CLARENDON AND TYRCONNEL, 1685-1686
[Sidenote: Accession of James II., February 1685.]
[Sidenote: Public uneasiness.]
As soon as the bad news reached him, Ormonde called the Council
together. All leave was stopped, officers were ordered to their
quarters, and on the following day King James was proclaimed with great
pomp, but with many gloomy forebodings among the Protestants of Dublin.
The Lord Lieutenant's commission expired with Charles II., Lord Granard
and Archbishop Boyle remaining Lords Justices. But Ormonde gave a
dinner to all the officers then in Dublin, at the Royal Hospital, just
built most appropriately upon the site once occupied by the Priory of
St. John and dedicated to the use of worn-out soldiers. Raising his
glass, he said, 'Look here, gentlemen! They say at Court that I am now
become an old doating fool; you see my hand doth not shake, nor does my
heart fail, nor doubt but I will make some of them see their mistake,'
and so drank the new King's health. He then left Ireland for the last
time. On the road he chanced to see in the _Gazette_ that his regiment
of horse had been given to Richard Talbot without any notice to him.
Many of those Protestants who were in a position to do so, followed
their protector to England, many sought the colonies, and the shadow
of coming change was over those that remained. Even before Ormonde's
arrival in London, rumours were rife there that the repeal of the Act
of Settlement was intended.[139]
[Sidenote: Purging the army.]
Just three months after his accession, James made Talbot Earl of
Tyrconnel. The new peer was soon back in Ireland busying himself in
remodelling the army, though Granard ostensibly remained at its head,
much blamed for his complete surrender to the favourite. Monmouth's
invasion gave an excuse for disarming the Protestant militia; he
was outlawed as in England, and the arrest of those who spread his
declaration was ordered. Irish troops were sent to Ulster, and
communications with Scotland were maintained by sea, with a view to
frustrating Argyle's expedition. In the meantime the cashiering of
English officers and the substitution of Irish ones went on steadily.
Soon after the failure of both the English and Scotch adventurers,
Tyrconnel and Granard jointly reported that they had made many changes,
but that those who lost their commissions were mostly somebody's
servants, 'no officers and good for nothing, as most of the lieutenants
and cornets of this army are at present.' Colonel Justin MacCarthy
asked for the dismissal of Captain Bingham, absent without leave,
and the appointment of Thomas Nugent, who had served under him in
France, and had lost an estate during the usurpation. One reason given
for taking their arms from the militiamen was that they were often
carelessly kept, and might get into bad hands. In the autumn the arms
surrendered were accordingly stored at Dublin or Athlone for Leinster;
at Cork, Kinsale, Limerick, Waterford, and Duncannon for Munster;
at Galway or Athlone for Connaught, and for Ulster at Londonderry,
Carrickfergus, and Charlemont. Tyrconnel knew where to find them when
they were wanted for his own purposes later.[140]
[Sidenote: Influence of Tyrconnel.]
Tyrconnel, though as yet only a colonel, assumed the position of an
Inspector-General, and everybody gave way to him because he was
believed to represent the King's views. Orders were given to get rid
of all officers and soldiers who had served under Cromwell, upon which
Ormonde remarked that there were indeed a few who, after serving
Charles I. to the end, and Charles II. after Worcester, 'took service
in Ireland against the Irish barely for subsistence, and yet had
served the Crown as long as it had a foot of ground to fight upon.'
To represent such men as Cromwellians was a cruel injustice, and some
of them were among the best in the army. 'This I take to be the case
of one Quartermaster Benson in the Lord Blessington's troop, and may
be of more in the army.' His representations were allowed no weight,
and he believed that officers appointed by him were more certain to be
cashiered than others.[141]
[Sidenote: Clarendon made Lord Lieutenant.]
Rochester as Lord Treasurer, and his elder brother Clarendon as
Lord Privy Seal, seemed all-powerful for a time, since their royal
brother-in-law was still anxious to conciliate the Church of England,
and fidelity to that Church was the one point upon which the Hydes
showed resolution. In other respects they were both very subservient,
and the King hoped that the doctrine of Filmer's foolish book would
prevent them from ever asserting their independence. To get him
out of the way, Sunderland had recommended Rochester for the Lord
Lieutenancy, and for the same reason Rochester recommended Sunderland;
but neither of them would go. In September, Clarendon was nominated,
to the general joy of the Church party, but the best informed did
not envy his position. He was not required to resign the Privy Seal,
but Commissioners, of whom John Evelyn was one, were appointed to do
the work during his absence in Ireland. Tyrconnel prepared to go to
England, where he might undermine the Viceroy by his direct influence
with the King. Even among those of his own religion, his schemes caused
an uneasy feeling, and the gallant Colonel Grace, who became Governor
of Athlone, put information which reached him from Ireland into
Clarendon's hands.[142]
[Sidenote: Clarendon's arrival, January 1686.]
The new Lord Lieutenant left London on the 16th of December, escorted
by the fashionable world in two hundred carriages, some of which went
as far as St. Albans. He did not reach Dublin until January 9, his
mode of travelling being leisurely in the extreme. At Coventry he met
a servant of Sarsfield, who expressed surprise, the latest letters
from England saying that his appointment to Ireland was cancelled.
The same man announced that Tyrconnel was just leaving for England.
Clarendon noted that the two Coventry churches were well filled, thanks
to 'executing the law upon the non-conformists in making them pay.'
He was sumptuously entertained at Chester and at St. Asaph, where he
heard many stories about Tyrconnel. One of them was that he entered
the church at Whitechurch where a Talbot was buried whom he claimed as
ancestor. 'This church,' he said, 'was in better order when you took
it from us Catholics, but we shall have it shortly again, and then you
shall pay for all.' There was in those days no road over Penmaenmawr,
and it was customary to send heavy vehicles by water from Chester or
Neston. Sometimes the journey could be made from Conway by the sands,
but on this occasion tides did not serve. To Clarendon's great surprise
his servants managed to drag the carriages over the mountains, the
horses drawing in single file and four or five men shoving behind,
'so that this journey will be famous, three coaches and a waggon
having been brought over Penmaenmawr.' Lord Bulkeley entertained the
Lord Lieutenant at Beaumaris, the terrors of the Menai Straits were
successfully overcome, and the sea-sick company reached Dunleary at
last, in the early morning of January 9. The Primate sent his coach,
and Clarendon was sworn in the same day, his head still swimming from
the waves. 'I have,' he told the Council, 'the King's command to
declare upon all occasions, that whatever imaginary (for they can be
called no other) apprehensions any men here may have had, His Majesty
hath no intention of altering the Acts of Settlement.' Tyrconnel
reached London on the same day, having purposely missed the Lord
Lieutenant at Holyhead, though he thought it worth while to give out
that he was most anxious to meet him. 'Count Tyrconnel is come,' says a
London letter, 'and kindly received as he can wish: played the devil on
the road for horses.'[143]
[Sidenote: Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.]
Just before Clarendon's departure for Ireland, the French King took
a step which profoundly affected the history of Europe, and of
England and Ireland particularly. After having long been shamelessly
infringed, the Edict of Nantes was formally revoked in October 1685.
The Protestant Chapel at Charenton was pulled down by the mob of Paris.
It was pretended that there were no longer any heretics in France,
and that therefore the law which still partly protected them, was no
longer necessary. In official correspondence, the reformed faith was
known as the R.P.R. (religion prétendue réformée). Thousands conformed
insincerely, but a vast number preferred expatriation at the risk
of their lives, and carried their industry, their skill, and some
of their capital into Holland, Germany, and England. The tale which
these refugees had to tell fell upon no deaf ears, and great sums were
subscribed for their relief, but James II. took care that as many
as possible should remain unrelieved. The newspapers and gazettes
controlled by the Court were silent on the subject of the persecutions,
but private letters of news got into print, and the appearance of
the fugitives in person was more eloquent than any article. The King
could not prevent a great collection in their favour, but he directed
that no one should benefit by it who would not take the Anglican
sacramental test. Sincere French Calvinists were thus excluded from
relief. This was the period of his reign when James, deceived by the
slavish doctrines of some High Church divines, thought it possible to
be a despot with the help of the Established Church. When he found
that there were limits to what that Church would bear, he turned to
the Nonconformists in the name of religious liberty. After the failure
of his schemes, the victorious Protestants were guilty of grievous
persecution, but they remembered that James was the ally of the King
who had ruthlessly destroyed the religious liberties of his own
subjects.[144]
[Sidenote: Refugees from France and Ireland.]
[Sidenote: James attacks the Church establishment.]
While Huguenot visitors excited the anger and pity of English
Protestants, Irish Roman Catholics kept pouring into London to remind
them of dangers nearer home. Tyrconnel's countrymen gathered round him,
and it was soon known that he would return to Ireland as generalissimo,
and that great military and judicial changes would follow. Rumours of
all this, and even the names of those who were to lose their places and
of their successors were known in Dublin long before any intimation was
given to the Lord Lieutenant, who found that he had very little power.
The archbishopric of Cashel was vacant, and he proposed to fill it by
making two translations and a new appointment: 'though there be but one
see vacant, yet, for the enlargement of His Majesty's first-fruits,
and to make them as considerable as I can upon this occasion, I have
humbly proposed these removes.' This was for the King, but in writing
to Sancroft the Lord Lieutenant did not think it necessary to mention
his plan of supporting the Church by taxing her. The process was too
slow for James, who preferred to keep vacant sees in his own hands. By
this means the establishment might be made to pay for the clergy of the
King's religion. When Clarendon had been a little more than two months
in Ireland, Sunderland informed him that the King had long thought it
necessary to make great changes there, and that these could no longer
be delayed without much prejudice to his affairs. Catholics were to be
admitted to the Council and to be sheriffs, magistrates, and members
of corporations. New commissions in the army were already prepared and
would soon be sent over.[145]
[Sidenote: Protestant judges turned out.]
As a preliminary to the general remodelling, Primate Boyle was deprived
of the Great Seal, and no bishop has held it since. He was approaching
his eightieth year, and accepted dismissal with a good grace,
declaring, with imperfect apprehension of an archbishop's duties, that
he had made the whole business of his life to serve the Crown. Roman
Catholics had found him impartial, and even Tyrconnel admitted this,
but attributed it to craft, 'and, by God, I will have him out.' It
was thought prudent to appoint a Protestant successor until the King
felt strong enough for more extreme measures. The man chosen was Sir
Charles Porter, who was needy and extravagant and thought likely to be
subservient, but who afterwards showed unexpected independence. The
next step was to remove three judges--Sir Richard Reynell from the
King's Bench, Robert Johnson from the Common Pleas, and Sir Standish
Hartstonge from the Exchequer. They were all able men and nothing
could be said against them, but they were Protestants, and that was
enough. Johnson had been sixteen years a judge. Clarendon had pointed
out that the Act of Supremacy obliged all officials to take the oath;
if the King dispensed with that, he suggested that English Roman
Catholics should be sent over. James answered that he did not see how
employing some Catholic natives could harm 'the true English interest
there, so long as the Act of Settlement is kept untouched, which it
must always be, though many ill and disaffected people are secured in
their possessions by it.' Ten days later Lord Chancellor Porter reached
Dublin and publicly announced the King's resolution not to have the
Acts of Settlement shaken.[146]
[Sidenote: Roman Catholic judges appointed.]
The new Chancellor had heard the common report that there were to be
three Roman Catholic judges, but he was told nothing officially, and
the appointments were almost ostentatiously made without consulting
him or the Lord Lieutenant. The vacancy in the King's Bench was filled
by Thomas Nugent, a son of the late Earl of Westmeath, who boasted
about his promotion, and had his robes made in Dublin long before.
Clarendon says he was 'a man of birth indeed, but no lawyer, and so
will do no harm upon the account of his learning.' He and Lyndon,
the other puisne judge, squabbled 'like two women' about precedence.
Viceroy and Chancellor agreed that Nugent was foolish and troublesome.
The new judge of the Common Pleas was Denis Daly, 'one of the best
lawyers of that sort,' says Clarendon, 'but of old Irish race, and,
therefore, ought not to be a judge'; otherwise there was nothing
against him except that he was 'very bigoted and national.' He had
been bred a lawyer's clerk, and made money, which he invested in land
under Settlement titles. The appointment to the Exchequer was in some
ways the most important of the three Courts, because it was the only
one from which no writ of error lay in England. Charles Ingleby, an
English Roman Catholic, having refused to go to Ireland, the place was
given to Stephen Rice, whose abilities as a lawyer were not disputed.
Clarendon was not even formally consulted, though his patent gave him
the appointment of all judges and officers of the Exchequer except the
Chief Baron. Nugent, Daly, and Rice were dispensed from taking the oath
of supremacy, which had been invariably required ever since the second
year of Elizabeth.[147]
[Sidenote: A new Privy Council.]
[Sidenote: Tyrconnel made commander-in-chief.]
Clarendon was ready to do anything that the King wished, but he
usually gave good advice, which was very seldom taken. Indeed,
James said plainly that he had made up his mind to remodel the
administration, both civil and military, and would go to work at once
quite irrespective of anything the Lord Lieutenant might say, who,
having been only a short time in Ireland, could not possibly give His
Majesty 'so good an account as he had already received from persons of
undoubted integrity and zeal for his service.' Having begun with the
bench, he went on to name nineteen Roman Catholic Privy Councillors,
who were not to take the oath of supremacy. Among them were the three
new judges, Richard Hamilton, Lord Galmoy, Justin MacCarthy, and
Tyrconnel. Clarendon did not think that the dignity or usefulness
of puisne judges would be enhanced by making them politicians, and
neither Rice nor Daly were anxious for such promotion, though it
flattered the vanity of Nugent, who was much the least able of the
trio. Nagle, whose fees exceeded a Chief Justice's salary, agreed with
the Lord Lieutenant that a practising barrister was unfitted for the
position. Having a large family, he could not afford to lose briefs,
and he declared, and perhaps at this time really fancied, that he
was not ambitious. In the meantime it became known that Tyrconnel,
in pursuance of the scheme hatched before Charles II.'s death, was
about to return as lieutenant-general, with power over the army,
independent of the Viceroy, who was informed by Sir Robert Hamilton
that he had seen the commission. Clarendon thought the creation of such
a potentate absurd, as indeed it was, and he professed to disbelieve
the story; but a fortnight later Rochester wrote to confirm Hamilton's
statement. Alarmed by such reports and by what they saw going on,
several Protestant families left Ireland every week, carrying with them
what they could realise. Industry was paralysed, and large employers
of labour prepared to wind up their business and to make haste out of
the country. The Government and the judges on circuit tried to settle
men's minds, but it was persistently rumoured that by Christmas Day no
Protestant would be left in the army. At last Tyrconnel arrived, and
the alarmists were soon seen to be better informed than those who cried
peace when there was no peace.[148]
[Sidenote: Catherine Sedley in Ireland.]
The struggle for supremacy at Court between Rochester and Sunderland
was still undecided, but the latter gradually gained ground, though he
had supported the Exclusion Bill, while Halifax, who had been largely
instrumental in rejecting it, was turned out of the Government, and
even out of the Privy Council. Sunderland was ready to increase his
power over James by turning Roman Catholic, while Rochester, who would
not go that length, was willing to let the King believe that he was
open to conviction. The reputation of Sunderland is so bad as to need
no remark, but Rochester, who did suffer for his religious opinions,
was not above supporting Catherine Sedley, James's ugly but witty
mistress, against Mary of Modena. With Father Petre's help, the Queen
won, and Catherine, who became Countess of Dorchester in January 1686,
was ordered to retire into Flanders, but resolutely refused to inhabit
any country where there were convents, and preferred Ireland, where
the Lord Treasurer's brother could protect her. She was through life
immoderately proud of her ill-gotten rank, and insisted upon being
fully recognised. When Clarendon went to the Curragh races he did
not take his wife, because Lady Dorchester would have gone too. She
was commonly the first at church in the morning, and Lady Clarendon
thought she might make a very good Irish saint 'if our preachers do
not make her despise them.' But after a time she found Ireland dull,
and returned to England in August. The discarded favourite ceased to
be politically important, but she had pensions, and used to dine with
Clarendon both before and after the Revolution. He and his brother lost
influence at Court by supporting her, and in Irish matters their loss
was Tyrconnel's gain.[149]
[Sidenote: Protestant officers and soldiers got rid of.]
While still at Court, Tyrconnel had devoted his attention to the Irish
army, since there was no immediate prospect of gaining the viceroyalty
for himself. To the King he said his main object was to get Cromwellian
officers and soldiers dismissed, and Clarendon, who clung to office,
was willing to go a good way with him. Lord Granard, who commanded the
forces under the Lord Lieutenant, was superseded with a pension and
the post of President of the Council; but there had never been such an
office in Ireland, and the old soldier felt himself quite unfit for
work of that sort. In the end he had the pension without the place.
The ground having been thus cleared, Tyrconnel was sent over with a
lieutenant-general's commission, making him quite independent of the
viceroy. He desired Thomas Sheridan, who was in favour at Court, to
help Sunderland in undermining Rochester while he was in Ireland.
Sheridan said he did not want to burn his fingers 'like the cat in
the apologue,' but it was arranged that he should correspond with
Tyrconnel, visit Sunderland at times, and tell the King as much as was
desirable for him to know. The new general carried with him a long list
of officers to be removed in favour of his own friends and relations.
He wished to have some thousands of Irish Catholics incorporated in
the English army, excluding the native Irish. In this scheme Sheridan
refused to help, saying that the O's and Macs were ten to one of
the others. During the whole time of his power Tyrconnel continued
to favour the Anglo-Irish at the expense of the old Irish, and this
preference was a source of weakness to the Jacobite cause. The King had
to pension some of the loyal Protestants who had been cashiered, and a
much greater number carried their swords and their grievances to the
Prince of Orange. The same process was going on in the ranks, and in
nine months 2300 recruits were enlisted, of whom five-sixths were Irish
Roman Catholics. But the pace was too slow to satisfy Tyrconnel, who
landed on June 5.[150]
[Sidenote: Contest between Clarendon and Tyrconnel.]
[Sidenote: Hard cases.]
The Lord Lieutenant and the Commander-in-chief had a preliminary
interview on the day of the latter's arrival. On the morrow they met
for business, and Tyrconnel made a long rambling speech of which
Clarendon took notes at the moment, and which may be taken as the key
to what followed: 'My Lord, I am sent hither to view this army and to
give the King an account of it. Here are great alterations to be made,
and the poor people who are put out think it my doing, and, God damn
me, I have little to do in the matter: for I told the King that I knew
not two of the captains nor other officers in the whole army. I know
there are some hard cases, which I am sorry for; but, by God, I know
not how to help them. You must know, my Lord, the King, who is a Roman
Catholic, is resolved to employ his subjects of that religion, as you
will find out by the letters I have brought you, and therefore some
must be put out to make room for such as the King likes.' Meritorious
officers were displaced without pity, and Clarendon mentions a few
specially ill-treated men among the multitude who were in the 'common
calamity of being put out.' Thus Captain Brook was deprived of his
troop, for which he had paid 1600_l._ two years before, and Lieutenant
Pargiter of his commission for which he had given 800_l._ The privates
were treated in the same way. When a troop or company was mustered
Tyrconnel merely sent an order to the captain to dismiss such men as
Colonel Richard Hamilton marked upon the list. 'Could not I have done
that as well?' asked the Lord Lieutenant pathetically. Four hundred
men were thus turned out of the regiment of Guards in one day. The
General himself was so little of a soldier that he could not draw up a
regiment, and his orders sometimes disgusted officers of his own Church
as much as the Protestants. He told Lord Roscommon to admit only Roman
Catholics into Ormonde's regiment. Major Macdonnell, who had served
in Germany, received the same order, and gave it out on parade, but
in his walks about Kilkenny freely declared that he had never known a
distinction between soldiers on the score of religion. Tyrconnel denied
his orders, but Roscommon was as outspoken and as sure of his fact as
Macdonnell. The men dismissed were often physically superior to those
who supplanted them, and many recruits spoke no English, which in
Dublin excited the mockery of street boys. The disbanded men despised
their successors, and 'rapped them soundly at fisticuffs.' To make sure
of getting good Catholics, one of the places selected for recruiting
was St. John's Well, resorted to by pilgrims at Midsummer.[151]
[Sidenote: Tory Hamilton's case.]
Captain William Hamilton had been in the King's service ever since he
could carry a musket. He had almost cleared Ulster of Tories, and Sir
William Stewart, afterwards Lord Mountjoy, suggested that he should
be made a magistrate for Armagh, Monaghan, and Tyrone until some more
substantial reward could be given. Hamilton's success was largely
due to the clever way in which he employed two soldiers as spies, but
he was ready enough to risk his own life. 'Neal O'Donnell,' he wrote,
'fled a considerable way, but being overtaken by my cousin, Archibald
Hamilton, when his feet could not carry him off, he turned and first
snapped his gun at me, and then fired a pistol at my cousin, who was
not above four yards from him, on which my cousin fired at him, and,
being the better marksman, knocked the rogue over, so that he had
as fair play for his life as ever any Tory had.' Among the changes
following the death of Charles II., Tory Will, as he was called, lost
his military employment, great zeal in the service of Government
having never been a sure way to promotion in Ireland. He had, however,
many friends, including Rochester, and by purchase or patronage he
managed, after a visit to England, to secure a troop of horse. His old
lieutenant was cashiered, and Tyrconnel appointed Daniel Magennis, with
whom and his brother Murtagh he had had a dispute, saying that they
would soon make friends in the same troop. The Lord Lieutenant thought
differently. By blood or fosterage many outlaws had interest with the
native gentry, though in this case Clarendon thought the Magennises
were chiefly anxious to appropriate some of the credit which had been
given to Hamilton. The quarrel came to a head at Downpatrick. Murtagh
refused to withdraw in writing some charge which he had made against
Hamilton, who seems to have struck, or at least threatened, him with
his cane, but without drawing his sword. Magennis's friends held
Hamilton while he stabbed him to death, also wounding a Mr. Maxwell
who was with him. The Assizes were going on, Nugent and Lyndon being
the judges, and when the first report came that Magennis was the
victim, the former said they would try the case at once. 'But quickly
after the truth was brought that Magennis had killed Hamilton; upon
which the whole court was emptied in a minute, and only the judges
and the prisoners left in it.' The coroner's jury found a verdict of
murder, and even Nugent made some difficulty about bail, but Tyrconnel
overruled everyone, saying that it was often given in murder cases;
and he took Magennis with him to England to get a pardon.[152]
[Sidenote: Aston's case.]
In another case William Aston, whose father had been a judge in the
last reign, slew Mr. Keating in a sudden affray on the Quay. It was
said that an English or Protestant jury would certainly acquit, since
the victim was an Irishman, and Clarendon was pleased when a conviction
followed. The fact of the homicide is not disputed, but Aston gave
a paper to the sheriff on the gallows stairs in which he denied
the malice prepense which is of the essence of murder. He said his
intention was to wound Keating slightly for having grossly insulted his
wife. He died a Protestant, and recorded that great efforts had been
made by many priests to make him confess and be absolved according to
Roman practice. The last of these visitors was Lord Abbot Taafe, who
said he came thirty miles to save the prisoner's soul, 'which could
not otherwise but be damned, if I died in the faith of the Church of
England; and that he was anointed in Germany, but that our ministers
had no ordination.' Clarendon refused to interfere, but both he and the
judges, Nugent and Lyndon, interceded for Aston's family, and his small
property was not confiscated.[153]
[Sidenote: The King throws over Clarendon.]
The army in Ireland consisted of about 7000 men, and was soon
purged sufficiently to make it a safe tool. In August Sheridan, by
Sunderland's orders, wrote to say that the pear was nearly ripe,
and that Tyrconnel was wanted in London. He went over accordingly,
accompanied by Nagle, by Dominic Maguire, the Roman Catholic Primate,
and by Bishop Tyrrell of Clogher. The weight of all four was exerted to
oust Clarendon. James shrank from the odium of appointing a successor
who would not only be disagreeable to all Protestants, but to all who
dreaded French influence. Tyrconnel, with characteristic duplicity,
told Sheridan that he could give up Ireland to France without being
Lord Lieutenant, but employed him to persuade James that the thing
was impossible. Sheridan argued that England must always have the
preponderating power in Irish politics, since the old Irish, who were
ten to one, favoured Spain, and the Anglo-Irish France, while neither
faction would submit to the other. But Tyrconnel was determined to be
Viceroy. As the price of his help Sunderland might have 5000_l._ a
year in Irish land or 50,000_l._ down. The Queen, who hated him, might
be bribed with a pearl necklace worth 10,000_l._, which Prince Rupert
had given to Margaret Hughes. Sunderland, as greedy and as extravagant
as Catiline, was willing to take the money, though not the land, and
offered Tyrconnel a lieutenant-general's place in England with 5000_l._
a year extra pay, and the reversion of the Lord Lieutenancy as soon as
the penal laws were repealed. He said James could only be ruled by a
priest or a woman, and that everything would follow if the Queen and
Father Petre were made safe. But nothing less than the government of
Ireland would satisfy Tyrconnel, though he was willing to be called
Berwick's deputy provided he had all the power. If the King wanted to
get him out of the way, he would go abroad for 10,000_l._ and 4000_l._
to pay the expenses of his late journeys to and from Ireland. Petre,
who hoped for a red hat, and the archbishopric of York to support it,
helped him, and James gradually yielded, though with many misgivings.
Early in October Tyrconnel was made an English Privy Councillor, and
in November it was generally known that he had carried his point, and
was openly preparing for the Irish journey. Lord Powis had been talked
of, but the King said very truly that there was rough work to be done
in Ireland which no English nobleman would do. He pressed Sheridan
to go as secretary, with Alexander Fitton as Chancellor, for he knew
Tyrconnel too well to trust him without good advisers to moderate or
counteract his violence. It would take twelve or eighteen months to
reform the army, to call in the charters, and to get such corporations
appointed as would elect the right sort of Parliament. When all that
was done he would provide handsomely for Sheridan. Since James himself
had no confidence in the man he was sending to represent him, it is not
surprising to find Evelyn noting his appointment 'to the astonishment
of all sober men and to the evident ruin of the Protestants in that
kingdom, as well as of its great improvement going on.'[154]
[Sidenote: 'Lillibullero.']
In times of public excitement little things sometimes have a great
effect, and are better remembered than more important events. Such
were the letters of obscure men in the German Reformation, the
_Marriage of Figaro_ before the French Revolution, John Brown's march
in the American civil war, and such, in the Irish branch of our own
revolution, was the song of 'Lillibullero.' Thomas Wharton, afterwards
Marquis and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, boasted that by this ditty he
had sung a king out of three kingdoms. It had a success altogether
out of proportion to its merit, and in the next century my uncle
Toby whistled the lively air on all occasions. The words allude to
the period of suspense when James still hesitated about Tyrconnel's
appointment.
Ara! but why does he stay behind?
Ho! by my shoul, 'tis a Protestant wind.
Lillibullero, bullen-a-la.
His landing was to bring commissions galore and to ruin the heretics
of Ireland. Swift had some justification for calling Wharton the most
universal villain he had ever known; but he was the shrewdest of
politicians, and his doggerel tells exactly the same story as Evelyn's
grave reflections.[155]
[Sidenote: Clarendon's weakness.]
In adopting the rash policy represented by Tyrconnel, James parted
with his two brothers-in-law, in whom the Church of England trusted.
Rochester was dismissed from the Treasury, though with a large pension,
and Belasyse, a Roman Catholic who had suffered by Oates's plot, was
made First Lord. The Privy Seal was not restored to Clarendon, but
given to Lord Arundel of Wardour, who had signed the secret treaty
of Dover. Clarendon had been a painstaking governor, but he did not
deserve much sympathy, for he was ready to support his master's
arbitrary policy though he did not approve of it. That the King should
be dissatisfied with one of his letters was, he said, a 'mortification
beyond anything that can befall me in this world ... to live under
your Majesty's displeasure is impossible for me.... I have made it
the study of my life to practise obedience ... you will find a most
resigned obedience in me.' This was very shortly before his dismissal,
and after the blow had fallen he goes on in the same strain, talks of
casting himself as quickly as possible at His Majesty's feet, and of
obedience to him having been the business of his life. The same flavour
of servility permeates his letters to his brother and to Sunderland.
Short of changing his religion, there seems to have been no degree of
compliance at which he would have stopped.[156]
[Sidenote: He leaves Ireland.]
When taking leave of his Council, Clarendon defended the English in
Ireland from the charge of fanaticism. They were, he said, good Church
of England men, and had been the first of the late King's subjects to
restore him. They had also been against the Exclusion Bill, and were
most ready to acknowledge royal authority. He pointed with some pride
to the Irish Exchequer. Under Ormonde the annual revenue had risen to
over 300,000_l._ a year without subsidies, and his successor had made
it cover the expenses. All charges had been defrayed as they became
due, and the army was paid up to the last month of his reign. James had
indeed no fault to find with him but his religion. Having personally
delivered the sword to Tyrconnel, Clarendon returned to England, and
on March 3 Evelyn drove out of London to meet him. He was received at
Court very soon after.[157]
FOOTNOTES:
[139] Proclamations of February 10 and 11, 1684-5, Carte's _Ormonde_,
ii. 543. Ormonde's letters of February 22, March 1 and 4, in Singer's
_Correspondence_ of Clarendon and Rochester. Luttrell's _Diary_, March
27. The story of the officers' dinner is in _Secret Consults of the
Romish Party_, 1690. Ormonde's arms were placed over the entrance to
the new hospital.
[140] Proclamations of Lords Justices against Monmouth and his
adherents, June 13 and 22; as to the militia arms, June 20 and October
16, 1685. For Argyle's expedition, Earl of Antrim to Lords Justices,
May 18, and Captain Thomas Hamilton of the _Kingfisher_ to Granard,
June 17, in State Papers, _Ireland_, vol. cccli. As to the removal of
officers, Tyrconnel and Granard, August 12, _ib._, and Justin MacCarthy
to Granard, _ib._ Ormonde to Primate Boyle, October 17, 1685, _Ormonde
Papers_, vii. 374. Tyrconnel reached Ireland before May 29, _ib._ 341.
[141] Correspondence between Ormonde and Roscommon, particularly August
15 and September 17, 1685, _Ormonde Papers_, vol. vii.
[142] Clarendon to Rochester, December 28, 1685, _Clarendon
Correspondence_. Writing on December 20, 1685, Bishop Fell wishes
Clarendon 'good luck with his honour, which to me seems sufficiently
hazardous,' _Hatton Correspondence_. According to the _Sheridan MS._,
Sunderland had suggested Clarendon to the King, 'for mending his
fortune, of which he stood in need, pacifying Tyrconnel by saying that
the two brothers would be ruined by being kept apart.
[143] Evelyn's _Diary_, December 16, 1685. Clarendon's letters,
December 21 to January 10 and January 23, 1685-6. _Ellis
Correspondence_, i. 9, 11. Luttrell's _Diary_, December 16 and 18,
1685. Clarendon's speech on taking office is in the _Clarendon and
Rochester Correspondence_, ii. 475.
[144] Evelyn's _Diary_, November 3, 1685. A newsletter to Colonel Grace
from Dublin, November 11, in _Clarendon's Correspondence_, notices the
silence of the _Gazette_ there about the French persecutions and the
persistence of unauthorised sheets: 'if it be a fiction, as certainly
it is for the most part, why does not the Government take notice of
it?... great concern that those of Geneva--Dublin have for their
Calvinist brethren in France.' The latest lights are in Lavisse's 7th
and 8th vols. and Rousset's _Hist. de Louvois_, iii. chap. vii. For
the dragonnades in Bearn, Henry IV.'s own country, see Sainte-Beuve's
article on the intendant Foucault, _Nouveaux Lundis_, vol. iii. In 1686
Avaux found there were 75,000 French refugees in Holland, Lavisse and
Rambaut's _Hist. générale_, vol. vi.
[145] Clarendon's letters, February and March 1686, particularly that
of February 14. Sunderland to Clarendon, March 11. An acute observer
notes that the Irish Protestant refugees in England were too proud to
complain and less noticed than the French, though they were 'our bone
and our flesh.' Every Frenchman was distinguished by garb and speech,
but those from Ireland by neither, and so in the crowd not discerned.
_Character of the Protestants of Ireland_, May 1689, p. 8.
[146] Clarendon to Rochester, March 14 and April 17. James II. to
Clarendon, April 6. In Burnet's _Hist._ i. 654, the remarks on Porter
are much softened compared to his original MS., _Supplement_, ed.
Foxcroft, p. 170.
[147] Clarendon's letters of April 17, 20, and 24.
[148] Clarendon to Rochester, April 17, 20, and 24, 1686; to
Sunderland, April 24 and 27; to Rochester, May 11 and 15. Sunderland
to Clarendon, March 11, May 22. In his diary on January 31,
1686-7, Clarendon says Nagle pretended that he had no wish to be
Attorney-General, but 'I do not believe him in the least, for I am sure
he is both a covetous and an ambitious man.'
[149] Clarendon to Rochester, May 1, 1686; Lady Clarendon to Rochester,
March 15. Luttrell's _Diary_, January 19 and February 24. Evelyn to
Clarendon, September 1686, appended to the _Diary_, iii. 425.
[150] _Sheridan MS._ Clarendon to Sunderland, May 30, June 1, and
July 20, 1686. King's _State of the Protestants_, chap. iii. sec. 2.
Luttrell's _Diary_, June 8. After the Revolution Sunderland thought it
wise to disclaim any share in the Irish business: 'My Lord Tyrconnel
has been so absolute there that I never had the credit to make an
ensign or to keep one in, nor to preserve some of my friends, for whom
I was much concerned, from the least oppression and injustice, though
I endeavoured it to the utmost of my power,' letter in H. Sidney's
_Diary_, ii. 378. Tyrconnel cashiered about 4000 Protestant soldiers
and 300 officers, Fortescue's _History of the British Army_, iv. chap.
1.
[151] Clarendon to Rochester, June 8 and July 4. St. John's Well was at
Kilmainham, near where O'Connell Road now crosses the railway, and the
name is perpetuated in the intersecting road. A 'pattern' fair, which
became very disorderly, was held here till about 1835, when the well
was swallowed up by builders. See Frazer's _Balder the Beautiful_, i.
205 (Golden Bough).
[152] Letters in _Clarendon and Rochester Correspondence_, vol. i.,
particularly August 4 and 19, 1686. _Ormonde Papers_, vols. vi. and
vii., particularly Sir W. Stewart to Arran, February 13, 1682-3; Tory
Hamilton to W. Ellis, January 2, 1683-4, and Longford's letters in
August 1686. King mentions the murder, chap. i. section 7. In the
correspondence of the time Hamilton is generally called a very honest
fellow. _Ellis Correspondence_, i. 166.
[153] Letters in vol. i. of _Clarendon and Rochester Correspondence_.
Aston's dying declaration is appended to that of June 3. King's remark
is (chap. iii. sec. 2), 'they might kill whom they pleased without
fear of law, as appeared from Captain Nangles' murdering his disbanded
officer in the streets of Dublin; but if any killed or hurt them they
were sure to suffer; as Captain Aston found to his cost, who was hanged
for killing a Papist upon his abusing the captain's wife in the street.'
[154] _Sheridan MS._ _Ellis Correspondence_, November 30, 1686.
Luttrell's _Diary_, December 1. Evelyn's _Diary_, January 17, 1686-7.
Sunderland was considered bribable, see his own statement in _Diary of
H. Sidney_, ii. 379.
[155] The air of 'Lillibullero,' originally composed by Purcell for
another song, is still whistled in Ulster under the name of 'Protestant
Boys.' The words have been often reprinted, see Wilkin's _Political
Ballads_, i. 275, and (with variants) the third part of _Revolution
Politicks_, 1733. Purcell's music is given in the 1873 edition of
Sterne's _Works_, i. 93, at the end of _Tristram Shandy_, 2nd part,
chap. iii. See also Croker's _Historical Songs of Ireland_, pp. 1-11.
[156] See in particular Clarendon's letters to the King of October 23,
1686, and of February 6, 1686-7 (in the appendix). Evelyn's _Diary_,
March 3 and 10.
[157] Clarendon's parting speech, February 12, 1686-7, is in the
appendix to King's _State of the Protestants_. No mention is made of
the Ulster Scots. Evelyn's _Diary_. Luttrell's _Diary_, March.