Qualifications of Berkeley.
John Lord Berkeley of Stratton had long been specially attached to the Duke of York. Soon after the Restoration the King suggested that he might be made Deputy of Ireland, if no better could be had. ‘Do you think,’ said Clarendon, ‘you shall be rid of him by it? for that is all the good of it.’ ‘The truth of it is,’ replied Charles, ‘being rid of him doth incline me something to it; but when you have thought round, you will hardly find a fitter person.’ He had generally failed in all employment requiring tact or discretion, but his services as a soldier were respectable, and when he was made a peer at James’s request he took a title from the battle he had helped to win in 1643, for he did not possess an acre of his own. Being without fortune, his great object was to gild the coronet and so to put money in his purse by the most dishonest means. He thought himself fit for the highest place and was a loud and boastful talker. When Mountrath died towards the close of 1661, it had already been decided to make Ormonde Lord Lieutenant, and Berkeley applied for the Presidency of Connaught, with a view to making money of it. He had not the least intention of doing the work or of living in exile at Athlone, and Ormonde complained bitterly that the Presidency was a mere hindrance, and that he could not be held responsible for the government of Ireland, when one quarter of the island was in such hands. The duties were at least partially performed, sometimes by Berkeley’s nephew, Sir Maurice, and sometimes by Lord Kingston, who became joint-president in 1665, the office being granted to him and to Berkeley for life. The latter was content with the profits and took no further interest in Ireland until he was sent to govern it five years later.[89]
Berkeley and his secretary.
Corruption of the latter.
Andrew Marvell says, and we can well believe him, that Berkeley was ‘a man unthought of’ for the Lord Lieutenancy. His appointment was no doubt part of the scheme for subjecting the British islands to French and papal supremacy, but it is not at all likely that such a loose talker would be allowed to know about the secret part of the treaty of Dover. The Lord Lieutenant knew how the court wind blew, and was ready enough to go with it, but his instructions, whatever private hints or orders he may have had, were of the usual character. The established Church was committed to his care, and since the labourer is worthy of his hire, he was ordered to protect the property secured to her by James I. in the plantation. Since the end of Ormonde’s Government the Remonstrants had been oppressed or threatened, and Berkeley was commanded to execute the law against such titular prelates or vicars-general as had offended in this way. Sir Ellis or Elisha Leighton, a younger brother of the good Archbishop of Glasgow, went to Ireland as the Lord Lieutenant’s secretary. Roger North, in agreement with other contemporaries, calls him ‘the most corrupt man then or since living,’ who took all the bribes he could get. Pepys found him good company at a meal, but he was not ashamed to be drunk even at the viceregal table. He had been an adherent of Buckingham, and, without making any pretence of religion had become a Roman Catholic and was ready to carry out the policy of Clifford and the rest while laughing at the doctrine of transubstantiation.[90]
Indulgence of Recusants.
Oliver Plunket.
The Remonstrants thrown over.
Six weeks after Berkeley received the sword all were reported as pleased with the change except a few incorrigible fanatics. The Ulster Presbyterians, indeed, feared oppression, but Sir Arthur Forbes was able to protect them, and Primate Margetson, who was no persecutor, restrained the zeal of some northern bishops. The Conventicle Act had just been renewed in England, but the treaty of Dover was signed only a month after Berkeley’s arrival, and the Declaration of Indulgence was impending. The Roman Catholics at once felt the benefit of the change. Oliver Plunket, whom Clement IX. had just made Primate of Ireland, reached Ireland a few weeks before Berkeley. Writing from London, where he was received by the Queen, Plunket noted that Peter Walsh was there, ‘hated by all.’ Peter Talbot, made papal Archbishop of Dublin a little earlier, reached his see about the same time as Plunket, and both were present at a national synod convened by the latter in June. During the latter days of Robartes’ government Plunket found it necessary to assume the character of Captain Brown, with sword, pistols, and a wig. Berkeley, on the contrary, received him often, though secretly, assuring him and other priests that they had nothing to fear if they behaved themselves, exercising their office quietly, but eschewing politics. Before the end of the year Plunket was able to report that he had driven all the Remonstrants out of Ulster. In the following May he added that Walsh’s adherents were prostrate, and that they could not raise their heads during the existing administration, Lord Chancellor Boyle being unfavourable to them. Berkeley, though bound by his instructions to protect them, did nothing and would not allow Margetson to say a word on their behalf. Plunket was blamed by some for accepting too many invitations to the Castle, but he said that he could hardly refuse, since Lady Berkeley and the chief secretary were secretly Catholics. He even thought he could see some sparks of religion in the Lord Lieutenant. Peter Talbot, now Archbishop of Dublin, was also a frequent visitor to Berkeley, who lent him hangings for a church ceremony, and is said to have expressed a hope of seeing high mass at Christ Church in a few months. Both archbishops had a grant of 200l. a year from the King, but it seems that very little of this was paid.[91]
Blood’s attack on Ormonde.