LAST PHASE OF THE WAR, 1652
[Sidenote: Galway still holds out, Dec. 1651.]
[Sidenote: Ireton's last summons to Galway.]
[Sidenote: Ludlow commander-in-chief, Dec. 1651.]
Ireton wished to press on to Galway, and Ludlow thought it could
easily be brought to surrender while the garrison were 'under a great
consternation by the loss of Limerick.' But there was much sickness
in the army, and officers generally were unwilling to begin another
troublesome campaign in November. Coote, who had been for some
time blockading Galway on the east side, came to the camp and gave
his opinion against immediate action. He did not believe the place
could be taken without attacking it on both sides. A bridge had been
prepared for the short river between Lough Corrib and the sea, but
the right bank was strongly fortified, and it would be impossible
to throw it across. It would be necessary to go all round by Cong,
where Clanricarde lay with 3000 men. Even if the passage were forced
many rivers lay in the way, none of which were fordable in case of
heavy rain, while horses could only be led from Cong to Aghenure near
Oughterard, and from that on to Galway they could not travel at all.
There was no forage in the country, and food and ammunition would have
to be carried on the men's backs. This reasoning prevailed, and Ireton
wrote from before Clare Castle merely to offer the same terms as had
been tendered to Limerick in July: 'I will not,' he said, alluding to
what had happened at Waterford, 'now do you the courtesy to summon
you at such a distance, because your gravity once chid me for it as
unadvisedly, but for the good men's sake of the city who perhaps may
not be so angry in the notion of a soldier's honour, as to understand
the quibbles of it ... though men of your unhappy breeding think such
glorious trifling worth the sacrificing or venturing of other men's
lives.' He desired him therefore on peril of his head to communicate
the offer made to the citizens. It was easy for Preston to answer that
he fought in a good cause and that Ireton was risking men's lives in a
bad one, while his head and those of his friends were as 'unsettled on
their shoulders as any in the town.' The mayor and aldermen answered in
the same strain; and Ireton died a fortnight after the date of their
letter. Ludlow was in Dublin at the moment, and the Commissioners made
him commander-in-chief until the pleasure of Parliament should be
further known.[222]
[Sidenote: The Irish in Scilly.]
[Sidenote: Bishop Leslie's troubles.]
When Axtell left Ireland after his suspension by Ireton, he was
captured by a rover at sea and carried to Scilly, then full of Irish
soldiers who wished to kill him, the cause of his voyage having been
made known by an intercepted letter from Weaver. Grenville or those
about him knew that the islands could not be much longer in Royalist
hands, and they feared retaliation. Axtell was therefore spared, and
was back in Ireland and governor of Kilkenny soon after Ireton's
death. Blake occupied the little archipelago not many weeks later,
Bishop Henry Leslie being among those whom he found there. 'By the
articles,' the Bishop wrote, 'I am to have my pass to go unto the North
of Ireland, that is to say out of the frying pan into the fire; for
there I shall be in more danger of the Scots than of the Parliament
soldiers.' In either company he was sure that his soul would be more
vexed than Lot's was in Sodom. As to the Irish soldiers, it was agreed
that they should be sent to Ireland, recruited up to 2000, and disposed
of as the King wished. Blake offered to take them all into Dunkirk and
keep them there till Grenville could arrange for France or Spain, he
giving his word of honour never to employ them against the Parliament.
This was refused, and Grenville remained in England, most of the Irish
soldiers probably finding their way abroad.[223]
[Sidenote: Meeting of officers at Kilkenny, Dec. 1651.]
[Sidenote: Guerrilla warfare.]
During the winter of 1651 and 1652 there was thought to be some danger
that the Dutch would retaliate for the Navigation Act by landing
foreign troops in Ireland, facilitating instead of opposing the
embarkation of the Duke of Lorraine, who was still expected long after
he had abandoned his scheme. A general meeting of officers was held at
Kilkenny just before Christmas, Coote having already been authorised to
give the same terms to Galway as had already been offered to Limerick,
provided they were accepted by January 9. It was now evident that all
the strong places must soon be taken, and the deliberations at Kilkenny
were chiefly directed against the guerrilla warfare, which was still
formidable. The nature of the problem is set forth with great clearness
in a report by Ludlow and his three colleagues in the Government to the
Council of State. The great bogs were the chief difficulty. There are
in these wastes many dry islands which were then generally wooded, and
between them causeways along which horses could only go in single file.
From such places the rebels could sally out at any time to harry the
protected districts, thus depriving the army of its resources, while it
was easy for them to secure their plunder. They were used to living in
cabins and wading among swamps, where the English soldiers were a prey
to dysentery from wet and cold. Ireton had successfully used rice to
combat this disease, and large quantities were provided later by the
London Government.
[Sidenote: Desperation of the Irish.]
[Sidenote: Means used to subdue armed bands.]
[Sidenote: Ludlow's hunt in Wicklow, Feb. 1651-2.]
The soldiers were always ignorant of the designs and movements of the
combatant Irish, for whom the country people acted as scouts, being
'possessed of an opinion that the Parliament intend them no terms of
mercy and therefore endeavouring to preserve them as those that stand
between them and danger.' It was estimated that 30,000 men were still
in arms among the Irish, a few in garrisons, but for the most part
lurking among woods and bogs. The plan adopted to subdue them was to
make a Pale from the Boyne to the Barrow, and to destroy the means
of subsistence elsewhere. No smiths, harness-makers, or armourers
were allowed to ply their trade outside of garrisons, no beer, wine,
or spirits might be sold nor fairs and markets held beyond those
limits. The county of Wicklow, with parts of Dublin, Kildare, and
Carlow, was outside the new Pale and excluded from protection. All who
resided within the doomed area after February 28 were to be treated as
enemies, but permitted to live and graze their stock upon such waste
or untenanted lands as might be assigned to them in the protected
region. As soon as the appointed day had passed, Ludlow himself went to
Talbotstown to plant a garrison, and then carefully searched Wicklow
with horse and foot. Few people were met with, for they had look-out
men on every hill, but all the houses and stores of corn were burned.
'He was an idle soldier,' wrote one officer, 'that had not either a fat
lamb, veal, pig, poultry, or all of them every night to his supper ...
we have destroyed as much as would have served some thousands of them
until next harvest.'[224]
[Sidenote: Clanricarde's proposals for peace, Feb. 1651-2.]
[Sidenote: Failure to relieve Galway]
The day fixed for the surrender of Galway with the benefit of the first
articles offered to Limerick was allowed to pass, and Clanricarde on
behalf of many of the nobility and clergy 'with the corporation of
Galway' made proposals for a general peace. He was fain to profess,
though he could hardly believe, that succours would come from his
Majesty and allies; if these failed, he and the assembly for whom he
acted were prepared to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Ludlow
answered from Dublin ten days later that it belonged to Parliament to
grant terms, that those who had already long since refused to hear
reason could hardly be admitted at the eleventh hour, and that they
were relying upon 'vain and groundless expectations.' He believed
that moderate terms would still be granted in individual cases,
but refused to grant a safe conduct for commissioners pretending
to represent the general body in arms. Clanricarde did his best to
prolong the resistance of Galway, but left the town when he saw that
the inhabitants were not prepared to endure extremities. A sortie to
gather cattle led to heavy loss, and of two corn ships which attempted
to relieve the besieged one was taken and the other forced upon the
rocks of Arran. The town was, however, not invested on the west, and
there was always a chance that reinforcements or supplies might be
introduced from that side. Coote thought the place very strong, and was
inclined even to exceed his authority in granting comparatively easy
terms.[225]
[Sidenote: Dissensions among the besieged, July-Feb. 1651-2.]
[Sidenote: Improvised colonels.]
[Sidenote: The clergy prefer Parliament to King.]
[Sidenote: Rinuccini's excommunication still in use.]
There were dissensions within the walls of Galway as there had been
at Limerick, and it is not easy to make out exactly what took place.
The indefatigable Dean King left Charles at Stirling in June, just
after Ireton had crossed the Shannon and when Coote had been some
time in Connaught. He landed near Londonderry on the 20th and found
his way to Galway by July 2. Bishop Lynch and others of the clergy
tried to make out that he had not been with the King, and that his
commission was a trick of Ormonde's. This was easily disproved, and
clerical help was promised on condition that the chiefs of the old
Irish in Connaught should be made colonels. Ten were so promoted,
but not one of them could muster over 500 men, and every one thought
of little but defending his own castle. These petty strongholds were
daily taken with the pick of the Irish soldiers inside. The Ulster
forces for the most part disregarded Clanricarde's summons, while
those of Leinster, 3000 foot and 500 horse, dwindled daily and lived
upon the spoil of the country, as there was no money to pay them, so
that he thought it better to let them go back to their own province
under the nominal generalship of Lord Westmeath. The only force upon
which the unfortunate Deputy could rely was raised in his own county
of Galway, and with these he kept an eye upon Coote's army. Dean King
found that the clergy generally, headed by Bourke of Tuam and French
of Ferns, were hostile to the King's government and anxious only for
an accommodation with the Parliament, in which they were supported by
the Prestons father and son, by Sir Nicholas Plunket, and by Geoffrey
Brown. The expectation of the Lorraine succours had paralysed all the
Irish parties, so that no one exerted himself. The little that had been
sent by the ducal pretender had been wasted or embezzled; '20,000_l._
whereof 6000_l._ defalked for the charge of the negotiations,' 1000
stand of arms, 1000 barrels of badly damaged rye, and 'thirty barrels
of powder, the worst in the world.' To make confusion worse confounded,
some of the bishops were using Rinuccini's old excommunication to crush
their opponents. There were nevertheless nearly 30,000 men under arms,
but no means of keeping them together, and there were many harbours
still open in Connaught and Munster through which money and stores
might be introduced. Dean King left Ireland on February 16 and reported
to Charles at Paris on April 1; but the battle of Worcester had been
fought and lost, and no help came.[226]
[Sidenote: Capitulation of Galway, May 12, 1652.]
[Sidenote: Coote offends the Independents.]
[Sidenote: Coote and Ludlow.]
Clanricarde did what he could to prolong the defence of Galway, but the
citizens could not see that there was anything to gain by it. He had
agreed to approach Ludlow with proposals for a general pacification,
but was determined to resist as long as he could. The town therefore
acted without consulting him, though he was in the neighbourhood, and
the articles of surrender contain no mention of King, Lord Lieutenant,
or Deputy. Fear of famine and of hard terms when the inevitable end
came were sufficient inducements to surrender, and there is no reason
to suppose that Galway was betrayed in the common sense of the words,
though in 1656 some of the inhabitants claimed special indulgence on
the ground that they had favoured the English interest throughout the
war, and had thereby 'contracted a malice from those of their own
nation' among whom they had to live. Coote has a bad name on the score
of severity, but he and many of those with him had estates in Ireland,
and some of them in Connaught, and they did not see with the same eyes
as those who were bent upon planting new settlers everywhere. The
extreme Independents called Coote and his men 'Tame Tories,' and there
was jealousy of his position as President of Connaught. Ireton thought
the provincial presidencies should be abolished, as an unnecessary
burden to State and country, and the Commissioners in Dublin were of
the same opinion. One hot-headed captain of the Munster army attached
to that of Connaught wrote to say that Ireland being almost reduced,
there was little left to do but to 'fall on Sir Charles Coote and his
'Tame Rebels.'' The letter was intercepted, and Coote imprisoned the
writer, whose curious defence was that many others agreed with him.
Ludlow released him and blamed Coote for exercising authority over an
officer not belonging to his province. From all this the Royalists had
hopes, and no doubt Coote had never been a republican, but they had to
wait several years for their realisation. In the meantime he was glad
to get hold of Galway upon almost any terms.[227]
[Sidenote: Terms granted to Galway.]
[Sidenote: The terms disliked in Dublin.]
[Sidenote: The articles are amended,]
[Sidenote: but the townsmen protest.]
The conditions actually granted were not hard, and the Commissioners
in Dublin thought them too easy. Quarter and freedom from pillage and
military violence were granted to all, as long as they obeyed the
Commonwealth of England, and were not guilty of murder before March
19, 1642, when a state of war began to exist in Galway. The murderers
of Captain Clark's crew were excepted by name. All who wished to
depart were given six months to sell such property as they did not
carry away. This extended to clergymen provided their names were
given in before the actual surrender, but in their case no protection
was to be given after that time. Where property within the city and
liberties was sold one-third was to go to the State, and the rest to
be freed from extraordinary taxation, and this principle was extended
with qualifications to lands possessed by the townsmen elsewhere. The
charter was maintained until Parliament should otherwise direct; and
Coote promised to get a ratification within twenty days by the Dublin
Government and legislative confirmation in England as soon as possible.
A fort on Mutton Island and another opposite Tirellan were surrendered
at once, and the town, after one week's delay, on April 12, when Coote
took actual possession. The news reached Dublin on the 11th, and the
Commissioners there at once took exception to some of the articles.
They objected, and so far we can sympathise with them, to any indemnity
for murder committed 'by or upon any person not being in arms.' They
insisted on the power of compulsorily purchasing land or houses in
the town when Parliament considered their owners unsafe persons to
remain; in which case they would have to remove within three months.
The protection as to outside property was considered too absolute, and
should be left for parliamentary decision, and some minor matters were
also reserved. An express was at once sent to insist on the amendment
of the articles, with orders that the capitulation should be suspended
until this was done, but when the messenger reached Galway he found
the English garrison installed. The ratification of the articles was
made dependent on the acceptance of the revised terms, but it can
hardly be said that the condition was fulfilled. Only eight heads of
families could be found to sign the certificate of assent, while over
one hundred refused; and there were nearly a hundred absentees. Coote
apologised for his mistake, but maintained that he had nevertheless
done the best thing for the State. If he had not closed with the
besieged there were great chances of the town being relieved, 'so that
it might have kept all your forces this summer in those parts to attend
that service.'[228]
[Sidenote: Clanricarde's last struggles, April-June 1652,]
[Sidenote: Castlehaven leaves Ireland.]
[Sidenote: His memoirs.]
Clanricarde on his part announced that 'Galway having basely and
perfidiously yielded,' he would resist while he could, and gave earnest
of his determination by sending away Castlehaven in his only frigate,
thus leaving himself no means of escape. He summoned Westmeath and
O'Ferrall from Leinster, Muskerry from Munster, and O'Reilly from
Ulster to join him in Sligo or Leitrim and 'unite in one clear score
for God, our King, and country.' Galway Bay was full of Parliamentary
ships, so Castlehaven had to go first to Innisbofin and embark from
there. He was chased, and had a smart fight at sea, but was saved by
thick weather. Arthur Magennis, Bishop of Down, a nephew of Owen Roe
O'Neill, died during the action 'by the wind of a bullet, for fear,'
having no wound. Castlehaven got safely to Brest, and thence to Paris
or St. Germain's, where he saw the King and Queen and Ormonde. As
French affairs then stood nothing could be done, and he joined Condé as
a volunteer, after which he commanded an Irish brigade of about 5000
men. As late as 1680 he published his memoirs, confessedly to show that
he was always a good Royalist and not to be confounded with the Irish
'as a confederate Catholic, which in plain English is a rebel.' Lord
Anglesey, the son of Strafford's Mountnorris, who was a great gainer
by the Restoration settlement, reviewed Castlehaven's pleasant little
book, saying that 'by a providence from heaven to the English the
marquesses of Ormonde and Clanricarde, his Majesty's chief governors,
encouraged the Irish to keep up a war against the English, wherein they
were so much hardened to their ruin, that they were at length entirely
subdued without condition to any save for life, and left to be as
miserable as they had made others in all respects.'[229]
[Sidenote: Charles gives Clanricarde leave to go,]
[Sidenote: but urges him to hold out.]
[Sidenote: He takes Ballyshannon, May,]
[Sidenote: and Donegal.]
[Sidenote: Submission of Clanricarde, June 28.]
[Sidenote: His character.]
It had long been evident to Clanricarde, as well as to Ormonde and
his friends abroad, that the power of the Parliament would establish
itself in Ireland. But it was their policy to keep the flag of
Royalty flying as long as possible, on the chance of some foreign
complication. That this stubborn attitude increased the ultimate
sufferings of the Irish masses is very probable. As early as the
beginning of February, Charles, with many expressions of gratitude
and confidence, gave Clanricarde free leave to quit Ireland when he
thought fit, but adding that 'the keeping up of the war there in any
kind, either offensive or defensive, is of the highest importance to
us and our service that can be performed; as the contrary would be of
the greatest prejudice to all our designs.' Six weeks later he wrote
holding out hopes of further help from the Duke of Lorraine, and
directing that no declaration should be issued which might increase the
friction with the clerical party. The two letters reached Clanricarde
together in the following August, when they were too late to have
any significance. Meanwhile, in May, a second letter was given to
Castlehaven, and forwarded by a sure hand, authorising the Deputy to
leave his post at any time. This letter, though apparently not extant,
probably reached its destination much sooner than the other two, and
justified Clanricarde in making terms when he did. In the meantime,
he succeeded in getting a considerable force together, with which,
after blowing up several castles, he swooped down upon the fort at
Ballyshannon and took it by assault, dismissing the survivors unhurt
and substituting his own garrison of 300 men. He took Donegal also,
but the success was only transient, for he had no means of feeding
his men but by seizing cattle, and thus involuntarily making the task
of the Parliamentarians easier. Venables came up from Down to join
Coote, and they soon took Sligo and retook the other two places, giving
punctual quarter in their turn. At the end of June the Lord Deputy,
who, Ludlow says, was practically surrounded in the island of Carrick,
made terms for himself, but none for his vast estates. He was left free
to go abroad where he pleased with not more than twenty servants, to
remain in Ireland for three months, and to enlist 3000 men for foreign
service. In the meantime he was to divest himself of his viceregal
authority and do no hostile act. Six weeks later he was excepted by
Act of the English Parliament from pardon for life and estate, but was
nevertheless left unmolested at his own place at Somerhill in Kent. His
health had never been good, and was not improved by his campaigning,
but he lived till 1657, and was buried in Tonbridge Church. He was not
a great general, but to most people he appeared, and still appears,
as a loyal and worthy man. To the ultramontane clergy of his own day
he was, as an independent Catholic who cared little for a nuncio's
censures, more hateful even than the heretic Ormonde. Bishop French
says he put Cæsar before God, and Bishop Lynch that the Ulster men
refused to follow him because he disdained to receive absolution from
Rinuccini's excommunication. The British officer so often quoted
says, on the contrary, that the Irish were well satisfied with him
as true both to King and Church, 'being a good Roman Catholic,' and
that he surrendered only because he could not fight Coote and Venables
combined. 'Neither, indeed, was he ever practised in that trade [war],
though a very fine, devout, liberal, hospitable gentleman, as any is in
Ireland in his time, as I have heard many aver.'[230]
[Sidenote: Case of Anthony Geohegan.]
[Sidenote: Loyalty the idol of Dagon.]
Before finally leaving Clanricarde and the Duke of Lorraine something
must be said of the case of Anthony Geohegan, which had no important
results, but which shows how incompatible were the Royalist and
clerical ideals. Geohegan had been preferred by Rinuccini at the early
age of twenty-four to the nominal dignity of the mitred abbacy of
Connall. Towards the end of 1650 he was studying divinity and canon law
at Paris, and in correspondence with Abbot Crelly, who was in London,
hoping against hope that the Parliament would grant toleration to his
Church. He offered to go to Ireland if wanted, and Crelly reported this
to Rome. Dean Massari, Rinuccini's old lieutenant, was Secretary of
Propaganda, and gladly accepted the young priest's offer. He reached
Galway on March 14, 1651, while De Henin was there, with instructions
to further the appointment of a Catholic protector, and he stayed on
after the Lorraine envoy's departure. Clanricarde suspected that he
was working against him, and some of his letters were intercepted, in
one of which he said that 'if the service of God had been as deep in
the hearts of our nation as that idol of Dagon, a foolish loyalty,
a better course for their honour and preservation had been taken in
time.' He had noticed that at Limerick those favourable to Ormonde
had got better terms than others, and he thought the Independents who
professed liberty of conscience more likely to grant reasonable terms
to the Irish than those who maintained the Church of England and the
recusancy laws. Clanricarde would have tried Geohegan as a traitor,
but the clergy took their stand upon the bull _In Coena Domini_, and
maintained that no lay governor or judge could try a priest. They had
their way, and Geohegan was, of course, exonerated from all blame.[231]
[Sidenote: The Irish leaders submit. Fitzpatrick, March 1652.]
Even before the surrender of Galway, the Irish leaders began to make
terms for themselves and their followers. Of these, the first was
John Fitzpatrick, who had lately distinguished himself by taking and
holding Meelick. On March 7 he agreed to transport 4000 foot and 300
horse to a state in amity with the Commonwealth, pay being given to
them in the meantime, and hopes were held out as to his property. He
made no conditions for his father and mother, or for the Catholic
religion; whereupon a declaration was published against him, and
he was excommunicated. 'Some of his party,' say the Parliamentary
Commissioners, 'have been cut off by the enemy, who did also cut off
the ears of some whom they took prisoners.' The men were not popular,
having lived by plunder, and the Government were glad to send them
to Spain. Fitzpatrick and his father were both excluded by Act of
Parliament from pardon for life or estate, but he afterwards married
Ormonde's sister and was restored in 1661 to broad lands in the Queen's
County. His mother, says Ludlow, 'was found guilty of the murder of the
English, with this aggravation, that she said she would make candles
of their fat. She was condemned to be burned, and the sentence was
executed accordingly.'[232]
[Sidenote: O'Dwyer, March 23.]
[Sidenote: Usual terms of surrender.]
The next important chief to surrender was Colonel Edmund O'Dwyer,
who commanded in Tipperary and Waterford. He and his men had quarter
for life and personal property only, with liberty to serve any
friendly foreign State. Murderers of the English, members of the
first General Assembly or Supreme Council, homicides after quarter
given, deserters, and every 'priest or other of the Romish clergy in
orders,' were excluded. By the end of June, when Clanricarde came to
terms, the Parliament had not many enemies left in the field, though
a few strongholds held out for some months longer. The articles of
surrender, or authentic copies, are for the most part extant, and the
terms granted generally amounted to little more than life and personal
liberty to those who had not committed murder. Where priests are not
specially excluded, they are generally left tacitly to the mercy of
the victors. Landed property was to be distributed according to such
qualifications as Parliament might determine. In one case Sir Hardress
Waller undertook 'industriously to solicit' the authorities that
priests who were not charged with any crime except officiating as such
should be free to go beyond seas.[233]
[Sidenote: Siege of Ross Castle, June 1652.]
[Sidenote: Boats brought up from the sea.]
[Sidenote: A flotilla on the Lower Lake.]
There was a Parliamentary garrison at Dingle, which Muskerry made
some effort to take, but otherwise Kerry had for a long time been
in Irish hands. Murtagh O'Brien, when driven out of Clare after the
fall of Limerick, joined his forces to those of Lord Muskerry, and
together they amounted to several thousands. Their chief stronghold
was Ross Castle, in an island or peninsula on the lower Lake of
Killarney, only approachable, as any tourist may now witness, by a
narrow causeway with a bog on either side. Muskerry had been chief
among the anti-nuncionist Catholics, and had never been forgiven by
the priests of his own Church, many of whom had taken refuge in Ross
Castle. When a siege was imminent, the clerical party went out--and
no doubt they acted prudently in this--but a thousand well-armed men
adhered to their general and resolved to hold out as long as possible.
Ludlow, accompanied by Broghill and Walker, came to Killarney very
early in June with 4000 foot and 2000 horse. Dromagh had already
surrendered, so that his rear was exposed to no attack. The woods on
the other side of the lake were full of active enemies, who must have
had boats of some sort to reach Innisfallen, and who supplied Ross
with provisions. Ludlow's fellow-Commissioners were at Cork, and the
mitred Scoutmaster-General at Kinsale, and they quickly provided him
with the means of reducing Ross. Boats were brought to Castlemaine
harbour under convoy of a frigate. Of these some were probably dragged
up the Laune with the help of many men. The two largest, which were
intended to carry guns, were sent from Kinsale in pieces, but so that
they could be put together in two days. In order to make a safe way for
them it was necessary to disperse a strong force of the Irish about
Killagh Abbey, near the mouth of the Laune, while another division
scoured the woods and put those who occupied them to flight. This was
on June 13; five days later several of the boats had been brought to
Ludlow's entrenchments near Ross, and by the 20th they were swimming
on the lake. The whole flotilla was not wanted, for the garrison saw
that resistance was hopeless, and there was an ancient prophecy that
Ross would not be taken until strange ships sailed on Lough Leane. The
fitting and management of the boats was entrusted to Captain Chudleigh,
who had been a ship-carpenter, and many artificers went readily because
he was with them.[234]
[Sidenote: The Parliament as avengers of blood.]
[Sidenote: Few survivors of 1641.]
[Sidenote: Murderers exempted from pardon.]
Even after the surrender of Galway the Leinster army under Westmeath's
command had still an administrative existence; but its leaders saw
no prospect of ultimate success, and were ready to make such terms
as might still be possible. The Parliamentary Commissioners were at
Kilkenny on April 17, and had a conference with the chief officers
of the army, where Dr. Jones, the Scoutmaster-General, produced an
abstract of the depositions taken as to murders committed in the early
days of the rebellion. This document was forwarded to Parliament and
read there on May 18, the Commissioners and officers 'fearing lest
others who are at a greater distance might be moved to the lenity
which we have found no small temptation in ourselves,' forget past
abominations, and make too tender concessions. But very few of the
English who had any personal knowledge of the original massacres were
still living, and it would therefore be hard to bring the guilt home to
individuals. The whole Irish nation had to some extent condoned them,
and Parliament was bound to take order for punishment 'in duty towards
God, the great avenger of such villainies, who hath from the beginning
of the war to this present always in your appeal by war against them
appeared most signally.' Murderers or their aiders and abettors were
not led to expect clemency, but the Commissioners declared that all
persons living in Ireland should have the benefit of the Act dated
September 27, 1650, repealing the clauses in Elizabethan statutes which
imposed penalties for not going to church. This was a step in the
direction of toleration, but the Act had been really intended for the
relief of those who disliked the Book of Common Prayer, and provided
also for the prosecution of those who did not attend some place of
worship, and would be difficult to apply to those who would have
nothing but the forbidden mass.[235]
[Sidenote: The Leinster articles, May 12, 1652.]
After much discussion, it was agreed that eleven regiments of foot
and six of horse should lay down their arms by June 1 at Mullingar,
Maryborough, Carlow, or Kildare. The military articles were liberal
enough, officers retaining horses and arms, non-commissioned officers
and men whose horses were taken receiving compensation. Officers were
allowed to serve any foreign State in amity with the Commonwealth, and
to carry 6000 men with them, the Commissioners undertaking to get leave
for 6000 more if they could. Life and personal estate were secured, and
owners of land were promised 'equal benefit with others in the like
qualification with themselves,' when Parliament had made up its mind.
Murder and robbery of persons not in arms might still be questioned
'according the due course of law,' and the benefit of the articles was
withheld from those who killed Parliamentary soldiers after quarter
given. 'Priests or Jesuits, or others in Popish orders,' were to be
dealt with as the Irish Government thought fit. The Commissioners were
well satisfied with their work, which they had been obliged to do
without positive orders from Parliament, for the Irish, being driven
out of all forts, had nothing to do but range about the country,
'retiring as they saw advantage to their bogs and fastnesses.' The
Parliamentary officers had now for the first time leisure to deal with
Clanricarde and with Muskerry, who had 3000 foot and 600 horse.[236]
[Sidenote: Surrender of Muskerry, June 22.]
[Sidenote: Murder defined.]
[Sidenote: Conformity not to be enforced.]
[Sidenote: Ross Castle evacuated.]
Muskerry and his party accepted the substance of the Leinster articles,
but there was a fortnight's debate on certain points. The Irish
officers feared lest they should be all held liable for the murder of
the English, 'which,' says Ludlow, 'was an exception we never failed
to make.' An explanatory article was therefore granted, limiting the
guilt to those 'who during the first year of the war have contrived,
aided, assisted, acted, or abetted any murder or massacre upon any
person or persons of the English not in arms but following their own
occupation in their farms or freeholds,' and to those who since that
time had taken life knowing that quarter had been given or protection
granted. As to religion, Ludlow and his colleagues would go no further
than declare 'that it is not our intention nor, as we conceive, the
intention of those whom we serve, to force any to their worship and
service contrary to their consciences.' Questions as to real estate
were, at the request of Muskerry and his friends, 'left to the pleasure
of the Parliament,' means being given them for pleading their own cause
in London. They themselves asked for this in preference to the clause
as to qualifications in the Leinster articles. In consideration of the
above, 960 able men marched out of Ross Castle, and at least 3000 more
followed their example. Murtagh O'Brien, with about 200 men, kept at
large in the Kerry mountains until Waller made them untenable, and then
escaped across the Shannon, to give further trouble in Connaught.[237]
[Sidenote: Richard Grace still resists.]
[Sidenote: Submission of Grace, Aug. 14.]
[Sidenote: Grace leads 1200 men to Spain.]
Colonel Richard Grace, whose property was in King's County, did
not accept the Kilkenny articles, but remained at the head of a
considerable force, and burned Birr, which had been partly rebuilt.
Three hundred pounds was offered for his head in a proclamation dated
May 22, but he managed to cross the Shannon, and burned the towns of
Portumna and Loughrea. The country was laid under contribution, and for
some days no enemy appeared. Grace had near 3000 men, but they were
but odds and ends from various quarters, and were easily surprised by
Ingoldsby, who routed the Irish horse and drove the foot into a bog
near Loughrea. Grace had to fly with a few men, after which many of
his followers dispersed or made terms for themselves. This was on June
20. He managed to recross the river into Leinster and again got some
men together, with whom he at last took refuge in a strongly fortified
island in Lough Coura, near Birr. Sankey surrounded the lake and made
preparations for starving out the party, and Grace, who saw there was
no prospect of relief, sued for terms. To avoid a long siege, and
also perhaps out of admiration for a brave enemy, Sankey granted the
substance of the Kilkenny articles and some further indulgence for the
clergy submitting with Grace, who is much praised by the Aphorismical
Discovery for insisting on the latter. The priests concerned had
leave and four months' time to go beyond sea, with protection in
the interval, and a further respite in case of sickness or want of
shipping. In the other cases, they had been left at the disposition of
the Lord Deputy or Commissioners. Grace had had nothing to do with the
original Irish rebellion, but had fought for the King in England until
the surrender of Oxford, so that there was some personal reason for
favouring him. He carried 1200 men to Spain, but the Government there
broke all their agreements with him, and he lost half his regiment by
starvation, desertion, and disease. He attached himself to the Duke of
York, and died at Athlone fighting against William III. in 1691.[238]
[Sidenote: Ludlow's last service in the field, Aug.-Sept., 1652.]
[Sidenote: Fugitives smoked in a cave.]
[Sidenote: A modern instance.]
After the surrender of Muskerry, Ludlow turned his attention to Wicklow
and Wexford, where Phelim MacHugh O'Byrne and others still had a
considerable force under arms. He placed garrisons in suitable places,
who reduced the Irish by destroying their means of subsistence. The
green corn was cut and burned, and in a few months the soldiers knew
every hiding-place as well as the mountaineers themselves. Early in
August, Ludlow turned northwards and garrisoned Carrickmacross. Between
that place and Dundalk he came to a cave where a number of men had
taken refuge. The soldiers tried to smoke them out, and entered when
they supposed them smothered, but the leader was killed by a pistol
from inside. It turned out that the cave was ventilated by a hole some
way off, and Ludlow ordered this to be stopped. After a time groans
were heard, which soon grew fainter, and the man who had fired the
shot was drawn out dead. 'The passage being cleared, the soldiers
entered, and, having put about fifteen to the sword, brought four or
five out alive, with the priest's robes, a crucifix, chalice, and other
furniture of that kind. Those within preserved themselves by laying
their heads close to water that ran through the rock. We found two
rooms in the place, one of which was large enough to turn a pike.'
This is not a nice story; but Ludlow, who wrote in cold blood long
afterwards, does not offer any apology nor show that he thought any
necessary. Nearly two hundred years later the French in Algiers did the
same thing on a much larger scale, but they knew that public opinion
would be against them, and it was. St. Arnaud did not even venture to
tell his own men that five hundred enemies of both sexes and all ages
lay suffocated in the cave.[239]
[Sidenote: The last of the 'creaghts.']
[Sidenote: Arrival of Fleetwood, September.]
After filling the mouth of the cave with large stones, Ludlow
established posts at Castle Blayney and Agher, where he found one of
the O'Neills living with his wife, whom he described as the Duchess
of Artois' niece, and some children. They wandered about with the
cattle as 'creaghts,' seeking for grass and water, and at each halt
building a house 'in an hour or two.' Steps were soon afterwards taken
to abolish this system, as one 'whereby the enemy comes to be relieved
and sustained and the contribution oft damaged.' It was impossible to
catch people who had no fixed abode, and who might even commit murder
with every chance of impunity. Lisnaskea was fortified and small holds
of the Irish at Belturbet and in one of the Lough Erne islands were
taken. Reynolds, who had reduced Leitrim, joined Ludlow at Lisnaskea,
and the news of Fleetwood's arrival reached them there. Ludlow says he
was glad to be superseded, his exertions for the public having been
'recompensed only with envy and hatred,' and he hastened to join the
new commander-in-chief at Kilkenny.[240]
FOOTNOTES:
[222] Diary in _Contemp. Hist._, iii. 260; _Ludlow_, i. 289, 294.
Ireton's correspondence with Galway, December 7-12, 1651, is printed
in Hardiman's _Hist. of Galway_, 129; Corbet, Jones, and Weaver to
Lenthall, and to Cromwell, December 2, in appx. to Firth's _Ludlow_, i.
496.
[223] _Ludlow_, i. 265; Bishop of Down's letters, May 13 and 29, 1651,
in _Nicholas Papers_, i. 250, 255.
[224] _Ludlow_, i. 300-304; the Four Commissioners to the Council of
State, January 8, 1651-2, _ib._ 499; orders by the same Commissioners,
January 13 and February 13, in _Contemp. Hist._, iii. 277, 283.
[225] Clanricarde to Ludlow, February 14, 1651-2. In the text of Ludlow
the date is wrongly given as March 14, but see the appx. i. 505, and
_Contemp. Hist._, iii. 58, with Ludlow's answer in both places, and
another to Sir Richard Blake, who had 'reiterated in effect the former
application,' _ib._ 509.
[226] Dean King's report, April 1, 1652, in _Contemp. Hist._, iii. 300.
[227] Order of the Irish Council as to Dominick Bodkin, &c., May 20,
1656, printed in O'Flaherty's _Western Connaught_, p. 244; W. Heald to
T. Holder, December 12, 1651, in _Contemp. Hist._, iii. 353; Corbet,
Jones, and Weaver to Cromwell, December 2, 1651, in appx. to _Ludlow_,
i. 497.
[228] Corbet, Jones, and Ludlow to Lenthall, May 6, 1652, in appx. to
Ludlow, i. 516. The articles of surrender are in Hardiman's _Hist.
of Galway_, appx. xxix. to xxxiii., along with the strictures of the
Commissioners and the list of those who had accepted or rejected the
latter furnished by Coote, November 26, 1652.
[229] Clanricarde to Philip O'Reilly and Lieut.-General O'Ferrall,
April 4 and 12, 1652, in _Aphorismical Discovery_, iii. 76;
Castlehaven's _Memoirs_, 97, ed. 15, with Anglesey's letter of August
1680, appended p. 39; _Clarendon S.P._, iii. 66.
[230] Charles II. to Clanricarde, February 10, 1651-2 (enclosing one
of February 6 to Duke of Lorraine), and March 23, in Clanricarde's
_Memoirs_, part ii. 51; Castlehaven's _Memoirs_, p. 97; _Clarendon
State Papers_, iii. 66; _Aphorismical Discovery_, iii. 122; Ludlow, i.
317, 323, 527; _Warr of Ireland_, by a British officer, 138; Bishop of
Ferns' letter, April 21, 1651, in _Spicilegium Ossoriense_, ii. 92;
Bishop of Clonfert's letter, August 31, 1652, _ib._ i. 386.
[231] _Aphorismical Discovery_, ii. 138-144; _ib._ iii. 54, 285-293;
Clarendon's _Ireland_, p. 194. See also Gardiner's _Commonwealth_, ii,
46, 59.
[232] The tenour of the articles entered into can be seen from the
subsidiary agreement printed in _Contemp. Hist._ iii. 293, the
declaration of Walter Bagenal and others against him, and the despatch
of Corbet, Jones, and Ludlow in appx. to Ludlow's _Memoirs_, i.
515. For Mrs. Fitzpatrick, _ib._ 340. In his preface to _Contemp.
Hist._, iii. xviii., Sir J. Gilbert says the witness against her
was suborned, but he gives no authority, and in the collection of
massacres appended to Clarendon's volume on Ireland, several murders by
Florence Fitzpatrick are mentioned, Elizabeth Baskerville testifying
'that Mrs. Fitzpatrick blamed the murderers because they brought
not Mrs. Nicholson's fat or grease, wherewith she might have made
candles.'--Lodge's _Peerage_, ed. Archdall, ii. 345.
[233] Most of the articles are printed in _Contemp. Hist._ iii. 293-335.
[234] _Ludlow_, i. 320, and his letter of June 24 to Lenthall, _ib._
526. There is a good memoir on the siege of Ross by J. P. Prendergast
in Kilkenny _Arch. Journal_, iii. 24-35, and a criticism of the same
by Archdeacon Rowan in the _Kerry Magazine_, 1855, p. 101. Chudleigh's
monument at Kinsale says he 'causavit terris velificasse ratem,' which
is rather ambiguous, for no boat could actually sail on land. Perhaps
it is doubtful Latin for 'inland.' Smith, in his _History of Kerry_,
1756, p. 315, says the boats were 'brought up by the river Lane by
strength of men's hands,' and he afterwards mentions one Hopkins,
sexton of Swords near Dublin a few years before, who lived to be 115,
and who was one of the men employed in drawing the boats to the lake.
[235] Ludlow, Waller, Corbet, Jones, Coote and fourteen other superior
officers to Lenthall, May 5, 1652, in appx. to Ludlow, i. 512;
Declaration of May 12 in _Contemp. Hist._ iii. 315; Scobell's _Acts and
Ordinances_, 1650, cap. 27.
[236] The Leinster Articles, May 12, 1652, are in _Aphorismical
Discovery_, iii. 94, 315; Ludlow, Corbet, and Jones to Lenthall, May
13, in appx. to _Ludlow_, i. 520.
[237] _Ludlow_, i. 322, with Mr. Firth's note; Jones and Corbet to
Lenthall July 22, 1652, in _Contemp. Hist._ iii. 339. The articles,
June 22, are printed _ib._ 324.
[238] _Aphorismical Discovery_, with the articles of surrender, dated
August 14, 1652, iii. 128-133, and the note _ib._ 392; Clarke's _Life
of James II._ i. 268; _Memoirs of the Family of Grace_, 1823, 27-34.
[239] _Ludlow_, i. 328, 342; _Aphorismical Discovery_, iii. 125;
Thureau-Dangin, _Hist. de la Monarchie de Juillet_, vi. 343; Kinglake's
_Crimean War_, ii. 8. The French Government argued that conquest must
precede philanthropy.
[240] _Ludlow_, i. 330. Fleetwood landed at Waterford on or just before
September 11.