ordered by the Supreme Council to join Sir James Dillon in Meath with as many men as possible. He succeeded in collecting 3000, with whom he marched across Cavan, taking castles on the way, till he came to Portlester near Trim. The castle near the ford was taken after a short cannonade, and O’Neill prepared to defend the passage of the Boyne against Lord Moore, who was approaching from Dublin with a superior force. A short fight took place, and Moore was cut in two by a cannon-ball, the gun being laid by O’Neill himself, with the assistance of a ‘perspective glass.’ The attempt to cross was then abandoned and the cessation was agreed to three days later.[38]

The King decides to negotiate, Jan. 1642-3,

but is not prepared to concede much.

Conference at Trim, March, 1642-3.

In the meantime Charles had made up his mind to treat with the Irish. As early as July 31, 1642, the nobility and gentry assembled at Kilkenny had petitioned the King for an interview where they might affirm their loyalty, and explain the grievances which had induced them to take up arms. This was forwarded through Ormonde, who was warned that if he refused to transmit it he would be held ‘guilty of all the evils that may ensue.’ He first communicated with the Lords Justices and Council, who agreed to forward a copy of the petition to the King with remarks of their own, but as they took a long time about it Ormonde sent over the original himself, ‘being well assured that his Majesty’s judgment is not to be surprised with any colours these rebels can cast upon their foul disloyalty.’ Charles took no notice of the document, and in December the Roman Catholics sent fresh petitions both to the King and Queen. They asked to have a place appointed where they might state their grievances at length. The result was a royal commission, dated January 11, to Ormonde and others, authorising them to meet representatives from the rebels and hear what they had to say. Thomas Burke, one of the Irish Parliamentary Committee who contributed to Strafford’s condemnation, brought over the packet and was himself joined in the commission, which made a very bad impression on the Protestants, since he was believed to have been an abettor of the original outbreak. ‘We have not thought fit,’ Charles wrote to Ormonde at the same time, ‘to admit any of them to our presence, who have been actors or abettors in so odious a rebellion.’ He also sent a paper pointing out that an abrogation of the penal laws would be asked for, but that nothing more could be granted than a mild administration of laws which were never severe. A repeal of Poynings’ Act, or any measure tending to make the Irish Parliament independent, was refused beforehand. Inquiries into forfeitures or titles could not be carried further back than the beginning of the reign, and Recusants were never to hold the majority of official posts. Drogheda was at first designed as the place of meeting, but this was objected to by the Irish, and the conference took place at Trim on March 17. Ormonde was absent in the field, but the statement was received by Clanricarde, Moore, Roscommon, and Sir Maurice Eustace, and by them transmitted to the King.[39]

Irish Remonstrance.

Attack upon Parsons,

who is dismissed.

The Remonstrance presented to Clanricarde and his colleagues at Trim is an able paper, but it hardly afforded a basis for lasting peace between parties whose objects were radically different. The remonstrants objected to the penal laws, which resulted in driving all professors of the old faith from the service of the state, and in employing in their stead upstarts whose great aim was to enrich themselves. The attacks upon property which Strafford had begun were continued after his death, and Sir William Parsons in particular had incurred the gravest odium by using his position as Lord Justice and Master of the Wards to oust the old proprietors from their estates. They demanded a free Parliament, that is, a Parliament in which they would have an overwhelming majority. The Protestant party had never been the most numerous, and with the country in military possession of their opponents they could only hope to return very few members. The immediate result of the Trim meeting was that Charles superseded Parsons and appointed Sir Henry Tichborne Lord Justice in his stead. A few days later he authorised and commanded Ormonde to conclude a truce for one year with the Confederates, and when that was done to carry the Irish army over to Chester.[40]

Inchiquin had not much to fear in Munster from such a general as Barry, but he had no money to support an army in the field. He sent one part of his force to Kerry, where means of subsistence were found, and another under Sir Charles Vavasour to the borders of Tipperary, while he himself sat down before Kilmallock. He had no hope of being able to effect anything without money or stores. Vavasour took Cloghleagh Castle, near Mitchelstown, and after the surrender some of his followers slaughtered the defenders, and apparently some women and children with them. In the meantime Castlehaven received a pressing invitation from some of the Cork gentry, who had no confidence in their own general. He persuaded the council at Kilkenny to give him money, with which he soon raised a body of horse, and on June 4 he routed Vavasour near Kilworth. On Castlehaven’s side only cavalry were engaged, Barry, with the main body, being more than two miles off, and the result was due to panic. Vavasour’s horse for the most part escaped, but he himself was taken prisoner and his force routed. This action was important, because it was the first victory of the Irish in the field since the beginning of the war, for the affair at Julianstown scarcely counted as a battle. Cox, with all his prejudices, says it was a just judgment on Vavasour and his followers, ‘for suffering some inferior officers to violate the quarter they had given to the garrison of Cloghleagh.’[41]

King and Parliament.

Ormonde and Preston.

Arrest of Temple and other Privy Councillors, Aug. 1643.

Arrival of Scarampi,

who opposes any truce.

Bellings opposes Scarampi.

During the spring and summer Charles continued to press for a cessation of arms, full discretion as to terms being given to Ormonde. The commission to him sets forth that the two Houses of Parliament ‘to whose care at their instance we left it’ to manage the Irish war, had long failed to support the army and to defend loyal subjects. The general assembly of the Confederates met at Kilkenny on May 20, and appointed commissioners with powers to treat, but nothing was actually done for more than a month, when they delivered their first proposition at Castlemartin in Kildare. Ormonde gave his answer within a week, and the commissioners then asked for an adjournment till July 13. Time was in their favour, for the treaty would confirm each party in possession of what they held, and they were gaining ground. On the appointed day the commissioners returned a dilatory answer, and Ormonde resolved if possible to try conclusions with Preston in the field. He collected 5000 men and succeeded in retaking Edenderry and some other strong places, but his opponent evaded a general action, and scarcity of provisions soon forced him to return to Dublin. On August 1 orders arrived from the King to arrest four Privy Councillors who sided with the Parliament as much as they could, and against whom charges had been brought. Sir John Temple, Sir Adam Loftus, and Sir R. Meredith were accordingly shut up in the Castle, Parsons being excused on making affidavit that confinement would injure his health. The opposition was thus silenced, and Ormonde found himself complete master. In the meantime Pier-Francesco Scarampi, an Oratorian, arrived at Kilkenny with a commission from the Pope, and immediately threw his weight into the scale against peace. The Confederates, he urged, appeared to be winning, and if they continued to fight vigorously they would probably get control of the country. Nothing was to be expected from the justice of any English party, but if they made themselves formidable they might extort respect from the victors, whether King or Parliament. Instead of giving money to Charles ‘to be converted by his ministers, our enemies, to their own use,’ it would be much better to employ their resources in driving the Scots out of Ulster. The Scots would not be bound by the cessation, which would be a sham as long as it was necessary to fight them. Foreign princes would be offended if arms supplied by them were laid down without their consent. The real object of Scarampi’s mission was to ‘reinstate the Catholic religion and worship throughout the whole country, and to restore to the entire island the splendour of its ancient sanctity,’ and not to beg an uncertain truce for a year. Bellings, on the contrary, who expressed the official view taken by the Supreme Council, argued that it was above all necessary to show that they were no rebels, to join with the English to drive out the Scots, and ‘that the Catholic Church may, in safety and freedom, by a tacit licence from the King, exercise her rights and jurisdiction among us.’ There was a great difference between what ultramontane priests were determined to get, and what laymen, and especially lay landowners, were willing to accept. There can be no doubt that Scarampi, and Rinuccini after him, had plenty of justification for refusing to trust the King, who could do nothing unless he were victorious in England, and who would then be able to defy everyone.[42]

Ormonde unable to continue the war.

The cessation concluded, Sept. 15.

A truce not a peace.

The Confederates make a grant to the King.

Ormonde offered to continue the war, in spite of the King’s wishes, if the Privy Council could find any means of feeding the army. This he knew they could not do, and the Confederates knew it too. All the chief officers declared that a truce was necessary. Both sides were fighting in the King’s name, and it did not suit either of them to disobey his direct orders, so that the conference was renewed at Sigginstown, near Naas, and there the terms of cessation were agreed to on September 15. The King’s commission being to Ormonde personally, he signed the articles alone on the one part. Ten persons signed on the part of the Confederates, of whom Lord Muskerry, Sir Robert Talbot, and Geoffrey Brown were perhaps the most notable. A meeting of the Privy Council was held immediately afterwards, and the articles were solemnly approved. Clanricarde and Inchiquin were present. In the articles of cessation none of the grievances so often brought forward by the Confederates were touched upon at all. On the other hand they refused to make any stipulation as to sending an army to England. This they were willing to do, but declined to bind themselves until after the conclusion of a truce. There was a cessation of hostilities for one year and nothing more, based upon the actual condition of affairs. All places in possession of the King’s Protestant or Roman Catholic subjects respectively were to remain so during the year, and trade was to be free. Prisoners were to be mutually restored. The practical meaning of this was that Ormonde retained the coastline from below Bray up to and including Belfast, and a strip of territory, including Naas, Navan, and Lisburn, with detached garrisons at Athboy, Maryborough, and Carlow in Leinster. In Ulster Londonderry, Coleraine, and Enniskillen were also held by the Protestants, and in Munster they had the ports of Cork, Youghal, Kinsale, and Courtmacsherry, and the valley of the Blackwater from above Mallow to the sea. In Connaught Clanricarde, though not a Protestant, yet adhering to Ormonde, retained Loughrea and Portumna, while the Lord President kept the castle of Athlone, Roscommon, and Castle Coote. Monro and his Scots held Carrickfergus and Lough Larne, and all the rest of the island was in the hands of the Confederates. Within a week the cessation was proclaimed at several places in the Pale, and at the three Connaught fortresses, and directions for doing the like were sent to all principal officers. On September 16, the day after the signing of the articles, the Confederate commissioners granted the King 30,000l., half in cash and half in bullocks, payable by instalments extending over six months. A further sum of 800l. was to be paid within two months to maintain the garrison at Naas.[43]

Ormonde made Lord-Lieutenant, Nov. 1643.

The English Parliament against the cessation.

The Irish Government insist on the truce,

Parliament having failed to support the war.

In April 1642 Ormonde had received a jewel and the thanks of the House of Commons for his services against the ‘wicked, bloody rebels.’ In the following August, a few days after the raising of the royal standard, Charles made him a marquis. After the cessation he was appointed Lord Lieutenant, and the farce of Leicester’s viceroyalty came to an end. The latter was a very good but very weak man, and his vacillations prevented his being trusted by any party. Meanwhile Ireland had been left to substitutes without either the ability or the position required to command success. The ruling party in the English Parliament, whatever their shortcomings may have been, were opposed to the cessation. The King having informed them of his commission to Ormonde, they retorted that they had ‘just cause to suspect an impious design on foot to sell for nought the crying blood of many hundreds of thousands of British Protestants, by a dishonourable, insufferable peace with the rebels, and then to lay the blame and shame of this upon the Parliament, a plot suitable to those counsels that have both projected and fomented this unparalleled rebellion’; for those who contrived the powder treason intended to lay it on the Puritans. The Lords Justices and Council informed both King and Speaker that their position was bad in the extreme, and that this was owing mainly to Parliament having failed to send the necessary supplies. To this the two Houses replied that they had made great efforts, and that in any case the direction of the war belonged to them, as well as the privilege of acting as bankers to the Irish Council. Full control had been conferred on them by Act of Parliament, and the King had no power to deprive them of it. This joint-letter is dated July 4, but was not delivered in Dublin till October 6, after the cessation had been actually concluded. The Lords Justices, with Ormonde and thirteen others of the Irish Council, rejoined in greatest detail, reviewing all that had passed between the two Governments. Such was the lack of money, after the great local efforts, that the sack of Dublin by the unpaid soldiery was a calamity daily expected. The parliamentary ships had failed to guard the coasts, so that the Confederate cruisers often intercepted such scanty supplies as were sent; and even captains employed by Parliament prevented the passage of necessaries from Liverpool to Ireland. A cessation was the only means of self-preservation, ‘and seeing that the charge of this war was referred to and undertaken by the Houses of Parliament of England, and that by those despatches they fully understood the condition of affairs here, we offer it to any man’s consideration whether or no we had not just cause to conceive and accordingly to express, that our difficulties were occasioned through the Houses of Parliament in England.’[44]