Vigilance Of The Government--Subjugation Of Ireland--Of
Scotland--Negotiation With Portugal--With Spain--With The
United Provinces--Naval War--Ambition Of Cromwell--Expulsion Of
Parliament--Character Of Its Leading Members--Some Of Its Enactments.
In the preceding chapter we have followed the fortunes of Charles Stuart,
from his landing in Scotland to his defeat at Worcester and his escape to
the continent; we may now look back and direct our attention to some of the
more important events which occurred during the same period, in England and
Ireland.
1. The reader is aware that the form of government established in England
was an oligarchy. A few individuals, under the cover of a nominal
parliament, ruled the kingdom with the power of the sword. Could the sense
of the nation have been collected, there cannot be a doubt that the old
royalists of the Cavalier, and the new royalists of the Presbyterian party,
would have formed a decided majority; but they were awed into silence and
submission by the presence of a standing army of forty-five thousand men;
and the maxim that "power gives right" was held out as a sufficient reason
why they should swear fidelity to the commonwealth.[1] This numerous army,
[Footnote 1: See Marchamont Nedham's "Case of the Commonwealth Stated."
4to. London, 1650.]
the real source of their security, proved, however, a cause of constant
solicitude to the leaders. The pay of the officers and men was always in
arrear; the debentures which they received could be seldom exchanged for
money without a loss of fifty, sixty, or seventy per cent.; and the plea of
necessity was accepted as an excuse for the illegal claim of free quarters
which they frequently exercised. To supply their wants, recourse was
therefore had to additional taxation, with occasional grants from the
excise, and large sales of forfeited property;[1] and, to appease
the discontent of the people, promises were repeatedly made, that a
considerable portion of the armed force should be disbanded, and the
practice of free quarter be abolished. But of these promises, the first
proved a mere delusion; for, though some partial reductions were made, on
the whole the amount of the army continued to increase; the second was
fulfilled; but in return, the burthen of taxation was augmented; for the
monthly assessment on the counties gradually swelled from sixty to ninety,
to one hundred and twenty, and in conclusion, to one hundred and sixty
thousand pounds.[2]
Another subject of disquietude sprung out of those principles of liberty
which, even after the suppression of the late mutiny, were secretly
cherished and occasionally avowed, by the soldiery. Many, indeed, confided
in the patriotism, and submitted to the judgment, of their officers; but
there were also many who condemned the existing government as a desertion
of the
[Footnote 1: Journals, 1649, April 18, Oct. 4; 1650, March 30; 1651, Sept.
2, Dec. 17; 1652, April 7.]
[Footnote 2: Journals, 1649, April 7, Aug. 1, Dec. 7; 1650, May 21, Nov.
26; 1651, April 15, Sept. 1, Dec. 19; 1652, Dec. 10; 1653, Nov. 24.]
good cause in which they had originally embarked. By the latter Lilburne
was revered as an apostle and a martyr; they read with avidity the
publications which repeatedly issued from his cell; and they condemned as
persecutors and tyrants the men who had immured him and his companions in
the Tower. Preparations had been made[a] to bring them to trial as the
authors of the late mutiny; but, on more mature deliberation, the project
was abandoned,[b] and an act was passed making it treason to assert that
the government was tyrannical, usurped, or unlawful. No enactments,
however, could check the hostility of Lilburne; and a new pamphlet from his
pen,[c] in vindication of "The Legal Fundamental Liberties of the People,"
put to the test the resolution of his opponents. They shrunk from the
struggle; it was judged more prudent to forgive, or more dignified to
despise, his efforts; and, on his petition for leave to visit his sick
family, he obtained his discharge.[1]
But this lenity made no impression on his mind. In the course of six weeks
he published[d] two more offensive tracts, and distributed them among
the soldiery. A new mutiny broke out at Oxford; its speedy suppression
emboldened the council; the demagogue was reconducted[e] to his cell in the
Tower; and Keble, with forty other commissioners, was appointed[f] to
try him for his last offence on the recent statute of treasons. It may,
perhaps, be deemed a weakness in Lilburne that he now offered[g] on certain
conditions to transport himself to America; but he redeemed his character,
as soon as he was placed at the bar. He repelled with scorn the charges of
the
[Footnote 1: Journals, 1649, April 11, May 12, July 18. Council Book May 2.
Whitelock, 414.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1649. April 11.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1649. May 12.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1649. June 8.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1649. July 18.]
[Sidenote e: A.D. 1649. Sept. 6.]
[Sidenote f: A.D. 1649. Sept. 14.]
[Sidenote g: A.D. 1649. Oct. 24.]
prosecutors and the taunts of the court, electrified the audience by
frequent appeals to Magna Charta and the liberties of Englishmen, and
stoutly maintained the doctrine that the jury had a right to judge of the
law as well as of the fact. It was in vain that the court pronounced this
opinion "the most damnable heresy ever broached in the land," and that the
government employed all its influence to win or intimidate the jurors;
after a trial of three days, Lilburne, obtained a verdict of acquittal.[1]
Whether after his liberation[a] any secret compromise took place is
uncertain. He subscribed the engagement, and, though he openly explained it
in a sense conformable to his own principles, yet the parliament made to
him out of the forfeited lands of the deans and chapters the grant[b] of
a valuable estate, as a compensation for the cruel treatment which he had
formerly suffered from the court of the Star-Chamber.[2] Their bounty,
however, wrought no change in his character. He was still the indomitable
denouncer of oppression wherever he found it, and before the end of the
next year he drew upon himself the vengeance of the men in power, by the
distribution[c] of a pamphlet which charged Sir Arthur Hazlerig and the
commissioners at Haberdashers'-hall with injustice and tyranny. This by the
house was voted a breach of privilege, and the offender was condemned[d]
in a fine of seven thousand pounds with banishment for life. Probably the
court of Star-chamber never pronounced a judgment in which the punishment
was more disproportionate to the offence. But his former enemies sought
[Footnote 1: Journals, 1649, Sept 11, Oct. 30. Whitelock, 424, 425. State
Trials, ii. 151.]
[Footnote 2: Whitelock, 436. Journ. 1650, July 16, 30.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1649. Dec. 29.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1650. July 30.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1651. Dec. 22.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1652. Jan. 15.]
not justice on the culprit, but security to themselves. They seized the
opportunity of freeing the government from the presence of a man whom they
had so long feared; and, as he refused to kneel at the bar while judgment
was pronounced, they embodied the vote in an act of parliament. To save his
life, Lilburne submitted; but his residence on the continent was short: the
reader will soon meet with him again in England.[1]
The Levellers had boldly avowed their object; the royalists worked in the
dark and by stealth; yet the council by its vigilance and promptitude
proved a match for the open hostility of the one and the secret
machinations of the other. A doubt may, indeed, be raised of the policy of
the "engagement," a promise of fidelity to the commonwealth without king or
house of lords. As long as it was confined to those who held office under
the government, it remained a mere question of choice; but when it was
exacted from all Englishmen above seventeen years of age, under the penalty
of incapacity to maintain an action in any court of law, it became to
numbers a matter of necessity, and served rather to irritate than
to produce security.[2] A more efficient measure was the permanent
establishment of a high court of justice to inquire into offences against
the state, to which was added the organization of a system of espionage by
Captain Bishop, under the direction of Scot, a member of the council. The
friends of monarchy, encouraged by the clamour of the Levellers and the
professions of the Scots, had begun to hold meetings,
[Footnote 1: Journals, 1651, Dec. 23; 1652, Jan. 15, 20, 30. Whitelock,
520. State Trials, v. 407-415.]
[Footnote 2: Leicester's Journal, 97-101.]
sometimes under the pretence of religious worship, sometimes under that of
country amusements: in a short time they divided the kingdom into districts
called associations, in each of which it was supposed that a certain
number of armed men might be raised; and blank commissions with the royal
signature were obtained, to be used in appointing colonels, captains, and
lieutenants, for the command of these forces. Then followed an active
correspondence both with Charles soon after his arrival in Scotland, and
with the earl of Newcastle, the Lord Hopton, and a council of exiles; first
at Utrecht, and afterwards at the Hague. By the plan ultimately adopted, it
was proposed that Charles himself or Massey, leaving a sufficient force
to occupy the English army in Scotland, should, with a strong corps of
Cavalry, cross[a] the borders between the kingdoms; that at the same time
the royalists in the several associations should rise in arms, and that
the exiles in Holland, with five thousand English and German adventurers,
should land in Kent, surprise Dover, and hasten to join their Presbyterian
associates, in the capital.[1] But, to arrange and insure the co-operation
of all the parties concerned required the employment of numerous agents, of
whom, if several were actuated by principle, many were of doubtful faith
and desperate fortunes. Some of these betrayed their trust; some undertook
to serve both parties, and deceived each; and it is a curious fact that,
while the letters of the agents for the royalists often passed through the
hands of Bishop himself, his secret papers belonging to the council of
state were copied and forwarded to the king.[2] This consequence however
followed,
[Footnote 1: Milton's State Papers, 35, 37, 39, 47, 49, 50. Baillie, ii. 5,
8. Carte's Letters, i. 414.]
[Footnote 2: State Trials, v. 4. Milton's State Papers, 39, 47, 50, 57. One
of these agents employed by both parties was a Mrs. Walters, alias Hamlin,
on whose services Bishop placed great reliance. She was to introduce
herself to Cromwell by pronouncing the word "prosperity."--Ibid.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1650. December.]
that the plans of the royalists were always discovered, and by that means
defeated by the precautions of the council. While the king was on his
way to Scotland, a number of blank commissions had been seized in the
possession of Dr. Lewen, a civilian, who suffered[a] the penalty of death.
Soon afterwards Sir John Gell, Colonel Eusebius Andrews, and Captain
Benson, were arraigned on the charge of conspiring the destruction of
the government established by law. They opposed three objections to the
jurisdiction of the court: it was contrary to Magna Charta, which gave
to every freeman the right of being tried by his peers; contrary to the
petition of right, by which courts-martial (and the present court was most
certainly a court-martial) had been forbidden; and contrary to the many
declarations of parliament, that the laws, the rights of the people, and
the courts of justice, should be maintained. But the court repelled[b] the
objections; Andrews and Benson suffered death, and Gell, who had not
been an accomplice, but only cognizant of the plot, was condemned[c] to
perpetual imprisonment, with the forfeiture of his property.[1]
These executions did not repress the eagerness of the royalists, nor relax
the vigilance of the council. In the beginning of December the friends of
Charles took up arms[d] in Norfolk, but the rising was premature; a body of
roundheads dispersed the insurgents; and twenty of the latter atoned for
their temerity with their lives. Still the failure of one plot did not
prevent
[Footnote 1: Whitelock, 464, 468, 473, 474. Heath, 269, 270. See mention of
several discoveries in Carte's Letters, i. 443, 464, 472.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1652. July 13.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1652. August 22.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1652. Oct. 7.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1650. Dec. 2.]
the formation of another; as long as Charles Stuart was in Scotland, the
ancient friends of his family secretly prepared for his reception in
England; and many of the Presbyterians, through enmity to the principles
of the Independents, devoted themselves to the interests of the prince.[1]
This party the council resolved to attack in their chief bulwark, the city;
and Love, one of the most celebrated of the ministers, was apprehended[a]
with several of his associates. At his trial, he sought to save his life by
an evasive protestation, which he uttered with the most imposing solemnity
in the presence of the Almighty. But it was clearly proved against him
that the meetings had been held in his house, the money collected for the
royalists had been placed on his table, and the letters received, and the
answers to be returned, had been read in his hearing. After judgment,[b]
both he and his friends presented[c] petitions in his favour; respite after
respite was obtained and the parliament, as if it had feared to decide
without instructions, referred[d] the case to Cromwell in Scotland. That
general was instantly assailed with letters from both the friends and the
foes of Love; he was silent; a longer time was granted by the house; but
he returned no answer, and the unfortunate minister lost his head[e] on
Tower-hill with the constancy and serenity of a martyr. Of his associates,
only one, Gibbons, a citizen, shared his fate.[2]
[Footnote 1: "It is plaine unto mee that they doe not judge us a lawfull
magistracy, nor esteeme anything treason that is acted by them to destroy
us, in order to bring the king of Scots as heed of the covenant."--Vane to
Cromwell, of "Love and his brethren." Milton's State Papers, 84.]
[Footnote 2: Milton's State Papers, 50, 54, 66, 75, 76. Whitelock, 492,
493, 495, 500. State Trials, v. 43-294. Heath, 288, 290. Leicester's
Journal, 107, 115, 123. A report, probably unfounded, was spread that
Cromwell granted him his life, but the despatch was waylaid, and detained,
or destroyed by the Cavaliers, who bore in remembrance Love's former
hostility to the royal cause.--Kennet, 185.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1651. May 7.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1651. June 5.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1651. June 11.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1651. July 15.]
[Sidenote e: A.D. 1651. August 22.]
2. To Charles it had been whispered by his secret advisers that the war
between the parliament and the Scots would, by withdrawing the attention of
the council from Ireland, allow the royal party to resume the ascendancy
in that kingdom. But this hope quickly vanished. The resources of the
commonwealth were seen to multiply with its wants; and its army in Ireland
was daily augmented by recruits in the island, and by reinforcements from
England. Ireton, to whom Cromwell, with the title of lord deputy, had
left[a] the chief command, pursued with little interruption the career of
his victorious predecessor. Sir Charles Coote met the men of Ulster at
Letterkenny; after a long and sanguinary action they were defeated; and the
next day their leader, MacMahon, the warrior bishop of Clogher, was made
prisoner by a fresh corps of troops from Inniskilling.[1] Lady Fitzgerald,
a name as illustrious in the military annals of Ireland as that of Lady
Derby in those of England, defended the fortress of Trecoghan, but neither
the efforts of Sir Robert Talbot within, nor the gallant attempt of Lord
Castlehaven without, could prevent its surrender.[2] Waterford, Carlow, and
Charlemont accepted honourable conditions, and the garrison of Duncannon,
reduced to a handful of men by the ravages of the plague, opened its
gates[b] to the enemy.[3] Ormond, instead of facing
[Footnote 1: Though he had quarter given and life promised, Coote ordered
him to be hanged. Yet it was by MacMahon's persuasion that O'Neil in
the preceding year had saved Coote by raising the siege of
Londonderry.--Clarendon, Short View, &c., in vol. viii. 145-149. But Coote
conducted the war like a savage. See several instances at the end of
Lynch's Cambresis Eversus.]
[Footnote 2: See Castlehaven's Memoirs, 120-124; and Carte's Ormond, ii.
116.]
[Footnote 3: Heath, 267, 370. Whitelock, 457, 459, 463, 464, 469.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1650. June 18.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1650. June 25.]
the conquerors in the field, had been engaged in a long and irritating
controversy with those of the Catholic leaders who distrusted his
integrity, and with the townsmen of Limerick and Galway, who refused to
admit his troops within their walls. Misfortune had put an end to his
authority; his enemies remarked that whether he were a real friend or a
secret foe, the cause of the confederates had never prospered under his
guidance; and the bishops conjured him,[a] now that the very existence of
the nation was at stake, to adopt measures which might heal the public
dissensions and unite all true Irishmen in the common defence. Since
the loss of Munster by the defection of Inchiquin's forces, they had
entertained an incurable distrust of their English allies; and to appease
their jealousy, he dismissed the few Englishmen who yet remained in the
service. Finding them rise in their demands, he called a general assembly
at Loughrea, announced his intention, or pretended intention, of quitting
the kingdom; and then, at the general request, and after some demur,
consented to remain. Hitherto the Irish had cherished the expectation that
the young monarch would, as he had repeatedly promised, come to Ireland,
and take the reins of government into his hands; they now, to their
disappointment, learned that he had accepted the invitation of the Scots,
their sworn and inveterate enemies. In a short time, the conditions to
which he had subscribed began to transpire; that he had engaged to annul
the late pacification between Ormond and the Catholics, and had bound
himself by oath,[b] not only not to permit the exercise of the Catholic
worship, but to root out the Catholic religion wherever it existed in any
of his dominions. A general gloom and despondency prevailed; ten bishops
and
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1650. March 28.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1650. August 6.]
ten clergymen assembled at James-town, and their first resolve was to
depute[a] two of their number to the lord lieutenant, to request that he
would put in execution his former design of quitting the kingdom, and
would leave his authority in the hands of a Catholic deputy possessing the
confidence of the nation. Without, however, waiting for his answer, they
proceeded to frame[b] a declaration, in which they charged Ormond with
negligence, incapacity, and perfidy; protested that, though they were
compelled by the great duty of self-preservation to withdraw from the
government of the king's lieutenant, they had no intention to derogate from
the royal authority; and pronounced that, in the existing circumstances,
the Irish people were no longer bound by the articles of the pacification,
but by the oath under which they had formerly associated for their
common protection. To this, the next day[c] they appended a form of
excommunication equally affecting all persons who should abet either
Ormond or Ireton, in opposition to the real interests of the Catholic
confederacy.[1]
The lord lieutenant, however, found that he was supported by some of the
prelates, and by most of the aristocracy. He replied[d] to the synod at
James-town, that nothing short of necessity should induce him to quit
Ireland without the order of the king; and the commissioners of trust
expostulated[e] with the bishops on their imprudence and presumption. But
at this moment arrived copies of the declaration which Charles had been
compelled to publish at Dunfermling, in Scotland. The whole population was
in a ferment. Their suspicions, they exclaimed, were now verified;
[Footnote 1: Ponce, Vindiciae Eversae, 236-257. Clarendon, viii. 151, 154,
156. Hibernia Dominicana, 691. Carte, ii. 118, 120, 123.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1650. August 10.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1650. August 11.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1650. August 12.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1650. August 31.]
[Sidenote e: A.D. 1650. Sept. 2.]
their fears and predictions accomplished. The king had pronounced them a
race of "bloody rebels;" he had disowned them for his subjects, he had
anulled the articles of pacification, and had declared[a] to the whole
world that he would exterminate their religion. In this excited temper of
mind, the committee appointed by the bishops published both the declaration
and the excommunication. A single night intervened; their passions had
leisure to cool; they repented[b] of their precipitancy; and, by the advice
of the prelates in the town of Galway, they published a third paper,
suspending the effect of the other two.
Ormond's first expedient was to pronounce the Dunfermling declaration a
forgery; for the king from Breda, previously to his voyage to Scotland, had
solemnly assured him that he would never, for any earthly consideration,
violate the pacification. A second message[c] informed him that it was
genuine, but ought to be considered of no force, as far as it concerned
Ireland, because it had been issued without the advice of the Irish privy
council.[1] This communication encouraged
[Footnote 1: Carte's letters, i. 391. Charles's counsellors at Breda had
instilled into him principles which he seems afterwards to have cherished
through life: "that honour and conscience were bugbears, and that the
king ought to govern himself rather by the rules of prudence and
necessity."--Ibid. Nicholas to Ormond, 435. At first Charles agreed to find
some way "how he might with honour and justice break the peace with the
Irish, if a free parliament in Scotland should think it fitting" afterwards
"to break it, but on condition that it should not be published till he had
acquainted Ormond and his friends, secured them, and been instructed how
with honour and justice he might break it in regard of the breach on their
part" (p. 396, 397). Yet a little before he had resolutely declared that no
consideration should induce him to violate the same peace (p. 374, 379).
On his application afterwards for aid to the pope, he excused it, saying,
"fuisse vim manifestam: jam enim statuerant Scoti presbyterani personam
suam parliamento Anglicano tradere, si illam declarationem ab ipsis factam
non approbasset." Ex originali penes me.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1650. Sept. 15.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1650. Sept. 16.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1650. Oct. 15.]
the lord lieutenant to assume a bolder tone. He professed[a] himself
ready to assert, that both the king and his officers on one part, and the
Catholic population on the other, were bound by the provisions of the
treaty; but he previously required that the commissioners of trust should
condemn the proceedings of the synod at James-town, and join with him in
punishing such of its members as should persist in their disobedience. They
made proposals[b] to the prelates, and received for answer, that protection
and obedience were correlative; and, therefore, since the king had
publicly excluded them, under the designation of "bloody rebels," from
his protection, they could not understand how any officer acting by his
authority could lay claim to their obedience.[1]
This answer convinced Ormond that it was time for him to leave Ireland;
but, before his departure, he called a general assembly, and selected the
marquess of Clanricard, a Catholic nobleman, to command as his deputy.
To Clanricard, whose health was infirm, and whose habits were domestic,
nothing could be more unwelcome than such an appointment. Wherever he cast
his eyes he was appalled by the prospect before him. He saw three-fourths
of Ireland in the possession of a restless and victorious enemy; Connaught
and Clare, which alone remained to the royalists, were depopulated by
famine and pestilence; and political and religious dissension divided
the leaders and their followers, while one party attributed the national
disasters to the temerity of the men who presumed to govern under the curse
of excommunication; and the other charged their opponents with concealing
disloyal and interested views under the mantle of patriotism
[Footnote 1: Ponce, 257-261.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1650. Oct. 23.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1650. Oct. 29.]
and religion. Every prospect of successful resistance was gone; the
Shannon, their present protection from the foe, would become fordable
in the spring; and then the last asylum of Irish independence must be
overrun.[1] Under such discouraging circumstances it required all the
authority of Ormond and Castlehaven to induce him to accept an office which
opened no prospect of emolument or glory, but promised a plentiful harvest
of contradiction, hardship, and danger.
In the assembly which was held[a] at Loughrea, the majority of the members
disapproved of the conduct of the synod, but sought rather to heal by
conciliation than to perpetuate dissension. Ormond, having written[b] a
vindication of his conduct, and received[c] an answer consoling, if not
perfectly satisfactory to his feelings, sailed from Galway; but Clanricard
obstinately refused to enter on the exercise of his office, till reparation
had been made to the royal authority for the insult offered to it by the
James-town declaration. He required an acknowledgment, that it was not in
the power of any body of men to discharge the people from their obedience
to the lord deputy, as long as the royal authority was vested in him;
and at length obtained[d] a declaration to that effect, but with a
protestation, that by it "the confederates did not waive their right to the
faithful observance of the articles of pacification, nor bind themselves to
obey every chief governor who might be unduly nominated by the king, during
his unfree condition among the Scots."[2]
Aware of the benefit which the royalists in Scotland
[Footnote 1: See Clanricard's State of the Nation, in his Memoirs, part ii.
p. 24.]
[Footnote 2: Carte, ii. 137-140. Walsh, App. 75-137. Belling in Poncium,
26.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1650. Nov. 25.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1650. Dec. 2.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1650. Dec. 7.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1650. Dec. 24.]
derived from the duration of hostilities in Ireland, the parliamentary
leaders sought to put an end to the protracted and sanguinary struggle.
Scarcely had Clanricard assumed[a] the government, when Grace and Bryan,
two Catholic officers, presented themselves to the assembly with a message
from Axtel, the governor of Kilkenny, the bearers of a proposal for a
treaty of submission. By many the overture was hailed with transport. They
maintained that nothing but a general negotiation could put an end to those
private treaties which daily thinned their numbers, and exposed the more
resolute to inevitable ruin; that the conditions held out were better than
they had reason to expect _now_, infinitely better than they could expect
hereafter. Let them put the sincerity of their enemies to the test. If
the treaty should succeed, the nation would be saved; if it did not, the
failure would unite all true Irishmen in the common cause, who, if they
must fall, would not fall unrevenged. There was much force in this
reasoning; and it was strengthened by the testimony of officers from
several quarters, who represented that, to negotiate with the parliament
was the only expedient for the preservation of the people. But Clanricard
treated the proposal with contempt. To entertain it was an insult to him,
an act of treason against the king; and he was seconded by the eloquence
and authority of Castlehaven, who affected to despise the power of the
enemy, and attributed his success to their own divisions. Had the assembly
known the motives which really actuated these noblemen; that they had been
secretly instructed by Charles to continue the contest at every risk, as
the best means of enabling him to make head against Cromwell; that this,
probably the last opportunity of saving the lives
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1651. Jan. 10.]
and properties of the confederates, was to be sacrificed to the mere chance
of gaining a victory for the Scots, their bitter and implacable enemies,[1]
many of the calamities which Ireland was yet doomed to suffer would,
perhaps, have been averted. But the majority allowed themselves to be
persuaded; the motion to negotiate with the parliament was rejected, and
the penalties of treason were denounced by the assembly, the sentence of
excommunication by the bishops, against all who should conclude any private
treaty with the enemy. Limerick and Galway, the two bulwarks of the
confederacy, disapproved of this vote, and obstinately refused to admit
garrisons within their walls, that they might not be overawed by the
military, but remain arbiters of their own fate.
The lord deputy was no sooner relieved from this difficulty, than he found
himself entangled in a negotiation of unusual delicacy and perplexity.
About the close of the last summer, Ormond had despatched the Lord Taafe
to Brussels, with instructions, both in his own name and the name of the
supreme council,[2] to solicit the aid of the duke of Lorrain, a prince of
the most restless and intriguing disposition, who was accustomed to sell at
a high price the services of his army to the neighbouring powers. The duke
received him graciously, made him a present of five thousand pounds, and
promised an additional aid of men and money, but on condition that he
should be declared protector royal of Ireland, with all the rights
belonging to that office--rights as undefined as the office itself was
hitherto unknown. Taafe hesitated, but was
[Footnote 1: Castlehaven's Memoirs, 116, 119, 120.]
[Footnote 2: Compare the papers in the second part of Clanricard's Memoirs,
17, 18, 27 (folio, London, 1757), with Carte's Ormond, ii. 143.]
encouraged to proceed by the queen mother, the duke of York, and De Vic,
the king's resident at Brussels. They argued[a] that, without aid to the
Irish, the king must succumb in Scotland; that the duke of Lorrain was the
only prince in Europe that could afford them succour; and that whatever
might be his secret projects, they could never be so prejudicial to the
royal interests as the subjugation of Ireland by the parliament.[1] Taafe,
however, took a middle way, and persuaded[b] the duke to send De Henin as
his envoy to the supreme council, with powers to conclude the treaty in
Ireland.
The assembly had just been dismissed[c] when this envoy arrived. By the
people, the clergy, and the nobility, he was received as an angel sent from
heaven. The supply of arms and ammunition which he brought, joined to his
promise of more efficient succour in a short time, roused them from their
despondency, and encouraged them to indulge the hope of making a stand
against the pressure of the enemy. Clanricard, left without instructions,
knew not how to act. He dared not refuse the aid so highly prized by the
[Footnote 1: Clanricard, 4, 5, 17, 27. Ormond was also of the same opinion.
He writes to Taafe that "nothing was done that were to be wished 'undone'";
that the supreme council were the best judges of their own condition; that
they had received permission from the king, for their own preservation,
"even to receive conditions from the enemy, which must be much more
contrary to his interests, than to receive helps from any other to resist
them, almost upon any terms."--Clanric. 33, 34. There is in the collection
of letters by Carte, one from Ormond to Clanricard written after the battle
of Worcester, in which that nobleman says that it will be without
scruple his advice, that "fitting ministers be sent to the pope, and apt
inducements proposed to him for his interposition, not only with all
princes and states". The rest of the letter is lost, or Carte did not
choose to publish it; but it is plain from the first part that he thought
the only chance for the restoration of the royal authority was in the aid
to be obtained from the pope and the Catholic powers.--Carte's Letters, i.
461.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1650. November.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1650. Dec. 31.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1651. Feb. 25.]
people; he dared not accede to demands so prejudicial to the king's
authority. But if the title of protector royal sounded ungratefully in his
ears, it was heard with very different feelings by the confederates, who
had reason to conclude that, if the contest between Cromwell and the Scots
should terminate in favour of the latter, the Irish Catholics would still
have need of a protector to preserve their religion from the exterminating
fanaticism of the kirk. Clanricard, was, however, inexorable, and his
resolution finally triumphed over the eagerness of his countrymen and the
obstinacy of the envoy. From the latter he obtained[a] an additional sum of
fifteen thousand pounds, on the easy condition of naming agents to conduct
the negotiation at Brussels, according to such instructions as they should
receive from the queen dowager, the duke of York, and the duke of Ormond.
The lord deputy rejoiced that he had shifted the burthen from his
shoulders. De Henin was satisfied, because he knew the secret sentiments of
those to whose judgment the point in question had been referred.[1]
Taafe, having received his instructions in Paris (but verbal, not written
instructions, as Clanricard had required), joined[b] his colleagues, Sir
Nicholas Plunket, and Geoffrey Brown, in Brussels, and, after a long but
ineffectual struggle, subscribed to the demands of the duke of Lorrain.[2]
That prince, by the treaty, engaged[c] to furnish for the protection of
Ireland, all such supplies of arms, money, ammunition, shipping, and
provisions, as the necessity of the case might require; and in return the
agents, in the name of the
[Footnote 1: Clanricard, 1-16.]
[Footnote 2: Id. 31, 58. It is certain from Clanricard's papers that the
treaty was not concluded till after the return of Taafe from Paris (p.
58).]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1651. March 27.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1651. July 11.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1651. July 27.]
people and kingdom of Ireland, conferred on him, his heirs and successors,
the title of protector royal, together with the chief civil authority and
the command of the forces, but under the obligation of restoring both, on
the payment of his expenses, to Charles Stuart, the rightful sovereign.[1]
There cannot be a doubt that each party sought to overreach the other.
Clanricard was surprised that he heard nothing from his agents, nothing
from the queen or the duke of Ormond. After a silence of several months, a
copy of the treaty[a] arrived. He read it with indignation; he asserted[b]
that the envoys had transgressed their instructions; he threatened to
declare them traitors by proclamation. But Charles had now arrived in Paris
after the defeat at Worcester, and was made acquainted[c] with the whole
intrigue. He praised the loyalty of the deputy, but sought to mitigate his
displeasure against the three agents, exhorted him to receive them again
into his confidence, and advised him to employ their services, as if the
treaty had never existed. To the duke of Lorrain he despatched[d] the
earl of Norwich, to object to the articles which bore most on the royal
authority, and to re-commence the negotiation.[2] But the unsuccessful
termination of the Scottish war taught that prince to look upon the project
as hopeless; while he hesitated, the court of Brussels obtained proofs that
he was intriguing with the French minister; and, to the surprise of Europe,
he was suddenly arrested in Brussels, and conducted a prisoner to Toledo in
Spain.[3]
Clanricard, hostile as he was to the pretensions of the duke of Lorrain,
had availed himself of the money
[Footnote 1: Clanricard, 34.]
[Footnote 2: Id. 36-41, 47, 50-54, 58. Also Ponce, 111-124.]
[Footnote 3: Thurloe, ii. 90, 115, 127, 136, 611.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1651. Oct. 12.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1651. Oct. 20.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1652. Feb. 10.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1652. March 23.]
received from that prince to organize a new force, and oppose every
obstacle in his power to the progress of the enemy. Ireton, who anticipated
nothing less than the entire reduction of the island, opened[a] the
campaign with the siege of Limerick. The conditions which he offered were
refused by the inhabitants, and, at their request, Hugh O'Neil, with three
thousand men, undertook the defence of the city, but with an understanding
that the keys of the gates and the government of the place should remain in
the possession of the mayor. Both parties displayed a valour and obstinacy
worthy of the prize for which they fought. Though Lord Broghill defeated
Lord Muskerry, the Catholic commander in Munster; though Coote, in defiance
of Clanricard, penetrated from the northern extremity of Connaught, as far
as Athenree and Portumna; though Ireton, after several fruitless attempts,
deceived the vigilance of Castlehaven, and established himself on the
right bank of the Shannon; and though a party within the walls laboured
to represent their parliamentary enemies as the advocates of universal
toleration; nothing could shake the constancy of the citizens and the
garrison. They harassed the besiegers by repeated sorties; they repelled
every assault; and on one occasion[b] they destroyed the whole corps, which
had been landed on "the island." Even after the fatal battle of Worcester,
to a second summons they returned a spirited refusal. But in October a
reinforcement of three thousand men from England arrived in the camp; a
battery was formed of the heavy cannon landed from the shipping in the
harbour; and a wide breach in the wall admonished the inhabitants to
prepare for an assault. In this moment of suspense, with the dreadful
example of Drogheda and
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1651. June 11.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1651. July 15.]
Wexford before their eyes, they met at the town-hall. It was in vain that
O'Neil remonstrated; that the bishops of Limerick and Emly entreated and
threatened, Stretch, the mayor, gave[a] the keys to Colonel Fanning, who
seized St. John's gate, turned the cannon on the city, and admitted two
hundred of the besiegers. A treaty was now[b] concluded; and, if the
garrison and inhabitants preserved their lives and property, it was by
abandoning twenty-two individuals to the mercy of the conqueror. Of
these some made their escape; Terence O'Brien, bishop of Emly, Wallis,
a Franciscan friar, Major-General Purcell, Sir Godfrey Galway, Baron,
a member of the council, Stretch, the mayor of the city, with Fanning
himself, and Higgin, were immolated as an atonement for the obstinate
resistance of the besiegers.[1] By Ireton O'Neil was also doomed to die,
but the officers who formed the court, in admiration of his gallantry,
sought to save his life. Twice they condemned him in obedience to the
commander-in-chief, who pronounced his spirited defence of Clonmel an
unpardonable crime against the state; but the third time the deputy was
persuaded to leave them to the exercise of their own judgment; and they
pronounced in favour of their brave but unfortunate captive. Ireton himself
did not long survive. When he condemned[c] the bishop of Emly to die, that
prelate had exclaimed, "I appeal to the tribunal of God, and summon thee
to meet me at that bar." By many these words were deemed prophetic; for in
less than a month the
[Footnote 1: See the account of their execution in pp. 100, 101 of the
Descriptio Regni Hiberniae per Antonium Prodinum, Romae, 1721, a work made
up of extracts from the original work of Bruodin, Propugnaculum Catholicae
Veritatis, Pragae, 1669. The extract referred to in this note is taken from
1. iv. c. xv. of the original work.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1651. Oct. 23.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1651. Oct. 27.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1651. Nov. 25.]
victorious general fell a victim to the pestilential disease which ravaged
the west of Ireland. His death proved a severe loss to the commonwealth,
not only on account of his abilities as an officer and a statesman, but
because it removed the principal check to the inordinate ambition of
Cromwell.[1]
During the next winter the confederates had leisure to reflect on their
forlorn condition. Charles, indeed, a second time an exile, solicited[a]
them to persevere;[2] but it was difficult to persuade men to hazard their
lives and fortunes without the remotest prospect of benefit to themselves
or to the royal cause; and in the month of March Colonel Fitzpatric, a
celebrated chieftain in the county of Meath, laid down[b] his arms, and
obtained in return the possession of his lands. The example alarmed
the confederates; and Clanricard, in their name, proposed[c] a general
capitulation: it was refused by the stern policy of Ludlow, who assumed the
command on the death of Ireton; a succession of surrenders followed; and
O'Dwyer, the town of Galway, Thurlogh O'Neil, and the earl of Westmeath,
accepted the terms dictated by the enemy; which were safety for their
persons and personal property, the restoration of part of their landed
estates, according to the qualifications to be determined by parliament,
and permission to reside within the commonwealth, or to enter with a
certain number of followers into the service of any foreign prince in amity
with England. The benefit of these articles did not extend to persons who
had taken
[Footnote 1: Ludlow, i. 293, 296, 298, 299, 300, 307, 310, 316-324. Heath,
304, 305. Ireton's letter, printed by Field, 1651. Carte, ii. 154. The
parliament ordered Ireton's body to be interred at the public expense. It
was conveyed from Ireland to Bristol, and thence to London, lay in state
in Somerset House, and on February 6th was buried in Henry the Seventh's
chapel.--Heath, 305.]
[Footnote 2: Clanricard, 51.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1652. Jan. 31.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1652. March 7.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1652. March 24.]
up arms in the first year of the contest, or had belonged to the first
general assembly, or had committed murder, or had taken orders in the
church of Rome. There were, however, several who, in obedience to the
instructions received from Charles, resolved to continue hostilities to the
last extremity. Lord Muskerry collected five thousand men on the borders of
Cork and Kerry, but was obliged to retire before his opponents: his strong
fortress of Ross opened[a] its gates; and, after some hesitation, he made
his submission. In the north, Clanricard reduced Ballyshannon and Donnegal;
but there his career ended; and Coote drove[b] him into the Isle of
Carrick, where he was compelled to accept the usual conditions. The last
chieftain of note who braved[c] the arms of the commonwealth was Colonel
Richard Grace: he beat up the enemy's quarters; but was afterwards driven
across the Shannon with the loss of eight hundred of his followers. Colonel
Sanchey pursued[d] him to his favourite retreat; his castle of Inchlough
surrendered,[e] and Grace capitulated with twelve hundred and fifty men.[1]
There still remained a few straggling parties on the mountains and amidst
the morasses, under MacHugh, and Byrne, and O'Brian, and Cavanagh: these,
however, were subdued in the course of the winter; the Isle of Inisbouffin
received[f] a garrison, and a new force, which appeared in Ulster, under
the Lord Iniskilling, obtained,[g] what was chiefly sought, the usual
articles of transportation. The subjugation of Ireland was completed.[2]
[Footnote 1: On this gallant and honourable officer, who on several
subsequent occasions displayed the most devoted attachment to the house of
Stuart, see a very interesting article in Mr. Sheffield Grace's "Memoirs of
the Family of Grace," p. 27.]
[Footnote 2: Ludlow, i. 341, 344, 347, 352, 354, 357, 359, 360. Heath, 310,
312, 324, 333, 344. Journals, April 8, 21, May 18, 25, Aug. 18.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1652. July 5.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1652. May 18.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1652. July.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1652. June 20.]
[Sidenote e: A.D. 1652. Aug. 1.]
[Sidenote f: A.D. 1652. January.]
[Sidenote g: A.D. 1652. May 18.]
3. Here, to prevent subsequent interruption, I may be allowed to describe
the state of this unhappy country, while it remained under the sway of the
commonwealth.
On the death of Ireton, Lambert had been appointed lord deputy; but by
means of a female intrigue he was set aside in favour of Fleetwood, who had
married Ireton's widow.[1] To Fleetwood was assigned the command of the
forces without a colleague; but in the civil administration were joined
with him four other commissioners, Ludlow, Corbett, Jones, and Weaver. By
their instructions they were commanded[a] and authorized to observe, as far
as it was possible, the laws of England in the exercise of the government
and the administration of justice; to "endeavour the promulgation of the
gospel, and the power of true religion, and holiness;" to remove all
disaffected or suspected persons from office; to allow no papist or
delinquent to hold any place of trust, to practise as barrister or
solicitor, or to keep school for
[Footnote 1: Journals, Jan. 30, June 15, July 9. Lambert's wife and
Ireton's widow met in the park. The first, as her husband was in
possession, claimed the precedency, and the latter complained of the
grievance to Cromwell, her father, whose patent of lord lieutenant was on
the point of expiring. He refused to have it renewed; and, as there could
be no deputy where there was no principal, Lambert's appointment of deputy
was in consequence revoked. But Mrs. Ireton was not content with this
triumph over her rival. She married Fleetwood, obtained for him, through
her father's interest, the chief command in place of Lambert, and returned
with him to her former station in Ireland. Cromwell, however, paid for
the gratification of his daughter's vanity. That he might not forfeit the
friendship of Lambert, whose aid was necessary for his ulterior designs,
he presented him with a considerable sum to defray the charges of the
preparations which he had made for his intended voyage to Ireland,--Ludlow,
i. 355, 360. Hutchinson, 196. Lambert, however, afterwards discovered that
Cromwell had secretly instigated Vane and Hazlerig to oppose his going to
Ireland, and, in revenge, joined with them to depose Richard Cromwell for
the sin of his father.--Thurloe, vii. 660.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1652. August 24.]
the education of youth; to impose monthly assessments not exceeding forty
thousand pounds in amount for the payment of the forces, and to imprison or
discharge any person, or remove him from his dwelling into any other place
or country, or permit him to return to his dwelling, as they should see
cause for the advantage of the commonwealth.[1]
I. One of the first cares of the commissioners was to satisfy the claims of
vengeance. In the year 1644 the Catholic nobility had petitioned the
king that an inquiry might be made into the murders alleged to have been
perpetrated on each side in Ireland, and that justice might be executed on
the offenders without distinction of country or religion. To the conquerors
it appeared more expedient to confine the inquiry to one party; and a high
court of justice was established to try Catholics charged with having shed
the blood of any Protestant out of battle since the commencement of the
rebellion in 1641. Donnelan, a native, was appointed president, with
commissary-general Reynolds, and Cook, who had acted as solicitor at the
trial of Charles I., for his assessors. The court sat in great state at
Kilkenny, and thence made its circuit through the island by Waterford,
Cork, Dublin, and other places. Of the justice of its proceedings we have
not the means of forming a satisfactory notion; but the cry for blood was
too violent, the passions of men were too much excited, and the forms of
proceeding too summary to allow the judges to weigh with cool and cautious
discrimination the different cases which came before them. Lords Muskerry
and Clanmaliere, with Maccarthy Reagh, whether they owed it to their
innocence or to the influence of
[Footnote 1: Journals, Aug. 34.]
friends, had the good fortune to be acquitted; the mother of Colonel
Fitzpatric was burnt; Lord Mayo, colonels Tool, Bagnal, and about two
hundred more, suffered death by the axe or by the halter. It was, however,
remarkable, that the greatest deficiency of proof occurred in the province
where the principal massacres were said to have been committed. Of the
men of Ulster, Sir Phelim O'Neil is the only one whose conviction, and
execution, have been recorded.[1]
II. Cromwell had not been long in the island before he discovered that
it was impossible to accomplish the original design of extirpating the
Catholic population; and he therefore adopted the expedient of allowing
their leaders to expatriate themselves with a portion of their countrymen,
by entering into the service of foreign powers. This plan was followed
by his successors in the war, and was perfected by an act of parliament,
banishing all the Catholic officers. Each chieftain, when he surrendered,
stipulated for a certain number of men: every facility was furnished him
to complete his levy; and the exiles hastened to risk their lives in the
service of the Catholic powers who hired them; many in that of Spain,
others of France, others of Austria, and some of the republic of Venice.
Thus the obnoxious population was reduced by the number of thirty, perhaps
forty thousand able-bodied men; but it soon became a question how to
dispose of their wives and families, of the wives and families of those who
had perished by the ravages of disease and the casualties of war, and of
the multitudes who, chased from their homes and employments, were reduced
to a state of titter destitution. These at different times, to the amount
of several
[Footnote 1: Ludlow, ii. 2, 5, 8-11. Heath, 332, 333.]
thousands, were collected in bodies, driven on shipboard, and conveyed to
the West Indies.[1] Yet with all these drains on the one party, and the
continual accession of English and Scottish colonists on the other, the
Catholic was found to exceed the Protestant population in the proportion of
eight to one.[2] Cromwell, when he had reached the zenith of his power, had
recourse to a new expedient. He repeatedly solicited the fugitives, who, in
the reign of the late king, had settled in New England, to abandon their
plantations and accept of lands in Ireland. On their refusal, he made the
same offer to the Vaudois, the Protestants of Piedmont, but was equally
unsuccessful. They preferred their native valleys, though
[Footnote 1: According to Petty (p. 187), six thousand boys and women were
sent away. Lynch (Cambrensis Eversus, in fine) says that they were sold
for slaves. Bruodin, in his Propugnaculum (Pragae, anno 1660) numbers the
exiles at one hundred thousand. Ultra centum millia omnis sexus et aetatis,
e quibus aliquot millia in diversas Americae tabaccarias insulas relegata
sunt (p. 692). In a letter in my possession, written in 1656, it is said:
Catholicos pauperea plenis navibus mittunt in Barbados et insulas Americae.
Credo jam sexaginta millia abivisse. Expulsis enim ab initio in Hispaniam
et Belgium maritis, jam uxores et proles in Americam destinantur.--After
the conquest of Jamaica in 1655, the protector, that he might people it,
resolved to transport a thousand Irish boys and a thousand Irish girls to
the island. At first, the young women only were demanded to which it is
replied: "Although we must use force in taking them up, yet, it being so
much for their own good, and likely to be of so great advantage to the
public, it is not in the least doubted that you may have such number of
them as you shall think fit."--Thurloe, iv. 23. In the next letter II.
Cromwell says: "I think it might be of like advantage to your affairs
there, and ours here, if you should think fit to send one thousand five
hundred or two thousand young boys of twelve or fourteen years of age to
the place aforementioned. We could well spare them, and they would be of
use to you; and who knows but it may be a means to make them Englishmen, I
mean rather Christians?" (p. 40). Thurloe answers: "The committee of the
council have voted one thousand girls, and as many youths, to be taken up
for that purpose" (p. 75).]
[Footnote 2: Petty, Polit. Arithmetic, 29.]
under the government of a Catholic sovereign, whose enmity they had
provoked, to the green fields of Erin, and all the benefits which
they might derive from the fostering care and religions creed of the
protector.[1]
III. By an act,[a] entitled an act for the settlement of Ireland, the
parliament divided the royalists and Catholics into different classes, and
allotted to each class an appropriate degree of punishment. Forfeiture of
life and estate was pronounced against all the great proprietors of lands,
banishment against those who had accepted commissions; the forfeiture
of two-thirds of their estates against all who had borne arms under the
confederates of the king's lieutenant, and the forfeiture of one-third
against all persons whomsoever who had not been in the actual service of
parliament, or had not displayed their constant good affection to the
commonwealth of England. This was the doom of persons of property: to all
others, whose estates, real and personal, did not amount to the value of
ten pounds, a full and free pardon was graciously offered.[2]
Care, however, was taken that the third parts, which by this act were to be
restored to the original proprietors, were not to be allotted to them out
of their former estates, but "in such places as the parliament, for the
more effectual settlement of the peace of the nation, should think fit to
appoint." When the first plan of extermination had failed, another project
was adopted of confining the Catholic landholders to Connaught and Clare,
beyond the river Shannon, and of dividing the remainder of the island,
Leinster, Munster, and Ulster, among Protestant colonists. This, it
[Footnote 1: Hutchinson, Hist. of Massachusetts, 190. Thurloe, iii. 459.]
[Footnote 2: Journals, Aug. 12, 1652. Scobell, ii. 197, Ludlow, i. 370.
In the Appendix I have copied this act correctly from the original in the
possession of Thomas Lloyd, Esq. See note (F).]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1652. Aug. 12.]
was said, would prevent the quarrels which must otherwise arise between
the new planters and the ancient owners; it would render rebellion more
difficult and less formidable; and it would break the hereditary influence
of the chiefs over their septs, and of the landlords over their tenants.
Accordingly the little parliament, called by Cromwell and his officers,
passed a second act,[a] which assigned to all persons, claiming under the
qualifications described in the former, a proportionate quantity of land
on the right bank of the Shannon; set aside the counties of Limerick,
Tipperary, and Waterford in Munster, of King's County, Queen's County,
West Meath, and East Meath in Leinster, and of Down, Antrim, and Armagh
in Ulster, to satisfy in equal shares the English adventurers who had
subscribed money in the beginning of the contest, and the arrears of the
army that had served in Ireland since Cromwell took the command; reserved
for the future disposal of the government the forfeitures in the counties
of Dublin, Cork, Kildare, and Carlow; and charged those in the remaining
counties with the deficiency, if their should be any in the first ten, with
the liquidation of several public debts, and with the arrears of the Irish
army contracted previously to the battle of Rathmines.
To carry this act into execution, the commissioners, by successive
proclamations, ordered all persons who claimed under qualifications, and
in addition, all who had borne arms against the parliament, to "remove and
transplant" themselves into Connaught and Clare before the first of May,
1654.[1] How many
[Footnote 1: See on this question "The Great Subject of Transplantation in
Ireland discussed," 1654. Laurence, "The Interest of England in the Irish
Transplantation stated," 1654; and the answer to Laurence by Vincent
Gookin, the author of the first tract.]
[Sidenote: A.D. 1653. Sept. 26.]
were prevailed upon to obey, is unknown; but that they amounted to a
considerable number is plain from the fact that the lands allotted to
them in lieu of their third portions extended to more than eight hundred
thousand English acres. Many, however, refused. Retiring into bogs and
fastnesses, they formed bodies of armed men, and supported themselves and
their followers by the depredations which they committed on the occupiers
of their estates. They were called Raperees and Tories;[1] and so
formidable did they become to the new settlers, that in certain districts,
the sum of two hundred pounds was offered for the head of the leader of the
band, and that of forty pounds for the head of any one of the privates.[2]
To maintain this system of spoliation, and to coerce the vindictive
passions of the natives, it became necessary to establish martial law, and
to enforce regulations the most arbitrary and oppressive. No Catholic was
permitted to reside within any garrison or market town, or to remove more
than one mile from his own dwelling without a passport describing his
person, age, and occupation; every meeting of four persons besides the
family was pronounced an illegal and treasonable assembly; to carry arms,
or to have arms at home, was made a capital offence; and any transplanted
Irishman, who was found on the left bank of the Shannon, might be put to
death by the first person who met him, without the order of a magistrate.
Seldom has any nation been reduced to a state of bondage more galling and
oppressive. Under
[Footnote 1: This celebrated party name, "Tory," is derived from
"toruighim," to pursue for the sake of plunder.--O'Connor, Bib. Stowensis,
ii. 460.]
[Footnote 2: Burton's Diary, ii. 210.]
the pretence of the violation of these laws, their feelings were outraged,
and their blood was shed with impunity. They held their property, their
liberty, and their lives, at the will of the petty despots around them,
foreign planters, and the commanders of military posts, who were
stimulated by revenge and interest to depress and exterminate the native
population.[1]
IV. The religion of the Irish proved an additional source of solicitude
to their fanatical conquerors. By one of the articles concluded with Lord
Westmeath, it was stipulated that all the inhabitants of Ireland should
enjoy the benefit of an act lately passed in England "to relieve peaceable
persons from the rigours of former acts in matters of religion;" and that
no Irish recusant should be compelled to assist at any form of service
contrary to his conscience. When the treaty was presented for ratification,
this concession shocked and scandalized the piety of the saints. The first
part was instantly negatived; and, if the second was carried by a small
majority through the efforts of Marten and Vane, it was with a proviso that
"the article should not give any the least allowance, or countenance,
or toleration, to the exercise of the Catholic worship in any manner
whatsoever."[2]
In the spirit of these votes, the civil commissioners ordered by
proclamation[a] all Catholic clergymen to quit Ireland within twenty days,
under the penalties of high treason, and forbade all other persons to
harbour any such clergymen under the pain of death. Additional provisions
tending to the same object followed in succession. Whoever knew of the
concealment
[Footnote 1: Bruodin, 693. Hibernia Dominicana, 706.]
[Footnote 2: Journals, 1652, June 1.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1653. Jan. 6.]
of a priest, and did not reveal it to the proper authorities, was made
liable to the punishment of a public whipping and the amputation of his
ears; to be absent on a Sunday from the service at the parish church,
subjected the offender to a fine of thirty pence; and the magistrates were
authorized to take away the children of Catholics and send them to England
for education, and to tender the oath of abjuration to all persons of
the age of one and twenty years, the refusal of which subjected them to
imprisonment during pleasure, and to the forfeiture of two-thirds of their
estates real and personal.[1]
During this period the Catholic clergy were exposed to a persecution far
more severe than had ever been previously experienced in the island. In
former times the chief governors dared not execute with severity the laws
against the Catholic priesthood, and the fugitives easily found security on
the estates of the great landed proprietors. But now the Irish people lay
prostrate at the feet of their conquerors; the military were distributed in
small bodies over the country; their vigilance was sharpened by religious
antipathy and the hope of reward; and the means of detection were
facilitated by the prohibition of travelling without a license from the
magistrates. Of the many priests who still remained in the country, several
were discovered, and forfeited their lives on the gallows; those who
escaped detection concealed themselves in the caverns of the mountains, or
in lonely hovels raised in the midst of the morasses, whence they issued
during the night to carry the consolations
[Footnote 1: Hibernia Dominicana, 707. Bruodin, 696. Porter, Compendium
Annalium Eecclesiasticorum (Romae, 1690), p. 292.]
of religion to the huts of their oppressed and suffering countrymen.[1]
3. In Scotland the power of the commonwealth was as firmly established as
in Ireland. When Cromwell hastened in pursuit of the king to Worcester, he
left Monk with eight thousand men to complete the conquest of the kingdom.
Monk invested Stirling; and the Highlanders who composed the garrison,
alarmed by the explosion of the shells from the batteries, compelled[a] the
governor to capitulate. The maiden castle, which had never been violated by
the presence of a conqueror,[2] submitted to the English "sectaries;" and,
what was still more humbling to the pride of the nation, the royal robes,
part of the regalia, and the national records, were irreverently torn from
their repositories, and sent to London as the trophies of victory. Thence
the English general marched forward to Dundee, where he received a proud
defiance from Lumsden, the governor. During the preparations for the
assault, he learned that the Scottish lords, whom Charles had intrusted
with the government in his absence, were holding a meeting on the moor at
Ellet, in Angus. By his order, six hundred horse, under the colonels Alured
and Morgan, aided, as it was believed, by treachery, surprised them at an
early hour in the morning.[b] Three hundred prisoners were made, including
the two committees of
[Footnote 1: MS. letters in my possession. Bruodin, 696. A proclamation
was also issued ordering all nuns to marry or leave Ireland. They were
successively transported to Belgium, France, and Spain, where they were
hospitably received in the convents of their respective orders.]
[Footnote 2: "Haec nobis invicta tulerunt centum sex proavi, 1617," was the
boasting inscription which King James had engraved on the wall.--Clarke's
official account to the Speaker, in Cary, ii. 327. Echard, 697.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1651. Aug. 14.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1651. Aug. 28.]