CHAPTER XXVII

THE ORMONDE PEACE, 1646

[Sidenote: Glamorgan and the nuncio.]

[Sidenote: Digby in Dublin.]

[Sidenote: Rinuccini and the Confederates not in accord.]

[Sidenote: Attitude of Henrietta Maria.]

While at Rochelle waiting for his ship, Rinuccini had seen Geoffrey

Baron, treasurer of the Confederation, who told him that no peace had

yet been made in Ireland, and who brought a letter from Glamorgan.

Baron, 'a cavalier of excellent countenance and very affable manner,'

was on his way to Paris to succeed O'Hartegan, who seems to have

returned to Ireland a little later. Glamorgan returned from Dublin

to Kilkenny one week after the nuncio's arrival, and in due course

delivered the King's letter to him. Of that to the Pope he only showed

the address, but he disclosed the contents of two 'patents in which

the King gives him secret but full powers to conclude a peace with the

Irish, on whatever terms he thinks advisable.' In the meantime Lord

Digby, who bore the now empty title of principal secretary of state,

had arrived in Dublin. It was characteristic of Charles's diplomacy

that his English minister was even more ignorant of Glamorgan's

business than his Irish viceroy. Glamorgan was sanguine that the nuncio

would agree to everything required; but Ormonde calls him 'the Italian

bishop,' and an 'unbidden guest,' which he would not have done had he

known of the King's letter to him. Rinuccini found that the majority of

the Confederates were inclined to accept Ormonde's political articles,

and to leave the religious question for later consideration. Noblemen

and lawyers saw plainly enough that the King could not grant what would

satisfy the Pope without making his position in England hopeless, and

they wished to save their properties with the hope of later concessions

in church matters. The certain ruin of the royal cause was the worst

thing that could happen, for from the Parliament nothing but evil was

to be expected. Some, says Rinuccini, 'audaciously declare that the

Catholic interest could not fail to prosper under the government of a

nobleman so warmly attached to the cause of Ireland as the Marquis of

Ormonde; others are not ashamed to say that it is sufficient to perform

the Catholic service in secret, provided it can be done in safety, and

that to expect more than this from the King, restricted as he is at the

present moment in his liberty, would be open injustice; and finally,

that it is not lawful to contend with him in this cause. No one holds

forth more loudly in favour of this doctrine than that priest Leyburn

sent here six months ago by the Queen, and whose words almost amount to

sedition.' Leyburn's mission was known and feared at Rome, where it was

well understood that Henrietta Maria was willing to make peace 'without

one word concerning religion,' and considered 'the whole well-being of

the Catholics to depend on peace with the Protestants.' A still greater

obstacle to peace on Rinuccini's terms was the personal popularity of

Ormonde, and the fact that the Council 'were mostly relations, friends,

clients, or dependants of his house.'[82]

[Sidenote: Arrest of Glamorgan.]

[Sidenote: Examination of Glamorgan.]

[Sidenote: His answer.]

[Sidenote: The Irish Government horror-struck.]

A copy of the Glamorgan treaty came into Ormonde's hands, and was shown

to Digby, who was in Dublin before the end of November. Glamorgan

himself reached the Irish capital on Christmas Eve, and on St.

Stephen's Day he was arrested at Digby's instance, and closely confined

to the Castle, 'yet with needful attendance and accommodation,' and

not as Rinuccini heard, 'without even a servant left to attend him.'

The prisoner being brought before the Council, Digby produced copies

of the treaty, of the 'pretended authority' of March 12, 1644-5, and

of the oath taken by Glamorgan. The King complained at this time that

Ormonde had been long without writing, the fact probably being that

he knew just enough to make him cautious and not enough to enable

him to advise. The fatal papers were read to the Irish Council, Digby

declaring that the commission was either forged or obtained by fraud,

or at the very least limited by other instructions. It was 'destructive

both to his regality and religion,' and such as the King would

never grant to save his Crown or life, or the lives of his wife and

children. Next day Glamorgan was examined on interrogatories, framed

so as to shield Charles while accumulating blame upon his agent. It

was not sought to prove that he had forged the King's commissions of

January 12 and March 12, for probably both Ormonde and Digby knew in

their hearts that they were genuine, though they had not seen them

before the conclusion of the treaty. The fourth interrogatory was as

follows: 'Did your lordship grant, conclude, and agree, on the behalf

of his Majesty, his heirs and successors ... that the Roman Catholic

clergy of Ireland should and might from thenceforth for ever hold and

enjoy all and every such lands, tenements, tithes, and hereditaments

whatsoever by them respectively enjoyed within this kingdom, or by

them possessed at any time since October 23, 1641, and all other such

lands, tenements, tithes, and hereditaments belonging to the clergy

within this kingdom, other than such as are now actually enjoyed by his

Majesty's Protestant clergy?' In reply Glamorgan acknowledged the words

of the treaty, while considering them 'not obligatory to his Majesty.'

He was afterwards allowed to add the words 'and yet without any just

blemish of my honour, my honesty, or my conscience.' At the end of four

days Glamorgan was released from close imprisonment, but confined to

the walls of the Castle for more than three weeks longer. In reporting

to the King the Lord Lieutenant and Council confess that they were

'stricken with most wonderful horror and astonishment to find so sacred

a majesty so highly scandalled and dishonoured.' And, said Ormonde for

himself, 'it is manifest that the retarding of the peace is no way

on the part of me the Lieutenant, but ought rather to be attributed

to that underhand dealing of the said Earl, whereby that party have

been encouraged to hope for such concessions as they themselves had

before receded from, as wanting confidence to insist on matters so

unreasonable.' It was pointed out that Glamorgan had mis-recited

the commission authorising Ormonde to treat for peace, that he had

acknowledged Mountgarret's 'usurped style and title' as Lord President

of the Supreme Council, and that 'he had strangely misinterpreted the

facts of the case when he discerned the alacrity and cheerfulness of

the said Catholics to embrace honourable conditions of peace.' They had

shown their loyalty by 'entertaining a nuncio from the Pope,' and at

the same time negotiating with a messenger from the King of Spain, 'and

how comely it is that such treaty with foreigners should be held at the

same time that they are in treaty with his Majesty's commissioners we

humbly submit to his Majesty's high wisdom.'[83]

[Sidenote: Charles repudiates Glamorgan.]

[Sidenote: Negotiations for peace interrupted.]

[Sidenote: Glamorgan released on bail.]

As soon as Charles heard of the proceedings in Dublin, he proceeded

characteristically to repudiate Glamorgan, to whom, he said, he had

given a commission to raise and employ troops, 'and to that purpose

only.' All his other doings were without warrant, and 'framed of his

own head.' For himself the King was quite ready to go to London and to

confer with the two Houses on the basis of making no peace in Ireland

without their consent. Failing such a conference, Ormonde was to make

a treaty which would preserve the Irish Protestants and the Crown,

without being derogatory to the King's honour and public professions.

With chivalrous loyalty, which cannot be too much commended, Glamorgan

kept silence under this undeserved rebuke. He had already shown Ormonde

the original and given him an attested copy of a document which was

probably the patent of April 1, 1644, strictly charging him to keep

it secret. It might be useful to the Lord Lieutenant for his 'future

warrantry to his Majesty,' but publication would not be for the King's

service. Ormonde sent a copy of this paper to the King, describing it

as 'of an extraordinary nature and way of penning,' but expressing

no doubts of its genuineness. The Supreme Council at Kilkenny said

negotiations could not go on nor Chester be relieved until 'a nobleman,

so highly esteemed by the nation, and chosen general of that army

by the unanimous vote of the Confederate Catholics, were released.'

To Ormonde Charles averred 'on the word of a Christian' that he

never intended Glamorgan to do anything without his approbation. A

prosecution of the Earl was necessary to clear his Majesty's honour,

but he had been actuated by mistaken zeal. The King was quite satisfied

with the Lord Lieutenant, and begged him not to sentence Glamorgan,

unless he found it too dangerous not to do so. Glamorgan was liberated

after nearly a month's detention, but bound to appear within thirty

days after summons, bail being given for 40,000_l._, half on his own

part and half on that of the Earls of Clanricarde and Kildare. Both the

sureties had houses in Dame Street, where service was declared good.

Glamorgan went back to Kilkenny, entering the town late 'to avoid the

vanity' of popular demonstrations in his favour, and Rinuccini was

rather sorry to see him, because his return removed one obstacle to the

conclusion of peace. The interest of Rome was to continue the war, and

the nuncio pleaded hard for delay, at least until the articles came to

which the Pope had agreed.[84]

[Sidenote: Mission of Sir Kenelm Digby.]

[Sidenote: The Queen's religion.]

[Sidenote: The broken reed to be sacrificed.]

In the spring of 1645 Henrietta Maria sent Sir Kenelm Digby to Rome.

The choice of this fantastic genius was not a happy one, and the

cool-headed Italians soon found that he was not a serious diplomatist.

He could show no authority from the King, and that derived from an

exiled Queen, who was hated in England and not much loved in Ireland,

hardly afforded security enough. He received an order for 20,000

Roman crowns to be laid out in munitions of war, and carried with him

articles to which he undertook to get the royal consent. He left Rome

in December for Paris, where he was to see the Queen. After that he

proposed to visit the King in England and the nuncio in Ireland. He

was at Nantes at the end of January and on the point of sailing for

Ireland, but returned to Paris instead, whence he made his way back to

Rome a few months later. 'Let him say what he will,' wrote Bonaventure

Barron to Wadding, 'this is certainly true that excepting going to

mass, the Queen has no other religion than the Lord Jermyn's, and

that both are all agreeing in this, that while there is any hope of

relieving the King by a Protestant, a Catholic shall never be admitted

to his succour, and while they think the Scots can do it, the Irish

shall never be admitted to a communication in the work, much less to

any good conditions for our nation, which is equally hated by the King,

Parliament, Scots, Queen, and Jermyn.' This was written in May, after

Charles had left Oxford on that sad journey which ended in the Scotch

camp, but the learned Franciscan was well informed, and had perhaps

seen some of the letters received by the Queen. In January the King had

told his wife that Ireland 'must at all times be sacrificed to save the

crown of England, Montreuil assuring me that France, rather than fail,

will assist me in satisfying the Scots' arrears.' His later letters to

her are in the same spirit, and with some reason from his own point of

view, he declares the Irish wanting in generosity. Colepepper about the

same time pronounced Ireland to be a broken reed, and the same simile

was applied at Rome to the heretics upon whom King and Queen alike were

disposed to lean.[85]

[Sidenote: Sir Kenelm Digby's treaty.]

[Sidenote: Protestants to be excluded from office.]

[Sidenote: An Irish invasion of England.]

[Sidenote: The nuncio throws over Glamorgan,]

[Sidenote: who gives up his treaty.]

[Sidenote: Ormonde's reflections on the business.]

A copy of the articles agreed to with Digby was sent to Rinuccini

early in November 1645, and reached him in due course. This paper

was unsigned, and differed in some respects from the formally

authenticated version entrusted to Sir Kenelm himself, but the main

points were the same. Seven articles applied to Ireland, and by

them the King was required to grant the free and public exercise of

the Roman Catholic religion, and to restore the hierarchy, with all

churches and church property. The abbey lands 'pretended' to have been

confirmed to lay grantees by Cardinal Pole were to be left to a free

Parliament, and so were the bishoprics in the King's hands. All penal

laws passed since 'the defection of Henry VIII.' were to be first

abrogated by the King and then repealed by a free Irish Parliament,

'independent of that of England.' The viceroy and all the chief

placeholders were to be Catholics, and all towns, including Dublin,

to be placed in Catholic hands, and the King was to join his forces

with those of the Confederate Catholics so as to drive the Scots and

the Parliamentarians out of Ireland. When the King had done these

things, 'and whatever else Monsignor Rinuccini may add to or alter in

these articles,' the Pope would give the Queen 100,000 Roman crowns.

In England all penal laws were to be repealed and all disabilities

removed, and the kingdom was to be invaded by 12,000 infantry under

Irish chiefs, who were to be assisted by at least 2,500 English cavalry

with Catholic officers. As soon as a landing and junction had been

effected the Pope was to pay his money in twelve monthly instalments,

a like sum to be paid in the second and third year if circumstances

justified it. By an article added afterwards six months were given

for the ratification of the Irish articles, and ten for the English,

'after which his Holiness will not be bound by his present promise.'

Rinuccini received this document in February while the General Assembly

was sitting at Kilkenny. Glamorgan, not without some wry faces and

much to the disgust of his friends, at once agreed to abandon his own

treaty and to adopt Sir Kenelm Digby's. It was an excuse for delay that

the original had not yet come to hand, and that was the nuncio's main

object. Glamorgan was reminded that he had exceeded his instructions,

that he had talked at Dublin about what he had orders to keep secret,

that he had spoken of using an Irish army to force the King's hand,

and in short that he could only cast off his load of responsibility

by submitting to the Pope. It was evident that he could do nothing by

himself, and that his promises had melted into air, 'Lord Digby having

declared that the Protestants would rather throw the King out of window

than permit his Majesty to confirm them.' Speaking in the assembly

Rinuccini said that Glamorgan's treaty was worthless because its

confirmation depended on the will of another, and that the Roman treaty

was every way preferable. Both were really waste paper, and everyone

at Kilkenny knew it except the clergy and the clericals. Ormonde

reminded Glamorgan that the chief object of the peace was to relieve

Chester, and that could not be done unless troops were sent at once.

To this the poor man answered that the Queen's powerful hand effaced

the 'clandestine hopes' of his own endeavours. A burnt child, he said,

dreads the fire, and he would most willingly leave treaty-making to the

Lord Lieutenant, who could not as 'a great and public minister of State

and real Protestant' appear publicly, but who might give a hint to his

friends at Kilkenny to deal with the nuncio. For himself he proposed

to raise 100,000_l._ in Catholic countries, which was impossible if

the Pope were 'irritated,' or the nuncio 'disgusted.' Rinuccini, he

added, had agreed to let 3000 men go at once for the relief of Chester,

and he believed shipping could be readily had. When this was written

Chester had fallen, and a rumour had reached Ormonde when he penned

an answer in his best manner. 'My Lord,' he said, 'my affections and

interests are so tied to his Majesty's cause that it were madness in me

to disgust any man that hath power and inclination to relieve him, in

the sad condition he is in, and therefore your Lordship may securely

go on in the ways you have proposed to yourself to serve the King

without fear of interruption from me, or so much as inquiring into the

means you work by.' For himself he had a commission to treat with the

Confederates, and he intended to do so without venturing 'upon any new

negotiation foreign to the powers he had received.' In the meantime

the proposed succours were likely to be too late.[86]

[Sidenote: Glamorgan's oath of fealty.]

[Sidenote: Conclusion of peace.]

Glamorgan was not satisfied with abandoning as worthless the treaty

which had cost him so much, he must needs swear fealty to the nuncio in

terms such as perhaps no other English layman has ever used. 'I swear,'

he wrote, 'to obey all your commands readily without reluctance and

with a joyful mind. I make this perpetual protestation on my bended

knees to your most illustrious and reverend lordship, not only as the

Pope's minister but also as a remarkable personage, and as witnesses

of the purity of my intentions I invoke the Blessed Virgin and all the

Saints of Paradise.' The result of this alliance was the consent of the

Supreme Council to prolong the cessation till May 1, so as to give time

for the arrival of Sir Kenelm Digby's original articles. Neither Digby

nor the documents ever reached Ireland, for the Queen did not choose

that they should, and peace was concluded with Ormonde on March 28,

on the understanding that the terms were not to be divulged until May

1, Rinuccini failing to get a further postponement. 'I command you,'

Charles had written, 'to conclude a peace with the Irish, whatever it

cost; so that my Protestant subjects there may be secure, and my regal

authority preserved. But for all this, you are to make the best bargain

you can, and not to discover your enlargement of power till you needs

must.' This was early in 1645. Six months later, after Naseby, the King

'absolutely and without reply,' commanded Ormonde to make the peace,

with the consent of his Council if possible, but to make it anyhow.

The contracting parties were Ormonde alone on the King's part and the

following commissioners for the Confederate Catholics: Ormonde's uncle,

Viscount Mountgarret, and his brother-in-law, Viscount Muskerry, Sir

Robert Talbot, Tyrconnel's eldest brother; Colonel Dermot O'Brien;

Patrick Darcy of Plattin; Geoffrey Brown and John Dillon, two lawyers

who were designated as future judges. The conditions of a peace

which was no peace might seem hardly worth dwelling on, but that

they mark clearly the furthest point to which Charles would openly,

if not altogether willingly, go in his dealings with the Irish Roman

Catholics. A few weeks after the peace was signed, and before it was

published, he ceased to be a free agent, and the desperate expedients

of a prisoner scarcely count. The articles occupy twenty-two printed

pages, but the principal points may be clearly brought out in a short

abstract.

[Sidenote: Summary of the articles.]

1. The oath of supremacy to be abolished, so far as concerns Roman

Catholics, in the next Irish Parliament; and an oath of allegiance

substituted. All statutory penalties and disabilities to be repealed

by the same Act. 'That his Majesty's said Roman Catholic subjects be

referred to his Majesty's gracious favour and further concessions.'

2. An Irish Parliament to be held before November 30, when all the

articles were to be performed by law, the King undertaking to make no

alterations under Poynings' Act.

3. All legal acts done against Roman Catholics since August 7, 1641, to

be vacated. Debts to remain as they stood before the outbreak.

6. Titles to land to be confirmed under the graces of 1628.

7. All educational disabilities affecting Roman Catholics to be removed.

8. All offices, civil and military, to be open to Roman Catholics.

9. The Court of Wards to be abolished on payment of 12,000_l._

10, 11. Peers without estates in Ireland to have no votes. Irish

Parliament to be as independent as it ever had been.

12. Titles to land to be decided by law and not by the Council.

13. Acts in restraint of trade to be repealed.

14. Viceroys to hold for a limited term of years and not to acquire

estates.

15. An Act of oblivion for all offences civil and criminal since

October 23, 1641, with some exceptions to be hereafter specified.

16. Officials and judges to have no interest in the revenue.

17. Monopolies abolished.

18. To regulate the court of Castle-chamber.

19. 'That two Acts lately passed in this kingdom, prohibiting the

ploughing with horses by the tail, and the other prohibiting the

burning of oats in the straw, be repealed.'

20. Breakers of the cessation or of this peace to be punished.

21, 22. Simplification of legal remedies.

23, 24. Quit-rents increased by Strafford to be reduced again.

25. Commissioners named to raise and transport to England 10,000 men

for the King's service, and to collect overdue taxes.

26, 27. Commissioners named to appoint to judicial offices until

Parliament meets, but without power to decide questions of title, and

no other judges to have power within the Confederate quarters.

28. The _status quo_ as to garrisons.

29. Further details as to taxation.

30. The judicial commissioners to have jurisdiction in every case,

including murder, arising since September 15, 1643.[87]

[Sidenote: Delay fatal to Charles.]

[Sidenote: Digby repulsed from Scilly.]

[Sidenote: The nuncio's opinion of Charles I.]

[Sidenote: Glamorgan's forlorn condition.]

[Sidenote: The peace proclaimed at Dublin, July 30, 1646.]

These articles when duly executed were placed in Clanricarde's hands,

to be kept secret until such time after May 1 as Ormonde might choose

for their publication. Before that day the Parliamentary fleets had

begun their summer cruises and the sea was entirely at their mercy.

Chester having fallen, it was almost out of the question to land

men in Wales. Six thousand of the promised troops were ready, and

orders were given for levying the remainder, but shipping could not

be provided, and there was no money either at Dublin or Kilkenny. The

attempt to put down the English people with Irish troops failed as it

had failed in the days of Strafford, and as it was destined to fail

in the days of Tyrconnel. In the meantime Lord Digby found a plan of

his own for bringing the Prince of Wales to Ireland and rallying round

him there all the forces opposed to the Parliament. Rinuccini dreaded

the success of this scheme, but it was not he who prevented it. Digby

sailed with two small frigates and 300 men to Scilly, where the Prince

remained from March 4 to April 16, but did not get there till after the

latter date. 'The men of the island,' wrote Plunket to Ormonde, 'put

themselves in arms and loudly cried that no Irish rebels should land

there, the Lord Digby thereupon parted thence with one frigate, and one

hundred of the men to Guernsey or Jersey.' The other frigate with the

remaining men returned to Waterford. According to Daniel O'Neill, the

King's principal secretary was 'drunk nine days out of ten with white

wine' during the preparation of his little expedition, which may have

had something to do with its being late. The Confederates depended

on Glamorgan's treaty for relief to their religion further than that

promised by Ormonde. It was true that both sets of articles depended

really upon the King's word and upon his ability to keep it, but as

professed Royalists they could not reject the first nor assume the

permanent absence of the second. Rinuccini, who had no duties except to

the Church, very rightly held that Charles's word was worth nothing,

and it was evident to him that if the royal power was destroyed in

England it could not long survive in Ireland without foreign help. The

King had justified the nuncio's opinion by repudiating Glamorgan, and

when this was known at Kilkenny he lost all credit, 'with the merchants

in particular, so that he really had not enough to live upon.' He

spoke to the French agent Dumoulin about leading the troops intended

for England into Louis XIV.'s service, but there was no chance of that

being allowed. The nuncio's position was strengthened by a royal

letter to Ormonde written from Newcastle under Scotch influence. 'We

think fit,' the King said, 'to require you to proceed no further in

treaty with the rebels nor to engage us upon conditions with them after

sight hereof'; the alleged motive being anxiety for the safety of the

Irish Protestants. This came to Ormonde's hands three months after the

signature of the Dublin peace. A very few days later Digby returned

from France, where a letter had been received from the King in which he

declared that he was no longer free, and that Ormonde was to proceed

as before. Digby accordingly publicly declared the Newcastle letter to

be a forgery or written under duress. This satisfied the Council, and

the peace was proclaimed in Dublin on July 30. On August 3 the Supreme

Council at Kilkenny followed suit. 'We require,' they wrote, 'the

above proclamation to be printed, and do order and require the same

to be published, and due obedience to be given thereunto by all the

Confederate Catholics of Ireland.'[88]

[Sidenote: Siege of Bunratty, March-July, 1646.]

[Sidenote: The castle in its grandeur]

[Sidenote: Fight at Sixmilebridge, April 1.]

Barnabas O'Brien, sixth Earl of Thomond, had endeavoured to stand

neutral during the early years of the war, and to live quietly in

Clare. As a Protestant his natural leaning was to Ormonde, who could

not protect him; and in October 1644 the Kilkenny assembly, treating

neutrals as enemies, ordered his tenants to pay no rent, and took steps

to sequestrate his vast estates for the benefit of the Confederacy.

Finding his position intolerable, Thomond surrendered Bunratty to

the Parliament in March 1646, and soon went himself to England. A

Parliamentary fleet under Penn lay in the Shannon, and there was no

difficulty about putting a garrison of 700 men under Colonel MacAdam

into Bunratty Castle, which lies upon the estuary of the Ogarney river.

It is now the most melancholy of ruins; but Rinuccini, who beheld it

in its days of grandeur, thought it the finest thing he had ever seen,

and Bellings's description bears him out. 'It is,' he says, 'a noble

structure, reputed strong when engines of battery were not so frequent,

and before time and experience had brought the art of taking in places

to perfection. On the south it hath the river of the Shannon, distant

from it about a mile of marsh and meadow ground. On the east it is

washed by the river which falling to the Shannon at the end of a goodly

plain, ebbs and flows with it. To the north at some distance from the

castle it is environed with an eminent ridge of earth, which bounds a

goodly park, save that it wanted the ornament of timber trees; it was

then stored with the largest deer in the kingdom.' Glamorgan, who was

now entirely in the nuncio's hands, went to Limerick and busied himself

about preparations for the recovery of Bunratty; but the garrison were

at first successful. A party of Irish, consisting of 120 horse and 300

foot, came from Sixmilebridge and burned a few houses, but were routed

by a sally and lost eighty men, their commander, Captain Magrath,

and his lieutenant, being taken prisoners. In the afternoon of the

same day the victors, amounting to fifty horse and 600 foot, went to

Sixmilebridge and attacked the Irish camp. About 1400 men were strongly

entrenched there, but were driven out and took to the woods. A few were

slain, but a more important success was the capture of 250 barrels of

meal, which supplied the garrison of Bunratty with bread for six weeks.

Next day they went as far as Ballyquin, where the Irish had first

encamped, burned a large store of corn, and returned with some plunder

to Bunratty. Magrath and his subaltern both died of their wounds and

were buried with military honours.

[Sidenote: Muskerry presses the siege.]

[Sidenote: Rinuccini joins the besiegers.]

[Sidenote: Bunratty capitulates, July 14.]

It was not till the middle of May that the Irish began to press the

siege by taking the outlying castles of Cappagh and Rossmanagher. The

works of Bunratty itself were strengthened by the labour and skill

of the sailors, but it became difficult to supply the garrison with

food and ammunition. The besiegers encamped in the park, where the

underwood supplied material for gabions and fascines, and ate the deer,

which they roasted with the dry wood of the palings. Muskerry arrived

at the end of the month, and after that the siege became closer.

Letters were received from Broghill, but no relief came. Rinuccini came

to Limerick about the middle of May, where he had the satisfaction

of superintending the rejoicings for Benburb, but he found that the

siege of Bunratty was likely to be raised for want of money to pay the

soldiers. There were frequent sallies from the garrison, but nothing

decisive on either side. The nuncio went himself to the camp at the

end of June with all that remained of the Pope's money, to which he

added some of his own, and the attack was after that pressed with more

vigour. Colonel MacAdam was killed by a stray round shot which came in

at a window, and his loss proved fatal to the defence. Eighteen bags of

money and some of Thomond's plate had been guarded by the commandant;

but this treasure was now divided among themselves by the officers

who found it, in spite of Penn's remonstrances. When Muskerry's men

succeeded in getting heavy guns down to the shore where the action of

the defenders was weak, ships could no longer lie near, and want of

provisions soon became felt. On July 14 the garrison capitulated, and

were carried off in Penn's boats. Rinuccini was satisfied that his

presence and assistance during the siege would cause 'the people to

recognise it as an apostolic undertaking,' and a _Te Deum_ was sung in

the cathedral, where ten captured colours were displayed.[89]

[Sidenote: Battle of Benburb, June 5, 1646.]

While Rinuccini was at Limerick, and before Bunratty was taken, O'Neill

gained his great victory at Benburb. The tidings were peculiarly

grateful to the nuncio, in that success was entirely due to the Ulster

Irish, and in no sense to the Supreme Council or to any who favoured

Ormonde's peace. And, moreover, the efficiency of O'Neill's army

was mainly due to the Pope's money, brought over and distributed by

Rinuccini himself.

[Sidenote: Monro plans an attack on Kilkenny.]

[Sidenote: Over-confidence of the Scots.]

[Sidenote: Owen Roe's speech.]

In the early summer of 1646 the Confederacy was so weakened by internal

dissensions that Monro thought it possible to take Kilkenny. It was

arranged that Sir Robert Stewart's army should enter Connaught while

he engaged O'Neill. In the event of both attacks being successful, he

could then march southwards without any great probability of meeting

an enemy that could stop him. He had 3400 foot 'effective under

arms,' with eleven troops of horse and six field pieces. Campbell

of Auchinbreck was left in command at Carrickfergus. The general's

nephew, Colonel George Monro, was to join him at Glaslough in Monaghan,

bringing 240 musketeers and three troops of horse from Coleraine. Monro

left the neighbourhood of Belfast on June 2, and spent the night of the

3rd at or near Dromore. On the following morning he detached a troop

of horse, under Daniel Monro, with orders to cross the Blackwater at

Benburb and meet his namesake at Dungannon. At Armagh Daniel learned

from a prisoner that O'Neill was concentrating his forces at Benburb,

and the fear lest George Monro should be cut off probably accounts for

the Scottish general's subsequent proceedings. The army spent the night

of the 4th at Hamilton's Bawn, and in the morning Monro went through

Armagh to view the bridges and ford at Benburb. Both are commanded by

high rocks crowned by Shane O'Neill's castle, and it was impossible

to attempt the passage in front of the Irish army. Monro then marched

to Caledon, where he crossed the Blackwater, doubled back on the left

bank, and faced the enemy late in the afternoon. After the long march

it would have been prudent to halt till the morning; and, moreover, sun

and wind were in the eyes of the Scots, but they were overconfident of

victory. 'All our army,' says Monro, 'foot and horse, did earnestly

covet fighting, which was impossible for me to gainstand without being

reproached of cowardice.' Sir James Turner, however, declared that his

greatest fault as a general was a tendency to underrate his enemy.

O'Neill had with him about 5000 men, including 500 horse, 'such as they

were,' and took up a position on hilly ground to the west of Benburb.

He detached the greater portion of his mounted men to intercept George

Monro, but they scarcely did more than neutralise that skilful leader.

The two armies met at Drumflugh, between the Oona brook and Benburb.

O'Neill made a short speech to his men, reminding them that they

were the ancient inhabitants of Ulster, professing the same faith as

those who first brought Christianity into Ireland. 'You have arms in

your hands,' he said, 'you are as numerous as they are; and now try

your valour and your strength on those that have banished you and now

resolve to destroy you bud and branch. So let your manhood be seen by

your push of pike; and I will engage, if you do so, by God's assistance

and the intercession of His blessed mother and all the holy saints in

heaven, that the day will be your own. Your word is _Sancta Maria_; and

so, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, advance, and give

not fire till you are within picket-length.'[90]

[Sidenote: The Scots completely defeated,]

[Sidenote: with great slaughter.]

[Sidenote: Monro's apology.]

[Sidenote: An old soldier's comments.]

The battle did not begin till about six in the evening, by which time

the sun was well in the eyes of the Scots. The wind was also against

them, and there were clouds of dust and smoke. Monro's guns were placed

on high ground, but they did little damage, the round shot going over

the heads of O'Neill's men as they descended into the plain, which

was full of bushes and scrubby timber. Monro's front was too narrow,

and there were no proper intervals for his rear divisions to come

out in front. So learned a general might have remembered something

about the Roman maniples. Overcrowding resulted in confusion, and

this was increased by a squadron of his own cavalry, 'consisting,'

as he says, 'for the most part of Irish riders, although under the

English command, who did not charge, but retreated disorderly through

our foot, making the enemies' horse for to follow them at least one

squadron.' He thought they were at least half traitors. The foot fought

on bravely till sunset, when they broke and fled. The majority sought

the neighbouring ford of the Blackwater, where Battleford Bridge now

is, and the slaughter there was frightful. Sir Phelim O'Neill, who

commanded the horse, specially charged his men to take no prisoners

and to give no quarter. Others fled towards Caledon, and many of them

were drowned in Knocknacloy Lake. Of those who crossed the river a

large number were killed in passing through the county of Armagh.

Most of the horse escaped with Monro, who acknowledges a loss of 500

or 600 men; but the Irish accounts say that from 3000 to 4000 bodies

were counted. A long train of carts followed the army, so that many

camp-followers were probably killed, and the truth is likely to be

somewhere between the two extremes. The Irish slain were under forty,

and the wounded under 250. George Monro got back to Coleraine without

the loss of a man. Monro's wig, cloak, sword, and cap fell into the

victor's hands with thirty-two colours and the standard of the cavalry.

Even those who escaped for the most part threw away their arms, which

enabled O'Neill to enrol fresh men. Lord Blayney, who commanded the

artillery, was killed, all his guns being taken. Lord Montgomery of

Ardes, who led the cavalry during the battle, was taken prisoner with

about twenty other officers. Monro's army was not annihilated, but it

was to a great extent disarmed, and ceased to be an aggressive force.

Over-confidence was certainly one main cause of his defeat. 'The Lord

of Hosts,' he says himself, 'had a controversy with us to rub shame

on our faces, as on other armies, till once we shall be humbled; for

a greater confidence did I never see.' The 'British Officer' agrees

that this was the chief cause of disaster; also mentioning the sun and

wind and the long march, and that the soldiers, who had had little

rest or refreshment since leaving Lisburn, stood to their arms for at

least five hours. Another reason, he adds, is 'that the Irish pikes

were longer by a foot or two than the Scottish pikes, and far better to

pierce, being four square and small, and the other pikes broad-headed,

which are the worst in the world. Withal to my knowledge, the soldiers,

I mean some that were not strong in the British army for his pike on a

windy day, would cut off a foot, and some two, of their pikes--which is

a damned thing to be suffered.'[91]

[Sidenote: Small results of the victory.]

[Sidenote: Rejoicings at Limerick,]

[Sidenote: and at Rome.]

[Sidenote: The nuncio's donative.]

Military authorities are agreed that the general who wins a great

victory ought to pursue his beaten enemy to the uttermost. One reason

why O'Neill did not do this may have been that he was afraid of Sir

Robert Stewart falling upon Tyrone in his absence; but he was a man of

few words, and it does not appear that he ever said as much. He raised

new regiments, which he armed with the spoils of victory, and waited

for orders from Kilkenny. Want of money was no doubt a cause of delay.

His appearance at Augher caused Stewart to retire towards Londonderry,

and O'Neill lay inactive, first at Tanderagee and then at Loughanlea in

Cavan. Four days after the battle he sent Boetius MacEgan, an eminent

Franciscan, to Limerick with a letter to Rinuccini, who was quite

certain that a miracle had taken place. The Jesuit O'Hartegan, who had

returned from France, followed with the captured colours, which were

carried in procession through Limerick to the cathedral. The people

filled the streets and windows, the _Te Deum_ was sung by the nuncio's

choir, and high mass afterwards by the Dean of Fermo in the presence of

four bishops and of the civic magistrates. When the news reached Rome,

Innocent X. attended at Santa Maria Maggiore and heard a _Te Deum_ sung

there also. Rinuccini was sure that if he had only money enough he

could make the greater part of Ireland obedient to the Pope. All his

letters declare that money would do almost everything in Ireland; but

it was a scarce commodity, and without it even the clergy could not

'keep the soldiers quiet and united.' The nuncio had still a little

left, and he despatched Dean Massari to Ulster, who gave three rials to

each soldier and larger sums to the officers. The donative was small,

but it tended to foster the notion that it was the nuncio's war, and

that little regard need be paid to the viceroy or to the Council at

Kilkenny, where Anglo-Irish influences were in the ascendant.

[Sidenote: Roscommon taken.]

[Sidenote: O'Neill forced to let his men plunder.]

Preston had also been successful in Connaught, but the capture of

Roscommon, though important, paled before the glories of Benburb.

Neither general was in a condition to attack Sligo. Preston had no

ammunition for a siege, no means of drawing his guns over the Curlew

hills, and no money to pay his men. Even the sums promised--for they

had not arrived at the end of July--were not enough to last for a week

on active service. The country was so wasted that everyone would have

to carry a month's provisions with him, and this could only be had

for ready money. Ormonde urged Preston to reduce Connaught before the

summer season slipped away, but admitted that little help in money

for the Leinster army could be expected from Leinster. Both Preston

and O'Neill offered Rinuccini to march on Dublin, looking no doubt to

him for the means; but he refused because Dumoulin, the French agent,

was there, lest the Pope might be embroiled with the Most Christian

King. The part of that province which bordered on Ulster was overrun

by O'Neill's men, who plundered all classes and creeds impartially, so

that they appeared as conquerors rather than allies. Ormonde attributed

it 'to the necessities imposed on General O'Neill for want of means to

go on or to keep his men in better order where he is.'[92]

[Sidenote: Rinuccini works against the peace.]

[Sidenote: The clergy at Waterford.]

[Sidenote: The peace not proclaimed at Waterford.]

Want of money and ill-feeling between the native and Anglo-Irish

notables prevented the greatest of Irish victories from having any

permanent results. Rinuccini left the Supreme Council at Limerick

under the impression that he would not object further to Ormonde's

peace, but he continued to counter-mine it while they despatched

Muskerry, who would have been more useful in Munster, to be present

at the proclamation in Dublin. Arriving at Waterford at the beginning

of August, the nuncio summoned the clergy to meet him there in order

to take steps for constituting a national synod. When he had got them

together, they immediately fell to debate the peace; and this had, no

doubt, been his real object. Scarampi, who had not yet sailed, was

authorised to write letters urging the municipalities of Limerick,

Cashel, Clonmel, Kilkenny, Galway, Wexford, and New Ross not to allow

the peace to be published. In the meantime, Ulster King-at-Arms had

arrived at Waterford with orders from Ormonde to proclaim the peace

there. The mayor and aldermen refused him permission on various

grounds. They had already been warned by the previous appearance of a

pursuivant, who had to give a little boy sixpence to show him the way

to the mayor's house, and who declared that there were 'by imagination

about a thousand priests and friars gazing' upon him and Ulster when

they had succeeded in getting an interview with the corporation. After

two days they were allowed to go in peace to Kilkenny, not without

covert threats of violence if their departure were longer delayed.

Scarampi's letters were written before they left Waterford, though the

attitude of the civic authorities was nominally due to the fact that

proclamation had not been first made at Kilkenny and by order of the

Supreme Council. Waterford was preferred on the ground that it was the

most ancient city of Ireland after Dublin; but perhaps Ormonde hoped

that his herald would create dissension enough to break up the clerical

assembly.[93]

[Sidenote: The clergy reject the peace.]

[Sidenote: Peace proclaimed at Kilkenny.]

[Sidenote: Callan, Fethard and Cashel follow Kilkenny.]

[Sidenote: Clonmel follows Waterford.]

The Supreme Council at Kilkenny transmitted the original articles of

the peace to Waterford by the hands of Nicholas Plunket and Patrick

Darcy. The nuncio had not seen them before, though he was, of course,

well acquainted with their substance. After several days' debate it

was decided 'that all and singular the Confederate Catholics, who

shall adhere to such a peace, or consent to the fautors thereof, or

otherwise embrace the same, be held absolutely perjured: especially

for this cause, that in these articles there is no mention made of

the Catholic religion, and the security thereof, nor any care had for

conservation of the privileges of the country as is found promised in

the oath [of association]; but rather all things are referred to the

will of the most serene King, from whom in his present state nothing

certain can be had.' In the meantime everything remained subject to the

authority of Protestant officials, 'to free ourselves from which we

took that oath.' And it was plainly hinted that excommunication would

follow in due course. The document was signed by the nuncio himself,

by two archbishops, ten bishops, and many vicars-general and heads

of religious houses. It professes to be absolutely unanimous; but

Archbishop Bourke of Tuam, Bishop Dease of Meath, and the Franciscan

Peter Walsh, whose stormy career in Ireland now begins, did not sign,

though they took part in the debates and were among those to whom the

question was referred. On the same day the peace was proclaimed at

Kilkenny 'in the presence of the mayor and the magistrates only, the

people not choosing to appear,' according to Rinuccini, who says the

Supreme Council terrorised the city with soldiers. At Callan, Fethard,

and Cashel proclamation was made in spite of clerical opposition, but

there was no popular enthusiasm. The corporation of Clonmel declared

that they would do as Waterford had done. The town had received

supplies of arms from the nuncio and was subservient to the clergy,

though some of the more prudent inhabitants would have complied. The

most the herald could obtain was a promise to reopen the question after

proclamation had been made at Limerick.[94]

[Sidenote: A herald's adventures at Limerick.]

[Sidenote: The drum ecclesiastic.]

[Sidenote: Gaol the only safe place.]

[Sidenote: The nuncio approves of the riot.]

The proclamation at Kilkenny was an open declaration of war with the

nuncio, who immediately sent Dean Massari to Rome to explain that both

clergy and people were against the peace, and that its few supporters

could do no harm. Meanwhile, Ulster went on his way to Limerick.

Arriving after the gates were shut, he was refused admittance, and had

to pass the night in an old house outside. Next day he was received by

Sir John Bourke, the mayor, and at first it seemed that all would go

smoothly; but the civic authorities went on arguing the question till

the following day was well advanced, and time was thus given for a

formidable agitation to grow. James Wolfe, a Dominican friar, harangued

a mob in the streets, and declared that all who adhered to the peace

would incur the penalties of excommunication. The chief citizens

assembled at the mayor's house, where Dr. Walter Lynch, warden of the

Galway college, employed his eloquence in the same cause. A third

priest 'carried a great crucifix through the streets on the top of a

pole.' The mayor, nevertheless, favoured the proclamation and tried to

protect the herald while doing his office, but stones flew like hail,

and his house was wrecked. He was himself knocked down and nearly

murdered, while Ulster was hunted from the room, the friars calling out

in Irish, 'Kill, kill! I will absolve you.' He received two serious

wounds on the head and one in the hand, while his body was covered

with cuts and bruises. Dr. Thomas Arthur, a famous physician, who had

succeeded twenty years before in curing Archbishop Ussher of a disease

which had puzzled the London faculty, did what he could to pacify his

co-religionists and to save the herald's life at the risk of his own.

Appeals to the law of nations which protects heralds were fruitless,

and the more moderate citizens were forced to carry Roberts to gaol for

safety and to give out that he was dead. He and his companions were

detained for ten days, when Rinuccini said they might be discharged.

Bourke was deposed from the mayoralty, and Thomas Fanning, a leader

of the rioters, was installed in his room. The new mayor received the

nuncio's thanks and apostolical benediction for his good conduct in the

matter.[95]

[Sidenote: Ormonde and the Protestant hierarchy.]

[Sidenote: Ormonde at Kilkenny.]

[Sidenote: Ormonde and Owen Roe O'Neill.]

While the Congregation at Waterford were fulminating their censures

against all who adhered to the peace with Ormonde, the Protestant

clergy who had taken refuge in Dublin were congratulating him on having

'preserved not only in this city, but also in all the out-garrisons,

the free and full exercise of the true reformed religion.' They

besought him to continue in this way as the only means to make Ireland

obedient to the King, and to provide them with some maintenance until

they could return to their benefices. 'If any of our number,' they

concluded, 'be found disaffected to the religion, book of service,

public worship, government of the Church, his Majesty's service, or

disturbers of the present peace, we do not supplicate for such, but

leave them to your lordship to be proceeded with as you shall find

convenient.' This was signed by eleven archbishops and bishops and by

seventy-seven other clergymen, many of whom afterwards rose high in the

Church. Ormonde's loyalty to the Church of England was incompatible

with Rinuccini's views; but it did not prevent the Council at Kilkenny

from inviting the King's representative to his own town and castle.

He left Dublin on August 28 and reached Kilkenny on the 31st, where

he was received with triumphal arches and many demonstrations of joy;

and even succeeded in collecting some of his long-lost rents. Ormonde

left 1500 foot at Gowran, under Sir Francis Willoughby, and took 500

horse on with him, whom he quartered about Bennetsbridge. In passing

Naas he took the precaution of borrowing eight barrels of powder from

Sir John Sherlock, the governor, and they proved very useful. Digby

and Clanricarde accompanied him to Kilkenny. His previous negotiations

with Preston led him to believe that that general would keep the

victorious Ulster army at a distance. Ormonde's last act before

leaving Dublin was to send Daniel O'Neill to his uncle, Owen Roe,

with power to make him great offers if he would adhere to the peace.

These included the custody of all lands in O'Neill-land belonging to

men who questioned the King's authority and of all Lord Caulfield's

estate, and confirmation in his command. These were promises, while the

nuncio was able to give hard cash, without which an army could not be

moved--4000_l._ at first out of the Pope's money, and 5000_l._ later

from the contributions of the faithful, or by means of an advance from

the Spanish agent.[96]

[Sidenote: Rinuccini denounces the peace.]

[Sidenote: O'Neill and Preston.]

[Sidenote: Limitation of Irish loyalty.]

After staying a few days at Kilkenny, Ormonde went to his other house

at Carrick, so that he might be near Waterford and in a position to

confer with the clergy; but they were past the reach of argument.

Rinuccini issued a decree ordering them all to denounce the peace

publicly and to threaten actual excommunication by himself of all

who favoured it. He had seen, he said, 'with grief of heart that the

Protestant ministers in some places appear, and threaten that they will

recover both the churches and the exercise of their religion.' Finding

that nothing could be done on the Waterford side, Ormonde set out for

Cashel, intending to encourage those who had proclaimed the peace

there; but he was met on the road by a messenger from the mayor begging

him not to draw down upon the town the vengeance of O'Neill, who was

already at Roscrea. Piers MacThomas Fitzgerald, with the Munster horse,

'appeared upon a hill to the left hand, near Clonmel.' Preston had been

summoned to attend, but he pleaded ill-health, and a few days later

declared that, though he distrusted the Ulster army, he had 'received a

positive inhibition from the clergy that neither myself nor any of my

commanders, upon pain of excommunication, shall obey any orders from

my Lord lieutenant.' The position of Ireland could scarcely be better

described than in this letter of Preston's. The Confederates had all

along professed loyalty to the Crown, and had never denied that Ormonde

was the King's representative. But when it came to a trial of strength

between the viceroy and the papal nuncio, it was the latter that they

were forced to obey.[97]

[Sidenote: Ormonde driven back to Dublin.]

[Sidenote: The many-headed monster.]

Castlehaven was sent to sound the clergy at Waterford, but he found

them impracticable, rejoined Ormonde near Cashel, and persuaded

him to get back to Dublin as quickly as possible, lest he should

be intercepted and captured. Castlehaven argued that the clerical

party was getting stronger every day, 'and that the Supreme Council

were dissolved on the proclamation of peace, and consequently of no

authority to make good the public faith.' Other advices were to the

same effect, and it seemed probable that O'Neill's object was to get

between the viceroy and his capital. Castlehaven tried in vain to gain

over MacThomas, who followed Ormonde as far as Callan, but without

coming to blows. Orders were sent to Willoughby to seize the fortified

pass over the Barrow at Leighlin Bridge with his infantry. Colonel

Walter Bagenal, who was in command there, offered no opposition, and

Ormonde joined the main body at Kilcullen. He had sent Castlehaven

and his brother-in-law, Sir George Hamilton, to the corporation of

Kilkenny, offering to stand by them if they wished it and would adhere

to the peace, but they begged him to pass on his way. The mob plundered

his baggage, and the very men, says Bellings, 'who a fortnight before

had employed both cost and invention in erecting statues and triumphal

arches adorned with inscriptions, setting forth his own actions, and

the trophies of his ancestors, were suddenly as busy in pulling them

down, and defacing the monuments of his solemn entry, lest the northern

army, which could have easily mastered, might be incensed to their

destruction.' Willoughby, when expecting an attack, found that the

bulk of his powder, which had been given in part payment of 30,000_l._

by the Confederates at the first cessation, was so bad as to be quite

useless, and but for the eight barrels lately borrowed from Sir John

Sherlock he would have been in no condition to fight.[98]

[Sidenote: Lord Digby's proposals.]

[Sidenote: Triumph of Rinuccini,]

[Sidenote: who imprisons the Supreme Council.]

[Sidenote: O'Neill and Preston at Kilkenny.]

[Sidenote: Ormonde ignores Glamorgan.]

Digby remained at Kilkenny and made one more effort for the King. He

proposed that the nuncio and three or four bishops should give an

undertaking in writing to support the peace and unite with Ormonde

against the common enemy, on condition of receiving a firm private

assurance that the penal laws should be repealed and that they should

not be disturbed in their church possessions until a meeting of a new

Parliament to carry out the articles. Rinuccini would hear of nothing

less than Glamorgan's treaty fortified by part of Sir Kenelm Digby's.

Of the latter he never received the official text, and his instructions

were not to proceed without it. He entered Kilkenny in triumph and took

the city into his protection, relieving it from the interdict which

Roth, Bishop of Ossory, had proclaimed. O'Neill's army encamped in the

immediate neighbourhood and made all resistance impossible. Rinuccini

then proceeded to imprison the old Supreme Council. Mountgarret's

eldest son Edmond, Bellings the secretary and historian, and Lord

Muskerry, the viceroy's brother-in-law, were among those confined

in the castle. Geoffrey Brown, who had been conspicuous among the

commissioners for concluding the peace, and was intended to be a judge,

was arrested at Galway, but the citizens refused to send him to the

nuncio. O'Neill and Preston both entered Kilkenny, and assisted 'the

lord nuncio and congregation of the clergy' in choosing a new council

of seventeen members. Four were bishops, Walsh of Cashel, Bourke of

Clonfert, Macmahon of Clogher, and French of Ferns; among the others

were Glamorgan, who was appointed general of Munster in Muskerry's

place, Owen Roe O'Neill, Preston, and Sir Phelim O'Neill. The great

object was now to take Dublin, and Ormonde was told that he had no

chance of defending himself against 17,000 foot and 1700 horse. If

the city was taken by assault it was likely that neither man, woman,

nor child would be spared, but this might be averted if Ormonde would

adhere to the Glamorgan treaty. 'If,' was the Lord-Lieutenant's answer,

'I could have assured the clergy my lord of Glamorgan's conditions, I

had not retired hither. They are things I have nothing to do with, nor

will have. If they be valid in themselves, they need no corroboration;

if invalid, I have no power to give them strength.' After this

Rinuccini concluded that if he wanted Dublin he would have to get it

taken, while Ormonde, who felt his weakness, opened communications with

the English Parliament.[99]

[Sidenote: O'Neill threatens Kilkenny.]

[Sidenote: His army.]

[Sidenote: O'Neill and Preston on bad terms.]

[Sidenote: A clerical commissary.]

[Sidenote: The nuncio and his generals.]

Rinuccini wished O'Neill to attack Dublin before Ormonde could return

thither; but the Ulster general excused himself on the ground that

he had no artillery, and came to Kilkenny instead. Benburb had been

fought and won by men who were defending a strong position in their own

country, and the means for a serious siege were wanting. An officer who

was with the northern army near Birr described it as consisting of 5000

infantry, of which rather more than half were pretty well armed, 'the

rest as the rabble used to be in the beginning of the distractions.'

The horse were under 400, good and bad, and there were only five

field-pieces 'of about a foot and a half long.' When O'Neill was at

Kilkenny a month later Ormonde learned that his army was composed of

8000 foot, more than half of them without muskets, and seventeen or

eighteen small troops of miserable horse 'whereof not above two armed

with pistol, and none with defensive arms.' About 8000 'of the Ulster

families, unarmed,' accompanied the troops. Preston's cavalry were

well appointed, but it was estimated that the combined armies could

not in any case exceed 13,000, with five pieces of artillery and very

few stores of any kind. The two generals acted quite independently.

O'Neill took all the castles and towns in Queen's County, and made

himself master of Athlone. Preston temporised, and both were much

more intent upon outwitting each other than upon taking Dublin. The

Leinster people did not like to see the hungry northerns devouring

their province, and they flocked to Preston's standard, so that he

became as least as strong as his rival. Early in October Rinuccini went

to Kilkea, then in the possession of Robert Nugent, provincial of the

Jesuits, to whom it had been granted for the use of the Society by his

kinswoman Elizabeth Countess of Kildare. Nugent lent 1500_l._ to the

nuncio, and voluntarily undertook the task of victualling the army;

but this clerical commissary was not more successful than a clerical

general proved to be later on. 'The good man,' says Bellings, 'how

perfect soever his mathematical demonstrations might have been, failed

in the practice, which affords a thousand circumstances that commonly

lie out of the road of divinity and speculation.' The two armies were

together, though not united, in the neighbourhood of Kilcock, whence

they advanced by Harristown and Naas to Lucan, within seven miles of

Dublin. The Leinster men thought O'Neill's object was to conquer them,

while he believed, or perhaps only professed to believe, that Preston

was conspiring with Ormonde to place him between two fires. Successful

joint action under these circumstances was impossible, and it appeared

to the nuncio that 'arms at first devoted to religion were about to

minister to private passions alone.' The two generals met at Lucan, but

could not agree, and Rinuccini joined them there in hopes of at least

preventing a collision between Leinster and Ulster.[100]

[Sidenote: Ulster and Leinster irreconcilable.]

[Sidenote: Dublin in danger.]

[Sidenote: Negotiations with the Scots,]

[Sidenote: and with the Parliament,]

[Sidenote: 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]

[Sidenote: Vacillation of Preston.]

[Sidenote: One of Digby's schemes.]

[Sidenote: 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]

[Sidenote: Extreme demands of the nuncio.]

[Sidenote: Ormonde's distrust of the Confederates.]

[Sidenote: Agreement between Digby and Preston.]

[Sidenote: Ormonde does not adopt it.]

[Sidenote: Proposed treatment of Protestants.]

[Sidenote: Dublin cannot be taken.]

Preston never really co-operated with O'Neill, but he joined him

in making certain proposals to Ormonde in which the nuncio's hand

can be very clearly seen. The first was that the Roman Catholic

religion should be exercised in every part of Ireland as in Paris or

Brussels. The third was 'that Dublin, Drogheda, Trim, Newry, Carlow,

Carlingford, and all the garrisons within the Protestant quarters be

garrisoned by the Confederate Catholics.' They were to be held for

the King, but only in name. 'The madness of their propositions to

you,' Digby wrote to Ormonde after he had joined Clanricarde, 'makes

him almost despair of doing any good with Preston.' Ormonde did not

condescend to discuss the propositions at all, but contented himself

with asking who composed the Council of the Confederates and by whose

authority they were established. 'These questions,' says Bellings,

pithily, 'were too knotty to be resolved on the sudden, and therefore,

as it is the custom in such cases, they were not answered.' Four days

later Clanricarde was at Tecroghan, near Trim, and at once opened

communications with Preston. Safe-conducts were granted to him and

Digby, but to the latter, who was still nominally Secretary of State,

not without great difficulty. 'I conjure you,' said Ormonde, '(as you

expect to serve our master, or his hereafter) not to venture any more

among so faithless a generation, if you have any probable hope of

getting away from thence. For, if I have any judgment, your coming will

be fruitless.' And fruitless it was. Two days later the Parliamentary

commissioners reached Dublin, and O'Neill, probably fearing to be

caught in a trap, threw an extempore bridge over the Liffey at Leixlip,

collected his men by firing a gun, and passed them all over to the left

bank. It was thought that Sir Phelim O'Neill, who was jealous of Owen

Roe's supremacy in Ulster and who had married Preston's daughter, might

be induced to join the latter. Digby's plan was to make Clanricarde

general, who would thus be in a position to make the best terms for

his own Church, while loyally co-operating with the Lord Lieutenant.

Preston and his friends bound themselves most solemnly to embrace the

peace in consideration of such additional securities as Clanricarde

undertook to procure. These included the repeal of the penal laws and

enjoyment by Catholics of such churches and ecclesiastical possessions

as they held at the conclusion of the peace, until a settlement by

a free Irish Parliament, 'his Majesty being in a free condition

himself.' To confirm these promises Clanricarde was to procure an

engagement under the King's hand as well as from the Queen and Prince

of Wales and the French crown. The peace once concluded on these

terms the Catholics were to be 'forthwith invested in such commands

by his Majesty's authority, both in field and garrison, as may pass

for a very sufficient part of the security.' Ormonde was no party to

this treaty, which could not be performed without his help, and he

was not anxious for it after he had got rid both of O'Neill and the

Parliamentary commissioners. Rinuccini's influence was at work all the

time, and it was insisted that the first thing should be the admission

of a Prestonian garrison into Dublin. Ormonde insisted on the original

peace being first accepted, and so the negotiations fell through.

Digby thought that if Preston had been promptly dealt with he would

have attacked O'Neill, but his judgment is not for a moment to be

set against Ormonde's. Preston was satisfied, and in a letter to the

mayor and citizens of Kilkenny, urged the acceptance of Clanricarde's

terms. What the ultimate position of the Protestants would have been

may be judged from this document. 'We have,' he said, 'by the divine

Providence, wrought the splendour of religion to that extension as

from Bunratty to Dublin there is Catholic religion publicly professed

and exercised, and from Waterford to the lower parts of Tyrone,

and confined heresy in this province to Dublin, Drogheda, Dundalk,

and Trim, these places which in four days will be garrisoned by my

army, by God's help; and then think you in what posture of religion

these parts are in, for us and ours, having all penal laws against

Catholics repealed; all in our own hands, churches and church livings

secured till the King in a free Parliament declare the same for us;

the government in the Catholics' hands; petitions of right allowed

the parties grieved; and, to make this good, our arms in our own

hands.' This was written under the impression that Dublin would soon

be in his hands, though in the same letter he admits that he could

not take it even with O'Neill's help. Rinuccini and his council had

already left the camp, and Preston's officers were soon induced to

break with Clanricarde on the ground that no concessions would be of

any use without a garrison in Dublin. 'That being denied did beget a

desperation of future performances.'[103]

[Sidenote: The popular tide turns against Rinuccini.]

[Sidenote: The Supreme Council released.]

[Sidenote: The Confederate constitution breaks down.]

[Sidenote: Officers not 'excommunication-proof.']

[Sidenote: Preston submits to the nuncio.]

[Sidenote: Ormonde in Westmeath.]

The nuncio, says Bellings, entered Kilkenny, 'very incognito in his

single litter without guards or attendance, and the council and

congregation dropped in one after another without pomp or ceremony.'

The tide had turned, and the odium which so often attaches to authority

in Ireland, especially when it fails to make itself feared, was borne

by the clerical party. Rinuccini, yielding very unwillingly to Nicholas

Plunket and fearing lest the mob should do it without his leave,

allowed the old council to be liberated, and devoted his attention

to the elections for the next general assembly. All over the country

the clergy administered oaths to candidates binding them to reject

the peace. Absolution for other sins was denied to those who refuse

to take such an oath, and O'Neill's soldiers were everywhere called

in to enforce the clerical decrees. The vacant places in the Ulster

returns were filled up from the creaghts or nomad herdsmen whom Owen

Roe had planted in the Queen's County--'nay,' says Bellings, 'with

such an overcharge of supernumeraries, as for some boroughs three

have been returned and actually voted.' When the session began, the

verification of these returns proved to be impossible, and after much

wrangling the assembled members turned as they were to other business,

'and all formalities, how necessary soever, were quite omitted.' In

the meantime Preston had again gone over to the nuncio. On December

10 Walter Bagenal wrote by his orders to Ormonde, pressing him to

advance at once so as to join forces against the northern army, all

the nobility and gentry being ready to support him. 'If you fail or

delay,' Bagenal concluded, 'you ruin us all and yourself in us.' On the

same day that this was written, Preston made his submission to the

nuncio, who had threatened excommunication. Ormonde advanced to the

neighbourhood of Gowran, which was to be the place of meeting. He found

reason to believe that there was another plot to cut him off. A letter

from Preston to Clanricarde was brought to him at Grangebeg in which

the general said that 'his officers not being excommunication-proof,

were fallen from him to the nuncio's party.' On first receiving this

Clanricarde had so far forgotten his usual serenity as to call Preston

traitor. It was followed by a similar letter to Ormonde, and by an

abject declaration of obedience to the nuncio's commands. Ormonde

professed to believe that the letter, which was printed and circulated,

was 'a forgery, as also the reports raised that some of your army

are gathered in a body at Castle Dermot, with intent to intercept

my return, or destroy the remainder of my quarters.' He withdrew

into Westmeath and Longford, where there was still some country

undevastated by O'Neill, and where he maintained good discipline among

his men. Dublin was relieved for a short time without distressing

the country, and the Westmeath gentry actually scraped together a

voluntary contribution of 1000_l._ At Kells an attack was made upon

some of Ormonde's men by a party of O'Neill's soldiers. Ormonde

says two officers were barbarously murdered. Bellings admits that a

very bad impression was made, but O'Neill was hardly a party to the

negotiations. After conferring with the Lord Lieutenant, Clanricarde

went to Kilkenny in the vain hope that he might to some extent

counteract the nuncio and induce the assembly to embrace moderate

ideas. Ormonde soon found it necessary to reopen communications with

the English Parliament.[104]

[Sidenote: Discord at Kilkenny.]

[Sidenote: A clerical majority.]

[Sidenote: The things that are Cæsar's.]

[Sidenote: Mazarin supports the peace,]

[Sidenote: but it is rejected publicly, Feb. 2, 1646-7.]

The Confederate assembly met at Kilkenny on January 10, 'with all those

signs,' said Rinuccini, 'of discord and intrigues which generally

reign in such meetings.' The tempers of the old council had not been

improved by imprisonment, while the clergy, knowing that they had a

majority, were in no conciliatory mood. Bellings admits that former

assemblies had been turbulent 'and loud in their ayes and noes, yet now

it was grown clean another thing.' Edmond Dempsy, Bishop of Leighlin,

who was a famous preacher, and had probably a good voice, sat upon a

lofty bench which recalls the revolutionary Mountain. He had only to

wave his hat to raise a storm, the mass of members, 'like a set of

organ-pipes, as senseless and louder, depending for their squeaking,

or being still, on the hand of another.' After a few days the turmoil

partially subsided, and then the nuncio demanded an audience. He was

received with the same ceremony as at first, and proceeded to justify

his assumption of dictatorial power. He declared in plain terms that

the ecclesiastical authority was superior to the temporal, 'and that

ignorance of the true source of power had ruined the neighbouring

kingdom.' Above all things he urged the assembly to reject the peace

with Ormonde, and to take a fresh oath adverse to it. A letter was

read from Dumoulin, the French agent, who had positive orders from

his government to press for confirmation of the peace, but this had

no effect, though a letter from Mazarin had been previously received

urging them to merit help from France by re-establishing the King of

England. A remarkable speech of Walter Bagenal's has been preserved by

Bellings, in which he urged them to remember how strong England was

and how certainly they would be overwhelmed if they did not support

the King. Ormonde sent Lord Taaffe and Colonel John Barry to represent

him at Kilkenny, but the clericals would listen to nothing, and it

soon became evident that the peace would be rejected publicly. This

was done after three weeks' wrangling, but by no means unanimously,

and Scarampi started at once to carry the news to Rome. It was found

necessary at the same time to declare that the commissioners and others

who had a hand in the peace had 'faithfully and sincerely carried and

demeaned themselves in their said negotiation pursuant and according to

the trust reposed in them, and given thereof a due acceptable account

to this assembly.' This important matter being settled, a new and

stringent oath of association was taken by which all bound themselves

to make no peace without the consent of the General Assembly. One of

the conditions precedent was that the Roman Catholic clergy should

enjoy all churches and church property in as ample a manner as the

Protestants enjoyed them on October 1, 1641, in all places which the

Confederates should at any time possess 'saving the rights of Roman

Catholic laymen according to the laws of this kingdom.' The law, in

other words, was to protect Roman Catholics, but not Protestants.

All this referred to the secular clergy only, for the question of

abbey-lands was too dangerous to touch. To avoid the appearance of an

open breach with the Lord Lieutenant, Dr. Fennell and Geoffrey Baron,

who had just returned from France, were deputed to see him. Their

proposals for a sort of offensive and defensive alliance with Ormonde

came to nothing, but successive truces were patched up until April

10.[105]

FOOTNOTES:

[82] _Embassy in Ireland_, November and December, 1645, pp. 98,

103, 554, 569. Correspondence between Glamorgan and Ormonde in

_Confederation and War_, v. 197-200; 208-210. It appears from

Dumoulin's letters to Mazarin that Leyburn was at Limerick in April

1645, _ib._ 314, 325.

[83] Lord Lieutenant and Council to Secretary Nicholas, January 5,

1645-6, printed in appendix to Carte's _Ormonde_ and in _Confederation

and War_, v. 234. Interrogatories, etc., _ib._ 211-222. Digby's letter

to Nicholas, January 4, 1645-6, was one of those which Fairfax rescued

from the sea at Padstow, _Husband_, p. 816.

[84] The King's declaration, January 24, 1645-6, printed (from Reliquiæ

Sacræ Carolinæ) in _Confederation and War_, v. 252. Glamorgan to

Ormonde, January 7, 20 and 29, _ib._ 244, 255; Supreme Council to

Ormonde, January 16, _ib._ 246; _Embassy_, p. 115; the King to Ormonde,

January 30, _Carte MSS._ vol. lxiii. _f._ 386.

[85] Rinuccini to Pamphili, March 5, 1645-6, in _Embassy_; Fr. Barron

to Wadding, May 11, 1646, in _Spicilegium Ossoriense_, ii. 24; Charles

I. to Henrietta Maria, January 8 and February 8, 1645-6. Nuncio's

Memoirs (April or May) in Birch's _Inquiry_--"Pamphilius et nuncius

in hoc negotio caste et sincere partes egerunt suas; alii vero Regem

Reginamque impulerunt ad deferendum tractatum pontificium, et spem in

baculo arundineo, hæreticorum brachio, collocandam." Colepepper to

Ashburnham, Feb. Cal. of _Clarendon S.P._ 2135.

[86] Sir Kenelm Digby's articles were printed by Birch, and are also

in _Embassy_, pp. 573, 577. The nuncio's advice to Glamorgan, _ib._ p.

120, and his speech, p. 122; Ormonde to Glamorgan, February 3, 1645-6,

_Carte MSS._, vol. lxiii. f. 354; Glamorgan to Ormonde, February 8, in

_Confederation and War_, v. 258, and Ormonde's answer, February 11, in

appendix to Carte's _Ormonde_. Chester surrendered on February 3.

[87] The articles were printed in London in September 1646, and are

reprinted in _Confederation and War_, v. 286. Glamorgan's oath of

allegiance to Rinuccini, February 16, 1645-6, is given (Latin) in

Gardiner's _Civil War_, ii. 420. The King to Ormonde, February 27,

1644-5; May 22, 1645, in Carte's _Ormonde_, iii. and July 31 in

Halliwell's _Letters of the Kings of England_. On August 24, 1646,

Charles wrote to his wife: 'I have returned two messengers into Ireland

with my approving the peace there, to which I shall firmly stick,'

_Charles I. in 1646_.

[88] N. Plunket to Ormonde, May 7, 1646, in _Confederation and War_ v.

335; Digby's Declaration, July 28, and Proclamation of Peace, July 30

and August 3, _ib._ vi. 55-60; Daniel O'Neill to Ormonde, April 18, in

_Contemp. Hist._, i. 671; Rinuccini's letter, March 22, in _Embassy_,

p. 153; the Newcastle letter, June 11, in Birch's _Inquiry_, p. 208.

[89] There are accounts of this siege in _Bellings_, v. 20-24; in

Penn's _Memorials_, i. 165-210; and in Rinuccini's _Embassy_, pp.

182-191; and see Frost's _Hist. of Clare_, pp. 371-376.

[90] All the contemporary accounts mention O'Neill's short speech,

which evidently made a great impression. None say whether it was in

English or Irish. The 'British Officer' has been followed in the

text, 'MacArt spoke in the front of his own men these words, as I was

told, or to that effect.' The much longer speech in the _Aphorismical

Discovery_ is obviously a mere grammarian's figment containing allusion

to Gratian, Hannibal, Scipio, Plutarch, Polybius, the Maccabees, etc.

The number of Monro's army are given from his account, but the 'British

Officer' thinks the foot were near 5000. The numbers of the Irish are

from O'Neill's journal, and O'Mellan says nearly the same.

[91] The battle is described by Bellings and in the _Aphorismical

Discovery_. In _Contemp. Hist. of Affairs in Ireland_, i. 676-686, are

printed (1) a short notice from _Carte Papers_, xvii. 25; (2) Monro's

despatch to the Scotch estates; (3) a London tract dated June 15, 1646;

(4) Rinuccini's account (Italian) published as a tract at Rome and

Florence; (5) the 'British Officer's' account from _Hist. of the Wars

in Ireland_. An eighth account is in Colonel O'Neill's journal, _ib._

iii. 204. A ninth--not the least valuable--is in Young's _Old Belfast_,

being a translation from the Irish of O'Mellan the Franciscan, who was

chaplain to Sir Phelim O'Neill. The Rev. W. T. Latimer, in his _Hist.

of Irish Presbyterians_ (Belfast, 1893) identifies the localities from

O'Mellan and from his own local knowledge. I have satisfied myself by

actual inspection that he is right. A tenth account is in O'Neill's

letter (Latin) to Rinuccini printed in _Confederation and War_, v.

[92] Officers of Preston's army to the Supreme Council, July 27, 1646;

Ormonde to Preston, August 3, and to Bellings, August 10--all in

_Confederation and War_, vi. Rinuccini's _Embassy_, pp. 173, 181, 189;

_Bellings_, v. 16; O'Mellan's _Narrative_.

[93] William Roberts, Ulster, to Ormonde, August 11, 1646; Declaration

of William Kirkby, pursuivant; Letters by Scarampi--all in

_Confederation and War_, vi. 67, 110, 126. Rinuccini in _Embassy_, pp.

192, 197; _Bellings_, vi. 16.

[94] Decree of Ecclesiastical Congregation, August 12, 1646, in

_Confederation and War_, vi. 69; _Bellings_, _ib._ 17; Roberts to

Ormonde, August 17, _ib._ 115; _Embassy_, p. 198.

[95] Narratives of Roberts and Kirkby in _Confederation and War_, vi.

119-130; Rinuccini's letter, August 22, _ib._ 96; _Embassy_, p. 200.

[96] Carte's _Ormonde_, i. 580-587; Remonstrance of the bishops and

clergy, August 13, 1646, _ib._ ii. appendix No. 471.

[97] _Bellings_, vi. 18; Decree of Excommunication, September 1, 1646,

in _Confederation and War_, vi. 132; Sall, Mayor of Cashel, to Ormonde,

September 10, _ib._ 134; Preston to Ormonde September 5 and 17, _ib._

132, 139.

[98] _Castlehaven_, p. 66; _Bellings_, vi. 19; _Aphorismical

Discovery_, i. 125; Carte's _Ormonde_, iii. 580-583.

[99] _Bellings_, vi. 21. Order by Rinuccini and the generals, September

26, 1646, in _Confederation and War_, vi. 144; Carte's _Ormonde_, iii.

583.

[100] Rinuccini's letters, September 21 to December 29, 1646, in

_Embassy_, pp. 204, 224 _sqq._ The nuncio was with the two generals

at Lucan on November 11. Sir Robert Talbot to Ormonde, September 10;

Captain Cadogan to same, September 12; Ormonde to the Council, October

11--all in _Contemp. Hist._, i. 703-713. Digby to Ormonde, October 13,

in Carte's _Ormonde_, iii. 506. _Bellings_, vi. 22, 36.

[101] The negotiations between Ormonde and the Parliamentary

commissioners are given fully in _Rushworth_, vi. 418-444. Bellings

(vi. 28-35) gives the correspondence with the Ulster Scots. Digby to

Ormonde, October 13, 1646; Ormonde to Digby, October 12 and November

20, in Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. iii.

[102] Preston's letters, of which the dates are in the text, are all in

_Confederation and War_, vol. vi. Ormonde to Digby, October 22, 1646,

and all Digby's letters at this time in Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. iii.

[103] Preston and O'Neill to Ormonde, November 2, 1646, and the answer,

November 4, in _Contemp. Hist._ i. 713; Ormonde to Digby, November 10,

in Carte's _Ormonde_, iii. 512, and all the letters there till November

26. Negotiations between Preston and Clanricarde in _Confederation and

War_, vi. 151-162. Preston's letters to the mayor of Kilkenny (from

Lucan), November 24, _ib._ 162; Theobald Butler to Ormonde, _ib._ 165.

[104] _Bellings_, vi. 46; vii. 18. Papers of December 1646, in

_Confederation and War_, vi. 164-168, and in Carte's _Ormonde_, vol.

iii. _Embassy_, p. 347; Walter Bagenal to Ormonde, December 10, _Carte

MSS._, vol. lxiii.

[105] Rinuccini's narrative and speech in _Embassy_, pp. 241, 244,

250; _Bellings_, vii. 1-12. The new oath of the Confederacy in

_Confederation and War_, vi. 168; Declaration by the General Assembly

against the peace, February 2, 1646-7, _ib._ 177; overtures of Fennell

and Baron, March 3, _ib._ 185.