The dispensing power exercised.
During the Commonwealth and Protectorate the corporate towns had lost many of their inhabitants and much of their trade. It had not been found possible to replace the ancient inhabitants by a sufficient number of English Protestants, and in May 1661, barely one year after the Restoration, Charles II. directed the Irish Government to allow facilities for trade ‘without making any national distinction between our subjects of that our kingdom, or giving any interruption upon pretence of difference of judgment or opinions in matters of religion.’ But by the Act of Settlement houses in corporations were assigned as security to officers serving before June 5, 1649, and by the Act of Explanation no one was to be allowed to purchase such houses without taking the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, except by the Lord Lieutenant’s licence first obtained. The loop-hole left was not wide enough to admit any very large number of recusants, and a further step was taken early in 1671. The Lord Lieutenant was directed to give a general licence to all persons, irrespective of race and religion, to buy or hire houses in towns, and so restore trade to its former flourishing state, as intended by the King’s letter in 1661. Papists were to be restored to all the privileges they enjoyed under Charles I. on taking the usual oath of allegiance without that of supremacy. A proclamation to this effect was issued a few days later, but the results were inconsiderable, for Berkeley’s government came to an end very soon afterwards and a different policy prevailed at Court.[96]
Riots in Dublin.
How far religious differences were concerned does not appear, but Berkeley was involved in difficulties with the citizens of Dublin during his whole term of office. He promoted the building of a wooden bridge over the Liffey at the west end of Ussher’s Island. Whether the citizens disliked the expense or whether those interested in the ferry objected is uncertain, but in July 1671, when the Lord Lieutenant was absent in England, a large mob of apprentices attacked the unfinished structure. Soldiers quickly appeared, and about thirty of the rioters were arrested. A few days later, when the prisoners were being escorted to a more permanent place of confinement, another mob of apprentices with swords and staves effected a rescue on Merchants’ Quay, but the guard fired and three men were killed. After this there was a strong inclination towards further disturbances. More than a year later Essex reported that these riots had left an uneasy feeling. The bridge was, however, finished, and afterwards replaced by a stone one, which was called the Bloody Bridge even in our own times.[97]
Berkeley discredited.
Corruption of Leighton.
Whether the affair of the bridge was cause or effect, it soon appeared that there were two parties in Dublin. Sir John Totty, the Lord Mayor, and the majority of the common councillors, took one side and were favoured by the Lord Lieutenant. Sir William Davis, the Recorder, with most of the aldermen, joined the other party. Enraged by opposition, and finding the disorder likely to increase, Berkeley called upon Davis to frame rules for the conduct of the city business which would have had the effect of making the corporation very close. Knowing that this would be unpopular, the Recorder exacted a promise that his name should not be mentioned, but this promise was not kept. The rules were declared temporary, and really came to nothing. Essex thought the main object of them was to enable a party in the corporation to job the water-rate. Davis was married to the Chancellor-archbishop’s daughter, and he consulted his father-in-law, whom the Lord Lieutenant treated with great rudeness. In the end Totty, who had been knighted by Berkeley in church, called an irregular meeting at which Davis was removed from his place along with seven aldermen. Sir Ellis Leighton was then appointed to the lucrative office of Recorder, and Totty made himself clerk of the tholsel, where fees were, of course, to be had. Totty was a needy man, and Leighton is described by one whom he had robbed as ‘worse than any Jew—pity he should be suffered to compound so palpably for his bribes.’ Davis went to London as soon as he could, and found that it had already been decided to supersede Berkeley, who received strict orders to make no more appointments, particularly in Dublin, where disorders had followed upon his changes.[98]
Fire at the Castle.
Besides the riots and the theatre accident, Berkeley’s short reign was distinguished by a fire at the Castle during a calm night in May 1671. Some thought it was malicious, others that it was the result of carelessness. Fortunately there were but two or three barrels of powder, one of which was used to blow up an adjacent building, having been carried through the fire by Ormonde’s younger son John and Anthony Hamilton, author of the famous Grammont memoirs.[99]