AFTER THE CESSATION, 1643-1644
[Sidenote: The cessation condemned by Parliament.]
[Sidenote: Changed relations of parties.]
[Sidenote: Troops sent to England.]
[Sidenote: The rout at Nantwich, Jan. 1643-4.]
After the cessation had been concluded, but before its actual terms
were known in London, the two Houses published a declaration against
it, as destructive of the Protestant interest, and for the benefit
of the 'furious, bloodthirsty Papists.' Protestant opinion even in
Ireland was certainly against the cessation, and yet it was evidently
a military necessity. If the troops left Dublin the Irish would be
able to take it, and in the meantime, being unpaid, they robbed and
plundered almost as if they had been in an enemy's city. The general
result was that Ormonde and the thoroughgoing Royalists were henceforth
engaged, not in endeavouring to suppress a rebellion, but in trying to
make terms with misguided belligerents. Those Protestants who thought
more of religion and less of loyalty gravitated towards the Parliament.
Ormonde lost no time in obeying the King's order about sending troops
to England. Before the end of October one regiment from Munster had
landed at Minehead, and another at Bristol, under Vavasour and Paulet.
They were, says Clarendon, very good and excellently officered, but not
many in number, and they went to swell Hopton's ill-fated army. The
common men sympathised largely with the Parliament, though discipline
and the hope of reward kept them together. About the middle of November
2500 men from Leinster landed at Mostyn, in Flintshire. About the
same number came partly to Beaumaris and partly to the Dee early in
the next year, but before that the first detachment had suffered a
great disaster. Nantwich was garrisoned for the Parliament, and Sir
William Brereton faced Lord Byron in the field. Hawarden, Beeston, and
Northwich quickly fell into the hands of the Royalists, and about
the beginning of January Byron summoned Nantwich, which was soon hard
pressed. Fairfax spent his Christmas in Lincolnshire, and after the
capture of Gainsborough a message from Stamford informed him that
Brereton was hard pressed in Cheshire. At Manchester, which he did
not reach till January 12, he collected every available man, and on
the 21st marched towards Nantwich with 2500 foot and 28 troops of
horse. Byron's force was about the same or perhaps a little stronger.
Fairfax gained a complete victory, a large part of the contingent from
Ireland being captured in Acton church. Seventy officers and about
1600 men were taken prisoners, including Monck, who was present as a
volunteer, Colonel Warren, who commanded his late regiment, being also
taken. 'Warren's regiment,' says Sir Robert Byron, 'though they had
their beloved Colonel Monck in the head of them, was no sooner charged
than they broke, and being rallied again, the next charge ran quite
away.' Their hearts were not in the work, and some 800 men chiefly from
this regiment afterwards took service under the Parliament. They were
Englishmen and Protestants, but this was not generally believed, and
nothing made the King's cause so hopeless as the imputation of having
brought an army of Irish Papists into England. Lord Byron wished that
reinforcements should be 'rather Irish than English' because they would
have no seditious sympathies and he did not see why the King should not
employ them, 'or the Turks if they would serve him.'[45]
[Sidenote: Ormonde breaks with the Parliament.]
[Sidenote: Monck's advice to the King.]
Ormonde had misgivings about the royalism of his army, and events
showed that they were well founded. To make things as safe as possible
he obliged all who went to England to sign a protestation of allegiance
to the King and the Church, with a promise to hold no communication
with Essex or any other parliamentary officer. The soldiers were so
anxious to get out of Ireland, where they had been starving and in
rags, that they made no difficulty. Colonel Monck and Colonel Lawrence
Crawford were the only officers who refused. Crawford, who was a
covenanted Scot, was threatened with imprisonment, and took refuge
with Monro. Monck, who objected to political pledges, was deprived
of his regiment and allowed to go to Bristol, where he was arrested
by direction of Ormonde in a private letter, but was soon allowed to
go to the King at Oxford. Digby procured him an audience in Christ
Church garden, where he told Charles that the war was ill-managed, and
that the army should be reduced to 10,000 men, thoroughly equipped
and with professional officers trained in the Low Countries. A
commission was given him to raise a fresh regiment with the promise of
a major-general's command. Not having done the work before Nantwich,
he preferred to fight there in the ranks, and when taken was sent to
the Tower, where he remained in a destitute condition for two years,
writing his book on military affairs and making love to Ann Radford.
Charles, who had little to spare, once sent him 100_l._, a kindness
which Monck never forgot.[46]
[Sidenote: The Solemn League and Covenant.]
[Sidenote: Ireland a party to the Covenant.]
While Ormonde was negotiating with the Confederates under the title
of 'His Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects now in arms'--he had not
allowed them to style themselves 'Catholics' simply--a common danger
was drawing the Scottish estates and the English Parliament into a
closer alliance. One week after the conclusion of the Irish cessation
the solemn League and Covenant was published by order of the House
of Commons. The word League was introduced by Vane to emphasise the
political character of the compact, for the growing Independent party
had no idea of submitting themselves to the strict yoke of Presbyterian
polity. Making this reservation and reducing the sum promised to
30,000_l._, we may accept Baillie's account: 'The authority of a
General Assembly and Convention of Estate was great; the penalties
set down in print before the Covenant, and read with it, were great;
the chief aim of it was for the propagation of our Church discipline
to England and Ireland; the great good, and honour of our nation;
also the Parliament's advantage at Gloucester and Newbury, but most
of all the Irish cessation, made the minds of our people embrace that
means of safety; for when it was seen in print from Dublin, that in
July his Majesty had sent a commission to the Marquis of Ormonde, the
judges, and committee there, to treat with these miscreants; that
the dissenting commissioners were cast in prison; that the agreement
was proclaimed, accepting the sum of 300,000_l._ sterling from these
idolatrous butchers, and giving them, over the name of Roman Catholic
subjects now in arms, a sure peace for a year, with full liberty to
bring in what men, arms, money they could from all the world, and
to exterminate all who should not agree to that proclamation;--we
thought it clear that the Popish party was so far countenanced, as it
was necessary for all Protestants to join more strictly for their own
safety; and that so much the more, as ambassadors from France were come
both to England and us, with open threat of hostility from that Crown.'
Monro refused to be bound by the cessation, but abstained from open
hostilities until orders came from Scotland. 'Here,' says Turner, 'was
strange work, a man not able to prosecute a war, yet will not admit of
a cessation. It cost us dear, for since the King's restoration, all our
arrears were paid us by telling us we were not in the King's pay, since
we refused to obey his commands; and very justly we were so served.' By
a clever stroke of the politicians rather than the theologians Ireland
was made a party to the Covenant as 'by the providence of God living
under one King, and being of one reformed religion,' thus excluding the
Irish confederates from the rights of subjects.[47]
[Sidenote: Jealousies among the Confederates.]
[Sidenote: Antrim's nominal command.]
The confederate assembly sat at Waterford in the early part of
November, and summoned O'Neill to meet them there. It was determined
to attack Monro, and indeed a chief object of the cessation was to
have their hands free for so doing. Their great difficulty was about
the choice of a general. O'Neill was the ablest officer available,
but they feared to put so much power into his hands, and were
influenced by 'that ancient and everlasting difference' between
the North and South. They could not name Preston, between whom and
General Owen O'Neill there was 'such an antipathy as, from their first
apprenticeship in soldiery, which they had passed at least thirty
years before, notwithstanding their having served for all that time
the same princes, and been employed in the same actions of war, could
not be removed.' After much discussion Castlehaven was chosen, for he
was generally liked, and no one suspected him of personal ambition.
O'Neill was pleased at the rejection of his enemy, but he wished to
be general-in-chief, and the evils of divided command were not long
in showing themselves. In the mean time Antrim came to Waterford, and
there were some who thought good might be done at the English Court by
giving him the title of Lieutenant-General. It was, however, expressly
stipulated that he should have no real military authority in Ireland.
He did not so understand it himself, or perhaps he only pretended not
to understand, and proposed to carry into England the very forces which
had been provided for the invasion of Ulster. This claim was quickly
set aside, and Castlehaven was ordered to continue his preparations.[48]
[Sidenote: The Covenant taken in Ulster.]
[Sidenote: A deputation from the General Assembly.]
Early in December, Owen O'Connolly arrived in Ulster with instructions
from Westminster, and at once invited the English to take the Covenant.
Lord Montgomery, his uncle Sir James, Sir Robert Stewart, Sir William
Cole, Colonels Arthur Chichester, Hill, and Mervyn, and Robert
Thornton, mayor of Londonderry, met at Belfast on January 2 and decided
not to do so, but to consider themselves under Ormonde's orders, which
involved acceptance of the cessation. In writing to the Parliament they
merely asked for money to prosecute the war against the rebels. But
the bulk of the men composing what were called the British regiments,
as distinguished from Monro's Scots, were of Scottish origin, and were
induced to take the Covenant by the Presbyterian ministers, who were
vigorously supported by Sir Frederick Hamilton. All were required
at the same time to repudiate Strafford's black oath and to confess
their fault in taking it. A deputation of four ministers, one of whom
was William Adair, was sent over by the Scotch General Assembly, and
reached Carrickfergus at the end of March. Monro readily embraced the
Covenant with all his officers and soldiers except Major Dalzell,
whom Adair calls an 'atheist,' and who afterwards served in Russia,
where he learned methods of warfare which made him no less odious as
a persecutor than Claverhouse or the Laird of Lag. The country people
followed the example of the soldiers. At Belfast, where Chichester
commanded, the ministers met with some opposition, for he had published
the proclamation against the Covenant by Ormonde's orders; but
everywhere else they were received gladly. At Coleraine, Colonel Audley
Mervyn and Sir Robert Stewart were at first hostile, but the majority
were favourable. At Londonderry Adair and his colleagues appeared in
the market-place while the Church of England service was going on in
the principal church, and the mayor and others,'coming from their
sacrament, stood somewhat amazed,' but did not molest the meeting. At
Enniskillen they were equally successful, Sir William Cole, after some
little hesitation, taking the Covenant himself. They went as far west
as Rathmelton and Ballyshannon, and on their return to Londonderry
Mervyn took the Covenant, the soldiers greeting him with shouts of
'Welcome, Colonel.' Sir Robert Stewart followed suit at Coleraine.[49]
[Sidenote: Monro commands in Ulster for the Parliament.]
[Sidenote: He seizes Belfast, May 14, 1644,]
[Sidenote: and secures general obedience.]
Towards the end of December the English Parliament resolved to put the
British and Scottish forces in Ulster under one commander, and Leven
was named. He did not return to Ireland, but was authorised to appoint
a lieutenant, and so at the end of April 1644 Monro obtained the full
command. Some of his unfed and unpaid troops had gone back to Scotland,
but the remonstrances of the Ulster Protestants prevailed, and the
policy of withdrawing from Ireland was not persevered in. The colonels
of the British regiments met at Belfast on May 13 to deliberate as to
what degree of obedience they would give Monro, and he resolved to
anticipate their decision. In spite of Chichester and his proclamation
the Covenant was popular in Belfast, and had many friends among the
soldiers. Scouts were sent out during the night after the meeting
of the colonels in consequence of reports as to hostile intentions
on Monro's part. They returned about six in the morning, saying
that they had been within three miles of Carrickfergus and had seen
nothing, the probability being that they had met the Scots and come
to an understanding with them. At seven Monro appeared, and Captain
MacAdam's sergeant, who commanded the guard, at once opened the gate.
Monro marched through the town unopposed, seized the gate at the other
end, and took possession of all the cannon. Chichester was allowed to
remain in the castle, which was his own house, with 100 men, but the
other regiments were quartered outside the town. As soon as Belfast was
secured, Monro marched on to Lisburn, but there he found the garrison
on their guard and devoted to Ormonde. The English regiments were left
in possession, but Monro succeeded in getting all the Protestant troops
in Ulster to serve under him. On the last day of June he had collected
10,000 foot and 1000 horse at Armagh, and with these he marched to
Cavan.[50]
[Sidenote: Expedition to Ulster under Castlehaven, July, 1644.]
[Sidenote: Leinster and Ulster cannot agree.]
[Sidenote: The expedition a failure.]
Castlehaven's army of 6000 foot and 1000 horse were in the meantime
ordered to assemble at Granard, but not more than half had arrived
when Monro's approach was announced. He left Mountgarret's brother,
John Butler, to defend the passage into Leinster at Finnea between
Lough Sheelin and Lough Kinale. According to an Irish writer, Butler
was given to carousing at critical times, and he failed to maintain
his position. Monro advanced as far as Carlanstown Castle, which he
burned, but finding that Castlehaven and O'Neill had joined forces at
Portlester in Meath, he withdrew northwards again. He had started with
provisions for only three weeks. Castlehaven then called on O'Neill
to perform his promise of co-operating in an invasion of Ulster with
4000 foot and 400 horse, and O'Neill assured him that he should have no
reason to complain when actually operating in the northern province.
During the greater part of August and September, Castlehaven lay at
Charlemont and Monro at Tanderagee, but there was no general action,
and O'Neill was ill nearly all the time. In a skirmish at Scarva on
the borders of Down and Armagh, Captain Blair was taken, and about
100 Scots killed. In another encounter between Benburb and Caledon
three of O'Neill's officers fell, Colonel Ffennell looking on with
some of Castlehaven's horse, but doing nothing to save them. There was
evidently no love lost between the Leinster and Ulster men, and at
last, about the beginning of October, Castlehaven returned to his own
province. O'Neill upbraided him with the conduct of his officer, 'a
gentleman I see here, Lieutenant-Colonel Ffennell, with the feather,
a cowardly cock, for seeing my kinsmen overpowered by the enemy, some
of them hacked before his face, and a strong brigade of horse under
his command, and never offered to relieve them.' Castlehaven had very
little help from the Ulster Irish, except in the way of provisions.
'O'Neill,' he said, 'began to be very weary sometimes of assisting me
with cows,' and attributes the ill-success of the whole expedition to
the 'failing, or something else, of General Owen Roe O'Neill.' On the
other hand, we are told that O'Neill went to Kilkenny and demanded an
inquiry, saying that the foreign residents would think very little
of the Confederacy if neither general lost his head. A committee sat
accordingly, but no report transpired.[51]
[Sidenote: Designs of Antrim.]
[Sidenote: His agreement with Montrose, January 1643-44.]
Having failed to acquire any real influence at Kilkenny, Antrim went
to England, and arrived at Oxford December 16, 1643. He talked about
providing an army of 10,000, but was not at first taken very seriously.
'We know the person well,' said Digby, 'and therefore wondered to find
those probabilities which he made appear unto us of his power with
the Irish.' But Montrose was at Oxford, and saw his chance at once.
On January 28, an agreement was made between Montrose, 'his Majesty's
Lieutenant-General' for Scotland and Antrim, 'his Majesty's General
of the isles and highlands of Scotland,' binding both to appear in
arms by April 1. Antrim's share of the work was to levy all the men he
could in Ireland and in the Scottish isles, 'and with the said forces
invade the Marquis of Argyle's country in Scotland.' The witnesses were
Digby, Robert Spotswoode, and Daniel O'Neill. The King himself directed
Ormonde to give Antrim every possible assistance, and Daniel O'Neill
was sent with him 'by way of ballast,' and as 'the fittest person to
steer him.' It was very hard to bring the King to this point, for he
distrusted Antrim and disliked O'Neill. But Digby was in his element,
and he persuaded Charles to give Antrim a marquisate, which he vainly
imagined would make him Ormonde's equal, and to appoint O'Neill a
Gentleman of the Bedchamber, which was his great object of ambition.
At Oxford Antrim talked chiefly of the moderate courses to which he
intended to lead the Irish, but at Kilkenny he had encouraged them to
hope that by his interest all their objects would be easily gained.[52]
[Sidenote: The Confederates hesitate to send troops to England.]
[Sidenote: Antrim raises a small force,]
[Sidenote: under Alaster Macdonnell,]
[Sidenote: who joins Montrose.]
Antrim and O'Neill reached Kilkenny on February 23. In obedience to
the King's instructions, their first business was to persuade the
Confederates to send him '10,000 men, well armed, to be transported
into England with all possible expedition,' and to provide them with
artillery, ammunition, and shipping. The Supreme Council replied
that they would wait until they had a report from their agents at
Oxford. Prince Rupert's application for muskets and powder was also
set aside, but some were sent in the following autumn. The expedition
to the Scottish isles was agreed to, and the Council undertook to
provide '2000 muskets, 2400 pounds of powder, proportionable match, 200
barrels of oatmeal, by May 1, upon knowledge first had that all other
accommodations be concurring, and a safe and convenient port provided
in Ulster; provided the same port be commanded by Walter Bagenal.'
Ormonde objected to put Carlingford or Greencastle into the hands of
the Confederates' nominee, and also to Bagenal's being made governor of
Newry, the rather that he had hereditary claims there which might prove
awkward. After much wrangling, the Council agreed that the expedition
should embark at Passage in Waterford harbour, but the flotilla,
consisting of two Flemish and one Irish vessel, did not sail till June
27. The delay was aggravated by the difficulty of finding shipping, and
by the necessity of watching the parliamentary cruisers. According to
Antrim's own account, the number of men sent was about 1600, and 800
more were discharged for want of shipping. Three weeks later Ormonde
informed Digby that Antrim had sent 'from Waterford and other adjacent
places,' 2500 men well armed and provisions for two months. The chief
of the expedition was Alaster, or Alexander McColl MacDonnell, often,
but incorrectly, called Colkitto. He was a man of great courage,
remarkable for his strength and stature, and Leven thought him the
most formidable leader of the Irish. On the way to Scotland several
prizes were taken, on one of which were three ministers named Weir,
Watson, and Hamilton, being among those who had gone over to administer
the Covenant. Weir and Watson died in prison after enduring dreadful
hardships, but Hamilton lived to be exchanged after ten months'
confinement. MacDonnell reached the Sound of Mull in safety, and
seized upon the castles of Mingarry and Lochaline. The prospect was so
unpromising that he thought of re-embarking; but Argyle, with the help
of two English vessels, mastered his ships, and he was forced to go on.
The Flemings surrendered at once, but the Irish sailors, who fought
desperately, were all killed and their ship burned to the water's
edge. He harried all the Campbell territory that he could reach, and
afterwards that of the Mackenzies, and then tried to recruit his forces
on the Spey. In the meantime Montrose had entered Scotland and summoned
MacDonnell to meet him at Blair Athol. The Irish contingent took part
in the victory of Tippermuir on September 1.[53]
[Sidenote: Importance of the Irish to Montrose.]
[Sidenote: Their barbarous proceedings.]
[Sidenote: Alaster Macdonnell deserts Montrose.]
[Sidenote: Cruelty of the Covenanters.]
The epic of Montrose belongs to Scotland, but it should be remembered
that the Irish, as they are always called, formed the nucleus and the
only stable part of his army, and that when Alaster Macdonnell forsook
him, victory forsook him too. Antrim was Tyrone's grandson, and the
remains of the Ulster clans had no objection to follow him, though some
of his levies were islemen or Hebrideans settled in Ireland. Patrick
Gordon calls them 'strangers and foreigners,' adding that they showed
no pity or humanity, nor made any distinction between man and beast,
'killing men with the same careless neglect that they kill a hen or
capon for supper. And they were also without all shame, most brutishly
given to uncleanness and filthy lust; as for excessive drinking, when
they came where it might be had, there was no limit to their beastly
appetites.' Spalding, who was present when Montrose sullied his fame
by allowing the sack of Aberdeen, says they murdered and ravished for
four days. The corpses lay unburied until women ventured to move them,
for no man could show himself: 'the wife durst not cry nor weep at
her husband's slaughter before her eyes, nor the mother for the son,
nor daughter for the father; which if they were heard, then were they
presently slain also.' As long as the business consisted in harrying
Campbells or Mackenzies, Alaster Macdonnell had no difficulty in
getting recruits from his fellow tribesmen on the main land, but after
Kilsyth he and his Highlanders, who were gorged with plunder, deserted
Montrose that they might carry their acquisitions home. No commands or
entreaties of their general could prevail, says Sir James Turner, 'to
Cantire they would go, and to Cantire they did go.' They cared nothing
for Lowland or English politics. Some 500 Irish remained faithful
'because they had no place of retreat,' and these were cut to pieces
at Philiphaugh, 300 of their wives being butchered there, and many
others later at Linlithgow, where the horrors of Portadown bridge were
repeated with the parts reversed. Those who are disposed to deny the
Ulster massacres may ponder the words of Spalding and Gordon, while
nothing can excuse the cruelty practised in retaliation.[54]
[Sidenote: Confederate agents at Oxford, March 1644.]
[Sidenote: Protestant agents follow, April.]
[Sidenote: The Irish Government separately represented.]
As early as November 1643 the Supreme Council of the Confederates,
acting by order of their General Assembly, nominated seven
commissioners as agents to attend the King and to state their
grievances to him. The persons chosen were Lord Muskerry, Antrim's
brother Alexander Macdonnell, Sir Robert Talbot, Nicholas Plunket,
Dermot O'Brien, Geoffrey Brown, and Richard Martin. There is some
doubt about Martin, but all the others went over. The Lords Justices
granted them a safe conduct in January, but there was considerable
delay first at Kilkenny, and afterwards in waiting for a wind at
Wexford. They landed in Cornwall and reached Oxford March 24. As soon
as it was known in Ireland that the King would be likely to receive
the Confederate agents, the more zealous Protestants began to prepare
for a counter-mission. Charles expressed himself ready to hear both
sides. Lords Kildare, Montgomery, and Blayney were the chiefs of the
Protestant movement, and a deputation waited on Ormonde the day after
he was sworn in as Lord Lieutenant. Michael Jones was the spokesman.
Ormonde answered that he was somewhat taken by surprise, but 'for
you English and Protestants, I assure you both of assistance and
protection, and that, if need be, to the hazard even of my life and
fortunes.' The envoys first chosen were Sir Francis Hamilton, Captains
Ridgeway and Jones, and Fenton Parsons. Jones, whose parliamentary
sympathies led him to avoid the Court, refused to go, and Sir Charles
Coote was substituted with the King's consent. A petition of the
Protestants was read in the Irish House of Commons on February 17, and
approved by the House. The agents did not reach Oxford till April 17,
and the King received them next day 'in the garden at Christ Church,'
and desired them to prepare definite proposals. Charles had sent to
Ireland for Chief Justice Lowther, Sir Philip Perceval, Sir William
Stewart, and Mr. Justice Donnellan, who arrived about this time,
accompanied by Sambach, the Irish Solicitor-General. Sir H. Tichborne
and others went over later. Strafford's old secretary, Radcliffe, who
was already at Oxford, was ordered to join in their consultations. The
whole case was then handed over to a committee of the Privy Council,
consisting of the Earls of Bristol and Portland, Lord Digby, Secretary
Nicholas, Colepepper, and Hyde.[55]
[Sidenote: Attitude of Hyde, Digby and others.]
[Sidenote: Revised demands of Confederates.]
Hyde and Colepepper were hostile to the Confederates' demands, and
Radcliffe was even violent, 'which,' says a correspondent of Ormonde,
'makes the Irish swagger very severely.' Digby, who was much more
favourable to them, said their first propositions were scandalous,
and that all negotiations would have to be broken off unless they
amended them. Muskerry, on the contrary, had assured Ormonde that
their demands were an irreducible minimum. 'Neither,' he said, 'is
the highest of them such a rock, but that the King may find a way
to satisfy his people in Ireland without prejudice to his party in
England. And the real advantage of the assurance of our kingdom,
and of a nation so faithfully affected to his service, is much more
considerable than the fears and jealousies to discontent a party.'
Unfortunately for this argument, Ireland was divided into parties
quite as much as England, and concessions to Irish national feeling
were certain to deprive the King of all effective English support.
In spite of Muskerry's assurance, Digby found him and his colleagues
'beyond expectation counsellable, and they have this day, instead of
the former, presented these enclosed propositions, which though in many
things unreasonable for the King to grant, yet are not very scandalous
for them to ask.' Ormonde wrote to Muskerry advising moderation, and
foretold that the time might come when 'his Majesty might with more
safety grant, than he can as yet hear propounded' such of the agents'
desires as were in themselves just. The amended propositions demanded
the repeal of all penal laws affecting the Roman Catholics, their
relief from disabilities of every kind, and that a free Parliament,
entirely independent of the English legislature, should at once be
called. All proceedings of the Irish Parliament since August 7,
1641, should be annulled, as well as all outlawries, attainders, and
other acts affecting the Roman Catholics prejudicially since that
date. All forfeitures to the Crown in Connaught, Clare, Tipperary,
Limerick, Kilkenny, and Wicklow since 1634 were to be abandoned, and
the ancient possessors confirmed by law, the Court of Wards abolished,
and trained bands established in every Irish county. The other demands
were of less importance. Among the proposals waived by the agents
was one which virtually placed all titles to land created since the
beginning of Elizabeth's reign at the mercy of the Irish Parliament.
Another clause proposed to deprive the King of all right to maintain
a standing army in Ireland. It was also required 'that the present
Government of the said Catholics may continue within their quarters and
jurisdictions until the Parliament, and after until their grievances
be redressed by Acts of Parliament, and for a convenient time for the
execution thereof.' The original propositions were such as might
have been dictated by the victors to a conquered country. The amended
propositions, though containing many things 'in themselves just,'
involved the complete subjection of the Protestants in Ireland, and
could never be granted by an English Government. If the King granted
them it would only be because he had no longer any real power. The
Irish Privy Councillors at Oxford, though more moderate than Coote and
his colleagues, held that the toleration of Romish priests had been the
cause of the rebellion, that what was called a free Parliament would
contain few or no Protestants, most of them having been murdered or
exiled, and that Poynings' Act was one of the wisest ever made and 'one
of the precious jewels of his Majesty's imperial diadem.'[56]
[Sidenote: Protestant proposals equally extreme.]
[Sidenote: No compromise appears possible.]
If the propositions of the Confederate agents seemed scandalous to
Digby, those of Coote and his colleagues will not seem less so to
modern readers. They demanded, among other things, that all penal laws
should be strictly executed, that all the Roman Catholic clergy should
be banished out of Ireland, that the oath of supremacy should be taken
by every member of Parliament, mayor, sheriff, or magistrate; that no
lawyer refusing to take that oath should be allowed to practise; and
that there should be a 'competent Protestant army.' After a few days,
the Protestant agents were summoned to meet Ussher, Henry Leslie,
Radcliffe, and others. Radcliffe, on behalf of the Committee of
Council, said their proposals were unreasonable, and that peace could
never be made on any such terms. The agents then agreed to modify the
demands, but still insisted firmly on the full execution of the penal
laws, on maintaining the existing Parliament and Poynings' law, on the
encouragement of plantations, and on disabling lawyers who refused the
oath of supremacy. They waived the expulsion of Roman Catholic priests
and the oath _ex officio_, and also the demand that all churches
should be restored to them, rebuilt and refitted 'at the charge of the
Confederate Roman Catholics.' A week later the agents were summoned
before the King in council. Charles asked them whether they wanted
peace or war. They said they preferred peace, but only upon honourable
terms; and the King answered that he also would choose the hazard of
war rather than that they should suffer by a peace of his making. He
could not, he added, help them with men, money, arms, ammunition, or
victuals, nor could he allow them to join with those who had taken
the Covenant. It was consistent with Charles's love for tortuous ways
that he had tried to prevent Coote and his friends from knowing what
the propositions of the Confederate agents were. They had oozed out,
of course, and, making a virtue of necessity, the King now gave them
a copy and requested their answers. This was done, and the absolute
incompatibility of the two sets of agents was conclusively shown.[57]
[Sidenote: Failure of Oxford negotiations.]
[Sidenote: Both parties are referred to Ormonde,]
[Sidenote: who is authorised to make peace.]
[Sidenote: An impossible task.]
Muskerry and his colleagues left Oxford first, and were followed by
the Protestant agents on the last day of May. Both missions were
dismissed civilly enough, but neither had gained their point. Percival
told Ormonde that the failure of the Council to make any decision
was reported to be the work 'of one that labours to be commanded to
Ireland, and hopes to rule all there.' This points unmistakably to
Digby, who probably encouraged the King to refer everything back to
Ormonde. This was done by a commission dated June 24, and to enable
the Lord Lieutenant to arrive at a decision, all the propositions by
both sides during the Oxford negotiations were sent to him, and also
the King's answer to the Confederate agents. They were told that the
King would not 'declare Acts in themselves lawful to be void,' but that
the penal laws had never been harshly executed; and that if his Irish
subjects would live peaceably and loyally, they should be as moderately
administered 'as in the most favourable times of Queen Elizabeth and
King James.' He would allow a new Parliament to assemble, but 'would
by no means consent to the suspension of Poynings' Act.' Many lesser
demands were wholly or partly conceded, but religious toleration and
the Irish Parliament would still depend on the King's will. If the
Confederates could be got to accept such terms, Ormonde was authorised
to conclude peace upon that basis, and to go further if he found it
consistent with the present preservation of the Irish Protestants. If
peace could not be had on reasonable terms, then he might renew the
cessation for as long as he thought expedient. Ormonde lost no time in
informing Muskerry and his colleagues that he was commissioned to treat
for a peace or truce, and asked them to prepare the ground among their
friends. 'Let me tell you,' wrote that astute courtier Daniel O'Neill,
'that our friend the Marquis of Ormonde has a hard task put upon him:
for it is imposed upon him to end that in Ireland which all the Council
durst not look upon in England.'[58]
[Sidenote: Inchiquin visits Oxford,]
[Sidenote: and returns discontented.]
[Sidenote: He sides with the Parliament,]
[Sidenote: and secures Cork, Youghal, Kinsale and Bandon.]
During St. Leger's illness and since his death, Inchiquin had been
acting-President of Munster. His services had been great, and he
was not willing to see anyone put over his head. 'If the King,' he
wrote to Ormonde from Cork, 'have bestowed the 'presidency on any
other (though more worthy) personage, I hope your lordship will not
command my stay longer here.' Ormonde disliked his going, but gave no
direct order, and Inchiquin was at Oxford early in February. It soon
appeared that the King had many years before promised the presidency
to Portland, and though Radcliffe and Digby were in despair, the most
that could be obtained for Inchiquin was the reversion. As Portland
would not waive his claim, this really amounted to nothing. Inchiquin
received a warrant for an earldom; but that was not what he wanted,
and he did not use it. Hopes were held out to him of commanding the
Munster troops in England; but his best regiments had been assigned to
Hopton and others, and he saw no chance of anything in that direction.
At Oxford he dissembled his ill-humour, but before the end of March
it was generally known in Ireland that he 'came discontented from
Court.' Ormonde's idea was to keep the presidency of Munster vacant,
so that Inchiquin should be kept quiet by seeing the great prize
always dangling before him. Portland's object was to sell his interest
without going to Ireland; but he does not appear to have offered it to
Inchiquin, who kept pretty quiet during the spring and early summer.
When the result of the Oxford negotiations was known, he and the other
Munster officers declared strongly against a peace which could not be
had without abandoning the Protestants. As a proof of their danger,
they cited a Franciscan named Matthews who had been executed as a spy
after having confessed that he was concerned in a plot to betray Cork
to Muskerry. Ormonde had heard reports that there was some plot. After
Marston Moor it became evident that the King was powerless to protect
the Irish Protestants, and Inchiquin resolved to throw in his lot with
the Parliament. Broghill afterwards told Ludlow that he persuaded
him without much difficulty to take this step. The letter in which
Inchiquin declared himself--for he assured Ormonde that this was his
first advance--was signed also by Broghill as governor of Youghal, and
by the governors of Cork, Kinsale, and Bandon. Each of the subscribers
offered to go on board a parliamentary ship as a hostage, there to
remain until all four towns were in sure hands. A letter with the same
signatures was also sent to the King, who was urged to come to terms
with the Parliament as the only means of saving the Irish Protestants.
Aware that he might be distrusted, Inchiquin reminded the governor of
Portsmouth that he was forsaking a plentiful fortune 'for the good of
the cause,' and that he was ready to make room if another commander was
thought fitter to subdue the Irish rebels. Bandon was easily secured,
for it was a Protestant place; but Inchiquin took the strong step of
expelling the Irish inhabitants from Cork, Youghal, and Kinsale. This
was a very harsh measure, especially for a chief of the O'Briens; but
it may be defended on military grounds, the only defence of the Munster
Protestants lying in the four garrisons, without which they would be
quite cut off from England. Inchiquin's brother Henry, after making
great professions of attachment to the King, surrendered Wareham on
August 24 and brought his regiment over to serve the Parliament in
Ireland.[59]
FOOTNOTES:
[45] Bell's _Memorials of the Civil War_ (Fairfax Correspondence), i.
68; Dugdale's Journal in his _Short View_. Fairfax's report to Essex
is in _Rushworth_, v. 302; the accounts of Byron and his brother
Robert in Carte's _Original Letters_, i. 36-42. See also Fairfax's
_Short Memorials_ in Somers Tracts, v. 387; Clarendon's _Hist. of the
Rebellion_, vii. 403; and Gardiner's _Civil War_, i. 346.
[46] Gumble's _Life of Monck_, 18; Carte's _Life of Ormonde_, i. p.
468. Crawford wrote an account of his proceedings under the title of
_Ireland's Ingratitude to the Parliament of England_, &c., which was
published by order of the House of Commons, February 3, 1643; and see
_Carlyle_, i. 173.
[47] Text of the Solemn League and Covenant in _Rushworth_; Baillie's
_Letters_, ii. 102-103; Sir James Turner's _Memoirs_, p. 29.
[48] Colonel O'Neill's _Journal_; _Castlehaven_, p. 46; _Bellings_,
iii. 3-7.
[49] Rev. Patrick Adair's MS. in Reid's _Presbyterian Church_, ii.
439-454. Adair's narrative was published at Belfast in 1867.
[50] Benn's _Hist. of Belfast_, 103-109; Turner's _Memoirs_, p. 33;
Report to Ormonde, May 27, 1644, in _Contemp. Hist._ i. 586.
[51] Castlehaven's _Memoirs_, 48-53; O'Neill's Journal in _Contemp.
Hist._ iii. 202-4; British armies in Ulster to Ormonde, _ib._ i. 602.
The abusive account in the _Aphorismical Discovery_ may be neglected;
it absurdly states that Castlehaven was 'no soldier,' _ib._ i. 84.
_Bellings_, iii. 11.
[52] The agreement between Montrose and Antrim is printed from the
original in Hill's _Macdonnells of Antrim_, 267. If the date, January
28, be right, then the King's and Digby's letter to Ormonde of the 20th
were not despatched for several days. Digby to Ormonde, February 8,
1644-5, in appendix to Carte's _Ormonde_. The intrigues at Oxford are
amusingly described by Clarendon, _Hist. of the Rebellion_, book viii.
264-278.
[53] The King's instructions to Antrim, January 12, 1643-4, in
_Confederation and War_, iii. 88; Negotiation at Kilkenny, _ib._ 112;
Bellings to Ormonde, _ib._ iv. 276; Letters of Daniel O'Neill in
_Contemp. Hist._ i. 569; Antrim to Ormonde, June 27, 1644, in appendix
to Carte's _Ormonde_; Ormonde to Digby, _ib._ July 17, and to Nicholas,
July 22; Narrative by one of Macdonnell's officers in Carte's _Original
Letters_, i. 73; Reid's _Presbyterian Church_, i. 459-464; Napier's
_Memoirs of Montrose_, chap. 22. Turner (_Memoirs_, 39), who, however,
was not present at Tippermuir, says Montrose won with 'a handful of
Irish, very ill-armed.'
[54] Spalding's _Hist. of the Troubles_, ii. 265-7; Patrick Gordon's
_Abridgment_, 65, 133, 161, 181. Wishart thinks Alaster 'Macdonaldorum
res privatas impendio curasse: de publico parum solicitum.' See also
Napier's _Memoirs of Montrose_, chaps. 22-27, and Gardiner's _Civil
War_, chaps. 26, 30, 33, and 36; Turner's _Memoirs_, p. 240.
[55] _Bellings_, iii. 6, and in the same volume, Safe conduct for
agents, January 4, 1643-4, and letter to Bellings, April 7-10;
Michael Jones's speech, January 22, in appendix to Carte's _Ormonde_;
_Rushworth_, v. 897-900. The names of the Committee of Council are
given by Carte, but in the first letter to Bellings, mentioned above,
Cottington is added and Hyde omitted. It appears from Rushworth that
both attended the Committee.
[56] The original propositions are in _Confederation and War_, iii.
128; the amended ones in _Rushworth_, v. 909. See also the following
letters in appendix to Carte's _Ormonde_: Arthur Trevor to Ormonde,
March 25, 1644; Radcliffe to Ormonde, April 2; Digby to Ormonde,
April 2; Muskerry to Ormonde, March 29; Ormonde to Muskerry, April
29. Statement by the delegates of the Council of Ireland in _Egmont
Papers_, i. 212-229, which seems to have been read or spoken by Lowther
or one of his colleagues to Charles's Privy Council.
[57] _Rushworth_, v. 901-917. A manifesto published in French at Lille,
January 26, 1642-3, and intended for foreign consumption, contains the
following demands of the Confederates: '(1) That the Catholic religion,
the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and the religious orders be restored, and
no sect or heresy tolerated, except that of Protestants existing (_qui
a vogue_) in England, Germany, and some other provinces; that there be
no bishop other than Catholic; that the priests enjoy all benefices
and Church revenues; and that the Protestant ministers enjoy only such
bishoprics [_sic_] or benefices as those of their sect shall procure
them for a living. (2) That we be governed by a Catholic President,
Council, and officers; that all governors of castles, fortresses,
towns, and districts be Catholics,' &c. Reprinted in _Confederation and
War_, iii. 336.
[58] Sir Philip Percival to Ormonde, May 23, in appendix to Carte's
_Ormonde_; the King's commission to Ormonde, his instructions, and his
answers to the Confederate agents, in _Confederation and War_, iii.
175, 198, 208; Daniel O'Neill to Arthur Trevor, July 26, in Carte's
_Original Letters_.
[59] Inchiquin to Ormonde, January 3 and February 10, 1643-4, in
appendix to Carte's _Ormonde_, and in the same volume letters from
Radcliffe and Digby to Ormonde, February 8-20, and Ormonde to Digby,
March 8; _Bellings_, iii. 14, and one of March 29 from the Supreme
Council to Ormonde; Inchiquin to Ormonde, July 23 and August 4,
in Calendar of _Clarendon S.P._; Letters of Inchiquin, Broghill,
and others to the King and Parliament, and Declaration of Munster
Protestants, July 17 and 18, in _Rushworth_, v. 918-924; Ludlow's
_Memoirs_, ed. Firth, i. 85. Besides those in _Rushworth_, Inchiquin's
letters to Jephson, governor of Portsmouth, to Colonel St. Leger, and
to Sir J. Powlet were published in pamphlet form in 1644. For Henry
O'Brien, see Walker's _Discourses_, p. 46, and _Bellings_, iv. 10.