END OF THE WAR, AND ITS PRICE
[Sidenote: The last stand at Innisbofin.]
[Sidenote: The islands surrendered, Feb. 1652-3.]
[Sidenote: Rory O'More.]
The historian Cox says that he could find nothing that looked like war
during the year 1653, though the rebellion was not officially declared
at an end until September 26. The early part of the year cannot,
however, be considered as peaceful. There was still some resistance
in Ulster, and the Irish also possessed a fortified post in the
island of Innisbofin. To that remote stronghold Murtagh O'Brien had
repaired after Muskerry's surrender, and with the help of some arms and
ammunition from the Duke of Lorraine he continued to give trouble on
the mainland. The fort of Arkin on the great island of Arran had been
surprised through 'the supine carelessness and negligence of Captain
Dyas' shortly before Fleetwood's arrival, and the Irish garrison
under Colonel Oliver Synnot did not surrender until the middle of
January. Among those who took refuge in Innisbofin were Roger O'More,
the original contriver of the rebellion, Bishop Lynch of Clonfert,
Brian MacPhelim O'Byrne, and Colonel Dudley Costello. The governor
was Colonel George Cusack, whose family had property in the Pale, and
he soon came to terms with Reynolds. The islands of Bofin, Turk, and
Clare were surrendered and facilities were given for transporting
1000 men into the Spanish service. The officers retained their arms,
'prelates and clergymen' being allowed to go with the rest. Some of the
articles were more indulgent than usual, but Colonel Jones thought them
'suitable to the difficulty of gaining that place by force.' Only a few
days before, near the neighbouring castle of Renvyle, on the mainland,
270 men who were on their way to attack Bofin fell into an ambuscade
of 800 Irish, and only got through with the loss of four officers and
forty-six men. According to the Aphorismical Discovery, O'More, who
could expect no mercy if captured, was basely deserted by Cusack and
the Bishop of Clonfert. Donogh O'Flaherty, who was also left behind,
was shot by the soldiers; but O'More, after enduring great hardships,
got away to Ulster and lived for some time as a fisherman.[241]
[Sidenote: The last stand in Ulster.]
[Sidenote: Surrender of Cloughoughter, April 27.]
[Sidenote: Murder.]
In the same month of February fighting continued in West Cork and
Kerry among the O'Sullivans and O'Driscolls, some of whom took up arms
after their inclusion in the Muskerry articles; and there were still a
few desperate men for the garrisons of Cork and Limerick to hunt. But
the last stronghold was the island in Lough Oughter, where Bedell had
died in the first year of the war. In February, Colonel Barrow came to
the lake, burned some of the defenders' boats 'with a fiery float,'
and their corn with incendiary missiles, but had the ill luck to be
captured himself and held to ransom. This was probably the work of
some loose band which remained in arms after the capitulation of the
garrison at the end of April. The articles concluded were between Sir
Theophilus Jones and Philip O'Reilly on behalf of himself and the other
Ulster chiefs still remaining under arms. The terms were much the same
as had been granted in other recent cases, and included liberty to make
terms with the Spanish recruiting agents. Priests and others in Roman
orders were given a month to leave the country, on condition that they
did not exercise their function during the interval. Those guilty of
murder, whether lay or cleric, were as usual excluded, and a murderer
was specially defined as one 'who had actually a hand in a particular
murder or did command the same, or was present when a particular murder
was committed by persons under his command by his order.' It was no
murder to have killed a man in fight in the open field at any time
since the beginning of the war.[242]
[Sidenote: Tories to be starved out.]
[Sidenote: Exhaustion of the country.]
[Sidenote: The plague.]
[Sidenote: Famine.]
Mountjoy had long since proved that the way to subdue Ireland was
to destroy the means of subsistence. As one of the Commissioners of
Parliament, Colonel Jones was of opinion that no lasting peace could
be made 'but by removing all heads of septs and priests and men of
knowledge in arms, or otherwise in repute, out of this land, and
breaking all kinds of interest among them, and by laying waste all
fast countries in Ireland, and suffer no mankind to live there but
within garrisons,' adding that declarations were about to issue for
laying waste all Kerry and Wicklow, and portions--in some instances the
greater part--of seventeen other counties. This was written shortly
before the surrender of Cloughoughter, and after that the guerrilla
warfare degenerated into mere brigandage. We are not to suppose that
the whole ruthless programme was carried out; but no doubt the facts
were bad enough. Ludlow was Jones's colleague, and he speaks of the
'poor wasted country of Ireland,' adding that the Irish had always
exhausted the land by bad cultivation, and of late worse than ever,
'being in daily apprehensions of being removed.' Not long afterwards
Petty found the people living on potatoes, and the cultivation of
that dangerous root must have been stimulated by the confusion of the
past twelve years. It was then and for many years later the practice
to dig out the tubers just as they were wanted. Such a crop could not
well be carried away or destroyed, and if the sowers escaped the sword
they would find something to eat for nine months out of the twelve;
while corn could be easily cut or burned, and cattle still more easily
driven off. The famine caused by war and by the destruction of food in
districts not under protection was accompanied by the plague, which
was rife in Galway and many other places. 'It fearfully broke out in
Cashel,' says Jones, 'the people being taken suddenly with madness,
whereof they die instantly; twenty died in that manner in three days
in that little town.' Dublin did not escape. 'About the years 1652 and
1653,' says Colonel Lawrence, who had every opportunity of judging,
'the plague and famine had swept away whole countries that a man
might travel twenty or thirty miles and not see a living creature,
either man, beast, or bird, they being either all dead or had quit
those desolate places.' He had himself seen starving wretches pick
carrion out of a ditch, and had heard of cases in which human flesh was
eaten. Wolves increased enormously, and rewards were given for their
heads.[243]
[Sidenote: Treatment of priests.]
[Sidenote: Galway.]
[Sidenote: Cloughoughter.]
[Sidenote: A Dominican's experience.]
While the war still raged, Roman Catholic priests were for the most
part either not mentioned in capitulations or specially excluded from
the benefit of them. At Limerick some were excepted by name, and
all were refused protection; but later the terms were not quite so
rigorous. At Galway they were allowed six months to leave the country.
At Roscommon the chaplain was allowed to go out with the garrison.
When the Clare brigade surrendered to Waller, all persons in Roman
orders were excepted, but he covenanted 'industriously to solicit
the Commissioners of Parliament that such of the clergy in orders,
having no other act or crime laid to their charge than officiating
their functions as priests, not being suffered to live in quarters
or protection, shall have passes and liberty to go beyond the seas.'
Reynolds did much the same in Ulster. A large number of the clergy
fled to Innisbofin, and when it was surrendered they were all given
protection for life and goods, with leave to accompany the garrison
abroad. At Cloughoughter, which was the last fortified place, they were
given a month to go, provided they did not officiate in the meanwhile.
Out of a great many extant letters from fugitive priests, that of a
Dominican friar named O'Conor may be singled out. The brethren of his
Order had, he says, continually roused Catholics by preaching to the
soldiers and inciting the nobles to take up arms, living constantly
among them in the woods and mountains, and opposing every proposal for
surrender or capitulation. He himself had been prior of Kilkenny, where
he strenuously supported Rinuccini, and was therefore thrice condemned
to banishment by the Supreme Council, 'having excited the anger of all
heretics and bad Catholics.' After the fall of Kilkenny he became prior
of Burrishoole, in Mayo, where his convent was for three years the
refuge of religious persons. Two attacks were beaten off, but at last
the place was taken by storm. The soldiers were killed and some of the
friars; others fled to the mountains. Accompanied by one boy, he took
a skiff made out of a single log and went six leagues into the open
ocean, almost miraculously making his way to Innisbofin. After a short
time, seven Parliamentary ships with twenty-two boats hove in sight,
and it became necessary to surrender the island. He was transported
with the rest, on pain of death if he revisited Ireland, where an edict
had been published exiling all ecclesiastics on the same terms, with
severe penalties against all who helped them.[244]
[Sidenote: An edict against Jesuits and seminarists.]
The edict mentioned by Father O'Conor and by many other clerical
writers of the same time was an order, signed by Fleetwood, Ludlow,
Corbet, and Jones, setting forth the experience of many years, 'that
Jesuits, seminary priests, and persons in Popish orders in Ireland,
estrange the people from due obedience to the English Commonwealth,
and, under pretence of religion, excite them to rebellion, which gave
rise to the barbarous murders of 1641 and the destructive war which
followed.' They were all to leave Ireland within twenty days, or incur
the penalties of the English Act, 27 Elizabeth, which had never been
the law of Ireland, and which made the priests traitors and their
abettors felons.[245]
[Sidenote: The swordsmen sent abroad.]
[Sidenote: Great numbers take foreign service.]
[Sidenote: Their ill-treatment in Spain.]
[Sidenote: Better received in France.]
[Sidenote: Clarendon's reflection.]
Chichester strove to get the swordsmen of Ulster into the Swedish
service, where they might help the Protestant cause almost without
knowing it. After the disbanding of Strafford's army the English
Parliament had very naturally, but very unwisely, prevented the men
from going to Spain, thus aggravating, if not actually causing, the
outbreak in 1641. Cromwell profited by experience, and saw that even in
the service of the Catholic king the survivors of the Irish war would
be much less dangerous than in their own country. At the beginning of
1653 the Commissioners reported that 13,000 had already gone, but that
there were still left 'many desperate rogues who know not how to live
but by robbing and stealing out of bogs and fastnesses.' By July the
number had risen to 27,000. There were, says Petty, who was in Ireland
at the time and whose estimate is rather under that of his friend
Gookin, 'transported of them into Spain, Flanders, France, 34,000
soldiers; and of boys, women, priests, &c., no less than 6000 more,' of
whom not half had returned in 1672. The Spanish Government broke all
their promises and treated the Irish officers and soldiers very badly,
so that whole regiments passed over from time to time into the service
of France. In both services the dissensions which had been so fatal in
Ireland continued between Celts and Anglo-Irish and between Ormondists
and Nuncionists. Hyde, who knew Spain and had suffered many things
there, excuses the desertions in Catalonia, which were stimulated by
Inchiquin, and the ill-conduct of the Irish at Bordeaux, which caused
the loss of that city, by the extreme ill-usage which they had received
from the Spanish authorities. There were many needy Irish officers in
London who were glad to contract with Cardenas for the transport of
men. Philip found money enough to make this remunerative, but when the
Irish were once landed in his country no further trouble was taken.
'The soldiers, who were crowded more together into one ship than was
fit for so long voyages, had contracted many diseases, and many were
dead and thrown overboard. As soon as they came upon the coast the
officers made haste to land, how far soever from the place at which
they stood bound to deliver their men; by which in those places which
could make resistance they were not suffered to land, and in others no
provision was made for their reception on march; but very great numbers
were starved or knocked in the head by the country people.' All this,
Clarendon adds, 'manifested how loose the government was.' Mazarin
managed much better. The passage to France was shorter, and he took
care that there should be no want of shipping and better accommodation
on landing, so that at least 20,000 Irishmen came into the French
service, though from old associations they would have preferred that
of Spain. And the historian notes that Cromwell had been able to send
abroad 40,000 men who would have been enough to drive him out of
England; while the King's Lieutenant, notwithstanding all the promises,
obligations, and contracts which the Confederate Roman Catholics had
made to and with him, could not draw together a body of 5000 men.[246]
[Sidenote: Arrival of Fleetwood, Sept. 1653.]
[Sidenote: A High Court established.]
[Sidenote: Trials at Kilkenny, Clonmel, and Cork.]
On June 8 Fleetwood married Ireton's widow, and on July 10 his
father-in-law made him commander-in-chief in Ireland. In the following
month he was appointed by Parliament a commissioner for the civil
government along with the regicides Ludlow, Corbet, and Jones, and
John Weaver, the member for Stamford. Fleetwood was in Ireland by the
beginning of September, but there was not much left for a general
to do except to superintend the reduction of the army. The dregs of
the war had to be dealt with first, but the Commissioners were given
great powers in the domain of law and justice, and their first care
was for the punishment of those to whom murder could be brought home.
Doctor Jones had already received orders to collect evidence. A High
Court was erected in Dublin under Chief Justice Lowther, who issued
commissions to find and examine witnesses in the country. Local courts
were also established, the first of which, consisting of Justices
Donnellan and Cook and Commissary-General Reynolds, sat on October 4 at
Kilkenny in the room where the Supreme Council had been used to meet.
Notwithstanding the difficulty of getting evidence eleven years after
the first outbreak, sixteen persons were found guilty at Kilkenny, six
at Clonmel, and thirty-two at Cork; and we are told that most of these
were very considerable men, heads of septs or otherwise important. The
High Court in Dublin did not sit until January.[247]
[Sidenote: Uncertainty as to number executed.]
[Sidenote: Sir Phelim O'Neill.]
It was considered murder to kill persons not in arms or who had been
received to quarter, and this was the general principle on which
prosecutions were based. The record is imperfect, but Cox estimated
that not above two hundred died by the hands of the common executioner,
though many murderers had perished by the sword or by disease. Hearsay
evidence was probably admitted to an extent which would not be dreamed
of in our days, but trials were carefully conducted, and there were a
great many acquittals. Of the original insurgents surviving, by far
the most important were Sir Phelim O'Neill, who had lurked in Tyrone
since the surrender of Charlemont, where his wife remained. Early in
1653 he ventured, with a view of communicating with her, to take up his
abode in an old house on an island in Roghan Lough, near Coalisland,
accompanied by Tirlogh Groom O'Quin and a score of soldiers. His
messenger was a follower named O'Hugh, who was under protection at
Charlemont, and Lord Caulfield's attention was thus roused. The little
lake was surrounded and boats were launched upon it, and the island,
which was very near the shore, was quite indefensible even against
musketry. Sir Phelim surrendered, and was taken to Carrickfergus,
where he was very civilly treated by Venables, who had found him a
gallant enemy. He was sent off to Dublin and tried there upon the last
day of February, his companions, with the exception of O'Quin, being
released.[248]
[Sidenote: Sir Phelim is found guilty.]
[Sidenote: The case of Lord Caulfield.]
O'Neill was sentenced to death for high treason and for four murders
proved against him, according to the judge's notes. That he had
levied war against the King is obvious, and the question is not worth
discussing. He was not accused of murdering any one with his own hand,
but as an accessory before the fact or by giving orders to the actual
assassins. In the case of Lord Caulfield the fragments of evidence
which we possess do not make the facts absolutely clear. The original
capture was treacherous in the highest degree, and the murder was
committed by Sir Phelim's foster-brother. The young lord had been over
five months O'Neill's prisoner at or near Charlemont, and according to
one witness he directed the escort to take him to Cloughoughter, in
Cavan. Sir Phelim's own house at Kinard was the first halting-place,
and there the deed was done, fifteen or sixteen of Caulfield's Scotch
and English dependants being slaughtered at the same time. O'Neill was
not present, but he had used very suspicious language shortly before,
and the assassin was allowed to escape in his gaoler's company, and was
not caught. Of three warders, one who was an Irishman was not punished,
while the other two, being English and Scotch, were duly hanged by Sir
Phelim's orders. The gaoler was restored to his post at Armagh. In all
the cases much of the evidence is hearsay; but the murders charged,
with many others, were committed within a few miles of Charlemont, and
Sir Phelim, who commanded in chief, never punished anybody. Michael
Harrison swore that in December 1641 he heard O'Neill say, 'with great
ostentation, that he would never leave off the work he had begun
until mass should be sung or said in every church in Ireland, and
that a Protestant should not live in Ireland, be he of what nation he
would.'[249]
[Sidenote: Execution of Sir Phelim O'Neill.]
[Sidenote: The alleged royal commission.]
[Sidenote: Sham commissions were shown.]
O'Neill was hanged, drawn, and quartered, one quarter being impaled at
Lisburn, which he had burned; another at Dundalk, which he had taken;
a third at Drogheda, which he had vainly besieged; and a fourth, with
the head, at Dublin, which he had plotted to surprise. Tirlogh Groom
O'Quin, who was captured with him and who had been his close associate
in the early days of the rebellion, was executed later, and his head
set upon the west gate of Carrickfergus. There has been much discussion
as to the exact relation of Sir Phelim and the other original
conspirators to Charles I., and the declaration of Dean Ker in 1681
was long accepted as evidence. Attempts have been made to set aside
Ker's statement, on the ground that he wanted to be a bishop, that he
spoke twenty-eight years after the fact, and that it was impossible
that things which happened in open court should have remained doubtful
for so long. It is certain that he never became a bishop, and there is
nothing to prove that he wished to be one. By his own showing he had
often mentioned the matter to his friend or patron, Lord Lanesborough,
who at last persuaded him to write it down. There is never anything
extraordinary in London being ignorant of what happens in Dublin;
and after the Restoration no one had any interest in recalling the
proceedings of the Cromwellian High Court there. The late King's
position as a saint and martyr was then undisputed, and the Church of
England was not on her defence. A more important difficulty is that the
Dean says he heard Michael Harrison, who only saved his life by acting
as secretary to Sir Phelim, confess in open court that he attached the
Great Seal to a sham commission, and that O'Neill, when pressed by the
judges, answered 'that no man could blame him to promote that cause
he had so far engaged in.' In his sworn deposition Harrison says Sir
Phelim had often spoken of a commission from the King, but he had never
been able to get a sight of it, though it was generally believed to
exist. It seems certain that a sham commission of some sort was shown
not only in Ulster but in Munster; and there is no difficulty about
believing that O'Neill should not have wished to die with a lie in
his mouth, or that hopes of mercy should have been held out to him if
he would implicate Charles. If the commission were forged, it matters
little whether the seal was that of England or Scotland; either would
do to exhibit at a distance. We know from the judge's notes that
O'Neill was believed to have altered a genuine document, and that a
copy was produced in court. It is not impossible that Harrison may have
been employed to affix a seal to some instrument which he had not been
allowed to read. The memory of Charles I. has much to bear, but he
could not have given a commission authorising a general insurrection.
He had been angling for Roman Catholic help before the outbreak of the
rebellion, and many may have been persuaded that they were doing his
will by rising against the Lords Justices; but it is not at all likely
that any of the leaders were of this opinion.[250]
[Sidenote: Lord Muskerry acquitted.]
[Sidenote: His speech after trial.]
Lord Muskerry was not one of the first conspirators, but he joined the
movement soon after it had spread to Munster. After the surrender of
Ross Castle he went to Spain, but he had been a determined opponent
of Rinuccini, and he found the clergy so hostile that his life was
not safe. At Lisbon his reception was little better, and he gave up
his plan of raising troops for the Peninsula, returned to Cork, and
threw himself upon the mercy of Parliament. This was in February 1653,
and he remained a prisoner in Dublin until his trial in December. In
the meantime Lady Ormonde had arrived there, and naturally interested
herself in his behalf. If Carte was rightly informed, Lowther did what
he could by privately informing her of the line which the prosecution
would take, and so enabling the prisoner to be prepared for his defence
at all points. He was not tried for treason, but as accessory to the
murder of Mrs. Hussey and others in 1642; and this resulted in an
acquittal. There was another charge for the murder of William Deane and
others, also in 1642, and it was held that the prosecutors had proved
the facts, but that the prisoner had no real share in what was done,
and was in any case protected by the Ross articles. It was, moreover,
shown that he often acted a humane and merciful part. A separate
count, for the murder of Roger Skinner, also resulted in an acquittal.
Muskerry was not finally discharged for some months, and this delay
may have been caused by the discovery that a printed copy of the Ross
articles produced on the trial differed from the original which had
been retained by Ludlow. He was charged in May 1654 with the murder
of a man and woman unknown, but there was a verdict of 'Not Guilty.'
Muskerry's speech after his acquittal on the Hussey and Deane charges
has been preserved. He admitted that he had had a fair trial, and that
if there had been any leaning it was in his favour. 'I met,' he said,
'many crosses in Spain and Portugal. I could get no rest till I came
hither, and the crosses I met here are much affliction to me; but when
I consider that in this court I come clear out of that blackness of
blood by being so sifted, it is more to me than my estate. I can live
without my estate, but not without my credit.' He raised men for the
Venetian service, and went later to Poland, and regained most of his
property after the Restoration.[251]
[Sidenote: Primate O'Reilly found guilty.]
[Sidenote: O'Reilly pardoned.]
Another remarkable case was that of Edmund O'Reilly, then or later
vicar-general of Dublin and afterwards Primate, for the murder of John
Joyce and others at Wicklow in December 1642. They appear to have
been burned in Wicklow Castle in cold blood. Most of the evidence was
hearsay, and does not perhaps amount to much more than that O'Reilly
made rather light of what had been done. Luke Byrne, indeed, swore that
in a conversation when Joyce was mentioned O'Reilly had advised him
to kill all the English about him, and had afterwards excommunicated
him for favouring them. The prisoner answered that this Byrne was his
enemy, and that he had excommunicated him for living in adultery.
Perhaps the strongest point against O'Reilly was made by Peter
Wickham, who had been High Sheriff of Wicklow, and who stated that
Edward Byrne was put off the jury because he, as foreman, was prepared
to say that Joyce and the rest were murdered. Edward Byrne himself
corroborated this. On the other hand, a witness bearing the English
name of Pemberton swore that O'Reilly had done many acts of kindness
and preserved many English lives, including those of five Protestant
clergymen. These cases were all a good deal later than Joyce's murder,
and it is not improbable that, while favouring the rebellion at first,
he became afterwards disgusted at the outrages that attended it. He
was found guilty, but received a pardon. Peter Walsh, who was bitterly
opposed to O'Reilly, speaks of him as rather a good-natured and
merciful man, but adds that he escaped owing to 'his former services
to the Parliament, especially that of betraying the royal camp at
Rathmines to Jones.' He was certainly engaged in secret negotiations
between Jones and Owen Roe O'Neill in 1648, and it may well be that
there was no wish to deal hardly with him. Walsh says he was under
protection within the Parliament's lines, and in that unsafe position
was rash enough to appear in Dublin as a witness for the prosecution
in a criminal trial. He was recognised and named by a person in court,
who called upon the judge to arrest him as priest and vicar-general and
chief author of seizing and burning in cessation time the black castle
of Wicklow, and consequently too of murdering all those within it. 'Now
whether this accusation was in itself true or false I know not.'[252]
[Sidenote: Trial of Lord Mayo, who is shot.]
Sir Theodore Bourke, third Viscount Mayo, submitted on July 14, 1652,
and was one of the seven who signed on behalf of a large number. Those
guilty of robbery or murder during the first year of the war were
excluded from any benefit by the articles. Lord Mayo was tried at
Galway as accessory to the Shrule massacre by a commission consisting
of Sir Charles Coote and ten others. He was undoubtedly present at the
murders, and he rode away without fighting for the victims, who were
supposed to be under his protection; but there was evidence to show
that he did make some effort to save them, and that he fled only to
secure his own life. Four of the commissioners were for an acquittal,
but he was condemned by a majority and shot.[253]
[Sidenote: Cost of the war.]
[Sidenote: The city of London.]
War is a costly business. First there is the blood-tax, withdrawing
thousands of young men from remunerative work. Then there is the
expenditure on war materials, and the destruction of property, which
may take long to replace. In modern times soldiers are paid punctually,
but some part of the waste has to be met by loans, and so the expense
of war goes on when its causes are half forgotten. In the case of the
Irish rebellion, it was seen at once that the work could not be paid
for out of revenue. Except for a moment under Strafford, Ireland had
never been self-supporting, and Parliament, upon whom the King at once
cast the responsibility, as yet commanded no regular income and could
not pledge the national credit. The city of London was willing enough
to give money, but security for repayment was required, and 2500 acres
of Irish land were hypothecated for this purpose. It was assumed,
judging by the great area affected, and by the experience of former
rebellions, that a very much larger amount would be forfeited. Those
who subscribed would have something to sell as soon as their money had
done its work. In addition to this it proved, just as in Elizabeth's
time, that there was never ready cash enough to pay the soldiers
in full, and their arrears also were made a charge upon the Irish
forfeitures. There were also many miscellaneous creditors who expected
to be paid out of the same fund.[254]
[Sidenote: Charles I. a party to the plan of settlement.]
[Sidenote: Money subscribed for Ireland,]
[Sidenote: but spent in England.]
It is unnecessary to set out in detail the negotiations which led
to the passing of the Act for the speedy reduction of the rebels
in Ireland, but it received the royal assent and was therefore a
legal statute forming the basis of what is known as the Cromwellian
settlement. Charles II. was bound by it, for the original contract
could not be denied. Six hundred and twenty-five thousand acres were
pledged in each province, and the money advanced was to be repaid with
land distributed by lot at the rate of 1000 acres in Ulster for every
200_l._, in Connaught for every 300_l._, in Munster for every 450_l._,
and in Leinster for every 600_l._ Profitable land only was counted,
bogs, loughs, and barren mountains with the woods growing on them,
being thrown in without measurement. A quit-rent was reserved to the
Crown of one penny per acre in Ulster, three halfpence in Connaught,
twopence farthing in Munster, and threepence in Leinster. Patents
and pardons before attainder since the fatal October 23, 1641, were
declared void, and so were assignments made after March 1 in that year.
A special cause of forfeiture was entering after the said March 1 into
'any compact, bond, covenant, oath, promise, or agreement to introduce
or bring into the said realm of Ireland the authority of the see of
Rome in any case whatsoever or to maintain or defend the same.' The
money subscribed was all to be paid in London, and it was specially
provided that no part of it was to be devoted to any purpose except
the reduction of the Irish rebels until Parliament should declare
that the thing was done. But it very soon became evident that there
would be war nearer home and long before the time limited for closing
the collection. One hundred thousand pounds was borrowed by the House
of Commons for their own purposes 'upon the public faith.' Charles
protested, as he had every right to do, but he set up his standard at
Nottingham only nine days later, having already proclaimed Essex a
traitor. The Irish difficulty could not be effectively dealt with until
it was decided who was to be master in England.[255]
[Sidenote: Further financial enactments.]
[Sidenote: The doubling ordinance.]
[Sidenote: Superstitious uses.]
[Sidenote: The settlement suspended by war.]
Three Acts to explain or extend the original one were passed soon
afterwards. By the first special arrangements were made for admitting
Scotch adventurers and Dutch Protestants on or before May 10, 1642; by
the second, subscribers who paid all their money before July 20, 1642,
were to have Irish acres based upon a perch of twenty-one feet, new
contributors and those who were not so prompt, being still confined
to English measure, with a perch of sixteen and a half feet, by the
third corporations and companies were admitted to contribute as well
as individuals. A permanent committee sat in London to watch the
interests of the adventurers. Ordinances affecting them were made from
time to time, of which one of the most important was that of July 14,
1643, doubling the amount of land to be given in Irish acres for an
additional one-fourth to the original subscription, and encouraging
merchants and manufacturers to advance money on the security of the
towns and neighbourhoods of Limerick, Waterford, Galway, and Wexford.
All chantry lands 'given, unto superstitious uses for maintenance
of popish priests and idolatrous masses' were thrown in, and also
all lands 'given for maintenance of lazars and lazarous people and
concealed in possession and occupation of such who are now or shall be
rebels, and have been by their ancestors enjoyed by many descents.'
Some months before this, at the beginning of October 1642, the House
of Commons sent a committee to Ireland consisting of Robert Goodwin
and Robert Reynolds, adventurers and members of Parliament, and of
Captain William Tucker, who was associated with them by the City of
London. They disagreed among themselves, and effected nothing for the
adventurers, but their pretensions gave the King an opportunity of
interfering. Dublin was secured in Ormonde's hands, and so it remained
until Charles was overthrown in England. But civil government was in
abeyance long after that, and it was not until August 1652, when the
Irish war seemed to be nearly over, that Parliament was able to declare
how Irish land should be dealt with.[256]
FOOTNOTES:
[241] _Aphorismical Discovery_, iii. 143; John Jones to Major Scott,
March 1, 1652-3, _ib._ 370; Articles for Arran, January 15, _Contemp.
Hist._, iii. 364; Articles for Innisbofin, February 14, _ib._ See also
O'Flaherty's _Western Connaught_, pp. 78, 116.
[242] Letter from John Jones to Major Scott, March 1, 1652-3, and
another to Morgan Lloyd (without date, but later than May of the same
year), both in _Contemp. Hist._ iii. 370-373; Articles with Ulster
party, April 27, 1653, _ib._ 374.
[243] Two letters of John Jones, _ut sup._; Richard Lawrence's
_Interest of Ireland_, 1682, ii. 86. Many horrors are set forth in
Prendergast's _Cromwellian Settlement_, 2nd ed. 307.
[244] Articles for Limerick, October 27, 1651; for Galway, April 5,
1652; for Roscommon, April 3; for the Clare brigade, April 21; for the
Ulster Irish, September 21; for Innisbofin, February 14, 1652-3; for
Cloughoughter, April 27 to May 18, 1653. The above and many others are
in vol. iii. of _Contemp. Hist._, except the articles for Galway, which
are in Hardiman's _Hist. of Galway_, appx. p. xxix. Father O'Conor's
letter of May 17, 1653, from Brussels, is in _Spicilegium Ossoriense_,
i. 398 (Latin). In another letter from Brussels of May 3, signed by the
Bishops of Raphoe and Clonfert, who were also in Innisbofin, there is
a curious mixture of Virgil and Vulgate: 'hæc est hora hæreticorum et
potestas tenebrarum. Dabit Deus his quoque finem. Via prima salutis,
quo minime remur, Anglo pandetur ab orbe [_sic_],' _ib._ 398.
[245] O'Daly's _Geraldines_ (Meehan's version, 1847), chap. xi.;
Collier's _Ecclesiastical History_, vii. 42. The order is dated January
2, 1652-3.
[246] Clarendon's _Hist. of the Rebellion_, xii. 148, 149; a letter
from Sparke (imprisoned at Madrid for Ascham's murder), March 4,
1652-3, in Cal. of _Clarendon MSS._, mentions 'drovers and sellers
of the King's poor subjects, merchants that now find the miserable
Irishman to be the best commodity in trade ... one went lately hence
with a vast sum of money (pretium sanguinis) laden on mules.' Hyde to
Bellings, August 8, 1653, _ib._, and to Sir Benjamin Wright, September
13, _ib._; letters in _Thurloe_ from June to September, i. 320, 337,
479, 504; Petty's _Political Anatomy of Ireland_, chap. 4. Gookin in
his anti-transplantation pamphlet says '40,000 of the most active
spirited men' enlisted for foreign service.
[247] Cromwell's warrant to Fleetwood in _Thurloe_, i. 212;
instructions to the Commissioners, in _Parliamentary Hist._ xx.
92. Nineteen superior officers to Lenthall, May 5, 1652, in appx.
to _Ludlow_; the Commissioners' letters of October 14 and January
15, _ib._; Carlyle's _Cromwell_, ed. Lomas, ii. 246. See Gardiner's
_Commonwealth_, ii. 164, and _Cox_, ii. 70.
[248] The details as to O'Neill's capture are from the British
Officer's _Warr of Ireland_, p. 144. The writer says 'twenty gentlemen
of Ulster suffered for matters at the beginning of the war, of which
some suffered innocently, as then it was said, where some of those who
were judges were their enemy in war time.' Col. Jones to Scott, March
1, 1652-3, in _Contemp. Hist._, iii. 372. Sir Phelim's third wife was
Lady Strabane, a daughter of the 1st Marquis of Huntly.
[249] Deposition of Michael Harrison, taken February 11, 1652-3, in
_Hickson_, i. 223-233; Notes of the trial with the President's charge
and O'Neill's own deposition or confession, _ib._ ii. 183-190; Note to
Archdall's ed. of Lodge's _Irish Peerage_, iii. 140.
[250] Dean Ker's statement, dated February 28, 1681-2, was first
published by Nalson (ii. 528) in the following year. Nalson says he
had the paper from Ormonde, and probably Lord Lanesborough, who had
been the Duke's secretary, procured it for that very purpose. It is
reprinted in _Contemp. Hist._, iii. 368 and _Hickson_, ii. 370. The
spurious commission in Rushworth, iv. 400, dated October 1, 1641, was
under the Great Seal of Scotland, which could have no value in Ireland.
By it Charles is made to authorise the seizure of all strong places in
Ireland 'except the places, persons and estates of our loving subjects
the Scots; and also to arrest and seize the goods, estates, and persons
of all the English Protestants' to his use. Imagination refuses to
conceive that he could have used such words. For discussions on this
subject see Gardiner's _Hist. of England_, x. 7, 92; Burton's _Hist.
of Scotland_, vi. 347, ed. 1876; _Hickson_, i. 117. The paper called
Antrim's 'Information,' appx. 49 to _Cox_, really proves nothing, and
he was a notoriously loose talker.
[251] Trial in _Hickson_, ii. 192-204, 235; _Ludlow_, i. 341; Fleetwood
to Thurloe, February 16, 1653-4, in _Thurloe_, ii. 94. Notices in Cal.
of _Clarendon MSS._, vol. ii. during 1653 and 1654; Carte's _Life of
Ormonde_, ii. 161. Muskerry married Lady Eleanor Butler, Ormonde's
eldest sister.
[252] Notes of trial in _Hickson_, ii., where the murder is said to
have been on December 29, 1642, which was before the cessation, but
there may have been a local truce; _Bellings_, vii. 104; Walsh's
_Remonstrance_, p. 609.
[253] For the Shrule affair see above. Cox gives the names of the
commissioners and how they voted, with a fair summary of the case.
[254] A paper printed by Mr. Firth in _English Hist. Review_, xiv. 104,
makes the expense of war and settlement from July 6, 1649, to November
1, 1656, amount to about three and a half millions, of which one and a
half was transmitted out of England, the remainder collected in Ireland.
[255] Act for the speedy and effectual reducing of the rebels in His
Majesty's Kingdom of Ireland &c., _Scobell_, i. 26 (Royal Assent, March
19, 1641-2). Resolution of the Commons to borrow 100,000_l._, July 30,
1641, in _Rushworth_, iv. 778, and the King's message from York, August
13, _ib._ 775.
[256] Acts and ordinance in _Scobell_, i. 31-34, 45; _Rushworth_, v.
530; Tucker's Journal in _Confed. and War_, ii. 170.