SURRENDER OF DUBLIN AND AFTER, 1647
[Sidenote: Ormonde determined to surrender Dublin.]
[Sidenote: An emissary from the Queen.]
[Sidenote: Hostilities resumed.]
Rinuccini's attempt on Dublin had completely failed, but Ormonde's
position there was nevertheless made worse. The two armies had
descended like locusts upon the districts from which he had drawn his
chief supplies. Excise could no longer be levied, and the citizens were
reduced to penury for the support of the garrison, and yet the soldiers
were half paid and half fed. As soon as it became evident that the
Kilkenny assembly would reject the peace Ormonde offered to surrender
the sword and his garrisons to the Parliament on the terms lately
offered by their representatives. The despatch was long delayed upon
the road, but the Parliamentary commissioners in Ulster at once agreed
to the terms proposed. English or Anglo-Irish soldiers who had hitherto
obeyed Ormonde found no difficulty in following where he led. Sir Henry
Tichborne was continued as governor of Drogheda, and 'embraced it with
cheerfulness.' In the meantime George Leyburn, whose diplomatic name
was Winter Grant, visited Ireland for the second time with powers
from Henrietta Maria and the Prince of Wales 'to renew,' in Ormonde's
words, 'motions of peace or accommodation.' He was a learned English
priest, educated chiefly at Douai, and one of the Queen's chaplains
since 1630. He had been for a time in the Tower, and knew Monck, whose
future greatness he foretold. Leyburn was sent to Dublin, but was
driven by wind to Waterford, and found that the assembly at Kilkenny
had just broken up. He had letters for the nuncio and clergy, but was
forbidden by his instructions to deliver them until after showing them
and all his other papers to Ormonde. The Queen would have made peace
on almost any terms, but the clerical party at Kilkenny maintained
their position. Dr. Fennell and Geoffrey Brown, who were despatched to
Kilkenny, would not commit themselves so far as to make proposals in
writing, nor even sign what Ormonde took down from their mouths. He
asked for a continuation of the truce, but this was refused, and on
April 10, the day on which it ended, Preston invested Carlow, which
resisted only for a few days. Still Ormonde professed himself willing
to delay the reception of Parliamentary troops in consideration of a
truce, but to this no answer was given. Both parties were anxious to
have the credit of making the last peaceful overture, the Confederates
because they were alarmed at Inchiquin's progress, Ormonde in order
to make it clear that he did not close with Parliament till the last
possible moment.[106]
[Sidenote: Mission of Leyburn.]
[Sidenote: A truce refused.]
[Sidenote: Leyburn and the nuncio.]
[Sidenote: Proposals from O'Neill.]
[Sidenote: Lord Digby's schemes.]
[Sidenote: He is driven abroad.]
At Kilkenny Leyburn attended the council, where his chair was placed
next to Antrim's, who presided. He told them that the Queen and Prince
were anxious for peace, without which the Catholic religion would
be ruined, but that he must see Ormonde first of all. Horses were
provided and he was passed on to Dublin. The Lord Lieutenant, says
Leyburn, expressed himself ready to cast away one son if necessary
for the King's service, but would 'give up those places under his
command rather to the English rebels than the Irish rebels, of which
opinion he thought every good Englishman was. To this I answered
nothing.' It took the inexperienced diplomatist two days to decipher
his instructions, which he then presented to Ormonde, who requested
him to go back to Kilkenny and obtain a truce for three weeks from
April 17 if possible, without binding him not to receive fresh
Parliamentary forces during its continuance. Leyburn consulted the
French agents Dumoulin, De la Monnerie, and Tallon, according to his
instructions, but he found the Council sanguine about the probable
successes of their army, and they refused any truce for less than six
months. There were already two thousand Parliamentarians in Dublin,
and Leyburn did not think it prudent to re-enter the city; but he was
in constant communication with Digby, who had found quarters in Sir
Nicholas White's house at Leixlip, and who professed to know Ormonde's
mind. Leyburn accompanied Bishop Macmahon to Kilkenny, and informed
the nuncio that the conditions of peace concerning religion had been
referred to France, and that Ormonde would not treat except on the
basis of the peace which the clergy had already rejected. Rinuccini
said he wished for peace, but was against a preliminary truce, which
Ormonde, who had already once deceived him, wanted only to gain time,
and that he could not trust him. 'I could see,' says Leyburn, 'he was
not my Lord Lieutenant's friend.... I found in him great animosity to
my Lord of Ormonde's person, my Lord of Clogher being a better hider of
his thoughts.' The Council of the Confederates as well as the clergy
came to Clonmel about the beginning of June, and Daniel O'Neill brought
a proposal from his uncle to establish a sort of joint government
between the Lord Lieutenant and the Council; but he was arrested for
not having a pass. Leyburn handed in the paper for him, but all these
delays had been fatal, for a letter came to Digby to say that the
Parliamentary commissioners had landed at Dublin with 1500 men, and
that Ormonde would now be forced to conclude matters with them. Leyburn
could come to no terms with the clergy, who would have nothing to say
to the rejected peace, while Ormonde would treat on no other basis.
They said God was not once mentioned in it, and he could only reply
that questions of religion might be settled later. He continued to
discuss matters with Digby and his secretary, Edward Walsingham, who,
according to Nicholas, was 'a great babbler of all his most secret
employments,' but it all led to nothing. Leyburn, however, persuaded
Clanricarde not to leave Ireland, which he had made up his mind to
do. In the end the best he could do for Digby was to procure him a
safe-conduct through the Confederate quarters, and he escaped to France
with some difficulty. At his earnest request Leyburn himself remained
in Ireland, and was sheltered by Clanricarde at Galway from August 1647
until the following March. In November he received a letter of recall
from the Queen dated three months back, and in February another from
Digby to the like effect. He sailed in the same ship with Glamorgan and
his wife, who had now become Lord and Lady Worcester, and reached Havre
in five days.[107]
[Sidenote: Leyburn's opinions.]
[Sidenote: Effect of the cessation.]
Leyburn, who was a very honest as well as intelligent man, favoured the
peace of 1646. The demand for a Catholic governor, he says, was one
which the King could not grant, and the objection to Ormonde's religion
was therefore invalid. He thought the divisions of Irish parties made
effective action hopeless, and that the hatred of the Leinster men to
O'Neill and the old Irish 'overbalanced their reason.' The cause of
the rebellion and of its savage character was that the 'Irish had not
enjoyed such a pleasant bondage under the English, but that they had
contracted ill will enough against their masters ... they ran hastily
and furiously to all kind of bloody executions, and as their rebellion
was without order so were their actions without measure, none that
was called English and was within reach escaping their fury ... they
either killed the English or forced them to forsake their habitations.'
The men of the Pale joined in because they had no arms, and were not
trusted by the Government. The massacres had been amply revenged
with much cruelty, the one committed 'by a rude, headless multitude,
the other by soldiers under order and command.' Insurgent slaves, he
says, seldom make good soldiers, and the Irish were always beaten
until Charles drew away to England the army which had been 'with his
consent employed against them by the Parliament,' which is perhaps the
strongest argument against the cessation of 1643.
[Sidenote: Ormonde's reasons for surrender.]
[Sidenote: Ormonde leaves Ireland.]
'The marquis,' says Clarendon 'in his defence of Ormonde, believed
it much more prudent, and agreeable to the trust reposed in him, to
deposit the King's interest and right of the Crown in the hands of the
Lords and Commons of England, who still made great professions of duty
and subjection to his Majesty, and from whom (how rebellious soever
their present actions were) it must probably revert to the Crown, by
treaty or otherwise, in a short time, than to trust it with the Irish,
from whom less than a very chargeable war would never recover it, in
what state soever the affairs of England should be; and how lasting
and bloody and costly that war might prove, by the intermeddling
and pretences of foreign princes, was not hard to conclude.' To
the Lord Lieutenant Ireland was essentially part of the same State
as England, and the King being temporarily in abeyance, the actual
wielders of power were trustees for the Crown. Parliamentary troops
began to be received in Dublin at the end of March, and on June 7 the
new commissioners arrived. At their head was Arthur Annesley, son of
Strafford's Mountnorris, and afterwards well known as Earl of Anglesey.
Other forces followed, and arrangements were soon made. Ormonde sailed
from Dublin on July 28, having left the sword of state in the hands
of the Parliamentary commissioners. 'He was,' says Carte, 'attended
by the prayers of the distressed clergy, great numbers of whom, with
their wives and children, had been kept from perishing through want by
his and his lady's bounty, and landed on August 2 at Bristol.' Colonel
Michael Jones became governor of Dublin for the Parliament. His father,
the Bishop of Killaloe, had died there just nine months before.[108]
[Sidenote: Digby and Ormonde.]
[Sidenote: Parliament prevents foreign enlistment.]
Lord Digby's schemes were always unsuccessful, but he continued
plotting to the last moment. After a meeting at Leixlip with Bellings,
Sir Robert Talbot, and others of the Confederates who were more or less
opposed to Rinuccini, Digby urged Ormonde not to leave Ireland after
delivering the sword, but to go to Rathfarnham or some other country
where his presence would be a protection to the well-affected. He
might raise a force and transport it to France with Muskerry's help,
who was absolute in Munster. In this way he would avoid all appearance
of joining with the English Parliament. Ormonde received this strange
proposal only five days before he sailed. He replied that Preston and
the rest who refused his help while he still possessed an army and
fortresses would not be much impressed by his arguments in a private
capacity, that the Parliament commanded the seas, and that the very
worst way to get their leave to transport troops was to put himself
into the power of the Confederates. For himself, he could always go
from England to France, but to go from France to England would be
virtually impossible. True to the policy which had prevailed since
Strafford's time, the dominant party in England refused to allow troops
to be sent from Ireland into the service of any foreign prince. It was
evident that they might be used against England if France or Spain
were to espouse the King's cause. Yet it is probable that unrestrained
foreign enlistment would have gone far to settle the Irish question,
and might have made Cromwell's terrible campaign unnecessary.[109]
[Sidenote: Glamorgan as general.]
[Sidenote: Character of his army.]
[Sidenote: He is ousted by Muskerry.]
[Sidenote: Rinuccini forced out of Leinster.]
At the beginning of 1647 Clanricarde reported that Glamorgan was
despised and dejected, and Ormonde said it mattered little what became
of him or of Antrim 'if it were not for a natural propension in this
people to love their cozeners.' But the Kilkenny assembly had made
Glamorgan general of Munster, and an effort was required to make the
appointment a reality. He told the King that he had been forced to
undergo a seeming commission which should put him at the head of 12,000
foot and 2500 horse, but that his enemies never rested and that he had
small hope of success. Rinuccini and his council moved to Clonmel at
the beginning of June, and for a moment it seemed as if they were going
to have their own way. Glamorgan, though not much of a soldier, had
had some experience in raising troops, but in Munster he did little,
finding it easier to multiply officers under the King's commission of
January 6, 1644-5, so that later on it was difficult to 'dissolve even
this airy structure, and to proportion the officers to the men the
province was able to contain.' Rinuccini, with the help of these new
colonels and captains, thought he could establish clerical supremacy
in Munster and displace all who adhered to Ormonde's peace. Of these
last Muskerry was by far the most important, for he had the confidence
of the soldiers, and the nuncio had been unable to exclude him from
the council. But his life was thought to be in danger, for three
Dominican chaplains suggested that it would be no harm to murder him or
the Munster commissioners. This kind of casuistry, as Rinuccini saw,
'made the impression to be expected on these idiots.' Muskerry came to
Clonmel and took his seat amongst the hostile clericals, but feared
a second arrest, and escaped to the camp. He found the old officers
friendly and afraid of being superseded by Glamorgan's creatures.
Moreover they professed themselves excommunication-proof, and declared
that they were ready to live and die with Muskerry. The men were then
mustered, and it was explained to them that their pay would be diverted
to the new officers, for that the province could not bear both. They
gladly followed suit, joyfully repeating Muskerry's name with cheers
and casting up of hats. 'And thus,' says Bellings, 'was the army, in
the space of one hour, without noise, save what witnessed their public
satisfaction, placed under his command.' Their resolution proved
irrevocable, and though the nuncio himself might be respected, his
adherents could not venture into the camp. Rinuccini therefore went to
Galway, and the Council returned to Kilkenny.'[110]
[Sidenote: Preston's army.]
[Sidenote: A sluggish general.]
[Sidenote: Preston's vacillations.]
[Sidenote: Design against Dublin.]
While Ormonde was making his arrangements with Annesley and Jones,
Preston was at Monasterevan collecting an army with which he hoped to
neutralise the Parliamentarians in Dublin. Digby still struggled to
make this force available for the King's service, and his secretary
Walsingham wrote from Monasterevan that he had been cherished and
received as an angel of peace. When mustered a few days later on the
Curragh of Kildare, Preston's army amounted to 7000 foot and 1200
horse, well officered and well appointed. Leyburn says the foot were
'as lusty appearing men, and as well accoutred with arms and clothes
as ever I did see,' and the horse up to the average. Jones, with a
much inferior force, advanced to Naas, while Preston encamped on the
left bank of the Liffey not far off. Jones drew back to Johnstown,
and then detached some cavalry to go round by the south of Naas and
intercept some of Preston's men. Leyburn had warned the latter of the
danger he incurred from the superiority of the English horse, but
there was a moment when they might have been annihilated between Naas
and Johnstown, and Bellings himself remonstrated with the sluggish
general, but it was then too late, and Jones was allowed to rally all
his men in safety on a hill near Kill, whence they reached Dublin
without further fighting. Preston's next encampment was at the Boyne
close to Trim. Walsingham came there by appointment, but found that
the political wind had changed, and that the general had changed with
it as usual. The presence of Bishop French was probably fatal to any
negotiation, and the unfortunate private secretary returned to Dublin.
Trim was held by an English garrison, and Preston wished to take, while
Jones was anxious to relieve it. Hearing that the Ulster Protestants
had come as far as Dundalk on their way to join Jones, but that they
would be obliged to retire in ten days for want of provisions, Preston
withdrew to an unassailable position at Portlester, where he intended
to remain until the invasion was passed. But Bishop French and Sir
Nicholas Plunket advised him to take active measures lest his own
supplies should run short. Jones, who in Bellings's words 'fought but
for bread and elbow-room about Dublin,' could not have kept the field
long, and Preston, by taking the advice of a priest and a lawyer on a
military question, lost the advantage of dividing his enemy's forces
and perhaps beating them in detail. Sir Henry Tichborne and others came
to Skreen with nearly 2000 men and two guns, and the united forces
marched through Trim. Jones mustered his army at the famous hill of
Tara, and found himself almost equal in strength to Preston, and rather
superior in horse, of which he despatched 500 under Major Harman to
reconnoitre at Portlester, but they lost their way. Preston left his
almost impregnable position and marched to Agher, south of Trim, where
he again took up strong ground. But news came from Leixlip that there
were only 500 soldiers in Dublin, and the Irish general, as rash as he
was generally supine, decided to make a dash for the capital through
Maynooth, which had already 'by especial Providence' voluntarily
surrendered to Jones. Preston left Agher on August 8, Harman with
his troopers hanging upon his skirts, and causing as much delay as
possible.[111]
[Sidenote: Battle of Dungan Hill, August 8, 1647.]
The wheel of a waggon which came off at a ford delayed Preston's march,
and the bulk of the enemy's cavalry gradually drew up to Harman's
support, while their whole army was visible in the distance. Jones was
upon Lynch's Knock or Summerhill, and Preston upon Dungan Hill, after
which the battle is generally named. It was evident that Maynooth
would never be reached without fighting, and Preston prepared for
battle in what he thought was a good position. Without any preliminary
cannonade the Parliamentary army advanced across the interval between
the two hills. The Irish horse were routed at the first charge, having
been posted in a narrow lane with high quickset hedges and without
power of forming line to the front. Perhaps the real cause of their
misfortune was that they were commanded by Lord Costello instead of by
their well-tried leader MacThomas Fitzgerald. Costello knew nothing of
war, but he was a recent convert, and that seems to have been thought
sufficient. A large part of the infantry stood in some very tall wheat,
where they were useless. Battalions were separated from each other by
high banks, and no manoeuvring was possible. The best fight was made
by four hundred Scotch Islanders under a Glengarry, but most of them
were killed. The bulk of the infantry took refuge in a bog, where they
were first surrounded, and then 'our foot,' says Jones, 'followed into
the bog, where they put to the sword all not admitted to quarter; such
of the rebels as left the bog fell into the power of our horse.' There
is the usual dispute as to whether men were slain after quarter given
or not. Bellings says 'most of the officers and some soldiers repaired
to the red colours, and to preserve them Colonel Flower commanded his
regiment to stand to their arms in a body; and having brought them to
Colonel Jones, they had quarter.' Jones's own account tallies pretty
well with this, for he says ninety-five commissioned officers were
taken prisoners, and only about 300 non-commissioned officers and men.
Five thousand four hundred and seventy bodies were counted on the
field, and many stragglers were afterwards killed by the troopers. No
mercy was shown to any English, nor to such of the Anglo-Irish as had
changed sides. Jones thought scarcely 500 of the infantry escaped.
The English lost three officers, of whom one, Captain Gibbs, really
died of drinking ditch-water when heated. The total number killed was
under twenty. Four twelve-pounders with sixty-four draught oxen, and
what was even more important, Preston's papers fell into the victor's
hands. All the colours were taken, which Jones 'could not be persuaded
to be brought into Dublin in triumph, as savouring (said he) of
ostentation, and attributing unto men the glory of this great work due
to the Lord only,' but there was a public thanksgiving in all the city
churches.[112]
[Sidenote: The Parliament neglect Ireland.]
[Sidenote: Victories of Inchiquin.]
[Sidenote: Dungarvan.]
[Sidenote: Bunratty.]
[Sidenote: Adare.]
The House of Commons voted 1000_l._ each to Jones and to Fenwick, who
commanded at Trim, 500_l._ to Colonel Conway, 200_l._, to Tichborne,
who commanded the rear guard, and 100_l._ to Colonel Culme, who
brought the letter. They also talked about sending provisions, but
these were long delayed. One thousand five hundred pounds borrowed on
personal security was looked upon as a god-send. Preston retired to
Carlow, giving up Naas and other places in Kildare, and busied himself
in collecting another army. In the meantime Inchiquin had become
formidable in Munster. Early in May 1647 he took Cappoquin, where there
was no powder to fire a shot, and Dromana, where the garrison only
fired four or five. Inchiquin had studied these places, and in 1642 had
pointed out how easy it would be to take Dromana and how troublesome
to take Dungarvan. The latter did in fact make a stout resistance, but
Inchiquin made himself master of the water-supply, which soon settled
the matter. All the garrisons were allowed to march out with military
honours, 'but some twenty Englishmen of the red-coats that had run to
the rebels were hanged.' Three thousand cows and two thousand sheep
were cut out from under the walls of Waterford. Dungarvan, being a
seaport, completed Inchiquin's chain of posts from Kinsale to the mouth
of the Suir, and its loss was much felt by the Confederates. The victor
has a bad name, but many grumbled at his comparative lenity. Rinuccini
attributed these disasters to general dissension among high and low,
and to the non-payment of the soldiers. About midsummer Inchiquin
invaded the county Limerick, and destroyed many castles, forced the
passage of the Mulkear at or near Barrington's Bridge, and plundered
the country up to the Shannon. A party crossed where O'Brien's Bridge
had once stood, and the terrified Irish of Clare burned Bunratty, which
had been so troublesome to take. Inchiquin then returned to Cork to
rest his troops, who were 'generally barefooted and extreme naked,'
but scarcely hungry after driving homewards 8000 cows and 5000 sheep.
In the meantime Colonel Byron, starting from the new base at Dungarvan
and Cappoquin, took Castle Grace in Tipperary, 'put the rogues to the
sword,' entered Limerick and stormed Adare 'where four friars were
burned and three took prisoners.' Byron's party also drove off between
two and three thousand cattle. Seven thousand pounds were voted to
Inchiquin by Parliament about the same time, and Preston's defeat at
Dungan Hill greatly increased his relative strength.[113]
[Sidenote: Lord Lisle appointed Lord Lieutenant.]
[Sidenote: Inchiquin will not obey Lisle.]
[Sidenote: The officers support Inchiquin.]
[Sidenote: Lisle leaves Ireland.]
In January 1646 the House of Commons resolved that the Government of
Ireland should be vested in a single person of honour, and that there
should be a fresh appointment every year. In April Philip Lord Lisle,
who as Leicester's son might be supposed to have some claim, was made
Lord Lieutenant accordingly, with power to appoint officers for two
regiments of foot and one of horse, and with the command of all troops
raised and to be raised for the reduction of Ireland. The Parliament
exercised the power of naming a chief governor, and perhaps that was
the real object, for no attempt was made to provide him with the means
of doing anything. Lisle lingered in England for a year, and arrived at
Cork on March 9, 1647, George Monck being one of those who accompanied
him. Sir Adam Loftus and Sir John Temple were sent as commissioners for
the civil government of Munster, but Lisle's appointment expired on
April 15, and Inchiquin dissembled until then. Lisle lost no time in
reporting that he was equally ready to return to England or to remain
in Ireland if his commission were prolonged, but that he could do
nothing to reduce the rebels without further supplies. Then Inchiquin,
who had been expecting to be arrested, exhibited his own patent as
Lord President under the Great Seal, declared Lisle a private person,
and hinted at putting him under restraint if he interfered any further
with the troops. Most of the officers sided with him in spite of all
the efforts of Broghill, Loftus, and Temple. Lisle, finding himself
powerless, proposed to sail with his baggage on Vice-Admiral Crowther's
ship, but here again he was foiled. Crowther said he would do nothing
without the Lord President's orders, which were not given until Lisle's
trunks had been searched, and in the end the late Lord Lieutenant
was glad to get out of Ireland with his property and ten officers
who refused to serve under Inchiquin. Among them was Monck, who soon
returned to command all forces, both English and Scotch, in Ulster,
except those in charge of Sir Charles Coote. Broghill, Loftus and
Temple went with Lisle, Parliament having in the meantime decided not
to send a chief governor. The whole authority in Munster, both civil
and military, remained in Inchiquin's hands.[114]
[Sidenote: Taaffe and Inchiquin.]
[Sidenote: Inchiquin takes Cahir, &c.]
[Sidenote: Sack of Cashel, Sept. 4.]
When Ormonde left Ireland, Lord Taaffe, who had been and was to be his
adherent, took the oath to the Confederacy. Muskerry, having got rid
of Glamorgan, thought he could counteract Rinuccini most effectually
by attending the Council regularly; and he handed over the command
in Munster to Taaffe. The new general, who was perhaps not very sure
of his troops, invaded the county of Cork, but avoided an encounter
with Inchiquin, who disregarded him and made a dash into Tipperary,
which had hitherto suffered little by the war, and where there were
cows to be lifted and towns to be sacked. He reported the capture of
twelve castles, of which Cahir was the most important. There were a
hundred men in this strong place, which might have defied him if it
had been bravely defended. One of his soldiers was wounded and taken
in a plundering affray, and Colonel Hippesley, who had some skill in
surgery, obtained access to him in the guise of a doctor. He used his
opportunity to notice that there was a weak point in the courtyard
wall, and that a timorous spirit prevailed among the garrison. The
outer wall was carried by storm, and the castle surrendered on
condition that the soldiers' lives should be spared. The moral effect
of this success was great, for it was supposed then, and it has often
been said since, that Cahir held out for two months against Essex.
It is true that that ill-starred favourite wasted several weeks in
Munster, but his siege of Cahir lasted only three days. On September
4 Inchiquin came before Cashel, where there was a garrison of four
hundred men. A panic was caused by the fate of Cahir, and the soldiers
with a large part of the inhabitants took refuge on the famous rock,
which was well supplied with water and surrounded by strong walls.
Others wisely distrusted the acropolis, and hid themselves in the
woods and fields. Inchiquin offered to let the garrison march out with
the honours of war, without any conditions for the clergy and citizens;
but the officers bravely refused. The assailants had no cannon, but
trusted to fire within the walls. One account says Inchiquin piled turf
against the defences; another, that firebrands were thrown over the
battlements. The fine September weather did the rest. The assailants
swarmed in over the north wall, and a terrible carnage ensued. About a
thousand of the besieged perished, some women being killed and others
stripped. 'Three of the secular clergy, the prior of the Dominicans,
and one of our society (the Jesuits) fell in the performance of their
sacred duties.' A bishop who was present managed to hide himself,
as did the mayor and some others; but no respect was paid to the
church or even to the altar. According to the account most favourable
to Inchiquin, he tried to stop the slaughter as soon as he reached
the cathedral, but is said to have donned the archiepiscopal mitre,
boasting that he was governor of Munster and archbishop of Cashel too.
Ludlow says he 'put 3000 to the sword, taking the priests even from
under the altar: of such force is ambition when it seizes upon the
minds of men.' The soldiers sold the plunder, including the sacred
vessels, to the people who flocked in from the neighbouring villages
'as if to a fair.' Pictures of saints were used as horse-cloths, and
insults were offered to statues of the Virgin.[115]
[Sidenote: Rinuccini without money.]
[Sidenote: _Disputatio Apologetica._]
[Sidenote: The book publicly burnt at Kilkenny,]
[Sidenote: and condemned at Lisbon.]
Money was expected from Rome at the beginning of the year, but did not
come for twelve months, during which Rinuccini's influence waned; and
to this delay he attributed the expulsion of Glamorgan, the action
of Muskerry, and the defeat of Preston. Six thousand crowns would
have prevented it all. With eight thousand more O'Neill could have
retaken Sligo, subdued Connaught, and 'marched into Ulster to reduce
the fort of Enniskillen, and to take possession of the Holy Place of
St. Patrick's Purgatory, now about one hundred years in the hands of
the heretics.' Having seen Ormonde safe out of Ireland, the nuncio
himself withdrew to Galway, where his presence would still have some
of the charm of novelty and where he might expect less resistance than
at Kilkenny or Clonmel. But Clanricarde carefully avoided paying him
any attention, and he was confronted with a new difficulty immediately
after his arrival. A Jesuit named Cornelius Mahony, a native of Cork
but living at Lisbon, published in 1645 what he called an 'apologetic
disputation,' with an exhortation to his countrymen. He proves to his
own satisfaction that the English Crown had no claims upon Ireland,
having broken the conditions of Adrian's bull, and urges the Irish to
'elect a Catholic king, a vernacular or natural Irishman.' 'You have
already,' he says, 'killed 150,000 enemies in these four or five years,
as your very adversaries' howling openly confess in their writings,
and you do not deny. I think more heretic enemies have been killed:
would that they had all been! It remains for you to slay all the other
heretics, or expel them from the bounds of Ireland, lest they infect
our Catholic country with their heresies and errors.' A copy of this
incendiary production reached Ireland from France, and others followed
from Portugal. At Kilkenny the book was publicly burned, and close
search was made at Galway. Rinuccini expressed no disapproval of its
doctrines, and refused to punish John Bane, parish priest of Athlone,
with whom a copy was found. He attributed the outcry against it to
those who were in possession of ecclesiastical lands, and to those
who hated O'Neill, the only possible 'natural and vernacular' hero
who could be chosen king. The Portuguese kingdom had only lately been
re-established, and Mahony argued that the Irish had just the same
right to upset a heretic dynasty as the Portuguese had to drive out
their Castilian oppressors. Nevertheless, King John condemned the book,
and the possession of a copy was forbidden under grievous penalties.
Peter Walsh preached nine sermons against it on five successive Sundays
and holidays in St. Canice's Cathedral, and had no difficulty in
showing that loyalty to a Protestant king was an essential part of the
Confederacy's political creed.[116]
[Sidenote: The nuncio dislikes O'Neill.]
[Sidenote: The Church held responsible for Ulster savagery]
[Sidenote: Mutiny in O'Neill's army.]
[Sidenote: Devastation of the Pale.]
[Sidenote: Munster refuses O'Neill's help.]
Rinuccini, though O'Neill was his only champion, came to hate him
almost as much as he hated Ormonde. He even made excuses for Preston,
whose intrigues with the latter might be explained by O'Neill's
ambition 'under cover of religion.' After Benburb, the northern
general had increased his army without orders, and he thirsted for the
plunder of Leinster. Monck took care that he should have no supplies
from Eastern Ulster. 'If I had not sent my confessor to dissuade him
from so unjust a resolution,' said the nuncio, 'Kilkenny would have
been sacked and much innocent blood shed.' Wherever O'Neill went, the
Ulster soldiers, 'barbarous enough by nature, although good Catholics,'
spread terror and destruction around. The worst of it was that they
called themselves the army of Pope and Church, and when they 'perform
any act of cruelty or robbery, the sufferers execrate his Holiness
and me, and curse the clergy, whom they consider the patrons of this
army.' Two regiments harried the property of Mountgarret, who brought
a crowd of women to the nuncio's house, 'where they made a dreadful
uproar with howls and lamentations, thus giving it to be understood
that I countenanced the cruelties perpetrated by the Ulster men.'
After the failure of the attack on Dublin, O'Neill was made general of
Connaught, and devoted himself to the affairs of that province. He was
at Boyle, preparing to march against Sligo, when the news of Dungan
Hill reached him, with a pressing summons to enter Leinster again, so
as to prevent Inchiquin from joining hands with Jones. Muskerry was a
party to this, for he could see no other means of safety; but O'Neill
refused to move. The personal entreaties of Bishop Macmahon at last
prevailed, but many of his officers, with Alexander MacDonnell at their
head, refused to obey. Partly by persuasion and partly by turning his
guns on the mutineers, the general pacified them for the time, and
established his quarters at Castlejordan in Meath, until November 1647.
He had then collected about 12,000 foot and 1500 horse, and with these
he proceeded to make a famine round Dublin. Tichborne followed the
northern army everywhere, and cut off many stragglers. The destroyers
passed near the scene of Preston's defeat to Dunboyne and Clonee,
and all southern Meath was burned or spoiled. Turning northwards,
they went almost to Balbriggan. Two hundred fires were counted at one
time from St. Audoen's steeple in Dublin. On the sixth day, between
Ratoath and Garristown, Jones and Tichborne showed themselves; and the
latter wished to fight, but was overruled, so that O'Neill returned
to Castlejordan without having to strike a blow. He offered to
quarter 4000 men in Munster, who were to spare the Confederates while
galling Inchiquin's partisans; but the provincials refused such help.
Inchiquin's methods of making war were not gentle, but there was some
excuse for doubting whether the deliverers would be much better.[117]
[Sidenote: Inchiquin's soldiers hungry,]
[Sidenote: but anxious to fight.]
[Sidenote: Battle of Knocknanuss Nov. 13.]
[Sidenote: Alaster Macdonnell again.]
[Sidenote: Inchiquin completely victorious.]
[Sidenote: Death of Macdonnell.]
Having access to a sea which their friends commanded, neither Jones
nor Inchiquin were easy to assail. They could always retire into their
coast towns and exist there somehow. Yet the Munster Protestants were
in miserable state enough. 'It would make your soul bleed,' writes a
resident in Cork to his cousin in England, 'to see the poor common
soldier march out with never a whole rag to his back, nor shoe to his
foot, feeble and faint for want of what should suffice nature.' The
prospect of a battle was a relief, and 'those that were sickish skipped
for joy.' Taaffe, says the author of the 'Aphorismical Discovery,' 'was
a well-spoken man of both art and delivery, a fencer, a runner of a
tilt, a brave, generous gamester, and an exceeding good potator in
any liquor you please.' He was a brave soldier, but more diplomatist
than general. In the King's interest, Digby had urged him to avoid a
general action, but Fabian tactics require a Fabius, and probably he
was forced to fight by the feeling which Inchiquin's doings at Cashel
had excited. At all events, he drew his forces together early in
November, when Inchiquin concentrated his at Mallow, and went to look
for him. Taaffe, with 7000 foot and 1200 horse, was strongly posted on
the hill of Knocknanuss, about three miles to the eastward of Kanturk.
A bog and stream ran along his front. Inchiquin with a much smaller
force advanced to a place called Garryduff on November 12, where he
received a letter from Taaffe, who declared that he was fighting in
the King's cause, and proposed a contest between 2000 foot a side,
'more for recreation' than for any serious military reason. Inchiquin
retorted that Taaffe was not really preserving the King's interest, and
that he would wait till the morning before engaging in a battle for
recreation. He sheltered his army in a wood for the night, and when the
first light disclosed Taaffe's position, suggested in his turn that he
should descend from his hill, cross the stream, and fight 'upon a very
fair piece of ground.' Taaffe answered verbally that he was soldier
enough to improve the advantage that he had. He refused to abandon his
position, but did what was nearly as bad by shifting his men in sight
of the enemy and finally posting them so that the bend of the hill hid
his two wings from one another. The right, under Alexander MacDonnell,
consisted of Scots islanders and Ulstermen, the Munster troops being
on the left, where Taaffe himself stood. Inchiquin began the attack
with his artillery, but the Highlanders, having fired a volley, threw
away their muskets and rushed sword-in-hand upon the guns, of which
they retained possession for an hour. Inchiquin's left was driven
back towards Mallow, but on the right he was completely victorious.
Rupert's faults were not his, and he did not pursue, but turned back
to look after his defeated wing. The Highlanders and Purcell's horse,
believing the battle won, were scattered all over the country, and
made no effective resistance. Half of Taaffe's army were slain, the
remainder flying to Liscarroll and Newmarket; while Inchiquin lost
only about 150 men. 'We were killing till night,' he says; and few
prisoners were made, except among the officers. The arms of 6000 men
strewed the field, and Taaffe's commission from the Confederates as
general of Munster was taken with his baggage. Bellings had heard
that Alexander Macdonnell was killed by an officer in cold blood,
after quarter given; but the English accounts give no hint of this;
and Rinuccini says distinctly that he refused quarter. The result of
the battle was to place all Munster at Inchiquin's discretion, except
Limerick, Waterford, Clonmel, and Kilmallock. He received the thanks of
Parliament, and 1000_l._ were voted to buy horses.[118]
[Sidenote: The dwindling Assembly at Kilkenny.]
[Sidenote: The nuncio's party outnumbered]
[Sidenote: A property qualification.]
The General Assembly of the Confederates met at Kilkenny on November
12, the day before the battle of Knocknanuss. In the previous year
there had been seventy-three members to represent Ulster, and these had
given Rinuccini his majority. This time, 'from poverty or some other
cause,' only nine appeared, who claimed to hold proxies for the whole
number. This claim was disallowed, and Munster and Connaught, being
under-represented owing to the difficulties of travel, the powers lay
with 'the mob of Leinster, many of them the minions of Muskerry.' On
the very day of meeting, apparently, the Assembly proceeded to pass
what was in effect a new constitution. This document, extending to
fifteen printed pages, and no doubt carefully prepared beforehand,
begins by setting forth the ruin wrought by military violence. To
repress this for the future a new Supreme Council was appointed,
consisting of twelve from each province; but the real power was given
to a committee of twelve 'residents,' three for each province, chosen
out of the larger number. Bellings was one of the twelve, only two
of whom were bishops; of these, Edmund O'Dwyer, Bishop of Limerick,
was a pronounced Ormondist; while Emer Macmahon of Clogher was by
no means averse to treating with the Lord Lieutenant. When seven,
being an absolute majority of the committee, came to any decision,
the dissidents were to sign as if they had been assenting parties.
Elaborate orders were made for the repression of malefactors, for
raising money, and for the arming and training of a militia consisting
of all men between sixteen and sixty, 'forcing such as are able to
provide for themselves swords and muskets, and the rest pikes and
skeyns.' It was recited that in all former assemblies many of the
members had been 'serving-men and men uninterested in the kingdom,'
and ordered that only estated gentlemen should be eligible in future.
Finally, orders were given for the regulation of the 'creaghts' or
nomad herdsmen of Ulster, who had followed Owen Roe O'Neill into the
other three provinces and settled upon them like locusts, turning the
cultivated country into a desert.[119]
[Sidenote: The Queen's opinion about Ireland]
[Sidenote: Envoys sent to Rome,]
[Sidenote: to Spain,]
[Sidenote: and to France.]
'I wonder,' wrote Henrietta Maria to her husband a few days before the
Assembly met at Kilkenny, 'that the Irish do not give themselves to
some foreign king; you will force them to it in the end, when they see
themselves offered as a sacrifice.' Many in Ireland were of the same
opinion, and Rinuccini feared that Louis XIV. would be chosen. His own
sympathies were rather Spanish, but he could not deny that France was
likely to be the best paymaster and the most vigorous protector. A
neutral would be preferable, and, like a good Florentine, he suggested
the Grand Duke Ferdinand II. who had sent or promised some arms. But
the Assembly had no thought of repudiating the English Crown, though
they eagerly sought help from Continental sovereigns, and even from
the Dutch States-General. None of the envoys chosen were such as
Rinuccini approved. Bishop French and Sir Nicholas Plunket were sent
to Rome, and in this case he could say that the object of the Council
was to get good men out of the way. They were to represent generally
the fidelity of Ireland and her need of help, and in particular to beg
the Pope's intercession with the Queen and Prince, with the sovereigns
of France and Spain, and with all other Christian princes. If all else
failed, they were empowered to invite Innocent to be himself protector
of Ireland, and they were to ask his help even if matters should be
accommodated with the Queen and Prince. Sir Richard Blake, a decided
opponent of the nuncio, was sent to Spain with instructions to offer
the protectorship to the King; but only in the last resort and after
they had heard the result of the Roman mission. The same instructions
were given to those who went to France. Viscount Muskerry, Bishop
Emer Macmahon, and Geoffrey Brown were at first chosen; but Macmahon
positively refused to go on the grounds that the Queen hated him, that
Jermyn and Digby had threatened his life for opposing the Ormonde
peace, and that he spoke neither French nor English. The latter can
hardly have been strictly the case, but perhaps he did not speak well
enough for diplomacy. It was nevertheless carried by a majority that
he should be compelled to go. 'He then rose,' says Rinuccini, 'and,
with much displeasure, added the following words: "You, sirs, have
gained your victory, but I say that under no circumstances will I go
to France."' More than fifty members left the hall, exclaiming that
the Confederation was at end; but a bishop said that the disaffection
of one need not dissolve the union of others. Muskerry, Taaffe, and
Preston wished to imprison Macmahon, but the mayor sheltered him.
There was a cry that O'Neill was coming, and the city gates were shut.
Preston went to look for soldiers, and when Macmahon returned to the
Assembly next day he was driven away as being himself under discussion.
The lawyers said a bishop might be imprisoned, but the clergy objected,
and the Council contented themselves with forbidding him to leave the
city. In the end, Antrim was substituted for the bishop as envoy to
France, and the matter dropped for the time.[120]
[Sidenote: Inchiquin's bare-footed army]
[Sidenote: is everywhere victorious.]
[Sidenote: Flight of the Supreme Council.]
[Sidenote: Inchiquin ill-supported by Parliament,]
[Sidenote: which he resolves to desert.]
On December 16 Inchiquin marched out of Cork with 1000 foot and a few
horse, 'and was fain to have a gathering among the poor inhabitants
to get so much monies as to buy them brogues to keep their feet from
being cut to pieces by ice.' Owing to the difficulty of feeding men
and horses, he could not increase his force materially. But, small
as it was, Rinuccini reported at the end of January that it met with
no resistance anywhere. A few days later Inchiquin relieved Cahir,
occupied Carrick, and repaired the bridge there; threatened Waterford,
where Rinuccini then was, and, turning northward, took Callan by
assault. No artillery was used, all the gates being blown down with
petards, and three hundred men were put to the sword, 'besides some
women, which the soldiers' mercy would not extend to, notwithstanding
orders to the contrary.' The victors were unpaid and half starved,
and even the officers underwent 'intolerable extremities.' Fethard
was also in Inchiquin's hands, and the Council of the Confederates
fled in haste to Kilkenny from Clonmel, whither they had gone to
compose local differences. Rinuccini went to Waterford, and Inchiquin
raised contributions up to the very walls of Kilkenny. Perhaps he
did not really want to take it, being already suspected of a wish
to turn against the Parliament which had supplied his wants so ill.
His officers continued to protest their fidelity, but dwelt upon the
'improbable successes' which they had attained without help. The
Derby House Committee promised money and clothes, which either never
came or came in ridiculously small quantities, showing that they were
distrusted. They would be obliged to make terms with the rebels, unless
Parliament sent shipping to fetch them off. The officers' remonstrance
was not read in the House of Commons until March 27, but Inchiquin had
been for some time in communication with Ormonde. This did not prevent
him from attempting a junction with Jones, which was prevented by
O'Neill, or from sending Major Patterson to Edinburgh, offering to join
the Scots with 6000 men if they would declare for the King against the
English Parliament.[121]
[Sidenote: Ormonde in England, Aug.-Feb., 1647-8.]
[Sidenote: He escapes to France.]
[Sidenote: The Irish envoys at Paris, March, 1647-8.]
[Sidenote: Ormonde advises an evasive answer.]
On landing in England, Ormonde went for a few days to Acton, near
Bristol, where he stayed with his uncle, Sir Robert Poyntz. Having
received a pass from Fairfax, he went to London and to the King at
Hampton Court, to whom he presented an elaborate account of his
proceedings in Ireland. He had a friendly meeting with Fairfax at
Putney, and lived for some time at Kingston, to be near the King; but
the army became jealous of the Royalist confabulations at Hampton
Court, and on October 9 he had to take leave of Charles, whom he
never saw again. He returned to Acton, which was conveniently near to
Ireland, and sent, first, Colonel John Barry, and then Edward Synge,
afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, to negotiate with Inchiquin. Fearing that
he might be arrested, he crossed the country to Hastings and escaped in
a fishing-boat to Dieppe. Many believed that he had gone to Scotland.
He reached Paris early in March where he met Glamorgan and Antrim, each
of them hoping to be the 'Catholic viceroy' for whom Rinuccini had so
long contended. Muskerry and Brown reached St. Malo on March 14, and
on April 2 made written proposals to the Queen and Prince. They were
debarred from considering religious matters until the return of the
envoys from Rome, and were content to stand for the present upon the
terms of the Ormonde peace. In the case of property they were more
specific, insisting that all lands forfeited since the first year of
James and reconquered since October 23, 1641, from 'any of the party
adverse to us' should be confirmed to the actual holders, that all who
had lost their estates since the accession should be allowed to recover
them, no statute or patent being pleadable to the contrary. No king of
England could have granted these terms, and Henrietta was surrounded
by English Protestants. Ormonde advised a friendly answer without any
definite promises, and this course was taken. The Queen and Prince
regretted the violation of the late peace, declined to discuss matters
of religion with men who were not authorised to treat, and promised
to send someone to Ireland empowered to 'condescend to whatever may
consist with justice and with his Majesty's honour and interest to
grant unto the said Confederated Catholics.' This answer was not given
till May 13, by which time the situation in Ireland had materially
changed.[122]
FOOTNOTES:
[106] George Leyburn's _Memoirs_, 1722; Tichborne's _Letter_ to his
wife, June 8, 1657; _Bellings_, vii. 15 _sqq._
[107] Leyburn's _Memoirs_; Digby's letters in Carte's _Ormonde_, vol.
iii., appendix.
[108] All the material facts for this paragraph are in Carte's
_Ormonde_, and Rinuccini's _Embassy_, pp. 276-329; Clarendon's _Hist.
of the Rebellion, Ireland_, p. 39. The garrisons surrendered with
Dublin were Drogheda, Naas, Trim, Dundalk, Carlingford, Narrow-water,
Newry, Greencastle, Slane.
[109] Letters of Digby and Ormonde in Carte's _Ormonde_, iii. 17-23,
July.
[110] Clanricarde to Ormonde, January 8, 1646-7, with Ormonde's
answer of same date, in Carte's _Ormonde_, iii.; _Bellings_, vii.
21-27; Rinuccini's _Embassy_, June 18 and August 22, 1647; Muskerry
to Clanricarde, June 17, 'from the camp, near Kilmallock,' in
_Confederation and War_, vii. 203; Glamorgan to the King, March 31,
_Additional MSS._, 28,938, _f._ 129.
[111] _Bellings_, vii. 27-32; Culme's Diary referred to below;
Leyburn's _Memoirs_.
[112] _Bellings_, vii. 32, 349; Jones's account in _Rushworth_, vii.
779; Rinuccini's account in _Embassy_, p. 306; Borlase's _Rebellion; A
Diary of Passages_, August 1-10, 1647, brought to London on August 18
by Lieut.-Colonel Arthur Culme, who was present, and presented by him
to Parliament, to which a list of prisoners is appended, giving the
names of 101 commissioned and twenty-five non-commissioned officers,
with 241 privates not named. Lord Westmeath is at the head of the list.
[113] Culme's _Diary_, _ut sup._; Lismore Papers, 2nd series, p. 111;
_Rushworth_, vi. 486, 562, 632 and vii. 787 (Letter of August 12, 1647)
_Two letters_ from Lord Inchiquin to the Speaker, May 4 and 10, 1647,
ordered to be printed May 18.
[114] _Rushworth_, vi. 248, 455; _Whitelock_, March 9, 1646-7;
_Confederation and War_, iv. 19-25; Blencowe's _Sydney Papers_, pp. 6,
13, 17; _A True and Brief Relation_ of Lord Lisle's departure (a letter
from Cork), 1647. Monck's Ulster appointment was made in July 1647.
[115] For the sack of Cashel I have chiefly followed Father Andrew
Sall, S.J., who was a native of the place, and who appears from
internal evidence to have been at least in the neighbourhood. A
translation from his Italian narrative is printed in Murphy's _Cromwell
in Ireland_, pp. 388-392. The _Aphorismical Discovery_ (i. 182) says
thirty priests and friars were killed; Carte says 'near twenty.'
Carte's _Ormonde_, ii. 7; Ludlow's _Memoirs_, ed. Firth, i. 85;
Lenihan's _Limerick_, p. 161.
[116] I have used the very scarce Dublin reprint of the _Disputatio
Apologetica_: the original is, of course, still scarcer. Nearly all
that is known of Mahony is in Walsh's _Remonstrance_, part ii. sec. 22.
The Portuguese decrees are in _Contemporary Hist._ i. 739; Rinuccini's
_Embassy_, p. 321.
[117] Rinuccini's report on O'Neill's proceedings, 1647, in _Embassy_,
p. 281. For the great and increasing hatred excited by the Ulster
troops, _ib._, 290, 309, 324, 347, 353-4, 357, 359; O'Neill's Journal,
1647, in _Contemporary Hist._, iii. 206; Sir H. Tichborne's _Letter_ to
his wife; Sir Maurice Eustace to Ormonde in _Confederation and War_,
vi. 207.
[118] Letters in _Rushworth_, vii. 916, 947; Inchiquin's letter to
Taaffe is in Meehan's _Confederation of Kilkenny_; Carte's _Ormonde_,
ii. 9; Smith's _Cork_; Rinuccini's official account of battle in
_Embassy_, p. 335, and further particulars at p. 519; _Bellings_, vii.
34, 350; Inchiquin to Lenthall, November 18, 1647, ordered by the House
of Commons to be printed, November 30. _A Perfect Narrative_ of the
battle of Knocknanuss, by an officer present, 1647; _A Mighty Victory_
in Ireland, November 29, 1647, being a letter from William More written
in the field on November 13.
[119] Rinuccini's _Embassy_, p. 343; _Confederation and War_, vi. 208,
232.
[120] The Queen to the King, December 1/11; 1647, in Bruce's _Charles
I. in 1646_; Rinuccini's _Embassy_, pp. 330, 332, 340, 343; _Bellings_,
vii. 36. Instructions for the agents to Rome, France, and Spain in
_Confederation and War_, vi. 223-227. Speech of the agent in Holland,
_ib._ 232.
[121] Letter in _Rushworth_, vii. 947; _ib._ 1006, 1029, 1041;
Rinuccini's _Embassy_, pp. 367, 370; _Thurloe_, i. 93; _Bellings_, vii.
36-39.
[122] Carte's _Ormonde_, ii. 15. Ormonde's report on Ireland to the
King is _ib._ iii. appendix No. 565; _Rushworth_, vii. 795. The Paris
negotiations in _Confederation and War_, vi. 228-232. _Bellings_, vii.
37.