and with the Parliament,
but nothing is settled.
‘Besides the hatred of the generals,’ Digby wrote from the midst of Rinuccini’s partisans, ‘their men have a greater animosity one against another, than those at Dublin have against either.’ But for this the capital might probably have been taken, for the defences were very weak, ammunition was scarce, and famine was always in sight. The fortifications were, however, repaired as well as possible, the ladies, with the Marchioness of Ormonde at their head, setting an example to the citizens by carrying baskets of earth. Ormonde had destroyed the bridges over the Liffey, and the mills, so that the Irish had great difficulties about food. Negotiations were opened by the Lord Lieutenant with the Ulster Scots, but they ended in nothing, for the survivors of Benburb were too few and too much discouraged to play an active part. Colonel George Monro, whose Royalist proclivities were doubtless known to Ormonde, apologised for his enforced inactivity. The Lord Lieutenant suggested that 500 Scots should come to Dublin, but the officers did not see their way to go so far south, though they were willing to act as a garrison for Drogheda. The Lord Lieutenant was not likely to accept such an offer, for Drogheda was in no danger. Negotiations had also been opened with the Parliament, whose fleet lay out in the bay. Sir Francis Willoughby, Sir Gerald Lowther, Chief Baron, and Sir Paul Davis, clerk of the Council, sailed on Michaelmas Day, and reached London a fortnight later. They were heard by a committee of the Commons, and five commissioners, of whom Sir John Clotworthy was one, reached Dublin on November 12 with power to treat for its surrender. The negotiations lasted for ten days, failing at last mainly because Ormonde would not deliver up the sword of state without actual orders from the King, and thus dissolve the remnant of the Irish Parliament on which the Protestants relied. The other points upon which the Lord Lieutenant insisted and the commissioners failed to satisfy him, were that they could give him no assurance for their estates ‘to the Papists who adhered to his Majesty’s Government since October 22, 1641’; that the Covenant should not be pressed, nor the Book of Common Prayer suppressed; and that official vested interests should be preserved. Ormonde was perhaps less anxious to come to terms because the mere appearance of the commissioners had averted the danger of a siege, and because he had been allowed to procure powder from the Parliamentary ships. The supplies intended for Dublin were carried by Clotworthy and his colleagues to Ulster.[101]
Vacillation of Preston.
One of Digby’s schemes.
Preston’s mental reservations.
The conduct of Preston throughout the whole of these proceedings showed the weakness of the Confederate position as well as of his own character. First he gave Ormonde to understand that he would prevent O’Neill from marching southwards, and then he let the nuncio persuade him to join forces with the northern general in the attempt to intercept Ormonde and in threatening Dublin. On August 26 he wrote to invite the Lord Lieutenant’s commands as to the disposition of troops to prevent O’Neill from entering Leinster. On September 5 he excused himself from personal attendance. On the 17th he lamented that clerical threats of excommunication prevented him from obeying any of the Lord Lieutenant’s orders. On October 10 he found that the peace published in his camp and by his authority was ‘destructive to my religion and liberty of the nation,’ and contrary to his oath as a Confederate. On the 21st he swore solemnly to aid O’Neill in attacking Dublin, to ‘use and exercise all acts of hostility against the Lord Marquis of Ormonde and his party,’ and to damage him in every possible way. Digby, who was a sanguine man, thought it possible to kidnap O’Neill and Rinuccini and carry them to Dublin, and to spike Preston’s guns, and he was also inclined to believe that something might be done with that vacillating general. Ormonde was less hopeful, but his patience was inexhaustible, and he resolved to make another effort, and Preston took care to let him know privately that he was not really irreconcilable, and would not join O’Neill, and that if he captured towns or castles it was only to prevent the Ulster general from getting them. Clanricarde was sent for from Portumna, and came to Luttrellstown, where he was in a position to communicate with all parties.[102]
Extreme demands of the nuncio.
Ormonde’s distrust of the Confederates.
Agreement between Digby and Preston.