thousand did again besiege it and tho' Captain Vaughan with One hundred Foot and Fifty Horse did kill Forty of the Enemy and raise the Siege yet the Place being so remote could not at all times be relieved and therefore by Order of Council was demolished But the Parliament of England were desirous to manage the War of Ireland by a Committee at least till the Lord Lieutenant should go over but the King opposed that as needless because the Lord Lieutenant was just then ready for the Voyage But whether it was thought that he would not be propitious to the Cessation and Peace with the Irish which were then in design or for what other Reasons he was delay'd it is hard to determine but this is certain That tho' he was always going yet he never went And indeed the Differences between the King and the Parliament were grown to that heighth that each Side prepared for War and at length it came to a Battel at Edge-hill that very day Twelve-month on which the Irish Rebellion broke out viz. 23 October 1642. And in this Fight the Loss seem'd equal and each Party boasted of the Victory whilst both of them were thereby hindred from sending necessary Relief to Ireland and so the unfortunate English suffered every where and were destroy'd by one another in the Civil War in England and by the Common Enemy in that of Ireland However the Parliament did not totally neglect Ireland but on the Fourteenth of October sent over Mr. Robert Godwin and Mr. Robert Reynolds Husbands's Collections 2 part 249. Two Parliament-men and one Captain Tucker from the City of London to inquire into the Condition of the Army and the State of the Kingdom and to see how their Money was disposed of They brought with them Twenty thousand Pounds in Money and some Ammunition and arrived safe on the Twenty ninth of October and on the Second of November presented themselves to the State and being received with Respect were placed on a Form behind the Council and sate covered They did good Service in Ireland and particularly gave great satisfaction to the Army that Care was taken for Pay and Supplies They also made a Book which contained a Subscription of most of the Officers in the Army to take Debentures on the Forfeited Lands for a certain Proportion of their Pay as believing they would fight the better and end the War the sooner if they were interested in the Fruits of the Victory as well as in the Quarrel But the King disliked that Course because it might take up so much of the Rebels Lands that would hinder all Hopes of a peace with them which His Majesty began to have some Hopes of and therefore several Officers well enough inclined to the Proposal omitted to subscribe and some that had subscribed desired to retract So that at length these Commissioners were so sharply threatned that they delivered up the Book to be cancelled Nevertheless they promoted the March of the Army to enlarge their Quarters which afterwards produced the Battel of Ross but some of the Cavalier-party looking upon these Commissioners as Spies procured a Reprimand to the Lords Justices for suffering them to sit covered in the Council-chamber and the King 's positive Orders for their Return which was performed the Twenty seventh of February to the very great prejudice of the Affairs of Ireland and to the great disgust of the Parliament of England In the mean time the Irish under their General Preston had besieged Ballynakill and Colonel Monk with Six hundred Foot and Two Troops of Horse was sent to relieve it He marched out of Dublin the Fifth day of December and upon his approach the Enemy withdrew from the Siege and politickly marched to a Place of Advantage between the English Army and Dublin Battel of Tymachoo to intercept them in their Return But the Rebels had not so much Courage as Cunning for tho' they were Fourteen hundred Foot and Three hundred Horse yet upon the loss of about Threescore that were slain upon the first Volley they basely ran away and left the Road open for Monk to march to Dublin In like manner Sir Richard Greenvill with Two hundred Horse and One thousand Foot on the Twentieth of January marched to raise the Siege of Athloan and carry Supplies to that Garison both which he effected but in his Return he was encountred by Three thousand four hundred Foot Battel of Raconell and Six Troops of Horse at Raconell in a place of great disadvantage to him Nevertheless he had the good fortune to defeat the Rebels with the slaughter of Two hundred and fifty of their Men and to take the General Preston's eldest Son and some other Prisoners But that which rendred this Victory the more valuable was an ancient Prophecy That whoever won the Battel of Raconell should gain all Ireland therefore this Victory troubled and discouraged the Superstitious Irish exceedingly But we must return to the Lords Justices who in November 1642. transmitted to His Majesty a Petition from the Confederates by the Name of The Roman Catholicks of Ireland desiring His Majesty to appoint Commissioners to hear their Grievances And accordingly a Commission was brought over by Thomas Burk one of the first Rebels and by him confidently delivered at the Council-Board to the admiration of the State It impowered the Marquis of Ormond the Earls of Clanrickard and Roscomon Sir Maurice Eustace and others to hear and report their Complaints and in order to it the Three last went to Trim where the Lord Gormanstown Sir Lucas Dillon Sir Robert Talbot and John Walsh the Confederates Agents on the Seventeenth of March 1642. presented a Remonstrance of Grievances which one truly calls an Infamous Pamphlet and contains so much false Reasoning and Arguments ex post facto and downright Untruths as clearly manifests That the Irish first resolved to rebel and then set their Lawyers and Divines on work to fish for Arguments to justifie or at least excuse it But there was an Answer printed 1644. entitled An Answer to the false and scandalous Remonstrance of the inhuman and bloody Rebels of Ireland which sufficiently confuted all their vain Pretences and both of them being essentially necessary to this History are in substance added Appendix 5 6. But this Remonstrance met with better Fortune in the Irish Parliament which sat the Ninth of April for the English were then unluckily dividing into the Factions of Protestant and Puritan and some of the former very unwisely to back their Arguments against that Remonstrance compared it with the Scots Covenant which engendred such Heats in the House that the Parliament was prorogued to the Sixth of May 1643. However the Protestant Army did not neglect to sollicit their Affairs in England but by their Agents Sir James Mongomery Sir Hardress Waller Colonel Hill and Colonel Mervin they Addressed first to the Parliament to whom the King had committed the Care of Ireland and afterwards
to return to their own Homes or Houses III. Catholick Commanders instanced by the Commissioners of Trust according to the Pacification and hereupon by his Excellency's Commission receiving their Commands in the Army as Col. Patrick Purcel Major General of the Army and Col. Pierce Fitz-Gerald alias Mac. Thomas Commissary of the Horse were removed without the consent of the said Commissioners and by no demerit of the Gentlemen and the said Places that of Major General given to Daniel O-Neal Esq a Protestant and that of Commissary of the Horse to Sir William Vaughan Kt. and after the said Sir William's Death to Sir Thomas Armstrong Kt. both Protestants IV. A Judicature and legal way of administring Justice promised by the Articles of Peace was not performed but all Process and Proceedings done by Paper Petitions and thereby private Clerks and other corrupt Ministers inrich'd the Subject ruined and no Justice done V. The Navigation the great Support of Ireland quite beaten down his Excellency disheartning the Adventures Undertakers and Owners as Capt. Antonio and others favouring Hollanders and other Aliens by reversing of Judgments legally given and definitively concluded before his Commissioners Authority By which depressing of Maritime Affairs and not providing for an orderly and good Tribunal of Admiralty we have hardly a Bottom left to transmit a Letter to his Majesty or any other Prince VI. The Church of Cloyne in our possession at the time of making the Peace violently taken from us by the Lord of Inchiquin contrary to the Articles of Peace no Justice nor Redress was made upon Application or Complaint VII That Oblations Book-monies Interments and other Obventions in the Counties of Cork Waterford and Kerry were taken from the Catholick Priests and Pastors by the Ministers without any Redress or Restitution VIII That the Catholick Subjects of Munster lived in Slavery under the Presidency of the Lord of Inchiquin these being their Judges that before were their Enemies and none of the Catholick Nobility or Gentry admitted to be of the Tribunal IX The Conduct of the Army was improvident and unfortunate Nothing hapned in Christianity more shameful than the Disaster of Rathmines near Dublin where his Excellency as it seemed to Ancient Travellers and Men of Experience who viewed all kept rather a Mart of Wares a Tribunal of Pleadings or a great Inn of Play Drinking and Pleasure than a well-ordered Camp of Souldiers Drogheda unrelieved was lost by Storm with much Bloodshed and the loss of the Flower of Leinster Weâ—ford lost much by the unskilfulness of a Governor a young Man vain and unadvised Ross given up and that by his Excellency's Order without any Dispute by Col. Luke Taaffe having within near upon 2500 Souldiers desirous to fight After that the Enemy made a Bridg over the River of Ross a Wonder to all Men and understood by no Man without any Let or Interruption our Forces being within seven or eight Miles to the Place wherein 200 Musqueteers at Rossberkine being timely ordered had interrupted this stupendious Bridg and made the Enemy weary of the Town Carrig being betrayed by the Protestant Ward there our Army afterwards appearing before the Place the Souldiers were commanded to fight against the Walls and Armed Men without great Guns Ladders Petards Shovels Spades Pickaxes or other Necessaries there being killed upon the place above 500 Souldiers valiantly fighting yet near Thomas-Town our Souldiers being of tryed Foot two to one and well resolved were forbidden to fight in the open Field having advantage of Ground against the Enemy to the utter disheartning of the Souldiers and People After this the Enemy came like a Deluge upon Calan Feathard Cashell Kilmallock and other Corporations within the Provinces of Leinster and Munster and the Country about rendred Tributary Then followed the taking of Laghlin and Kilkenny then that of Clonmell where the Enemy met with Gallantry Loss and Resistance Lastly Tecrohan and Catherlough two great Pillars of Leinster shaken down that of Tecrohan to speak nothing for the present of all other Places was given up by Orders Waterford block'd up is in a sad Condition Duncannon the Key of the Kingdom unrelieved since the first of December is like to be given up and lost X. That the Prelates after the numerous Congregation at Cloanmacnoise where they made Declarations for the King 's great advantage after printed and after many other laborious Meetings and Consultations with the Expressions of their sincerity and earnestness were not allowed by his Excellency to have employed their Power and best diligence towards advancing the King's Interest but rather suspected and blamed as may appear by his own Letter to the Prelates then at James-Town written Aug. 2. And words were heard to fall from him dangerous as to the Persons of some Prelates XI That his Excellency represented to his Majesty some parts of this Kingdom disobedient which absolutely deny any such disobedience by them committed and thereby procured from his Majesty a Letter to withdraw his own Person and the Royal Authority if such Disobediences were multiplied and to leave the People without the benefit of the Peace This was the Reward his Excellency out of his Envy to a Catholick Loyal Nation prepared for our Loyalty and Obedience sealed by the shedding of our Blood and the loss of our Substance XII That his Excellency and the Lord of Inchiquin when Enemies to the Catholicks being very active in unnatural Executions against us and shedding the Blood of poor Priests and Churchmen have shewed little of Action since this Peace but for many Months kept themselves in Connaught and Thomond where no Danger or the Enemy appeared spending their time as most Men observed in Play Pleasure and great Merriment while the other parts of the Kingdom were bleeding under the Sword of the Enemy This was no great Argument of Sense or Grief in them to see a Kingdom lost to his Majesty XIII That his Excellency when prospering put no Trust of Places taken in into the Hands of Catholicks as that of Drogheda Dundalk Trim c. And by this his Diffidence in Catholicks and by other his Actions and Expressions the Catholick Army had no Heart to â—ight or to be under his Command and feared greatly if he had mastered the Enemy and with them the Commissioners of Trust or the greater part of them and many thousands of the Kingdom also feared he would have brought the Catholick Subjects and their Religion to the old Slavery XIV We will not speak of many Corruptions and Abuses as passing of a Custodium upon the Abby of Killbegain worth in past Years to the Confederates well nigh 400 l. per Annum to Secretary Lane for 40 l. or thereabouts per Annum nor of many other such like to Daniel O Neil and others at an undervalue to the great Prejudice of the Publick XV. We do also notify to the Catholicks of the Kingdom most of the above Grievances and Breaches of the Peace being
abhorred the breach of the Peace gave him hopes That in the General Assembly which was to meet the 10th of January Matters would be better ordered and desired him patiently to expect that and proposed a short Cessation which was afterwards at Dublin agreed unto To this Assembly the Lord Lieutenant sent the Lord Taaf and Colonel John Barry with a most excellent Letter expostulating the Violation of the Peace and telling them That they were irrecoverably betrayed to Infamy if they neglect this opportunity offered to vindicate themselves and exhorting them to a speedy and effectual Confirmation of the Peace but the Assembly had determined the Point the day before they came and so the Letter was never delivered For this extraordinary Juncto or General Assembly which was totally governed by the Nuncio did on the very first day of their Meeting receive a Paper of Unreasonable Proposals from the Congregation of their Clergy viz. To have all manner of Jurisdictions Privileges and Immunities as amply as they had in the Time of Hen. VII and to have all the Church-Livings c. conferred upon them And on the Fifteenth day of January they wrote to the Lord Lieutenant to keep his Forces within his own Quarters and on the Second of February they published a frantick Mixture of a Declaration containing Two very contradictory things Vide the Declaration Appendix 36. viz. First That the Commissioners had acted honestly and pursuant to their Instructions in making the Peace and Secondly That the Nuncio and Clergy had done well in breaking it And they farther declar'd That they might not accept of that Peace but did protest against it and declare the same invalid and of no force to all intents and purposes As also That the Nation would not accept of any Peace not containing a sufficient and satisfactory Security for the Religion Lives Estates and Liberties of the Confederate Catholicks And what they understood to be sufficient appears by the Propositions published by the Congregation at Waterford which they had caused the People to swear they would insist upon And the Reason they gave for this Procedure was as strange as the Act viz. That Glamorgan ' s Articles gave them better Conditions Whereas those Articles were disavowed and rejected by the King and even by the Earl himself acknowledg'd not to be binding both because of the Defezance and the Failure in sending Succors according to Promise And the Confederates likewise had admitted that Agreement void by embracing a subsequent Peace on other Terms Nevertheless this Assembly was so violent against the Peace that some of them attempted to Disband General Preston because he was more moderate and better inclin'd to it than they And to that end the Bishop of Fornes brought in an Impeachment against him but Preston's Friends were so loud upon that Point that the Bishop was fain to withdraw his Accusation Ad gladios pugiles in ipso Senatu ventum fuisset Beling 39. or else they had gone to Cuffs even in the very Assembly Nevertheless when they had talk'd themselves out of breath they began to find the Necessity of putting a better Gloss upon what they had done and therefore they resolv'd to propose Terms of Accommodation that at least they might have it to say that Peace was refus'd them And so on the last of February they sent Dr. Fennell and another with sufficient Credentials to Treat with the Lord Lieutenant and to make Proposals unto him but it was plain that their Design was to amuse the World and to asperse his Excellency with the Noise of this Treaty and the Pretence that they offered Reasonable Conditions and that therefore he was not necessitated to surrender to the Parliament but should rather have complied with them for they not only refus'd to reduce those Proposals into Writing but also denied to sign the Substance or Extract of them when written altho' they could not deny but that it was truly taken as they had dictated But it is fit that the World should know the Unreasonableness of these very Proposals which were to this effect 1. That each Party should continue Independent 2. That they should joyn in a War against the Common Enemy meaning the English Protestants that adhered to the Parliament and that neither Party should make Peace or Cessation or use Traffick or Commerce with them without the others Consent 3. That Dublin and other Garisons might be secur'd by their Soldiers against the Common Enemy 4. That all Papists in English Quarters have free Exercise of their Religion that is as they afterwards explain'd it the Churches and Church-livings and Exemption from the Jurisdiction of the Protestant Clergy in all Places except Dublin where the greater number of the Inhabitants are Catholicks 5. That no body be permitted to live within English Quarters but such as will swear to this Accommodation And 6. That if both Armies joyn in any Expedition nevertheless they are to be Commanded by their own respective Commanders c. But these Proposals being made known to the Privy-Council they did unanimously and with scorn reject them and the Lord Lieutenant did on the 22th of March 1646. write to the Supreme Council That he could not comply with their Propositions in the manner they were propos'd And so the Assembly was on the Third of April adjourn'd to the Twentieth day of November following And now what could be more amazing than to see a People and especially the Nobility and Gentry of a whole Kingdom many of which had good Breeding and good Fortunes give up the Conduct of their Reason as well as their Consciences to the wild Ambition and Covetousness of the Clergy Men who ventur'd nothing by their preposterous Attempts to set up their Religion for in all Events they were to find Welcome abroad and to be reverenc'd even for being vanquish'd But for those Gentlemen who had no certainty of Subsistence elsewhere how imprudent was it towards their lawful and indulgent King whose Pardon they so much needed to require from Him such Conditions in Matters of Religion as by the Advantage it gave to His other Enemies in whose Hands he was must take from Him more than their Assistance could afford and by this foolish Stratagem weaken and diminish that Power by which only they could be saved Nevertheless they did in this manner trample upon the Peace not only in a Heat but in Cold Blood and thereby rendred all future Expectations vain and their own Condition irreparable But let us return to the Marquis of Ormond who was astonish'd at this foolish Procedure of the Irish He had already received Orders from His Majesty That if he could not keep Dublin he should rather surrender it to the Parliament than to the Irish and he very well understood the Sentiments of the Protestants of Ireland For altho' some of them were very fearful of the Covenant and many of them had great Jealousies and Suspicions of each other yet all
prevent a Famine had turn'd out of the City and on the 20th the Lord-Lieutenant being informed that Jones had for want of Forrage sent part of his Horse to Tredagh his Excellency ordered Insiquin to pursue them which he performed with great success and having surpriz'd one whole Troop and routed Collonel Chidly Coot and 300 Horse whereof many were killed he follow'd the blow to Tredagh and being re-inforced with two Regiments of Foot and two Pieces of Artillery he besieged that Town whilst it was under consternation at the late Defeat Nevertheless the Garrison consisting of 600 Men defended the place with exceeding bravery until their Powder was spent and then they did a 30 June Surrender on Honourable Conditions and Collonel Coot with 150 Horse and 400 Foot marched to Dublin But whilst Insiquin staid at Tredagh he had notice that Lieutenant-General Farrell with 500 Foot and 300 Horse was gone to Convey a considerable quantity of Arms and Ammunition which Collonel Monke had upon Articles given to Owen Roe whereupon Insiquin sent a detached Party which met with and routed this Convoy and killed 500 of the Men and took all the Arms and Ammunition and what other Booty they had with them And it was from some of the Prisoners then taken that Insiquin was informed of the weak condition of Dundalk wherefore being resolved to prosecute his good Fortune he marched to besiege it and being assisted by the Lord of Ardes he forced Monk in two days time to Surrender the place whereunto he was necessitated by the Mutiny of the Garrison which else would have given him up Hereupon Monk went to England and was imprisoned for a short time as shall be hereafter related and Insiquin took possession of Dundalk and a considerable Magazine that was in it After this prodigious Success the lesser Garrisons became an easy Prey Newry Narrow-water Greencastle and Carlingford submitted to the Conqueror of course and Trim itself did not hold out above two days and so Insiquin having no more to do return'd trimphantly to the Royal Camp at Finglass with more Men than he first carried out And there we must leave him till I give a brief Account of the second Army viz. that of the Presbyterian British and Scots which was so powerful under the Command of the Lord of Ardes that it seized upon Belfast and Carifergus and most part of Ulster and some places in Conaught But they had entertain'd such inconsistent Principles that it was impossible for any other Party to joyn with them and yet they were too weak to stand alone so that their Ruine was inevitable nevertheless it was hastned by their Divisions for when their General the Lord of Ardes perceived that by the Manifesto they published they declared an Abhorrence of the Murder of the late King which rendered their Conjunction with the Parliamentarians impossible and that they published no less Aversion against the Irish so that they rejected any Correspondence either with Owen Roe or the Supreme Council and as well for that reason as because they would not own the new King there was no hopes of their Union with the Cavaleers he saw the necessity of his doing something without them that might strengthen their Party by a powerful Alliance and Conjunction and being offered by the Lord-Lieutenant a Commission to be Chief Governour of Ulster he was easily prevailed upon to submit to the King's Authority which he did in the latter end of April and being joyn'd with the Lagan Forces which were weakned by the Surprize of Sir Robert Steward and Collonel Mervin at a Christning by Sir Charles Coot who sent them Prisoners to England he went to besiege London-Derry where we will likewise leave him and give an Account of the third Army viz. that of the Supreme Council's This Army was mix'd I cannot say incorporated with the King 's by the late Peace and so continued until after the Defeat at Rathnines but having a distinct Interest from the Protestant part of the King's Army and a National and Religious Aversion unto them they never did any service together where ever the Irish were the Majority and in the end most of the Irish being seduced by the Clergy did desert the King's Service some privately and others more openly their Towns became ungovernable and their Clergy grew Mutinous and rejected the King's Authority in the Lord-Lieutenant so that at length their pretended Loyalty became the Scorn and Contempt of their most inveterate Enemies as shall be related in its proper place And as for the fourth Army which was under the Command of Own Roe it consisted of natural Irish and fierce Nuntiotists and this General was so enraged at the Supreme Council both because they did not comply with the Nuntio and because they did not in their Articles of Peace provide for the Restitution of the Escheated Lands in Ulster that he chose rather to correspond with the Parliament then with them And therefore he did on the 8th day of May enter into Articles with Collonel Monk not only for a Cessation for three Months but for mutual Assistance within that time and that Monk should furnish Owen Roe with Ammunition if he wanted and should suffer Ships with Arms Money c. that should be sent to Owen Roe to Harbour in any of the Parliament's Ports And it was in vertue of this League that Lieutenant-General Farrell had the Ammunition from Dundalk which Insiquin took from him as hath been already related And this Irish General did at the same time make some extravagant Proposals which being granted he and his Army would embrace the Service and Interests of the Parliament of England But tho' they were never consented to yet during this League of three Months he did faithfully observe his Agreement to the great prejudice of the King's Army and to the great advantage of the Parliament's Forces which else would have been in an ill condition Moreover he did on the 22th day of May make a League with Collonel Richard Coot in the behalf of Sir Charles Coot and pursuant thereunto and in consideration of 2000 l. in Money and 2000 Cows and some Ammunition he did oblige the Lord of Ards and the Lagan Forces to raise the Siege of London-Derry on the 8th day of August Nevertheless when the Parliament of England were acquainted with these Transactions they Disavowed what the one and the other of these Commanders had done with Owen Roe And tho' Sir Charles Coot being absent escaped with a severe Check only yet Monk who was then in England was Imprison'd and Displac'd and tho' when he was brought to the House he gave good reasons for what he had done and demonstrated the Advantages that the Parliament had acquired by it yet the House would by no means approve it but on the contrary made the following Votes Resolved c. That this House doth utterly Disapprove of the Proceedings of Collonel Monk in the Treaty and Cessation made
Cromwell's Army was much harassed and but very small perhaps not exceeding 5000 Foot 2000 Horse and 500 Dragoons when he came before Waterford yet the fame of this General had so frightned the Irish that the Mayor and Governour of Waterford hearing of his approach did on the 28th of October send a Letter to the Marquess of Ormond to consult about the Terms to be insisted on at the Rendition of the City But Ormond the next day by his Letter chid them for their forwardness to Parly with the Enemy before any Battery was begun and assured them that if they did their Duty Cromwell should be baffled before that place as indeed it happened for he lost a 1000 Men with Sickness before it and went away without it And it was about this time in the Month of October that Mr. Seymour arrived in Ireland and brought with him the Garter to the Marquess of Ormond And it was by him that Ormond gave the following Account to his Majesty 30 Octob from Clonmell viz. That Ireland cannot be preserved without Succours that no People in the World are more easily drawn by Reward or forced by Fear than the Irish That he could not draw into the Field above 5000 Foot and 1300 Horse nor keep them long together for want of Necessaries That nevertheless there is no want of Men but of Maintenance for them that the Plague is in Conaught that the Irish and English in his Army cannot agree That no Trust can be put in Owen Roe's Army longer than their own Interest obliges them And therefore if his Majesty comes he ought to bring Ammunition and Money with him and land them at Galway And soon after from Waterford on the 15th of November his Lordship wrote again to his Majesty That the Irish are so fickle that for Trade's sake they will correspond with the Towns in the Rebels possession That the Irish Clergy are mutinous and by means of the Lord of Antrim will probably do some foolish and fatal thing From Waterford Cromwell marched to Dungarvan which he took and there on the 18th of November died Michael Jones Lieutenant-General of the Army a Man of clear Valour and excellent as well as fortunate Conduct and not inferiour to any body in a sincere passion for the good of his Country In the mean time the Towns of the Country of Cork being inhabited and garrison'd with English-men could not endure the thoughts of joyning with the Irish against their own Country-men they considered how the Lord-Lieutenant was not only limited in his Authority by the Commissioners of Trust and was but partially and precatiously obeyed by the Irish They knew the Irish aim'd at their Destruction in the end and continued the War to that purpose Finally they remembred the reasons of surrendring Dublin to the Parliament two Years before and they thought they had the same motive to submit now and therefore by the means of the Lord Broghill Collonel Countny Sir Percy Smith and the Collonels Townsend Jeffor'd and Warden they revolted all at once and about 2500 Men were drawn out of those Garrisons and they met Cromwell at Whitechurch not far from Dungarvan This Revolution dissolved all confidence between the English and Irish and as well for that reason as in other respects proved advantagious to Cromwell for otherwise he must have been forced to endure a long and dangerous March to Dublin or to have embark'd his Men on board the Fleet that coasted all along as he marched to attend him but by this Revolt he got excellent Winter-quarters in Cork Bandon Kinsale and Youghall which last place was made his Head-quarters and there we will leave him and enquire into the Motions of the Marquess of Ormond For although the Motions of that Lord could not be very considerable as well because of the Season of the Year and his want of Money and all other Necessaries as also because his Men did daily desert him in such numbers as that of all the Conaught Horse he had but nine and thirty left with him yet he so struggled with all these Difficulties that he still kept some Forces together hovering between Clonmell and Waterford And it hapned one day that he ferried over to Waterford with about fifty Horse in hopes to perswade that City to all that was necessary for its own preservation and the common good but when he came there he found that the Governor Lieutenant-General Farrel and Collonel Wogan from Duncannon had formed a design upon Passage-Fort and though Ormond much doubted the success yet it was not fit for him at that time to disswade the Attempt And so Farrell marched out but he was not long gone before a Party of the Enemies Horse was discovered to march towards Passage whereupon Ormond desired the Mayor to permit a Regiment or two of his Horse which were on the other side of the River to be wafted over and to march through the City but all his Commands and Intreaties were in vain although the Citizens saw the danger their Souldiers were in and the necessity of the proposed Relief However the Marquess marched out with his fifty Horse such as they were and met Farrell's Foot flying towards Waterford and Collonel Zankey's Horse in pursuit of them hereupon he drew up in a place of advantage and the Enemy thinking he had a greater Body of Horse with him than in truth he had lessened their pace till by advanced Parties they should discover the truth but Ormond pickeer'd so long with them that the remainder of the Foot being about one half had time to escape which else had been cut in pieces or taken Prisoners as their Companions were This very Accident shewed the necessity of the retaking Passage-Fort which else would be a continual Nusance to the City of Waterford and therefore the Lord-Lieutenant propos'd that he would transport his Forces over the River to accomplish that Undertaking if the City would permit his Army to Quarter in Huts under their Walls where they should be no ways burdensom but should have Pay and Provisions from the Country But the Citizens were so far from consenting to this that it was moved by one in the City-Council That they should seize on Ormond ' s person and fall on those that belonged to him as Enemies So that it was time for the Marquess to depart and because the principal Towns like so many petty Republicks stood so stifly upon their pretended Priviledges that they paid no farther Obedience to the Lord-Lieutenant than they thought fit and refused to receive his Army into Garrisons he was forced to disperse his Forces to provide for themselves as they could Luke Taaf went to Conaught and Insiquin into the County of Clare and the Lord Dillon into Westmeath only Major-General Hugh O Neil and 1600 Ulster-men were admitted into Clonmell and his Excellency return'd to Kilkenny And it was from hence that by his Letter of the 24th of December he acquainted his
may happen that your Excellency hath not Power from his Majesty to determine who shall serve as Privy-Counsellors yet it is proposed that your Excellency may now fix on a number of Select Persons satisfactory to the People that may supply a Trust and Management of Affairs in such ample manner to all purposes as Privy-Counsellors appointed by Authority from his Majesty were accustomed to do and might have done in time of Peace to all purposes and their Acts to be observed for the better management of the Publick Affairs His Excellencies Answer I. IT it true That the main End of Our desiring a meeting of as many of the Roman-Catholick Clergy and of the Commissioners as could be gotten together during the Time We had determined to stay at Limerick was in hope that by their joint Advice and Assistance Life might be conserved in this gasping Kingdom and the only means to attain to that End as We told you in our Discourse made to you the 10th of March We conceived was for you to remove such causless Distrusts as being maliciously infused into the Peoples Minds did slacken if not wholly withdraw their Obedience from his Majesty's Authority in Us rendring it impossible for Us with Honour or hope of Success to contend against a powerful absolutely obeyed and plentifully supplied Enemy under such Domestick Disadvantages of Distrusts and Disobedience Some Instances We have given you of the Disobediences and of their ruinous Consequences to which next to God's Permission may principally be attributed the unresisted Success of the Rebels even since we were last at Waterford where all our Designs pointing first and principally at the Safety of that City for the recovery of Passage Carrich and Rosse were not only frustrated but the Authority we managed affronted and our Person ungratefully put to hazard by the instigation of a very few that by evil Practices and false Pretences had gained Credit enough among the well-meaning People to mistrust Us that more than once conducted Forces to their Relief and to trust them who purposed to build their private Safety upon the Power they have to sacrifice the Liberties and Fortunes of their less discerning Fellow-Citizens in answer to Our desires to have you to employ your Endeavours to procure such Obedience to his Majesty's Authority as might prevent the like Inconvenience in the future whereby and not otherwise We may be enabled and encouraged to prosecute our Determination to run all possible Hazards for the King's Service and the preservation of the Nation We received from you the above-mentioned Propositions which how far they may be conducible to that End We know not but do wish what We are able to do for your Satisfaction and the Satisfaction of the People upon them may have the Effect aimed at and that with the speed necessary for your and their preservation II. To the Second We do not understand how the most of the present Distresses of the Kingdom could proceed from the want of a Privy-Council nor considering the State of the Kingdom the Power intrusted with the Commissioners their Abilities and how freely We communicate with them Things of greatest Importance how the framing of such a Council can advantage the Management of the War which is now the only Matter of State And that consisting only of Provision to be made for an Army and the employing that Army to the best Advantage is or may be as well done by the Advice and Assistance of the said Commissioners as by any Council of State who will have no Power to raise Men or to provide for them and to whom Designs upon the Enemy are no further to be communicated than We shall think fit And with such we shall as readily acquaint the Commissioners and as soon be advised by them as any other We can think of the rather that We know none upon whose Faith and Judgment We may more safely depend nor that can better assist Us in any thing they shall be advised with by reason of their Knowledg of the Ability and Burden of the Kingdom which We doubt the State of most Men considered cannot but be increased by a Privy-Council For these Reasons we think not fit unnecessarily to presume upon doing a thing for which We neither have Power nor Precedent Yet rather than there should be any thing wanting that is in Our Power to satisfy the People let the particular Acts that Privy-Counsellors have heretofore done and are now necessary be instanced and as far forth as they shall appear necessary and fit We shall qualify Persons free from just Exception with such Powers III. All this Proposition is assented unto and as far forth as concerns Us shall be observed and immediately put in Execution save that if it be intended the Commissioners should give their Consent to what particular Officers should 〈…〉 We conceive that a Power wherewith they are not 〈…〉 nor fit for Us to bind Our self or any other chief Governour unto And for the not multiplying or exceeding the Numbers to be fixed upon but by further solemn Establishment We consent unto it as far as the same is agreeable to the Articles of Peace IV. To be explained what is intended by exact Weariness or what is understood by probable Circumstances V. The too punctual Observation of this Proposition hath been of worse Consequence than the Particulars complained of have been And we expect that if the Articles of Peace be found destructively strict in this Point they may be dispensed with and not only Our self but whoever commands a considerable Party of the Army upon any Expedition may have Power to Garison any place he shall conceive necessary without consulting any Man VI. This is to be explained as to Particulars and then such Answer shall be given as is fit and agreeable to the Power given Us by his Majesty and the Articles of Peace VII We have been always ready to comply with this Proposition and have more than once made offer of it witness the Commissioners and are still ready to perform what in this Point we are obliged unto by the Articles of Peace VIII This Proposition is assented unto and was never hindred by Us save as to the disposing of Money wherein We insist upon and shall conform our Self to the Articles of Peace and could wish that others besides the Receiver General accomptable for great Sums of Money both before and since the Peace had been or might be brought to accompt for the Ease of the Kingdom IX We are ready to do Justice unto the Country and upon the Offenders mentioned in this Proposition in such manner and with such Assistance as is usual and requisite in like cases and to that effect we desire that Particulars may be instanced X. To be explained XI We acknowledg this Proposition to be pursuant to the Letter of the Articles of Peace and that by unavoidable necessity it hath been infringed And we affirm that in the case the
conducted Men for the Defence of Waterford and that the last Supply we brought was that which occasion'd the Rebels raising their Siege as the refusing a Garison and other Disobediences of that City were the Inducements moving them to come before it When by this means the Rebels were removed and retired to their Winter-Quarters so harrassed as that their speedy marching forth was not to be feared we designed the regaining of Carrick and Passage first and then of Rosse and Wexford and to that effect brought with us a Party of Horse and Foot but were so far from gaining any Admittance for them into the City or to lie under the Walls though they brought the Means with them and were to receive their constant Pay out of the Country that for those our good Intentions and former Pains taken for the Relief of that City when Cromwell was before it it was there brought in question at a Council held amongst some of the City Whether we and the Men we brought should not be fallen upon as Enemies We were then for our Safety forced to reitre thence leaving those indeed easy Works we had design'd undone there being no means of doing them but by and out of that City whereunto as to the first visible Cause and to the Example thereby taken by Limerick may be attributed all the following Success of the Rebels this last Summer What ancient Travellers or Men of Experience they were that informed the Declarers that we kept a Mart of Wares a Tribunal of Pleadings or an Inn of Play Drinking and Pleasure rather than a well-ordered Camp of Souldiers we know not but do believe these Declarers themselves want not the malicious Invention to forge it in their own Heads Which we the rather believe they have done by the ignorance appearing in charging it as a Fault and want of Order that in a Camp there should be a Mart of Wares or a Tribunal of Pleadings which to have in the most peaceful time and place are amongst the greatest Arguments of good Government But if they intend by the Tribunal of Pleadings as that wherein we more busied our self than consisted with the Duty of a General that meaning is known to be maliciously false And so it is if it be meant by us that we kept an Inn of Play Drinking and Pleasure being content to have all the Lies in this Declaration taken for Truth ☞ if it can be proved that during three Months time we were in the Field we drank twice betwixt Meals or at Meals more than was fit that we plaid thrice at any Game though at fit times we account Recreation no fault or unusual in well-governed Camps or in all that time we ever took the Pleasure of sleeping otherwise than in our Cloaths And of this we have better Testimony than the Declarers though they had been upon the place But they being to justify with some colourable Pretences so high a Treason as the Vsurpation of the Regal Power we wonder not they should make their way to it through any Calumny they can defame us withal Touching Drogheda Wexford Rosse Carrick and the not fighting the Enemy near Thomas-Town we refer you to part of our foresaid Answer to the pretended Grievances with this Addition to that of Carrick that as it is more than hath or can be proved that Carrick was betrayed by the Protestant Ward that was in it surprized indeed it was so the Endeavours of recovering that Place was not under our immediate Conduct we going that day it was attempted with a Party to Waterford But who it was that importuned the falling on of the Men so unprovided Sir Lucas Dillon and others there present as we have heard are able to inform you And for not fighting at Thomas-Town it is here set down as if the Officers and Souldiers had proposed some such thing and were absolutely forbidden or refused leave or to be led on by us to fight which is a malicious and false Suggestion For never any such Motion was made to us by any Officer or Souldier nor indeed could be for before the Enemy were drawn up that Morning on the Top of the Hill on the other side of the Water over against Thomas-Town we were by a false Alarum drawn towards Kilkenny as is set down in our Answer to the pretended Grievances and is well known to Mr. Patrick Bryen and others we believe there assembled Here again the Declarers must be beholden to their ancient Travellers to make it good that it is an Advantage of Ground to have a Bridg to pass by three or four in a front in the sight of an Enemy and a steep Hill to ascend to the Charge of an Enemy drawn up in order on the Top of the Hill for thus it is very well known is the Situation of Thomas-Town and the Hill whereon the Enemy drew up after we were drawn away to Kilkenny as is aforesaid The rest of this Article is a passionate Enumeration of the Enemies subsequent Success wherein the Declarers and their Instruments have more to answer for than we as we were a greater Loser than many of them put together But how we become chargeable with the Loss of any Place in Leinster since we put the whole Management of the Affairs of that Province into other Hands especially of Catherlogh commanded by a Bishop we much wonder And if we had not Proof of these Mens prodigious Faculty in framing and venting Vntruths ☜ we should admire at their shameless Impudence in saying Tecroghan was given up by Order and their affirming it with this Parenthesis viz. to speak nothing for the present of other Places insinuating that if they would they are able to tell of many other Places given up by our Order when they might have been longer held For so this Declaration being framed against us must and they desire it should be understood Which is so foul so unchristian and so uncharitable a way of proceeding that it would make one believe they rather conjured for the Spirit of the Father of Lies than invoked the assistance of the Holy Ghost to assist when they framed this Declaration What Endeavour there was used to relieve Tecroghan and how it was given up there are many there met that are able to witness especially the Lord Marquess of Clanrickard Sir Luke Fitz-Gerrald and Sir Robert Talbot the then Governour of that Place who is able to declare perhaps to produce all the Orders he received from Us concerning it And as to the 10th Article we say that which we complain of is That notwithstanding their continual Declarations of Loyalty to his Majesty Answer to the Tenth Article and their Sincerity and Earnestness to advance his Service and Interest they have continually by themselves ☜ and their known Instruments practised the direct contrary The Copy of our Letter of Aug. 2d sent them to James-Town Ante Pag. 26. Part. 2. is before recited upon another
occasion and we believe there is nothing contained in that Letter but is well known to be Truth and will be justified by many of best Quality in that Assembly What the words were which were heard to fall from us dangerous to the Persons of some Prelates when we are particularly charged with them we shall deny nothing that is Truth In the mean time let it be judged if we had such a desire of doing them hurt in their Persons whether in the Person of the Bishop of Killalloe who had signed this Declaration We had not in our Power a Subject whereon to have manifested our Disposition to revenge Whom yet the Bishops in a Letter of theirs to the Earl of Westmeath the Bishop of Leighlin and others which Letter is before recited upon another occasion do acknowledge to have been preserved by Our means Ante pag. 33. Part 2. though in the said Letter they untruly charge those they call Cavaliers with any Attempt or Purpose of doing the said Bishop's Person any further prejudice than to apprehend him and bring him before Us. As to the 11th Article Answer to the 11th Article We acknowledg to have represented to His Majesty That divers Places in this Kingdom were in disobedience to his Authority And that there were and are such places is a Truth as well known to these Declarers as any Work is known to the Workman that made it Which to have concealed from his Majesty had been to have betrayed the Trust by Him reposed in Us and to have taken upon Our Self the blame due to them We also acknowledg to have humbly desired his Majesty's leave to withdraw Our own Person out of the Kingdom in case those Disobediences were multiplied Which having received and those Disobediences being multiplied We had withdrawn Our Self from being an idle Witness of the loss of the Kingdom and the Ruin of many of Our Friends had not divers of these Declarers several times but more especially at Loghreagh disswaded Us from going and promised to do their uttermost endeavour to procure Us the Obedience We desired without which it was plain to all Men We could attempt nothing for the preservation of the Kingdom with hope of Success But We were not so bold as to direct his Majesty to remove his Authority or how else to dispose of it as the Declarers are But how really troubled they are that the People should be deprived of the King's Authority and the benefit of the Articles of Peace is apparent by this Declaration and Excommunication wherein they direct the People to return to their Association which is inconsistent with both And by the Answer of the Bishops at Galloway to the Commissioners whereof We shall have occasion to speak hereafter And where they charge Us with Envy to the Nation for doing Our Duty to the King We hope to have given such proof of the contrary as hath satisfied the most interested Men in the Nation And We conceive We could not have manifested Our Affection to it by a more Signal Instance than by offering to leave his Majesty's Authority in the Person of the Lord Marquess of Clanrickard and to withdraw Our Self to sollicite for Supplies when it was most probable they might be got finding that our being a Protestant gave these Declarers some advantage to withdraw the People from their Obedience to Us. As to the 12th Article Answer to the 12th Article we are not willing to look back so far as to the time when by his Majesties Command and Commission We bore Arms in the War against the Confederates but must justify Our Self that We were never active in unnatural execution against them but have many times suffered much Calumny for Our desire of preserving many of them that fell into our Hands as some in that Assembly can witness who were by Our means preserved and if they think fit may testify as much But if the Declarers oppose Our being active then to Our unactivity this last Summer as an Argument of Our want of desire to oppose the Enemy We answer That in the time they mention We had free election of Officers the absolute Power of Dublin and other Garrisons where We caused the Soldiers to be continually exercised their Arms kept in order and could in a short time when We pleased have drawn the Army together and marched with it where We pleased Advantages which rendred the Victories We gained full as easy as those gotten by the Enemy against Us have been upon the like advantage on their part It is true that all this last Summer We and the Lord Inchiquin have continued in Connaught and Thomond where there was no Enemy But it is also true ☜ that We were not suffered to have the means of preparing an Army fit to seek or oppose an Enemy as We have set down in Our Letter of the Second of August to the Bishops at James-Town recited formerly upon another Occasion And since they here mention the Lord Inchiquin with Us We think fit to mind divers in that Assembly to whom it is well known that many of the Bishops did long since upon several Occasions declare that all their Suspicion and the Suspicion the People held of Us was by reason of the Power the Lord Inchiquin had with Us. And that during his continuance in Imployment or the continuance of any of his Party in the Army it was not possible for them to remove that Suspicion out of the Minds of the People But that if his Lordship were once out of Command and his Party removed they doubted not full and chearful Obedience would be given Us. Hereupon his Lordship voluntarily withdrew himself from having to do with the Conduct of the Army ☜ yet is he by these Men charged for want of Activity When his Lordship had thus waved his Imployment and his Party were gone off and that they had wrought the like distrust of the remainder of the Party that came off to Us from Dublin and other Parts so that nâ—w We were forced likewise to send them away then they judgâ—â—â—t a fit time for them to declare also against Us. Then divers â—â—â—ops and other Church-men changed their Note and dealt undeâ—â—â—and with the Lord Inchiquin to stay in the Kingdom though We should go saying That the distrust and dislike of the People was only against Us and not against him Then they fell first to call their Meeting at James-Town and then to publish this Declaration from which they were with-held for fear all the time the foresaid Parties were with Us. This We suspected would be the issue of their working away the Protestant Party and of all their Promises Yet to leave them wholly without Excuse and to satisfy some that believed better of them We consented to part with those Men of whose Courage and Fidelity to his Majesty and Affection to Us We had good Experience and cast our Self wholly upon the Assurances these Bishops and
REX ET REGINA BEATI HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE · R. White scul Printed for Ioseph Watts in S t Pauls Church Yard HIBERNIA ANGLICANA OR THE HISTORY OF IRELAND From the Conquest thereof by the ENGLISH To this Present Time WITH An Introductory Discourse touching the Ancient State of that Kingdom and a New and Exact Map of the same PART I. By RICHARD COX Esq Recorder of Kingsale Ardua res est vetustis novitatem dare obsoletis nitorem obscuris lucem dubiis fidem Plin. Attamen audendum est veritas investiganda quam si non omnino Assequeremur tamen propius ad eam quam nunc sumus tandem perveniemus LONDON Printed by H. Clark for Ioseph Watts at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXIX TO THEIR Most Excellent Majesties WILLIAM AND MARY By the Grace of God King and Queen OF England Scotland France and Ireland Defenders of the Faith c. May it please Your Majesties I Should not presume to lay this Treatise at Your Royal Feet but that it concerns a Noble Kingdom which is one of the most considerable Branches of Your Mighty Empire It is of great Advantage to it that it is a Subordinate Kingdom to the Crown of England for it is from that Royal Fountain that the Streams of Justice Peace Civility Riches and all other Improvements have been derived to it Campion 15. so that the Irish are as Campion says beholding to God for being conquered Davis 2. And yet Ireland has been so blind in this Great Point of its true Interest that the Natives have managed almost a continual War with the English ever since the first Conquest thereof so that it has cost Your Royal Predecessors an unspeakable Mass of Blood and Treasure to preserve it in due Obedience But no Cost can be too great where the Prize is of such Value and whoever considers the Situation Ports Plenty and other Advantages of Ireland will confess That it must be retained at what rate soever because if it should come into an Enemy's Hands England would find it impossible to flourish and perhaps difficult to subsist without it To demonstrate this Assertion it is enough to say That Ireland lies in the Line of Trade and that all the English Vessels that sail to the East West and South must as it were run the Gauntlet between the Harbours of Brest and Baltimore And I might add That the Irish Wool being transported would soon ruine the English-Clothing-Manufacture Hence it is that all your Majesties Predecessors have kept close to this Fundamental Maxim Of retaining Ireland inseparablely united to the Crown of England And though King Henry II may seem to deviate from this Rule by giving the Kingdom to his Son John yet this is to be said for him That he thought the Interest and Expectations his Son had in England would be security enough against his Defection and the rather because he could not then keep Ireland without continual Aids and Supplies from hence However this very Example was thought so dangerous that Ireland was never given away since that time except once by Henry the Third and then only to the Prince who was his Heir apparent and on this express Condition Ita quod non separetur a Corona Angliae I do not mention that unaccountable Patent to Robert de Vere Earl of Oxford and Duke of Ireland not only because there was a Tenure by Homage reserved so that it was not a total Alienation and because it was but for Life and cum mixto Imperio but chiefly because it never took effect so that it was but Vmbratilis Honor cito evanuit But it is needless to tell your Majesties That Ireland must not be separated from England or to solicit your speedy Reduction of that Kingdom since the loss of it is incompatible with Your Glory and to suffer the Ruin of four hundred thousand Irish Protestants meerly for their adherence to Your Majesties and their Religion is inconsistent with your Goodness But in Truth the Recovery of Ireland was not proper for Your Majesty's Undertaking until it became difficult beyond the Hopes of others any Body can do easie things but it is Your Majesty's peculiar Talent to atchieve what all the rest of the World think Impossible Your Majesty did so in buoying up a sinking State and restoring it to a more Glorious Condition than ever it was in before And Your Majesty did so again in retrieving from Ruine two expiring Kingdoms that were at their last Gasp and the Recovery of the third is all that remains to consummate your Glory and make You the Darling both of Fame and of Fortune And when that is done Madam the bright Example of your Majesty's Virtue and Piety will influence that degenerate Nation to such a degree of Reformation and Religion as will restore that Kindgdom to its ancient Appellation and Ireland will again be called Insula Sacra That Your Majesty's Glorious Designs for the Advantage of England and the Recovery of Ireland for the Propagation of the Protestant Religion and for the Good of Mankind may be blessed with Success suitable to Your Majesty's Generous and Pious Intentions And that Your Majesties long and happy Reign here may be crowned with Everlasting Happiness hereafter shall be the fervent as well as daily Prayers of May it please Your Majesties Your Majesties most Dutiful most Loyal and most devoted Subject R. COX TO THE READER SInce Ireland is reckoned among the Principal Islands in the World and deserves to be esteemed so whether you consider the Situation of the Country the Number and Goodness of its Harbours the Fruitfulness of the Soil or the Temperature of the Climate it is strange that this Noble Kingdom and the Affairs of it should find no room in History but remain so very obscure that not only the Inhabitants know little or nothing of what has passed in their own Country but even England a Learned and Inquisitive Nation skilful beyond comparison in the Histories of all other Countries is nevertheless but very imperfectly informed in the Story of Ireland though it be a Kingdom subordinate to England and of the highest importance to it This could never be so if there were extant any compleat or coherent History of that Kingdom which indeed there is not those relating to the Times before the Conquest being Fabulous and those since but Scraps and Fragments As for those Histories that treat of the Times before the English-Conquest Doctor Keating's is the best and is exceedingly applauded by some that did and others that did not know better Prospect in Pref. 13. Peter Walsh thinks 't is the only compleat History that we have of all the Invasions Conquests Changes Monarchs Wars and other considerable Matters of that truly ancient Kingdom But after all it is no more than an ill-digested Heap of very silly Fictions And P. W's Prospect which is in effect the Epitomy
And so having wasted that Country he marched into Tyrone where he took and burnt the Castle of Dungannon and preyed and burnt all the Country thereabouts But the Citizens of Dublin had not so good luck for a Company of them thinking that the very Name of the King's Forces could obtain Victories over the Irish made an Incursion into Imaly but being as we say Fresh-Water Soldiers upon the Slaughter of a few of them the rest were frightned back to their Shops The Winter this Year was exceeding Cold and the Ice strong enough to bear all manner of Carriages which is very unusual in Ireland And this Winter Queen Mary was born whose Superstitious Zeal proved as extream Hot as the Weather was Cold. The Fortune and Victories of the Lord Deputy influenced the Irish to be quiet this Year and the Reputation of the Government was somewhat augmented by the Honourable Peace which the King made with the French 1518. in September which was afterwards proclaimed in Dublin In the mean time Ware 54. places this Anno 1597. but is mistaken great were the Dissentions in Ireland between Sir James Ormond a Man of great Courage and Reputation and Sir Pierce Butler a valiant Gentleman about the Earldom of Ormond the former was a Natural Son of John by some called Earl of Ormond elder Brother of Thomas the last Earl and the other was Son of Sir James Butler Son of Sir Edmund Son of Sir Richard Butler who was Brother to James the Fifth Earl of Ormond so that Pierce his Grandfather Sir Edmond was Cozen German to the Deceased Earl Thomas Hereby it appears that the Right to that Earldom was in Sir Pierce who had married the Lady Margaret Fitz-Girald the Lord Deputies Sister nevertheless Sir James having formerly been Lord Treasurer and a very popular Man and probably the Manager of this Estate for his Unkle Thomas who always resided in England by the help of the Tenants got into possession and by the same assistance and his own vigor he kept what he had got without allowing any thing to the right Heir towards his maintenance whereby that Noble Pair Sir Pierce and his Wife were reduced to great extremity It is scarce credible that Persons of that Quality and so well allied should be forced to lurk in Woods and want a Bottle of Wine for their Refreshment Holingsh 84. and yet Stanyhurst reports a formal Story That the Lady Margaret Fitz-Girald Wife of Sir Pierce Butler being great with Child complained to her Husband and their Servant James White that she could no longer live on Milk and therefore earnestly desired them to get her some Wine whereto Sir Pierce replied That she should have Wine enough within twenty four hours or feed alone on Milk for him and immediately he went away with his Page to lie in wait for his Competitor whom he met the next day riding with six Horsemen Attendants between Drumore and Kilkenny March 17. and upon a sudden Sir Pierce rushed in upon him and kill'd him with his Spear and thenceforward enjoyed the Estate in quiet This Year Rokeby Archbishop of Dublin who was likewise Lord Chancellor held a Provincial Synod at Dublin the Canons whereof are to be found in the Registry of the Bishop of Clogker And this Year or the next Art O Neal invaded and wasted O Dogherty's Island of Inisowen in the County of Donegal The Enemies of the Earl of Kildare had the last year done what they could underhand to disgrace him in England but he had so well defended himself by his Friends there 1519. that their Design was ineffectual wherefore they address'd themselves to Cardinal Wolsey and by his means procur'd Kildare to be recalled to answer Articles exhibited against him for Male-administration First Ware 98. That he had enriched himself and Followers by the King's Revenue and Land Secondly That he had Alliance and Correspondence with several Irish he had the King's Leave to substitute a Deputy so he appointed Sir Thomas Fitz-Girald of Lackagh a Knight of his own Family Lord Justice in the mean time Kildare marries in England with Elizabeth Grey Daughter of the Marquess of Dorset by whose means he got favour in England and was dismiss'd but Cardinal Wolsey suggesting the King had neglected Ireland too long and that some worthy man ought to be sent over that was impartial to any Faction or Party and was able to keep them not only more peaceable amongst themselves but also more serviceable to the King to the end that the Blood and Vigor which else would be spent in their Civil Dissentions might be opposed to the common Enemy he procured to be sent into Ireland Thomas Howard Earl of Surrey Lord Admiral of England Wales and Ireland Knight of the Garter Lord Lieutenant 1520. he came over the Wednesday before Whitsontide with an hundred of the Guards and a thousand others Horse and Foot by this the Cardinal obtained a double Advantage first In disappointing his Enemy the Earl of Kildare of the Government of Ireland and secondly In removing the Earl of Surry from the Court of England where he was a great Favourite On Whitsunday the Lord Lieutenant was alarum'd with a Report That Con Buckah O Neal who by Popular Election succeeded his Brother Art had invaded Meath with four thousand Horse and twelve thousand Foot says Paulus Jovius but falsly Surry was in haste to encounter the Rebel not doubting but that the Victory would be an honourable and happy Omen of his future Government and therefore adding to his small Army such of the Militia called The Risings out of City and Country as he could get on so short warning he marched to Slane but O Neal was frightned with the Name of this General and retir'd so fast that the Lord Lieutenant could neither find him nor his Army but not long after O Neal sent Letters to implore Pardon which was granted him on promise of future Obedience On the sixth of September the Lord Lieutenant wrote to the Cardinal That some Soldiers had seized on a Boat with design to be Pyrates but being prevented and apprehended they continued in Gaol because they could not be capitally punished by the Common Law and he had no Clause of Martial Law in his Commission as indeed he had not nor of conferring Knighthood which is strange and the better to ingratiate with the Cardinal he added That the Earl of Kildare will be found guilty of sending Letters to O Carol to raise a Rebellion and that if Kildare should be suffered to come to Ireland the whole Kingdom will be undone and he concludes That there is so great a Scarcity and Dearth in Ireland that the Soldier cannot live on four pence a day and therefore desires that a penny a day may be added to their Pay In October Lib. CCC the King wrote to the Lord Lieutenant That there will never be a thorough Reformation in Ireland until all
the Irish are amesnable to Law and have the Benefit of it and not long after a Commission of Martial Law and of conferring Knighthood was sent to the Lord Lieutenant and he was ordered to Knight O Neal and other Irish Potentates and the King sent a Collar of Gold to O Neal and ordered the Lord Lieutenant to prevail with them if possible to visit the King and Court of England in hopes to inure him to Civility and a regular way of Living and the same Letter orders Surry to propose a Match between the Earl of Ormond's Son and Sir Thomas Bullen's Daughter In the mean time the Earl of Kildare was set at liberty on Bail his Adversaries not being able to prove any thing to the purpose against him and soon after he was received into Favour and attended the King into France and was present at the Interview of both Kings near Calice Maurice Fitz-Thomas of Lackagh was basely murdered by the O Moors in Leix and Maurice Earl of Desmond being dead his Son and Successor James soon after met the Lieutenant at Waterford where the Earls of Ormond and Desmond by his means were reconciled and mutually perfected Indentures of Agreement and gave Hostages for the performance of them The Earl of Surry was brisk upon the Birns 1521. and in October drove them from place to place into their Fastnesses and lurking holes which gave Quiet to the rest of the Pale and it had need of it for by the wetness of the Harvest Corn became very scarce This Lieutenant was resolved to make the Army serviceable and as an instance of his Discipline he disbanded Sir John Bulmer's Troop for their Inexperience or Cowardize Surry calls a Parliament which met at Dublin the fourth of June and Enacted many good Laws viz. 1. That wilful Burning of Houses or Reeks of Corn be Treason 2. That the Transporter of Wool or Flocks shall forfeit double Value 3. Because there are but few Free-holders in the four Shires where the King's Law is used therefore he that has ten Marks per annum may be Juror in Attaint This Parliament ended after several Prorogations the twenty first of May 1522 and not in March as it is in Sir James Ware 's Annals 102. Whilst Surry was at Dinner in the Castle of Dublin News was brought him that the O Mores who had confederated with the O Conners O Carol and other Irish against the English which they counted the common Enemy were on the Borders of the Pale wherefore as well to repel them as to revenge the aforesaid Murder of Maurice Fitz-Thomas the Lord Lieutenant accompanied with the Mayor of Dublin and a choice Band of Citizens and several of the Nobility and their Attendants invaded Leix which is a Country full of Woods and Bogs The Irish divided their Forces into several Parties and having Intelligence that the Carriages and Baggage of the Army was slenderly guarded they took their opportunity to attack that part and did it so briskly that several of the Lord Lieutenant's Soldiers fled but the Valour of Patrick Fitz-Simons is recorded by the Historian to have preserved that necessary Concern of the Army and to have cut off and brought to the Mayor's Tent two of the Rebels Heads Nor perhaps had so small a thing been known to the Lord Lieutenant or recorded in History but by the means of Fitz-Simons's his Enemies for the cowardly Soldiers that fled laid the blame on Fitz-Simons who to justifie himself produced the two Heads and retorted the Crime of Cowardise upon his Accusers and so obtained both Reward and Honour by a great but frequent Providence of Divine Justice that turns even the Malice of our Enemies to our Advantage It must be observed That in these Irish Wars it was harder to find the Enemy than conquer them O More 's Army that was just now in a Body formidable to the Pale is now divided into small Parties and those sculking in thick Woods and deep Bogs Whilst the Lord Lieutenant marched through these Wildernesses a Rebel that lay in Ambush on the side of a Wood shot at him and struck the Vizor off his Helmet but did not hurt him Much ado they had to find the stubborn Tory but at last they got him and Fitz-Williams and Bedlow were forced to hew him to piecs for he would not yield This Accident manifested the Danger of the March and turned their Arms into Offaly where they besieged Monaster-pheoris but after a Day or two the Garrison frightned with the great Guns ran a way by Night So Surry left a Garrison there and burnt the Country till the twenty third of July But O Conner had not only removed the Corn and Cattle beforehand to deprive the English of Sustenance and Prey but very wisely invaded Meath hoping by that Diversion to preserve his Country But whether Surry's Expedition and Intelligence occasioned it or that the Rebels designed to fight him it matters not since it is certain that they met Ware 's Annals 104. and that whatever they resolved or bragged of beforehand when it came to the Tryal their Hearts failed them and Surry got a Victory almost without Blow and made great Slaughter in the Pursuit his only Loss being the valiant Lord of Dunsany who probably was too eager in the the Chase of the Rebels O Carol pretended that the Earl of Kildare had instigated him to this Rebellion However as Surry phrases it in his Letter to the King he made Peace with the King and his Lieutenant and gave his Son and Brother Hostages for the performance of it In the mean time Cardinal Wolsy who was Legate de latere in England sent over Bulls and Dispensations into Ireland by his Factor and Register John Allen Lib. CCC but it seems they did not turn to account for Allen in his Letter to the Cardinal complains they went off but slowly because the Irish had so little sense of Religion that they married within the Levitical Degrees without Dispensations and also because they questioned his Grace's Authority in Ireland especially out of the Pale O Donel was lately returned from Rome and by Letters and Messages promised great Matters as well from his own People as the Scottish Islanders if he might be received into Favour Ibid. wherewith the Lord Lieutenant was so wheedled that he not only granted his Pardon but highly commended his Loyalty in a Letter to the King And in confidence of O Donel's Integrity the Lord Lieutenant accompanied by O Neal and four hundred Horse four hundred Gallowglasses and eight hundred Kerne undertook an Expedition into Maâ— Mlaghlins Country but O Donel most perfidiously took the Opportunity of O Neal's Absence to invade him and Mac Genis and burnt seventeen Villages in their Countries and took considerable Preys whereupon O Neal was forced to return and Surry's Expedition was Fruitless This Lord Lieutenant wrote a notable Letter to the King on the thirtieth of June Lib.
Rebels to enter the City and animate them more to fight within than without the Walls and they also believed That very many of Fitz-Girald's Army being Inhabitants of the Pale and forced to the Camp were in their Hearts for the City and this they were induced to believe because most part of the Arrows shot over the Walls were unheaded Upon these Considerations they resolved to sally and gave out from the Walls That new Succours were come from England and as if it had been so immediately rushed out through Fire and Flame and the Enemy believing they were new-arrived Soldiers and that the Citizens durst not adventure so briskly immediately fled leaving one hundred Gallowglasses slain and their Falcon taken Thomas Fitz-Girald himself lurked at the Grey-Fryers in Francis-street till next morning and then he got to the remainder of his shattered Army In the mean time the Earl of Kildare was committed to the Tower Holingshead 88 because he had contrary to the King 's express Command furnished his Castles out of his Majesty's Stores And though he answered That it was done to defend the Pale against the Borderers and that if he designed Treason he was not such a Fool as to fortifie his Castles and at the same time to adventure his Person into their Hands however he stuttered so much and delivered his Speech in such staggering and maffling manner that they concluded him Guilty and committed him And now hearing of his Son's Extravagancies he broke his Heart and died in the Tower in September Fitz-Girald being in great want of Artillery and Ammunition and somewhat cooled by the late defeat sent James Delahide and others to treat with the City upon these Articles I. That his Men that were Prisoners should be enlarged II. That the City should pay one thousand Pound in Mony and five hundred Pound in Wares III. To furnish him Ammunition and Artillery IV. To interceed with the King for his Pardon and his Followers Mr Fitz-Symons Recorder was appointed to answer to the I. That if he would deliver their Children they would enlarge his Men. To the II. That they were impoverished with his Wars and could not spare either Wares or Mony To the III. If he intended to submit he had no need of them if he did not they would not give him Rods to whip themselves That they expected he would request good Vellam Parchment to ingross his Pardon and not Artillery to withstand his Prince To the IV. They promised all Intercession they could by Word or Letter Whilst they were treating thus one William Bath of Dollars-Town a Lawyer stepped forward and said My Masters What need all these Circumstances Let us all drink of one Cup Which Words cost him his Life the next year It seems Fitz-Girald agreed with the Citizens on their own Terms and Hostages being given on both sides he raised his Siege and sent his Artillery to Houth but went himself to Minnooth to see that Castle fortified and furnished In the mean time the two Hamertons with one hundred and eighty Soldiers arrived out of England at Houth and on their March to Dublin were encountred near Clantarf by Thomas Fitz-Girald and two hundred Horsemen and though they fought valiantly and one of the Hamertons wounded Fitz-Girald in the Forehead yet being over-powered they were all slain or taken Prisoners and their Ships were forced from Houth and a Vessel freighted with choice English Geldings was also taken by Captain Rouks Fitz-Girald's Pirate and the Horses were sent to Fitz Girald And not long after landed both the Eglebees and Dacres with their Horsemen at the Skerries and Sir William Brereton and his Son John with two hundred and fifty Soldiers well appointed and Captain Salisbury with two hundred Archers lastly Landed at the Slip near the Bridge of Dublin Sir William Skeffington Lord Deputy he was Master of the Ordnance in England and therefore was by the Irish who put Nick-names upon every Body even of themselves as Dermond Buckagh Tiege Mauntagh c. in derision called The Gunner he was received with great Joy by the City and had the Sword delivered to him by the Lord of Trimletstone who was made Chancellor in the place of Archbishop Cromer Baron Finglass who wrote a M. S. Treatise of the Decay of Ireland was made Chief Justice of the King's Bench as Luttrel was of the Common Pleas and Girald Ailmer Chief Baron of the Exchequer and William Brabazon Vice-Treasurer This Deputy also brought with him Leonard Lord Grey designed Marshal of Ireland and Gracious Letters from the King to the City of Dublin That part of the English Fleet which sailed near Tredagh met with Brode the Pyrate and forced him a Ground so that he and nine of his Men were taken at Tredagh and sent Prisoners to Dublin whereat Fitz-Girald was so much enraged that he threatned to besiege Tredagh and it is probable he marched that way for it was averr'd at Dublin That he was actually before the Town And therefore the Lord Deputy immediatly viz. the twenty eighth of October marched out to raise the Siege of Tredagh and he staied in and about that Town till the fourth of November and then finding no Enemy near that Place he returned to Dublin having first proclaimed Fitz-Girald Traytor at the High Cross of Tredagh The Lord Deputy would have pursued Fitz-Girald and his Confederates but that the Winter was too near and himself was indisposed moreover he daily expected Supplies of Men and Mony from England and he knew that Fitz Girald had strengthned his Party by a new Confederacy with O Neal and O Connor And therefore being necessitated to postpone his Designs till the Spring some say he made a Truce with Fitz-Girald until January but that seems improbable because the Pale suffered exceedingly this Winter the Preservation of which must have been the chief Consideration for a Truce if there were any Fitz-Girald had in his Possession six principal Castles viz Minooth Portlester Rathingan Catherlagh Ley and Athy and having well manned and furnished them he took a Journey into Connaught not doubting but that his Castle of Minooth would hold out till his Return but he was very much out in his Calculation for the Lord Deputy on the fifteenth of March laid Siege to that Castle and placed his Battery on the North Side of the same towards the Park and Sir William Brereton who had slain one hundred of Fitz-Girald's Men on the sixth of March did now summon the Castle of Minooth with Offers of Pardon and Reward to which a scoffing and ludibrious Answer was returned with much boasting after the Irish manner Whereupon the Artillery began to play but made no considerable Breach in a Fortnights time and therefore though it was so closely besieged that there was neither egress or regress from or to the Castle yet being sufficiently provided of all Necessaries and particularly of a good Garrison of an hundred choice men it might have held out
Place to none of them That his Ancestors were Kings of Ulster That he won Ulster by the Sword and would keep it by the Sword Which for some time he performed but he kept it not long The Queen sent Sir Francis Knolls her Vice-Chamberlain to confer with the Deputy about the Suppression of O Neal He arrived at Dublin the seventh day of May and they resolved the Service should be performed the following Winter and that necessary Preparations should be made for it against that time In the mean time O Neal Rendezvouz'd at his House six Mile from Dundalk and Mustered four thousand Foot and seven hundred Horse with which he besieged Dundalk but the Garrison so valiantly defended it that he was forced shamefully to raise his Siege nor had he better Success at Whites-Castle nevertheless he made Inroads and Incursions into the Pale and did much mischief though a small Brigade appointed to watch his Proceedings did so gall and incommode him that he was forced to return with shame and loss But we must look back to July 1565 Davis 63. at which time the Army did not exceed twelve hundred Men until Colonel Randolph with seven hundred Souldiers was sent from England to Derry and there they intrenched and kept themselves safe until the Lord Deputy Sydny came to them and having staid there six days and put things in as good order as was possible he left them fifty Horse under Captain Harvy and seven hundred Foot under Captain Cornwal and a competent quantity of Ammunition Victuals and other Necessaries and so returned through Tyrconnel and Connaught to Dublin But O Neal very well knew that he should not be quiet in Vlster if he suffered that Garrison at Derry and therefore in October 1585. he incamped within two Mile of Derry with two thousand five hundred Foot and three hundred Horse and made many Bravadoes to entice and draw them out from their Garrison and accordingly it hapned but with other Success than O Neal expected For Colonel Randolph sallied out with three hundred Foot and fifty Horse and having made an Halt on the Ground where he designed to fight he there received the Enemies Charge and then fell upon them so suriously that he soon put the Rebels to flight and made them leave four hundred of their Companions dead on the Place without the loss of one Man on the English side except only the Colonel himself who was there slain Colonel Saintlow succeeded him in the Command of the Garrison and lived as quietly as could be desired for the Rebels were so daunted by the former Defeaâ— that they did not dare to make any new Attempt 1566. but unluckily on the twenty fourth day of April the Ammunition took Fire and blew up both the Town and the Fort of Derry whereby twenty Men were killed and all the Victuals and Provisions were destroyed and no possibility left of getting more so that the Soldiers were necessitated to imbark for Dublin only Captain George Harvy and his Troop being loth to kill their Horses took a resolution to march round through Tyrconnel and Connaught and valiantly performed it and although they were forced to march four days through an Enemies Country and were all that time pursued by a multitude of Rebels yet they got safe to Dublin to the great admiration of the Lord Deputy and Council But Mr. Sullevan makes a pleasant Story of this Sullevan 84. and tells us That Saint Columbus or Columkille the Founder and Tutelar Saint of Derry was impatient at the Prophanation of his Church and Cell by the Hereticks the one being made the Repository of the Ammunition and the other being used for their Lutheran Worship and therefore to be revenged on the English for this Sacrilege the Saint assumed the shape of a Wolf and came out from an adjacent Wood and passing by a Smith's Forge he took his Mouth full of red hot coals and ran with it to the Magazine and fiercely spit the Fire into the Room where the Ammunition lay and so set all on fire and forced the Hereticks to seek for new Quarters It seems that Shane O Neal had desired to have a Conference with the L. Deputy near Dundalk to which the L. Deputy consented and came accordingly on the 6th day of May and staid five days but whether Shane O Neal's Mind was altered by this Accident at Derry Irish Stat. 234. or what other Impediment he met with I cannot find but it is certain that he did not come and that he gave the Lord Deputy a second Disappointment in July following But whilst the Lord Deputy was hastning his Preparations to force O Neal to his Duty he received alarms from Munster That the Earl of Desmond was in the Field with two thousand Men and that he designed to joyn O Neal or give the Lord Deputy a Diversion in Munster and it was true that the Earl of Desmond was in the Field with that Force but his Design was to revenge private Injuries which he pretended to have received from the Earl of Ormond the Lords Barry Roch and others and therefore on the Lord Deputy's Summons he appeared at Dublin and together with the Lords Dunboyne and Poer he did according to Order bring up one hundred Horse and accompanied Sir Warham Saintleger to guard the Borders of the Pale whilst the Lord Deputy made the following Expedition to Vlster The Lord Deputy accompanied with the Earl of Kildare 1566. and such others as he thought fit did set out from Tredagh on the seventeenth day of September and encamped that Night at Rosskeath and so marched through Vlster to Galway where he established Sir Edward Fitton President of Connaught and he also took the Castle of Roscommon and left Thomas Lestrange and twenty Horsemen to garrison it and then marched to Athlone where he came on the twenty sixth of October and there discharged the Army and gave Order to build the Bridge of Athlone Hooker 116. In this Journey the Rebels never appeared except once by a Wood near Clogher where they had a small Skirmish wherein several were hurt but never an Englishman slain Contra Cam. as also they appeared with a great Body of Men near Turlogh Lynogh's Castle called the Salmon Eliz. 105. but made no attack The Deputy in this Journey restored O Donel to the Possession of his Country and particularly to the Castles of Ballyshanon and Donegal and received his Homage by Indenture and Oath reserving two hundred Marks per annum to the Queen and a number of Men to every general Hosting in Vlster He also received the Submissions of several that were weary of the Tyranny of O Neal and restored Rosscommon Castle which had been one hundred and forty Years in the Rebels Possession and took O Counot Sligo's Submission and O Connor Dun's Offlyn's c. all which yielded to pay Rent c. And so he retrieved to the Crown a County eighty
necessitated William Burk with his Bownaghts to follow his Brother Tyrrel into O Carol's Country and O Sullevan himself and O Connor Kerry were glad to accompany them thither but these Fugitives did not pass so luckily and scotfree as Tyrrel did for Teige Mac Owen Carty on the skirts of Muskny and John Barry near Liscarrol gave them severe rebukes and the Sheriff of Typerary fell smartly upon their rear whil'st the rest were passing the Shennin in their Nevoges and even in the County of Galway Sir Thomas Burk and Captain Malby gave them disturbance but their despair made them victorious in that encounter and they bravely forced their way with the slaughter of Malby and many of his Soldiers and got safely into O Bowrk's Country On the fifth of January Captain Taffe had the good fortune to kill the valiant Apostolick Vicar Owen mac Egan and 140 of his followers near the River of Bandon which was followed by the submission of all the Rebels in Carbry and it is observed of this zealous Vicar that he never pardon'd any Irish-man tho' a Papist that serv'd the Queen but would as soon as they came before him have them confessed absolv'd and executed These good Successes were followed by the defeat and ruine of the Lord of Lixnaw whose party was totally routed by Captain Boys and all his substance taken and 80 of his Men killed as also by the taking of the strong Castles of Kilcoe and Berengary and so all Munster being reduc'd to obedience the Lord President prepared for his Voyage to England and left Sir Charles Wilmot and Sir George Thornton joynt Governors of that Province And thus ended this mighty Rebellion which from a small beginning grew to be the most general and dangerous defection that ever was in Ireland to that time which could never have happened but for the gripple-handedness as Cambden phrases it and slighting of England nor was this the first time that the Queen had been a Penny wise and a Pound otherwise in managing the Affairs of Ireland and had paid dear for her frugality as she did in this War which might have been prevented at first with the twentieth part of what it cost afterward for the Charge of this one Year from the first of April 1601 to the first of April 1602 amounted to no less than 322502 l. 1 s. 0d The Rebels in the course of this War were exceedingly troubled that some of the Papists continued Loyal to the Queen and they bitterly exclaim'd against the Popish Priests of English extraction that justified the Opinion they might lawfully do so and to convince them of their error the Rebels did not only procure a Bull from Pope Clement the Eighth dated the 8th of April 1600. giving such plenary remission of sins to those that fight against the Hereticks in Ireland as to those that fight against the Turks and his Holines's Letter of the 20th of January 1601. directed to Tyrone to animate him and his followers to persevere in their Rebellion but also procured the Censures of the Universities of Salamanca and Valladolid that it was mortal sin for a Papist to fight against Prince O Neal the Champion of the Church who militates for the Catholick Faith and that they cannot be forgiven till they desert the Hereticks Service and Mr. Sullevan thinks he has nickt it when he calls the contrary Opinion Insanam vene nosam doctrinam It seems that the Earl of Twomond remembring the severe Government of Fitton President of Connaugh whil'st he was in England made his humble Suit to the Queen that the County of Clare might be re-annexed to Munster whereof it was formerly a part whereupon the Queen the 29th of July 1602. wrote to the Lord Deputy and Council on that Subject and on the 4th of October she wrote positively to renew the Earl's Commission to use Martial Law in that County and to put him into all Commissions of Oyer and Terminor Goal-delivery c. next to the President and Chief Justice and to continue his Band of 200 Men and his Entertainment of 10 s. a Day and to reunite Twomond to Munster unless they found great reason to the contrary they debated the matter and 't was alledg'd for the reunion 1. The Name Thomond i. e. North Munster which proves it was originally part of Munster and so has continued 1300 Years 2. It was inhabited by Munster-men the O Bryans being setled on both sides the River Shenin their Language and Pronunciation is the same and since there is an Alliance between them they ought not to be seperated 3. Twomond was formerly part of the County of Lymerick and the Inhabitants have been often tryed for Life and Estate by Judges and Commissioners at Lymerick but of late the County being too large part of it was made a separate County by name of the County of Clare but nevertheless was subject to the Governours of Munster 4. It was first united to Connaugh at the importunity of Fitâ—on because Roscomon Sligo and Mayo were not amesnable to Law this brought great inconveniency to Thomond till it was reunited and Sir Nicholas Malby procured it again to be seperated and so it continued till the Earl got the Martial Government of it and his Company is of the List of Munster 6. It is necessary the President of Munster who governs Lymerick should have command on both sides the River Shenin to prevent the design of foreign Enemies 7. Part of Twomond is within the Liberties of Lymerick and must not de dispunishable till remedy can be had from Conaugh 8. Lymerick is the Sanctuary and Bulwark of Twomond and the fittest place to keep it in order and therefore the Citizens have purchased good Estates in Twomond and it would be very inconvenient to have them and their Estates under several Governments 9. Twomond is in the Province of Cashel the Arch-bishoprick of Munster and these Reasons prevailing the County of Clare was again made part of Munster But my Friends at Ballyvorny would never forgive me if I should omit the Indulgence granted by Pope Clement the Eighth to such as in devotion go unto Gobonet's-Church in Muskry in the County of Cork which follows in these words UNiversis Christi fidelibus praesentes literas inspecturis salutem Apostolicam benedictionem Lib. N. N. N. 77. ad augendum fidelium Religionem animarum salutem coelestibus ecclesiae thesauris pia charitate intenti Omnibus utriusque sextus Christi fidelibus vere penitentibus confessis ac sacra communione reflectis qui ecclesiam parochialem Sanctae Gobonetae loci Ballyvorni Clunensi dioc ' die Festo ejusdem Sanctae Goboneuae à primis vesperis usque ad Occasum solis praedicti festi singulis annis devote visitaverint ibi pro Christianorum principum concordia Heresum extirpatione ac Sanctae Matris ecclesiae exaltatione pias ad deum preces effuderint decem annos totidem quadragenas de
againg the English at Bunratty and on the Eighth of April sent the Lord Lieutenant word That a Fleet was seen at Sea which they were afraid would land Men near the Sheuin and therefore they had sent Three thousand of the Forces design'd for England to reduce Bunratty So that no more of the Irish Army was sent over than Three hundred Men under Milo Power which were design'd a Guard for the Prince of Wales and went to him to Scilly together with the Lord Digby in May in order to convey the Prince into Ireland Whereupon Ormond who was as sensible as any Man alive of the Levity of the Irish having receiv'd a Letter from the King of the Third of April recommending to his especial Care the Management of His Majesty's Affairs in Ireland as he shall conceive most for the King's Honor and Service caused that Letter to be printed that the Irish might know that there was no Peace to be expected from any other Hand than his And having informed the King by his Letter of the Seventh of April That the Treaty was so far concluded that Matters of Religion were submitted to His Majesty and the King oblig'd to nothing unless assisted in Proportion and Time mentioned in His Majesty's Letter of the First of December he was as industrious as could be to make that Peace effectual to His Majesty by a speedy Publication and a considerable Supply But finding the promised Succors diverted another way he began to despair of any Good from the Confederates And whilst he was in this Opinion the Earl of Argile and the rest of the Scots Commissioners being come over endeavoured by their Letter of the Fifteenth of April to renew the Treaty with him and tho' they did propose to have some of their Soldiers admitted into Dublin and that Ormond should submit to King and Parliament yet there were mutual Passports granted for Commissioners to Treat and the Interest of both Parties centring in the Prosecution of the Common Enemy inclin'd them to Moderation and gave great hopes of Success when the News of the King's Surrender to the Scots drew Argile home to his own Country ☜ and so the Treaty was dissolved However Ormond and the Irish could not agree and it is no wonder for they aim'd at quite different Ends. The Confederates design'd to expel the English out of Ireland under the Names of Fanaticks Parliamentarians the King's Enemies c. and Ormond design'd to get Ten thousand Irish to be sent to the King's Assistance in England The Irish intended to preserve their Government in the Form of a distinct Republick and the Lord Lieutenant hoped to reduce them to the Condition of Subjects And accordingly their Negotiations were managed on both Sides with a Tendency to their respective Ends insomuch that the Confederates in the Sixth Article of their Instructions of the Seventeenth of April to Mr. Nicholas Plunket order him to let his Excellency know That if he cause the Articles of Peace deposited with the Lord Clanriccard to be proclaim'd that then they must publish those Articles concerning Religion made with the Earl of Glamorgan and that it is not in their power to do otherwise for fear of losing their Foreign Friends and the danger of a Rupture at home But in the Two next Instructions they add That if Ormond will agree that they may on all Sides fight to clear the Kingdom of the Common Enemy that then their Councils in Civil and Martial Matters shall be manag'd by his Advice and he shall have as much Influence over their Debates ☜ us if he sat at the Board and as much Power as he was to have by the Articles during the Interval of Parliament And in their Additional Instructions of the Tenth of May they repeat to the same effect and desire the Nuncio may be countenanced and order their Agent to declare how they may be necessitated not to relie more upon his Excellency if he keep himself longer in suspence But on the other side the Lord Lieutenant very well unerstood the Inconvenience of joyning with the Irish by way of League which would be a tacit Allowance of their Government and therefore resolved not to unite with them upon any other Terms than that of the Peace And tho' he stood in great need of an Agreement with them yet not having fresh Orders to proceed in the Peace since the Condition of Transporting Men was not perform'd he could not have published the Peace if they would have consented to it and therefore he was glad to find them making Objections against it to which he * * 2 June return'd this Answer That if they publish'd Glamorgan ' s Articles that then he would in the Name of the King publickly disavow them as His Majesty had already done And in this manner the Intercourse and Correspondence between them was kept afoot and upon the Arrival of the Lord Digby on the Fourth of July with positive Verbal Orders to make the Peace they began to treat more closely Nevertheless that did not hinder the Confederates from pursuing their little Advantages underhand as appears by the following Letter of the Thirteenth of July from some of their Leading Men to General Preston WE beseech you in plain English give no Credit to my Lord Digby nor to any that goeth double ways and remember Lucan Seem nevertheless to trust him and lose no Advantage upon any Pretence whatsoever when you may do it with Safety If the Enemy have the Harvest quel consequences As you are a Catholick or Patriot Spare no Man that will not joyn with you for Kindred Religion or any other Pretence whatsoever If the King's Condition doth not forthwith Master the Parliament ☞ it will beget a bloody War there if he do absolutely Master them judge in both Cases how necessary it is the Army and Nation be considerable and able to stand upon their own Legs Burn or Master the Enemies Corn and Hay till the Body of the Army come with resulted Strength Several strong Parties may do good Service In case you undertake Trim or Minooth be sure to Master Naas Siggingsâ—own and Harristown and rather Demolish them than they should do hurt If Siggingstown and Harristown be not burnt they will do the Country hurt For your Lordship and General Birne only But in the midst of the Treaty between Ormond and the Irish there happened two strange Accidents the one was the King's Surrender of himself to the Scots near Newark the Fifth of May and the other was a great Victory Owen Roe obtain'd over the Scots and British at Bemburb on the Fifth of June which exposed the whole Province of Ulster to his Mercy if the Nuncio's Avocation of him to oppose the Supream Council had not prevented it as shall be shewn hereafter But these two grand Accidents must be handled apart and it is but Reason and Duty that we give preference to that of the King His Majesty was
agreed against the Common Enemy and in their Abhorrence and Mistrust of the Irish so that the Privy Council represented to his Excellency That they had deserved as well of the King as Subjects possibly could either by Doing or Suffering and therefore they hoped he would not expose them to the Mercy of their cruel and hereditary Enemies ☞ who by their late Perfidiousness had made themselves incapable of Trust and therefore they desired him again to Treat with the Parliaments Commissioners who would at least perform the Conditions they promise which could not be relied on from the Irish And it is said That his Excellency did rather incline to this Advice because he knew that the Design of many in this Irish Rebellion was intirely to alienate the Kingdom of Ireland from the Crown of England P. W. Remonstrance 583. and to extirpate not only the Protestants but also all the English tho' Catholicks That the Nuncio-Party design'd to separate it from England and to put Ireland under the Protection of some Foreign Prince unless they could advance one of the Old Irish Families to the Throne And accordingly Mr. Anthony Martin in the last General Assembly did propose to call in some Foreign Prince for Protection And so the Lord Lieutenant and Council being reduced to so great straits that they had but Seventeen Barrels of Powder leâ—t and no Magazins either of Stores or Victuals nor any Money either to buy more or to pay the Army did agree to resign the Kingdom to the Parliament for these Reasons 1. It was observed ☜ That no Exercise of the Protestant Religion was so much as tolerated where the Confederates had the Command and that if all the Churches in His Majesty's Quarters should be given or suffered to be taken to the Use of the Romish Religion it would too much countenance the Reproaches of His Majesty's Inclinations to Popery and might be dangerously applied by those who had His Majesty's Life in their Power 2. That it could not be for His Majesty's Honor to have those Subjects and Servants who had stuck to His Cause after all besides was lost in His Three Kingdoms to be at last subjected to the Tyranny of those who then ruled among the Irish whose Persidy was so manifest and their Malice so great as to give Rest to the Parliament Forces and to unite all their Power against those only who had carried Peace to their very Doors Lastly It was known how many Agents the Irish had employed abroad and what Publick Ministers had Reception with them as from the Pope the Kings of France and Spain That if the Garisons now held were put into the Hands of the Two Houses of Parliament they would revert by Treaty or otherwise whenever His Majesty should in England recover His Rights but if either given or left to these Confederates there was little hopes of Restitution while any Foreign Prince should think his Affairs secured or advanced by consuming the Blood and Treasure of England in this Dispute And so on the Fifth of February they made an Act of Council which recites their sad Condition and impowers the Lord Lieutenant to renew the Treaty with the Parliament for the Surrender of Dublin and quitting the Government And accordingly his Excellency did the next day write to Wharton and Salway two of the Parliament Commissioners That he was now satisfied in the Point he scrupled at viz. the King's Orders and therefore was willing to surrender the Government on the Terms formerly propos'd and desir'd that Succors might be sent immediately Hereupon the Parliament did order 3 March That if Ormond would give one of his Sons Hostage for Performance together with the Earl of Roscomon Colonel Chichester and Sir James Ware that then Coot's Regiment of Horse and Monroe's and Fenwick's Regiments of Foot at that time in Ulster should march to his Assistance and that the Lords of Insiquin and Ardes should give the Enemy Diversion And accordingly the Lord Richard Butler afterwards Earl of Arran was sent Hostage to Chester and the aforesaid Three Regiments were received in Ormond's Garisons and the Lord Insiquin sent his Excellency Twenty Barrels of Powder and half a Tun of Match and on the Seventeenth of March the Earl of Roscomon Colonel Arthur Chichester and Sir James Ware were sent to the Committee at Derby-house to be Hostages for Performance of the Agreement with the Parliament and to solicit That Papists always adhering to the King and Papists that got out of the Rebels Quarters as soon as they could and Papists remaining in the Rebels Quarters that have shewed constant good Affections c. may be indemnified That Ormond may have leave to wait on the King and that the other Lords and Gentlemen may have Posses to go through England That Ormond may have leave to transport as many Papists to foreign Service as will go with him for which Liberty he will remit Ten thousand Pound That no Oaths other than those of Fidelity may be imposed on any Protestant and that the Common Prayer and their respective Imployments may be continued to them But they were told by the English Committee That they were Hostages and not Commissioners And on the same 17th day of March the Parliament of Ireland which had before made an Address to the Parliament of England for Protection quod vide Burlace 178 did remonstrate their Gratitude to the Marquiss of Ormond in the following Address signed by the Speakers of both Houses The Remonstrance of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled declaring the Acknowledgment of their hearty Thankfulness to the most Honourable James Marquiss of Ormond Lord Lieutenant General of Ireland His Excellency VVE the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament in Our whole Body do present Our selves before your Lordship acknowledging with great Sense and feeling your Lordships singular Goodness to Us the PROTESTANT PARTY and those who have faithfully and constantly adhered unto them who have been preserved to this day under God by your Excellencies Providence and Pious Care which has not been without a vast Expence out of your own Estate as also to the hazarding of your Person in great and dangerous Difficulties And when your Lordship found your Self with the Strength remaining with you to be too weak to resist an insolent and upon all Advantages perfidious and bloody Enemy rather than we should Perish You have in your Care transferred Us into their hands that are both able and willing to preserve Us and that not by a bare casting Us off but by complying so far with Us that you have not denied our Desires of Hostages and amongst them of one of your most dear Sons All which being such a free Earnest of your Excellencies Love to our Religion Nation and both Houses do incite Us here to come unto you with Hearts filled with your Love and Tongues declaring how much We are obliged to your Excellency
Lord-Lieutenant and consequently of the King's Authority placed in him was done by the * Vnanimi universi cleri consensu vindiciae versae 25. Universal Consent of the Clergy Nor is this Affront to be wondered at being done with some sort of Order and Formality but it would amaze one to see the Captain of the Guard of young Men at Galway with the Rabble at his heels searching in every Corner for the Lord-Lieutenant as a Criminal or a Thief not but that they knew he was not in the Town but they did it at the instigation of the Clergy meerly to bring contempt on his Person and Authority and for the same reason that we hang fugitive Traytors in Effigie And which is yet more strange when Mr. Beling to lessen the Guilt of the Irish would palliate the matter by saying they did not force the Lord-Lieutenant out of the Kingdom Constat enim eum tum discessisse quia Prelati omnes unanimiter sub censuris vetuerant ne ullus illius pareret mandatis aut partes Sequeretur Vindiciae Eversae 173. The Reverend Father Ponce flies in his face and being loath to lose the merit of such a glorious Action he affirms That they did expel the Lord-Lieutenant and that they did force him away as much as a Man is forced to leave a sinking Ship 'T is true says he Ormond might have staid but no body would have obeyed him after our Excommunication and therefore we may truly say We compelled him to go And thus do these bigotted Zealots glory in their Shame and after all this have the confidence to claim the benefit of the Articles of 1648 which they had thus so publickly and so peremptorily not only violated but dissolved Non discessit ergo lubens nisi ut lubens voluntarit projicit quis metu naufragii merces in mare ne navis ipsemet una peâ—eat sic autem lubentem discessisse non arguit quin potestate Prelatorum factum sit ut discesserit Ibidem Sufficiebat ad expulsionem Ormonii Prelatos cavisse sub Excomunicatione ne quis partes ejus sequeretur ne quis obtemperet mandatis quamvis esset prorâ—â— Ibid. 174. But as these Prelates were exceeding rash in denouncing this Excommunication so they were altogether as light and inconstant in the publication of it for it was not promulged until the 15th day September and the very next day they suspended it again as appears by the following Letters to the Officers of the Army SIRS YEsterday we have received an Express from the rest of our Congregation at Galway bearing their sence to suspend the effects of the Excommunication proclaimed by their Orders till the Service of Athlone he performed fearing on the one side the Dispersion of the Army and on the other having received most certain intelligence of the Enemies approach unto that place with their full force and number of fighting Men and thereupon would have us concur with them in suspending the said Excommunication As for our part we do judge that Suspension unnecessary and full of Inconveniencies which we apprehend may ensue because the Excommunication may be obeyed and the Service not neglected if People were pleased to undertake the Service in the Clergy's Name without relation to the Lord of Ormond or any that may take his part Yet fearing the Censure of Singularity in Matters of so high a strain against us or to be deemed more forward in Excommunicating than others also fearing the weakness of some which we believe the Congregation feared we are pleased to follow the Major Vote and against our own Opinion concur with them and do hereby suspend the said Censure as above Provided always that after that Service performed or the Service be thought unnecessary by the Clergy or when the said Clergy will renew it it shall be presently incurred as if the said Suspension had never been interposed And so we remain Corbeg Sept. 16 1650. Your Affectionate Loving Friends In Christ Jesus Walter B. Clonfert Charles Kelly Nor is the following Letter less remarkable Our very good Lords and Sirs THe Colonels Mr. Alexander mac Donnel Bryen O Neil and Randal mac Donnel like Obedient Children of Holy Church have offered themselves to put up for the Clergy and that before publication of the Declaration and Excommunication God will bless their good intentions They go now to joyn with you on this side the Shannon and by making one Body to put forward our Cause This is the best way we can think of to encourage the Well-affected and curb the Malignant and Obstinate The Lord Bishop of Killaloe being taken Prisoner by the Lord-Lieutenant the Cavaliers would have had him forthwith hanged if his Excellency had given way thereunto His Excellency is giving Patents to as many Catholicks as are Excommunication-proof Ireland is an accursed Country that hath so many rotten Members Though things go hard with us God will bring the Work to a good end When you meet with those Colonels confer of what Service to take in hand Est periculum in Mora Praying to God to protect you in your Ways we remain To our very good Lords the Earl of Westmeath the Lords Bishops of Leighlin Cloanmacnois and Dromore Sir James Preston Colonel Bryan mac Pheilim and the rest of the Commanders of the Leinster Forces Galway Sept. 21st 1650. Your very Loving Friends Joan. Rapotensis Fr. Aladensis Nich. Fernensis But the folly of this Congregation was yet more manifest in that they set the People loose from all Government Civil and Military at a time when a potent Enemy was in the Field without directing them whom to obey any otherwise than by resorting to their Association until a General Assembly And if the Forces with Ormond and Clanrickard had obeyed this wild Declaration or thereby taken occasion to disperse the English would have passed the Shenin at both ends and would have spoiled both the Assembly and Congregation as they afterwards did And it is the more strange that the Popish Clergy should presume to dispose of the Supreme Authority and make themselves Judges of the Administration of Government because if the Articles of Peace had been violated the Commissioners of Trust were the proper Judges of that matter However those Prelates were resolved not to submit to any Government but in such manner and by such Persons as they should like which plainly shews how much it doth import the Temporal Magistrate not to trust them nor their Abettors with power enough to bring those matters in dispute In the mean time the Scots having already declared against the Peace with the Irish and having the Ascendant over the King to the degree of imposing the Covenant upon him did also prevail with him much against his will to publish a Declaration against the Peace made with the Confederates which was proclaimed at Dumferling on the 16th of August 1650 By which * Et plane Tiranicam Vindic Eversae 49. Tyranical Declaration
own Subjects and hazard the Quiet of their Kingdoms or States To these we have answered elsewhere We cannot sufficiently wonder that Men having no Spleen or Malice to our person have yet been so transported by their desire to have a Governour to their mind as to asperse us with so many Untruths as they have been detected of in this Discourse Or why if their Charity be such as they speak of they choose not rather to deal freely with us in private when we so often provoked them to it than to joyn with others to keep us here against our inclination as if it were on purpose to send us away irrecoverably blasted in Honour and Reputation by their publick Declaration As to the Commissions here mentioned to be given by us against Limerick the many Provocations Disobediences affronts and Challenges of Dues by the Commissioners applotted on them required much more at our hands than we did Which you will find by the ensuing Discourse though therein we are necessitated to re-assume in part what we formerly said of the demeanor of that City That we having for a long time observed the great Disadvantage his Majesty's Service in the Conduct of the War hath been subject unto for want of Garrisoning the Army in the principal Cities and Towns of this Kingdom whereby the Army could not but be undisciplined and unfit for Action the Country where we have been forced to Quarter them at large burthened and destroyed and the said Cities and Towns on the Defence whereof depended the Preservation of the Kingdom with the Lives Liberties and Fortunes of all his Majesty's good Subjects therein in apparent hazard of being lost upon the approach of an Enemy as by sad Experience hath been verified in the loss of some Places of importance for the want of the seasonable admitting into them of fitting Governours and Garrison Souldiers We did on the 14th of January last propose unto the Commissioners authorized by us in pursuance of the Articles of Peace that then immediately Limerick and other Places should be strongly Garrison'd and Fortified and in pursuance of the said Articles we offered unto them the Names of three Persons of the Roman Catholick Religion that out of them they might choose one for the Command of Limerick But the Plague increasing at Kilkenny together with the necessity of dissolving the Meeting then there and for other important reasons the Election of a Governour of the said City of Limerick was deferred to the end that at our coming thither we might in the manner prescribed by the Articles of Peace make Choice of such a Person and Garrison as might be at once fit for so important a Charge and beyond all possiblity of being lyable to just Exception from that Corporation We leave it to the Commissioners and others that then attended us to witness what pains we there took to satisfie those of that City in the necessity of their speedy receiving a Governour and Garrison in relation to all the Interests that can be of value with any People What our Patience was in passing by many Disrespects and Marks of an Unworthy Distrust put upon us there as particularly the Officer commanding the City Guards neither came to us for Orders nor imparted any to us that no Officer of the Army nor any other Person could without special leave and that hardly obtained from the Mayor be admitted to come to us to receive our Commands and Directions for resisting the Rebels than by this means prevailing in the County of Limerick and other places and that the Lord Viscount Kilmalloc a Peer of the Realm and an Officer of the Army was we being upon the place restrained of his Liberty ☜ for no other reason than for Quartering by our Orders for one night some few Horse under his Command in the Liberties of the City When through such their Deportment we despaired of perswading them to the ways leading to their proper Safety and also judged it far beneath the Honour of our Master to remain any longer in a Place where such Affronts were put upon his Authority intrusted with us we determined to remove from thence to Logreogh appointing the said Commissioners and as many of the Roman Catholick Bishops as were within any convenient distance to meet us there on the 9th of March Where being met we declared unto them the necessity of Garrisoning that City and gave them some notice of our resentment of our Usage there yet sparingly in hope that by their means they might be brought to consent to what was so necessary for their own Preservation and in time to a better understanding of their Duty to his Majesty's Authority Whereupon the said Commissioners by two of their Number directed very pressing and rational Letters to that Corporation to the effect proposed by us offering them their Choice of five Persons for the Martial Government of that City all of the Roman Catholick Religion of considerable Interest in the Kingdom and of unblemished Reputation And the Bishops do affirm That they accompanied those Letters with others from themselves perswading that Obedience should be given to what was required by us with the Advice and Consent of the said Commissioners To all which they returned Answers to these employed to them wherein in direct Violation of the Articles of Peace whereunto they were obliged and which was proclaimed in that City they presumed to propose the raising of new Forces of their own choosing what Men to receive how and whence they should be supported by whom their means should be raised and collected into whose hands it should be put and in short wholly omitting to declare any thing concerning a Governour assumed to themselves all the Power in that City that by his Majesty is placed in us and by the Articles of Peace in the Commissioners These Propositions coming to us before our meeting with the Commissioners at Athlone we directed our Letter of the 9th of April to those employed to them with direction to impart it to the Corporation In these our Letters we manifested our dislike to such parts of their Presumption as tended to a dangerous Distinction and Dividing of the Nation and to the Diminution of his Majesty's Power even as the same is for a time in some things limited by the Articles of Peace and added to their Choice of Government the Lord Marquess of Clanrickard But in their Propositions which might be understood to proceed only from a fear of being over-burthened for the want of the punctual Payment of the Men that should be admitted we gave them assurance of Satisfaction as far as in us lay And the Commissioners being at Athlone and made acquainted with their Answers did again propose unto them some things nearer to their own sence But all their Forbearings Condescentions and mild Perswasions have produced in them no other effect than an obstinate and peremptory Persistance in their Disobedience with an Aggravation of it by their rejecting
and Excursions in the Winter they were ready to take the Field early But the main design being against Limerick it was necessary to get into the Province of Conaught which was entirely in the Irish hands and in order to this Sir Charles Coot with 2000 Horse and as many choice Foot marched to Sligo and when he had amused the Irish as though he would attempt that place he slipt by them over the Curlew Mountains and came to Athlone which he quickly took as he did also Portumna soon after so that they had two good Passes over the Shenin and in the mean time Ireton with the main Body of the Army forced Killalow-pass and then marched down to Limerick and there he entrenched his Army and laid a formal and regular Siege to that City And it is strange that a Town that was so obstinate and wilful that it refused to receive the Lord-Deputy Clanrickard and good part of his Forces into their Walls for their Defence as it did the Lord-Lieutenant heretofore was nevertheless so pusillanimous and cowardly to talk of surrendring as soon as the Enemy appeared before it so that almost every day Letters were intercepted importing That if they were not speedily relieved the Commonalty would force them to Capitulate And at last they did give it up at a time of Year that of itself would have raised the Siege if they had had patience and they also did it upon the hardest Conditions of any City in the Kingdom however we must do that right to the Governour and most part of the Garrison to own that they were no way guilty of that Baseness but bravely rejected the favourable Offers that were made to them by the Enemy at the beginning of the Siege About the first of July Ireton took the Castle on the Weare which the Warders deserted and betook themselves to the River but finding they were continually shot at by the English they came on shore in two parties the one to the West side where Colonels Tuthil's Regiment was a Captain whereof promised them Quarter nevertheless they were by Tuthil's order stript and knockt in the head whereat Ireton was so enraged that he caused Tuthil to be tried by a Council of War and though he excused it by his Opinion That an Inferiour Officer had no power to give Quarter whilst his Superiour was upon the place Yet both he and his Ensign were Cashier'd And when Ireton understood that the other party of the Irish that landed on the East side in Colonel Ingolsby's Quarters had been kindly used and not so much as stript he dismist them Graâ—is without Exchange or Ransom and sent them into the City with a handsome Message expressing his Detestation of breach of Faith and offering what farther Satisfaction they desired but they were very well pleased with the Justice he had so generously done them and so that matter ended But Ireton prest on the Siege with great dilligence and vigour and the Governour as valiantly defended the City so that when Ireton had taken the Bridge that Conquest was made unuseful to him by breaking down two Arches at the other end whereupon Ireton endeavoured to possess the Island and provided eleven Boats and a float to that purpose but it did not succeed according to his design for the Float proved too short so that all the Men but seven that landed out of the first five Boats were slain or drowned before any of their Companions could come to assist them However Ireton resolved to take the Town and was in hopes that want of Victuals might force it to surrender in time but the danger was that the Irish might relieve it before he could reduce it to Extremity and therefore to prevent that he form'd an Army Volant under the Lord of Broghill out of his Ingolsby's Cromwell's and Henry Cromwell's Regiments of Horse and twenty six Companies of Foot and though that Lord desired to have none but Horse and Dragoons for Expedition sake yet Ireton obliged him to take Foot also because of the Woods and Fastnesses the Enemy might lurk in And because Reputation ought highly to be considered at all times but more especially in the beginning of Military Actions the Lord Broghill did proceed with all the Briskness and Expedition that a brave and a vigilant Captain was capable of and in few days came so near the Enemy that they could perceive each other Fires they being three Mile on the South and he three Mile on the North side of the Black-water The Irish Army were double his number of Horse and thrice as many Foot as the English nevertheless Broghill passed the River early in the morning and met with some Irish Gentlemen that were under Protection and told him they came thither out of Curiosity because of a Prophecy amongst them That the last Battle in Ireland should be at Knocknaclashy and they supposed if ever it would happen it would be now since both Armies were so near Whereupon the Lord Broghill asked them Who was to have the Victory by their Prophecy they shook their heads and said The English Hereupon that Lord marched to Knocknaclashy and the Enemy retiring he marched back again over it towards the place where he intended to Quarter And then the Irish fell upon his Rear so that the Battle did at last happen in that very place the Irish-men spoke of in the morning It was very strange that it should so fall out that the Budge-Barrels of both Armies were accidentally burnt at the beginning of the Fight but it seems that this did not discourage either Party but that they fought stoutly Horse-head to Horse-head hacking and hewing with their Swords when they had spent their Shot In fine the Lord Broghill in the right Wing routed the left Wing of the Enemy whilst Major Wallis in the left Wing valiantly made good his ground but a fresh party of the Irish had like to put the Victory in dispute till Broghill bid his Men cry They run they run Whereupon the first Rank of the Irish lookt back and those behind seeing their faces thought they were running indeed and so all that party fled Nevertheless the Irish once again bid fair to recover the day by means of a stand of Pikes which stood so firm that it was a long time before they could be broken but at last they were forced in their Angles and the whole Army was routed and very many of them killed by reason of a fierce and vigorous Pursuit which lasted till night There are many things observable of this Battle besides what is already mentioned 1. That it was the last Battle that was fought in that War according to the Irish-mens Prophecy 2. It was as fair a day both before and after the Fight as ever was known but during all the time of the Conflict there was as great a Storm of Thunder Lightning and Rain as had hapned in many Years before 3. That amongst the Baggage were taken a
Peck full of Charms some of which had it thus written upon them This is the print of our Lady's Foot and whoever wears it and says twenty Ave Maries shall be free from Gun-shot And the like Charms were to free them from Pike or Sword as the party desired it And lastly that a bold Horse of the Lord Broghill's being ' twice wounded in this Battle became afterwards so cowardly that he was fit for nothing but the Coach But 't is time to return to Ireton who signified his Joy at this Victory by three Vollies of Shot throughout his Camp Nevertheless he found no likelihood of taking the City but on the contrary received many brisk Sallies from them in one of which they slew three hundred of his Men so that probably he had gone without it for that Year if the Town 's Men who had been always mutinous had not continued in the same humour still and pressed for a Parly Whereupon the Clergy threatned to Excommunicate them if they offered to Treat with the Enemy which in effect was they said To give up the Prelates to be slaughtered And they did actually fix a perpetual Interdict upon the Church-doors and other publique places but alass those Fulminations had been too loosely and impertinently used to retain any vertue now in time of need So that without any regard to them Colonel Fennell seized on St. John's Gate and the Mayor supplied him with Powder and countenanced him in the resolution to give up that Post to the Enemy unless the Garrison would consent to Capitulate In fine they did on the 29th day of October surrender that strong and important City upon severe Articles wherein the Governour the Bishop of Limerick and twelve more were excepted by Name as to Life and some of them particularly the Bishop of Emly and Alderman Dominick Fanning were executed it was computed that they lost 5000 People in the City during the Siege mostly by the Plague and other Sickness nevertheless after the surrender there marched out 1300 Souldiers and there still remained in the City 4000 Irish-men able to bear Arms. Limerick being thus taken and Sir Hardress Waller being made Governour of the City Ireton on the Fourth of November march'd towards Galway and being joyn'd with Sir Charles Coot they took Clare from whence Ireton sent a Message to the Town of Galway offering them good Conditions if they submit without putting him to farther trouble and severely threatning them if they refused the proffered Articles and it is probable these Comminations might have made impressions upon them if Ireton's Death which hapned at Limerick on the Twenty-sixth of November had not given them respite But it must not be forgotten that during the Siege of Limerick Sir Charles Coot encountered a Party of Fitz-Patrick's and O Dwir's Forces that had retaken Meleke Island and tho' they behav'd themselves so well that they bafled his Foot two or three times yet by the bravery of his Horse he worsted them at last and killed and drowned 300 of them and made the same Number accept of Quarter for Life But Ireton being dead the Parliament Commissioners at Dublin appointed Lieutenant-General Ludlow Commander in Chief of the Army until further Order should be taken in England in that matter And in the mean time Sir Charles Coot blockt up Galway at a distance and when Ludlow came to him they drew so near that the Assembly which sat there did in February importune the Lord Deputy to permit them to Treat with the Enemy about Conditions for the Settlement of the Nation protesting That they would insist upon advantagious and profitable Terms but the Lord-Deputy knowing it was more proper for him than for them to Treat for the Nation did on the Fourteenth of February write to the Commander in Chief of the Parliament's Forces upon that subject but he had no grateful Reply the English being resolv'd not to admit any Treaty for the Nation in general but those that would Capitulate should do it onely for themselves or the Towns and Places they respectively belong'd unto The Year 1652 began with the Surrender of Galway to Sir Charles Coot which happened on the Twelfth of May before any Storm or Assault was attempted and without consulting the Lord-Deputy tho' he was within half a days Journey of the place but indeed they had better Conditions than they could have had if the Parliaments Commissioners had been made acquainted with the matter and perhaps there was reason for it because the Town was exceeding strong and the loss thereof carried with it the Fate of Ireland and the determination of the Rebellion for what little Contests happened from henceforward do hardly deserve the Name of A Tory War Roscomon and James-Town were Surrendered to Col. Reynolds on the 27th of April and in Munster there was not a Garrison left them but Ross in the County of Kerry which being a Castle in an Island was thought impregnable but Ludlow caused a small Ship to be made and had it carried over the Mountains and set a float in the Lough at the sight of which the Irish were so astonish'd that they yielded up the place on the 27th of June and Inchylough was also surrendered to Col. Zanky on the first of August and about the same time the Lords of Westmeath and Muskry O Connor Roe Sir William Dungan Sir Francis Talbot and others submitted upon these Conditions ☞ That they should abide a Tryal for the Murders committed in the beginning of the Rebellion and those that onely assisted in the War were to forfeit two Thirds of their Estates and be Banished And tho' the Lord-Deputy did on the 16th of May take Ballishannon and the Castle of Donegal yet both those places together with Sligo and Ballymote were soon regain'd by Coot and Venables and the Lord-Deputy forc'd to shelter himself in the Isle of Carrick and having no part to friend nor any Party he could trust he also submitted upon very honourable Conditions Of not having any Oath imposed upon him and of having liberty to transport 3000 Men into the Service of any Prince in Amity with England And so on the 16th of March he was transported to England in a Parliament Ship and not long after died in London In the mean time Col. Charles Fleetwood who had married Ireton's Widdow was made Commander in chief of the Forces in Ireland he landed in the latter end of August and found the Military Service of the Kingdom in a manner finish'd so that what remain'd to manage were the Civil Affairs which were committed to him and the rest of the Commissioners of Parliament And they began their Administration of those Matters by Erecting a High Court of Justice to try those that were accus'd of the barbarous Murders committed in this Rebellion The first Court of this sort that was held in Ireland was upon the 4th of October at Kilkenny before Justice Donelan President and Commissary-General Reynolds
of Ormond in behalf of himself and others his Majesties Subjects and the said Arthur Annesly Esq c. for and in behalf of the Parliament of England have to these Articles interchangeably set their Hands and Seals And the day before these Articles were Sign'd Viz. 18 July the Parliament Commissioners Signed the separate engagement following Viz. We do hereby consent that the most Honourable the Marquess of Ormond shall be permitted with his Family to continue without trouble or molestation in the Castle of Dublin until the 28 th day of July next unless the Parliament or the Committee at Derby House declare their pleasure for his removal sooner which is to be observed within four days after signification thereof and in the mean while his Lordships own Company commanded by Captain Fortescue Sir Francis Willoubyes Company Collonel Willoubyes Company and Captain Charles Blundells Company shall do the duty for the Guard of the Castle and such as are compriz'd within the Treaty shall have liberty to repair to his Lordship as they shall have occasion and during such his Lordships continuance there he may give the order in the said Castle And at the same time the Marquess of Ormond signed an engagement to leave the Castle and to depart thence according to the abovesaid agreement Appen XXIX The Remonstrance of the Lord Inchiquen and the Army of Munster Mr. Speaker IT is not without an unanswerable proportion of Reluctancy to so heavy an Inconvenience that we are thus frequently put upon the asserting of our own fidelities to the Services of the honourable Houses whereunto as we have by several evidences the mention whereof we make without vain glory manifested our selves sincerely faithful so hath it pleased the Divine providence to prosper our endeavours with very many improbable successes to the attainment whereof though we have strugled thro' all the difficulties and contended with all the sufferances that a People unsupply'd with all necessary and secondary means could undergo yet have we encountred nothing of that dis-affection or dis-couragement as we find administred unto us by a constant observation that it is as well in the power as it is in the practice of our malicious and indefatigable Enemies to place and foment differences upon us not only to our extream scandal and disgrace which we should the less resent â—f their malice could terminate in us but to the obstructing of the supply order'd and design'd for publick service and to the irreparable prejudice thereof which our Enemies can value at so low a rate as to put it into the bargain they are in hand to make for our destruction It being very approvable by us that several Persons in power there do interpose their endeavours to continue us by the Impeding of supplies in a desperate languishing and perishable condition upon the Place and in a despicable and doubtful esteem with the honourable Houses whereof there will need no other instances than that after the several promises made by Letters from the Honourable Committee at Darby house and votes pass'd for transmitting supplys unto us especially in case of Major General Starling his being sent to attend the pleasure of the Houses the only Remora then alleadged to make stay of seven thousand Suits of cloaths and ten thousand pounds in money being before designed for our releif there is no more than two thousand seven hundred pounds sent unto us in mony and thereof but fifteen hundred pounds design'd for the feeding of us and the Souldiers under our Command And that notwithstanding the signal Testimony given of our real intentions and affections to that Cause and service in a late Engagement against the Rebels at Knockninosse which we touch at without any affection of vain-glory the Votes then renewed for our Relief and the Order for our Indemnity which was conceived would not have found so much hesitation with those whose service we had only profest are laid aside and nothing effectual or advantagious done in order thereto for our avail save the transmittal of two-thousand seven hundred pounds but on the contrary new jealousies and distrusts of us are reimbrac'd and fomented It is not therefore so insupportable a dis-comfort to us to observe our own lives exposed a sacrifice to the malice of our now potent publick Enemies who by the conjunction of three several armies are not more encourag'd to confront us in the field than we by the art and practice used to withhold those just and necessary supplyes from us disabled to joyn battle with them as to observe our honourable Reputation and Integrity dearer to us than our lives brought into such frequent question and unworthily mangled depraved and slaughtered by the calumnious aspersions of our powerful and prevailing adversaryes in despight of all our zealous and cordial Endeavours to give indubitable testimony and evidence of our Fidelities What if we are beyond any common measure afflicted and dismay'd we are confident that all persons of honour will acknowledge that we have much more than common cause And now that our adversaries have prevailed to deprive us not only of all hopes of subsisting here in your service but have proceeded for to provide that we may not live hereafter but out of your favour So having intercepted and perverted the comfort we well hoped to have received from other testimonies of our sincerity they have only left us this expedient to testifie our mindfulness of our duty by which is to give humble intimation to that honourable House that we are involved in so great and extream Exigences of distress and universal want with the pressure of three joynt Armies upon our weak and naked forces that there remains no humane means discernable amongst us to subsist by any longer in this service unless it shall stand with the pleasure and piety of those in whose service we have exhausted both our blood and Livelyhoods to send us some seasonable and considerable supplyes or that we should be inforced to entertain such terms as the Rebels will give us which of all things we abominate as knowing our necessities will render them such as must be both obstructive and dishonourable and therefore shall resolve of making that the last Expedient to preserve our own and many thousands of poor Protestants lives by or that it shall please the honourable Houses to send Shipping to fetch us off And so in discharge of our dutyes both to God and man we humbly offer to consideration and remain Subscribed by the Officers under the Lord Inchiquen Appendix XL. The Instructions from the Confederate Catholicks to their Ambassadors Instructions to be observed by the Bishop of Fernes and Nicholas Plunket Esq Commissioners Authorized by and in the behalf of the Confederate Roman Catholicks to the Pope IMprimis You are to represent unto his Holiness the deplorable condition wherein the confederate Catholicks are and for your better information to take with you the draught of the representation of the present condition
of the Affairs of the Confederate Catholicks and to direct their Assistance in what they may to further settling of the happy Peace of this Kingdom with Advantageous and Honourable Conditions Commissioners being now sent to conclude the same if they may You are to let his Most Christian Majesty the Queen Regent and Cardinal Mazarine know That there is a considerable Enemy in the Heart of the several Provinces of this Kingdom that yet we have many sufficient Cities and Parts of the greatest Consequence in our Hands and have sufficient Stock of Men to defend the Nation and expel the Enemy but do want Aids of Money and Shipping without which we shall be in danger the next Summer-Service and therefore to solicite for considerable Aids in Moneys to be sent timely the Preservation of the Catholick Religion in this Kingdom depending thereon If you find upon the Place that a Settlement of Peace cannot be had according to the several Instructions that go with the Commissioners to his Holiness and Christian Majesty and Prince of Wales nor such considerable Aids that may probably prove for the Preservation of the Nation then you are to inform your self by Correspondence with our Commissioners imployed to Rome whether his Holiness will accept of this offer of being Protector to this Nation And if you find he will not accept thereof nor otherwise send such powerful and timely Aids as may serve to Preservation then you are by advice of other the Commissioners imployed to his Majesty and Prince of Wales and by Correspondence had with the Commissioners imployed to Rome and by Correspondence likewise with our Commissioners imployed since if it may be timely had to inform your self where the most considerable aids for preserving this Nation may be had by this offer of the Protectorship of the Nation in manner as by other instructions into France grounded on the same order of the assembly is contained and so to manage the disposal of the Protectorship as you and the rest of our said Commissioners shall find most for the advantage of the Nation The like Instructions for Spain bearing the same date Appendix XLI A Letter from Fryer Paul King to the Titular Bishop of Clogher Reverendissime Domine BReviter Dico Antrimus totus est ad Obsequium Eugenii O Neal Exercitus Ultoniensis procurabitque omnes suos ponere statim ex parte illius Rogat vehementissime ut veniat Eugenius O Neal Exercitus Ultoniensis siine mora versus Kilkenniam ne dubitent quin tota Lagenia imo Hibernia erit in dispositione ipsorum Oportet prevenire Ormonium qui venturus est statim post Muskry Browne Vester Decanus Firmanus est hic quasi Captious Ipse Archiepiscopus Dubliniensis anhelant vestrum adventum omnia ad Nutum fient cum acceleratione sed sine illa omnia nutabunt per alium bajulum mitto tibi litteras Nicolai Plunketti Prestonius vix habet nomen exercitus qui est omnino dispersus Concilium Supremum Factionistae cadent modo extemplo venerit exercitus Ultoniensis cum Eugenio O Neal. Vester fidelis Servus Fr. Paulus King Appendix XLII The Marquess of Ormonds Declaration upon his Arrival in Ireland 1648. By the Lord Lieutenant General of Ireland ORMOND TO prevent the too frequent prejudices incident through jealousies distrusts and misconstructions to all undertakings we account it not the least worthy our Labour upon the instant of our Arrival to prepare this People whose wellfare we contend for with a right understanding of those intentions in us which in order to his Majesties Service we desire may terminate in their good To enumerate the several reasons by which we were induc'd for preservation of the Protestant Religion and the English interest to leave the City of Dublin and other his Majesties Garrisons then under our power in this Kingdom in the hands of those intrusted by his two Houses of Parliament were to set forth a Narrative in place of a Manifest It may suffice to be known that those Transactions had for one main ground this confidence that by being under the power of the Houses they would upon a happy expected composure of affairs in England revert unto and be revested in his Majesty as his proper right But having found how contrary to the inclinations of the well-affected to his Majesties Restauration in England the power of that Kingdom hath unhappily devolv'd to hands imployed only in the art and labour of pulling down and subverting the Fundamentals of Monarchy with whom a pernicious party in this Kingdom do equally sympathize and cooperate And being filled with deep sense of the Duty and Obligations that are upon us strictly to embrace all opportunities of employing our endeavours towards the recovery of his Majesties just Rights in any part of his Dominions Having observed the Protestant Army in the Province of Munster by special Providence discovering the Arts and Practises used to intangle the Members thereof in engagements as directly contrary to their Duties towards God and Man as to their intentions and resolutions to have found means to manifest the Candor and Integrity thereof in a disclaimer of any obedience to or concurrence with those Powers or Persons which have so grosely vari'd even their own professed principles of preserving his Majesties Person and Rights by confining him under a most strict imprisonment his Majesty also vouchsafing graciously to accept the Declaratien of the said Army as an eminent and seasonable expression of their Fidelity toward him and in Testimony thereof having laid his Commands upon us to make our repair unto this province 〈◊〉 discharge the duties of our place We have as well in obedience thereunto as in pursuance of our own duty and desire to advance his Majesties service resolved to evidence our approbation and esteem of the proceeding of the said Army by publishing unto the world our like determination in the same ensuing particulars And accordingly we profess and declare First to improve our utmost endeavours for the settlement of the Protestant Religion according to the Example of the best Reformed Churches Secondly To defend the King in his prerogatives Thirdly To maintain the priviledges and freedom of Parliament and the Liberty of the Subjects that in order hereunto we shall oppose to the hazard of our Lives those Rebells of this Kingdom who shall refuse their obedience to his Majesty upon such terms as he hath thought fit by us to require it And we shall endeavour to the utmost the suppressing of that independant party who have thus fiercely laboured the extirpation of the true Protestant Religion the ruin of our Prince the dishonour of Parliament and the Vassalage of our Fellow Subjects against all those who shall depend upon them or adhere unto them and that this our undertaking might not appear obnoxious to the Trade of England but that we desire a firm Union and Agreement be preserved betwixt us we do likewise declare that we will
Kingdom is the strictness thereof must be dispensed with or otherwise certain Provision made for the Army else no Service can be done Signed ORMOND Appendix XLVI The Address of the Popish Clergy to the Lord-Lieutenant April 30. 1650. May it please your Excellency WE being here met upon your Lordship's Special Letters and your Excellency being pleased to shew unto Us His Majesty's Letters dated at his Court at Castle-Elizabeth in the Isle of Jersey the 2d of February 1649. in answer to others from your Lordship of the 24th of December last sent unto his Majesty by which his Majesty signifies his Pleasure That in case of Disobedience of the People and Contempt of his Authority in this Kingdom your Excellency should withdraw your self and his Authority We have conceived our selves in Duty bound for your Lordship 's better Information of the Inclination of this Nation humbly to present unto you that however your Excellency might not have met with a ready Concurrence to some Proposals made for advancing his Majesty's Service occasioned through some Misunderstanding in some few Persons and Places yet this Country generally and the Nation in it as they have already by expending their Substance in an extraordinary measure and their Lives upon all occasions abundantly testified their sincere and irremoveable Affections to preserve his Majesty's Rights and Interests intire unto him so they will for the future with the like Chearfulness in attaining those Ends endeavour to overcome all the Difficulties which the Enemies Power and Success have laid in their way And that we who are here met and doubt not the same in general is the Sense of the Nation will with all Care and Earnestness endeavour not only to conserve in the People such their good Inclinations but if any Person or Place shall be refractory or decline that Obedience which is due to his Majesty's Authority we shall contribute our best Endeavours to reduce them and make them conformable to the same And although we may not undertake to remove at present the Distrusts and Jealousies the People entertain through the want of Success in Services the Sense of their Sufferings and Apprehensions for want of Redress of their Grievances yet we hope by the Blessing of God in the Success of his Majesty's Forces in this Kingdom when your Excellency is pleased to apply befitting Remedies to the Pressures and Grievances of his Majesty's Subjects to be able to remove those Apprehensions in them And as your Excellency by an Instrument dated at Loghreogh the 27th of March last and presented unto you in the Name of the Roman-Catholick Prelates of this Kingdom may observe their hearty Affections and Inclinations to be obedient unto and co-operate with his Majesty's Authority in all the ways of his Service So that we who are here met omit nothing within the reach of our Endeavours which shall tend to the same end of maintaining his Majesty's Authority over us and his undoubted Interest in this Kingdom And in order thereunto we humbly beseech your Excellency to appoint Commanders in the several Provinces to whom those of his Majesty's Subjects who by the Excitements of the Clergy ready with Alacrity to undergo that Care shall be encouraged to take Arms may repair for opposing the Power of the Rebels now drawing to a Body And the better to enable them thereunto and for the Encouragement of those they shall perswade to proceed in the Service that a certain setled course be taken whereby the Means to be raised in the Country for them may be applied to their Maintenance and not to any other use And this is humbly desired by us here met to be immediately settled to the end that while other matters which concern the Redress of Grievances regulating of the Revenue and the carrying on of the War which require Time to be treated of are in Preparation the People may be brought to a Head to resist the Enemy and stop their further Progress which we are confident may be effected by the unanimous Resolution which we find in all Men to put their Hands to the Work and to give a signal Testimony of their Willingness to preserve themselves under his Majesty's Obedience Thus humbly taking leave we remain Loghreogh ult April 1650. your Excellency's most humble Servants Thomas Cashell Dillon Mountgarret Netervill Taaffe Muskery Ed. Lymiriciensis Wal. de Clonfert Fr. Hugo Duacensis Rob. Corcagiensis Cluanensis Fr. Antonius Clonmacnosensis Episcopus Upper Odessory Athunry Rich. Farrall Patr. Purcell Lucas Dillon R. Everard Nich. Plunket Rob. Purcell Geoffry Browne Ter. O Neill Gerald Fennell His Excellency's Answer AFter Our hearty Commendations in Answer to your Letter of the last of April We think fit to mind you That upon our communicating unto you his Majesty's Letter of the second of February we then acquainted you at large with what had passed at Waterford which being by Us represented to his Majesty occasioned his sending the said Letter as also that we found the City of Lymerick had taken Example thereby to affront and condemn his Majesty's Authority placed in Us and from Us by consent of the Representative of the Confederate Catholicks at the Conclusion of the Peace derived to the Commissioners Both which you pass over with an Extenuation of those Disobediences and by attributing them to some Misunderstandings you seem in a manner to excuse them whereas we had reason to expect that suitable to your general Professions you would have resented the particular Deportment of those places and proposed unto us how the Contrivers thereof might be brought to Justice and the Places reduced to perfect Obedience for as your Professions of Care and Earnestness to endeavour not only to conserve in the People the good Inclinations you find in them but that if any Person or Place shall be refractory or decline that perfect Obedience due to his Majesty's Authority you will contribute your best Endeavours to reduce them and make them conformable to the same cannot be evidenced or made good by you but by applying those your Endeavours where We give you particular undeniable Instances of Refractoriness and Disobedience so there can no Instance thereof be more pregnant nor if it be persisted in more destructive to his Majesty and the Nation than that of Limerick To the immediate reducing whereof We therefore thought and do now expect you would effectually apply your selves We are well satisfied that the Generality of the Country and Nation who have given the Proofs you mention of their sincere Affections to preserve his Majesty's Rights entire unto him will persevere therein if those upon whose Example and Advice they very much fix their Resolutions be active and industrious to lead and exhort them thereunto But We must withal let you know that we cannot hope that those their good Affections and Alacrity in Defence of his Majesty and their own Interests can be successful if the City of Limerick and all other Cities and Towns be not in
of this half Million of Pounds hath come in in Money or been disposed of by Warrant from us we leave to be cleared by the Receiver-General's Accompts But we are confident it will not amount to the tenth part of half a Million of Pounds In the next Place they say We have frustrated the Opinion of the Nation held of our Fidelity Gallantry and Abilities and become the Author of losing the whole Kingdom to God King and Nation If the Nation held a greater Opinion of our Gallantry and Ability than there was cause for it we are sorry we came short of their Expectation But whatever it pleased God to bestow on us in those Gifts we faithfully employed it in the Cause we undertook and have not at all failed their Expectation in point of Fidelity Nor are we therein the Author of losing the Kingdom to God King and Nation as these Declarers have Rhetorically expressed themselves How they make good the last Assertion of their Preamble viz. That we began the Loss of the Kingdom by violating the Articles of Peace is next to be considered How We have been furnished with the aforesaid Sum of about half a Million of Pounds The Answer to the first Article We have told you in Our Answer to the Preamble If they urge Our giving Commissions which they call Patents to Protestant Officers as a Breach of the Articles of Peace and had purposed to have made it good they should have set down the Article violated by it But they have been so used to have Credit given to their Words upon Trust that whether what they say be true or false they are sure it will do their Work and That and not Truth is the thing they aim at We confess to have given Commissions to many Protestant Officers and that they and their Men were provided for as others of their respective Conditions And we do affirm that for their Fidelity Gallantry and Ability they deserved their Commissions and Pay full as well as any other of their respective Conditions And it is not true that they or the most of them or any of them that we gave Commissions to did betray any Person under their Command or ever deserted Us or the Cause we undertook True it is that We finding the Desire and Design of many of the People set on by the Declarers was to starve or otherwise destroy and break the Remain of the Protestant Party that came to Vs for these and other Reasons hereafter to be expressed ☞ We permitted them in June or July last to make their Conditions with the Enemy and so sent them away But that any one Place was betrayed by any of those Protestants cannot be instanced nor that any more than about three of them whereof one was a Major and the other two Lieutenants ever went away without Our License How many of them died valiantly doing their Duty or that were creully put to Death by the Enemy there are many amongst you that know It is very well known The Answer to the second Article that we put not the Holds or Ports in Munster into the Hands of any but left them in the Hands We found them as we had good reason to do those Persons without Capitulation having received Us as his Majesty's Lieutenant And if any of them have betrayed those Places as we conceive the Governours of Cork Kingsale and Youghall did not but were by others betrayed We are not reasonably chargeable with their Treachery And we believe they soaked as much of the Sweat and Substance of Munster and were as chargeable to that Province before as after the Peace Nor is it strange if they would not agree to a Peace that must have let in those that had been of a contrary Party to be Masters of the Holds they had before the Peace upon any occasion of their drawing forth till a full Settlement by Parliament till when the Consederate Roman Catholicks were to hold the Towns possessed by them but Provision was made that such as were not admitted to re-inhabit the Towns for we understood divers were ☜ were to have the full benefit of their Houses and Estates in the said Towns or Garisons So that what is remarkable in that in making the Peace we would not allow the return of those of Cork Youghall and Kingsale to their Houses we see not more than that as without they were debarred from it for a time neither the Army under the Command of the Lord Inchiquin nor the then Inhabitants of the Towns would be drawn to submit to the Peace so the Assembly being convinced thereof and of the great Danger it might bring upon the Kingdom to have them oppose the Peace consented to the Articles as it is expressed in the Book of the Articles of Peace But that which these Declarers would indeed have marked and collected out of their dark Note is that by this means these Towns were perhaps purposely given up by us to the Rebels For as they have infected the People they know them so ready to make the worst Construction of all Events that they need not speak plainly to them To this we have fully answered in our Answer to the second Article of the pretended Grievances The Answer to the third Article except the particular of Daniel O Neile who was not named in the said Article and for your clearer Satisfaction we shall recite that Answer as followeth Whoever looks upon the Articles of Peace recited in this Section This was an Answer to the second Article of the Grievances and upon the Composure of the Army ever since the Peace will find that we have done much more for the Satisfaction of this Nation than we were obliged unto For whereas if we had upon perfection of the Articles of Peace conferred two places of Command Honour Profit and Trust in his Majesty's whole Army in this Kingdom upon any two of the Roman Catholick Subjects of this Kingdom we had without Controversy fulfilled the literal Obligation that was upon us as to the point of Instances And if we had not divided the places equally betwixt Protestant and Roman Catholick we had performed the Articles to the Roman Catholicks in the most favourable Construction they could bear yet was the General of the Horse the Master of the Ordnance the Major-General the Lieutenant-General of the Horse and for a good while the Commissary-General of the Horse the Muster-Master General the Commissary-General of the Victuals and the Quarter-Master Generals both of Horse and Foot all of his Majesty's Roman Catholicks of this Kingdom Places certainly as they are more than two parts of three of the general places of an Army so are they of Honour Profit and Trust and most of these were conferred on such as were instanced unto us by the Assembly that concluded the Peace with us though that by the Articles there was not so much as a Power to instance either in the
the Rebels was far more numerous than the Rebels is not true for the Rebels were effectually 4000 Foot and 1200 Horse and the Army encamped at Rathmines was not stronger in Horse or Foot We deny not but that the Defeat may reasonably be ascribed to the Faithlessness Negligence Ignorance or Cowardize of some of the Officers and Souldiers Nor have we ever read or heard of any Defeat given where the encountering Numbers were near upon equal but the Defeat was ascribed to one or more of these Failings And yet it is for the most part found difficult and many times unfit to fix the Blame where it may most justly be placed But that the Peoples Belief of this is fortified for that no Search or Inquiry hath since been made by a Court or Council of War of the Deportment of the Officers is an Argument suitable to the Malice and Misconstruction all Our Actions have met with If the Officers were not fit for the Employments given them they were yet of those instanced to Us by the general Assembly And if new raised Men under expertless Officers accompanied with a general want of all things necessary for Support Offence and Defence have been beaten by a like or less Number of old well-armed experienced and continually garisoned Souldiers the wonder is not great nor the Accident rare even in this Kingdom and where We have commanded the prevailing Party If we could have had the Freedom in Election of Officers and Power to have garison'd them and their Souldiers where We might have overlooked them and caused them to have been exercised as We have always in vain desired it might yet have pleased God to have disposed of the Victory as he did but then We might more justly than now have been charged with a Failure on Our Part. But to return to what follows and clear the next Objection it will be necessary that We set down what We did presently after that Defeat When We found it impossible after twelves Miles riding to head any considerable Number of the scattered Horse and that as fast as We could rally them they broke from Us We immediately directed Our Letters to those We had left on Finglass side of Dublin and that had not that Day seen the Enemy being the Lord Dillon's Sir Thomas Armstrong's the Lord Moor's and Lieutenant Colonel Purdon's Regiments of Horse Colonel Warren's Colonel Wall 's and Col. Mich. Byrne's Regiments of Foot to march immediately the one half to Drogheda and the other half to Trym for the Security of those Places and went Our self to Kilkenny to rally what We could of the Army and to raise what new Forces We should be able This was accordingly done and that Day seven-night after the Defeat We marched out of Kilkenny with what Strength of Horse We could make to relieve Drogheda before which Jones was sat down Upon Our Approach to Trim with about 300 Horse which was all that We could in that time rally he raised his Siege and We went unto Drogheda During our being there Cromwel landed with his Army on or about the 15th of August not a full Fortnight after the Defeat at Rathmines It was then plain we were to be on the defensive part of the War and that he would draw forth suddenly to recover those Places we had gained And first we were assured he proposed to attempt Drogheda We therefore applied our uttermost Industry to supply that Place with what it wanted placed in it Sir Arthur Aston as expert and gallant a Governour as we could wish for gave him the same Men and the same number of Men Horse and Foot that he desired and furnished him with the full proportion of Ammunition and other Provisions he demanded judging that if Cromwell could be there foiled of kept before it but for a time it would much advantage us that had so lately received so great a Blow as required time to recover and the Rebels in the Neck of it having received so great a Coountenance and Strength as Cromwell brought with him being the best of the Rebels old Army in England But it pleased God in a few days to give that Town into their Hands and all the Officers and Souldiers that were within it to the Cruelty of their Swords where there were lost 2000 of our best Souldiers with all their Officers who were chosen as the likeliest Men by giving a Check to Cromwell in his first attempt to recover the Kingdom Now that after the Defeat at Rathmines and that great Loss at Drogheda for so it was so powerful and so prevailing an Army as Cromwell's marched without interruption from us that had not above 700 Horse and 1500 Foot and of those some not to be trusted others newly raised and all discouraged from Dublin to Rosse is not much to be wondered at for all the Men we could make were not sufficient to man Wexford which being taken as we have before said there were lost in it others of our best Men to a considerable number That the Rebels might have been prevented in building over their Bridg at Rosse considering the Situation of the Place and the Power their Ordnance had from the Key to and upon the other side of the River we believe they are very ignorant or malicious that will affirm But if it had been a thing as easy as they would have it believed we were so far from being able to attempt any thing that we never all that time had either 24 hours Pay or Provision before hand to keep the Men we had together where they were upon no Duty much less to bring them near an Eneâ—â—â—â— where they must be held to hard Duty close together It should 〈◊〉 also be considered that during Cromwell's March from Dublin to Wexford and those Parts began the Revolt of the Towns and Army in Munster which occasioned very much of Jealousy Distraction and other Interruptions and gave the Rebels leisure to prosecute their Victories When they marched over their Bridg at Rosse towards Carrick it was believed they meant to march to Kilkenny and if we had not been diverted by a false Alarum which coming as it did we had cause to credit of their being gone as far as Bennet's Bridg towards Kilkenny whilst we lay at Thomas-Town and thereby drawn thither for the Defence of that City we had as our purpose was engaged them to fight before their getting to Carrick In what miserable Condition our Army was when we came to Carrick which we were forced to leave meerly for want of Provision to keep it and so much Money as to make necessary Materials to gain that Place is so generally known that it must argue the Contrivers of this Article guilty of a strange degree of Malice to object to us as an Omission that the Rebels Army whilst it lay before Waterford was not attempted or once faced by us And sure we are it is as openly known that in Person we twice