[CHAPTER XXXIV]
CLANRICARDE AND IRETON, 1651
The plague and famine.
When Ludlow landed in Ireland a few weeks after Ormonde left, one of his first acts was to sign a proclamation prohibiting the slaughter of calves and lambs. The waste of the war had been so great that there was a danger of depleting the country of its stock. Starvation was imminent everywhere, and to this the plague was added, which first appeared in Galway and was supposed to be imported from Spain. The Aphorismical Discovery relates with something like glee that the first house visited was that of Sir Richard Blake, which had been cursed by Rinuccini, and that the contagion flowed thence ‘as from a channel, the divine vengeance of high power unto the respective provinces of Ireland, except Ulster, as not guilty of either censure, curse, or ejection of my lord nuncio.’ Ludlow says simply that it reached most parts, and Bishop O’Brien of Emly that it was in every corner. It was very bad in the south, Kilkenny, Waterford, and Limerick being severely scourged. Bishop Comerford of Waterford estimates the deaths in his own diocese at 5000, and many priests were taken. ‘Our sins,’ he adds, ‘have provoked this scourge.’
A devoted friar.
At first the English soldiers were nearly exempt, but suffered equally afterwards; as a punishment, Ireton thought, for trusting in the carnal arm and not giving God the glory. The bishops and the clerical politicians generally do not show to advantage in their disputes with Ormonde, and the narrative of a poor friar is much better worth reading. Having visited in disguise Kilkenny, Ross, and many other places he came to Waterford, where many were dying of the plague. ‘Here have I been,’ he says, ‘these six weeks ministering indifferently to poor and rich, and here I intend to stay until plague or gallows ends my life. I had no confessor until God sent an English priest to this city, who, coming lately out of Spain into England, was pressed for military service by the Parliamentarians, who did not know he was a priest, and sent with others to Ireland, where he escaped and is now in hiding here. I go freely about the city as gardener of its chief heretic, and even work at carrying burdens with the porters. I am indifferent whether God continues thus to hide me or not, but if I can get away unrecognised I will go to Dungarvan and Youghal and so round Ireland until He pleases to take me to Himself. Our father Gregory is within fifteen or twenty miles, but being known and unwieldy he cannot come to me, nor can I go to him or account of the scarcity of priests in these parts, all the native clergy being driven out.’[194]
A regicide government.
Ludlow and Cromwell.
Instructions to the Commissioners, Oct. 1650.
Ireton was Lord Deputy, and commanded the army, but the Council of State found it necessary to give him help in the civil government. After some discussion, Edmund Ludlow, Miles Corbet, John Jones, and John Weaver were appointed to settle the affairs of Ireland ‘with the advice and approbation of General Cromwell, Lord Lieutenant thereof, and Henry Ireton, Esq., his deputy, or either of them.’ Of these commissioners the first three were regicides, while Weaver had been appointed one of the late King’s judges, but had never acted. Ludlow was also general of the cavalry, and his friends suggested that Cromwell only wished to get him out of the way, ‘but I,’ he says himself, ‘could not think myself so considerable and therefore could not concur with them in that opinion.’ He was not anxious to go, but Cromwell declared that he was the fittest man, and that private affairs must yield to those of the public. The Commissioners were instructed to advance religion and to suppress ‘idolatry, popery, superstition, and profaneness,’ executing the statutes against Recusants and taking care that Papists should have no public employment, nor be allowed to ‘practise as counsellors at law, attorneys, or solicitors, nor to keep schools for the training up of youth.’ They were to study the revenue and reduce expenses as soon as the progress of the war allowed, and to take especial pains as to the administration of justice. Ludlow and his colleagues were all at Waterford before the end of January, and Lady Ireton, who travelled with them, joined her husband there.[195]