The English Parliament met in November, and immediately commenced a
series of measures for effectually and permanently abridging the royal
authority. There was even a party who, provoked by the late arbitrary
measures, contemplated the total abolition of the monarchy, and the
establishment of a republic. The Earl of Strafford was impeached of
treason against the liberties of the people, and executed (May 12,
1641), notwithstanding a solemn promise made to him by the king that
he should never suffer in person or estate. Archbishop Laud was
impeached and imprisoned, but reserved for future vengeance. The
remaining ministers of the king only saved themselves by flight. Some
of the judges were imprisoned and fined. The abolition of Episcopacy
was taken into consideration. The Catholics fell under a severe
persecution; and even the person of the queen, who belonged to this
faith, was not considered safe.
The cruel policy by which large portions of Ireland were depopulated,
and then planted with colonies of English and Scotch settlers had been
continued during the reign of Charles. In addition to this and other
local causes of complaint, the state of religion was one which
pervaded nearly the whole country, and was always becoming more and
more important. Though the reformed faith had been established for
nearly a century, it had made little progress except among the English
settlers. The greater part of the nobility, and also of the lower
orders, were still attached to the ancient creed; and a Catholic
hierarchy, appointed by the Pope, and supported by the people, enjoyed
as much respect and obediance as when that religion was countenanced
by the state. The refusal of the Catholics to take the oath of
supremacy, which acknowledged the king to possess a right which their
faith taught them to belong to the Pope, necessarily excluded them
from all branches of the public service. There were also penal laws
against the profession of Catholicism and a severe court of
Star-Chamber to carry these into execution. Thus situated, the Irish
Catholics had two powerful motives to mutiny――a confidence in their
numbers, and a constant sense of suffering under the government.
In 1633, the Earl of Strafford was appointed viceroy of Ireland. His
government was vigorous, and those institutions which he thought
proper to patronize flourished under it; but his great aim was to make
the king absolute, and he rather subdued than conciliated the popular
spirit. When summoned in 1640 to attend the king in England, he left
the Irish government in the hands of Sir William Parsons and Sir John
Borlase, as lords justices. Immediately after his departure, the
spirit which he thought he had quelled began to reappear, being
encouraged both by his absence and the success which the Scottish
Covenanters had experienced in a war against religious restraint. A
conspiracy, involving most of the country without the Pale, and
including many persons within it, was formed chiefly under the
direction of a gentleman named Roger Moore, who possessed many
qualities calculated to endear him to the people. Some circumstances
excited the suspicion of the Protestants; and among others, the return
of several officers who had been in the service of the king of Spain,
under pretense of recruiting for the Spanish army. But the apparent
tranquillity of the country baffled all scrutiny.
The 23d of October 1641, being a market-day, was fixed on for the
capture of Dublin Castle. During the previous day, nothing had
occurred to alarm the authorities. In the evening of the 22d, the
conspiracy was accidentally discovered, and measures were taken to
save Dublin; but a civil war raged next morning in Ulster, and
speedily spread over the country.
The design of Sir Phelim O’Neill, and the other leaders of this
insurrection, was simply political. They conceived the time a good and
opportune one for striking a blow against the government as the Scots
had successfully done; and their conduct was in the outset
characterized by lenity. But they could not allay the hatred with
which the Catholics looked upon their adversaries; and a spirit of
revenge broke out among their followers, which was aggravated to cruel
outrage, when they heard that the conspiracy was discovered in Dublin.
The spirit of retaliation was let loose, and political wrongs,
unfeelingly inflicted, were, as is often the case, ferociously
avenged. The massacre of an immense number of Protestants held forth
an awful lesson of the effects which oppressive laws produce on the
human passions. The government rather aggravated than alleviated the
evil, by offering the estates of all in rebellion to those who should
aid in reducing them to obedience. This drove the insurgents to
desperation, postponed the complete extinction of the war for several
years. It is to be remarked, that though the Irish were struggling for
both national and religious freedom, they gained no sympathy from the
patriots of Britain, who, on the contrary, urged the king to suppress
the rebellion, being afraid that a religious toleration in Ireland
would be inconsistent with the same privilege in their own country.
The Scottish Covenanters, themselves so recently emancipated from a
restraint upon their consciences, contributed ten thousand troops to
assist in restoring a similar restraint upon the Irish.