Ireland under the Stuarts and During the Interregnum, Vol. 3 (of 3), 1660-1690

by Richard Bagwell

The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

IRELAND UNDER THE STUARTS
Vol. III.

By the same Author

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IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS

3 vols. 8vo.

Vols. I. and II.—From the First Invasion of the Northmen to the year 1578.

(Out of Print.)

Vol. III.—1578-1603. 18s.

IRELAND UNDER THE STUARTS AND DURING THE INTERREGNUM

3 vols. 8vo.

Vols. I. and II.—1603-1660. With 2 Maps.

28s. net.

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LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.
London, New York, Bombay, Calcutta,
and Madras

IRELAND
UNDER THE STUARTS

AND

DURING THE INTERREGNUM

BY

RICHARD BAGWELL, M.A.

HON. LITT.D. (DUBLIN), AUTHOR OF ‘IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS’

Vol. III. 1660-1690

WITH MAP

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
FOURTH AVENUE & 30th STREET, NEW YORK
BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS
1916
All rights reserved

[CONTENTS]
OF
THE THIRD VOLUME

CHAPTER XL
THE RESTORATION GOVERNMENT, 1660
	PAGE
The Irish Convention	[1]
Charles II. proclaimed	[3]
Coote and Broghill	[4]
The Church re-established	[8]
CHAPTER XLI
DECLARATION AND ACT OF SETTLEMENT, 1660-1662
Position of Irish Recusants	[11]
The Declaration	[13]
Various classes of claimants	[14]
First Commission of Claims	[16]
The Irish Parliament, May 1661	[18]
The Declaration debated	[19]
Conditions of Settlement	[20]
Insufficiency of land	[22]
Ormonde Lord Lieutenant	[24]
He arrives in Ireland	[27]
The Clanmalier Estate—Portarlington	[28]
CHAPTER XLII
COURT OF CLAIMS AND ACT OF EXPLANATION, 1662-1665
The second Court of Claims	[30]
Innocents and Nocents	[31]
General dissatisfaction	[32]
Discontented soldiers	[34]
Plot to seize Dublin Castle—Blood	[35]
Lord Antrim’s case	[39]
‘Murder will out’	[42]
Bill of Explanation	[43]
Violent debates	[49]
The Bill passes	[50]
CHAPTER XLIII
ORMONDE AND THE IRISH HIERARCHY
Ormonde’s royalism	[51]
Peter Walsh, Orrery, and Bellings	[51]
Walsh and the loyal remonstrance	[55]
Opposition of Primate O’Reilly	[56]
Incompatibility of royal and papal claims	[58]
The Congregation meets, June 1666	[61]
The Remonstrance rejected	[62]
Why the Congregation failed	[64]
CHAPTER XLIV
GOVERNMENT OF ORMONDE, 1665-1668
Irish Parliament dissolved	[67]
Mutiny at Carrickfergus	[68]
Partial exclusion of Irish cattle	[69]
The Canary Company	[70]
Disputes on the cattle question	[72]
Irish cattle excluded and voted a public nuisance	[74]
Evil effects of exclusion policy	[77]
Ireland retaliates on Scotland	[79]
The first Dutch war—coast defence	[81]
Fall of Clarendon	[84]
Ormonde and Orrery	[86]
Recall of Ormonde	[87]
CHAPTER XLV
ROBARTES AND BERKELEY, 1669-1672
Lord Robartes made Lord Lieutenant	[89]
The Tories	[90]
Ossory and Robartes	[92]
Character of Robartes	[94]
Attempt to impeach Orrery	[96]
Lord Berkeley and his Secretary	[99]
Recusants indulged—Oliver Plunket	[100]
Blood tries to kidnap Ormonde	[102]
Attacks on the Act of Settlement	[102]
Lady Clanbrassil	[104]
The dispensing power	[105]
Riots in Dublin—Bloody Bridge	[106]
CHAPTER XLVI
GOVERNMENT OF ESSEX, 1672-1677
Essex reaches Ireland	[108]
Dublin agitators	[110]
Essex protects Phœnix Park	[111]
Provincial presidencies suppressed	[112]
Intolerance of the English Parliament	[113]
Charles II. submits	[114]
Agreement of Essex and Ormonde	[116]
Financial abuses—Ranelagh	[119]
Ormonde restored to favour	[121]
And to the Lord Lieutenancy	[123]
CHAPTER XLVII
GOVERNMENT OF ORMONDE, 1677-1685
Revenue troubles	[125]
Scramble for land	[126]
Oates’s plot	[127]
Ormonde and Orrery	[129]
Intrigues of Shaftesbury	[130]
Spies and false witnesses	[133]
Trial and execution of Oliver Plunket	[134]
Ormonde’s opinion of the witnesses	[139]
Castlehaven’s Memoirs	[140]
Ormonde and Anglesey	[141]
Tories—O’Hanlon and Power	[143]
Attack on the Settlement	[144]
Court of Grace	[145]
Death of Charles II.	[147]
CHAPTER XLVIII
CLARENDON AND TYRCONNEL, 1685-1686
Accession of James II.	[148]
Purging the army—Tyrconnel	[149]
Clarendon made Lord Lieutenant	[150]
His journey to Ireland	[151]
Tyrconnel goes to London	[152]
Irish and French Protestant refugees	[153]
Judges dismissed	[154]
A new Privy Council	[156]
Tyrconnel returns as Commander-in-Chief	[157]
Catherine Sedley in Ireland	[157]
Drastic changes in the army	[158]
Hard cases	[159]
Tory Hamilton’s case	[160]
Tyrconnel summoned to London	[162]
‘Lillibullero’	[164]
Clarendon leaves Ireland	[165]
CHAPTER XLIX
GOVERNMENT OF TYRCONNEL, 1687-1688
Tyrconnel made Lord Deputy	[167]
The Coventry letter	[168]
The Land Settlement threatened	[169]
Protestant corporations attacked	[170]
The Quo Warrantos	[172]
Panic among the Protestants	[173]
Lord Chancellor Porter dismissed	[174]
Succeeded by Fitton	[175]
Judges, magistrates, and sheriffs	[176]
Rice and Nugent in London	[177]
Declaration of Indulgence	[178]
Tyrconnel multiplies commissions	[179]
Irish soldiers in England	[180]
Fresh regiments raised	[181]
Death and character of Ormonde	[182]
Disturbed state of society—Leinster	[184]
Southwell’s case	[186]
William’s overtures to Tyrconnel	[187]
Panic in Ulster—Lord Mountjoy	[188]
Gates of Londonderry shut	[190]
Enniskillen and Sligo	[191]
Break of Dromore	[193]
CHAPTER L
JAMES II. IN IRELAND, 1689
French designs on Ireland—Pointis	[195]
Tyrconnel invites James to Ireland	[198]
France, Emperor, and Pope	[198]
Tyrconnel prepares for war	[200]
Attempts at resistance—Bandon	[202]
Kenmare	[203]
James arrives in Ireland	[206]
From Cork to Dublin	[208]
Avaux and Melfort	[209]
Fighting in Ulster—George Walker	[212]
William III. proclaimed at Londonderry	[213]
James II. in Ulster	[214]
Naval action at Bantry	[217]
Confusion in Dublin—John Stevens	[218]
CHAPTER LI
THE PARLIAMENT OF 1689
Tyrconnel, MacCarthy, and Sarsfield	[219]
The Hamiltons	[222]
Composition of Parliament	[223]
The King’s speech	[224]
The Land Settlement attacked	[225]
Act of Settlement repealed	[227]
Act of Attainder	[228]
Case of Trinity College	[231]
Treatment of the clergy	[232]
Commercial legislation	[233]
Daly’s case—scramble for property	[234]
French efforts to capture trade	[236]
End of the Parliament	[237]
CHAPTER LII
LONDONDERRY AND ENNISKILLEN, 1689
Siege of Londonderry	[239]
An English squadron appears	[242]
Schomberg orders the town to be relieved	[243]
Cruelty of De Rosen—indignation of James	[245]
Londonderry relieved by sea	[248]
Cost of the siege	[250]
Defence of Enniskillen	[250]
Colonel Lloyd—the Break of Belleek	[252]
Kirke in Lough Swilly—Colonel Wolseley	[253]
Battle of Newtown Butler	[255]
Walker in England	[257]
Controversy as to his ‘True Account’	[258]
CHAPTER LIII
JAMES II. AND SCHOMBERG, 1689-1690
Schomberg’s preparations	[260]
He reaches Ireland	[261]
Carrickfergus taken	[263]
Berwick evacuates Newry	[264]
Flight of Melfort	[265]
Schomberg refuses battle	[266]
Military conspiracy	[267]
Sufferings of Schomberg’s army—Shales	[268]
Sligo taken and retaken	[271]
State of Dublin	[272]
Lauzun sent to Ireland	[273]
French opinion	[274]
Brass money	[276]
Fighting at Newry, Belturbet, and Cavan	[278]
Avaux and Rosen recalled	[280]
Lauzun reaches Ireland	[281]
Disarming the Protestants	[282]
King and Bonnell	[283]
Treatment of Trinity College	[285]
CHAPTER LIV
WILLIAM III. IN IRELAND, 1690. THE BOYNE
English and French interests	[287]
Charlemont taken	[288]
Opposition to William’s expedition	[289]
He lands in Ireland	[290]
James moves to meet him	[292]
William reaches the Boyne	[293]
Battle of the Boyne, July 1	[295]
Flight of James	[299]
Political importance of the battle	[301]
James escapes to France	[304]
William enters Dublin	[306]
Final ruin of the Stuart cause	[307]
CHAPTER LV
SOCIAL IRELAND FROM RESTORATION TO REVOLUTION
Ireland after the Civil War	[309]
Country-houses—Portmore, Charleville, Kilkenny	[310]
Dublin Castle	[312]
An Irish spa	[313]
Condition of the poor	[314]
Ploughing by the tail	[316]
Some Dublin houses	[317]
Prosperity under Charles II.	[318]
CHAPTER LVI
THE THREE IRISH CHURCHES
The Establishment	[319]
Jeremy Taylor	[320]
Bishops ignorant of Irish	[321]
Condition of the clergy	[322]
The Irish Bible	[324]
The Presbyterians	[325]
The Roman Catholics	[326]
Oliver Plunket	[327]
Talbot, O’Molony, and other Bishops	[328]
Recusants after James II.	[330]
Slow growth of toleration	[331]
APPENDIX
Letter from Ormonde to Bennet, 1663	[333]
MAP
Ireland to illustrate the reign of James II.	[At end of the volume.]

IRELAND UNDER THE STUARTS

[CHAPTER XL]
THE RESTORATION GOVERNMENT, 1660

The King enjoyed his own again, and England rejoiced exceedingly. Even Oliver’s unbeaten soldiers, disgusted with his incompetent successors, were for the most part ready to retire into private life. Yet the spirit of the Puritan revolution survived, and the Mayor of Dover presented a richly bound Bible to the restored monarch, who graciously accepted it, remarking that it was the thing that he loved above all things in the world. At Canterbury a crowd of importunate suitors gave him some foretaste of future troubles, but the entry into London was wonderful. ‘I stood in the Strand,’ says Evelyn, ‘and beheld it, and blessed God.’ With the shouts of welcome still in his ears Charles took refuge in the arms of Barbara Palmer, and next day issued a proclamation against vicious, debauched, and profane persons.

The Irish Convention.

Coote and Broghill were jealous of each other. There is reason to believe that the former was inclined to claim the whole credit of restoring the King, but that the latter proved his own priority by producing a letter from his rival acknowledging the fact. They agreed that the Restoration might be delayed or frustrated by hasty action in Ireland, and that it was better to wait until England herself was committed to it. The officers who had gladly pronounced for a free Parliament might not have been united had royalty been openly favoured. But the Irish Convention lost no time in repudiating Cromwell’s plan of one legislature for the whole of the British Islands, while strongly approving the restoration of the secluded members in England. They declared that ‘as for several hundreds of years last passed by the laws and laudable custom and constitution of this nation, Parliaments have been usually held in Ireland and that in those Parliaments laws have been enacted and laws repealed, and subsidies granted, as public occasion required so that right of having Parliaments held in Ireland is still justly and lawfully due and belonging to Ireland, and that the Parliament of England never charged Ireland in any age with subsidies or other public taxes and assessments, until after the violence offered to the Parliament of England in December 1648, since which time they who invaded the rights of the Parliament of England invaded also the rights of the Parliament of Ireland by imposing taxes and assessments upon Ireland.’ This important declaration was not made for more than a month after the first meeting of the Convention, and the leaders had prevented news from crossing the Channel until they were sure of unanimity. It is therefore not surprising that they were reported to favour separation from England. The Convention now stigmatised this as a calumny originating with Ludlow and his friends, for the idea of separation was hateful to Ireland as absolutely destructive, ‘being generally bone of their bone, flesh of their flesh.’ It was clearly seen that the colonists would have a majority, and means were taken to make it permanent. The Convention pledged themselves to favour education, and to assist in the establishment of a pious, learned, and orthodox parochial clergy supported by tithes or endowments. The adventurers and soldiers were to be secured in the lands they had acquired, and all arrears of military pay to be cleared off.[1]

Provisional taxation.

For some months before and after the Restoration all real power was in the hands of the army, but the Irish Convention gave a show of legality to the means by which the soldiers were paid. A poll tax was imposed for this and other public charges, every person of either sex under the degree of yeoman or farmer being assessed at twelve pence, which was the minimum, and the rate rose according to social position. A baron’s contribution was fixed at thirty shillings, and that of a marquis, marchioness, or marchioness dowager at eight pounds, which was the maximum. The chief Protestant gentry were appointed collectors in each county, Coote heading the list for Roscommon and Broghill for Cork. The royalist wire-pullers in London had been urging the managers of the Convention not to go too fast for fear of alarming the Presbyterians, and it was not till May 1 that they published a declaration condemning the high court of justice and the sentence on the late King. The people of Ireland, they said, took the first opportunity afforded them of denouncing the most foul murder recorded in sacred or profane history, considering that it had been committed in a country where the true reformed religion flourished, and that it was contrary to the solemn league and covenant which the murderers had themselves taken.[2]

Charles II. proclaimed May 14.

Charles II. was proclaimed in Westminster Hall on May 8, and six days later in Dublin; and there were general rejoicings though the central figure was wanting. The shops were shut, all the finery they contained having been transferred to the citizens’ backs. Hogsheads of wine were provided for the multitude, and the more they drank the better the givers were pleased. The guns of the Castle thundered salutes, volleys of musketry were heard on all sides, bonfires and fireworks blazed until midnight. A headless figure stuffed with hay and reclining on a rude hearse was carried in a mock funeral procession, and subjected to the blows and insults of the mob. The journey ended at the mayor’s door ‘where it was in part burnt before the bonfire there, and part trod to dirt and mortar by the rout.’ Such was the end of the mighty Long Parliament.[3]

Lords Justices appointed.

Sir Charles Coote had been President of Connaught since 1645, and there was no difficulty in his case, since service under the Protector was not to be considered a disability. Broghill’s appointment, if ever regularly made, was of much later date and of republican origin, but he had the military authority and the legal presidency was soon conferred on him also. With these two was associated Major, soon after Sir William Bury of Grantham, who had been one of the Irish Council under both Protectors. These three were appointed Commissioners for the Government of Ireland in January and were members of the Convention though keeping their official work separate. Broghill was generally in London for some time after the Restoration, and Bury, who had Presbyterian leanings and whom Adair calls a religious, prudent gentleman, did not always agree with Coote. Other Commissioners were afterwards added and all were paid at the rate of 1,000l. a year until the end of 1660. In compliance with the wishes of the Irish Convention some of the great offices were filled up very soon after the Restoration. The great seal of Ireland fell to Sir Maurice Eustace, who had been Prime Serjeant and Speaker of the House of Commons as early as 1634, and had afterwards endured seven years’ imprisonment which only ended in 1658. He thought himself too old for the work, and Clarendon was of the same opinion: ‘he was now old and made so little show of any parts extraordinary, that, but for the testimony that was given of him, it might have been doubted whether he ever had any.’ Sir James Barry, the chairman of the Convention, became Lord Chief Justice. He had been Strafford’s attorney-general, and very useful to him in making out the royal title to Irish land. Sir William Domvile, who was made Attorney-General, chiefly on the recommendation of Daniel O’Neill, showed great ability and presided in the Convention in succession to Barry, who became Lord Santry. Arthur Annesley was installed in his father’s old place of vice-treasurer, and was soon created Earl of Anglesey.[4]

Monck and Robartes.

Monck, now Duke of Albemarle, claimed the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland where he had an estate, but does not appear to have had any intention of living there. Clarendon says his chief object was to make money. It became necessary to find a deputy, and Charles fixed upon Lord Robartes, whose business capacity was undoubted and who had a good reputation for honesty. He was, however, of a morose temper, seldom agreeing with others, and was much offended at being made Deputy to Albemarle, and not to the King directly, though he was offered the usual power of viceroy. The negotiation dragged on for six months, during which Robartes made enemies of all with whom he had to confer on Irish business, and at last he accepted the Privy Seal, leaving the Government of Ireland to the old Commissioners, while Albemarle, who was too important to displace, remained Lord Lieutenant. In September Coote was created Earl of Mountrath and Broghill of Orrery, and the latter showed his astuteness in securing precedence by getting his patent passed one day before his rival. On the last day of the year the two new Earls were appointed Lords Justices along with the Chancellor Eustace. They were specially authorised by the King to assemble the Irish Convention again in order to provide funds for the payment of the army. The ancient framework of Irish government was completed by appointing a Privy Council of thirty-four members among whom was Sir Philip Mainwaring, made secretary by Strafford in 1634 and still in legal possession of his office. He died a few months later, having received little or no reward for old service and for more than twenty years of poverty varied by imprisonment.[5]

Negotiations with England.

Before the Restoration was accomplished the Irish Convention sent over Sir John Clotworthy and Major William Aston as Commissioners to communicate with the still sovereign Parliament of England. Clotworthy, created Viscount Massereene a few months later, was deeply interested in the Cromwellian land settlement and gained much influence by his activity. His unconcealed Presbyterian leanings were forgiven because, in Clarendon’s words, ‘he was of a generous and a jovial nature’ and a staunch Royalist. After the Restoration these two Commissioners were appointed to attend the King along with eleven others, including Coote, Broghill, Barry, Eustace, and Audley Mervyn. They carried with them 20,000l. for Charles and lesser gifts for each of his brothers. Their instructions were to petition for an Irish Parliament consisting of Protestant Peers and Commoners and freed for this turn from the restrictions of Poynings’ law, for an act of oblivion for all Protestants subject to parliamentary exceptions, and for an act for the attainder of such persons as Parliament should select. It was desired that adventurers and soldiers should be settled in their lands and the Irish in Connaught and Clare. Impropriate tithes in the King’s hand were to be restored to the Church, and taxation was to be controlled by the Irish Parliament. These were the chief points insisted on by the dominant party, while the Irish Roman Catholic gentry in London besought Ormonde, who had been the principal means of uniting the three kingdoms, to mediate for them ‘and the remnant of their miserable nation’ who were ready to lay down their lives for the King. Sir Nicholas Plunket was usually the spokesman of these suppliants. On July 27 Ormonde, who became an Irish duke, took his seat in the House of Lords as Earl of Brecknock, and on the same day Charles concluded his speech as follows: ‘I hope I need say nothing of Ireland, and that they alone shall not be without the benefit of my mercy. They have shewed much affection to me abroad, and you will have a care of my honour and of what I have promised to them.’[6]

Position of the Roman Catholics.

Unfortunately for the chances of the Irish Roman Catholics some of them would not wait, but took forcible possession of their old lands, and there were many outrages. The extent of the disorder may have been exaggerated, but the Convention Parliament believed the worst and the result was a royal proclamation, dated only two days after the King’s entry into London, in which he declared himself ‘very sensible of the innocent blood of so many thousands of our English Protestant subjects formerly slain by the hands of those barbarous rebels.’ To prevent the further spread of lawlessness all Irish rebels except those protected by articles were to be apprehended and prosecuted. Adventurers and soldiers were not to be disturbed except by Act of Parliament or due course of law. Many were imprisoned accordingly, and Ireland was quiet while the question of future legislation was being discussed in London. The pressure of business there was so great that little progress was made during the latter months of 1660. Mountrath carried on the provisional government, but his Presbyterian colleague did not expedite the settlement of Church and State. After the appointment of regular Lords Justices things went a little faster. In January five months’ pay was due to the army on which everything depended, beside an old arrear of fifteen months, and the King found it necessary to acknowledge the Irish Convention, thanking them for what they had done, promising a Parliament as soon as possible, and asking for supplies. A poll-tax, as authorised by proclamation of the Lords Justices and Council, was accordingly imposed, baronets being assessed at six pounds with a regular scale down to husbandmen, petty farmers, and handicraftsmen, who were to pay six shillings each. With a Parliament and possible impeachment in the near future, care was taken not to tax either spiritual or temporal peers. The Church, which never ceased to be legally established, had already been restored to its own.[7]

The Church re-established.

Eight Irish Bishops had survived the great storm, and the King with Ormonde and Clarendon beside him ventured to fill the vacancies without waiting for an Irish Parliament. Papists, Presbyterians, and Sectaries were all alike powerless against the Royalist reaction. Bramhall was named for translation to the primacy very soon after the Restoration, and early in 1661 every see was provided for. Two Archbishops and ten Bishops were consecrated in St. Patrick’s Cathedral on January 27, and this unique ceremony was no doubt very impressive.

‘All the orders of the kingdom,’ wrote the new Primate to Ormonde, ‘Justices, Council, Convention, Army, City, graced it with their presence.’ The anthem was supplied by the Dean, William Fuller afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, who sang in very tolerable verse of the essential unity of Church and Crown. Jeremy Taylor, who had been over two years in Ireland, was now Bishop of Down and preached the sermon. Henry Jones of Clogher, who had been Oliver’s scoutmaster-general, was not allowed, or was perhaps too penitent to lay on hands, but held a Bible and presented it to the Primate. Taylor had no doubts about the claims of episcopacy, but in another sermon preached three months later he practically describes his own not very enviable position among the Ulster nonconformists: ‘says the papist, "I will not obey the protestant kings, because, against the word of God, they command me to come to church where heresy is preached"; "and I will not acknowledge the bishops," saith the presbyterian, "because they are against the discipline and sceptre of Jesus Christ"; and the independent hates parochial meetings, and is wholly for a gathered church, and supposes this to be the practice apostolical; "and I will not bring child to baptism," saith the anabaptist, "because God calls none but believers to that sacrament"; "and I will acknowledge no clergy, no lord, no master," saith the quaker, "because Christ commands us to ‘call no man master on the earth, and be not called of men rabbi.’" And if you call upon these men to obey the authority God had set over them, they tell you with one voice, with all their hearts, as far as the word of God will give them leave; but God is to be obeyed and not man, and therefore if you put the laws in execution against them, they will obey you passively, because you are stronger, and so long as they know it they will not stir against you; but they in the meantime are little less than martyrs, and you no better than persecutors.’[8]

Attempts to enforce uniformity.

Nonconformists were now officially styled fanatics, and Mountrath suggested that the King should make 100,000l. by excluding them from the benefit of the new settlement. Orrery was less extreme or less outspoken, but both he and Eustace were willing to give Bramhall a free hand. Only five days before the great consecration a proclamation was issued against Papists, Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptists, Quakers, and other fanatical persons. Conventicles were prohibited, the bishops being charged to see that the sheriffs and justices did their duty, while military officers were ordered to support them. Another proclamation provided for the commemoration of King Charles the Martyr on January 30, and a third for the prosecution of Tories as traitors unless they surrendered before February 18, in which case those who had not committed murder might be received to mercy on giving security for good behaviour. It was found possible to reduce the army by 1,650 men and a proportionate number of officers during the first twelve months after the Restoration, but to do this 50,000l. had to be transmitted from England. These men no doubt were paid in full, but when that was done eight months of new and fifteen months of old arrears were due to those that remained under arms. It was time to summon a parliament.[9]