assured of Our Favour and License in that behalf Dermond full of Hopes passed through England to Bristol where he caused the Kings Letters to be publickly and frequently read and he likewise published his own Overtures of great Entertainment to such as would assist him but his chief Dependance was upon Richard Earl of Chepstow commonly call'd Strongbow who Covenanted to aid him the next Spring with a good Force if he could obtain the Kings particular Leave to do so for which he was to have Dermond's only Daughter Eva and to succeed in the Kingdom of Leinster From Bristol Dermond went to St. Davids in Wales where he prevailed with Rhees Prince of that Country to enlarge Robert Fitz Stephens who was then in Prison and the Bishop of S. Davids perswaded the aforesaid Fitz-Stephens and Maurice Fitz-Girald to engage in Dermond's Quarrel for which the Irish Prince was to give them in Fee Wexford and two Cantreds adjoyning But Dermond impatient of longer absence from his own Country and to prepare for the reception of his Auxiliaries sailed to Ireland in August and Landed at Glascarrig 1169. and thence went to Fernes where he was kindly received by the Clergy to whom he made great ostentation of the Valour Number and Bravery of his new Confederates however he thought fit to remain with them private and as it were incognito that Winter In the mean time he sent his trusty Servant Maurice Regan in the Nature of an Embassadour to sollicite and hasten the English Assistance and to promise Lands to such of the Adventurers as would stay in Ireland and good Rewards in Mony or Cattle to them that designed to return But the English were mindful of their Engagements and Promise and in pursuance of them Robert Fitz-Stephens arrived at the Ban 1170. a small Creek in the County of Wexford about the Calends of May together with thirty Gentlemen sixty Men in Jacks and three hundred choice Archers and Pike-Men in three Ships And the next came Maurice of Prendergast ten Gentlemen and a number of Archers in two Barques As also Hervy of Mountmaurice whom Strongbow sent as his Agent to be informed of the true state of the Country They immediately send Notice of their Arrival which being known gave Dermond so great Reputation that his revolted Subjects flockt to him with such celerity and in such numbers as manifested their Levity and that they were too much inclined to court a prevailing Power That Night the English incamped by the Sea-side Regan and the next Day marched towards Wexford where they were met by Daniel Dermonds Natural Son and five hundred Men and soon after came Dermond himself and renewed the Leagues and Covenants between him and the English Stainhurst 71. and thereupon both Armies joyn and march friendly to Wexford Two thousand of the Wexfordians boldly make a Sally Giraldus Cambrensis but when they perceived the Armour Barbed Horses and other war-like Furniture of the English and such an Appearance as they had never seen before they were frighted therewith and easily persuaded to retire nevertheless they burnt their Suburbs and the adjacent Villages and manfully betook themselves to defend their Walls They also briskly repulsed Fitz Stephens his first Attack and killed eighteen of his Men whereupon the English were enraged and being resolved either to conquer or dye they first burnt their Ships and then made Publick Prayers in the Camp and prepared for a Second Assault but by the Mediation of some Bishops that was prevented and the fourth Day of the Siege the Town was surrendred on Articles and together with two Cantreds adjoyning was given to Fitz-Stephens and Fitz-Girald according to the former Agreement And to oblige the Earl of Chepstow Dermond bestowed two Cantreds situate between Wexford and Waterford on Henry of Mountmaurice and those three setled the first Colony of British on these Lands which have continued through-all the Changes since to this Day But the King of Leinster was overjoyed at this Success and to express his Gratitude to the English Adventurers he marched to Fernes to caress them where they staid three Weeks Regan M. S. and spent their Time in Feasting and Jollity Dermond did not fail to applaud their Valour and tell them how much they were dreaded by the Irish and then he proposed to them an Expedition into Ossory to which they readily consented The Army consisting of three thousand Irish besides the English in pursuance of the former Resolution invaded Vpper Ossory That Prince was Dermonds bitterest Enemy and had formerly imprisoned Dermond's Son and being jealous of him had put out both his Eyes by means whereof he dyed That Country being full of Woods and Bogs Stainhurst 79. might easily have been defended and the Prince of Ossory prepared to do so but Fitz-Stephens counterfeited a Flight and by that Stratagem drew out the Ossorians to pursue him and when he had got them on the Plain he charged them with his Horse to purpose and routed them with the Slaughter of above three hundred Men Lib. P. Lamb. whose Heads being brought to Dermond he most barbarously did bite away the Nose and Lips of one of them Hanmer 114. whom he knew and mortally hated However by this Defeat and the Inroads and Desolation they made in the Country Lib. P. the Prince of Ossory was forced to Submit swear Fealty and give Hostages to the King of Leinster But Mr. Regan not allowing of this Submission tells us of a second Expedition into Ossory and that after the Wexford Men were three times repulsed the English forced the Trenches beat the Ossorians and burnt the Country and Maurice de Prendergast being disgusted with Dermond resolved to return to England but being stopt at Wexford he took part with the Prince of Ossory but finding that Prince designed to murder him in stead of giving him his promised Pay he got rid of him by a Stratagem and returned to England and afterward came over again with Strongbow But however that be 't is more certain That the Army being refreshed invaded burnt and prey'd the Country of O Phelan and afterwards O Tools Country up to Glandelogh and met with small or no Resistance In the mean time Rotherick the Monarch of Ireland was alarm'd at the Advent and Success of the English and therefore he summon'd a General Parliament or Assembly of all the Princes of the Country they quickly resolved to attack the King of Leinster and to expel the Strangers and in order to put their Votes in execution they united their Forces and invaded O Kensile a Territory in Leinster Dermond finding himself unable to resist this mighty Force and the rather because he perceived his Subjects began to stagger in their Loyalty Stainhurst 82. which it seems was calculated for his Good Fortune only applyed himself to Fitz-Stephens and nakedly represented the Case to him and told him That unless he stuck firmly to him
in this great Adversity the Kingdom of Leinster would be lost for ever Fitz-Stephens answered That the English had forsaken their Dearest Friends and Native Soyl for his sake that they had burnt their Ships and had already ventured their Lives in his Quarrel and therefore happen how it would they would live and dye together Be you true to us said he and we will not be false to you Your Royal Courage should contemn these Accidents which will soon be at an End for either Death which is the common Fate will in a little time deliver us with Honour from these Streights or a glorious Victory will place us above all those Difficulties which now seem so terrible Dermond was much encouraged by this Speech however because his Army was much inferior in number to that of his Enemies he did by Fitz-Stephens his Advice retreat to an inaccessible Fastness by Ferns which by plashing of Trees and making Entrenchments he soon rendred impregnable But Rotherick wisely considering the Difficulty of the Attempt and the incertain Events of War tryed severally and apart both Dermond and Fitz-Stephens to persuade them by fair means to an Agreement to Fitz-Stephens he sent Presents in the nature of a Bribe together with Lettâ—rs to this effect THE Britains may not by Law of Arms Hanmer 115. display their Ensigns in Foreign Possessions nor dispossess the Lawful Heirs of their Inheritance but they are with Licence of the Irish to pack Home It is a Blemish to their Nation to give Aid to a shameful Fact Neither may the Lechery of Dermond be mantled under British Cloaks Wherefore depart and forsake him that is forsaken of God and Man and here by my Messenger receive to defray your Charges and transport you to your Native Soyl. But the Monarch was mistaken in the Man for Fitz-Stephens returned this Answer YOur Present I will not accept nor will I break the Faith and Troth I have promised to my Friend Dermond he forsakes not me I will not forsake him neither leave him distressed You speak of Lechery what is that among Martial Men I hear you have Bastards your self To what End is your Embassie If Rotherick give Counsel we need it not if he prophesie we credit not his Oracle if he command as a Prince we obey not his Authority if he threaten as an Enemy a Figg for his Monarchy So finding himself out in his Politicks he prepares to force them to that which he could not persuade them to and to encourage his Soldiers suggests to them That Dermond designed to extirpate the Irish Nation and to that end had brought in the most hateful Enemies they had that he was more cruel than a Beast and no Mercy was to be expected from him that unless this Civil War was by their Valour immediately ended it would prove the Ruine of their Nation that their Enemies were easily to be subdued whilst their Number was few and their Means inconsiderable and that if they lost this Opportunity their Country was lost for ever Dermond in like manner made a Speech to his Followers setting forth That they had Powerful and Brave Assistants the English whose Valour has been approved and that their Faithfulness was undoubted because they had sworn it had burnt their Ships and could expect no Mercy from their Enemies That their Cause was Just in defence of their Prince and Country that Rotherick was a Tyrant had three Wives then alive and eleven Bastards he murthered his Natural Brother was guilty of innumerable Murders Thefts Lyes and Debaucheries and had no other End in all his specious Pretences than the enslaving them and their Children But after all this the Reputation of the English kept Rotherick in Fear and obliged him to continue his Endeavours for Peace and Dermonds Condition and approaching Wants obliged him likewise to make a Peace he never designed to keep any longer than he needs must so by the Mediation of some Good Men they at last came to this Conclusion First That Dermond renewing his Homage should be restored to his Kingdom of Leinster Secondly Lib. P. Lamb. That he should dismiss the English as soon as he was setled But this Article was private Thirdly That his Son Cothurne should be Hostage for performance thereof and as soon as the English were gone then Dermond's Son should be married to Rothericks Daughter The Hostage was accordingly delivered and all quiet when Maurice Fitz-Gerald landed at Waxford with ten Knights twenty Esquires and one hundred Archers with which Recruit Dermond marched to Dublin to reduce that Rebellious City which was without much Resistance surrendred upon Articles and so they renewed their Oaths of Allegiance and gave Hostages for their future Obedience In the mean time Rotherick with his Army went to demand Chief Rent of Danald Prince of Limerick who was Dermond's Son-in-Law but Dermond under-hand procured Fitz-Stephens who stay'd behind him to build his Castle of Carrick near Waxford to step to Danald's Assistance and the Issue was That Rotherick was baffled and forced to return without without his Chieffry With this Success Dermond was encouraged to Higher Designs Hanmer 119. and daily consulted with the English Lib. P. Lamb. how he might recover the Monarchy of Ireland which his Ancestors formerly enjoyed and to which he pretended a Title He offered his Daughter Eva to Fitz-Stephens and Fitz-Gerald and made them many large Promises if they would recruit their Forces and assist in the Design but they were married and could not accept the Offers nor were they able to go through with so great an Undertaking and therefore they advise him to solicit Strongbow once more to so noble an Exploit It seems Strongbow was hindred by the King for upon receipt of Dermond's Letters he went to his Majesty desiring Leave to seek new Territories in Ireland or to be restored to his old Estate in England Campion 59. The King wearied with his Importunity said to him in Passion I wish you were gone Which Strongbow takes for a Licence and away he goes and prepares as fast as he can for his Irish Voyage Before him he sent Reymond Le Gross 1171. with ten Knights forty Esquires and eighty Archers who came in May 1171 and landed at Dondowrough eight Miles east of Waterford and entrencht themselves as well as they could The Waxfordians and their Neighbours to the number of three thousand under Mac-Kelan Prince of Ophelan and O Rian of Odrone came down by Land and Water attack'd the English Hanmer 120 and beat Reymond into his Entrenchment but the English rendred desperate by the Danger made a second Salley and the Enemy being negligently and disorderly scattered they slew five hundred of them and took seventy principal Citizens whom by the Advice of Hervey immediately they drowned Strongbow came on the twenty third of August and landed in the Haven of Waterford 1171. with two hundred Knights and more than one thousand Soldiers
Earl of Cornwal and Odo Bishop of Bayeux half Brothers to the Conquerour Robert had Issue William Earl of Cornwall who had Issue Adelm and John Adelm had Issue this William Fitz-Adelm and John had Issue Hubert de Burgo that was Chief Justice of England and Earl of Kent and one of the greatest Men of his Time And this William Fitz-Adelm though he be represented as an ill Man by the Historians of that Age yet he founded one of the Best and Noblest Families in Ireland viz. that of the Burks which has yielded many Brave and Worthy Men that have proved eminently serviceable to their King and Country whereby their Name Estate and Family are preserved in great Honour and Reputation to this Day John de Courcy who marryed the Daughter of Gothred King of the Isle of Man had contracted an intimate and entire Friendship with Sir Armoricus Tristerum alias de Sancto Laurentio who afterwards married his Sister My Author says they were sworn Brothers in the Church of Roan but certainly there was such Kindness between them that Courcy was resolved to share his Conquests in Vlster with him And being troubled at the sordid Humour of Fzadelme and simpathizing with the Wants and Grievances of the Souldiery in February 1177 1177. he led forth twenty Knights and three hundred Foot-Soldiers besides Servants and marching through Vriel in four Days or rather early the fifth he came to the City of Down which without Resistance he took and rifled for the Citizens were not in any Posture of Defence because they had not the least Fear or so much as a Thought of an Enemy The Lord or Governour Dunlenns or O Donel perceiving the Amazement and Irresolution of his People was necessitated to withdraw leaving the Legate Vivianus to negotiate in his behalf with Courcy and to offer him a Tribute if he would peaceably retire but Courcy was transported with some blind Phrophecies of Merlin and Columbus which he interpreted of himself and fancied nothing less than the entire Conquest of Vlster and therefore rejected all Overtures of Accomodation Whereupon O Donel This Battle at large Hanmer 150. with the Assistance of Rotherick and the rest of his Neighbours who made it a common Cause soon raised an Army of ten thousand Men and with them designed to besiege the City of Down But Courcy chose rather to fight a Battle in the Field than stand a Siege in the Town and the Success justified his Choice for he routed the Enemy with great Slaughter and took the Bishop of Down Prisoner but at the Intercession of the Legate he was released About Midsummer following the Ulster Men to the number of fifteen thousand fought another Battle with Courcy near Down and though it was very Bloody on both sides yet the Honour of the Day is by my Author given to Courcy His third Battle was in the Ferny against eleven thousand Irish the English not being above the tenth part of their number The Occasion of it was thus Sir John de Courcy had built many Castles in Vlster especially in that part of it called Ferny where Mac Mahon dwelt he was very observant of Courcy and made him his Gossip and had sworn Fidelity to him and had so far insinuated himself into Courcy's Favour that the Britain gave him two Castles with the Lands belonging to them but within a Month Mac Mahon demolished both the Castles And being asked the Reason why he did so he answered That he did not promise to hold Stones but Land and that it was contrary to his Nature to live within cold Walls whilst the Woods were so nigh Courcy was netled with this slight Answer and to revenge the Affront entred the Ferny and took so large a Prey of Cows that he was obliged to divide them into three Droves for convenience of Driving the Ways were boggy and also so narrow that the Prey filled the Road for three miles together The Irish observing these Circumstances set upon the English with such Briskness Noise and Clamour that forced the Cows back and made them run like Devils upon their Drivers so that they overthrew both Horse and Man and trod more underfoot than were slain by the Sword In a Word the English were routed and although they had slain nineteen score of the Irish and their General Mac Mahon himself yet they were forced to run for their Lives and much ado they had to recover an old Fort of Courcy's where they made a shift to secure themselves although the Irish were encamped vey near them About Midnight Sir Amorick went to view the Posture of the Irish who not in the least mistrusting that a baffled handful of Men would dare to attempt them were in a loose and negligent Condition most of them asleep even their very Guards and Centinels This being reported to Courcy they easily agreed to make use of this Advantage and immediately with all their Force fell upon the Irish and surprized them to that degree that they could make no Resistance so that they were all slain except two hundred who made their escape and of the English there were but two killed in this Encounter and four hundred the Day before About this Time the Legate Vivianus held a Synod at Dublin in which he published the King's Title to Ireland and denounced Excommunication against all that should oppose it He also gave Leave to the English to take out of the Churches and Monasteries such Corn and other Provision as they should at any time need paying the true Value thereof for the same He gave the People Indulgences and they gave him Money and so they parted very well pleased on both Sides Miles Cogan and young Fitz-Stephens invaded Connaugh as far as Tuam but could not make any Stay there for want of Victuals for the Inhabitants had removed or destroyed all their Provision and fled away upon the News of the Approach of the English And here let me observe once for all That want of Provision hath frustrated more great Designs and well-contrived Expeditions in Ireland than any other Defect or Accident whatsoever But Rotherick King of Connaugh having Notice of this March and knowing the English would be forced to return in a little Time for want of Victuals he placed an Ambush in a covenient Station which according to their Orders fell upon the English in their Retreat but did no greater Mischief than the killing of three English Men and that with the Loss of many of themselves This Governour Fitz-Adelm was very unkind to Reymond and all the Geraldines and indeed to most of the first Adventurers He forced the Sons of Maurice Fitz-Gerald to exchange their Castle of Wicklow for the decayed Castle of Fernes and when they had repaired that Castle of Fernes he found some Pretence or other to have it demolished He took from Reymond all his Land near Dublin and Wexford He delayed the Restitution of Fitz-Stephens to his Lands in
with the Rebels with good success in one of which they took Prisoner Neal O Quin Tyrone's chief Favourite who was a butcherly sort of a Sot On the 10th of November Proclamation was made in face of Tyrone's Army That whoever brought O Neal alive should have 2000 l. and who brought his Head should have 1000 l. and then the English Army marcht to the Newry and thence to Carling-ford but in their way on the 13th of November they were attack'd briskly by the Rebels at the Pace of Carlingford Mar. 82. but the issue of the Battle was that the Enemy was routed with the loss of 200 men and in this whole Campaigne Tyrone lost 800 men and which was more his Reputation and of the English there were in this Journey about 200 slain Cambd. Eliz. 583. and 400 wounded Montjoy marcht from Carlingford to Dundalk and so to Dublin having distributed his Army into Winter-quarters where we will leave them and return to Munster On June 29. the President marcht from Limerick into Conilo to relieve Dermond O Conner who was besieg'd at Ballyalinan whereof the Rebels having notice they made an Agreement with Dermond and all joyn'd together to oppose the President However he seiz'd on the Castle of Crome which the Ward deserted and therein he found good store of Corn and other Provision and then for four or five days the Army hovered about Asketon in expectation of supplies of Victuals c. which were to come from Limerick by water and the Rebels to the number of 3000 kept very near them and sometimes within view but the Rebels had such jealousie of one another that they durst not attempt any thing and indeed William Burk and Morongh in Moe O Flaherty did July 3. by their Letters to the President offer to depart the Province for a Pass and a piece of Money Pac. hib 62. and to carry their Bonaughs with them being 2500 men But the Knight of the Glin although his Son was by himself put into the Presidents hands as a Pledge of his Loyalty was out in Rebellion and therefore on July 5. the President sat down before the Castle of Glin in the County of Limerick and although the Rebels Army being 3000 strong were within two miles of him yet he valiantly took the Castle by Assault with the slaughter of 80 Rebels It is observable that during the Siege and before the Artillery was mounted the Knight of the Glin had two Parleys with the Earl of Twomond and might have had good Conditions but he relied upon the Promises of his Confederates to raise the Siege and refused to submit The President having put 21 men under Captain Mordant in the Castle of the Glin design'd to attempt Carrigofoyle but O Connor Kerry prevented that by his submission and surrender and yet he also afterwards relaps'd when the Spaniards came In the mean time the President sent Maurice Stack with 50 men to Kerry where he surpriz'd Liscaghan-Castle burnt Adare and prey'd the Country and preserv'd himself safe till Sir Charles Wilmot came to his relief At length Dermond O Connor and the Bownaghs obtain'd leave of the President to return to Connagh but the Lord of Castlecoâ—el took no notice of their Pasport but in revenge of his two Brothers deaths whom they had slain he fell upon their rear in Clanwilliam and slew 60 of them On the 13th of July the President for want of Victuals return'd towards Limerick and in his way took the strong Castle of Corgrage by surrender and gave the Custody of it to Oliver Stevenson whose Posterity are now degenerate into meeâ— Irish He also placed 700 Foot and 75 Horse in Asketon and on the 15th he took the Castle of Rathmore by surrender and then sent 450 Foot and 50 Horse to Kilmallock and on the 16th he came to Limerick In the mean time the Rebels attempted Liscaghan Castle in Kerry to their loss of 23 Men and force not prevailing Florence Mac Carty used all his wheedling arts to terrifie or perswade the Garison to deliver it up but all in vain however the President being advis'd thereof on the 23d of July with 75 Horse and 1050 Foot set out by way of Thomond and transported his Forces over the Shenin at Carigofoyle the 28th and the 29th he sent Sir Cha. Wilmot with 600 Foot and 50 Horse into Clanmorris where he surpriz'd Lixnaw Rathowin and Tralee which was almost ruin'd by 150 Bonaughs imploy'd to that purpose whereof he slew thirty two and recovered 100 Arms and return'd to Carigfoyle on the second of August Patrick Lord of Kerry hereupon pull'd down his own Castle of Bealieu and on the 12th of August broke his heart and died the Rebels also ruin'd Castle Island and many other Fortresses because they should not be Garisons for the English But Florence Mac Carry began now to appear more openly so that he would by no means come to the President tho' twice sent for and it was rumor'd that he was projecting a Marriage between the Sugan Earl and the Lord of Muskry's Sister thereby to unite all the Cartyes who were 3000 able men to their confederacy and that he had also sent to Tyrone for assistance To prevent this the President leaves Wilmot in Kerry and returns to Cork by the way of Limerick and on the 23d of August in the way Piercy Lâ—cy offered to submit upon Conditions but the President would not capitulate with him In the mean time Captain Harvy with 70 Foot and â—4 Horse marched 21 Mile from Moyallo in pursuit of one John mac Redmond an Arch-Rebel by mistake they burnt a House in a Village belonging to the white Knight which they thought belong'd to the Rebels on discovery of the mistake the Captain offered to pay for the damage but John Fitz-Gibbon the white Knight's Son not satisfied therewith gather'd 160 Foot and 18 Horse and fell upon the English but he was forc'd to return with the loss of 60 of his Men without killing one English man and tho' the white Knight stormed a little at first yet when he knew the truth of the matter he was well satisfied however the malicious Guide that had misinform'd them was executed by the President 's Order Sir Charles Wilmot manag'd his business so well in Kerry that the Knight of Kerry and Lord of Lixnaw sued for protection which the Knight sometime after obtained and delivered up his Castle of Dingle in October following And it being certain that Florence mac Cartie had confederated with the Sugan Earl Daniel mac Cartie more was taken into protection and the Earl of Thomond was desired to govern at Asketon which he did and his Garrison soon after took the Castle of Mayn in Conilo The President had so ordered the matter that Cormock mac Dermond Cheif of Muskry became engaged for his Sister's appearance when sent for whereby the design'd Marriage with the Sugan Earl was prevented and soon after the O Mâ—ghons
posted near Capoquin with a small Wood at their Backs and tho' he had but Sixty Horse and One hundred and forty Foot yet he boldly Charged them and killed two of their best Captains and Two hundred of their Soldiers with the loss of onely one English Man On the Ninth of August the Castle of Glin was taken by the Lord Forbes who came with his Fleet from before Gallway and Sailed up the River of Shanon and on the Twenty first the Lords Dungarvan and Broghill took the Castle of Ardmore with the Saughter of One hundred and forty of the Rebels But Provisions beginning to grow scant the Lord Insiquin drew out One thousand eight hundred Foot and Three hundred and sixty Horse and near Liscaroll met with the Irish Army under the Lord Mountgarret who was accompanied by the Lords Muskery Roch Ikerin Dunboin Castleconnel and Brittas and it came 〈◊〉 a smart Battel on the Third of September wherein the English were Victorious and killed Seven hundred of the Rebels and took Fifty â—sisoners and one piece of Cannon and two Field Pieces without any loss on the English side except that of the valiant Lord Viscount Kinalmeaky who was slain in the beginning of the Fight by a shot in his Neck and Sixteen private Soldiers In this Battel the noble Earl of Cork who never begrudged what he ventured for the Service of his King and Country had no less than four Sons viz. the Lords of Dungarvan Kinalmeky and Broghill and Mr. Francis Boyle since Viscount Shanon About the same time the Lord Forbes with his Regiment Landed at Kinsale and marched to Bandon and being joyned with Three Bandon Companies of Foot and some Horse they went to Rathbarry to relieve Captain Freak who had been besieged there since the Fourteenth of February but when they came to Cloghnikilty on the Eighteenth of October they thought fit to leave Two Scotch Companies and one Bandon Company there to secure that Town till their Return but it was not long after their Departure before a numerous Rabble of the Irish rushed upon them from all sides whereupon Groves who Commanded the Bandon Company advised to retreat towards their main Body which was not above four Miles from them but the Scots thought that dishonourable and refused and the Consequence was That the two Companies of Scots were cut in pieces but Groves valiantly made good his retreat a full Mile to an Old Danes Fort in the way to Ross which he justified manfully till the rest of the Forces came up to him and then they fell upon the Irish and forced them into the Island of 〈◊〉 and the Tide being in above Six hundred of them were killed and drowned whereupon the English marched to Cloghnikilty and relieved a great number of Men Women and Children which were imprison'd in the Market-house purposely to be burnt together â—ith the House to make a Bonâ—iâ—e for joy of the easie Victory they promised themselves over the rest of the Lord Forbes his Party After the Death of the Lord of Kinalmeaky Colonel Râ—â—land Saintleger was made Governour of Bandon in whose time it happened that the Troops of Bandon and Kingsale had appointed to meet at a day prefixed and to take a Prey but the Rebels who were at Kilcrea had notice of it and believing that the Troop had marched abroad according to the Appointment they boldly came to Bandon and took away the Cattel belonging to the Town but the Troop being by some Accident delayed in Town longer than they designed were just ready mounted when this Adventure happened so that they immediately issued out and recovered the Prey at Brinny Bridge and slew Fifty of the Tories in Killmore Bog without the loss of one Man But these small Victories were balanced by some considerable Successes of the Irish for the strong Castle of Limerick which had been besieged since the Fifteenth of January was surrendred to them on the Twenty third of June and the Castle of Askeaton submitted to the same Fate on the Fourteenth of August after nine Months Siege as Castlematrix likewise did not long after Neither was it a small Misfortune to the English that about this time both Dean Gray and Archdeacon Byss who were Commissioners to enquire into the English Losses in Munster met with their Destiny the former dying at Bandon and Byss the Survivor who had all the Papers and Examinations was murdered by the Rebels on the Way to Youghall ☜ and this is the true Reason why there is no particular full Account extant of the Murders and Losses in Munster And it is very observable that the Rebels took very few places by force but either want of Necessaries or Promise of good Conditions prevail'd with the English to surrender and it is no less wonder that the English would trust to any Articles from a perfidious People that had so often violated their Faith Nevertheless every day afforded Instances of their sâ—â—essful Treachery and besides what is already mentioned Gloghleigâ— and Cool are additional Examples in the former was a considerable Garison to whom Richard Condon promised Quarter and Convoy to Castlelyons whereupon they surrendred and for their Folly were every one murdered wounded or kept Prisoners And in Cool were 36 Troopers of the Earl of Barrimores to whom the same Condon promised the like Quarter Upon the Faith of a Soldier and a Christian but nevertheless murdered them all except one who had 36 Wounds and was left for dead And in Connaught the Town of Gallway did in the later end of April submit unto the Earl of Clanrickard who was Governor of that County and was by him taken into Protection until the Pleasure of his Majesty then expected over should be known but the Lords Justices did not approve of that Protection unless the Town would admit of an English Garison However Clanrickard made use of that Opportunity to relieve the Fort of Galway wherein the Archbishop of Tuam and 36 Ministers and many more English were in very great distress And about the middle of July the Lord President drew out his small Forces into the County of Mâ—yo Battle of Ballintobber where not far from Ballintobber they met with the Irish Army which was more than double their Number Nevertheless the English obtained an easie Victory over them and killed near 2000 of the Enemy and on the First day of the same Month Sir Frederick Hamilton took the Town of Sligo and slew 300 of the Rebels and afterwards routed Owen O Rourk who in his Absence had with 1000 Men besieged his Castle of Mannor Hamilton And about August the Lord Forbes came into the Bay of Gaâ—â—ay and landed some Guns and seized on the Abby and being joyn'd by the Lord President and the Earl of Clanrickard they pretended to besiege the Town but they wanted Necessaries and therefore the Lord Forbes compounded with the Town for a Sum of Money which was never paid and drew off from
preserve the Bulk of that People and make them serviceable to the Government which will not be practicable unless first the Raporees are severely corrected for their past Enormities and afterwards strictly kept in Obedience And perhaps it may be very useful both to the Reduction and Settlement of Ireland to make a Difference between those Papists that are of English Extraction those that are not for although at this Day they would laugh at the Distinction yet upon the first considerable Baffle they meet with they will certainly leap at the Qualification In the mean time it may be demanded How it comes to pass that the Papists in three Years have more weakned the Protestants of Ireland in Quantity Quality and Estate in a time of Peace and the Law on their side than the Protestants could weaken them in forty times that space But the Answer is easie That the Protestants are obliged to Rules of Charity and Forms of Justice which whether others observe or not will be manifest by what they have done for whereas it is most consonant to Reason Law and the Polity of that Kingdom that the small Colony of British in a conquered Country should be protected against the numerous Natives by an Army of their own Nation and Religion and so has it been practised for five hundred Years and ought rather to be now because a Protestant Parliament gave a great yearly Revenue to that very End most part of which was also paid by Protestants Yet have we seen all this Reason Law and Polity subverted and that Army disbanded with Circumstances as bad as the Fact and Enemies introduced to guard us against themselves and Mountaneers garrisoned within those Walls that were purposely built to keep them out And whereas the Force of the Common Law is resolved into Tryals by Jury was it not a subversion of the Common Law in a Country where Perjury is so frequent that Irish Evidence is become proverbially scandalous to make Judge Sheriff Jury Witnesses and Party all of a sort what Justice a Protestant could expect in such a Case may appear by those notorious Murders and other great Crimes that have passed unpunished And by those many hundreds of Protestants who without Colour or Circumstance of Truth have been impeached for Treason Seditious Words Night-walking or Vnlawful Assemblies c. And as if all this was not enough unless they entailed these Miseries upon the Protestants and even legitimated them by Act of Parliament they have in order to that seized upon all Corporations and dissolved them on forged or frivolous Pretences in so precipitate a manner that they did not allow competent time to draw much less to review the Pleadings they reversed the Outlaries of the Popish Lords and projected to call their eldest Sons by Writ and so made themselves sure of both Houses of an Irish Parliament But alass these Complaints are drowned in greater and the Insolence and Barbarity of the Raporees is not to be expressed it was tolerable whilst the Protestants suffered under Pretence or Forms of Law but when these Wolves were let loose the English were plundered of all they had at Noon Day in the face of the Sun in Times of Peace and without Provocation and which was a greater Aggravation of this Crime it was done in many Places by the Servants and Tenants they had kept from starving and the Neighbours they had most obliged so that the Protestants of Ireland are entirely ruined by an ungrateful People themselves had cherished and supported But to proceed I have been curious to give the Vice-Roys of Ireland their proper Titles and yet I am not sure that I am always exact nor is it of any great Importance whether I am or no since their Power is measured by their Commission and not by their Denomination And although I have gathered many Materials towards a Second Part yet it will be some time before I can publish it because I shall expect that those generous Persons that have collected any curious Observations of the Later Times will either communicate them to me or command mine which I will readily part with to any Body that will undertake that Province it being indifferent to me so the thing be done whether it be performed by mending mine or beginning a new Work AN APPARATUS OR Introductory Discourse TO THE HISTORY of IRELAND CONCERNING The State of that Kingdom before the Conquest thereof by the English IRELAND is an Island seated in the Vergivian Sea on the western Side of Great Britain next to which it is the biggest Island in Europe it extends from North to South about three hundred English Miles in length and it is one hundred and eighty of the same Miles broad from East to West in some Places more in some less it contains above ten Millions and a half of Plantation which is near seventeen Millions of English Acres of Land so that it is four time as big as Palestine and holds Proportion with England and Wales as 17 to 30. The Country is not at all inferior to England for Number or Goodness of Harbours Fertility of Soyl Plenty of Fish both in the Fresh and Salt Water Fowle Wild and Tame and all Sorts of Flesh Corn and Grain and every thing else necessary for the Life of Man saving that in some of these England has got an Advantage by Improvement and good Husbandry The Irish Rivers are both more numerous and more Clear the Shenin is bigber than the Thames and might be made Navigable almost two hundred Miles the Air indeed of England is more serene and consequently more hot in Summer and more cold in Winter nevertheless that Ireland is the healthier Country may be argued from hence That seldom any Pestilential Disease rages there and no part of that Kingdom is so unhealthy as the Fenns of Huntington Lincoln and Cambridge Shires the Hundreds of Essex or the Wild of Kent and it may be expected That as the Bogs are drained and the Country grows Populous the Irish Air will meliorate since it is already brought to that Pass That Fluxes and Dissenteries which are the Country Diseases are neither so riâ—e nor so mortal as they have been heretofore Things most observable of that Country are That nothing venomous will live in it there are Spiders but not poysonous Ireland breeds the largest Grey-hound in the World they are called Wolf-Dogs and will dwindle and grow much smaller in two or three Generations in any other Country The Irish Hawk is reputed the best in Europe and the Irish Hobbies or ambling Nags can hardly be matched nor do any Seas abound with Pilchards more than the Southern Irish Sea it is very rare to have an Earthquake in Ireland and when it happens it is portentuous there are a thousand Lies reported of wonderful things in Ireland but the only extraordinary thing I can aver true is the strange Quality of Logh neâ—gh that turns Wood into Stone and I
Conclusion had destroyed three of his Objections for if the Irish were in almost continual Rebellions as he says and is true how could he expect they should enjoy Offices sit in Parliaments or have Benefit of the Kings Laws But the weakness of these Objections will yet more plainly appear by the following Answers To the First the Instances are few and it is bad Logick to draw general Consequences from the Actions of two or three particular Men especially such as so bitterly reflect on a Government or Nation besides all these three were Papists and their Sacrilege does not concern the Protestant Government of Ireland which is what Mr. Sullevan design'd to asperse To the Second If this Author had consulted the Ecclesiastical Catalogue he would have found that the Natives had more than their share of Bishopricks and Arch-Bishopricks and that to the ruine of most of the Sees and in the Military List he might have found the Baron of Dungannon Neal Garuff Macguire O Connor and many more who had Pay or Pension and yet it is so far from being criminal to prefer the Colony before the Native to Offices of Trust and Profit in a conquered Country that it is a necessary Duty to do it Ne Victi Victoribus Legem darent at most this Partiality is but in matters of Favour so that there is no wrong and 't is founded on good Law and sound Policy But what would this Objecter and his Companions say if they should see a Popish Governor in Ireland against all Law and Policy to make it criminal to be an Englishman and a cause of deprivation to profess the Religion by Law established To the Third Several of the Irish Potentates did sit in former Parliaments and particularly in the Parliaments of the 8th of Edw. 2. O Hanlon O Neal O Donnel Macgenis O Cahon Mac Mahon and many more Irish Lords were present but since the Parliaments are better regulated 't is true that none are suffered to sit in the House of Lords but such as are Lords of Parliament by Law viz. by Writ or Patent but 't is as true that the principal men of the Irish have or had Titles that qualifie them to sit there as O Neal Earl of Tyrone O Donel Earl of Tyrconnel O Bryan Earl of Thomond Mac Carthy Earl of Clancarthy O Bryan Earl of Insiquin The Lords Macguire Clare Glanmalira and Dungannon Kavenagh Baron of Balion O Carol Baron of Ely and many more To the Fourth Since the Irish would not admit their Countries to be made Shire-Ground nor suffer Sheriffs to exercise any Authority in them so that they were not amesnable to the Kings Laws but were governed by their own Brehon Laws so that the English could have no Justice against them nor could the King punish Murder without sending an Army to do it there was no reason they should have the Benefit of that Law they would not submit to And this I take to be the true Reason why it was denied them Davis 6. 'T is true they often Petitioned for the Liberty to be Plaintiffs but they would not at the same time put themselves in a condition to be Defendants nor come within the Jurisdiction of the Kings Courts but by starts and for their benefit and therefore assoon as the Kingdom was throughly subdued and reduced into Shires so that the Kings Writ did run throughout the Realm the Irish had also an equal Benefit of the Law and were received into the Condition of Subjects So that this Objection has been long since quite taken away As to the Fifth They were not so ignorant but that they knew the necessity of leaving a Tenure in the King besides there was some small Reservation or Crown-Rent reserv'd by Contract or Agreement in every Patent and therefore they did not expect it as free as they surrendred it however they got well enough by the bargain for in lieu of a precarious Estate for Life at most they got legal Titles of Inheritance by the Kings Grants and certainly they had little reason to complain whilst as our Author confesses they enjoy'd both the Profits and the Possession But let us return to King Henry the Second who found work enough in France and was advised by his Mother Maud the Empress and others at a great Council held on that occasion Speed at Winchester to postpone his Irish Designs until he could meet with a more favourable opportunity which not long after hapned For Dermond Mac Murrough King of Leinster Regan having forced O Neale O Mlaghalin and O Caroll to give him Hostages grew so insolent at these successes that he became oppressive to his Subjects and injurious to his Neighbours more especially by the Rape of the Wife of Orourk King of Brehny 1167. who was Daughter of O Mlaghlin King of Meath Stanihurst whereupon he was invaded by his Enemies Cambrensis and abandoned by his Subjects and Tributaries particularly by Morough O Borne Hasculphus Mac Turkil Governor of Dublin and Daniel Prince of Ossory and after many Disasters 1168. was forced to quit his Country and betake himself to the King of England for Assistance He was accompanied by his Trusty Servant Auliff O Kinade and sixty others and safely arrived at Bristol where he was generously entertain'd at S. Austin's Abbey by Robert Fitzharding Regan M. S. and so having refresh'd himself and Servants he went forward on his Voyage to Aquitain where the King then resided He appeared before the King in a most shabby Habit 1169. says Friar Clin Stanihurst 6â— suitable to the wretched condition of an Exile He fell at his Majesties feet and emphatically bewail'd his own Miseries and Misfortunes He represented the Malice of his Neighbours and the Treachery of his pretended Friends and the Rebellion of his Subjects in proper and lively Expressions he suggested that Kings were then most like Gods when they exercised themselves in succouring the Distressed and that the Fame of King Henry's Magnificence and Generosity had induced him to that Address for his Majesties Protection Assistance But the King being engaged in France could not aid him personally however being mov'd with Dermond's cunning Speeches submissive Deportment Hooker 1. he pitied his Misfortunes entertain'd him kindly and gave him some Presents and then took his Oath of Allegiance and gave him the following Patent HEnry Stainhurst 66. King of England Duke of Normandy and Aquitain Earl of Anjou c. Vnto all his Subjects English Normans Welsh and Scots and to all Nations and People being his Subjects Greeting Whereas Dermond Prince of Leinster most wrongfully as he informeth banished out of his one Country hath craved our Aid Therefore for asmuch as we have received him into our Protection Grace and Favour whosoever within our Realm subject to our Commands will Aid and Help him whom we have embraced as our Trusty Friend for the Recovery of his Land let him be
and His would cut their Throats for he was resolved to be of the strongest Side and though he would help them whilst they sought he would certainly turn against them if they fled But the English Valour needed not such a Whet for according to their Custom they fell upon and routed the Enemy and marched to Limrick and relieved the Garrison which produced a Parley Easter-Tuesday and that a new Submission and Hostages as well from Daniel Prince of Limrick as from Rotherick late Monarch of Ireland who sent his Son over to the King as Hostage of the Peace 1177. and afterwards by his Agents the Archbishop of Tuam the Abbot of S. Brendam and Laurence his Chaplain entred into the following Agreement Hic est finis Concordia quae facta fuit apud Windesore Hanmer 144. in octabis Sancti Michaelis anno gratiae 1177. inter Dominum Regem Angliae Henricum secundum Rodericum Regem Conaciae per Catholicum Tuamensem Archiepiscopum Abbatem C. Sancti Brandani Magistrum Laurentium Cancellarium Regis Conaciae I. QVod Rex Angliae concedit praedicto Roderico Ligeo homini suo Regnum Conaciae quamdiu ei fideliter serviet ut sit Rex sub eo paratus ad servitium suum sicut homo suus ut teneat terram suam ita bene in pace sicut tenuit antequam Dominus Rex Angliae intravit Hiberniam reddendo ei tributum totam illam terram habitatores terrae habeat sub se Justitiae ut tributum Regi Angliae integre persolvant per manum ejus sua jura sibi conservent illi qui modo tenent teneant in pace quamdiu mansuerint in fidelitate Regis Angliae fideliter integre persolverint tributum alia jura sua quae ei debent per manum Regis Conaciae salvo in omnibus jure honore Domini Regis Angliae suo II. Et siqui ex eis Regi Angliae ei Rebelles fuerint tributum alia jura Regis Angliae per manum ejus solvere noluerint à fidelitate Regis Angliae recesserint ipse eos justitiet amoveat si eos per se justitiare non poterit Constabularius Regis Angliae familia sua de terra illa juvabunt cum ad hoc faciendum cum ab ipo fuerint requisiti ipsi viderint quod necesse fuerit propter hunc finem reddet proedictus Rex Conaciae Domino Regi Angliae tributum singulis annis scilicet de singulis decem animalibus unum Corium placabile mercatoribus tam de tota terra sua quam de aliena III. Excepto quod de terris illis quas Dominus Rex Angliae retinuit in Dominio suo in Dominio Baronum suorum nihil se intromittet Scilicet Durelina cum pertinentiis suis Media cum omnibus pertinentiis suis sicut unquam Murchait Wamai Leth-Lachlin eam melius plenius tenuit aut aliqui qui eam de eo tenuerint Et excepta Wexfordia cum omnibus pertinentiis suis scilicet cum tota Lagenia excepta Waterfordia cum tota terra illa quae est à Waterfordia usque ad Dungarvan ita ut Dungarvan sit cum omnibus pertinentis suis infra terram illam IV. Et si Hibernenses illi qui aufugerint redire voluerint ad terram Baronum Regis Angliae redeant in pace reddendo tributum praedictum quod alii reddunt vel faciendo antiqua servitia quae facere solebant pro terris suis hoc sit in arbitrio Dominorum suorum si aliqui eorum redire noluerint Domini eorum Rex Conaciae accipiat obsides omnibus quos ei commisit Dominus Rex Angliae ad voluntatem Domini Regis suam ipse dabit Obsides ad voluntatem Domini Regis Angliae illos vel alios ipsi servient Domino de Canibus Avibus suis singulis annis de pertinentiis suis nullum omnino de quacunque terra Regis sit retinebunt contra voluntatem Domini Regis His testibus Richardo Episcopo Wintoniae Gaufrido Episcopo Eliensi Laurentio Duveliensi Archiepiscopo Gaufrido Nicholao Rogero Capelanis Regis Gulielmo Comite Essexii aliis multis Whilst Reymond staid at Limrick there came to him Dermond Mac Carthy King of Cork craving Aid against his Son Cormock Lehanagh who had imprisoned him and used him barbarously Reymond assents upon the Terms agreed between them conquers where he goes subdues the Rebellious Son and delivers him Prisoner to his Father who unnaturally smote off his Head and not long after says Cambrensis the Men of Cork at a Parlee not far from the Town slew their Prince the aforesaid Dermond mac Carthy and most of his Company It seems that Dermond mac Carthy King of Cork gave unto Reymond for this Expedition a large Tract of Land in the County of Kerry then reckoned part of the Kingdom of Cork there Reymond setled his Son Maurice who married Catherine Daughter of Miles Cogan and grew so Great and Powerful that he gave Name both to his Country and his Family this being called Fitz-Morris and that Clan-Morris and both the one and the other are enjoyed to this Day by his Lineal Heir Male the Right Honourable William Lord Baron of Kerry Whilst Reymond was in the County of Cork he received a Letter from his Wife in these Words KNow my dear Lord That my great Cheek Tooth which was wont to ake so much is now fallen out wherefore if you have any Care or Regard of me or of your self come away with all speed By this Reymond knew that Strongbow was dead 27 May 1177. but he wisely concealed it and immediately returned to Limerick And because he wanted the Soldiers to garrison the Towns near the Sea he delivered the City to Donald Prince of Thomond the King's Subject upon a new Oath and Hostages but he as soon as the Garrison was out perfidiously set Fire to the City in four Places that it might be no more a Nest for English Men. Thence Reymond marched to Dublin and the Funerals of the Earl were there solemnized by the Archbishop of Dublin The King's Messengers returned to England with an account of the State of Affairs leaving with the Consent of the Council the chief Government with Reymond who soon after surrendred to William Fitz-Adelm Ancestor of the Burks or Burghs the King's Sewer or Taster with whom were sent Courcy Fitz-Stephens and Cogan as Counsellors and Assistants He was allowed twenty Gentlemen and they ten a piece He landed at Wexford whither Reymond marched to meet him he viewed the Sea-Coasts and took Care of the Towns and Castles that way but did not much mind the Frontiers against the Irish This William Fitz-Adelm was related to the Crown for Arlotte Mother of William the Conqueror was married to Harlowen de Bourgo by whom she had Robert
Popes Familiar and Kinsman and both Bastards saith Bale fill'd in like sort his Fardles in Scotland These Nuncio's were so crafty that they needed no Brokers they secretly understood by Posts and Cursitors the State of the Court of Rome which quailed them full sore that the Pope was either gone or panted for Life secretly by the conduct of the Monks of Canterbury they were conveyed to Dover where they took Shipping and crost the Seas The Emperor Frederick against whom this Provision was made having intelligence thereof and secretly acquainted with the Popes state wrote to the King of England to apprehend such Prollers wherein he also reprov'd his Cowardize The Emperor when he understood that the Birds were flown away made search for the Nest yet overtook them in Italy where to be short he imprison'd them their Kindred and Favourites rifled them of their Money and sent them to Rome to sing for more He that will read the Story more at large let him repair to Matthew Paris In the Year 1242 1242. the Lord Justice built the Castle of Sligo in Connaught and plac'd in it able Warders and the next Year died Richard de Burgo and the famous Hugh de Lacy Earl of Vlster 1243. whose Daughter and Heir was married to Walter de Burgo in her Right Earl of Vlster The King sent to the Lord Justice for Aid against the Welsh 1244. which it seems was long a coming but at length it did come under the Conduct of the Lord Justice and Phelim O Connor they Landed in the Isle of Anglesey and pillaged the Island and were hastning to the Ships with their Prey but it seems the Welshmen overtook them and forced them to leave their Burdens behind However they afterwards joyn'd the Kings Army and did the Work they came for for the King discomfited the Welsh victualled his Castles and victoriously returned into England The Lord Justice being come back to Ireland 1245. found Vlster over-run by O Donel who took advantage of the Death of Lacy and the absence of the Lord Justice but by the assistance of Cormock mac Dermond ma◠Rory the Lord Justice invaded Tirconnel routed the Irish and slew many of the chief of them on the English side was lost William But by Cambden and others call'd Sheriff of Connaught and his Brother Cambden does also mention several Expeditions but the Issue of them all was this That the Lord Justice Manned his Castle of Sligo forced O Neal to give Hostages and then gave half Tyrconnel to the said Cormock ma◠Dermond and return'd with great Booty But the King was displeased with the Lord Justice for his slowness and delay in bringing Aid to him in Wales and therefore remov'd him from the Government Novemb. 4. 1245. and appointed Sir John Fitz Geofry de Marisco I suppose Lord Justice who receiv'd a Writ that the Executors of the Bishop of Ossory should be suffered to administer and dispose of the Testators Goods and Chattels the Debts due to the King being first Levied thereout and in September 1247. Prin H. 3. 107. the King directed a Writ to the Arch-Bishops and others in Ireland That the Laws of England should be strictly observed there as his Father King John had formerly commanded QVia pro communi utilitate Terrae Hiberniae Prin 254. unitate Terrarum Regis Rex vult de communi Concilio Regis provisum est quod omnes Leges Consuetudines quae in Regno Angliae tenentur in Hibernia teneantur eadem Terra eisdem Legibus subjaceat per easdem regatur sicut Dominus Johannes Rex cum ultimo esset in Hibernia statuit fieri mandavit Quia etiam Rex vult quod omnia Brevia de communi jure quae currunt in Anglia similiter currant in Hibernia sub novo Sigillo Regis Mandatum est Archiepiscopis c. quod pro pace tranquilitate ejusdem Terrae per easdem Leges eosdem regi deduci permittant eas in omnibus sequantur in cujus c. Teste Rege apud Wodestoke nono die Septembris anno Regni 30. Which Writ is imperfectly cited 1 Inst 141 b. Theobald Butler 1247. Lord of Carrick and John Cogan Lords Justices in whose Time the Popes Agent Johannes Refus was sent into Ireland clothed with Authority to collect the Popes Money Hanmer 198. my Author says that though he was not clad in Scarlet for fear of giving Offence yet he was such a Sophistical Legate and plied his business with that diligence that he extorted Six thousand Marks out of Ireland and by help of the Clergy transported it safely to London John Fitz Geofry was again Lord Justice 1248. in his time the King sent the following Writ Lib. P. Lambeth REX Justiciario Hibern Salutem Monstravit nobis Mamorch Offerthierun Rothericus Frater ejus quod antecessores sui ipsi licet Hibernenses semper tamen firmiter fuerunt ad fidem servitium nostram Prin 255. predecessorum nostrum it should be Nostrorum Regum Angl. 1253. ad conquestum una cum Anglicis faciendum super Hibernenses ideo vobis mandamus quod si ita est tunc non permittas ipsos M. R. repelli quin possint terras vindicare in quibus jus habent sicut quilibet Anglicus quia si ipsi antecessores sui sic se habuerunt cum Anglicis quamvis Hibernenses injustum esset licet Hibernenses sint quod exceptione qua repelluntur Hibernenses à vindicatione terrarum aliis repellantur c. By which Writ it appears that the King did design that all the Irish who would live as Subjects should have the benefit of the English Laws but that such of the Irish as were Enemies or Rebels and would not be Amesnable to Law should not have any Advantage by the Law But now the King to qualifie his Son for a Marriage with the Infanta of Spain Davis 22. amongst other things gave the Kingdom of Ireland to Prince Edward and his Heirs Lib. G. Lambeth in as ample manner as himself enjoyed it except the Cities of Dublin and Limrick nevertheless with this express Condition in the Patent 1254. Ita quod non separetur à Corona Angliae Whereupon Ireland was called the Land of the Lord Edward and the Officers there were stiled the Officers of Edward Lord of Ireland and the Writs did also run in the Name of the Prince In the same Year but I suppose before the Donation to the Prince the King sent a Writ to the Nobility of Ireland Prin 255. most earnestly desiring their Assistance with Men and Ships for his Wars in Gascony But the Prince had issued a Writ of Entry out of the Chancery of Ireland against the Bishop of Lismore which was illusory to the Laws of England established by the King and King John and therefore upon Complaint the King sent
175. In like manner did one of the Cavenaghs serve Carew about the Barony of Idrone and if I thought that no Body else would ever be served so hereafter I would have omitted this Remark In those Days there was small Respect paid to the Sabbath Fragm M. S. 4. in Ireland for the Markets were in several Places kept on Sundays but at Carlow the Market was about this time changed to another Day In England the sixth Penny of the Goods of Lay-men Baker 117. through England Ireland and Wales was granted to the King but how it was levied here non constat It appears by the Writ mentioned Pryn 263. that the denized Irish would not punish Felony with Death and therefore that Writ enjoyns them that are 14 Edw. 2. and them that shall be denized for the future to submit to the English Laws in that particular which confirms my former Observation That the Irish were fond of the Benefit of the English Laws but were very averse from the Penalties of them And by another Writ recited Pryn 263. it appears That Common Pleas were held before the chief Governour and because the Parties were poor and could not prosecute their Writ of Error in England according to Law the King did aâ—thorize the new Governour to examine the former Judgment and to reverse it if he found just cause c. And lastly we find a Writ which was sent to John Earl of Louth Pryn 264. whilst he was Lord Justice authorizing him to remove all such insufficient Persons as his Predecessor Mortimer had put into Office in that Kingdom which is a notable President worthy Imitation in all Places and Ages THE REIGN OF EDWARD III. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND EDWARD the Third upon the Resignation of his Father was proclaimed King the twenty fifth day of January 1327. and Crowned the first day of February following 1327. and being but fifteen years old had twelve Governors of him and the Kingdom appointed but they were but Ciphers and only had the bare Name of Governors whilst Mortimer and the Queen-Mother usurp'd and exercis'd the Power As for Ireland Thomas Fitz-John Earl of Kildare was made Lord Justice and Letters were sent to the Great Men of Ireland by Name to swear Fealty to the new King and to continue their Loyalty as they had done to his Predecessors And in his Time Adam Duff of the Family of O Toole in the County of Wicklow was burnt at Hoggin-Green in Dublin for Heresie or rather for most horrid Blasphemy for he denied the Trinity and the Incarnation of our Blessed Saviour c. And because it may be pleasant and useful to a curious Reader Lib. H. Lambeth I will give you a short Account of the Great Officers and others of Ireland and their Salaries as they were 1 Ed. 3. Earl of Kildare Lord Justice 500 Lib. Roger Outlaw Chancellor 040 Lib. Elias de Ashborne Justice for holding Pleas before the Justice and Council of Ireland 040 Lib. Roger de Werthorp Justice Itinerant 040 Mar. A Second Justice Itinerant Nicholas Falstoff Chief Justice of the Bench 040 Lib. John de Granset Second Justice 040 Mar. Roger de Preston Third Justice John Battalk Custos Brevium Rot. de Banc. 005 Lib. John Garnon Narrator Domini Regis 005 Lib. Simon Fitz-Richard Secundus Narrator 005 Mar. Richard Mayning Kings Sergeant 005 Mar. Robert Poer Treasurer 040 Lib. Thomas de Monte Pessulano Chancellor of the Exchequer 010 Lib. Roger de Birthorp Chief Baron 010 Lib. The Second Baron 010 Lib. Two Chamberlains of Exchequer 010 Lib. Remembrancer 010 Lib. A Summoner 004 Mar. Two Ingrossers of the Rolls in Term-time five pence per diem The Treasurers Clerk five pence per diem whilst the Exchequer is open Usher of the Chequer three half pence per diem A Chaplain of the Castle fifty Shillings per annum For Wax two Shillings Note a pound of Wax cost nine pence It was a common thing for the Great Men of Ireland as well Irish as English upon private Quarrels to make War one with another and sometimes upon very slight occasions an Instance whereof happened at this time Fragm 8. for Maurice Fitz-Thomas afterwards Earl of Desmond being disgusted with the Lord Arnold Poer for calling him Rimer did associate with the Butlers and Birminghams as Poer did with the Burks and began a War Davis 134. says it was Kildare that had like to have been fatal to the Burks and the Poers many of them were slain and more of them driven into Connaught and their Lands were burnt and preyed In vain did the Lord Justice interpose in this bloody Quarrel he appointed a Day to hear both Parties but the Lord Arnold Poer was so far from attending the issue of such a Meeting as well knowing that he was the first Aggressor and therefore the unlucky Causer of all those Calamities and Desolations that ensued that he fled to Waterford and thence into England The Army of the Fitz-Giralds and their Confederates was mightily increased in expectation of a greater resistance than they found but assoon as they understood that Poer was fled they executed their Revenge upon the Lands of their Enemies which had been to that time left undestroyed Cambden 181 They grew so formidable even to the Cities and Towns that they fortified and provided against them but upon notice of this the Confederates immediately sent word to the Lord Justice that they design'd no prejudice to the King or his Towns but had assembled to revenge themselves of their Enemies and that they were ready to appear before him at Kilkenny to clear themselves And accordingly in Lent they did meet at Kilkenny with the Lord Justice and the Kings Council 1327. and humbly crav'd a Charter of Peace or Pardon whereon the Lord Justice took time to advise But the Irish of Leinster hoped to advantage themselves of these Commotions and therefore set up Donald Mac Art Mac Morough of the Family of Mac Morough formerly Kings of Leinster for their King It seems he led his Army within two Miles of Dublin but he was defeated and taken Prisoner by Sir Henry Traherne and Walter de Valle who had one hundred and ten pounds reward for their pains and many of the Irish were slain but Mac Morough in January 1329. escaped out of the Castle of Dublin by help of a Rope sent him by Adam Nangle for which Fact Nangle was afterwards condemned and hang'd In the mean time the Lord Justice died at Minooth on Easter-Tuesday and Roger Outlaw Prior of Kilmainham Lord Chancellor was made Lord Justice in whose time David O Tool a strong Thief who had been taken Prisoner by the Lord John Wellesly the Lent before was this Summer condemned and executed at Dublin At this time in the Second Year of this Reign the Noble James Butler married the Earl of Hereford's Daughter Bakâ— which he had by
discourage the Transportation of Bullion the King shall have twelve Pence Custome out of every Ounce Upon his Return to England the Lord Lieutenant accused the Earl of Ormond of Treason Burlace 78. before the Duke of Bedford Constable of England in the Marshal's Couâ—t but the King abolished the Accusation Richard Talbot 1447. Archbishop of Dublin Lord Deputy he wrote a Tract de Abusu Regiminis Jacobi Comitis Ormondiae dum Hiberniae esset locum tenens Caâ—ton chron And it seems Thomas Fitz-Thomas Prior of Kilmainham was on the Archbishops side for he accused the Earl of Ormond of Treason and the Combat was appointed between them at Smithfield in London but the King did interpose and prevent it Hitherto the English had made but a bordering War in Ireland and that it self but very unluckily and the small Army that was kept on foot was ill paid and therefore more hurtful to the Subject by their Oppression than to the Enemy by their Valour so that it was necessary to send some great Man thither and no Body so fit for it as Richard Duke of York Earl of Vlster March Rutland and Cork Lord of Conagh Clare Trim and Meath for besides his Quality and Valour he had a great Estate in that Kingdom and it answered another Design of the Cardinal of Winchester who did then in effect govern England which was to remove this Duke from the Regency of France to make room for the Duke of Somerset and so he was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1449. and landed at Hoath the fifth of July 1449. But the Duke of York who fathomed their Designs and had other Intrigues of his own would not accept of the Government of Ireland Davis 51. but upon very advantagious Conditions which were reduced to Writing by Indenture betwixt the King and him and are recorded by Act of Parliament in Ireland and were to this effect I. That he should be the King's Lieutenant in Ireland for ten Years II. That to support the Charge of that Country he should receive the whole Revenue certain and casual without Account III. That he should be supplied with Treasure out of England in this manner viz. four thousand Marks the first year whereof he should be imprested two thousand Pounds before-hand and for the other nine years he should receive two thousand Pounds per annum IV. That he might let the Kings Lands to Farm and place and displace all Officers at his Pleasure V. That he might Levy and Wage what Number of Souldiers he thought fit VI. That he might make a Deputy and return at his Pleasure I do not find that this Lord brought over any considerable Forces with him or that he was able to keep any such on foot here not only because his Allowance was but small but also because that small Allowance was ill paid as appears by his passionate Letter to his Brother-in Law the Earl of Salisbury which is to be found Registred by Mr. Campion pag. 99. At his first coming 1450. the Irish were very insolent but he won upon them strangely Lib. M. partly by force and partly by their own Art of Wheedling He held a Parliament at Dublin in October Friday before S. Lukes Day and the Bishops of Leighlin Ossory Down and Limerick were fined for not coming to it This Parliament Enacted many good Laws viz. 1. That no Marcher or other keep more Horsemen or Foot than they can maintain and will answer for and that they give in a List of their Names to the Sheriff c. 2. It suppresseth Coynees Rep. 11. Car. 1. c. 6. Cuddies and Night-suppers and well sets forth the Grievances of those Times 3. That the Accuser shall give Security to pay the Damages of the Defendant if the Impeachment be found untrue 4. That every man may kill Robbers and notorious Thieves and shall have a Penny out of every Plow-land and a Farthing from every Cottage for his Reward 5. That the great Officers of the Kingdom shall not give Protections to any other than their Menial Officers and Attendants This Lord Lieutenant also held another Parliament at Drogheda in April on Friday before S. Mark 's Day which Enacted 1. That if the Remembrancer issue Process against any body that is discharg'd on Record in the Exchequer he shall forfeit his Office and treble Damage 2. That the Chancellor Treasurer and Judges or one of them be present at all Commissions of Oyer and Terminer in the Counties of Dublin Kildare Meath and Vriel 3. That no body shall sell Liquor but by Sealed Measures It seems that some of these Statutes were occasioned by a doleful Letter sent from Cork which the Irish Historians place in the Reign of Henry the Fourth and yet direct it to the Earl of Rutland and Cork and therefore it will be more properly applied to this Time when he was Lord Lieutenant and follows in haec Verba IT may please your Wisdoms to have pity of us Camp 94. the Kings poor Subjects within the County of Cork or else we be cast away for ever for where there was in this County these Lords by Name besides Knights Esquires Gentlemen and Yeomen to a great number that might dispend yearly eight hundred pounds six hundred pounds four hundred pounds two hundred pounds one hundred pounds one hundred Marks twenty pounds twenty Marks ten pounds some more some less to a great number besides these Lords following First The Lord Marquess Carew his yearly Revenues were besides Dorsey-Haven and other Creeks two thousand two hundred pounds sterling The Lord Barnewale of Bear-haven his yearly Revenues were besides Bear-haven and other Creeks sixteen hundred pounds sterling The Lord Uggan of the great Castle his yearly Revenues were besides Havens and Creeks one thousand three hundred pounds sterling The Lord Balram of Emforle his yearly Revenues were besides Havens and Creeks one thousand three hundred pounds sterling The Lord Courcy of Kilbreton his yearly Revenues besides Havens and Creeks one thousand five hundred pounds sterling The Lord Mandevil of Barnhely his yearly Revenues besides Havens and Creeks one thousand two hundred pounds sterling The Lord Arundel of the Strand his yearly Revenues besides Havens and Creeks one thousand five hundred pounds sterling The Lord Baron of the Guard his yearly Revenues besides Havens and Creeks one thousand one hundred pounds sterling The Lord Sleynie of Baltimore his yearly Revenue besides Havens and Creekss eight hundred pounds sterling The Lord Roche of Pool Castle his yearly Revenues besides Havens and Creeks one thousand pounds sterling The Kings Majesty hath the Lands of the late young Barry by Forfeiture the yearly Revenues whereof besides two Rivers and Creeks and all other Casualties is one thousand eight hundred pounds sterling And at the end of this Parliament your Lordship with the Kings most Noble Counsel may come to Cork and call before you all these Lords and other Irishmen and bind them in
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.
other that will covet the said Earl's Inheritance In witness whereof that this is our Counsel to the said Earl we have hereunto put our Hands the 18th of July 1578. Garret Desmond Thomas Lixnaw John Desmond John Fitz James Rory Mac Shehey Morrogh O Bryan Moriarta Mac Bryan of Loncorthe Fa K. E Fa D. K. B Theobald Burk Daniel O Brian Richard Burk John Brown Daniel Mac Canna of Dumbrain James Russell Richard Fitz Edmund Girald Vlick Mac Thomas of Ballincarrigy Vlick Burk John Fitz William of Karnederry Teig O Heyn of Chairely Nevertheless the Earl dissembled the Matter and temporized for a long time he was building a Castle when the news first came of James's Arrival and immediately he discharged the Workmen and pretending to oppose the Spaniards he sent to Mac Carthy More to summon him to assist him Mac Carthy came accordingly and shewed himself forward in the Matter but as soon as he discovered Desmond's Inclinations he took his leave and returned Nevertheless the Earl of Desmond at the perswasion of Captain Appesly was against his Will obliged to remove to Askeaton however he suffered and secretly encouraged many of his Followers to go over to the Spaniards but that did not satisfie them for when they found themselves disappointed of those great Aids that were promised them their Courage began to abate and they entertained Thoughts of returning home and undoubtedly they had done so but that James Fitz Maurice kept up their Spirits by large Promises of speedy Assistance and in order to procure it he undertook a Journey to Connaught but pretended only to go in Pilgrimage to pay his Devotions to the Holy Cross in Typerary he took with him four Horse and twelve Kerns and being come into Burk's Country in the County of Limerick Cambd. Eliz. 237. and wanting a Horse he ordered his Men to take the first they met with which they did out of a Plow of Burk's the Plowmen raise the Hue-and-Cry whereupon Sir William Burk's Sons pursued them and at length overtook them Headed by Fitz Morris with whom their Father had formerly joined in Rebellion Fitz Morris immediately calls out Coz Theodore Two Garons shall make no Breach between you and I I hope you will do as I do Burk replied He had too much of Rebellion already and had sworn the contrary and therefore would have his Horses Fitz Morris thought it dishonourable to part with what he had gotten and so to Skirmish they go which was brisk enough and ended in the slaughter of both of them Fitz Morris was quartered at Kilmallock and Sir William Burk was afterwards made Baron of Castleconnel with Joy whereof he died Upon notice that James Fitz Maurice and the Spaniards were arrived the Lord Deputy with the Army which was but four hundred Foot and two hundred Horse marched to Munster accompanied by the Marshal Bagnal Malby Wingfeild Waterhouse Fitton Masterson and others of that sort and by the Lords of Kildare Moungarret Upper Ossory and Dunboyn who brought two hundred Horse of their own besides Kern when they came to Kilmallock the Deputy sent Messengers for the Earl of Desmond and some others whom he suspected Desmond after much lingring and many vain excuses came to the Camp well attended but some of his tricks being discovered he was committed to Prison and thereupon being fearful lest all his secret Treasons and Combinations might be unravelled he so passionately humbled himself to the Deputy that upon the renewal of his oath of Allegiance he was set at Liberty In the mean time his Brother Sir John Desmond was at the head of the Rebels and encamped near Sleavelogher but the Deputy quickly feased them thence and having divided his small Army into three Parts he pursued the Irish so close that he often lay in the place where they had lain the night before nevertheless he could never overtake these light footed Enemies and therefore having destroyed the Forage he returned to Kilmallock and Encamped at Gibbings-Town and continued nine Weeks marching up and down thereabouts with very great toil but to no great purpose Only the Captains Herbert and Price being detached with two hundred Men did some Execution on the Rebels at a place called the Blackwood But in their return homeward they were surprized by an Ambush of Sir John Desmond's and themselves and most of their Company slain without any great dammage to the Irish saving that their Commander Sir John Desmond was wounded in the Nose But the Army being recruited by the arrival of the Captains 1579. Bourchier Carew and Dowdall with six hundred Men to Waterford and of Sir John Perrot with six Ships to Cork the Deputy made another incursion into Connilo but could not meet with the Rebels and so finding himself Sick he left the Army with Sir Nicholas Malby and retired to Waterford and having Knighted Bourchier Stanly Carew More Pelham Gorge Perrot and Walsh he died the last day of September 1579. The Earl of Desmond continued his Profession of Loyalty and pretended to act separately but would not by any means venture himself in the Camp or in any walled Town however he sent his only Son to be a hostage of his fidelity and the Countess brought the Child to the Deputy a little before his Death During the Interval between the Deputies sickness and the Election of a new one the Marshal Malby managed the Army which consisted of nine hundred Foot and an hundred and fifty Horse whereof he left fifty Horse and three hundred Foot with Captain Bourchier at Killmallock and marched with the rest to refresh them at Limerick After they had a little Rest the Marshal made an incursion into Connilo Cambd. Eliz. 338. and at Monaster Neva about nine Miles from Limerick he met with Sir John of Desmond and two Thousand Rebels and it came to a Battle wherein the Irish behaved themselves valiantly and with great resolution received the first and second Charge however they could not forget the known Maxim of some Men That if the Enemy wont run they will and therefore at the third Charge their Stomachs came down and their General Sir John was as nimble as any of them to shelter himself in a Bog however he left two hundred and sixty of his Myrmidons behind him who were killed upon the Spot and amongst them the famous Legat Doctor Allen. The Earl of Desmond and the Lord of Kerry from a little Hill hard by were the Melancholy Spectators of this Battle and although Desmond did the next day send a Messenger to Malby to congratulate his Victory and had put in his Son as a pledge for his Loyalty and although the Lord of Kerry's Son Patrick was a sworn Officer to the Queen in England and was now come over by her Majesties Leave only to see his Father and although all of them are of the noble Family of Fitz Girald and consequently of English Extraction yet they were so bigotted with sensless
Month. But the Lord Deputy was again allarm'd with a new Invasion of the Scotish Islanders and therefore Turlogh Lynogh being old the Baron of Dungannon was encouraged to oppose them but lest he should grow too popular by that Authority the Deputy thought it necessary to march into the North with such Forces as he had ready he left Dublin the 26th of June and passed speedily to Dungannon where most of the Irish Gentlemen of Vlster except James Carow came to him and submitted to his Lordship's command Hence the Deputy sent Captain Dawtry to the King of Scotland to pray restitution of the Irish Ships and Goods taken by his Subjects and that he would stop the Islanders from destroying Ireland to which he received a kind and favourable Answer dated at Saint Andrews the fourth of August 1585. but it came too late Four hundred Islanders arrived in Vlster and were joined by as many more under the Conduct of Con Mac Neal Oge's Son Hugh Mac Felim's Son O Kelly Mac Cartane c. and on the 28th of July were encountred by Captain Strafford and 170 Soldiers and a few Kernes who continued the Fight from Morning to four in the Afternoon still gaining Ground of the Enemy of whom 24 were slain and 40 wounded and of the English but 8 killed and 12 wounded and here my Authour truly observes that the Irish never gave the English a defeat but upon shrinking from them The Enemy passed the River Ban and went into Tyrone but were so pursued by the Baron of Dungannon and Captain Strafford that they were forced to repass the Ban and to retire toward Dunluce and finding no quiet there they went to Inisowen and designed to surprise Strabane but Hugh Duffe O Donell gave notice hereof to Captain Merriman and offered his assistance and so Merriman with 160 Soldiers and O Donell with a few of his fâ—llowers marcht all night to surprise the Scots But 〈◊〉 their great amazement they found the Scots in a readinesâ—â—nd above 600 strong so that they were able to divide 〈◊〉 Army into three divisions so to assail the Royalists threâ— several ways whilst the English being so few were forced to keep in one entire Body Alexander Mac Surly who commanded the Scots challeng'd Merriman to a Combate and a lusty Gallowglasse being by said he was the Captain and so to the Duel they go the Gallowglasse stund the Scot at the first blow but he recovering himself kill'd the Gallowglasse and thereupon Merriman stept out and fought Alexander a good while with Sword and Target and so wounded him in the Leg that he was forced to retreat and thereupon his Army being discouraged were totally routed and Alexander being hid under a Turf in Cabbin was discovered and his Head cut off and set on a Pole in Dublin But how fortunate soever the Summer Progress was yet the Deputy's Enemies complain'd against it as chargeable and unnecessary so that he was forced to return to Dublin the 16th of August where old Surlyboy came and submitted unto him The chief Articles against the Deputy were That he was severe and forc'd the People to the Oath of Allegiance and pryed into men's Patents and endeavour'd to promote Laws against Recusants and to repeal Poyning's Act and this Impeachment was abetted by the Chancellour whom being also Archbishop of Dublin the Deputy had disoblig'd by endeavouring to appropriate the Revenues of St. Patrick's Church to the new design'd University and by carrying himself too Magisterially in the Government with the Chancellour Sir Henry Bagnal Secretary Fenton and others of the Council sided so that it grew into a powerfull Faction by which the Deputy was often thwarted at Council Board and else where The Lord Treasurer of England was a fast Friend to the Arch-bishop so that by his means the appropriating of the Livings of St. Patrick's Church was stopt and other Affronts were put upon the Deputy which so enraged him that he spoke some passionate words of the Queen which were the cause of his Ruine afterwards and particularly having received some kind Letters from the Queen after some ill usage that he resented Look ye says he to the standers by now the Queen is ready to bepiss her self for fear of the Spaniard I am become her white Boy again This Deputy was supposed to be the Son of Henry the Eighth and had much of his towring Spirit in him When he was Condemn'd he ask'd the Lieutenant of the Tower whether the Queen would sacrifice her Brother to his frisking Adversaries meaning the Lord Chancellour Hatton who he said came into Court by the Galliard He was condemn'd on the Preists forged Letter and dyed suddenly in the Tower and his Son Sir Thomas Perot was restor'd to his Estate Nor did these his open Enemies only impeach him themselves but they also instigated the Lords and Gentlemen of the Pale as was believed to complain by their Letter of the 15th of July 1585. that besides the 2100 l. which they had consented should be levyed in lieu of the Cess the Lord Deputy design'd to impose a second Charge of 1500 l. per annum upon them thereby to make Her Majesty's Government intolerable to them but some of these Lords and Gentlemen being afterwards undeceiv'd generously wrote their Retractation of their former mistake to the Lords of the Council of England Nevertheless the Deputy proceeded in his duty and issued a Commission to two and twenty Gentlemen whereof Sir Richard Bingham Lib. L. 15th July 1585. White and Waterhouse were of the Quorum Authorizing them to compound between the Queen and the Subject and between the Lord and the Tenant for Cess Cuttings and other incertain Exactions and to bring the Inhabitants of Connaugh and Twomond to a composition of paying ten Shillings per annum for every quarter of Land containing 120 Acres besides a certain number of Soldiers amongst them on every rising out they proceeded by Inquisition by a Jury to find out the number of Plow-lands and the County of Mayo was found to contain 1448 quarters of Land whereof 248 might be exempted and paid 600 l. per annum and contributed 200 Foot and 40 Horse at their own charge when required and 50 Foot and 15 Horse in such manner as the Peers and English Bishops ought to do Sept. 1585. and this was done by Indenture whereby they voluntarily renounced the Irish Captainships Styles and Titles and abolish'd the Irish Gavelkind and Tanistry and agreed to hold their Lands by Patent according to Law and the like was done in the rest of Connaugh and the whole Province was found to contain 8169 quarters of Land whereof 2339 being exempted there remain'd 6836 liable to an annual Rent of 3418. 5. 8. and to contribute 1054 Foot and 224 Horse to the General Hostings in Connaugh and 332 Foot and 88 Horse at any time for Forty days any where in Ireland And Twomond for 1259 Plow'd Land agreed to pay 543 10 0
Nobility and Lords of Countries do not only in their hearts affect this plausible Quarrel and are divided from us in Religion but have an especial Quarrel against the English Government because it limiteth and tieth them who have ever been and ever would be as absolute Tyrants as any are under the Sun the Towns being inhabited by men of the same Religion and Birth as the rest are so carryed away with the Love of gain that for it they will furnish the Rebels with all things that may arm them or inable them against the State or against themselves The Wealth of the Kingdom which consisteth in Cattel Oat-meal and other victuals is allmost all in the Rebels hands who in every Province till my coming have been masters of the Field The expectation of these Rebels is very present and very confident that Spain will either so invade your Majesty that you shall have no leisure to prosecute them here or so succour them that they will get most of the Towns into their hands e'er your Majesty shall relieve and reinforce your Army so that now if your Majesty resolve to subdue these Rebels by force they are so many and so fram'd to be Soldiers that the War will certainly be great costly and long If your Majesty will seek to break them by factions amongst themselves they are covetous and mercenary and must be purchased and their Jesuits and practising Priests must be hunted out and taken from them which now do sodder so fast and so close together If your Majesty will have a strong party in the Irish Nobility and make use of them you must hide from them all purpose of Establishing English Government till the strength of the Irish be so broken that they shall see no safety but in your Majesties Protection If your Majesty will be assured of the Possession of your Towns and keep them from supplying the wants of the Rebels you must have Garisons brought into them able to command and make it a capital Offence for any Merchant in Ireland to trade with the Rebels or buy or sell any Arms or Munition whatsoever for your good Subjects may have for their money out of your Majesties Store that which shall be appointed by order and may serve for their necessary defence whereas if once they be tradable the Rebels will give such extreme and excessive Prices that they will never be kept from them If your Majesty will secure this your Realm from the danger of Invasion as soon as those which direct and manage your Majesty's Intelligences give notice of the preparations and readiness of the Enemy you must be as well armed and provided for your Defence Which Provision consists in having Forces upon the Coast enroll'd and train'd in having Megazines of Victuals in your Majesties West and North-west Parts ready to be transported and in having Ships both of War and Transportation which may carry and waft them both upon the first Allarm of a Descent the enrolling and training of your Subjects is no charge to your Majesties own Coffers The providing of Megazines will never be any loss for in using them you may save a Kingdom and if you use them not you may have your old Store sold and if it be well handled to your Majesties Profit The arming your Majesties Ships when you hear your Enemy arms to Sea is agreeable to your own Provident and Princely Courses and to the Policies of all Princes and States of the World But to return to Ireland again As I have shewed your Majesty the danger and disadvantages which your Servants and Ministers here shall and do meet withall in this great Work of reducing this Kingdom so I will now as well as I can represent to your Majesty your Strengths and Advantages First These Rebels are neither able to force any wall'd Town Castle or House of strength nor to keep any that they get so that while your Majesty keeps your Army and Vigour you are undoubtedly Mestriss if all Towns and Holds whatsoever by which means if your Majesty have good Ministers all the Wealth of the Land shall be drawn into the hands of your Subjects your Soldiers in the Winter shall be with ease lodg'd and readily supplyed of any wants and We that command your Majesties Forces may make the War offensive and defensive may fight and be in safety as occasion is offered Secondly your Majesty's Horsemen are so incomparably better than the Rebels and their Foot are so unwilling to fight in Battel or gross howsoever they be desirous to skirmish and loose fight that your Majesty may be allways Mistress of the Champion Countries which are the best parts of this Kingdom Thirdly Your Majesty victualling your Army out of England and with your Garisons burning and spoiling the Country in all places shall starve the Rebels in one Year because no place else can supply them Fourthly Since no War can be made without Munition and Munition this Rebel cannot have but from Spain Scotland or your Towns here if your Majesty will still continue your Ships and Pinaces upon the Coast and be pleas'd to send a printed Proclamation That upon pain of Death no Merchant Townsman or other Subject do traffick with the Rebel or buy or sell in any sort any kind of Munition or Arms I doubt not but in short time I shall make them bankrupt of their own Store and I hope our Seamen will keep them from any new Fifthly Your Majesty hath a rich store of gallant Collonels Captains and Gentlemen of Quality whose Example and Execution is of more Vse than all the rest of your Troups whereas the best Men of Quality among the Rebels who are their Leaders and their Horse-men dare never put themselves to any hazard but send their Kerne and their Hirelings to fight with your Majesty's Troups so that although their common Soldiers are too hard for our new Men yet are they not able to stand before such gallant Men as will charge them Sixthly Your Majesty's Commanders being advised and exercised know all Advantages and by the Strength of their Order will in great Fights beat the Rebels for they neither march nor lodge nor fight in order but only by the benefit of Footmanship can come on and go off at their pleasure which makes them attend a whole Day still skermishing and never engaging themselves so that it hath been ever the Fault and Weakness of your Majesty's Leaders whensoever you have received any Blow for the Rebels do but watch and attend upon all gross Oversights Now if it please your Majesty to compare your Advantages and Disadvantages together you shall find that though these Rebels are more in number than your Majesty's Army and have though I do unwillingly confess it better Bodies and perfecter use of their Arms than those Men which your Majesty sends over yet your Majesty commanding the walled Towns Holds and Champion Countries and having a brave Nobility and Gentry a better Discipline
Parsons by Owen O Conally an Irishman but bred a Protestant by Sir John Clotworthy and he being drunk told his Story so odly and delivered this surprizing Information so incoherently that small regard was had to what he said and therefore he was dismissed with Directions to make farther Discoveries if he could Nevertheless the Lord Parsons went to his Collegue Burlace at Chichester-house to communicate Conally's Intelligence unto him and whilst the Lord Justice Burlace was fretting that Conally should be so slightly dismiss'd Vide his Examination Append 2. behold about Ten a Clock at Night he came again and confirm'd his former Story Whereupon several of the Conspirators were that Night apprehended and tho' James Warren and Paul Neale found means to escape out of Custody yet the Lord Macguire in whose Lodgings were found many Hatchets Skeins and Hammers and Mac Mahon were taken and kept safe until their Execution It was about Five a Clock in the Morning 23d of October when Mac Mahon was Examined and Confessed That on that very day all the Forts and strong Places in Ireland would be taken that he with the Lord Macguire Hugh Brine Captain Bryan O Neale and several other Irish Gentlemen were come expresly to surprize the Castle of Dablin and that Twenty men out of each County were to be here to joyn with them That all the Papist Lords and Gentlemen in the Kingdom were engaged in this Plot That what was to be done in other parts of the Country was so far advanced by that time as it was impossible for the Wit of Man to prevent it that they had him in their Power and might use him as they pleased but he was sure be should be revenged And it is observable that Mac Mahon's Fancy was so full of the Bloody Tragedy which was to be Acted that day that during Owen O Conallies Examination as he walked in Chichester-Hall he drew with Chalk several postures of Men some on Gibbets and some groveling on the Ground so much was he delighted with what he thought or rather knew would soon be the Condition of the miserable English Nor is it to be omitted that Sir William Cole upon the Information of John Cormuck and Flagharty Mac Hugh that the Irish did design to seize on the Castle of Dublin and murder the Lords Justices and Council and the Protestants there did on the 21. of October send Letters with an Account of that Matter to the Lords Justices but how they mis carried is not known but it is certain those Letters never came to hand On this First day of the Rebellion the Irish surprized the Lord Blaney's House his Wife and Children and seized the Newry and the Magazine there See it Burlace 22. wherein were Seventy Barrels of Powder they also took Dungannon Fort Mountjoy Charlemont Tonrage Carrickmacross Cloghouter in the County of Cavan and Castlemonaghan and committed many Murders and the Lords Justices issued a Proclamation to encourage the English to defend themselves which were immediately Printed and sent to several places by Expresses and from this time forward there was not a day and scarce an hour wherein the dismal Tidings of some new Outrage or Barbarity did not arrive On the 24th the Alarms and Fears were so great at Dublin that the Castle Drawbridge was once let down and some of the State went to the Platform of the Castle to view the Irish Army which was falsly said to be approaching The Lords Justices being in this deplorable Condition did turn themselves to all the Methods of preserving the Kingdom which so great a Danger did require and their small Materials would allow but tho' their Industry was great their means were inconsiderable the whole standing Army did not exceed Two thousand ninety seven Foot and Nine hundred Horse Officers included and these were scattered in Single Troops and Companies or small Parties into places remote from Dublin and far distant from one another so that some of them were cut off by the Enemy and more of them being Irish Papists did revolt to the Rebels however they did send Potents for as many as they thought could safely March and particularly for the Earl of Ormond's Troop which came with himself to Dublin on the Second day of December and they made Sir Francis Willoughby Commander of the Castle These Letters are at large Temple 25. and Sir Charles Coot Governour of the City and on the 25th of October sent Owen O Conally with Letters to the Lord Lieutenant and Sir Henry Spotswood with an Express to the King But their main hope was that the Papists of the Pale who were of English Extraction and had signalized their Loyalty in all former Rebellions would also stand firm to the Crown in This and therefore the Lords Justices and Council sent Letters to the Sheriffs of those five Counties to make their best defence against the Rebels and to do all that was necessary for their own Preservation And to encourage as well as enable those Papists that the State had a good Opinion of the Lords Justices dispersed Seventeen hundred Arms to the Lords of Fingall Gormanstown Dunsany Slane Netervill Merion Hoath and other Roman Catholick Gentlemen for the Guard of the Pale and Arms were likewise sent to the Towns of Waterford Wexford and Trim with a Licence to import more they issued also Commissions of Martial Law for the more speedy Execution of the Rebels and thereby the more Expeditious Suppressing of the Rebellion Temple 55. and these Commissions were directed to Papists viz. to Henry Talbot for the County of Dublin John Bellew Esquire for the County of Louth Richard Dalton and James Tuit in Westmeath and James Talbot in the County of Cavan They also gave Commissions of Government of the respective Counties to several Roman Catholicks viz. the Lords Mountgarret Gormanstown Mayo Costilo Walter Bagnall Sir James Dillon Sir Robert Talbot Sir Christopher Bellew Sir Thomas Nugent and Mr. Nicholas Barnewall and by these Commissions these Lords and Gentlemen in their respective Districts had power to Levy and raise Forces to Arm and Array and conduct them and to prosecute the Rebels with Fire and Sword to use Martial Law and to Pardon and receive into his Majesties mercy as they should think fit as may be seen more at large in the Lord Gormanstowns Commission Postea Appendix 8. But the Lords and Gentlemen of the Pale were deeper in this General Conspiracy than the Lords Justices suspected and therefore were so far from being wrought upon by these Kindnesses and the Confidence the State placed in them that on the contrary from the very beginning they industriously sought for Pretences to break out into Action Their first Essay was on the 27th day of October at which time they picked a Quarrel at the words Irish Papists in the Proclamation against the Rebels as being Terms so General and Comprehensive that themselves might seem included and tho' they being Old English
sometimes tore and burnt them and that they were inhumanly Cruel in several instances of Men Women and Children and much more of the same sort for which I refer to the Remonstrance it self which is already in Print with the Examinations annexed thereunto But because there is great noise made about the Kings sworn Servant Sir John Read and the Questions demanded of him upon the Rack It is fit I should give a brief Account of that Matter and it happened to be thus Lieutenant Colonel Read was in the latter end of December intrusted with a Message to the King from Three Lords and four Chief Gentlemen of the Pale but they finding that Succours come out of England but slowly and being in great hopes to take Tredagh kept Road with them to attend the Success of that Siege which not hapning according to their Expectation they were forced to raise it in the beginning of March and then and not till then did Read surrender himself as a Prisoner to the English Army which was at that time abroad under the Marquess of Ormond and he was immediately sent to Dublin with a Guard of Twenty Horse and having with many Oaths Curses and Imprecations denied any knowledge of the Irish Rebellion he was together with Captain Mac Mahown put upon the Rack where they were asked these Three Questions 1. Who were the chief Complotters in this Rebellion 2. The Time when it was Plotted 3. The Place where and how to be Acted To which they answered That Sir Philemy O Neal Macguire and Philip O Rely were the chief Conspirators and that the Plot was laid presently after the Dissolution of the Army in the North and that it was to be Acted in all parts of the Kingdom and to kill Man Woman and Child of the Protestants utterly to root them out and that all the Papists in the Pale had Consented to it and promised their Assistance to their utmost Power But on Saturday the 2d of April the Lieutenant General Ormond marched out with Five hundred Horse Three thousand Foot and Five Field Pieces and encamped that Night at Rathcoole and tho he received an Express there that his Lady and Children whom he had not seen in Six Months before were arrived at Dublin yet preferring the Publick before his Private Concern he marched without seeing them to Naas and burnt the Country as he went and having lost a Trumpeter and Four Soldiers by the Garison of Tipper he caused that Castle and all that were in it to be blown up and sent his wounded Men on Carrs to Dublin with a Guard of Twelve Horse but they were set upon by the Rebels and tho' the Horse escaped yet the wounded Men and Carr-men were taken and Murdered and by this Accident all intercourse was stopt between the State and the Army But when the Army came near Killcullen the Lords of Castlehaven and Antrim and the Dutchess of Buckingham came in a Coach to Visit the Lieutenant General and were kindly received by him and the whole Army passing by saluted them which I note to shew the Reader that the Lord of Castlehaven was not under any necessity of joyning in the Irish Rebellion but might have lived quietly at home if he had pleased On the 5th at Night the Army came to Athy and relieved that Town and the next day Sir Patrick Weams was sent with a Detachment of four Troops to relieve the Castle of Catherlogh but upon their approach the Rebels being Seven hundred strong burned the Town and fled however the Irish lost Fifty Men in the pursuit and so Weams having relieved that Castle and therein Five hundred English almost starved and also the Castle of Cloghgrenan and taken good store of Cattel returned the same Night to the Army and the Castle of Ballilivan was relieved the same day by another Party under Sir Charles Coot and the Castle of Rheban by another Detachment which also took the Castle of Bert and in it Eight Rebels who were hanged On the 7th the Lieutenant General leaving Colonel Crawford at Athy marched to Stradbally and on the 8th came to Maryburogh and the next day fell Sick of a Fever which lasted till Tuesday after however on the 10th being Easter day Sir Charles Coot Sir Thomas Lucas and Six Troops of Horse were sent to relieve Bi r and some other places they were to pass a Cawseway which the Rebels broke and had cast up a Ditch at the end of it but Coot made Thirty of his Dragoons alight and in Person lead them on and beat off the Irish with the Slaughter of Forty Rebels and their Captain and then relieved the Castles of Bi r Burrous and Knocknemease and having sate almost Forty eight hours on Horseback and lost and spoiled a Hundred Horse in this Expedition they returned to the Camp on Munday Night without the loss of one Man and this was the prodigious Passage through Montrath Woods which indeed is wonderful in many Respects and therefore justly gave occasions for the Title of Earl of Montrath to be entail'd upon the Posterity of Sir Charles Coot who was the chief Commander in this Expedition On the same 10th day of April about Seven thousand Irish Men under the Lord Mountgarrett appeared on the other side the River Barrow within two miles of Athy whereof Colonel Crawford sent Notice to the Lieutenant General whereupon he marched to Athy on the 13th and rested there the 14th and finding the Enemy had more than double his number and that he had done the work he come out for by relieving the aforesaid Garisons he thought it imprudent to Fight at such disadvantage or upon such odds to hazard his Army and consequently the Kingdom and therefore intended to march towards Dublin without seeking the Enemy and yet resolved not to shun them if they came in his way but the Rebels had by some means or other got notice of his Design and therefore passed the Barrow by the Bridge of Moygan with intentions to disturb the march of the English Nevertheless Bettel of Kilrâ—sh on Friday Morning about Seven a Clock 15th of April Ormond rose from Athy and kept on the direct Rode to Dublin the Rebels kept another way on the Right hand divided from the former by a Bog about a mile broad and four mile long both Armies marched in view of each other with Drums beating Colours flying and kept equal pace until both Rodes met whereupon the Lieutenant General fearing they might fall upon his Reer in that narrow Pass gave Orders to draw up the Army in Battalia Saying That he was resolved to fight the Enemy tho' all the Rebels in Ireland were there together the Irish did the like and not being incumbred with Garriages as the English were their Army was soonest in Order which might have been of advantage to them but they made none of it chusing rather to Receive than Give the Charge in short the English came up to their Ground
Title nor Protestation of the Confederates his Prudence and Integrity in continuing the Irish Parliament were highly commended But that he should be able to get a greater Sum of Money from a beggarly Enemy than the Parliament of England had sent over at any one time till then could never be sufficiently applauded and to this effect Secretary Nicholas writes in his Letter of the Ninth of October and adds That it is believed there that the Irish will not observe the Cessation and therefore advises his Excellency to be upon his Guard and to take care the King 's good Subjects do not suffer by their violation of it and that the young Lord Moor pursuant to Ormond ' s Recommendation hath all his Father's Offices granted unto him But the Parliament of England had different Sentiments of this Cessation they inveighed against it as destructive to the dispossest Protestants of Ireland who were kept out of Possession by it another Year at least They said it was a Discouragement to the Adventurers whose Satisfaction was likewise delay'd hereby They said it gave an opportunity to the Rebels to recruit their Forces and to supply all their Wants But that which troubled them most was that they perceiv'd the King design'd to draw some of the Protestant Forces and hoped for some of the Popish Army from Ireland to assist Him against the Parliament In short they were enraged to that degree that they Voted to Impeach the Marquis of Ormond as a Traytor against the Three Kingdoms and to disable him of his Lieutenancy and of all Command in Ireland and they also made a formal Declaration against the Cessation which is inserted at large here Appendix 18. In answer to which the King published The Grounds and Motives of the Cessation which in effect were That the English Army in Ireland could no longer subsist without Supplies and that the Parliament took no care to send any but on the contrary the Earl of Warwick intercepted those that His Majesty sent and that the Parliament endeavor'd to draw the Scotch Army out of Ireland into England So that in fine there was an absolute Necessity of this Cessation as preparatory to a Peace which nevertheless he will never admit unless it be such a Peace as may be agreeable to Conscience Honor and Justice But all this did not satisfie those that were perishing for want of their Estates and Properties which the Rebels possest and were yet farther inrag'd by the fresh Insolences and Violences daily committed by the Confederates so that their Sufferings depriv'd them of that Moderation which at another time would have considered the Distresses of the Crown the Necessities of the Army and the other powerful Motives to this Temporary Agreement In like manner the Estates of Scotland declar'd against the Cessation and the Adventurers at London petition'd against it and even some of the Cavaleers were so dissatisfied at this unfortunate Truce that many of the Earl of Newcastle's Army laid down their Arms and the Earl of Holland withdrew from Oxford Whitlock's Memoirs affirming That after he had heard of the Cessation his Conscience would not give him leave to stay any longer there And some others of Quality afterwards followed his Example And indeed it appear'd by the Sequel that the Cessation was a mere Plot of the Confederates to ruin those by Treaty whom they could not destroy by the War Not that it would have proved so if it had been honestly perform'd according to their Stipulations and Pretences but that by a thousand Tricks and Subtilties they contraven'd every Point of it and besides the opportunity of reinforcing and furnishing themselves which no body blames them for they left nothing undone that could tend to the Ruin of the English For whereas before the Cessation the Army lived mostly upon what they forced from the Enemy that Course being stopped by the Truce there was no way left to support them but the 30800 l. promised by those Articles and which was depended upon for that purpose but most part of that Money was delivered in by such Driblets and so very long after it was due that it did little Service to those that were to receive it But that was not the worst for the Rebels made use of another Stratagem which no body could suspect and that was a Prohibition to all their Party not to sell Provisions to the English even for ready Money There was no Defence against this Flail and therefore many Places were deserted by the Warders who were starved out of them by this Contrivance Carlo Athy Leix Trim Dundalk and Naas suffered much in this Particular but it was worse with the Garisons in Conaught as appears by their Declaration of Grievances sent to the Lord Lieutenant wherein they affirm a Conspiracy amongst the Irish to starve them and that the Irish County Councils had issued out Warrants to seize the Goods and Estates of such Confederates as should buy or sell or use any Traffick with the English as appears Appendix 19. They also committed many secret and some publick Murders Peter St. George was so served at the Castle of Letrim where William St. George was likewise mortally wounded and it is reported but how truly I cannot say of a malicious Jesuit that sheltered himself at Kinnegad well known thereabouts by the name of Father Roe that he committed many Murders even in the Highway but this is more certain that the English were fain to pay Toll or Tribute for passage through the Irish Quarters in many places and that particularly at St. Johnston's Bridge great Sums of Money were extorted upon that score Moreover they had by cunning and secret Intrusions into deserted Castles and old Houses two or three days before the Cessation gotten Possession of much more Land than did belong to them or than they could have kept in time of War nevertheless this Possession though obtained by Fraud or Violence was detained by them under the umbrage of that Treaty They had also another Liberty by these Articles viz. To declare in whose Quarters they would choose to be and by this fetch whole Baronies were lost and particularly the Baronies of Barrymore and Imokilly scituate between Cork and Youghall and which had been always in the English Quarters and under the Protection of those Garisons did a day or two before the Cessation declare themselves to be in the Irish Quarters and so were privileged even to the Gates of Cork and Youghall from Contribution to those Garisons until the beginning of the year 1645. But besides the Breaches of the Cessation in Conaught contained in their Declaration of Grievances and the Complaints of Munster mentioned hereafter Appendix 17 there were several other Violations of those Articles as 1. That the Earl of Castlehaven after he had notice of the Cessation did nevertheless batter the Castle of Desert in the Queen's County and when he had taken and plundered it he shewed them the Articles of the
Prisoners but he had not so good luck in his next attempt for a Party of his going to plunder the great Island were by Major Power who had not at first above 30 Horse but afterwards was reinforced by two Companies of Foot so handled that they left five hundred of their Companions dead upon the place however he afterwards took Castle-Lions Cony-Castle and Lismore which last place was bravely defended by the same Major Power and 100 of the Earl of Cork's Tenants to the Slaughter of 500 of the Besiegers until their Powder being spent they surrendred upon honourable Conditions After this Castleâ—aven went to besiege Youghall a weak and untenable place and lay before it many weeks and having received several considerable Baffles by the handful of Men that were within the Town he was at last forced to raise the Siege and close the Campagne with that misfortune And thus Matters stood in Munster till the latter end of the year at which time Inâ—iquin sent 500 Foot and 100 Troopers to seize upon the Castle of Bunratty which they performed and there found Horses enough to mount their Cavalry And as for Conaught it was under a Triumvirate of Presidents the Lord Dillon of Câ—stilo was the King's President and Sir Charles Coot was the Parliaments and the Titular Archbishop of Tuam was commissioned by the Confederates But Coot was too hard for both his Rivals and being united with the Lagan Forces under Sir Robert 〈◊〉 Colonel Awdly Mervin c. they made up in all 〈◊〉 Regiments with which they marched through Conaught and burnt the Country to within 6 miles of Galloway without meeting an Enemy in the Field they also took Sligo with the loss of Twenty of their own Men and the Slaughter of One hundred and twenty of the Rebels and Colonel Mervin being chosen by a Council of War to be Governour of Sligo as he well deserved was nevertheless by means of the Scots put by that Command which was given to Sir Robert Stewart whereupon Colonel Mervin came away discontented and notified to the Lord Lieutenant his Design of adhering to the King Hereupon the Confederates gave the Lord Taaf the Command of an Army to relieve Conaught and he issued forth a terrible Declaration That whoever did not submit to his Majesties Commission conferred on him within two days after Notice should be treated as an Enemy and on the 4th of August he summoned Castlecoot which returned this Answer That they neither broke the Cessation noâ— used Hostility at any time but when the Irish began That their misbehaviour forced them to correspond with the Scots whom they did not know or believe to be declared Enemies of the King That they would always submit to the Kings Pleasure but may not in any sort confide in such breach of Faith at they always find from the Irish Nation to their Party and instanced the burning of their Hay even then in the time of the Treaty and they desire a Copy of his Commission which his Lordship pretended was from the Lord Lieutenant And so his Lordship finding no good to be done upon Castlecoot at that time marched to Tulak which he took by Assault the 17th of August and having besieged Abby Boyle in vain after the Garison for their better defence were forced to burn the Town he agreed that upon an Oath of Fidelity and to observe the Cessation they should be no farther molested and the like Agreements were made with the Castles of Cambo and Lissidarne and it seems that afterwards the Irish Army returned to the Siege of Castlecoot and forced it to surrender about the 10th day of September In the mean time 1645. on the 16th of August the Bishop of Elphin and his Son Captain Tilson by Letter submitted to the Lord Dillon President of Conaught and on the 19th the Lord President at the Head of the Army came thither accompanied with the Lord Taaf and told the Bishop that Captain Tilson and his Foot Company must quit the Castle of Elphin within two hours and tho' they offered to take any Oath of Fidelity to His Majesties Service and the Bishop offered to stand obliged for the performance of what they should Promise or Swear yet all would not do but the Lord President and Lord Taaf having at length condescended to Sign some Articles for their Security they marcht out of the Castle into the Village and the Lord President and his Guard lodged in the Castle that Night and afterwards left it under the Command of Captain John Brown who admitted Boetius Egan the Titular Bishop of Elphin into the Castle on the 7th of September being accompanied with Sir Lucas Dillon and they made a Guard for the Bishop on the Knee from the Gate to the Church where the Bishop Rung one Bell and one of the Six Fryars accompanying him Rung another I suppose by way of Livery and Seizin they also burnt Incense and sprinkled Holy water and the next day being the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin they said several Masses in the Cathedral Church and the Bishop preached there and he was so vain and confident in his present Possession that he sent word to the Protestant Inhabitants That if they would continue his Tenants he would use them no worse than the former Bishop had done But that which the poor Bishop Tilson complained of in his Letter the 29th of December to the Lord Taaf is That none of the Conditions made with him and his Son were observed but that the Titular Bishop kept his Books and some of his Goods and turned out his Servant so that he was damnified to the value of Four hundred Pounds and it appears by another Letter of the Bishops that when the Titular Bishop was urged with the aforesaid Agreements and Articles He reply'd That that was past and out of date Upon complaint of these Matters to the Lord Lieutenant and that the Irish refused to permit the Clergy of the Diocess of Elphin to Levy any of their Dues alledging that the Bishop was outed by His Majesties Commission his Excellency did send positive Orders to restore the Bishop to the Castle of Elphin but in vain for the Lord President writes back That he had used his utmost indeavours with the Lord Taaf but could not prevail because of some Dangers he pretended from Sir Charles Coot and the Scots In the mean time the Titular Archbishop of Tuam was not idle but with Two thousand Foot and Three hundred Horse he surrounded and endeavoured to retake the Town of Sligo but there being about Two hundred Horse got into the Town under Captain Richard Coot and Captain Cole they Sallied out on the 17th of October and being well Seconded by Colonel Sanderson and a good Party of Foot they got a considerable Victory and by the help of Sir Francis Hamiltons Troop which came in the nick of time they did great Execution the Archbishop himself was slain and all the Baggage was taken
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
necessities of his Army forced him to withdraw thither where he stayed to expect his Lordships farther Commands And the same day Ormond replyed That he would certainly meet him at Castledermond that day sevenight with 600 Horse and 600 Musquetiers and that he will cause Commissions to be prepared with blanks for the Names of Preston's Officers to whom he will give proof of his full confidence in them and value of their Merit and loyal Affections and for Preston himself that he should have all the Power with the Lord Lieutenant that he could desire And thus Matters stood in a fair Correspondence between his Excellency and General Preston when on the 9th of December the Marquis of Ormond accompanied with the Marquis of Clanrickard marched out of Dublin with his small Party in the nature of Guards towards the place of Rendezvous and I doubt not but the Reader is full of Expectation to find General Preston there also but alas the Scene was changed and the Case was altered for the Council and Congregation at Kilkenny had on the 24th of November declared against this new Reconciliation as Appendix 35 and the Nuncio did so influence General Preston and his Officers by alledging That the former Treaty and Engagement were not binding being concluded without the Consent of a General Assembly which only had the Cognisance of Matters of so great Importance that he prevailed with them to Apostatize from their Solemn Engagement so lately entered into and to write this bald Excuse to the Marquis of Clanrickard That his Officers were not Excommunication-Proof And on the 15th of December the Council and Congregation of the Confederates not taking any notice of any Peace or Agreement that had intervened 1646. published the following Declaration By the Council and Congregation WHEREAS the Cessation of Arms between us and the adverse Party is long since determined and for that the Enemy in Dublin is now advanced into the Field committing daily acts of * * * Though really they committed none but paid for whatever they had Hostility We therefore Declare Order and Appoint That all Generals Captains and other Officers and Soldiers whatsoever of all and every the Armies of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland and all and every Party and Parties of them either now together in Body or in their Winter Quarters shall and may KILL and Endamage the most they or any of them may of the Enemy aforesaid and against them or any of them use and exercise all manner of acts of Hostility But General Preston by his Letter of the 19th of December from Waterford endeavoured to excuse this Apostacy and laid the fault upon his Officers and yet on the 22th of the same Month he published a Declaration in Print against the lately renewed Peace ☞ to this effect That since the Engagement made by the Marquis of Clanrickard doth not yield sufficient Security for the Free Exercise of Religion c. as by the Congregations * * Appendix 35. Annotations thereon doth appear and since a Resolution was taken not to receive any of his Forces into the Garison of Dublin according to Agreement unless these Objections may be satisfied by the Enlargement of farther Grants that may satisfy the Council and Congregation he thinks himself obliged by the Oath of Association to obey the Council Congregation and General Assembly Whereupon the Lord Lieutenant by his Letter of the 5th of January acquaints him That however things have not sorted to his Expectation or to what he understood to be Preston's Obligation yet he was far from believing that Preston had any design so unbecoming a Man of Honour as to make use of the Credit given by Ormond to his Invitation to the Lord Lieutenants Prejudice or for the Improvement of Preston's Conditions with another Party which makes him confident that a Printed Paper Entituled Preston's Declaration c. and dated but three days after the former Letter of the 19th of December being so contrary to the Expressions therein must be a Forgery at also the Reports that some of Preston's Forces are gathering together at Castledermond to interrupt his Return or destroy the remainder of his Quarters yet he desires Satisfaction from Preston's own hand in those Particulars And accordingly General Preston did by his Letter of the 15th of January own his Declaration for which he writes he had good Reasons to be imparted at a more convenient time but disowned that he had any hand in disturbing his Excellency's Quarters or interrupting his Return But that the Reader may perceive that this Perfidiousness was not unexpected I must insert a short Passage in a Letter of the Lord Lieutenants to Colonel John Humilton dated at Lucan before he knew of Preston ' s Relapse and it was thus That I may leave no means unattempted to prevent the Ruin of His Majesty's Affairs whilst I have a hand in them I have undertaken an Expedition whereunto I was invited by a considerable Party of the Irish but I confess I go rather to leave them for ever unexcusable if they should fail me than that I have any assured Confidence of Performance such are the Impressions their former Failures have left in me But because it may be thought hard that the Confederates should be judged by the Sentiments of Protestants it is therefore necessary to shew what Opinion such of the Roman Catholicks as were loyal had of their Proceedings and the Reader may find it at large in the Marquis of Clanrickard's Letter Appendix 37. But Ormond either because he considered the Poverty of the City of Dublin or that being thus a second time deceived by the Confederates he was ashamed to return hither did march his small Army into Westmeath being the Enemies Quarters and there he kept a melancholy Christmas and though he used no Hostility but paid for every thing so that the Country seemed pleased with them yet the Captain and Lieutenant of his Excellency's Guards staâ—ing behind the rest were murdered upon the Highway by some of the Irish and on Christmas Day the Lord Lieutenant wrote to the Lord Digby then intended for France as followeth I Shall beseech you to be careful of one thing which is to take Order that the Commands that shall be directed to me touching this People if any be thwart not the Grounds I have laid to my self in point of Religion for in that and in that only I shall resort to the liberty left to a Subject to Obey by Suffering and particularly that there be no Concession to the Papists to perpetuate Churches or Church-livings to them or to take Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction from us And as for other Freedoms from Penalties for thâ— Quiet Exercise of their Religion I am clear of Opinion it not only may but ought to be given them if his Majesty shall find cause to own them for any thing but Rebels However whilst Ormond continued at Trim the Lord Muskry and some others that
to visit Munster where we shall find the Lord Lisle endeavouring to displace Insiquin and to give the Command of that Province to the Lord of Broghill but Insiquin was so popular in the Army that it required more time to bring this about than the Lord Lisle had to spare for his Commission determined the 15th day of April so that Insiquin kept his Government and the Lord Lisle together with his Brother Algernoon Sydney and the Lord Broghill went for England where this last and Sir Arthur Loftns impeached Insiquin but the Parliament being embroyled with the differences between the Presbyterian and Independant Parties had not leisure to mind the Accusation and so it â—ell to the Ground But on the third of May Insiquin drew out 1500 Horse and as many Foot and took Drumanna and Capoquin and on the 10th of May he took Dungarvan and if his Provisions had lasted he designed to besiege Clonmell but the want of Victuals and Carriages which has been fatal to most of the Martial Undertakings in Ireland did also force him to return to Cork whereof the Parliament of England being advertized they ordered him Thanks and a Train of Artillery But on the 29th of May he marched out again as far as Cappoquin and on the third of June Major Purdam with a detached Party took a Prey near Carrick and brought it to the Army but Captain Power who went with a Party of Horse to discover the Enemy had not so good fortune for some of them got between him and home and cut off 60 of his Men and took 12 Prisoners and so great were the wants of the Army that the Soldiers died by Scores and Insiquin was again obliged to return without doing any great Exploits in this Expedition Nevertheless being reinforced from England he marched out again in the beginning of August and met with great Success for he took Cahir by Surrender and the Rock of Cashell by Storm with great Slaughter of the Enemy whereof above 20 were Priests or Fryers and from thence he went to Carrick where he was civilly treated by the Lady Thurles and he put that whole Country under Contribution and would have besieged Clonmell if the usual want of Provisions had not hindered his design But Insiquin having on the 28th of September received a very large Recruit of some thousands of Men under the Command of the Colonels Gray Needham Temple c. did again take the Field with 4000 Foot and 1200 Horse Battel of Knockinoss and on the 13th day of November he met with the Irish Army under the Lord Taaff consisting of 7464 Foot and 1076 Horse besides Officers and gave them a total Defeat at Knockinoss there were 4000 Irish slain upon the place and 6000 Arms 38 Colours the General 's Tent and Cabinet and all their Baggage and Ammunion were taken and upon notice of it the Parliament voted 10000 l. to be sent to Munster and a Letter of Thanks and 1000 l. for a Present to be sent to the Lord of Insiquin However all this did not hinder him from sending them in January following the Remonstrance mentioned Appendix 39. and not long after he made a Cessation with the Irish as we shall see anon But the loss of the Catholick Army in Munster about three Months after the Defeat at Dungan Hill did so mortifie the Confederates and their Representatives in the General Assembly which was then Sitting at Kilkenny that they grew very desirous of a Peace if they knew where or from whom to obtain it for the King was then Prisoner in the Isle of Wight and there was no Access to him and therefore it was resolved to send Ambassadors to the Queen and Prince then in France to propose Conditions to them whereof one was to be That they should send a Roman Catholick Lord Lieutenant to Ireland and that if the Queen and Prince declined the Affair that then they should seek the Protection of some other Prince and it was also resolved to send to the Pope to inform his Holiness of the miserable State of the Nation c. Accordingly the Marquis of Antrim the Viscount Muskry and Geofry Brown were sent to France and besides their Errand to the Queen and Prince they had Instructions in reference to the Court of France to be found here Appendix 40. And the Bishop of Fernes and Nicholas Plunket were dispatched to Rome with Instructions mentioned likewise Appendix 40. There was also an Ambassador sent to Spain with like Instructions as to France Mutatis mutandis that no Stone might remain unturned that might grind the poor Protestants of Ireland In the mean time the Irish by the aforesaid loss of their Two Armies were left very naked and weak and lay expos'd to the Efforts of the next Summer and therefore did project if possible either to make a Cessation with Insiquin or the Scots And it succeeded beyond their expectation not only because the Nuncio gave his express Consent to it but because Insiquin began to be jealous that the Parliament or rather the prevailing Independent Faction aim'd at turning the Government into a Republick wherein the Nobility would lose their Privileges and their Peerage And this Notion was so well improved by the Loyal Industry of Dean Boyle now Lord Primate that it produced the aforesaid Remonstrance and prepar'd Insiquin to declare for the King upon the first Opportunity And therefore in January he sent them the aforesaid Remonstrance and not long after imprison'd some of his resisting Officers that continued firm to the Parliament and so stood ready to declare for the King Moreover it was considered that the Support of the King was a Branch of The Solemn League and Covenant which therefore Insiquin thought to be infring'd by the Votes of Non-Addresses to His Majesty and that he might be the better inform'd of other Mens sense of this Affair he sent a Messenger into Scotland since it was impossible to correspond with the Presbyterian Party in England and from the Estates of Parliament of Scotland he had full Approbation of what he had done and of the Cessation he intended to make with the Irish in order to advance the King's Service and answer the Ends of the Covenant Whereupon the Parliament voted him a Rebel and a Traytor on the Fourteenth of April 1648. And so we will leave that Affair till I come to resume it in order the next Year As for Connaught it can afford but little Matter for an Historian this Year being intirely in the Hands of the Confederates Sligo and three or four Castles only excepted Nor was there much done in Ulster that I can find most of their Forces being diverted at the Battel of Dungan-hill as hath been already related But it is mentioned in Whitlock's Memoirs pag. 254. That Sir Charles Coot gave the Rebels a great Defeat and killed 1000 of them but where or how I cannot find Finally In this Year was published a most Treasonable
and Scandalous Book entitled Disputatio Apologetica de Jure Regni Hiberniae pro Catholicis Hibernis adversus Haereticos Anglos written by one Cnoghor Mahony P. W. Remonstrance 587 667 737. a Native of Muskery in the County of Cork and a Jesuit disguised under the Name of Cornelius de Sancto Patricio the main Design of it is to prove That the Kings of England never had any Right to Ireland and he advises the Irish to kill all that adhere to the Crown of England tho' Papists and to chuse a * * Elegiâ—e vâ—bis regem vernacuâ—um Native King and avers That if the King Charles the First had originally a Right yet being a Heretick he ought to be depriv'd And tho' this Book was burnt by Order of the Supreme Council for Form sake yet it was suffered privately to be disperst and was never condemn'd by the Popish Clergy in Ireland to this day altho it was proposed by P. W. in the famous Congregation at Dublin Anno 1666. that it should be so The Year 1648. 1648. began with the Treaty between Insiquin and the Confederates about a Cessation which met with many Difficulties by the means of the Nuncio for altho' he had given his Consent formerly Beling 128. that the Confederates should make a Cessation either with Insiquin or the Scots as they should find most convenient yet now when he found it was near a Conclusion and saw that Insiquin by deserting the Parliament had shut the Door against farther Succors from England he began to play over his old Tricks again and sent a Letter to the Supreme Council advising them against the Cessation 1. Because Insiquin's Successes had given him the Possession of many Popish Estates and Churches which must be left so by this Truce 2. Because Insiquin was their most inveterate Enemy and was stain'd with the Blood of the Religious at Cashell and elsewhere And 3. Because Insiquin can have no Supplies from England and therefore must restore all their own to the Catholicks if he be prosecuted and therefore should have no Cessation But the Council replied Beling 65. They had so many Enemies in every Province that they could not fall upon Insiquin and if they did he had Walled Towns and Forces enough to defend himself That it would be scandalous to prosecute him that had as good as declared for the King and at the same time to neglect the Parliaments Forces that were His Majesty's Enemies and that if they did so they could expect no Fruit of their Embassie to the Queen and Prince c. The Nuncio replied and they rejoyned but at length he came to Kilkenny and when after many Expostulations he found they were resolved to proceed to conclude the Cessation on the Seventh of May he withdrew privately from Kilkenny to Owen Roe's Camp at Killminch in the Queen's County and sent a Letter to the Supreme Council to inform them of this Flight and the Reasons of it Many Messages and Letters past between them and all imaginable Endeavors were used to get him back and reconcile him but in vain for having notice that they had published the Cessation the Twentieth of May he together with the Bishops of Clogher Ross Cork and Down on the 27th of the same Month issued an Excommunication against all the Adherents to this Cessation from which as being very erroneous both in Matter and Form the Supreme Council made an Appeal to the Pope on the 31th of May and on the Fourteenth of June they propos'd some Queries about it to the Bishop of Ossory who gave them Answers to their satisfaction all which are to be found at large in the Appendix of Instruments annexed to Peter Walsh's Loyal Remonstrance It is almost incredible what Execution a Popish Excommunication can do amongst an ignorant bigotted People that are led by an implicit Faith to a blind Obedience Nevertheless 't is certain that the Supreme Council were at their Wits end how to manage the People and the Nuncio And yet it is the more strange that his Excommunications should find so much regard because he did notoriously abuse the Power of the Keys and did fulminate his Anathema's upon the slightest Occasions and even in his own Temporal Affairs as appears by his * * 11 Febr. 1646. Excommunication of Colonel Edmund Butler and all his Officers if within two Hours they did not deliver up the Castle of Kilkenny to the Mayor and Aldermen of that City and the following Excommunication of James Gough in a Plea of Debt or Account in his own Case for the ††Haec Fregata ipsius Reverendissimi Nuncii proprii erat Beling 38. Frigat was his JOannes Baptista Rinuccinus Dei Sanctae Sedis Apostolicae gratia Archiepiscopus Princeps Firmanus ac in Hiberniae Regno Nuncius Apostolicus extraordinarius tibi Jacobo Gough salutem Tenore presentium precipâ—nus ac mandamus ad instantiam petitionem Domini Ludovici Gedeon Capitanei Fregatae Sancti Petri Sociorum Militum Nautarum quatâ—nus infra totam diem sequentem Lunae quae erit 17 currentis Mensis Augusti debeas reddere computa fidelia realia cum effectu sine mora de omnibus pecuniis rebus Spectantibus ad ipsos alios pro praeda capta a dicta fregeta ad effectum quod statim ipse supradictus Capitaneus alij interesse habentes debitam justam habeant Satisfactionem pro integra illorum quorumcunque parte hoc sub paena Excommunicationis nobis reservata de facto incurrendae si per te ex parte vel defectu tuo totum id non perficiatur non obstantibus quibuscumque c. in quorum fidem c. Datum Waterfordiae Die 15th Augusti Anno. 1646. Joannes Baptista Archiepiscopus Firmanus Nuncius Apostolicus Nor is it unfit to be observed that these Prelates who were so forward to Excommunicate those that made a Cessation with the Kings Party could yet suffer their Darling Owen Roe to make Leagues and Cessations with the Parliament Officers viz. Coot Jones and Monk without issuing an Excommunication or so much as giving him a reproof for it And that it may appear how little regard this Apostolick Nuncio had for Religion it is necessary to add that when he understood that a blasphemous Wretch had drank a Health to the Trinity viz. God Owen Roe and the Nuncio and said that whoever would not Pledge it was a Heretick he was so well pleased with that Prophane and Irreligious Zeal that he rewarded it with a * * Decanatus insignis cujusdam in Hibernia Ecclesiae Titulum consecutus Est Beling in pref p. 18. Deanry Propino vobis inquit Salutem Trinitatis Dei scillicet Eugenij O Nellij D. Nuntij quam quisquis bibere recusaverit pro Heretico habendus erit And this is reported by Mr. Beling who was himself an eminent Roman Catholick and a Learned man and
the want of Provisions in the Navy his Highness did also raise some Forces which he sent to the Relief of Scilly and he also sent a Bill of 5000 Pistols to the new King Hereupon the Parliament sent their Sea-Generals Blake and Dean to block up this Fleet in Kinsale-Harbour which they did effectually all the Summer and took the Guinny-Frigot that was abroad and tho' the Prince did in person sollicite Waterford Cork and other Sea-ports for Assistance to sit out some Fire-ships yet at length it was resolved rather to let the Winter Storms remove the Enemy than to encounter them at so great disadvantage especially since the Prince could not be sure of his Men of whom so many deserted daily that it was found necessary to hang up ten of those Straglers for a terrour to the rest In the mean time Owen Roe sent a Message to his Highness That since he and Ormond had drawn and tasted of each others bloud he would never joyn with the Marquess but if his Highness would take the Command of the Kingdom he and all his would readily submit to One of the Bloud Royal. But this was counted a Complement which the Proposer knew the Prince could not accept of however it occasion'd that Capt. Leg was sent to hasten the King into Ireland but his Ship being taken he was for a long time imprison'd at Plimouth and by a Court-Martial condemn'd to die In the mean time the Prince was in great straits for all Necessaries and tho' he contracted his charge to the well Manning of four Frigats only besides his Flag-Ships yet there being no Supply from abroad Want over-took him even in this narrow Model and Reducement so that he was forc'd to rely on what his own personal Interest or Love to his Majesty's Cause could in so tottering a Conjuncture perswade People to lend And it was at this time that the Generous Loyalty of a private a Robert Southwell Esq Gentleman of Kinsale did signalize itself in furnishing the Prince with a considerable quantity of Provisions without which his Highness could not have gone to Sea and altho' at this time when Munster was meditating a Revolt to Cromwell which it soon after accomplished this action was of dangerous consequence to the Gentleman that did it yet he survived that danger and lived to be well considered for this Service by the Act of Settlement and as Marks of his Majesty's favour to be made one of the Council of Munster and Vice-Admiral of that Province and the Prince being enabled thereunto by these Supplies put to Sea and got safe to Lisbon But it is time to return to the Second Accident which I mentioned and that was The Departure of the Nuntio which happened in this manner The General Assembly of the Irish having approved of the Cessation with Insiquin and being exceedingly troubled at the Excommunication which the Nuntio had fulminated against all the Adherents thereunto and consequently against themselves they did not only imploy an Agent to prosecute their Appeal to the Pope but did also on the 19th of October write a Letter to the Nuntio then at Galway which Letter was signed by their Speaker and ordered him to withdraw out of the Kingdom at his peril and in it was enclosed a Schedule of Greivances occasioned by him and whereof they intended to impeach him to the Pope Tanquam qui huic parricidio occasionem dedissâ—t Beling 173. and it was also accompanied with a severe Declaration against all those that should correspond with his Reverence Whereupon finding that he had been one unhappy Cause of the King's Murder says Mr. Beling he took Ship at Galway on the 23d of February and returned to Rome where he was blamed by the Pope for acting so b Lemerarie se gesisti rashly Nevertheless the Irish could not be absolved from his unjust Excommunication for making a Truce with Insiquin P. W. Remonstrance 592. until they had done Penance in Forma Ecclesiae Consueta which imports an acknowledgement of the Crime But tho' the Nuntio was gone yet he had left Own Roe and his Army behind to support his Faction who together with the Marquess of Antrim did oppose the Peace because the six escheated Counties in Ulster were not restor'd to the old Irish Beling 165. and with these sided a Multitude of Fryers who railed against the late Peace and the scandalous Expulsion of the Nuntio and threatned inevitable Damnation to all those that should take part with the Lord-Lieutenant whereby the Peace became of little use to the King or advantage to his Affairs even whilst the Bishops and Secular Clergy adhered to it which was not long But on the 9th of March the King by his Letter from the Hague confirm'd the late Peace and ordered a new Great Seal to be made and to be disposed of to whom the Lord-Lieutenant should think fit and appointed the Lord of Insiquin to be Lord-President of Munster and the Marquess of Clanrickard to be Lord-President of Connaught if the Lord-Lieutenant find it convenient And thus ended the Year 1648. The Year 1649 opened with a Vote in the Parliament of England 1649. of the 28th of March That Oliver Cromwell should be General of all their Forces then in Ireland or that should be sent thither and accordingly he prepared dilligently for that Expedition But because besides his there were four other distinct Interests and Armies in that Kingdom viz. the King 's the Presbyterians the Supreme Council's and Owen Roe's it is necessary to treat of them separately to prevent confusion and that the Reader may the more clearly penetrate into the Intreigues of this Campaign And we will begin with the King 's both because it was his and because it was the most numerous and most considerable that of the Supreme Council being united unto it by vertue of the late Peace and many of the Presbyterians under the Lord of Ards falling into it afterwards it consisted of 3700 Horse and 14500 Foot under the Command of the Marquess of Ormond the Lord of Insiquin was Lieutenant-General of it and the Earl of Castlehaven was Lieutenant-General of the Foot and the Lord Taaf was Master of the Ordnance and thus composed part of this Army rendezvouz'd at Cashell on the 3d of May from whence Castlehaven was detach'd with a Party which took Rheban Maryburgh and Althy from Owen Roe's Souldiers with considerable slaughter and that being done it met at Cloghgrenan on the 26th of May and marching forward took Castle-Talbot Kildare Castlesalagh and Castlecarbry and on the 14th of June encamped at Naas And having rested two or three days they marched to Finglass and encamped there on the 18th of June and on the 19th a detached Party drew nearer Dublin and with some loss skirmished with the Enemies Horse and then return'd to Finglass and there Ormond received and dispos'd into convenient Quarters a great number of Papists whom Collonel Jones to
between him and Owen Roe O Neal And that the innocent Blood which hath been shed in Ireland is so fresh in the Memory of this House that this House doth Detest and Abhor the thoughts of closing with any Party of Popish Rebels there who have had their hands in shedding that Blood Nevertheless the House being satisfied that what the said Collonel Monk did therein was in his apprehension necessary for the Preservation of the Parliament of England's Interest the House is content that the further consideration thereof as to him be laid aside and shall not at any time hereafter be called in question And so we are come to the fifth Army which was that of the Parliament's and tho' at this time it was but small and ill provided and had no other Towns in the Kingdom in their possession except Dublin and London Derry and even both these were besieg'd by considerable Armies yet within half a Year it became so powerful and victorious that it recovered the the best part of the Kingdom and at length reduced it all And even in this weak condition and before their Recruits came they did all that was possible for before the Royal Army came near Dublin Collonel Jones sent out a Party under Major Cadowgan to discover the Enemy and to slacken their march and he did excellent Service not only in destroying the Country about Tecroghan but in cutting off a great many of his Enemies and Jones himself marched out as far as the Naas on the 12th of June but having notice of the Approach of the Cavaliers he returned to his proper business of preserving the City which he performed exceeding well On the other side Ormond was endeavouring to straiten Dublin and the better to effect it the Lord Dillon of Costilogh was ordered to stay on the North side the City with 2000 Foot and 500 Horse and the Lord-Lieutenant with the rest of the Army marched over the River to Rathmines on the 25th of July and the very same day the Collonels Reynolds Venables and Hunks arrived with 600 Horse and 1500 Foot and other Supplies of Money and all other Necessaries into the City from England But these Succours did not so much contribute to the Preservation of Dublin as did a certain intelligence they brought with them that Cromwell and his Army intended to land in Munster Hereupon the Lord of Insiqum with a great Party of the best Horse was detach'd to defend that Province whereby the Army was weakned and exposed to the Misfortune it afterwards met with Nevertheless most of the General Officers being of Opinion that Baggotrath might be Fortified and made Tenable and being so would straiten the City so that their Horse could have no Forrage and consequently Dublin would in a little time be forced to surrender they prevailed with the Lord-Lieutenant to suspend his thoughts of retiring to Drumnagh and to give Orders for the Fortfying of Baggotrath Accordingly Major-General Purcell who had been the forwardest Man to this Advice had the charge of the Undertaking and the Army was kept all night in Batallia to countenance the Enterprize but when the Lord-Lieutenant who had been on Horseback all night came in the morning to view the Fortification he did not find it in that condition he expected Purcell excusing himself by the fault of his Guide Hereupon the care of that Affair was committed to another Officer who by nine a Clock had pretty well effected his Design and then no signs of any Sally appearing the Army which was all this while in Batallia was permitted to rest themselves and the Marquess retired to his Tent to the same purpose and so did most of the General Officers out of a vain Confidence that the Enemy would not Sally so late in the day But they found themselves grosly mistaken and were quickly alarum'd out of their Sleep for about ten a Clock on the 2d of August a party issued out of Dublin and meeting with better success than they could have the vanity to hope for they were seconded by most part of the Garrison by single Troops and Companies one after another and having slain or routed some few that opposed such a Pannick Fear seiz'd all the rest that a more easy or more compleat Victory could hardly be gain'd The Lord-Lieutenant in vain using his utmost endeavours to Rally the Horse whereupon a considerable part of the Foot finding themselves deserted by the Cavalry did in a Body surrender themselves And tho' the Lord Taaf escaped to the North side the River and importuned the Lord Dillon c. to attempt the recovery of the Field with those 2500 fresh Men yet so great was the Consternation that they could not be prevailed upon to try their Fortune nor hardly to provide for their own Safety without Confusion tho' at length they did observe the Lord-Lieutenant's Orders of going half to Tredagh and half to Trim to secure those Garrisons whilst his Excellency went to Kilkenny to Rally his shattered Troops In this Battle 4000 Men were killed and 2517 were taken Prisoners whereof several Officers of note and all the Artillery and two hundred draught Oxen and indeed all the Baggage of an exceeding rich Camp became the Reward and Prize of the Conqueror This is that fatal Defeat at Rathmines which the Irish say was so improvident and unfortunate that nothing has hapned in Christianity more shameful They did all that Malice could suggest to place the fault of this Misfortune on the Lord-Lieutenant but without any manner of reason for besides the assurance we have from Peter Walsh P. W. Remonstrance 583-609 that Edmond Reyly Titular Archbishop of Armagh did betray this Army and that the Nuntio Party at Rome rejoyced exceedingly at this Defeat This one observation will determine where the Fault lay viz. That Ormond was always victorious at the head of an English Army and the Irish were always worsted whoever was their General except only at the Battle of Bemburb But to proceed on the 3d of August Ormond stop at Balisanon and having found means to make the Garrison believe that Dublin was taken that strong Castle was presently surrendered and thereby General Jones was stop from prosecuting his Victory which else he would have done even to the Walls of Kilkenny Nevertheless that great Captain resolved to push on his Fortune and whilst the Consternation lasted to make the best use of it he could and accordingly he immediately advanced to Tredagh but the Lord Moor valiantly defended the place and Ormond came to Trim with what Forces he could rally so that Jones was obliged to raise the Siege on the 8th of August which was the very day Owen Roe forced the Lord of Ards to draw off from London-Derry But on the 14th of August Oliver Cromwell the Parliament's Lord-Lieutenant landed at Dublin he brought with him about 9000 Foot and 4000 Horse and all Necessaries for his Army and had a good Fleet constantly to attend
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
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
many and pernicious to Ireland that this Parliament should betray the trust reposed in them if they did not declare against this Cessation and use all means in time to make it abortive and therefore they desire that it may be observed and taken notice of First From whence the Counsel and Design of this Cessation ariseth even from the Rebels and Papists themselves for their own Preservation for soon after they had missed of their intent to make themselves absolute Masters of that Kingdom of Ireland by their treacherous Surprises and seeing that this Kingdom did with most Christian and Generous Resolutions undertake the Charges of the War for the Relief and Recovery of Ireland Propositions were brought over from the Rebels by the Lords Dillon and Tafe at which time they were intercepted and restrained by the Order of the House of Commons after that they had the boldness even while their Hands were still imbrued in the Protestants Blood to petition his Majesty that their demands might be heard And for this purpose they obtained a Commission to be sent over into Ireland to divers Persons of Qality whereof some were Papists to Hear Receive and Transmit to his Majesty their Demands which was done accordingly and one Master Burk a Notorious Pragmatick Irish Papist was the chief Sollicitor in this business After this the Just Revenging God giving daily success to handfuls of the Protestant Forces against their great numbers so that by a wonderful Blessing from Heaven they were in most parts put to the worst Then did they begin to set on Foot an Overture for a Cessation of Arms concerning which what going and coming hath been between the Court and the Rebels is very well known and what Meetings and Treatties have been held about it in Ireland by Warrant of his Majesties Ample Commission sent to that effect and what Reception and Countenance most Pragmatical Papists negotiating the business have found at Court and that those of the State in Dublin who had so much Religion and Honesty as to disswade the Cessation were first discountenanced and at last put out of their Places and restrained to Prison as Sir William Parsons One of the Lords Justices there Sir John Temple Master of the Rolls Sir Adam Loftus Vice-Treasurer of Ireland and Treasurer at Wars and Sir Robert Meredith one also of the Council Table Secondly The Lords and Commons desire it may be observed that during all these Passages and Negotiations the Houses of Parliament were never acquainted by the State of Ireland with the Treaty of a Cessation much less was their Advice or Counsel demanded notwithstanding that the care and managing of the War was devolved on them both by Act of Parliament and by his Majesties Commission under the Great Seal to Advise Order and Dispose of all things concerning the Government and Defence of that Kingdom But the wants of the Army were often represented and complained of whereby with much craft a ground was preparing for the Pretext wherewith now they would cover the Counsels of this Cessation as if nothing had drawn it on but the extream Wants of their Armies whereas it is evident that the Reports of such a Treaty have been in a great part the cause of their wants for thereby the Adventurers were disheartened Contributions were stopped and by the admittance to Court of the Negotiators of this Cessation their wicked Councels have had that influence as to procure the Intercepting of much Provisions which were sent for Ireland so that Ships going for Ireland with Victuals and others coming from thence with Commodities to exchange for Victuals have been taken not only by Dunkirkers having his Majesties Warrant but also by English Ships commanded by Sir John Pennington under his Majesty And moreover the Parliament Messengers sent into several Counties with the Ordinance of January last for Loans and Contributions have been taken and imprisoned their Money taken from them and not one Peny either Loan or Contribution hath been suffered to be sent for for Ireland from these Counties which were under the power of the Kings Army while in the mean time the Houses of Parliament by their Ordinances Declarations and Solicitations to the City of London and the Counties free from the terror of the Kings Forces were still procuring not contemptible Aid and Relief for the distresses of Ireland Thirdly As the Lords and Commons have reason to declare against this Plot and Design of a Cessation of Arms as being treated and carryed on without their Advice so also because of the great prejudice which will thereby redound to the Protestant Religion and the encouragement and advancement which it will give to the practice of Popery when these Rebellious Papists shall by this agreement continue and set up with more freedom their Idolatrous Worship their Popish Superstitions and Romish Abominations in all the places of their Command to the dishonouring of God the grieving of all true Protestant Hearts the disposing of the Laws of the Crown of England and to the provoking of the wrath of a Jealous God as if both Kingdoms not smarted enough already for this sin of too much conniving at and tolerating of Antichristian Idolatry under pretext of Civil Contracts and Politick Agreements Fourthly In the Fourth place they desire it may be observed that this Cessation will prove dishonourable to the Publick Faith of this Kingdom it will elude and make null the Acts and Ordinances of Parliament made for the forfeiting of the Rebels Lands at the passing of which Acts it was represented that such a course would drive the Rebels to Despair and it proves so but otherways than was meant for despairing of their Force and Courage they go about to overcome us with their Craft Fifthly and Lastly What shall become of the many Poor Exiled Protestants turned out of their Estates by this Rebellion who must now continue begging their Bread while the Rebels shall enjoy their Lands and Houses And who shall secure the rest of the Protestants that either by their own Courage Industry and great Charges have kept their Possessions or by the success of our Armies have been restored Can there be any assurance gotten from a Perfidious Enemy of a Cossation from Treachery and breach of Agreement when they shall see a fit time and opportunity These and many other considerations being well weighed it will appear evidently that this Design of a Cessacion is a deep Plot laid by the Rebels and really invented for their own Safety and falsly pretended to be for the benefit of the Armies And whereas the Lords and Commons have no certain Information that the Treaty is concluded but are informed by several Letters that all the Protestants as well Inhabitants as Soldiers in that Kingdom are resolved to withstand that proceeding and to adventure on the greatest extremities rather than have any sort of peace with that generation who have so cruelly in time of Peace Murdered many Thousands of our Countreymen
Delinquency or Free quarter or any other Forces than those continued in the establishment and none to have command but in one capacity and to serve in the head of that Command otherwise not to be in Command And in the said establishment considering the necessity the Kingdom is reduced unto the Burthen of general Officers or other burthens that may be spared or not found necessary to be put by and the Kingdom at present eased thereof IV. That on the composure of that Army and on Garrisoning of places necessary to be Garrisoned exact wariness be used that none against whom just exception may be taken or who by any probability considering all circumstances cannot be so well confided in as others of this Nation be either of the number whereof those established Forces shall consist or be put or continued in Garrison V. That several places are Garrison'd without the consent or concurrence of the Commissioners of Trust It is proposed that the Forces placed in such Garrisons be forthwith removed and withdrawn and not Garrison'd but by consent of the Commissioners of Trust and that none be placed in such Garrisons but such as the Commissioners of Trust will consent to be placed therein And for particular instance of this grievance the Castle of Clare Clonraud Ballingary and Bunratty are instanced and what else are of that nature the Commissioners of Trust are to represent and instance forthwith and see redress afforded therein to the peoples satisfaction if any such be of that nature VI. That it is a great cause of jealousie and mistrust among the people that where Catholicks were settled or understood to be settled in some of the greatest employments of Trust in the Army they have been notwithstanding removed and put by for avoiding of those causes and grounds of mistrust the Catholicks so settled or understood to be setled in such employments are desired to be forthwith restored VII That for satisfaction of the people who in the many disorders of these times see no face of Justice exercised among them a Judicature be erected according to the Articles of peace wherein all Causes without limit between party and party may be heard and determined and that Judges of Assize go Circuits twice each year at least and over and besides this that some persons as Justices of Peace in Quarter Sessions or otherwise be entrusted in each County to whom the Inhabitants of each such County may have their applications for redress against oppressions and extortions hapning within that County and for Debts and other complaints not exceeding Ten pounds This will free your Excellency from the trouble of those multitudes of complaints that come before you for want of other Judicatures and will leave your Lordship the time entire to be disposed in the consults of the State affairs for the better management of the War and other the great affairs that may concern the better Government of the Kingdom these being of so high a nature and so much tending to the peoples preservation as no other matter or causes should be interposed that might give any interruption thereto VIII That to the very great grievance and dissatisfaction of the people the Receiver general hath failed to clear his Accompts concerning the vast sums of Mony levyed from the people since the 17th of Jan. 1648. though the same hath been long expected and the grievances from the Agents of Counties long foreslowed in expectation of those Accompts It is proposed that some of the Commissioners of Trust and some other select persons may be forthwith now named to be authorized and entrusted to take the said Accompts and to that purpose the persons so to be entrusted to be authorized to call before them the said Receiver General the Commissary of the Victuals and their Deputies and all Receivers whatsoever intrusted in the several Counties as they shall see cause and will find it necessary and to take examinations on Oath and to do all matters that may tend to the clearing of those Accompts whereby on the close of such Accompts due satisfaction may be given to the people in the knowledge of the right disposal thereof or the Parties failing in such accompts due punishment to be inflicted on them and their persons goods and Estates seized on and secured for satisfaction of the People that they be answerable for what they shall appear to be owing to be applyed to the publick service And for avoiding all jealousies and mistrusts for the future in the disposal of any of the publick monies so far and for what any publick Treasury shall be necessary all Sums and Payments be made with the allowance consent and concurrence of the Commissioners of Trust und not otherwise and no persons to intermeddle hereafter in the receipts of Publick dues that shall fail in the accompts for the time past IX That the Oppressions and Extortions of any of the Officers or others of the Army hitherto hapned and any Miscarriages in the Designs of the Army either in Field-Service or the render of Castles or Towns to the Enemy may be forthwith strictly examined and punished by the Lord-Lieutenant assisted by a Privy-Council now to be chosen and by a Council of War now to be named And that for the better Government of the Army and for the Officers and others of the Army their due information how to demean themselves hereafter and for the Peoples Satisfaction also there be Rules and Orders of War drawn printed and published that may tend to the remedying in the future of such Grievances as formerly have hapned for want thereof And for the Times past what Oppressions or Extortions have hapned in any County the same to be represented from such Counties to his Excellency and such Privy-Council as shall be now named upon which Representation his Excellency and the said Council are to afford the best redress they may in the Grievances so to be represented for the Peoples Satisfaction and Redress and this to be intimated to the several Counties timely that they may prepare their said Grievances X. That all Custodiums or other Acts or Orders done or granted whereby any the Publick Revenue hath any way been diminished be recalled by his Excellency on the Instance of the Commissioners of Trust and the private Persons profiting thereby to the prejudice of the Publick to accompt at full notwithstanding such Orders or Custodiums whereby the Publick Profit thereby to accrue may admit no diminution XI That no Imposition or Charge be imposed on the People by Applotment Free-quarter or otherwise but by the Commissioners of Trust or with their Allowance according to the Articles of Peace and none to have freedom in Applotments but all to pay with equality and all Applotments or Impositions heretofore since the 17th of January 1648 imposed on the People without the Consent of the Commissioners of Trust be put by and due satisfaction given to the People where such Burdens have been imposed Forasmuch as it
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
perfect Obedience and immediately be put under a Military Government for Military Matters and thereby into a Condition of Defence and Offence Which to conceal from the People were towards them as great a Treachery as it would be in Us a vain Rashness without such Obedience first gained to attempt the opposing the Strength and power of the Rebels And therefore We must and do declare that as the particular Refractoriness of the City of Waterford hath more than any other humane means contributed to all the Successes of the Rebels in those parts since Our being at Waterford And as the want of a strong Garrison in Limerick which we long since desired might be received there but could not prevail hath been the greatest visible means whereby the said Rebels have with small or no Resistance gained or destroyed the County of Limerick and other parts adjacent So the entire Loss of the Kingdom to his Majesty and the Destruction of the Nation which We have no hope to prevent but by strongly and presently garrisoning and fortifying the said City must be imputed to the Obstinacy of that City if it shall persist therein and to whosoever encourages or contrives with them therein As to these Distrusts and Jealousies of the People occasioned as you say for want of Success in Services the Sense of their Sufferings and their Apprehensions for want of Redress of their Grievances we answer That both the Want of Success and the Sense of their Sufferings whether from the Enemy or the Souldier cannot be so reasonably attributed to any human Cause as to the want of garrisoning the Army in principal Towns and Cities wherein we cannot yet prevail ☞ nor ever could till by the Enemies lying at one end of a Town we were not without articling and conditioning permitted to put such Men as We could then get in at the other end For for want of garrisoning the Army and by being forced to quarter it at large it was not possible to have them exercised their Arms kept in Order nor they under necessary Discipline which when they were to be brought together rendred them worse than so many new-raised Men by how much they had contracted a licentious Liberty and Habit of Rapine and Disobedience Nor could we prevent the Fraud in Musters or reasonably exact a strict Accompt from Officers of Men so scattered who when they should be employed upon Service were forced or pretending a Necessity wherein We could not disprove them to range the Country to get in the means that should enable them to serve As to their Apprehension for want of Redress to their Grievances We understand not what Grievances are thereby meant unless those delivered unto Us by the Arch-Bishop of Tuam on the first of April For other Grievances though We long expected and desired them We never 〈◊〉 save 〈…〉 on the 13th of March at Limerick which for the 〈…〉 and other misbecoming Passages contained in it was as â—uch disavowed by the Clergy then met And to those given Us on the first of April We return herewith such Answers as considering the Generality of them is possible for Us to give We have already with the Advice of the Commissioners and as We believe with the Approbation of such of the Bishops as were present appointed the Earl of Castle-Haven to command the Forces in Leinster And in Munster with 〈…〉 We have employed Colonel David Roch to command for a necessary Expedition besides there always is upon the Place one general Officer that will readily receive and employ any that shall be prevailed with to take Arms as is promised And in case We find fitting Obedience and Reception from the City of Limerick We shall in Person be ready to receive and conduct the Forces in the said Province In Vlster We have in Pursuance to the Agreement made with that Province given Commission to the Bishop of Clâ—gher and in Connaught the Lord Marquess of Clanrickard commands the Army We know no use to which any Money raised upon the People hath been employed but to the Maintenance of the Forces if you do We shall desire to be therein informed to the end that any past Misapplication thereof may be examined and punished and the like prevented in future To conlude We seriously recommend to your Consideration the ways of procuring such Obedience to his Majesty and his Authority in the general and particularly from the City of Limerick as may enable and encourage Us with Honour and Hope of Success according to Our Desire to use Our utmost Industry and encounter all Hazards for the Defence of this Kingdom and Nation against the Tyranny that will certainly be exercised upon them and the unsupportable Slavery they will be subject unto if the Rebels prevail And so We bid you heartily farewel from Loghreogh May 1. 1650. Your very loving Friend ORMOND Since the Writing hereof We have received a Message by a Committee and delivered by our very good Lord the Lord Viscount Taaffe whereunto We cannot return unto you other answer than what is contained in this Letter till We shall receive your Resolution thereupon which we desire may be with Expedition For the Arch-Bishops Nobility Bishops the Commissioners authorized by Us in Pursuance of the Articles of Peace and others assembled at Loghreogh Append. XLVII The Commissions to the Bishop of Fernes and Hugh Rochfort NOS Commissarii Deputati a Congregatione Cleri totius Regni Hiberniae habita in oppido James-town die sexto Augusti anno Salutis 1650. cum Authoritate Potestate ejusdem Congregationis ad tractanda disponenda expedienda agenda quaecunque negotia spectantia conducentia ad Catholicae hoc in Regno Religionis Regiorum Jurium hujus Nationis Conservationem prout constat ex Commissione Congregationis super hac data undecimo ejusdem Augusti 1650 reponentes especialem ac certam Fiduciam Confidentiam in Prudentia Fidelitate ac Integritate dilectorum nobis Illustrissimi Reverendissimi D. Nicoali Fâ—rensh Episcopi Fernensis Comitis Assistentis sacrae Capellae Pontificiae D. Hugonis de Rupe forti alias Rochford Armigeri constituimus nominavimus authorizavimus prout hisce constituimus nominamus authorizamus Procuratores nostros dictos Dominos Nicolaum Hugonem quemlibet illorum junctim seperatim nostro Catholicorum hujus Regni nomine ad proponendum agendum perficiendum ac conveniendum cum quovis Catholico Principe Statu Republica Persona aut Personis quodcunque negotium aut rem quae dictis Reverendissimo D. Nicolao D. Hugoni Procuratoribus nostris aut cuivis illorum junctim ac seperatim videbitur seu judicabitur necessaria expediens aut conducens ad Catholicae inter nos Religionis Regis Nationis Conservationem hisce promittimus spondemus ac in nos suscipimus nostro Catholicorum Regni nomine quod testificabimur approbabimus confirmabimus praestabimus quemcunque actum pactum aut
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
delivered to the Commissioners of Trust in February last that the Clergy and Laity receiving Redress or Justice the Discontent of the Subject might be removed no Amendment appeared after eight Months effluxed but the Evil still continued that occasioned the Ruine of the Nation And we also protest to the whole World having done our best we have no Power to remove the Jealousies and Fears of the People Besides the above Injuries and Violation of the Articles of the Peace against Religion the King's Interest and the Nation nothing appearing before the Eyes of the People but Desolation Waste Burning and the Destruction of the Kingdom three parts of four thereof being come under Contribution to the Enemy Cities Towns and strong Holds taken from them Altars pulled down Churches lost Priests killed and banished Sacraments and Sacrifices and all things holy profaned and almost utterly extinguished Armies and great numbers of Souldiers by them maintained and the Enemy not fought withal those that would fight for them born down and those that would betray them cherished and advanced finally no visible Army or Defence appearing they are come to despair of recovering what is lost or defending what they hold and some inclining for safety of their Lives and Estates do compound with the Parliament perswading themselves no Safety can be to any living under the Government of the LORD LIEUTENANT attended by Fate and Disaster For prevention of these Evils and that the Kingdom may not be utterly lost to his Majesty and his Catholick Subjects this Congregation of Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries of both Clergies of this Kingdom found our selves bound in Conscience after great Deliberation to declare against the continuance of his Majesty's Authority in the Person of the said Lord Marquess of Ormond premitting this Protestation to the World ☞ that we had never come to such Declaration but that we and the People of this Kingdom generally despair of the Kingdom 's Recovery under his Government as hereby we do declare as well in our own Names and behalf as in the Names and behalf of the rest of the Catholicks of this Kingdom against him the said Marquess of Ormond having by his Misgovernment ill Conduct of his Majesy's Army and the Breach of Publick Faith with the People in several particulars of the Articles of the Peace render'd himself uncapable of continuing that great Trust any longer being questionable before his Majesy for the said Injuries and ill Government to which effect we will joyn with other Members of this Kingdom in drawing a Charge against him and we do hereby manifest to the People they are no longer obliged to obey the Orders and Commands of the said Lord Marquess of Ormond but are until a general Assembly of the Nation can be conveniently called together unanimously to serve against the common Enemy for the Defence of the Catholick Religion his Majesty's Interest their Liberties ☞ Lives and Fortunes in pursuance of the Oath of Association and to observe and obey in the mean time the Form of Government the said Congregation shall prescribe until it be otherwise ordered by an Assembly or until upon application to his Majesty he settle the same otherise And we do fulminate the annexed Excommunication of one Date with this Declaration against all the Opposers of the same Declaration All the good Christians and Catholicks that shall read this our said Declaration forced from us by the Affliction and Disaster of distressed Ireland be pleased to know that we well understand the present Condition of this Nation is more inclining to Ruin and Despair than Recovery yet will we relie upon the Mercy of God who can and will take off from us the heavy Judgment of his Anger War and Plague if we shall amend our wicked Lives and lean like little ones upon the Arms of his Mercy as we cry to him for Remedy let us confess with Tears our Sins saying with the Prophet Isaiah Câ—cidimus quasi folium universi iniquitates nostrae quasi ventus abstulerunt nos non est qui invocet nomen taum Domine non est qui consurgat teneat te abscondisti faciem tuam à nobis allisisti nos in manu iniquitatis nostrae This Language from the Heart will reconcile Heaven to us Et quiescat ira Dei erit placabilis super neâ—uitia populâ— sui Though this Noble-Man hath left us nothing but Weakness and Want and Desolation and that the Enemy is rich strong and powerful God is stronger and can help us and for his own Name-sake will deliver us Dominus Eliae the God of Wonders and Miracles erit etiam nunc apud Hibernos if our Faith prove strong and our Actions sound and sincere We will conclude with St. Paul that Ocean of Wisdom and Doctor of Nations Si Deus pro nobis quis contra nos quis accusabit adversus electos Dei Deus est qui justificat quis est qui condemnat quis ergo nos separabit à charitate Christi Tribulatio an Angustia an Fames an Nuditas an Periculum an Persecutio an Gladius sed in his omnibus superamus propter â—um qui dilexit nos Let nothing separate you from that burning Charity of Christianity and God will ever preserve protect and bless you H. Ardmacan Jo. Archiâ—p Tuam Jo. Rapotens Eugen. Killmor Fran. Aladen Nic. Fermens Procurator Dublin Fr. Anton. Clonmacnocens Walt. Clonfert Procurator Leighlinens Fr. Artur Dunens Connor Procurator Dromorens Fr. Hugo Duacensis Fr. Gul. de Burgo Provincialis Hiberniae Ordinis prâ—â—dicat Jac. Abbas de Conga Comiss generalis Canon Reg. S. Aug. Fr. Thom. Keran Abbas de Duellio Carol. Kelly S. Theologiae Doctor Decan Tuam Fr. Bernard Egan Procurator R. admodum P. Provincial fratrum minorum Fr. Ricar O Kelly Procur Vic. Generalis Kildare Prior Rathbran Ord. predicat Thad Eganus S. Th. D. praepos Tuam Luc. Plunket S. Th. D. Proton Apostolicus Rector Collegii de Kellecu exercitus Lageniâ— Capellan major Jo. Doulaeus juris Doc. Abbas de Kilmanach unus ex procuratoribus Capit. Cler. Tuam Gual Enos S. T. D. Protonot Apostolicus Theâ—aur Fernen procurator prepositi Ecclesiae Collegiaâ—ae Galviensis And we the under-named sitting at Galloway with the Committee authorized by the Congregation held at James-Town 6. Augusti currentis do concur with the above Arch-bishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries in the above Declaration and withal do now make firm the same as an Act of our own by our several Subscriptions this 23d of August 1650. Thomas Cashell J. Laonen Episcopus Edmun. Limiricen Rob. Corcag Cluan Fr. Teren. Immolâ—cen Jac. Fallon Vic. Apostolicus Acaden The Excommunication mentioned in the above Declaration WHereas we the underwritten Arch-bishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries sitting in this our present Congregation at James-Town with the Consent and Approbation of the rest through the Dangers of these distracted Times
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