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

by Richard Bagwell

FOOTNOTES:

[45] Bell’s Memorials of the Civil War (Fairfax Correspondence), i. 68; Dugdale’s Journal in his Short View. Fairfax’s report to Essex is in Rushworth, v. 302; the accounts of Byron and his brother Robert in Carte’s Original Letters, i. 36-42. See also Fairfax’s Short Memorials in Somers Tracts, v. 387; Clarendon’s Hist. of the Rebellion, vii. 403; and Gardiner’s Civil War, i. 346.

[46] Gumble’s Life of Monck, 18; Carte’s Life of Ormonde, i. p. 468. Crawford wrote an account of his proceedings under the title of Ireland’s Ingratitude to the Parliament of England, &c., which was published by order of the House of Commons, February 3, 1643; and see Carlyle, i. 173.

[47] Text of the Solemn League and Covenant in Rushworth; Baillie’s Letters, ii. 102-103; Sir James Turner’s Memoirs, p. 29.

[48] Colonel O’Neill’s Journal; Castlehaven, p. 46; Bellings, iii. 3-7.

[49] Rev. Patrick Adair’s MS. in Reid’s Presbyterian Church, ii. 439-454. Adair’s narrative was published at Belfast in 1867.

[50] Benn’s Hist. of Belfast, 103-109; Turner’s Memoirs, p. 33; Report to Ormonde, May 27, 1644, in Contemp. Hist. i. 586.

[51] Castlehaven’s Memoirs, 48-53; O’Neill’s Journal in Contemp. Hist. iii. 202-4; British armies in Ulster to Ormonde, ib. i. 602. The abusive account in the Aphorismical Discovery may be neglected; it absurdly states that Castlehaven was ‘no soldier,’ ib. i. 84. Bellings, iii. 11.

[52] The agreement between Montrose and Antrim is printed from the original in Hill’s Macdonnells of Antrim, 267. If the date, January 28, be right, then the King’s and Digby’s letter to Ormonde of the 20th were not despatched for several days. Digby to Ormonde, February 8, 1644-5, in appendix to Carte’s Ormonde. The intrigues at Oxford are amusingly described by Clarendon, Hist. of the Rebellion, book viii. 264-278.

[53] The King’s instructions to Antrim, January 12, 1643-4, in Confederation and War, iii. 88; Negotiation at Kilkenny, ib. 112; Bellings to Ormonde, ib. iv. 276; Letters of Daniel O’Neill in Contemp. Hist. i. 569; Antrim to Ormonde, June 27, 1644, in appendix to Carte’s Ormonde; Ormonde to Digby, ib. July 17, and to Nicholas, July 22; Narrative by one of Macdonnell’s officers in Carte’s Original Letters, i. 73; Reid’s Presbyterian Church, i. 459-464; Napier’s Memoirs of Montrose, chap. 22. Turner (Memoirs, 39), who, however, was not present at Tippermuir, says Montrose won with ‘a handful of Irish, very ill-armed.’

[54] Spalding’s Hist. of the Troubles, ii. 265-7; Patrick Gordon’s Abridgment, 65, 133, 161, 181. Wishart thinks Alaster ‘Macdonaldorum res privatas impendio curasse: de publico parum solicitum.’ See also Napier’s Memoirs of Montrose, chaps. 22-27, and Gardiner’s Civil War, chaps. 26, 30, 33, and 36; Turner’s Memoirs, p. 240.

[55] Bellings, iii. 6, and in the same volume, Safe conduct for agents, January 4, 1643-4, and letter to Bellings, April 7-10; Michael Jones’s speech, January 22, in appendix to Carte’s Ormonde; Rushworth, v. 897-900. The names of the Committee of Council are given by Carte, but in the first letter to Bellings, mentioned above, Cottington is added and Hyde omitted. It appears from Rushworth that both attended the Committee.

[56] The original propositions are in Confederation and War, iii. 128; the amended ones in Rushworth, v. 909. See also the following letters in appendix to Carte’s Ormonde: Arthur Trevor to Ormonde, March 25, 1644; Radcliffe to Ormonde, April 2; Digby to Ormonde, April 2; Muskerry to Ormonde, March 29; Ormonde to Muskerry, April 29. Statement by the delegates of the Council of Ireland in Egmont Papers, i. 212-229, which seems to have been read or spoken by Lowther or one of his colleagues to Charles’s Privy Council.

[57] Rushworth, v. 901-917. A manifesto published in French at Lille, January 26, 1642-3, and intended for foreign consumption, contains the following demands of the Confederates: ‘(1) That the Catholic religion, the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and the religious orders be restored, and no sect or heresy tolerated, except that of Protestants existing (qui a vogue) in England, Germany, and some other provinces; that there be no bishop other than Catholic; that the priests enjoy all benefices and Church revenues; and that the Protestant ministers enjoy only such bishoprics [sic] or benefices as those of their sect shall procure them for a living. (2) That we be governed by a Catholic President, Council, and officers; that all governors of castles, fortresses, towns, and districts be Catholics,’ &c. Reprinted in Confederation and War, iii. 336.

[58] Sir Philip Percival to Ormonde, May 23, in appendix to Carte’s Ormonde; the King’s commission to Ormonde, his instructions, and his answers to the Confederate agents, in Confederation and War, iii. 175, 198, 208; Daniel O’Neill to Arthur Trevor, July 26, in Carte’s Original Letters.

[59] Inchiquin to Ormonde, January 3 and February 10, 1643-4, in appendix to Carte’s Ormonde, and in the same volume letters from Radcliffe and Digby to Ormonde, February 8-20, and Ormonde to Digby, March 8; Bellings, iii. 14, and one of March 29 from the Supreme Council to Ormonde; Inchiquin to Ormonde, July 23 and August 4, in Calendar of Clarendon S.P.; Letters of Inchiquin, Broghill, and others to the King and Parliament, and Declaration of Munster Protestants, July 17 and 18, in Rushworth, v. 918-924; Ludlow’s Memoirs, ed. Firth, i. 85. Besides those in Rushworth, Inchiquin’s letters to Jephson, governor of Portsmouth, to Colonel St. Leger, and to Sir J. Powlet were published in pamphlet form in 1644. For Henry O’Brien, see Walker’s Discourses, p. 46, and Bellings, iv. 10.

[CHAPTER XXV]
INCHIQUIN, ORMONDE AND GLAMORGAN, 1644-1645

No truce with the Parliament.

Protestants in Ireland complained with reason that they got little help from England during the truce, while communication with the Continent was quite free to the Confederates. There were parliamentary cruisers, but not nearly enough to do the work, and a Spanish captain named Antonio was engaged by Castlehaven to keep them at a distance. His frigate of 400 tons and sixteen guns appears to have been cast away at Dungarvan; but he commanded other ships and was active to the very end of the war. Letters of marque were issued from Kilkenny, and it was long before even the port of Waterford was closed. The numerous inlets on the west coast it was impossible to blockade at all. There were endless complaints on both sides as to breaches of the truce, but the recriminations on this subject are scarcely worth discussing. After he had once taken the Parliamentary side, Inchiquin gave himself a free hand.[60]

The no-quarter ordinance

On October 24, 1644, both Houses at Westminster passed an ordinance to the effect that no quarter should be given to any Irishman, nor to any Papist born in Ireland, taken in hostility against the Parliament in England and Wales or on the high seas. All officers by land and sea were therefore ordered to leave all such Irishmen and Papists out of every capitulation, agreement, or composition. If taken, they were to be ‘forthwith put to death.’ When the French National Convention made a similar order about British prisoners, French officers refused to carry it out; and the majority in the Long Parliament evidently feared such a refusal, for they declared that every officer neglecting to observe their ordinance should be ‘reputed a favourer of that bloody rebellion in Ireland,’ and liable to such condign punishment as both Houses might inflict. Pym and Hampden were dead, and it is uncertain under whose influence this savage decree was passed; but it seems that Captain Swanley and others had anticipated it by throwing prisoners into the sea, and that they had been blamed for so doing, as there were many English prisoners in Ireland upon whom it would be easy to retaliate.[61]

Inchiquin at Cork and Kinsale.

Harsh treatment of the citizens.

Broghill at Youghal.

The Covenant.

The Queen on Irish Protestants.

Cork had some time ago agreed to give 4000l. for the support of the army, and a part of this sum still remained unpaid. Inchiquin’s first order during the last week in July was that the citizens should pay the balance or make up its value in provisions and bedding. All the Roman Catholic inhabitants were ordered to leave the town, except the mayor and aldermen and their families, one hundred men selected by the rest, the widows of aldermen, and the sick. They were to carry out nothing with them, but if the supplies required were provided, they were to be allowed to return from time to time and carry off all their property, but not to remain in the town during the night. Robert Coppinger, the mayor, made the best fight he could, but, according to his own account, Inchiquin exacted more corn and money than was owing, and was very harsh in other ways. He gave warrants, says Coppinger, to enter the houses of the banished inhabitants, to carry off almost everything that might be useful to the garrison, ‘leaving all the doors of the houses wide open, and exposed, with all the rest of the goods therein remaining to the insolency of the common soldiers.’ When the people came back for their property, according to the proclamation, there was very little left. From the nature of the case, and from what we know of Inchiquin, it is not likely that the work was very gently done; but it is nowhere alleged that any life was lost. Similar measures were taken at Youghal and Kinsale. Broghill was governor of the former town, and he forbade all officers, soldiers, and others ‘to break open the houses of any persons who have in obedience to my proclamation left this town,’ or to plunder any Irish Papists ‘on pain of death.’ On August 24 eleven parliamentary ships entered Cork harbour, while seven appeared at Youghal and six at Kinsale. Proclamation was at once made that all civilians should leave Cork unless specially licensed to remain, giving security to keep themselves in provisions for six weeks. All Irish Roman Catholics were henceforth to leave the town at six until Michaelmas, and at five after that day, so that the garrison might be always ready to resist an attack. A market was established outside the north gate. The Youghal people took the Covenant, and Inchiquin told Ormonde that he should be compelled to do the same, unless the Lord Lieutenant put himself at the head of the Protestant movement. A stringent oath was at the same time administered to Protestants, who declared themselves allied for defence and swore never to make peace until the terms were approved by Parliament as well as by the King. Colonel Brockett, governor of Kinsale, wrote to Ormonde in commendation of Inchiquin’s zeal, and announced that a ship laden with provisions had come from Middleburgh to Cork for the relief of the distressed Protestants. A little later in the year there was a curious intrigue, the object on both sides being probably to see how far Ormonde would go. Major Muschamp, the governor of Cork fort, let Muskerry know that he had Royalist leanings and might be induced to surrender his post to the Lord Lieutenant. Muskerry forged an order from Ormonde to deliver the place to him. Muschamp said the order must be placed in his hands; but this Muskerry refused for obvious reasons. The plot came to nothing, and Muschamp told the whole story to Inchiquin in presence of his staff. Ormonde was doing his best to serve the King without betraying the Protestant cause, but he had little thanks from anyone. That Henrietta Maria should call Inchiquin a miserable knave was not to be wondered at. As to Ormonde, she is reported to have said it was hard to trust him or ‘any Irishman that is a Protestant, for every Irishman that goes to church does it against his conscience, and knows he betrays God.’ The letter containing this passage was intercepted, and a certified copy came to Ormonde’s hands.[62]

First negotiations for peace, September 1644.

The result of Ormonde’s application to Muskerry and his colleagues in the Oxford business was a letter from the general assembly of the Confederates appointing commissioners to treat for peace. The Oxford agents, all lawyers except Muskerry, Antrim’s brother, and Colonel O’Brien, were nominated, with the addition of Mountgarret, Antrim, Archbishop Fleming, Sir Richard Everard, Patrick Darcy, and John Dillon. Of these commissioners, Martin, Dillon and Barron were afterwards proposed by the Confederates as judges of the superior courts, and nearly all the others as Privy Councillors. Ormonde objected at once to ‘your Archbishop of Dublin, who, though a man as free from exception (as unto his person) as any we could expect to be treated with, for we have heard exceeding much good of him, and we do believe no less, so as if we were to admit any of his function he should be the man.’ He had already announced that he would not treat with any clergyman, and the Confederates gave way. Some delay had been caused, and the commissioners did not meet Ormonde until September 1, when they practically repeated the Oxford propositions. The cessation was at once prolonged to December 1, and questions of statute law and of title to land being involved, a committee of lawyers was appointed to assist the Lord Lieutenant. The chief demands were the repeal of the penal laws, the suspension of Poynings’ Act, and the power of their ‘free Parliament’ to try offences. They were all rejected.

Ormonde’s difficult position.

The negotiations were then suspended for a time. Sir Henry Tichborne, who thought the cessation very dishonourable, left Oxford on December 31. He and others were taken at sea by one of Swanley’s captains, and were sent to the Tower. Tichborne was soon released, and afterwards sided definitely with the Parliament in Ireland. About the same time Swanley intercepted some correspondence between the Confederates and their foreign allies, and he sent copies to Ormonde, cautioning him about the dangers hanging over his ‘truly honoured family’ and his ambiguous position with regard to the Protestants. The Lord Lieutenant’s task was indeed a hard one. The question of a universal act of oblivion was left undecided, the Confederates contending that their oath of association precluded all exceptions, while Ormonde was unwilling to pardon criminals merely because the country had been in a state of war. In the end, Charles conceded the act of oblivion to ‘all treasons and offences, capital, criminal, and personal’ on land, and to piracy and its attendant crimes in the Irish seas.[63]

Confederate diplomacy.

Bellings at Paris. Mazarin.

Bellings at Rome. Rinuccini.

Attitude of Innocent X.

Barren sympathies.

The negotiations dragged along slowly and intermittently throughout 1644 and 1645, but peace, as between Ormonde and the Confederates, was preserved by frequent renewals of the cessation. In the meantime the Kilkenny government sought eagerly for foreign support. Bellings left Galway on the last day of December 1644 with credentials addressed to Louis XIV., Anne of Austria, Henrietta Maria, Mazarin, Innocent X., the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cardinals Grimaldi and Bentivoglio, and the Governments of Venice, Genoa, and Belgium. He had not intended to visit anyone at Paris except Henrietta Maria; but the Jesuit O’Hartegan, who was resident agent for the Confederates, persuaded him to see Mazarin. The Cardinal was very inquisitive, and might stop Bellings in France if thwarted. He did not like the application of the Confederates to Rome, because Innocent X. was much under Spanish influence; but Bellings answered that though his employers were bound to neutrality as among Catholic princes, yet their natural leaning was to France, where their exiled Queen had found shelter. Bellings himself had certainly French sympathies, and told Mazarin that it was from France that Ireland really expected help. ‘And in truth,’ he adds, ‘the promises given now and often before, had they been performed, might well have satisfied our expectation.’ On reaching Rome, Bellings found that Rinuccini was already appointed nuncio. The two men disliked each other from the first. When Bellings found that Innocent was sending a moderate sum of money, he importuned for more, but was told that the late war in Italy and preparations against the Turks had exhausted the papal treasury. He then loudly proclaimed that he was quite satisfied with the Pope, lest his backwardness should be an excuse for others. Innocent was at least liberal with his briefs, but they had no effect either at Florence or Genoa. Bellings did not even visit Venice, the Cretan war being excuse enough for the republic. On his return to Paris he found that there was little or no hope from France without assuming a hostile attitude to Spain. As the final result of his long expedition Bellings reported that ‘all men wished well to the cause, but no man was in condition to assist it.’ He accompanied Rinuccini to Ireland.[64]

French and Spanish crimps.

Foisset and Monnerie.

Bellings understood that the help of France and Spain ‘rather seemed a traffic for men and a gratification for the levies made in Ireland for the service of both crowns, than marks of a royal bounty and a real will to assist them.’ Early in 1643 the Confederates allowed Spain to recruit in Ireland, the number of men, after some haggling, being fixed at 2000. Philip IV. then made them a present of 20,000 crowns, which was laid out in arms and ammunition. With the Parliamentarians in command of the sea, it took a long time to get the men away, and they could not be spared till after the cessation. Then it became necessary to promise the same number of soldiers to France. At last, in February 1643-4, the Spanish agent or envoy was received by the Supreme Council, and told that he should have his men by June 25. He was a Burgundian named Foisset, and came, not from Spain, but from Don Francisco de Melo in the Netherlands. Next day the French representative, De la Monnerie, was received and had exactly the same answer. Monnerie was a gentleman of the bedchamber, and his sole business was to get as much food for powder as possible in Ireland. It would seem that both agents were privately told that the great object of the Council was to favour their respective sovereigns. Meanwhile their lawful King was calling for Irish troops in vain. Monnerie did manage to get off 1300 men from Galway early in 1645, not being able to get shipping for more in Ireland, and Mazarin failing to send the vessels which he promised; but the recruiting still continued. Monnerie seems to have done better than his rival, and reported that ‘the Spaniard who is here’ began to lose heart and to declare loudly that the Supreme Council was quite French. It was Mazarin against Don Luis de Haro. A Colonel Plunket was promised forty crowns by Ottavio Piccolomini for every man he could land in Flanders, but the Kilkenny authorities would not let him do the work.[65]

Confederate envoys. Talbot and O’Sullivan.

Hugh Bourke.

The story told abroad.

Heresy to be extirpated.

Immediately after the outbreak in 1641 the Irish of Western Munster had sent Francis O’Sullivan, a Franciscan, to solicit the help of Spain. A little later, James Talbot, an Augustinian, was sent on the same errand, and returned with 3000l. in silver, 4000 muskets, four pieces of cannon and other stores, purchased with the 20,000 crowns obtained from Philip IV., but not without much bickering as to whether the Celtic O’Sullivan or the Anglo-Norman Talbot deserved the credit. In acknowledgment, it was proposed to send 1000 men to Spain; but there was a difficulty about transport, and they never started. Talbot was sent again in June 1643 with an offer of two thousand and directions as to how he should spend any further sum he might receive. The landing of the money and arms at Dungarvan during the negotiations for a cessation made Ormonde’s task harder; but the Spanish Government had transferred the matter to the Governor of the Netherlands. Talbot went there instead of to Spain, and returned with Foisset. He perhaps thought it the best thing to do, but the Supreme Council never fully trusted him afterwards. It was found that unauthorised persons had been begging in Spain for the Irish cause, and had kept the money received, and it was thought expedient to cancel all former credentials and to send a new envoy to Spain. The person selected was Hugh Bourke, a Franciscan, who had been doing good service in the Netherlands, whence he was transferred directly. He went by Paris, where he met Rinuccini on his way to Ireland, and impressed him by his cleverness and energy. The instructions to Bourke, dated December 12, 1644, throw great light upon the position of the Confederates. The war was represented as being purely a struggle ‘for the Catholic Church in its splendour.’ Nothing at all is said about the Ulster barbarities, but the Protestant party are simply described as ‘taking advantage, before we were provided of arms and ammunition, to destroy many thousands of people unarmed, and exercise barbarous cruelties against man, woman, and child, sparing none that did come within their power, and intending to extirpate the whole nation.’ Nevertheless, the Confederates, having received some arms from abroad, had re-established the Catholic religion in full splendour and been victorious everywhere except ‘in some particular places and parts of the kingdom.’ Among those particular places, unfortunately, were Dublin, Cork, Youghal, and Kinsale, Londonderry and Coleraine, Carrickfergus and the rising settlement of Belfast. If the Spaniard inquired why such a victorious party had agreed to a truce with Ormonde, Bourke was to reply that it was thought wise to be on terms with one hostile party so as to be free to crush the other. Nor had the calculation been unsuccessful, for Ormonde had sent 12,000 men to England, most of whom had been killed. As to the Oxford propositions, the Confederates had thought it expedient to ask for freedom of religion only, and ‘you may inculcate the reason (which God knows to be true), it was to win time, and our construction shall be freedom in splendour if holpen with possibility of subsistence.’ The ultimate goal was to be an Ireland whose victorious soldiers ‘would not rest satisfied, but try their valours elsewhere for religion, as long as any heretics did remain in the neighbouring provinces.’ The duplicity of Charles I. was rightly complained of by the Confederates; but it was not greater than their own.[66]

Siege of Duncannon, Jan.-March 1644-5.

Parties in the garrison.

The cessation ignored.

Lord Esmond’s difficulties.

A rival governor

The Covenant.

Charles I. characterised.

Duncannon Fort in Wexford guards the approach both by the Suir to Waterford and by the Barrow to New Ross. Every large ship must necessarily pass under the guns, but the place is very weak on the land side, being commanded by higher ground. The defences had been strengthened in 1611 by Sir Josias Bodley, a younger brother of Sir Thomas, who founded the Oxford library. Bodley was a skilful engineer, and was fully aware of Duncannon’s weak point, though he probably considered his works strong enough to resist a purely Irish attack. When the rebellion broke out the governor of the fort was Laurence Lord Esmond, a strong Protestant Royalist, and he held it for the King; but the majority of his men were much more inclined to the Parliament. Summoned by the Confederates to join them as the loyal party, Esmond refused to do so without orders from the Lords Justices, and those orders were of course never given. He made great efforts to maintain discipline, but as he could neither pay nor feed his men they were forced to drive cattle and otherwise spoil the country. With the help of some English ships they burned Dunmore in Waterford, which was too near a neighbour, but in an attempt to seize the Hook Tower, their over-enterprising leader, Captain Aston, and some sixty of the garrison, were taken or slaughtered, having been surrounded in a fog by a large number of the natives. This was as early as July 1642, and it settled the question as to whether the fort was really friendly to the Confederates or not. The garrison continued to plunder in 1643 and 1644 without regard to the cessation, and it was soon resolved at Kilkenny that the fort must, if possible, be reduced. Among Esmond’s officers two should be mentioned, Major Ralph Capron, who said he was ‘too old to forego his loyalty,’ and Lawrence Larcan, lieutenant of Esmond’s own company of foot, who made no secret of his adhesion to the English Parliament. Esmond made great efforts to obtain relief from Ormonde, but nothing effectual could be done for him, and early in August Inchiquin sent Captain Smithwick to induce him to declare for the Parliament. This he steadfastly refused to do, but told Ormonde that his life was not safe ‘among so desperate and mutinous a pack,’ as the garrison had become. ‘Poverty is the cause of this, and to tell truth, my lord, they are indeed naked.’ A month later Captain Bright arrived in the Parliamentary vessel Jeremie, and anchored off the fort. He brought with him the Covenant and a commission from Inchiquin appointing Larcan to the command. The Covenant was eagerly subscribed by all but Esmond himself, Capron, Richard Underwood the principal chaplain, and perhaps one or two other officers. Captain Bright promised supplies, and the soldiers refused to obey Capron, whom Esmond accordingly sent with despatches to Dublin. Larcan, who is described as active and witty and a leader of men, said ‘the King was a tyrant, an extortioner, an oppressor of the subject, and a Papist,’ and he hoped that the Parliament would soon ‘scour’ him. In the meantime Larcan did what he could to scour the country, while Parliamentary captains were busy at sea. The fort became such a scourge that the Confederates resolved to besiege it.[67]

Preston at Duncannon. A French engineer.

Failure to relieve from the sea.

An unsuccessful assault.

Vice-Admiral Smyth’s advice.

The fort capitulates.

High mass

Preston sat down before Duncannon on January 20, 1644-5, with about 1500 foot. He had both cannon and mortars, and the wonder is that the place held out at all. There was a garrison of about 150 men with twenty-two guns, but no proper supply of water inside the fort, and no doctor or surgeon. A French engineer named Lalue directed the siege operations, which dragged out to a great length. Three weeks after the first investment Inchiquin wrote to say that he could give no relief unless help first arrived from England, and he pointed out that the Confederates might have easily mastered all the Munster towns if they had not exhausted their strength in the Ulster expedition under Castlehaven. Admiral Swanley wrote about the same time from Milford to say that he was sending a collier under convoy to give the garrison fuel, and also shipping to convey reinforcements for Inchiquin, but that ‘as for the soldiers from this country (England), they are not to be drawn from this service without an inevitable prejudice.’ Inchiquin could hardly hold his own, nor could he trust unpaid men. Communications between the fort and the sea were never interrupted, and small supplies were sent in from time to time, and thirty-eight seamen took their part in the defence on shore. At the beginning of the siege an attempt was made by the Parliamentary ships to drive the assailants from their works, but very few shot went even near the mark. Fire from a floating platform is seldom satisfactory against an enemy on a hill. As Lalue drew his lines closer and advanced his guns, still less could be done from the sea. On February 19, five ships anchored under Credan Head in full view of the fort, but their commanders dared not come within reach of the plunging fire, by which one Parliamentary vessel had already been sunk. Frequent sallies of the garrison annoyed the enemy, who suffered from bad weather and from the labour of making approaches in the rocky ground. Lalue contrived an infernal machine which appears in advance of his time. A trunk filled with explosives and calculated to go off when opened was left near the gate of the fort. Esmond suspected a snare, and advised that the trunk should be soaked in the sea for some hours, but the soldiers were too impatient, and the explosion took place. The besiegers heard the noise and expected great results, but only one person was killed, a woman who had drawn near out of curiosity. There were some men in the fort who sided secretly with the besiegers, and when the trenches approached the ditch communicated with them by letters tied to bullets and flung by hand. At last an assault was made, but, says Bellings, the musketeers who were to cover the storming party had their pieces rendered unserviceable by a whirlwind which blew away the priming and filled the pans with gravel. The assailants were beaten off with great loss, but Larcan, who had been the soul of the defence, was hit by a stone which a round shot had displaced. A surgeon might have saved him, but there was none, and he died. The sap went on until a mine was brought up to the rampart, and the second assault was likely to be successful. Vice-Admiral Smyth with the Swallow and other vessels lay in the offing, and to him Esmond made a last appeal. ‘Your lordship,’ the sailor quaintly answered, ‘hath but two things to consider of: first, the potency of the enemy; next, your abilities to subsist. For, before any relief can overtake you, it will be ten or eight days at soonest. Now, if you find in your strength a disability, then our Saviour Jesus Christ gives you the best counsel, who sayeth: agree with thy adversary quickly while thou art in the way.’ If they waited for the assault, he argued, they would all be put to the sword, but if they capitulated so many gallant men would be available for future service, and might perhaps even have a hand in recapturing the fort. As for the guns, they must go with the place, for if they were ‘all of beaten gold’ there was no means of embarking them. The poor old governor could only lament that he had been encouraged to hope for help which had never come, and replied that he would try one stratagem more by asking for a Protestant garrison named by Ormonde. Two days later he still defied Preston, and declared that he would not surrender without the direct orders of the King or the Lord Lieutenant. Larcan being gone, the other officers prepared to take Smyth’s advice, and Esmond was at last forced to ask for a parley. Preston was not bloodthirsty, and on March 19, being the fifty-ninth day of the siege, the garrison marched out with the honours of war, and were allowed to go to Dublin, Bristol, or Youghal, as they themselves preferred. A few men took service with Preston. Esmond waited till a carriage could be got, but died at Adamstown on the road to Enniscorthy. The fort was not without provisions or ammunition at the time of surrender, but the want of fresh water was very pressing. There had been torrents of rain, but either from want of time or from want of vessels it had not been sufficiently utilised. Only about thirty men had been killed, though the besiegers had burned 19,000 pounds of powder. Duncannon was taken on March 19, and on Lady Day Scarampi came in and said high mass. The Confederates boasted much of their success, in announcing to their friends at Paris the capture of what they call the ‘impregnable fort of Duncannon.’[68]

The Glamorgan mission

An extraordinary patent, April 1644.

Charles had handed over the reduction of the Irish rebels to Parliament early in the day, and had told the Protestant agents at Oxford that he would rather have war than peace at their expense. As long as negotiations were entirely in Ormonde’s hands this was no empty promise, but when the King decided to employ a private envoy as well, the situation was a good deal modified. The person selected was Lord Herbert, eldest son of the Marquis of Worcester, who had made immense sacrifices for the royal cause. Both father and son were Roman Catholics, and ardent champions of their faith. In history the latter is best known as Earl of Glamorgan, and so Charles styled him, though the creation was never formally made. On April 1, 1644, when the Irish agents were at Oxford, the King had granted him under the Great Seal a patent of so extraordinary a character that its main provisions must be repeated, though perhaps no episode in English history has been more thoroughly discussed. By this document he was constituted generalissimo with extraordinary powers of three armies, English, Irish, and foreign, and admiral of a fleet at sea; with authority to raise money by pledging wardships, customs, woods, and other hereditary property of the Crown. ‘Persons of generosity’ were to be encouraged to subscribe in return for titles of honour, ‘for whom,’ the King wrote, ‘we have intrusted you with several patents under our Great Seal of England, from a marquis to a baronet, which we give you full power and authority to date and dispose of without knowing our further pleasure.’ Charles solemnly bound himself to ratify all the patentee’s acts, and and to give his daughter Elizabeth to Glamorgan’s son Plantagenet ‘with 300,000l. in dower or portion, most part whereof we acknowledge spent and disbursed by your father and you in our service.’ Finally he was promised the dukedom of Somerset with power to ‘put on the George and blue ribbon’ at his pleasure, and to bear the garter in his coat of arms. The affixing of the seal to this patent may have been an amateur performance, the joint work of Endymion Porter and of Glamorgan himself, ‘with rollers and no screw press,’ but the document was genuine, and the king knew all about it.[69]

Introduction of Glamorgan to Ormonde.

Three commissions Jan.-March, 1644-5

Glamorgan’s instructions.

His sanguine hopes of Irish and foreign forces having been dashed, and Marston Moor having been fought, Charles turned to Glamorgan again. The latter had married Lady Margaret O’Brien, the late Earl of Thomond’s daughter, and his many Irish connections might give him influence. Ormonde was informed that ‘Lord Herbert’—the title of Glamorgan was dropped here—had business of his own in Ireland, and that he might be found incidentally useful in bringing about a peace. ‘His honesty or affection to my service,’ says the King in a cypher postscript, ‘will not deceive you; but I will not answer for his judgment.’ Yet to this man of more than doubtful discretion were given three commissions, the first of which authorised him to levy an unlimited number of men in Ireland and other parts beyond sea. By the second Charles promised ‘in the word of a King and a Christian’ to confirm all Glamorgan might do, whatever irregularities might appear when his powers came to be criticised. The third was a royal warrant to treat with the Confederate Roman Catholics of Ireland, proceeding with all possible secrecy. Ormonde was warned by friends in England to be on his guard against Glamorgan, who left Oxford soon after receiving the last commission, but circumstances changed a good deal before the latter reached Ireland. He sailed from the Welsh coast, but was chased by a Parliamentary ship and driven to Lancashire, whence he made his way to Skipton Castle, and there stayed for three months, during which Naseby was fought. In his instructions to Glamorgan which preceded the first of the three commissions above mentioned, the King promised solemnly to ratify whatever should be ‘consented unto by our Lieutenant the Marquis of Ormonde,’ but authorised him to supply if possible anything ‘upon necessity to be condescended unto and yet the Lord Marquis not willing to be seen therein, or not fit for us at the present publicly to own.’ Glamorgan seems to have given a verbal promise to consult Ormonde in everything, but there is no evidence that the Lord Lieutenant knew this, and it is only known to historians because Glamorgan, after his failure, was reproached by the King for not having done so.[70]

Charles lays down conditions of peace,

but soon changes his mind.

Still sanguine after Naseby.

A few days after giving Glamorgan his instructions, Charles wrote to Ormonde defining clearly the extreme point of his possible concessions to the Roman Catholics. He promised that ‘the penal statutes should not be put into execution, the peace being made and they remaining in their due obedience. And further that when the Irish give me that assistance which they have promised, for the suppressing of this rebellion, and I shall be restored to my rights, then I will consent to the repeal of them by a law. But all those against appeals to Rome and Præmunire must stand.’ A month later the orders were that Ormonde should hasten the peace upon the terms already granted, but that if he could not do so he was to avoid a rupture and to continue the cessation. Only three days later came a ‘command to conclude a peace with the Irish, whatever it cost, so that my Protestant subjects there may be secured and my regal authority preserved.’ Charles said he would not think it a hard bargain if the Irish could be heartily engaged on his side in England or Scotland, upon condition of repealing the penal laws at once, and of suspending Poynings’ Act for that and kindred purposes. But he did not tell Ormonde whether he still considered the statutes against foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction part of his ‘regal authority,’ and he directed him to ‘make the best bargain he could, and not to discover his enlargement of power till he needs must.’ The King’s position remained substantially unaltered during the spring and early summer, but four days after Naseby he told Ormonde that Irish help was more necessary than ever. ‘If,’ he wrote, ‘within two months you could send me a considerable assistance, I am confident that both my last loss would be soon forgotten, and likewise it may (by the grace of God) put such a turn to my affairs, as to make me in a far better condition before winter than I have been at any time since the rebellion began.’ The Lord Lieutenant was to conclude the peace as quickly as possible, and then to come over himself at the head of an army. The course of events was destined to be very different.[71]

Glamorgan in Ireland. August 1645.

The Glamorgan Treaty, August 25.

An army offered in payment.

Ormonde is kept in the dark.

When Glamorgan reached Dublin about the beginning of August, he found no peace signed and no army ready to embark. As Charles’s necessities grew, so did the demands of the Irish bishops, and the King’s orders to conceal his powers prevented Ormonde from saying at once what was the furthest point to which he could go. Glamorgan was present at some of the meetings between the Lord Lieutenant and the Confederate commissioners, and he then went to Kilkenny. Ormonde told his brother-in-law Muskerry, who went there also, that the news of Naseby had made the conclusion of peace more needful than ever. He urged him to help Glamorgan, but at the same time acknowledged his independence, and to some extent deprecated the idea that he was acting in concert with him. ‘I know,’ he wrote, ‘no subject in England upon whose favour and authority with his Majesty, and real and innate nobility you can better rely than upon his lordship’s.’ Muskerry, who was anxious to come to terms with the King, no doubt made full use of this testimonial, and so Glamorgan, relying entirely on his commission of March 12, proceeded to ‘engage his Majesty’s royal and public faith’ for the due performance of the articles known as ‘the first Glamorgan treaty.’ Ormonde was no party to them in fact or in name. ‘Free and public use and exercise of the Roman Catholic religion’ was granted to all without exception. All churches possessed by the Roman Catholics at any time since October 23, 1641, were granted to them, ‘and all other churches in Ireland other than such as are now actually enjoyed by his Majesty’s Protestant subjects.’ All jurisdiction of the Protestant clergy over Roman Catholics was taken away, and an Act of Parliament was promised to abrogate the penalties for breaches of the Acts of supremacy and uniformity. Glamorgan also promised ‘on behalf of his Majesty,’ confirmation to the Roman Catholic clergy of all temporalities possessed by them at any time since the fatal October 23, two-thirds of the profits for three years or during the continuance of the war being applicable to the royal service and one-third to the support of the clergy. Glamorgan afterwards explained that he intended the immediate wants of the Protestant clergy to be provided for out of the two-thirds reserved to the King. That any English Protestants at that time were willing to grant unlimited toleration may well be doubted, but it is certain that there were none ready to confirm everything that had been done against their own clergy since the rebellion began. The consideration offered by the Confederates was 10,000 men, armed one half with muskets and one half with pikes, to be shipped by Glamorgan to any port he might choose. These troops were to be kept together in one entire body under the Earl’s leadership, all other officers being appointed by the General Assembly or Supreme Council. Ten days later Glamorgan solemnly swore to tell the King everything, and ‘not to permit the army entrusted to his charge to adventure itself, or any considerable part thereof, until conditions from his Majesty and by his Majesty be performed.’ In the meantime the treaty was kept secret, and the negotiations between Ormonde and the commissioners of the Confederates went on pretty much as before.[72]

Copies of the treaty are secretly circulated,

and thus becomes public.

Charles writes to the Pope.

Glamorgan soon returned to Dublin, leaving the original of his treaty in the hands of the Confederates, but Archbishop Walsh ordered copies to be given to several ecclesiastics, and the secret was not very long kept. Meanwhile the negotiations with Ormonde dragged their slow length along, and the arrival of Lord Digby, who in those days was an Anglican champion, did not make concessions on ecclesiastical matters more probable. The appearance of a papal nuncio at this stage was the one thing needful to make the situation hopeless. After Rinuccini landed in Kerry, but before he reached Kilkenny, Archbishop Queely was killed in a skirmish before Sligo, and a certified copy of the Glamorgan treaty was found upon his person. As early as the previous April Charles had written two letters, one to the nuncio and one to the Pope, and had entrusted them to Glamorgan for delivery. He promised Rinuccini to perform all that he should agree upon with Glamorgan, whom he praises in exaggerated language. ‘This,’ he concludes, ‘is the first letter that we have ever written directly to any minister of the Pope, hoping that it will not be the last, but that after you and the said Earl have done your business, we shall openly show ourselves, as we have assured him, your friend.’ When the King wrote this dangerous letter, Rinuccini was already at Genoa on his way to Ireland.[73]