A Popular History of Ireland: from the EarliestPeriod to the Emancipation of the Catholics by Thomas D'Arcy McGee PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. Ireland, lifting herself from the dust, drying her tears, and proudly demanding her legitimate place among thenations of the earth, is a spectacle to cause immenseprogress in political philosophy. Behold a nation whose fame had spread over all the earthere the flag of England had come into existence. For 500years her life has been apparently extinguished. Thefiercest whirlwind of oppression that ever in the wrathof God was poured upon the children of disobedience hadswept over her. She was an object of scorn and contemptto her subjugator. Only at times were there any signs oflife--an occasional meteor flash that told of her oldenspirit--of her deathless race. Degraded and apathetic asthis nation of Helots was, it is not strange that politicalphilosophy, at all times too Sadducean in its principles, should ask, with a sneer, "Could these dry bones live?"The fulness of time has come, and with one gallant sunwardbound the "old land" comes forth into the political dayto teach these lessons, that Right must always conquerMight in the end--that by a compensating principle inthe nature of things, Repression creates slowly, butcertainly, a force for its overthrow. Had it been possible to kill the Irish Nation, it hadlong since ceased to exist. But the transmitted qualitiesof her glorious children, who were giants in intellect, virtue, and arms for 1500 years before Alfred the Saxonsent the youth of his country to Ireland in search ofknowledge with which to civilize his people, --the legends, songs, and dim traditions of this glorious era, and theirrepressible piety, sparkling wit, and dauntless courageof her people, have at last brought her forth like. Lazarus from the tomb. True, the garb of the prison orthe cerements of the grave may be hanging upon her, but "loose her and let her go" is the wise policy ofthose in whose hands are her present destinies. A nation with such a strange history must have some greatwork yet to do in the world. Except the Jews, no peoplehas so suffered without dying. The History of Ireland is the most interesting of records, and the least known. The Publishers of this edition ofD'Arcy McGee's excellent and impartial work take advantageof the awakening interest in Irish literature to presentto the public a book of _high-class history_, ascheap as _largely circulating romance_. A sale aslarge as that of a popular romance is, therefore, necessaryto pay the speculation. That sale the Publishers expect. Indeed, as truth is often stranger than fiction, so Irishhistory is more romantic than romance. How Queen Scotaunfurled the Sacred Banner. How Brian and Malachy contendedfor empire. How the "Pirate of the North" scourged theIrish coast. The glories of Tara and the piety of Columba. The cowardice of James and the courage of Sarsfield. HowDathi, the fearless, sounded the Irish war-cry in farAlpine passes, and how the Geraldine forayed Leinster. The deeds of O'Neil and O'Donnell. The march of Cromwell, the destroying angel. Ireland's sun sinking in dim eclipse. The dark night of woe in Erin for a hundred years. '83--'98--'48--'68. Ireland's sun rising in glory. Surelythe Youth of Ireland will find in their country's recordsromance enough! The English and Scotch are well read in the histories oftheir country. The Irish are, unfortunately, not so; andyet, what is English or Scottish history to compare withIrish? Ireland was a land of saints and scholars whenBritons were painted savages. Wise and noble laws, basedupon the spirit of Christianity, were administered inErin, and valuable books were written ere the Britonswere as far advanced in civilization as the BlackfeetIndians. In morals and intellect, in Christianity andcivilization, in arms, art, and science, Ireland shonelike a star among the nations when darkness enshroudedthe world. And she nobly sustained civilization andreligion by her missionaries and scholars. The librariesand archives of Europe contain the records of their pietyand learning. Indeed the echoes have scarcely yet ceasedto sound upon our ears, of the mighty march of her armedchildren over the war-fields of Europe, during thatterrible time when England's cruel law, intended todestroy the spirit of a martial race, precipitated anarmed torrent of nearly 500, 000 of the flower of theIrish youth into foreign service. Irish steel glitteredin the front rank of the most desperate conflicts, andmore than once the ranks of England went down before "theExiles, " in just punishment for her terrible penal codewhich excluded the Irish soldier from his country'sservice. It was the Author's wish to educate his countrymen intheir national records. If by issuing a cheap editionthe present Publishers carry out to any extent that wish, it will be to them a source of satisfaction. It is impossible to conclude this Preface without anexpression of regret at the dark and terrible fate whichovertook the high-minded, patriotic, and distinguishedIrishman, Thomas D'Arcy McGee. He was a man who lovedhis country well; and when the contemptible squabblesand paltry dissensions of the present have passed away, his name will be a hallowed memory, like that of Emmetor Fitzgerald, to inspire men with high, ideals ofpatriotism and devotion. CAMERON & FERGUSON. [Note: From 1857 until his death, McGee was active inCanadian politics. A gifted speaker and strong supporterof Confederation, he is regarded as one of Canada'sfathers of Confederation. On April 7, 1868, afterattending a late-night session in the House of Commons, he was shot and killed as he returned to his roominghouse on Sparks Street in Ottawa. It is generally believedthat McGee was the victim of a Fenian plot. PatrickJames Whelan was convicted and hanged for the crime, however the evidence implicating him was later seen tobe suspect. ] CONTENTS BOOK I. CHAPTER I. --The First Inhabitants CHAPTER II. --The First Ages CHAPTER III. --Christianity Preached at Tara--The Result CHAPTER IV. --The Constitution, and how the Kings kept it CHAPTER V. --Reign of Hugh II. --The Irish Colony in Scotland obtains its Independence CHAPTER VI. --Kings of the Seventh Century CHAPTER VII. --Kings of the Eighth Century CHAPTER VIII. --What the Irish Schools and Saints did in the Three First Christian Centuries BOOK II. CHAPTER I. --The Danish Invasion CHAPTER II. --Kings of the Ninth Century (Continued)-- Nial III. --Malachy I. --Hugh VII CHAPTER III. --Reign of Flan "of the Shannon" (A. D. 879 to 916) CHAPTER IV. --Kings of the Tenth Century--Nial IV. -- Donogh II. --Congal III. --Donald IV CHAPTER V. --Reign of Malachy II. And Rivalry of Brian CHAPTER VI. --Brian, Ard-Righ--Battle of Clontarf CHAPTER VII. --Effects of the Rivalry of Brian and Malachy on the Ancient Constitution CHAPTER VIII. --Latter Days of the Northmen in Ireland BOOK III. CHAPTER I. --The Fortunes of the Family of Brian CHAPTER II. --The Contest between the North and South-- Rise of the Family of O'Conor CHAPTER III. --Thorlogh More O'Conor--Murkertach of Aileach--Accession of Roderick O'Conor CHAPTER IV. --State of Religion and Learning among the Irish previous to the Anglo-Norman Invasion CHAPTER V. --Social Condition of the Irish previous to the Norman Invasion CHAPTER VI. --Foreign Relations of the Irish previous to the Anglo-Norman Invasion BOOK IV. CHAPTER I. --Dermid McMurrogh's Negotiations and Success-- The First Expedition of the Normans into Ireland CHAPTER II. --The Arms, Armour and Tactics of the Normans and Irish CHAPTER III. --The First Campaign of Earl Richard--Siege of Dublin--Death of King Dermid McMurrogh CHAPTER IV. --Second Campaign of Earl Richard--Henry II. In Ireland CHAPTER V. --From the Return of Henry II. To England till the Death of Earl Richard and his principal Companions CHAPTER VI. --The Last Years of the Ard-Righ, Roderick O'Conor CHAPTER VII. --Assassination of Hugh de Lacy--John "Lackland" in Ireland--Various Expeditions of John de Courcy--Death of Conor Moinmoy, and Rise of Cathal, "the Red-Handed" O'Conor--Close of the Career of De Courcy and De Burgh CHAPTER VIII. --Events of the Thirteenth Century--The Normans in Connaught CHAPTER IX. --Events of the Thirteenth Century--The Normans in Munster and Leinster CHAPTER X. --Events of the Thirteenth Century--The Normans in Meath and Ulster CHAPTER XI. --Retrospect of the Norman Period in Ireland--A Glance at the Military Tactics of the Times--No Conquest of the Country in the Thirteenth Century CHAPTER XII. --State of Society and Learning in Ireland during the Norman Period BOOK V. CHAPTER I. --The Rise of "the Red Earl"--Relations of Ireland and Scotland CHAPTER II. --The Northern Irish enter into Alliance with King Robert Bruce--Arrival and First Campaign of Edward Bruce CHAPTER III. --Bruce's Second Campaign and Coronation at Dundalk--The Rising in Connaught--Battle of Athenry--Robert Bruce in Ireland CHAPTER IV. --Battle of Faughard and Death of King Edward Bruce--Consequences of his Invasion-- Extinction of the Earldom of Ulster--Irish Opinion of Edward Bruce BOOK VI. CHAPTER I. --Civil War in England--Its Effects on the Anglo-Irish--The Knights of St. John-- General Desire of the Anglo-Irish to Naturalize themselves among the Native Population--A Policy of Non-Intercourse between the Races Resolved on in England CHAPTER II. --Lionel, Duke of Clarence, Lord Lieutenant-- The Penal Code of Race--"The Statute of Kilkenny, " and some of its Consequences CHAPTER III. --Art McMurrogh, Lord of Leinster--First Expedition of Richard II. Of England to Ireland CHAPTER IV. --Subsequent Proceedings of Richard II. -- Lieutenancy and Death of the Earl of March-- Second Expedition of Richard against Art McMurrogh--Change of Dynasty in England CHAPTER V. --Parties within "the Pale"--Battles of Kilmainham and Killucan--Sir John Talbot's Lord Lieutenancy CHAPTER VI. --Acts of the Native Princes--Subdivision of Tribes and Territories--Anglo-Irish Towns under Native Protection--Attempt of Thaddeus O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, to Restore the Monarchy--Relations of the Races in the Fifteenth Century CHAPTER VII. --Continued Division and Decline of "the English Interest"--Richard, Duke of York, Lord Lieutenant--Civil War again in England-- Execution of the Earl of Desmond-- Ascendancy of the Kildare Geraldines CHAPTER VIII. --The Age and Rule of Gerald, Eighth Earl of Kildare--The Tide begins to turn for the English Interest--The Yorkist Pretenders, Simnel and Warbeck--Poyning's Parliament-- Battles of Knockdoe and Monabraher CHAPTER IX. --State of Irish and Anglo--Irish Society during the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries CHAPTER X. --State of Religion and Learning during the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries BOOK VII. CHAPTER I. --Irish Policy of Henry the Eighth during the Lifetime of Cardinal Wolsey CHAPTER II. --The Insurrection of Silken Thomas--The Geraldine League--Administration of Lord Leonard Gray CHAPTER III. --Sir Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy-- Negotiations of the Irish Chiefs with James the Fifth of Scotland--First Attempts to Introduce the Protestant Reformation-- Opposition of the Clergy--Parliament of 1541--The Protectors of the Clergy Excluded--State of the Country--The Crowns United-Henry the Eighth Proclaimed at London and Dublin CHAPTER IV. --Adhesion of O'Neil, O'Donnell, and O'Brien-- A new Anglo-Irish Peerage--New Relations of Lord and Tenant--Bishops appointed by the Crown--Retrospect BOOK VIII. CHAPTER I. --Events of the Reign of Edward Sixth CHAPTER II. --Events of the Reign of Philip and Mary CHAPTER III. --Accession of Queen Elizabeth--Parliament of 1560--The Act of Uniformity--Career and Death of John O'Neil "the Proud" CHAPTER IV. --Sir Henry Sidney's Deputyship--Parliament of 1569--The Second "Geraldine League"-- Sir James Fitzmaurice CHAPTER V. --The "Undertakers" in Ulster and Leinster-- Defeat and Death of Sir James Fitzmaurice CHAPTER VI. --Sequel of the Second Geraldine League-- Plantation of Munster--Early Career of Hugh O'Neil, Earl of Tyrone--Parliament of 1585 CHAPTER VII. --Battle of Glenmalure--Sir John Perrott's Administration--The Spanish Armada-- Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam--Escape of Hugh Roe O'Donnell from Dublin Castle-- The Ulster Confederacy formed CHAPTER VIII. --The Ulster Confederacy--Feagh Mac Hugh O'Byrne--Campaign of 1595--Negotiations, English and Spanish--Battle of the Yellow Ford--Its Consequences CHAPTER IX. --Essex's Campaign of 1599--Battle of the Curlieu Mountains--O'Neil's Negotiations with Spain--Mountjoy Lord Deputy CHAPTER X. --Mountjoy's Administration--Operations in Ulster and Munster--Carew's "Wit and Cunning"--Landing of Spaniards in the South--Battle of Kinsale--Death of O'Donnell in Spain CHAPTER XI. --The Conquest of Munster--Death of Elizabeth, and Submission of O'Neil--"The Articles of Mellifont" CHAPTER XII. --State of Religion and Learning during the Reign of Elizabeth BOOK IX. CHAPTER I. --James I. --Flight of the Earls--Confiscation of Ulster--Penal Laws--Parliamentary Opposition CHAPTER II. --Last years of James--Confiscation of the Midland Counties--Accession of Charles I. -- Grievances and "Graces"--Administration of Lord Strafford CHAPTER III. --Lord Stafford's Impeachment and Execution-- Parliament of 1639-'41--The Insurrection of 1641--The Irish Abroad CHAPTER IV. --The Insurrection of 1641 CHAPTER V. --The Catholic Confederation--Its Civil Government and Military Establishment CHAPTER VI. --The Confederate War--Campaign of 1643-- The Cessation CHAPTER VII. --The Cessation and its Consequences CHAPTER VIII. --Glamorgan's Treaty--The New Nuncio Rinuccini-- O'Neil's Position--The Battle of Benburb CHAPTER IX. --From the Battle of Benburb till the Landing of Cromwell at Dublin CHAPTER X. --Cromwell's Campaign--1649-1650 CHAPTER XI. --Close of the Confederate War CHAPTER XII. --Ireland under the Protectorate-- Administration of Henry Cromwell-- Death of Oliver BOOK X. CHAPTER I. --Reign of Charles II. CHAPTER II. --Reign of Charles II. (Concluded) CHAPTER III. --The State of Religion and Learning in Ireland during the Seventeenth Century CHAPTER IV. --Accession of James II. --Tyrconnell's Administration CHAPTER V. --King James to Ireland--Irish Parliament of 1689 CHAPTER VI. --The Revolutionary War--Campaign of 1639-- Sieges of Derry and Enniskillen CHAPTER VII. --The Revolutionary War--Campaign of 1690-- Battle of the Boyne--Its Consequences-- the Sieges of Athlone and Limerick CHAPTER VIII. --The Winter of 1690-91 CHAPTER IX. --The Revolutionary War--Campaign of 1691-- Battle of Aughrim--Capitulation of Limerick CHAPTER X. --Reign of King William CHAPTER XI. --Reign of Queen Anne CHAPTER XII. --The Irish Soldiers Abroad, during the Reigns of William and Anne BOOK XI. CHAPTER I. --Accession of George I. --Swift's Leadership CHAPTER II. --Reign of George II. --Growth of Public Spirit--The "Patriot" Party--Lord Chesterfield's Administration CHAPTER III. --The Last Jacobite Movement--The Irish Soldiers Abroad--French Expedition under Thurot, or O'Farrell CHAPTER IV. --Reign of George II. (Concluded)-- Malone's Leadership CHAPTER V. --Accession of George III. --Flood's Leadership--Octennial Parliaments Established CHAPTER VI. --Flood's Leadership--State of the Country between 1760 and 1776 CHAPTER VII. --Grattan's Leadership--"Free Trade" and the Volunteers CHAPTER VIII. --Grattan's Leadership--Legislative and Judicial Independence Established CHAPTER IX. --The Era of Independence--First Period CHAPTER X. --The Era of Independence--Second Period CHAPTER XI. --The Era of Independence--Third Period-- Catholic Relief Bill of 1793 CHAPTER XII. --The Era of Independence--Effects of the French Revolution in Ireland--Secession of Grattan, Curran, and their Friends, from Parliament, in 1797 CHAPTER XIII. --The United Irishmen CHAPTER XIV. --Negotiations with France and Holland-- The Three Expeditions Negotiated by Tone and Lewines CHAPTER XV. --The Insurrection of 1798 CHAPTER XVI. --The Insurrection of 1798--The Wexford Insurrection CHAPTER XVII. --The Insurrection elsewhere--Fate of the Leading United Irishmen CHAPTER XVIII. --Administration of Lord Cornwallis-- Before the Union CHAPTER XIX. --Last Session of the Irish Parliament-- The Legislative Union of Great Britain and Ireland BOOK XII. CHAPTER I. --After the Union--Death of Lord Clare-- Robert Emmet's Emeute CHAPTER II. --Administration of Lord Hardwick (1801 to 1806), and of the Duke of Bedford (1806 to 1808) CHAPTER III. --Administration of the Duke of Richmond (1807 to 1813) CHAPTER IV. --O'Connell's Leadership--1813 to 1821 CHAPTER V. --Retrospect of the State of Religion and Learning during the Reign of George III CHAPTER VI. --The Irish Abroad, during the Reign of George III CHAPTER VII. --O'Connell's Leadership--The Catholic Association--1821 to 1825 CHAPTER VIII. --O'Connell's Leadership--The Clare Election-- Emancipation of the Catholics HISTORY OF IRELAND BOOK I. CHAPTER I. THE FIRST INHABITANTS. Ireland is situated in the North Atlantic, between thedegrees fifty-one and a half and fifty-five and a halfNorth, and five and a quarter and ten and a third Westlongitude from Greenwich. It is the last land usuallyseen by ships leaving the Old World, and the first bythose who arrive there from the Northern ports of America. In size it is less than half as large as Britain, and inshape it may be compared to one of those shields whichwe see in coats-of-arms, the four Provinces--Ulster, Connaught, Leinster, and Munster--representing the fourquarters of the shield. Around the borders of the country, generally near thecoast, several ranges of hills and mountains rear theircrests, every Province having one or more such groups. The West and South have, however, the largest and highestof these hills, from the sides of all which descendnumerous rivers, flowing in various directions to thesea. Other rivers issue out of large lakes formed in thevalleys, such as the Galway river which drains LoughCorrib, and the Bann which carries off the surplus watersof Lough Neagh (_Nay_). In a few districts wherethe fall for water is insufficient, marshes and swampswere long ago formed, of which the principal one occupiesnearly 240, 000 acres in the very heart of the country. It is called "the Bog of Alien, " and, though quite uselessfor farming purposes, still serves to supply the surroundingdistrict with fuel, nearly as well as coal mines do inother countries. In former times, Ireland was as well wooded as watered, though hardly a tree of the primitive forest now remains. One of the earliest names applied to it was "the woodedIsland, " and the export of timber and staves, as well asof the furs of wild animals, continued, until the beginningof the seventeenth century, to be a thriving branch oftrade. But in a succession of civil and religious wars, the axe and the torch have done their work of destruction, so that the age of most of the wood now standing doesnot date above two or three generations back. Who were the first inhabitants of this Island, it isimpossible to say, but we know it was inhabited at a veryearly period of the world's lifetime--probably as earlyas the time when Solomon the Wise, sat in Jerusalem onthe throne of his father David. As we should not altogetherreject, though neither are we bound to believe, the wildand uncertain traditions of which we have neitherdocumentary nor monumental evidence, we will glance overrapidly what the old Bards and Story-tellers have handeddown to us concerning Ireland before it became Christian. The _first_ story they tell is, that about three hundredyears after the Universal Deluge, Partholan, of the stockof Japhet, sailed down the Mediterranean, "leaving Spainon the right hand, " and holding bravely on his course, reached the shores of the wooded western Island. ThisPartholan, they tell us, was a double parricide, havingkilled his father and mother before leaving his nativecountry, for which horrible crimes, as the Bards verymorally conclude, his posterity were fated never topossess the land. After a long interval, and when theywere greatly increased in numbers, they were cut off tothe last man, by a dreadful pestilence. The story of the _second_ immigration is almost as vagueas that of the first. The leader this tune is calledNemedh, and his route is described as leading from theshores of the Black Sea, across what is now Russia inEurope, to the Baltic Sea, and from the Baltic to Ireland. He is said to have built two royal forts, and to have"cleared twelve plains of wood" while in Ireland. Heand his posterity were constantly at war, with a terriblerace of Formorians, or Sea Kings, descendants of Ham, who had fled from northern Africa to the western islandsfor refuge from their enemies, the sons of Shem. At lengththe Formorians prevailed, and the children of the secondimmigration were either slain or driven into exile, fromwhich some of their posterity returned long afterwards, and again disputed the country, under two differentdenominations. The _Firbolgs_ or Belgae are the _third_ immigration. They were victorious under their chiefs, the five sonsof Dela, and divided the island into five portions. Butthey lived in days when the earth--the known parts of itat least--was being eagerly scrambled for by the overflowinghosts of Asia, and they were not long left in undisputedpossession of so tempting a prize. Another expedition, claiming descent from the common ancestor, Nemedh, arrivedto contest their supremacy. These last--the _fourth_immigration--are depicted to us as accomplished soothsayersand necromancers who came out of Greece. They could quellstorms; cure diseases; work in metals; foretell futureevents; forge magical weapons; and raise the dead tolife; they are called the _Tuatha de Danans_, and bytheir supernatural power, as well as by virtue of "theLia Fail, " or fabled "stone of destiny, " they subduedtheir Belgic kinsmen, and exercised sovereignty overthem, till they in turn were displaced by the Gaelic, or_fifth_ immigration. This fifth and final colony called themselves alternately, or at different periods of their history, _Gael_, fromone of their remote ancestors; _Milesians_, from theimmediate projector of their emigration; or _Scoti_, fromScota, the mother of Milesius. They came from Spainunder the leadership of the sons of Milesius, whom theyhad lost during their temporary sojourn in that country. In vain the skilful _Tuatha_ surrounded themselves andtheir coveted island with magic-made tempest and terrors;in vain they reduced it in size so as to be almostinvisible from sea; Amergin, one of the sons of Milesius, was a Druid skilled in all the arts of the east, and ledby his wise counsels, his brothers countermined themagicians, and beat them at their own weapons. ThisAmergin was, according to universal usage in ancienttimes, at once Poet, Priest, and Prophet; yet when hiswarlike brethren divided the island between them, theyleft the Poet out of reckoning. He was finally drownedin the waters of the river Avoca, which is probably thereason why that river has been so suggestive of melodyand song ever since. Such are the stories told of the _five_ successive hordesof adventurers who first attempted to colonize our woodedIsland. Whatever moiety of truth may be mixed up withso many fictions, two things are certain, that long beforethe time when our Lord and Saviour came upon earth, thecoasts and harbours of Erin were known to the merchantsof the Mediterranean, and that from the first to thefifth Christian century, the warriors of the wooded Islemade inroads on the Roman power in Britain and even inGaul. Agricola, the Roman governor of Britain in thereign of Domitian--the first century--retained an Irishchieftain about his person, and we are told by hisbiographer that an invasion of Ireland was talked of atRome. But it never took place; the Roman eagles, althoughsupreme for four centuries in Britain, never crossed theIrish Sea; and we are thus deprived of those Latin helpsto our early history, which are so valuable in the firstperiod of the histories of every western country, withwhich the Romans had anything to do. CHAPTER II. THE FIRST AGES. Since we have no Roman accounts of the form of governmentor state of society in ancient Erin, we must only dependon the Bards and Story-tellers, so far as their statementsare credible and agree with each other. On certain mainpoints they do agree, and these are the points which itseems reasonable for us to take on their authority. As even brothers born of the same mother, coming suddenlyinto possession of a prize, will struggle to see who canget the largest share, so we find in those first ages aconstant succession of armed struggles for power. Thepetty Princes who divided the Island between them werecalled _Righ_, a word which answers to the Latin _Rex_and French _Roi_; and the chief king or monarch was called_Ard-Righ_, or High-King. The eldest nephew, or son ofthe king, was the usual heir of power, and was calledthe _Tanist_, or successor; although any of the familyof the Prince, his brothers, cousins, or other kinsmen, might be chosen _Tanist_, by election of the people overwhom he was to rule. One certain cause of exclusion waspersonal deformity; for if a Prince was born lame or ahunchback, or if he lost a limb by accident, he wasdeclared unfit to govern. Even after succession, anyserious accident entailed deposition, though we find thenames of several Princes who managed to evade or escapethis singular penalty. It will be observed besides ofthe _Tanist_, that the habit of appointing him seems tohave been less a law than a custom; that it was notuniversal in all the Provinces; that in some tribes thesuccession alternated between a double line of Princes;and that sometimes when the reigning Prince obtained thenomination of a _Tanist_, to please himself, the choicewas set aside by the public voice of the clansmen. Thesuccessor to the Ard-Righ, or Monarch, instead of beingsimply called _Tanist_, had the more sounding title of_Roydamna_, or King-successor. The chief offices about the Kings, in the first ages, were all filled by the Druids, or Pagan Priests; the_Brehons_, or Judges, were usually Druids, as were alsothe _Bards_, the historians of their patrons. Then camethe Physicians; the Chiefs who paid tribute or receivedannual gifts from the Sovereigns, or Princes; the royalstewards; and the military leaders or Champions, who, like the knights of the middle ages, held their landsand their rank at court, by the tenure of the sword. Likethe feudal _Dukes_ of Prance, and _Barons_ of England, these military nobles often proved too powerful for theirnominal patrons, and made them experience all theuncertainty of reciprocal dependence. The Champions playan important part in all the early legends. Whereverthere is trouble you are sure to find them. Their mostcelebrated divisions were the warriors of the _RedBranch_--that is to say, the Militia of Ulster; the_Fiann_, or Militia of Leinster, sometimes the royalguard of Tara, at others in exile and disgrace; the_Clan-Degaid_ of Munster, and the _Fiann_ of Connaught. The last force was largely recruited from the Belgic racewho had been squeezed into that western province, bytheir Milesian conquerors, pretty much as Cromwellendeavoured to force the Milesian Irish into it, manyhundred years afterwards. Each of these bands had itsspecial heroes; its Godfreys and Orlandos celebrated insong; the most famous name in Ulster was Cuchullin: socalled from _cu_, a hound, or watch-dog, and _Ullin_, the ancient name of his province. He lived at the dawnof the Christian era. Of equal fame was Finn, the fatherof Ossian, and the Fingal of modern fiction, who flourishedin the latter half of the second century. Gall, son ofMorna, the hero of Connaught (one of the few distinguishedmen of Belgic origin whom we hear of through the Milesianbards), flourished a generation earlier than Finn, andmight fairly compete with him in celebrity, if he hadonly had an Ossian to sing his praises. The political boundaries of different tribes expanded orcontracted with their good or ill fortune in battle. Immigration often followed defeat, so that a clan, orits offshoot is found at one period on one part of themap and again on another. As _surnames_ were not generallyused either in Ireland or anywhere else, till after thetenth century, the great families are distinguishable atfirst, only by their tribe or clan names. Thus at thenorth we have the Hy-Nial race; in the south the Eugenianrace, so called from Nial and Eoghan, their mutualancestors. We have already compared the shape of Erin to a shield, in which the four Provinces represented the four quarters. Some shields have also _bosses_ or centre-pieces, andthe federal province of MEATH was the _boss_ of the oldIrish shield. The ancient Meath included both the presentcounties of that name, stretching south to the Liffey, and north to Armagh. It was the mensal demesne, or "boardof the king's table:" it was exempt from all taxes, exceptthose of the Ard-Righ, and its relations to the otherProvinces may be vaguely compared to those of the Districtof Columbia to the several States of the North AmericanUnion. ULSTER might then be defined by a line drawn fromSligo Harbour to the mouth of the Boyne, the line beingnotched here and there by the royal demesne of Meath;LEINSTER stretched south from Dublin triangle-wise toWaterford Harbour, but its inland line, towards the west, was never very well defined, and this led to constantborder wars with Munster; the remainder of the south tothe mouth of the Shannon composed MUNSTER; the presentcounty of Clare and all west of the Shannon north toSligo, and part of Cavan, going with CONNAUGHT. The chiefseats of power, in those several divisions, were TARA, for federal purposes; EMANIA, near Armagh, for Ulster;LEIGHLIN, for Leinster; CASHEL, for Munster; and CRUCHAIN, (now Rathcrogan, in Roscommon, ) for Connaught. How the common people lived within these external divisionsof power it is not so easy to describe. All historiestell us a great deal of kings, and battles, andconspiracies, but very little of the daily domestic lifeof the people. In this respect the history of Erin ismuch the same as the rest; but some leading facts we doknow. Their religion, in Pagan times, was what the modernscall _Druidism_, but what they called it themselves wenow know not. It was probably the same religion ancientlyprofessed by Tyre and Sidon, by Carthage and her coloniesin Spain; the same religion which the Romans have describedas existing in great part of Gaul, and by their accounts, we learn the awful fact, that it sanctioned, nay, demanded, human sacrifices. From the few traces of its doctrineswhich Christian zeal has permitted to survive in the oldIrish language, we see that _Belus_ or "Crom, " the godof fire, typified by the sun, was its chief divinity--thattwo great festivals were held in his honour on daysanswering to the first of May and last of October. Therewere also particular gods of poets, champions, artificersand mariners, just as among the Romans and Greeks. Sacredgroves were dedicated to these gods; Priests and Priestessesdevoted their lives to their service; the arms of thechampion, and the person of the king were charmed bythem; neither peace nor war was made without theirsanction; their own persons and their pupils were heldsacred; the high place at the king's right hand and thebest fruits of the earth and the waters were theirs. Oldage revered them, women worshipped them, warriors paidcourt to them, youth trembled before them, princes andchieftains regarded them as elder brethren. So numerouswere they in Erin, and so celebrated, that the altars ofBritain and western Gaul, left desolate by the Romanlegions, were often served by hierophants from Erin, which, even in those Pagan days, was known to all theDruidic countries as the "Sacred Island. " Besides theprinces, the warriors, and the Druids, (who were alsothe Physicians, Bards and Brehons of the first ages, )there were innumerable petty chiefs, all laying claim tonoble birth and blood. They may be said with the warriorsand priests to be the only freemen. The _Bruais_, orfarmers, though possessing certain legal rights, were aninferior caste; while of the Artisans, the smiths andarmorers only seem to have been of much consideration. The builders of those mysterious round towers, of whicha hundred ruins yet remain, may also have been a privilegedorder. But the mill and the loom were servile occupations, left altogether to slaves taken in battle, or purchasedin the market-places of Britain. The task of the herdsman, like that of the farm-labourer, seems to have devolvedon the bondsmen, while the _quern_ and the shuttle wereleft exclusively in the hands of the bondswomen. We need barely mention the names of the first Milesiankings, who were remarkable for something else than cuttingeach other's throats, in order to hasten on to the solidground of Christian tunes. The principal names are: Heberand Heremhon, the crowned sons of Milesians; they atfirst divided the Island fairly, but Heremhon soon becamejealous of his brother, slew him in battle, and establishedhis own supremacy. Irial the Prophet was King, and builtseven royal fortresses; Tiern'mass; in his reign the artsof dyeing in colours were introduced; and the distinguishingof classes by the number of colours they were permittedto wear, was decreed. Ollamh ("the Wise") establishedthe Convention of Tara, which assembled habitually everyninth year, but might be called oftener; it met aboutthe October festival in honour of Beleus or _Crom_; Eocaidinvented or introduced a new species of wicker boats, called _cassa_, and spent much of his time upon the sea;a solitary queen, named Macha, appears in the succession, from whom Armagh takes its name; except Mab, themythological Queen of Connaught, she is the sole femaleruler of Erin in the first ages; Owen or Eugene Mor ("theGreat") is remembered as the founder of the notablefamilies who rejoice in the common name of Eugenians;Leary, of whom the fable of Midas is told with variations;Angus, whom the after Princes of Alba (Scotland) claimedas their ancestor; Eocaid, the tenth of that name, inwhose reign are laid the scenes of the chief mythologicalstories of Erin--such as the story of Queen Mab--thestory of the Sons of Usna; the death of Cuchullin (acounterpart of the Persian tale of Roostam and Sohrab);the story of Fergus, son of the king; of Connor of Ulster;of the sons of Dari; and many more. We next meet withthe first king who led an expedition abroad against theRomans in Crimthan, surnamed _Neea-Naari_, or Nair'sHero, from the good genius who accompanied him on hisforay. A well-planned insurrection of the conqueredBelgae, cut off one of Crimthan's immediate successors, with all his chiefs and nobles, at a banquet given onthe Belgian-plain (Moybolgue, in Cavan); and arrestedfor a century thereafter Irish expeditions abroad. Arevolution and a restoration followed, in which Moran theJust Judge played the part of Monk to _his_ Charles II. , Tuathal surnamed "the Legitimate. " It was Tuathalwho imposed the special tax on Leinster, of which, weshall often hear--under the title of _Borooa_, or Tribute. "The Legitimate" was succeeded by his son, who introducedthe Roman _Lex Talionis_ ("an eye for an eye and a tooth, for a tooth") into the Brehon code; soon after, theEugenian families of the south, strong in numbers, andled by a second Owen More, again halved the Island withthe ruling race, the boundary this time being the _esker_, or ridge of land which can be easily traced from Dublinwest to Galway. Olild, a brave and able Prince, succeededin time to the southern half-kingdom, and planted hisown kindred deep and firm in its soil, though the unityof the monarchy was again restored under Cormac Ulla, or_Longbeard_. This Cormac, according to the legend, wasin secret a Christian, and was done to death by theenraged and alarmed Druids, after his abdication andretirement from the world (A. D. 266). He had reigned fullforty years, rivalling in wisdom, and excelling in justicethe best of his ancestors. Some of his maxims remain tous, and challenge comparison for truthfulness and foresightwith most uninspired writings. Cormac's successors during the same century are of littlemark, but in the next the expeditions against the Romanoutposts were renewed with greater energy and on anincreasing scale. Another Crimthan eclipsed the fame ofhis ancestor and namesake; Nial, called "of the Hostages, "was slain on a second or third expedition into Gaul (A. D. 405), while Dathy, nephew and successor to Nial, wasstruck dead by lightning in the passage of the Alps (A. D. 428). It was in one of Nial's Gallic expeditions thatthe illustrious captive was brought into Erin, for whomProvidence had reserved the glory of its conversion tothe Christian faith--an event which gives a unity and apurpose to the history of that Nation, which must alwaysconstitute its chief attraction to the Christian reader. CHAPTER III. CHRISTIANITY PREACHED AT TARA--THE RESULT. The conversion of a Pagan people to Christianity mustalways be a primary fact in their history. It is notmerely for the error it abolishes or the positive truthit establishes that a national change of faith ishistorically important, but for the complete revolutionit works in every public and private relation. The changesocially could not be greater if we were to see someirresistible apostle of Paganism ariving from abroad inChristian Ireland, who would abolish the churches, convents, and Christian schools; decry and bring intoutter disuse the decalogue, the Scriptures and theSacraments; efface all trace of the existing belief inOne God and Three Persons, whether in private or publicworship, in contracts, or in courts of law; and insteadof these, re-establish all over the country, in highplaces and in every place, the gloomy groves of theDruids, making gods of the sun and moon, the naturalelements, and man's own passions, restoring human sacrificesas a sacred duty, and practically excluding from thecommunity of their fellows, all who presumed to questionthe divine origin of such a religion. The preaching ofPatrick effected a revolution to the full as complete assuch a counter-revolution in favour of Paganism couldpossibly be, and to this thorough revolution we mustdevote at least one chapter before going farther. The best accounts agree that Patrick was a native ofGaul, then subject to Rome; that he was carried captiveinto Erin on one of King Nial's returning expeditions;that he became a slave, as all captives of the sword did, in those iron times; that he fell to the lot of oneMilcho, a chief of Dalriada, whose flocks he tended forseven years, as a shepherd, on the mountain called Slemish, in the present county of Antrim. The date of Nial's death, and the consequent return of his last expedition, is setdown in all our annals at the year 405; as Patrick wassixteen years of age when he reached Ireland, he musthave been born about the year 390; and as he died in theyear 493, he would thus have reached the extraordinary, but not impossible age of 103 years. Whatever the exactnumber of his years, it is certain that his mission inIreland commenced in the year 432, and was prolonged tillhis death, sixty-one years afterwards. Such an unprecedentedlength of life, not less than the unprecedented power, both popular and political, which he early attained, enabled him to establish the Irish Church, during hisown time, on a basis so broad and deep, that neitherlapse of ages, nor heathen rage, nor earthly temptations, nor all the arts of Hell, have been able to upheave itsfirm foundations. But we must not imagine that the powersof darkness abandoned the field without a struggle, orthat the victory of the cross was achieved without asingular combination of courage, prudence, anddetermination--God aiding above all. If the year of his captivity was 405 or 406, and that ofhis escape or manumission seven years later (412 or 413), twenty years would intervene between his departure outof the land of his bondage, and his return to it clothedwith the character and authority of a Christian Bishop. This interval, longer or shorter, he spent in qualifyinghimself for Holy Orders or discharging priestly dutiesat Tours, at Lerins, and finally at Rome. But always bynight and day he was haunted by the thought of the Pagannation in which he had spent his long years of servitude, whose language he had acquired, and the character ofwhose people he so thoroughly understood. These naturalretrospections were heightened and deepened by supernaturalrevelations of the will of Providence towards the Irish, and himself as their apostle. At one time, an angelpresented him, in his sleep, a scroll bearing thesuperscription, "the voice of the Irish;" at another, heseemed to hear in a dream all the unborn children of thenation crying to him for help and holy baptism. When, therefore, Pope Celestine commissioned him for thisenterprise, "to the ends of the earth, " he found him notonly ready but anxious to undertake it. When the new Preacher arrived in the Irish Sea, in 432, he and his companions were driven off the coast of Wicklowby a mob, who assailed them with showers of stones. Running down the coast to Antrim, with which he waspersonally familiar, he made some stay at Saul, in Down, where he made few converts, and celebrated Mass in abarn; proceeding northward he found himself rejected withscorn by his old master, Milcho, of Slemish. No doubt itappeared an unpardonable audacity in the eyes of theproud Pagan, that his former slave should attempt toteach him how to reform his life and order his affairs. Returning again southward, led on, as we must believe, by the Spirit of God, he determined to strike a blowagainst Paganism at its most vital point. Having learnedthat the monarch, Leary (_Laeghaire_), was to celebratehis birthday with suitable rejoicings at Tara, on a daywhich happened to fall on the eve of Easter, he resolvedto proceed to Tara on that occasion, and to confront theDruids in the midst of all the princes and magnates ofthe Island. With this view he returned on his formercourse, and landed from his frail barque at the mouth ofthe Boyne. Taking leave of the boatmen, he desired themto wait for him a certain number of days, when, if theydid not hear from him, they might conclude him dead, andprovide for their own safety. So saying he set out, accompanied by the few disciples he had made, or broughtfrom abroad, to traverse on foot the great plain whichstretches from the mouth of the Boyne to Tara. If thosesailors were Christians, as is most likely, we can conceivewith what anxiety they must have awaited tidings of anattempt so hazardous and so eventful. The Christian proceeded on his way, and the first nightof his journey lodged with a hospitable chief, whosefamily he converted and baptized, especially marking outa fine child named Beanen, called by him Benignus, fromhis sweet disposition; who was destined to be one of hismost efficient coadjutors, and finally his successor inthe Primatial see of Armagh. It was about the second orthird day when, travelling probably by the northern road, poetically called "the Slope of the Chariots, " theChristian adventurers came in sight of the roofs of Tara. Halting on a neighbouring eminence they surveyed thecitadel of Ancient Error, like soldiers about to assaultan enemy's stronghold. The aspect of the royal hill musthave been highly imposing. The building towards the northwas the Banquet Hall, then thronged with the celebrantsof the King's birth-day, measuring from north to south360 feet in length by 40 feet wide. South of this hallwas the King's Rath, or residence, enclosing an area of280 yards in diameter, and including several detachedbuildings, such as the house of Cormac, and the house ofthe hostages. Southward still stood the new rath of thereigning king, and yet farther south, the rath of QueenMab, probably uninhabited even then. The intervals betweenthe buildings were at some points planted, for we knowthat magnificent trees shaded the well of Finn, and thewell of Newnaw, from which all the raths were suppliedwith water. Imposing at any time, Tara must have lookedits best at the moment Patrick first beheld it, being inthe pleasant season of spring, and decorated in honourof the anniversary of the reigning sovereign. One of the religious ceremonies employed by the Druidsto heighten the solemnity of the occasion, was to orderall the fires of Tara and Meath to be quenched, in orderto rekindle them instantaneously from a sacred firededicated to the honour of their god. But Patrick, eitherdesignedly or innocently, anticipated this strikingceremony, and lit his own fire, where he had encamped, in view of the royal residence. A flight of fiery arrows, shot into the Banqueting Hall, would not have excitedmore horror and tumult among the company there assembled, than did the sight of that unlicensed blaze in thedistance. Orders were issued to drag the offender againstthe laws and the gods of the Island before them, and thepunishment in store for him was already decreed in everyheart. The Preacher, followed by his trembling disciples, ascended "the Slope of the Chariots, " surrounded bymenacing minions of the Pagan law, and regarded withindignation by astonished spectators. As he came herecited Latin Prayers to the Blessed Trinity, beseechingtheir protection and direction in this trying hour. Contrary to courteous custom no one at first rose tooffer him a seat. At last a chieftain, touched withmysterious admiration for the stranger, did him thatkindness. Then it was demanded of him, why he had daredto violate the laws of the country, and to defy itsancient gods. On this text the Christian Missionary spoke. The place of audience was in the open air, on thateminence, the home of so many kings, which commands oneof the most agreeable prospects in any landscape. Theeye of the inspired orator, pleading the cause of allthe souls that hereafter, till the end of time, mightinhabit the land, could discern within the spring-dayhorizon, the course of the Blackwater and the Boyne beforethey blend into one; the hills of Cavan to the far north;with the royal hill of Tailtean in the foreground; thewooded heights of Slane and Skreen, and the four ancientroads, which led away towards the four subject Provinces, like the reins of empire laid loosely on their necks. Since the first Apostle of the Gentiles had confrontedthe subtle Paganism of Athens, on the hill of Mars, noneof those who walked in his steps ever stood out in moreglorious relief than Patrick, surrounded by Pagan Princes, and a Pagan Priesthood, on the hill of Tara. The defence of the fire he had kindled, unlicensed, soonextended into wider issues. Who were the gods againstwhom he had offended? Were they true gods or false? Theyhad their priests: could they maintain the divinity ofsuch gods, by argument, or by miracle? For his God, he, though unworthy, was ready to answer, yea, right readyto die. His God had become man, and had died for man. His name alone was sufficient to heal all diseases; toraise the very dead to life. Such, we learn from theold biographers, was the line of Patrick's argument. Thissermon ushered in a controversy. The king's guests, whohad come to feast and rejoice, remained to listen and tomeditate. With the impetuosity of the national character--with all its passion for debate--they rushed into thisnew conflict, some on one side, some on the other. Thedaughters of the king and many others--the Arch-Druidhimself--became convinced and were baptized. Themissionaries obtained powerful protectors, and the kingassigned to Patrick the pleasant fort of Trim, as apresent residence. From that convenient distance, hecould readily return at any moment, to converse with theking's guests and the members of his household. The Druidical superstition never recovered the blow itreceived that day at Tara. The conversion of the Arch-Druidand the Princesses, was, of itself, their knell of doom. Yet they held their ground during the remainder of thisreign--twenty-five years longer (A. D. 458). The kinghimself never became a Christian, though he toleratedthe missionaries, and deferred more and more every yearto the Christian party. He sanctioned an expurgated codeof the laws, prepared under the direction of Patrick, from which every positive element of Paganism was rigidlyexcluded. He saw, unopposed, the chief idol of his race, overthrown on "the Plain of Prostration, " at Sletty. Yetwithal he never consented to be baptized; and only twoyears before his decease, we find him swearing to atreaty, in the old Pagan form--"by the Sun, and the Wind, and all the Elements. " The party of the Druids at firstsought to stay the progress of Christianity by violence, and even attempted, more than once, to assassinate Patrick. Finding these means ineffectual they tried ridicule andsatire. In this they were for some time seconded by theBards, men warmly attached to their goddess of song andtheir lives of self-indulgence. All in vain. The day ofthe idols was fast verging into everlasting night inErin. Patrick and his disciples were advancing fromconquest to conquest. Armagh and Cashel came in the wakeof Tara, and Cruachan was soon to follow. Driven fromthe high places, the obdurate Priests of Bel took refugein the depths of the forest and in the islands of thesea, wherein the Christian anchorites of the next agewere to replace them. The social revolution proceeded, but all that was tolerable in the old state of things, Patrick carefully engrafted with the new. He allowed muchfor the habits and traditions of the people, and so madethe transition as easy, from darkness into the light, asNature makes the transition from night to morning. Heseven times visited in person every mission in the kingdom, performing the six first "circuits" on foot, but theseventh, on account of his extreme age, he was borne ina chariot. The pious munificence of the successors ofLeary, had surrounded him with a household of princelyproportions. Twenty-four persons, mostly ecclesiastics, were chosen for this purpose: a bell-ringer, a psalmist, a cook, a brewer, a chamberlain, three smiths, threeartificers, and three embroiderers are reckoned of thenumber. These last must be considered as employed infurnishing the interior of the new churches. A scribe, a shepherd to guard his flocks, and a charioteer are alsomentioned, and their proper names given. How differentthis following from the little boat's crew, he had leftwaiting tidings from Tara, in such painful apprehension, at the mouth of the Boyne, in 432. Apostolic zeal, andunrelaxed discipline had wrought these wonders, duringa lifetime prolonged far beyond the ordinary age of man. The fifth century was drawing to a close, and the daysof Patrick were numbered. Pharamond and the Franks hadsway on the Netherlands; Hengist and the Saxons on SouthBritain; Clovis had led his countrymen across the Rhineinto Gaul; the Vandals had established themselves inSpain and North Africa; the Ostrogoths were supreme inItaly. The empire of barbarism had succeeded to the empireof Polytheism; dense darkness covered the semi-Christiancountries of the old Roman empire, but happily daylightstill lingered in the West. Patrick, in good season, had done his work. And as sometimes, God seems to bringround His ends, contrary to the natural order of things, so the spiritual sun of Europe was now destined to risein the West, and return on its light-bearing errandtowards the East, dispelling La its path, Saxon, Frankish, and German darkness, until at length it reflected backon Rome herself, the light derived from Rome. On the 17th of March, in the year of our Lord 493, Patrickbreathed his last in the monastery of Saul, erected onthe site of that barn where he had first said Mass. Hewas buried with national honours in the Church of Armagh, to which he had given the Primacy over all the churchesof Ireland; and such was the concourse of mourners, andthe number of Masses offered for his eternal repose, thatfrom the day of his death till the close of the year, the sun is poetically said never to have set--so brilliantand so continual was the glare of tapers and torches. CHAPTER IV. THE CONSTITUTION, AND HOW THE KINGS KEPT IT. We have fortunately still existing the main provisionsof that constitution which was prepared under the auspicesof Saint Patrick, and which, though not immediately, norsimultaneously, was in the end accepted by all Erin asits supreme law. It is contained in a volume called "theBook of Rights, " and in its printed form (the Dublinbilingual edition of 1847), fills some 250 octavo pages. This book may be said to contain the original institutesof Erin under her Celtic Kings: "the Brehon laws, " (whichhave likewise been published), bear the same relation to"the Book of Rights, " as the Statutes at large of England, or the United States, bear to the English Constitutionin the one case, or to the collective Federal and StateConstitutions in the other. Let us endeavour to comprehendwhat this ancient Irish Constitution was like, and howthe Kings received it, at first. There were, as we saw in the first chapter, beside theexisting four Provinces, whose names are familiar toevery one, a fifth principality of Meath. Each of theProvinces was subdivided into chieftainries, of whichthere were at least double or treble as many as thereare now counties. The connection between the chief andhis Prince, or the Prince and his monarch, was not ofthe nature of feudal obedience; for the fee-simple ofthe soil was never supposed to be vested in the sovereign, nor was the King considered to be the fountain of allhonour. The Irish system blended the aristocratic anddemocratic elements more largely than the monarchical. Everything proceeded by election, but all the candidatesshould be of noble blood. The Chiefs, Princes, andMonarchs, so selected, were bound together by certaincustoms and tributes, originally invented by the geniusof the Druids, and afterwards adopted and enforced bythe authority of the Bishops. The tributes were paid inkind, and consisted of cattle, horses, foreign-bornslaves, hounds, oxen, scarlet mantles, coats of mail, chess-boards and chess-men, drinking cups, and otherportable articles of value. The quantity in every casedue from a King to his subordinate, or from a subordinateto his King--for the gifts and grants were oftenreciprocal--is precisely stated in every instance. Besidesthese rights, this constitution defines the "prerogatives"of the five Kings on their journeys through each other'sterritory, their accession to power, or when present inthe General Assemblies of the Kingdom. It contains, besides, a very numerous array of "prohibitions"--actswhich neither the Ard-Righ nor any other Potentate maylawfully do. Most of these have reference to old localPagan ceremonies in which the Kings once bore a leadingpart, but which were now strictly prohibited; others areof inter-Provincial significance, and others, again, arerules of personal conduct. Among the prohibitions of themonarch the first is, that the sun must never rise onhim in his bed at Tara; among his prerogatives he wasentitled to banquet on the first of August, on the fishof the Boyne, fruit from the Isle of Man, cresses fromthe Brosna river, venison from Naas, and to drink thewater of the well of Talla: in other words, he was entitledto eat on that day, of the produce, whether of earth orwater, of the remotest bounds, as well as of the veryheart of his mensal domain. The King of Leinster was"prohibited" from upholding the Pagan ceremonies withinhis province, or to encamp for more than a week in certaindistricts; but he was "privileged" to feast on the fruitsof Almain, to drink the ale of Cullen, and to presideover the games of Carman, (Wexford. ) His colleague ofMunster was "prohibited" from encamping a whole week atKillarney or on the Suir, and from mustering a martialhost on the Leinster border at Gowran; he was "privileged"to pass the six weeks of Lent at Cashel (in free quarters), to use fire and force in compelling tribute from northLeinster; and to obtain a supply of cattle from Connaught, at the time "of the singing of the cuckoo. " The ConnaughtKing had five other singular "prohibitions" imposed onhim--evidently with reference to some old Pagan rites--andhis "prerogatives" were hostages from Galway, the monopolyof the chase in Mayo, free quarters in Murrisk, in thesame neighbourhood, and to marshal his border-host atAthlone to confer with the tribes of Meath. The rulerof Ulster was also forbidden to indulge in suchsuperstitious practices as observing omens of birds, ordrinking of a certain fountain "between two darknesses;"his prerogatives were presiding at the games of Cooley, "with the assembly of the fleet;" the right of musteringhis border army in the plains of Louth; free quarters inArmagh for three nights for his troops before settingout on an expedition; and to confine his hostages inDunseverick, a strong fortress near the Giant's Causeway. Such were the principal checks imposed upon the individualcaprice of Monarchs and Princes; the plain inference fromall which is, that under the Constitution of Patrick, aPrince who clung to any remnant of ancient Paganism, might lawfully be refused those rents and dues whichalone supported his dignity. In other words, disguisedas it may be to us under ancient forms, "the Book ofRights" establishes Christianity as the law of the land. All national usages and customs, not conflicting withthis supreme law, were recognized and sanctioned by it. The internal revenues in each particular Province weremodelled upon the same general principle, with onememorable exception--the special tribute which Leinsterpaid to Munster--and which was the cause of more bloodshedthan all other sources of domestic quarrel combined. Theorigin of this tax is surrounded with fable, but itappears to have arisen out of the reaction which tookplace, when Tuathal, "the Legitimate, " was restored tothe throne of his ancestors, after the successful revoltof the Belgic bondsmen. Leinster seems to have clunglongest to the Belgic revolution, and to have submittedonly after repeated defeats. Tuathal, therefore, imposedon that Province this heavy and degrading tax, compellingits Princes not only to render him and his successorsimmense herds of cattle, but also 150 male and femaleslaves, to do the menial offices about the palace ofTara. With a refinement of policy, as far-seeing as itwas cruel, the proceeds of the tax were to be dividedone-third to Ulster, one-third to Connaught, and theremainder between the Queen of the Monarch and the rulerof Munster. In this way all the other Provinces becameinterested in enforcing this invidious and oppressiveenactment upon Leinster which, of course, was withheldwhenever it could be refused with the smallest probabilityof success. Its resistance, and enforcement, especiallyby the kings of Munster, will be found a constant causeof civil war, even in Christian times. The sceptre of Ireland, from her conversion to the timeof Brian, was almost solely in the hands of the northernHy-Nial, the same family as the O'Neills. All the kingsof the sixth and seventh centuries were of that line. Inthe eighth century (from 709 to 742), the southernannalists style Cathal, King of Munster, Ard-Righ; inthe ninth century (840 to 847), they give the same hightitle to Felim, King of Munster; and in the eleventhcentury Brian possessed that dignity for the twelve lastyears of his life, (1002 to 1014). With these exceptions, the northern Hy-Nial, and their co-relatives of Meath, called the southern Hy-Nial, seem to have retained thesceptre exclusively in their own hands, during the fivefirst Christian centuries. Yet on every occasion, theancient forms of election, (or procuring the adhesion ofthe Princes), had to be gone through. Perfect unanimity, however, was not required; a majority equal to two-thirdsseems to have sufficed. If the candidate had the Northin his favour, and one Province of the South, he wasconsidered entitled to take possession of Tara; if hewere a Southern, he should be seconded either by Connaughtor Ulster, before he could lawfully possess himself ofthe supreme power. The benediction of the Archbishop ofArmagh, seems to have been necessary to confirm the choiceof the Provincials. The monarchs, like the petty kings, were crowned or "made" on the summit of some lofty moundprepared for that purpose; an hereditary officer, appointedto that duty, presented him with a white wand perfectlystraight, as an emblem of the purity and uprightnesswhich should guide all his decisions, and, clothed withhis royal robes, the new ruler descended among his people, and solemnly swore to protect their rights and to administerequal justice to all. This was the civil ceremony; thesolemn blessing took place in a church, and is supposedto be the oldest form of coronation service observedanywhere in Christendom. A ceremonial, not without dignity, regulated the gradationsof honour, in the General Assemblies of Erin. The timeof meeting was the great Pagan Feast of Samhain, the 1stof November. A feast of three days opened and closed theAssembly, and during its sittings, crimes of violencecommitted on those in attendance were punished withinstant death. The monarch himself had no power to pardonany violator of this established law. The _Chiefs_ ofterritories sat, each in an appointed seat, under hisown shield; the seats being arranged by order of theOllamh, or Recorder, whose duty it was to preserve themuster-roll, containing the names of all the livingnobles. The _Champions_, or leaders of military bands, occupied a secondary position, each sitting' under hisown shield. Females and spectators of an inferior rankwere excluded; the Christian clergy naturally steppedinto the empty places of the Druids, and were placedimmediately next the monarch. We shall now briefly notice the principal acts of thefirst Christian kings, during the century immediatelysucceeding St. Patrick's death. Of OLLIOL, who succeededLeary, we cannot say with certainty that he was a Christian. His successor, LEWY, son of Leary, we are expressly toldwas killed by lightning (A. D. 496), for "having violatedthe law of Patrick"--that is, probably, for havingpractised some of those Pagan rites forbidden to themonarchs by the revised constitution. His successor, MURKERTACH, son of Ere, was a professed Christian, thougha bad one, since he died by the vengeance of a concubinenamed Sheen, (that is, _storm_, ) whom he had once putaway at the instance of his spiritual adviser, but whomhe had not the courage--though brave as a lion in battle--tokeep away (A. D. 527). TUATHAL, "the Rough, " succeededand reigned for seven years, when he was assassinated bythe tutor of DERMID, son of Kerbel, a rival whom he haddriven into exile. DERMID immediately seized on the throne(A. D. 534), and for twenty eventful years bore sway overall Erin. He appears to have had quite as much of theold leaven of Paganism in his composition--at least inhis youth and prime--as either Lewy or Leary. He keptDruids about his person, despised "the right of sanctuary"claimed by the Christian clergy, and observed, with allthe ancient superstitious ceremonial, the national gamesat Tailteen. In his reign, the most remarkable event wasthe public curse pronounced on Tara, by a Saint whosesanctuary the reckless monarch had violated, in dragginga prisoner from the very horns of the altar, and puttinghim to death. For this offence--the crowning act of aseries of aggressions on the immunities claimed by theclergy--the Saint, whose name was Ruadan, and the siteof whose sanctuary is still known as Temple-Ruadan inTipperary, proceeded to Tara, accompanied by his clergy, and, walking round the royal rath, solemnly excommunicatedthe monarch, and anathematized the place. The far-reachingconsequences of this awful exercise of spiritual powerare traceable for a thousand years through Irish history. No king after Dermid resided permanently upon the hillof Tara. Other royal houses there were in Meath--atTailteen, at the hill of Usna, and on the margin of thebeautiful Lough Ennell, near the present Castlepollard, and at one or other of these, after monarchs held occasionalcourt; but those of the northern race made their habitualhome in their own patrimony near Armagh, or on thecelebrated hill of Aileach. The date of the maledictionwhich left Tara desolate is the year of our Lord, 554. The end of this self-willed semi-Pagan (Dermid) was inunison with his life; he was slain in battle by BlackHugh, Prince of Ulster, two years after the desolationof Tara. Four kings, all fierce competitors for the succession, reigned and fell, within ten years of the death of Dermid, and then we come to the really interesting and importantreign of Hugh the Second, which lasted twenty-seven years(A. D. 566 to 593), and was marked by the establishmentof the Independence of the Scoto-Irish Colony in NorthBritain, and by other noteworthy events. But thesetwenty-seven years deserve a chapter to themselves. CHAPTER V. REIGN OF HUGH II. --THE IRISH COLONY IN SCOTLAND OBTAINSITS INDEPENDENCE. Twenty-seven years is a long reign, and the years ofKing-Hugh II. Were marked with striking events. Onereligious and one political occurrence, however, threwall others into the shade--the conversion of the Highlandsand Islands of Scotland (then called Alba or Albyn bythe Gael, and Caledonia by the Latins), and the formalrecognition, after an exciting controversy, of theindependence of the Milesian colony in Scotland. Theseevents follow each other in the order of time, and standpartly in the relation of cause and effect. The first authentic Irish immigration into Scotland seemsto have taken place about the year of our Lord 258. Thepioneers crossed over from Antrim to Argyle, where thestrait is less than twenty-five miles wide. Otheradventurers followed at intervals, but it is a fact tobe deplored, that no passages in our own, and in allother histories, have been so carelessly kept as therecords of emigration. The movements of rude masses ofmen, the first founders of states and cities, are generallylost in obscurity, or misrepresented by patriotic zeal. Several successive settlements of the Irish in Caledoniacan be faintly traced from the middle of the third tillthe beginning of the sixth century. About the year 503, they had succeeded in establishing a flourishingprincipality among the cliffs and glens of Argyle. Thelimits of their first territory cannot be exactly laiddown; but it soon spread north into Rosshire, and eastinto the present county of Perth. It was a land of stormyfriths and fissured headlands, of deep defiles and snowysummits. "'Tis a far cry to Lough Awe, " is still a lowlandproverb, and Lough Awe was in the very heart of that oldIrish settlement. The earliest emigrants to Argyle were Pagans, while thelatter were Christians, and were accompanied by priests, and a bishop, Kieran, the son of the carpenter, whom, from his youthful piety and holy life, as well as fromthe occupation followed by his father, is sometimesfancifully compared to our Lord and Saviour himself. Parishes in Cantyre, in Islay, and in Carrick, still bearthe name of St. Kieran as patron. But no systematicattempt--none at least of historic memory--was made toconvert the remoter Gael and the other races then inhabitingAlba--the Picts, Britons, and Scandinavians, until theyear of our era, 565, Columba or COLUMBKILL, a Bishop ofthe royal race of Nial, undertook that task, on a scalecommensurate with its magnitude. This celebrated man hasalways ranked with Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget asthe most glorious triad of the Irish Calendar. He was, at the time he left Ireland, in the prime of life--his44th year. Twelve companions, the apostolic number, accompanied him on his voyage. For thirty-four years hewas the legislator and captain of Christianity in thosenorthern regions. The King of the Picts received baptismat his hands; the Kings of the Scottish colony, hiskinsmen, received the crown from him on their accession. The islet of I. , or Iona, as presented to him by one ofthese princes. Here he and his companions built withtheir own hands their parent-house, and from this Hebrideanrock in after times was shaped the destinies, spiritualand temporal, of many tribes and kingdoms. The growth of Iona was as the growth of the grain ofmustard seed mentioned in the Gospel, even during thelife of its founder. Formed by his teaching and example, there went out from it apostles to Iceland, to the Orkneys, to Northumbria, to Man, and to South Britain. A hundredmonasteries in Ireland looked to that exiled saint astheir patriarch. His rule of monastic life, adopted eitherfrom the far East, from the recluses of the Thebaid, orfrom his great contemporary, Saint Benedict, was soughtfor by Chiefs, Bards, and converted Druids. Clients, seeking direction from his wisdom, or protection throughhis power, were constantly arriving and departing fromhis sacred isle. His days were divided between manuallabour and the study and transcribing of the SacredScriptures. He and his disciples, says the VenerableBede, in whose age Iona still flourished, "neither thoughtof nor loved anything in _this_ world. " Some writers haverepresented Columbkill's _Culdees_, (which in Englishmeans simply "Servants of God, ") as a married clergy; sofar is this from the truth, that we now know, no womanwas allowed to land on the island, nor even a cow to bekept there, for, said the holy Bishop, "wherever thereis a cow there will be a woman, and wherever there is awoman there will be mischief. " In the reign of King Hugh, three domestic questions aroseof great importance; one was the refusal of the Princeof Ossory to pay tribute to the Monarch; the other, theproposed extinction of the Bardic Order, and the third, the attempt to tax the Argyle Colony. The question betweenOssory and Tara, we may pass over as of obsolete interest, but the other two deserve fuller mention: The Bards--who were the Editors, Professors, Registrarsand Record-keepers--the makers and masters of publicopinion in those days, had reached in this reign a numberexceeding 1, 200 in Meath and Ulster alone. They claimedall the old privileges of free quarters on their travelsand freeholdings at home, which were freely granted totheir order when it was in its infancy. Those chieftainswho refused them anything, however extravagant, theylampooned and libelled, exciting their own people andother princes against them. Such was their audacity, thatsome of them are said to have demanded from King Hughthe royal brooch, one of the most highly prized heirloomsof the reigning family. Twice in the early part of thisreign they had been driven from the royal residence, andobliged to take refuge in the little principality ofUlidia (or Down); the third time the monarch had swornto expel them utterly from the kingdom. In Columbkill, however, they were destined to find a most powerfulmediator, both from his general sympathy with the Order, being himself no mean poet, and from the fact that thethen Arch-Poet, or chief of the order, Dallan Forgaill, was one of his own pupils. To settle this vexed question of the Bards, as well asto obtain the sanction of the estates to the taxation ofArgyle, King Hugh called a General Assembly in the year590. The place of meeting was no longer the interdictedTara, but for the monarch's convenience a site farthernorth was chosen--the hill of Drom-Keth, in the presentcounty of Deny. Here came in rival state and splendourthe Princes of the four Provinces, and other principalchieftains. The dignitaries of the Church also attended, and an occasional Druid was perhaps to be seen in thetrain of some unconverted Prince. The pretensions of themother-country to impose a tax upon her Colony, weresustained by the profound learning and venerable name ofSt. Colman, Bishop of Dromore, one of the first men ofhis Order. When Columbkill "heard of the calling together of thatGeneral Assembly, " and of the questions to be theredecided, he resolved to attend, notwithstanding the sternvow of his earlier life, never to look on Irish soilagain. Under a scruple of this kind, he is said to haveremained blindfold, from Ms arrival in Ms fatherland, till his return to Iona. He was accompanied by an imposingtrain of attendants; by Aidan, Prince of Argyle, so deeplyinterested in the issue, and a suite of over one hundredpersons, twenty of them Abbots or Bishops. Columbkillspoke for his companions; for already, as in Bede's time, the Abbots of Iona exercised over all the clergy northof the Humber, but still more directly north of the Tweed, a species of supremacy similar to that which the successorsof St. Benedict and St. Bernard exercised, in turn, overPrelates and Princes on the European Continent. When the Assembly was opened the holy Bishop of Dromorestated the arguments in favour of Colonial taxation withlearning and effect. Hugh himself impeached the Bardsfor their licentious and lawless lives. Columbkill defendedboth interests, and, by combining both, probablystrengthened the friends of each. It is certain that hecarried the Assembly with him, both against the monarchand those of the resident clergy, who had selected Colmanas their spokesman. The Bardic Order was spared. Thedoctors, or master-singers among them, were prohibitedfrom wandering from place to place; they were assignedresidence with the chiefs and princes; their loselattendants were turned over to honest pursuits, and thusa great danger was averted, and one of the most essentialof the Celtic institutions being reformed and regulated, was preserved. Scotland and Ireland have good reason tobe grateful to the founder of Iona, for the interpositionthat preserved to us the music, which is now admitted tobe one of the most precious inheritances of both countries. The proposed taxation Columbkill strenuously andsuccessfully resisted. Up to this time, the colonistshad been bound only to furnish a contingent force, byland and sea, when the King of Ireland went to war, andto make them an annual present called "chief-rent. " From the Book of Rights we learn that (at least at thetime the existing transcript was made) the ScottishPrinces paid out of Alba, seven shields, seven steeds, seven bondswomen, seven bondsmen, and seven hounds allof the same breed. But the "chief-rent, " or "eric forkindly blood, " did not suffice in the year 590 to satisfyKing Hugh. The colony had grown great, and, like somemodern monarchs, he proposed to make it pay for itssuccess. Columbkill, though a native of Ireland, and aprince of its reigning house, was by choice a residentof Caledonia, and he stood true to his adopted country. The Irish King refused to continue the connection on theold conditions, and declared his intention to visit Albahimself to enforce the tribute due; Columbkill, risingin the Assembly, declared the Albanians "for ever freefrom the yoke, " and this, adds an old historian, "turnedout to be the fact. " From the whole controversy we mayconclude that Scotland never paid political tribute toIreland; that their relation was that rather of allies, than of sovereign and vassal; that it resembled more thehomage Carthage paid to Tyre, and Syracuse to Corinth, than any modern form of colonial dependence; that afederal connection existed by which, in time of war, theScots of Argyle, and those of Hibernia, were mutuallybound to aid, assist, and defend each other. And thisnatural and only connection, founded in the blood of bothnations, sanctioned by their early saints, confirmed byfrequent intermarriage, by a common language and literature, and by hostility to common enemies, the Saxons, Danes, and Normans, grew into a political bond of unusualstrength, and was cherished with affection by both nations, long ages after the magnates assembled at Drom-Keth haddisappeared in the tombs of their fathers. The only unsettled question which remained after theAssembly at Drom-Keth related to the Prince of Ossory. Five years afterwards (A. D. 595), King Hugh fell in anattempt to collect the special tribute from all Leinster, of which we have already heard something, and shall, byand by, hear more. He was an able and energetic ruler, and we may be sure "did not let the sun rise on him inhis bed at Tara, " or anywhere else. In his time greatinternal changes were taking place in the state of society. The ecclesiastical order had become more powerful thanany other in the state. The Bardic Order, thrice proscribed, were finally subjected to the laws, over which they hadat one time insolently domineered. Ireland's only colony--unless we except the immature settlement in the Isleof Man, under Cormac Longbeard--was declared independentof the parent country, through the moral influence ofits illustrious Apostle, whose name many of its kingsand nobles were of old proud to bear--_Mal-Colm_, meaning"servant of Columb, " or Columbkill. But the memory ofthe sainted statesman who decreed the separation of thetwo populations, so far as claims to taxation could bepreferred, preserved, for ages, the better and far moreprofitable alliance, of an ancient friendship, unbrokenby a single national quarrel during a thousand years. A few words more on the death and character of thiscelebrated man, whom we are now to part with at the closeof the sixth, as we parted from Patrick at the close ofthe fifth century. His day of departure came in 596. Death found him at the ripe age of almost fourscore, _stylus_ in hand, toiling cheerfully over the vellumpage. It was the last night of the week when thepresentiment of his end came strongly upon him. "Thisday, " he said to his disciple and successor, Dermid, "iscalled the day of rest, and such it will be for me, forit will finish my labours. " Laying down the manuscript, he added, "let Baithen finish the rest. " Just afterMatins, on the Sunday morning, he peacefully passed awayfrom the midst of his brethren. Of his tenderness, as well as energy of character, tradition, and his biographers have recorded many instances. Among others, his habit of ascending an eminence everyevening at sunset, to look over towards the coast of hisnative land. The spot is called by the islanders to thisday, "the place of the back turned upon Ireland. " Thefishermen of the Hebrides long believed they could seetheir saint flitting over the waves after every new storm, counting the islands to see if any of them had foundered. It must have been a loveable character of which suchtales could be told and cherished from generation togeneration. Both Education and Nature had well fitted Columbkill tothe great task of adding another realm to the empire ofChristendom. His princely birth gave him power over hisown proud kindred; his golden eloquence and glowingverse--the fragments of which still move and delight theGaelic scholar--gave him fame and weight in the Christianschools which had suddenly sprung up in every glen andisland. As prince, he stood on equal terms with princes;as poet, he was affiliated to that all-powerful BardicOrder, before whose awful anger kings trembled, andwarriors succumbed in superstitious dread. A spotlesssoul, a disciplined body, an indomitable energy, anindustry that never wearied, a courage that never blanched, a sweetness and courtesy that won all hearts, a tendernessfor others that contrasted strongly with his rigourtowards himself--these were the secrets of the successof this eminent missionary--these were the miracles bywhich he accomplished the conversion of so many barbaroustribes and Pagan Princes. CHAPTER VI. KINGS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY. THE five years of the sixth century, which remained afterthe death of Hugh II. , were filled by Hugh III. , son ofDermid, the semi-Pagan. Hugh IV. Succeeded (A. D. 599)and reigned for several years; two other kings, of smallaccount, reigned seven years; Donald II. (A. D. 624)reigned sixteen years; Connall and Kellach, brothers, (A. D. 640) reigned jointly sixteen years; they weresucceeded (A. D. 656) by Dermid and Blathmac, brothers, who reigned jointly seven years; Shanasagh, son of theformer, reigned six years; Kenfala, four; Finnacta, "thehospitable, " twenty years, and Loingsech (A. D. 693) eightyears. Throughout this century the power of the Church wasconstantly on the increase, and is visible in manyimportant changes. The last armed struggle of Druidism, and the only invasion of Ireland by the Anglo-Saxons, are also events of the civil history of the seventhcentury. The reign, of Donald II. Is notable for the passing awayof most of those saintly men, the second generation ofIrish abbots and bishops; for the foundation of thecelebrated school of Lismore on the Munster Blackwater;and the battle of Moira, in the present county of Down. Of the school and the saints we shall speak hereafter;the battle deserves more immediate mention. The cause of the battle was the pretension of the pettyPrince of Ulidia, which comprised little more than thepresent county of Down, to be recognised as Prince ofall Ulster. Now the Hy-Nial family, not only had longgiven monarchs to all Ireland, but had also the lion'sshare of their own Province, and King Donald as theirhead could not permit their ascendency to be disputed. The ancestors of the present pretender, Congal, surnamed"the squint-eyed, " had twice received and cherished thelicentious Bards when under the ban of Tara, and hispopularity with that still powerful order was one propof his ambition. It is pretty clear also that the lastrally of Druidism against Christianity took place behindhis banner, on the plain of Moira. It was the year 637, and preparations had long gone on on both sides for afinal trial of strength. Congal had recruited numerousbands of Saxons, Britons, Picts and Argyle Scots, whopoured into the Larbours of Down for months, and weremarshalled on the banks of the Lagan, to sustain hiscause. The Poets of succeeding ages have dwelt much indetail on the occurrences of this memorable day. It waswhat might strictly be called a pitched battle, time andplace being fixed by mutual agreement. King Donald wasaccompanied by his Bard, who described to him, as theycame in sight, the several standards of Congal's host, and who served under them. Conspicuous above all, theancient banner of the Red Branch Knights-"a yellow lionwrought on green satin"--floated over Congal's host. Onthe other side the monarch commanded in person, accompaniedby his kinsmen, the sons of Hugh III. The red hand ofTirowen, the cross of Tirconnell, the eagle and lion ofInnishowen, the axes of Fanad, were in his ranks, rangedclosely round his own standard. The cause of theConstitution and the Church prevailed, and Druidismmourned its last hope extinguished on the plains of Moira, in the death of Congal, and the defeat of his vast army. King Donald returned in triumph to celebrate his victoryat Emania and to receive the benediction of the Churchat Armagh. The sons of Hugh III. , Dermid and Blathmac, zealous andpious Christian princes, survived the field of Moira andother days of danger, and finally attained the supremepower--A. D. 656. Like the two kings of Sparta theyreigned jointly, dividing between them the labours andcares of State. In their reign, that terrible scourge, called in Irish, "the yellow plague, " after ravaginggreat part of Britain, broke out with undiminishedvirulence in Erin (A. D. 664). To heighten the awful senseof inevitable doom, an eclipse of the sun occurredconcurrently with the appearance of the pestilence onthe first Sunday in May. It was the season when theancient sun-god had been accustomed to receive his annualoblations, and we can well believe that those whose heartsstill trembled at the name of Bel, must have connectedthe eclipse and the plague with the revolution in thenational worship, and the overthrow of the ancient godson that "plain of prostration, " where they had so longreceived the homage of an entire people. Among the victimsof this fearful visitation--which, like the modern cholera, swept through all ranks and classes of society, andreturned in the same track for several successiveseasons--were very many of those venerated men, the thirdand fourth generation of the Abbots and Bishops. TheMunster King, and many of the chieftain class shared thecommon lot. Lastly, the royal brothers fell themselvesvictims to the epidemic, which so sadly signalizes theirreign. The only conflicts that occurred on Irish soil with aPictish or an Anglo-Saxon force--if we except those whoformed a contingent of Congal's army at Moira--occurredin the time of the hospitable Finnacta. The Pictish force, with their leaders, were totally defeated at Rathmore, in Antrim (A. D. 680), but the Anglo-Saxon expedition(A. D. 684) seems not to have been either expected orguarded against. As leading to the mention of otherinteresting events, we must set this inroad clearlybefore the reader. The Saxons had now been for four centuries in Britain, the older inhabitants of which--Celts like the Gauls andIrish--they had cruelly harassed, just as the MilesianIrish oppressed their Belgic predecessors, and as theNormans, in turn, will be found oppressing both Celt andSaxon in England and Ireland. Britain had been dividedby the Saxon leaders into eight separate kingdoms, thepeople and princes of several of which were converted toChristianity in the fifth, sixth, and seventh century, though some of them did not receive the Gospel beforethe beginning of the eighth. The Saxons of Kent and theSouthern Kingdoms generally were converted by missionariesfrom France or Rome, or native preachers of the first orsecond Christian generation; those of Northumbria recogniseas their Apostles St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert, two Fathersfrom Iona. The Kingdom of Northumbria, as the nameimplies, embraced nearly all the country from the Humberto the Pictish border. York was its capital, and theseat of its ecclesiastical primacy, where, at the timewe speak of, the illustrious Wilfrid was maintaining, with a wilful and unscrupulous king, a struggle not unlikethat which Becket maintained with Henry II. This Prince, Egfrid by name, was constantly engaged in wars with hisSaxon cotemporaries, or the Picts and Scots. In the summerof 683 he sent an expedition under the command of Beort, one of his earls, to ravage the coast of Leinster. Beortlanded probably in the Boyne, and swept over the richplain of Meath with fire and sword, burning churches, driving off herds and flocks, and slaughtering the clergyand the husbandmen. The piety of an after age saw in theretribution which overtook Egfrid the following year, when he was slain by the Picts and Scots, the judgmentof Heaven, avenging the unprovoked wrongs of the Irish. His Scottish conquerors, returning good for evil, carriedhis body to Iona, where it was interred with all duehonour. Iona was now in the zenith of its glory. The barren rock, about three miles in length, was covered with monasticbuildings, and its cemetery was already adorned with thetombs of saints and kings. Five successors of Columbkillslept in peace around their holy Founder, and a sixth, equal in learning and sanctity to any who preceded him, received the remains of King Egfrid from the hands ofhis conquerors. This was Abbot Adamnan, to whom Irelandand Scotland are equally indebted for his admirablewritings, and who might almost dispute with Bede himself, the title of Father of British History. Adamnan regardedthe fate of Egfrid, we may be sure, in the light of ajudgment on him for his misdeeds, as Bede and BritishChristians very generally did. He learned, too, thatthere were in Northumbria several Christian captives, carried off in Beort's expedition and probably sold intoslavery. Now every missionary that ever went out fromIona, had taught that to reduce Christians to slaverywas wholly inconsistent with a belief in the doctrinesof the Gospel. St. Aidan, the Apostle of Northumbria, had refused the late Egfrid's father absolution, on oneoccasion, until he solemnly promised to restore theirfreedom to certain captives of this description. In thesame spirit Adamnan voluntarily undertook a journey toYork, where Aldfrid (a Prince educated in Ireland, andwhose "Itinerary" of Ireland we still have) now reigned. The Abbot of Iona succeeded in his humane mission, andcrossing over to his native land, he restored sixty ofthe captives to their homes and kindred. While theliberated exiles rejoiced on the plain of Meath, the tentof the Abbot of Iona was pitched on the rath of Tara--afact which would seem to indicate that already, in littlemore than a century since the interdict had fallen onit, the edifices which made so fine a show in the daysof Patrick were ruined and uninhabitable. Either at Tara, or some other of the royal residences, Adamnan on thisvisit procured the passing of a law, (A. D. 684, ) forbiddingwomen to accompany an army to battle, or to engagepersonally in the conflict. The mild maternal genius ofChristianity is faithfully exhibited in such a law, whichconsummates the glory of the worthy successor of Columbkill. It is curious here to observe that it was not untilanother hundred years had past--not till the beginningof the ninth century--that the clergy were "exempt" frommilitary service. So slow and patient is the process bywhich Christianity infuses itself into the social lifeof a converted people! The long reign of FINNACTA, the hospitable, who may, forhis many other virtues, be called also the pious, wasrendered farther remarkable in the annals of the countryby the formal abandonment of the special tax, so longlevied upon, and so long and desperately resisted by, the men of Leinster. The all-powerful intercessor in thiscase was Saint Moling, of the royal house of Leinster, and Bishop of Fernamore (now Ferns). In the early partof his reign Finnacta seems not to have been disposed tocollect this invidious tax by force; but, yielding toother motives, he afterwards took a different view ofhis duty, and marched into Leinster to compel its payment. Here the holy Prelate of Ferns met him, and related aVision in which he had been instructed to demand theabolition of the impost. The abolition, he contended, should not be simply a suspension, but final and forever. The tribute was, at this period, enormous; 15, 000head of cattle annually. The decision must have been madeabout the time that Abbot Adamnan was in Ireland, (A. D. 684, ) and that illustrious personage is said to have beenopposed to the abolition. Abolished it was, and thoughits re-enactment was often attempted, the authority ofSaint Moling's solemn settlement, prevented it from beingre-enforced for any length of time, except as a politicalor military infliction. Finnacta fell in battle in the 20th year of his long andglorious reign; and is commemorated as a saint in theIrish calendar. St. Moling survived him three years, andSt. Adamnan, so intimately connected with his reign, tenyears. The latter revisited Ireland in 697, under theshort reign of Loingsech, and concerned himself chieflyin endeavouring to induce his countrymen to adopt theRoman rule, as to the tonsure, and the celebration ofEaster. On this occasion there was an important Synod ofthe Clergy, under the presidency of Flan, Archbishop ofArmagh, held at Tara. Nothing could be more natural thansuch an assembly in such a place, at such a period. Inevery recorded instance the power of the clergy had beenomnipotent in politics for above a century. St. Patrickhad expurgated the old constitution; St. Ruadan's cursedrove the kings from Tara; St. Columbkill had establishedthe independence of Alba, and preserved the Bardic Order;St. Moling had abolished the Leinster tribute. If theirpower was irresistible in the sixth and especially inthe seventh centuries, we must do these celebrated Abbotsand Bishops the justice to remember that it was alwaysexercised against the oppression of the weak by thestrong, to mitigate the horrors of war, to uphold theright of sanctuary (the _Habeus Corpus_ of that rudeage), and for the maintenance and spread of soundChristian principles. CHAPTER VII. KINGS OF THE EIGHTH CENTURY. The kings of the eighth century are Congal II. (surnamedKenmare), who reigned seven years; Feargal, who reignedten years; Forgartah, Kenneth, Flaherty, respectivelyone, four, and seven years; Hugh V. (surnamed Allan), nine years; Donald III. , who reigned (A. D. 739-759) twentyyears; Nial II. (surnamed Nial of the Showers), sevenyears; and Donogh I. , who reigned thirty-one years, A. D. 766-797. The obituaries of these kings show that we havefallen on a comparatively peaceful age, since of theentire nine, but three perished in battle. One retiredto Armagh and one to Iona, where both departed in themonastic habit; the others died either of sickness orold age. Yet the peaceful character of this century is butcomparative, for in the first quarter (A. D. 722), we havethe terrible battle of Almain, between Leinster and theMonarch, in which 30, 000 men were stated to have engaged, and 7, 000 to have fallen. The Monarch who had doublethe number of the Leinster Prince, was routed and slain, _apropos_ of which we have a Bardic tale told, whichalmost transports one to the far East, the simple livesand awful privileges of the Hindoo Brahmins. It seemsthat some of King FEARGAL's army, in foraging for theirfellows, drove off the only cow of a hermit, who livedin seclusion near a solitary little chapel called Killin. The enraged recluse, at the very moment the armies wereabout to engage, appeared between them, regardless ofpersonal danger, denouncing ruin and death to the monarch'sforces. And in this case, as in others, to be found inevery history, the prophecy, no doubt, helped to produceits own fulfilment. The malediction of men dedicated tothe service of God, has often routed hosts as gallant aswere marshalled on the field of Almain. FEARGAL'S two immediate successors met a similar fate--death in the field of battle--after very brief reigns, of which we have no great events to record. FLAHERTY, the next who succeeded, after a vigorous reignof seven years, withdrew from the splendid cares of acrown, and passed the long remainder of his life--thirtyyears--in the habit of a monk at Armagh. The heavy burthenwhich he had cheerfully laid down, was taken up by aPrince, who combined the twofold character of poet andhero. HUGH V. (surnamed Allan), the son of FEARGAL, ofwhom we have just spoken, was the very opposite of hisfather, in his veneration for the privileges of holypersons and places. His first military achievement wasundertaken in vindication of the rights of those who wereunable by arms to vindicate their own. Hugh Roin, Princeof the troublesome little principality of Ulidia (Down), though well stricken in years and old enough to knowbetter, in one of his excursions had forcibly compelledthe clergy of the country through which he passed to givehim free quarters, contrary to the law everywhere existing. Congus, the Primate, jealous of the exemptions of hisorder, complained of this sacrilege in a poetic messageaddressed to Hugh Allan, who, as a Christian and a Prince, was bound to espouse his quarrels. He marched into theterritory of the offender, defeated him in battle, cutoff his head on the threshold of the Church of Faughard, and marched back again, his host chanting a war songcomposed by their leader. In this reign died Saint Gerald of Mayo, an Anglo-SaxonBishop, and apparently the head of a colony of hiscountrymen, from whom that district is ever since called"Mayo of the Saxons. " The name, however, being a generalone for strangers from Britain about that period, justas Dane became for foreigners from the Baltic in the nextcentury, is supposed to be incorrectly applied: the colonybeing, it is said, really from Wales, of old Britishstock, who had migrated rather than live under the yokeof their victorious Anglo-Saxon Kings. The descendantsof these Welshmen are still to be traced, though intimatelyintermingled with the original Belgic and later Milesiansettlers in Mayo, Sligo, and Galway--thus giving a peculiarcharacter to that section of the country, easilydistinguishable from all the rest. Although Hugh Allan did not imitate his father's conducttowards ecclesiastics, he felt bound by all-ruling customto avenge his father's death. In all ancient countriesthe kinsmen of a murdered man were both by law and customthe avengers of his blood. The members of the Greek_phratry_, of the Roman _fatria_, or _gens_, of theGermanic and Anglo-Saxon _guild_, and of the mediaevalsworn _commune_, were all solemnly bound to avenge theblood of any of their brethren, unlawfully slain. So thatthe repulsive repetition of reprisals, which so disguststhe modern reader in our old annals, is by no means aphenomenon peculiar to the Irish state of society. Itwas in the middle age and in early times common to allEurope, to Britain and Germany, as well as to Greece andRome. It was, doubtless, under a sense of duty of thissort that Hugh V. Led into Leinster a large army (A. D. 733), and the day of Ath-Senaid fully atoned for the dayof Almain. Nine thousand of the men of Leinster were lefton the field, including most of their chiefs; the victoriousmonarch losing a son, and other near kinsmen. Four yearslater, he himself fell in an obscure contest near Kells, in the plain of Meath. Some of his quartrains have comedown to us, and they breathe a spirit at once religiousand heroic--such as must have greatly endeared the Princewho possessed it to his companions in arms. We are notsurprised, therefore, to find his reign a favourite epochwith subsequent Bards and Storytellers. The long and prosperous reign of Donald III. Succeeded(A. D. 739 to 759). He is almost the only one of thisseries of Kings of whom it can be said that he commandedin no notable battle. The annals of his reign are chieflyfilled with ordinary accidents, and the obits of thelearned. But its literary and religious record aboundswith bright names and great achievements, as we shallfind when we come to consider the educational and missionaryfruits of Christianity in the eighth century. While ona pilgrimage to Durrow, a famous Columbian foundation inMeath, and present King's County, Donald III. Departedthis life, and in Durrow, by his own desire, his bodywas interred. Nial II. (surnamed of the Showers), son to FEARGAL andbrother of the warrior-Bard, Hugh V. , was next investedwith the white wand of sovereignty. He was a prince lesswarlike and more pious than his elder brother. The_soubriquet_ attached to his name is accounted for by aBardic tale, which represents him as another Moses, atwhose prayer food fell from heaven in time of famine. Whatever "showers" fell or wonders were wrought in hisreign, it is certain that after enjoying the kingly officefor seven years, Nial resigned, and retired to Iona, there to pass the remainder of his days in penance andmeditation. Eight years he led the life of a monk inthat sacred Isle, where his grave is one of those of "thethree Irish Kings, " still pointed out in the cemetery ofthe Kings. He is but one among several Princes, hiscotemporaries, who had made the same election. We learnin this same century, that Cellach, son of the King ofConnaught, died in Holy Orders, and that Bec, Prince ofUlidia, and Ardgall, son of a later King of Connaught, had taken the "crostaff" of the pilgrim, either for Ionaor Armagh, or some more distant shrine. Pilgrimages toRome and to Jerusalem seem to have been begun even beforethis time, as we may infer from St. Adamnan's work onthe situation of the Holy Places, of which Bede givesan abstract. The reign of Donogh I. Is the longest and the last amongthe Kings of the eighth century (A. D. 776 to 797). TheKings of Ireland had now not only abandoned Tara, butone by one, the other royal residences in Meath as theirusual place of abode. As a consequence a local sovereigntysprung up in the family of O'Melaghlin, a minor branchof the ruling race. This house developing its power sounexpectedly, and almost always certain to have thenational forces under the command of a Patron Prince attheir back, were soon involved in quarrels about boundaries, both with Leinster and Munster. King Donogh, at the outsetof his reign, led his forces into both principalities, and without battle received their hostages. Givinghostages--generally the sons of the chiefs--was the usualform of ratifying any treaty. Generally also, the Bishopof the district, or its most distinguished ecclesiastic, was called in as witness of the terms, and both partieswere solemnly sworn on the relics of Saints--the Gospelsof the Monasteries or Cathedrals--or the croziers oftheir venerated founders. The breach of such a treatywas considered "a violation of the relics of the saint, "whose name had been invoked, and awful penalties wereexpected to follow so heinous a crime. The hostages werethen carried to the residence of the King, to whom theywere entrusted, and while the peace lasted, enjoyed aparole freedom, and every consideration due to theirrank. If of tender age they were educated with the samecare as the children of the household. But when war brokeout their situation was always precarious, and sometimesdangerous. In a few instances they had even been put todeath, but this was considered a violation of all thelaws both of hospitality and chivalry; usually they wereremoved to some strong secluded fort, and carefullyguarded as pledges to be employed, according to thechances and changes of the war. That Donogh preferrednegotiation to war, we may infer by his course towardsLeinster and Munster, in the beginning of his reign, andhis "kingly parlee" at a later period (A. D. 783) withFIACHNA, of Ulidia, son of that over-exacting Hugh Roin, whose head was taken from his shoulders at the Churchdoor of Faughard. This "kingly parlee" was held on anisland off the Methian shore, called afterwards "King'sIsland. " But little good came of it. Both parties stillheld their own views, so that the satirical poets askedwhat was the use of the island, when one party "wouldnot come upon the land, nor the other upon the sea?"However, we needs must agree with King Donogh, that waris the last resort, and is only to be tried when allother means have failed. Twice during this reign the whole island was strickenwith panic, by extraordinary signs in the heavens, ofhuge serpents coiling themselves through the stars, offiery bolts flying like shuttles from one side of thehorizon to the other, or shooting downward directly tothe earth. These atmospheric wonders were accompanied bythunder and lightning so loud and so prolonged that menhid themselves for fear in the caverns of the earth. Thefairs and markets were deserted by buyers and sellers;the fields were abandoned by the farmers; steeples wererent by lightning, and fell to the ground; the shingledroofs of churches caught fire and burned whole buildings. Shocks of earthquake were also felt, and round towersand cyclopean masonry were strewn in fragments upon theground. These visitations first occurred in the secondyear of Donogh, and returned again in 783. When, in thenext decade, the first Danish descent was made on thecoast of Ulster (A. D. 794), these signs and wonders weresuperstitiously supposed to have been the precursors ofthat far more terrible and more protracted visitation. The Danes at first attracted little notice, but in thelast year of Donogh (A. D. 797) they returned in greaterforce, and swept rapidly along the coast of Meath; itwas reserved for his successors of the following centuriesto face the full brunt of this new national danger. But before encountering the fierce nations of the north, and the stormy period they occupy, let us cast back aloving glance over the world-famous schools and scholarsof the last two centuries. Hitherto we have only spokenof certain saints, in connection with high affairs ofstate. We must now follow them to the college and thecloister, we must consider them as founders at home, andas missionaries abroad; otherwise how could we estimateall that is at stake for Erin and for Christendom, inthe approaching combat with the devotees of Odin, --thedeadly enemies of all Christian institutions? CHAPTER VIII. WHAT THE IRISH SCHOOLS AND SAINTS DID IN THE THREE FIRSTCHRISTIAN CENTURIES. We have now arrived at the close of the third century, from the death of Saint Patrick, and find ourselves onthe eve of a protracted struggle with the heathen warriorsof Scandinavia; it is time, therefore, to look back onthe interval we have passed, and see what changes havebeen wrought in the land, since its kings, instead ofwaiting to be attacked at home, had made the surroundingsea "foam with the oars" of their outgoing expeditions. The most obvious change in the condition of the countryis traceable in its constitution and laws, into everypart of which, as was its wont from the beginning, thespirit of Christianity sought patiently to infuse itself. We have already spoken of the expurgation of theconstitution, which prohibited the observance of Paganrites to the kings, and imposed on them instead, certainsocial obligations. This was a first change suggested bySaint Patrick, and executed mainly by his disciple, SaintBenignus. We have seen the legislative success whichattended the measures of Columbkill, Moling, and Adamnan;in other reforms of minor importance the paramountinfluence of the clerical order may be easily traced. But it is in their relation as teachers of human anddivine science that the Irish Saints exercised theirgreatest power, not only over their own countrymen, butover a considerable part of Europe. The intellectualleadership of western Europe--the glorious ambition ofthe greatest nations--has been in turn obtained by Italy, Prance, Britain and Germany. From the middle of the sixthto the middle of the eighth century, it will hardly bedisputed that that leadership devolved on Ireland. Allthe circumstances of the sixth century helped to conferit upon the newly converted western isle; the number ofher schools, and the wisdom, energy, and zeal of hermasters, retained for her the proud distinction for twohundred years. And when it passed away from her grasp, she might still console herself with the grateful reflectionthat the power she had founded and exercised, was dividedamong British and continental schools, which her own_alumni_ had largely contributed to form and establish. In the northern Province, the schools most frequentedwere those of Armagh, and of Bangor, on Belfast lough;in Meath, the school of Clonard, and that of Clomnacnoise, (near Athlone); in Leinster, the school of Taghmon(_Ta-mun_), and Beg-Erin, the former near the banks ofthe Slaney, the latter in Wexford harbour; in Munster, the school of Lismore on the Blackwater, and of Mungret(now Limerick), on the Shannon; in Connaught, the schoolof "Mayo of the Saxons, " and the schools of the Isles ofArran. These seats of learning were almost all erectedon the banks of rivers, in situations easy of access, tothe native or foreign student; a circumstance which provedmost disastrous to them when the sea kings of the northbegan to find their way to the shores of the island. Theyderived their maintenance--not from taxing their pupils--but in the first instance from public endowments. Theywere essentially free schools; not only free as to thelessons given, but the venerable Bede tells us theysupplied free bed and board and books to those who resortedto them from abroad. The Prince and the Clansmen of everyprincipality in which a school was situated, endowed itwith a certain share--often an ample one--of the commonland of the clan. Exclusive rights of fishery, andexclusive mill-privileges seem also to have been granted. As to timber for building purposes and for fuel, it wasto be had for carrying and cutting. The right of quarrywent with the soil, wherever building stone was found. In addition to these means of sustenance, a portion ofthe collegiate clergy appeared to have discharged missionaryduty, and received offerings of the produce of the land. We hear of periodical _quests_ or collections made forthe sustenance of these institutions, wherein the learnedLectors and Doctors, no doubt, pleaded their claims topopular favour, with irresistible eloquence. Individuals, anxious to promote the spread of religion and of science, endowed particular institutions out of their personalmeans; Princes, Bishops, and pious ladies, contributedto enlarge the bounds and increase the income of theirfavourite foundations, until a generous emulation seemsto have seized on all the great families as well as onthe different Provinces, as to which could boast the mostlargely attended schools, and the greatest number ofdistinguished scholars. The love of the _alma mater_--that college patriotism which is so sure a sign of thenoble-minded scholar--never received more strikingillustration than among the graduates of those schools. Columbkill, in his new home among the Hebrides, invokesblessings on blessings, on "the angels" with whom it wasonce his happiness to walk in Arran, and Columbanus, beyond the Alps, remembers with pride the school ofBangor--the very name of which inspires him with poeticrapture. The buildings, in which so many scholars were housed andtaught, must have been extensive. Some of the schools wehave mentioned were, when most flourishing, frequentedby one, two, three, and even, at some periods, as manyas seven thousand scholars. Such a population was alonesufficient to form a large village; and if we add therequisite number of teachers and attendants, we will havean addition of at least one-third to the total. Thebuildings seem to have been separately of no great size, but were formed into streets, and even into somethinglike wards. Armagh was divided into three parts--_trian-more_ (or the town proper), _trian-Patrick_, theCathedral close, and _trian-Sassenagh_, the Latin quarter, the home of the foreign students. A tall sculpturedCross, dedicated to some favourite saint, stood at thebounds of these several wards, reminding the anxiousstudent to invoke their spiritual intercession as hepassed by. Early hours and vigilant night watches hadto be exercised to prevent conflagrations in suchvillage-seminaries, built almost wholly of wood, androofed with reeds or shingles. A Cathedral, or an AbbeyChurch, a round tower, or a cell of some of the asceticmasters, would probably be the only stone structure withinthe limits. To the students, the evening star gave thesignal for retirement, and the morning sun for awaking. When, at the sound of the early bell, two or three thousandof them poured into the silent streets and made theirway towards the lighted Church, to join in the serviceof matins, mingling, as they went or returned, the tonguesof the Gael, the Cimbri, the Pict, the Saxon, and theFrank, or hailing and answering each other in the universallanguage of the Roman Church, the angels in Heaven musthave loved to contemplate the union of so much perseverancewith so much piety. The lives of the masters, not less than their lessons, were studied and observed by their pupils. At that time, as we gather from every authority, they were models ofsimplicity. One Bishop is found, erecting with his ownhands, the _cashel_ or stone enclosure which surroundedhis cell; another is labouring in the field, and giveshis blessing to his visitors, standing between the stiltsof the plough. Most ecclesiastics work occasionally eitherin wood, in bronze, in leather, or as scribes. Thedecorations of the Church, if not the entire structure, was the work of those who served at the altar. Thetabernacle, the rood-screen, the ornamental font; thevellum on which the Psalms and Gospels were written; theornamented case which contained the precious volume, wereoften of their making. The music which made the vale ofBangor resound as if inhabited by angels, was theircomposition; the hymns that accompanied it were theirown. "It is a poor Church that has no music, " is one ofthe oldest Irish proverbs; and the _Antiphonarium_ ofBangor, as well as that of Armagh, remains to show thatsuch a want was not left unsupplied in the early Church. All the contemporary schools were not of the same gradenor of equal reputation. We constantly find a scholar, after passing years in one place, transferring himselfto another, and sometimes to a third and a fourth. Somemasters were, perhaps, more distinguished in human Science;others in Divinity. Columbkill studied in two or threedifferent schools, and _visited_ others, perhaps asdisputant or lecturer--a common custom in later years. Nor should we associate the idea of under-age with thestudents of whom we speak. Many of them, whether asteachers or learners, or combining both characterstogether, reached middle life before they ventured asinstructors upon the world. Forty years is no uncommonage for the graduate of those days, when as yet thediscovery was unmade, that all-sufficient wisdom comeswith the first trace of down upon the chin of youth. The range of studies seems to have included the greaterpart of the collegiate course of our own times. Thelanguage of the country, and the language of the RomanChurch; the languages of Scripture--Greek and Hebrew;the logic of Aristotle, the writings of the Fathers, especially of Pope Gregory the Great--who appears to havebeen a favourite author with the Irish Church; thedefective Physics of the period; Mathematics, Music, andPoetical composition went to complete the largest course. When we remember that all the books were manuscripts;that even paper had not yet been invented; that the bestparchment was equal to so much beaten gold, and a perfectMS. Was worth a king's ransom, we may better estimatethe difficulties in the way of the scholar of the seventhcentury. Knowing these facts, we can very well creditthat part of the story of St. Columbkill's banishmentinto Argyle, which turns on what might be called acopyright dispute, in which the monarch took the side ofSt. Finian of Clonard, (whose original MSS. His pupilseems to have copied without permission, ) and the Clan-Conalstood up, of course, for their kinsman. This dispute iseven said to have led to the affair of Culdrum, in Sligo, which is sometimes mentioned as "the battle of the book. "The same tendency of the national character whichoverstocked the Bardic Order, becomes again visible inits Christian schools; and if we could form anything likean approximate census of the population, anterior to thenorthern invasions, we would find that the proportion ofecclesiastics was greater than has existed either beforeor since in any Christian country. The vast designs ofmissionary zeal drew off large bodies of those who hadentered Holy Orders; still the numbers engaged as teachersin the great schools, as well as of those who passedtheir lives in solitude and contemplation, must have beenout of all modern proportion to the lay inhabitants ofthe Island. The most eminent Irish Saints of the fifth century wereSt. Ibar, St. Benignus and St. Kieran, of Ossory; inthe sixth, St. Bendan, of Clonfert; St. Brendan, ofBirr; St. Maccartin, of Clogher; St. Finian, of Moville;St. Finbar, St. Cannice, St. Finian, of Clonard; andSt. Jarlath, of Tuam; in the seventh century, St. Fursey, St. Laserian, Bishop of Leighlin; St. Kieran, Abbot ofClonmacnoise; St. Comgall, Abbot of Bangor; St. Carthage, Abbot of Lismore; St. Colman, Bishop of Dromore; St. Moling, Bishop of Ferns; St. Colman Ela, Abbot; St. Cummian, "the White;" St. Fintan, Abbot; St. Gall, Apostle ofSwitzerland; St. Fridolin, "the Traveller;" St. Columbanus, Apostle of Burgundy and Lombardy; St. Killian, Apostleof Franconia; St. Columbkill, Apostle of the Picts;St. Cormac, called "the Navigator;" St. Cuthbert; andSt. Aidan, Apostle of Northumbria. In the eighth centurythe most illustrious names are St. Cataldus, Bishop ofTarentum; St. Adamnan, Abbot of Iona; St. Rumold, Apostleof Brabant; Clement and Albinus, "the Wisdom-seekers;"and St. Feargal or Virgilius, Bishop of Saltzburgh. Ofholy women in the same ages, we have some account ofSt. Samthan, in the eighth century; of St. Bees, St. Dympna and St. Syra, in the seventh century, and ofSt. Monina, St. Ita of Desies, and St. Bride, or Bridget, of Kildare, in the sixth. The number of conventualinstitutions for women established in those ages, is lesseasily ascertained than the number of monastic housesfor men; but we may suppose them to have borne someproportion to each other, and to have even counted byhundreds. The veneration in which St. Bridget was heldduring her life, led many of her countrywomen to embracethe religious state, and no less than fourteen _Saints_, her namesakes, are recorded. It was the custom of thosedays to call all holy persons who died in the odour ofsanctity, _Saints_, hence national or provincial traditionvenerates very many names, which the reader may look forin vain, in the Roman calendar. The intellectual labours of the Irish schools, besidesthe task of teaching such immense numbers of men of allnations on their own soil, and the missionary conqueststo which I have barely alluded, were diversified bycontroversies, partly scientific and partly theological--such as the "Easter Controversy, " the "TonsureControversy, " and that maintained by "Feargal the Geometer, "as to the existence of the Antipodes. The discussion, as to the proper time of observing Easter, which had occupied the doctors of the Council of Nice inthe fourth century, was raised in Ireland and in Britainearly in the sixth, and complete uniformity was notestablished till far on in the eighth. It occupied thethoughts of several generations of the chief men of theIrish Church, and some of their arguments still fortunatelysurvive, to attest their learning and tolerance, as wellas their zeal. St. Patrick had introduced in the fifthcentury the computation of time then observed in Gaul, and to this custom many of the Irish doctors rigidlyadhered, long after the rest of Christendom had agreedto adopt the Alexandrian computation. Great names werefound on both sides of the controversy: Columbanus, Fintan, and Aidan, for adhering exactly to the rule ofSt. Patrick; Cummian, the White, Laserian and Adamnan, in favour of strict agreement with Rome and the East. Monks of the same Monastery and Bishops of the sameProvince maintained opposite opinions with equal ardourand mutual charity. It was a question of discipline, nota matter of faith; but it involved a still greaterquestion, whether national churches were to plead theinviolability of their local usages, even on points ofdiscipline, against the sense and decision of the UniversalChurch. In the year of our Lord 630, the Synod of Leighlin washeld, under the shelter of the ridge of Leinster, andthe presidency of St. Laserian. Both parties at lengthagreed to send deputies to Rome, as "children to theirmother, " to learn her decision. Three years later, thatdecision was made known, and the midland and southerndioceses at once adopted it. The northern churches, however, still held out, under the lead of Armagh andthe influence of Iona, nor was it till a century laterthat this scandal of celebrating Easter on two differentdays in the same church was entirely removed. Injustification of the Roman rule, St. Cummian, about themiddle of the seventh century, wrote his famous epistleto Segenius, Abbot of Iona, of the ability and learningof which all modern writers from Archbishop Usher toThomas Moore, speak in terms of the highest praise. Itis one of the few remaining documents of that controversy. A less vital question of discipline arose about thetonsure. The Irish shaved the head in a semicircle fromtemple to temple, while the Latin usage was to shave thecrown, leaving an external circle of hair to typify thecrown of thorns. At the conference of Whitby (A. D. 664)this was one of the subjects of discussion between theclergy of Iona, and those who followed the Roman method--butit never assumed the importance of the Easter controversy. In the following century an Irish Missionary, Virgilius, of Saltzburgh, (called by his countrymen "Feargal, theGeometer, ") was maintaining in Germany against no lessan adversary than St. Boniface, the sphericity of theearth and the existence of antipodes. His opponentsendeavoured to represent him, or really believed him tohold, that there were other men, on our earth, for whomthe Redeemer had not died; on this ground they appealedto Pope Zachary against him; but so little effect hadthis gross distortion of his true doctrine at Rome, whenexplanations were given, that Feargal was soon afterwardsraised to the See of Saltzburgh, and subsequently canonizedby Pope Gregory IX. In the ninth century we find an Irishgeographer and astronomer of something like Europeanreputation in Dicuil and Dungal, whose treatises andepistles have been given to the press. Like theircompatriot, Columbanus, these accomplished men had passedtheir youth and early manhood in their own country, andto its schools are to be transferred the compliments paidto their acquirements by such competent judges as Muratori, Latronne, and Alexander von Humboldt. The origin of thescholastic philosophy--which pervaded Europe for nearlyten centuries--has been traced by the learned Mosheim tothe same insular source. Whatever may now be thought ofthe defects or shortcomings of that system, it certainlywas not unfavourable either to wisdom or eloquence, sinceamong its professors may be reckoned the names of St. Thomas and St. Bernard. We must turn away our eyes from the contemplation ofthose days in which were achieved for Ireland the titleof the land of saints and doctors. Another era opensbefore us, and we can already discern the long ships ofthe north, their monstrous beaks turned towards the holyIsle, their sides hung with glittering shields and theirbenches thronged with fair-haired warriors, chanting asthey advance the fierce war songs of their race. Insteadof the monk's familiar voice on the river banks we areto hear the shouts of strange warriors from a far-offcountry; and for matin hymn and vesper song, we are tobe beset through a long and stormy period, with soundsof strife and terror, and deadly conflict. BOOK II. CHAPTER I. THE DANISH INVASION. Hugh VI. , surnamed Ornie, succeeded to the throne vacantby the death of Donogh I. (A. D. 797), and reigned twenty-twoyears; Conor II. Succeeded (A. D. 819), and reigned fourteenyears; Nial III. (called from the place of his death Nialof Callan), reigned thirteen years; Malachy I. Succeeded(A. D. 845), and reigned fifteen years; Hugh VII. Succeededand reigned sixteen years (dying A. D. 877); Flan (surnamedFlan of the Shannon) succeeded at the latter date, andreigned for thirty-eight years, far into the tenth century. Of these six kings, whose reigns average twenty yearseach, we may remark that not one died by violence, if weexcept perhaps Nial of Callan, drowned in the river ofthat name in a generous effort to save the life of oneof his own servants. Though no former princes had everencountered dangers equal to these--yet in no previouscentury was the person of the ruler so religiouslyrespected. If this was evident in one or two instancesonly, it would be idle to lay much stress upon it; butwhen we find the same truth holding good of severalsuccessive reigns, it is not too much to attribute it tothat wide diffusion of Christian morals, which we havepointed out as the characteristic of the two precedingcenturies. The kings of this age owed their best protectionto the purer ethics which overflowed from Armagh andBangor and Lismore; and if we find hereafter the regicidehabits of former times partially revived, it will onlybe after the new Paganism--the Paganism of interminableanti-Christian invasions--had recovered the land, andextinguished the beacon lights of the three first Christiancenturies. The enemy, who were now to assault the religious andcivil institutions of the Irish, must be admitted topossess many great military qualities. They certainlyexhibit, in the very highest degree, the first of allmilitary virtues--unconquerable courage. Let us saycheerfully, that history does not present in all itsvolumes a braver race of men than the Scandinavians ofthe ninth century. In most respects they closely resembledthe Gothic tribes, who, whether starting into historiclife on the Euxine or the Danube, or faintly heard of bythe Latins from the far off Baltic, filled with constantalarm the Roman statesmen of the fourth century; nor canthe invasions of what we may call the maritime Goths bebetter introduced to the reader than by a rapid sketchof the previous triumphs of their kindred tribes overthe Roman Empire. It was in the year of our Lord 378 that these long-dreadedbarbarians defeated the Emperor Valens in the plain ofAdrianople, and as early as 404--twenty-six years aftertheir first victory in Eastern Europe--they had takenand burned great Rome herself. Again and again--in 410, in 455, and in 472--they captured and plundered theImperial City. In the same century they had establishedthemselves in Burgundy, in Spain, and in Northern Africa;in the next, another branch of the Gothic stock twicetook Rome; and yet another founded the Lombard Kingdomin Northern Italy. With these Goths thus for a timemasters of the Roman Empire, whose genius and temper hasentered so deeply into all subsequent civilization, warwas considered the only pursuit worthy of men. Accordingto their ideas of human freedom, that sacred principlewas supposed to exist only in force and by force; theyhad not the faintest conception, and at first receivedwith unbounded scorn the Christian doctrine of the unityof the human race, the privileges and duties annexed toChristian baptism, and the sublime ideal of the Christianrepublic. But they were very far from being so cruel orso faithless as their enemies represented them; they wereeven better than they cared to represent themselves. Andthey had amongst them men of the highest capacity andenergy, well worthy to be the founders of new nations. Alaric, Attila, and Genseric, were fierce and unmercifulit is true; but their acts are not all written in blood;they had their better moments and higher purposes in theintervals of battle; and the genius for civil governmentof the Gothic race was in the very beginning demonstratedby such rulers as Theodoric in Italy and Clovis in Gaul. The rear guard of this irresistible barbaric invasionwas now about to break in upon Europe by a new route;instead of the long land marches by which they had formerlyconcentrated from the distant Baltic and from thetributaries of the Danube, on the capital of the Romanempire; instead of the tedious expeditions striking acrossthe Continent, hewing their paths through dense forests, arrested by rapid rivers and difficult mountains, thelast northern invaders of Europe had sufficiently advancedin the arts of shipbuilding and navigation to strikeboldly into the open sea and commence their new conquestsamong the Christian islands of the West. The defendersof Roman power and Christian civilization in the fifthand sixth centuries, were arrayed against a warlike butpastoral people encumbered with their women and children;the defenders of the same civilization, in the BritishIslands in the ninth and tenth centuries, were contendingwith kindred tribes, who had substituted maritime artsand habits for the pastoral arts and habits of thecompanions of Attila and Theodoric. The Gothic invasionof Roman territory in the earlier period was, with thesingle exception of the naval expeditions of Gensericfrom his new African Kingdom, a continental war; andnotwithstanding the partiality of Genseric for his fleet, as an arm of offence and defence, his companions andsuccessors abandoned the ocean as an uncongenial element. The only parallel for the new invasion, of which we arenow to speak, is to be found in the history and fortunesof the Saxons of the fifth century, first the allies andafterwards the conquerors of part of Britain. But eventheir descendants in England had not kept pace, eitherin the arts of navigation or in thirst for adventure, with their distant relatives, who remained two centurieslater among the friths and rocks of Scandinavia. The first appearance of these invaders on the Irish andBritish coasts occurred in 794. Their first descent onIreland was at Rathlin island, which may be called theoutpost of Erin, towards the north; their second attempt(A. D. 797) was at a point much more likely to arouseattention--at Skerries, off the coast of Meath (nowDublin); in 803, and again in 806, they attacked andplundered the holy Iona; but it was not until a dozenyears later they became really formidable. In 818 theylanded at Howth; and the same year, and probably the sameparty, sacked the sacred edifices in the estuary of theSlaney, by them afterwards called Wexford; in 820 theyplundered Cork, and in 824--most startling blow ofall--they sacked and burned the schools of Bangor. Thesame year they revisited Iona; and put to death many ofits inmates; destroyed Moville; received a severe checkin Lecale, near Strangford lough (one of their favouritestations). Another party fared better in a land forayinto Ossory, where they defeated those who endeavouredto arrest their progress, and carried off a rich booty. In 830 and 831, their ravages were equally felt inLeinster, in Meath, and in Ulster, and besides manyprisoners of princely rank, they plundered the primatialcity of Armagh for the first time, in the year 832. Thenames of their chief captains, at this period, arecarefully preserved by those who had so many reasons toremember them; and we now begin to hear of the Ivars, Olafs, and Sitricks, strangely intermingled with theHughs, Nials, Connors, and Felims, who contended withthem in battle or in diplomacy. It was not till the middleof this century (A. D. 837) that they undertook to fortifyDublin, Limerick, and some other harbours which they hadseized, to winter in Ireland, and declare their purposeto be the complete conquest of the country. The earliest of these expeditions seem to have been annualvisitations; and as the northern winter sets in aboutOctober, and the Baltic is seldom navigable before May, the summer was the season of their depredations. Awaitingthe breaking up of the ice, the intrepid adventurersassembled annually upon the islands in the Cattegat oron the coast of Norway, awaiting the favourable momentof departure. Here they beguiled their time between theheathen rites they rendered to their gods, their wildbacchanal festivals, and the equipment of their galleys. The largest ship built in Norway, and probably in thenorth, before the eleventh century, had 34 banks of oars. The largest class of vessel carried from 100 to 120 men. The great fleet which invaded Ireland in 837 counted 120vessels, which, if of average size for such long voyages, would give a total force of some 6, 000 men. As the wholepopulation of Denmark, in the reign of Canute who diedin 1035, is estimated at 800, 000 souls, we may judge fromtheir fleets how large a portion of the men were engagedin these piratical pursuits. The ships on which theyprided themselves so highly were flat-bottomed craft, with little or no keel, the sides of wicker work, coveredwith strong hides. They were impelled either by sails oroars as the changes of the weather allowed; with favourablewinds they often made the voyage in three days. As if tofavour their designs, the north and north-west blastblows for a hundred days of the year over the sea theyhad to traverse. When land was made, in some safe estuary, their galleys were drawn up on shore, a convenient distancebeyond highwater mark, where they formed a rude camp, watch-fires were lighted, sentinels set, and the fearlessadventurers slept as soundly as if under their own roofs, in their own country. Their revels after victory, or onreturning to their homes, were as boisterous as theirlives. In food they looked more to quantity than quality, and one of their most determined prejudices againstChristianity was that it did not sanction the eating ofhorse flesh. An exhilarating beer, made from heath, orfrom the spruce tree, was their principal beverage, andthe recital of their own adventures, or the nationalsongs of the Scalds, were their most cherished amusement. Many of the Vikings were themselves Scalds, and excelled, as might be expected, in the composition of war songs. The Pagan belief of this formidable race was in harmonywith all their thoughts and habits, and the exact oppositeof Christianity. In the beginning of time, according totheir tradition, there was neither heaven nor earth, butonly universal chaos and a bottomless abyss, where dweltSurtur in an element of unquenchable fire. The generationof their gods proceeded amid the darkness and void, fromthe union of heat and moisture, until Odin and the otherchildren of Asa-Thor, or the Earth, slew Ymer, or theEvil One, and created the material universe out of hislifeless remains. These heroic conquerors also collectedthe sparks of eternal fire flying about in the abyss, and fixed them as stars in the firmament. In addition, they erected in the far East, Asgard, the City of theGods; on the extreme shore of the ocean stood Utgard, the City of Nor and his giants, and the wars of thesetwo cities, of their gods and giants, fill the first andmost obscure ages of the Scandinavian legend. The humanrace had as yet no existence until Odin created a manand woman, Ask and Embla, out of two pieces of wood (ashand elm), thrown upon the beach by the waves of the sea. Of all the gods of Asgard, Odin was the first in placeand power; from his throne he saw everything that happenedon the earth; and lest anything should escape his knowledge, two ravens, Spirit and Memory, sat on his shoulders, andwhispered in his ears whatever they had seen in theirdaily excursions round the world. Night was a divinityand the father of Day, who travelled alternately throughoutspace, with two celebrated steeds called Shining-maneand Frost-mane. Friga was the daughter and wife of Odin;the mother of Thor, the Mars, and of the beautiful Balder, the Apollo, of Asgard. The other gods were of inferiorrank to these, and answered to the lesser divinities ofGreece and Rome. Niord was the Neptune, and Frega, daughterof Niord, was the Venus of the North. Heimdall, thewatchman of Asgard, whose duty it was to prevent therebellious giants scaling by surprise the walls of thecelestial city, dwelt under the end of the rainbow; hisvision was so perfect he could discern objects 100 leaguesdistant, either by night or day, and his ear was so finehe could hear the wool growing on the sheep, and thegrass springing in the meadows. The hall of Odin, which had 540 gates, was the abode ofheroes who had fought bravest in battle. Here they werefed with the lard of a wild boar, which became wholeevery night, though devoured every day, and drank endlesscups of hydromel, drawn from the udder of an inexhaustibleshe-goat, and served out to them by the Nymphs, who hadcounted the slain, in cups which were made of the skullsof their enemies. When they were wearied of suchenjoyments, the sprites of the Brave exercised themselvesin single combat, hacked each other to pieces on thefloor of Valhalla, resumed their former shape, and returnedto their lard and their hydromel. Believing firmly in this system--looking forward withundoubting faith to such an eternity--the Scandinavianswere zealous to serve their gods according to their creed. Their rude hill altars gave way as they increased innumbers and wealth, to spacious temples at Upsala, Ledra, Tronheim, and other towns and ports. They had three greatfestivals, one at the beginning of February, in honourof Thor, one in Spring, in honour of Odin, and one inSummer, in honour of the fruitful daughter of Niord. Theordinary sacrifices were animals and birds; but everyninth year there was a great festival at Upsala, at whichthe kings and nobles were obliged to appear in person, and to make valuable offerings. Wizards and sorcerers, male and female, haunted the temples, and good and illwinds, length of life, and success in war, were spiritualcommodities bought and sold. Ninety-nine human victimswere offered at the great Upsala festival, and in allemergencies such sacrifices were considered most acceptableto the gods. Captives and slaves were at first selected;but, in many cases, princes did not spare their subjects, nor fathers their own children. The power of a Priesthood, who could always enforce such a system, must have beenunbounded and irresistible. The active pursuits of such a population were necessarilymaritime. In their short summer, such crops as theyplanted ripened rapidly, but their chief sustenance wasanimal food and the fish that abounded in their waters. The artizans in highest repute among them were theshipwrights and smiths. The hammer and anvil were heldin the highest honour; and of this class, the armorersheld the first place. The kings of the North had nostanding armies, but their lieges were summoned to warby an arrow in Pagan times, and a cross after theirconversion. Their chief dependence was in infantry, which they formed into wedge-like columns, and so, clashingtheir shields and singing hymns to Odin, they advancedagainst their enemies. Different divisions were differentlyarmed; some with a short two-edged sword and a heavybattle-axe; others with the sling, the javelin, and thebow. The shield was long and light, commonly of wood andleather, but for the chiefs, ornamented with brass, withsilver, and even with gold. Locking the shields togetherformed a rampart which it was not easy to break; in badweather the concave shield seems to have served thepurpose of our umbrella; in sea-fights the vanquishedoften escaped by swimming ashore on their shields. Armourmany of them wore; the Berserkers, or champions, were socalled from always engaging, _bare_ of defensive armour. Such were the men, the arms, and the creed, against whichthe Irish of the ninth age, after three centuries ofexemption from foreign war, were called upon to combat. A people, one-third of whose youth and manhood had embracedthe ecclesiastical state, and all whose tribes nowprofessed the religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness, were called to wrestle with a race whose religion wasone of blood, and whose beatitude was to be in proportionto the slaughter they made while on earth. The Northmanhated Christianity as a rival religion, and despised itas an effeminate one. He was the soldier of Odin, theelect of Valhalla; and he felt that the offering mostacceptable to his sanguinary gods was the blood of thosereligionists who denied their existence and execratedtheir revelation. The points of attack, therefore, werealmost invariably the great seats of learning and religion. There, too, was to be found the largest bulk of theportable wealth of the country, in richly adorned altars, jewelled chalices, and shrines of saints. The ecclesiasticalmap is the map of their campaigns in Ireland. And it isto avenge or save these innumerable sacred places--ascountless as the Saints of the last three centuries--thatthe Christian population have to rouse themselves yearafter year, hurrying to a hundred points at the sametime. To the better and nobler spirits the war becomesa veritable crusade, and many of those slain insingle-hearted defence of their altars may well beaccounted martyrs--but a war so protracted and sodevastating will be found, in the sequel, to foster andstrengthen many of the worst vices as well as some ofthe best virtues of our humanity. The early events are few and ill-known. During the reignof Hugh VI. , who died in 819, their hostile visits were fewand far between; his successors, Conor II. And Nial III. , were destined to be less fortunate in this respect. Duringthe reign of Conor, Cork, Lismore, Dundalk, Bangor andArmagh, were all surprised, plundered, and abandoned by"the Gentiles, " as they are usually called in Irishannals; and with the exception of two skirmishes in whichthey were worsted on the coasts of Down and Wexford, theyseem to have escaped with impunity. At Bangor they shookthe bones of the revered founder out of the costly shrinebefore carrying it off; on their first visit to Kildarethey contented themselves with taking the gold and silverornaments of the tomb of St. Bridget, without desecratingthe relics; their main attraction at Armagh was the same, but there the relics seemed to have escaped. When, in830, the brotherhood of Iona apprehended their return, they carried into Ireland, for greater safety, the relicsof St. Columbkill. Hence it came that most of the memorialsof SS. Patrick, Bridget, and Columbkill, were afterwardsunited at Downpatrick. While these deplorable sacrileges, too rapidly executedperhaps to be often either prevented or punished, weretaking place, Conor the King had on his hand a war ofsuccession, waged by the ablest of his contemporaries, Felim, King of Munster, who continued during this andthe subsequent reign to maintain a species of rivalmonarchy in Munster. It seems clear enough that theabandonment of Tara, as the seat of authority, greatlyaggravated the internal weakness of the Milesianconstitution. While over-centralization is to be dreadedas the worst tendency of imperial power, it is certainthat the want of a sufficient centralization has provedas fatal, on the other hand, to the independence of manynations. And anarchical usages once admitted, we see fromthe experience of the German Empire, and the Italianrepublics, how almost impossible it is to apply a remedy. In the case before us, when the Irish Kings abandonedthe old mensal domain and betook themselves to their ownpatrimony, it was inevitable that their influence andauthority over the southern tribes should diminish anddisappear. Aileach, in the far North, could never be tothem what Tara had been. The charm of conservatism, thehalo of ancient glory, could not be transferred. Whenever, therefore, ambitious and able Princes arose in the South, they found the border tribes rife for backing theirpretensions against the Northern dynasty. The Bards, too, plied their craft, reviving the memory of former times, when Heber the Fair divided Erin equally with Heremon, and when Eugene More divided it a second time with Conof the Hundred Battles. Felim, the son of Crimthan, thecontemporary of Conor II. And Nial III. , during the wholeterm of their rule, was the resolute assertor of thesepretensions, and the Bards of his own Province do nothesitate to confer on him the high title of _Ard-Righ_. As a punishment for adhering to the Hy-Nial dynasty, orfor some other offence, this Christian king, in rivalrywith "the Gentiles, " plundered Kildare, Burrow, andClonmacnoise--the latter perhaps for siding with Connaughtin the dispute as to whether the present county of Clarebelonged to Connaught or Munster. Twice he met in conferencewith the monarch at Birr and at Cloncurry--at anothertime he swept the plain of Meath, and held temporarycourt in the royal rath of Tara. With all his vices lieunited an extraordinary energy, and during his time, noDanish settlement was established on the Southern rivers. Shortly before his decease (A. D. 846) he resigned hiscrown and retired from the world, devoting the shortremainder of his days to penance and mortification. Whatwe know of his ambition and ability makes us regret thathe ever appeared upon the scene, or that he had not beenborn of that dominant family, who alone were accustomedto give kings to the whole country. King Conor died (A. D. 833), and was succeeded by Nial III. , surnamed Nial of Callan. The military events of this lastreign are so intimately bound up with the more brilliantcareer of the next ruler--Melaghlin, or Malachy I. --thatwe must reserve them for the introduction to the nextchapter. CHAPTER II. KINGS OF THE NINTH CENTURY (CONTINUED)--NIAL III. --MALACHY I. --HUGH VII. When, in the year 833, Nial III. Received the usual homageand hostages, which ratified his title of _Ard-Righ_, the northern invasion had clearly become the greatestdanger that ever yet had threatened the institutions ofErin. Attacks at first predatory and provincial had soencouraged the Gentile leaders of the second generationthat they began to concert measures and combine plansfor conquest and colonization. To the Vikings of Norwaythe fertile Island with which they were now so familiar, whose woods were bent with the autumnal load of acorns, mast, and nuts, and filled with numerous herds ofswine--their favourite food--whose pleasant meadows werewell stored with beeves and oxen, whose winter was oftenas mild as their northern summer, and whose waters wereas fruitful in fish as their own Lofoden friths; to thesemen, this was a prize worth fighting for; and for it theyfought long and desperately. King Nial inherited a disputed sovereignty from hispredecessor, and the Southern annalists say he did homageto Felim of Munster, while those of the North--and withthem the majority of historians--reject this statementas exaggerated and untrue. He certainly experiencedcontinual difficulty in maintaining his supremacy, notonly from the Prince of Cashel, but from lords of lessergrade--like those of Ossory and Ulidia; so that we maysay, while he had the title of King of Ireland, he was, in fact, King of no more than Leath-Con, or the Northernhalf. The central Province, Meath, long deserted by themonarchs, had run wild into independence, and was parcelledout between two or three chiefs, descendants of the samecommon ancestor as the kings, but distinguished from themby the tribe-name of "the _Southern_ Hy-Nial. " Of theseheads of new houses, by far the ablest and most famouswas Melaghlin, who dwelt near Mullingar, and lorded itover western Meath; a name with which we shall becomebetter acquainted presently. It does not clearly appearthat Melaghlin was one of those who actively resistedthe prerogatives of this monarch, though others of theSouthern Hy-Nial did at first reject his authority, andwere severely punished for their insubordination, theyear after his assumption of power. In the fourth year of Nial III. (A. D. 837), arrived thegreat Norwegian fleet of 120 sail, whose commanders firstattempted, on a combined plan, the conquest of Erin. Sixty of the ships entered the Boyne; the other sixtythe Liffey. This formidable force, according to all Irishaccounts, was soon after united under one leader, who isknown in our Annals as _Turgeis_ or _Turgesius_, but ofwhom no trace can be found, under that name, in thechronicles of the Northmen. Every effort to identify himin the records of his native land has hitherto failed--sothat we are forced to conclude that he must have beenone of those wandering sea-kings, whose fame was wonabroad, and whose story, ending in defeat, yet entailingno dynastic consequences on his native land, possessedno national interest for the authors of the old NorseSagas. To do all the Scandinavian chroniclers justice, in cases which come directly under their notice, theyacknowledge defeat as frankly as they claim victoryproudly. Equal praise may be given to the Irish annalistsin recording the same events, whether at first orsecond-hand. In relation to the campaigns and sway ofTurgesius, the difficulty we experience in separatingwhat is true from what is exaggerated or false, is notcreated for us by the annalists, but by the bards andstory-tellers, some of whose inventions, adopted by_Cambrensis_, have been too readily received by subsequentwriters. For all the acts of national importance withwhich his name can be intelligibly associated, we preferto follow in this as in other cases, the same soberhistorians who condense the events of years and generationsinto the shortest space and the most matter of factexpression. If we were to receive the chronology while rejecting theembellishments of the Bards, Turgesius must have firstcome to Ireland with one of the expeditions of the year820, since they speak of him as having been "the scourgeof the country for seventeen years, " before he assumedthe command of the forces landed from the fleet of 837. Nor is it unreasonable to suppose that an accurateknowledge of the country, acquired by years of previouswarfare with its inhabitants, may have been one of thegrounds upon which the chief command was conferred onTurgesius. This knowledge was soon put to account; Dublinwas taken possession of, and a strong fort, according tothe Scandinavian method, was erected on the hill wherenow stands the Castle. This fort and the harbour beneathit were to be the _rendezvous_ and arsenal for all futureoperations against Leinster, and the foundation of foreignpower then laid, continued in foreign hands, with two orthree brief intervals, until transferred to the Anglo-Normanchivalry, three centuries and a half later. Similarlodgment was made at Waterford, and a third was attemptedat Limerick, but at this period without success; theDanish fort at the latter point is not thought older thanthe year 855. But Turgesius--if, indeed, the independentacts of cotemporary and even rival chiefs be not toooften attributed to him--was not content with fortifyingthe estuaries of some principal rivers; he establishedinland centres of operation, of which the cardinal onewas on Lough Ree, the expansion of the Shannon, north ofAthlone; another was at a point called Lyndwachill, onLough Neagh. On both these waters were stationed fleetsof boats, constructed for that service, and communicatingwith the forts on shore. On the eastern border of LoughRee, in the midst of its meadows, stood Clonmacnoise, rich with the offerings and endowments of successivegenerations. Here, three centuries before, in the heartof the desert, St. Kieran had erected with his own handsa rude sylvan cell, where, according to the allegory oftradition, "the first monks who joined him, " were thefox, the wolf, and the bear; but time had wrought wonderson that hallowed ground, and a group of churches--at onetime, as many as ten in number--were gathered within twoor three acres, round its famous schools, and presidingCathedral. Here it was Turgesius made his usual home, and from the high altar of the Cathedral his unbelievingQueen was accustomed to issue her imperious mandates inhis absence. Here, for nearly seven years, this conquerorand his consort exercised their far-spread and terriblepower. According to the custom of their own country--acustom attributed to Odin as its author--they exactedfrom every inhabitant subject to their sway--a piece ofmoney annually, the forfeit for the non-payment of whichwas the loss of the nose, hence called "nose-money. "Their other exactions were a union of their own northernimposts, with those levied by the chiefs whose authoritythey had superseded, but whose prerogatives they assertedfor themselves. Free quarters for their soldiery, anda system of inspection extending to every private relationof life, were the natural expedients of a tyranny soodious. On the ecclesiastical order especially their yokebore with peculiar weight, since, although avowed Pagans, they permitted no religious house to stand, unless underan Abbot, or at least an _Erenach_ (or Treasurer) oftheir approval. Such is the complete scheme of oppressionpresented to us, that it can only be likened to a monstrousspider-web spread from the centre of the Island over itsfairest and most populous districts. Glendalough, Ferns, Castle-Dermid, and Kildare in the east; Lismore, Cork, Clonfert, in the southern country; Dundalk, Bangor, Derry, and Armagh in the north; all groaned under this triumphantdespot, or his colleagues. In the meanwhile King Nialseems to have struggled resolutely with the difficultiesof his lot, and in every interval of insubordination tohave struck boldly at the common enemy. But the tide ofsuccess for the first few years after 837 ran stronglyagainst him. The joint hosts from the Liffey and theBoyne swept the rich plains of Meath, and in an engagementat Invernabark (the present Bray) gave such a completedefeat to the southern Hy-Nial clans as prevented themmaking head again in the field, until some summers werepast and gone. In this campaign Saxolve, who is called"the chief of the foreigners, " was slain; and to him, therefore, if to any commander-in-chief, Turgesius musthave succeeded. The shores of all the inland lakes werefavourite sites for Raths and Churches, and the beautifulcountry around Lough Erne shared the fiery ordeal whichblazed on Lough Ree and Lough Neagh. In 839 the men ofConnaught also suffered a defeat equal to that experiencedby those of Meath in the previous campaign; but moreunfortunate than the Methians, they lost their leaderand other chiefs on the field. In 840, Ferns and Corkwere given to the flames, and the fort at Lyndwachill, or Magheralin, poured out its ravages in every directionover the adjacent country, sweeping off flocks, herds, and prisoners, laymen and ecclesiastics, to their ships. The northern depredators counted among their captives"several Bishops and learned men, " of whom the Abbot ofClogher and the Lord of Galtrim are mentioned by name. Their equally active colleagues of Dublin and Waterfordtook captive, Hugh, Abbot of Clonenagh, and Foranan, Archbishop of Armagh, who had fled southwards with manyof the relics of the Metropolitan Church, escaping fromone danger only to fall into another a little fartheroff. These prisoners were carried into Munster, whereAbbot Hugh suffered martyrdom at their hands, but theArchbishop, after being carried to their fleet at Limerick, seems to have been rescued or ransomed, as we find himdying in peace at Armagh in the next reign. The martyrsof these melancholy times were very numerous, but theexact particulars being so often unrecorded it is impossibleto present the reader with an intelligible account oftheir persons and sufferings. When the Anglo-Normanstaunted the Irish that their Church had no martyrs toboast of, they must have forgotten the exploits of theirNorse kinsmen about the middle of this century. But the hour of retribution was fast coming round, andthe native tribes, unbound, divided, confused, and longunused to foreign war, were fast recovering their oldmartial experience, and something like a politic senseof the folly of their border feuds. Nothing perhaps somuch tended to arouse and combine them together as thecapture of the successor of Saint Patrick, with all hisrelics, and his imprisonment among a Pagan host, in Irishwaters. National humiliation could not much farther go, and as we read we pause, prepared for either alternative--mute submission or a brave uprising. King Nial seemsto have been in this memorable year, 843, defending aswell as he might his ancestral province--Ulster--againstthe ravagers of Lough Neagh, and still another partywhose ships flocked into Lough Swilly. In the ancientplain of Moynith, watered by the little river Finn, (thepresent barony of Raphoe, ) he encountered the enemy, andaccording to the Annals, "a countless number fell"--victorybeing with Nial. In the same year, or the next, Turgesiuswas captured by Melaghlin, Lord of Westmeath, apparentlyby stratagem, and put to death by the rather novel processof drowning. The Bardic tale told to _Cambrensis_, orparodied by him from an old Greek legend, of the deathby which Turgesius died, is of no historical authority. According to this tale, the tyrant of Lough Ree conceiveda passion for the fair daughter of Melaghlin, and demandedher of her father, who, fearing to refuse, affected togrant the infamous request, but despatched in her stead, to the place of assignation, twelve beardless youths, habited as maidens, to represent his daughter and herattendants; by these maskers the Norwegian and his booncompanions were assassinated, after they had drank toexcess and laid aside their arms and armour. For all thissuperstructure of romance there is neither ground-worknor license in the facts themselves, beyond this, thatTurgesius was evidently captured by some clever stratagem. We hear of no battle in Meath or elsewhere against himimmediately preceding the event; nor, is it likely thata secondary Prince, as Melaghlin then was, could havehazarded an engagement with the powerful master of LoughRee. If the local traditions of Westmeath may be trusted, where _Cambrensis_ is rejected, the Norwegian and Irishprincipals in the tragedy of Lough Owel were on visitingterms just before the denouement, and many curiousparticulars of their peaceful but suspicious intercourseused to be related by the modern story-tellers aroundCastle-pollard. The anecdote of the rookery, of whichMelaghlin complained, and the remedy for which his visitorsuggested to be "to cut down the trees and the rookswould fly, " has a suspicious look of the "tall poppies"of the Roman and Grecian legend; two things only do weknow for certain about the matter: _firstly_, thatTurgesius was taken and drowned in Lough Owel in the year843 or 844; and _secondly_, that this catastrophe wasbrought about by the agency and order of his neighbour, Melaghlin. The victory of Moynith and the death of Turgesius werefollowed by some local successes against other fleetsand garrisons of the enemy. Those of Lough Ree seem tohave abandoned their fort, and fought their way (gainingin their retreat the only military advantage of thatyear) towards Sligo, where some of their vessels hadcollected to bear them away. Their colleagues of Dublin, undeterred by recent reverses, made their annual foraysouthward into Ossory, in 844, and immediately we findKing Nial moving up from the north to the same scene ofaction. In that district he met his death in an effortto save the life of a _gilla_, or common servant. Theriver of Callan being greatly swollen, the _gilla_, inattempting to find a ford, was swept away in its turbidtorrent. The King entreated some one to go to his rescue, but as no one obeyed he generously plunged in himselfand sacrificed his own life in endeavouring to preserveone of his humblest followers. He was in the 55th yearof his age and the 13th of his reign, and in some traitsof character reminded men of his grandfather, the devoutNial "of the Showers. " The Bards have celebrated thejustice of his judgments, the goodness of his heart, andthe comeliness of his "brunette-bright face. " He left ason of age to succeed him, (and who ultimately did become_Ard-Righ_, ) yet the present popularity of Melaghlin ofMeath triumphed over every other interest, and he wasraised to the monarchy--the first of his family who hadyet attained that honour. Hugh, the son of Nial, sankfor a time into the rank of a Provincial Prince, beforethe ascendant star of the captor of Turgesius, and isusually spoken of during this reign as "Hugh of Aileach. "He is found towards its close, as if impatient of thesuccession, employing the arms of the common enemy toravage the ancient mensal land of the kings of Erin, andotherwise harassing the last days of his successful rival. Melaghlin, or Malachy I. (sometimes called "of theShannon, " from his patrimony along that river), broughtback again the sovereignty to the centre, and in happierdays might have become the second founder of Tara. Butit was plain enough then, and it is tolerably so still, that this was not to be an age of restoration. The kingsof Ireland after this time, says the quaint old translatorof the Annals of Clonmacnoise, "had little good of it, "down to the days of King Brian. It was, in fact, aperpetual struggle for self-preservation--the first dutyof all governments, as well as the first law of allnature. The powerful action of the Gentile forces, uponan originally ill-centralized and recently much abusedConstitution, seemed to render it possible that everynew Ard-Righ would prove the last. Under the pressureof such a deluge all ancient institutions were shaken totheir foundations; and the venerable authority of Religionitself, like a Hermit in a mountain torrent, was contendingfor the hope of escape or existence. We must not, therefore, amid the din of the conflicts through which we are topass, condemn without stint or qualification those Princeswho were occasionally driven--as some of them _were_driven--to that last resort, the employment of foreignmercenaries (and those mercenaries often anti-Christians, )to preserve some show of native government and kinglyauthority. Grant that in some of them the use of suchallies and agents cannot be justified on any plea orpretext of state necessity; where base ends or unpatrioticmotives are clear or credible, such treason to countrycannot be too heartily condemned; but it is indeed farfrom certain that such were the motives in _all_ cases, or that such ought to be our conclusion in any, in theabsence of sufficient evidence to that effect. Though the Gentile power had experienced towards theclose of the last reign such severe reverses, yet it wasnot in the nature of the men of Norway to abandon a prizewhich was once so nearly being their own. The fugitiveswho escaped, as well as those who remained within thestrong ramparts of Waterford and Dublin, urged the fittingout of new expeditions, to avenge their slaughteredcountrymen and prosecute the conquest. But defeat stillfollowed on defeat; in the first year of Malachy, theylost 1, 200 men in a disastrous action near Castle Dermot, with Olcobar the Prince-bishop of Cashel; and in the sameor the next season they were defeated with the loss of700 men, by Malachy, at Forc, in Meath. In the third yearof Malachy, however, a new northern expedition arrivedin 140 vessels, which, according to the average capacityof the long-ships of that age, must have carried withthem from 7, 000 to 10, 000 men. Fortunately for theassailed, this fleet was composed of what they called_Black_-Gentiles, or Danes, as distinguished from theirpredecessors, the _Fair_-Gentiles, or Norwegians. Aquarrel arose between the adventurers of the two nationsas to the possession of the few remaining fortresses, especially of Dublin; and an engagement was fought alongthe Liffey, which "lasted for three days;" the Danesfinally prevailed, driving the Norwegians from theirstronghold, and cutting them off from their ships. Thenew Northern leaders are named Anlaf, or Olaf, Sitrick(Sigurd?) and Ivar; the first of the Danish Earls, whoestablished themselves at Dublin, Waterford and Limerickrespectively. Though the immediate result of the arrivalof the great fleet of 847 relieved for the moment theworst apprehensions of the invaded, and enabled them torally their means of defence, yet as Denmark had morethan double the population of Norway, it brought theminto direct collision with a more formidable power thanthat from which they had been so lately delivered. Thetactics of both nations were the same. No sooner had theyestablished themselves on the ruins of their predecessorsin Dublin, than the Danish forces entered East-Meath, under the guidance of Kenneth, a local lord, and overranthe ancient mensal, from the sea to the Shannon. One oftheir first exploits was burning alive 260 prisoners inthe tower of Treoit, in the island of Lough Gower, nearDunshaughlin. The next year, his allies having withdrawnfrom the neighbourhood, Kenneth was taken by King Malachy'smen, and the traitor himself drowned in a sack, in thelittle river Nanny, which divides the two baronies ofDuleek. This death-penalty by drowning seems to have beenone of the useful hints which the Irish picked up fromtheir invaders. During the remainder of this reign the Gentile war resumedmuch of its old local and guerrilla character, theProvincial chiefs, and the Ard-Righ, occasionally employingbands of one nation of the invaders to combat the other, and even to suppress their native rivals. The only pitchedbattle of which we hear is that of "the Two Plains" (nearCoolestown, King's County), in the second last year ofMalachy (A. D. 859), in which his usual good fortuneattended the king. The greater part of his reign wasoccupied, as always must be the case with the founder ofa new line, in coercing into obedience his former peers. On this business he made two expeditions into Munster, and took hostages from all the tribes of the Eugenianrace. With the same object he held a conference with allthe chiefs of Ulster, Hugh of Aileach only being absent, at Armagh, in the fourth year of his reign, and a General_Feis_, or Assembly of all the Orders of Ireland, atRathugh, in West-Meath, in his thirteenth year (A. D. 857). He found, notwithstanding his victories and hisearly popularity, that there are always those ready toturn from the setting to the rising sun, and towards theend of his reign he was obliged to defend his camp, nearArmagh, by force, from a night assault of the discontentedPrince of Aileach; who also ravaged his patrimony, almostat the moment he lay on his death-bed. Malachy I. Departedthis life on the 13th day of November, (A. D. 860), havingreigned sixteen years. "Mournful is the news to the Gael!"exclaims the elegiac Bard! "Red wine is spilled into thevalley! Erin's monarch has died!" And the lament contrastshis stately form as "he rode the white stallion, " withthe striking reverse when, "his only horse this day"--thatis the bier on which his body was borne to thechurchyard--"is drawn behind two oxen. " The restless Prince of Aileach now succeeded as Hugh VII. , and possessed the perilous honour he so much coveted forsixteen years, the same span that had been allotted tohis predecessor. The beginning of this reign was remarkablefor the novel design of the Danes, who marched out ingreat force, and set themselves busily to breaking openthe ancient mounds in the cemetery of the Pagan kings, beside the Boyne, in hope of finding buried treasure. The three Earls, Olaf, Sitrick, and Ivar, are said tohave been present, while their gold-hunters broke intoin succession the mound-covered cave of the wife of Goban, at Drogheda, the cave of "the Shepherd of Elcmar, " atDowth, the cave of the field of Aldai, at New Grange, and the similar cave at Knowth. What they found in thesehuge cairns of the old _Tuatha_ is not related; but Romancoins of Valentinian and Theodosius, and torques andarmlets of gold, have been discovered by accident withintheir precincts, and an enlightened modern curiosity hasnot explored them in vain, in the higher interests ofhistory and science. In the first two years of his reign, Hugh VII. Was occupiedin securing the hostages of his suffragans; in the thirdhe swept the remaining Danish and Norwegian garrisonsout of Ulster, and defeated a newly arrived force on theborders of Lough Foyle; the next the Danish Earls wenton a foray into Scotland, and no exploit is to be recorded;in his sixth year, Hugh, with 1, 000 chosen men of hisown tribe and the aid of the Sil-Murray (O'Conor's) ofConnaught, attacked and defeated a force of 5, 000 Daneswith their Leinster allies, near Dublin at a place supposedto be identical with Killaderry. Earl Olaf lost his son, and Erin her _Roydamna_, or heir-apparent, on this field, which was much celebrated by the Bards of Ulster and ofConnaught. Amongst those who fell was Flan, son of Conaing, chief of the district which included the plunderedcemeteries, fighting on the side of the plunderers. Themother of Flan was one of those who composed quatrainson the event of the battle, and her lines are a naturaland affecting alternation from joy to grief--joy for thetriumph of her brother and her country, and grief forthe loss of her self-willed, warlike son. Olaf, the Danishleader, avenged in the next campaign the loss of his son, by a successful descent on Armagh, once again rising fromits ruins. He put to the sword 1, 000 persons, and leftthe primatial city lifeless, charred, and desolate. Inthe next ensuing year the monarch chastised the Leinsterallies of the Danes, traversing their territory with fireand sword from Dublin to the border town of Gowran. Thisseems to have been the last of his notable exploits inarms. He died on the 20th of November, 876, and islamented by the Bards as "a generous, wise, staid man. "These praises belong--if at all deserved--to his old age. Flan, son of Malachy I. (and surnamed like his father"of the Shannon"), succeeded in the year 877, of theAnnals of the Four Masters, or more accurately the year879 of our common era. He enjoyed the very unusual reignof thirty-eight years. Some of the domestic events ofhis time are of so unprecedented a character, and theperiod embraced is so considerable, that we must devoteto it a separate chapter. CHAPTER III. REIGN OF FLAN "OF THE SHANNON" (A. D. 879 TO 916). Midway in the reign we are called upon to contemplate, falls the centenary of the first invasion of Ireland bythe Northmen. Let us admit that the scenes of thatcentury are stirring and stimulating; two gallant racesof men, in all points strongly contrasted, contend forthe most part in the open field, for the possession ofa beautiful and fertile island. Let us admit that theMilesian-Irish, themselves invaders and conquerors of anolder date, may have had no right to declare the era ofcolonization closed for their country, while its bestharbours were without ships, and leagues of its best landwere without inhabitants; yet what gives to the contestits lofty and fearful interest, is, that the foreignerswho come so far and fight so bravely for the prize, area Pagan people, drunk with the evil spirit of one of themost anti-Christian forms of human error. And what isstill worse, and still more to be lamented, it is becoming, after the experience of a century, plainer and plainer, that the Christian natives, while defending with unfalteringcourage their beloved country, are yet descending moreand more to the moral level of their assailants, withoutthe apology of their Paganism. Degenerate civilisationmay be a worse element for truth to work in than originalbarbarism; and, therefore, as we enter on the secondcentury of this struggle, we begin to fear for theChristian Irish, _not_ from the arms or the valour, butfrom the contact and example of the unbelievers. This, it is necessary to premise, before presenting to thereader a succession of Bishops who lead armies to battle, of Abbots whose voice is still for war, of treacheroustactics and savage punishments; of the almost totaldisruption of the last links of that federal bond, which, "though light as air were strong as iron, " before thecharm of inviolability had been taken away from theancient constitution. We begin to discern in this reign that royal marriageshave much to do with war and politics. Hugh, the lateking, left a widow, named Maelmara ("follower of Mary"), daughter to Kenneth M'Alpine, King of the CaledonianScots: this lady Flan married. The mother of Flan wasthe daughter of Dungal, Prince of Ossory, so that to thecotemporary lords of that borderland the monarch stoodin the relation of cousin. A compact seems to have beenentered into in the past reign, that the _Roydamna_, orsuccessor, should be chosen alternately from the Northernand Southern Hy-Nial; and, subsequently, when Nial, sonof his predecessor, assumed that onerous rank, Flan gavehim his daughter Gormley, celebrated for her beauty, hertalents, and her heartlessness, in marriage. From theseseveral family ties, uniting him so closely with Ossory, with the Scots, and with his successor, much of the warsand politics of Flan Siona's reign take their cast andcomplexion. A still more fruitful source of newcomplications was the co-equal power, acquired througha long series of aggressions, by the kings of Cashel. Their rivalry with the monarchy, from the beginning ofthe eighth till the end of the tenth century, was aconstant cause of intrigues, coalitions, and wars, reminding us of the constant rivalry of Athens withSparta, of Genoa with Venice. This kingship of Cashel, according to the Munster law of succession, "the will ofOlild, " ought to have alternated regularly between thedescendants of his sons, Eugene More and Cormac Cas--theEugenians and Dalcassians. But the families of the formerkindred were for many centuries the more powerful of thetwo, and frequently set at nought the testamentary lawof their common ancestor, leaving the tribe of Cas butthe border-land of Thomond, from which they had sometimesto pay tribute to Cruachan, and at others to Cashel. Inthe ninth century the competition among the Eugenianhouses--of which too many were of too nearly equalstrength--seems to have suggested a new expedient, withthe view of permanently setting aside the will of Olild. This was, to confer the kingship when vacant, on whoeverhappened to be Bishop of Emly or of Cashel, or on someother leading ecclesiastical dignitary, always providedthat he was of Eugenian descent; a qualification easilyto be met with, since the great sees and abbacies werenow filled, for the most part, by the sons of theneighbouring chiefs. In this way we find Cenfalad, Felim, and Olcobar, in this century, styled Prince-Bishops orPrince-Abbots. The principal domestic difficulty of FlanSiona's reign followed from the elevation of Cormac, sonof Cuillenan, from the see of Emly to the throne of Cashel. Cormac, a scholar, and, as became his calling, a man ofpeace, was thus, by virtue of his accession, therepresentative of the old quarrel between his predecessorsand the dominant race of kings. All Munster asserted thatit was never the intention of their common ancestors tosubject the southern half of Erin to the sway of thenorth; that Eber and Owen More had resisted such pretensionswhen advanced by Eremhon and Conn of the Hundred Battles;that the _esker_ from Dublin to Galway was the truedivision, and that, even admitting the title of theHy-Nial king as Ard-Righ, all the tribes south of the_esker_, whether in Leinster or Connaught, still owedtribute by ancient right to Cashel. Their antiquarieshad their own version in of "the Book of Rights, " whichcountenanced these claims to co-equal dominion, and theirBards drew inspiration from the same high pretensions. Party spirit ran so high that tales and prophecies wereinvented to show how St. Patrick had laid his curse onTara, and promised dominion to Cashel and to Dublin inits stead. All Leinster, except the lordship of Ossory--identical with the present diocese of the same name-washeld by the _Brehons_ of Cashel to be tributary to theirking; and this _Borooa_ or tribute, abandoned by themonarchs at the intercession of Saint Moling, was claimedfor the Munster rulers as an inseparable adjunct of theirsouthern kingdom. The first act of Flan Siona, on his accession, was todash into Munster, demanding hostages at the point ofthe sword, and sweeping over both Thomond and Desmondwith irresistible force, from Clare to Cork. With equalpromptitude he marched through every territory of Ulster, securing, by the pledges of their heirs and _Tanists_, the chiefs of the elder tribes of the Hy-Nial. Soeffectually did he consider his power established overthe provinces, that he is said to have boasted to one ofhis hostages, that he would, with no other attendantsthan his own servants, play a game of chess on ThurlesGreen, without fear of interruption. Carrying out thisfoolish wager, he accordingly went to his game at Thurles, and was very properly taken prisoner for his temerity, and made to pay a smart ransom to his captors. So runsthe tale, which, whether true or fictitious, is notwithout its moral. Flan experienced greater difficultywith the tribes of Connaught, nor was it till the thirteenthyear of his reign (892) that Cathal, their Prince, "cameinto his house, " in Meath, "under the protection of theclergy" of Clonmacnoise, and made peace with him. A briefinterval of repose seems to have been vouchsafed to thisPrince, in the last years of the century; but a stormwas gathering over Cashel, and the high pretensions ofthe Eugenian line were again to be put to the hazard ofbattle. Cormac, the Prince-Bishop, began his rule over Munsterin the year 900 of our common era, and passed some yearsin peace, after his accession. If we believe hispanegyrists, the land over which he bore sway, "was filledwith divine grace and worldly prosperity, " and with orderso unbroken, "that the cattle needed no cowherd, and theflocks no shepherd, so long as he was king. " Himself anantiquary and a lover of learning, it seems but naturalthat "many books were written, and many schools opened, "by his liberality. During this enviable interval, councillors of less pacific mood than their studiousmaster were not wanting to stimulate his sense of kinglyduty, by urging him to assert the claim of Munster tothe tribute of the southern half of Erin. As an antiquaryhimself, Cormac must have been bred up in undoubtingbelief in the justice of that claim, and must have givenjudgment in favour of its antiquity and validity, beforehis accession. These _dicta_ of his own were now quotedwith emphasis, and he was besought to enforce, by allthe means within his reach, the learned judgments hehimself had delivered. The most active advocate of arecourse to arms was Flaherty, Abbot of Scattery, in theShannon, himself an Eugenian, and the kinsman of Cormac. After many objections, the peaceful Prince-Bishop allowedhimself to be persuaded, and in the year 907 he took uphis line of march, "in the fortnight of the harvest, "from Cashel toward Gowran, at the head of all the armamentof Munster. Lorcan, son of Lactna, and grandfather ofBrian, commanded the Dalcassians, under Cormac; and Oliol, lord of Desies, and the warlike Abbot of Scattery, ledon the other divisions. The monarch marched southward tomeet his assailants, with his own proper troops, and thecontingents of Connaught under Cathel, Prince of thatProvince, and those of Leinster under the lead of Kerball, their king. Both armies met at Ballaghmoon, in the southerncorner of Kildare, not far from the present town ofCarlow, and both fought with most heroic bravery. TheMunster forces were utterly defeated; the Lords of Desies, of Fermoy, of Kinalmeaky, and of Kerry, the Abbots ofCork and Kennity, and Cormac himself, with 6, 000 men, fell on the ensanguined field. The losses of the victorsare not specified, but the 6, 000, we may hope, includedthe total of the slain on both sides. Flan at once improvedthe opportunity of victory by advancing into Ossory, andestablishing his cousin Dermid, son of Kerball, over thatterritory. This Dermid, who appears to have been banishedby Munster intrigues, had long resided with his royalcousin, previous to the battle, from which he was probablythe only one that derived any solid advantage. As to theAbbot Flaherty, the instigator of this ill-fated expedition, he escaped from the conquerors, and, safe in his islandsanctuary, gave himself up for a while to penitentialrigours. The worldly spirit, however, was not dead inhis breast, and after the decease of Cormac's nextsuccessor, he emerged from his cell, and was elevated tothe kingship of Cashel. In the earlier and middle years of this long reign, theinvasions from the Baltic had diminished both in forceand in frequency. This is to be accounted for from thefact, that during its entire length it was contemporaneouswith the reign of Harold, "the Fair-haired" King ofNorway, the scourge of the sea-kings. This more fortunateCharles XII. , born in 853, died at the age of 81, aftersixty years of almost unbroken successes, over all hisDanish, Swedish, and insular enemies. It is easy tocomprehend, by reference to his exploits upon the Baltic, the absence of the usual northern force from the Irishwaters, during his lifetime, and that of his cotemporary, Flan of the Shannon. Yet the race of the sea-kings wasnot extinguished by the fair-haired Harold's victoriesover them, at home. Several of them permanently abandonedtheir native coasts never to return, and recruited theircolonies, already so numerous, in the Orkneys, Scotland, England, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. In 885, Flan wasrepulsed in an attack on Dublin, in which repulse theAbbots of Kildare and Kildalkey were slain; in the year890, Aileach was surprised and plundered by Danes, forthe first time, and Armagh shared its fate; in 887, 888, and 891, three minor victories were gained over separatehordes, in Mayo, at Waterford, and in Ulidia (Down). In897, Dublin was taken for the first time in sixty years, its chiefs put to death, while its garrison fled in theirships beyond sea. But in the first quarter of the tenthcentury, better fortune begins to attend the Danish cause. A new generation enters on the scene, who dread no morethe long arm of the age-stricken Harold, nor respect thetreaties which bound their predecessors in Britain tothe great Alfred. In 912, Waterford received from sea astrong reinforcement, and about the same date, or stillearlier, Dublin, from which they had been expelled in897, was again in their possession. In 913, and forseveral subsequent years, the southern garrisons continuedtheir ravages in Munster, where the warlike Abbot ofScattery found a more suitable object for the employmentof his valour than that which brought him, with thestudious Cormac, to the fatal field of Ballaghmoon. The closing days of Flan of the Shannon were embitteredand darkened by the unnatural rebellion of his sons, Connor and Donogh, and his successor, Nial, surnamed_Black-Knee_ (_Glundubh_), the husband of his daughter, Gormley. These children were by his second marriage withGormley, daughter of that son of Conaing, whose name hasalready appeared in connection with the plundered sepulchresupon the Boyne. At the age of three score and upwardsFlan is frequently obliged to protect by recourse to armshis mensal lands in Meath-their favourite point ofattack-or to defend some faithful adherent whom theseunnatural Princes sought to oppress. The daughter ofFlan, thus wedded to a husband in arms against her father, seems to have been as little dutiful as his sons. We haveelegiac stanzas by her on the death of two of her husbandsand of one of her sons, but none on the death of herfather: although this form of tribute to the departed, by those skilled in such compositions, seems to have beenas usual as the ordinary prayers for the dead. At length, in the 37th year of his reign, and the 68thof his age, King Flan was at the end of his sorrows. Asbecame the prevailing character of his life, he diedpeacefully, in a religious house at Kyneigh, in Kildare, on the 8th of June, in the year 916, of the common era. The Bards praise his "fine shape" and "august mien, " aswell as his "pleasant and hospitable" private habits. Like all the kings of his race he seems to have beenbrave enough: but he was no lover of war for war's-sake, and the only great engagement in his long reign wasbrought on by enemies who left him no option but to fight. His munificence rebuilt the Cathedral of Clonmacnoise, with the co-operation of Colman, the Abbot, the yearafter the battle of Ballaghmoon (908); for which age, itwas the largest and finest stone Church in Ireland. Hischarity and chivalry both revolted at the cruel excessesof war, and when the head of Cormac of Cashel was presentedto him after his victory, he rebuked those who rejoicedover his rival's fall, kissed reverently the lips of thedead, and ordered the relics to be delivered, as Cormachad himself willed it, to the Church of Castledermot, for Christian burial. These traits of character, not lessthan his family afflictions, and the generally peacefultenor of his long life, have endeared to many the memoryof Flan of the Shannon. CHAPTER IV. KINGS OF THE TENTH CENTURY; NIAL IV. ; DONOGH II. ;CONGAL III. ; DONALD IV. Nial IV. (surnamed _Black-Knee_) succeeded hisfather-in-law, Flan of the Shannon (A. D. 916), and inthe third year of his reign fell in an assault on Dublin;Donogh II. , son of Flan Siona, reigned for twenty-fiveyears; Congal III. Succeeded, and was slain in an ambushby the Dublin Danes, in the twelfth year of his reign(A. D. 956); Donald IV. , in the twenty-fourth year of hisreign, died at Armagh, (A. D. 979); which four reignsbring us to the period of the accession of Malachy II. As _Ard-Righ_, and the entrance of Brian Boru, on thenational stage, as King of Cashel, and competitor forthe monarchy. The reign of Nial _Black-Knee_ was too brief to bememorable for any other event than his heroic death inbattle. The Danes having recovered Dublin, and strengthenedits defences, Nial, it is stated, was incited by hisconfessor, the Abbot of Bangor, to attempt theirre-expulsion. Accordingly, in October, 919, he marchedtowards Dublin, with a numerous host; Conor, son of thelate king and _Roydamna_; the lords of Ulidia (Down), Oriel (Louth), Breagh (East-Meath), and other chiefs, with their clans accompanying him. Sitrick and Ivar, sonsof the first Danish leaders in Ireland, marched out tomeet them, and near Rathfarnham, on the Dodder, a battlewas fought, in which the Irish were utterly defeated andtheir monarch slain. This Nial left a son named Murkertach, who, according to the compact entered into between theNorthern and Southern Hy-Nial, became the _Roydamna_ ofthe next reign, and the most successful leader againstthe Danes, since the time of Malachy I. He was the step-sonof the poetic Lady Gormley, whose lot it was to have beenmarried in succession to the King of Munster, the Kingof Leinster, and the Monarch. Her first husband wasCormac, son of Cuilenan, before he entered holy orders;her second, Kerball of Leinster, and her third, Nial_Black-Knee_. She was an accomplished poetess, besidesbeing the daughter, wife, and mother of king's, yet afterthe death of Nial she "begged from door to door, " and noone had pity on her fallen state. By what vices she hadthus estranged from her every kinsman, and every dependent, we are left to imagine; but that such was her misfortune, at the time her brother was monarch, and her step-sonsuccessor, we learn from the annals, which record herpenance and death, under the date of 948. The defeat sustained near Rathfarnham, by the late king, was amply avenged in the first year of the new _Ard-Righ_(A. D. 920), when the Dublin Danes, having marched out, taken and burned Kells, in Meath, were on their returnthrough the plain of Breagh, attacked and routed withunprecedented slaughter. "There fell of the nobles ofthe Norsemen here, " say the old Annalists, "as many asfell of the nobles and plebeians of the Irish, atAth-Cliath" (Dublin). The Northern Hydra, however, wasnot left headless. Godfrey, grandson of Ivar, and Tomar, son of Algi, took command at Dublin, and Limerick, infusingnew life into the remnant of their race. The youthfulson of the late king, soon after at the head of a strongforce (A. D. 921), compelled Godfrey to retreat fromUlster, to his ships, and to return by sea to Dublin. This was Murkertach, fondly called by the elegiac Bards, "the Hector of the West, " and for his heroic achievements, not undeserving to be named after the gallant defenderof Troy. Murkertach first appears in our annals at theyear 921, and disappears in the thick of the battle in938. His whole career covers seventeen years; his positionthroughout was subordinate and expectant--for King Donoghoutlived his heir: but there are few names in any age ofthe history of his country more worthy of historicalhonour than his. While Donogh was king in name, Murkertachwas king in fact; on him devolved the burden of everynegotiation, and the brunt of every battle. Unlike hisancestor, Hugh of Aileach, in his opposition to Donogh'sancestor, Malachy I. , he never attempts to counteractthe king, or to harass him in his patrimony. He ratherdoes what is right and needful himself, leaving Donoghto claim the credit, if he be so minded. True, a coolnessand a quarrel arises between them, and even "a challengeof battle" is exchanged, but better councils prevail, peace is restored, and the king and the _Roydamna_ marchas one man against the common enemy. It has been said ofanother but not wholly dissimilar form of government, that Crown-Princes are always in opposition; if thissaying holds good of father and son, as occupant andexpectant of a throne, how much more likely is it to betrue of a successor and a principal, chosen from differentdynasties, with a view to combine, or at worst to balance, conflicting hereditary interests? In the conduct ofMurkertach, we admire, in turn, his many shining personalqualities, which even tasteless panegyric cannot hide, and the prudence, self-denial, patience, and preservancewith which he awaits his day of power. Unhappily, forone every way so worthy of it, that day never arrived! At no former period, --not even at the height of thetyranny of Turgesius, --was a capable Prince more neededin Erin. The new generation of Northmen were again uponall the estuaries and inland waters of the Island. Inthe years 923-4 and 5, their light armed vessels swarmedon Lough Erne, Lough Ree, and other lakes, spreadingflame and terror on every side. Clonmacnoise and Kildare, slowly recovering from former pillage, were again leftempty and in ruins. Murkertach, the base of whose earlyoperations was his own patrimony in Ulster, attacked nearNewry a Northern division under the command of the sonof Godfrey (A. D. 926), and left 800 dead on the field. The escape of the remnant was only secured by Godfreymarching rapidly to their relief and covering the retreat. His son lay with the dead. In the years 933, at SlieveBehma, in his own Province, Murkertach won a third victory;and in 936, taking political advantage of the result ofthe great English battle of Brunanburgh, which had soseriously diminished the Danish strength, the Roydamna, in company with the King, assaulted Dublin, expelled itsgarrison, levelled its fortress, and left the dwellingsof the Northmen in ashes. From Dublin they proceededsouthward, through Leinster and Munster, and after takinghostages of every tribe, Donogh returned to his Methianhome and Murkertach to Aileach. While resting in his ownfort (A. D. 939), he was surprised by a party of Danes, and carried off to their ships, but, says the old translatorof the Annals of Clonmacnoise, "he made a good escapefrom them, as it was God's will. " The following seasonhe redoubled his efforts against the enemy. Attackingthem on their own element, he ravaged their settlementson the Scottish coasts and among the isles of Insi-Gall(the Hebrides), returned laden with spoils, and hailedwith acclamations as the liberator of his people. Of the same age with Murkertach, the reigning Prince atCashel was Kellachan, one of the heroes of the latterBards and Story-tellers of the South. The romantic talesof his capture by the Danes, and captivity in their fleetat Dundalk, of the love which Sitrick's wife bore him, and of his gallant rescue by the Dalcassians and Eugenians, have no historical sanction. He was often both at warand at peace with the foreigners of Cork and Limerick, and did not hesitate more than once to employ their armsfor the maintenance of his own supremacy; but his onlyauthentic captivity was, as a hostage, in the hands ofMurkertach. While the latter was absent, on his expeditionto Insi-Gall, Kellachan fell upon the Deisi and Ossorians, and inflicted severe chastisement upon them-alleging, ashis provocation, that they had given hostages to Murkertach, and acknowledged him as _Roydamna_ of all Erin, in contemptof the co-equal rights of Cashel. When Murkertach returnedfrom his Scotch expedition, and heard what had occurred, and on what pretext Kellachan had acted, he assembled atAileach all the branches of the Northern Hy-Nial, forwhom this was cause, indeed. Out of these he selected1000 chosen men, whom he provided, among other equipments, with those "leathern coats, " which lent a _soubriquet_to his name; and with these "ten hundred heroes, " he setout--strong in his popularity and his alliances--to makea circuit of the entire island (A. D. 940). He departedfrom Aileach, says his Bard, whose Itinerary we have, "keeping his left hand to the sea;" Dublin, once morerebuilt, acknowledged his title, and Sitrick, one of itslords, went with him as hostage for Earl Blacair and hiscountrymen; Leinster surrendered him Lorcan, its King;Kellachan, of Cashel, overawed by his superior fortune, advised his own people not to resist by force, andconsented to become himself the hostage for all Munster. In Connaught, Conor, (from whom the O'Conors take theirfamily name), son of the Prince, came voluntarily to hiscamp, and was received with open arms. Kellachan alonewas submitted to the indignity of wearing a fetter. Withthese distinguished hostages, Murkertach and hisleather-cloaked "ten hundred" returned to Aileach, where, for five months, they spent a season of unbounded rejoicing. In the following year, the _Roydamna_ transferred thehostages to King Donogh, as his _suzerain_, thus settingthe highest example of obedience from the highest place. He might now look abroad over all the tribes of Erin, and feel himself without a rival among his countrymen. He stood at the very summit of his good fortune, whenthe Danes of Dublin, reinforced from abroad, after his"Circuit, " renewed their old plundering practices. Theymarched north, at the close of winter, under Earl Blacair, their destination evidently being Armagh. Murkertach, with some troops hastily collected, disputed their passageat the ford of Ardee. An engagement ensued on Saturday, the 4th of March, 943, in which the noble _Roydamna_fell. King Donogh, to whose reign his vigorous spirithas given its main historical importance, survived himbut a twelvemonth; the Monarch died in the bed of repose;his destined successor in the thick of battle. The death of the brave and beloved Murkertach filled allErin with grief and rage, and as King Donogh was too oldto avenge his destined successor, that duty devolved onCongal, the new _Roydamna_. In the year after the fatalaction at Ardee, Congal, with Brann, King of Leinster, and Kellach, heir of Leinster, assaulted and took Dublin, and wreaked a terrible revenge for the nation's loss. The "women, children, and plebeians, " were carried offcaptive; the greater part of the garrison were put tothe sword; but a portion escaped in their vessels totheir fortress on Dalkey, an island in the bay of Dublin. This was the third time within a century that Dublin hadbeen rid of its foreign yoke, and yet as the Gaelic-Irishwould not themselves dwell in fortified towns, the siteremained open and unoccupied, to be rebuilt as often asit might be retaken. The gallant Congal, the same year, succeeded on the death of Donogh to the sovereignty, and, so soon as he had secured his seat, and surrounded itwith sufficient hostages, he showed that he could notonly avenge the death, but imitate the glorious life ofhim whose place he held. Two considerable victories inhis third and fourth years increased his fame, and rejoicedthe hearts of his countrymen: the first was won at Slane, aided by the Lord of Breffni (O'Ruarc), and by Olaf theCrooked, a northern chief. The second was fought at Dublin(947), in which Blacair, the victor at Ardee, and 1, 600of his men were slain. Thus was the death of Murkertachfinally avenged. It is very remarkable that the first conversions toChristianity among the Danes of Dublin should have takenplace immediately after these successive defeats--in 948. Nor, although quite willing to impute the best and mostdisinterested motives to these first neophytes, can weshut our eyes to the fact that no change of life, suchas we might reasonably look for, accompanied their changeof religion. Godfrid, son of Sitrick, and successor ofBlacair, who professed himself a Christian in 948, plundered and destroyed the churches of East-Meath in949, burnt 150 persons in the oratory of Drumree, andcarried off as captives 3, 000 persons. If the tree is tobe judged by its fruits, this first year's growth of thenew faith is rather alarming. It compels us to disbelievethe sincerity of Godfrid, at least, and the fighting menwho wrought these outrages and sacrileges. It forces usto rank them with the incorrigible heathens who boastedthat they had twenty times received the Sacrament ofBaptism, and valued it for the twenty white robes whichhad been presented to them on those occasions. Still, wemust endeavour hereafter, when we can, to distinguishChristian from Pagan Danes, and those of Irish birth, sons of the first comers, from the foreign-born kinsmenof their ancestors. Between these two classes there grewa gulf of feeling and experience, which a common languageand common dangers only partially bridged over. Not seldomthe interests and inclinations of the Irish-born Dane, especially if a true Christian, were at open variancewith the interests and designs of the new arrivals fromDenmark, and it is generally, if not invariably, withthe former, that the Leinster and other Irish Princesenter into coalitions for common political purposes. The remainder of the reign of Congal is one vigorousbattle. The Lord of Breffni, who had fought beside himon the hill of Slane, advanced his claim to be recognised_Roydamna_, and this being denied, broke out into rebellionand harassed his patrimony. Donald, son of Murkertach, and grandson of Nial, (the first who took the name of_Uai-Nial_, or O'Neill), disputed these pretensions ofthe Lord of Breffni; carried his boats overland fromAileach to Lough Erne in Fermanagh, and Lough Oughter inCavan; attacked the lake-islands, where the treasure andhostages of Breffni were kept, and carried them off tohis own fortress. The warlike and indefatigable king wasin the field summer and winter enforcing his authorityon Munster and Connaught, and battling with the foreigngarrisons between times. No former Ard-Righ had a severerstruggle with the insubordinate elements which beset himfrom first to last. His end was sudden, but not inglorious. In returning from the chariot-races at the Curragh ofKildare, he was surprised and slain in an ambuscade laidfor him by Godfrid at a place on the banks of the Liffeycalled Tyraris or Teeraris house. By his side, fightingbravely, fell the lords of Teffia and Ferrard, two ofhis nephews, and others of his personal attendants andcompanions. The Dublin Danes had in their turn a day ofrejoicing and of revenge for the defeats they had sufferedat Congal's hands. This reign is not only notable for the imputed firstconversion of the Danes to Christianity, but also forthe general adoption of family names. Hitherto, we havebeen enabled to distinguish clansmen only by tribe-namesformed by prefixing _Hy_, _Kinnel_, _Sil_, _Muintir_, _Dal_, or some synonymous term, meaning race, kindred, sept, district, or part, to the proper name of a remotecommon ancestor, as Hy-Nial, Kinnel-Connel, Sil-Murray, Muintir-Eolais, Dal-g Cais, and Dal-Riada. But the greattribes now begin to break into families, and we arehereafter to know particular houses, by distinct hereditarysurnames, as O'Neill, O'Conor, MacMurrough, and McCarthy. Yet, the whole body of relatives are often spoken of bythe old tribal title, which, unless exceptions are named, is supposed to embrace all the descendants of the oldconnection to whom it was once common. At first thisalternate use of tribe and family names may confuse thereader--for it _is_ rather puzzling to find a MacLoughlinwith the same paternal ancestor as an O'Neill, and aMcMahon of Thomond as an O'Brien, but the difficultydisappears with use and familiarity, and though the numberand variety of newly-coined names cannot be at oncecommitted to memory, the story itself gains in distinctnessby the change. In the year 955, Donald O'Neill, son of the brave andbeloved Murkertach, was recognised as Ard-Righ, by therequired number of Provinces, without recourse to coercion. But it was _not_ to be expected that any Ard-Righ should, at this period of his country's fortunes, reign long inpeace. War was then the business of the King; the firstart he had to learn, and the first to practise. Warfarein Ireland had not been a stationary science since thearrival of the Norwegians and their successors, the Danes. Something they may have acquired from the natives, andin turn the natives were not slow to copy whatever seemedmost effective in their tactics. Donald IV. Was thefirst to imitate their habit of employing armed boats onthe inland lakes. He even improved on their example, bycarrying these boats with him overland, and launchingthem wherever he needed their co-operation; as we havealready seen him do in his expedition against Breffni, while _Roydamna_, and as we find him doing again, in theseventh year of his reign, when he carried his boatsoverland from Armagh to West-Meath in order to employthem on Loch Ennell, near Mullingar. He was at this timeengaged in making his first royal visitation of theProvinces, upon which he spent two months in Leinster, with all his forces, coerced the Munster chiefs by fireand sword into obedience, and severely punished theinsubordination of Fergal O'Ruarc, King of Connaught. His fleet upon Loch Ennell, and his severities generallywhile in their patrimony, so exasperated the powerfulfamilies of the Southern Hy-Nial (the elder of which wasnow known as O'Melaghlin), that on the first opportunitythey leagued with the Dublin Danes, under their leader, Olaf "the Crooked" (A. D. 966), and drove King Donald outof Leinster and Meath, pursuing him across Slieve-Fuaid, almost to the walls of Aileach. But the brave tribes ofTyrconnell and Tyrowen rallied to his support, and hepressed south upon the insurgents of Meath and Dublin;West-Meath he rapidly overran, and "planted a garrisonin every cantred from the Shannon to Kells, " In thecampaigns which now succeeded each other, without truceor pause, for nearly a dozen years, the Leinster peoplegenerally sympathised with and assisted those of West-Meath, and Olaf, of Dublin, who recruited his ranks by thejunction of the Lagmans, a warlike tribe, from Insi-Gall(the Hebrides). Ossory, on the other hand, acted withthe monarch, and the son of its Tanist (A. D. 974) wasslain before Dublin, by Olaf and his Leinster allies, with 2, 600 men, of Ossory and Ulster. The campaign of978 was still more eventful: the Leinster men quarrelledwith their Danish allies, who had taken their king captive, and in an engagement at Belan, near Athy, defeated theirforces, with the loss of the heir of Leinster, the lordsof Kinsellagh, Lea and Morett, and other chiefs. KingDonald had no better fortune at Killmoon, in Meath, thesame season, where he was utterly routed by the sameforce, with the loss of Ardgal, heir of Ulidia, andKenneth, lord of Tyrconnell. But for the victories gainedabout the same period in Munster, by Mahon and Brian, the sons of Kennedy, over the Danes of Limerick, of whichwe shall speak more fully hereafter, the balance ofvictory would have strongly inclined towards the Northmenat this stage of the contest. A leader, second in fame and in services only to Brian, was now putting forth his energies against the commonenemy, in Meath. This was Melaghlin, better known afterwardsas Malachy II. , son of Donald, son of King Donogh, and, therefore, great-grandson to his namesake, Malachy I. Hehad lately attained to the command of his tribe--and heresolved to earn the honours which were in store for him, as successor to the sovereignty. In the year 979, theDanes of Dublin and the Isles marched in unusual strengthinto Meath, under the command of Rannall, son of Olafthe Crooked, and Connail, "the Orator of Ath-Cliath, "(Dublin). Malachy, with his allies, gave them battle nearTara, and achieved a complete victory. Earl Rannall andthe Orator were left dead on the field, with, it isreported, 5, 000 of the foreigners. On the Irish side fellthe heir of Leinster, the lord of Morgallion and his son;the lords of Fertullagh and Cremorne, and a host of theirfollowers. The engagement, in true Homeric spirit, hadbeen suspended on three successive nights, and renewedthree successive days. It was a genuine pitched battle--atrial of main strength, each party being equally confidentof victory. The results were most important, and mostgratifying to the national pride. Malachy, accompaniedby his friend, the lord of Ulidia (Down), moved rapidlyon Dublin, which, in its panic, yielded to all his demands. The King of Leinster and 2, 000 other prisoners were givenup to him without ransom. The Danish Earls solemnlyrenounced all claims to tribute or fine from any of thedwellers without their own walls. Malachy remained inthe city three days, dismantled its fortresses, andcarried off its hostages and treasure. The unfortunateOlaf the Crooked fled beyond seas, and died at Iona, inexile, and a Christian. In the same year, and in themidst of universal rejoicing, Donald IV. Died peacefullyand piously at Armagh, in the 24th year of his reign. Hewas succeeded by Malachy, who was his sister's son, andin whom all the promise of the lamented Murkertach seemedto revive. The story of Malachy II. Is so interwoven with thestill-more illustrious career of Brian _Borooa_, that itwill not lose in interest by being presented in detail. But before entering on the rivalry of these great men, we must again remark on the altered position which theNorthmen of this age hold to the Irish from that whichexisted formerly. A century and a half had now elapsedsince their first settlement in the seaports, especiallyof the eastern and southern Provinces. More than onegeneration of their descendants had been born on thebanks of the Liffey, the Shannon, and the Suir. Many ofthem had married into Irish families, had learned thelanguage of the country, and embraced its religion. WhenLimerick was taken by Brian, Ivar, its Danish lord, fledfor sanctuary to Scattery Island, and when Dublin wastaken by Malachy II. , Olaf the Crooked fled to Iona. Inter-marriages with the highest Gaelic families becamefrequent, after their conversion to Christianity. Themother of Malachy, after his father's death, had marriedOlaf of Dublin, by whom she had a son, named _Gluniarran(Iron-Knee_, from his armour), who was thus half-brotherto the King. It is natural enough to find him the allyof Malachy, a few years later, against Ivar of Waterford;and curious enough to find Ivar's son calledGilla-Patrick--servant of Patrick. Kellachan of Cashelhad married a Danish, and Sitrick "of the Silken beard, "an Irish lady. That all the Northmen were not, even inIreland, converted in one generation, is evident. Thoseof Insi-Gall were still, perhaps, Pagans; those of theOrkneys and of Denmark, who came to the battle of Clontarfin the beginning of the next century, chose to fight onGood Friday under the advice of their heathen Oracles. The first half of the eleventh century, the age of SaintOlaf and of Canute, is the era of the establishment ofChristianity among the Scandinavians, and hence thenecessity for distinguishing between those who came toIreland, direct from the Baltic, from those who, born inIreland and bred up in the Christian faith, had as muchto apprehend from such an invasion, as the Celts themselves. CHAPTER V. REIGN OF MALACHY II. AND RIVALRY OF BRIAN. Melaghlin, or Malachy II. , fifth in direct descent fromMalachy I. (the founder of the Southern Hy-Nial dynasty), was in his thirtieth year when (A. D. 980) he succeededto the monarchy. He had just achieved the mighty victoryof Tara when the death of his predecessor opened his wayto the throne; and seldom did more brilliant dawn usherin a more eventful day than that which Fate held in storefor this victor-king. None of his predecessors, not evenhis ancestor and namesake, had ever been able to use thehigh language of his "noble Proclamation, " when heannounced on his accession--"Let all the Irish who aresuffering servitude in the land of the stranger returnhome to their respective houses and enjoy themselves ingladness and in peace. " In obedience to this edict, andthe power to enforce it established by the victory atTara, 2, 000 captives, including the King of Leinster andthe Prince of Aileach, were returned to their homes. The hardest task of every Ard-Righ of this and the previouscentury had been to circumscribe the ambition of thekings of Cashel within Provincial bounds. Whoever ascendedthe southern throne--whether the warlike Felim or thelearned Cormac--we have seen the same policy adopted bythem all. The descendants of Heber had tired of the longascendancy of the race of Heremon, and the desertion ofTara, by making that ascendancy still more strikinglyProvincial, had increased their antipathy. It was astruggle for supremacy between north and south; a contestof two geographical parties; an effort to efface the realor fancied dependency of one-half the island on the willof the other. The Southern Hy-Nial dynasty, springing upas a third power upon the Methian bank of the Shannon, and balancing itself between the contending parties, might perhaps have given a new centre to the whole system;Malachy II. Was in the most favourable position possibleto have done so, had he not had to contend with a rival, his equal in battle and superior in council, in the personof Brian, the son of Kennedy, of Kincorra. The rise to sovereign rank of the house of Kincorra (theO'Briens), is one of the most striking episodes of thetenth century. Descending, like most of the leadingfamilies of the South, from Olild, the Clan Dalgais hadlong been excluded from the throne of Cashel, by successivecoalitions of their elder brethren, the Eugenians. Lactnaand Lorcan, the grandfather and father of Kennedy, intrepidand able men, had strengthened their tribe by wise andvigorous measures, so that the former was able to claimthe succession, apparently with success. Kennedy hadhimself been a claimant for the same honour, the alternateprovision in the will of Olild, against Kellachan Cashel(A. D. 940-2), but at the Convention held at Glanworth, on the river Funcheon, for the selection of king, theaged mother of Kellachan addressed his rival in a quatrain, beginning-- "Kennedi Cas revere the law!" which induced him to abandon his pretensions. This Prince, usually spoken of by the Bards as "the chaste Kennedy, "died in the year 950, leaving behind him four or fiveout of twelve sons, with whom he had been blessed. Mostof the others had fallen in Danish battles--three in thesame campaign (943), and probably in the same field. There appear in after scenes, Mahon, who became King ofCashel; Echtierna, who was chief of Thomond, under Mahon;Marcan, an ecclesiastic, and Brian, born in 941, theBenjamin of the household. Mahon proved himself, as Princeand Captain, every way worthy of his inheritance. Headvanced from victory to victory over his enemies, foreignand domestic. In 960 he claimed the throne of Munster, which claim he enforced by royal visitation five yearslater. In the latter year, he rescued Clonmacnoise fromthe Danes, and in 968 defeated the same enemy, with aloss of several thousand men at Sulchoid. This great blowhe followed up by the sack of Limerick, from which "hebore off a large quantity of gold, and silver, and jewels. "In these, and all his expeditions, from a very early age, he was attended by Brian, to whom he acted not only asa brother and prince, but as a tutor in arms. Fortunehad accompanied him in all his undertakings. He hadexpelled his most intractable rival--Molloy, son ofBran, lord of Desmond; his rule was acknowledged by theNorthmen of Dublin and Cork, who opened their fortressesto him, and served under his banner; he carried "all thehostages of Munster to his house, " which had never beforeworn so triumphant an aspect. But family greatness begetsfamily pride, and pride begets envy and hatred. TheEugenian families who now found themselves overshadowedby the brilliant career of the sons of Kennedy, conspiredagainst the life of Mahon, who, from his too confidingnature, fell easily into their trap. Molloy, son of Bran, by the advice of Ivar, the Danish lord of Limerick, proposed to meet Mahon in friendly conference at thehouse of Donovan, an Eugenian chief, whose rath was atBruree, on the river Maigue. The safety of each personwas guaranteed by the Bishop of Cork, the mediator onthe occasion. Mahon proceeded unsuspiciously to theconference, where he was suddenly seized by order of histreacherous host, and carried into the neighbouringmountains of Knocinreorin. Here a small force, placedfor the purpose by the conspirators, had orders promptlyto despatch their victim. But the foul deed was not doneunwitnessed. Two priests of the Bishop of Cork followedthe Prince, who, when arrested, snatched up "the Gospelof St. Barry, " on which Molloy was to have sworn hisfealty. As the swords of the assassins were aimed at hisheart, he held up the Gospel for a protection, and hisblood spouting out, stained the Sacred Scriptures. Thepriests, taking up the blood-stained volume, fled totheir Bishop, spreading the horrid story as they went. The venerable successor of St. Barry "wept bitterly, anduttered a prophecy concerning the future fate of themurderers;" a prophecy which was very speedily fulfilled. This was in the year 976, three or four years before thebattle of Tara and the accession of Malachy. When thenews of his noble-hearted brother's murder was broughtto Brian, at Kinkora, he was seized with the most violentgrief. His favourite harp was taken down, and he sangthe death-song of Mahon, recounting all the gloriousactions of his life. His anger flashed out through histears, as he wildly chanted "My heart shall burst within my breast, Unless I avenge this great king; They shall forfeit life for this foul deed Or I must perish by a violent death. " But the climax of his lament was, that Mahon "had notfallen in battle behind the shelter of his shield, ratherthan trust in the treacherous words of Donovan. " Brianwas now in his thirty-fifth year, was married, and hadseveral children. Morrogh, his eldest, was able to beararms, and shared in his ardour and ambition. "His firsteffort, " says an old Chronicle, "was directed againstDonovan's allies, the Danes of Limerick, and he slew Ivartheir king, and two of his sons. " These conspirators, foreseeing their fate, had retired into the holy isle ofScattery, but Brian slew them between "the horns of thealtar. " For this violation of the sanctuary, consideringhis provocation, he was little blamed. He next turnedhis rage against Donovan, who had called to his aid theDanish townsmen of Desmond. "Brian, " says the Annalistof Innisfallen, "gave them battle where Auliffe and hisDanes, and Donovan and his Irish forces, were all cutoff. " After that battle, Brian sent a challenge to Molloy, of Desmond, according to the custom of that age, to meethim in arms near Macroom, where the usual coalition, Danes and Irish, were against him. He completely routedthe enemy, and his son Morrogh, then but a lad, "killedthe murderer of his uncle Mahon with his own hand. " Molloywas buried on the north side of the mountain where Mahonwas murdered and interred; on Mahon the southward sunshone full and fair; but on the grave of his assassin, the black shadow of the northern sky rested always. Suchwas the tradition which all Munster piously believed. After this victory over Molloy, son of Bran (A. D. 978), Brian was universally acknowledged King of Munster, anduntil Malachy had won the battle of Tara, was justlyconsidered the first Irish captain of his age. Malachy, in the first year of his reign, having receivedthe hostages of the Danes of Dublin, having liberatedthe Irish prisoners and secured the unity of his ownterritory, had his attention drawn, naturally enough, towards Brian's movements. Whether Brian had refusedhim homage, or that his revival of the old claim to thehalf-kingdom was his offence, or from whatever immediatecause, Malachy marched southwards, enforcing homage ashe went. Entering Thomond he plundered the Dalcassians, and marching to the mound at Adair, where, under an oldoak, the kings of Thomond had long been inaugurated, hecaused it to be "dug from the earth with its roots, " andcut into pieces. This act of Malachy's certainly bespeaksan embittered and aggressive spirit, and the provocationmust, indeed, have been grievous to palliate so barbarousan action. But we are not informed what the provocationwas. At the time Brian was in Ossory enforcing his tribute;the next year we find him seizing the person ofGilla-Patrick, Lord of Ossory, and soon after he burstinto Meath, avenging with fire and sword the wantondestruction of his ancestral oak. Thus were these two powerful Princes openly embroiledwith each other. We have no desire to dwell on all thedetails of their struggle, which continued for fullytwenty years. About the year 987, Brian was practicallyking of half Ireland, and having the power, (though notthe title, ) he did not suffer any part of it to lie waste. His activity was incapable of exhaustion; in Ossory, inLeinster, in Connaught, his voice and his arm were felteverywhere. But a divided authority was of necessity sofavourable to invasion, that the Danish power began toloom up to its old proportions. Sitrick, "with the silkenbeard, " one of the ablest of Danish leaders, was then atDublin, and his occasional incursions were so formidable, that they produced (what probably nothing else could havedone) an alliance between Brian and Malachy, which lastedfor three years, and was productive of the bestconsequences. Thus, in 997, they imposed their yoke onDublin, taking "hostages and jewels" from the foreigners. Reinforcements arriving from the North, the indomitableDanes proceeded to plunder Leinster, but were routed byBrian and Malachy at Glen-Mama, in Wicklow, with the lossof 6, 000 men and all their chief captains. Immediatelyafter this victory the two kings, according to the Annals, "entered into Dublin, and the fort thereof, and thereremained seven nights, and at their departure took allthe gold, silver, hangings, and other precious thingsthat were there with them, burnt the town, broke downthe fort, and banished Sitrick from thence" (A. D. 999). The next three years of Brian's life are the most complexin his career. After resting a night in Meath, withMalachy, he proceeded with his forces towards Armagh, nominally on a pilgrimage, but really, as it would seem, to extend his party. He remained in the sacred city aweek, and presented ten ounces of gold, at the Cathedralaltar. The Archbishop Marian received him with thedistinction due to so eminent a guest, and a record ofhis visit, in which he is styled "Imperator of the Irish, "was entered in the book of St. Patrick. He, however, gotno hostages in the North, but on his march southward, helearned that the Danes had returned to Dublin, wererebuilding the City and Fort, and were ready to offersubmission and hostages to him, while refusing both toMalachy. Here Brian's eagerness for supremacy misled him. He accepted the hostages, joined the foreign forces tohis own, and even gave his daughter in marriage to Sitrickof "the silken beard. " Immediately he broke with Malachy, and with his new allies and son-in-law, marched intoMeath in hostile array. Malachy, however, stood to hisdefence; attacked and defeated Brian's advance guard ofDanish horse, and the latter, unwilling apparently topush matters to extremities, retired as he came, without"battle, or hostage, or spoil of any kind. " But his design of securing the monarchy was not for aninstant abandoned, and, by combined diplomacy and force, he effected his end. His whole career would have beenincomplete without that last and highest conquest overevery rival. Patiently but surely he had gatheredinfluence and authority, by arms, by gifts, by connectionson all sides. He had propitiated the chief families ofConnaught by his first marriage with More, daughter ofO'Heyne, and his second marriage with Duvchalvay, daughterof O'Conor. He had obtained one of the daughters ofGodwin, the powerful Earl of Kent, for his second son;had given a daughter to the Prince of Scots, and anotherto the Danish King of Dublin. Malachy, in diplomatic skill, in foresight, and in tenacityof purpose, was greatly inferior to Brian, though inpersonal gallantry and other princely qualities, everyway his equal. He was of a hospitable, out-spoken, enjoying disposition, as we gather from many characteristicanecdotes. He is spoken of as "being generally computedthe best horseman in those parts of Europe;" and as onewho "delighted to ride a horse that was never broken, handled, or ridden, until the age of seven years. " Froman ancient story, which represents him as giving hisrevenues for a year to one of the Court Poets and thenfighting him with a "headless staff" to compel the Poetto return them, it would appear that his good humour andprofusion were equal to his horsemanship. Finding Brian'sinfluence still on the increase west of the Shannon, Malachy, in the year of our Lord 1000, threw two bridgesacross the Shannon, one at Athlone, the other at thepresent Lanesborough. This he did with the consent andassistance of O'Conor, but the issue was as usual--hemade the bridges, and Brian profited by them. WhileMalachy was at Athlone superintending the work, Brianarrived with a great force recruited from all quarters(except Ulster), including Danish men-in-armour. AtAthlone was held the conference so memorable in ourannals, in which Brian gave his rival the alternative ofa pitched battle, within a stated time, or abdication. According to the Southern Annalists, first a month, andafterwards a year, were allowed the Monarch to make hischoice. At the expiration of the time Brian marched intoMeath, and encamped at Tara, where Malachy, having vainlyendeavoured to secure the alliance of the Northern Hy-Nialin the interval, came and submitted to Brian withoutsafeguard or surety. The unmade monarch was accompaniedby a guard "of twelve score horsemen, " and on his arrival, proceeded straight to the tent of his successor. Herethe rivals contended in courtesy, as they had often donein arms, and when they separated, Brian, as Lord Paramount, presented Malachy as many horses as he had horsemen inhis train when he came to visit him. This event happenedin the year 1001, when Brian was in his 60th and Malachyin his 53rd year. There were present at the Assembly allthe princes and chiefs of the Irish, except the Princeof Aileach, and the Lords of Oriel, Ulidia, Tyrowen andTyrconnell, who were equally unwilling to assist Malachyor to acknowledge Brian. What is still more remarkableis, the presence in this national assembly of the DanishLords of Dublin, Carmen (Wexford), Waterford and Cork, whom Brian, at this time, was trying hard to conciliateby gifts and alliances. CHAPTER VI. BRIAN, ARD-RIGH--BATTLE OF CLONTARF. By the deposition of Malachy II. , and the transfer ofsupreme power to the long-excluded line of Heber, Briancompleted the revolution which Time had wrought in theancient Celtic constitution. He threw open the sovereigntyto every great family as a prize to be won by policy orforce, and no longer an inheritance to be determined byusage and law. The consequences were what might have beenexpected. After his death the O'Conors of the west competedwith both O'Neills and O'Briens for supremacy, and a chroniccivil war prepared the path for Strongbow and the Normans. The term "Kings with Opposition" is applied to nearly allwho reigned between Brian's time and Roderick O'Conor's, meaning, thereby, kings who were unable to secure generalobedience to their administration of affairs. During the remainder of his life, Brian wielded withaccustomed vigour the supreme power. The Hy-Nials were, of course, his chief difficulty. In the year 1002, wefind him at Ballysadare, in Sligo, challenging theirobedience; in 1004, we find him at Armagh "offering twentyounces of gold on Patrick's altar, " staying a week thereand receiving hostages; in 1005, he marched throughConnaught, crossed the river Erne at Ballyshannon, proceeded through Tyrconnell and Tyrowen, crossed theBann into Antrim, and returned through Down and Dundalk, "about Lammas, " to Tara. In this and the two succeedingyears, by taking similar "circuits, " he subdued Ulster, without any pitched battle, and caused his authority tobe feared and obeyed nearly as much at the Giant's Causewayas at the bridge of Athlone. In his own house of Kinkora, Brian entertained at Christmas 3, 000 guests, includingthe Danish Lords of Dublin and Man, the fugitive Earl ofKent, the young King of Scots, certain Welsh Princes, and those of Munster, Ulster, Leinster and Connaught, beside his hostages. At the same time Malachy, with theshadow, of independence, kept his unfrequented court inWest-Meath, amusing himself with wine and chess and thetaming of unmanageable horses, in which last pursuit, after his abdication, we hear of his breaking a limb. Tosupport the hospitalities of Kinkora, the tributes ofevery province were rendered in kind at his gate, on thefirst day of November. Connaught sent 800 cows and 800hogs; Ulster alone 500 cows, and as many hogs, and "sixtyloads of iron;" Leinster 300 bullocks, 300 hogs, and 300loads of iron; Ossory, Desmond, and the smaller territories, in proportion; the Danes of Dublin 150 pipes of wine, andthe Danes of Limerick 365 of red wine. The Dalcassians, his own people, were exempt from all tribute and taxation--while the rest of Ireland was thus catering for Kinkora. The lyric Poets, in then nature courtiers and given toenjoyment, flocked, of course, to this bountiful palace. The harp was seldom silent night or day, the strains ofpanegyric were as prodigal and incessant as the fallingof the Shannon over Killaloe. Among these eulogiums noneis better known than that beautiful allegory of the poetMcLaig, who sung that "a young lady of great beauty, adorned with jewels and costly dress, might performunmolested a journey on foot through the Island, carryinga straight wand, on the top of which might be a ring ofgreat value. " The name of Brian was thus celebrated asin itself a sufficient protection of life, chastity, andproperty, in every corner of the Island. Not only thePoets, but the more exact and simple Annalists applaudBrian's administration of the laws, and his personalvirtues. He laboured hard to restore the Christiancivilization, so much defaced by two centuries of Paganwarfare. To facilitate the execution of the laws heenacted the general use of surnames, obliging the clansto take the name of a common ancestor, with the additionof "Mac, " or "O"--words which signify "of, " or "son of, "a forefather. Thus, the Northern Hy-Nials divided intoO'Neils, O'Donnells, McLaughlins, &c. ; the Sil-Murraytook the name of O'Conor, and Brian's own posterity becameknown as O'Briens. To justice he added munificence, andof this the Churches and Schools of the entire Islandwere the recipients. Many a desolate shrine he adorned, many a bleak chancel he hung with lamps, many a longsilent tower had its bells restored. Monasteries wererebuilt, and the praise of God was kept up perpetuallyby a devoted brotherhood. Roads and bridges were repairedand several strong stone fortresses were erected, tocommand the passes of lakes and rivers. The vulnerablepoints along the Shannon, and the Suir, and the lakes, as far north as the Foyle, were secured by forts of clayand stone. Thirteen "royal houses" in Munster alone aresaid to have been by him restored to their original uses. What increases our respect for the wisdom and energy thusdisplayed, is the fact, that the author of so manyimprovements, enjoyed but five short years of peace, after his accession to the Monarchy. His administrativegenius must have been great when, after a long life ofwarfare, he could apply himself to so many works ofinternal improvement and external defence. In the five years of peace just spoken of (from 1005 to1010), Brian lost by death his second wife, a son calledDonald, and his brother Marcan, called in the annals"head of the clergy of Munster;" Hugh, the son of Mahon, also died about the same period. His favourite son andheir, Morrogh, was left, and Morrogh had, at this time, several children. Other sons and daughters were also lefthim, by each of his wives, so that there was every prospectthat the posterity for whom he had so long sought thesovereignty of Ireland, would continue to possess it forcountless generations. But God disposes of what man onlyproposes! The Northmen had never yet abandoned any soil on whichthey had once set foot, and the policy of conciliationwhich the veteran King adopted in his old age, was notlikely to disarm men of their stamp. Every intelligenceof the achievements of their race in other realms stimulatedthem to new exertions and shamed them out of peacefulsubmission. Rollo and his successors had, within Brian'slifetime, founded in France the great dukedom of Normandy;while Sweyn had swept irresistibly over England and Wales, and prepared the way for a Danish dynasty. Pride andshame alike appealed to their warlike compatriots not toallow the fertile Hibernia to slip from their grasp, andthe great age of its long-dreaded king seemed to promisethem an easier victory than heretofore was possible. In1012 we find Brian at Lough Foyle repelling a new Danishinvasion, and giving "freedom to Patrick's Churches;"the same year, an army under Morrogh and another underMalachy was similarly engaged in Leinster and Meath; theformer carrying his arms to Kilmainham, on the south sideof Dublin, the other to Howth, on the north; in this yearalso "the Gentiles, " or Pagan Northmen, made a descenton Cork, and burned the city, but were driven off by theneighbouring chiefs. The great event, however, of the long war which had nowbeen waged for full two hundred years between the men ofErin and the men of Scandinavia was approaching. Whatmay fairly be called the last field day of Christianityand Paganism on Irish soil, was near at hand. A tauntthrown out over a game of chess, at Kinkora, is said tohave hastened this memorable day. Maelmurra, Prince ofLeinster, playing or advising on the game, made, orrecommended, a false move, upon which Morrogh, son ofBrian, observed, it was no wonder his friends, the Danes, (to whom he owed his elevation, ) were beaten at Glen-Mama, if he gave them advice like that. Maelmurra, highlyincensed by this allusion--all the more severe for itsbitter truth--arose, ordered his horse, and rode away inhaste. Brian, when he heard it, despatched a messengerafter the indignant guest, begging him to return, butMaelmurra was not to be pacified, and refused. We nexthear of him as concerting with certain Danish agents, always open to such negotiations, those measures whichled to the great invasion of the year 1014, in which thewhole Scanian race, from Anglesea and Man, north toNorway, bore an active share. These agents passing over to England and Man, among theScottish isles, and even to the Baltic, followed up thedesign of an invasion on a gigantic scale. Suibne, Earlof Man, entered warmly into the conspiracy, and sent the"war arrow" through all those "out-islands" which obeyedhim as Lord. A yet more formidable potentate, Sigurd, ofthe Orkneys, next joined the league. He was the fourteenthEarl of Orkney of Norse origin, and his power was, atthis period, a balance to that of his nearest neighbour, the King of Scots. He had ruled since the year 996, notonly over the Orkneys, Shetland, and Northern Hebrides, but the coasts of Caithness and Sutherland, and even Rossand Moray rendered him homage and tribute. Eight yearsbefore the battle of Clontarf, Malcolm II. , of Scotland, had been feign to purchase his alliance, by giving himhis daughter in marriage, and the Kings of Denmark andNorway treated with him on equal terms. The hundredinhabited isles which lie between Yell and Man, --isleswhich after their conversion contained "three hundredchurches and chapels"--sent in their contingents, toswell the following of the renowned Earl Sigurd. As hisfleet bore southward from Kirkwall it swept the subjectcoast of Scotland, and gathered from every lough itsgalleys and its fighting men. The rendezvous was the Isleof Man, where Suibne had placed his own forces under thecommand of Brodar or Broderick, a famous leader againstthe Britons of Wales and Cornwall. In conjunction withSigurd, the Manxmen sailed over to Ireland, where theywere joined, in the Liffey, by Carl Canuteson, Prince ofDenmark, at the head of 1400 champions clad in armour. Sitrick of Dublin stood, or affected to stand, neutralin these preparations, but Maelmurra of Leinster hadmustered all the forces he could command for such anexpedition. He was himself the head of the powerful familyof O'Byrne, and was followed in his alliances by othersof the descendants of Cahir More. O'Nolan and O'More, with a truer sense of duty, fought on the patriotic side. Brian had not been ignorant of the exertions which weremade during the summer and winter of the year 1013, tocombine an overwhelming force against him. In hisexertions to meet force with force, it is gratifying toevery believer in human excellence to find him activelysupported by the Prince whom he had so recently deposed. Malachy, during the summer of 1013, had, indeed, losttwo sons in skirmishes with Sitrick and Maelmurra, andhad, therefore, his own personal wrongs to avenge; buthe cordially co-operated with Brian before thoseoccurrences, and now loyally seconded all his movements. The Lords of the southern half-kingdom--the Lords ofDesies, Fermoy, Inchiquin, Corca-Baskin, Kinalmeaky, Kerry, and the Lords of Hy-Many and Hy-Fiachra, inConnaught, hastened to his standard. O'More and O'Nolanof Leinster, and Donald, Steward of Marr, in Scotland, were the other chieftains who joined him before Clontarf, besides those of his own kindred. None of the NorthernHy-Nial took part in the battle--they had submitted toBrian, but they never cordially supported him. Clontarf, the lawn or meadow of bulls, stretches alongthe crescent-shaped north strand of Dublin harbour, fromthe ancient salmon-weir at Ballyboght bridge, towardsthe promontory of Howth. Both horns of the crescent wereheld by the enemy, and communicated with his ships: theinland point terminating in the roofs of Dublin, and theseaward marked by the lion-like head of Howth. The meadowland between sloped gently upward and inward from thebeach, and for the myriad duels which formed the ancientbattle, no field could present less positive vantage-groundto combatants on either side. The invading force hadpossession of both wings, so that Brian's army, whichhad first encamped at Kilmainham, must have crossed theLiffey higher up, and marched round by the presentDrumcondra in order to reach the appointed field. Theday seems to have been decided on by formal challenge, for we are told Brian did not wish to fight in the lastweek of Lent, but a Pagan oracle having assured victoryto Brodar, one of the northern leaders, if he engaged ona Friday, the invaders insisted on being led to battleon that day. And it so happened that, of all Fridays inthe year, it fell on the Friday before Easter: that awfulanniversary when the altars of the Church are veiledthroughout Christendom, and the dark stone is rolled tothe door of the mystic sepulchre. The forces on both sides could not have fallen short oftwenty thousand men. Under Carl Canuteson fought "theten hundred in armour, " as they are called in the Irishannals, or "the fourteen hundred, " as they are called innorthern chronicles; under Brodar, the Manxmen and theDanes of Anglesea and Wales; under Sigurd, the men ofOrkney and its dependencies; under Maelmurra, of Leinster, his own tribe, and their kinsmen of Offally and Cullen--the modern Kildare and Wicklow; under Brian's son, Morrogh, were the tribes of Munster; under the commandof Malachy, those of Meath; under the Lord of Hy-Many, the men of Connaught; and the Stewart of Marr had alsohis command. The engagement was to commence with themorning, so that, as soon as it was day, Brian, Crucifixin hand, harangued his army. "On this day Christ diedfor _you_!" was the spirit-stirring appeal of the venerableChristian King. At the entreaty of his friends, afterthis review, he retired to his tent, which stood at somedistance, and was guarded by three of his aids. Here, healternately prostrated himself before the Crucifix, orlooked out from the tent door upon the dreadful scenethat lay beyond. The sun rose to the zenith and took hisway towards the west, but still the roar of the battledid not abate. Sometimes as their right hands swelledwith the sword-hilts, well-known warriors might be seenfalling back to bathe them, in a neighbouring spring, and then rushing again into the melee. The line of theengagement extended from the salmon-weir towards Howth, not less than a couple of miles, so that it was impossibleto take in at a glance the probabilities of victory. Onceduring the heat of the day one of his servants said toBrian, "A vast multitude are moving towards us. " "Whatsort of people are they?" inquired Brian. "They aregreen-naked people. " said the attendant. "Oh!" repliedthe king, "they are the Danes in armour!" The utmost furywas displayed on all sides. Sigurd, Earl of Orkney, fellby Thurlogh, grandson of Brian; and Anrud, one of thecaptains of the men in armour, by the hand of his father, Morrogh; but both father and son perished in the dreadfulconflict; Maelmurra of Leinster, with his lords, fell onone side, and Conaing, nephew of Brian, O'Kelly, O'Heyne, and the Stewart of Marr, on the other. Hardly a nobly-bornman escaped, or sought to escape. The ten hundred inarmour, and three thousand others of the enemy, withabout an equal number of the men of Ireland, lay deadupon the field. One division of the enemy were, towardssunset, retreating to their ships, when Brodar, theViking, perceiving the tent of Brian, standing apart, without a guard, and the aged king on his knees beforethe Crucifix, rushed in, cut him down with a single blow, and then continued his flight. But he was overtaken bythe guard, and despatched by the most cruel death theycould devise. Thus, on the field of battle, in the actof prayer, on the day of our Lord's Crucifixion, fellthe Christian King in the cause of native land and HolyCross. Many elegies have been dedicated to his memory, and not the least noble of these strains belong to hisenemies. In death as in life he was still Brian "of thetributes. " The deceased hero took his place at once in history, national and foreign. On hearing of his death, Maelmurra, Archbishop of Armagh, came with his clergy to Swords, inMeath, and conducted the body to Armagh, where, with hisson and nephew and the Lord of Desies, he was solemnlyinterred "in a new tomb. " The fame of the event went outthrough all nations. The chronicles of Wales, of Scotland, and of Man; the annals of Ademar and Marianus; the Sagasof Denmark and the Isles all record the event. In "theOrcades" of Thormodus Torfaeus, a wail over the defeatof the Islesmen is heard, which they call "Orkney's woe and Randver's bane. " The Norse settlers in Caithness saw terrific visions ofValhalla "the day after the battle. " In the NIALA SAGAa Norwegian prince is introduced as asking after his men, and the answer is, "they were all killed. " Malcolm ofScotland rejoiced in the defeat and death of his dangerousand implacable neighbour. "Brian's battle, " as it iscalled in the Sagas, was, in short, such a defeat asprevented any general northern combination for thesubsequent invasion of Ireland. Not that the country wasentirely free from their attacks till the end of theeleventh century, but from the day of Clontarf forward, the long cherished Northern idea of a conquest of Ireland, seems to have been gloomily abandoned by that indomitablepeople. CHAPTER VII. EFFECTS OF THE RIVALRY OF BRIAN AND MALACHY ON THEANCIENT CONSTITUTION. If a great battle is to be accounted lost or won, as itaffects principles rather than reputations, then Brianlost at Clontarf. The leading ideas of his long andpolitical life were, evidently, centralization and anhereditary monarchy. To beat back foreign invasion, toconciliate and to enlist the Irish-born Danes under hisstandard, were preliminary steps. For Morrogh, hisfirst-born, and for Morrogh's descendants, he hoped tofound an hereditary kinship after the type universallycopied throughout Christendom. He was not ignorant ofwhat Alfred had done for England, Harold for Norway, Charlemagne for France, and Otho for Germany; and it wasinseparable from his imperial genius to desire to reignin his posterity, long after his own brief term of swayshould be for ever ended. A new centre of royal authorityshould be established on the banks of the great middleriver of the island--itself the best bond of union, asit was the best highway of intercourse; the Dalgaisdynasty should there flourish for ages, and the descendantsof Brian of the Tributes, through after centuries, eclipsethe glory of the descendants of Nial of the Hostages. Itis idle enough to call the projector of such a change anusurper and a revolutionist. Usurper he clearly was not, since he was elevated to power by the action of the oldlegitimate electoral principle; revolutionist he was not, because his design was defeated at Clontarf, in the deathof his eldest son and grandson. Not often have threegenerations of Princes of the same family been cut offon the same field; yet at Clontarf it so happened. Hence, when Brian fell, and his heir with him, and his heir'sheir, the projected Dalgais dynasty, like the Royal Oakat Adair, was cut down and its very roots destroyed. Fora new dynasty to be left suddenly without indisputableheirs is ruinous to its pretensions and partizans. Andin this the event of the battle proved destructive tothe Celtic Constitution. Not from the Anglo-Normaninvasion, but from the day of Clontarf we may date theruin of the old electoral monarchy. The spell of ancientauthority was effectually broken and a new one was to beestablished. Time, which was indispensable, was not given. No Prince of the blood of Brian succeeded immediately tohimself. On Clontarf Morrogh, and Morrogh's heir fell, in the same day and hour. The other sons of Brian had nodirect title to the succession, and, naturally enough, the deposed Malachy resumed the rank of monarch, withoutthe consent of Munster, but _with_ the approval of allthe Princes, who had witnessed with ill-concealed envythe sudden ascendancy of the sons of Kennedy. While McLaigwas lamenting for Brian, by the cascade of Killaloe, theLaureat of Tara, in an elegy over a lord of Breffni, wassinging-- "Joyful are the race of Conn after Brian's Fall, in the battle of Clontarf. " A new dynasty is rarely the work of one able man. Designedby genius, it must be built up by a succession of politicPrinces, before it becomes an essential part of theframework of the State. So all history teaches--and Irishhistory, after the death of Brian, very clearly illustratesthat truth. Equally true is it that when a nation breaksup of itself, or from external forces, and is not soonconsolidated by a conqueror, the most natural result isthe aggrandizement of a few great families. Thus it wasin Rome when Julius was assassinated, and in Italy, whenthe empire of the west fell to pieces of its own weight. The kindred of the late sovereign will be sure to havea party, the chief innovators will have a party, andthere is likely to grow up a third or moderate party. Soit fell out in Ireland. The Hy-Nials of the north, deprivedof the succession, rallied about the Princes of Aileachas their head. Meath, left crownless, gave room to theambition of the sons of Malachy, who, under the name ofO'Melaghlin, took provincial rank. Ossory, like Issachar, long groaning beneath the burdens of Tara and of Cashel, cruelly revenged on the Dalgais, returning from Clontarf, the subjection to which Mahon and Brian had forciblyreduced that borderland. The Eugenians of Desmond withdrewin disgust from the banner of Donogh O'Brien, because hehad openly proclaimed his hostility to the alternatesuccession, and left his surviving clansmen an easy preyto the enraged Ossorians. Leinster soon afterwards passedfrom the house of O'Byrne to that of McMurrogh. TheO'Briens maintained their dominant interest in the south;as, after many local struggles, the O'Conors did in thewest. For a hundred and fifty years, after the death ofMalachy II. , the history of Ireland is mainly the historyof these five families, O'Neils, O'Melaghlins, McMurroghs, O'Briens and O'Conors. And for ages after the Normansenter on the scene, the same provincialized spirit, thesame family ambitions, feuds, hates, and coalitions, withsome exceptional passages, characterize the whole history. Not that there will be found any want of heroism, orpiety, or self-sacrifice, or of any virtue or faculty, necessary to constitute a state, save and except the_power of combination_, alone. Thus, judged by what cameafter him, and what was happening in the world abroad, Brian's design to re-centralize the island, seems thehighest dictate of political wisdom, in the condition towhich the Norwegian and Danish wars had reduced it, previous to his elevation to the monarchy. Malachy II. --of the events of whose second reign some mention willbe made hereafter--held the sovereignty after Brian'sdeath, until the year 1023, when he died an edifyingdeath in one of the islands of Lough Ennel, near thepresent Mullingar. He is called, in the annals ofClonmacnoise, "the last king of Ireland, of Irish blood, that had the crown. " An ancient quatrain, quoted byGeoffrey Keating, is thus literally translated: "After the happy Melaghlin Son of Donald, son of Donogh, Each noble king ruled his own tribe But Erin owned no sovereign Lord. " The annals of the eleventh and twelfth centuries curiouslyillustrate the workings of this "anarchicalconstitution"--to employ a phrase first applied to theGermanic Confederation. "After Malachy's death, " saysthe quaint old Annalist of Clonmacnoise, "this kingdomwas without a king 20 years, during which time the realmwas governed by two learned men; the one called ConO'Lochan, a well learned temporal man, and chief poet ofIreland; the other Corcran Claireach, a devout and holyman that was anchorite of all Ireland, whose most abidingwas at Lismore. The land was governed like a free state, and not like a monarchy by them. " Nothing can show theheadlessness of the Irish Constitution in the eleventhcentury clearer than this interregnum. No one Princecould rally strength enough to be elected, so that twoArbitrators, an illustrious Poet and a holy Priest, wereappointed to take cognizance of national causes. Theassociating together of a Priest and a layman, a southernerand a northerner, is conclusive proof that the bond ofCeltic unity, frittered away during the Danish period, was never afterwards entirely restored. Con O'Lochanhaving been killed in Teffia, after a short jurisdiction, the holy Corcran exercised his singular jurisdiction, until his decease, which happened at Lismore, (A. D. 1040. ) His death produced a new paroxysm of anarchy, outof which a new organizer arose among the tribes ofLeinster. This was Dermid, son of Donogh, who died (A. D. 1005), when Dermid must have been a mere infant, as hedoes not figure in the annals till the year 1032, andthe acts of young Princes are seldom overlooked in GaelicChronicles. He was the first McMurrogh who became Kingof Leinster, that royalty having been in the O'Byrnefamily, until the son of Maelmurra, of Clontarf, wasdeposed by O'Neil in 1035, and retired to a monastery inCologne, where he died in 1052. In 1036 or 1037 Dermidcaptured Dublin and Waterford, married the grand-daughterof Brian, and by '41 was strong enough to assume the rankof ruler of the southern half-kingdom. This dignity heheld with a strong and warlike hand thirty years, whenhe fell in battle, at Ova, in Meath. He must have beenat that time full threescore years and ten. He is describedby the elegiac Bards as of "ruddy complexion, " "withteeth laughing in danger, " and possessing all the virtuesof a warrior-king; "whose death, " adds the lamentation, "brought scarcity of peace" with it, so that "there willnot be peace, " "there will not be armistice, " betweenMeath and Leinster. It may well be imagined that everynew resort to the two-third test, in the election ofArd-Righ, should bring "scarcity of peace" to Ireland. We can easily understand the ferment of hope, fear, intrigue, and passion, which such an occasion causedamong the great rival families. What canvassing therewas in Kinkora and Cashel, at Cruachan and Aileach, andat Fernamore! What piecing and patching of interests, what libels on opposing candidates, what exultation inthe successful, what discontent in the defeated camp! The successful candidate for the southern half-kingdomafter Dermid's death was Thorlogh, grandson of Brian, and foster-son of the late ruler. In his reign, whichlasted thirty-three years, the political fortunes of hishouse revived. He died in peace at Kinkora (A. D. 1087), and the war of succession again broke out. The rivalcandidates at this period were Murrogh O'Brien, son ofthe late king, whose ambition was to complete the designof Brian, and Donald, Prince of Aileach, the leader ofthe Northern Hy-Nials. Two abler men seldom divided acountry by their equal ambition. Both are entered in theannals as "Kings of Ireland, " but it is hard to discoverthat, during all the years of their contest, either ofthem submitted to the other. To chronicle all the incidentsof the struggle would take too much space here; and, aswas to be expected, a third party profited most by it;the West came in, in the person of O'Conor, to lord itover both North and South, and to add another element tothe dynastic confusion. This brief abstract of our civil affairs after the deathof Brian, presents us with the extraordinary spectacleof a country without a constitution working out theproblem of its stormy destiny in despite of all internaland external dangers. Everything now depended on individualgenius and energy; nothing on system, usage, orprescription. Each leading family and each provincebecame, in turn, the head of the State. The supreme titleseems to have been fatal for a generation to the familythat obtained it, for in no case is there a lineal descentof the crown. The prince of Aileach or Kinkora naturallypreferred his permanent patrimony to an uncertain tenureof Tara; an office not attached to a locality became, ofcourse, little more than an arbitrary title. Hence, thetitular King of Ireland might for one lifetime reign bythe Shannon, in the next by the Bann, in a third, byLough Corrib. The supremacy, thus came to be considereda merely personal appurtenance, was carried about in theold King's tent, or on the young King's crupper, deteriorating and decaying by every transposition itunderwent. Herein, we have the origin of Irish disunionwith all its consequences, good, bad, and indifferent. Are we to blame Brian for this train of events againstwhich he would have provided a sharp remedy in thehereditary principle? Or, on the other hand, are we tocondemn Malachy, the possessor of legitimate power, ifhe saw in that remedy only the ambition of an aspiringfamily already grown too great? Theirs was in fact theuniversal struggle of reform and conservatism; the reformerand the heirs of his work were cut off on Clontarf; theabuses of the elective principle continued unrestrainedby ancient salutary usage and prejudice, and the landremained a tempting prey to such Adventurers, foreign ornative, as dare undertake to mould power out of itschaotic materials. CHAPTER VIII. LATTER DAYS OF THE NORTHMEN IN IRELAND. Though Ireland dates the decay of Scandinavian power fromGood Friday, 1014, yet the North did not wholly cease tosend forth its warriors, nor were the shores of theWestern Island less tempting to them than before. Thesecond year after the battle of Clontarf, Canute foundedhis Danish dynasty in England, which existed in no littlesplendour during thirty-seven years. The Saxon line wasrestored by Edward "the Confessor;" in the forty-thirdyear of the century, only to be extinguished for ever bythe Norman conquest twenty-three years later. Scotland, during the same years was more than once subject toinvasion from the same ancient enemy. Malcolm II. , andthe brave usurper Macbeth, fought several engagementswith the northern leaders, and generally with brilliantsuccess. By a remarkable coincidence, the Scottishchronicles also date the decadence of Danish power ontheir coasts from 1014, though several engagements werefought in Scotland after that year. Malachy II. Had promptly followed up the victory ofClontarf by the capture of Dublin, the destruction ofits fort, and the exemplary chastisement of the tribesof Leinster, who had joined Maelmurra as allies of theDanes. Sitrick himself seems to have eluded the suspicionsand vengeance of the conquerors by a temporary exile, aswe find in the succession of the Dublin Vikings, "oneHyman, an usurper, " entered as ruling "part of a yearwhile Sitrick was in banishment. " His family interest, however, was strong among the native Princes, and whateverhis secret sympathies may have been, he had taken noactive part against them in the battle of Clontarf. Byhis mother, the Lady Gormley of Offally, he was a halfO'Conor; by marriage he was son-in-law of Brian, anduterine brother of Malachy. After his return to Dublin, when, in 1018, Brian, son of Maelmurra, fell prisonerinto his hands, as if to clear himself of any lingeringsuspicion of an understanding with that family, he causedhis eyes to be put out--a cruel but customary punishmentin that age. This act procured for him the deadly enmityof the warlike mountaineers of Wicklow, who, in the year1022, gave him a severe defeat at Delgany. Even this heoutlived, and died seven years later, the acknowledgedlord of his town and fortress, forty years after hisfirst accession to that title. He was succeeded by hisson, grandson, and great-grandson during the remaininghalf century. The kingdom of Leinster, in consequence of the defeat ofMaelmurra, the incapacity of Brian, and the destructionof other claimants of the same family, passed to thefamily of McMurrogh, another branch of the same ancestry. Dermid, the first and most distinguished King of Leinsterof this house, took Waterford (A. D. 1037), and so reducedits strength, that we find its hosts no longer formidablein the field. Those of Limerick continued their homageto the house of Kinkora, while the descendants of Sitrickrecognised Dermid of Leinster as their sovereign. Inshort, all the Dano-Irish from thenceforward began toknit themselves kindly to the soil, to obey the neighbouringPrinces, to march with them to battle, and to pursue thepeaceful calling of merchants, upon sea. The only peculiarly_Danish_ undertaking we hear of again, in our Annals, was the attempt of a united fleet, equipped by Dublin, Wexford, and Waterford, in the year 1088, to retake Corkfrom the men of Desmond, when they were driven with severeloss to their ships. Their few subsequent expeditionswere led abroad, into the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, orWales, where they generally figure as auxiliaries ormercenaries in the service of local Princes. They appearin Irish battles only as contingents to the nativearmies--led by their own leaders and recognized as aseparate, but subordinate force. In the year 1073, theDublin Danes did homage to the monarch Thorlogh, and from1095, until his death (A. D. 1119), they recognized noother lord but Murkertach More O'Brien; this king, attheir own request, had also nominated one of his familyas Lord of the Danes and Welsh of the Isle of Man. The wealth of these Irish-Danes, before and after thetime of Brian, may be estimated by the annual tributewhich Limerick paid to that Prince--a pipe of red winefor every day in the year. In the year 1029, Olaf, sonof Sitrick, of Dublin, being taken prisoner by O'Regan, the Lord of East-Meath, paid for his ransom--"twelvehundred cows, seven score British horses, three scoreounces of gold!" sixty ounces of white silver as his"fetter-ounce;" the sword of Carlus, besides the usuallegal fees, for recording these profitable formalities. Being now Christians, they also began to found and endowchurches, with the same liberality with which their Paganfathers had once enriched the temples of Upsala andTrondheim. The oldest religious foundations in theseaports they possessed owe their origin to them; buteven as Christians, they did not lose sight of theirnationality. They contended for, and obtained Dano-IrishBishops, men of their own race, speaking their own speech, to preside over the sees of Dublin, Waterford, andLimerick. When the Irish Synods or Primates asserted overthem any supervision which they were unwilling toadmit--except in the case of St. Malachy--they usuallyinvoked the protection of the See of Canterbury, which, after the Norman conquest of England, became by far themost powerful Archbishopric in either island. In the third quarter of this century there arose in theIsle of Man a fortunate leader, who may almost be calledthe last of the sea kings. This was Godard _Crovan_ (thewhite-handed), son of an Icelandic Prince, and one ofthe followers of Harald Harfagar and Earl Tosti, in theirinvasion of Northumbria (A. D. 1066). Returning from thedefeat of his chiefs, Godard saw and seized upon Man asthe centre of future expeditions of his own, in the courseof which he subdued the Hebrides, divided them with thegallant Somerled (ancestor of the MacDonalds of theIsles), and established his son Lagman (afterwards putto death by King Magnus _Barefoot_) as his viceroy inthe Orkneys and Shetlands. The weakened condition of theDanish settlement at Dublin attracted his ambition, andwhere he entered as a mediator he remained as a master. In the succession of the Dublin Vikings he is assigneda reign of ten years, and his whole course of conquestseems to have occupied some twenty years (A. D. 1077 to1098). At length the star of this Viking of the Irishsea paled before the mightier name of a King of Norway, whose more brilliant ambition had a still shorter span. The story of this _Magnus_ (called, it is said, from hisadoption of the Scottish kilt, Magnus _Barefoot_) formsthe eleventh Saga in "the Chronicles of the Kings ofNorway. " He began to reign in the year 1093, and soonafter undertook an expedition to the south, "with manyfine men, and good shipping. " Taking the Orkneys on hisway, he sent their Earls prisoners to Norway, and placedhis own son, Sigurd, in their stead. He overran theHebrides, putting Lagman, son of Godard Crovan, to death. He spared only "the holy Island, " as Iona was now called, even by the Northmen, and there, in after years, his ownbones were buried. The Isles of Man and Anglesea, andthe coast of Wales, shared the same fate, and thence heretraced his course to Scotland, where, borne in hisgalley across the Isthmus of Cantyre, to fulfil an oldprophecy, he claimed possession of the land on both sidesof Loch Awe. It was while he wintered in the SouthernHebrides, according to the Saga, that he contracted hisson Sigurd with the daughter of Murkertach O'Brien, calledby the Northmen "Biadmynia. " In summer he sailed homeward, and did not return southward till the ninth year of hisreign (A. D. 1102), when his son, Sigurd, had come of age, and bore the title of "King of the Orkneys and Hebrides. ""He sailed into the west sea, " says the Saga, "with thefinest men who could be got in Norway. All the powerfulmen of the country followed him, such as Sigurd Hranesson, and his brother Ulf, Vidkunner Johnsson, Dag Eliffsson, Sorker of Sogn, Eyvind Olboge, the king's marshal, andmany other great men. " On the intelligence of this fleethaving arrived in Irish waters, according to the annals, Murkertach and his allies marched in force to Dublin, where, however, Magnus "made peace with them for oneyear, " and Murkertach "gave his daughter to Sigurd, withmany jewels and gifts. " That winter Magnus spent withMurkertach at Kinkora, and "towards spring both kingswent westward with their army all the way to Ulster. "This was one of those annual visitations which kings, whose authority was not yet established, were accustomedto make. The circuit, as usual, was performed in aboutsix weeks, after which the Irish monarch returned home, and Magnus went on board his fleet at Dublin, to returnto Norway. According to the Norse account he landed againon the coast of Ulidia (Down), where he expected "cattlefor ship-provision, " which Murkertach had promised tosend him, but the Irish version would seem to imply thathe went on shore to seize the cattle perforce. It certainlyseems incredible that Murkertach should send cattle tothe shore of Strangford Lough, from the pastures ofThomond, when they might be more easily driven to Dublin, or the mouth of the Boyne. "The cattle had not made theirappearance on the eve of Bartholomew's Mass" (August23rd, A. D. 1103), says the Saga, so "when the sun rosein the sky, King Magnus himself went on shore with thegreater part of his men. King Magnus, " continues thescald, "had a helmet on his head; a red shield, in whichwas inlaid a gilded lion; and was girt with the swordLegbiter, of which the hilt was of ivory, and the handgrip wound about with gold thread; and the sword wasextremely sharp. In his hand he had a short spear, anda red silk short cloak over his coat, on which both beforeand behind was embroidered a lion, in yellow silk; andall men acknowledged that they had never seen a brisker, statelier man. " A dust cloud was seen far inland, andthe Northmen fell into order of battle. It proved, however, by their own account to be the messengers with the promisedsupply of cattle; but, after they came up, and whilereturning to the shore, they were violently assailed onall sides by the men of Down. The battle is described, with true Homeric vigour, by Sturleson. "The Irish, " hesays, "shot boldly; and although they fell in crowds, there came always two in place of one. " Magnus, with mostof his nobles, were slain on the spot, but VidkunnerJohnsson escaped to the shipping, "with the King's bannerand the sword Legbiter. " And the Saga of Magnus Barefootconcludes thus: "Now when King Sigurd heard that hisfather had fallen, he set off immediately, leaving theIrish King's daughter behind, and proceeded in autumn, with the whole fleet directly to Norway. " The annalistsof Ulster barely record the fact, that "Magnus, King ofLochlan and the Isles, was slain by the Ulidians, witha slaughter of his people about him, while on a predatoryexcursion. " They place the event in the year 1104. Our account with the Northmen may here be closed. Bornealong by the living current of events, we leave thembehind, high up on the remoter channels of the stream. Their terrible ravens shall flit across our prospect nomore. They have taken wing to their native north, wherethey may croak yet a little while over the cold andcrumbling altars of Odin and Asa Thor. The bright lightof the Gospel has penetrated even to those last hauntsof Paganism, and the fierce but not ungenerous race, withwhich we have been so long familiar, begin to changetheir natures under its benign influence. Although both the scalds and chroniclers of the Northfrequently refer to Ireland as a favourite theatre oftheir heroes, we derive little light from those of theirworks which have yet been made public. All connectionbetween the two races had long ceased, before the firstscholars of the North began to investigate the earlierannals of their own country, and then they were contentwith a very vague and general knowledge of the westernIsland, for which their ancestors had so, fiercelycontended throughout so many generations. The oldestmaps, known in Scandinavia, exhibit a mere outline ofthe Irish coast, with a few points in the interior;fiords, with Norse names, are shown, answering to LoughsFoyle, Swilly, Larne, Strang_ford_, and Carling_ford_;the Provincial lines of Ulster and of Connaught are rudelytraced; and the situation of Enniskillen, Tara, Dublin, Glendaloch, Water_ford_, Limer_ick_, and Swer_wick_, accurately laid down. It is thought that all those placesending in _wick_ or _ford_, on the Irish map, are ofScandinavian origin; as well as the names of the islets, Skerries, Lambey, and Saltees. Many noble families, asthe Plunkets, McIvers, Archbolds, Harolds, Stacks, Skiddies, Cruises, and McAuliffes, are derived from thesame origin. During the contest we have endeavoured to describe, threehundred and ten years had passed since the warriors ofLochlin first landed on the shores of Erin. Ten generations, according to the measured span of adult life, were born, and trained to arms and marshalled in battle, since theenemy, "powerful on sea, " first burst upon the shield-shapedIsle of Saints. At the close of the eighth century wecast back a grateful retrospect on the Christian ages ofIreland. Can we do so now, at the close of the eleventh?Alas! far from it. Bravely and in the main successfullyas the Irish have borne themselves, they come out of thatcruel, treacherous, interminable war with many rents andstains in that vesture of innocence in which we saw themarrayed at the close of their third Christian century. Odin has not conquered, but all the worst vices ofwarfare--its violence, its impiety, discontent, self-indulgence, and contempt for the sweet paths ofpeace and mild counsels of religion--these must and didremain, long after Dane and Norwegian have for everdisappeared! BOOK III. WAR OF SUCCESSION. CHAPTER I. THE FORTUNES OF THE FAMILY OF BRIAN. The last scene of the Irish monarchy, before it enteredon the anarchical period, was not destitute of anappropriate grandeur. It was the death-bed scene of thesecond Malachy, the rival, ally, and successor of thegreat Brian. After the eventful day of Clontarf he resumedthe monarchy, without opposition, and for eight years hecontinued in its undisturbed enjoyment. The fruitfulland of Meath again gave forth its abundance, unscourgedby the spoiler, and beside its lakes and streams thehospitable Ard-Righ had erected, or restored, threehundred fortified houses, where, as his poets sung, shelter was freely given to guests from the king of theelements. His own favourite residence was at Dunnasciath("the fort of shields"), in the north-west angle of LoughEnnel, in the present parish of Dysart. In the eighthyear after Clontarf--the summer of 1022--the Dublin Danesonce again ventured on a foray into East-Meath, and theaged monarch marched to meet them. At Athboy he encounteredthe enemy, and drove them, routed and broken, out of theancient mensal land of the Irish kings. Thirty days after that victory he was called on to confrontthe conqueror of all men, even Death. He had reached theage of seventy-three, and he prepared to meet his lasthour with the zeal and humility of a true Christian. ToDunnasciath repaired Amalgaid, Archbishop of Armagh, theAbbots of Clonmacnoise and of Durrow, with a numeroustrain of the clergy. For greater solitude, the dying kingwas conveyed into an island of the lake opposite hisfort--then called Inis-Cro, now Cormorant Island--andthere, "after intense penance, " on the fourth of theNones of September precisely, died Malachy, son of Donald, son of Donogh, in the fond language of the bards, "thepillar of the dignity and nobility of the western world:"and "the seniors of all Ireland sung masses, hymns, psalms, and canticles for the welfare of his soul. " "This, " says the old Translator of the ClonmacnoiseAnnals, "was the last king of Ireland of Irish blood, that had the crown; yet there were seven kings afterwithout crown, before the coming in of the English. " Ofthese seven subsequent kings we are to write under thegeneral title of "the War of Succession. " They are calledArd-Righ _go Fresabra_, that is, kings opposed, orunrecognised, by certain tribes, or Provinces. For itwas essential to the completion of the title, as we havebefore seen, that when the claimant was of Ulster, heshould have Connaught and Munster, or Leinster and Munster, in his obedience: in other words, he should be able tocommand the allegiance of two-thirds of his suffragans. If of Munster, he should be equally potent in the otherProvinces, in order to rank among the recognised kingsof Erin. Whether some of the seven kings subsequent toMalachy II. , who assumed the title, were not fairlyentitled to it, we do not presume to say; it is oursimpler task to narrate the incidents of that brilliantwar of succession, which occupies almost all the intervalbetween the Danish and Anglo-Norman invasions. The chauntof the funeral Mass of Malachy was hardly heard uponLough Ennel, when Donogh O'Brien despatched his agents, claiming the crown from the Provincial Princes. He wasthe eldest son of Brian by his second marriage, and hismother was an O'Conor, an additional source of strengthto him, in the western Province. It had fallen to thelot of Donogh, and his elder brother, Teigue or Thaddeus, to conduct the remnant of the Dalcassians from Clontarfto their home. Marching through Ossory, by the greatsouthern road, they were attacked in their enfeebledstate by the lord of that brave little border territory, on whom Brian's hand had fallen with heavy displeasure. Wounded as many of them were, they fought their waydesperately towards Cashel, leaving 150 men dead in oneof their skirmishes. Of all who had left the Shannon sideto combat with the enemy, but 850 men lived to return totheir homes. No sooner had they reached Kinkora, than a fierce disputearose, between the friends of Teigue and Donogh, as towhich should reign over Munster. A battle ensued, withdoubtful result, but by the intercession of the Clergythis unnatural feud was healed, and the brothers reignedconjointly for nine years afterwards, until Teigue fellin an engagement in Ely (Queen's County), as was chargedand believed, by the machinations of his colleague andbrother. Thorlogh, son of Teigue, was the foster-son, and at this time the guest or hostage of Dermid ofLeinster, the founder of the McMurrogh family, which hadnow risen into the rank justly forfeited by the traitorMaelmurra. When he reached man's age he married thedaughter of Dermid, and we shall soon hear of him againasserting in Munster the pretensions of the eldestsurviving branch of the O'Brien family. The death of his brother and of Malachy within the sameyear, proved favourable to the ambition of Donogh O'Brien. All Munster submitted to his sway; Connaught was amongthe first to recognise his title as Ard-Righ. Ossory andLeinster, though unwillingly, gave in their adhesion. But Meath refused to recognise him, and placed itsgovernment in commission, in the hands of Con O'Lochan, the arch-poet, and Corcran, the priest, already more thanonce mentioned. The country, north of Meath, obeyedFlaherty O'Neil, of Aileach, whose ambition, as well asthat of all his house, was to restore the northernsupremacy, which had continued unbroken, from the fourthto the ninth century. This Flaherty was a vigorous, able, and pious Prince, who held stoutly on to the northernhalf-kingdom. In the year 1030 he made the frequent butadventurous pilgrimage to Rome, from which he is called, in the pedigree of his house, _an Trostain_, or thecross-bearer. The greatest obstacle, however, to the complete ascendencyof Donogh, arose in the person of his nephew, now advancedto manhood. Thorlogh O'Brien possessed much of the courageand ability of his grandfather, and he had at his side, a faithful and powerful ally in his foster-father, Dermid, of Leinster. Rightly or wrongly, on proof or on suspicion, he regarded his uncle as his father's murderer, and hepursued his vengeance with a skill and constancy worthyof _Hamlet_. At the time of his father's death, he wasa mere lad--in his fourteenth year. But, as he grewolder, he accompanied his foster-father in all hisexpeditions, and rapidly acquired a soldier's fame. Bymarriage with Dervorgoil, daughter of the Lord of Ossory, he strengthened his influence at the most necessary point;and what, with so good a cause and such fast friends ashe made in exile, his success against his uncle is littleto be wondered at. Leinster and Ossory, which hadtemporarily submitted to Donogh's claim, soon found goodpretexts for refusing him tribute, and a border war, marked by all the usual atrocities, raged for severalsuccessive seasons. The contest, is relieved, however, of its purely civil character, by the capture of Waterford, still Danish, in 1037, and of Dublin, in 1051. On thisoccasion, Dermid, of Leinster, bestowed the city on hisson Morrogh (grandfather of Strongbow's ally), to whomthe remnant of its inhabitants, as well as their kinsmenin Man, submitted for the time with what grace they could. The position of Donogh O'Brien became yearly weaker. His rival had youth, energy, and fortune on his side. The Prince of Connaught finally joined him, and thus, aleague was formed, which overcame all opposition. In theyear 1058, Donogh received a severe defeat at the baseof the Galtees; and although he went into the house ofO'Conor the same year, and humbly submitted to him, itonly postponed his day of reckoning. Three years afterO'Conor took Kinkora, and Dermid, of Leinster, burnedLimerick, and took hostages as far southward as SaintBrendan's hill (Tralee). The next year Donogh O'Brien, then fully fourscore years of age, weary of life and ofthe world, took the cross-staff, and departed on apilgrimage to Rome, where he died soon after, in themonastery of St. Stephen. It is said by some writers thatDonogh brought with him to Rome and presented to thePope, Alexander II. , the crown of his father--and fromthis tradition many theories and controversies havesprung. It is not unlikely that a deposed monarch shouldhave carried into exile whatever portable wealth he stillretained, nor that he should have presented his crown tothe Sovereign Pontiff before finally quitting the world. But as to conferring with the crown, the sovereignty ofwhich it was once an emblem, neither reason nor religionobliges us to believe any such hypothesis. Dermid of Leinster, upon the banishment of Donogh, sonof Brian (A. D. 1063), became actual ruler of the southernhalf-kingdom and nominal Ard-Righ, "with opposition. "The two-fold antagonism to this Prince, came, as mightbe expected from Conor, son of Malachy, the head of thesouthern Hy-Nial dynasty, and from the chiefs of theelder dynasty of the North. Thorlogh O'Brien, now Kingof Cashel, loyally repaid, by his devoted adherence, thedeep debt he owed in his struggles and his early youthto Dermid. There are few instances in our Annals of amore devoted friendship than existed between these braveand able Princes through all the changes of half a century. No one act seems to have broken the life-long intimacyof Dermid and Thorlogh; no cloud ever came between them;no mistrust, no distrust. Rare and precious felicity ofhuman experience! How many myriads of men have sighedout their souls in vain desire for that best blessingwhich Heaven can bestow, a true, unchanging, unsuspectingfriend! To return: Conor O'Melaghlin could not see, withoutdeep-seated discontent, a Prince of Leinster assume therank which his father and several of his ancestors hadheld. A border strife between Meath and Leinster arosenot unlike that which had been waged a few years beforefor the deposition of Donogh, between Leinster and Ossoryon the one part, and Munster on the other. Various werethe encounters, whose obscure details are seldom preservedto us. But the good fortune of Dermid prevailed in all, until, in the year 1070, he lost Morrogh, his heir, bya natural death at Dublin, and Gluniarn, another son, fell in battle with the men of Meath. Two years later, in the battle of Ova, in the same territory, and againstthe same enemy, Dermid himself fell, with the lord ofForth, and a great host of Dublin Danes and Leinster men. The triumph of the son of Malachy, and the sorrow andanger of Leinster, were equally great. The bards havesung the praise of Dermid in strains which history accepts:they praise his ruddy aspect and laughing teeth; theyremember how he upheld the standard of war, and nonedared contend with him in battle; they denounce vengeanceon Meath as soon as his death-feast is over--a vengeancetoo truly pursued. As a picture of the manners and habits of thought inthose tunes, the fate of Conor, son of Melaghlin, andits connection with the last illness and death of ThorloghO'Brien, are worthy of mention. Conor was treacherouslyslain, the year after the battle of Ova, in a parley withhis own nephew, though the parley was held under theprotection of the _Bachall-Isa_, or Staff, of Christ, the most revered relic of the Irish Church. After hisdeath, his body was buried in the great Church ofClonmacnoise, in his own patrimony. But Thorlogh O'Brienperhaps, from his friendship for Dermid, carried off hishead, as the head of an enemy, to Kinkora. When it wasplaced in his presence in his palace, a mouse ran outfrom the dead man's head, and under the king's mantle, which occasioned him such a fright that he grew suddenlysick, his hair fell off, and his life was despaired of. It was on Good Friday that the buried head was carriedaway, and on Easter Sunday, it was tremblingly restoredagain, with two rings of gold as a peace offering to theChurch. Thus were God and Saint Kieran vindicated. Thorlogh O'Brien slowly regained his strength, thoughKeating, and the authors he followed, think he was neverthe same man again, after the fright he received fromthe head of Conor O'Melaghlin. He died peaceably and fullof penitence, at Kinkora, on the eve of the Ides of July, A. D. 1086, after severe physical suffering. He was inthe 77th year of his age, the 32nd of his rule overMunster, and the 13th--since the death of Dermid ofLeinster--in his actual sovereignty of the southern half, and nominal rule of the whole kingdom. He was succeededby his son Murkertach, or Murtogh, afterwards called_More_, or the great. We have thus traced to the third generation the politicalfortunes of the family of Brian, which includes so muchof the history of those times. That family had become, and was long destined to remain, the first in rank andinfluence in the southern half-kingdom. But internaldiscord in a great house, as in a great state, is fatalto the peaceable transmission of power. That "acknowledgedright of birth" to which a famous historian attributes"the peaceful successions" of modern Europe, was toolittle respected in those ages, in many countries ofChristendom--and had no settled prescription in its favouramong the Irish. Primogeniture and the whole scheme offeudal dependence seems to have been an essentialpreparative for modern civilization: but as Ireland hadescaped the legions of Rome, so she existed without thecircle of feudal organization. When that system did atlength appear upon her soil it was embodied in an invadinghost, and patriot zeal could discern nothing good, nothingimitable in the laws and customs of an enemy, whose armedpresence in the land was an insult to its inhabitants. Thus did our Island twice lose the discipline whichelsewhere laid the foundation of great states: once inthe Roman, and again in the Feudal era. CHAPTER II. THE CONTEST BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH--RISE OF THEFAMILY OF O'CONOR. Four years before the death of Thorlogh O'Brien, a Princedestined to be the life-long rival of his great son, hadsucceeded to the kingship of the northern tribes. Thiswas Donald, son of Ardgall, Prince of Aileach, sometimescalled "O" and sometimes "Mac" Laughlin. Donald hadreached the mature age of forty when he succeeded in thecourse of nature to his father, Ardgall, and was admittedthe first man of the North, not only in station but forpersonal graces and accomplishments; for wisdom, wealth, liberality, and love of military adventure. Murkertach, or Murtogh O'Brien, was of nearly the sameage as his rival, and his equal, if not superior intalents, both for peace and war. During the last yearsof his father's reign and illness, he had been the realruler of the south, and had enforced the claims of Cashelon all the tribes of Leath Mogha, from Dublin to Galway. In the year 1094, by mutual compact, brought about throughthe intercession of the Archbishop of Armagh and thegreat body of the clergy, north and south--and still moreperhaps by the pestilence and famine which raged atintervals during the last years of the eleventh century--this ancient division of the midland _asker_, runningeast and west, was solemnly restored by consent of bothparties, and Leath Mogha and Leath Conn became for themoment independent territories. So thoroughly did theChurch enter into the arrangement, that, at the Synod ofRath-Brazil, held a few years later, the seats of thetwelve Bishops of the southern half were grouped roundthe Archbishop of Cashel, while the twelve of the northernhalf were ranged round the Archbishop of Armagh. TheBishops of Meath, the ancient mensal of the monarchy, seem to have occupied a middle station between the benchesof the north and south. Notwithstanding the solemn compact of 1094, Murtogh didnot long cease to claim the title, nor to seek the hostagesof all Ireland. As soon as the fearful visitations withwhich the century had closed were passed over, he resumedhis warlike forays, and found Donald of Aileach nothingloath to try again the issue of arms. Each prince, however, seems to have been more anxious to coerce or interestthe secondary chiefs in his own behalf than to meet hisrival in the old-style pitched battle. Murtogh's annualmarch was usually along the Shannon, into Leitrim, thencenorth by Sligo, and across the Erne and Finn into Donegaland Derry. Donald's annual excursion led commonly alongthe Bann, into Dalriada and Ulidia, Whence by way ofNewry, across the Boyne, into Meath, and from West-Meathinto Munster. In one of these forays, at the very openingof the twelfth century, Donald surprised Kinkora in theabsence of its lord, razed the fort and levelled thebuildings to the earth. But the next season the southernking paid him back in kind, when he attacked and demolishedAileach, and caused each of his soldiers to carry off astone of the ruin in his knapsack. "I never heard ofthe billeting of grit stones, " exclaims a bard of thosedays, "though I have heard of the billeting of soldiers:but now we see the stones of Aileach billeted on thehorses of the King of the West!" Such circuits of the Irish kings, especially in days ofopposition, were repeated with much regularity. They seemto have set out commonly in May--or soon after the festivalof Easter--and when the tour of the island was made, theyoccupied about six weeks in duration. The precise numberof men who took part in these visitations is nowherestated, but in critical times no prince, claiming theperilous honour of _Ard-Righ_, would be likely to marchwith less than from five to ten thousand men. Themovements of such a multitude must have been attendedwith many oppressions and inconveniences; their encampmentfor even a week in any territory must have been a seriousburthen to the resident inhabitants, whether hostile orhospitable. Yet this was one inevitable consequence ofthe breaking up of the federal centre at Tara. In earlierdays, the _Ard-Righ_, on his election, or in an emergency, made an armed procession through the island. Ordinarily, however, his suffragans visited him, and not he them;all Ireland went up to Tara to the _Feis_, or to thefestivals of Baaltine and Samhain. Now that there was noTara to go to, the monarch, or would-be monarch, foundit indispensable to show himself often, and to exercisehis authority in person, among every considerable tribein the island. To do justice to Murtogh O'Brien, he doesnot appear to have sought occasions of employing forcewhen on these expeditions, but rather to have acted thepart of an armed negotiator. On his return from thedemolition of Aileach (A. D. 1101), among other acts ofmunificence, he, in an assembly of the clergy of LeathMogha, made a solemn gift of the city of Cashel, free ofall rents and dues, to the Archbishop and the Clergy, for ever. His munificence to churches, and his patronageof holy men, were eminent traits in this Prince's character. And the clergy of that age were eminently worthy of thefavours of such Princes. Their interposition frequentlybrought about a truce between the northern and southernkings. In the year 1103, the hostages of both were placedin custody with Donald, Archbishop of Armagh, to guaranteea twelvemonth's peace. But the next season the contestwas renewed. Murtogh besieged Armagh for a week, whichDonald of Aileach successfully defended, until the siegewas abandoned. In a subsequent battle the northern forcedefeated one division of Murtogh's allies in Iveagh, under the Prince of Leinster, who fell on the field, withthe lords of Idrone, Ossory, Desies, Kerry, and the DublinDanes. Murtogh himself, with another division of histroops, was on an incursion into Antrim when he heard ofthis defeat. The northern visitors carried off amongother spoils the royal tent and standard, a trophy whichgave new bitterness on the one side, and new confidenceon the other. Donald, the good Archbishop, the followingyear (A. D. 1105) proceeded to Dublin, where Murtogh was, or was soon expected, to renew the previous peace betweenNorth and South, but he fell suddenly ill soon after hisarrival, and caused himself to be carried homewards inhaste. At a church by the wayside, not far from Dublin, he was anointed and received the viaticum. He survived, however, to reach Armagh, where he expired on the 12thday of August. Kellach, latinized Celsus, his saintlysuccessor, was promoted to the Primacy, and solemnlyconsecrated on Saint Adamnan's day following--the 23rdof September, 1105. Archbishop Celsus, whose accession was equally wellreceived in Munster as in Ulster, followed in the footstepsof his pious predecessor, in taking a decided part withneither Leath Mogha nor Leath Conn. When, in the year1110, both parties marched to Slieve-Fuaid, with a viewto a challenge of battle, Celsus interposed between themthe _Bachall-Isa_--and a solemn truce followed; again, three years later, when they confronted each other inIveagh, in Down, similar success attended a similarinterposition. Three years later Murtogh O'Brien wasseized with so severe an illness, that he became like toa living skeleton, and though he recovered sufficientlyto resume the exercise of authority he never regainedhis full health. He died in a spiritual retreat, atLismore, on the 4th of the Ides of March, A. D. 1119, andwas buried at Killaloe. His great rival, Donald of LeathConn, did not long survive him: he died at Derry, alsoin a religious house, on the 5th of the Ides of February, A. D. 1121. While these two able men were thus for more than a quarterof a century struggling for the supremacy, a third powerwas gradually strengthening itself west of the Shannon, destined to profit by the contest, more than either ofthe principals. This was the family of O'Conor, ofRoscommon, who derived their pedigree from the same stockas the O'Neils, and their name from Conor, an ancestor, who ruled over Connaught, towards the end of the ninthcentury. Two or three of their line before Conor hadpossessed the same rank and title, but it was by no meansregarded as an adjunct of the house of Rathcrogan, beforethe time at which we have arrived. Their co-relatives, sometimes their rivals, but oftener their allies, werethe O'Ruarcs of Breffny, McDermots of Moylurg, theO'Flahertys of _Iar_ or West Connaught, the O'Shaughnessys, O'Heynes, and O'Dowdas. The great neighbouring familyof O'Kelly had sprung from a different branch of thefar-spreading Gaelic tree. At the opening of the twelfthcentury, Thorlogh More O'Conor, son of Ruari of the YellowHound, son of Hugh of the Broken Spear, was the recognisedhead of his race, both for valour and discretion. Bysome historians he is called the half-brother of MurtoghO'Brien, and it is certain that he was the faithful allyof that powerful prince. In the early stages of the recentcontest between North and South, Donald of Aileach hadpresented himself at Rathcrogan, the residence of O'Conor, who entertained him for a fortnight, and gave him hostages;but Connaught finally sided with Munster, and thus, bya decided policy, escaped being ground to powder, as cornis ground between the mill-stones. But the nephew andsuccessor of Murtogh was not prepared to reciprocate toConnaught the support it had rendered to Munster, butrather looked for its continuance to himself. ConorO'Brien, who became King of Munster in 1120, resistedall his life the pretensions of any house but his own tothe southern half-kingdom, and against a less powerfulor less politic antagonist, his energy and capacity wouldhave been certain to prevail. The posterity of Malachyin Meath, as well as the Princes of Aileach, were equallyhostile to the designs of the new aspirant. One line hadgiven three, another seven, another twenty kings toErin--but who had ever heard of an _Ard-Righ_ coming outof Connaught? 'Twas so they reasoned in those days offierce family pride, and so they acted. Yet Thorlogh, son of Ruari, son of Hugh, proved himself in the fifteenyears' war, previous to his accession (1021 to 1136), more than a match for all his enemies. He had been chiefof his tribe since the year 1106, and from the first hadbegun to lay his far forecasting plans for the sovereignty. He had espoused the cause of the house of O'Brien, andhad profited by that alliance. Nor were all his thoughtsgiven to war. He had bridged the river Suca at Ballinasloe, and the Shannon at Athlone and Shannon harbour, and thesame year these works were finished (1120 or '21) hecelebrated the ancient games at Tailtean, in assertionof his claim to the monarchy. His main difficulty wasthe stubborn pride of Munster, and the valour and enterpriseof Conor O'Brien, surnamed Conor "of the fortresses. " Ofthe years following his assertion of his title, few passedwithout war between those Provinces. In 1121 and 1127, Thorlogh triumphed in the south, took hostages fromLismore to Tralee, and returned home exultingly; a fewyears later the tide turned, and Conor O'Brien was equallyvictorious against him, in the heart of his own country. Thorlogh played off in the south the ancient jealousy ofthe Eugenian houses against the Dalcassians, and thusweakened both, to his own advantage. In the year 1126 hetook Dublin and raised his son to the lordship, as Dermidof Leinster, and Thorlogh O'Brien had done formerly:marching southward he encamped in Ormond, from Lammas toSt. Bridget's day, and overran Munster with his troopsin all directions, taking Cork, Cashel, Ardfinnan, andTralee. Celsus, the holy Primate of Armagh, deploringthe evils of this protracted year, left his peacefulcity, and spent thirteen months in the south and west, endeavouring to reconcile, and bind over to the peace, the contending kings. In these days the Irish hierarchyperformed, perhaps, their highest part--that of peacemakersand preachers of good will to men. When in 1132 and '33the tide had temporarily turned against Thorlogh, andConor O'Brien had united Munster, Leinster, and Meath, against him, the Archbishop of Tuam performed effectuallythe office of mediator, preserving not only his ownProvince, but the whole country from the most sanguinaryconsequences. In the year 1130, the holy Celsus hadrested from his labours, and Malachy, the illustriousfriend of St. Bernard, was nominated as his successor. At the time he was absent in Munster, as the Vicar ofthe aged Primate, engaged in a mission of peace, whenthe crozier and the dying message of his predecessor weredelivered to him. He returned to Armagh, where he foundthat Maurice, son of Donald, had been intruded as Archbishopin the _interim_, to this city peace, order, and unity, were not even partially restored, until two yearslater--A. D. , 1132. The reign of Thorlogh O'Conor over Leath Mogha, or asArd-Righ "with opposition, " is dated by the best authoritiesfrom the year 1136. He was then in his forty-eighth year, and had been chief of his tribe from the early age ofeighteen. He afterwards reigned for twenty years, andas those years, and the early career of his son Roderickare full of instruction, in reference to the events whichfollow, we must relate them somewhat in detail. We againbeg the reader to observe the consequences of thedestruction of the federal bond among the Irish; howevery province has found an ambitious dynasty of its own, which each contends shall be supreme; how the ambitionof the great families grows insatiable as the ancientrights and customs decay; how the law of Patrick enactedin the fifth century is no longer quoted or regarded;how the law of the strong hand alone decides the quarrelof these proud, unyielding Princes. CHAPTER III. THORLOGH MORE O'CONOR--MURKERTACH OF AILEACH--ACCESSIONOF RODERICK O'CONOR. The successful ambition of Thorlogh O'Conor had thusadded, as we have seen in the last chapter, a fifthdynasty to the number of competitors for the sovereignty. And if great energy and various talents could aloneentitle a chief to rule over his country, this Princewell merited the obedience of his cotemporaries. He isthe first of the latter kings who maintained a regularfleet at sea; at one time we find these Connaught galleysdoing service on the coast of Cork, at another co-operatingwith his land forces, in the harbour of Derry. The yearof his greatest power was the fifteenth of his reign(A. D. 1151), when his most signal success was obtainedover his most formidable antagonists. Thorlogh O'Brien, King of Munster, successor to Conor of the fortresses, had on foot, in that year, an army of three battalions(or _caths_), each battalion consisting of 3, 000 men, with which force he overawed some, and compelled othersof the southern chiefs to withdraw their homage from hiswestern namesake. The latter, uniting to his own theforces of Meath, and those of Leinster, recently reconciledto his supremacy, marched southward, and, encamping atGlanmire, received the adhesion of such Eugenian familiesas still struggled with desperation against the ascendencyof the O'Briens. With these forces he encountered, atMoanmore, the army of the south, and defeated them, withthe enormous loss of 7, 000 men--a slaughter unparalleledthroughout the war of succession. Every leading house inNorth Munster mourned the loss of either its chief orits tanist; some great families lost three, five, orseven brothers on that sanguinary day. The household ofKinkora was left without an heir, and many a near kinsman'sseat was vacant in its hospitable hall. The O'Brienhimself was banished into Ulster, where, from Murkertach, Prince of Aileach, he received the hospitality due tohis rank and his misfortunes, not without an ulteriorpolitic view on the part of the Ulster Prince. In thisbattle of Moanmore, Dermid McMurrogh, King of Leinster, of whom we shall hear hereafter, fought gallantly on theside of the victor. In the same year--but whether beforeor after the Munster campaign is uncertain--an Ulsterforce having marched into Sligo, Thorlogh met them nearthe Curlew mountains, and made peace with their king. Astill more important interview took place the next yearin the plain, or _Moy_, between the rivers Erne andDrowse, near the present Ballyshannon. On the _Bachall-Isa_and the relics of Columbkill, Thorlogh and Murkertachmade a solemn peace, which is thought to have includedthe recognition of O'Conor's supremacy. A third meetingwas had during the summer in Meath, where were present, beside the Ard-Righ, the Prince of Aileach, Dermid ofLeinster, and other chiefs and nobles. At this conferencethey divided Meath into east and west, between two branchesof the family of Melaghlin. Part of Longford and SouthLeitrim were taken from Tiernan O'Ruarc, lord of Breffni, and an angle of Meath, including Athboy and the hill ofWard, was given him instead. Earlier in the same year, King Thorlogh had divided Munster into three parts, givingDesmond to MacCarthy, Ormond to Thaddeus O'Brien, whohad fought under him at Moanmore, and leaving the remainderto the O'Brien, who had only two short years beforecompeted with him for the sovereignty. By these subdivisionsthe politic monarch expected to weaken to a great degreethe power of the rival families of Meath and Munster. It was an arbitrary policy which could originate only onthe field of battle, and could be enforced only by thesanction of victory. Thorlogh O'Brien, once King of allMunster, refused to accept a mere third, and carryingaway his jewels and valuables, including the drinkinghorn of the great Brian, he threw himself again on theprotection of Murkertach of Aileach. The elder branchof the family of O'Melaghlin were equally indisposed toaccept half of Meath, where they had claimed the wholefrom the Shannon to the sea. To complicate still morethis tangled web, Dermid, King of Leinster, about thesame time (A. D. 1153), eloped with Dervorgoil, wife ofO'Ruarc of Breffni, and daughter of O'Melaghlin, who bothappealed to the monarch for vengeance on the ravager. Upto this date Dermid had acted as a steadfast ally ofO'Conor, but when compelled by the presence of a powerfulforce on his borders to restore the captive, or partnerof his guilt, he conceived an enmity for the aged king, which he extended, with increased virulence, to his sonand successor. What degree of personal criminality to attach to thiselopement it is hard to say. The cavalier in the casewas on the wintry side of fifty, while the lady hadreached the mature age of forty-four. Such examples havebeen, where the passions of youth, surviving the periodmost subject to their influence, have broken out withrenewed frenzy on the confines of old age. Whether theflight of Dermid and Dervorgoil arose from a mere criminalpassion, is not laid down with certainty in the oldAnnals, though national and local tradition stronglypoint to that conclusion. The Four Masters indeed statethat after the restoration of the lady she "returned toO'Ruarc, " another point wanting confirmation. We knowthat she soon afterwards retired to the shelter ofMellifont Abbey, where she ended her days towards theclose of the century, in penitence and alms-deeds. Murtogh of Aileach now became master of the situation. Thorlogh was old and could not last long; Dermid ofLeinster was for ever estranged from him; the new arbitrarydivisions, though made with the general consent, satisfiedno one. With a powerful force he marched southward, restored to the elder branch of the O'Melaghlins thewhole of Meath, defeated Thaddeus O'Brien, obliteratedOrmond from the map, restored the old bounds of Thomondand Desmond, and placed his guest, the banished O'Brien, on the throne of Cashel. A hostile force, under RoderickO'Conor, was routed, and retreated to their own territory. The next year (A. D. 1154) was signalized by a fiercenaval engagement between the galleys of King Thorloghand those of Murtogh, on the coast of Innishowen. Thelatter, recruited by vessels hired from the Gael andGalls of Cantire, the Arran Isles, and Man, were underthe command of MacScellig; the Connaught fleet was ledby O'Malley and O'Dowda. The engagement, which lastedfrom the morning till the evening, ended in the repulseof the Connaught fleet, and the death of O'Dowda. Theoccurrence is remarkable as the first general sea-fightbetween vessels in the service of native Princes, and asreminding us forcibly of the lessons acquired by theIrish during the Danish period. During the two years of life--which remained to KingThorlogh O'Conor, he had the affliction of seeing thefabric of power, which had taken him nearly half a centuryto construct, abridged at many points, by his more vigorousnorthern rival. Murtogh gave law to territories farsouth of the ancient _esker_. He took hostages from theDanes of Dublin, and interposed in the affairs of Munster. In the year 1156, the closing incidents which signalizedthe life of Thorlogh More, was a new peace which he madebetween the people of Breffni, Meath, and Connaught, andthe reception of hostages from his old opponent, therestored O'Brien. While this new light of prosperity wasshining on his house, he passed away from this life, onthe 13th of the Kalends of June, in the 68th year of hisage, and the 50th of his government. By his last will hebequeathed to the clergy numerous legacies, which arethus enumerated by Geoffrey Keating: "namely, four hundredand forty ounces of gold, and forty marks of silver; andall the other valuable treasures he possessed, both cupsand precious stones, both steeds and cattle and robes, chess-boards, bows, quivers, arrows, equipments, weapons, armour, and utensils. " He was interred beside the highaltar of the Cathedral of Clonmacnoise, to which he hadbeen in life and in death a munificent benefactor. The Prince of Aileach now assumed the title of Monarch, and after some short-lived opposition from RoderickO'Conor, his sovereignty was universally acknowledged. From the year 1161 until his death, he might fairly becalled Ard-Righ, without opposition, since the hostagesof all Ireland were in those last five years in his hands. These hostages were retained at the chief seat of powerof the northern dynasty, the fortress of Aileach, whichcrowns a hill nearly a thousand feet high, at the headof Lough Swilly. To this stronghold the ancestor ofMurtogh had removed early in the Danish period, from themore exposed and more ancient Emania, beside Armagh. Onthat hill-summit the ruins of Aileach may still be traced, with its inner wall twelve feet thick, and its threeconcentric ramparts, the first enclosing one acre, thesecond four, and the last five acres. By what remains wecan still judge of the strength of the stronghold whichwatched over the waters of Lough Swilly like a sentinelon an outpost. No Prince of the Northern Hy-Nial hadfor two centuries entered Aileach in such triumph or withso many nobles in his train, as did Murtogh in the year1161, But whether the supreme power wrought a change forthe worse in his early character, or that the lords ofUlster had begun to consider the line of Conn as equalsrather than sovereigns, he was soon involved in quarrelswith his own Provincial suffragans which ended in hisdefeat and death. Most other kings of whom we have readfound their difficulties in rival dynasties and provincialprejudices; but this ruler, when most freely acknowledgedabroad, was disobeyed and defeated at home. Having takenprisoner the lord of Ulidia (Down), with whom he hadpreviously made a solemn peace, he ordered his eyes tobe put out, and three of his principal relatives to beexecuted. This and other arbitrary acts so roused thelords of Leath Conn, that they formed a league againsthim, at the head of which stood Donogh O'Carroll, lordof Oriel, the next neighbour to the cruelly ill-treatedchief of Ulidia. In the year 1166, this chief, withcertain tribes of Tyrone and North Leitrim, to the numberof three battalions (9, 000 men), attacked the patrimonyof the monarch--that last menace and disgrace to an Irishking. Murtogh with his usual valour, but not his usualfortune, encountered them in the district of the Fews, with an Inferior force, chiefly his own tribesmen. Eventhese deserted him on the eve of the battle, so that hewas easily surprised and slain, only thirteen men fallingin the affray. This action, of course, is unworthy thename of a battle, but resulting in the death of themonarch, it became of high political importance. Roderick O'Conor, son of Thorlogh More, was at this periodin the tenth year of his reign over Connaught, and thefiftieth year of his age. Rathcrogan, the chief seat ofhis jurisdiction, had just attained to the summit of itsglory. The site of this now almost forgotten palace istraceable in the parish of Elphin, within three miles ofthe modern village of Tulsk. Many objects contributed toits interest and importance in Milesian times. There werethe _Naasteaghna_, or place of assembly of the clans ofConnaught, "the Sacred Cave, " which in the Druidic erawas supposed to be the residence of a god, and the _Religna Righ_-the venerable cemetery of the Pagan kings ofthe West, where still the red pillar stone stood overthe grave of Dathy, and many another ancient tomb couldbe as clearly distinguished. The relative importance ofRathcrogan we may estimate by the more detailed descriptionsof the extent and income of its rivals--Kinkora andAileach. In an age when Roscommon alone contained 470fortified _duns_, over all which the royal rath presided;when half the tributes of the island were counted at itsgate, it must have been the frequent _rendezvous_ ofarmies, the home of many guests, the busy focus ofintrigue, and the very elysium of bards, story-tellers, and mendicants. In an after generation, Cathal, thered-handed O'Conor, from some motive of policy or pleasure, transferred the seat of government to the newly-foundedBallintober: in the lifetime of Thorlogh More, and thefirst years of Roderick, when the fortunes of the O'Conorswere at their full, Rathcrogan was the co-equal in strengthand in splendour of Aileach and Kinkora. Advancing directly from this family seat, on the firsttidings of Murtogh's death, Roderick presented himselfbefore the walls of Dublin, which opened its gates, accepted his stipend of four thousand head of cattle, and placed hostages for its fidelity in his hands. Henext marched rapidly to Drogheda, with an auxiliary forceof Dublin Danes, and there O'Carroll, lord of Oriel(Louth), came into his camp, and rendered him homage. Retracing his steps he entered Leinster, with an augmentedforce, and demanded hostages from Dermid McMurrogh. Thirteen years had passed since his father had taken uparms to avenge the rape of Dervorgoil, and had earnedthe deadly hatred of the abductor. That hatred, in theinterim, had suffered no decrease, and sooner than submitto Roderick, the ravager burned his own city of Ferns tothe ground, and retreated into his fastnesses. Roderickproceeded southward, obtained the adhesion of Ossory andMunster; confirming Desmond to McCarthy, and Thomond toO'Brien. Returning to Leinster, he found that TiernanO'Ruarc had entered the province, at the head of anauxiliary army, and Dermid, thus surrounded, deserted bymost of his own followers, outwitted and overmatched, was feign to seek safety in flight beyond seas (A. D. 1168). A solemn sentence of banishment was publiclypronounced against him by the assembled Princes, andMorrogh, his cousin, commonly called Morrogh _na Gael_, or "of the Irish, " to distinguish him from Dermid _naGall_, or "of the Stranger, " was inaugurated in his stead. From Morrogh _na Gael_ they took seventeen hostages, andso Roderick returned rejoicing to Rathcrogan, and O'Ruarcto Breffni, each vainly imagining that he had heard thelast of the dissolute and detested King of Leinster. CHAPTER IV. STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNING AMONG THE IRISH, PREVIOUSTO THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION. At the end of the eighth century, before entering on theNorwegian and Danish wars, we cast a backward glance onthe Christian ages over which we had passed; and nowagain we have arrived at the close of an era, when arapid retrospect of the religious and social conditionof the country requires to be taken. The disorganization of the ancient Celtic constitutionhas already been sufficiently described. The rise of thegreat families, and their struggles for supremacy, havealso been briefly sketched. The substitution of the clanfor the race, of pedigree for patriotism, has beenexhibited to the reader. We have now to turn to the innerlife of the people, and to ascertain what substitutesthey found in their religious and social condition, forthe absence of a fixed constitutional system, and thestrength and stability which such a system confers. The followers of Odin, though they made no proselytes totheir horrid creed among the children of St. Patrick, succeeded in inflicting many fatal wounds on the IrishChurch. The schools, monasteries, and nunneries, situatedon harbours or rivers, or within a convenient march ofthe coast, were their first objects of attack; teachersand pupils were dispersed, or, if taken, put to death, or, escaping, were driven to resort to arms in self-defence. Bishops could no longer reside in their sees, nor anchoritesin their cells, unless they invited martyrdom; a factwhich may, perhaps, in some degree account for the largenumber of Irish ecclesiastics, many of them in episcopalorders, who are found, in the ninth century, in Gaul aridGermany, at Rheims, Mentz, Ratisbon, Fulda, Cologne, andother places, already Christian. But it was not in thebanishment of masters, the destruction of libraries andschool buildings, the worst consequences of the Gentilewar were felt. Their ferocity provoked retaliation inkind, and effaced, first among the military class, andgradually from among all others, that growing gentlenessof manners and clemency of temper, which we can trace insuch princes as Nial of the Showers and Nial of Callan. "A change in the national spirit is the greatest of allrevolutions;" and this change the Danish and Norwegianwars had wrought, in two centuries, among the Irish. The number of Bishops in the early Irish Church wasgreatly in excess of the number of modern dioceses. Fromthe eighth to the twelfth century we hear frequently of_Episcopi Vagantes_, or itinerant, and _Episcopi Vacantes_, or unbeneficed Bishops; the Provincial Synods of Englandand Gaul frequently had to complain of the influx of suchBishops into their country. At the Synod held near theHill of Usny, in the year 1111, fifty Bishops attended, and at the Synod of Rath-Brazil, seven years later, according to Keating, but twenty-five were present. Tothis period, then, when Celsus was Primate and Legate ofthe Holy See, we may attribute the first attemptedreduction of the Episcopal body to something like itsmodern number; but so far was this salutary restrictionfrom being universally observed that, at the Synod ofKells (A. D. 1152), the hierarchy had again risen tothirty-four, exclusive of the four Archbishops. Threehundred priests, and three thousand ecclesiastics aregiven as the number present at the first-mentioned Synod. The religious orders, probably represented by the aboveproportion of three thousand ecclesiastics to threehundred [secular] priests had also undergone a remarkablerevolution. The rule of all the early Irish monasteriesand convents was framed upon an original constitution, which St. Patrick had obtained in France from St. Martinof Tours, who in turn had copied after the monachism ofEgypt and the East. It is called by ecclesiastical writersthe Columban rule, and was more rigid in some particularsthan the rule of St. Benedict, by which it was afterwardssupplanted. Amongst other restrictions it prohibited theadmission of all unprofessed persons within the precinctsof the monastery--a law as regards females incorporatedin the Benedictine constitution; and it strictly enjoinedsilence on the professed--a discipline revived by thebrethren of La Trappe. The primary difference betweenthe two orders lay perhaps in this, that the Benedictinemade study and the cultivation of the intellect subordinateto manual labour and implicit obedience, while the ColumbanOrder attached more importance to the acquisition ofknowledge and missionary enterprise. Not that this wastheir invariable, but only their peculiar characteristic:a deep-seated love of seclusion and meditation often, intermingled with this fearless and experimental zeal. It was not to be expected in a century like the ninth, especially when the Benedictine Order was overspreadingthe West, that its milder spirit should not act upon thespirit of the Columban rule. It was, in effect, moresocial, and less scientific, more a wisdom to be actedthan to be taught. Armed with the syllogism, the Columbitesissued out of their remote island, carrying their stronglymarked personality into every controversy and everycorrespondence. In Germany and Gaul, their system blazedup in Virgilius, in Erigena, and Macarius, and thendisappeared in the calmer, slower, but safer march ofthe Benedictine discipline. By a reform of the sameancient order, its last hold on native soil was loosenedwhen, under the auspices of St. Malachy, the Cistercianrule was introduced into Ireland the very year of hisfirst visit to Clairvaux (A. D. 1139). St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin, was the first to adopt that rule, and the greatmonastery of Mellifont, placed under the charge of thebrother of the Primate, sprung up in Meath, three yearslater. The Abbeys of Bective, Boyle, Baltinglass, andMonasternenagh, date from the year of Malachy's secondjourney to Rome, and death at Clairvaux--A. D. 1148. Before the end of the century, the rule was establishedat Fermoy, Holycross, and Odorney; at Athlone and Knockmoy;at Newry and Assaroe, and in almost every tribe-land ofMeath and Leinster. It is usually but erroneously supposedthat the Cistercian rule came in with the Normans; foralthough many houses owed their foundation to that race, the order itself had been naturalized in Ireland ageneration before the first landing of the formidableallies of Dermid on the coast of Wexford. The ancientnative order had apparently fulfilled its mission, andlong rudely lopped and shaken by civil commotions andPagan war, it was prepared to give place to a new andmore vigorous organization of kindred holiness and energy. As the horrors of war disturbed continually the clergyfrom their sacred calling, and led many of them, evenAbbots and Bishops, to take up arms, so the yoke ofreligion gradually loosened and dropped from the necksof the people. The awe of the eighth century for a Priestor Bishop had already disappeared in the tenth, whenChristian hands were found to decapitate Cormac of Cashel, and offer his head as a trophy to the Ard-Righ. In thetwelfth century the Archbishop and Bishops of Connaught, bound to the Synod of Trim, were fallen upon by the Kernof Carbre the Swift, before they could cross the Shannon, their people beaten and dispersed and two of them killed. In the time of Thorlogh More O'Conor, a similar outragewas offered by Tiernan O'Ruarc to the Archbishop ofArmagh, and one of his ecclesiastics was killed in theassault. Not only for the persons of ministers of religionhad the ancient awe and reverence disappeared, but evenfor the sacred precincts of the Sanctuary. In the secondcentury of the war with the Northmen we begin to hear ofchurches and cloisters plundered by native chiefs, whoyet called themselves Christians, though in every suchinstance our annalists are careful to record the vengeanceof Heaven following swift on sacrilege. Clonmacnoise, Kildare, and Lismore, were more than once rifled of theirwealth by impious hands, and given over to desolationand burning by so-called Christian nobles and soldiers!It is some mitigation of the dreadful record thus presentedto be informed--as we often are--especially in the annalsof the twelfth century, that the treasures so pillagedwere not the shrines of saints nor the sacred ornamentsof the altar, but the temporal wealth of temporalproprietors, laid up in churches as places of greatestsecurity. The estates of the Church were, in most instances, farmedby laymen, called _Erenachs_, who, in the relaxation ofall discipline, seem to have gradually appropriated thelands to themselves, leaving to the Clergy and Bishopsonly periodical dues and the actual enclosure of theChurch. This office of Erenach was hereditary, and musthave presented many strong temptations to its occupants. It is indeed certain that the Irish Church was originallyfounded on the broadest voluntaryism, and that such wasthe spirit of all its most illustrious fathers. "Contentwith food and raiment, " says an ancient Canon attributedto St. Patrick, "reject the gifts of the wicked beside, seeing that the lamb takes only that with which it isfed. " Such, to the letter, was the maxim which guidedthe conduct of Colman and his brethren, of whom Bedemakes such honourable mention, in the third century afterthe preaching of St. Patrick. But the munificence oftribes and Princes was not to be restrained, and toobviate any violation of the revered canons of the apostle, laymen, as treasurers and stewards over the endowmentsof the Church, were early appointed. As those possessionsincreased, the desire of family aggrandizement provedtoo much for the Erenachs not only of Armagh, but of mostother sees, and left the clergy as practically dependenton free-will offerings, as if their Cathedrals or Conventshad never been endowed with an acre, a mill, a ferry, ora fishery. The free offerings were, however, alwaysgenerous, and sometimes munificent. When Celsus, on hiselevation to the Primacy, made a tour of the southernhalf-kingdom, he received "seven cows and seven sheep, and half an ounce of silver from every cantred [hundred]in Munster. " The bequests were also a fruitful source ofrevenue to the principal foundations; of the munificenceof the monarchs we may form some opinion by what has beenalready recorded of the gifts left to churches by ThorloghMore O'Conor. The power of the clerical order, in these ages of Paganwarfare, had very far declined from what it was, whenAdamnan caused the law to be enacted to prevent womengoing to battle, when Moling obtained the abolition ofthe Leinster tribute, and Columbkill the recognition ofScottish independence. Truces made in the presence ofthe highest dignitaries, and sworn to on the most sacredrelics, were frequently violated, and often with impunity. Neither excommunication nor public penance were latterlyinflicted as an atonement for such perjury: a fine oroffering to the Church was the easy and only mulct onthe offender. When we see the safeguard of the Bishop ofCork so flagrantly disregarded by the assassins of Mahon, son of Kennedy, and the solemn peace of the year 1094 soreadily broken by two such men as the Princes of theNorth and the South, we need no other proofs of thedecadence of the spiritual authority in that age of Irishhistory. And the morals of private life tell the same sad tale. The facility with which the marriage tie was contractedand dissolved is the strongest evidence of this degeneracy. The worst examples were set in the highest stations, forit is no uncommon incident, from the ninth centurydownwards, to find our Princes with more than one wifeliving, and the repudiated wife married again to a personof equal or superior rank. We have the authority of SaintAnselm and Saint Bernard, for the existence of gravescandal and irregularities of life among the clergy, andwe can well believe that it needed a generation of Bishops, with all the authority and all the courage of SaintCelsus, Saint Malachy, and Saint Lawrence, to rescue fromruin a Priesthood and a people, so far fallen from thebright example of their ancestors. That the reactiontowards a better life had strongly set in, under theirguidance, we may infer from the horror with which, inthe third quarter of the twelfth century, the elopementof Dermid and Dervorgoil was regarded by both Princesand People. A hundred years earlier, that event wouldhave been hardly noticed in the general disregard of themarriage tie, but the frequent Synods, and the holy livesof the reforming Bishops, had already revived the zealthat precedes and ensures reformation. Primate Malachy died at Clairvaulx, in the arms of SaintBernard, in the year 1148, after having been fourteenyears Archbishop of Armagh and ten years Bishop of Downand Conor. His episcopal life, therefore, embraced thehistory of that remarkable second quarter of the century, in which the religious reaction fought its first battlesagainst the worst abuses. The attention of Saint Bernard, whose eyes nothing escaped, from Jerusalem to the farthestwest, was drawn ten years before to the Isle of Saints, now, in truth, become an Isle of Sinners. The death ofhis friend, the Irish Primate, under his own roof, gavehim a fitting occasion for raising his accusing voice--avoice that thrilled the Alps and filled the Vatican--againstthe fearful degeneracy of that once fruitful mother ofholy men and women. The attention of Rome was thoroughlyaroused, and immediately after the appearance of the Lifeof Saint Malachy, Pope Eugenius III. --himself a monk ofClairvaulx--despatched Cardinal Papiron, with legantinepowers, to correct abuses, and establish a stricterdiscipline. After a tour of great part of the Island, the Legate, with whom was associated Gilla-Criost, orChristianus, Bishop of Lismore, called the great Synodof Kells, early in the year after his arrival (March, 1152), at which simony, usury, concubinage, and otherabuses, were formally condemned, and tithes were firstdecreed to be paid to the secular clergy. Two newArchbishoprics, Dublin and Tuam, were added to Armaghand Cashel, though not without decided opposition fromthe Primates both of Leath Mogha and Leath Conn, backedby those stern conservatives of every national usage, the Abbots of the Columban Order. The _pallium_, or Romancape, was, by this Legate, presented to each of theArchbishops, and a closer conformity with the Roman ritualwas enacted. The four ecclesiastical Provinces thuscreated were in outline nearly identical with the fourmodern Provinces. Armagh was declared the metropolitanover all; Dublin, which had been a mere Danish borough-see, gained most in rank and influence by the new arrangement, as Glendalough, Ferns, Ossory, Kildare and Leighlin, weredeclared subject to its presidency. We must always bear in mind the picture drawn of theIrish Church by the inspired orator of Clairvaulx, whenjudging of the conduct of Pope Adrian IV. , who, in theyear 1155--the second of his Pontificate--granted to KingHenry II. Of England, then newly crowned, his Bullauthorising the invasion of Ireland. The authenticity ofthat Bull is now universally admitted; and both itspreamble and conditions show how strictly it was framedin accordance with St. Bernard's accusation. It setsforth that for the eradication of vice, the implantingof virtue, and the spread of the true faith, the HolyFather solemnly sanctions the projected invasion; and itattaches as a condition, the payment of Peter's pence, for every house in Ireland. The bearer of the Bull, Johnof Salisbury, carried back from Rome a gold ring, setwith an emerald stone, as a token of Adrian's friendship, or it may be, his subinfeudation of Henry. As a title, however powerless in modern times such a Bull might prove, it was a formidable weapon of invasion with a Catholicpeople, in the twelfth century. We have mainly referredto it here, however, as an illustration of how entirelySt. Bernard's impeachment of the Irish Church and nationwas believed at Rome, even after the salutary decrees ofthe Synod of Kells had been promulgated. The restoration of religion, which was making such rapidprogress previous to the Norman invasion, was accompaniedby a relative revival of learning. The dark ages ofIreland are not those of the rest of Europe--they extendfrom the middle of the ninth century to the age of Brianand Malachy II. This darkness came from the North, andcleared away rapidly after the eventful day of Clontarf. The first and most natural direction which the revivaltook was historical investigation, and the compositionof Annals. Of these invaluable records, the two of highestreputation are those of Tigernach (Tiernan) O'Broin, brought down to the year of his own death, A. D. 1088, and the chronicle of Marianus Scotus, who died at Mentz, A. D. 1086. Tiernan was abbot of Clonmacnoise, and Marianis thought to have been a monk of that monastery, as hespeaks of a superior called Tigernach, under whom he hadlived in Ireland. Both these learned men quote accuratelythe works of foreign writers; both give the dates ofeclipses, in connection with historical events for severalcenturies before their own time; both show a familiaritywith Greek and Latin authors. _Marianus_ is the firstwriter by whom the name _Scotia Minor_ was given to theGaelic settlement in Caledonia, and his chronicle was anauthority mainly relied on in the disputed Scottishsuccession in the time of Edward I. Of England. With_Tigernach_, he may be considered the founder of theschool of Irish Annalists, which flourished in the shelterof the great monasteries, such as Innisfallen, Boyle andMultifernan; and culminated in the great compilation madeby "the Four Masters" in the Abbey of Donegal. Of the Gaelic metrical chroniclers, Flann of the Monastery, and Gilla-Coeman; of the Bards McLiag and McCoisse; ofthe learned professors and lectors of Lismore andArmagh--now restored for a season to studious days andpeaceful nights, we must be content with the mention oftheir names. Of Lismore, after its restoration, an oldBritish writer has left us this pleasant and happy picture. "It is, " he says, "a famous and holy city, half of whichis an asylum, into which no woman dares enter; but it isfull of cells and monasteries; and religious men in greatabundance abide there. " Such was the promise of better days, which cheered thehopes of the Pastors of the Irish, when the twelfthcentury had entered on its third quarter. The pious oldGaelic proverb, which says, "on the Cross the face ofChrist was looking westwards--, " was again on the lipsand in the hearts of men, and though much remained to bedone, much had been already done, and done underdifficulties greater than any that remained to conquer. CHAPTER V. SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE IRISH PREVIOUS TO THE NORMANINVASION. The total population of Ireland, when the Normans firstentered it, can only be approximated by conjecture. Supposing the whole force with which Roderick and hisallies invested the Normans in Dublin, to be, as statedby a cotemporary writer, some 50, 000 men, and that thatforce included one-fourth of all the men of the militaryage in the country; and further, supposing the men ofmilitary age to bear the proportion of one-fifth to thewhole number of inhabitants, this would give a totalpopulation of about one million. Even this conjecture isto be taken with great diffidence and distrust, but, forthe sake of clearness, it is set down as a possible Irishcensus, towards the close of the twelfth century. This population was divided into two great classes, the_Saer-Clanna_, or free tribes, chiefly, if not exclusively, of Milesian race; and the _Daer-Clanna_, or unfree tribes, consisting of the descendants of the subjugated olderraces, or of clans once free, reduced to servitude bythe sword, or of the posterity of foreign mercenarysoldiers. Of the free clans, the most illustrious werethose of whose Princes we have traced the record--thedescendants of Nial in Ulster and Meath, of Cathaeir Morein Leinster, of Oliold in Munster, and of Eochaid inConnaught. An arbitrary division once limited the freeclans to six in the southern half-kingdom, and six inthe north; and the unfree also to six. But GeoffreyKeating, whose love of truth was quite as strong as hiscredulity in ancient legends--and that is sayingmuch--disclaimed that classification, and collected hisgenealogies from principal heads--branching out intothree families of tribes, descended from Eber Finn, onefrom Ir, and four from Eremhon, sons of Milesians ofSpain; and ninth tribe sprung from Ith, granduncle tothe sons of Milesius. The principal Eberian families'names were McCarthy, O'Sullivan, O'Mahony, O'Donovan, O'Brien, O'Dea, O'Quin, McMahon (of Clare), McNamara, O'Carroll (of Ely), and O'Gara; the Irian families wereMagennis, O'Farrall, and O'Conor (of Kerry); the posterityof Eremhon branched out into the O'Neils, O'Donnells, O'Dohertys, O'Gallahers, O'Boyles, McGeoghegans, O'Conors(of Connaught), O'Flahertys, O'Heynes, O'Shaughnessys, O'Clerys, O'Dowdas, McDonalds (of Antrim), O'Kellys, Maguires, Kavanaghs, Fitzpatricks, O'Dwyers, and O'Conors(of Offally). The chief families of Ithian origin werethe O'Driscolls, O'Learys, Coffeys, and Clancys. Out ofthe greater tribes many subdivisions arose from time totime, when new names were coined for some intermediateancestor; but the farther enumeration of these may beconveniently dispensed with. The _Daer-Clanna_, or unfree tribes, have left no history. Under the despotism of the Milesian kings, it was hightreason to record the actions of the conquered race; sothat the Irish Belgae fared as badly in this respect, atthe hands of the Milesian historians, as the latter faredin after times from the chroniclers of the Normans. Weonly know that such tribes were, and that their numbersand physical force more than once excited the apprehensionof the children of the conquerors. What proportion theybore to the _Saer-Clanna_ we have no positive data todetermine. A fourth, a fifth, or a sixth, they may havebeen; but one thing is certain, the jealous policy ofthe superior race never permitted them to reascend theplane of equality, from which they had been hurled, atthe very commencement of the Milesian ascendency. In addition to the enslaved by conquest and the enslavedby crime, there were also the enslaved by purchase. Fromthe earliest period, slave dealers from Ireland hadfrequented Bristol, the great British slave market, topurchase human beings. Christian morality, though it mayhave mitigated the horrors of this odious traffic, didnot at once lead to its abolition. In vain Saint Wulfstanpreached against it in the South, as Saint Aidan had donelong before him in the North of England. Files offair-haired Saxon slaves, of both sexes, yoked togetherwith ropes, continued to be shipped at Bristol, andbondmen and bondwomen continued to be articles ofvalue--exchanged between the Prince and his subordinates, as stipend or tribute. The King of Cashel alone gave tothe chief of the Eugenians, as part of his annual stipend, ten bondmen and ten women; to the lord of Bruree, sevenpages and seven bondwomen; to the lord of Deisi, eightslaves of each sex, and seven female slaves to the lordof Kerry; among the items which make up the tribute fromOssory to Cashel are ten bondmen and ten grown women;and from the Deisi, eight bondmen and eight "brown-haired"women. The annual exchanges of this description, set downas due in the Book of Rights, would require the transferof several hundreds of slaves yearly, from one set ofmasters to another. Cruelties and outrages must have beeninseparable from the system, and we can hardly wonder atthe sweeping decree by which the Synod of Armagh (A. D. 1171) declared all the English slaves in Ireland free toreturn to their homes, and anathematized the whole inhumantraffic. The fathers of that council looked upon theNorman invasion as a punishment from Heaven on the slavetrade; for they believed in their purity of heart, thatpower _is_ transferred from one nation to another, becauseof injustices, oppressions, and divers deceits. The purchased slaves and unfree tribes tilled the soil, and practised the mechanic arts. Agriculture seems firstto have been lifted into respectability by the CistercianMonks, while spinning, weaving, and almost every mechaniccalling, if we except the scribe, the armorer, and thebell-founder, continued down to very recent tunes to beheld in contempt among the Gael. A brave man is mentionedas having been a "weaving woman's son, " with much thesame emphasis as Jeptha is spoken of as the son of anHarlot. Mechanic wares were disposed of at those statedgatherings, which combined popular games, chariot racesfor the nobles, and markets for the merchants. A Bard ofthe tenth or eleventh century, in a desperate effort tovary the usual high-flown descriptions of the country, calls it "Erin of the hundred fair greens, "--a verygraphic, if not a very poetic illustration. The administration of justice was an hereditary trust, committed to certain judicial families, who held theirlands, as the Monks did, by virtue of their profession. When the posterity of the Brehon, or Judge failed, itwas permitted to adopt from the class of students, a malerepresentative, in whom the judicial authority wasperpetuated: the families of O'Gnive and O'Clery in theNorth, of O'Daly in Meath, O'Doran in Leinster, McEganin Munster, Mulconry or Conroy in Connaught, were themost distinguished Brehon houses. Some peculiarities ofthe Brehon law, relating to civil succession andsovereignty, such as the institution of Tanistry, andthe system of stipends and tributes, have been alreadyexplained; parricide and murder were in latter agespunished with death; homicide and rape by _eric_ or fine. There were, besides, the laws of gavelkind or divisionof property among the members of the clan; laws relatingto boundaries; sumptuary laws regulating the dress ofthe various castes into which society was divided; lawsrelating to the planting of trees, the trespass of cattle, and billeting of troops. These laws were either writtenin detail, or consisted of certain acknowledged ancientmaxims of which the Brehon made the application in eachparticular case, answering to what we call "Judge-madelaw. " Of such ancient tracts as composed the Celtic code, an immense number have, fortunately survived, even tothis late day, and we may shortly expect a complete digestof all that are now known to exist, in a printed andimperishable form, from the hands of native scholars, every way competent to the task. The commerce of the country, in the eleventh and twelfthcenturies, was largely in the hands of the ChristianHiberno-Danes, of the eastern and southern coast. By themthe slave trade with Bristol was mostly maintained, andthe Irish oak, with which William Rufus roofed WestminsterAbbey, was probably rafted by them in the Thames. TheEnglish and Welsh coasts, at least, were familiar totheir pilots, and they combined, as was usual in thatage, the military with the mercantile character. In 1142, and again in 1165, a troop of Dublin Danes fought underNorman banners against the brave Britons of Cambria, andin the camps of their allies, sung the praises of thefertile island of the west. The hundred fairs of Erin--after their conversion and submission to native authority--afforded them convenient markets for disposing of thecommodities they imported from abroad. The Gaelic mind, long distracted by the din of war fromthe purifying and satisfying influences of a Christianlife, naturally fell back upon the abandoned, half-forgottensuperstitions of the Pagan period. Preceding every freshcalamity, we hear of signs and wonders, of migratorylakes disappearing in a night, of birds and wolves speakingwith human voices, of showers of blood falling in thefields, of a whale with golden teeth stranded atCarlingford, of cloud ships, with their crews, seenplainly sailing in the sky. One of the marvels of thisclass is thus gravely entered in our Annals, under theyear 1054--"A steeple of fire was seen in the air overRossdala, on the Sunday of the festival of St. George, for the space of five hours; innumerable black birdspassed into and out of it, and one large bird in themiddle of them; and the little birds went under his wingswhen they went into the steeple. They came out and raisedup a greyhound that was in the middle of the town aloftin the air, and let it drop down again, so that it diedimmediately; and they took up three cloaks and two shirts, and let them drop down in the same manner. The wood onwhich these birds perched fell under them; and the oaktree on which they perched shook with its roots in theearth. " In many other superstitions of the same age wesee the latent moral sentiment, as well as the over-excitedimagination of the people. Such is the story of the stolenjewels of Clonmacnoise, providentially recovered in theyear 1130. The thief in vain endeavoured to escape outof the country, from Cork, Lismore, and Waterford, "butno ship into which he entered found a wind to sail, whileall the other ships did. " And the conscience strickenthief declared, in his dying confession, that he used tosee Saint Kieran "stopping with his crozier, every shipinto which he entered. " It was also an amiable popularillusion that abundant harvests followed the making ofpeace, the enacting of salutary laws, and the accessionof a King who loved justice; and careful entry is madein our chronicles of every evidence of this character. The literature of the masses of the people was prettyequally composed of the legends of the Saints and theolder Ossianic legend, so much misunderstood and distortedby modern criticism. The legends of the former classwere chiefly wonders wrought by the favourite Saints ofthe district or the island, embellished with many quaintfancies and tagged out with remnants of old Pagansuperstition. St. Columbkill and St. Kieran were, mostcommonly, the heroes of those tales, which, perhaps, werenever intended by their authors to be seriously believed. Such was the story of the great founder of Iona havingtransformed the lady and her maid, who insulted him onhis way to Drom-Keth, into two herons, who are doomed tohover about the neighbouring ford till the day of doom;and such that other story of "the three first monks" whojoined St. Kieran in the desert, being a fox, a badger, and a bear, all endowed with speech, and all acting apart in the legend true to their own instincts. Of higherpoetic merit is the legend of the voyage of St. Brendanover the great sea, and how the birds which sung vespersfor him in the groves of the Promised Land were inhabitedby human souls, as yet in a state of probation waitingfor their release! In the Ossianic legend we have the common stock of Orientalideas--the metamorphosis of guilty wives and haughtyconcubines into dogs and birds; the speaking beasts andfishes; the enchanted swans, originally daughters of Lir;the boar of Ben Bulben, by which the champion, Diarmid, was slain; the Phoenix in the stork of Inniskea, of whichthere never was but one, yet that one perpetually reproduceditself; the spirits of the wood, and the spirits inhabitingsprings and streams; the fairy horse; the sacred trees;the starry influences. Monstrous and gigantic humanshapes, like the Jinns of the Arabian tales, occasionallyenter into the plot, and play a midnight part, malignantto the hopes of good men. At their approach the earth istroubled, the moon is overcast, gusts of storm are shakenout from the folds of their garments, the watch dogs andthe war dogs cower down, in camp and rath, and whinepiteously, as if in pain. The variety of grace, and peculiarities of organization, with which, if not the original, certainly the ChristianizedIrish imagination, endowed and equipped the personagesof the fairy world, were of almost Grecian delicacy. There is no personage who rises to the sublime height ofZeus, or the incomparable union of beauty and wisdom inPallas Athene: what forms Bel, or Crom, or Bride, thequeen of Celtic song, may have worn to the pre-Christianages we know not, nor can know; but the minor creationsof Grecian fancy, with which they peopled their grovesand fountains, are true kindred of the brain, to theinnocent, intelligent, and generally gentle inhabitantsof the Gaelic Fairyland. The _Sidhe_, a tender, tutelaryspirit, attached herself to heroes, accompanied them inbattle, shrouded them with invisibility, dressed theirwounds with more than mortal skill, and watched over themwith more than mortal love; the _Banshee_, a sad, Cassandra-like spirit, shrieked her weird warning inadvance of death, but with a prejudice eminently Milesian, watched only over those of pure blood, whether theirfortunes abode in hovel or hall. The more modern andgrotesque personages of the Fairy world are sufficientlyknown to render description unnecessary. Two habitual sources of social enjoyment and occupationwith the Irish of those days were music and chess. Theharp was the favourite instrument, but the horn or trumpet, and the pibroch or bagpipe, were also in common use. Notonly professional performers, but men and women of allranks, from the humblest to the highest, prided themselveson some knowledge of instrumental music. It seems to haveformed part of the education of every order, and to havebeen cherished alike in the palace, the shieling, andthe cloister. "It is a poor church that has no music, "is a Gaelic proverb, as old, perhaps, as the establishmentof Christianity in the land; and no house was consideredfurnished without at least one harp. Students from othercountries, as we learn from _Giraldus_, came to Irelandfor their musical education in the twelfth century, justas our artists now visit Germany and Italy with the sameobject in view. The frequent mention of the game of chess, in ages longbefore those at which we have arrived, shows how usualwas that most intellectual amusement. The chess boardwas called in Irish _fithcheall_, and is described inthe Glossary of Cormac, of Cashel, composed towards theclose of the ninth century, as quadrangular, havingstraight spots of black and white. Some of them wereinlaid with gold and silver, and adorned with gems. Mention is made in a tale of the twelfth century of a"man-bag of woven brass wire. " No entire set of theancient men is now known to exist, though frequent mentionis made of "the brigade or family of chessmen, " in manyold manuscripts. Kings of bone, seated in sculpturedchairs, about two inches in height, have been found, andspecimens of them engraved in recent antiquarianpublications. It only remains to notice, very briefly, the means oflocomotion which bound and brought together this singularstate of society. Five great roads, radiating from Tara, as a centre, are mentioned in our earliest record; theroad _Dala_ leading to Ossory, and so on into Munster;the road _Assail_, extending western through Mullingartowards the Shannon; the road _Cullin_, extending towardsDublin and Bray; the exact route of the northern road, _Midhluachra_, is undetermined; _Slighe Mor_, the greatwestern road, followed the course of the _esker_, orhill-range, from Tara to Galway. Many cross-roads arealso known as in common use from the sixth centurydownwards. Of these, the Four Masters mention, at variousdates, not less than forty, under their different localnames, previous to the Norman invasion. These roads werekept in repair, according to laws enacted for that purpose, and were traversed by the chiefs and ecclesiastics in_carbads_, or chariots; a main road was called a _slighe_(_sleigh_), because it was made for the free passage oftwo chariots--"i. E. The chariot of a King and the chariotof a Bishop. " Persons of that rank were driven by an_ara_, or charioteer, and, no doubt, made a very imposingfigure. The roads were legally to be repaired at threeseasons, namely, for the accommodation of those going tothe national games, at fair-time, and in time of war. Weeds and brushwood were to be removed, and water to bedrained off; items of road-work which do not give us avery high idea of the comfort or finish of those ancienthighways. Such, faintly seen from afar, and roughly sketched, wasdomestic life and society among our ancestors, previousto the Anglo-Norman invasion, in the reign of King RoderickO'Conor. CHAPTER VI. FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE IRISH PREVIOUS TO THE ANGLO-NORMANINVASION. The relations of the Irish with other nations, notwithstanding the injurious effects of their War ofSuccession on national unity and reputation, presentseveral points of interest. After the defeat of MagnusBarefoot, we may drop the Baltic countries out of themap of the relations of Ireland. Commencing, therefore, at the north of the neighbouring island--which, in itsentirety, they sometimes called _Inismore_--the mostintimate and friendly intercourse was always upheld withthe kingdom of Scotland. Bound together by earlyecclesiastical and bardic ties, confronting together forso many generations a common enemy, those two countrieswere destined never to know an international quarrel. About the middle of the ninth century (A. D. 843), whenthe Scoto-Irish in Caledonia had completely subdued thePicts and other ancient tribes, the first national dynastywas founded by Kenneth McAlpine. The constitution givenby this Prince to the whole country seems to have beena close copy of the Irish--it embraced the laws of Tanistryand succession, and the whole Brehon code, as administeredin the parent state. The line of Kenneth may be said toclose with Donald Bane, brother of Malcolm III. , who diedin 1094, and not only his dynasty but his system endedwith that century. Edgar, Alexander I. , and David I. , all sons of Malcolm III. , were educated in England amongthe victorious Normans, and in the first third of thetwelfth century, devoted themselves with the inauspiciousaid of Norman allies, to the introduction of Saxon settlersand the feudal system, first into the lowlands, andsubsequently into Moray-shire. This innovation on theirancient system, and confiscation of their lands, wasstoutly resisted by the Scottish Gael. In Somerled, lordof the Isles, and ancestor of the Macdonalds, they founda powerful leader, and Somerled found Irish allies alwaysready to assist him, in a cause which appealed to alltheir national prejudices. In the year 1134, he led astrong force of Irish and Islesmen to the assistance ofthe Gaelic insurgents, but was defeated and slain, nearRenfrew, by the royal troops, under the command of theSteward of Scotland. During the reigns of William theLion, Alexander II. , and Alexander III. , the war ofsystems raged with all its fierceness, and in nearly allthe great encounters Irish auxiliaries, as was to beexpected, were found on the side of the Gaelic race andGaelic rights. Nor did this contest ever wholly cease inScotland, until the last hopes of the Stuart line wereextinguished on the fatal field of Culloden, where Irishcaptains formed the battle, and Irish blood flowed freely, intermingled with the kindred blood of Highlanders andIslesmen. The adoption of Norman usages, laws, and tactics, by theScottish dynasties of the twelfth and succeeding centuries, did not permanently affect the national relations ofIreland and Scotland. It was otherwise with regard toEngland. We have every reason to believe--we have theindirect testimony of every writer from Bede to Malmsbury--that the intercourse between the Irish and Saxons, after the first hostility engendered by the cruel treatmentof the Britons had worn away, became of the most friendlycharacter. The "Irish" who fought at Brunanburgh againstSaxon freedom were evidently the natural allies of theNorthmen, the Dano-Irish of Dublin, and the southernseaports. The commerce of intelligence between the islandswas long maintained; the royalty of Saxon England hadmore than once, in times of domestic revolution, founda safe and desired retreat in the western island. Thefair Elgiva and the gallant Harold had crossed the westernwaves in their hour of need. The fame of Edward theConfessor took such deep hold on the Irish mind that, three centuries after his death, his banner was unfurledand the royal leopards laid aside to facilitate the marchof an English King, through the fastnesses of Leinster. The Irish, therefore, were not likely to look upon theestablishment of a Norman dynasty, in lieu of the oldSaxon line, as a matter of indifference. They felt thatthe Norman was but a Dane disguised in armour. It wastrue he carried the cross upon his banner, and claimedthe benediction of the successor of St. Peter; true alsohe spoke the speech of France, and claimed a Frenchpaternity; but the lust for dominion, the iron self-will, the wily devices of strategy, bespoke the Norman of thetwelfth, the lineal descendant of the Dane of the tenthcentury. When, therefore, tidings reached Ireland of thebattle of Hastings and the death of Harold, both theapprehensions and the sympathies of the country weredeeply excited. Intelligence of the coronation of Williamthe Conqueror quickly followed, and emphatically announcedto the Irish the presence of new neighbours, new dangers, and new duties. The spirit with which our ancestors acted towards thedefeated Saxons, whatever we may think of its wisdom, was, at least, respectable for decision and boldness. Godwin, Edmund, and Magnus, sons of Harold, had littledifficulty in raising in Ireland a numerous force toco-operate with the Earls Edwin and Morcar, who stillupheld the Saxon banner. With this force, wafted over insixty-six vessels, they entered the Avon, and besiegedBristol, then the second commercial city of the kingdom. But Bristol held out, and the Saxon Earls had fallen backinto Northumberland, so the sons of Harold ran down thecoast, and tried their luck in Somersetshire with a betterprospect. Devonshire and Dorsetshire favoured theircause; the old Britons of Cornwall swelled their ranks, and the rising spread like flame over the west. Eadnoth, a renegade Saxon, formerly Harold's Master of Horse, despatched by William against Harold's sons, was defeatedand slain. Doubling the Land's End, the victorious forceentered the Tamar, and overran South Devon. The unitedgarrisons of London, Winchester, and Salisbury, were sentagainst them, under the command of the martial Bishop ofCoutances; while a second force advanced along the Tamar, under Brian, heir of the Earl of Brittany, who routedthem with a loss of 2, 000 men, English, Welsh, and Irish. The sons of Harold retreated to their vessels with alltheir booty, and returned again into Ireland, where theyvanish from history. Such, in the vale of Tamar, was thefirst collision of the Irish and Normans, and as the raceof Rolla never forgot an enemy, nor forewent a revenge, we may well believe that, even thus early, the invasionof Ireland was decided upon. Meredith Hanmer relates inhis Chronicle that William Rufus, standing on a highrock, and looking towards Ireland said: "I will bringhither my ships, and pass over and conquer that land;"and on these words of the son of the Conqueror beingrepeated to Murkertach O'Brien, he replied: "Hath theKing in his great threatening said _if it please God?_"and when answered "No;" "Then, " said the Irish monarch, "I fear him not, since he putteth his trust in man andnot in God. " Ireland, however, was destined to be reached throughWales, and along that mountain coast we early find Normancastles and Norman ships. It was the special ambition ofWilliam Rufus to add the principality to the conquestsof his father, and the active sympathy of the Welsh withthe Saxons on their inland border gave him pretextsenough. A bitter feud between North and South Waleshastened an invasion, in which Robert Fitz-Aymon and hiscompanions played, by anticipation, the parts of Strongbowand Fitz-Stephen, in the invasion of Ireland. The struggle, commenced under them, was protracted throughthe reign of Rufus, who led an army in person (A. D. 1095) against the Welsh, but with little gain and lessglory. As an after thought he adopted the device of hisfather, (followed, too, in Ireland by Henry II. , ) ofpartitioning the country among the most enterprisingnobles, gravely accepting their homage in advance ofpossession, and authorizing them to maintain troops attheir own charges, for making good his grant of whatnever belonged to him. Robert Fitz-Aymon did homage forGlamorgan, Bernard Newmarch for Brecknock, Roger deMontgomery for Cardigan, and Gilbert de Clare for Pembroke:the best portions of North Wales were partitioned betweenthe Mortimers, Latimers, De Lacys, Fitz-Alans, andMontgomerys. Rhys, Prince of Cambria, with many of hisnobles, fell in battle defending bravely his native hills;but Griffith, son of Rhys, escaped into Ireland, fromwhich he returned some twenty years later, and recoveredby arms and policy a large share of his ancestral dominions. In the reign of Henry I. (A. D. 1110), a host of Flemings, driven from their own country by an inundation of thesea, were planted upon the Welsh marches, from which theysoon swarmed into all the Cambrian glens and glades. Theindustry and economy of this new people, in peacefultimes, seemed almost inconsistent with their stubbornbravery in battle; but they demonstrated to the Welsh, and afterwards to the Irish, that they could handle thehalbert as well as throw the shuttle; that men of trademay on occasion prove themselves capable men of war. The Norman Kings of England were not insensible to thefact that the Cymric element in Wales, the Saxon elementin England, and the Gaelic element in Scotland, were allmore agreeable to the Irish than the race of Rollo andWilliam. They were not ignorant that Ireland was a refugefor their victims and a recruiting ground for theirenemies. They knew, furthermore, that most of the strongpoints on the Irish coast, from the Shannon to the Liffey, were possessed by Christian Northmen kindred to themselves. They knew that the land was divided within itself, weakenedby a long war of succession; groaning under the ambitionof five competitors for the sovereignty; and sufferingin reputation abroad under the invectives of Saint Bernard, and the displeasure of Rome. More tempting materials forintrigue, or fairer opportunities of aggrandizement, nowhere presented themselves, and it was less want ofwill than of leisure from other and nearer contests, which deferred this new invasion for a century after thebattle of Hastings. While that century was passing over their heads, anoccasional intercourse, not without its pleasing incidents, was maintained between the races. In the first year ofthe twelfth, Arnulph de Montgomery, Earl of Chester, obtained a daughter of Murkertach O'Brien in marriage;the proxy on the occasion being Gerald, son of theConstable of Windsor, and ancestor of the Geraldines. Murkertach, according to Malmsbury, maintained a closecorrespondence with Henry I. , for whose advice he professedgreat deference. He was accused of aiding the rebellionof the Montgomerys against that Prince; and if at onetime he did so, seems to have abandoned their alliance, when threatened with reprisals on the Irish engaged inpeaceful commerce with England. The argument used on thisoccasion seems to be embodied in the question ofMalmsbury--and has since become familiar--"What wouldIreland do, " says the old historian, "if the merchandizeof England were not carried to her shores?" The estimation in which the Irish Princes were held inthe century preceding the invasion, at the Norman Court, may be seen in the style of Lanfranc and Anselm, whenaddressing the former King Thorlogh, and the latter KingMurkertach O'Brien. The first generation of the conquerorshad passed away before the second of these epistles waswritten. In the first, the address runs--"Lanfrancus, asinner, and the unworthy Bishop of the Holy Church ofDover, to the illustrious Terdelvacus, King of Ireland, blessing, " &c. , &c. ; and the epistle of Anselm isaddressed--"To Muriardachus, by the grace of God, gloriousKing of Ireland, Anselm, servant of the Church ofCanterbury, greeting health and salvation, " &c. , &c. Thiswas the tone of the highest ecclesiastics in Englandtowards the ruler of Ireland, in the reigns of William I. And Henry I. , and equally obsequious were the replies ofthe Irish Princes. After the death of Henry I. , nineteen years of civil warand anarchy diverted the Anglo-Normans from all otherobjects. In the year 1154, however, Henry of Anjousucceeded to the throne, on which he was destined to actso important a part. He was born in Anjou in the year1133, and married at eighteen the divorced wife of theKing of France. Uniting her vast dominions to his ownpatrimony, he became the lord of a larger part of Francethan was possessed by the titular king. In his twenty-firstyear he began to reign in England, and in his thirty-fifthhe received the fugitive Dermid of Leinster, in some campor castle of Aquitaine, and took that outlaw, by his ownact, under his protection. The centenary of the victoryof Hastings had just gone by, and it needed only thisadditional agent to induce him to put into execution aplan which he must have formed in the first months ofhis reign, since the Bull he had procured from PopeAdrian, bears the date of that year--1154. The returnfrom exile, and martyrdom of Beckett, disarranged anddelayed the projects of the English King; nor was he ableto lead an expedition into Ireland until four years afterhis reception of the Leinster fugitive in France. Throughout the rest of Christendom--if we except Rome--the name of Ireland was comparatively little known. Thecommerce of Dublin, Limerick, and Galway, especially inthe article of wine, which was already largely imported, may have made those ports and their merchants somewhatknown on the coasts of France and Spain. But we have nostatistics of Irish commerce at that early period. Alongthe Rhine and even upon the Danube, the Irish missionaryand the Irish schoolmaster were still sometimes found. The chronicle of Ratisbon records with gratitude themunificence of Conor O'Brien, King of Munster, whom itconsiders the founder of the Abbey of St. Peter in thatcity. The records of the same Abbey credit its liberalfounder with having sent large presents to the EmperorLothaire, in aid of the second crusade for the recoveryof the Holy Land. Some Irish adventurers joined in thegeneral European hosting to the plains of Palestine, butthough neither numerous nor distinguished enough to occupythe page of history, their _glibs_ and _cooluns_ did notescape the studious eye of him who sang Jerusalem Deliveredand Regained. BOOK IV. THE NORMANS IN IRELAND. CHAPTER I. DERMID McMURROGH'S NEGOTIATIONS AND SUCCESS--THE FIRSTEXPEDITION OF THE NORMANS INTO IRELAND. The result of Dermid McMurrogh's interview with Henry II. , in Aquitaine, was a royal letter, addressed to all hissubjects, authorizing such of them as would, to enlistin the service of the Irish Prince. Armed alone withthis, the expelled adulterer, chafing for restorationand revenge, retraced his course to England. He was atthis time some years beyond three score, but the snowsof age had no effect in cooling his impetuous blood; hisstature is described as almost gigantic; his voice loudand harsh; his features stern and terrible. His crueland criminal character we already know. Yet it is butjust here to recall that much of the horror and odiumwhich has accumulated on his memory is posthumous andretrospective. Some of his cotemporaries were no betterin their private lives than he was; but then they had nopart in bringing in the Normans. Talents both for peaceand war he certainly had, and there was still a feelingof attachment, or at least of regret, cherished towardshim among the people of his patrimony. Dermid proceeded at once to seek the help he so sorelyneeded, upon the marches of Chester, in the city ofBristol, and at the court of the Prince of North Wales. At Bristol he caused King Henry's letter to be publiclyread, and each reading was accompanied by ample promisesof land and recompense to those disposed to join in theexpedition--but all in vain. From Bristol he proceededto make the usual pilgrimage to the shrine of St. David, the Apostle of Wales, and then he visited the Court ofGriffith ap Rhys, Prince of North Wales, whose familyties formed a true Welsh triad among the Normans, theIrish, and the Welsh. He was the nephew of the celebratedNest or Nesta, the Helen of the Welsh, whose blood flowedin the veins of almost all the first Norman adventurersin Ireland, and whose story is too intimately interwovenwith the origin of many of the highest names of theNorman-Irish to be left untold. She was, in her day, the loveliest woman of Cambria, andperhaps of Britain, but the fabled mantle of Tregau, which, according to her own mythology, will fit none butthe chaste, had not rested on the white shoulders ofNesta, the daughter of Rhys ap Tudor. Her girlish beautyhad attracted the notice of Henry I. , to whom she boreRobert Fitz-Roy and Henry Fitz-Henry, the former thefamous Earl of Gloucester, and the latter the father oftwo of Strongbow's most noted companions. Afterwards, by consent of her royal paramour, she married Gerald, constable of Pembroke, by whom she had Maurice Fitzgerald, the common ancestor of the Kildare and Desmond Geraldines. While living with Gerald at Pembroke, Owen, son of Cadogan, Prince of Powis, hearing of her marvellous beauty at abanquet given by his father at the Castle of Aberteivi, came by night to Pembroke, surprised the Castle, andcarried off Nesta and her children into Powis. Gerald, however, had escaped, and by the aid of his father-in-law, Rhys, recovered his wife and rebuilt his castle (A. D. 1105). The lady survived this husband, and married asecond time, Stephen, constable of Cardigan, by whom shehad Robert Fitzstephen, and probably other children. Oneof her daughters, Angharad, married David de Barri, thefather of Giraldus and Robert de Barri; another, namedafter herself, married Bernard of Newmarch, and becamethe father of the Fitz-Bernard, who accompanied Henry II. In the second and third generations this fruitful Cambrianvine, grafted on the Norman stock, had branched out intothe great families of the Carews, Gerards, Fitzwilliams, and Fitzroys, of England and Wales, and the Geraldines, Graces, Fitz-Henries, and Fitz-Maurices, of Ireland. These names will show how entirely the expeditions of1169 and 1170 were joint-stock undertakings with most ofthe adventurers; Cambria, not England, sent them forth;it was a family compact; they were brothers in blood aswell as in arms, those comely and unscrupulous sons, nephews, and grand-sons of Nesta! When the Leinster King reached the residence of Griffithap Rhys, near St. David's, he found that for some personalor political cause he held in prison his near kinsman, Robert, son of Stephen, who had the reputation of beinga brave and capable knight. Dermid obtained the releaseof Robert, on condition of his embarking in the Irishenterprise, and he found in him an active recruitingagent, alike among Welsh, Flemings, and Normans. Throughhim Maurice Fitzgerald, the de Barris, and Fitz-Henrys, and their dependents, were soon enlisted in the adventure. The son of Griffith ap Rhys, who may be mentioned alongwith these knights, his kinsmen, and whom the Irishannalists consider the most important person of the firstexpedition--their pillar of battle--also resolved toaccompany them, with such forces as he could enlist. But a still more important ally waited to treat withDermid, on his return to Bristol. This was Richard deClare, called variously from his castles or his county, Earl of Strigul and Chepstow, or Earl of Pembroke. Fromthe strength of his arms he was nicknamed Strongbow, andin our Annals he is usually called Earl Richard, by whichtitle we prefer hereafter to distinguish him. His father, Gilbert de Clare, was descended from Richard of Normandy, and stood no farther removed in degree from that Dukethan the reigning Prince. For nearly forty years underHenry I. And during the stormy reign of King Stephen, hehad been Governor of Pembroke, and like all the greatBarons played his game chiefly to his own advantage. Hiscastle at Chepstow was one of the strongest in the west, and the power he bequeathed to his able and ambitiousson excited the apprehensions of the astute and suspiciousHenry II. Fourteen years of this King's reign had passedaway, and Earl Richard had received no great employments, no new grants of land, no personal favours from hisSovereign. He was now a widower, past middle age, condemnedto a life of inaction such as no true Norman could longendure. Arrived at Bristol, he read the letter of Henry, and heard from Dermid the story of his expulsion and thegrounds on which he vested his hopes of restoration. Aconsultation ensued, at which it is probable the sons ofNesta assisted, as it was there agreed that the town ofWexford, with two cantreds of land adjoining it, shouldbe given to them. The pay of the archers and men-at-arms, and the duration of their service, were also determined. Large grants of land were guaranteed to all adventurersof knightly rank, and Earl Richard was to marry the King'sdaughter and succeed him in the sovereignty of Leinster. Having by such lavish promises enlisted this powerfulEarl and those adventurous knights, Dermid resolved topass over in person with such followers as were alreadyequipped, in order to rally the remnant of his adherents. The Irish Annals enter this return under the year 1167, within twelvemonths or thereabouts from the time of hisbanishment; by their account he came back, accompaniedby a fleet of strangers whom they called Flemings, andwho were probably hired soldiers of that race, then easilyto be met with in Wales. The Welsh Prince already mentionedseems to have accompanied him personally, as he fell byhis side in a skirmish the following year. Whatever thisforce may have amounted to, they landed at Glascarrigpoint, and wintered--probably spent the Christmas--atFerns. The more generally received account of Dermid'slanding alone, and disguised, and secretly preparing hisplans, under shelter of the Austin Friary at Ferns, mustbe rejected, if we are still to follow those trite buttrustworthy guides, whom we have so many reasons toconfide in. The details differ in many very importantparticulars from those usually received, as we shallendeavour to make clear in a few words. Not only do they bring Dermid over with a fleet ofFlemings, of whom the natives made "small account, " butdating that event before the expiration of the year 1167, at least sixteen months must have elapsed between thereturn of the outlaw and the arrival of the Normans. Byallowing two years instead of one for the duration ofhis banishment, the apparent difficulty as to time wouldbe obviated, for his return and Fitzstephen's arrivalwould follow upon each other in the spring and winter ofthe same year. The difficulty, however, is more apparentthan real. A year sufficed for the journey to Aquitaineand the Welsh negotiations. Another year seems to havebeen devoted with equal art and success to resuscitatinga native Leinster party favourable to his restoration. For it is evident from our Annals that when Dermid showedhimself to the people after his return, it was simply toclaim his patrimony--Hy-Kinsellagh--and not to disputethe Kingdom of Leinster with the actual ruler, _Murroghna Gael_. By this pretended moderation and humility, hedisarmed hostility and lulled suspicion asleep. Roderickand O'Ruarc did indeed muster a host against him, andsome of their cavalry and Kernes skirmished with thetroops in his service at Kellistown, in Carlow, when sixwere killed on one side and twenty-five on the other, including the Welsh Prince already mentioned; afterwardsDermid emerged from his fastnesses, and entering the campof O'Conor, gave him seven hostages for the ten cantredsof his patrimony; and to O'Ruarc he gave "one hundredounces of gold for his _eineach_"--that is, as damagesfor his criminal conversation with Devorgoil. During theremainder of the year 1168, Dermid was left to enjoyunmolested the moderate territory which he claimed, whileKing Roderick was engaged in enforcing his claims on theNorth and South, founding lectorships at Armagh, andpartitioning Meath between his inseparable colleague, O'Ruarc, and himself. He celebrated, in the midst of animmense multitude, the ancient national games at Tailtin, he held an assembly at Tara, and distributed magnificentgifts to his suffragans. Roderick might have spent thefestival of Christmas, 1168, or of Easter, 1169, in thefull assurance that his power was firmly established, and that a long succession of peaceful days were aboutto dawn upon Erin. But he was destined to be soon andsadly undeceived. In the month of May, a little fleet of Welsh vessels, filled with armed men, approached the Irish shore, andRobert Fitzstephen ran into a creek of the bay of Bannow, called by the adventurers, from the names of two of theirships, Bag-and-Bun. Fitzstephen had with him thirtyknights, sixty esquires, and three hundred footmen. Thenext day he was joined by Maurice de Prendergast, a Welshgentleman, with ten knights and sixty archers. Afterlanding they reconnoitred cautiously, but saw neitherally nor enemy--the immediate coast seemed entirelydeserted. Their messenger despatched to Dermid, thenprobably at Ferns, in the northern extremity of thecounty, must have been absent several anxious days, when, much to their relief, he returned with Donald, the sonof Dermid, at the head of 500 horsemen. Uniting theirtroops, Donald and Fitzstephen set out for Wexford, abouta day's march distant, and the principal town in thatangle of the island which points towards Wales. Thetradition of the neighbourhood says they were assailedupon the way by a party of the native population, whowere defeated and dispersed. Within ten days or afortnight of their landing, they were drawn up withinsight of the walls of Wexford, where they were joined byDermid, who obviously did not come unattended to such ameeting. What additional force he may have brought up isnowhere indicated; that he was not without followers ormercenaries, we know from the mention of the Flemings inhis service, and the action of Kellistown in the previousyear. The force that had marched from Bannow consisted, as we have seen, of 500 Irish horse under his son Donald, surnamed _Kavanagh_; 30 knights, 60 esquires, and 300men-at-arms under Fitzstephen; 10 knights and 60 archersunder Prendergast; in all, nobles or servitors, notexceeding 1, 000 men. The town, a place of considerablestrength, could muster 2, 000 men capable of bearing arms, nor is it discreditable to its Dano-Irish artizans andseamen that they could boast no captain equal to Fitzstephenor Donald Kavanagh. What a town multitude could do theydid. They burned down an exposed suburb, closed theirgates, and manned their walls. The first assault wasrepulsed with some loss on the part of the assailants, and the night past in expectation of a similar conflicton the morrow. In the early morning the townsmen coulddiscern that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was beingoffered in the camp of their besiegers as a preparativefor the dangers of the day. Within the walls, however, the clergy exercised all their influence to spare theeffusion of blood, and to bring about an accommodation. Two Bishops who were in the town especially advised asurrender on honourable terms, and their advice was taken. Four of the principal citizens were deputed to Dermid, and Wexford was yielded on condition of its rights andprivileges, hitherto existing, being respected. Thecantreds immediately adjoining the town on the north andeast were conferred on Fitzstephen according to the treatymade at Bristol, and he at once commenced the erectionof a fortress on the rock of Carrig, at the narrowestpass on the river Slaney. Strongbow's uncle, Herve, wasendowed with two other cantreds, to the south of thetown, now known as the baronies of Forth and Bargey, where the descendants of the Welsh and Flemish settlersthen planted are still to be found in the industriousand sturdy population, known as Flemings, Furlongs, Waddings, Prendergasts, Barrys, and Walshes. Side byside with them now dwell in peace the Kavanaghs, Murphys, Conors, and Breens, whose ancestors so long and so fiercelydisputed the intrusion of these strangers amongst them. With some increase of force derived from the defendersof Wexford, Dermid, at the head of 3000 men, includingall the Normans, marched into the adjoining territory ofOssory, to chastise its chief, Donogh Fitzpatrick, oneof his old enemies. This campaign appears to have consumedthe greater part of the summer of the year, and endedwith the submission of Ossory, after a brave but unskilfulresistance. The tidings of what was done at Wexford andin Ossory had, however, roused the apprehension of themonarch Roderick, who appointed a day for a nationalmuster "of the Irish" at the Hill of Tara. Thitherrepaired accordingly the monarch himself, the lords ofMeath, Oriel, Ulidia, Breffni, and the chiefs of thefarther north. With this host they proceeded to Dublin, which they found as yet in no immediate danger of attack;and whether on this pretext or some other, the Ulsterchiefs returned to their homes, leaving Roderick topursue, with the aid of Meath and Breffni only, thefootsteps of McMurrogh. The latter had fallen back uponFerns, and had, under the skilful directions of Fitzstephen, strengthened the naturally difficult approaches to thatancient capital, by digging artificial pits, by fellingtrees, and other devices of Norman strategy. The season, too, must have been drawing nearly to a close, and thesame amiable desire to prevent the shedding of Christianblood, which characterized all the clergy of this age, again subserved the unworthy purposes of the traitor andinvader. Roderick, after a vain endeavour to detachFitzstephen from Dermid and to induce him to quit thecountry, agreed to a treaty with the Leinster King, bywhich the latter acknowledged his supremacy as monarch, under the ancient conditions, for the fulfilment of whichhe surrendered to him his son Conor as hostage. By asecret and separate agreement Dermid bound himself toadmit no more of the Normans into his service--an engagementwhich he kept as he did all others, whether of a publicor a private nature. After the usual exchange of stipendsand tributes, Roderick returned to his home in the west;and thus, with the treaty of Ferns, ended the comparativelyunimportant but significant campaign of the year 1169. CHAPTER II. THE ARMS, ARMOUR AND TACTICS OF THE NORMANS AND IRISH. This would seem to be the proper place to point out thepeculiarities in arms, equipment, and tactics, which gavethe first Normans those military advantages over theIrish and Dano-Irish, which they had hitherto maintainedover the Saxons, Welsh and Scots. In instituting such acomparison, we do not intend to confine it strictly tothe age of Strongbow and Dermid; the description willextend to the entire period from the arrival of Fitzstephento the death of Richard, Earl of Ulster--from 1169 to1333--a period of five or six generations, which wepropose to treat of in the present book. After this Earl'sdecease, the Normans and Irish approximated more closelyin all their customs, and no longer presented those markedcontrasts which existed in their earlier intercourse andconflicts with each other. The armour of the firstadventurers, both for man and horse, excited the wonder, the sarcasms, and the fears of the Irish. No such equipmentshad yet been seen in that country, nor indeed in anyother, where the Normans were still strangers. As theKnights advanced on horseback, in their metal coating, they looked more like iron cylinders filled with fleshand blood, than like lithe and limber human combatants. The man-at-arms, whether Knight or Squire, was almostinvariably mounted; his war-horse was usually led, whilehe rode a hackney, to spare the _destrier_. The bodyarmour was a hauberk of netted iron or steel, to whichwere joined a hood, sleeves, breeches, hose and sabatons, or shoes, of the same material. Under the hauberk wasworn a quilted gambeson of silk or cotton, reaching tothe knees; over armour, except when actually engaged, all men of family wore costly coats of satin, velvet, cloth of gold or cloth of silver, emblazoned with theirarms. The shields of the thirteenth century were oftriangular form, pointed at the bottom; the helmet conical, with or without bars; the beaver, vizor and plate armour, were inventions of a later day. Earls, Dukes, and Princes, wore small crowns upon their helmets; lovers wore thefavours of their mistresses; and victors the crests ofchampions they had overthrown. The ordinary weapons ofthese cavaliers were sword, lance, and knife; thedemi-launce, or light horsemen, were similarly armed;and a force of this class, common in the Irish wars, wascomposed of mounted cross-bow men, and called from theswift, light _hobbies_ they rode, Hobiler-Archers. Besidesmany improvements in arms and manual exercise, the Normansperfected the old Roman machines and engines used insieges. The scorpion was a huge cross-bow, the catapultsshowered stones to a great distance; the ballista dischargedflights of darts and arrows. There were many othervarieties of stone-throwing machinery; "the war-wolf"was long the chief of projectile machines, as the ramwas of manual forces. The power of a battering-ram ofthe largest size, worked by a thousand men, has beenproven to be equal to a point-blank shot from a thirty-sixpounder. There were moveable towers of all sizes and ofmany names: "the sow" was a variety which continued inuse in England and Ireland till the middle of theseventeenth century. The divisions of the cavalry were:first, the _Constable's_ command, some twenty-five men;next, the _Banneret_ was entitled to unfurl his owncolours with consent of the Marshal, and might uniteunder his pennon one or more constabularies; the _Knight_led into the field all his retainers who held of him byfeudal tenure, and sometimes the retainers of his squires, wards, or valets, and kinsmen. The laws of chivalry werefast shaping themselves into a code complete and coherentin all its parts, when these iron-clad, inventive andinvincible masters of the art of war first entered onthe invasion of Ireland. The body of their followers in this enterprise, consistingof Flemish, Welsh, and Cornish archers, may be bestdescribed by the arms they carried. The irresistiblecross-bow was their main reliance. Its shot was so deadlythat the Lateran Council, in 1139, strictly forbade itsemployment among Christian enemies. It combined withits stock, or bed, wheel, and trigger, almost all theforce of the modern musket, and discharged square piecesof iron, leaden balls, or, in scarcity of ammunition, flint stones. The common cross-bow would kill, pointblank, at forty or fifty yards distance, and the bestimproved at fully one hundred yards. The manufacture ofthese weapons must have been profitable, since their costwas equal, in the relative value of money, to that ofthe rifle, in our times. In the reign of Edward II. Eachcross-bow, purchased for the garrison of Sherborne Castle, cost 3 shillings and 8 pence; and every hundred of_quarrels_--the ammunition just mentioned--1 shillingand 6 pence. Iron, steel, and wood, were the materialsused in the manufacture of this weapon. The long-bow had been introduced into England by theNormans, who are said to have been more indebted to thatarm than any other, for their victory at Hastings. Toencourage the use of the long-bow many statutes werepassed, and so late as the time of the Stuarts, royalcommissions were issued for the promotion of this nationalexercise. Under the early statutes no archer was permittedto practise at any standing mark at less than "elevenscore yards distant;" no archer under twenty-four yearsof age was allowed to shoot twice from the same stand-point;parents and masters were subject to a fine of 6 shillingsand 8 pence if they allowed their youth, under the ageof seventeen, "to be without a bow and two arrows forone month together;" the walled towns were required toset up their butts, to keep them in repair, and to turnout for target-practice on holidays, and at other convenienttimes. Aliens residing in England were forbidden theuse of this weapon--a jealous precaution showing thegreat importance attached to its possession. The usuallength of the bow--which was made of yew, witch-hazel, ash, or elm--was about six feet; and the arrow, abouthalf that length. Arrows were made of ash, feathered withpart of a goose's wing, and barbed with iron or steel. In the reign of Edward III. , a painted bow cost 1 shillingand 6 pence, a white bow, 1 shilling; a sheaf ofsteel-tipped arrows (24 to the sheaf), 1 shilling and 2pence, and a sheaf of _non accerata_ (the blunt sort), 1 shilling The range of the long-bow, at its highestperfection, was, as we have seen, "eleven score yards, "more than double that of the ordinary cross-bow. Thecommon sort of both these weapons carried about the samedistance--nearly 100 yards. The natural genius of the Normans for war had beensharpened and perfected by then: campaigns in France andEngland, but more especially in the first and secondCrusades. All that was to be learned of military sciencein other countries--all that Italian skill, Greek subtlety, or Saracen invention could teach, they knew and combinedinto one system. Their feudal discipline, moreover, inwhich the youth who entered the service of a veteran aspage, rose in time to the rank of esquire andbachelor-at-arms, and finally won his spurs on somewell-contested field, was eminently favourable to thetraining and proficiency of military talents. Not lessremarkable was the skill they displayed in seizing onthe strong and commanding points of communication withinthe country, as we see at this day, from the sites oftheir old Castles, many of which must have been, beforethe invention of gunpowder, all but impregnable. The art of war, if art it could in their case be called, was in a much less forward stage among the Irish in thetwelfth and thirteenth centuries than amongst the Normans. Of the science of fortification they perhaps knew no morethan they had learned in their long struggle with theDanes and Norwegians. To render roads impassable, tostrengthen their islands by stockades, to hold thenaturally difficult passes which connect one province orone district with another--these seem to have been theirchief ideas of the aid that valour may derive fromartificial appliances. The fortresses of which we hearso frequently, during and after the Danish period, andwhich are erroneously called _Danes'-forts_, were morenumerous than formidable to such enemies as the Normans. Some of these earth-and-stone-works are older than theMilesian invasion, and of Cyclopean style and strength. Those of the Milesians are generally of larger size, contain much more earth, and the internal chambers areof less massive masonry. They are almost invariably ofcircular form, and the largest remaining specimens arethe Giant's Ring, near Belfast; the fort at Netterville, which measures 300 paces in circumference round the topof the embankment; the Black Rath, on the Boyne, whichmeasures 321 paces round the outer wall of circumvallation;and the King's Rath, at Tara, upwards of 280 in length. The height of the outer embankment in forts of this sizevaried from fifteen to twenty feet; this embankment wasusually surrounded by a fosse; within the embankmentthere was a platform, depressed so as to leave a circularparapet above its level. Many of these military rathshave been found to contain subterranean chambers andcircular winding passages, supposed to be used as granariesand armories. They are accounted capable of containinggarrisons of from 200 to 500 men; but many of the fortressesmentioned from age to age in our annals were mere privateresidences, enclosing within their outer and inner wallsspace enough for the immediate retainers and domesticsof the chief. Although coats of mail are mentioned inmanuscripts long anterior to the Norman invasion, theIrish soldiers seem seldom or never to have been completelyclothed in armour. Like the northern _Berserkers_, theyprided themselves in fighting, if not naked, in theirorange coloured shirts, dyed with saffron. The helmetand the shield were the only defensive articles of dress;nor do they seem to have had trappings for their horses. Their favourite missile weapon was the dart or javelin, and in earlier ages the sling. The spear or lance, thesword, and the sharp, short-handled battle-axe, weretheir favourite manual weapons. Their power with thebattle-axe was prodigious; _Giraldus_ says they sometimeslopped off a horseman's leg at a single blow, his bodyfalling over on the other side. Their bridle-bits andspurs were of bronze, as were generally their spear headsand short swords. Of siege implements, beyond the torchand the scaling-ladder, they seem to have had no knowledge, and to have desired none. The Dano-Irish alone wereaccustomed to fortify and defend their towns, on thegeneral principles, which then composed the sum of whatwas known in Christendom of military engineering. Quickto acquire in almost every department of the art, thenative Irish continued till the last obstinately insensibleto the absolute necessity of learning how modernfortifications are constructed, defended, and captured;a national infatuation, of which we find melancholyevidence in every recurring native insurrection. The two divisions of the Irish infantry were the_galloglass_, or heavily armed foot soldier, called_gall_, either as a mercenary, or from having been equippedafter the Norman method, and the _kerne_, or lightinfantry. The horsemen were men of the free tribes, whofollowed their chief on terms almost of equality, andwho, except his immediate retainers, equipped and foragedfor themselves. The highest unit of this force was a_Cath_, or battalion of 3, 000 men; but the subdivisionof command and the laws which established and maintaineddiscipline have yet to be recovered and explained. Theold Spanish "right of insurrection" seems to have beenrecognized in every chief of a free tribe, and no Hidalgoof old Spain, for real or fancied slight, was ever moreready to turn his horse's head homeward than were thoserefractory lords, with whom Roderick O'Conor and hissuccessors, in the front of the national battle, had tocontend or to co-operate. CHAPTER III. THE FIRST CAMPAIGN OF EARL RICHARD--SIEGE OF DUBLIN--DEATHOF KING DERMID McMURROGH. The campaigns of 1168 and 1169 had ended prosperouslyfor Dermid in the treaty of Ferns. By that treaty he hadbound himself to bring no more Normans into the country, and to send those already in his service back to theirhomes. But in the course of the same autumn or winter, in which this agreement was solemnly entered into, hewelcomed the arrival at Wexford--of Maurice Fitzgerald--son of the fair Nesta by her first husband--andimmediately employed this fresh force, consisting of 10knights, 30 esquires, and 100 footmen, upon a hostingwhich harried the open country about Dublin, and inducedthe alarmed inhabitants to send hostages into his camp, bearing proffers of allegiance and amity. As yet he didnot feel in force sufficient to attack the city, for, ifhe had been, his long cherished vengeance against itsinhabitants would not have been postponed till anotherseason. In the meantime he had written most urgent letters toEarl Richard to hasten his arrival, according to theterms agreed upon at Bristol. That astute and ambitiousnobleman had been as impatiently biding his time as Dermidhad been his coming. Knowing the jealous sovereign underwhom he served, he had gone over to France to obtainHenry's sanction to the Irish enterprise, but had beenanswered by the monarch, in oracular phrases, which mightmean anything or nothing. Determined, however, to interpretthese doubtful words in his own sense, he despatched hisvanguard early in the spring of the year 1170, under thecommand of his uncle Herve and a company of 10 knightsand 70 archers, under Raymond, son of William, lord ofCarew, elder brother of Maurice Fitzgerald, and grandsonof Nesta. In the beginning of May, Raymond, nicknamed_le gros_, or the Fat, entered Waterford harbour, andlanded eight miles below the city, under the rock ofDundonolf, on the east, or Wexford side. Here they rapidlythrew up a camp to protect themselves against attack, and to hold the landing place for the convenience of thefuture expedition. A tumultuous body of natives, amounting, according to the Norman account, to 3, 000 men, were soonseen swarming across the Suir to attack the foreigners. They were men of Idrone and Desies, under their chiefs, O'Ryan and O'Phelan, and citizens of Waterford, who nowrushed towards the little fortress, entirely unpreparedfor the long and deadly range of the Welsh and Flemishcrossbows. Thrown into confusion by the unexpecteddischarge, in which every shot from behind the rampartsof turf brought down its man, they wavered and broke;Raymond and Herve then sallied out upon the fugitives, who were fain to escape, as many as could, to the otherside of the river, leaving 500 prisoners, including 70chief citizens of Waterford behind them. These were allinhumanly massacred, according to _Giraldus_, the eulogistof all the Geraldines, by the order of Herve, contraryto the entreaties of Raymond. Their legs were firstviolently broken, and they were then hurled down therocks into the tide. Five hundred men could not well beso captured and put to death by less than an equal numberof hands, and we may, therefore, safely set down thatnumber as holding the camp of Dundonolf during the summermonths of the year. Earl Richard had not completed his arrangements untilthe month of August--so that his uncle and lieutenanthad to hold the post they had seized for fully threemonths, awaiting his arrival in the deepest anxiety. Atlast, leaving his castle in Pembroke, he marched withhis force through North Wales, by way of St. David's toMilford Haven--"and still as he went he took up all thebest chosen and picked men he could get. " At Milford, just as he was about to embark, he received an order fromKing Henry forbidding the expedition. Wholly disregardingthis missive he hastened on board with 200 knights and1, 200 infantry in his company, and on the eve of St. Bartholomew's Day (August 23rd), landed safely under theearthwork of Dundonolf, where he was joyfully receivedby Raymond at the head of 40 knights, and a correspondingnumber of men-at-arms. The next day the whole force, under the Earl, "who had all things in readiness" forsuch an enterprise, proceeded to lay siege to Waterford. Malachy O'Phelan, the brave lord of Desies, forgettingall ancient enmity against his Danish neighbours, hadjoined the townsmen to assist in the defence. Twice thebesieged beat back the assailants, until Raymond perceivingat an angle of the wall the wooden props upon which ahouse rested, ordered them to be cut away, on which thehouse fell to the ground, and a breach was effected. Themen-at-arms then burst in, slaughtering the inhabitantswithout mercy. In the tower, long known as Reginald's, or the ring tower, O'Phelan and Reginald, the Dano-Irishchief, held out until the arrival of King Dermid, whoseintercession procured them such terms as led to theirsurrender. Then, amid the ruins of the burning city, andthe muttered malediction of its surviving inhabitants, the ill-omened marriage of Eva McMurrogh with Richard deClare was gaily celebrated, and the compact entered intoat Bristol three years before was perfected. The marriage revelry was hardly over when tidings camefrom Dublin that Asculph MacTorcall, its Danish lord, had, either by the refusal of the annual tribute, or insome other manner, declared his independence of Dermid, and invoked the aid of the monarch Roderick, in defenceof that city. Other messengers brought news that Roderickhad assumed the protection of Dublin, and was alreadyencamped at the head of a large army at Clondalkin, witha view of intercepting the march of the invaders fromthe south. The whole Leinster and Norman force, with theexception of a troop of archers left to garrison Waterford, were now put in motion for the siege of the chief cityof the Hibernicized descendants of the Northmen. Informedof Roderick's position, which covered Dublin on the southand west, Dermid and Richard followed boldly the mountainpaths and difficult roads which led by the secluded cityof Glendalough, and thence along the coast road from Braytowards the mouth of the Liffey, until they arrivedunexpectedly within the lines of Roderick, to the amazementand terror of the townsmen. The force which now, under the command-in-chief of Dermid, sat down to the siege of Dublin, was far from beingcontemptible. For a year past he had been recognized inLeinster as fully as any of his predecessors, and had sostrengthened his military position as to propose nothingshort of the conquest of the whole country. His choiceof a line of march sufficiently shows how thoroughly hehad overcome the former hostility of the stubbornmountaineers of Wicklow. The exact numbers which heencamped before the gates of Dublin are nowhere given, but on the march from Waterford, the vanguard, led byMilo de Cogan, consisted of 700 Normans and "an Irishbattalion, " which, taken literally, would mean 3, 000 men, under Donald _Kavanagh_; Raymond the Fat followed "with800 British;" Dermid led on "the chief part of the Irish"(number not given), in person; Richard commanded therear-guard, "300 British and 1, 000 Irish soldiers. "Altogether, it is not exorbitant to conjecture that theLeinster Prince led to the siege of Dublin an army ofabout 10, 000 native troops, 1, 500 Welsh and Flemisharchers, and 250 knights. Except the handful who remainedwith Fitzstephen to defend his fort at Carrick, on theSlaney, and the archers left in Waterford, the entireNorman force in Ireland, at this time, were united inthe siege. Of the foreign knights many were eminent forcourage and capacity, both in peace and war. The mostdistinguished among them were Maurice Fitzgerald, thecommon ancestor of the Geraldines of Desmond and Kildare;Raymond the Fat, ancestor of the Graces of Ossory; thetwo Fitz-Henries, grandsons of Henry I. , and the fairNesta; Walter de Riddlesford, first Baron of Bray; Robertde Quincy, son-in-law and standard-bearer to Earl Richard;Herve, uncle to the Earl, and Gilbert de Clare, his son;Milo de Cogan, the first who entered Dublin by assault, and its first Norman governor; the de Barries, and dePrendergast. Other founders of Norman-Irish houses, asthe de Lacies, de Courcies, le Poers, de Burgos, Butlers, Berminghams, came not over until the landing of Henry II. , or still later, with his son John. The townsmen of Dublin had every reason, from theirknowledge of Dermid's cruel character, to expect theworst at his hands and those of his allies. The warningof Waterford was before them, but besides this they hada special cause of apprehension, Dermid's father havingbeen murdered in their midst, and his body ignominiouslyinterred with the carcase of a dog. Roderick havingfailed to intercept him, the citizens, either to gaintime or really desiring to arrive at an accommodation, entered into negotiations. Their ambassador for thispurpose was Lorcan, or Lawrence O'Toole, the firstArchbishop of the city, and its first prelate of Milesianorigin. This illustrious man, canonized both by sanctityand patriotism, was then in the thirty-ninth year of hisage, and the ninth of his episcopate. His father waslord of Imayle and chief of his clan; his sister had beenwife of Dermid and mother of Eva, the prize-bride of EarlRichard. He himself had been a hostage with Dermid inhis youth, and afterwards Abbot of Glendalough, the mostcelebrated monastic city of Leinster. He stood, therefore, to the besieged, being their chief pastor, in the relationof a father; to Dermid, and strangely enough to Strongbowalso, as brother-in-law and uncle by marriage. A fitterambassador could not be found. Maurice Regan, the "_Latiner_, " or Secretary of Dermid, had advanced to the walls, and summoned the city tosurrender, and deliver up "30 pledges" to his master, their lawful Prince. Asculph, son of Torcall, was infavour of the surrender, but the citizens could not agreeamong themselves as to hostages. No one was willing totrust himself to the notoriously untrustworthy Dermid. The Archbishop was then sent out on the part of thecitizens to arrange the terms in detail. He was receivedwith all reverence in the camp, but while he wasdeliberating with the commanders without, and the townsmenwere anxiously awaiting his return, Milo de Cogan andRaymond the Fat, seizing the opportunity, broke into thecity at the head of their companies, and began to putthe inhabitants ruthlessly to the sword. They were soonfollowed by the whole force eager for massacre and pillage. The Archbishop hastened back to endeavour to stay thehavoc which was being made of his people. He threwhimself before the infuriated Irish and Normans, hethreatened, he denounced, he bared his own breast to theswords of the assassins. All to little purpose; the bloodfury exhausted itself before peace settled over the city. Its Danish chief, Asculph, with many of his followers, escaped to their ships, and fled to the Isle of Man andthe Hebrides in search of succour and revenge. Roderick, unprepared to besiege the enemy who had thus outmarchedand outwitted him at that season of the year--it couldnot be earlier than October--broke up his encampment atClondalkin, and retired to Connaught. Earl Richard havingappointed de Cogan his governor of Dublin, followed onthe rear of the retreating _Ard-Righ_, at the instigationof McMurrogh, burning and plundering the churches ofKells, Clonard and Slane, and carrying off the hostagesof East-Meath. Though Dermid seemed to have forgotten altogether theconditions of the treaty of Ferns, yet not so Roderick. When he reached Athlone he caused Conor, son of Dermid, and the son of Donald _Kavanagh_, and the son of Dermid'sfosterer, who had been given him as hostages for thefulfilment of that treaty, so grossly violated in everyparticular, to be beheaded. Dermid indulged in impotentvows of vengeance against Roderick, when he heard ofthese executions which his own perjuries had provoked;he swore that nothing short of the conquest of Connaughtin the following spring would satisfy his revenge, andhe sent the Ard-Righ his defiance to that purport. Twoother events of military consequence marked the close ofthe year 1170. The foreign garrison of Waterford wassurprised and captured by Cormac McCarthy, Prince ofDesmond, and Henry II. Having prohibited all intercoursebetween his lieges and his disobedient subject, EarlRichard, the latter had despatched Raymond the Fat, withthe most humble submission of himself and his newpossessions to his Majesty's decision. And so with Asculph, son of Torcall, recruiting in the isles of Insi-Gall, Lawrence, the Archbishop, endeavouring to unite the proudand envious Irish lords into one united phalanx, andRoderick, preparing for the new year's campaign, thewinter of 1170-'71, came, and waned, and went. One occurrence of the succeeding spring may mostappropriately be dismissed here--the death of the wretchedand odious McMurrogh. This event happened, according to_Giraldus_, in the kalends of May. The Irish Annalssurround his death-bed with all the horrors appropriateto such a scene. He became, they say, "putrid whileliving, " through the miracles of St. Columbcille and St. Finian, whose churches he had plundered; "and he died atFernamore, without making a will, without penance, withoutthe body of Christ, without unction, as his evil deedsdeserved. " We have no desire to meditate over the memoryof such a man. He, far more than his predecessor, whateverthat predecessor's crimes might have been, deserved tohave been buried with a dog. CHAPTER IV. SECOND CAMPAIGN OF EARL RICHARD--HENRY II. IN IRELAND. The campaign of the year 1171 languished from a varietyof causes. At the very outset, the invaders lost theirchief patron, who had been so useful to them. During thesiege of Dublin, in the previous autumn, the townsmen ofWexford, who were in revolt, had, by stratagem, inducedRobert Fitzstephen to surrender his fort at Carrick, andhad imprisoned him in one of the islands of their harbour. Waterford had been surprised and taken by Cormac McCarthy, Prince of Desmond, and Strongbow, alarmed by theproclamation of Henry, knew hardly whether to considerhimself outlaw, subject, or independent sovereign. Raymond the Fat had returned from his embassy to KingHenry, with no comfortable tidings. He had been kept dayafter day waiting the pleasure of the King, and returnedwith sentences as dubious in his mouth, as those on whichEarl Richard had originally acted. It was evidently notthe policy of Henry to abandon the enterprise already sowell begun, but neither was it his interest or desirethat any subject should reap the benefit, or erect anindependent power, upon his mere permission to embark inthe service of McMurrogh. Herve, the Earl's uncle, hadbeen despatched as ambassador in Raymond's place, butwith no better success. At length, Richard himself, bythe advice of all his counsellors, repaired to England, and waited on Henry at Newenham, in Gloucestershire. Atfirst he was ignominiously refused an audience, but afterrepeated solicitations he was permitted to renew hishomage. He then yielded in due form the city of Dublin, and whatever other conquests he claimed, and consentedto hold his lands in Leinster, as chief tenant from thecrown: in return for which he was graciously forgiventhe success that had attended his adventure, and permittedto accompany the King's expedition, in the ensuing autumn. Before Strongbow's departure for England three unsuccessfulattempts had been made for the expulsion of the Normangarrison from Dublin. They were unfortunately not undertakenin concert, but rather in succession. The first was anattempt at surprising the city by Asculph MacTorcall, probably relying on the active aid of the inhabitants ofhis own race. He had but "a small force, " chiefly fromthe isles of Insi-Gall and the Orkneys. The Orcadianswere under the command of a warrior called John theFurious or Mad, the last of those wild Berserkers of theNorth, whose valour was regarded in Pagan days as aspecies of divine frenzy. This redoubted champion, aftera momentary success, was repulsed by Milo and Richard deCogan, and finally fell by the hand of Walter deRiddlesford. Asculph was taken prisoner, and, avowingboldly his intention never to desist from attempting torecover the place, was put to death. The second attackhas been often described as a regular investment byRoderick O'Conor, at the head of all the forces of theIsland, which was only broken up in the ninth week ofits duration, by a desperate sally on the part of thefamished garrison. Many details and episodes, proper toso long a beleaguerment, are given by _Giraldus_, andreproduced by his copyists. We find, however, littlewarrant for these passages in our native annals, any morethan for the antithetical speeches which the same partialhistorian places in the mouths of his heroes. The FourMasters limit the time to "the course of a fortnight. "Roderick, according to their account, was accompanied bythe lords of Breffni and Oriel only; frequent skirmishesand conflicts took place; an excursion was made againstthe Leinster Allies of the Normans, "to cut down and burnthe corn of the Saxons. " The surprise by night of themonarch's camp is also duly recorded; and that the enemycarried off "the provisions, armour, and horses ofRoderick. " By which sally, according to _Giraldus_, Dublinhaving obtained provisions enough for a year, Earl Richardmarched to Wexford, "taking the higher way by Idrone, "with the hope to deliver Fitzstephen. But the Wexfordmen having burned their suburbs, and sent their goodsand families into the stockaded island, sent him wordthat at the first attack they would put Fitzstephen andhis companions to death. The Earl, therefore, heldsorrowfully on his way to Waterford, where, leaving astronger force than the first garrison, to which he hadentrusted it, he sailed for England to make his peacewith King Henry. The third attempt on Dublin was made bythe lord of Breffni during the Earl's absence, and whenthe garrison were much reduced; it was equally unsuccessfulwith those already recorded. De Cogan displayed his usualcourage, and the lord of Breffni lost a son and some ofhis best men in the assault. It was upon the marches of Wales that the Earl found KingHenry busily engaged in making preparations for his ownvoyage into Ireland. He had levied on the landholdersthroughout his dominions an escutage or commutation forpersonal service, and the Pipe roll, which contains hisdisbursements for the year, has led an habitually cautiouswriter to infer "that the force raised for the expeditionwas much more numerous than has been represented byhistorians. " During the muster of his forces he visitedPembroke, and made a progress through North Wales, severelycensuring those who had enlisted under Strongbow, andplacing garrisons of his own men in their castles. AtSaint David's he made the usual offering on the shrineof the Saint and received the hospitalities of the Bishop. All things being in readiness, he sailed from MilfordHaven, with a fleet of 400 transports, having on boardmany of the Norman nobility, 500 knights, and an armyusually estimated at 4, 000 men at arms. On the 18th ofOctober, 1171, he landed safely at Crook, in the countyof Waterford, being unable, according to an old localtradition, to sail up the river from adverse winds. Asone headland of that harbour is called _Hook_, and theother _Crook_, the old adage, "by hook or by crook, " isthought to have arisen on this occasion. In Henry's train, beside Earl Richard, there came overHugh de Lacy, some time Constable of Chester; William, son of Aldelm, ancestor of the Clanrickardes; TheobaldWalter, ancestor of the Butlers; Robert le Poer, ancestorof the Powers; Humphrey de Bohun, Robert Fitz-Barnard, Hugh de Gundeville, Philip de Hastings, Philip de Braos, and many other cavaliers whose names were renownedthroughout France and England. As the imposing host formedon the sea side, a white hare, according to an Englishchronicler, leapt from a neighbouring hedge, and wasimmediately caught and presented to the King as an omenof victory. Prophecies, pagan and Christian--quatrainsfathered on Saint Moling and triads attributed toMerlin--were freely showered in his path. But the trueomen of his success he might read for himself, in aconstitution which had lost its force, in laws which hadceased to be sacred, and in a chieftain race, brave indeedas mortal men could be, but envious, arrogant, revengeful, and insubordinate. For their criminal indulgence ofthese demoniacal passions a terrible chastisement wasabout to fall on them, and not only on them, but also, alas! on their poor people. The whole time passed by Henry II. In Ireland was fromthe 18th October, 1171, till the 17th of April following, just seven months. For the first politician of his age, with the command of such troops, and so much treasure, these seven months could not possibly be barren ofconsequences. Winter, the season of diplomacy, was seldommore industriously or expertly employed. The townsmen ofWexford, aware of his arrival as soon as it had takenplace, hastened to make their submission and to deliverup to him their prisoner, Robert Fitzstephen, the firstof the invaders. Henry, affecting the same displeasuretowards Fitzstephen he did for all those who had anticipatedhis own expedition, ordered him to be fettered andimprisoned in Reginald's tower. At Waterford he alsoreceived the friendly overtures of the lords of Desiesand Ossory, and probably some form of feudal submissionwas undergone by those chiefs. Cormac, Prince of Desmond, followed their example, and soon afterwards Donald O'Brienof Thomond met him on the banks of the Suir, not far fromCashel, made his peace, and agreed to receive a Normangarrison in his Hiberno-Danish city of Limerick. Havingappointed commanders over these and other southerngarrisons, Henry proceeded to Dublin, where a spaciouscage-work palace, on a lawn without the city, was preparedfor winter quarters. Here he continued those negotiationswith the Irish chiefs, which we are told were so generallysuccessful. Amongst others whose adhesion he received, mention is made of the lord of Breffni, the most faithfulfollower the Monarch Roderick could count. The chiefs ofthe Northern Hy-Nial remained deaf to all his overtures, and though Fitz-Aldelm and de Lacy, the commissionersdespatched to treat with Roderick, are said to haveprocured from the deserted _Ard-Righ_ an act of submission, it is incredible that a document of such consequenceshould have been allowed to perish. Indeed, most of theconfident assertions about submissions to Henry are tobe taken with great caution; it is quite certain hehimself, though he lived nearly twenty years after hisIrish expedition, never assumed any Irish title whatever. It is equally true that his successor, Richard I. , neverassumed any such title, as an incident of the Englishcrown. And although Henry in the year 1185 created hisyoungest son, John _Lackland_, "lord of Ireland, " it wasprecisely in the same spirit and with as much ground oftitle as he had for creating Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, or John de Courcy, Earl of Ulster. Of this question oftitle we shall speak more fully hereafter, for we do notrecognize any English sovereign as _King_ of Ireland, previous to the year 1541; but it ought surely to beconclusive evidence, that neither had Henry claimed thecrown, nor had the Irish chiefs acknowledged him as their_Ard-Righ_, that in the two authentic documents from hishand which we possess, he neither signs himself _Rex_nor _Dominus Hibernioe_. These documents are the Charterof Dublin, and the Concession of Glendalough, and theirauthenticity has never been disputed. After spending a right merry Christmas with Norman andMilesian guests in abundance at Dublin, Henry proceededto that work of religious reformation, under plea ofwhich he had obtained the Bill of Pope Adrian, seventeenyears before, declaring such an expedition undertakenwith such motives, lawful and praiseworthy. Early in thenew year, by his desire, a synod was held at Cashel, where many salutary decrees were enacted. These relatedto the proper solemnization of marriage; the catechisingof children before the doors of churches; the administrationof baptism in baptismal or parish churches; the abolition of_Erenachs_ or lay Trustees of church property, and theimposition of tithes, both of corn and cattle. By mostEnglish writers this synod is treated as a NationalCouncil, and inferences are thence drawn of Henry'sadmitted power over the clergy of the nation. There is, however, no evidence that the Bishops of Ulster orConnaught were present at Cashel, but strong negativetestimony to the contrary. We read under the date of thesame year in the Four Masters, that a synod of the clergyand laity of Ireland was convened at Tuam by RoderickO'Conor and the Archbishop Catholicus O'Duffy. It ishardly possible that this meeting could be in continuationor in concord with the assembly convoked at the instanceof Henry. Following quickly upon the Cashel Synod, Henry held a"Curia Regis" or Great Court at Lismore, in which hecreated the offices of Marshal, Constable, and Seneschalfor Ireland. Earl Richard was created the first LordMarshal; de Lacy, the first Lord Constable. Theobald, ancestor of the Ormond family, was already chief Butler, and de Vernon was created the first high Steward orSeneschal. Such other order as could be taken for thepreservation of the places already captured, was notneglected. The surplus population of Bristol obtained acharter of Dublin to be held of Henry and his heirs, "with all the same liberties and free customs which theyenjoyed at Bristol. " Wexford was committed to the chargeof Fitz-Aldelm, Waterford to de Bohun, and Dublin to deLacy. Castles were ordered to be erected in the townsand at other points, and the politic king, having causedall those who remained behind to renew their homage inthe most solemn form, sailed on Easter Monday from WexfordHaven, and on the same day, landed at Port-Finan in Wales. Here he assumed the Pilgrim's staff, and proceeded humblyon foot to St. David's, preparatory to meeting the PapalCommissioners appointed to inquire into Beckett's murder. It is quite apparent that had Henry landed in Ireland atany other period of his life except in the year of themartyrdom of the renowned Archbishop of Canterbury, whilethe wrath of Rome was yet hanging poised in the air, ready to be hurled against him, he would not have leftthe work he undertook but half begun. The nett result ofhis expedition, of his great fleet, mighty army, andsagacious counsels, was the infusion of a vast number ofnew adventurers (most of them of higher rank and betterfortunes than their precursors), into the same old field. Except the garrisons admitted into Limerick and Cork, and the displacing of Strongbow's commandants by his ownat Waterford, Wexford, and Dublin, there seems to havebeen little gained in a military sense. The decrees ofthe Synod of Cashel would, no doubt, stand him in goodstead with the Papal legates as evidences of his desireto enforce strict discipline, even on lands beyond thoseover which he actually ruled. But, after all, harassedas he was with apprehensions of the future, perhaps noother Prince could have done more in a single winter ina strange country than Henry II. Did for his seven months'sojourn in Ireland. CHAPTER V. FROM THE RETURN OF HENRY II. TO ENGLAND TILL THE DEATHOF EARL RICHARD AND HIS PRINCIPAL COMPANIONS. The Ard-Righ Roderick, during the period of Henry theSecond's stay in Ireland, had continued west of theShannon. Unsupported by his suffragans, many of whommade peace with the invader, he attempted no militaryoperation, nor had Henry time sufficient to follow himinto his strongholds. It was reserved for this ill-fated, and, we cannot but think, harshly judged monarch, tooutlive the first generation of the invaders of hiscountry, and to close a reign which promised so brightlyat the beginning, in the midst of a distracted, war-spentpeople, having preserved through all vicissitudes thetitle of sovereign, but little else that was of value tohimself or others. Among the guests who partook of the Christmas cheer ofKing Henry at Dublin, we find mention of Tiernan O'Ruarc, the lord of Breffni and East-Meath. For the Methianaddition to his possessions, Tiernan was indebted to hisearly alliance with Roderick, and the success of theirjoint arms. Anciently the east of Meath had been dividedbetween the four families called "the four tribes ofTara, " whose names are now anglicized O'Hart, O'Kelly, O'Connelly, and O'Regan. Whether to balance the power ofthe great West-Meath family of O'Melaghlin, or becausethese minor tribes were unable to defend themselvessuccessfully, Roderick, like his father, had partitionedMeath, and given the seaward side a new master in theperson of O'Ruarc. The investiture of Hugh de Lacy byKing Henry with the seignory of the same district, ledto a tragedy, the first of its kind in our annals, butdestined to be the prototype of an almost indefiniteseries, in which the gainers were sometimes natives, butmuch oftener Normans. O'Ruarc gave de Lacy an appointment at the hill of Ward, near Athboy, in the year 1173, in order to adjust theirconflicting claims upon East-Meath. Both parties naturallyguarded against surprise, by having in readiness a troopof armed retainers. The principals met apart on thesummit of the hill, amid the circumvallations of itsancient fort; a single unarmed interpreter only waspresent. An altercation having arisen, between them, O'Ruarc lost his temper, and raised the battle-axe, whichall our warriors carried in those days, as the gentlemenof the last century did their swords; this was the signalfor both troops of guards to march towards the spot. DeLacy, in attempting to fly, had been twice felled to theearth, when his followers, under Maurice Fitzgerald andGriffith, his nephew, came to his rescue, and assailedthe chief of Breffni. It was now Tiernan's turn to attemptescaping, but as he mounted his horse the spear of Griffithbrought him to the earth mortally wounded, and hisfollowers fled. His head was carried in triumph to Dublin, where it was spiked over the northern gate, and his bodywas gibbeted on the northern wall, with the feet uppermost. Thus, a spectacle of intense pity to the Irish, did thesesevered members of one of their most famous nobles remainexposed on that side of the stronghold of the strangerwhich looks towards the pleasant plains of Meath and theverdant uplands of Cavan. The administration of de Lacy was now interrupted by asummons to join his royal master, sore beset by his ownsons in Normandy. The Kings of France and Scotland werein alliance with those unnatural Princes, and theirmother, Queen Eleanor, might he called the author oftheir rebellion. As all the force that could be sparedfrom Ireland was needed for the preservation of Normandy, de Lacy hastened to obey the royal summons, and EarlRichard, by virtue of his rank of Marshal, took for themoment the command in chief. Henry, however, who nevercordially forgave that adventurer, first required hispresence in France, and when alarmed by ill news fromIreland, he sent him back to defend the conquests alreadymade, he associated with him in the supreme command--thoughnot apparently in the civil administration--the gallantRaymond _le gros_. And it was full time for the best headand the bravest sword among the first invaders to returnto their work--a task not to be so easily achieved asmany confident persons then believed, and as manyill-informed writers have since described it. During the early rule of de Lacy, Earl Richard hadestablished himself at Ferns, assuming, to such of theIrish as adhered to him, the demeanour of a king. AfterDermid's death, he styled himself, in utter disregard ofIrish law, "Prince of Leinster, " in virtue of his wife. He proceeded to create feudal dignitaries, placing attheir head, as Constable of Leinster, Robert de Quincy, to whom he gave his daughter, by his first wife, inmarriage. At this point the male representatives of KingDermid came to open rupture with the Earl. Donald_Kavanagh_, surnamed "the Handsome, " and by the Normansusually spoken of as "Prince" Donald, could scarcely beexpected to submit to an arrangement, so opposed to allancient custom, and to his own interests. He had bornea leading part in the restoration of his father, butsurely not to this end--the exclusion of the malesuccession. He had been one of King Henry's guests duringthe Christmas holidays of the year 1172, and had renderedhim some sort of homage, as Prince of Leinster. Henry, ever ready to raise up rivals to Strongbow, seems to havereceived him into favour, until Eva, the Earl's wife, proved, both in Ireland and England, that Donald and hisbrother Enna, were born out of wedlock, and that therewas no direct male heir of Dermid left, after the executionof Conor, the hostage put to death by King Roderick. ToEnglish notions this might have been conclusive againstDonald's title, but to the Irish, among whom the electoralprinciple was the source of all chieftainry, it was notso. A large proportion of the patriotic Leinstermen--whatmight be called the native party--adhered to Donald_Kavanagh_, utterly rejecting the title derived throughthe lady Eva. Such conflicting interests could only be settled by aresort to force, and the bloody feud began by the Earlexecuting at Ferns one of Donald's sons, held by him asa hostage. In an expedition against O'Dempsey, who alsorefused to acknowledge his title, the Earl lost, in thecampaign of 1173, his son-in-law, de Quincy, severalother knights, and the "banner of Leinster. " The followingyear we read in the Anglo-Irish Annals of Leinster, thatKing Donald's men, being moved against the Earl's men, made a great slaughter of English. Nor was this the worstdefeat he suffered in the same year--1174. Marching intoMunster he was encountered in a pitched battle at Thurlesby the troops of the monarch Roderick, under command ofhis son, Conor, surnamed _Moinmoy_, and by the troops ofThomond, under Donald More O'Brien. With Strongbow wereall who could be spared of the garrison of Dublin, including a strong detachment of Danish origin. Fourknights and seven hundred (or, according to other accounts, seventeen hundred) men of the Normans were left dead onthe field. Strongbow retreated with the remnant of hisforce to Waterford, but the news of the defeat havingreached that city before him, the townspeople ran to armsand put his garrison of two hundred men to the sword. After encamping for a month on an island without thecity, and hearing that Kilkenny Castle was taken andrazed by O'Brien, he was feign to return to Dublin asbest he could. His fortunes at the close of this campaign, were at theirlowest ebb. The loss of de Quincy and the defeat ofThurles had sorely shaken his military reputation. Hisjealousy of that powerful family connexion, the Geraldines, had driven Maurice Fitzgerald and Raymond the Fat toretire in disgust into Wales. Donald Kavanagh, O'Dempsey, and the native party in Leinster, set him at defiance, and his own troops refused to obey the orders of hisuncle Herve, demanding to be led by the more popular andyouthful Raymond. To add to his embarrassments, Henrysummoned him to France in the very crisis of his troubles, and he dared not disobey that jealous and exacting master. He was, however, not long detained by the English King. Clothed with supreme authority, and with Raymond for hislieutenant, he returned to resume the work of conquest. To conciliate the Geraldines, he at last consented togive his sister Basilia in marriage to the brilliantcaptain, on whose sword so much depended. At the sametime Alina, the widow of de Quincy, was married to thesecond son of Fitzgerald, and Nesta Fitzgerald was unitedto Raymond's former rival, Herve. Thus, bound together, fortune returned in full tide to the adventurers. Limerick, which had been taken and burned to the water'sedge by Donald O'Brien after the battle of Thurles, wasrecaptured and fortified anew; Waterford was more stronglygarrisoned than ever; Donald _Kavanagh_ was taken off, apparently by treachery (A. D. 1175), and all seemed topromise the enjoyment of uninterrupted power to the Earl. But his end was already come. An ulcer in his foot broughton a long and loathsome illness, which terminated in hisdeath, in the month of May, 1176, or 1177. He was buriedin Christ Church, Dublin, which he had contributed toenlarge, and was temporarily succeeded in the governmentof the Normans by his lieutenant and brother-in-law, Raymond. By the Lady Eva he left one daughter, Isabel, married at the age of fourteen to William Marshall, Earlof Pembroke, who afterwards claimed the proprietary ofLeinster, by virtue of this marriage. Lady Isabel leftagain five daughters, who were the ancestresses of theMortimers, Braces, and other historic families of Englandand Scotland. And so the blood of Earl Richard and hisIrish Princess descended for many generations to enrichother houses and ennoble other names than his own. Strongbow is described by _Giraldus_, whose personalsketches, of the leading invaders form the most valuablepart of his book, as less a statesman than a soldier, and more a soldier than a general. His complexion wasfreckled, his neck slender, his voice feminine and shrill, and his temper equable and uniform. His career in Irelandwas limited to seven years in point of time, and hisresources were never equal to the task he undertook. Had they been so, or had he not been so jealouslycounteracted by his suzerain, he might have founded anew Norman dynasty on as solid a basis as William, or asRollo himself had done. Raymond and the Geraldines had now, for a brief moment, the supreme power, civil and military, in their own hands. In his haste to take advantage of the Earl's death, ofwhich he had privately been informed by a message fromhis wife, Raymond left Limerick in the hands of DonaldMore O'Brien, exacting, we are told, a solemn oath fromthe Prince of Thomond to protect the city, which thelatter broke before the Norman garrisons were out ofsight of its walls. This story, like many others of thesame age, rests on the uncertain authority of the vain, impetuous and passionate _Giraldus_. Whether the loss ofLimerick discredited him with the king, or the ancientjealousy of the first adventurers prevailed in the royalcouncils, Henry, on hearing of Strongbow's death, at oncedespatched as Lord Justice, William Fitz-Aldelm de Burgo, first cousin to Hubert de Burgo, Chief Justiciary ofEngland, and, like Fitz-Aldelm, descended from Arlotta, mother of William the Conqueror, by Harlowen de Burgo, her first husband. From him have descended the noblefamily of de Burgo, or Burke, so conspicuous in the afterannals of our island. In the train of the new Justiciarycame John de Courcy, another name destined to becomehistorical, but before relating his achievements, we mustconclude the narrative so far as regards the first setof adventurers. Maurice Fitzgerald, the common ancestor of the Earls ofDesmond and Kildare, the Knights of Glyn, of Kerry, andof all the Irish Geraldines, died at Wexford in the year1177. Raymond the Fat, superseded by Fitz-Aldelm, andlooked on coldly by the King, retired to his lands inthe same county, and appears only once more in arms--inthe year 1182--in aid of his uncle, Robert Fitzstephen. This premier invader had been entrusted by the new rulerwith the command of the garrison of Cork, as Milo deCogan had been with that of Waterford, and both had beeninvested with equal halves of the principality of Desmond. De Cogan, Ralph, son of Fitzstephen, and other knightshad been cut off by surprise, at the house of one McTire, near Lismore, in 1182, and all Desmond was up in armsfor the expulsion of the foreign garrisons. Raymond sailedfrom Wexford to the aid of his uncle, and succeeded inrelieving the city from the sea. But Fitzstephen, afflictedwith grief for the death of his son, and worn down withmany anxieties, suffered the still greater loss of hisreason. From thenceforth, we hear no more of either uncleor nephew, and we may therefore account this the lastyear of Robert Fitzstephen, Milo de Cogan, and Raymond_le gros_. Herve de Montmorency, the ancient rival ofRaymond, had three years earlier retired from the world, to become a brother in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, at Canterbury. His Irish estates passed to his brotherGeoffrey, who subsequently became Justiciary of theNormans in Ireland, the successful rival of the Marshals, and founder of the Irish title of Mountmorres. Theposterity of Raymond survived in the noble family ofGrace, Barons of Courtstown, in Ossory. It is not, therefore, strictly true, what Geoffrey Keating and theauthors he followed have asserted--that the first Normanswere punished by the loss of posterity for the crimesand outrages they had committed, in their variousexpeditions. Let us be just even to these spoilers of our race. Theywere fair specimens of the prevailing type of Normancharacter. Indomitable bravery was not their only virtue. In patience, in policy, and in rising superior to allobstacles and reverses, no group of conquerors eversurpassed Strongbow and his companions. Ties of bloodand brotherhood in arms were strong between them, andwhatever unfair advantages they allowed themselves totake of their enemy, they were in general constant anddevoted in then--friendships towards each other. Rivalriesand intrigues were not unknown among them, but generousself-denial, and chivalrous self-reliance were equallyas common. If it had been the lot of our ancestors to beeffectually conquered, they could hardly have yielded tonobler foes. But as they proved themselves able to resistsuccessfully the prowess of this hitherto invinciblerace, their honour is augmented in proportion to theenergy and genius, both for government and war, broughtto bear against them. Neither should we overstate the charge of impiety. Ifthe invaders broke down and burned churches in the heatof battle, they built better and costlier temples out ofthe fruits of victory. Christ Church, Dublin, DunbrodyAbbey, on the estuary of Waterford, the Grey Friars'Abbey at Wexford, and other religious houses long stood, or still stand, to show that although the first Norman, like the first Dane, thirsted after spoil, and lustedafter land, unlike the Dane, he created, he enriched, heimproved, wherever he conquered. CHAPTER VI. THE LAST YEARS OF THE ARD-RIGH, RODERICK O'CONOR. The victory of Thurles, in the year 1174, was the nextimportant military event, as we have seen, after theraising of the second siege of Dublin, in the firstcampaign of Earl Richard. It seems irreconcilable, withthe consequences of that victory, that Ambassadors fromRoderick should be found at the Court of Henry II. Beforethe close of the following year: but events personal toboth sovereigns will sufficiently explain the apparentanomaly. The campaign of 1174, so unfavourable to Henry's subjectsin Ireland, had been most fortunate for his arms inNormandy. His rebellious sons, after severe defeats, submitted, and did him homage; the King of France hadgladly accepted his terms of peace; the King of Scotland, while in duress, had rendered him fealty as his liegeman; and Queen Eleanor, having fallen into his power, was a prisoner for life. Tried by a similar unnaturalconspiracy in his own family, Roderick O'Conor had beenless fortunate in coercing them into obedience. Hiseldest son, Murray, claimed, according to ancient custom, that his father should resign in his favour the patrimonialProvince, contenting himself with the higher rank of Kingof Ireland. But Roderick well understood that in hisdays, with a new and most formidable enemy establishedin the old Danish strongholds, with the Constitution tornto shreds by the war of succession, his only real powerwas over his patrimony; he refused, therefore, theunreasonable request, and thus converted some of his ownchildren into enemies. Nor were there wanting Princes, themselves fathers, who abetted this household treason, as the Kings of France and Scotland had done among thesons of Henry II. Soon after the battle of Thurles, therecovery of Limerick, and the taking of Kilkenny, DonaldMore O'Brien, lending himself to this odious intrigue, was overpowered and deposed by Roderick, but the yearnext succeeding having made submission he was restoredby the same hand which had cast him down. It was, therefore, while harassed by the open rebellion of his eldest son, and while Henry was rejoicing in his late success, thatRoderick despatched to the Court of Windsor Catholicus, Archbishop of Tuam, Concors, Abbot of St. Brendan's, andLaurence, Archbishop of Dublin, whose is styled in theseproceedings, "Chancellor of the Irish King, " to negotiatean alliance with Henry, which would leave him free tocombat against his domestic enemies. An extraordinarytreaty, agreed upon at Windsor, about the feast ofMichaelmas, 1175, recognized Roderick's sovereignty overIreland, the cantreds and cities actually possessed bythe subjects of Henry excepted; it subinfeudated hisauthority to that of Henry, after the manner latelyadopted towards William, King of Scotland; the paymentof a merchantable hide of every tenth hide of cattle wasagreed upon as an annual tribute, while the minor chiefswere to acknowledge their dependence by annual presentsof hawks and hounds. This treaty, which proceeded onthe wild assumption that the feudal system was of forceamong the free clans of Erin, was probably the basis ofHenry's grant of the Lordship of Ireland to his son, John_Lackland_, a few years later; it was solemnly approvedby a special Council, or Parliament, and signed by therepresentatives of both parties. Among the signers we find the name of the Archbishop ofDublin, who, while in England, narrowly escaped martyrdomfrom the hands of a maniac, while celebrating Mass atthe tomb of St. Thomas. Four years afterwards, thiscelebrated ecclesiastic attended at Rome, with Catholicusof Tuam, and the Prelates of Lismore, Limerick, Waterford, and Killaloe, the third general council of Lateran, wherethey were received with all honour by Pope Alexander III. From Rome he returned with legantine powers which he usedwith great energy during the year 1180. In the autumn ofthat year, he was entrusted with the delivery to Henry II. Of the son of Roderick O'Conor, as a pledge for thefulfilment of the treaty of Windsor, and with otherdiplomatic functions. On reaching England, he found theking had gone to France, and following him thither, hewas seized with illness as he approached the Monasteryof Eu, and with a prophetic foretaste of death, heexclaimed as he came in sight of the towers of the Convent, "Here shall I make my resting-place. " The Abbot Osbertand the monks of the Order of St. Victor received himtenderly, and watched his couch for the few days he yetlingered. Anxious to fulfil his mission, he despatchedDavid, tutor of the son of Roderick, with messages toHenry, and awaited his return with anxiety. David broughthim a satisfactory response from the English King, andthe last anxiety only remained. In death, as in life, his thoughts were with his country. "Ah, foolish andinsensible people!" he exclaimed in his latest hours, "what will become of you? Who will relieve your miseries?Who will heal you?" When recommended to make his lastwill, he answered, with apostolic simplicity--"God knows, out of all my revenues, I have not a single coin tobequeath. " And thus on the 11th day of November, 1180, in the 48th year of his age, under the shelter of a Normanroof, surrounded by Norman mourners, the Gaelicstatesman-saint departed out of this life, bequeathing--one more canonized memory to Ireland and to Rome. The prospects of his native land were, at that moment, of a cast which might well disturb the death-bed of thesainted Laurence. Fitz-Aldelm, advanced to the commandat Dublin in 1177, had shown no great capacity forfollowing up the conquest. But there was one among hisfollowers who, unaffected by his sluggish example, andundeterred by his jealous interference, resolved to pushthe outposts of his race into the heart of Ulster. Thiswas John de Courcy, Baron of Stoke Courcy, in Somersetshire, a cavalier of fabulous physical strength, romantic courage, and royal descent. When he declared his settled purposeto be the invasion of Ulster, he found many spirits asdiscontented with Fitz-Aldelm's inaction as himself readyto follow his banner. His inseparable brother-in-arms, Sir Almaric of St. Laurence, his relative, Jourdain deCourcy, Sir Robert de la Poer, Sir Geoffrey and Walterde Marisco, and other Knights to the number of twenty, and five hundred men at arms, marched with him out ofDublin. Hardly had they got beyond sight of the city, when they were attacked by a native force, near Howth, where Saint Laurence laid in victory the foundation ofthat title still possessed by his posterity. On thefifth day, they came by surprise upon the famousecclesiastical city of Downpatrick, one of the firstobjects of their adventure. An ancient prophecy hadforetold that the place would be taken by a chief withbirds upon his shield, the bearings of de Courcy, mountedon a white horse, which de Courcy happened to ride. Thusthe terrors of superstition were added to the terrors ofsurprise, and the town being entirely open, the Normanshad only to dash into the midst of its inhabitants. Butthe free clansmen of Ulidia, though surprised, were notintimidated. Under their lord Rory, son of Dunlevy, theyrallied to expel the invader. Cardinal Vivian, the PapalLegate, who had just arrived from Man and Scotland, onthe neighbouring coast, proffered his mediation, andbesought de Courcy to withdraw from Down. His advice wasperemptorily rejected, and then he exhorted the Ulidiansto fight bravely for their rights. Five several battlesare enumerated as being fought, in this and the followingyear, between de Courcy and the men of Down, Louth, andAntrim, sometimes with success, at others without it, always with heavy loss and obstinate resistance. The barony of Lecale, in which Downpatrick stands, isalmost a peninsula, and the barony of the Ardes on theopposite shore of Strangford Lough is nearly insulatedby Belfast Lough, the Channel, and the tides of Strangford. With the active co-operation from the sea of Godred, Kingof Man, (whose daughter Africa he had married), de Courcy'shold on that coast became an exceedingly strong one. Aditch and a few towers would as effectually enclose Lecaleand the Ardes from any landward attack, as if they werea couple of well-walled cities. Hence, long after "thePale" ceased to extend beyond the Boyne, and while themountain passes from Meath into Ulster were all in nativehands, these two baronies continued to be succoured andstrengthened by sea, and retained as English possessions. Reinforced from Dublin and from Man after their firstsuccess, de Courcy's companions stuck to theircastle-building about the shores of Strangford Lough, while he himself made incursions into the interior, byland or by sea, fighting a brisk succession of engagementsat Newry, in Antrim, at Coleraine, and on the easternshore of Lough Foyle. At the time these operations were going forward in Ulster, Milo de Cogan quitted Dublin on a somewhat similarexpedition. We have already said that Murray, eldestson of Roderick, had claimed, according to ancient usage, the O'Conor patrimony, his father being Ard-Righ; andhad his claim refused. He now entered into a secretengagement with de Cogan, whose force is stated by_Giraldus_ at 500 men-at-arms, and by the Irish annalistsas "a great army. " With the smaller force he left Dublin, but marching through Meath, was joined at Trim by menfrom the garrisons de Lacy had planted in East-Meath. Soaccompanied, de Cogan advanced on Roscommon, where hewas received by the son of Roderick during the absenceof the Ard-Righ on a visitation among the glens ofConnemara. After three days spent in Roscommon, theseallies marched across the plain of Connaught, directedtheir course on Tuam, burning as they went Elphin, Roskeen, and many other churches. The western clansmen everywherefell back before them, driving off their herds anddestroying whatever they could not remove. At Tuam theyfound themselves in the midst of a solitude without foodor forage, with an eager enemy swarming from the westand the south to surround them. They at once decided toretreat, and no time was to be lost, as the Kern werealready at their heels. From Tuam to Athleague, and fromAthleague to their castles in East-Meath, fled the remnantof de Cogan's inglorious expedition. Murray O'Conor beingtaken prisoner by his own kinsmen, his eyes were pluckedout as the punishment of his treason, and Conor Moinmoy, the joint-victor with Donald O'Brien over Strongbow atThurles, became the _Roydamna_ or successor of his father. But fresh dissensions soon broke out between the sonsand grandsons of Roderick, and the sons of his brotherThurlogh, in one of whose deadly conflicts sixteen Princesof the Sil-Murray fell. Both sides looked beyond Connaughtfor help; one drew friends from the northern O'Neills, another relied on the aid of O'Brien. Conor Moinmoy, inthe year 1186, according to most Irish accounts, banishedhis father into Munster, but at the intercession of theSil-Murray, his own clan allowed him again to return, and assigned him a single cantred of land for hissubsistence. From this date we may count the unhappyRoderick's retirement from the world. Near the junction of Lough Corrib with Lough Mask, onthe boundary line between Mayo and Galway, stands theruins of the once populous monastery and village of Cong. The first Christian kings of Connaught had founded themonastery, or enabled St. Fechin to do so by their generousdonations. The father of Roderick had enriched its shrineby the gift of a particle of the true Cross, reverentlyenshrined in a reliquary, the workmanship of which stillexcites the admiration of the antiquaries. Here Roderickretired in the 70th year of his age, and for twelve yearsthereafter--until the 29th day of November, 1198, herehe wept and prayed, and withered away. Dead to the world, as the world to him, the opening of a new grave in theroyal corner at Clonmacnoise was the last incidentconnected with his name, which reminded Connaught thatit had lost its once prosperous Prince, and Ireland, thatshe had seen her last Ard-Righ, according to the ancientMilesian Constitution. Powerful Princes of his own andother houses the land was destined to know for manygenerations, before its sovereignty was merged in thatof England, but none fully entitled to claim thehigh-sounding, but often fallacious title, of Monarch ofall Ireland. The public character of Roderick O'Conor has been hardlydealt with by most modern writers. He was not, like hisfather, like Murkertach O'Brien, Malachy II. , Brian, Murkertach of the leathern cloaks, or Malachy I. , eminentas a lawgiver, a soldier, or a popular leader. He doesnot appear to have inspired love, or awe, or reverence, into those of his own household and patrimony, not tospeak of his distant cotemporaries. He was probably aman of secondary qualities, engulfed in a crisis of thefirst importance. But that he is fairly chargeable withthe success of the invaders--or that there was any veryoverwhelming success to be charged up to the time of hisenforced retirement from the world--we have failed todiscover. From Dermid's return until his retreat to Cong, seventeen years had passed away. Seventeen campaigns, more or less energetic and systematic, the Normans hadfought. Munster was still in 1185--when John Lacklandmade his memorable exit and entrance on the scene--almostwholly in the hands of the ancient clans. Connaught wasas yet without a single Norman garrison. Hugh de Lacyreturning to the government of Dublin, in 1179, onFitz-Aldelm's recall, was more than half _Hibernicized_by marriage with one of Roderick's daughters, and theNorman tide stood still in Meath. Several strong fortresseswere indeed erected in Desmond and Leinster, by JohnLackland and by de Courcy, in his newly won northernterritory. Ardfinan, Lismore, Leighlin, Carlow, Castledermot, Leix, Delvin, Kilkay, Maynooth and Trim, were fortified; but considering who the Anglo-Normanswere, and what they had done elsewhere, even these veryconsiderable successes may be correctly accounted forwithout overcharging the memory of Roderick with follyand incapacity. That he was personally brave has notbeen questioned. That he was politic--or at least capableof conceiving the politic views of such a statesman asSt. Laurence O'Toole, we may infer from the rank ofChancellor which he conferred, and the other negotiationswhich he entrusted to that great man. That he maintainedhis self-respect as a sovereign, both in abstaining fromvisiting Henry II. Under pretence of hospitality atDublin, and throughout all his difficult diplomacy withthe Normans, we are free to conclude. With the Normansfor foes--with a decayed and obsolete national constitutionto patch up--with nominal subordinates more powerful thanhimself--with rebellion staring him in the face out ofthe eyes of his own children--Roderick O'Conor had noordinary part to play in history. The fierce familypride of our fathers and the vices of their politicalsystem are to be deplored and avoided; let us not makethe last of their national kings the scape-goat for allhis cotemporaries and all his predecessors. CHAPTER VII. ASSASSINATION OF HUGH DE LACY--JOHN "LACKLAND" INIRELAND--VARIOUS EXPEDITIONS OF JOHN DE COURCY--DEATH OFCONOR MOINMOY, AND RISE OF CATHAL, "THE RED-HANDED"O'CONOR--CLOSE OF THE CAREER OF DE COURCY AND DE BURGH. Hugh de Lacy, restored to the supreme authority on therecall of Fitz-Aldelm in 1179, began to conceive hopes, as Strongbow had done, of carving out for himself a newkingdom. After the assassination of O'Ruarc alreadyrelated, he assumed without further parley the titles ofLord of Meath and Breffni. To these titles, he addedthat of Oriel or Louth, but his real strength lay inMeath, where his power was enhanced by a politic secondmarriage with Rose, daughter of O'Conor. Among the Irishhe now began to be known as King of the foreigners, andsome such assumption of royal authority caused his recallfor a few months in the year 1180, and his substitutionby de Courcy and Philip de Broasa, in 1184. But his greatqualities caused his restoration a third time to the rankof Justiciary for Henry, or Deputy for John, whose titleof "Lord of Ireland" was bestowed by his father, at aParliament held at Oxford, in 1177. This founder of the Irish de Lacys is described by_Giraldus_, who knew him personally, as a man of Gallicsobriety, ambitious, avaricious, and lustful, of smallstature, and deformed shape, with repulsive features, and dark, deep-set eyes. By the Irish of the midlanddistricts he was bitterly detested as a sacrilegiousspoiler of their churches and monasteries, and the mostpowerful among their invaders. The murder of O'Ruarc, whose title of Breffni he had usurped, was attributed toa deep-laid design; he certainly shared the odium withthe advantage that ensued from it. Nor was his own endunlike that of his rival. Among other sites for castles, he had chosen the foundations of the ancient and muchvenerated monastery of Durrow, planted by Columbcille, seven centuries before, in the midst of the fertile regionwatered by the Brosna. This act of profanity was fatedto be his last, for, while personally superintending thework, O'Meyey, a young man of good birth, and foster-brotherto a neighbouring chief of Teffia, known as _Sionnach_, or "the Fox, " struck off his head with a single blow ofhis axe and escaped into the neighbouring forest ofKilclare during the confusion which ensued. De Lacy leftissue--two sons, Hugh and Walter, by his first wife, anda third, William _Gorm_, by his second--of whom, and oftheir posterity, we shall have many occasions to makemention. In one of the intervals of de Lacy's disfavour, PrinceJohn, surnamed _Sans-terre_, or "lack-land, " was sentover by his father to strengthen the English interest inIreland. He arrived in Waterford, accompanied by a fleetof sixty ships, on the last of March, 1185, and remainedin the country till the following November. If anythingcould excuse the levity, folly and misconduct of thePrince on this expedition, it would be his youth;--hewas then only eighteen. But Henry had taken every precautionto ensure success to his favourite son. He was precededinto Ireland by Archbishop Cuming, the English successorof St. Laurence; the learned Glanville was his legaladviser; John de Courcy was his lieutenant, and theeloquent, but passionate and partial _Giraldus Cambrensis_, his chaplain and tutor. He had, however, other companionsmore congenial to his age and temper, young noblemen asfroward and as extravagant as himself; yet, as he surpassedthem all in birth and rank, so he did in wickedness andcruelty of disposition. For age he had no reverence, forvirtue no esteem, neither truth towards man, nor decencytowards woman. On his arrival at Waterford, the newArchbishop of Dublin, John de Courcy, and the principalNorman nobles, hastened to receive him. With them camealso certain Leinster chiefs, desiring to live at peacewith the new Galls. When, according to the custom of thecountry, the chiefs advanced to give John the kiss ofpeace, their venerable age was made a mockery by theyoung Prince, who met their proffered salutations byplucking at their beards. This appears to have been asdeadly an insult to the Irish as it is to the Asiatics, and the deeply offended guests instantly quitted Waterford. Other follies and excesses rapidly transpired, and thenative nobles began to discover that a royal armyencumbered, rather than led by such a Prince, was notlikely to prove itself invincible. In an idle parade fromthe Suir to the Liffey, from the Liffey to the Boyne, and in issuing orders for the erection of castles, (someof which are still correctly and others erroneously calledKing John's Castles, ) the campaign months of the yearwere wasted by the King of England's son. One of thesecastles, to which most importance was attached, Ardfinanon the Suir, was no sooner built than taken by DonaldMore O'Brien, on midsummer day, when four knights andits other defenders were slain. Another was rising atLismore, on the Blackwater, under the guardianship ofRobert Barry, one of the brood of Nesta, when it wasattacked and Barry slain. Other knights and castellanswere equally unfortunate; Raymond Fitz-Hugh fell atLeighlin, another Raymond in Idrone, and Roger le Poerin Ossory. In Desmond, Cormac McCarthy besieged Theobald, ancestor of the Butlers in Cork, but this brave Prince--the worthy compeer of O'Brien--was cut off "in a parleeby them of Cork. " The Clan-Colman, or O'Melaghlins, hadrisen in West-Meath to reclaim their own, when Henry, not an hour too soon, recalled his reckless son, andentrusted, for the last time, the command to Hugh deLacy, whose fate has been already related. In the fluctuations of the power of the invaders afterthe death of de Lacy, and during the next reign in England, one steadfast name appears foremost among the adventurers--that of the gallant giant, de Courcy, the conqueror ofthe Ards of Down. Not only in prowess, but also in piety, he was the model of all the knighthood of his time. Weare told that he always carried about his person a copyof the prophecies attributed to Columbcille, and when, in the year 1186, the relics of the three great saints, whose dust sanctifies Downpatrick, were supposed to bediscovered by the Bishop of Down in a dream, he causedthem to be translated to the altar-side with all suitablereverence. Yet all his devotions and pilgrimages did notprevent him from pushing on the work of conquest wheneveroccasion offered. His plantation in Down had time to takeroot from the unexpected death of Donald, Prince ofAileach, in an encounter with the garrison of one of thenew castles, near Newry. (A. D. 1188. ) The same year hetook up the enterprise against Connaught, in which Milode Cogan had so signally failed, and from which even deLacy had, for reasons of his own, refrained. The feudsof the O'Conor family were again the pretext and theground of hope with the invaders, but Donald More O'Brien, victorious on the Suir and the Shannon, carried his strongsuccours to Conor _Moinmoy_ on the banks of the Suca, near the present Ballinasloe, and both powers combinedmarched against de Courcy. Unprepared for this junction, the Norman retreated towards Sligo, and had reachedBallysadare, when Flaherty, Lord of Tyrconnell (Donegal), came against them from the opposite point, and thus placedbetween two fires, they were forced to fly through therugged passes of the Curlieu mountains, skirmishing asthey went. The only incidents which signalized thiscampaign on their side was the burning of Ballysadareand the plunder of Armagh; to the Irish it was creditablefor the combinations it occasioned. It is cheering inthe annals of those desultory wars to find a nationaladvantage gained by the joint action of a Munster, aConnaught, and an Ulster force. The promise of national unity held out by the allianceof O'Brien and O'Conor, in the years 1188-'89, had beenfollowed up by the adhesion of the lords of Breffni, Ulidia, or Down, the chiefs of the Clan-Colman, andMcCarthy, Prince of Desmond. But the assassination ofConor Moinmoy, by the partizans of his cousins, extinguishedthe hopes of the country, and the peace of his ownprovince. The old family feuds broke out with new fury. In vain the aged Roderick emerged from his convent, andsought with feeble hand to curb the fiery passions ofhis tribe; in vain the Archbishops of Armagh and of Tuaminterposed their spiritual authority, A series offratricidal contests, for which history has no memoryand no heart, were fought out between the warring branchesof the family during the last ten years of the century, until by virtue of the strong-arm, Cathal _Crovdearg_, son of Turlogh More, and younger brother of Roderick, assumed the sovereignty of Connaught about the year 1200. In the twelve years which intervened between the deathof _Moinmoy_ and the establishment of the power of Cathal_Crovdearg_ O'Conor, the Normans had repeated opportunitiesfor intervention in the affairs of Connaught. William deBurgh, a powerful Baron of the family of Fitz-Aldelm, the former Lord Justice, sided with the opponents ofCathal, while de Courcy, and subsequently the younger deLacy, fought on his side. Once at least these restlessBarons changed allies, and fought as desperately againsttheir former candidate for the succession as they hadbefore fought for him. In one of these engagements, thedate assigned to which is the year 1190, Sir Armoric St. Laurence, founder of the Howth family, at the head of anumerous division, is said to have been cut off with allhis troop. But the fortune of war frequently shiftedduring the contest. In the year 1199, Cathal _Crovdearg_, with his allies de Lacy and de Courcy, was utterly defeatedat Kilmacduagh, in the present county of Galway, and wereit not that the rival O'Conor was sorely defeated, andtrodden to death in the route which ensued, three yearslater, Connaught might never have known the vigorousadministration of her "red-handed" hero. The early career of this able and now triumphant Prince, as preserved to us by history and tradition, is full ofromantic incidents. He is said to have been born out ofwedlock, and that his mother, while pregnant of him, wassubject to all the cruel persecutions and magical tormentsthe jealous wife of his father could invent. No soonerwas he born than he became an object of hatred to theQueen, so that mother and child, after being concealedfor three years in the sanctuaries of Connaught, had tofly for their lives into Leinster. In this exile, thoughearly informed of his origin, he was brought up amongthe labourers in the field, and was actually engaged, sickle in hand, cutting the harvest, when a travelling_Bollscaire_, or newsman from the west, related the eventswhich enabled him to return to his native province. "Farewell sickle, " he exclaimed, casting it from him--"now for the sword. " Hence "Cathal's farewell to therye" was long a proverbial expression for any suddenchange of purpose or of condition. Fortune seems to havefavoured him in most of his undertakings. In a storm uponLough Ree, when a whole fleet foundered and its warriorcrew perished, he was one of seven who were saved. Thoughin some of his early battles unsuccessful, he alwaysrecovered his ground, kept up his alliances, and returnedto the contest. After the death of the celebrated DonaldMore O'Brien (A. D. 1194), he may certainly be consideredthe first soldier and first diplomatist among the Irish. Nor was his lot cast on more favoured days, nor was hepitted against less able men than those with whom thebrave King of Munster--the stoutest defender of hisfatherland--had so honourably striven. Fortunate it wasfor the renown of the Gael, that as one star of the raceset over Thomond, another of equal brilliancy rose toguide them in the west. With the end of the century, the career of Cathal'sallies, de Courcy and de Burgh, may be almost said tohave ended. The obituary of the latter bears the dateof 1204. He had obtained large grants from King John oflands in Connaught--if he could conquer them--which hisvigorous descendants, the Burkes of Clanrickarde, didtheir best to accomplish. De Courcy, warring with thesons of de Lacy, and seeking refuge among the clansmenof Tyrone, disappears from the stage of Irish affairs. He is said to have passed on to England, and ended hisdays in prison, a victim to the caprice or jealousy ofKing John. Many tales are--told of his matchlessintrepidity. His indirect descendants, the Barons ofKinsale, claim the right to wear their hats before theKing in consequence of one of these legends, whichrepresents him as the champion Knight of England, takenfrom, a dungeon to uphold her honour against a Frenchchallenger. Other tales as ill authenticated are foundedon his career, which, however, in its literal truth, isunexcelled for hardihood and adventure, except, perhaps, by the cotemporaneous story of the lion-hearted Richard, whom he closely resembled. The title of Earl of Ulster, created for de Courcy in 1181, was transferred in 1205, by royal patent, to Walter de Lacy, whose only daughterMaud brought it in the year 1264 to Walter de Burgh, lordof Connaught, from whose fourth female descendant itpassed in 1354, by her marriage with Lionel, Duke ofClarence, into the royal family of England. CHAPTER VIII. EVENTS OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY--THE NORMANS INCONNAUGHT. Ireland, during the first three quarters of the thirteenthcentury, produced fewer important events, and fewer greatmen, than in the thirty last years of the century preceding. From the side of England, she was subjected to no imminentdanger in all that interval. The reign of John ending in1216, and that of Henry III. Extending till 1271, werefully occupied with the insurrections of the Barons, withFrench, Scotch, and Welsh wars, family feuds, the riseand fall of royal favourites, and all those other incidentswhich naturally, befall in a state of society where theKing is weak, the aristocracy strong and insolent, andthe commons disunited and despised. During this periodthe fusion of Norman, Saxon, and Briton went slowly on, and the next age saw for the first time a populationwhich could be properly called English. "Do you take mefor an Englishman?" was the last expression of Normanarrogance in the reign of King John; but the close ofthe reign of Henry III. , through the action of commercialand political causes, saw a very different state offeeling growing up between the descendants of the raceswhich contended for mastery under Harold and William. The strongly marked Norman characteristics lingered inIreland half a century later, for it is usually the casethat traits of caste survive longest in colonies andremote provinces. In Richard de Burgo, commonly calledthe Red Earl of Ulster, all the genius and the vices ofthe race of Rollo blazed out over Ireland for the lasttime, and with terrible effect. During the first three quarters of the century, ourhistory, like that of England, is the history of a fewgreat houses; nation there is, strictly speaking, none. It will be necessary, therefore, to group together theacts of two or three generations of men of the same name, as the only method of finding our way through the shiftingscenes of this stormy period. The power of the great Connaught family of O'Conor, soterribly shaken by the fratricidal wars and unnaturalalliances of the sons and grandsons of Roderick, was ingreat part restored by the ability and energy of Cathal_Crovdearg_. In his early struggles for power he wasgreatly assisted by the anarchy which reigned among theEnglish nobles. Mayler Fitz-Henry, the last of Strongbow'scompanions, who rose to such eminence, being Justiciaryin the first six years of the century, was aided byO'Conor to besiege William de Burgo in Limerick, and tocripple the power of the de Lacys in Meath. In the year1207, John Gray, Bishop of Norwich, was sent over, asmore likely to be impartial than any ruler personallyinterested in the old quarrels, but during his first termof office, the interdict with which Innocent III. Hadsmitten England, hung like an Egyptian darkness over theAnglo-Norman power in Ireland. The native Irish, however, were exempt from its enervating effects, and CathalO'Conor, by the time King John came over in person--inthe year 1210--to endeavour to retrieve the Englishinterest, had warred down all his enemies, and was ofpower sufficient to treat with the English sovereign asindependently as Roderick had done with Henry II. Thirty-five years before. He personally conferred withJohn at Dublin, as the O'Neil and other native Princesdid; he procured from the English King the condemnationof John de Burgo, who had maintained his father's claimson a portion of Connaught, and he was formally recognised, according to the approved forms of Norman diplomacy, asseized of the whole of Connaught, in his own right. The visit of King John, which lasted from the 20th ofJune till the 25th of August, was mainly directed to thereduction of those intractable Anglo-Irish Barons whomFitz-Henry and Gray had proved themselves unable to copewith. Of these the de Lacys of Meath were the mostobnoxious. They not only assumed an independent state, but had sheltered de Braos, Lord of Brecknock, one ofthe recusant Barons of Wales, and refused to surrenderhim on the royal summons. To assert his authority, andto strike terror into the nobles of other possessions, John crossed the channel with a prodigious fleet--in theIrish annals said to consist of 700 sail. He landed atCrook, reached Dublin, and prepared at once to subduethe Lacys. With his own army, and the co-operation ofCathal O'Conor, he drove out Walter de Lacy, Lord ofMeath, who fled to his brother, Hugh de Lacy, since deCourcy's disgrace, Earl of Ulster. From Meath into LouthJohn pursued the brothers, crossing the lough at Carlingfordwith his ships, which must have coasted in his company. From Carlingford they retreated, and he pursued toCarrickfergus, and from that fortress, unable to resista royal fleet and navy, they fled into Man or Scotland, and thence escaped in disguise into France. With theirguest de Braos, they wrought as gardeners in the groundsof the Abbey of Saint Taurin Evreux, until the Abbot, having discovered by their manners the key to their realrank, negotiated successfully with John for theirrestoration to their estates. Walter agreed to pay afine of 2, 500 marks for his lordship in Meath, and Hugh4, 000 marks for his possessions in Ulster. Of de Braoswe have no particulars; his high-spirited wife and childrenwere thought to have been starved to death by order ofthe unforgiving tyrant in one of his castles. The deLacys, on their restoration, were accompanied to Irelandby a nephew of the Abbot of St. Taurin, on whom theyconferred an estate and the honour of knighthood. The only other acts of John's sojourn in Ireland was histreaty with O'Conor, already mentioned, and the mappingout, on paper, of the intended counties of Oriel (orLouth), Meath, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Katherlough(or Carlow), Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Tipperary, as the only districts in which those heclaimed as his subjects had any possessions. He againinstalled the Bishop of Norwich as his justiciary orlieutenant, who, three years, later, was succeeded byHenry de Londres, the next Archbishop of Dublin, and heagain (A. D. 1215), by Geoffrey de Marisco, the last ofJohn's deputies. In the year 1216, Henry III. , an infantten years of age, succeeded to the English throne, andthe next dozen years the history of the two islands isslightly connected, except by the fortunes of the familyof de Burgh, whose head, Hubert de Burgh, the ChiefJusticiary, from the accession of the new King, untilthe first third of the century had closed, was in realitythe Sovereign of England. Among his other titles he heldthat of Lord of Connaught, which he conveyed to hisrelative, Richard de Burgo, the son or grandson of WilliamFitz-Aldelm de Burgo, about the year 1225. And this bringsus to relate how the house of Clanrickarde rose upon theflank of the house of O'Conor, and after holding an almostequal front for two generations, finally overshadowedits more ancient rival. While Cathal _Crovdearg_ lived, the O'Conor's held theirown, and rather more than their own, by policy or arms. Not only did his own power suffer no diminution, but hemore than once assisted the Dalgais and the Eugenians toexpel their invaders from North and South Munster, andto uphold their ancient rights and laws. During the lastyears of John's reign that King and his Barons weremutually too busy to set aside the arrangement enteredinto in 1210. In the first years of Henry it was alsoleft undisturbed by the English court. In 1221 we readthat the de Lacys, remembering, no doubt, the part hehad played in their expulsion, endeavoured to fortifyAthleague against him, but the veteran King, crossingthe Shannon farther northward, took them in the rear, compelled them to make peace, and broke down their Castle. This was almost the last of his victories. In the year1213 we read in the Annals of "an awful and heavy showerwhich fell over Connaught, " and was held to presage thedeath of its heroic King. Feeling his hour had come, this Prince, to whom are justly attributed the rare unionof virtues, ardour of mind, chastity of body, meeknessin prosperity, fortitude under defeat, prudence in civilbusiness, undaunted bravery in battle, and a piety oflife beyond all his cotemporaries--feeling the nearapproach of death, retired to the Abbey of Knockmoy, which he had founded and endowed, and there expired inthe Franciscan habit, at an age which must have borderedon fourscore. He was succeeded by his son, Hugh O'Conor, "the hostages of Connaught being in his house" at thetime of his illustrious father's death. No sooner was Cathal _Crovdearg_ deceased than Hubert deBurgo procured the grants of the whole Province, reservingonly five cantreds about Athlone for a royal garrison tobe made to Richard de Burgo, his nephew. Richard hadmarried Hodierna, granddaughter to Cathal, and thus, likeall the Normans, though totally against the Irish custom, claimed a part of Connaught in right of his wife. But inthe sons of Cathal he found his equal both in policy andarms, and with the fall of his uncle at the English court(about the year 1233), Feidlim O'Conor, the successor ofHugh, taking advantage of the event, made interest atthe Court of Henry III. Sufficient to have his overgrownneighbour stripped of some of his strongholds by royalorder. The King was so impressed with O'Conor'srepresentations that he wrote peremptorily to MauriceFitzgerald, second Lord Offally, then his deputy, "toroot out that barren tree planted in Offally by Hubertde Burgh, in the madness of his power, and not to sufferit to shoot forth. " Five years later, Feidlim, in return, carried some of his force, in conjunction with the deputy, to Henry's aid in Wales, though, as their arrival wassomewhat tardy, Fitzgerald was soon after dismissed onthat account. Richard de Burgo died in attendance on King Henry inFrance (A. D. 1243), and was succeeded by his son, Walterde Burgo, who continued, with varying fortunes, thecontest for Connaught with Feidlim, until the death ofthe latter, in the Black Abbey of Roscommon, in the year1265. Hugh O'Conor, the son and successor of Feidlim, continued the intrepid guardian of his house and provinceduring the nine years he survived his father. In the year1254, by marriage with the daughter of de Lacy, Earl ofUlster, that title had passed into the family of de Burgh, bringing with it, for the time, much substantial, thoughdistant, strength. It was considered only a secondarytitle, and as the eldest son of the first de Lacy remainedLord of Meath, while the younger took de Courcy's forfeitedtitle of Ulster, so, in the next generation, did the sonsof this Walter de Burgh, until death and time reunitedboth titles in the same person. Walter de Burgh died inthe year 1271, in the Castle of Galway; his great rival, Feidlim O'Conor, in 1274, was buried in the Abbey ofBoyle. The former is styled King of the English ofConnaught by the Irish Annalists, who also speak ofFeidlim as "the most triumphant and the most feared (bythe invaders) of any King that had been in Connaughtbefore his time. " The relative position of the Irish andEnglish in that Province, towards the end of this century, may be judged by the fact, that of the Anglo-Normanssummoned by Edward I. To join him in Scotland in 1299, but two, Richard de Burgo and Piers de Bermingham, Baronof Athenry, had then possessions in Connaught. Therewere Norman Castles at Athlone, at Athenry, at Galway, and perhaps at other points; but the natives still swayedsupreme over the plains of Rathcrogan, the plains ofBoyle, the forests and lakes of Roscommon, and the wholeof _Iar_, or West Connaught, from Lough Corrib to theocean, with the very important exception of the castleand port of Galway. A mightier de Burgo than any thathad yet appeared was to see in his house, in the year1286, "the hostages of all Connaught;" but his life anddeath form a distinct epoch in our story and must betreated separately. CHAPTER IX. EVENTS OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY--THE NORMANS IN MUNSTERAND LEINSTER. We have already told the tragic fate of the twoadventurers--Fitzstephen and de Cogan--between whom thewhole of Desmond was first partitioned by Henry II. Butthere were not wanting other claimants, either by originalgrant from the crown, by intermarriage with Irish, orNorman-Irish heiresses, or new-comers, favourites of Johnor of Henry III. , or of their Ministers, enriched at theexpense of the native population. Thomas, third son ofMaurice Fitzgerald, claimed partly through his uncleFitzstephen, and partly through his marriage with thedaughter of another early adventurer, Sir William Morrie, whose vast estates on which his descendants were afterwardsknown as Earls of Desmond, the White Knight, the Knightof Glyn, and the Knight of Kerry. Robert de Carew andPatrick de Courcy claimed as heirs general to de Cogan. The de Mariscoes, de Barris, and le Poers, were notextinct; and finally Edward I. , soon after his accession, granted the whole land of Thomond to Thomas de Clare, son of the Earl of Gloucester, and son-in-law of Maurice, third Baron of Offally. A contest very similar to thatwhich was waged in Connaught between the O'Conors and deBurghs was consequently going on in Munster at the sametime, between the old inhabitants and the new claimants, of all the three classes just indicated. The principality of Desmond, containing angles of Waterfordand Tipperary, with all Cork and Kerry, seemed at thebeginning of the thirteenth century in greatest dangerof conquest. The O'Callaghans, Lords of Cinel-Aedha, inthe south of Cork, were driven into the mountains ofDuhallow, where they rallied and held their ground forfour centuries; the O'Sullivans, originally settled alongthe Suir, about Clonmel, were forced towards the mountainseacoast of Cork and Kerry, where they acquired new vigourin the less fertile soil of Beare and Bantry. The nativefamilies of the Desies, from their proximity to the portof Waterford, were harassed and overrun, and the portsof Dungarvan, Youghal, and Cork, being also taken andgarrisoned by the founder of the earldom of Desmond, easyentrance and egress by sea could always be obtained forhis allies, auxiliaries, and supplies. It was when thesedangers were darkening and menacing on every side thatthe family of McCarthy, under a succession of able andvigorous chiefs, proved themselves worthy of the headshipof the Eugenian race. Cormac McCarthy, who had expelledthe first garrison from Waterford, ere he fell in a parleybefore Cork, had defeated the first enterprises ofFitzstephen and de Cogan; he left a worthy son in Donaldna Curra, who, uniting his own co-relations, and actingin conjunction with O'Brien and O'Conor, retarded by hismany exploits the progress of the invasion in Munster. He recovered Cork and razed King John's castle atKnockgraffon on the Suir. He left two surviving sons, ofwhom the eldest, Donald _Gott_, or the Stammerer, tookthe title of _More_, or Great, and his posterity remainedprinces of Desmond, until that title merged in the earldomof Glencare (A. D. 1565); the other, Cormac, after takinghis brother prisoner compelled him to acknowledge him aslord of the four baronies of Carbury. From this Cormacthe family of McCarthy Reagh descended, and to them theO'Driscolls, O'Donovans, O'Mahonys, and other Eugenianhouses became tributary. The chief residence of McCarthyReagh was long fixed at Dunmanway; his castles were alsoat Baltimore, Castlehaven, Lough-Fyne, and in Inis-Sherkinand Clear Island. The power of McCarthy More extended atits greatest reach from Tralee in Kerry to Lismore inWaterford. In the year 1229, Dermid McCarthy had peaceablepossession of Cork, and founded the Franciscan Monasterythere. Such was his power, that, according to Hamner andhis authorities, the Geraldines "dare not for twelveyears put plough into the ground in Desmond. " At last, another generation rose, and fierce family feuds brokeout between the branches of the family. The Lord ofCarbury now was Fineen, or Florence, the most celebratedman of his name, and one whose power naturally encroachedupon the possession of the elder house. John, son ofThomas Fitzgerald of Desmond, seized the occasion to makegood the enormous pretension of his family. In theexpedition which he undertook for this purpose, in theyear 1260, he was joined by the Justiciary, William Dene, by Walter de Burgo, Earl of Ulster, by Walter deRiddlesford, Baron of Bray, by Donnel Roe, a chief ofthe hostile house of McCarthy. The Lord of Carbury unitedunder his standard the chief Eugenian families, not onlyof the Coast, but even of McCarthy More's principality, and the battle was fought with great ferocity atCallan-Glen, near Kenmare, in Kerry. There the Anglo-Normansreceived the most complete defeat they had yet experiencedon Irish ground. John Fitz-Thomas, his son Maurice, eightbarons, fifteen knights, and "countless numbers of commonsoldiers were slain. " The Monastery of Tralee receivedthe dead body of its founder and his son, while FlorenceMcCarthy, following up his blow, captured and broke downin swift succession all the English castles in hisneighbourhood, including those of Macroom, Dunnamark, Dunloe, and Killorglin. In besieging one of these castles, called Ringrone, the victorious chief, in the full tideof conquest, was cut off, and his brother, called the_Atheleireach_ (or suspended priest), succeeded to hispossessions. The death of the victor arrested the panicof the defeat, but Munster saw another generation beforeher invaders had shaken off the depression of the battleof Callan-glen. Before the English interest had received this severe blowin the south, a series of events had transpired inLeinster, going to show that its aspiring barons had beenseized with the madness which precedes destruction. William, Earl Marshal and Protector of England duringthe minority of Henry III. , had married Isabella, thedaughter of Strongbow and granddaughter of Dermid, throughwhom he assumed the title of Lord of Leinster. He procuredthe office of Earl Marshal of Ireland--originally conferredon the first de Lacy--for his own nephew, and thusconverted the de Lacys into mortal enemies. His son andsuccessor Richard, having made himself obnoxious, soonafter his accession to that title, to the young King, orto Hubert de Burgh, was outlawed, and letters weredespatched to the Justiciary, Fitzgerald, to de Burgo, de Lacy, and other Anglo-Irish lords, if he landed inIreland, to seize his person, alive or dead, and send itto England. Strong in his estates and alliances, theyoung Earl came; while his enemies employed the wilyGeoffrey de Mountmorres to entrap him into a conference, in order to his destruction. The meeting was appointedfor the first day of April, 1234, and while the outlawedEarl was conversing with those who had invited him, anaffray began among their servants by design, he himselfwas mortally wounded and carried to one of Fitzgerald'scastles, where he died. He was succeeded in his Irishhonours by three of his brothers, who all died withoutheirs male. Anselme, the last Earl Marshal of his family, dying in 1245, left five co-heiresses, Maud, Joan, Isabel, Sybil, and Eva, between whom the Irish estates--or suchportions of them in actual possession--were divided. Theymarried respectively the Earls of Norfolk, Suffolk, Gloucester, Ferrers, and Braos, or Brace, Lord of Brecknock, in whose families, for another century or more, thesecondary titles were Catherlogh, Kildare, Wexford, Kilkenny, and Leix, --those five districts being supposed, most absurdly, to have come into the Marshal family, fromthe daughter of Strongbow. The false knights and dishonourednobles concerned in the murder of Richard Marshal weredisappointed of the prey which had been promised them--thepartition of his estates. And such was the horror whichthe deed excited in England, that it hastened the fallof Hubert de Burgh, though Maurice Fitzgerald, ofOffally--ancestor of the Kildare family--having clearedhimself of all complicity in it by oath--was continuedas Justiciary for ten years longer. In the year 1245, for his tardiness in joining the King's army in Wales, he was succeeded by the false-hearted Geoffrey deMountmorres, who held the office till 1247. During thenext twenty-five years, about half as many Justices wereplaced and displaced, according to the whim of thesuccessive favourites at the English Court. In 1252, Prince Edward, afterwards Edward I. , was appointed withthe title of Lord Lieutenant, but never came over. Noris there in the series of rulers we have numbered, with, perhaps, two exceptions, any who have rendered theirnames memorable by great exploits, or lasting legislation. So little inherent power had the incumbents of the highestoffice--unless when, they employed their own proper forcesin their sovereign's name--that we read without surprise, how the bold mountaineers of Wicklow, at the opening ofthe century (A. D. 1209) slaughtered the Bristolians ofDublin, engaged at their archery in Cullenswood, and atthe close of it, how "one of the Kavanaghs, of the bloodof McMurrogh, living at Leinster, " "displayed his standardswithin sight of the city. " Yet this is commonly spokenof as a country overrun by a few score Norman Knights, in a couple of campaigns! The maintenance of the conquest was in these years lessthe work of the King's Justices than of the great houses. Of these, two principally profited, by the untimelyfelling of that great tree which overshadowed all othersin Leinster, the Marshals. The descendants of the eldestson of Maurice Fitzgerald clung to their Leinsterpossessions, while their equally vigorous cousins pushedtheir fortunes in Desmond. Maurice, grandson of Maurice, and second Baron of Offally, from the year 1229 to theyear 1246, was three times Lord Justice. "He was a valiantKnight, a very pleasant man, and inferior to none in thekingdom, " by Matthew Paris's account. He introduced theFranciscan and Dominican orders into Ireland, built manycastles, churches, and abbeys at Youghal, at Sligo, atArmagh, at Maynooth, and in other places. In the year1257, he was wounded in single combat by O'Donnell, Lordof Tyrconnell, near Sligo, and died soon after in theFranciscan habit in Youghal. He left his successor sopowerful, that in the year 1264, there being a feudbetween the Geraldines and de Burghs, he seized the LordJustice and the whole de Burgh party at a conference atCastledermot, and carried them to his own castles of Leaand Dunamase as prisoners. In 1272, on the accidentaldeath of the Lord Justice Audley, by a fall from hishorse, "the council" elected this the third Baron ofOffally in his stead. The family of Butler were of slower growth, but of equaltenacity with the Geraldines. They first seem to haveattached themselves to the Marshals, for whom they wereindebted for their first holding in Kilkenny. At theConference of Castledermot, Theobald Butler, the fourthin descent from the founder of the house, was numberedamong the adherents of de Burgh, but a few years laterwe find him the ally of the Geraldines in the invasionof Thomond. In the year 1247, the title of Lord of Carrickhad been conferred on him, which in 1315 was convertedinto Earl of Carrick, and this again into that of Ormond. The Butlers of this house, when they had attained theirgrowth of power, became the hereditary rivals of theKildare Geraldines, whose earldom dates from 1316, asthat of Ormond does from 1328, and Desmond from 1329. The name of Maurice, the third Baron of Offally, anduncle of John, the first Earl of Kildare, draws ourattention naturally to the last enterprise of his life--the attempt to establish his son-in-law, Thomas deClare, in possession of Thomond. The de Clares, Earls ofGloucester, pretended a grant from Henry II. Of the wholeof Thomond, as their title to invade that principality;but their real grant was bestowed by Edward I. , in theyear 1275. The state of the renowned patrimony of Brianhad long seemed to invite such an aggression. Murtogh, son of Donnell More, who succeeded his father in 1194, had early signalized himself by capturing the castles ofBirr, Kinnetty, Ballyroane and Lothra, in Leix, and razingthem to the ground. But these castles were reconstructedin 1213, when the feuds between the rival O'Briens--Murtoghand Donogh Cairbre--had paralyzed the defence force ofThomond. It was, doubtless, in the true divide-and-conquerspirit, that Henry the Third's advisers confirmed toDonogh the lordship of Thomond in 1220, leaving to hiselder brother the comparatively barren title of King ofMunster. Both brothers, by alternately working on theirhopes and fears, were thus for many years kept in a stateof dependence on the foreigner. One gleam of patrioticvirtue illumines the annals of the house of O'Brien, during the first forty years of the century--when, inthe year 1225, Donogh Cairbre assisted Felim O'Conor toresist the Anglo-Norman army, then pouring over Connaught, in the quarrel of de Burgh. Conor, the son of Donogh, who succeeded his father in the year 1242, animated bythe example of his cotemporaries, made successful waragainst the invaders of his Province, more especially inthe year 1257, and the next year; attended with O'Conorthe meeting at Beleek, on the Erne, where Brian O'Neilwas acknowledged, by both the Munster and the ConnaughtPrince, as _Ard-Righ_. The untimely end of this attemptat national union will be hereafter related; meantime, we proceed to mention that, in 1260, the Lord of Thomonddefeated the Geraldines and their Welsh auxiliaries, atKilbarran, in Clare. He was succeeded the following seasonby his son, Brian Roe, in whose time Thomas de Clareagain put to the test of battle his pretensions to thelordship of Thomond. It was in the year 1277, that, supported by hisfather-in-law, the Kildare Fitzgerald, de Clare marchedinto Munster, and sought an interview with the O'Brien. The relation of gossip, accounted sacred among the Irish, existed between them, but Brien Roe, having placed himselfcredulously in the hands of his invaders, was cruellydrawn to pieces between two horses. All Thomond rose inarms, under Donogh, son of Brian, to revenge this infamousmurder. Near Ennis the Normans met a terrible defeat, from which de Clare and Fitzgerald fled for safety intothe neighbouring Church of Quin. But Donogh O'Brien burnedthe Church over their heads, and forced them to surrenderat discretion. Strange to say they were held to ransom, on conditions, we may suppose, sufficiently hard. Otherdays of blood were yet to decide the claims of the familyof de Clare. In 1287, Turlogh, then the O'Brien, defeatedan invasion similar to the last, in which Thomas de Clarewas slain, together with Patrick Fitzmaurice of Kerry, Richard Taafe, Richard Deriter, Nicholas Teeling, andother knights, and Gerald, the fourth Baron of Offally, brother-in-law to de Clare, was mortally wounded. Afteranother interval, Gilbert de Clare, son of Thomas, renewedthe contest, which he bequeathed to his brother Richard. This Richard, whose name figures more than his brother'sin the events of his time, made a last effort, in theyear 1318, to make good the claims of his family. On the5th of May, in that year, he fell in battle againstMcCarthy and O'Brien, and there fell with him Sir Thomasde Naas, Sir Henry Capell, Sir James and Sir John Caunton, with four other knights, and a proportion of men-at-arms. From thenceforth that proud offshoot of the house ofGloucester, which, at its first settling in Munster, flourished as bravely as the Geraldines themselves, becameextinct in the land. Such were the varying fortunes of the two races in Leinsterand Munster, and such the men who rose and fell. We mustnow turn to the contest as maintained at the same periodin Meath and Ulster. CHAPTER X. EVENTS OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY--THE NORMANS IN MEATHAND ULSTER. We may estimate the power of the de Lacy family in thesecond generation, from the fact that their expulsionrequired a royal army and navy, commanded by the King inperson, to come from England. Although pardoned by John, the brothers took care never to place themselves in thatcowardly tyrant's power, and they observed the sameprecaution on the accession of his son, until well assuredthat he did not share the antipathy of his father. Aftertheir restoration the Lacys had no rivals among theNorman-Irish except the Marshal family, and though bothhouses in half a century became extinct, not so thosethey had planted or patronized, or who claimed from themcollaterally. In Meath the Tuites, Cusacks, Flemings, Daltons, Petits, Husseys, Nangles, Tyrrells, Nugents, Verdons, and Gennevilles, struck deep into the soil. Theco-heiresses, Margaret and Matilda de Lacy, married LordTheobald de Verdon and Sir Geoffrey de Genneville, betweenwhom the estate of their father was divided; both theseladies dying without male issue, the lordship was, in1286, claimed by Richard de Burgo, Earl of Ulster, whosemother was their cousin-germain. But we are anticipatingtime. No portion of the island, if we except, perhaps, Wexfordand the shores of Strangford Lough, was so thoroughlycastellated as the ancient Meath from the sea to theShannon. Trim, Kells and Durrow were the strongest holds;there were keeps or castles at Ardbraccan, Slane, Rathwyre, Navan, Skreen, Santry, Clontarf, and Castleknock--foreven these places, almost within sight of Dublin, wereincluded in de Lacy's original grant. None of thesefortresses could have been more than a few miles distantfrom the next, and once within their thick-ribbed walls, the Norman, Saxon, Cambrian, or Danish serf or tenantmight laugh at the Milesian arrows and battle-axes without. With these fortresses, and their own half-Irish originand policy, the de Lacys, father and son, held Meath fortwo generations in general subjection. But the banishmentof the brothers in 1210, and the death of Walter of Meath, presented the family of O'Melaghlin and the whole of theMethian tribes with opportunities of insurrection not tobe neglected. We read, therefore, under the years 1211, '12 and '13, that Art O'Melaghlin and Cormac, his son, took the castles of Killclane, Ardinurcher, Athboy, andSmerhie, killing knights and wardens, and enrichingthemselves with booty; that the whole English of Irelandturned out _en masse_ to the rescue of their brethren inMeath; that the castles of Birr, Durrow, and Kinnettywere strengthened against Art, and a new one erected atClonmacnoise. After ten years of exile, the banished deLacys returned, and by alliance with O'Neil, no less thantheir own prowess, recovered all their former influence. Cormac, son of Art, left a son and successor also namedArt, who, we read at the year 1264, gave the English ofMeath a great defeat upon the Brosna, where he that wasnot slain was drowned. Following the blow, he burnedtheir villages and broke the castles of the strangerthroughout Devlin, Calry, and Brawny, and replaced inpower over them the McCoghlans, Magawleys, and O'Breens, from whom he took hostages according to ancient custom. Two years afterwards he repulsed Walter de Burgh atShannon harbour, driving his men into the river, wheremany of them perished. At his death (A. D. 1283) he iseulogized for having destroyed seven-and-twenty Englishcastles in his lifetime. From these exploits he was calledArt _na Caislean_, a remarkable distinction, when weremember that the Irish were, up to this time, whollyunskilled in besieging such strongholds as the Normanengineers knew so well how to construct. His only rivalin Meath in such meritorious works of destruction wasConor, son of Donnell, and O'Melaghlin of East-Meath, or_Bregia_, whose death is recorded at the year 1277, "asone of the three men in Ireland" whom the midland Englishmost feared. From the ancient mensal the transition is easy to thenorth. The border-land of Breffni, whose chief was thefirst of the native nobles that perished by Norman perfidy, was at the beginning of the century swayed by UlgargO'Rourke. Of Ulgarg we know little, save that in the year1231 he "died on his way to the river Jordan"--a notuncommon pilgrimage with the Irish of those days. Nial, son of Congal, succeeded, and about the middle of thecentury we find Breffni divided into two lordships, fromthe mountain of Slieve-an-eiran eastward, or Cavan, beinggiven to Art, son of Cathal, and from the mountainwestward, or Leitrim, to Donnell, son of Conor, son ofTiernan, de Lacy's victim. This subdivision conducedneither to the strengthening of its defenders nor to thesatisfaction of O'Conor, under whose auspices it wasmade. Family feuds and household treasons were its naturalresults for two or three generations; in the midst ofthese broils two neighbouring families rose into greaterimportance, the O'Reillys in Cavan and the Maguires inFermanagh. Still, strong in their lake and mountainregion, the tribes of Breffni were comparatively unmolestedby foreign enemies, while the stress of the northernbattle fell upon the men of Tyrconnell and Tyrone, ofOriel and of the coast country, from Carlingford to theCauseway. The borders of Tyrconnell and Tyrone, like every othertribe-land, were frequently enlarged or contracted, according to the vigour or weakness of their chiefs orneighbours. In the age of which we now speak, Tyrconnellextended from the Erne to the Foyle, and Tyrone from theFoyle to Lough Neagh, with the exception of the extremenorth of Berry and Antrim, which belonged to the O'Kanes. It was not till the fourteenth century that the O'Neilsspread their power east of Lough Neagh, over those baroniesof Antrim long known as north and south _Clan-Hugh-Buidhe_, (Clandeboy. ) North Antrim was still known as Dalriada, and South Antrim and Down, as Ulidia. Oriel, which hasbeen usually spoken of in this history as Louth, includedangles of Monaghan and Armagh, and was anciently the mostextensive lordship in Ulster. The chieftain families ofTyrconnell were the O'Donnells; of Tyrone, the O'Neilsand McLaughlins; of Dalriada, O'Kanes, O'Haras, andO'Shields; of Ulidia, the Magennis of Iveagh and theDonlevys of Down; of Oriel, the McMahons and O'Hanlons. Among these populous tribes the invaders dealt some oftheir fiercest blows, both by land and sea, in thethirteenth century. But the north was fortunate in itschiefs; they may fairly contest the laurel with theO'Conors, O'Briens and McCarthys of the west and south. In the first third of the century, Hugh O'Neil, whosucceeded to the lordship of Tyrone in 1198, and died in1230, was cotemporary with Donnell More O'Donnell, who, succeeding to the lordship of Tyrconnell in 1208, diedin 1241, after an equally long and almost equallydistinguished career. Melaghlin O'Donnell succeededDonnell More from '41 to '47, Godfrey from '48 to '57, and Donnell Oge from 1257 to 1281, when he was slain inbattle. Hugh O'Neil was succeeded in Tyrone by DonnellMcLaughlin, of the rival branch of the same stock, whoin 1241 was subdued by O'Donnell, and the ascendancy ofthe family of O'Neil established in the person of Brian, afterwards chosen King of Ireland, and slain at Down. Hugh Boy, or the Swarthy, was elected O'Neil on Brian'sdeath, and ruled till the year 1283, when he was slainin battle, as was his next successor, Brian, in the year1295. These names and dates are worthy to be borne inmind, because on these two-great houses mainly devolvedthe brunt of battle in their own province. These northern chiefs had two frontiers to guard or toassail: the north-eastern, extending from the glens ofAntrim to the hills of Mourne, and the southern stretchingfrom sea to sea, from Newry to Sligo. This country wasvery assailable by sea; to those whose castles commandedits harbours and rivers, the fleets of Bristol, Chester, Man, and Dublin could always carry supplies andreinforcements. By the interior line one road threadedthe Mourne mountains, and deflected towards Armagh, whileanother, winding through west Breffni, led from Sligointo Donegal by the cataract of Assaroe, --the presentBallyshannon. Along these ancient lines of communication, by fords, in mountain passes, and near the landing placesfor ships, the struggle for the possession of that endof the Island went on, at intervals, whenever large bodiesof men could be spared from garrisons and from districtsalready occupied. In the year 1210, we find that there was an English Castleat Cael-uisge, now Castle-Caldwell, on Lough Erne, andthat it was broke down and its defenders slain by HughO'Neil and Donald More O'Donnell acting together. Afterthis event we have no trace of a foreign force in theinterior of Ulster for several years. Hugh O'Neil, whodied in 1230, is praised by the Bards for "never havinggiven hostages, pledges, or tributes to English or Irish, "which seems a compliment well founded. During severalyears following that date the war was chiefly centred inConnaught, and the fighting men of the north who tookpart in it were acting as allies to the O'Conors. DonaldMore O'Donnell had married a daughter of Cathal Crovdearg, so that ties of blood, as well as neighbouring interests, united these two great families. In the year 1247, anarmy under Maurice Fitzgerald, then Lord Justice, crossedthe Erne in two divisions, one above and the other atBallyshannon. Melaghlin O'Donnell was defending thepassage of the river when he was taken unexpectedly inthe rear by those who had crossed higher up, and thuswas defeated and slain. Fitzgerald then ravaged Tyrconnell, set up a rival chief O'Canavan, and rebuilt the Castleat Cael-uisge, near Beleek. Ten years afterwards GodfreyO'Donnell, the successor of Melaghlin, avenged the defeatat Ballyshannon, in the sanguinary battle of Credran, near Sligo, where engaging Fitzgerald in single combat, he gave him his death-stroke. From wounds received atCredran, Godfrey himself, after lingering twelve monthsin great suffering, died. But his bodily afflictions didnot prevent him discharging all the duties of a greatCaptain; he razed a second time the English Castle onLough Erne, and stoutly protected his own borders againstthe pretensions of O'Neil, being carried on his bier inthe front of the battle of Lough Swilly in 1258. It was while Tyrconnell was under the rule of this heroicsoldier that the unfortunate feud arose between theO'Neils and O'Donnells. Both families, sprung from acommon ancestor, of equal antiquity and equal pride, neither would yield a first place to the other. "Pay memy tribute, " was O'Neil's demand; "I owe you no tribute, and if I did---" was O'Donnell's reply. The O'Neil atthis time--Brian--aspiring to restore the Irish sovereigntyin his own person, was compelled to begin the work ofexercising authority over his next neighbour. More thanone border battle was the consequence, not only withGodfrey, but with Donnell Oge, his successor. In the year1258, Brian was formally recognized by O'Conor and O'Brienas chief of the kingdom, in the conference of Cael-uisge, and two years later, at the battle of Down, gallantlylaid down his life, in defence of the kingdom he claimedto govern. In this most important battle no O'Donnell isfound fighting with King Brian, though immediatelyafterwards we find Donnell Oge of Tyrconnell endeavouringto subjugate Tyrone, and active afterwards in the aid ofhis cousins, the grandsons of Cathal Crovdearg, inConnaught. The Norman commander in this battle was Stephen deLongespay, then Lord Justice, Earl of Salisbury inEngland, and Count de Rosman in France. His marriage withthe widow of Hugh de Lacy and daughter of de Riddlesfordconnected him closely with Irish affairs, and in thebattle of Down he seems to have had all the Anglo-Irishchivalry, "in gold and iron, " at his back. With KingBrian O'Neil fell, on that crimson day, the chiefs ofthe O'Hanlons, O'Kanes, McLaughlins, O'Gormlys, McCanns, and other families who followed his banner. The men ofConnaught suffered hardly less than those of Ulster. McDermott, Lord of Moylurgh, Cathal O'Conor, O'Gara, McDonogh, O'Mulrony, O'Quinn, and other chiefs were amongthe slain. In Hugh _Bwee_ O'Neil the only hope of thehouse of Tyrone seemed now to rest; and his energy andcourage were all taxed to the uttermost to retain theplace of his family in the Province, beating back rapaciousneighbours on the one hand, and guarding against foreignenemies on the other. For twelve years, Hugh _Bwee_defended his lordship against all aggressors. In 1283, he fell at the hands of the insurgent chiefs of Orieland Breffni, and a fierce contest for the successionarose between his son Brian and Donald, son of King Brianwho fell at Down. A contest of twelve years saw Donaldsuccessful over his rival (A. D. 1295), and his ruleextended from that period until 1325, when he died atLeary's lake, in the present diocese of Clogher. It was this latter Donnell or Donald O'Neil, who, towardsthe end of his reign, addressed to Pope John XXII. (electedto the pontificate in 1316) that powerful indictmentagainst the Anglo-Normans, which has ever since remainedone of the cardinal texts of our history. It was evidentlywritten after the unsuccessful attempt, in which Donaldwas himself a main actor, to establish Edward Bruce onthe throne of Ireland. That period we have not yetreached, but the merciless character of the warfare wagedagainst the natives of the country could hardly have beenaggravated by Bruce's defeat. "They oblige us by openforce, " says the Ulster Prince, "to give up to them ourhouses and our lands, and to seek shelter like wild beastsupon the mountains, in woods, marshes, and caves. Eventhere we are not secure against their fury; they evenenvy us those dreary and terrible abodes; they areincessant and unremitting in their pursuit after us, endeavouring to chase us from among them; they lay claimto every place in which they can discover us withunwarranted audacity and injustice; they allege that thewhole kingdom belongs to them of right, and that anIrishman has no longer a right to remain in his owncountry. " After specifying in detail the proofs of these and othergeneral charges, the eloquent Prince concludes by utteringthe memorable vow that the Irish "will not cease to fightagainst and among their invaders until the day when theythemselves, for want of power, shall have ceased to dous harm, and that a Supreme Judge shall have taken justvengeance on their crimes, which we firmly hope willsooner or later come to pass. " CHAPTER XI. RETROSPECT OF THE NORMAN PERIOD IN IRELAND--A GLANCE ATTHE MILITARY TACTICS OF THE TIMES--NO CONQUEST OF THECOUNTRY IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. Though the victorious and protracted career of Richardde Burgh, the "Red Earl" of Ulster, might, withoutoverstraining, be included in the Norman period, yet, asintroductory to the memorable advent and election of KingEdward Bruce, we must leave it for the succeeding book. Having brought down the narrative, as regards all theprovinces, to the end of the first century, from theinvasion, we must now cast a backward glance on the eventsof that hundred years before passing into the presenceof other times and new combinations. "There were, " says _Giraldus Cambriensis_, "three sundrysorts of servitors which served in the realm of Ireland, Normans, Englishmen, and the Cambrians, which were thefirst conquerors of the land: the first were in mostcredit and estimation, the second next, but the last werenot accounted or regarded of. " "The Normans, " adds theauthor, "were very fine in their apparel, and delicatein their diets; they could not feed but upon dainties, neither could their meat digest without wine at eachmeal; yet would they not serve in the marches or anyremote place against the enemy, neither would they liein garrison to keep any remote castle or fort, but, wouldbe still about their lord's side to serve and guard hisperson; they would be where they might be full and haveplenty; they could talk and brag, swear, and stare, and, standing in their own reputation, disdain all others. "This is rather the language of a partizan than of anhistorian; of one who felt and spoke for those, his ownkinsmen many of them, who, he complains, although thefirst to enter on the conquest, were yet held in contemptand disdain, "and only new-comers called to council. " The Normans were certainly the captains in every campaignfrom Robert Fitzstephen to Stephen de Longespay. Theymade the war, and they maintained it. In the rank andfile, and even among the knighthood, men of pure Welsh, English, and Flemish and Danish blood, may be singledout, but each host was marshalled by Norman skill, andevery defeat was borne with Norman fortitude. It may seemstrange, then, that these greatest masters of the art ofwar, as waged in the middle ages, invincible in England, France, Italy, and the East, should, after a hundredyears, be no nearer to the conquest of Ireland than theywere at the end of the tenth year. The main causes of the fluctuations of the war were, nodoubt, the divided military command, and the frequentchange of their civil authorities. They had never marchedor colonized before without their Duke or King at theirhead, and in their midst. One supreme chief was necessaryto keep to any common purpose the minds of so many proud, intractable nobles. The feuds of the de Lacys with theMarshals, of the Geraldines with the de Burghs, brokeout periodically during the thirteenth century, and werenaturally seized upon, by the Irish as opportunities forattacking either or both. The secondary nobles and allthe adventurers understood their danger and its cause, when they petitioned Henry II. And Henry III. So oftenand so urgently as they did, that a member of the royalfamily might reside permanently in Ireland, to exercisethe supreme authority, military and civil. The civil administration of the colonists passing intodifferent hands every three or four years, suffered fromthe absence of permanent authority. The law of the marcheswas, of necessity, the law of the strong hand, and noother. But _Cambrensis_, whose personal prejudices arenot involved in this fact, describes the walled towns asfilled with litigation in his time. "There was, " he says, "such _lawing_ and vexation, that the veteran was moretroubled in _lawing_ within the town than he was in perilat large with the enemy. " This being the case, we musttake with great caution the bold assertions so often madeof the zeal with which the natives petitioned the Henrysand Edwards that the law of England might be extended tothem. Certain Celts whose lands lay within or upon themarches, others who compounded with their Norman invaders, a chief or prince, hard pressed by domestic enemies, mayhave wished to be in a position to quote Norman lawagainst Norman spoilers, but the popular petitions whichwent to England, beseeching the extension of its laws toIreland, went only from the townsmen of Dublin, and thenew settlers in Leinster or Meath, harassed and impoverishedby the arbitrary jurisdiction of manorial courts, fromwhich they had no appeal. The great mass of the Irishremained as warmly attached to their Brehon code down tothe seventeenth century as they were before the invasionof Norman or Dane. It may sound barbarous to our earsthat, according to that code, murder should be compoundedby an _eric_, or fine; that putting out the eyes shouldbe the usual punishment of treason; that maiming shouldbe judiciously inflicted for sundry offences; and thatthe land of a whole clan should be equally shared betweenthe free members of that clan. We are not yet in a positionto form an intelligent opinion upon the primitivejurisprudence of our ancestors, but the system itselfcould not have been very vicious which nourished in thegoverned such a thirst for justice, that, according toone of their earliest English law reformers, they wereanxious for its execution, even against themselves. The distinction made in the courts of the adventurersagainst natives of the soil, even when long domiciledwithin their borders, was of itself a sufficient causeof war between the races. In the eloquent letter of theO'Neil to Pope John XXII. --written about the year 1318--weread, that no man of Irish origin could sue in an Englishcourt; that no Irishman, within the marches, could makea legal will; that his property was appropriated by hisEnglish neighbours; and that the murder of an Irishmanwas not even a felony punishable by fine. This lattercharge would appear incredible, if we had not the recordof more than one case where the homicide justified hisact by the plea that his victim was a mere native, andwhere the plea was held good and sufficient. A very vivid picture of Hiberno-Norman town-life in thosedays is presented to us in an old poem, on the "Entrenchmentof the Town of Ross, " in the year 1265. We have therethe various trades and crafts-mariners, coat-makers, fullers, cloth-dyers and sellers, butchers, cordwainers, tanners, hucksters, smiths, masons, carpenters, arrangedby guilds, and marching to the sound of flute and tabor, under banners bearing a fish and platter, a painted ship, and other "rare devices. " On the walls, when finished, cross-bows hung, with store of arrows ready to shoot;when the city horn sounded twice, burgess and bachelorvied with each other in warlike haste. In time of peacethe stranger was always welcome in the streets; he wasfree to buy and sell without toll or tax, and to admirethe fair dames who walked the quiet ramparts, clad inmantles of green, or russet, or scarlet. Such is thepoetic picture of the town of Ross in the thirteenthcentury; the poem itself is written in Norman-French, though evidently intended for popular use, and the authoris called "Friar Michael of Kildare. " It is pretty evidentfrom this instance, which is not singular, that a centuryafter the first invasion, the French language was stillthe speech of part, if not the majority, of theseHiberno-Norman townsmen. So walls, and laws, and language arose, a triple barrierbetween the races. That common religion which might beexpected to form a strong bond between them had itselfto adopt a twofold organization. Distinctions of nationalitywere carried into the Sanctuary and into the Cloister. The historian _Giraldus_, in preaching at Dublin againstthe alleged vices of the native Clergy, sounded the firstnote of a long and bitter controversy. He was promptlyanswered from the same pulpit on the next occasion byAlbin O'Mulloy, the patriot Abbot of Baltinglass. Inone of the early Courts or Parliaments of the Adventurers, they decreed that no Monastery in those districts ofwhich they had possession, should admit any but nativesof England, as novices, --a rule which, according toO'Neil's letter, was faithfully acted upon by EnglishDominicans, Franciscans, Benedictines, and regular canons. Some of the great Cistercian houses on the marches, inwhich the native religious predominated, adopted aretaliatory rule, for which they were severely censuredby the general Chapter of their Order. But the length towhich this feud was carried may be imagined by the sweepingcharge O'Neil brings against "Brother Symon, a relativeof the Bishop of Coventry, " and other religious of hisnation, who openly maintained, he says, that the killingof a mere Irishman was no murder. When this was the feeling on one side, or was believedto be the feeling, we cannot wonder that the war shouldhave been renewed as regularly as the seasons. No soonerwas the husbandman in the field than the knight was uponthe road. Some peculiarities of the wars of those daysgleam out at intervals through the methodic indifferenceto detail of the old annals, and reveal to us curiousconditions of society. In the Irish country, wherecastle-building was but slowly introduced, we see, forexample, that the usual storage for provisions, in timeof war, was in churches and churchyards. Thus de Burgh, in his expedition to Mayo, in 1236, "left neither ricknor basket of corn in the large churchyard of Mayo, orin the yard of the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel, and carried away eighty baskets out of the churchesthemselves. " When we read, therefore, as we frequentlydo, of both Irish and Normans plundering churches in theland of their enemies, we are not to suppose the plunderof the sanctuary. Popularly this seizing the supplies ofan enemy on consecrated ground was considered next tosacrilege; and well it was for the fugitives in thesanctuary in those iron times that it should be soconsidered. Yet not the less is it necessary for us todistinguish a high-handed military measure from actualsacrilege, for which there can be no apology, and hardlyany earthly atonement. In their first campaigns the Irish had one great advantageover the Normans in their familiarity with the country. This helped them to their first victories. But when theinvaders were able to set up rival houses against eachother, and to secure the co-operation of natives, theadvantage was soon equalized. Great importance was attachedto the intelligence and good faith of the guides, whoaccompanied every army, and were personally consulted bythe leaders in determining their march. A country sothickly studded with the ancient forest, and so nettedwith rivers (then of much greater volume than since theyhave been stripped of their guardian woods), affordedconstant occasion for the display of minute local knowledge. To miss a pass or to find a ford might determine acampaign, almost as much as the skill of the chief, orthe courage of the battalion. The Irish depended for their knowledge of the Englishtowns and castles on their daring _spies_, who continuallyrisked their necks in acquiring for their clansmen suchneedful information. This perilous duty, when undertakenby a native for the benefit of his country, was justlyaccounted highly honourable. Proud poets, educated inall the mysteries of their art, and even men of chieftainrank, did not hesitate to assume disguises and act thepatriot spy. One of the most celebrated spies of thiscentury was Donogh Fitzpatrick, son of the Lord of Ossory, who was slain by the English in 1250. He was said to be"one of the three men" most feared by the English in hisday. "He was in the habit of going about to reconnoitretheir market towns, " say the Annalists, "in variousdisguises. " An old quatrain gives us a list of some ofthe parts he played when in the towns of his enemies-- "He is a carpenter, he is a turner. My nursling is a bookman. He is selling wine and hides Where he sees a gathering. " An able captain, as well as an intrepid spy, he met hisfate in acting out his favourite part, "which, " adds ourjustice-loving Four Masters, "was a retaliation due tothe English, for, up to that time, he had killed, burned, and destroyed many of them. " Of the equipments and tactics of the belligerents we getfrom our Annals but scanty details. The Norman battalion, according to the usage of that people, led by the marshalof the field, charged, after the archers had deliveredtheir fire. But these wars had bred a new mounted force, called hobiler-archers, who were found so effective thatthey were adopted into all the armies of Europe. Althoughthe bow was never a favourite weapon with the Irish, particular tribes seem to have been noted for its use. We hear in the campaigns of this century of the archersof Breffni, and we may probably interpret as referringto the same weapon, Felim O'Conor's order to his men, inhis combat with the sons of Roderick at Drumraitte (1237), "not to shoot but to come to a close fight. " It ispossible, however, that this order may have reference tothe old Irish weapon, the javelin or dart. The pike, thebattle-axe, the sword, and skein, or dagger, both partieshad in common, though their construction was different. The favourite tactique, on both sides, seems to have beenthe old military expedient of outflanking an enemy, andattacking him simultaneously in front and rear. Thus, inthe year 1225, in one of the combats of the O'Conors, when the son of Cathal _Crovdearg_ endeavoured to surroundTurlogh O'Conor, the latter ordered his recruits to thevan, and Donn Oge Magheraty, with some Tyronian and othersoldiers to cover the rear, "by which means they escapedwithout the loss of a man. " The flank movement by whichthe Lord Justice Fitzgerald carried the passage of theErne (A. D. 1247) against O'Donnell, according to theAnnalists, was suggested to Fitzgerald by Cormac, thegrandson of Roderick O'Conor. By that period in theirintercourse the Normans and Irish had fought so oftentogether that their stock of tactical knowledge must havebeen, from experience, very much common property. In theeyes of the Irish chiefs and chroniclers, the foreignsoldiers who served with them were but hired mercenaries. They were sometimes repaid by the plunder of the countryattacked, but usually they received fixed wages for thelength of time they entered. "Hostages for the paymentof wages" are frequently referred to, as given by nativenobles to these foreign auxiliaries. The chief expedientfor subsisting an army was driving before them herds andflocks; free quarters for men and horses were suppliedby the tenants of allied chiefs within their territory, and for the rest, the simple outfit was probably not veryunlike that of the Scottish borderers described byFroissart, who cooked the cattle they captured in theirskins, carrying a broad plate of metal and a little bagof oatmeal trussed up behind the saddle. One inveterate habit clung to the ancient race, evenuntil long after the times of which we now speak--theirunconquerable prejudice against defensive armour. GilbrideMcNamee, the laureate to King Brian O'Neil, gives dueprominence to this fact in his poem on the death of hispatron in the battle of Down (A. D. 1260). Thus sings thenorthern bard-- "The foreigners from London, The hosts from Port-Largy * Came in a bright green body, In gold and iron armour. "Unequal they engage in the battle, The foreigners and the Gael of Tara, _Fine linen shirts on the race of Conn_, And the strangers _one mass of iron_. " [Footnote: Port-Largy, Waterford. ] With what courage they fought, these scorners of armour, their victories of Ennis, of Callanglen, and of Credran, as well as their defeats at the Erne and at Down, amplytestify. The first hundred years of war for native land, with their new foes, had passed over, and three-fourthsof the _Saer Clanna_ were still as free as they had everbeen. It was not reserved even for the Norman race--theconquest of Innisfail! CHAPTER XII. STATE OF SOCIETY AND LEARNING IN IRELAND DURING THE NORMANPERIOD. We have already spoken of the character of the war wagedby and against the Normans on Irish soil, and as war wasthen almost every man's business, we may be supposed tohave described all that is known of the time in describingits wars. What we have to add of the other pursuits ofthe various orders of men into which society was divided, is neither very full nor very satisfactory. The rise, fall, and migrations of some of the clans havebeen already alluded to. In no age did more depend onthe personal character of the chief than then. When thedeath of the heroic Godfrey left the free clansmen ofTyrconnell without a lord to lead them to battle, or rulethem in peace, the Annalists represent them to us asmeeting in great perplexity, and engaged "in makingspeeches" as to what was to be done, when suddenly, totheir great relief, Donnell Oge, son of Donnell More, who had been fostered in Alba (Scotland), was seenapproaching them. Not more welcome was Tuathal, thewell-beloved, the restorer of the Milesian monarchy, after the revolt of the _Tuatha_. He was immediatelyelected chief, and the emissaries of O'Neil, who had beenwaiting for an answer to his demand of tribute, werebrought before him. He answered their proposition by aproverb expressed in the Gaelic of Alba, which says that"every man should possess his own country, " and Tyrconnellarmed to make good this maxim. The Bardic order still retained much of their ancientpower, and all their ancient pride. Of their most famousnames in this period we may mention Murray O'Daly ofLissadil, in Sligo, Donogh O'Daly of Finvarra, sometimescalled Abbot of Boyle, and Gilbride McNamee, laureate toKing Brian O'Neil. McNamee, in lamenting the death ofBrian, describes himself as defenceless, and a prey toevery spoiler, now that his royal protector is no more. He gave him, he tells us, for a poem on one occasion, besides gold and raiment, a gift of twenty cows. Onanother, when he presented him a poem, he gave in returntwenty horned cows, and a gift still more lasting, "theblessing of the King of Erin. " Other chiefs, who fell inthe same battle, and to one of whom, named AuliffeO'Gormley, he had often gone "on a visit of pleasure, "are lamented with equal warmth by the bard. The poeticAbbot of Boyle is himself lamented in the Annals as theOvid of Ireland, as "a poet who never had and never willhave an equal. " But the episode which best illustratesat once the address and the audacity of the bardic orderis the story of Murray O'Daly of Lissadil, and DonnellMore O'Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell. In the year 1213, O'Donnell despatched Finn O'Brollaghan, his _Aes graidh_ or Steward, to collect his tribute inConnaught, and Finn, putting up at the house of O'Daly, near Drumcliff, and being a plebeian who knew no better, began to wrangle with the poet. The irritable master ofsong, seizing a sharp axe, slew the steward on the spot, and then to avoid O'Donnell's vengeance fled intoClanrickarde. Here he announced himself by a poem addressedto de Burgh, imploring his protection, setting forth theclaims of the Bardic order on all high-descended heroes, and contending that his fault was but venial, in killinga clown, who insulted him. O'Donnell pursued the fugitiveto Athenry, and de Burgh sent him away secretly intoThomond. Into Thomond, the Lord of Tyrconnell marched, but O'Brien sent off the Bard to Limerick. The enragedUlsterman appeared at the gates of Limerick, when O'Dalywas smuggled out of the town, and "passed from hand tohand, " until he reached Dublin. The following springO'Donnell appeared in force before Dublin, and demandedthe fugitive, who, as a last resort, had been sent forsafety into Scotland. From the place of his exile headdressed three deprecatory poems to the offended Lordof Tyrconnell, who finally allowed him to return toLissadil in peace, and even restored him to his friendship. The introduction of the new religious orders--Dominicans, Franciscans, and the order for the redemption of Captivesinto Ireland, in the first quarter of this centurygradually extinguished the old Columban and Brigintinehouses. In Leinster they made way most rapidly; but Ulsterclung with its ancient tenacity to the Columban rule. The Hierarchy of the northern half-kingdom still exerciseda protectorate, over Iona itself, for we read, in theyear 1203, how Kellagh, having erected a monastery inthe middle of Iona, in despite of the religious, thatthe Bishops of Derry and Raphoe, with the Abbots of Armaghand Derry and numbers of the Clergy of the North ofIreland, passed over to Iona, pulled down the unauthorizedmonastery, and assisted at the election of a new Abbot. This is almost the last important act of the Columbanorder in Ireland. By the close of the century, theDominicans had some thirty houses, and the Franciscansas many more, whether in the walled towns or the opencountry. These monasteries became the refuge of scholars, during the stormy period we have passed, and in otherdays full as troubled, which were to come. Moreover, asthe Irish student, like all others in that age, desiredto travel from school to school, these orders admittedhim to the ranks of widespread European brotherhoods, from whom he might always claim hospitality. Nor need wereject as anything incredible the high renown forscholarship and ability obtained in those times by suchmen as Thomas Palmeran of Naas, in the University ofParis; by Peter and Thomas Hibernicus in the Universityof Naples, in the age of Aquinas; by Malachy of Ireland, a Franciscan, Chaplain to King Edward II. Of England, and Professor at Oxford; by the Danish Dominican, Gotofridof Waterford; and above all, by John Scotus of Down, thesubtle doctor, the luminary of the Franciscan schools, of Paris and Cologne. The native schools of Ireland hadlost their early ascendancy, and are no longer traceablein our annals; but Irish scholarship, when arrested inits full development at home, transferred its efforts toforeign Universities, and there maintained the ancienthonour of the country among the studious "nations" ofChristendom. Among the "nations" involved in the collegeriots at Oxford, in the year 1274, we find mention ofthe Irish, from which fact it is evident there must havebeen a considerable number of natives of that country, then frequenting the University. The most distinguished native ecclesiastics of thiscentury were Matthew O'Heney, Archbishop of Cashel, originally a Cistercian monk, who died in retirement atHoly Cross in 1207; Albin O'Mulloy, the opponent of_Giraldus_, who died Bishop of Ferns in 1222; and ClarusMcMailin, Erenach of Trinity Island, Lough Key-if an_Erenach_ may be called an ecclesiastic. It was O'Heneymade the Norman who said the Irish Church had no martyrs, the celebrated answer, that now men had come into thecountry who knew so well how to make martyrs, that reproachwould soon be taken away. He is said to have written alife of Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, and we know thathe had legantine powers at the opening of the century. The _Erenach_ of Lough Key, who flourished in its secondhalf, plays an important part in all the western feudsand campaigns; his guarantee often preserved peace andprotected the vanquished. Among the church-builders ofhis age, he stands conspicuous. The ordinary churcheswere indeed easily built, seldom exceeding 60 or 70 feetin length, and one half that width, and the materialstill most in use was, for the church proper, timber. The towers, cashels, or surrounding walls, and the cellsof the religious, as well as the great monasteries andcollegiate and cathedral churches, were of stone, andmany of them remain monuments of the skill and munificenceof their founders. Of the consequences of the abolition of slavery by theCouncil of Armagh, at the close of the twelfth century, we have no tangible evidence. It is probable that theslave trade, rather than domestic servitude, was abolishedby that decree. The cultivators of the soil were stilldivided into two orders--Biataghs and Brooees. "Theformer, " says O'Donovan, "who were comparatively few innumber, would appear to have held their lands free ofrent, but were obliged to entertain travellers, and thechief's soldiers when on their march in his direction;and the latter (the Brooees) would appear to have beensubject to a stipulated rent and service. " From "the Bookof Lecan, " a compilation of the fourteenth century, welearn that the Brooee was required to keep an hundredlabourers, and an hundred of each kind of domestic animals. Of the rights or wages of the labourers, we believe, there is no mention made. BOOK V. THE ERA OF KING EDWARD BRUCE. CHAPTER I. THE RISE OF "THE RED EARL"--RELATIONS OF IRELAND ANDSCOTLAND. During the half century which comprised the reigns ofEdward I. And II. In England (A. D. 1272 to 1327), Scotlandsaw the last of her first race of Kings, and the elevationof the family of Bruce, under whose brilliant star Irelandwas, for a season, drawn into the mid-current of Scottishpolitics. Before relating the incidents of that revolutionof short duration but long enduring consequences, we mustnote the rise to greatness of the one great Norman name, which in that era mainly represented the English interestand influence in Ireland. Richard de Burgh, called from his ruddy complexion "theRed Earl" of Ulster, nobly bred in the court of Henry III. Of England, had attained man's age about the period whenthe de Lacys, the Geraldines, de Clares, and other greatAnglo-Irish, families, either through the fortune of waror failure of issue, were deprived of most of theirnatural leaders. Uniting in his own person the blood ofthe O'Conors, de Lacys, and de Burghs, his authority wasgreat from the beginning in Meath and Connaught. In hisinroads on West-Meath he seems to have been abetted bythe junior branches of the de Lacys, who were with hishost in the year 1286, when he besieged Theobald de Verdonin Athlone, and advanced his banner as far eastward asthe strong town of Trim, upon the Boyne. Laying claim tothe possessions of the Lord of Meath, which touched theKildare Geraldines at so many points, he inevitably cameinto contact with that powerful family. In 1288, inalliance with Manus O'Conor, they compelled him to retreatfrom Roscommon into Clanrickarde, in Mayo. De Verdon, his competitor for West-Meath, naturally entered intoalliance with the Kildare Geraldine, and in the year1294, after many lesser conflicts, they took the Red Earland his brother William prisoners, and carried them infetters to the Castle of Lea, in Offally. This happenedon the 6th day of December; a Parliament assembled atKilkenny on the 12th of March following, ordered theirrelease; and a peace was made between these powerfulhouses. De Burgh gave his two sons as hostages toFitzgerald, and the latter surrendered the Castle ofSligo to de Burgh. From the period of this peace thepower of the last named nobleman outgrew anything thathad been known since the Invasion. In the year 1291, hebanished the O'Donnell out of his territory, and set upanother of his own choosing; he deposed one O'Neil andraised up another; he so straitened O'Conor in hispatrimony of Roscommon, that that Prince also enteredhis camp at Meelick, and gave him hostages. He was thusthe first and only man of his race who had ever had inhis hand the hostages both of Ulster and Connaught. Whenthe King of England sent writs into Ireland, he usuallyaddressed the Red Earl, before the Lord Justice or LordDeputy--a compliment which, in that ceremonious age, could not be otherwise than flattering to the pride ofde Burgh. Such was the order of summons, in which, inthe year 1296, he was required by Edward I. To attendhim into Scotland, which was then experiencing some ofthe worst consequences of a disputed succession. AsIreland's interest in this struggle becomes in the sequelsecond only to that of Scotland, we must make briefmention of its origin and progress. By the accidental death of Alexander III. , in 1286, theMcAlpine, or Scoto-Irish dynasty, was suddenly terminated. Alexander's only surviving child, Margaret, called fromher mother's country, "the Maid of Norway, " soon followedher father; and no less than eight competitors, allclaiming collateral descent from the former Kings, appearedat the head of as many factions to contest the succession. This number was, however, soon reduced to two men--JohnBaliol and Robert Bruce--the former the grandson of theeldest, the latter the son of the second daughter of KingDavid I. After many bickerings these powerful rivals wereinduced to refer their claims to the decision of Edward I. Of England, who, in a Great Court held at Berwick in theyear 1292, decided in favour of Baliol, not in thecharacter of an indifferent arbitrator, but as lordparamount of Scotland. As such, Baliol there and thenrendered him feudal homage, and became, in the languageof the age, "his man. " This sub-sovereignty could notbut be galling to the proud and warlike nobles of Scotland, and accordingly, finding Edward embroiled about his Frenchpossessions, three years after the decision, they causedBaliol to enter into an alliance, offensive and defensive, with Philip IV. Of France, against his English suzerain. The nearer danger compelled Edward to march with 40, 000men, which he had raised for the war in France, towardsthe Scottish border, whither he summoned the Earl ofUlster, the Geraldines, Butlers, de Verdons, de Genvilles, Berminghams, Poers, Purcells, de Cogans, de Barrys, deLacys, d'Exeters, and other minor nobles, to come to himin his camp early in March, 1296. The Norman-Irish obeyedthe call, but the pride of de Burgh would not permit himto embark in the train of the Lord Justice Wogan, whohad been also summoned; he sailed with his own forces ina separate fleet, having conferred the honour of knighthoodon thirty of his younger followers before embarking atDublin. Whether these forces arrived in time to take partin the bloody siege of Berwick, and the panic-route atDunbar, does not appear; they were in time, however, tosee the strongest places in Scotland yielded up, and JohnBaliol a prisoner on his way to the Tower of London. Theywere sumptuously entertained by the conqueror in theCastle of Roxburgh, and returned to their western homesdeeply impressed with the power of England, and thepuissance of her warrior-king. But the independence of Scotland was not to be troddenout in a single campaign. During Edward's absence inFrance, William Wallace and other guerilla chiefs arose, to whom were soon united certain patriot nobles andbishops. The English deputy de Warrane fought twounsuccessful campaigns against these leaders, until hisroyal master, having concluded peace with France, summonedhis Parliament to meet him at York, and his Norman-Irishlieges to join him in his northern camp, with all theirforces, on the 1st of March, 1299. In June the EnglishKing found himself at Roxburgh, at the head of 8, 000horse, and 80, 000 foot, "chiefly Irish and Welsh. " Withthis immense force he routed Wallace at Falkirk on the22nd of July, and reduced him to his original rank of aguerilla chief, wandering with his bands of partizansfrom one fastness to another. The Scottish cause gainedin Pope Boniface VII. A powerful advocate soon after, and the unsubdued districts continued to obey a Regencycomposed of the Bishop of St. Andrews, Robert Bruce, and John Comyn. These regents exercised their authorityin the name of Baliol, carried on negotiations with Franceand Rome, convoked a Parliament, and, among other militaryoperations, captured Stirling Castle. In the documentaryremains of this great controversy, it is curious to findEdward claiming the entire island of Britain in virtueof the legend of Brute the Trojan, and the Scots rejectingit with scorn, and displaying their true descent andorigin from Scota, the fabled first mother of the MilesianIrish. There is ample evidence that the claims of kindredwere at this period keenly felt by the Gael of Ireland, for the people of Scotland, and men of our race arementioned among the companions of Wallace and the alliesof Brace. But the Norman-Irish were naturally drawn tothe English banner, and when, in 1303, it was againdisplayed north of the Tweed, the usual noble names arefound among its followers. In 1307 Scotland lost her mostformidable foe, by the death of Edward, and at the sametime began to recognize her appointed deliverer in theperson of Robert Bruce. But we must return to "the RedEarl, " the central figure in our own annals during thishalf century. The new King, Edward II. , compelled by his English baronsto banish his minion, Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, hadcreated him his lieutenant of Ireland, endowed him witha grant of the royalties of the whole island, to theprejudice of the Earl and other noblemen. The sojourn ofthis brilliant parasite in Ireland lasted but a year--fromJune, 1308, till the June following. He displayed bothvigour and munificence, and acquired friends. But theRed Earl, sharing to the full the antipathy of the greatbarons of England, kept apart from his court, maintaineda rival state at Trim, as Commander-in-Chief, conferringknighthood, levying men, and imposing taxes at his owndiscretion. A challenge of battle is said to have passedbetween him and the Lieutenant, when the latter wasrecalled into England by the King, where he was threeyears later put to death by the barons, into whose handshe had fallen. Sir John Wogan and Sir Edmund Butlersucceeded him in the Irish administration; but the realpower long remained with Richard de Burgh. He was appointedplenipotentiary to treat with Robert Brace, on behalf ofthe King of England, "upon which occasion the Scottishdeputies waited on him in Ireland. " In the year 1302Brace had married his daughter, the Lady Ellen, while ofhis other daughters one was Countess of Desmond, andanother became Countess of Kildare in 1312. A thousandmarks--the same sum at which the town and castle of Sligowere then valued-was allowed by the Earl for the marriageportion of his last-mentioned daughter. His power andreputation, about the period of her marriage, were atthe full. He had long held the title of Commander of theIrish forces, "in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Gascony;"he had successfully resisted Gaveston in the meridian ofhis court favour; the father-in-law of a King, and ofEarls of almost royal power, lord paramount of half theisland-such a subject England had not seen on Irish groundsince the Invasion. This prodigious power he retained, not less by his energy than his munificence. He erectedcastles at Carlingford, at Sligo, on the upper Shannon, and on Lough Foyle. He was a generous patron of theCarmelite Order, for whom he built the Convent of Loughrea. He was famed as a princely entertainer, and before retiringfrom public affairs, characteristically closed his careerwith a magnificent banquet at Kilkenny, where the wholeParliament were his guests. Having reached an agebordering upon fourscore he retired to the Monastery ofAthassil, and there expired within sight of his familyvault, after half a century of such sway as was rarelyenjoyed in that age, even by Kings. But before thatpeaceful close he was destined to confront a storm thelike of which had not blown over Ireland during the longperiod since he first began to perform his part in theaffairs of that kingdom. CHAPTER II. THE NORTHERN IRISH ENTER INTO ALLIANCE WITH KING ROBERTBRUCE--ARRIVAL AND FIRST CAMPAIGN OF EDWARD BRUCE. No facts of the ages over which we have already passedare better authenticated than the identity of origin andfeeling which existed between the Celts of Erin and ofAlbyn. Nor was this sympathy of race diminished by theircommon dangers from a common enemy. On the eve of theNorman invasion we saw how heartily the Irish were withSomerled and the men of Moray in resisting the feudalpolity of the successors of Malcolm _Caen-More_. As thePlantagenet Princes in person led their forces againstScotland, the interest of the Irish, especially those ofthe North, increased, year by year, in the struggles ofthe Scots. Irish adherents followed the fortunes ofWallace to the close; and when Robert Bruce, after beingcrowned and seated in the chair of the McAlpin line, onthe summit of the hill of Scone, had to flee into exile, he naturally sought refuge where he knew he would findfriends. Accompanied by three of his brothers, severaladherents, and even by some of the females of his family, he steered, in the autumn of 1306, for the little islandof Rathlin--seven miles long by a mile wide--one pointof which is within three miles of the Antrim beach. Inits most populous modern day Rathlin contained not above1, 000 souls, and little wonder if its still smallerpopulation, five centuries ago, fled in terror at theapproach of Bruce. They were, however, soon disarmed oftheir fears, and agreed to supply the fugitive King dailywith provisions for 300 persons, the whole number whoaccompanied or followed him into exile. His faithfuladherents soon erected for him a castle, commanding oneof the few landing places on the island, the ruins ofwhich are still shown to strangers as "Bruce's Castle. "Here he passed in perfect safety the winter of 1306, while his emissaries were recruiting in Ulster, or passingto and fro, in the intervals of storm, among the westernislands. Without waiting for the spring to come roundagain, they issued from their retreat in differentdirections; one body of 700 Irish sailed under Thomasand Alexander, the King's brothers, for the Clyde, whileRobert and Edward took the more direct passage towardsthe coast of Argyle, and, after many adventures, foundthemselves strong enough to attack the foreign forces inPerth and Ayrshire. The opportune death of Edward ofEngland the same summer, and the civil strife bred byhis successor's inordinate favour towards Gaveston, enabled the Bruces gradually to root out the internalgarrisons of their enemies; but the party that had sailed, under the younger brothers, from Rathlin, were attackedand captured in Loch Ryan by McDowell, and the survivorsof the engagement, with Thomas and Alexander Bruce, werecarried prisoners to Carlisle and there put to death. The seven years' war of Scottish independence was drawnto a close by the decisive campaign of 1314. The secondEdward prepared an overwhelming force for this expedition, summoning, as usual, the Norman-Irish Earls, and invitingin different language his "beloved" cousins, the nativeIrish Chiefs, not only such as had entered into Englishalliances at any time, but also notorious allies of Bruce, like O'Neil, O'Donnell, and O'Kane. These writs weregenerally unheeded; we have no record of either Norman-Irishor native-Irish Chief having responded to Edward's summons, nor could nobles so summoned have been present withoutsome record remaining of the fact. On the contrary allthe wishes of the old Irish went with the Scots, and theNormans were more than suspected of leaning the same way. Twenty-one clans, Highlanders and Islemen, and manyUlstermen, fought on the side of Bruce, on the field ofBannockburn; the grant of "Kincardine-O'Neil, " made bythe victor-King to his Irish followers, remains a strikingevidence of their fidelity to his person, and theirsacrifices in his cause. The result of that glorious daywas, by the testimony of all historians, English as wellas Scottish, received with enthusiasm on the Irish sideof the channel. Whether any understanding had been come to between thenorthern Irish and Bruce, during his sojourn in Rathlin, or whether the victory of Bannockburn suggested thedesign, Edward Bruce, the gallant companion of all hisbrother's fortunes and misfortunes, was now invited toplace himself at the head of the men of Ulster, in a warfor Irish independence. He was a soldier of not inferiorfame to his brother for courage and fortitude, though hehad never exhibited the higher qualities of general andstatesman which crowned the glory of King Robert. Yet ashe had never held a separate command of consequence, hisrashness and obstinacy, though well known to his intimates, were lost sight of, at a distance, by those who gazedwith admiration on the brilliant achievements, in whichhe had certainly borne the second part. The chief moverin the negotiation by which this gallant soldier wasbrought to embark his fortunes in an Irish war, wasDonald, Prince of Ulster. This Prince, whose name is sofamiliar from his celebrated remonstrance addressed toPope John XXII. , was son of King Brian of the battle ofDown, who, half a century before, at the Conference ofCaeluisge, was formally chosen Ard-Righ, by the noblesof three Provinces. He had succeeded to the principality--not without a protracted struggle with the Red Earl--some twenty years before the date of the battle ofBannockburn. Endued with an intensely national spirit, he seems to have fully adopted the views of NicholasMcMaelisa, the Primate of Armagh, his early cotemporary. This Prelate--one of the most resolute opponents of theNorman conquest--had constantly refused to instal anyforeigner in a northern diocese. When the Chapter ofArdagh delayed their election, he nominated a suitableperson to the Holy See; when the See of Meath was distractedbetween two national parties he installed his nominee;when the Countess of Ulster caused Edward I. To issuehis writ for the installation of John, Bishop of Conor, he refused his acquiescence. He left nearly every Seein his Province, at the time of his decease (the year1303), under the administration of a native ecclesiastic;a dozen years before he had established a formal"association" among the Prelates at large, by which theybound themselves to resist the interference of the Kingsof England in the nomination of Bishops, and to be subjectonly to the sanction of the See of Rome. In the Provincesof Cashel and Tuam, in the fourteenth century, we do notoften find a foreign born Bishop; even in Leinster doubleelections and double delegations to Rome, show how deeplythe views of the patriotic Nicholas McMaelisa had seizedupon the clergy of the next age. It was Donald O'Neil'sdarling project to establish a unity of action againstthe common enemy among the chiefs, similar to that whichthe Primate had brought about among the Bishops. His ownpretensions to the sovereignty were greater than that ofany Prince of his age; his house had given more monarchsto the island than any other; his father had beenacknowledged by the requisite majority; his courage, patriotism, and talents, were admittedly equal to thetask. But he felt the utter impossibility of conciliatingthat fatal family pride, fed into extravagance by Bardsand Senachies, which we have so often pointed out as theworst consequence of the Celtic system. He saw chiefs, proud of their lineage and their name, submit to servea foreign Earl of Ulster, who refused homage to the nativePrince of Ulster; he saw the seedlings of a vice of whichwe have seen the fruit--that his countrymen would submitto a stranger rather than to one of themselves, and hereasoned, not unnaturally, that, by the hand of somefriendly stranger, they might be united and liberated. The attempt of Edward Bruce was a failure, and was followedby many disasters; but a more patriotic design, or onewith fairer omens of success, could not have entered themind or heart of a native Prince, after the event of thebattle at Bannockburn. Edward of England, havingintelligence of the negotiations on foot between theIrish and Scots, after his great defeat, summoned overto Windsor during the winter, de Burgh, Fitzgerald, deVerdon, and Edmund Butler, the Lord Deputy. After conferringwith them, and confirming Butler in his office, they weredespatched back in all haste to defend their country. Nor was there time to lose. Edward Bruce, with his usualimpetuosity, without waiting for his full armament, hadsailed from Ayr with 6, 000 men in 300 galleys, accompaniedby Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, Sir John Stuart, SirPhilip Moubray, Sir Fergus of Ardrossan, and otherdistinguished knights. He landed on the 25th day of May, 1315, in the Glendun river, near Glenarm, and was promptlyjoined by Donald O'Neil, and twelve other chiefs. Theirfirst advance was from the coast towards that angle ofLough Neagh, near which stands the town of Antrim. Here, at Rathmore, in the plain of Moylinny, they were attackedby the Mandevilles and Savages of the Ards of Down, whomthey defeated. From Antrim they continued their routeevidently towards Dublin, taking Dundalk and Ardee, aftera sharp resistance. At Ardee they were but 35 milesnorth of Dublin, easy of conquest, if they had beenprovided with siege trains--which it seemed they were not. While Bruce and O'Neil were coming up from the north, Hugh O'Donnell, lord of Tyrconnell, as if to provideoccupation for the Earl of Ulster, attacked and sackedthe castle and town of Sligo, and wasted the adjacentcountry. The Earl, on hearing of the landing of the Scots, had mustered his forces at Athlone, and compelled theunwilling attendance of Felim O'Conor, with his clansmen. From Athlone he directed his march towards Drogheda, where he arrived with "20 cohorts, " about the same timethat the Lord Deputy Butler came up with "30 cohorts. "Bruce, unprepared to meet so vast a force--taken togethersome 25, 000 or 30, 000 men--retreated slowly towards hispoint of debarkation. De Burgh, who, as Commander-in-Chief, took precedence in the field of the Lord Deputy, orderedthe latter to protect Meath and Leinster, while he pursuedthe enemy. Bruce, having despatched the Earl of Moray tohis brother, was now anxious to hold some northern positionwhere they could most easily join him. He led de Burgh, therefore, into the North of Antrim, thence across theBann at Coleraine, breaking down the bridge at that point. Here the armies encamped for some days, separated by theriver, the outposts occasionally indulging in a "shootingof arrows. " By negotiation, Bruce and O'Neil succeededin detaching O'Conor from de Burgh. Under the plea--whichreally had sufficient foundation--of suppressing aninsurrection headed by one of his rivals, O'Conor returnedto his own country. No sooner had he left than Bruceassumed the offensive, and it was now the Red Earl's turnto fall back. They retreated towards the castle of Conyre(probably Conor, near Ballymena, in Antrim), where anengagement was fought, in which de Burgh was defeated, his brother William, Sir John Mandeville, and severalother knights being taken prisoners. The Earl continuedhis retreat through Meath towards his own possession;Bruce followed, capturing in succession Granard, Fenagh, and Kells, celebrating his Christmas at Loughsweedy, inWest-Meath, in the midst of the most considerable chiefsof Ulster, Meath, and Connaught. It was probably at thisstage of his progress that he received the adhesion ofthe junior branches of the Lacys--the chief Norman familythat openly joined his standard. This termination of his first campaign on Irish soilmight be considered highly favourable to Bruce. More thanhalf the clans had risen, and others were certain tofollow their example; the clergy were almost wholly withhim; and his heroic brother had promised to lead an armyto his aid in the ensuing spring. CHAPTER III. BRUCE'S SECOND CAMPAIGN, AND CORONATION AT DUNDALK--THERISING IN CONNAUGHT--BATTLE OF ATHENRY-ROBERT BRUCE INIRELAND. From Loughsweedy, Bruce broke up his quarters, and marchedinto Kildare, encamping successively at Naas, Kildare, and Rathangan. Advancing in a southerly direction, hefound an immense, but disorderly Anglo-Irish host drawnout, at the moat of Ardscull, near Athy, to dispute hismarch. They were commanded by the Lord Justice Butler, the Baron of Offally, the Lord Arnold Poer, and othermagnates; but so divided were these proud Peers, inauthority and in feeling, that, after a severe skirmishwith Bruce's vanguard, in which some knights were killedon both sides, they retreated before the Hiberno-Scottisharmy, which continued its march unmolested, and tookpossession of Castledermot. Animated by these successes, won in their midst, theclans of Leinster began in succession to raise theirheads. The tribes of Wicklow, once possessors of thefertile plains to the east and west, rallied in themountain glens to which they had been driven, and commencedthat long guerilla war, which centuries only were toextinguish. The McMurroghs along the ridge of Leinster, and all their kindred upon the Barrow and the Slaney, mustered under a chief, against whom the Lord Justicewas compelled to march in person, later in the campaignof 1316. The Lord of Dunamase was equally sanguine, but800 men of the name of O'Moore, slain in one disastrousencounter, crippled for the time the military strengthof that great house. Having thus kindled the war, in thevery heart of Leinster, Bruce retraced his march throughMeath and Louth, and held at Dundalk that great assemblyin which he was solemnly elected King of Ireland. DonaldO'Neil, by letters patent, as son of Brian "of the battleof Down, " the last acknowledged native king, formallyresigned his right, in favour of Bruce, a proceeding whichhe defends in his celebrated letter to Pope John XXII. , where he speaks of the new sovereign as the illustriousEarl of Carrick, Edward de Bruce, a nobleman descendedfrom the same ancestors with themselves, whom they hadcalled to their aid, and freely chosen as their king andlord. The ceremony of inauguration seems to have beenperformed in the Gaelic fashion, on the hill ofKnocknemelan, within a mile of Dundalk, while the solemnconsecration took place in one of the churches of thetown. Surrounded by all the external marks of royalty, Bruce established his court in the castle of Northburgh(one of de Courcy's or de Verdon's fortresses), adjoiningDundalk, where he took cognizance of all pleas that werebrought before him. At that moment his prospects comparedfavourably with those of his illustrious brother a fewyears earlier. The Anglo-Irish were bitterly dividedagainst each other; while, according to their jointdeclaration of loyalty, signed before de Hothun, KingEdward's special agent, "all the Irish of Ireland, severalgreat lords, and many English people, " had given in theiradhesion to Bruce. In Ulster, except Carrickfergus, noplace of strength remained in the hands of any subjectof Edward of England. The arrival of supplies from Scotlandenabled Bruce to resume that siege in the autumn of 1316, and the castle, after a heroic defence by Sir Thomas deMandeville, was surrendered in mid-winter. Here, in themonth of February, 1317, the new King of Ireland had thegratification of welcoming his brother of Scotland, atthe head of a powerful auxiliary force, and here, accordingto Barbour's _Chronicle_, they feasted for three days, in mirth and jollity, before entering on the third campaignof this war. We have before mentioned that one of the first successesobtained by Bruce was through the withdrawal of FelimO'Conor from the Red Earl's alliance. The Prince thuswon over to what may be fairly called the national cause, had just then attained his majority, and his martialaccomplishments reflected honour on his fosterer, McDermottof Moylurg, while they filled with confidence the heartsof his own clansmen. After his secession from de Burghat Coleraine, he had spent a whole year in suppressingthe formidable rival who had risen to dispute his title. Several combats ensued between their respective adherents, but at length Roderick, the pretender, was defeated andslain, and Felim turned all his energies to co-operatewith Bruce, by driving the foreigner out of his ownprovince. Having secured the assistance of all the chieftribes of the west, and established the ancient supremacyof his house over Breffni, he first attacked the town ofBallylahen, in Mayo, the seat of the family of de Exeter, slew Slevin de Exeter, the lord de Cogan, and otherknights and barons, and plundered the town. At thebeginning of August in the same year, in pursuance ofhis plan, Felim mustered the most numerous force whichConnaught had sent forth, since the days of Cathal More. Under his leadership marched the Prince of Meath, thelords of Breffni, Leyny, Annally, Teffia, Hy-Many, andHy-Fiachra, with their men. The point of attack was thetown of Athenry, the chief fortified stronghold of thede Burghs and Berminghams in that region. Its importancedated from the reign of King John; it had been enrichedwith convents and strengthened by towers; it was besidesthe burial place of the two great Norman families justmentioned, and their descendants felt that before thewalls of Athenry their possessions were to be confirmedto them by their own valour, or lost for ever. A decisivebattle was fought on St. Laurence's day--the 10th ofAugust--in which the steel-clad Norman battalion oncemore triumphed over the linen-shirted clansmen of thewest. The field was contested with heroic obstinacy; noman gave way; none thought of asking or giving quarter. The standard bearer, the personal guard, and the Brehonof O'Conor fell around him. The lords of Hy-Many, Teffia, and Leyny, the heir of the house of Moylurg, with manyother chiefs, and, according to the usual computation, 8, 000 men were slain. Felim O'Conor himself, in thetwenty-third year of his age, and the very morning ofhis fame, fell with the rest, and his kindred, theSil-Murray, were left for a season an easy prey to Williamde Burgh and John de Bermingham, the joint commanders inthe battle. The spirit of exaggeration common in mostaccounts of killed and wounded, has described this dayas fatal to the name and race of O'Conor, who arerepresented as cut off to a man in the conflict; thedirect line which Felim represented was indeed leftwithout an immediate adult representative; but theoffshoots of that great house had spread too far andflourished too vigorously to be shorn away, even by soterrible a blow as that dealt at Athenry. The very nextyear we find chiefs of the name making some figure inthe wars of their own province, but it is observable thatwhat may be called the national party in Connaught forsome time after Athenry, looked to McDermott of Moylurgas their most powerful leader. The moral effect of the victory of Athenry was hardly tobe compensated for by the capture of Carrickfergus thenext winter. It inspired the Anglo-Irish with new courage. De Bermingham was created commander-in-chief. The citizensof Dublin burned their suburbs to strengthen their meansof defence. Suspecting the zeal of the Red Earl, sonearly connected with the Bruces by marriage, their Mayorproceeded to Saint Mary's abbey, where he lodged, arrestedand confined him to the castle. To that building theBermingham tower was added about this time, and thestrength of the whole must have been great when theskilful leaders, who had carried Stirling and Berwick, abandoned the siege of Dublin as hopeless. In Easterweek, 1317, Roger Mortimer, afterwards Earl of March, nearly allied to the English King on the one hand, andmaternally descended from the Marshals and McMurroghs onthe other, arrived at Youghal, as Lord Justice, releasedthe Earl of Ulster on reaching Dublin, and prepared todispute the progress of the Bruces towards the South. The royal brothers had determined, according to theirnational Bard, to take their way with all their host, from one cud of Ireland to the other. Their destinationwas Munster, which populous province had not yet ratifiedthe recent election. Ulster and Meath were with them;Connaught, by the battle of Athenry, was rendered incapableof any immediate effort, and therefore Edward Bruce, intrue Gaelic fashion, decided to proceed on his royalvisitation, and so secure the hostages of the southernhalf-kingdom. At the head of 20, 000 men, in two divisions, the brothers marched from Carrickfergus; meeting, withthe exception of a severe skirmish in a wood near Slane, with no other molestation till they approached the verywalls of Dublin. Finding the place stronger than theyexpected, or unwilling to waste time at that season ofthe year, the Hiberno-Scottish army, after occupyingCastleknock, turned up the valley of the Liffey, andencamped for four days by the pleasant waterfall ofLeixlip. From Leixlip to Naas they traversed the estatesof one of their active foes, the new made Earl of Kildare, and from Naas they directed their march to Callan inOssory, taking special pleasure, according to Anglo-IrishAnnals, in harrying the lands of another enemy, the LordButler, afterwards Earl of Ormond. From Callan theirroute lay to Cashel and Limerick, at each of which theyencamped two or three days without seeing the face of anenemy. But if they encountered no enemies in Minister, neither did they make many friends by their expedition. It seems that on further acquaintance rivalries andenmities sprung up between the two nations who composedthe army; that Edward Bruce, while styling himself Kingof Ireland, acted more like a vigorous conqueror exhaustinghis enemies, than a prudent Prince careful for his friendsand adherents. His army is accused, in terms of greatervehemence than are usually employed in our cautiouschronicles, of plundering churches and monasteries, andeven violating the tombs of the dead in search of buriedtreasure. The failure of the harvest, added to the effectof a threefold war, had so diminished the stock of foodthat numbers perished of famine, and this dark, indelibleremembrance was, by an arbitrary notion of cause andeffect, inseparably associated in the popular mind, bothEnglish and Irish, with the Scottish invasion. One factis clear, that the election of Dundalk was not popularin Munster, and that the chiefs of Thomond and Desmondwere uncommitted, if not hostile towards Bruce'ssovereignty. McCarthy and O'Brien seized the occasion, indeed, while he was campaigning in the North, to rootout the last representative of the family of de Clare, as we have already related, when tracing the fortunes ofthe Normans in Munster. But of the twelve reguli, orPrinces in Bruce's train, none are mentioned as havingcome from the Southern provinces. This visitation of Munster occupied the months of Februaryand March. In April, the Lord Justice Mortimer summoneda Parliament at Kilkenny, and there, also, the wholeAnglo-Irish forces, to the number of 30, 000 men, wereassembled. The Bruces on their return northward mighteasily have been intercepted, or the genius which triumphedat Bannockburn might have been as conspicuously signalizedon Irish ground. But the military authorities were waitingorders from the Parliament, and the Parliament were atissue with the new Justice, and so the opportunity waslost. Early in May, the Hiberno-Scottish army re-enteredUlster, by nearly the same route as they had taken goingsouthwards, and King Robert soon after returned intoScotland, promising faithfully to rejoin his brother, assoon as he disposed of his own pressing affairs. The Kingof England in the meantime, in consternation at the newsfrom Ireland, applied to the Pope, then at Avignon, toexercise his influence with the Clergy and Chiefs ofIreland, for the preservation of the English interest inthat country. It was in answer to the Papal rescripts soprocured that Donald O'Neil despatched his celebratedRemonstrance, which the Pontiff enclosed to Edward II. , with an urgent recommendation that the wrongs thereinrecited might be atoned for, and avoided in the future. CHAPTER IV. BATTLE OF FAUGHARD AND DEATH OF KING EDWARD BRUCE--CONSEQUENCES OF HIS INVASION--EXTINCTION OF THE EARLDOMOF ULSTER--IRISH OPINION OF EDWARD BRUCE. It is too commonly the fashion, as well with historiansas with others, to glorify the successful and censureseverely the unfortunate. No such feeling actuates usin speaking of the character of Edward Bruce, King ofIreland. That he was as gallant a knight as any in thatage of gallantry, we know; that he could confront thegloomiest aspect of adversity with cheerfulness, we alsoknow. But the united testimony, both of history andtradition, in his own country, so tenacious of itsanecdotical treasures, describes him as rash, headstrong, and intractable, beyond all the captains of his time. And in strict conformity with this character is theclosing scene of his Irish career. The harvest had again failed in 1317, and enforced amelancholy sort of truce between all the belligerents. The scarcity was not confined to Ireland, but had severelyafflicted England and Scotland, compelling their rulersto bestow a momentary attention on the then abject class, the tillers of the soil. But the summer of 1318 brightenedabove more prosperous fields, from which no sooner hadeach party snatched or purchased his share of the produce, than the war-note again resounded through all the fourProvinces. On the part of the Anglo-Irish, John deBermingham was confirmed as Commander-in-Chief, anddeparted from Dublin with, according to the chroniclesof the Pale, but 2, 000 chosen troops, while the Scottishbiographer of the Bruces gives him "20, 000 trapped horse. "The latter may certainly be considered an exaggeratedaccount, and the former must be equally incorrect. Judgedby the other armaments of that period, from the fact thatthe Normans of Meath, under Sir Miles de Verdon and SirRichard Tuit, were in his ranks, and that he then heldthe rank of Commander-in-Chief of all the English forcesin Ireland, it is incredible that de Bermingham shouldhave crossed the Boyne with less than eight or ten thousandmen. Whatever the number may have been, Bruce resolvedto risk the issue of battle contrary to the advice ofall his officers, and without awaiting the reinforcementshourly expected from Scotland, and which shortly afterthe engagement did arrive. The native chiefs of Ulster, whose counsel was also to avoid a pitched battle, seeingtheir opinions so lightly valued, are said to havewithdrawn from Dundalk. There remained with the iron-headedKing the Lords Moubray, de Soulis, and Stewart, with thethree brothers of the latter; MacRory, lord of the Isles, and McDonald, chief of his clan. The neighbourhood ofDundalk, the scene of his triumphs and coronation, wasto be the scene of this last act of Bruce's chivalrousand stormy career. On the 14th of October, 1318, at the hill of Faughard, within a couple of miles of Dundalk, the advance guardof the hostile armies came into the presence of eachother, and made ready for battle. Roland de Jorse, theforeign Archbishop of Armagh--who had not been able totake possession of his see, though appointed to it sevenyears before--accompanied the Anglo-Irish, and movingthrough their ranks, gave his benediction to their banners. But the impetuosity of Bruce gave little time forpreparation. At the head of the vanguard, without waitingfor the whole of his company to come up, he charged theenemy with impetuosity. The action became general, andthe skill of de Bermingham as a leader was againdemonstrated. An incident common to the warfare of thatage was, however, the immediate cause of the victory. Master John de Maupas, a burgher of Dundalk, believingthat the death of the Scottish leader would be the signalfor the retreat of his followers, disguised as a jesteror fool, sought him throughout the field. One of theroyal esquires, named Gilbert Harper, wearing the surcoatof his master, was mistaken for him, and slain; but thetrue leader was at length found by de Maupas, and struckdown with the blow of a leaden plummet or slung-shot. After the battle, when the field was searched for hisbody, it was found under that of de Maupas, who hadbravely yielded up life for life. The Hiberno-Scottishforces dispersed in dismay, and when King Robert ofScotland landed a day or two afterwards, he was met bythe fugitive men of Carrick, under their leader Thompson, who informed him of his brother's fate. He returned atonce into his own country, carrying off the few Scottishsurvivors. The head of the impetuous Edward was sent toLondon; but the body was interred in the churchyard ofFaughard, where, within living memory, a tall pillarstone was pointed out by every peasant of the neighbourhoodas marking the grave of "King Bruce. " The fortunes of the principal actors, native and Norman, in the invasion of Edward Bruce, may be briefly recountedbefore closing this book of our history, John de Bermingham, created for his former victory Baron of Athenry, had nowthe Earldom of Louth conferred on him with a royal pension. He promptly followed up his blow at Faughard by expellingDonald O'Neil, the mainspring of the invasion, fromTyrone; but Donald, after a short sojourn among themountains of Fermanagh, returned during the winter andresumed his lordship, though he never wholly recoveredfrom the losses he had sustained. The new Earl of Louthcontinued to hold the rank of Commander-in-Chief inIreland, to which he added in 1322 that of Lord Justice. He was slain in 1329, with some 200 of his personaladherents, in an affair with the natives of his newearldom, at a place called Ballybeagan. He left by adaughter of the Earl of Ulster three daughters; the titlewas perpetuated in the family of his brothers. In 1319, the Earls of Kildare and Louth, and the LordArnold le Poer, were appointed a commission to inquireinto all treasons committed in Ireland during Bruce'sinvasion. Among other outlawries they decreed those ofthe three de Lacys, the chiefs of their name, in Meathand Ulster. That illustrious family, however, survivedeven this last confiscation, and their descendants, several centuries later, were large proprietors in themidland counties. Three years after the battle of Faughard, died Roland deJorse, Archbishop of Armagh, it was said, of vexationsarising out of Bruce's war, and other difficulties whichbeset him in taking possession of his see. Adam, Bishopof Ferns, was deprived of his revenues for taking partwith Bruce, and the Friars Minor of the Franciscan order, were severely censured in a Papal rescript for their zealon the same side. The great families of Fitzgerald and Butler obtainedtheir earldoms of Kildare, Desmond, and Ormond, out ofthis dangerous crisis, but the premier earldom of Ulsterdisappeared from our history soon afterwards. Richard, the Red Earl, having died in the Monastery of Athassil, in 1326, was succeeded by his son, William, who, sevenyears later, in consequence of a family feud, instigatedby one of his own female relatives, Gilla de Burgh, wifeof Walter de Mandeville, was murdered at the Fords, nearCarrickfergus, in the 21st year of his age. His wife, Maud, daughter of Henry Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, fled into England with her infant, afterwards married toLionel, Duke of Clarence, son of King Edward III. , whothus became personally interested in the system which heinitiated by the odious Statute of Kilkenny. But themisfortunes of the Red Earl's posterity did not end withthe murder of his immediate successor. Edmond, hissurviving son, five years subsequently, was seized byhis cousin, Edmond, the son of William, and drowned inLough Mask, with a stone about his neck. The posterityof William de Burgh then assumed the name of McWilliam, and renounced the laws, language, and allegiance ofEngland. Profiting by their dissensions, Turlogh O'Conor, towards the middle of the century, asserted supremacyover them, thus practising against the descendants thesame policy which the first de Burghs had successfullyemployed among the sons of Roderick. We must mention here a final consequence of Edward Bruce'sinvasion seldom referred to, --namely, the character ofthe treaty between Scotland and England, concluded andsigned at Edinburgh, on St. Patrick's Day, 1328. By thistreaty, after arranging an intermarriage between theroyal families, it was stipulated in the event of arebellion against Scotland, in Skye, Man, or the Islands, or against England, in Ireland, that the several Kingswould not abet or assist each other's rebel subjects. Remembering this article, we know not what to make ofthe entry in our own Annals, which states that RobertBruce landed at Carrickfergus in the same year, 1328, "and sent word to the Justiciary and Council, that hecame to make peace between Ireland and Scotland, and thathe would meet them at Green Castle; but that the latterfailing to meet him, he returned to Scotland. " This, however, we know: high hopes were entertained, and immensesacrifices were made, for Edward Bruce, but were made invain. His proverbial rashness in battle, with his totaldisregard of the opinion of the country into which hecame, alienated from him those who were at first disposedto receive him with enthusiasm. It may be an instructivelesson to such as look to foreign leaders and foreignforces for the means of national deliverance to read theterms in which the native Annalists record the defeatand death of Edward Bruce: "No achievement had beenperformed in Ireland, for a long time, " say the FourMasters, "from which greater benefit had accrued to thecountry than from this. " "There was not a better deeddone in Ireland since the banishment of the Formorians, "says the Annalist of Clonmacnoise! So detested may aforeign liberating chief become, who outrages the feelingsand usages of the people he pretends, or really means toemancipate! BOOK VI. THE NATIVE, THE NATURALIZED, AND "THE ENGLISH INTEREST. " CHAPTER I. CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND--ITS EFFECTS ON THE ANGLO-IRISH--THE KNIGHTS OF SAINT JOHN--GENERAL DESIRE OF THE ANGLO-IRISHTO NATURALIZE THEMSELVES AMONG THE NATIVE POPULATION--A POLICY OF NON-INTERCOURSE BETWEEN THE RACES RESOLVED ONIN ENGLAND. The closing years of the reign of Edward II. Of Englandwere endangered by the same partiality for favouriteswhich, had disturbed its beginning. The de Spensers, father and son, played at this period the part whichGaveston had performed twenty years earlier. The Barons, who undertook to rid their country of this pamperedfamily, had, however, at their head Queen Isabella, sisterof the King of France, who had separated from her husbandunder a pretended fear of violence at his hands, but inreality to enjoy more freely her criminal intercoursewith her favourite, Mortimer. With the aid of French andFlemish mercenaries, they compelled the unhappy Edwardto fly from London to Bristol, whence he was pursued, captured, and after being confined for several months indifferent fortresses, was secretly murdered in the autumnof 1327, by thrusting a red hot iron into his bowels. His son, Edward, a lad of fifteen years of age, afterwardsthe celebrated Edward III. , was proclaimed King, thoughthe substantial power remained for some years longer withQueen Isabella, and her paramour, now elevated to therank of Earl of March. In the year 1330, however, theirguilty prosperity was brought to a sudden close; Mortimerwas seized by surprise, tried by his peers, and executedat Tyburn; Isabella was imprisoned for life, and theyoung King, at the age of eighteen, began in reality thatreign, which, through half a century's continuance, provedso glorious and advantageous for England. It will be apparent that during the last few years ofthe second, and under the minority of the third Edward, the Anglo-Irish Barons would be left to pursue undisturbedtheir own particular interests and enmities. The renewalof war with Scotland, on the death of King Robert Bruce, and the subsequent protracted wars with France, whichoccupied, with some intervals of truce, nearly thirtyyears of the third Edward's reign, left ample time forthe growth of abuses of every description among thedescendants of those who had invaded Ireland, under thepretext of its reformation, both in morals and government. The contribution of an auxiliary force to aid him in hisforeign wars was all the warlike King expected from hislords of Ireland, and at so cheap a price they were wellpleased to hold their possessions under his guarantee. At Halidon hill the Anglo-Irish, led by Sir John Darcy, distinguished themselves against the Scots in 1333; andat the siege of Calais, under the Earls of Kildare andDesmond, they acquired additional reputation in 1347. From this time forward it became a settled maxim ofEnglish policy to draft native troops out of Ireland forforeign service, and to send English soldiers into it intimes of emergency. In the very year when the tragedy of Edward the Second'sdeposition and death was enacted in England, a drama ofa lighter kind was performed among his new made earls inIreland. The Lord Arnold le Poer gave mortal offence toMaurice, first Earl of Desmond, by calling him "a Rhymer, "a term synonymous with poetaster. To make good hisreputation as a Bard, the Earl summoned his allies, theButlers and Berminghams, while le Poer obtained the aidof his maternal relatives, the de Burghs, and severaldesperate conflicts took place between them. The Earl ofKildare, then deputy, summoned both parties to meet himat Kilkenny, but le Poer and William de Burgh fled intoEngland, while the victors, instead of obeying the deputy'ssummons, enjoyed themselves in ravaging his estate. Thefollowing year (A. D. 1328), le Poer and de Burgh returnedfrom England, and were reconciled with Desmond and Ormondby the mediation of the new deputy, Roger Outlaw, Priorof the Knights of the Hospital at Kilmainham. In honourof this reconciliation de Burgh gave a banquet at thecastle, and Maurice of Desmond reciprocated by anotherthe next day, in St. Patrick's Church, though it wasthen, as the Anglo-Irish Annalist remarks, the penitentialseason of Lent. A work of peace and reconciliation, calculated to spare the effusion of Christian blood, mayhave been thought some justification for this irreverentuse of a consecrated edifice. The mention of the Lord Deputy, Sir Roger Outlaw, thesecond Prior of his order though not the last, who wieldedthe highest political power over the English settlements, naturally leads to the mention of the establishment inIreland, of the illustrious orders of the Temple and theHospital. The first foundation of the elder order isattributed to Strongbow, who erected for them a castleat Kilmainham, on the high ground to the south of theLiffey, about a mile distant from the Danish wall of oldDublin. Here, the Templars flourished, for nearly acentury and a half, until the process for their suppressionwas instituted under Edward II. , in 1308. Thirty membersof the order were imprisoned and examined in Dublin, before three Dominican inquisitors--Father Richard Balbyn, Minister of the Order of St. Dominick in Ireland, FathersPhilip de Slane and Hugh de St. Leger. The decisionarrived at was the same as in France and England; theorder was condemned and suppressed; and their Priory ofKilmainham, with sixteen benefices in the diocese ofDublin, and several others, in Ferns, Meath, and Dromore, passed to the succeeding order, in 1311. The statemaintained by the Priors of Kilmainham, in their capaciousresidence, often rivalled that of the Lords Justices. But though their rents were ample, they did not collectthem without service. Their house might justly be regardedas an advanced fortress on the south side of the city, constantly open to attacks from the mountain tribes ofWicklow. Although their vows were for the Holy Land, theywere ever ready to march at the call of the EnglishDeputies, and their banner, blazoned with the _AgnusDei_, waved over the bloodiest border frays of thefourteenth century. The Priors of Kilmainham sat as Baronsin the Parliaments of "the Pale, " and the office wasconsidered the first in ecclesiastical rank among theregular orders. During the second quarter of this century, an extraordinarychange became apparent in the manners and customs of thedescendants of the Normans, Flemings, and Cambrians, whose ancestors an hundred years earlier were strangersin the land. Instead of intermarrying exclusively amongthemselves, the prevailing fashion became to seek forIrish wives, and to bestow their daughters on Irishhusbands. Instead of clinging to the language of Normandyor England, they began to cultivate the native speech ofthe country. Instead of despising Irish law, every noblemanwas now anxious to have his Brehon, his Bard, and hisSenachie. The children of the Barons were given to befostered by Milesian mothers, and trained in the earlyexercises so minutely prescribed by Milesian education. Kildare, Ormond, and Desmond, adopted the old militaryusages of exacting "coyne and livery"--horse meat andman's meat--from their feudal tenants. The tie of Gossipred, one of the most fondly cherished by the native population, was multiplied between the two races, and under the wiseencouragement of a domestic dynasty might have become apowerful bond of social union. In Connaught and Munsterwhere the proportion of native to naturalized was largest, the change was completed almost in a generation, andcould never afterwards be wholly undone. In Ulster theEnglish element in the population towards the end of thiscentury was almost extinct, but in Meath and Leinster, and that portion of Munster immediately bordering onMeath and Leinster, the process of amalgamation requiredmore time than the policy of the Kings of England allowedit to obtain. The first step taken to counteract their tendency to_Hibernicize_ themselves, was to bestow additional honourson the great families. The baronry of Offally was enlargedinto the earldom of Kildare; the lordship of Carrick intothe earldom of Ormond; the title of Desmond was conferredon Maurice Fitz-Thomas Fitzgerald, and that of Louth onthe Baron de Bermingham. Nor were they empty honours;they were accompanied with something better. The "royalliberties" were formally conceded, in no less than ninegreat districts, to their several lords. Those of Carlow, Wexford, Kilkenny, Kildare, and Leix, had been inheritedby the heirs of the Earl Marshal's five daughters; fourother counties Palatine were now added--Ulster, Meath, Ormond, and Desmond. "The absolute lords of thosepalatinates, " says Sir John Davis, "made barons andknights, exercised high justice within all theirterritories; erected courts for civil and criminal causes, and for their own revenues, in the same form in whichthe king's courts were established at Dublin; theyconstituted their own judges, seneschals, sheriffs, coroners, and escheators. " So that the king's writs didnot run in their counties, which took up more than twoparts of the English colony; but ran only in thechurch-lands lying within the same, which was thereforecalled THE CROSSE, wherein the Sheriff was nominated bythe King. By "high justice" is meant the power of lifeand death, which was hardly consistent with even asemblance of subjection. No wonder such absolute lordsshould be found little disposed to obey the summons ofdeputies, like Sir Ralph Ufford and Sir John Morris, menof merely knightly rank, whose equals they had the powerto create, by the touch of their swords. For a season their new honours quickened the dormantloyalty of the recipients. Desmond, at the head of 10, 000men, joined the lord deputy, Sir John Darcy, to suppressthe insurgent tribes of South Leinster; the Earls ofUlster and Ormond united their forces for an expeditioninto West-Meath against the brave McGeoghegans and theirallies; but even these services--so complicated werepublic and private motives in the breasts of the actors--did not allay the growing suspicion of what were commonlycalled "the old English, " in the minds of the EnglishKing and his council. Their resolution seems to have beenfixed to entrust no native of Ireland with the highestoffice in his own country; in accordance with whichdecision Sir Anthony Lucy was appointed, (1331;) Sir JohnDarcy, (1332-34; again in 1341;) and Sir Ralph Ufford, (1343-1346. ) During the incumbency of these Englishknights, whether acting as justiciaries or as deputies, the first systematic attempts were made to prevent, bothby the exercise of patronage or by penal legislation, the fusion of races, which was so universal a tendencyof that age. And although these attempts were discontinuedon the recommencement of war with France in 1345, theconviction of their utility had seized too strongly onthe tenacious will of Edward III. To be wholly abandoned. The peace of Bretigni in 1360 gave him leisure to turnagain his thoughts in that direction. The following yearhe sent over his third son, Lionel, Duke of Clarence andEarl of Ulster, (in right of his wife, ) who boldlyannounced his object to be the total separation, intohostile camps, of the two populations. This first attempt to enforce non-intercourse betweenthe natives and the naturalized deserves more particularmention. It appears to have begun in the time of SirAnthony Lucy, when the King's Council sent over certain"Articles of Reform, " in which it was threatened that ifthe native nobility were not more attentive in dischargingtheir duties to the King, his Majesty would resume intohis own hands all the grants made to them by his royalancestors or himself, as well as enforce payment of debtsdue to the Crown which had been formerly remitted. Fromsome motive, these articles were allowed, after beingmade public, to remain a dead letter, until theadministration of Darcy, Edward's confidential agent inmany important transactions, English and Irish. They wereproclaimed with additional emphasis by this deputy, whoconvoked a Parliament or Council, at Dublin, to enforcethem as law. The same year, 1342, a new ordinance camefrom England, prohibiting the public employment of menborn or married, or possessing estates in Ireland, anddeclaring that all offices of state should be filled inthat country by "fit Englishmen, having lands, tenements, and benefices in England. " To this sweeping proscriptionthe Anglo-Irish, as well townsmen as nobles, resolved tooffer every resistance, and by the convocation of theEarls of Desmond, Ormond, and Kildare, they agreed tomeet for that purpose at Kilkenny. Accordingly, what iscalled Darcy's Parliament, met at Dublin in October, while Desmond's rival assembly gathered at Kilkenny inNovember. The proceedings of the former, if it agreed toany, are unrecorded, but the latter despatched to theKing, by the hands of the Prior of Kilmainham, aRemonstrance couched in Norman-French, the court language, in which they reviewed the state of the country; deploredthe recovery of so large a portion of the former conquestby the old Irish; accused, in round terms, the successiveEnglish officials sent into the land, with a desiresuddenly to enrich themselves at the expense both ofsovereign and subject; pleaded boldly their own loyalservices, not only in Ireland, but in the French andScottish wars; and finally, claimed the protection ofthe Great Charter, that they might not be ousted of theirestates, without being called in judgment. Edward, sorelyin need of men and subsidies for another expedition toFrance, returned them a conciliatory answer, summoningthem to join him in arms, with their followers, at anearly day; and although a vigorous effort was made bySir Ralph Ufford to enforce the articles of 1331, andthe ordinance of 1341, by the capture of the Earls ofDesmond and Kildare, and by military execution on someof their followers, the policy of non-intercourse wastacitly abandoned for some years after the Remonstranceof Kilkenny. In 1353, under the lord deputy, Rokeby, anattempt was made to revive it, but it was quickly abandoned;and two years later, Maurice, Earl of Desmond, the leaderof the opposition, was appointed to the office of LordJustice for life! Unfortunately that high-spirited noblemandied the year of his appointment, before its effectscould begin to be felt. The only legal concession whichmarked his period was a royal writ constituting the"Parliament" of the Pale the court of last resort forappeals from the decisions of the King's courts in thatprovince. A recurrence to the former favourite policysignalized the year 1357, when a new set of ordinanceswere received from London, denouncing the penalties oftreason against all who intermarried, or had relationsof fosterage with the Irish; and proclaiming war uponall kernes and idle men found within the English districts. Still severer measures, in the same direction, were soonafterwards decided upon, by the English King and hiscouncil. Before relating the farther history of this penal codeas applied to race, we must recall the reader's attentionto the important date of the Kilkenny Remonstrance, 1342. From that year may be distinctly traced the growth oftwo parties among the subjects of the English Kings inIreland. At one time they are distinguished as "the oldEnglish" and "the new English, " at another, as "Englishby birth" and "English by blood. " The new English, freshfrom the Imperial island, seem to have usually conductedthemselves with a haughty sense of superiority; the oldEnglish, more than half _Hibernicized_, confronted thesestrangers with all the self-complacency of natives ofthe soil on which they stood. In their frequent visitsto the Imperial capital, the old English were made sensiblyto feel that their country was not there; and as oftenas they went, they returned with renewed ardour to theland of their possessions and their birth. Time, also, had thrown its reverent glory round the names of thefirst invaders, and to be descended from the companionsof Earl Richard, or the captains who accompanied KingJohn, was a source of family pride, second only to thatwhich the native princes cherished, in tracing up theirlineage to Milesius of Spain. There were many reasons, good, bad, and indifferent, for the descendants of theNorman adventurers adopting Celtic names, laws, andcustoms, but not the least potent, perhaps, was thefostering of family pride and family dependence, which, judged from our present stand-points, were two of theworst possible preparations for our national success inmodern times. CHAPTER II. LIONEL, DUKE OF CLARENCE, LORD LIEUTENANT--THE PENAL CODEOF RACE--"THE STATUTE OF KILKENNY, " AND SOME OF ITSCONSEQUENCES. While the grand experiment for the separation of thepopulation of Ireland into two hostile camps was beingmatured in England, the Earls of Kildare and Ormond were, for four or five years, alternately entrusted with thesupreme power. Fresh ordinances, in the spirit of thosedespatched to Darcy, in 1342, continued annually toarrive. One commanded all lieges of the English King, having grants upon the marches of the Irish enemy, toreside upon and defend them, under pain of revocation. By another entrusted to the Earl of Ormond for promulgation, "no mere Irishman" was to be made a Mayor or bailiff, orother officer of any town within the English districts;nor was any mere Irishman "thereafter, under any pretenceof kindred, or from any other cause, to be received intoholy orders, or advanced to any ecclesiastical benefice. "A modification of this last edict was made the succeedingyear, when a royal writ explained that exception wasintended to be made of such Irish clerks as had givenindividual proofs of their loyalty. Soon after the peace of Bretigni had been solemnly ratifiedat Calais, in 1360, by the Kings of France and England, and the latter had returned to London, it was reportedthat one of the Princes would be sent over to exercisethe supreme power at Dublin. As no member of the royalfamily had visited Ireland since the reign of John--thoughEdward I. , when Prince, had been appointed his father'slieutenant--this announcement naturally excited unusualexpectations. The Prince chosen was the King's third son, Lionel, Duke of Clarence; and every preparation was madeto give _eclat_ and effect to his administration. ThisPrince had married, a few years before, Elizabeth deBurgh, who brought him the titles of Earl of Ulster andLord of Connaught, with the claims which they covered. By a proclamation, issued in England, all who heldpossessions in Ireland were commanded to appear beforethe King, either by proxy or in person, to take measuresfor resisting the continued encroachments of the Irishenemy. Among the absentees compelled to contribute tothe expedition accompanying the Prince, are mentionedMaria, Countess of Norfolk, Agnes, Countess of Pembroke, Margery de Boos, Anna le Despenser, and other nobleladies, who, by a strange recurrence, represented in thisage the five co-heiresses of the first Earl Marshal, granddaughters of Eva McMurrogh. What exact force wasequipped from all these contributions is not mentioned;but the Prince arrived in Ireland with no more than 1, 500men, under the command of Ralph, Earl of Strafford, James, Earl of Ormond, Sir William Windsor, Sir John Carew, andother knights. He landed at Dublin on the 15th of September, 1361, and remained in office for three years. On landinghe issued a proclamation, prohibiting natives of thecountry, of all origins, from approaching his camp orcourt, and having made this hopeful beginning he marchedwith his troops into Munster, where he was defeated byO'Brien, and compelled to retreat. Yet by the flatteryof courtiers he was saluted as the conqueror of Clare, and took from the supposed fact, his title of _Clarence_. But no adulation could blind him to the real weakness ofhis position: he keenly felt the injurious consequencesof his proclamation, revoked it, and endeavoured to removethe impression he had made, by conferring knighthood onthe Prestons, Talbots, Cusacks, De la Hydes, and membersof other families, not immediately connected with thePalatine Earls. He removed the Exchequer from Dublin toCarlow, and expended 500 pounds--a large sum for thatage--in fortifying the town. The barrier of Leinster wasestablished at Carlow, from which it was removed, by anact of the English Parliament ten years afterwards; thetown and castle were retaken in 1397, by the celebratedArt McMurrogh, and long remained in the hands of hisposterity. In 1364, Duke Lionel went to England, leaving de Windsoras his deputy, but in 1365, and again in 1367, he twicereturned to his government. This latter year is memorableas the date of the second great stride towards theestablishment of a Penal Code of race, by the enactmentof the "Statute of Kilkenny. " This memorable Statute wasdrawn with elaborate care, being intended to serve asthe corner stone of all future legislation, and itsprovisions are deserving of enumeration. The Act setsout with this preamble: "Whereas, at the conquest of theland of Ireland, and for a long time after, the Englishof the said land used the English language, mode ofriding, and apparel, and were governed and ruled, boththey and their subjects, called Betaghese (villeins), according to English law, &c. , &c. , --but now many Englishof the said land, forsaking the English language, manners, mode of riding, laws, and usages, live, and governthemselves according to the manners, fashion, and languageof the Irish enemies, and also have made divers marriagesand alliances between themselves and the Irish enemiesaforesaid--it is therefore enacted, among other provisions, that all intermarriages, fosterings, gossipred, and buyingor selling with the 'enemie, ' shall be accountedtreason--that English names, fashions, and manners shallbe resumed under penalty of the confiscation of thedelinquent's lands--that March-law and Brehon-law areillegal, and that there shall be no law but Englishlaw--that the Irish shall not pasture their cattle onEnglish lands--that the English shall not entertain Irishrhymers, minstrels, or newsmen; and, moreover, that no'mere Irishmen' shall be admitted to any ecclesiasticalbenefice, or religious house, situated within the Englishdistricts. " All the names of those who attended at this Parliamentof Kilkenny are not accessible to us; but that the Earlsof Kildare, Ormond, and Desmond, were of the number needhardly surprise us, alarmed as they all were by the latesuccesses of the native princes, and overawed by therecent prodigious victories of Edward III. At Cressy andPoictiers. What does at first seem incomprehensible isthat the Archbishop not only of Dublin, but of Casheland Tuam--in the heart of the Irish country--and theBishops of Leighlin, Ossory, Lismore, Cloyne, and Killala, should be parties to this statute. But on closer inspectionour surprise at their presence disappears. Most of theseprelates were at that day nominees of the English King, and many of them were English by birth. Some of themnever had possession of their sees, but dwelt within thenearest strong town, as pensioners on the bounty of theCrown, while the dioceses were administered by nativerivals, or tolerated vicars. Le Reve, Bishop of Lismore, was Chancellor to the Duke in 1367; Young, Bishop ofLeighlin, was Vice-Treasurer; the Bishop of Ossory, Johnof Tatendale, was an English Augustinian, whose appointmentwas disputed by Milo Sweetman, the native Bishop elect;the Bishop of Cloyne, John de Swasham, was a Carmeliteof Lyn, in the county of Norfolk, afterwards Bishop ofBangor, in Wales, where he distinguished himself in thecontroversy against Wycliffe; the Bishop of Killala weonly know by the name of Robert--at that time very unusualamong the Irish. The two native names are those of theArchbishops of Cashel and Tuam, Thomas O'Carrol and JohnO'Grady. The former was probably, and the latter certainly, a nominee of the Crown. We know that Dr. O'Grady died anexile from his see--if he ever was permitted to enterit--in the city of Limerick, four years after the sittingof the Parliament of Kilkenny. Shortly after the enactmentof this law, by which he is best remembered, the Duke ofClarence returned to England, leaving to Gerald, fourthEarl of Desmond, the task of carrying it into effect. Inthe remaining years of this reign the office of LordLieutenant was held by Sir William de Windsor, duringthe intervals of whose absence in England the Prior ofKilmainham, or the Earl of Kildare or of Ormond, dischargedthe duties with the title of Lord Deputy or Lord Justice. It is now time that we should turn to the native annalsof the country to show how the Irish princes had carriedon the contest during the eventful half century which thereign of Edward III. Occupies in the history of England. In the generation which elapsed from the death of theEarl of Ulster, or rather from the first avowal of thepolicy of proscription in 1342, the native tribes had onall sides and continuously gained on the descendants oftheir invaders. In Connaught, the McWilliams, McWattins, and McFeoriss retained part of their estates only bybecoming as Irish as the Irish. The lordships of Leynyand Corran, in Sligo and Mayo, were recovered by theheirs of their former chiefs, while the powerful familyof O'Conor Sligo converted that strong town into aformidable centre of operations. Rindown, Athlone, Roscommon, and Bunratty, all frontier posts fortifiedby the Normans, were in 1342, as we learn from theRemonstrance of Kilkenny, in the hands of the elder race. The war, in all the Provinces, was in many respects awar of posts. Towards the north Carrickfergus continuedthe outwork till captured by Neil O'Neil, when Downpatrickand Dundalk became the northern barriers. The lattertown, which seems to have been strengthened after Bruce'sdefeat, was repeatedly attacked by Neil O'Neil, and atlast entered into conditions, by which it procured hisprotection. At Downpatrick also, in the year 1375, hegained a signal victory over the English of the town andtheir allies, under Sir James Talbot of Malahide, andBurke of Camline, in which both these commanders wereslain. This O'Neil, called from his many successes Neil_More_, or the Great, dying in 1397, left the borders ofUlster more effectually cleared of foreign garrisons thanthey had been for a century and a half before. He enrichedthe churches of Armagh and Deny, and built a habitationfor students resorting to the primatial city, on the siteof the ancient palace of Emania, which had been desertedbefore the coming of St. Patrick. The northern and western chiefs seem in this age to havemade some improvements in military equipments, and tactics. _Cooey-na-gall_, a celebrated captain of the O'Kanes, isrepresented on his tomb at Dungiven as clad in completearmour--though that may be the fancy of the sculptor. Scottish gallowglasses--heavy-armed infantry, trainedin Bruce's campaigns, were permanently enlisted in theirservice. Of their leaders the most distinguished wereMcNeil _Cam_, or the Crooked, and McRory, in the serviceof O'Conor, and McDonnell, McSorley, and McSweeney, inthe service of O'Neil, O'Donnell, and O'Conor Sligo. Theleaders of these warlike bands are called the Constablesof Tyr-Owen, of North Connaught, or of Connaught, andare distinguished in all the warlike encounters in thenorth and west. The midland country--the counties now of Longford, West-Meath, Meath, Dublin, Kildare, King's and Queen's, were almost constantly in arms, during the latter halfof this century. The lords of Annally, Moy-Cashel, Carbry, Offally, Ely, and Leix, rivalled each other in enterpriseand endurance. In 1329, McGeoghegan of West-Meath defeatedand slew Lord Thomas Butler, with the loss of 120 men atMullingar; but the next year suffered an equal loss fromthe combined forces of the Earls of Ormond and Ulster;his neighbour, O'Farrell, contended with even betterfortune, especially towards the close of Edward's reign(1372), when in one successful foray he not only swepttheir garrisons out of Annally, but rendered importantassistance to the insurgent tribes of Meath. In Leinster, the house of O'Moore, under Lysaght their Chief, by awell concerted conspiracy, seized in one night (in 1327)no less than eight castles, and razed the fort of Dunamase, which they despaired of defending. In 1346, under ConalO'Moore, they destroyed the foreign strongholds of Leyand Kilmehedie; and though Conal was slain by the English, and Rory, one of their creatures, placed in his stead, the tribe put Rory to death as a traitor in 1354, andfor two centuries thereafter upheld their independence. Simultaneously, the O'Conors of Offally, and the O'Carrollsof Ely, adjoining and kindred tribes, so straightenedthe Earl of Kildare on the one hand, and the Earl ofOrmond on the other, that a cess of 40 pence on everycarucate (140 acres) of tilled land, and of 40 pence onchattels of the value of six pounds, was imposed on allthe English settlements, for the defence of Kildare, Carlow, and the marches generally. Out of the amountcollected in Carlow, a portion was paid to the Earl ofKildare, "for preventing the O'Moores from burning thetown of Killahan. " The same nobleman was commanded, byan order in Council, to strengthen his Castles of Rathmore, Kilkea, and Ballymore, under pain of forfeiture. Theseevents occurred in 1856, '7, and '8. In the south the same struggle for supremacy proceededwith much the same results. The Earl of Desmond, freshfrom his Justiceship in Dublin, and the penal legislationof Kilkenny, was, in 1370, defeated and slain near Adare, by Brian O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, with several knightsof his name, and "an indescribable number of others. "Limerick was next assailed, and capitulated to O'Brien, who created Sheedy McNamara, Warden of the City. TheEnglish burghers, however, after the retirement of O'Brien, rose, murdered the new Warden, and opened the gates toSir William de Windsor, the Lord Lieutenant, who hadhastened to their relief. Two years later the wholeAnglo-Irish force, under the fourth Earl of Kildare, was, summoned to Limerick, in order to defend it againstO'Brien. So desperate now became the contest, that Williamde Windsor only consented to return a second time as LordLieutenant in 1374, on condition that he was to actstrictly on the defensive, and to receive annually thesum of 11, 213 pounds 6 shillings 8 pence--a sum exceedingthe whole revenue which the English King derived fromIreland at that period; which, according to Sir JohnDavies, fell short of 11, 000 pounds. Although such wasthe critical state of the English interest, this lieutenantobtained from the fears of successive Parliaments annualsubsidies of 2, 000 pounds and 3, 000 pounds. The deputiesfrom Louth having voted against his demand, were throwninto prison; but a direct petition from the Anglo-Irishto the King brought an order to de Windsor not to enforcethe collection of these grants, and to remit in favourof the petitioners the scutage "on all those lands ofwhich the Irish enemy had deprived them. " In the last year of Edward III. (1376), he summoned themagnates and the burghers of towns to send representativesto 'London to consult with him on the state of the Englishsettlements in Ireland. But those so addressed havingassembled together, drew up a protest, setting forth thatthe great Council of Ireland had never been accustomedto meet out of that kingdom, though, saving the rightsof their heirs and successors, they expressed theirwillingness to do so, for the King's convenience on thatoccasion. Richard Dene and William Stapolyn were firstsent over to England to exhibit the evils of the Irishadministration; the proposed general assembly ofrepresentatives seems to have dropped. The King orderedthe two delegates just mentioned to be paid ten poundsout of the Exchequer for their expenses. The series of events, however, which most clearly exhibitsthe decay of the English interest, transpired within thelimits of Leinster, almost within sight of Dublin. Ofthe actors in these events, the most distinguished forenergy, ability, and good fortune, was Art McMurrogh, whose exploits are entitled to a separate and detailedaccount. CHAPTER III. ART McMURROGH, LORD OF LEINSTER--FIRST EXPEDITION OFRICHARD II. , OF ENGLAND, TO IRELAND. Whether Donald Kavanagh McMurrogh, son of Dermid, wasborn out of wedlock, as the Lady Eva was made to depose, in order to create a claim of inheritance for herself assole heiress, this, at least, is certain, that hisdescendants continued to be looked upon by the kindredclans of Leinster as the natural lords of that principality. Towards the close of the thirteenth century, in the thirdor fourth generation, after the death of their immediateancestor, the Kavanaghs of Leighlin and Ballyloughlinbegin to act prominently in the affairs of their Province, and then--chief is styled both by Irish and English "theMcMurrogh. " In the era of King Edward Bruce, they weresufficiently formidable to call for an expedition of theLord Justice into their patrimony, by which they are saidto have been defeated. In the next age, in 1335, Maurice, "the McMurrogh, " was granted by the Anglo-Irish Parliamentor Council, the sum of 80 marks annually, for keepingopen certain roads and preserving the peace within itsjurisdiction. In 1358, Art, the successor of Maurice, and Donald Revagh, were proclaimed "rebels" in a Parliamentheld at Castledermot, by the Lord Deputy Sancto Amando, the said Art being further branded with deep ingratitudeto Edward III. , who had acknowledged him as "the Mac-Murch. "To carry on a war against him the whole English interestwas assessed with a special tax. Louth contributed 20pounds; Meath and Waterford, 2 shillings on every carucate(140 acres) of tilled land; Kilkenny the same sum, withthe addition of 6 pence in the pound on chattels. ThisArt captured the strong castles of Kilbelle, Galbarstown, Rathville, and although his career was not one of invariablesuccess, he bequeathed to his son, also called Art, in1375, an inheritance, extending over a large portion--perhaps one-half--of the territory ruled by his ancestorsbefore the invasion. Art McMurrogh, or Art Kavanagh, as he is more commonlycalled, was born in the year 1357, and from the age ofsixteen and upwards was distinguished by his hospitality, knowledge, and feats of arms. Like the great Brian, hewas a younger son, but the fortune of war removed one byone those who would otherwise have preceded him in thecaptaincy of his clan and connections. About the year1375--while he was still under age--he was electedsuccessor to his father, according to the Annalists, whorecord his death in 1417, "after being forty-two yearsin the government of Leinster. " Fortunately he attainedcommand at a period favourable to his genius and enterprise. His own and the adjoining tribes were aroused by tidingsof success from other Provinces, and the partial victoriesof their immediate predecessors, to entertain bolderschemes, and they only waited for a chief of distinguishedability to concentrate their efforts. This chief theyfound, where they naturally looked for him, among theold ruling family of the Province. Nor were the Englishsettlers ignorant of his promise. In the Parliament heldat Castledermot in 1377, they granted to him the customaryannual tribute paid to his house, the nature of whichcalls for a word of explanation. This tribute was granted, "as the late King had done to his ancestors;" it wasagain voted in a Parliament held in 1380, and continuedto be paid so late as the opening of the seventeenthcentury (A. D. 1603). Not only was a fixed sum paid outof the Exchequer for this purpose--inducing the nativechiefs to grant a right of way through their territories--but a direct tax was levied on the inhabitants ofEnglish origin for the same privilege. This tax, called"black mail, " or "black rent, " was sometimes differentlyregarded by those who paid and those who received it. The former looked on it as a stipend, the latter as atribute; but that it implied a formal acknowledgment ofthe local jurisdiction of the chief cannot be doubted. Two centuries after the time of which we speak, BaronFinglas, in his suggestions to King Henry VIII. Forextending his power in Ireland, recommends that "no blackrent be paid to any Irishman _for the four shires_"--ofthe Pale--"and any black rent they had afore this timebe paid to them for ever. " At that late period "theMcMurrogh" had still his 80 marks annually from theExchequer, and 40 pounds from the English settled inWexford; O'Carroll of Ely had 40 pounds from the Englishin Kilkenny, and O'Conor of Offally 20 pounds from thoseof Kildare, and 300 pounds from Meath. It was to meetthese and other annuities to more distant chiefs, thatWilliam of Windsor, in 1369, covenanted for a largerrevenue than the whole of the Anglo-Irish districts thenyielded, and which led him besides to stipulate that hewas to undertake no new expeditions, but to act entirelyon the defensive. We find a little later, that thenecessity of sustaining the Dublin authorities at anannual loss was one of the main motives which inducedRichard II. Of England to transport two royal armiesacross the channel, in 1394 and 1399. Art McMurrogh, the younger, not only extended the boundsof his own inheritance and imposed tribute on the Englishsettlers in adjoining districts, during the first yearsof his rule, but having married a noble lady of the"Pale, " Elizabeth, heiress to the barony of Norragh, inKildare, which included Naas and its neighbourhood, heclaimed her inheritance in full, though forfeited under"the statute of Kilkenny, " according to English notions. So necessary did it seem to the Deputy and Council ofthe day to conciliate their formidable neighbour, thatthey addressed a special representation to King Richard, setting forth the facts of the case, and adding thatMcMurrogh threatened, until this lady's estates wererestored and the arrears of tribute due to him fullydischarged, he should never cease from war, "but wouldjoin with the Earl of Desmond against the Earl of Ormond, and afterwards return with a great force out of Ministerto ravage the country. " This allusion most probably refersto James, second Earl of Ormond, who, from being thematernal grandson of Edward I. , was called the nobleEarl, and was considered in his day the peculiarrepresentative of the English interest. In the lastyears of Edward III. , and the first of his successor, hewas constable of the Castle of Dublin, with a fee of 18pounds 5 shillings per annum. In 1381--the probable dateof the address just quoted--he had a commission to treatwith certain rebels, in order to reform them and promotepeace. Three years later he died, and was buried in theCathedral of St. Canice, Kilkenny, the place of sepultureof his family. When, in the year 1389, Richard II. , having attained hismajority, demanded to reign alone, the condition of theEnglish interest was most critical. During the twelveyears of his minority the Anglo-Irish policy of theCouncil of Regency had shifted and changed, according tothe predominance of particular influences. The LordLieutenancy was conferred on the King's relatives, EdwardMortimer, Earl of March (1379), and continued to his son, Roger Mortimer, a minor (1381); in 1383, it was transferredto Philip de Courtenay, the King's cousin. The followingyear, de Courtenay having been arrested and fined formal-administration, Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, thespecial favourite of Richard, was created Marquis ofDublin and Duke of Ireland, with a grant of all the powersand authority exercised at any period in Ireland by thatKing or his predecessors. This extraordinary grant wassolemnly confirmed by the English Parliament, who, perhapswilling to get rid of the favourite at any cost, allottedthe sum of 30, 000 marks due from the King of France, witha guard of 500 men-at-arms and 1, 000 archers for de Vere'sexpedition. But that favoured nobleman never entered intopossession of the principality assigned him; he experiencedthe fate of the Gavestons and de Spencers of a formerreign; fleeing, for his life, from the Barons, he diedin exile in the Netherlands. The only real rulers of theAnglo-Irish in the years of the King's minority, orprevious to his first expedition in 1394, (if we exceptSir John Stanley's short terms of office in 1385 and1389, ) were the Earls of Ormond, second and third, Colton, Dean of Saint Patrick's, Petit, Bishop of Meath, andWhite, Prior of Kilmainham. For thirty years after thedeath of Edward III. , no Geraldine was entrusted withthe highest office, and no Anglo-Irish layman of anyother family but the Butlers. In 1393, Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, uncle to Richard, was appointed LordLieutenant, and was on the point of embarking, when aroyal order reached him announcing the determination ofthe King to take command of the forces in person. The immediate motives for Richard's expedition arevariously stated by different authors. That usuallyassigned by the English--a desire to divert his mind frombrooding over the loss of his wife, "the good Queen Anne, "seems wholly insufficient. He had announced his intentiona year before her death; he had called together, beforethe Queen fell ill, the Parliament at Westminster, whichreadily voted him "a tenth" of the revenues of all theirestates for the expedition. Anne's sickness was sudden, and her death took place in the last week of July. Richard's preparations at that date were far advancedtowards completion, and Sir Thomas Scroope had beenalready some months in Dublin to prepare for his reception. The reason assigned by Anglo-Irish writers is moreplausible: he had been a candidate for the Imperial Crownof Germany, and was tauntingly told by his competitorsto conquer Ireland before he entered the lists for thehighest political honour of that age. This rebuke, andthe ill-success of Ms arms against France and Scotland, probably made him desirous to achieve in a new field someshare of that military glory which was always so highlyprized by his family: Some events which immediately preceded Richard's expeditionmay help us to understand the relative positions of thenatives and the naturalized to the English interest inthe districts through which he was to march. By this timethe banner of Art McMurrogh floated over all the castlesand raths, on the slope of the Ridge of Leinster, or thesteps of the Blackstair hills; while the forests alongthe Barrow and the Upper Slaney, as well as in the plainof Carlow and in the South-western angle of Wicklow (nowthe barony of Shillelagh), served still better his purposesof defensive warfare; So entirely was the range of countrythus vaguely defined under native sway that John Griffin, the English Bishop of Leighlin, and Chancellor of theExchequer, obtained a grant in 1389 of the town ofGulroestown, in the county of Dublin, "near the marchesof O'Toole, seeing he could not live within his own seefor the rebels. " In 1390, Peter Creagh, Bishop of Limerick, on his way to attend an Anglo-Irish Parliament, was takenprisoner in that region, and in consequence the usualfine was remitted in his favour. In 1392, James, thethird Earl of Ormond, gave McMurrogh a severe check atTiscoffin, near Shankill, where 600 of his clansmen wereleft dead among the hills. This defeat, however, was thrown into the shade by thecapture of New Boss, on the very eve of Richard's arrivalat Waterford. In a previous chapter we have describedthe fortifications erected round this important seaporttowards the end of the thirteenth century. Since thatperiod its progress had been steadily onward. In thereign of Edward III. The controversy which had longsubsisted between the merchants of Ross and those ofWaterford, concerning the trade monopolies claimed bythe latter, had been decided in favour of Ross. At thisperiod it could muster in its own defence 363 cross-bowmen, 1, 200 long-bowmen, 1, 200 pikemen, and 104 horsemen--aforce which would seem to place it second to Dublin inpoint of military strength. The capture of so importanta place by McMurrogh was a cheering omen to his followers. He razed the walls and towers, and carried off gold, silver, and hostages. On the 2nd of October, 1394, the royal fleet of Richardarrived from Milford Haven, at Waterford. To those whosaw Ireland for the first time, the rock of Dundonolf, famed for Raymond's camp, the abbey of Dunbrody, lookingcalmly down on the confluence of the three rivers, andthe half-Danish, half-Norman port before them, must havepresented scenes full of interest. To the townsmen thefleet was something wonderful. The endless successionof ships of all sizes and models, which had wafted over30, 000 archers and 4, 000 men-at-arms; the royal galleyleading on the fluttering pennons of so many great nobles, was a novel sight to that generation. Attendant on theKing were his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, the youngEarl of March, heir apparent, Thomas Mowbray, Earl ofNottingham, the Earl of Rutland, the Lord Thomas Percy, afterwards Earl of Westmoreland, and father of Hotspur, and Sir Thomas Moreley, heir to the last Lord Marshal ofthe "Pale. " Several dignitaries of the English Church, as well Bishops as Abbots, were also with the fleet. Immediately after landing, a _Te Deum_ was sung in theCathedral, where Earl Richard had wedded the PrincessEva, where Henry II. And John had offered up similarthanksgivings. Richard remained a week at Waterford; gave splendid_fetes_, and received some lords of the neighbouringcountry, Le Poers, Graces, and Butlers. He made gifts tochurches, and ratified the charter given by John to theabbey of Holy Cross in Munster. He issued a summons toGerald, Earl of Desmond, to appear before him by thefeast of the Purification "in whatever part of Irelandhe should then be, " to answer to the charge of havingusurped the manor, revenues, and honour of Dungarvan. Although it was then near the middle of October, he tookthe resolution of marching to Dublin, through the countryof McMurrogh, and knowing the memory of Edward theConfessor to be popular in Leinster, he furled the royalbanner, and hoisted that of the saintly Saxon king, whichbore "a cross patence, or, on a field gules, with fourdoves argent on the shield. " His own proper banner borelioncels and fleur-de-lis. His route was by Thomastownto Kilkenny, a city which had risen into importance withthe Butlers. Nearly half a century before, this familyhad brought artizans from Flanders, who established themanufacture of woollens, for which the town was everafter famous. Its military importance was early felt andlong maintained. At this city Richard was joined by SirWilliam de Wellesley, who claimed to be hereditarystandard-bearer for Ireland, and by other Anglo-Irishnobles. From thence he despatched his Earl Marshal into"Catherlough" to treat with McMurrogh. On the plain ofBallygorry, near Carlow, Art, with his uncle, Malachy, O'Moore, O'Nolan, O'Byrne, MacDavid, and other chiefs, met the Earl Marshal. The terms proposed were almostequivalent to extermination. They were, in effect, thatthe Leinster chieftains, under fines of enormous amount, payable into the Apostolic chamber, should, before thefirst Sunday of Lent, surrender to the English King "thefull possession of all their lands, tenements, castles, woods, and forts, which by them and all other of theKenseologhes, their companions, men, or adherents, latewere occupied within the province of Leinster. " And thecondition of this surrender was to be, that they shouldhave unmolested possession of any and all lands theycould conquer from the King's other Irish enemies elsewherein the kingdom. To these hard conditions some of theminor chiefs, overawed by the immense force broughtagainst them, would, it seems, have submitted, but Artsternly refused to treat, declaring that if he made termsat all, it should be with the King and not with the EarlMarshal; and that instead of yielding his own lands, hiswife's patrimony in Kildare should be restored. Thisbroke up the conference, and Mowbray returned discomfittedto Kilkenny. King Richard, full of indignation, put himself at thehead of his army and advanced against the Leinster clans. But his march was slow and painful: the season and theforest fought against him; he was unable to collect bythe way sufficient fodder for the horses or provisionsfor the men. McMurrogh swept off everything of the natureof food--took advantage of his knowledge of the countryto burst upon the enemy by night, to entrap them intoambuscades, to separate the cavalry from the foot, andby many other stratagems to thin their ranks and harassthe stragglers. At length Richard, despairing of dislodginghim from his fastnesses in Idrone, or fighting a way outof them, sent to him another deputation of "the Englishand Irish of Leinster, " inviting him to Dublin to apersonal interview. This proposal was accepted, and theEnglish king continued his way to Dublin, probably alongthe sea coast by Bray and the white strand, over Killineyand Dunleary. Soon after his arrival at Dublin, care wastaken to repair the highway which ran by the sea, towardsWicklow and Wexford. CHAPTER IV. SUBSEQUENT PROCEEDINGS OF RICHARD II. --LIEUTENANCY ANDDEATH OF THE EARL OF MARCH--SECOND EXPEDITION OF RICHARDAGAINST ART McMURROGH--CHANGE OF DYNASTY IN ENGLAND. At Dublin, Richard prepared to celebrate the festival ofChristmas, with all the splendour of which he was sofond. He had received letters from his council in Englandwarmly congratulating him on the results of his "noblevoyage" and his successes against "his rebel Make Murgh. "Several lords and chiefs were hospitably entertained byhim during the holidays--but the greater magnates didnot yet present themselves--unless we suppose them tohave continued his guests at Dublin, from Christmas tillEaster, which is hardly credible. The supplies which he had provided were soon devoured byso vast a following. His army, however, were paid theirwages weekly, and were well satisfied. But whatever theKing or his flatterers might pretend, the real object ofall the mighty preparations made was still in the distance, and fresh supplies were needed for the projected campaignof 1395. To raise the requisite funds, he determined tosend to England his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester. Gloucester carried a letter to the regent, the Duke ofYork, countersigned "Lincolne, " and dated from Dublin, "Feb. 1, 1395. " The council, consisting of the Earls ofDerby, Arundel, de Ware, Salisbury, Northumberland, andothers, was convened, and they "readily voted a tenthoff the clergy, and a fifteenth off the laity, for theKing's supply. " This they sent with a document, signedby them all, exhorting him to a vigorous prosecution ofthe war, and the demolition of all forts belonging to"MacMourgh [or] le grand O'Nel. " They also addressed himanother letter, complimentary of his valour and discretionin all things. While awaiting supplies from England, Richard made aprogress as far northward as Drogheda, where he took uphis abode in the Dominican Convent of St. Mary Magdalen. On the eve of St. Patrick's Day, O'Neil, O'Donnell, O'Reilly, O'Hanlon, and MacMahon, visited and exchangedprofessions of friendship with him. It is said they made"submission" to him as their sovereign lord, but untilthe Indentures, which have been spoken of, but neverpublished, are exhibited, it will be impossible todetermine what, in their minds and in his, were the exactrelations subsisting between the native Irish princesand the King of England at that time. O'Neil, and otherlords of Ulster, accompanied him back to Dublin, wherethey found O'Brien, O'Conor, and McMurrogh, lately arrived. They were all lodged in a fair mansion, according to thenotion of Master Castide, Froissart's informant, and wereunder the care of the Earl of Ormond and Castide himself, both of whom spoke familiarly the Irish language. The glimpse we get through Norman spectacles of themanners and customs of these chieftains is eminentlyinstructive, both as regards the observers and theobserved. They would have, it seems, very much to thedisedification of the English esquire, "their minstrelsand principal servants sit at the same table and eat fromthe same dish. " The interpreters employed all theireloquence in vain to dissuade them from this lewd habit, which they perversely called "a praiseworthy custom, "till at last, to get rid of importunities, they consentedto have it ordered otherwise, during their stay as KingRichard's guests. On the 24th of March the Cathedral of Christ's Churchbeheld the four kings devoutly keeping the vigil preparatoryto knighthood. They had been induced to accept that honourfrom Richard's hand. They had apologized at first, sayingthey were all knighted at the age of seven. But theceremony, as performed in the rest of Christendom, wasrepresented to them as a great and religious custom, which made the simplest knight the equal of his sovereign, which added new lustre to the crowned head, and freshhonour to the victorious sword. On the Feast of theAnnunciation they went through the imposing ceremony, according to the custom obtaining among their entertainers. While the native Princes of the four Provinces were thuslodged together in one house, it was inevitable thatplans of co-operation for the future should be discussedbetween them. Soon after the Earl of Ormond, who knewtheir language, appeared before Richard as the accuserof McMurrogh, who was, on his statement, committed toclose confinement in the Castle. He was, however, soonafter set at liberty, though O'Moore, O'Byrne, and JohnO'Mullain were retained in custody, probably as hostages, for the fulfilment of the terms of his release. By thistime the expected supplies had arrived from England, andthe festival of Easter was happily passed. Before breakingup from his winter quarters Richard celebrated with greatpomp the festival of his namesake, St. Richard, Bishopof Chichester, and then summoned a parliament to meethim at Kilkenny on the 12th of the month. The acts ofthis parliament have not seen the light; an obscuritywhich they share in common with all the documents of thisPrince's progress in Ireland. The same remark was madethree centuries ago by the English chronicler, Grafton, who adds with much simplicity, that as Richard's voyageinto Ireland "was nothing profitable nor honourable tohim, therefore the writers think it scant worth thenoting. " Early in May a deputation, at the head of which was thecelebrated William of Wyckham, arrived from England, invoking the personal presence of the King to quiet thedisturbances caused by the progress of Lollardism. Withthis invitation he decided at once to comply, but firsthe appointed the youthful Earl of March his lieutenantin Ireland, and confirmed the ordinance of Edward III. , empowering the chief governor in council to conveneparliament by writ, which writ should be of equal obligationwith the King's writ in England. He ordained that a fineof not less than fifty marks, and not more than onehundred, should be exacted of every representative of atown or shire, who, being elected as such, neglected orrefused to attend. He reformed the royal courts, andappointed Walter de Hankerford and William Sturmey, twoEnglishmen, "well learned in the law" as judges, whoseannual salaries were to be forty pounds each. Having madethese arrangements, he took an affectionate leave of hisheir and cousin, and sailed for England, whither he wasaccompanied by most of the great nobles who had passedover with him to the Irish wars. Little dreamt they ofthe fate which impended over many of their heads. Threeshort years and Gloucester would die by the assassin'shand, Arundel by the executioner's axe, and Mowbray, EarlMarshal, the ambassador at Ballygorry, would pine todeath in Italian banishment. Even a greater change thanany of these--a change of dynasty--was soon to come overEngland. The young Earl of March, now left in the supreme directionof affairs, so far as we know, had no better title togovern than that he was heir to the English throne, unlessit may have been considered an additional recommendationthat he was sixth in descent from the Lady Eva McMurrogh. To his English title, he added that of Earl of Ulsterand Lord of Connaught, derived from his mother, thedaughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, and those of Lordof Trim and Clare, from other relations. The counsellorswith whom he was surrounded included the wisest statesmenand most experienced soldiers of "the Pale. " Among themwere Almaric, Baron Grace, who, contrary to the statuteof Kilkenny, had married an O'Meagher of Ikerrin, andwhose family had intermarried with the McMurroghs; thethird Earl of Ormond, an indomitable soldier, who hadacted as Lord Deputy, in former years of this reign;Cranley, Archbishop of Dublin, and Roche, the CistercianAbbot of St. Mary's, lately created Lord Treasurer ofIreland; Stephen Bray, Chief Justice; and Gerald, fifthEarl of Kildare. Among his advisers of English birth wereRoger Grey, his successor; the new Judges Hankerford andSturmey, and others of less pacific reputation. Withthe dignitaries of the Church, and the innumerable priorsand abbots, in and about Dublin, the court of theHeir-Presumptive must have been a crowded and imposingone for those times, and had its external prospects beenpeaceful, much ease and pleasure might have been enjoyedwithin its walls. In the three years of this administration, the strugglebetween the natives, the naturalized, and the Englishinterest knew no cessation in Leinster. Some form ofsubmission had been wrung from McMurrogh before hisrelease from Dublin Castle, in the spring of 1395, butthis engagement extorted under duress, from a guesttowards whom every rite of hospitality had been violated, he did not feel bound by after his enlargement. In thesame year an attempt was made to entrap him at a banquetgiven in one of the castles of the frontier, but warnedby his bard, he made good his escape "by the strength ofhis arm, and by bravery. " After this double violation ofwhat among his countrymen, even of the fiercest tribes, was always held sacred, the privileged character of aguest, he never again placed himself at the mercy ofprince or peer, but prosecuted the war with unfalteringdetermination. In 1396, his neighbour, the chief ofImayle, carried off from an engagement near Dublin, sixscore heads of the foreigners: and the next year--anexploit hardly second in its kind to the taking of Ross--the strong castle and town of Carlow were captured byMcMurrogh himself. In the campaign of 1398, on the 20thof July, was fought the eventful battle of Kenlis, orKells, on the banks of the stream called "the King'sriver, " in the barony of Kells, and county of Kilkenny. Here fell the Heir-Presumptive to the English crown, whose premature removal was one of the causes whichcontributed to the revolution in England, a year or twolater. The tidings of this event filled "the Pale" withconsternation, and thoroughly aroused the vindictivetemper of Richard. He at once despatched to Dublin hishalf-brother, Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, recentlycreated Duke of Surrey. To this duke he made a gift ofCarlow castle and town, to be held (if taken) by knights'service. He then, as much, perhaps, to give occupationto the minds of his people, as to prosecute his oldproject of subduing Ireland, began to make preparationsfor his second expedition thither. Death again delayedhim. John of Ghent, Duke of Lancaster, his uncle, andone of the most famous soldiers of the time, suddenlysickened, and died. As Henry, his son, was in banishment, the King, under pretence of appropriating his vast wealthto the service of the nation, seized it into his ownhands, and despite the warnings of his wisest counsellorsas to the disturbed state of the kingdom, again took uphis march for Milford Haven. A French knight, named Creton, had obtained leave witha brother-in-arms to accompany this expedition, and hasleft us a very vivid account of its progress. QuittingParis they reached London just as King Richard was about"to cross the sea on account of the injuries and grievancesthat his mortal enemies had committed against him inIreland, where they had put to death many of his faithfulfriends. " Wherefore they were further told, "he wouldtake no rest until he had avenged himself upon MacMore, who called himself most excellent King and Lord of greatIreland; where he had but little territory of any kind. " They at once set out for Milford, where, "waiting forthe north wind, " they remained "ten whole days. " Herethey found King Richard with a great army, and acorresponding fleet. The clergy were taxed to supplyhorses, waggons, and money--the nobles, shires, and towns, their knights, men-at-arms, and archers-the seaports, from Whitehaven to Penzance, were obliged, by an orderin council, dated February 7th, to send vessels rated attwenty-five tons and upwards to Milford, by the octaveof Easter. King's letters were issued whenever the usualordinances failed, and even the press-gang was resortedto, to raise the required number of mariners. Minstrelsof all kinds crowded to the camp, enlivening it by theirstrains, and enriching themselves the while. The windcoming fair, the vessels "took in their lading of bread, wine, cows and calves, salt meat and plenty of water, "and the King taking leave of his ladies, they set sail. In two days they saw "the tower of Waterford. " Thecondition to which the people of this English strongholdhad been reduced by the war was pitiable in the extreme. Some were in rags, others girt with ropes, and theirdwellings seemed to the voyagers but huts and holes. Theyrushed into the tide up to their waists, for the speedyunloading of the ships, especially attending to thosethat bore the supplies of the army. Little did the proudcavaliers and well-fed yeomen, who then looked on, imagine, as they pitied the poor wretches of Waterford, that beforemany weeks were over, they would themselves be reducedto the like necessity--even to rushing into the sea tocontend for a morsel of food. Six days after his arrival, which was on the 1st of June, King Richard marched from Waterford "in close order toKilkenny. " He had now the advantage of long days and warmnights, which in his first expedition he had not. Hisforces were rather less than in 1394; some say twenty, some twenty-four thousand in all. The Earl of Rutland, with a reinforcement in one hundred ships, was to havefollowed him, but this unfaithful courtier did not greatlyhasten his preparations to overtake his master. With theKing were the Lord Steward of England, Sir Thomas Percy;the Duke of Exeter; De Spencer, Earl of Gloucester; theLord Henry of Lancaster, afterwards King Henry V. ; theson of the late Duke of Gloucester; the son of the Countessof Salisbury; the Bishop of Exeter and London; the Abbotof Westminster, and a gallant Welsh gentleman, afterwardsknown to fame as Owen Glendower. He dropped the subterfugeof bearing Edward the Confessor's banner, and advancedhis own standard, which bore leopards and flower de luces. In this order, "riding boldly, " they reached Kilkenny, where Richard remained a fortnight awaiting news of theEarl of Rutland from Waterford. No news, however, came. But while he waited, he received intelligence from Kildarewhich gratified his thirst for vengeance. Jenico d'Artois, a Gascon knight of great discretion and valour, who hadcome over the preceding year with the Duke of Surrey, marching towards Kilkenny, had encountered some bands ofthe Irish in Kildare (bound on a like errand to theirprince), whom he fought and put to flight, leaving twohundred of them dead upon the field. This Jenico, relishingIrish warfare more than most foreign soldiers of his age, continued long after to serve in Ireland--married one ofhis daughters to Preston, Baron of Naas, and another tothe first Lord Portlester. On the 23rd of June, "the very vigil of St. John, " asaint to whom the King was very much devoted, Richard, resolving to delay no longer, left Kilkenny, and marcheddirectly towards Catherlough. He sent a message in advanceto McMurrogh, "who would neither submit nor obey him inanyway; but affirmed that he was the rightful King ofIreland, and that he would never cease from war and thedefence of his country until his death; and said thatthe wish to deprive him of it by conquest was unlawful. " Art McMurrogh, now some years beyond middle age, had withhim in arms "three thousand hardy men, " "who did notappear, " says our French knight, "to be much afraid ofthe English. " The cattle and corn, the women and thehelpless, he had removed into the interior of thefastnesses, while he himself awaited, in Idrone, theapproach of the enemy. This district, which lies north and south between therivers Slaney and Barrow, is of a diversified and brokensoil, watered with several small streams, and patchedwith tracts of morass and marsh. It was then half coveredwith wood, except in the neighbourhood of Old Leighlin, and a few other places where villages had grown up aroundthe castles, raths, and monasteries of earlier days. Onreaching the border of the forest, King Richard orderedall the habitations in sight to be set on fire; and then"two thousand five hundred of the well affected people, "or, as others say, prisoners, "began to hew a highwayinto the woods. " When the first space was cleared, Richard, ever fond ofpageantry, ordered his standard to be planted on the newground, and pennons and banners arrayed on every side. Then he sent for the sons of the Dukes of Gloucester andLancaster, his cousins, and the son of the Countess ofSalisbury and other bachelors-in-arms, and there knightedthem with all due solemnity. To young Lancaster, he said, "My fair cousin, henceforth, be preux and valiant, foryou have some valiant blood to conquer. " The youth towhom he made this address was little more than a boy, but tall of his age, and very vigorous. He had been ahard student at Oxford, and was now as unbridled as acolt new loosed into a meadow. He was fond of music, andafterwards became illustrious as the Fifth Henry ofEnglish history. Who could have foreseen, when first heput on his spurs by the wood's side, in Catherlough, thathe would one day inherit the throne of England and makegood the pretensions of all his predecessors to the throneof France? Richard's advance was slow and wearisome in the forestsof Idrone. His route was towards the eastern coast. McMurrogh retreated before him, harassing him dreadfully, carrying off everything fit for food for man or beast, surprising and slaying his foragers, and filling his campnightly with alarm and blood. The English archers gotoccasional shots at his men, "so that they did not allescape;" and they in turn often attacked the rear-guard, "and threw their darts with such force that they piercedhaubergeon and plates through and through. " The LeinsterKing would risk no open battle so long as he could thuscut off the enemy in detail. Many brave knights fell, many men-at-arms and archers; and a deep disrelish forthe service began to manifest itself in the English camp. A party of Wexford settlers, however, brought one day tohis camp Malachy McMurrogh, uncle to Art, a timid, treaty-making man. According to the custom of thatcentury--observed by the defenders of Stirling and theburgesses of Calais--he submitted with a _wythe_ abouthis neck, rendering up a naked sword. His retinue, bareheaded and barefoot, followed him into the presenceof Richard, who received them graciously. "Friends, "said he to them, "as to the evils and wrongs that youhave committed against me, I pardon you on condition thateach of you will swear to be faithful to me for the timeto come. " Of this circumstance he made the most, as ourguide goes on to tell in these words: "Then every onereadily complied with his demand; and took the oath. Whenthis was done he sent word to MacMore, who called himselfLord and King of Ireland, (_that country_, ) where he hasmany a wood but little cultivated land, that if he wouldcome straightways to him with a rope about _his_ neck, as his uncle had done, he would admit him to mercy, andelsewhere give him castles and lands in abundance. " Theanswer of King Art is thus reported: "MacMore told theKing's people he would do no such thing for all thetreasures of the sea or on this side, (the sea, ) butwould continue to fight and harass him. " For eleven days longer Richard continued his route inthe direction of Dublin, McMurrogh and his allies fallingback towards the hills and glens of Wicklow. The Englishcould find nothing by the way but "a few green oats" forthe horses, which being exposed night and day, and sobadly fed, perished in great numbers. The general discontentnow made itself audible even to the ears of the King. For many days five or six men had but a "single loaf. "Even gentlemen, knights and squires, fasted in succession;and our chivalrous guide, for his part, "would have beenheartily glad to have been penniless at Poitiers orParis. " Daily deaths made the camp a scene of continuedmourning, and all the minstrels that had come across thesea to amuse their victor countrymen, like the poet whowent with Edward II. To Bannockburn to celebrate theconquest of the Scots, found their gay imaginings turnedto a sorrowful reverse. At last, however, they came in sight of the sea-coast, where vessels laden with provisions, sent from Dublin, were awaiting them. So eager were the famished men forfood, that "they rushed into the sea as eagerly as theywould into their straw. " All their money was poured intothe hands of the merchants; some of them even fought inthe water about a morsel of food, while in their thirstthey drank all the wine they could lay hands on. Ourguide saw full a thousand men drunk that day on "the wineof Ossey and Spain. " The scene of this extraordinaryincident is conjectured to have been at or near Arklow, where the beach is sandy and flat, such as it is not atany point of Wicklow north of that place. The morning after the arrival of these stores, KingRichard again set forward for Dublin, determining topenetrate Wicklow by the valleys that lead from theMeeting of the Waters to Bray. He had not proceeded faron his march, when a Franciscan friar reached his campas Ambassador from the Leinster King. This unnamedmessenger, whose cowl history cannot raise, expressedthe willingness of his lord to treat with the King, through some accredited agent--"some lord who might berelied upon"--"so that _their_ anger (Richard's and hisown), that had long been cruel, might now be extinguished. "The announcement spread "great joy" in the English camp. A halt was ordered, and a council called. After aconsultation, it was resolved that de Spencer, Earl ofGloucester, should be empowered to confer with Art. Thisnobleman, now but 26 years of age, had served in thecampaign of 1394. He was one of the most powerful peersof England, and had married Constance, daughter of theDuke of York, Richard's cousin. From his possessions inWales, he probably knew something of the Gaelic customsand speech. He was captain of the rearguard on thisexpedition, and now, with 200 lances, and 1, 000 archers, all of whom were chosen men, he set out for the conference. The French knight also went with him, as he himselfrelates in these words: "Between two woods, at some distance from the sea, Ibeheld MacMore and a body of the Irish, more than I cannumber, descend the mountain. He had a horse, withouthousing or saddle, which was so fine and good, that ithad cost him, they said, four hundred cows; for there islittle money in the country, wherefore their usual trafficis only with cattle. In coming down, it galloped sohard, that, in my opinion, I never saw hare, deer, sheep, or any other animal, I declare to you for a certainty, run with such speed as it did. In his right hand he borea great long dart, which he cast with much skill. * * *His people drew up in front of the wood. These two(Gloucester and the King), like an out-post, met near alittle brook. There MacMore stopped. He was a fine largeman--wondrously active. To look at him, he seemed verystern and savage, and an able man. He and the Earl spakeof their doings, recounting the evil and injury thatMacMore had done towards the King at sundry times; andhow they all foreswore their fidelity when wrongfully, without judgment or law, they most mischievously put todeath the courteous Earl of March. Then they exchangedmuch discourse, but did not come to agreement; they tookshort leave, and hastily parted. Each took his way apart, and the Earl returned towards King Richard. " This interview seems to have taken place in the lowervale of Ovoca, locally called Glen-Art, both from thedescription of the scenery, and the stage of his marchat which Richard halted. The two woods, the hills oneither hand, the summer-shrunken river, which, to oneaccustomed to the Seine and the Thames naturally lookedno bigger than a brook, form a picture, the original ofwhich can only be found in that locality. The nameitself, a name not to be found among the immediate chiefsof Wicklow, would seem to confirm this hypothesis. The Earl on his return declared, "he could find nothingin him, (Art, ) save only that he would ask for _pardon_, truly, upon condition of having _peace without reserve_, free from any molestation or imprisonment; otherwise, hewill never come to agreement as long as he lives; and, (he said, ) 'nothing venture, nothing have. ' This speech, "says the French knight, "was not agreeable to the King;it appeared to me that his face grew pale with anger; heswore in great wrath by St. Edward, that, no, never wouldhe depart from Ireland, till, alive or dead, he had himin his power. " The King, notwithstanding, was most anxious to reachDublin. He at once broke up his camp, and marched onthrough Wicklow, "for all the shoutings of the enemie. "What other losses he met in those deep valleys our guidedeigns not to tell, but only that they arrived at lastin Dublin "more than 30, 000" strong, which includes, ofcourse, the forces of the Anglo-Irish lords that joinedthem on the way. There "the whole of their ills weresoon forgotten, and their sorrow removed. " The provostand sheriffs feasted them sumptuously, and they were allwell-housed and clad. After the dangers they had undergone, these attentions were doubly grateful to them. But forlong years the memory of this doleful march lived in therecollection of the English on both sides the Irish sea, and but once more for above a century did a hostile armyventure into the fastnesses of Idrone and Hy-Kinsellah. When Richard arrived in Dublin, still galled by the memoryof his disasters, he divided his force into three divisions, and sent them out in quest of McMurrogh, promising towhosoever should bring him to Dublin, alive or dead, "100marks, in pure gold. " "Every one took care to rememberthese words, " says Creton, "for it was a good hearing. "And Richard, moreover, declared that if they did notcapture him when the autumn came, and the trees wereleafless and dry, he would burn "all the woods great andsmall, " or find out that troublous rebel. The same dayhe sent out his three troops, the Earl of Rutland, hislaggard cousin, arrived at Dublin with 100 barges. Hisunaccountable delay he submissively apologized for, andwas readily pardoned. "Joy and delight" now reigned inDublin. The crown jewels shone at daily banquets, tournaments, and mysteries. Every day some new pastimewas invented, and thus six weeks passed, and August drewto an end. Richard's happiness would have been completehad any of his soldiers brought in McMurrogh's head: butfar other news was on the way to him. Though there wassuch merriment in Dublin, a long-continued storm sweptthe channel. When good weather returned, a barge arrivedfrom Chester, bearing Sir William Bagot, who broughtintelligence that Henry of Lancaster, the banished Duke, had landed at Ravenspur, and raised a formidableinsurrection amongst the people, winning over the Archbishopof Canterbury, the Duke of York, and other great nobles. Richard was struck with dismay. He at once sent the Earlof Salisbury into Wales to announce his return, and then, taking the evil counsel of Rutland, marched himself toWaterford, with most part of his force, and collectedthe remainder on the way. Eighteen days after the newsarrived he embarked for England, leaving Sir John Stanleyas Lord Lieutenant in Ireland. Before quitting Dublin, he confined the sons of the Dukes of Lancaster andGloucester, in the strong fortress of Trim, from whichthey were liberated to share the triumph of the successfulusurper, Henry IV. It is beyond our province to follow the after-fate ofthe monarch, whose Irish campaigns we have endeavouredto restore to their relative importance. His depositionand cruel death, in the prison of Pontefract, are familiarto readers of English history. The unsuccessfulinsurrections suppressed during his rival's reign, andthe glory won by the son of that rival, as Henry V. , seemto have established the house of Lancaster firmly on thethrone; but the long minority of Henry VI. --who inheritedthe royal dignity at nine months old--and the factionsamong the other members of that family, openedopportunities, too tempting to be resisted, to the rivaldynasty of York. During the first sixty years of thecentury on which we are next to enter, we shall find theEnglish interest in Ireland controlled by the house ofLancaster; in the succeeding twenty-five years thepartizans of the house of York are in the ascendant;until at length, after the victory of Bosworth field(A. D. 1485), the wars of the roses are terminated by thecoronation of the Earl of Richmond as Henry VII. , andhis politic marriage with the Princess Elizabeth-therepresentative of the Yorkist dynasty. It will be seenhow these rival houses had their respective factionsamong the Anglo-Irish; how these factions retarded twocenturies the establishment of English power in Ireland;how the native lords and chiefs took advantage of thedisunion among the foreigners to circumscribe more andmore the narrow limits of the Pale; and lastly, how theabsence of national unity alone preserved the power soreduced from utter extinction. In considering all thesefar extending consequences of the deposition of Richard II. , and the substitution of Henry of Lancaster in his stead, we must give due weight to his unsuccessful Irish warsas proximate causes of that revolution. The death of theHeir-Presumptive in the battle of Kells; the exactionsand ill-success of Richard in his wars; the seizure ofJohn of Ghent's estates and treasures; the absence ofthe sovereign at the critical moment: all these are causeswhich operated powerfully to that end. And of these allthat relate to Irish affairs were mainly brought aboutby the heroic constancy, in the face of enormous odds, the unwearied energy, and high military skill exhibitedby one man--Art McMurrogh. CHAPTER V. PARTIES WITHIN "THE PALE"--BATTLES OF KILMAINHAM ANDKILLUCAN-SIR JOHN TALBOT'S LORD LIEUTENANCY. One leading fact, which we have to follow in all itsconsequences through the whole of the fifteenth century, is the division of the English and of the Anglo-Irishinterest into two parties, Lancasterians and Yorkists. This division of the foreign power will be found to haveproduced a corresponding sense of security in the mindsof the native population, and thus deprived them of thatnext best thing to a united national action, the combiningeffects of a common external danger. The new party lines were not drawn immediately upon theEnglish revolution of 1399, but a very few years sufficedto infuse among settlers of English birth or descent thepartizan passions which distracted the minds of men intheir original country. The third Earl of Ormond, althoughhe had received so many favours from the late King andhis grandfather, yet by a common descent of five generationsfrom Edward I. , stood in relation of cousinship to theUsurper. On the arrival of the young Duke of Lancasteras Lord Lieutenant, in 1402, Ormond became one of hisfirst courtiers, and dying soon after, he chose the Dukeguardian to his heir, afterwards the fourth Earl. Thisheir, while yet a minor (1407), was elected or appointeddeputy to his guardian, the Lord Lieutenant; during almostthe whole of the short reign of Henry V. (1413-1421) heresided at the English Court, or accompanied the King inhis French campaigns, thus laying the foundations of thatinfluence which, six several times during the reign ofHenry VI. , procured his appointment to office as LordDeputy, Lord Justice, or Lord Lieutenant. At length, inthe mid-year of the century, his successor was createdEarl of Wiltshire, and entrusted with the important dutiesof one of the Commissioners for the fleet, and LordTreasurer of England; favours and employments whichsufficiently account for how the Ormond family becamethe leaders of the Lancaster party among the Anglo-Irish. The bestowal of the first place on another house tendedto estrange the Geraldines, who, with some reason, regardedthemselves as better entitled to such honours. Duringthe first official term of the Duke of Lancaster, nogreat feeling was exhibited, and on his departure in1405, the fifth Earl of Kildare was, for a year, entrustedwith the office of Deputy. On the return of the Duke, in August, 1408, the Earl rode out to meet him, but wassuddenly arrested with three other members of his family, and imprisoned in the Castle, His house in Dublin wasplundered by the servants of the Lord Lieutenant, andthe sum of 300 marks was exacted for his ransom. Suchinjustice and indignity, as well as the subsequent arrestof the sixth Earl, in 1418, "for having communicated withthe Prior of Kilmainham"--still more than their rivalrywith the Ormonds, drove the Kildare family into the ranksof the adherents of the Dukes of York. We shall see inthe sequel the important reacting influence of theseAnglo-Irish combinations upon the fortunes of the whiterose and the red. To signalize his accession and remove the reproach ofinaction which had been so often urged against hispredecessor, Henry IV, was no sooner seated on the thronethan he summoned the military tenants of the Crown tomeet him in arms upon the Tyne, for the invasion ofScotland. It seems probable that he summoned those ofIreland with the rest, as we find in that year (1400)that an Anglo-Irish fleet, proceeding northwards fromDublin, encountered a Scottish, fleet in Strangford Lough, where a fierce engagement was fought, both sides claimingthe victory. Three years later the Dubliners landed atSaint Ninians, and behaved valiantly, as their trainbands did the same summer against the mountain tribes ofWicklow. Notwithstanding the personal sojourn of theunfortunate Richard, and his lavish expenditure amongthem, these warlike burghers cordially supported the newdynasty. Some privileges of trade were judiciously extendedto them, and, in 1407, Henry granted to the Mayors ofthe city the privilege of having a gilded sword carriedbefore them, in the same manner as the Mayors of London. At the period when these politic favours were bestowedon the citizens of Dublin, Henry was contending with aformidable insurrection in Wales, under the leadershipof Owen Glendower, who had learned in the fastnesses ofIdrone, serving under King Richard, how brave men, thoughnot formed to war in the best schools, can defend theircountry against invasion. In the struggle which hemaintained so gallantly during this and the next reign, though the fleet of Dublin at first assisted his enemies, he was materially aided afterwards by the constantoccupation furnished them by the clans of Leinster. Theearly years of the Lancasterian dynasty were marked bya series of almost invariable defeats in the Leinstercounties. Art McMurrogh, whose activity defied the chillingeffects of age, poured his cohorts through Sculloge gap, on the garrisons of Wexford, taking in rapid possessionin one campaign (1406) the castles of Camolin, Ferns, and Enniscorthy. Returning northward he retook Castledermot, and inflicted chastisement on the warlike Abbot of Conal, near Naas, who shortly before attacked some Irish forceson the Curragh of Kildare, slaying two hundred men. Castledermot was retaken by the Lord Deputy Scrope thenext year, with the aid of the Earls of Ormond and Desmond, and the Prior of Kilmainham, at the head of his Knights. These allies were fresh from a Parliament in Dublin, where the Statute of Kilkenny had been, according tocustom, solemnly re-enacted as the only hope of theEnglish interest, and they naturally drew the sword inmaintenance of their palladium. Within six miles ofCallan, in "McMurrogh's country, " they encountered thatchieftain and his clansmen. In the early part of the daythe Irish are stated to have had the advantage, but someMethian captains coming up in the afternoon turned thetide in favour of the English. According to the chroniclesof the Pale, they won a second victory before nightfallat the town of Callan, over O'Carroll of Ely, who wasmarching to the aid of McMurrogh. But so confused andunsatisfactory are the accounts of this twofold engagementon the same day, in which the Deputy in person, and suchimportant persons as the Earls of Desmond, of Ormond, and the Prior of Kilmainham commanded, that we cannotreconcile it with probability. The Irish Annals simplyrecord the fact that a battle was gained at Callan overthe Irish of Munster, in which O'Carroll was slain. Othernative authorities add that 800 of his followers fellwith O'Carroll, but no mention whatever is made of thebattle with McMurrogh. The English accounts gravely add, that the evening sun stood still, while the Lord Deputyrode six miles, from the place of the first engagementto that of the second. This was the last campaign ofSir Stephen Scrope; he died soon after by the pestilencewhich swept over the island, sparing neither rich norpoor. The Duke of Lancaster resumed the Lieutenancy, arrestedthe Earl of Kildare as before related, convoked a Parliamentat Dublin, and with all the forces he could muster, determined on an expedition southwards. But McMurroghand the mountaineers of Wicklow now felt themselves strongenough to take the initiative. They crossed the plainwhich lies to the north of Dublin, and encamped atKilmainham, where Roderick when he besieged the city, and Brien before the battle of Clontarf, had pitchedtheir tents of old. The English and Anglo-Irish forces, under the eye of their Prince, marched out to dislodgethem, in four divisions. The first was led by the Dukein person; the second by the veteran knight, Jenicod'Artois, the third by Sir Edward Perrers, an Englishknight, and the fourth by Sir Thomas Butler, Prior ofthe Order of Saint John, afterwards created by Henry V. , for his distinguished service, Earl of Kilmain. WithMcMurrogh were O'Byrne, O'Nolan, and other chiefs, besideshis sons, nephews, and relatives. The numbers on eachside could hardly fall short of ten thousand men, andthe action may be fairly considered one of the mostdecisive of those times. The Duke was carried back woundedinto Dublin; the slopes of Inchicore and the valley ofthe Liffey were strewn with the dying and the dead; theriver at that point obtained from the Leinster Irish thename of _Athcroe_, or the ford of slaughter; the widowedcity was filled with lamentation and dismay. In a petitionaddressed to King Henry by the Council, apparently duringhis son's confinement from the effects of his wound, theythus describe the Lord Lieutenant's condition: "Hissoldiers have deserted him; the people of his householdare on the point of leaving him; and though they werewilling to remain, our lord is not able to keep themtogether; our said lord, your son, is so destitute ofmoney, that he hath not a penny in the world, nor a pennycan he get credit for. " One consequence of this battle of Kilmainham was, thatwhile Art McMurrogh lived, no further attacks were madeupon his kindred or country. He died at Ross, on thefirst day of January, 1417, in the 60th year of his age. His Brehon, O'Doran, having also died suddenly on thesame day, it was supposed they were both poisoned by adrink prepared for them by a woman of the town. "He was, "say our impartial _Four Masters_, who seldom speak sowarmly of any Leinster Prince, "a man distinguished forhis hospitality, knowledge, and feats of arms; a man fullof prosperity and royalty; a founder of churches andmonasteries by his bounty and contributions, " and onewho had defended his Province from the age of sixteen tosixty. On his recovery from the effects of his wound, the Dukeof Lancaster returned finally to England, appointingPrior Butler his Deputy, who filled that office for fiveconsecutive years. Butler was an illegitimate son ofthe late Earl of Ormond, and naturally a Lancasterian:among the Irish he was called Thomas _Baccagh_, on accountof his lameness. He at once abandoned South Leinster asa field of operations, and directed all his efforts tomaintain the Pale in Kildare, Meath, and Louth. His chiefantagonist in this line of action was Murrogh or MauriceO'Conor, of Offally. This powerful chief had lost two orthree sons, but had gamed as many battles over formerdeputies. He was invariably aided by his connexions andneighbours, the MacGeoghegans of West-Heath. Conjointlythey captured the castles and plundered the towns oftheir enemies, holding their prisoners to ransom orcarrying off their flocks. In 1411 O'Conor held to ransomthe English Sheriff of Meath, and somewhat later defeatedPrior Butler in a pitched battle. His greatest victorywas the battle of Killucan, fought on the 10th day ofMay, 1414. In this engagement MacGeoghegan was, as usual, his comrade. All the power of the English Pale was arrayedagainst them. Sir Thomas Mereward, Baron of Screen, "anda great many officers and common soldiers were slain, "and among the prisoners were Christopher Fleming, son ofthe Baron of Slane, for whom a ransom of 1, 400 marks waspaid, and the ubiquitous Sir Jenico d'Artois, who, withsome others, paid "twelve hundred marks, beside a rewardand fine for intercession. " A Parliament which sat atDublin for thirteen weeks, in 1413, and a foray intoWicklow, complete the notable acts of Thomas _Baccagh's_viceroyalty. Soon after the accession of Henry V. (1413), he was summoned to accompany that warlike monarch intoFrance, and for a short interval the government wasexercised by Sir John Stanley, who died shortly afterhis arrival, and by the Archbishop of Dublin, asCommissioner. On the eve of St. Martin's Day, 1414, SirJohn Talbot, afterwards so celebrated as first Earl ofShrewsbury, landed at Dalkey, with the title of LordLieutenant. The appointment of this celebrated Captain, on the brinkof a war with France, was an admission of the desperatestrait to which the English interest had been reduced. And if the end could ever justify the means, Henry V. , from his point of view, might have defended on that groundthe appointment of this inexorable soldier. Adopting thesystem of Sir Thomas Butler, Talbot paid little or noattention to South Leinster, but aimed in the first placeto preserve to his sovereign, Louth and Meath. His mostsouthern point of operation, in his first Lieutenancy, was Leix, but his continuous efforts were directed againstthe O'Conors of Offally and the O'Hanlons and McMahonsof Oriel. For three succeeding years he made circuitsthrough these tribes, generally by the same route, westand north, plundering chiefs and churches, sparing "neithersaint nor sanctuary. " On his return to Dublin after theseforays, he exacted with a high hand whatever he wantedfor his household. When he returned to England, 1419, hecarried along with him, according to the chronicles ofthe Pale--"the curses of many, because he, being run muchin debt for victuals, and divers other things, would paylittle or nothing at all. " Among the natives he left astill worse reputation. The plunder of a bard was regardedby them as worse, if possible, than the spoliation of asanctuary. One of Talbot's immediate predecessors wasreputed to have died of the malediction of a bard ofWest-Meath, whose property he had appropriated; but asif to show his contempt of such superstition, Talbotsuffered no son of song to escape him. Their satires fellpowerless on his path. Not only did he enrich himself, by means lawful and unlawful, but he created interest, which, a few years afterwards, was able to checkmate theDesmonds and Ormonds. The see of Dublin falling vacantduring his administration, he procured the appointmentof his brother Richard as Archbishop, and left him, athis departure, in temporary possession of the office ofLord Deputy. Branches of his family were planted atMalahide, Belgarde, and Talbotstown, in Wicklow, therepresentatives of which survive till this day. One of this Lieutenant's most acceptable offices to theState was the result of stratagem rather than of arms. The celebrated Art McMurrogh was succeeded, in 1417, byhis son, Donogh, who seems to have inherited his valour, without his prudence. In 1419, in common with the O'Conorof Offally, his father's friend, he was entrapped intothe custody of Talbot. O'Conor, the night of his capture, escaped with his companions, and kept up the war untilhis death: McMurrogh was carried to London and confinedin the Tower. Here he languished for nine weary years. At length, in 1428, Talbot, having "got license to makethe best of him, " held him to ransom. The people of hisown province released him, "which was joyful news to theIrish. " But neither the aggrandizement of new nor the depressionof old families effected any cardinal change in thedirection of events. We have traced for half a century, and are still farther to follow out, the naturalconsequences of the odious _Statute of Kilkenny_. Althoughevery successive Parliament of the Pale recited andre-enacted that statute, every year saw it dispensed inparticular cases, both as to trading, intermarriage, andfostering with the natives. Yet the virus of nationalproscription outlived all the experience of its futility. In 1417, an English petition was presented to the EnglishParliament, praying that the law, excluding Irishecclesiastics from Irish benefices, should be strictlyenforced; and the same year they prohibited the influxof fugitives from Ireland, while the Pale Parliamentpassed a corresponding act against allowing any one toemigrate without special license. At a Parliament heldat Dublin in 1421, O'Hedian, Archbishop of Cashel, wasimpeached by Gese, Bishop of Waterford, the main chargesbeing that he loved none of the English nation; that hepresented no Englishman to a living; and that he designedto make himself King of Minister. This zealous assemblyalso adopted a petition of grievances to the King, prayingthat as the Irish, who had done homage to King Richard, "had long since taken arms against the governmentnotwithstanding their recognizances payable in theApostolic chamber, his Highness the King would lay theirconduct before the Pope, and prevail on the Holy Fatherto publish _a crusade against them_, to follow up theintention of his predecessor's grant to Henry II. !" In the temporal order, as we have seen, the policy ofhatred brought its own punishment. "The Pale, " which maybe said to date from the passing of the _Statute ofKilkenny_ (1367), was already abridged more than one-half. The Parliament of Kilkenny had defined it as embracing"Louth, Meath, Dublin, Kildare, Catherlough, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, and Tipperary, " each governed bySeneschals or Sheriffs. In 1422 Dunlavan and Ballymoreare mentioned as the chief keys of Dublin and Kildare--and in the succeeding reign Callan in Oriel is set downas the chief key of that part. Dikes to keep out theenemy were made from Tallaght to Tassagard, at Rathconnellin Meath, and at other places in Meath and Kildare. These narrower limits it long retained, and the usualphrase in all future legislation by which the assembliesof the Anglo-Irish define their jurisdiction is "the fourshires. " So completely was this enclosure isolated fromthe rest of the country that, in the reign at which wehave now arrived, both the Earls of Desmond and Ormondwere exempted from attending certain sittings of Parliament, and the Privy Council, on the ground that they could notdo so without marching through the enemy's country atgreat risk and inconvenience. It is true occasionalsuccesses attended the military enterprises of theAnglo-Irish, even in these days of their lowest fortunes. But they had chosen to adopt a narrow, bigoted, unsocialpolicy; a policy of exclusive dealing and perpetualestrangement from their neighbours dwelling on the samesoil, and they had their reward. Their borders werenarrowed upon them; they were penned up in one corner ofthe kingdom, out of which they could not venture a leaguewithout license and protection, from the free clansmenthey insincerely affected to despise. CHAPTER VI. ACTS OF THE NATIVE PRINCES--SUBDIVISION OF TRIBES ANDTERRITORIES--ANGLO-IRISH TOWNS UNDER NATIVEPROTECTION--ATTEMPT OF THADDEUS O'BRIEN, PRINCE OF THOMOND, TO RESTORE THE MONARCHY--RELATIONS OF THE RACES IN THEFIFTEENTH CENTURY. The history of "the Pale" being recounted down to theperiod of its complete isolation, we have now to passbeyond its entrenched and castellated limits, in orderto follow the course of events in other parts of thekingdom. While the highest courage was everywhere exhibited bychiefs and clansmen, no attempt was made to bring aboutanother National Confederacy, after the fall of EdwardBruce. One result of that striking _denouement_ of astormy career--in addition to those before mentioned--wasto give new life to the jealousy which had never whollysubsided, between the two primitive divisions of theIsland. Bruce, welcomed, sustained, and lamented by theNorthern Irish, was distrusted, avoided, and execratedby those of the South. There may have been exceptions, but this was the rule. The Bards and Newsmen of subsequenttimes, according to their Provincial bias, charged thefailure of Bruce upon the Eugenian race, or justifiedhis fate by aspersing his memory and his adherents ofthe race of Conn. This feeling of irritation, always mostdeep-seated when driven in by a consciousness ofmismanagement or of self-reproach, goes a great way toaccount for the fact, that more than one generation wasto pass away, before any closer union could be broughtabout between the Northern and Southern Milesian Irish. We cannot, therefore, in the period embraced in ourpresent book, treat the Provinces otherwise than asestranged communities, departing farther and farther fromthe ancient traditions of one central legislative counciland one supreme elective chief. Special, short-livedalliances between lords of different Provinces are indeedfrequent; but they were brought about mostly by ties ofrelationship or gossipred, and dissolved with thedisappearance of the immediate danger. The very idea ofnational unity, once so cherished by all the children of_Miledh Espaigne_, seems to have been as wholly lost asany of those secrets of ancient handiwork, over whichmodern ingenuity puzzles itself in vain. In the times towhich we have descended, it was every principality andevery lordship for itself. As was said of old in Rome, "Antony had his party, Octavius had his party, but theCommonwealth had none. " Not alone was the greater unity wholly forgotten, but nosooner were the descendants of the Anglo-Normans driveninto their eastern enclosure, or thoroughly amalgamatedin language, laws and costume with themselves, than theties of particular clans began to loose their bindingforce, and the tendency to subdivide showed itself onevery opportunity. We have already, in the book of the"War of Succession, " described the subdivisions of Breffniand of Meath as measures of policy, taken by the O'ConorKings, to weaken their too powerful suffragans. But thatstep, which might have strengthened the hands of a nativedynasty, almost inevitably weakened the tribes themselvesin combating the attacks of a highly organized foreignpower. Of this the O'Conors themselves became afterwardsthe most striking example. For half a century followingthe Red Earl's death, they had gained steadily on theforeigners settled in Connaught. The terrible defeat ofAthenry was more than atoned for by both other victories. At length the descendants of the vanquished on that dayruled as proudly as ever did their ancestors in theirnative Province. The posterity of the victors were merelytolerated on its soil, or anxiously building up new housesin Meath and Louth. But in an evil hour, on the death oftheir last King (1384), the O'Conors agreed to settlethe conflicting claims of rival candidates for thesuccession by dividing the common inheritance. From thisdate downwards we have an O'Conor Don and an O'Conor Roein the Annals of that Province, each rallying a separateband of partizans; and according to the accidents of age, minority, alliance, or personal reputation, infringing, harassing, or domineering over the other. Powerful lordsthey long continued, but as Provincial Princes we meetthem no more. This fatal example--of which there had been a faintforeshadowing in the division of the McCarthys in thepreceding century--in the course of a generation or two, was copied by almost every great connection, north andsouth. The descendants of yellow Hugh O'Neil in Clandeboyclaimed exemption from the supremacy of the elder familyin Tyrone; the O'Farells, acknowledged two lords ofAnnally; the McDonoghs, two lords of Tirerril; there wasMcDermott of the Wood claiming independence of McDermottof the Rock; O'Brien of Ara asserted equality with O'Brienof Thomond; the nephews of Art McMurrogh contested thesuperiority of his sons; and thus slowly but surely themost powerful clans were hastening the day of their owndissolution. A consequence of these subdivisions was the necessitywhich arose for new and opposite alliances, among thosewho had formerly looked on themselves as members of onefamily, with common dangers and common enemies. The pivotof policy now rested on neighbourhood rather than onpedigree; a change in its first stages apparently unnaturaland deplorable, but in the long run not without itscompensating advantages. As an instance of these newnecessities, we may adduce the protection and succoursteadily extended by the O'Neils of Clandeboy, to theMcQuillans, Bissets, of the Antrim coast, and the McDonnellsof the Glens, against the frequent attacks of the O'Neilsof Tyrone. The latter laid claim to all Ulster, and longrefused to acknowledge these foreigners, though men ofkindred race and speech. Had it not been that the interestof Clandeboy pointed the other way, it is very doubtfulif either the Welsh or Scottish settlers by the bays ofAntrim could have made a successful stand against theoverruling power of the house of Dungannon. The samepolicy, adopted by native chiefs under similarcircumstances, protected the minor groups of settlers offoreign origin in the most remote districts--like theBarretts and other Welsh people of Tyrawley--long afterthe Deputies of the Kings of England had ceased to considerthem as fellow-subjects, or to be concerned for theirexistence. In like manner the detached towns, built by foreigners, of Welsh, Flemish, Saxon, or Scottish origin, were nowtaken "under the protection" of the neighbouring chief, or Prince, and paid to him or to his bailiff an annualtax for such protection. In this manner Wexford purchasedprotection of McMurrogh, Limerick from O'Brien, andDundalk from O'Neil. But the yoke was not always bornewith patience, nor did the bare relation of tax-gathererand tax-payer generate any very cordial feeling betweenthe parties. Emboldened by the arrival of a powerfulDeputy, or a considerable accession to the Colony, ortaking advantage of contested elections for the chieftaincyamong their protectors, these sturdy communities sometimessought by force to get rid of their native masters. Yetin no case at this period were such town risings ultimatelysuccessful. The appearance of a menacing force, and thethreat of the torch, soon brought the refractory burgessesto terms. On such an occasion (1444) Dundalk paid OwenO'Neil the sum of 60 marks and two tuns of wine to averthis indignation. On another, the townsmen of Limerickagreed about the same period to pay annually for ever toO'Brien the sum of 60 marks. Notwithstanding the precarioustenure of their existence, they all continued jealouslyto guard their exclusive privileges. In the oath of officetaken by the Mayor of Dublin (1388) he is sworn to guardthe city's franchises, so that no Irish rebel shallintrude upon the limits. Nicholas O'Grady, Abbot of aMonastery in Clare, is mentioned in 1485 as "the twelfthIrishman that ever possessed the freedom of the city ofLimerick" up to that time. A special bye-law, at a stilllater period, was necessary to admit Colonel WilliamO'Shaughnessy, of one of the first families in thatcounty, to the freedom of the Corporation of the town ofGalway. Exclusiveness on the one side, and arbitrarytaxation on the other, were ill means of ensuring theprosperity of these new trading communities; Freedom andPeace have ever been as essential to commerce as thewinds and waves are to navigation. The dissolution and reorganization of the greater clansnecessarily included the removal of old, and the formationof new boundaries, and these changes frequently led toborder battles between the contestants. The most strikingillustration of the struggles of this description, whichoccurs in our Annals in the fifteenth century, is thatwhich was waged for three generations between a branchof the O'Conors established at Sligo, calling themselves"lords of Lower Connaught, " and the O'Donnells of Donegal. The country about Sligo had anciently been subject tothe Donegal chiefs, but the new masters of Sligo, afterthe era of Edward Bruce, not only refused any longer topay tribute, but endeavoured by the strong hand to extendtheir sway to the banks of the Drowse and the Erne. Thepride not less than the power of the O'Donnells wasinterested in resisting this innovation, for, in themidst of the debateable land rose the famous mountain ofBen Gulban (now Benbulben), which bore the name of thefirst father of their tribe. The contest was, therefore, bequeathed from father to son, but the family of Sligo, under the lead of their vigorous chiefs, and with theadvantage of actual possession, prevailed in establishingthe exemption of their territory from the ancient tribute. The Drowse, which carries the surplus waters of thebeautiful Lough Melvin into the bay of Donegal, finallybecame the boundary between Lower Connaught and Tyrconnell. We have already alluded to the loss of the arts ofpolitical combination among the Irish in the Middle Ages. This loss was occasionally felt by the superior mindsboth in church and state. It was felt by Donald MoreO'Brien and those who went with him into the house ofConor Moinmoy O'Conor, in 1188; it was felt by the nobleswho, at Cael-uisge, elected Brian O'Neil in 1258; it wasfelt by the twelve reguli who, in 1315, invited EdwardBruce, "a man of kindred blood, " to rule over them; itwas imputed as a crime to Art McMurrogh in 1397, that hedesigned to claim the general sovereignty; and now inthis century, Thaddeus O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, withthe aid of the Irish of the southern half-kingdom, began(to use the phrase of the last Antiquary of Lecan) "workinghis way to Tara. " This Prince united all the tribes ofMunster in his favour, and needing, according to ancientusage, the suffrages of two other Provinces to ensurehis election, he crossed the Shannon in the summer of1466 at the head of the largest army which had followedany of his ancestors since the days of King Brian. Herenewed his protection to the town of Limerick, enteredinto an alliance with the Earl of Desmond--which allianceseems to have cost Desmond his head--received in his campthe hostages of Ormond and Ossory, and gave gifts to thelords of Leinster. Simultaneously, O'Conor of Offallyhad achieved a great success over the Palesmen, takingprisoner the Earl of Desmond, the Prior of Trim, theLords Barnwall, Plunkett, Nugent, and other Methianmagnates--a circumstance which also seems to have someconnection with the fate of Desmond and Plunkett, whowere the next year tried for treason and executed atDrogheda, by order of the Earl of Worcester, then Deputy. The usual Anglo-Irish tales, as to the causes of Desmond'slosing the favour of Edward IV. , seem very likeafter-inventions. It is much more natural to attributethat sudden change to some connection with the attemptof O'Brien the previous year--since this only makesintelligible the accusation against him of "_alliance_, fosterage, and alterage with the King's Irish enemies. " From Leinster O'Brien recrossed the Shannon, and overranthe country of the Clan-William Burke. But the ancientjealousy of Leath-Conn would not permit its proud chiefsto render hostage or homage to a Munster Prince, of nohigher rank than themselves. Disappointed in his hopesof that union which could alone restore the monarchy inthe person of a native ruler, the descendant of Brianreturned to Kinkora, where he shortly afterwards fellill of fever and died. "It was commonly reported, " saysthe Antiquary of Lecan, "that the multitudes' enviouseyes and hearts shortened his days. " The naturalized Norman noble spoke the language of theGael, and retained his Brehons and Bards like his Milesiancompeer. For generations the daughters of the elder racehad been the mothers of his house; and the milk of Irishfoster-mothers had nourished the infancy of its heirs. The Geraldines, the McWilliams, even the Butlers, amongtheir tenants and soldiers, were now as Irish as theIrish. Whether allies or enemies, rivals or as relatives, they stood as near to their neighbours of Celtic originas they did to the descendants of those who first landedat Bannow and at Waterford. The "Statute of Kilkenny"had proclaimed the eternal separation of the races, butup to this period it had failed, and the men of bothorigins were left free to develop whatever characteristicswere most natural to them. What we mean by being leftfree is, that there was no general or long-sustainedcombination of one race for the suppression of the otherfrom the period of Richard the Second's last reverses(A. D. 1399) till the period of the Reformation. NativeIrish life, therefore, throughout the whole of thefifteenth, and during the first half of the sixteenthcentury, was as free to shape and direct itself, to endsof its own choosing, as it had been at almost any formerperiod in our history. Private wars and hereditaryblood-feuds, next after the loss of national unity, werethe worst vices of the nation. Deeds of violence and actsof retaliation were as common as the succession of dayand night. Every free clansman carried his battle-axe tochurch and chase, to festival and fairgreen. The strongarm was prompt to obey the fiery impulse, and it must beadmitted in solemn sadness, that almost every page ofour records at this period is stained with human blood. But though crimes of violence are common, crimes oftreachery are rare. The memory of a McMahon, who betrayedand slew his guest, is execrated by the same stoicalscribes, who set down, without a single expression ofhorror, the open murder of chief after chief. Takingoff by poison, so common among their cotemporaries, seemsto have been altogether unknown, and the cruelties ofthe State Prisons of the Middle Ages undreamt of by ourfierce, impetuous, but not implacable ancestors. Thefacts which go to affix the imputation of cruelty onthose ages are, the frequent entries which we find ofdeposed chiefs, or conspicuous criminals, having theireyes put out, or being maimed in their members. By thesebarbarous punishments they lost caste, if not life; butthat indeed must have been a wretched remnant of existencewhich remained to the blinded lover, or the maimed warrior, or the crippled tiller of the soil. Of the social andreligious relations existing between the races, we shallhave occasion to speak more fully before closing thepresent book. CHAPTER VII. CONTINUED DIVISION AND DECLINE OF "THE ENGLISH INTEREST"--RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK, LORD LIEUTENANT--CIVIL WAR AGAININ ENGLAND--EXECUTION OF THE EARL OF DESMOND--ASCENDANCYOF THE KILDARE GERALDINES. We have already described the limits to which "the Pale"was circumscribed at the beginning of the fourteenthcentury. The fortunes of that inconsiderable settlementduring the following century hardly rise to the level ofhistorical importance, nor would the recital of them beat all readable but for the ultimate consequences whichensued from the preservation of those last remains offoreign power in the island. On that account, however, we have to consult the barren annals of "the Pale" throughthe intermediate period, that we may make clear theaccidents by which it was preserved from destruction, and enabled to play a part in after-times, undreamt ofand inconceivable, to those who tolerated its existencein the ages of which we speak. On the northern coasts of Ireland the co-operation ofthe friendly Scots with the native Irish had long beena source of anxiety to the Palesmen. In the year 1404, Dongan, Bishop of Derry, and Sir Jenico d'Artois, wereappointed Commissioners by Henry IV. , to conclude apermanent peace with McDonald, Lord of the Isles, but, notwithstanding that form was then gone through duringthe reigns of all the Lancasterian Kings, evidence ofthe Hiberno-Scotch alliance being still in existence, constantly recurs. In the year 1430 an address or petitionof the Dublin Council to the King sets forth "that theenemies and rebels, _aided by the Scots_, had conqueredor rendered tributary almost every part of the country, _except the county of Dublin_. " The presence of Henry V. In Ireland had been urgently solicited by his lieges inthat kingdom, but without effect. The hero of Agincourthaving set his heart upon the conquest of France, leftIreland to his lieutenants and their deputies. Nor couldhis attention be aroused to the English interest in thatcountry, even by the formal declaration of the Speakerof the English Parliament, that "the greater part of thelordship of Ireland" had been "conquered" by the natives. The comparatively new family of Talbot, sustained by theinfluence of the great Earl of Shrewsbury, now Seneschalof France, had risen to the highest pitch of influence. When on the accession of Henry VI. , Edward Mortimer, Earlof March, was appointed Lord Lieutenant, and Dantsey, Bishop of Meath, his deputy, Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin, and Lord Chancellor, refused to acknowledge Dantsey'spretensions because his commission was given under theprivate seal of Lord Mortimer. Having effected his objectin this instance, the Archbishop directed his subsequentattacks against the House of Ormond, the chief favouritesof the King, or rather of the Council, in that reign. In1441, at a Dublin Parliament, messengers were appointedto convey certain articles to the King, the purport ofwhich was to prevent the Earl of Ormond from being madeLord Lieutenant, alleging against him many misdemeanoursin his former administration, and praying that some"mighty lord of England" might be named to that officeto execute the laws more effectually "than any Irishmanever did or ever will do. " This attempt to destroy the influence of Ormond led toan alliance between that Earl and Sir James, afterwardsseventh Earl of Desmond. Sir James was son of Gerald, fourth Earl (distinguished as "the Rhymer, " or Magician), by the lady Eleanor Butler, daughter of the second Earlof Ormond. He stood, therefore, in the relation of cousinto the cotemporary head of the Butler family. When hisnephew Thomas openly violated the Statute of Kilkenny, by marrying the beautiful Catherine McCormac, the ambitiousand intriguing Sir James, anxious to enforce that statute, found a ready seconder in Ormond. Earl Thomas, forced toquit the country, died an exile at Rouen, in France, andSir James, after many intrigues and negotiations, obtainedthe title and estates. For once the necessities of Desmondand Ormond united these houses, but the money of theEnglish Archbishop of Dublin, backed by the influence ofhis illustrious brother, proved equal to them both. Inthe first twenty-five years of the reign of Henry VI. (1422-1447, ) Ormond was five times Lieutenant or Deputy, and Talbot five times Deputy, Lord Justice, or LordCommissioner. Their factious controversy culminated with"the articles" adopted in 1441, which altogether failedof the intended effect; Ormond was reappointed two yearsafterwards to his old office; nor was it till 1446, whenthe Earl of Shrewsbury was a third time sent over, thatthe Talbots had any substantial advantage over theirrivals. The recall of the Earl for service in France, and the death of the Archbishop two years later, thoughit deprived the party they had formed of a residentleader, did not lead to its dissolution. Bound togetherby common interests and dangers, their action may betraced in opposition to the Geraldines, through theremaining years of Henry VI. , and perhaps so late as theearlier years of Henry VII. (1485-1500). In the struggle of dynasties from which England sufferedso severely during the fifteenth century, the drama ofambition shifted its scenes from London and York to Calaisand Dublin. The appointment of Richard, Duke of York, as Lord Lieutenant, in 1449, presented him an opportunityof creating a Yorkist party among the nobles and peopleof "the Pale. " This able and ambitious Prince possessedin his hereditary estate resources equal to greatenterprises. He was in the first place the representativeof the third son of Edward III. ; on the death of hiscousin the Earl of March, in 1424, he became heir to thatproperty and title. He was Duke of York, Earl of March, and Earl of Rutland, in England; Earl of Ulster and Earlof Cork, Lord of Connaught, Clare, Meath, and Trim, inIreland. He had been, twice Regent of France, during theminority of Henry, where he upheld the cause of thePlantagenet King with signal ability. By the peaceconcluded at Tours, between England, France, and Burgundy, in 1444, he was enabled to return to England, where theKing had lately come of age, and begun to exhibit theweak though amiable disposition which led to his ruin. The events of the succeeding two or three years werecalculated to expose Henry to the odium of his subjectsand the machinations of his enemies. Town after town andprovince after province were lost in France; the RegentSomerset returned to experience the full force of thisunpopularity; the royal favourite, Suffolk, was banished, pursued, and murdered at sea; the King's uncles, CardinalBeaufort and the Duke of Gloucester, were removed bydeath--so that every sign and circumstance of the timewhispered encouragement to the ambitious Duke. When, therefore, the Irish lieutenancy was offered, in orderto separate him from his partizans, he at first refusedit; subsequently, however, he accepted, on conditionsdictated by himself, calculated to leave him wholly hisown master. These conditions, reduced to writing in theform of an Indenture between the King and the Duke, extended his lieutenancy to a period of ten years; allowedhim, besides the entire revenue of Ireland, an annualsubsidy from England; full power to let the King's land, to levy and maintain soldiers, to place or displace allofficers, to appoint a Deputy, and to return to Englandat his pleasure. On these terms the ex-Regent of Franceundertook the government of the English settlement inIreland. Arrived at Dublin, _the_ Duke (as in his day he was alwayscalled, ) employed himself rather to strengthen his partythan to extend the limits of his government. Soon afterhis arrival a son was born to him, and baptized withgreat pomp in the Castle. James, fifth Earl of Ormond, and Thomas, eighth Earl of Desmond, were invited to standas sponsors. In the line of policy indicated by thischoice, he steadily persevered during his whole connectionwith Ireland--which lasted till his death, in 1460. Alternately he named a Butler and a Geraldine as hisdeputy, and although he failed ultimately to win the Earlof Ormond from the traditional party of his family, hesecured the attachment of several of his kinsmen. Stirringevents in England, the year after his appointment, madeit necessary for him to return immediately. The unpopularityof the administration which had banished him had rapidlyaugmented. The French King had recovered the whole ofNormandy, for four centuries annexed to the English Crown. Nothing but Calais remained of all the Continentalpossessions which the Plantagenets had inherited, andwhich Henry V. Had done so much to strengthen and extend. Domestic abuses aggravated the discontent arising fromforeign defeats. The Bishop of Chichester, one of theministers, was set upon and slain by a mob at Portsmouth. Twenty thousand men of Kent, under the command of JackCade, an Anglo-Irishman, who had given himself out as ason of the last Earl of March, who died in the Irishgovernment twenty-five years before, marched upon London. They defeated a royal force at Sevenoaks, and the cityopened its gate at the summons of Cade. The Kentish mentook possession of Southwark, while their Irish leaderfor three days, entering the city every morning, compelledthe mayor and the judges to sit in the Guildhall, triedand sentenced Lord Say to death, who, with his son-in-law, Cromer, Sheriff of Kent, was accordingly executed. Everyevening, as he had promised the citizens, he retired withhis guards across the river, preserving the strictestorder among them. But the royalists were not idle, andwhen, on the fourth morning Cade attempted as usual toenter London proper, he found the bridge of Southwarkbarricaded and defended by a strong force under the LordScales. After six hours' hard fighting his raw levieswere repulsed, and many of them accepted a free pardontendered to them in the moment of defeat. Cade retiredwith the remainder on Deptford and Rochester, but graduallyabandoned by them, he was surprised, half famished in agarden at Heyfield, and put to death. His captor claimedand received the large reward of a thousand marks offeredfor his head. This was in the second week of July; onthe 1st of September, news was brought to London thatthe Duke of York had suddenly landed from Ireland. Hispartizans eagerly gathered round him at his castle ofFotheringay, but for five years longer, by the repeatedconcessions of the gentle-minded Henry, and theinterposition of powerful mediators, the actual war ofthe roses was postponed. It is beyond our province to follow the details of thatferocious struggle, which was waged almost incessantlyfrom 1455 till 1471--from the first battle of St. Albanstill the final battle at Tewksbury. We are interested init mainly as it connects the fortunes of the Anglo-IrishEarls with one or other of the dynasties; and theirfortunes again, with the benefit or disadvantage of theirallies and relatives among our native Princes. Of thetransactions in England, it may be sufficient to say thatthe Duke of York, after his victory at St. Albans in '55, was declared Lord Protector of the realm during Henry'simbecility; that the next year the King recovered andthe Protector's office was abolished; that in '57 bothparties stood at bay; in '58 an insecure peace was patchedup between them; in '59 they appealed to arms, the Yorkistsgained a victory at Bloreheath, but being defeated atLudiford, Duke Richard, with one of his sons, fled forsafety into Ireland. It was the month of November when the fugitive Dukearrived to resume the Lord Lieutenancy which he hadformerly exercised. Legally, his commission, for thosewho recognized the authority of King Henry, had expiredfour months before--as it bore date from July 5th, 1449;but it is evident the majority of the Anglo-Irish receivedhim as a Prince of their own election rather than as anordinary Viceroy. He held, soon after his arrival, aParliament at Dublin, which met by adjournment at Droghedathe following spring. The English Parliament havingdeclared him, his duchess, sons, and principal adherentstraitors, and writs to that effect having been sent over, the Irish Parliament passed a declaratory Act (1460)making the service of all such writs treason against_their_ authority--"it having been ever customary intheir land to receive and entertain strangers with duerespect and hospitality. " Under this law, an emissary ofthe Earl of Ormond, upon whom English writs against thefugitives were found, was executed as a traitor. Thisindependent Parliament confirmed the Duke in his office;made it high treason to imagine his death, and--takingadvantage of the favourable conjuncture of affairs--theyfurther declared that the inhabitants of Ireland couldonly be bound by laws made in Ireland; that no writs wereof force unless issued under the great seal of Ireland;that the realm had of ancient right its own Lord Constableand Earl Marshal, by whom alone trials for treason allegedto have been committed in Ireland could be conducted. Inthe same busy spring, the Earl of Warwick (so celebratedas "the Kingmaker" of English history) sailed from Calais, of which he was Constable, with the Channel-fleet, ofwhich he was also in command, and doubling the Land'sEnd of England, arrived at Dublin to concert measuresfor another rising in England. He found the Duke at Dublin"surrounded by his Earls and homagers, " and measures weresoon concerted between them. An appeal to the English nation was prepared at thisConference, charging upon Henry's advisers that they hadwritten to the French King to besiege Calais, and to theIrish Princes to expel the English settlers. The loyaltyof the fugitive lords, and their readiness to prove theirinnocence before their sovereign, were stoutly asserted. Emissaries were despatched in every direction; troopswere raised; Warwick soon after landed in Kent-alwaysstrongly pro-Yorkist-defeated the royalists at Northamptonin July, and the Duke reaching London in October, acompromise was agreed to, after much discussion, in whichHenry was to have the crown for life, while the Duke wasacknowledged as his successor, and created president ofhis council. We have frequently remarked in our history the recurrenceof conflicts between the north and south of the island. The same thing is distinctly traceable through the annalsof England down to a quite recent period. Whether differenceof race, or of admixture of race may not lie at thefoundation of such long-living enmities, we will not hereattempt to discuss; such, however, is the fact. QueenMargaret had fled northward after the defeat of Northamptontowards the Scottish border, from which she now returnedat the head of 20, 000 men. The Duke advanced rapidly tomeet her, and engaging with a far inferior force atWakefield, was slain in the field, or beheaded after thebattle. All now seemed lost to the Yorkist party, whenyoung Edward, son of Duke Richard, advancing from themarches of Wales at the head of an army equal in numbersto the royalists, won, in the month of February, 1461, the battles of Mortimers-cross and Barnet, and was crownedat Westminster in March, by the title of Edward IV. Thesanguinary battle of Towton, soon after his coronation, where 38, 000 dead were reckoned by the heralds, confirmedhis title and established his throne. Even the subsequenthostility of Warwick--though it compelled him once tosurrender himself a prisoner, and once to fly thecountry--did not finally transfer the sceptre to hisrival. Warwick was slain in the battle of Tewkesbury(1471), the Lancasterian Prince Edward was put to deathon the field, and his unhappy father was murdered inprison. Two years later, Henry, Earl of Richmond, grandsonof Catherine, Queen of Henry V. And Owen Ap Tudor, theonly remaining leader capable of rallying the beatenparty, was driven into exile in France, from which hereturned fourteen years afterwards to contest the crownwith Richard III. In these English wars, the only Irish nobleman whosustained the Lancasterian cause was James, fifth Earlof Ormond. He had been created by Henry, Earl of Wiltshire, during his father's lifetime, in the same year in whichhis father stood sponsor in Dublin for the son of theDuke. He succeeded to the Irish title and estates in1451: held a foremost rank in almost all the engagementsfrom the battle of Saint Albans to that of Towton, inwhich he was taken prisoner and executed by order ofEdward IV. His blood was declared attainted, and hisestates forfeited; but a few years later both the titleand property were restored to Sir John Butler, the sixthEarl. On the eve of the open rupture between the Roses, another name intimately associated with Ireland disappearedfrom the roll of the English nobility. The veteran Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, in the eightieth year of his age, accepted the command of the English forces in France, retook the city of Bordeaux, but fell in attack on theFrench camp at Chatillon, in the subsequent campaign-1453. His son, Lord Lisle, was slain at the same time, defendinghis father's body. Among other consequences which ensued, the Talbot interest in Ireland suffered from the loss ofso powerful a patron at the English court. We have onlyto add that at Wakefield, and in most of the otherengagements, there was a strong Anglo-Irish contingentin the Yorkist ranks, and a smaller one--chiefly tenantsof Ormond--on the opposite side. Many writers complainthat the House of York drained "the Pale" of its defenders, and thus still further diminished the resources of theEnglish interest in Ireland. In the last forty years of the fifteenth century, thehistory of "the Pale" is the biography of the family ofthe Geraldines. We must make some brief mention of theremarkable men to whom we refer. Thomas, eighth Earl of Desmond, for his services to theHouse of York, was appointed Lord Deputy in the firstyears of Edward IV. He had naturally made himself obnoxiousto the Ormond interest, but still more so to the Talbots, whose leader in civil contests was Sherwood, Bishop ofMeath--for some years, in despite of the Geraldines, LordChancellor. Between him and Desmond there existed thebitterest animosity. In 1464, nine of the Deputy's menwere slain in a broil in Fingall, by tenants or servantsof the Bishop. The next year each party repaired to Londonto vindicate himself and criminate his antagonist. TheBishop seems to have triumphed, for in 1466, John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, called in England, for his barbarityto Lancasterian prisoners, "the Butcher, " supersededDesmond. The movement of Thaddeus O'Brien, already related, the same year, gave Tiptoft grounds for accusing Desmond, Kildare, Sir Edward Plunkett, and others, of treason. Onthis charge he summoned them before him at Drogheda inthe following February. Kildare wisely fled to England, where he pleaded his innocence successfully with theKing. But Desmond and Plunkett, over-confident of theirown influence, repaired to Drogheda, were tried, condemned, and beheaded. Their execution took place on the 15th dayof February, 1467. It is instructive to add that Tiptoft, a few years later, underwent the fate in England, withoutexciting a particle of the sympathy felt for Desmond. Thomas, seventh Earl of Kildare, succeeded on his safereturn from England to more than the power of his laterelative. The office of Chancellor, after a sharpstruggle, was taken from Bishop Sherwood, and confirmedto him for life by an act of the twelfth, Edward III. Hehad been named Lord Justice after Tiptoft's recall, in1467, and four years later exchanged the title for thatof Lord Deputy to the young Duke of Clarence--the nominalLieutenant. In 1475, on some change of Court favour, thesupreme power was taken from him, and conferred on theold enemy of his House, the Bishop of Meath. Kildare diedtwo years later, having signalized his latter days byfounding an Anglo-Irish order of chivalry, called "theBrothers of St. George. " This order was to consist of 13persons of the highest rank within the Pale, 120 mountedarchers, and 40 horsemen, attended by 40 pages. Theofficers were to assemble annually in Dublin, on St. George's Day, to elect their Captain from their ownnumber. After having existed twenty years the Brotherhoodwas suppressed by the jealousy of Henry VII. , in 1494. Gerald, eighth Earl of Kildare (called in the Irish AnnalsGeroit More, or "the Great"), succeeded his father in1477. He had the gratification of ousting Sherwood fromthe government the following year, and having it transferredto himself. For nearly forty years he continued thecentral figure among the Anglo-Irish, and as his familywere closely connected by marriage with the McCarthys, O'Carrolls of Ely, the O'Conors of Offally, O'Neils andO'Donnells, he exercised immense influence over theaffairs of all the Provinces. In his tune, moreover, theEnglish interest, under the auspices of an undisturbeddynasty, and a cautious, politic Prince (Henry VII. ), began by slow and almost imperceptible degrees to recoverthe unity and compactness it had lost ever since the RedEarl's death. CHAPTER VIII. THE AGE AND RULE OF GERALD, EIGHTH EARL OF KILDARE--THETIDE BEGINS TO TURN FOR THE ENGLISH INTEREST--THE YORKISTPRETENDERS, SIMNEL AND WARBECK--POYNING'S PARLIAMENT--BATTLES OF KNOCKDOE AND MONABRAHER. Perhaps no preface could better introduce to the readerthe singular events which marked the times of Gerald, eighth Earl of Kildare, than a brief account of one ofhis principal partizans--Sir James Keating, Prior of theKnights of St. John. The family of Keating, of Norman-Irishorigin, were most numerous in the fifteenth century inKildare, from which they afterwards spread into Tipperaryand Limerick. Sir James Keating, "a mere Irishman, " becamePrior of Kilmainham about the year 1461, at which timeSir Robert Dowdal, deputy to the Lord Treasurer, complainedin Parliament, that being on a pilgrimage to one of theshrines of the Pale, he was assaulted near Cloniff, bythe Prior, with a drawn sword, and thereby put in dangerof his life. It was accordingly decreed that Keatingshould pay to the King a hundred pounds fine, and to SirRobert a hundred marks; but, from certain technical errorsin the proceedings, he successfully evaded both thesepenalties. When in the year 1478 the Lord Grey of Codnerwas sent over to supersede Kildare, he took the decidedstep of refusing to surrender to that nobleman the Castleof Dublin, of which he was Constable. Being threatenedwith an assault, he broke down the bridge and preparedhis defence, while his Mend, the Earl of Kildare, calleda Parliament at Naas, in opposition to Lord Grey's Assemblyat Dublin. In 1480, after two years of rival parties andviceroys, Lord Grey was feign to resign his office, andKildare was regularly appointed Deputy to Richard, Dukeof Gloucester, afterwards Richard III. Two years later, Keating was deprived of his rank by Peter d'Aubusson, Grand Master of Rhodes, who appointed Sir MarmadukeLumley, an English knight, in his stead. Sir Marmadukelanded soon after at Clontarf, where he was taken prisonerby Keating, and kept in close confinement until he hadsurrendered all the instruments of his election andconfirmation. He was then enlarged, and appointed to thecommandery of Kilseran, near Castlebellingham, in Louth. In the year 1488, Keating was one of those who took anactive part in favour of the pretender Lambert Simnel, and although his pardon had been sternly refused byHenry VII. , he retained possession of the Hospital until1491, when he was ejected by force, "and ended histurbulent life, " as we are told, "in the most abjectpoverty and disgrace. " All whom he had appointed to officewere removed; an Act of Parliament was passed, prohibitingthe reception of any "mere Irishman" into the Order forthe future, and enacting that whoever was recognized asPrior by the Grand Master should be of English birth, and one having such a connection with the Order there asmight strengthen the force and interest of the Kings ofEngland in Ireland. The fact most indicative of the spirit of the times is, that a man of Prior Keating's disposition could, forthirty years, have played such a daring part as we havedescribed in the city of Dublin. During the greater partof that period, he held the office of Constable of theCastle and Prior of Kilmainham, in defiance of EnglishDeputies and English Kings; than which no farther evidencemay be adduced to show how completely the English, interestwas extinguished, even within the walls of Dublin, duringthe reign of the last of the Plantagenet Princes, andthe first years of Henry VII. In 1485, Henry, Earl of Richmond, grandson of QueenCatherine and Owen ap Tudor, returned from his fourteenyears' exile in France, and, by the victory of Bosworth, took possession of the throne. The Earl of Kildare, undisputed Deputy during the last years of Edward IV. , had been continued by Richard, and was not removed byHenry VII. Though a staunch Yorkist, he showed no outwardopposition to the change of dynasty, for which he founda graceful apology soon afterwards. Being at Mass, inChrist's Church Cathedral, on the 2nd of February, 1486, he received intelligence of Henry's marriage with Elizabethof York, which he at once communicated to the Archbishopof Dublin, and ordered an additional Mass for the Kingand Queen. Yet, from the hour of that union of the housesof York and Lancaster, it needed no extraordinary wisdomto foresee that the exemption of the Anglo-Irish noblesfrom the supremacy of their nominal King must come to anend, and the freedom of the old Irish from any formidableexternal danger must also close. The union of the Roses, so full of the promise of peace for England, was to formthe date of a new era in her relations with Ireland. Thetide of English power was at that hour at its lowest ebb;it had left far in the interior the landmarks of itsfirst irresistible rush; it might be said, withoutexaggeration, that Gaelic children now gathered shellsand pebbles where that tide once rolled, charged withall its thunders; it was now about to turn; the firstmurmuring menace of new encroachments began to be heardunder Henry VII. ; as we listen they grow louder on theear; the waves advance with a steady, deliberate march, unlike the first impetuous onslaught of the Normans; theyadvance and do not recede, till they recover all theground they had abandoned. The era which we dated fromthe Red Earl's death, in 1333, has exhausted its resourcesof aggression and assimilation; a new era opens with thereign of Henry VII. --or more distinctly still, with thatof his successor, Henry VIII. We must close our accountwith the old era, before entering upon the new. The contest between the Earl of Kildare and Lord Greyfor the government (1478-1480) marks the lowest ebb ofthe English power. We have already related how PriorKeating shut the Castle gates on the English deputy, andthreatened to fire on his guard if he attempted to forcethem. Lord Portlester also, the Chancellor, andfather-in-law to Kildare, joined that Earl in his Parliamentat Naas with the great seal. Lord Grey, in his DublinAssembly, declared the great seal cancelled, and ordereda new one to be struck, but after a two years' contesthe was obliged to succumb to the greater influence ofthe Geraldines. Kildare was regularly acknowledged LordDeputy, under the King's privy seal. It was ordained thatthereafter there should be but one Parliament convokedduring the year; that but one subsidy should be demanded, annually, the sum "not to exceed a thousand marks. "Certain Acts of both Parliaments--Grey's andKildare's--were by compromise confirmed. Of these weretwo which do not seem to collate very well with eachother; one prohibiting the inhabitants of the Pale fromholding any intercourse whatsoever with the mere Irish;the other extending to Con O'Neil, Prince of Tyrone, andbrother-in-law of Kildare, the rights of a naturalizedsubject within the Pale. The former was probably LordGrey's; the latter was Lord Kildare's legislation. Although Henry VII. Had neither disturbed the Earl inhis governments, nor his brother, Lord Thomas, asChancellor, it was not to be expected that he could placeentire confidence in the leading Yorkist family amongthe Anglo-Irish. The restoration of the Ormond estates, in favour of Thomas, seventh Earl, was both politic andjust, and could hardly be objectionable to Kildare, whohad just married one of his daughters to Pierce Butler, nephew and heir to Thomas. The want of confidence betweenthe new King and his Deputy was first exhibited in 1486, when the Earl, being summoned to attend on his Majesty, called a Parliament at Trim, which voted him an address, representing that in the affairs about to be discussed, his presence was absolutely necessary. Henry affected toaccept the excuse as valid, but every arrival of Courtnews contained some fresh indication of his deep-seatedmistrust of the Lord Deputy, who, however, he dared notyet dismiss. The only surviving Yorkists who could put forwardpretensions to the throne were the Earl of Lincoln, Richard's declared heir, and the young Earl of Warwick, son of that Duke of Clarence who was born in Dublin Castlein 1449. Lincoln, with Lord Lovell and others of hisfriends, was in exile at the court of the dowager Duchessof Burgundy, sister to Edward IV. ; and the son ofClarence--a lad of fifteen years of age--was a prisonerin the Tower. In the year 1486, a report spread of theescape of this Prince, and soon afterwards Richard Symon, a Priest of Oxford, landed in Dublin with a youth of thesame age, of prepossessing appearance and address, whocould relate with the minutest detail the incidents ofhis previous imprisonment. He was at once recognized asthe son of Clarence by the Earl of Kildare and his party, and preparations were made for his coronation by thetitle of Edward VI. Henry, alarmed, produced from theTower the genuine Warwick, whom he publicly paradedthrough London, in order to prove that the pretender inDublin was an impostor. The Duchess of Burgundy, however, fitted out a fleet, containing 2, 000 veteran troops, under the command of Martin Swart, who, sailing up thechannel, reached Dublin without interruption. With thisfleet came the Earl of Lincoln, Lord Lovell, and theother English refugees, who all recognized the _protege_of Father Symon as the true Prince. Octavius, the ItalianArchbishop of Armagh, then residing at Dublin, the Bishopof Clogher, the Butlers, and the Baron of Howth, wereincredulous or hostile. The great majority of theAnglo-Irish lords, spiritual and temporal, favoured hiscause, and he was accordingly crowned in Christ ChurchCathedral, with a diadem taken from an image of our Lady, on the 24th of May, 1487; the Deputy, Chancellor, andTreasurer were present; the sermon was preached by Pain, Bishop of Meath. A Parliament was next convoked in hisname, in which the Butlers and citizens of Waterford wereproscribed as traitors. A herald from the latter city, who had spoken over boldly, was hanged by the Dublinersas a proof of their loyalty. The Council ordered a forceto be equipped for the service of his new Majesty inEngland, and Lord Thomas Fitzgerald resigned theChancellorship to take the command. This expedition--thelast which invaded England from the side of Ireland--sailed from Dublin about the first of June, and landingon the Lancashire shore, at the pile of Foudray, marchedto Ulverstone, where they were joined by Sir ThomasBroughton and other devoted Yorkists. From Ulverstonethe whole force, about 8, 000 strong, marched into Yorkshire, and from Yorkshire southwards into Nottingham. Henry, who had been engaged in making a progress through thesouthern counties, hastened to meet him, and both armiesmet at Stoke-upon-Trent, near Newark, on the 16th day ofJune, 1487. The battle was contested with the utmostobstinacy, but the English prevailed. The Earl of Lincoln, the Lords Thomas and Maurice Fitzgerald, Plunkett, sonof Lord Killeen, Martin Swart, and Sir Thomas Broughtonwere slain; Lord Lovell escaped, but was never heard ofafterwards; the pretended Edward VI. Was captured, andspared by Henry only to be made a scullion in his kitchen. Father Symon was cast into prison, where he died, afterhaving confessed that his _protege_ was Lambert Simnel, the son of a joiner at Oxford. Nothing shows the strength of the Kildare party, and theweakness of the English interest, more than that thedeputy and his partizans were still continued in office. They despatched a joint letter to the King, deprecatinghis anger, which he was prudent enough to conceal. Hesent over, the following spring, Sir Richard Edgecombe, Comptroller of his household, accompanied by a guard of500 men. Sir Richard first touched at Kinsale, where hereceived the homage of the Lords Barry and de Courcy; hethen sailed to Waterford, where he delivered to the Mayorroyal letters confirming the city in its privileges, andauthorizing its merchants to seize and distress those ofDublin, unless they made their submission. After leavingWaterford, he landed at Malahide, passing by Dublin, towhich he proceeded by land, accompanied with his guard. The Earl of Kildare was absent on a pilgrimage, fromwhich he did not return for several days. His firstinterviews with Edgecombe were cold and formal, butfinally on the 21st of July, after eight or ten days'disputation, the Earl and the other lords of his partydid homage to King Henry, in the great chamber of histown-house in Thomas Court, and thence proceeding to thechapel, took the oath of allegiance on the consecratedhost. With this submission Henry was fain to be content;Kildare, Portlester, and Plunkett were continued inoffice. The only one to whom the King's pardon waspersistently refused was Sir James Keating, Prior ofKilmainham. In the subsequent attempts of Perkin Warbeck (1492-1499), in the character of Richard, Duke of York, one of thePrinces murdered in the tower by Richard III. , theAnglo-Irish took a less active part. Warbeck landed atCork from Lisbon, and despatched letters to the Earls ofKildare and Desmond, to which they returned civil butevasive replies. At Cork he received an invitation fromthe King of France to visit that country, where he remainedtill the conclusion of peace between France and England. He then retired to Burgundy, where he was cordiallyreceived by the Duchess; after an unsuccessful descenton the coast of Kent, he took refuge in Scotland, wherehe married a lady closely allied to the crown. In 1497he again tried his fortune in the South of Ireland, wasjoined by Maurice, tenth Earl of Desmond, the Lord Barry, and the citizens of Cork. Having laid siege to Waterford, he was compelled to retire with loss, and Desmond havingmade his peace with Henry, Warbeck was forced again tofly into Scotland. In 1497 and '8, he made new attemptsto excite insurrection in his favour in the north ofEngland and in Cornwall. He was finally taken and putto death on the 16th of November, 1499. With him sufferedhis first and most faithful adherent, John Waters, whohad been Mayor of Cork at his first landing from Lisbon, in 1492, and who is ignorantly or designedly called byHenry's partizan "O'Water. " History has not yet positivelyestablished the fraudulency of this pretender. A lateeminently cautious writer, with all the evidence whichmodern research has accumulated, speaks of him as "oneof the most mysterious persons in English history;" andin mystery we must leave him. We have somewhat anticipated events, in other quarters, in order to dispose of both the Yorkist pretenders atthe same time. The situation of the Earls of Kildare inthis and the next reign, though full of grandeur, wasalso full of peril. Within the Pale they had one part toplay, without the Pale another. Within the Pale they heldone language, without it another. At Dublin they wereEnglish Earls, beyond the Boyne or the Barrow, they wereIrish chiefs. They had to tread their cautious, and notalways consistent way, through the endless complicationswhich must arise between two nations occupying the samesoil, with conflicting allegiance, language, laws, customs, and interests. While we frequently feel indignant atthe tone they take towards the "Irish enemy" in theirdespatches to London--the pretended enemies being at thatvery time their confidants and allies-on farther reflectionwe feel disposed to make some allowance on the score ofcircumstance and necessity, for a duplicity which, inthe end, brought about, as duplicity in public affairsever does, its own punishment. In Ulster as well as in Leinster, the ascendency of theEarl of Kildare over the native population was widespreadand long sustained. Con O'Neil, Lord of Tyrone, from 1483to 1491, and Turlogh, Con and Art, his sons and successors(from 1498 to 1548), maintained the most intimate relationswith this Earl and his successors. To the former he wasbrother-in-law, and to the latter, of course, uncle; toall he seems to have been strongly attached. Hugh RoeO'Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell (1450-1505), and his sonand successor, Hugh Dhu O'Donnell, (1505-1530), were alsoclosely connected with Kildare both by friendship andintermarriage. In 1491, O'Neil and O'Donnell mutuallysubmitted their disputes to his decision, at his Castleof Maynooth, and though he found it impossible to reconcilethem at the moment, we find both of these houses cordiallyunited with him afterwards. In 1498, he took Dungannonand Omagh, "with great guns, " from the insurgents againstthe authority of his grandson, Turlogh O'Neil, and restoredthem to Turlogh; the next year he visited O'Donnell, andbrought his son Henry to be fostered among the kindlyIrish of Tyrconnell. In the year 1500 he also placedthe Castle of Kinnaird in the custody of Turlogh O'Neil. In Leinster, the Geraldine interest was still more entirelybound up with that of the native population. His son, Sir Oliver of Killeigh, married an O'Conor of Offally;the daughter of another son, Sir James of Leixlip, (sometimes called the Knight of the Valley) became thewife of the chief of Imayle. The Earl of Ormond, andUlick Burke of Clanrickarde, were also sons-in-law ofthe eighth Earl, but in both these cases the old familyfeuds survived in despite of the new family alliances. In the fourth year after his accession, Henry VII. , proceeding by slow degrees to undermine Kildare's enormouspower, summoned the chief Anglo-Irish nobles to his Courtat Greenwich, where he reproached them with their supportof Simnel, who, to their extreme confusion, he caused towait on them as butler, at dinner. A year or two afterwards, he removed Lord Portlester, from the Treasurership, whichhe conferred on Sir James Butler, the bastard of Ormond. Plunkett, the Chief-Justice, was promoted to theChancellorship, and Kildare himself was removed to makeway for Fitzsymons, Archbishop of Dublin. This, however, was but a government _ad interim_, for in the year 1494, a wholly English administration was appointed. Sir EdwardPoynings, with a picked force of 1, 000 men, was appointedLord Deputy; the Bishop of Bangor was appointed Chancellor, Sir Hugh Conway, an Englishman, was to be Treasurer; andthese officials were accompanied by an entirely new benchof judges, all English, whom they were instructed toinstal immediately on their arrival. Kildare had resistedthe first changes with vigour, and a bloody feud hadtaken place between his retainers and those of Sir Jamesof Ormond, on the green of Oxmantown--now Smithfield, inDublin. On the arrival of Poynings, however, he submittedwith the best possible grace, and accompanied that deputyto Drogheda, where he had summoned a Parliament to meethim. From Drogheda, they made an incursion into O'Hanlon'scountry (Orior in Armagh). On returning from Drogheda, Poynings, on a real or pretended discovery of a secretunderstanding between O'Hanlon and Kildare, arrested thelatter, in Dublin, and at once placed him on board abarque "kept waiting for that purpose, " and despatchedhim to England. On reaching London, he was imprisoned inthe Tower, for two years, during which time his party inIreland were left headless and dispirited. The government of Sir Edward Poynings, which lasted from1494 till Kildare's restoration, in August, 1496, is mostmemorable for the character of its legislation. Heassembled a Parliament at Drogheda, in November, 1495, at which were passed the statutes so celebrated in ourParliamentary history as the "10th Henry VII. " Thesestatutes were the first enacted in Ireland in which theEnglish language was employed. They confirmed the Provisionsof the Statute of Kilkenny, except that prohibiting theuse of the Irish language, which had now become so deeplyrooted, even within the Pale, as to make its immediateabolition impracticable. The hospitable law passed inthe time of Richard, Duke of York, against the arrest ofrefugees by virtue of writs issued in England, wasrepealed. The English acts, against provisors to Rome--ecclesiastics who applied for or accepted prefermentdirectly from Rome--were adopted. It was also enactedthat all offices should be held at the King's pleasure;that the Lords of Parliament should appear in their robesas the Lords did in England; that no one should presumeto make peace or war except with license of the Governor;that no great guns should be kept in the fortresses exceptby similar license; and that men of English _birth_ onlyshould be appointed Constables of the Castles of Dublin, Trim, Leixlip, Athlone, Wicklow, Greencastle, Carlingford, and Carrickfergus. But the most important measure of allwas one which provided that thereafter no legislationwhatever should be proceeded with in Ireland, unless thebills to be proposed were first submitted to the Kingand Council in England, and were returned, certifiedunder the great seal of the realm. This is what is usuallyand specially called in our Parliamentary history "Poyning'sAct, " and next to the Statute of Kilkenny, it may beconsidered the most important enactment ever passed atany Parliament of the English settlers. The liberation of the Earl of Kildare from the Tower, and his restoration as Deputy, seems to have been hastenedby the movements of Perkin Warbeck, and by the visit ofHugh Roe O'Donnell to James IV. , King of Scotland. O'Donnell had arrived at Ayr in the month of August, 1495, a few weeks after Warbeck had reached that court. He was received with great splendour and cordiality bythe accomplished Prince, then lately come of age, andfilled with projects natural to his youth and temperament. With O'Donnell, according to the Four Masters, he formeda league, by which they bound themselves "mutually toassist each other in all their exigencies. " The knowledgeof this alliance, and of Warbeck's favour at the ScottishCourt, no doubt decided Henry to avail himself, ifpossible, of the assistance of his most powerful Irishsubject. There was, moreover, another influence at work. The first countess had died soon after her husband'sarrest, and he now married, in England, Elizabeth St. John, cousin to the King. Fortified in his allegianceand court favour by this alliance, he returned in triumphto Dublin, where he was welcomed with enthusiasm. In his subsequent conduct as Lord Deputy, an office whichhe continued to hold till his death in 1513, this powerfulnobleman seems to have steadily upheld the Englishinterest, which was now in harmony with his own. Havingdriven off Warbeck in his last visit to Ireland (1497), he received extensive estates in England, as a rewardfor his zeal, and after the victory of Knock-doe (1505), he was installed by proxy at Windsor as Knight of theGarter. This long-continued reign--for such in truth itmay be called--left him without a rival in his latteryears. He marched to whatever end of the island he would, pulling down and setting up chiefs and castles; hisgarrisons were to be found from Belfast to Cork, andalong the valley of the Shannon, from Athleague toLimerick. The last event of national importance connected with thename of Geroit More arose out of the battle of KNOCK-DOE, ("battle-axe hill"), fought within seven or eight milesof Galway town, on the 19th of August, 1504. Few of thecardinal facts in our history have been more entirelymisapprehended and misrepresented than this. It is usuallydescribed as a pitched battle between English and Irish--the turning point in the war of races--and the secondfoundation of English power. The simple circumstancesare these: Ulick III. , Lord of Clanrickarde, had marriedand misused the lady Eustacia Fitzgerald, who seems tohave fled to her father, leaving her children behind. This led to an embittered family dispute, which wasexpanded into a public quarrel by the complaint of WilliamO'Kelly, whose Castles of Garbally, Monivea, and Gallagh, Burke had seized and demolished. In reinstating O'Kelly, Kildare found the opportunity which he sought to punishhis son-in-law, and both parties prepared for a trial ofstrength. It so happened that Clanrickarde's alliancesat that day were chiefly with O'Brien and the southernIrish, while Kildare's were with those of Ulster. Fromthese causes, what was at first a family quarrel, and atmost a local feud, swelled into the dimensions of anational contest between North and South--Leath-Moghdaand Leath-Conn. Under these terms, the native Annalistsaccurately describe the belligerents on either side. WithKildare were the Lords of Tyrconnell, Sligo, Moylurg, Breffni, Oriel, and Orior; O'Farrell, Bishop of Ardagh, the Tanist of Tyrowen, the heir of Iveagh, O'Kelly ofHy-Many, McWilliam of Mayo, the Barons of Slane, Delvin, Howth, Dunsany, Gormanstown, Trimblestown, and John Blake, Mayor of Dublin, with the city militia. With Clanrickardewere Turlogh O'Brien, son of the Lord of Thomond, McNamaraof Clare, O'Carroll of Ely, O'Brien of Ara, and O'Kennedyof Ormond. The battle was obstinate and bloody. Artilleryand musketry, first introduced from Germany some twentyyears before (1487), were freely used, and the ploughshareof the peasant has often turned up bullets, large andsmall, upon the hillside where the battle was fought. The most credible account sets down the number of theslain at 2, 000 men--the most exaggerated at 9, 000. Thevictory was with Kildare, who, after encamping on thefield for twenty-four hours, by the advice of O'Donnell, marched next day to Galway, where he found the childrenof Clanrickarde, whom he restored to their injured mother. Athenry opened its gates to receive the conquerors, andafter celebrating their victory in the stronghold of thevanquished, the Ulster chiefs returned to the North, andKildare to Dublin. Less known is the battle of Monabraher, which may beconsidered the offset of Knock-doe. It was fought in1510--the first year of Henry VIII. , who had justconfirmed Lord Kildare in the government. The youngerO'Donnell joined him in Munster, and after taking theCastles of Kanturk, Pallis, and Castelmaine, they marchedto Limerick, where the Earl of Desmond, the McCarthys ofboth branches, and "the Irish of Meath and Leinster, " inalliance with Kildare, joined them with their forces. The old allies, Turlogh O'Brien, Clanrickarde, and theMcNamaras, attacked them at the bridge of Portrush, nearCastleconnell, and drove them through Monabraher ("thefriar's bog"), with the loss of the Barons Barnwall andKent, and many of their forces; the survivors were feignto take refuge within the walls of Limerick. Three years later, Earl Gerald set out to besiege LeapCastle, in O'Moore's country; but it happened that as hewas watering his horse in the little river Greese, atKilkea, he was shot by one of the O'Moores: he wasimmediately carried to Athy, where shortly afterwards heexpired. If we except the first Hugh de Lacy and the RedEarl of Ulster, the Normans in Ireland had not produceda more illustrious man than Gerald, eighth Earl of Kildare. He was, says Stainhurst, "of tall stature and goodlypresence; very liberal and merciful; of strict piety;mild in his government; passionate, but easily appeased. "And our justice-loving _Four Masters_ have described himas "a knight in valour, and princely and religious inhis words and judgments. " CHAPTER IX. STATE OF IRISH AND ANGLO-IRISH SOCIETY DURING THEFOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES. The main peculiarities of social life among the Irishand Anglo-Irish during the fourteenth and fifteenthcenturies are still visible to us. Of the drudges of theearth, as in all other histories, we see or hear littleor nothing, but of those orders of men of whom the historicmuse takes count, such as bards, rulers, builders, andreligious, there is much information to be found scatteredup and down our annals, which, if properly put togetherand clearly interpreted, may afford us a tolerably clearview of the men and their times. The love of learning, always strong in this race of menand women, revived in full force with their exemptionfrom the immediate pressure of foreign invasion. Theperson of Bard and Brehon was still held inviolable; tothe malediction of the Bard of Usnagh was attributed thesudden death of the Deputy, Sir John Stanley; to themurder of the Brehon McEgan is traced all the misfortuneswhich befell the sons of Irial O'Farrell. To receive thepoet graciously, to seat him in the place of honour atthe feast, to listen to him with reverence, and to rewardhim munificently, were considered duties incumbent onthe princes of the land. And these duties, to do themjustice, they never neglected. One of the O'Neils isspecially praised for having given more gifts to poets, and having "a larger collection of poems" than any otherman of his age. In the struggle between O'Donnell andO'Conor for the northern corner of Sligo, we find mentionmade of books accidentally burned in "the house of themanuscripts, " in Lough Gill. Among the spoils carriedoff by O'Donnell, on another occasion, were two famousbooks--one of which, the Leahar Gear (Short Book), heafterwards paid back, as part of the ransom for therelease of his friend, O'Doherty. The Bards and Ollams, though more dependent on theirPrinces than we have seen them in their early palmy days, had yet ample hereditary estates in every principalityand lordship. If natural posterity failed, the incumbentwas free to adopt some capable person as his heir. Itwas in this way the family of O'Clery, originally ofTyrawley, came to settle in Tyrconnell, towards the endof the fourteenth century. At that time O'Sgingin, chiefOllam to O'Donnell, offered his daughter in marriage toCormac O'Clery, a young professor of both laws, in themonastery near Ballyshannon, on condition that the firstmale child born of the marriage should be brought up tohis own profession. This was readily agreed to, and fromthis auspicious marriage descended the famous family, which produced three of the Four Masters of Donegal. The virtue of hospitality was, of all others, that whichthe old Irish of every degree in rank and wealth mostcheerfully practised. In many cases it degenerated intoextravagance and prodigality. But in general it ispresented to us in so winning a garb that our objectionson the score of prudence vanish before it. When we readof the freeness of heart of Henry Avery O'Neil, whogranted all manner of things "that came into his hands, "to all manner of men, we pause and doubt whether such avirtue in such excess may not lean towards vice. But whenwe hear of a powerful lord, like William O'Kelly ofGalway, entertaining throughout the Christmas holydaysall the poets, musicians, and poor persons who choose toflock to him, or of the pious and splendid MargaretO'Carroll, receiving twice a year in Offally all theBards of Albyn and Erin, we cannot but envy the professorsof the gentle art their good fortune in having lived insuch times, and shared in such assemblies. As hospitalitywas the first of social virtues, so inhospitality wasthe worst of vices; the unpopularity of a churl descendedto his posterity through successive generations. The high estimation in which women were held among thetribes is evident from the particularity with which thehistorians record their obits and marriages. The maidenname of the wife was never wholly lost in that of herhusband, and if her family were of equal standing withhis before marriage, she generally retained her fullshare of authority afterwards. The Margaret O'Carrollalready mentioned, a descendant and progenitress ofillustrious women, rode privately to Trim, as we aretold, with some English prisoners, taken by her husband, O'Conor of Offally, and exchanged them for others ofequal worth lying in that fortress; and "this she did, "it is added, "without the knowledge of" her husband. Thislady was famed not only for her exceeding hospitalityand her extreme piety, but for other more unexpectedworks. Her name is remembered in connection with theerection of bridges and the making of highways, as wellas the building of churches, and the presentation ofmissals and mass-books. And the grace she thus acquiredlong brought blessings upon her posterity, among whomthere never were wanting able men and heroic women whilethey kept their place in the land. An equally celebratedbut less amiable woman was Margaret Fitzgerald, daughterof the eighth Earl of Kildare, and wife of Pierce, eighthEarl of Ormond. "She was, " says the Dublin Annalist, "alady of such port that all the estates of the realmcouched to her, so politique that nothing was thoughtsubstantially debated without her advice. " Her decisionof character is preserved in numerous traditions in andaround Kilkenny, where she lies buried. Of her is toldthe story that when exhorted on her death-bed to makerestitution of some ill-got lands, and being told thepenalty that awaited her if she died impenitent, sheanswered, "it was better one old woman should burn foreternity than that the Butlers should be curtailed oftheir estates. " The fame of virtuous deeds, of generosity, of peace-making, of fidelity, was in that state of society as easilyattainable by women as by men. The Unas, Finolas, Sabias, Lasarinas, were as certain of immortality as the Hughs, Cathals, Donalds and Conors, their sons, brothers, orlovers. Perhaps it would be impossible to find any historyof those or of later ages in which women are treated upona more perfect equality with men, where their virtuesand talents entitled them to such consideration. The piety of the age, though it had lost something ofthe simplicity and fervour of older times, was stillconspicuous and edifying. Within the island, the pilgrimageof Saint Patrick's purgatory, the shrine of our Lady ofTrim, the virtues of the holy cross of Raphoe, the miracleswrought by the _Baculum Christi_, and other relics ofChrist Church, Dublin, were implicitly believed andpiously frequented. The long and dangerous journeys toRome and Jerusalem were frequently taken, but the favouriteforeign vow was to Compostella, in Spain. Chiefs, Ladies, and Bards, are almost annually mentioned as having sailedor returned from the city of St. James; generally thesepilgrims left in companies, and returned in the same way. The great Jubilee of 1450, so enthusiastically attendedfrom every corner of Christendom, drew vast multitudesfrom our island to Rome. By those who returned tidingswere first brought to Ireland of the capture ofConstantinople by the Turks. On receipt of thisintelligence, which sent a thrill through the heart ofEurope, Tregury, Archbishop of Dublin, proclaimed a fastof three days, and on each day walked in sackcloth, withhis clergy, through the streets of the city, to theCathedral. By many in that age the event was connectedwith the mystic utterances of the Apocalypse, and theoften-apprehended consummation of all Time. Although the Irish were then, as they still are, firmbelievers in supernatural influence working visibly amongmen, they do not appear to have ever been slaves to theterrible delusion of witchcraft. Among the Anglo-Irishwe find the first instance of that mania which appearsin our history, and we believe the only one, if we exceptthe Presbyterian witches Of Carrickfergus, in the earlypart of the eighteenth century. The scene of the ancientdelusion was Kilkenny, where Bishop Ledred accused theLady Alice Kettel, and William her son, of practisingblack magic, in the year 1327. Sir Roger Outlaw, Priorof Kilmainham, and stepson to Lady Alice, undertook toprotect her; but the fearful charge was extended to himalso, and he was compelled to enter on his defence. Thetribunal appointed to try the charge--one of the maingrounds on which the Templars had been suppressedtwenty-five years before--was composed of the Dean ofSt. Patrick's, the Prior of Christ Church, the Abbots ofSt. Mary's and St. Thomas's, Dublin, Mr. Elias Lawless, and Mr. Peter Willeby, lawyers. Outlaw was acquitted, and Ledred forced to fly for safety to England, of whichhe was a native. It is pleasant to remember that, althoughIrish credulity sometimes took shapes absurd and grotesqueenough, it never was perverted into diabolical channels, or directed to the barbarities of witch-finding. About the beginning of the fifteenth century we meet withthe first mention of the use of Usquebagh, or _AquaVitae_, in our Annals. Under the date of 1405 we readthat McRannal, or Reynolds, chief of Muntireolais, diedof a surfeit of it, about Christmas. A quaint Elizabethanwriter thus descants on the properties of that liquor, as he found them, by personal experience: "For the rawness(of the air) they (the Irish) have an excellent remedyby their _Aqua Vitae_, vulgarly called _Usquebagh_, whichbinds up the belly and drieth up moisture more than our_Aqua Vitae_, yet inflameth not so much. " And as the opening of the century may be considerednotable for the first mention of _Usquebagh_, so itsclose is memorable for the first employment of fire-arms. In the year 1489, according to Anglo-Irish Annals, "sixhand guns or musquets were sent to the Earl of Kildareout of Germany, " which his guard bore while on sentry atThomas Court--his Dublin residence. But two years earlier(1487) we have positive mention of the employment of gunsat the siege of Castlecar, in Leitrim, by Hugh RoeO'Donnell. Great guns were freely used ten years laterin the taking of Dungannon and Omagh, and contributed, not a little to the victory of Knock-doe--in 1505. Aboutthe same time we begin to hear of their employment bysea in rather a curious connection. A certain FrenchKnight, returning from the pilgrimage of Lough Derg, visiting O'Donnell at Donegal, heard of the anxiety ofhis entertainer to take a certain Castle which stood bythe sea, in Sligo. This Knight promised to send him, onMs return to France, "a vessel carrying great guns, "which he accordingly did, and the Castle was in consequencetaken. Nevertheless the old Irish, according to theirhabit, took but slowly to this wonderful invention, thoughdestined to revolutionize the art to which they werenaturally predisposed--the art of war. The dwellings of the chiefs, and of the wealthy amongthe proprietors, near the marches, were chiefly situatedamid pallisaded islands, or on promontories naturallymoated by lakes. The houses, in those circumstances, were mostly of framework, though the Milesian nobles, inless exposed districts, had castles of stone, after theNorman fashion. The Castle "bawn" was usually enclosedby one or more strong walls, the inner sides of whichwere lined with barns, stables, and the houses of theretainers. Not unfrequently the thatched roofs of theseoutbuildings taking fire, compelled the castle to surrender. The Castle "green, " whether within or without the walls, was the usual scene of rural sports and athletic games, of which, at all periods, our ancestors were so fond. Ofthe interior economy of the Milesian rath, or dun, weknow less than of the Norman tower, where, before thehuge kitchen chimney, the heavy-laden spit was turned byhand, while the dining-hall was adorned with the glitterof the dresser, or by tapestry hangings;-the floors ofhall and chambers being strewn with rushes and odorousherbs. We have spoken of the zeal of the Milesian Chiefsin accumulating MSS. And in rewarding Bards and Scribes. We are enabled to form some idea of the mental resourcesof an Anglo-Irish nobleman of the fifteenth century, fromthe catalogue of the library remaining in Maynooth Castle, in the reign of Henry VIII. Of Latin books, there werethe works of several of the schoolmen, the dialogues ofSt. Gregory, Virgil, Juvenal, and Terence; the Holy Bible;Boethius' Consolations of Philosophy, and Saint Thomas'sSumma; of French works, Froissart, Mandeville, two FrenchBibles, a French Livy and Caesar, with the most popularromances; in English, there were the Polychronicon, Cambrensis, Lyttleton's Tenures, Sir Thomas More's bookon Pilgrimages, and several romances. Moreover, therewere copies of the Psalter of Cashel, a book of Irishchronicles, lives of St. Beraghan, St. Fiech and St. Finian, with various religious tracts, and romantic tales. This was, perhaps, the most extensive private collectionto be found within the Pale; we have every reason toinfer, that, at least in Irish and Latin works, theCastles of the older race--lovers of learning andentertainers of learned men--were not worse furnishedthan Maynooth. CHAPTER X. STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNING DURING THE FOURTEENTHAND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES. Although the English and Irish professed the same religionduring these ages, yet in the appointment of Bishops, the administration of ecclesiastical property, and inall their views of the relation of the Church to theState, the two nations differed almost as widely as intheir laws, language, and customs. The Plantagenetprinces and their Parliaments had always exhibited ajealousy of the See of Rome, and statute upon, statutewas passed, from the reign of Henry II. To that of RichardII. , in order to diminish the power of the Supreme Pontiffsin nominating to English benefices. In the second Richard'sreign, so eventful for the English interest in Ireland, it had been enacted that any of the clergy procuringappointments directly from Rome, or exercising powers soconferred, should incur the penalty of a praemunire--thatis, the forfeiture of their lands and chattels, besidebeing liable to imprisonment during the King's pleasure. This statute was held to apply equally to Ireland, beingconfirmed by some of those petty conventions of "thePale, " which the Dublin Governors of the fourteenthcentury dignified with the name of Parliaments. The ancient Irish method of promotion to a vacant see, or abbacy, though modelled on the electoral principlewhich penetrated all Celtic usages, was undoubtedly opento the charge of favouring nepotism, down to the time ofSaint Malachy, the restorer of the Irish Church. Afterthat period, the Prelates elect were ever careful toobtain the sanction of the Holy See, before consecration. Such habitual submission to Rome was seldom found, exceptin cases of disputed election, to interfere with thechoice of the clergy, and the custom grew more and moreinto favour, as the English method of nomination by thecrown was attempted to be enforced, not only throughout"the Pale, " but, by means of English agents at Rome andAvignon, in the appointment to sees, within the provincesof Armagh, Cashel, and Tuam. The ancient usage of farmingthe church lands, under the charge of a lay steward, or_Erenach_, elected by the clan, and the division of allthe revenues into four parts--for the Bishop, the Vicarand his priests, for the poor, and for repairs of thesacred edifice, was equally opposed to the pretensionsof Princes, who looked on their Bishops as Barons, andChurch temporalities, like all other fiefs, as heldoriginally of the crown. Even if there had not been thosedifferences of origin, interest, and government whichnecessarily brought the two populations into collision, these distinct systems of ecclesiastical polity couldnot well have existed on the same soil without frequentlyclashing, one with the other. In our notice of the association promoted among theclergy, at the end of the thirteenth century, by thepatriotic McMaelisa, ("follower of Jesus"), and in ourown comments on the memorable letter of Prince DonaldO'Neil to Pope John XXII. , written in the year 1317 or'18, we have seen how wide and deep was the gulf thenexisting between the English and Irish churchmen. Inthe year 1324, an attempt to heal this unchristian breachwas made by Philip of Slane, the Dominican who presidedat the trial of the Knights Templars, who afterwardsbecame Bishop of Cork, and rose into high favour withthe Queen-Mother, Isabella. As her Ambassador, or in thename of King Edward III. , still a minor, he is reportedto have submitted to Pope John certain propositions forthe promotion of peace in the Irish Church, some of whichwere certainly well calculated to promote that end. Hesuggested that the smaller Bishoprics, yielding undersixty pounds per annum, should be united to more eminentsees, and that Irish Abbots and Priors should admitEnglish lay brothers to their houses, and EnglishSuperiors Irish brothers, in like manner. The thirdproposition, however, savours more of the politicianthan of the peacemaker; it was to bring under the bannof excommunication, with all its rigorous consequencesin that age, those "disturbers of the peace" who invadedthe authority of the English King in Ireland. As aconsequence of this mission, a Concordat for Irelandseems to have been concluded at Avignon, embracing thetwo first points, but omitting the third, which was, nodoubt, with the English Court, the main object of FriarPhilip's embassy. During the fourteenth century, and down to the electionof Martin V. (A. D. 1417), the Popes sat mainly at Avignon, in France. In the last forty years of that melancholyperiod, other Prelates sitting at Rome, or elsewhere inItaly, claimed the Apostolic primacy. It was in the midstof these troubles and trials of the Church that thepowerful Kings of England, who were also sovereigns ofa great part of France, contrived to extort from theembarrassed pontiffs concessions which, however gratifyingto royal pride, were abhorrent to the more Catholic spiritof the Irish people. A constant struggle was maintainedduring the entire period of the captivity of the Popesin France between Roman and English influence in Ireland. There were often two sets of Bishops elected in suchborder sees as Meath and Louth, which were districtsunder a divided influence. The Bishops of Limerick, Cork, and Waterford, liable to have their revenues cut off, and their personal liberty endangered by sea, were almostinvariably nominees of the English Court; those of theProvince of Dublin were necessarily so; but the prelatesof Ulster, of Connaught, and of Munster--the southernseaports excepted--were almost invariably nativeecclesiastics, elected in the old mode, by the assembledclergy, and receiving letters of confirmation direct fromAvignon or Italy. A few incidents in the history of the Church of Cashelwill better illustrate the character of the contestbetween the native episcopacy and the foreign power. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, ArchbishopMcCarwill maintained with great courage the independenceof his jurisdiction against Henry III. And Edward I. Having inducted certain Bishops into their sees withoutwaiting for the royal letters, he sustained a longlitigation in the Anglo-Irish courts, and was much harassedin his goods and person. Seizing from a usurer 400 pounds, he successfully resisted the feudal claim of Edward I. , as lord paramount, to pay over the money to the royalexchequer. Edward having undertaken to erect a prison--or fortress in disguise--in his episcopal city, thebold Prelate publicly excommunicated the Lord Justicewho undertook the work, the escheator who supplied thefunds, and all those engaged in its construction, nordid he desist from his opposition until the obnoxiousbuilding was demolished. Ralph O'Kelly, who filled thesame see from 1345 to 1361, exhibited an equally dauntlessspirit. An Anglo-Irish Parliament having levied a subsidyon all property, lay and ecclesiastical, within theirjurisdiction, to carry on the war of races before described, he not only opposed its collection within the Provinceof Cashel, but publicly excommunicated Epworth, Clerk ofthe Council, who had undertaken that task. For thisoffence an information was exhibited against him, layingthe King's damages at a thousand pounds; but he pleadedthe liberties of the Church, and successfully traversedthe indictment. Richard O'Hedian, Archbishop from 1406to 1440, was a Prelate of similar spirit to hispredecessors. At a Parliament held in Dublin in 1421, itwas formally alleged, among other enormities, that hemade very much of the Irish and loved none of the English;that he presented no Englishman to a benefice, and advisedother Prelates to do likewise; and that he made himselfKing of Munster--alluding, probably, to some revival atthis time of the old title of Prince-Bishop, which hadanciently belonged to the Prelates of Cashel. O'Hedianretained his authority, however, till his death, afterwhich the see remained twelve years vacant, thetemporalities being farmed by the Earl of Ormond. From this conflict of interests, frequently resulting indisputed possession and intrusive jurisdiction, religionmust have suffered much, at least in its discipline anddecorum. The English Archbishops of Dublin would notyield in public processions to the Irish Archbishops ofArmagh, nor permit the crozier of St. Patrick to be bornepublicly through their city; the English Bishop ofWaterford was the public accuser of the Irish Archbishopof Cashel, last mentioned, before a lay tribunal--theknights and burgesses of "the Pale. " The annual expeditionssent out from Dublin, to harass the nearest native clans, were seldom without a Bishop or Abbot, or Prior of theTemple or Hospital, in their midst. Scandals must haveensued; hatreds must have sprung up; prejudices, fatalto charity and unity, must have been engendered, both onthe one side and the other. The spirit of party carriedinto the Church can be cherished in the presence of theAltar and Cross only by doing violence to the teachingsof the Cross and the sanctity of the Altar. While such was the troubled state of the Church, asexemplified in its twofold hierarchy, the religious orderscontinued to spread, with amazing energy, among bothraces. The orders of Saint Francis and Saint Dominick, those twin giants of the thirteenth century, alreadyrivalled the mighty brotherhood which Saint Bernard hadconsecrated, and Saint Malachy had introduced into theIrish Church. It is observable that the Dominicans, atleast at first, were most favoured by the English andthe Anglo-Irish; while the Franciscans were more popularwith the native population. Exceptions may be found onboth sides: but as a general rule this distinction canbe traced in the strongholds of either order, and in thenames of their most conspicuous members, down to thatdark and trying hour when the tempest of "the Reformation"involved both in a common danger, and demonstrated theirequal heroism. As elsewhere in Christendom, the suddenaggrandizement of these mendicant institutes excitedjealousy and hostility among certain of the secular clergyand Bishops. This feeling was even stronger in Englandduring the reigns of Edward III. And Richard II. , when, according to the popular superstition, the Devil appearedat various places "in the form of a grey friar. " Thegreat champion of the secular clergy, in the controversywhich ensued, was Richard, son of Ralph, a native ofDundalk, the Erasmus of his age. Having graduated atOxford, where the Irish were then classed as one of "thefour nations" of students, Fitz-Ralph achieved distinctionafter distinction, till he rose to the rank of Chancellorof the University, in 1333. Fourteen years afterwardshe was consecrated, by provision of Pope Clement VI. , Archbishop of Armagh, and is by some writers styled"Cardinal of Armagh. " Inducted into the chief see of hisnative Province and country, he soon commenced thosesermons and writings against the mendicant orders whichrendered him so conspicuous in the Church history of thefourteenth century. Summoned to Avignon, in 1350, to beexamined on his doctrine, he maintained before theConsistory the following propositions: 1st, that our LordJesus Christ, as a man, was very poor, not that He lovedpoverty for itself; 2nd, that our Lord had never begged;3rd, that He never taught men to beg; 4th, that, on thecontrary, He taught men not to beg; 5th, that man cannot, with prudence and holiness, confine himself by vow to alife of constant mendicity; 6th, that minor brothers arenot obliged by their rule to beg; 7th, that the bull ofAlexander IV. , which condemns the Book of Masters, doesnot invalidate any of the aforesaid conclusions; 8th, that by those who, wishing to confess, exclude certainchurches, their parish one should be preferred to theoratories of monks; and 9th, that, for auricularconfession, the diocesan, bishop should be chosen inpreference to friars. In a "defence of Parish Priests, " and many other tracts, in several sermons, preached at London, Litchfield, Drogheda, Dundalk, and Armagh, he maintained the thesisuntil the year 1357, when the Superior of the Franciscansat Armagh, seconded by the influence of his own and theDominican order, caused him to be summoned a second timebefore the Pope. Fitz-Ralph promptly obeyed the summons, but before the cause could be finally decided he died atAvignon in 1361. His body was removed from thence toDundalk in 1370 by Stephen de Valle, Bishop of Meath. Miracles were said to have been wrought at his tomb; aprocess of inquiry into their validity was instituted byorder of Boniface IX. , but abandoned without any resultbeing arrived at. The bitter controversy between themendicant and other orders was revived towards the endof the century by Henry, a Cistercian monk of Baltinglass, who maintained opinions still more extreme than those ofFitz-Ralph; but he was compelled publicly and solemnlyto retract them before Commissioners appointed for thatpurpose in the year 1382. The range of mental culture in Europe during the fourteenthcentury included only the scholastic philosophy andtheology with the physics, taught in the schools of theSpanish Arabs. The fifteenth century saw the revival ofGreek literature in Italy, and the general restorationof classical learning. The former century is especiallybarren of original _belles lettres_ writings; but thenext succeeding ages produced Italian poetry, Frenchchronicles, Spanish ballads, and all that wonderfulefflorescence of popular literature, which, in our faradvanced cultivation, we still so much envy and admire. In the last days of Scholasticism, Irish intelligenceasserted its ancient equality with the best minds ofEurope; but in the new era of national literature, unlessthere are buried treasures yet to be dug out of theirGaelic tombs, the country fell altogether behind England, and even Scotland, not to speak of Italy or France. Archbishop Fitz-Ralph, John Scotus of Down, William ofDrogheda, Professor of both laws at Oxford, are respectablerepresentatives among the last and greatest group of theSchool-men. Another illustrious name remains to be addedto the roll of Irish Scholastics, that of Maurice O'Fihely, Archbishop of Tuam. He was a thorough Scotist in philosophy, which he taught at Padua, in discourses long afterwardsprinted at Venice. His Commentaries on _Scotus_, hisDictionary of the Sacred Scriptures, and other numerouswritings, go far to justify the compliments of hiscotemporaries, though the fond appellation of the "flowerof the earth" given him by some of them sounds extravagantand absurd. Soon after arriving from Rome to take possessionof his see he died at Tuam in 1513, in the fiftieth yearof his age--an early age to have won so colossal areputation. Beyond some meagre annals, compiled in monastic houses, and a few rhymed panegyrics, the muses of history and ofpoetry seem to have abandoned the island to the theologians, jurists, and men of science. The Bardic order was stillone of the recognized estates, and found patrons worthyof their harps in the lady Margaret O'Carroll of Offally, William O'Kelley of Galway, and Henry Avery O'Neil. Fullcollections of the original Irish poetry of the MiddleAges are yet to be made public, but it is scarcely possiblethat if any composition of eminent merit existed, we shouldnot have had editions and translations of it before now. BOOK VII. UNION OF THE CROWNS OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND. CHAPTER I. IRISH POLICY OF HENRY THE EIGHTH DURING THE LIFETIMEOF CARDINAL WOLSEY. Henry the Eighth of England succeeded his father on thethrone, early in the year 1509. He was in the eighteenthyear of his age, when he thus found himself master of awell-filled treasury and an united kingdom. Fortune, asif to complete his felicity, had furnished him from theoutset of his reign with a minister of unrivalled talentfor public business. This was Thomas Wolsey, successivelyroyal Chaplain, Almoner, Archbishop of York, Papal Legate, Lord Chancellor, and Lord Cardinal. From the fifth tothe twentieth year of King Henry, he was, in effect, sovereign in the state, and it is wonderful to find howmuch time he contrived to borrow from the momentousforeign affairs of that eventful age for the obscurerintrigues of Irish politics. Wolsey kept before his mind, more prominently than anyprevious English statesman, the design of making hisroyal master as absolute in Ireland as any King inChristendom. He determined to abolish every pretence tosovereignty but that of the King of England, and to thisend he resolved to circumscribe the power of the Anglo-IrishBarons, and to win over by "dulce ways" and "politicdrifts, " as he expressed it, the Milesian-Irish Chiefs. This policy, continued by all the Tudor sovereigns tillthe latter years of Elizabeth, so far as it distinguishedbetween the Barons and Chiefs always favoured the latter. The Kildares and Desmonds were hunted to the death, in thesame age, and by the same authority, which carefullyfostered every symptom of adhesion or attachment on thepart of the O'Neils and O'Briens. Neither were these lastloved or trusted for their own sakes, but the natural enemyfares better in all histories than the unnatural rebel. We must enumerate some of the more remarkable instancesof Wolsey's twofold policy of concession and intimidation. In the third and fourth years of Henry, Hugh O'Donnell, lord of Tyrconnell, passing through England, on a pilgrimageto Rome, was entertained with great honour at Windsorand Greenwich for four months each time. He returned toUlster deeply impressed with the magnificence of theyoung monarch and the resources of his kingdom. Duringthe remainder of his life he cherished a strong predilectionfor England; he dissuaded James IV. Of Scotland fromleading a liberating expedition to Ireland in 1513--previous to the ill-fated campaign which ended on Floddenfield, and he steadily resisted the influx of the Islesmeninto Down and Antrim. In 1521 we find him described bythe Lord Lieutenant, Surrey, as being of all the Irishchiefs the best disposed "to fall into English order. "He maintained a direct correspondence with Henry untilhis death, 1537, when the policy he had so materiallyassisted had progressed beyond the possibility of defeat. Simultaneously with O'Donnell's adhesion, the same viewsfound favour with the powerful chief of Tyrone. TheO'Neils were now divided into two great septs, those ofTyrone, whose seat was at Dungannon, and those of Clandeboy, whose strongholds studded the eastern shores of LoughNeagh. In the year 1480, Con O'Neil, lord of Tyrone, married his cousin-germain, Lady Alice Fitzgerald, daughterof the Earl of Kildare. This alliance tended to establishan intimacy between Maynooth and Dungannon, which subservedmany of the ends of Wolsey's policy. Turlogh, Art, andCon, sons of Lady Alice, and successively chiefs ofTyrone, adhered to the fortunes of the Kildare family, who were, however unwillingly, controlled by the superiorpower of Henry. The Clandeboy O'Neils, on the contrary, regarded this alliance as nothing short of apostasy, andpursued the exactly opposite course, repudiating Englishand cultivating Scottish alliances. Open ruptures andfrequent collisions took place between the estranged andexasperated kinsmen; in the sequel we will find how thelast surviving son of Lady Alice became in his old agethe first Earl of Tyrone, while the House of Clandeboytook up the title of "the O'Neil. " The example of theelder branch of this ancient royal race, and of the hardlyless illustrious family of Tyrconnell, exercised a potentinfluence on the other chieftains of Ulster. An elaborate report on "the State of Ireland, " with "aplan for its Reformation"--submitted to Henry in the year1515--gives us a tolerably clear view of the politicaland military condition of the several provinces. The onlyportions of the country in any sense subject to Englishlaw, were half the counties of Louth, Meath, Dublin, Kildare, and Wexford. The residents within these districtspaid "black rent" to the nearest native chiefs. Sheriffswere not permitted to execute writs, beyond the boundsthus described, and even within thirty miles of Dublin, March-law and Brehon-law were in full force. Ten nativemagnates are enumerated in Leinster as "chief captains"of their "nations"--not one of whom regarded the EnglishKing as his Sovereign. Twenty chiefs in Munster, fifteenin Connaught, and three in West-Meath, maintained theirancient state, administered their own laws, and recognizedno superiority, except in one another, as policy or customcompelled them. Thirty chief English captains, of whomeighteen resided in Munster, seven in Connaught, and theremainder in Meath, Down, and Antrim, are set down as"rebels" and followers of "the Irish order. " Of these, the principal in the midland counties were the Dillonsand Tyrrells, in the West the Burkes and Berminghams, inthe South the Powers, Barrys, Roches--the Earl of Desmondand his relatives. The enormous growth of these MunsterGeraldines, and their not less insatiable greed, producedmany strange complications in the politics of the South. Not content with the moiety of Kerry, Cork, and Waterford, they had planted their landless cadets along the Suirand the Shannon, in Ormond and Thomond. They narrowedthe dominions of the O'Briens on the one hand and theMcCarthys on the other. Concluding peace or war withtheir neighbours, as suited their own convenience, theysometimes condescended to accept further feudal privilegesfrom the Kings of England. To Maurice, tenth Earl, HenryVII. Had granted "all the customs, cockets, poundage, prize wines of Limerick, Cork, Kinsale, Baltimore andYoughal, with other privileges and advantages. " Yet EarlJames, in the next reign, did not hesitate to treat withFrancis of France and the Emperor of Germany, as anindependent Prince, long before the pretence of resistingthe Reformation could be alleged in his justification. What we have here to observe is, that this predominanceof the Munster Geraldines drove first one and then anotherbranch of the McCarthys, and O'Briens, into the meshesof Wolsey's policy. Cormac Oge, lord of Muskerry, andhis cousin, the lord of Carbery, defeated the eleventhEarl (James), at Moore Abbey, in 1521, with a loss of1, 500 foot and 500 or 600 horsemen. To strengthen himselfagainst the powerful adversary so deeply wounded, Cormacsought the protection of the Lord Lieutenant, the Earlof Surrey, and of Pierce Roe, the eighth Earl of Ormond, who had common wrongs to avenge. In this way McCarthybecame identified with the English interest, which hesteadily adhered to till his death--in 1536. Driven bythe same necessity to adopt the same expedient, MurroghO'Brien, lord of Thomond, a few years later visited Henryat London, where he resigned his principality, receivedback his lands, under a royal patent conveying them tohim as "Earl of Thomond, and Baron of Inchiquin. " Henrywas but too happy to have raised up such a counterpoiseto the power of Desmond, at his own door, while O'Brienwas equally anxious to secure foreign aid against suchintolerable encroachments. The policy worked effectually;it brought the succeeding Earl of Desmond to London, anhumble suitor for the King's mercy and favour, which wereafter some demur granted. The event, however, which most directly tended to theestablishment of an English royalty in Ireland, was thedepression of the family of Kildare in the beginning ofthis reign, and its all but extinction a few years later. Gerald, the ninth Earl of that title, succeeded his fatherin the office of Lord Deputy in the first years of Henry. He had been a ward at the court of the preceding King, and by both his first and second marriages was closelyconnected with the royal family. Yet he stood in the wayof the settled plans of Wolsey, before whom the highestheads in the realm trembled. His father, as if to securehim against the hereditary enmity of the Butlers, hadmarried his daughter Margaret to Pierce Roe, Earl ofOssory, afterwards eighth Earl of Ormond--the restorerof that house. This lady, however, entered heartily intothe antipathies of her husband's family, and being ofmasculine spirit, with an uncommon genius for publicaffairs, helped more than any Butler had ever done tohumble the overshadowing house of which she was born. The weight of Wolsey's influence was constantly exercisedin favour of Ormond, who had the skill to recommendhimself quite as effectually to Secretary Cromwell, afterthe Cardinal's disgrace and death. But the struggles ofthe house of Kildare were bold and desperate. CHAPTER II. THE INSURRECTION OF SILKEN THOMAS--THE GERALDINELEAGUE--ADMINISTRATION OF LORD LEONARD GRAY. The ninth and last _Catholic_ Earl of Kildare, in theninth year of Henry VIII. , had been summoned to Londonto answer two charges preferred against him by hispolitical enemies: "1st, That he had enriched himselfand his followers out of the crown lands and revenues. 2nd, That he had formed alliances and corresponded withdivers Irish enemies of the State. " Pending these chargesthe Earl of Surrey, the joint-victor with his father atFlodden field, was despatched to Dublin in his stead, with the title of Lord Lieutenant. Kildare, by the advice of Wolsey, was retained in a sortof honourable attendance on the person of the King fornearly four years. During this interval he accompaniedHenry to "the field of the cloth of Gold, " so celebratedin French and English chronicles. On his return to Dublin, in 1523, he found his enemy, the Earl of Ormond, in hisold office, but had the pleasure of supplanting him oneyear afterwards. In 1525, on the discovery of Desmond'scorrespondence with Francis of France, he was ordered tomarch into Munster and arrest that nobleman. But, thoughhe obeyed the royal order, Desmond successfully evadedhim, not, as was alleged, without his friendly connivance. The next year this evasion was made the ground of a freshimpeachment by the implacable Earl of Ormond; he wasagain summoned to London, and committed to the Tower. In 1530 he was liberated, and sent over with Sir WilliamSkeffington, whose authority to some extent he shared. The English Knight had the title of Deputy, but Kildarewas, in effect, Captain General, as the Red Earl hadformerly been. Skeffington was instructed to obey himin the field, while it was expected that the Earl, inreturn, would sustain his colleague in the Council. Ayear had not passed before they were declared enemies, and Skeffington was recalled to England, where he addedanother to the number of Kildare's enemies. After a shortterm of undisputed power, the latter found himself, in1533, for the third time, an inmate of the Tower. It isclear that the impetuous Earl, after his second escape, had not conducted himself as prudently as one so wellforewarned ought to have done. He played more openly thanever the twofold part of Irish Chief among the Irish, and English Baron within the Pale. His daughters weremarried to the native lords of Offally and Ely, and hefrequently took part as arbitrator in the affairs ofthose clans. The anti-Geraldine faction were not slow totorture these facts to suit themselves. They had beenstrengthened at Dublin by three English officials, Archbishop Allan, his relative John Allan, afterwardsMaster of the Rolls, and Robert Cowley, the Chief Solicitor, Lord Ormond's confidential agent. The reiteratedrepresentations of these personages induced the suspiciousand irascible King to order the Earl's attendance atLondon, authorizing him at the same time to appoint asubstitute, for whose conduct he would be answerable. Kildare nominated his son, Lord Thomas, though not yetof man's age; after giving him many sage advices, hesailed for England, no more to return. The English interest at that moment had apparently reachedthe lowest point. The O'Briens had bridged the Shannon, andenforced their ancient claims over Limerick. So defenceless, at certain periods, was Dublin itself that Edmond Oge O'Byrnesurprised the Castle by night, liberated the prisoners, andcarried off the stores. This daring achievement, unprecedentedeven in the records of the fearless mountaineers of Wicklow, was thrown in to aggravate the alleged offences of Kildare. He was accused, moreover, of having employed the King's greatguns and other munitions of war to strengthen his own Castlesof Maynooth and Ley--a charge more direct and explicit thanhad been alleged against him at any former period. While the Earl lay in London Tower, an expedient verycommon afterwards in our history-the forging of lettersand despatches-was resorted to by his enemies in Dublin, to drive the young Lord Thomas into some rash act whichmight prove fatal to his father and himself. Accordinglythe packets brought from Chester, in the spring of 1534, repeated reports, one confirming the other, of theexecution of the Earl in the Tower. Nor was there anythingvery improbable in such an occurrence. The cruel characterof Henry had, in these same spring months, been fullydeveloped in the execution of the reputed prophetess, Elizabeth Barton, and all her abettors. The most eminentlayman in England, Sir Thomas More, and the most illustriousecclesiastic, Bishop Fisher, had at the same time beenfound guilty of misprision of treason for having knownof the pretended prophecies of Elizabeth withoutcommunicating their knowledge to the King. That anAnglo-Irish Earl, even of the first rank, could hope tofare better at the hands of the tyrant than his agedtutor and his trusted Chancellor, was not to be expected. When, therefore, Lord Thomas Fitzgerald flung down thesword of State on the Council table, in the hall of St. Mary's Abbey, on the 11th day of June, 1534, and formallyrenounced his allegiance to King Henry as the murdererof his father, although he betrayed an impetuous andimpolitic temper, there was much in the events of thetimes to justify his belief in the rumours of his father'sexecution. This renunciation of allegiance was a declaration of openwar. The chapter thus opened in the memoirs of the LeinsterGeraldines closed at Tyburn on the 3rd of February, 1537. Within these three years, the policy of annexation washastened by several events--but by none more than thisunconcerted, unprepared, reckless revolt. The advice ofthe imprisoned Earl to his son had been "to play thegentlest part, " but youth and rash counsels overcame thesuggestions of age and experience. One great excessstained the cause of "Silken Thomas, " while it was butsix weeks old. Towards the end of July, Archbishop Allan, his father's deadly enemy, left his retreat in the Castle, and put to sea by night, hoping to escape into England. The vessel, whether by design or accident, ran ashore atClontarf, and the neighbourhood being overrun by theinsurgents, the Archbishop concealed himself at Artane. Here he was discovered, dragged from his bed, and murdered, if not in the actual presence, under the same roof withLord Thomas. King Henry's Bishops hurled against theassassins the greater excommunication, with all itspenalties; a terrific malediction, which was, perhaps, more than counterbalanced by the Papal Bull issued againstHenry and Anne Boleyn on the last day of August--theknowledge of which must have reached Ireland before theend of the year. This Bull cited Henry to appear withinninety days in person, or by attorney, at Rome, to answerfor his offences against the Apostolic See; failing which, he was declared excommunicated, his subjects were absolvedfrom their allegiance, and commanded to take up armsagainst their former sovereign. The ninety days expiredwith the month of November, 1534. Lord Thomas, as he acted without consultation with others, so he was followed but by few persons of influence. Hisbrothers-in-law, the chiefs of Ely and Offally, O'Mooreof Leix, two of his five uncles, his relatives, theDelahides, mustered their adherents, and rallied to hisstandard. He held the castles of Carlow, Maynooth, Athy, and other strongholds in Kildare. He beseiged Dublin, andcame to a composition with the citizens, by which theyagreed to allow him free ingress to assail the Castle, into which his enemies had withdrawn. He despatched agentsto the Emperor, Charles V. , and the Pope, but beforethose agents could well have returned--March, 1535--Maynooth had been assaulted and taken by Sir WilliamSkeffington--and the bands collected by the young lordhad melted away. Lord Leonard Gray, his maternal uncle, assumed the command for the King of England, instead ofSkeffington, disabled by sickness, and the abortiveinsurrection was extinguished in one campaign. Towardsthe end of August, 1535, the unfortunate Lord Thomassurrendered on the guarantee of Lord Leonard and LordButler; in the following year his five uncles--three ofwhom had never joined in the rising--were treacherouslyseized at a banquet given to them by Gray, and were all, with their nephew, executed at Tyburn, on the 3rd ofFebruary, 1537. The imprisoned Earl having died in theTower on the 12th of December, 1534, the sole survivorof this historic house was now a child of twelve yearsof age, whose life was sought with an avidity equal toHerod's, but who was protected with a fidelity whichdefeated every attempt to capture him. Alternately theguest of his aunts married to the chiefs of Offally andDonegal, the sympathy everywhere felt for him led to aconfederacy between the Northern and Southern Chiefs, which had long been wanting. A loose league was formed, including the O'Neils of both branches, O'Donnell, O'Brien, the Earl of Desmond, and the chiefs of Moylurg and Breffni. The lad, the object of so much natural and chivalrousaffection, was harboured for a time in Munster, thencetransported through Connaught into Donegal, and finally, after four years, in which he engaged more of the mindsof statesmen than any other individual under the rank ofroyalty, was safely landed in France. We shall meet himagain in another reign, under more fortunate auspices. Lord Leonard Gray continued in office as Deputy for nearlyfive years (1535-40). This interval was marked by severalsuccesses against detached clans and the parties to theGeraldine league, whom he was careful to attack only insuccession. In his second campaign, O'Brien's bridgewas carried and demolished, one O'Brien was set up againstanother, and one O'Conor against another; the next yearthe Castle of Dungannon was taken from O'Neil, and Dundrumfrom Magennis. In 1539, he defeated O'Neil and O'Donnell, at Bolahoe, on the borders of Farney, in Monaghan, witha loss of 400 men, and the spoils they had taken fromthe English of Navan and Ardee. The Mayors of Dublin andDrogheda were knighted on the field for the valour theyhad shown at the head of their train-bands. The sameyear, he made a successful incursion into the territoryof the Earl of Desmond, receiving the homage of many ofthe inferior lords, and exonerating them from the exactionsof those haughty Palatines. Recalled to England in 1540, he, too, in turn, fell a victim to the sanguinary spiritof King Henry, and perished on the scaffold. CHAPTER III. SIR ANTHONY ST. LEGER, LORD DEPUTY--NEGOTIATIONS OF THEIRISH CHIEFS WITH JAMES THE FIFTH OF SCOTLAND--FIRSTATTEMPTS TO INTRODUCE THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION--OPPOSITION OF THE CLERGY--PARLIAMENT OF 1541--THE PROCTORSOF THE CLERGY EXCLUDED--STATE OF THE COUNTRY--THE CROWNSUNITED--HENRY THE EIGHTH PROCLAIMED AT LONDON AND DUBLIN. Upon the disgrace of Lord Leonard Gray in 1540, SirAnthony St. Leger was appointed Deputy. He had previouslybeen employed as chief of the commission issued in 1537, to survey land subject to the King, to inquire into, confirm, or cancel titles, and abolish abuses which mighthave crept in among the Englishry, whether upon themarches or within the Pale. In this employment he had athis disposal a guard of 340 men, while the Deputy andCouncil were ordered to obey his mandates as if given bythe King in person. The commissioners were furtherempowered to reform the Courts of Law; to enter as King'sCounsel into both Houses of Parliament, there to urgethe adoption of measures upholding English laws andcustoms, establishing the King's supremacy, in spiritualsas in temporals, to provide for the defence of the marches, and the better collection of the revenues. In the threeyears which he spent at the head of this commission, St. Leger, an eminently able and politic person, made himselfintimately acquainted with Irish affairs; as a naturalconsequence of which knowledge he was entrusted, uponthe first vacancy, with their supreme directions. In thissituation he had to contend, not only with the complicationslong existing in the system itself, but with the formidabledisturbing influence exercised by the Court of Scotland, chiefly upon and by means of the Ulster Princes. Up to this period, the old political intimacy of Scotlandand Ireland had known no diminution. The Scots in Antrimcould reckon, soon after Henry's accession to the throne, 2, 000 fighting men. In 1513, in order to co-operate withthe warlike movement of O'Donnell, the Scottish fleet, under the Earl of Arran, in his famous flagship, "thegreat Michael, " captured Carrickfergus, putting itsAnglo-Irish garrison to the sword. In the same Scottishreign (that of James IV. ), one of the O'Donnells had amunificent grant of lands in Kirkcudbright, as otheradventurers from Ulster had from the same monarch, inGalloway and Kincardine. In 1523, while hostilities ragedbetween Scotland and England, the Irish Chiefs enteredinto treaty with Francis the First of France, who boundhimself to land in Ireland 15, 000 men, to expel theEnglish from "the Pale, " and to carry his arms acrossthe channel in the quarrel of Richard de la Pole, fatherof the famous Cardinal, and at this time a formidablepretender to the English throne. The imbecile conduct ofthe Scottish Regent, the Duke of Albany, destroyed thisenterprise, which, however, was but the forerunner, ifit was not the model, of several similar combinations. When the Earl of Bothwell took refuge at the EnglishCourt, in 1531, he suggested to Henry VIII. , among othermotives for renewing the war with James V. , that thelatter was in league "with the Emperor, the Danish King, and O'Donnell. " The following year, a Scottish force of4, 000 men, under John, son of Alexander McDonald, Lordof the Isles, served, by permission of their King, underthe banner of the Chieftain of Tyrconnell. An uninterruptedcorrespondence between the Ulster Chiefs and the ScottishCourt may be traced through this reign, forming a curiouschapter of Irish diplomacy. In 1535, we have a letterfrom O'Neil to James V. , from which it appears thatO'Neil's Secretary was then residing at the ScottishCourt; and as the crisis of the contest for the Crowndrew near, we find the messages and overtures from Ulstermultiplying in number and earnestness. In that criticalperiod, James V. Was between twenty and thirty years old, and his powerful minister, Cardinal Beaton, was actingby him the part that Wolsey had played by Henry at a likeage. The Cardinal, favouring the French and Irish alliances, had drawn a line of Scottish policy, in relation to boththose countries, precisely parallel to Wolsey's. Duringthe Geraldine insurrection, Henry was obliged to remonstratewith James on favours shown to his rebels of Ireland. This charge James' ministers, in their correspondence ofthe year 1535, strenuously denied, while admitting thatsome insignificant Islesmen, over whom he could exerciseno control, might have gone privily thither. In the springof 1540, Bryan Layton, one of the English agents at theScottish Court, communicated to Secretary Cromwell thatJames had fitted out a fleet of 15 ships, manned by 2, 000men, and armed with all the ordinance that he couldmuster; that his destination was Ireland, the Crown ofwhich had been offered to him, the previous Lent, by"eight gentlemen, " who brought him written tenders ofsubmission "from all the great men of Ireland, " withtheir seals attached; and, furthermore, that the Kinghad declared to Lord Maxwell his determination to winsuch a prize as "never King of Scotland had before, " orto lose his life in the attempt. It is remarkable thatin this same spring of 1540-while such was understood tobe the destination of the Scottish fleet-a congress ofthe Chiefs of all Ireland was appointed to be held atthe Abbey of Fore, in West-Meath. To prevent this meetingtaking place, the whole force of the Pale, with thejudges, clergy, townsmen and husbandmen, marched outunder the direction of the Lords of the Council (St. Leger not having yet arrived to replace Lord Gray), butfinding no such assembly as they had been led to expect, they made a predatory incursion into Roscommon, anddispersed some armed bands belonging to O'Conor. Thecommander in this expedition was the Marshal Sir WilliamBrereton, for the moment one of the Lords Justices. Hewas followed to the field by the last Prior of Kilmainham, Sir John Rawson, the Master of the Rolls, the Archbishopof Dublin, the Bishop of Meath, Mr. Justice Luttrell, and the Barons of the Exchequer-a strange medley of civiland military dignitaries. The prevention or postponement of the Congress at Foremust have exercised a decided influence on the expeditionof James V. His great armada having put to sea, aftercoasting among the out-islands, and putting into a northernEnglish port from stress of weather, returned home withoutachievement of any kind. Diplomatic intercourse wasshortly renewed between him and Henry, but, in thefollowing year, to the extreme displeasure of his royalkinsman, he assumed the much-prized title of "Defenderof the Faith. " Another rupture took place, when the Irishcard was played over again with the customary effect. Ina letter of July, 1541, introducing to the Irish Chiefsthe Jesuit Fathers, Salmeron, Broet, and Capata, whopassed through Scotland on their way to Ireland, Jamesstyles himself "Lord of Ireland"--another insult anddefiance to Henry, whose newly-acquired kingly style wasthen but a few weeks old. By way of retaliation, Henryordered the Archbishop of York to search the registersof that see for evidence of _his_ claim to the Crown ofScotland, and industriously cultivated the disaffectedparty amongst the Scottish nobility. At length thesebickerings broke out into open war, and the short, butfatal campaign of 1542, removed another rival for theEnglish King. The double defeat of Fala and of SolwayMoss, the treason of his nobles, and the failure of hishopes, broke the heart of the high-spirited James V. Hedied in December, 1542, in the 33rd year of his age, afew hours after learning the birth of his daughter, socelebrated as Mary, Queen of Scots. In his last momentshe pronounced the doom of the Stuart dynasty--"It camewith a lass, " he exclaimed, "and it will go with a lass, "And thus it happened that the image of Ireland, whichunfolds the first scene of the War of the Roses, whichis inseparable from the story of the two Bruces, andwhich occupies so much of the first and last years ofthe Tudor dynasty, stands mournfully by the deathbed ofthe last Stuart King who reigned in Scotland--the onlyPrince of his race that had ever written under his namethe title of "_Dominus Hiberniae_. " The premature death of James was hardly more regrettedby his immediate subjects than by his Irish allies. Allexternal events now conspired to show the hopelessnessof resistance to the power of King Henry. From Scotland, destined to half a century of anarchy, no help could beexpected. Wales, another ancient ally of the Irish, hadbeen incorporated with England, in 1536, and was fastbecoming reconciled to the rule of a Prince, sprung froma Welsh ancestry. Francis of France and Charles V. , rivalsfor the leadership of the Continent, were too busy withtheir own projects to enter into any Irish alliance. The Geraldines had suffered terrible defeats; the familyof Kildare was without an adult representative; theO'Neils and O'Donnells had lost ground at Bellahoe, andwere dismayed by the unlooked-for death of the King ofScotland. The arguments, therefore, by which many of thechiefs might have justified themselves to their clans in1541, '2 and '3, for submitting to the inevitable lawsof necessity in rendering homage to Henry VIII. , wereneither few nor weak. Abroad there was no hope of analliance sufficient to counterbalance the immense resourcesof England; at home life-wasting private wars, the conflictof laws, of languages, and of titles to property, hadbecome unbearable. That fatal family pride, which wouldnot permit an O'Brien to obey an O'Neil, nor an O'Conorto follow either, rendered the establishment of a nativemonarchy--even if there had been no other obstacle--wholly impracticable. Among the clergy alone did thegrowing supremacy of Henry meet with any effectiveopposition. At its first presentation in Ireland, and during thewhole of Henry's lifetime, the "Reformation" wore theguise of schism, as distinguished from heresy. To denythe supremacy of the Pope and admit the supremacy of theKing were almost its sole tests of doctrine. All theancient teaching in relation to the Seven Sacraments, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Real Presence, Purgatory, and Prayers for the Dead, were scrupulouslyretained. Subsequently, the necessity of auricularconfession, the invocation of Saints, and the celibacyof the clergy came to be questioned, but they were notdogmatically assailed during this reign. The commonpeople, where English was understood, were slow in takingalarm at these masked innovations; in the Irish-speakingdistricts--three-fourths of the whole country--they wereonly heard of as rumours from afar, but the clergy, secular and regular, were not long left in doubt as towhere such steps must necessarily lead. From 1534, the year of his divorce, until 1541, the yearof his election, Henry attempted, by fits and starts, toassert his supremacy in Ireland. He appointed GeorgeBrowne, a strenuous advocate of the divorce, some timeProvincial of the order of St. Augustine in England, Archbishop of Dublin, vacant by the murder of ArchbishopAllan. On the 12th of March, 1535, Browne was consecratedby Cranmer, whose opinions, as well as those of SecretaryCromwell, he echoed through life. He may be consideredthe first agent employed to introduce the Reformationinto Ireland, and his zeal in that work seems to havebeen unwearied. He was destined, however, to find manyopponents, and but few converts. Not only the Primate ofArmagh, George Cromer, and almost all the episcopal order, resolutely resisted his measures, but the clergy andlaity of Dublin refused to accept his new forms of prayer, or to listen to his strange teaching. He inveighs in hiscorrespondence with Cromwell against Bassenet, Dean ofSt. Patrick's, Castele, Prior of Christ's Church, andgenerally against all the clergy. Of the twenty-eightsecular priests in Dublin, but three could be induced toact with him; the regular orders he found equallyintractable--more especially the Observantins, whose namehe endeavoured to change to Conventuals. "The spirituality, "as he calls them, refused to take the oaths of abjurationand supremacy; refused to strike the name of the Bishopof Rome from their primers and mass-books, and seducedthe rest into like contumacy. Finding persuasion of littleavail, he sometimes resorted to harsher measures. Dr. Sall, a grey friar of Waterford, was brought to Dublinand imprisoned for preaching the new doctrines in theSpring of 1538; Thaddeus Byrne, another friar, was putin the pillory, and was reported to have committed suicidein the Castle, on the 14th of July of the same year; SirHumfrey, parson of Saint Owens, and the suffragan Bishopof Meath, were "clapped in ward, " for publicly prayingfor the Pope's weal and the King's conversion; anotherBishop and friar were arrested and carried to Trim, forsimilar offences, but were liberated without trial, byLord Deputy Gray; a friar of Waterford, in 1539, by orderof the St. Leger Commission, was executed in the habitof his order, on a charge of "felony, " and so left hanging"as a mirror for all his brethren. " Yet, with all thisseverity, and all the temptations held out by the wealthof confiscated monasteries, none would abide the preachingof the new religion except the "Lord Butler, the Masterof the Rolls (Allan), Mr. Treasurer (Brabazon), and oneor two more of small reputation. " The first test to which the firmness of the clergy hadbeen put was in the Parliament convoked at Dublin by LordDeputy Gray, in May, 1537. Anciently in such assembliestwo proctors of each diocese, within the Pale, had beenaccustomed to sit and vote in the Upper House asrepresenting their order, but the proposed tests ofsupremacy and abjuration were so boldly resisted by theproctors and spiritual peers on this occasion that theLord Deputy was compelled to prorogue the Parliamentwithout attaining its assent to those measures. Duringthe recess a question was raised by the Crown lawyers asto the competency of the proctors to vote, while admittingtheir right to be present as councillors and assistants;this question, on an appeal to England, was declared inthe negative, whereupon that learned body were excludedfrom all share in the future Irish legislation of thisreign. Hence, whoever else are answerable for the electionof 1541 the proctors of the clergy are not. Having thus reduced the clerical opposition in the UpperHouse, the work of monastic spoliation, covertly commencedtwo years before, under the pretence of reforming abuses, was more confidently resumed. In 1536, an act had beenpassed vesting the property of all religious houses inthe Crown; at which time the value of their moveableswas estimated at 100, 000 pounds and their yearly valueat 32, 000 pounds. In 1537, eight abbeys were suppressedduring the King's pleasure; in 1538, a commission issuedfor the suppression of monasteries; and in 1539, twenty-fourgreat Houses, whose Abbots and Priors had been lords ofParliament, were declared "surrendered" to the King, andtheir late superiors were granted pensions for life. How these "surrenders" were procured we may judge fromthe case of Manus, Abbot of St. Mary's, Thurles, who wascarried prisoner to Dublin, and suffered a long confinementfor refusing to yield up his trust according to thedesired formula. The work of confiscation was in thesefirst years confined to the walled towns in English hands, the district of the Pale, and such points of the Irishcountry as could be conveniently reached. The great orderof the Cistercians, established for more than fourcenturies at Mellifont, at Monastereven, at Bective, atJerpoint, at Tintern, and at Dunbrody, were the firstexpelled from their cloisters and gardens. The Canonsregular of St. Augustine at Trim, at Conal, at Athasseland at Kells, were next assailed by the degenerateAugustinian, who presided over the commission. The ordersof St. Victor, of Aroacia, of St. John of Jerusalem, wereextinguished wherever the arm of the Reformation couldreach. The mendicant orders, spread into every districtof the island, were not so easily erased from the soil;very many of the Dominican and Franciscan houses standingand flourishing far into the succeeding century. If the influence of the clergy counterbalanced the policyof the chiefs, the condition of the mass of thepopulation--more especially of the inhabitants of thePale and the marches--was such as to make them cherishthe expectation that any governmental change whatevershould be for the better. It was, under these circumstances, a far-reaching policy, which combined the causes and theremedy for social wrongs, with invectives against theold, and arguments in favour of the new religion. Inorder to understand what elements of discontent therewere to be wrought to such conclusions, it is enough togive the merest glance at the social state of the lowerclasses under English authority. The St. Leger Commissionrepresents the mixed population of the marches, and theEnglishry of "the Pale" as burthened by accumulatedexactions. Their lords quartered upon them at pleasuretheir horses, servants, and guests. They were chargedwith coin and livery--that is, horse-meat and man's-meat--when their lords travelled from place to place--withsummer-oats, with providing for their cosherings, orfeasts, at Christmas and Easter, with "black men andblack money, " for border defence, and with workmen andaxemen from every ploughland, to work in the ditches, orto hew passages for the soldiery through the woods. Everyaggravation of feudal wrong was inflicted on this harassedpopulation. When a le Poer or a Butler married a daughterhe exacted a sheep from every flock, and a cow from everyvillage. When one of his sons went to England, a specialtribute was levied on every village and ploughland tobear the young gentleman's travelling expenses. When theheads of any of the great houses hunted, their dogs wereto be supplied by the tenants "with bread and milk, orbutter. " In the towns tailors, masons, and carpenters, were taxed for coin and livery; "mustrons" were employedin building halls, castles, stables, and barns, at theexpense of the tenantry, for the sole use of the lord. The only effective law was an undigested jumble of theBrehon, the Civil, and the Common law; with the arbitraryordinances of the marches, known as "the Statutes ofKilcash"--so called from a border stronghold near thefoot of Slievenamon--a species of wild justice, resemblingtoo often that administered by Robin Hood, or Rob Roy. Many circumstances concurring to promote plans so longcherished by Henry, St. Leger summoned a Parliament forthe morrow after Trinity Sunday, being the 13th of themonth of June, 1541. The attendance on the day named wasnot so full as was expected, so the opening was deferredtill the following Thursday--being the feast of CorpusChristi. On that festival the Mass of the Holy Ghost wassolemnly celebrated in St. Patrick's Cathedral, in which"two thousand persons" had assembled. The Lords ofParliament rode in cavalcade to the Church doors, headedby the Deputy. There were seen side by side in thisprocession the Earls of Desmond and Ormond, the LordsBarry, Roche and Bermingham; thirteen Barons of "thePale, " and a long train of Knights; Donogh O'Brien, Tanistof Thomond, the O'Reilly, O'Moore and McWilliam; Charles, son of Art Kavanagh, lord of Leinster, and Fitzpatrick, lord of Ossory. Never before had so many Milesian chiefsand Norman barons been seen together, except on the fieldof battle; never before had Dublin beheld marshalled inher streets what could by any stretch of imagination beconsidered a national representation. For this singularity, not less than for the business it transacted, the Parliamentof 1541 will be held in lasting remembrance. In the sanctuary of St. Patrick's, two Archbishops andtwelve Bishops assisted at the solemn mass, and the wholeceremony was highly imposing. "The like thereof, " wroteSt. Leger to Henry, "has not been seen here these manyyears. " On the next day, Friday, the Commons elected SirThomas Cusack speaker, who, in "a right solemn proposition, "opened at the bar of the Lords' House the main businessof the session--the establishment of King Henry's supremacy. To this address Lord Chancellor Allen--"well and prudentlieanswered;" and the Commons withdrew to their own chamber. The substance of both speeches was "briefly and prudentlie"declared in the Irish language to the Gaelic Lords, bythe Earl of Ormond, "greatly to their contentation. " ThenSt. Leger proposed that Henry and his heirs should havethe title of King, and caused the "bill devised for thesame to be read. " This bill having been put to the Lords'House, both in Irish and English, passed its three readingsat the same sitting. In the Commons it was adopted withequal unanimity the next day, when the Lord Deputy mostjoyfully gave his consent. Thus on Saturday, June 19th, 1541, the royalty of Ireland was first formally transferredto an English dynasty. On that day the triumphantSt. Leger was enabled to write his royal master hiscongratulations on having added to his dignities "anotherimperial crown. " On Sunday bonfires were made in honourof the event, guns fired, and wine on stoop was set inthe streets. All prisoners, except those for capitaloffences, were liberated; _Te Deum_ was sung in St. Patrick's, and King Henry issued his proclamation, onreceipt of the intelligence, for a general pardon throughout_all_ his dominions. The new title was confirmed withgreat formality by the English Parliament in their sessionof 1542. Proclamation was formally made of it in London, on the 1st of July of that year, when it was moreoverdeclared that after that date all persons being lawfullyconvicted of opposing the new dignity should "be adjudgedhigh traitors"--"and suffer the pains of death. " Thus was consummated the first political union of Irelandwith England. The strangely-constituted Assembly, whichhad given its sanction to the arrangement, in the languageof the Celt, the Norman, and the Saxon, continued insession till the end of July, when they were proroguedtill November. They enacted several statutes, in completionof the great change they had decreed; and while someprepared for a journey to the court of their new sovereign, others returned to their homes, to account as best theycould for the part they had played at Dublin. CHAPTER IV. ADHESION OF O'NEIL, O'DONNELL AND O'BRIEN--A NEWANGLO-IRISH PEERAGE--NEW RELATIONS OF LORD ANDTENANT--BISHOPS APPOINTED BY THE CROWN--RETROSPECT. The Act of Election could hardly be considered as theAct of the Irish nation, so long as several of the mostdistinguished chiefs withheld their concurrence. Withthese, therefore, Saint Leger entered into separatetreaties, by separate instruments, agreed upon, at variousdates, during the years 1542 and 1543. Manus O'Donnell, lord of Tyrconnell, gave in his adhesion in August, 1541, Con O'Neil, lord of Tyrowen, Murrogh O'Brien, lord ofThomond, Art O'Moore, lord of Leix, and Ulick Burke, lordof Clanrickarde, 1542 and 1543; but, during the reign ofHenry, no chief of the McCarthys, the O'Conors of Roscommonor of Offally, entered into any such engagement. Theelection, therefore, was far from unanimous, and HenryVIII. Would perhaps be classed by our ancient Senachiesamong the "Kings with opposition, " who figure so oftenin our Annals during the Middle Ages. Assuming, however, the title conferred upon him with nolittle complacency, Henry proceeded to exercise the firstprivilege of a sovereign, the creation of honours. MurroghO'Brien, chief of his name, became Earl of Thomond, andDonogh, his nephew, Baron of Ibrackan; Ulick McWilliamBurke became Earl of Clanrickarde and Baron of Dunkellin;Hugh O'Donnell was made Earl of Tyrconnell; Fitzpatrick, became Baron of Ossory, and Kavanagh, Baron of Ballyan;Con O'Neil was made Earl of Tyrone, having asked, andbeen refused, the higher title of Earl of Ulster. Theorder of Knighthood was conferred on several of theprincipal attendants, and to each of the new peers theKing granted a house in or near Dublin, for theiraccommodation, when attending the sittings of Parliament. The imposing ceremonial of the transformation of theseCeltic chiefs into English Earls has been very minutelydescribed by an eye-witness. One batch were made atGreenwich Palace, after High Mass on Sunday, the 1st ofJuly, 1543. The Queen's closet "was richly hanged withcloth of arras and well strawed with rushes, " for theirrobing room. The King received them under a canopy ofstate, surrounded by his Privy Council, the peers, spiritual and temporal, the Earl of Glencairn, Sir GeorgeDouglas, and the other Scottish Commissioners. The Earlsof Derby and Ormond led in the new Earl of Thomond, Viscount Lisle carrying before them the sword. TheChamberlain handed his letters patent to the Secretarywho read them down to the words _Cincturam gladii_, whenthe King girt the kneeling Earl, baldric-wise, with thesword, all the company standing. A similar ceremony wasgone through with the others, the King throwing a goldchain having a cross hanging to it round each of theirnecks. Then, preceded by the trumpeters blowing, and theofficers at arms, they entered the dining hall, where, after the second course, their titles were proclaimedaloud in Norman-French by Garter, King at Arms. Nor didHenry, who prided himself on his munificence, omit evenmore substantial tokens of his favour to the new Peers. Besides the town houses near Dublin, before mentioned, he granted to O'Brien all the abbeys and benefices ofThomond, bishoprics excepted; to McWilliam Burke, allthe parsonages and vicarages of Clanrickarde, withone-third of the first-fruits, the Abbey of _Via Nova_and 30 pounds a year compensation for the loss of thecustoms of Galway; to Donogh O'Brien, the Abbey ofEllenegrane, the moiety of the Abbey of Clare, and anannuity of 20 pounds a year. To the new lord of Ossoryhe granted the monasteries of Aghadoe and Aghmacarte, with the right of holding court lete and market, everyThursday, at his town of Aghadoe. For these and otherfavours the recipients had been instructed to petitionthe King, and drafts of such petitions had been drawn upin anticipation of their arrival in England, by someofficial hand. The petitions are quoted by most of ourlate historians as their own proper act, but it is quiteclear, though willing enough to present them and to acceptsuch gifts, they had never dictated them. In the creation of this Peerage Henry proclaimed, in themost practical manner possible, his determination toassimilate the laws and institutions of Ireland to thoseof England. And the new made Earls, forgetting theirancient relations to their clans--forgetting, as O'Brienhad answered St. Leger's first overtures three yearsbefore, "that though he was captain of his nation he wasstill but one man, " by suing out royal patents for theirlands, certainly consented to carry out the King's plans. The Brehon law was doomed from the date of the creationof the new Peers at Greenwich, for such a change entailedamong its first consequences a complete abrogation ofthe Gaelic relations of clansman and chief. By the Brehon law every member of a free clan was astruly a proprietor of the tribe-land as the chief himself. He could sell his share, or the interest in it, to anyother member of the tribe--the origin, perhaps, of whatis now called tenant-right; he could not, however, sellto a stranger without the consent of the tribe and thechief. The stranger coming in under such an arrangement, held by a special tenure, yet if he remained during thetime of three lords he became thereby naturalized. Ifthe unnaturalized tenant withdrew of his own will fromthe land he was obliged to leave all his improvementsbehind; but if he was ejected he was entitled to gettheir full value. Those who were immediate tenants ofthe chief, or of the church, were debarred this privilegeof tenant-right, and if unable to keep their holdingswere obliged to surrender them unreservedly to the churchor the chief. All the tribesmen, according to the extentof their possessions, were bound to maintain the chief'shousehold, and to sustain him, with men and means, inhis offensive and defensive wars. Such were, in brief, the land laws in force over three-fourths of the countryin the sixteenth century; laws which partook largely ofthe spirit of an ancient patriarchal justice, but which, in ages of movement, exchange, and enterprise, would havebeen found the reverse of favourable to individual freedomand national strength. There were not wanting, we may beassured, many minds to whom this truth was apparent soearly as the age of Henry VIII. And it may not beunreasonable to suppose that one of the advantages whichthe chief found in exchanging this patriarchal positionfor a feudal Earldom would be the greater degree ofindependence on the will of the tribe, which the newsystem conferred on him. With the mass of the clansmen, however, for the very same reason, the change was certainto be unpopular, if not odious. But a still more seriouschange--a change of religion--was evidently contemplatedby those Earls who accepted the property of the confiscatedreligious houses. The receiver of such estates could hardlypretend to belong to the ancient religion of the country. It is impossible to understand Irish history from thereign of Henry VIII. Till the fall of James II. --nearlytwo hundred years--without constantly keeping in mindthe dilemma of the chiefs and lords between the requirementsof the English Court on the one hand and of the nativeclans on the other. Expected to obey and to administerconflicting laws, to personate two characters, to speaktwo languages, to uphold the old, yet to patronize thenew order of things; distrusted at Court if they inclinedto the people, detested by the people if they leanedtowards the Court--a more difficult situation can hardlybe conceived. Their perilous circumstances brought fortha new species of Irish character in the Chieftain-Earlsof the Tudor and Stuart times. Not less given to war thantheir forefathers, they were now compelled to study thepolitician's part, even more than the soldier's. Broughtpersonally in contact with powerful Sovereigns, or pittedat home against the Sydneys, Mountjoys, Chichesters, andStraffords, the lessons of Bacon and Machiavelli foundapt scholars in the halls of Dunmanway and Dungannon. The multitude, in the meanwhile, saw only the broad factthat the Chief had bowed his neck to the hated Saxonyoke, and had promised, or would be by and by compelled, to introduce foreign garrisons, foreign judges, andforeign laws, amongst the sons of the Gael. Very earlythey perceived this; on the adhesion of O'Donnell to theAct of Election, a part of his clansmen, under the leadof his own son, rose up against his authority. A rivalMcWilliam was at once chosen to the new Earl ofClanrickarde, in the West. Con O'Neil, the first of hisrace who had accepted an English title, was imprisonedby his son, John the Proud, and died of grief during hisconfinement. O'Brien found, on his return from Greenwich, half his territory in revolt; and this was the generalexperience of all Henry's electors. Yet such was thepower of the new Sovereign that, we are told in ourAnnals, at the year 1547--the year of Henry's death--"no one dared give food or protection" to those fewpatriotic chiefs who still held obstinately out againstthe election of 1541. The creation of a new peerage coincided in point of timewith the first unconditional nomination of new Bishopsby the Crown. The Plantagenet Kings, in common with allfeudal Princes, had always claimed the right of investingBishops with their temporalities and legal dignities;while, at the same time, they recognized in the See ofRome the seat and centre of Apostolic authority. ButHenry, excommunicated and incorrigible, had procured fromthe Parliament of "the Pale, " three years before the Actof Election, the formal recognition of his spiritualsupremacy, under which he proceeded, as often as he hadan opportunity, to promote candidates for the episcopacyto vacant sees. Between 1537 and 1547, thirteen or fourteensuch vacancies having occurred, he nominated to thesuccession whenever the diocese was actually within hispower. In this way the Sees of Dublin, Kildare, Ferns, Ardagh, Emly, Tuam and Killaloe were filled up; whilethe vacancies which occurred about the same period inArmagh, Clogher, Clonmacnoise, Clonfert, Kilmore, andDown and Conor were supplied from Rome. Many of the latterwere allowed to take possession of their temporalities--so far as they were within English power--by taking anoath of allegiance, specially drawn for them. Others, when prevented from so doing by the penalties of_praemunire_, delegated their authority to Vicars General, who contrived to elude the provisions of the statute. Onthe other hand, several of the King's Bishops, excludedby popular hostility from the nominal sees, never residedupon them; some of them spent their lives in Dublin, andothers were entertained as suffragans by Bishops inEngland. In March, 1543, Primate Cromer, who had so resolutelyled the early opposition to Archbishop Browne, died, whereupon Pope Paul III. Appointed Robert Waucop, aScotsman (by some writers called _Venantius_), to theSee of Armagh. This remarkable man, though afflictedwith blindness from his youth upwards, was a doctor ofthe Sorbonne, and one of the most distinguished Prelatesof his age. He introduced the first Jesuit Fathers intoIreland, and to him is attributed the establishment ofthat intimate intercourse between the Ulster Princes andthe See of Rome, which characterized the latter half ofthe century. He assisted at the Council of Trent from1545 to 1547, was subsequently employed as Legate inGermany, and died abroad during the reign of Edward VI. Simultaneously with the appointment of Primate Waucop, Henry VIII. Had nominated to the same dignity GeorgeDowdal, a native of Louth, formerly Prior of the crutchedfriars at Ardee, in that county. Though Dowdal acceptedthe nomination, he did so without acknowledging the King'ssupremacy in spirituals. On the contrary he remainedattached to the Holy See, and held his claims in abeyance, during the lifetime of Waucop. On the death of the latter, he assumed his rank, but was obliged to fly into exile, during the reign of Edward. On the accession of Mary hewas recalled from his place of banishment in Brabant, and his first official act on returning home was toproclaim a Jubilee for the public restoration of theCatholic worship. The King's Bishops during the last years of Henry, andthe brief reign of Edward, were, besides Browne of Dublin, Edward Staples, Bishop of Meath, Matthew Saunders andRobert Travers, successively Bishops of Leighlin, WilliamMiagh and Thomas Lancaster, successively Bishops ofKildare, and John Bale, Bishop of Ossory--all Englishmen. The only native names, before the reign of Elizabeth, which we find associated in any sense with the"reformation, " are John Coyn, or Quin, Bishop of Limerick, and Dominick Tirrey, Bishop of Cork and Cloyne. Dr. Quinwas promoted to the See in 1522, and resigned his chargein the year 1551. He is called a "favourer" of the newdoctrines, but it is not stated how far he went in theirsupport. His successor, Dr. William Casey, was one ofthe six Bishops deprived by Queen Mary on her accessionto the throne. As Bishop Tirrey is not of thenumber--although he lived till the third year of Mary'sreign--we may conclude that he became reconciled to theHoly See. The native population became, before Henry's death, fullyaroused to the nature of the new doctrines, to which atfirst they had paid so little attention. The Commissionissued in 1539 to Archbishop Browne and others for thedestruction of images and relics, and the prevention ofpilgrimages, as well as the ordering of English prayersas a substitute for the Mass, brought home to all mindsthe sweeping character of the change. Our native Annalsrecord the breaking out of the English schism from theyear 1537, though its formal introduction into Irelandmay, perhaps, be more accurately dated from the issuingof the Ecclesiastical Commission of 1539. In their eyesit was the offspring of "pride, vain-glory, avarice, andlust, " and its first manifestations were well calculatedto make it for ever odious on Irish soil. "They destroyedthe religious orders, " exclaimed the Four Masters! "Theybroke down the monasteries, and sold their roofs andbells, from Aran of the Saints to the Iccian Sea!" "Theyburned the images, shrines, and relics of the Saints;they destroyed the Statue of our Lady of Trim, and theStaff of Jesus, which had been in the hand of St. Patrick!"Such were the works of that Commission as seen by theeyes of Catholics, natives of the soil. The Commissionersthemselves, however, gloried in their work, and pointedwith complacency to their success. The "innumerableimages" which adorned the churches were dashed to pieces;the ornaments of shrines and altars, when not secretedin time, were torn from their places, and beaten intoshapeless masses of metal. This harvest yielded in thefirst year nearly 3, 000 pounds, on an inventory, whereinwe find 1, 000 lbs. Weight of wax, manufactured intocandles and tapers, valued at 20 pounds. Such was thereturn made to the revenue; what share of the spoil wasappropriated by the agents employed may never be known. It would be absurd, however, to expect a scrupulous regardto honesty in men engaged in the work of sacrilege! Andthis work, it must be added, was carried on in the faceof the stipulation entered into with the Parliament of1541, that "the Church of Ireland shall be free, andenjoy all its accustomed privileges. " The death of Henry, in January, 1547, found the Reformationin Ireland at the stage just described. But though allattempts to diffuse a general recognition of his spiritualpower had failed, his reign will ever be memorable asthe epoch of the union of the English and Irish Crowns. Before closing the present Book of our History, in whichwe have endeavoured to account for that great fact, andto trace the progress of the negotiations which led toits accomplishment, we must briefly review the relationsexisting between the Kings of England and the Irishnation, from Henry II. To Henry VIII. If we are to receive a statement of considerable antiquity, a memorable compromise effected at the Council of Constance, between the ambassadors of France and England, as to whoshould take precedence, turned mainly on this very point. The French monarchy was then at its lowest, the Englishat its highest pitch, for Charles VI. Was but a nominalsovereign of France, while the conqueror of Agincourtsat on the throne of England. Yet in the first assemblyof the Prelates and Princes of Europe, we are told thatthe ambassadors of France raised a question of the rightof the English envoys to be received as representing anation, seeing that they had been conquered not only bythe Romans, but by the Saxons. Their argument furtherwas, that, "as the Saxons were tributaries to the GermanEmpire, and never governed by native sovereigns, they[the English] should take place as a branch only of theGerman empire, and not as a free nation. For, " arguedthe French, "it is evident from Albertus Magnus andBartholomew Glanville, that the world is divided intothree parts, Europe, Asia, and Africa;--that Europe isdivided into four empires, the Roman, Constantinopolitan, the Irish, and the Spanish. " "The English advocates, " weare told, "admitting the force of these allegations, claimed their precedency and rank from Henry's beingmonarch of Ireland, and it was accordingly granted. " If this often-told anecdote is of any historical value, it only shows the ignorance of the representatives ofFrance in yielding their pretensions on so poor a quibble. Neither Henry V. , nor any other English sovereign beforehim, had laid claim to the title of "Monarch of Ireland. "The indolence or ignorance of modern writers has ledthem, it is true, to adopt the whole series of thePlantagenet Kings as sovereigns of Ireland--to set up inhistory a dynasty which never existed for us; to leaveout of their accounts of a monarchical people all questionof their crown; and to pass over the election of 1541without adequate, or any inquiry. It is certain that neither Henry II. , nor Richard I. , ever used in any written instrument, or graven sign, thestyle of king, or even lord of Ireland; though in theParliament held at Oxford in the year 1185, Henry conferredon his youngest son, John _lack-land_, a title which hedid not himself possess, and John is thenceforth knownin English history as "Lord of Ireland. " This honour wasnot, however, of the exclusive nature of sovereignty, else John could hardly have borne it during the lifetimeof his father and brother. And although we read thatCardinal Octavian was sent into England by Pope UrbanIII. , authorized to consecrate John, _King_ of Ireland, no such consecration took place, nor was the lordshiplooked upon, at any period, as other than a creation ofthe royal power of England existing in Ireland, whichcould be recalled, transferred, or alienated, withoutdetriment to the prerogative of the King. Neither had this original view of the relations existingbetween England and Ireland undergone any change at thetime of the Council of Constance. Of this we have acurious illustration in the style employed by the QueenDowager of Henry V. , who, during the minority of her son, granted charters, as "Queen of England and France, andlady of Ireland. " The use of different crowns in thecoronations of all the Tudors subsequent to Henry VIII. Shows plainly how the recent origin of their secondarytitle was understood and acknowledged during the remainderof the sixteenth century. Nothing of the kind was practisedat the coronation of the Plantagenet Princes, nor werethe arms of Ireland quartered with those of Englandprevious to the period we have described--the memorableyear, 1541. BOOK VIII. THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION. CHAPTER I. EVENTS OF THE REIGN OF EDWARD SIXTH. On the last day of January, 1547, Edward, son of Henry, by Lady Jane Seymour, was crowned by the title of EdwardVI. He was then only nine years old, and was destinedto wear the crown but for six years and a few months. NoIrish Parliament was convened during his reign, but theReformation was pushed on with great vigour, at firstunder the patronage of the Protector, his uncle, andsubsequently of that uncle's rival, the Duke ofNorthumberland. Archbishop Cranmer suffered the zeal ofneither of these statesmen to flag for want of stimulus, and the Lord Deputy Saint Leger, judging from the causeof his disgrace in the next reign, approved himself awilling assistant in the work. The Irish Privy Council, which exercised all the powersof government during this short reign, was composedexclusively of partizans of the Reformation. BesidesArchbishop Browne and Staples, Bishop of Meath, itsmembers were the Chancellor, Read, and the Treasurer, Brabazon, both English, with the Judges Aylmer, Luttrel, Bath, Cusack, and Howth--all proselytes, at least inform, to the new opinions. The Earl of Ormond, withsixteen of his household, having been poisoned at abanquet in Ely House, London, in October before Henry'sdeath, the influence of that great house was wieldedduring the minority of his successor by Sir Francis Bryan, an English adventurer, who married the widowed countess. This lady being, moreover, daughter and heir general toJames, Earl of Desmond, brought Bryan powerful connectionsin the South, which he was not slow to turn to a politicaccount. His ambition aimed at nothing less than thesupreme authority, military and civil; but when at lengthhe attained the summit of his hopes, he only lived toenjoy them a few months. To enable the Deputy and Council to carry out the workthey had begun, an additional military force was felt tobe necessary, and Sir Edward Bellingham was sent over, soon after Edward's accession, with a detachment of sixhundred horse, four hundred foot, and the title of CaptainGeneral. This able officer, in conjunction with SirFrancis Bryan, who appears to have been everywhere, overran Offally, Leix, Ely and West-Meath, sending thechiefs of the two former districts as prisoners to London, and making advantageous terms with those of the latter. He was, however, supplanted in the third year of Edwardby Bryan, who held successively the rank of Marshal ofIreland and Lord Deputy. To the latter office he waschosen on an emergency, by the Council, in December, 1549, but died at Clonmel, on an expedition against theO'Carrolls, in the following February. His successes andthose of Bellingham hastened the reduction of Leix andOffally into shire ground in the following reign. The total military force at the disposal of Edward'scommanders was probably never less than 10, 000 effectivemen. By the aid of their abundant artillery, they wereenabled to take many strong places hitherto deemedimpregnable to assault. The mounted men and infantry, were, as yet, but partially armed with musquetons, orfirelocks--for the spear and the bow still found advocatesamong military men. The spearmen or lancers were chieflyrecruited on the marches of Northumberland from the hardyrace of border warriors; the mounted bowmen or hobilerswere generally natives of Chester or North Wales. Betweenthese new comers and the native Anglo-Irish troops manycontentions arose from time to time, but in the presenceof the common foe these bickerings were completelyforgotten. The townsmen of Waterford marched promptly ata call, under their standard of the three galleys, andthose of Dublin as cheerfully turned out under thewell-known banner, decorated with three flaming towers. The _personnel_ of the administration, in the six yearsof Edward, was continually undergoing change. Bellingham, who succeeded St. Leger, was supplanted by Bryan, onwhose death, St. Leger was reappointed. After anotheryear Sir James Croft was sent over to replace St. Leger, and continued to fill the office until the accession ofQueen Mary. But whoever rose or fell to the first rankin civil affairs, the Privy Council remained exclusivelyProtestant, and the work of innovation was not sufferedto languish. A manuscript account, attributed to AdamLoftus, Browne's successor, assigns the year 1549 as thedate when "the Mass was put down, " in Dublin, "and divineservice was celebrated in English. " Bishop Mant, thehistorian of the Established Church in Ireland, does notfind any account of such an alteration, nor does thestatement appear to him consistent with subsequent factsof this reign. We observe, also, that in 1550, ArthurMagennis, the Pope's Bishop of Dromore, was allowed bythe government to enter on possession of his temporalitiesafter taking an oath of allegiance, while King's Bishopswere appointed in that and the next two years to thevacant Sees of Kildare, Leighlin, Ossory, and Limerick. A vacancy having occurred in the See of Cashel, in 1551, it was unaccountably left vacant, as far as the Crownwas concerned, during the remainder of this reign, whilea similar vacancy in Armagh was filled, at least in name, by the appointment of Dr. Hugh Goodacre, chaplain to theBishop of Winchester, and a favourite preacher with thePrincess Elizabeth. This Prelate was consecrated, accordingto a new form, in Christ Church, Dublin, on 2nd ofFebruary, 1523, together with his countryman, John Bale, Bishop of Ossory. The officiating Prelates were Browne, Staples, and Lancaster of Kildare--all English. The IrishEstablishment, however, does not at all times rest itsargument for the validity of its episcopal Order uponthese consecrations. Most of their writers lay claim tothe Apostolic succession, through Adam Loftus, consecratedin England, according to the ancient rite, by Hugh Curwen, an Archbishop in communion with the See of Rome, at thetime of his elevation to the episcopacy. In February, 1551, Sir Anthony St. Leger received theKing's commands to cause the Scriptures translated intothe English tongue, and the Liturgy and Prayers of theChurch, also translated into English, to be read in allthe churches of Ireland. To render these instructionseffective, the Deputy summoned a convocation of theArchbishops, Bishops, and Clergy, to meet in Dublin onthe 1st of March, 1551. In this meeting--the first oftwo in which the defenders of the old and of the newreligion met face to face--the Catholic party was led bythe intrepid Dowdal, Archbishop of Armagh, and theReformers by Archbishop Browne. The Deputy, who, likemost laymen of that age, had a strong theological turn, also took an active part in the discussion. Finallydelivering the royal order to Browne, the latter acceptedit in a set form of words, without reservation; theAnglican Bishops of Meath, Kildare, and Leighlin, andCoyne, Bishop of Limerick, adhering to his act; PrimateDowdal, with the other Bishops, having previously retiredfrom the Conference. On Easter day following, the Englishservice was celebrated for the first tune in ChristChurch, Dublin, the Deputy, the Archbishop, and the Mayorof the city assisting. Browne preached from the text:"Open mine eyes that I may see the wonders of the law"--a sermon chiefly remarkable for its fierce invectiveagainst the new Order of Jesuits. Primate Dowdal retired from the Castle Conference toSaint Mary's Abbey, on the north side of the Liffey, where he continued while these things were taking placein the city proper. The new Lord Deputy, Sir JamesCrofts, on his arrival in May, addressed himself to thePrimate, to bring about, if possible, an accommodationbetween the Prelates. Fearing, as he said, an "order erelong to alter church matters, as well in offices as inceremonies, " the new Deputy urged another Conference, which was accordingly held at the Primate's lodgings, onthe 16th of June. At this meeting Browne does not seemto have been present, the argument on the side of theReformers being maintained by Staples. The points discussedwere chiefly the essential character of the Holy Sacrificeof the Mass, and the invocation of Saints. The toneobserved on both sides was full of high-bred courtesy. The letter of the Sacred Scriptures and the authority ofErasmus in Church History were chiefly relied upon byStaples; the common consent and usage of all Christendom, the primacy of Saint Peter, and the binding nature ofthe oath taken by Bishops at their consecration, werepointed out by the Primate. The disputants parted, withexpressions of deep regret that they could come to noagreement; but the Primacy was soon afterwards transferredto Dublin, by order of the Privy Council, and Dowdal fledfor refuge into Brabant. The Roman Catholic and theAnglican Episcopacy have never since met in oral controversyon Irish ground, though many of the second order of theclergy in both communions have, from time to time, beenpermitted by their superiors to engage in such discussions. Whatever obstacles they encountered within the Churchitself, the propagation of the new religion was notconfined to moral means, nor was the spirit of oppositionat all tunes restricted to mere argument. Bishop Balehaving begun at Kilkenny to pull down the revered imagesof the Saints, and to overturn the Market Cross, was setupon by the mob, five of his servants, or guard, wereslain, and himself narrowly escaped with his life bybarricading himself in his palace. The garrisons in theneighbourhood of the ancient seats of ecclesiasticalpower and munificence were authorized to plunder theirsanctuaries and storehouses. The garrison of Down sackedthe celebrated shrines and tomb of Patrick, Bridget, andColumbkill; the garrison of Carrickfergus ravaged RathlinIsland and attacked Derry, from which, however, they wererepulsed with severe loss by John the Proud. But the mostlamentable scene of spoliation, and that which excitedthe profoundest emotions of pity and anger in the publicmind, was the violation of the churches of St. Kieran--therenowned Clonmacnoise. This city of schools had cast itscross-crowned shade upon the gentle current of the UpperShannon for a thousand years. Danish fury, civil storm, and Norman hostility had passed over it, leaving tracesof their power in the midst of the evidences of itsrecuperation. The great Church to which pilgrims flockedfrom every tribe of Erin, on the 9th of September--St. Kieran's Day; the numerous chapels erected by the chiefsof all the neighbouring clans; the halls, hospitals, book-houses, nunneries, cemeteries, granaries-all stillstood, awaiting from Christian hands the last fatal blow. In the neighbouring town of Athlone--seven or eight milesdistant--the Treasurer, Brabazon, had lately erected astrong "Court" or Castle, from which, in the year 1552, the garrison sallied forth to attack "the place of thesons of the nobles, "--which is the meaning of the name. In executing this task they exhibited a fury surpassingthat of Turgesius and his Danes. The pictured glass wastorn from the window frames, and the revered images fromtheir niches; altars were overthrown; sacred vesselspolluted. "They left not, " say the Four Masters, "a bookor a gem, " nor anything to show what Clonmacnoise hadbeen, save the bare walls of the temples, the mightyshaft of the round tower, and the monuments in thecemeteries, with their inscriptions in Irish, in Hebrew, and in Latin. The Shannon re-echoed with their profanesongs and laughter, as laden with chalices and crucifixes, brandishing croziers, and flaunting vestments in the air, their barges returned to the walls of Athlone. In all the Gaelic speaking regions of Ireland, the newreligion now began to be known by those fruits which ithad so abundantly produced. Though the southern andmidland districts had not yet recovered from the exhaustionconsequent upon the suppression of the Geraldine leagueand the abortive insurrection of Silken Thomas, thenorthern tribes were still unbroken and undismayed. Theyhad deputed George Paris, a kinsman of the KildareFitzgeralds, as their agent to the French King, in thelatter days of Henry VIII. , and had received two ambassadorson his behalf at Donegal and Dungannon. These ambassadors, the Baron de Forquevaux, and the Sieur de Montluc, whosubsequently became Bishop of Valence, crossing over fromthe west of Scotland, entered into a league, offensiveand defensive, with "the princes" of Tyrconnell andTyrowen, by which the latter bound themselves to recognize, on certain conditions, "whoever was King of France asKing of Ireland likewise. " This alliance, though prolongedinto the reign of Edward, led to nothing definitive, andwe shall see in the next reign how the hopes then turnedtowards France were naturally transferred to Spain. The only native name which rises into historic importanceat this period is that of Shane, or John O'Neil, "theProud. " He was the legitimate son of that Con O'Neil whohad been girt with the Earl's baldric by the hands ofHenry VIII. His father had procured at the same time foran illegitimate son, Ferodach, or Mathew, of Dundalk, the title of Baron of Dungannon, with the reversion ofthe Earldom. When, however, John the Proud came of age, he centred upon himself the hopes of his clansmen, deposedhis father, subdued the Baron, and assumed the title ofO'Neil. In 1552 he defeated the efforts of Sir WilliamBrabazon to fortify Belfast, and delivered Derry fromits plunderers. From that time till his tragical death, in the ninth year of Queen Elizabeth, he stoodunquestionably the first man of his race, both in lineageand action. CHAPTER II. EVENTS OF THE REIGN OF PHILIP AND MARY. The death of Edward VI. And the accession of the ladyMary were known in Dublin by the middle of July, 1553, and soon spread all over the kingdom. On the 20th of thatmonth, the form of proclamation was received from London, in which the new Queen was forbidden to be styled "headof the church, " and this was quickly followed by anotherordinance, authorizing all who would to publicly attendMass, but not compelling thereto any who were unwilling. A curious legal difficulty existed in relation to Mary'stitle to the Crown of Ireland. By the Irish Statute, 38. Hen. VIII. , the Irish crown was entailed by name on theLady Elizabeth, and that act had not been repealed. Itwas, however, held to have been superseded by the EnglishStatute, 35. Hen. VIII. , which followed the election of1541, and declared the Crown of Ireland "united and knitto the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England. " Read inthe light of the latter statute, the Irish sovereigntymight be regarded a mere appurtenance of that of England, but Mary did not so consider it. At her coronation, aseparate crown was used for Ireland, nor did she feelassured of the validity of her claim to wear it till shehad obtained a formal dispensation to that effect fromthe Pope. The intelligence of the new Queen's accession, and thepublic restoration of the old religion, diffused a generaljoy throughout Ireland. Festivals and pageants were heldin the streets, and eloquent sermons poured from all thepulpits. Archbishop Dowdal was called from exile, andthe Primacy was restored to Armagh. Sir Anthony St. Leger, his ancient antagonist, had now conformed to the Courtfashion, and was sent over to direct the establishmentof that religion which he had been so many years engagedin pulling down. In 1554, Browne, Staples, Lancaster, and Travers, were formally deprived of their sees; Baleand Casey of Limerick fled beyond seas, without awaitingjudgment. Married clergymen were invariably silenced, and the children of Browne were declared by statuteillegitimate. What, however, gratified the public even more than theseretributions was the liberation of the aged Chief ofOffally from the Tower of London, at the earnestsupplication of his heroic daughter, Margaret, who foundher way to the Queen's presence to beg that boon; andthe simultaneous restoration of the Earldom of Kildare, in the person of that Gerald, who had been so young afugitive among the glens of Muskerry and Donegal, andhad since undergone so many continental adventures. WithO'Conor and young Gerald, the heirs of the houses ofOrmond and of Upper Ossory were also allowed to returnto their homes, to the great delight of the southern halfof the kingdom. The subsequent marriage of Mary withPhilip II. Of Spain gave an additional security to theIrish Catholics for the future freedom of their religion. Great as was the change in this respect, it is not to beinferred that the national relations of Ireland andEngland were materially affected by such a change ofsovereign. The maxims of conquest were not to be abandonedat the dictates of religion. The supreme power continuedto be entrusted only to Englishmen; while the sameParliament (3rd and 4th Philip and Mary) which abolishedthe title of head of the Church, and restored the Romanjurisdiction in matters spiritual, divided Leix andOffally, Glenmalier and Slewmargy, into shire ground, subject to English law, under the name of King's andQueen's County. The new forts of Maryborough andPhilipstown, as well as the county names, served to teachthe people of Leinster that the work of conquest couldbe as industriously prosecuted by Catholic as by Protestantrulers. Nor were these forts established and maintainedwithout many a struggle. St. Leger, and his still ablersuccessor, the Earl of Sussex, and the new Lord Treasurer, Sir Henry Sidney, were forced to lead many an expeditionto the relief of those garrisons, and the dispersion oftheir assailants. It was not in Irish human nature tosubmit to the constant pressure of a foreign power withoutseizing every possible opportunity for its expulsion. The new principle of primogeniture introduced at thecommutation of chieftainries into earldoms was productivein this reign of much commotion and bloodshed. The seniorsof the O'Briens resisted its establishment in Thomond, on the death of the first Earl; Calvagh O'Donnell tookarms against his father, to defeat its introduction intoTyrconnell; John the Proud, as we have seen in the reignof Edward, had been one of its earliest opponents inUlster. Being accused in the last year of Queen Mary ofprocuring the death of his illegitimate brother, theBaron of Dungannon, in order to remove him from his path, he was summoned to account for those circumstances beforeSir Henry Sidney, then acting as Lord Justice. His pleahas been preserved to us, and no doubt represents theprevailing opinion of the Gaelic-speaking populationtowards the new system. He answered, "that the surrenderwhich his father had made to Henry VIII. , and therestoration which Henry made to his father again were ofno force; inasmuch as his father had no right to thelands which he surrendered to the King, except duringhis own life; that he (John) himself was the O'Neil bythe law of Tanistry, and by popular election; and thathe assumed no superiority over the chieftains of theNorth except what belonged to his ancestors. " To theseviews he adhered to the last, accepting no English honours, though quite willing to live at peace with Englishsovereigns. When the title of Earl of Tyrone was revived, it was in favour of the son of the Baron, the celebratedHugh O'Neil, the ally of Spain, and the most formidableantagonist of Queen Elizabeth. In the Irish Parliament already referred to (3rd and 4thPhilip and Mary) an Act was passed declaring it a felonyto introduce armed Scotchmen into Ireland, or to intermarrywith them without a license under the great seal. Thisstatute was directed against those multitudes of Islesmenand Highlanders who annually crossed the narrow straitwhich separates Antrim from Argyle to harass the Englishgarrisons alongshore, or to enlist as auxiliaries inIrish quarrels. In 1556, under one of their principalleaders, James, son of Conal, they laid siege toCarrickfergus and occupied Lord Sussex some six weeks inthe glens of Antrim. Their leader finally entered intoconditions, the nature of which may be inferred from thefact that he received the honour of knighthood on theiracceptance. John O'Neil had usually in his service anumber of these mercenary troops, from among whom heselected sixty body-guards, the same number supplied byhis own clan. In his first attempt to subject Tyrconnellto his supremacy in 1557, his camp near Raphoe wassurprised at night by Calvagh O'Donnell, and his nativeand foreign guards were put to the sword, while he himselfbarely escaped by swimming the Mourne and the Finn. O'Donnell had frequently employed a similar force, inhis own defence; and we read of the Lord of Clanrickardedriving back a host of them engaged in the service ofhis rivals, from the banks of the Moy, in 1558. Although the memory of Queen Mary has been held up toexecration during three centuries as a bloody-minded andmalignant persecutor of all who differed from her inreligion, it is certain that in Ireland, where, ifanywhere, the Protestant. Minority might have beenextinguished by such severities as are imputed to her, no persecution for conscience' sake took place. MarriedBishops were deprived, and married priests were silenced, but beyond this no coercion was employed. It has beensaid there was not time to bring the machinery to bear;but surely if there was time to do so in England, withinthe space of five years, there was tune in Ireland also. The consoling truth--honourable to human nature and toChristian charity, is--that many families out of England, apprehending danger in their own country, sought andfound a refuge from their fears in the western island. The families of Agar, Ellis, and Harvey, are descendedfrom emigrants, who were accompanied from Cheshire by aclergyman of their own choice, whose ministrations theyfreely enjoyed during the remainder of this reign atDublin. The story about Dr. Cole having been despatchedto Ireland with a commission to punish heretics, and, losing it on the way, is unworthy of serious notice. Ifthere had been any such determination formed there wasample time to put it into execution between 1553 and 1558. CHAPTER III. ACCESSION OF QUEEN ELIZABETH--PARLIAMENT OF 1560--THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY--CAREER AND DEATH OFJOHN O'NEIL "THE PROUD. " The daughter of Anna Boleyn was promptly proclaimed Queenthe same day on which Mary died--the 17th of November, 1558. Elizabeth was then in her 26th year, proud of herbeauty, and confident in her abilities. Her great capacityhad been cultivated by the best masters of the age, andthe best of all ages, early adversity. Her vices werehereditary in her blood, but her genius for governmentso far surpassed any of her immediate predecessors as tothrow her vices into the shade. During the forty-fouryears in which she wielded the English sceptre, many ofthe most stirring occurrences of our history took place;it could hardly have fallen out otherwise, under asovereign of so much vigour, having the command of suchimmense resources. On the news of Mary's death reaching Ireland, the LordDeputy Sussex returned to England, and Sir Henry Sidney, the Treasurer, was appointed his successor _ad interim_. As in England, so in Ireland, though for somewhat differentreasons, the first months of the new reign were markedby a conciliating and temporizing policy. Elizabeth, whohad not assumed the title of "Head of the Church, "continued to hear Mass for several months after heraccession. At her coronation she had a High Mass sung, accompanied, it is true, by a Calvinistic sermon. Beforeproceeding with the work of "reformation, " inauguratedby her father, and arrested by her sister, she proceededcautiously to establish herself, and her Irish deputyfollowed in the same careful line of conduct. Havingfirst made a menacing demonstration against John theProud, he entered into friendly correspondence with him, and finally ended the campaign by standing godfather toone of his children. This relation of gossip among theold Irish was no mere matter of ceremony, but involvedobligations lasting as life, and sacred as the ties ofkindred blood. By seeking such a sponsor, O'Neil placedhimself in Sidney's power, rather than Sidney in his, since the two men must have felt very differently boundby the connection into which they had entered. As anevidence of the Imperial policy of the moment, the incidentis instructive. Bound the personal history of this splendid, but by nomeans stainless Ulster Prince, the events of the firstnine years of Elizabeth's reign over Ireland naturallygroup themselves. Whether at her Majesty's council-board, or among the Scottish islands, or in hall or hut at home, the attention of all manner of men interested in Irelandwas fixed upon the movements of John the Proud. In tracinghis career, we therefore naturally gather all, or nearlyall, the threads of the national story, during the firstten years of Queen Mary's successor. In the second year of Elizabeth, Lord Deputy Sussex, whoreturned fully possessed of her Majesty's views, summonedthe Parliament to meet in Dublin on the 12th day ofJanuary, 1560. It is to be observed, however, that thoughthe union of the crowns was now of twenty years' standing, the writs were not issued to the nation at large, butonly to the ten counties of Dublin, Meath, Louth, West-Meath, Kildare, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, and Tipperary, with their boroughs. The publishedinstructions of Lord Sussex were "to make such statutes(concerning religion) as were made in England, _mutatismutandis_. " As a preparation for the legislature, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church were purified bypaint; the niches of the Saints were for the second timeemptied of their images; texts of Scripture were blazonedupon the walls, and the Litany was chanted in English. After these preparatory demonstrations, the Deputy openedthe new Parliament, which sat for one short but busymonth. The Acts of Mary's Parliament, re-establishingecclesiastical relations with Rome, were the first thingrepealed; then so much of the Act 33, Henry VIII. , asrelated to the succession, was revived; all ecclesiasticaljurisdiction was next declared vested in the Crown, andall "judges, justices, mayors, and temporal officers weredeclared bound to take tie oath of supremacy;" the penaltyattached to the refusal of the oath, by this statute, being "forfeiture of office and promotion during life. "Proceeding rapidly in the same direction, it was declaredthat commissioners in ecclesiastical causes should adjudgenothing as heresy which was not expressly so condemnedby the Canonical Scriptures, the received General Councils, or by Parliament. The penalty of _praemunire_ was declaredin force, and, to crown the work, the celebrated "Act ofUniformity" was passed. This was followed by other statutesfor the restoration of first fruits and twentieths, andfor the appointment of Bishops by the royal prerogative, or _conge d'elire_--elections by the chapter being declaredmere "shadows of election, and derogatory to theprerogative. " Such was, in brief, the legislation of thatfamous Parliament of ten counties--the often quotedstatutes of the "2nd of Elizabeth. " In the Act ofUniformity, the best known of all its statutes, therewas this curious saving clause inserted: that wheneverthe "priest or common minister" could not speak English, he might still continue "to celebrate the service in theLatin tongue. " Such other observances were to be had aswere prescribed by the 2nd Edward VI. , until her Majestyshould "publish further ceremonies or rites. " We have nohistory of the debates of this Parliament of a month, but there is ample reason to believe that some of thesestatutes were resisted throughout by a majority of theUpper House, still chiefly composed of Catholic Peers;that the clause saving the Latin ritual was inserted asa compromise with this opposition; that some of the otherActs were passed by stealth in the absence of many members, and that the Lord Deputy gave his solemn pledge thestatute of Uniformity should be enforced, if passed. Sosevere was the struggle, and so little satisfied wasSussex with his success, that he hastily dissolved theHouses and went over personally to England to representthe state of feeling he had encountered. Finally, it isremarkable that no other Parliament was called in Irelandtill nine years afterwards--a convincing proof of howunmanageable that body, even constituted as it was, hadshown itself to be in matters affecting religion. The non-invitation of the Irish chiefs to this Parliament, contrary to the precedent set in Mary's reign and in1541, the laws enacted, and the commotion they excitedin the minds of the clergy, were circumstances whichcould not fail to attract the attention of John O'Neil. Even if insensible to what transpired at Dublin, theindefatigable Sussex-one of the ablest of Elizabeth'sable Court-did not suffer him long to misunderstand hisrelations to the new Queen. He might be Sidney's gossip, but he was not the less Elizabeth's enemy. He had beenproclaimed "O'Neil" on the rath of Tullahoge, and hadreigned at Dungannon, adjudging life and death. It wasclear that two such jurisdictions as the Celtic and theNorman kingship could not stand long on the same soil, and the Ulster Prince soon perceived that he must establishhis authority, by arms, or perish with it. We must alsoread all Irish events of the time of Elizabeth by thelight of foreign politics; during the long reign of thatsovereign, England was never wholly free from fears ofinvasion, and many movements which now seem inexplicablewill be readily understood when we recollect that theytook place under the menaces of foreign powers. The O'Neils had anciently exercised a high-handedsuperiority over all Ulster, and John the Proud was notthe man to let his claim lie idle in any district of thatwide-spread Province. But authority which has falleninto decay must be asserted only at a propitious time, and with the utmost tact; and here it was that Elizabeth'sstatesmen found their most effective means of attackingO'Neil. O'Donnell, who was his father-in-law, was studiouslyconciliated; his second wife, a lady of the Argyle family, received costly presents from the Queen; O'Reilly wascreated Earl of Breffni, and encouraged to resist thesuperiority to which the house of Dungannon laid claim. The natural consequences followed; John the Proud sweptlike a storm over the fertile hills of Cavan, and compelledthe new-made Earl to deliver him tribute and hostages. O'Donnell, attended only by a few of his household, wasseized in a religious house upon Lough Swilly, andsubjected to every indignity which an insolent enemycould devise. His Countess, already alluded to, supposedto have been privy to this surprise of her husband, becamethe mistress of his captor and jailer, to whom she boreseveral children. What deepens the horror of this odiousdomestic tragedy is the fact that the wife of O'Neil, the daughter of O'Donnell, thus supplanted by her shamelessstepmother, under her own roof, died soon afterwards of"horror, loathing, grief, and deep anguish, " at thespectacle afforded by the private life of O'Neil, andthe severities inflicted upon her wretched father. Allthe patriotic designs, and all the shining abilities ofJohn the Proud, cannot abate a jot of our detestation ofsuch a private life; though slandered in other respectsas he was, by hostile pens, no evidence has been adducedto clear his memory of these indelible stains; nor afterbecoming acquainted with their existence can we followhis after career with that heartfelt sympathy with whichthe lives of purer patriots must always inspire us. The pledge given by Sussex, that the penal legislationof 1560 should lie a dead letter, was not long observed. In May of the year following its enactment, a commissionwas appointed to enforce the 2nd Elizabeth, in West-Meath;and in 1562 a similar commission was appointed for Meathand Armagh. By these commissioners Dr. William Walsh, Catholic Bishop of Meath, was arraigned and imprisonedfor preaching against the new liturgy; a Prelate whoafterwards died an exile in Spain. The primatial see wasfor the moment vacant, Archbishop Dowdal having died atLondon three months before Queen Mary-on the Feast ofthe Assumption, 1558. Terence, Dean of Armagh, who actedas administrator, convened a Synod of the English-speakingclergy of the Province in July, 1559, at Drogheda, butas this dignitary followed in the steps of his faithfulpredecessors, his deanery was conferred upon Dr. AdamLoftus, Chaplain of the Lord Lieutenant; two yearssubsequently the dignity of Archbishop of Armagh wasconferred upon the same person. Dr. Loftus, a native ofYorkshire, had found favour in the eyes of the Queen ata public exhibition at Cambridge University; he was but28 years old, according to Sir James Ware, when consecratedPrimate-but Dr. Mant thinks he must have attained atleast the canonical age of 30. During the whole of thisreign he continued to reside at Dublin, which see wasearly placed under his jurisdiction in lieu of theinaccessible Armagh. For forty years he continued one ofthe ruling spirits at Dublin, whether acting as LordChancellor, Lord Justice, Privy Councillor, or FirstProvost of Trinity College. He was a pluralist in Churchand State, insatiable of money and honours; if he didnot greatly assist in establishing his religion, he waseminently successful in enriching his family. Having subdued every hostile neighbour and openly assumedthe high prerogative of Prince of Ulster, John the Proudlooked around him for allies in the greater strugglewhich he foresaw could not be long postponed. CalvaghO'Donnell was yielded up on receiving a munificent ransom, but his infamous wife remained with her paramour. Anegotiation was set on foot with the chiefs of the Highlandand Island Scots, large numbers of whom entered intoO'Neil's service. Emissaries were despatched to the FrenchCourt, where they found a favourable reception, asElizabeth was known to be in league with the King ofNavarre and the Huguenot leaders against Francis II. Theunexpected death of the King at the close of 1560; thereturn of his youthful widow, Queen Mary, to Scotland;the vigorous regency of Catherine de Medicis during theminority of her second son; the ill-success of Elizabeth'sarms during the campaigns of 1561-2-3, followed by thehumiliating peace of April, 1564--these events are allto be borne in memory when considering the extraordinaryrelations which were maintained during the same years bythe proud Prince of Ulster, with the still prouder Queenof England. The apparently contradictory tactics pursuedby the Lord Deputy Sussex, between his return to Dublinin the spring of 1561, and his final recall in 1564, whenread by the light of events which transpired at Paris, London, and Edinburgh, become easily intelligible. Inthe spring of the first mentioned year, it was thoughtpossible to intimidate O'Neil, so Lord Sussex, with theEarl of Ormond as second in command, marched northwards, entered Armagh, and began to fortify the city, with aview to placing in it a powerful garrison. O'Neil, toremove the seat of hostilities, made an irruption intothe plain of Meath, and menaced Dublin. The utmostconsternation prevailed at his approach, and the Deputy, while continuing the fortification of Armagh, despatchedthe main body of his troops to press on the rear of theaggressor. By a rapid countermarch, O'Neil came up withthis force, laden with spoils, in Louth, and after anobstinate engagement routed them with immense loss. Onreceipt of this intelligence, Sussex promptly abandonedArmagh, and returned to Dublin, while O'Neil erected hisstandard, as far South as Drogheda, within twenty milesof the capital. So critical at this moment was the aspectof affairs, that all the energies of the English interestwere taxed to the utmost. In the autumn of the year, Sussex marched again from Dublin northward, having athis side the five powerful Earls of Kildare, Ormond, Desmond, Thomond, and Clanrickarde--whose mutual feudshad been healed or dissembled for the day. O'Neil prudentlyfell back before this powerful expedition, which foundits way to the shores of Lough Foyle, without bringinghim to an engagement, and without any military advantage. As the shortest way of getting rid of such an enemy, theLord Deputy, though one of the wisest and most justlycelebrated of Elizabeth's Counsellors, did not hesitateto communicate to his royal mistress the project of hiringan assassin, named Nele Gray, to take off the Prince ofUlster, but the plot, though carefully elaborated, miscarried. Foreign news, which probably reached himonly on reaching the Foyle, led to a sudden change oftactics on the part of Sussex, and the young LordKildare--O'Neil's cousin-germain, was employed to negotiatea peace with the enemy they had set out to demolish. This Lord Kildare was Gerald, the eleventh Earl, the samewhom we have spoken of as a fugitive lad, in the lastyears of Henry VIII. , and as restored to his estates andrank by Queen Mary. Although largely indebted to hisCatholicity for the protection he had received whileabroad from Francis I. , Charles V. , the Duke of Tuscanyand the Roman See--especially the Cardinals Pole andFarnese--and still more indebted to the late CatholicQueen for the restoration of his family honours, thisfinished courtier, now in the very midsummer of life, one of the handsomest and most accomplished persons ofhis time, did not hesitate to conform himself, at leastoutwardly, to the religion of the State. Shortly beforethe campaign of which we have spoken, he had been suspectedof treasonable designs, but had pleaded his causesuccessfully with the Queen in person. From Lough Foyle, accompanied by the Lord Slane, the Viscount Baltinglass, and a suitable guard, Lord Kildare set out for JohnO'Neil's camp, where a truce was concluded between theparties, Lord Sussex undertaking to withdraw his wardensfrom Armagh, and O'Neil engaging himself to live in peacewith her Majesty, and to serve "when necessary againsther enemies. " The cousins also agreed personally to visitthe English Court the following year, and accordingly inJanuary ensuing they went to England, from which theyreturned home in the latter end of May. The reception of John the Proud, at the Court of Elizabeth, was flattering in the extreme. The courtiers stared andsmiled at his bareheaded body-guard, with their crocus-dyedvests, short jackets, and shaggy cloaks. But thebroad-bladed battle-axe, and the sinewy arm which wieldedit, inspired admiration for all the uncouth costume. Thehaughty indifference with which the Prince of Ulstertreated every one about the Court, except the Queen, gavea keener edge to the satirical comments which were sofreely indulged in at the expense of his style of dress. The wits proclaimed him "O'Neil the Great, cousin toSaint Patrick, friend to the Queen of England, and enemyto all the world besides!" O'Neil was well pleased withhis reception by Elizabeth. When taxed upon his returnwith having made peace with her Majesty, he answered--"Yes, in her own bed-chamber. " There were, indeed, many pointsin common in both their characters. Her Majesty, by letters patent dated at Windsor, on the15th of January, 1563, recognized in John the Proud "thename and title of O'Neil, with the like authority, jurisdiction, and pre-eminence, as any of his ancestors. "And O'Neil, by articles, dated at Benburb, the 18th ofNovember of the same year, reciting the letters patentaforesaid, bound himself and his suffragans to behave as"the Queen's good and faithful subjects against allpersons whatever. " Thus, so far as an English alliancecould guarantee it, was the supremacy of this daringchief guaranteed in Ulster from the Boyne to the North Sea. In performing his part of the engagements thus enteredinto, O'Neil is placed in a less invidious light byEnglish writers than formerly. They now describe him asscrupulously faithful to his word; as charitable to thepoor, always carving and sending meat from his own tableto the beggar at the gate before eating himself. Of thesincerity with which he carried out the expulsion of theIslesmen and Highlanders from Ulster, the result affordedthe most conclusive evidence. It is true he had himselfinvited those bands into the Province to aid him againstthe very power with which he was now at peace, and, therefore, they might in their view allege duplicity anddesertion against him. Yet enlisted as they usually werebut for a single campaign, O'Neil expected them to departas readily as they had come. But in this expectation hewas disappointed. Their leaders, Angus, James, and SorleyMcDonald, refused to recognize the new relations whichhad arisen, and O'Neil was, therefore, compelled to resortto force. He defeated the Scottish troops at Glenfesk, near Ballycastle, in 1564, in an action wherein AngusMcDonald was slain, James died of his wounds, and Sorleywas carried prisoner to Benburb. An English auxiliaryforce, under Colonel Randolph, sent round by sea, underpretence of co-operating against the Scots, took possessionof Derry and began to fortify it. But their leader wasslain in a skirmish with a party of O'Neil's people whodisliked the fortress, and whether by accident or otherwisetheir magazine exploded, killing a great part of thegarrison and destroying their works. The remnant took totheir shipping and returned to Dublin. In the years 1565, '6 and '7, the internal dissensionsof both Scotland and France, and the perturbations inthe Netherlands giving full occupation to her foreignfoes, Elizabeth had an interval of leisure to attend tothis dangerous ally in Ulster. A second unsuccessfulattempt on his life, by an assassin named Smith, wastraced to the Lord Deputy, and a formal commission issuedby the Queen to investigate the case. The result we knowonly by the event; Sussex was recalled, and Sir HenrySidney substituted in his place! Death had lately madeway in Tyrconnell and Fermanagh for new chiefs, and theseleaders, more vigorous than their predecessors, wereresolved to shake off the recently imposed and sternlyexercised supremacy of Benburb. With these chiefs, Sidney, at the head of a veteran armament, cordially co-operated, and O'Neil's territory was now attacked simultaneouslyat three different points--in the year 1566. No considerablesuccess was, however, obtained over him till the followingyear, when, at the very opening of the campaign, thebrave O'Donnell arrested his march along the strand ofthe Lough Swilly, and the tide rising impetuously, as itdoes on that coast, on the rear of the men of Tyrone, struck them with terror, and completed their defeat. From 1, 500 to 3, 000 men perished by the sword or by thetide; John the Proud fled alone, along the river Swilly, and narrowly escaped by the fords of rivers and by solitaryways to his Castle on Lough Neagh. The Annalists ofDonegal, who were old enough to have conversed withsurvivors of the battle, say that his mind became derangedby this sudden fall from the summit of prosperity to thedepths of defeat. His next step would seem to establishthe fact, for he at once despatched Sorley McDonald, thesurvivor of the battle of Glenfesk, to recruit a newauxiliary force for him amongst the Islesmen, whom hehad so mortally offended. Then, abandoning his fortressupon the Blackwater, he set out with 50 guards, hissecretary, and his mistress, the wife of the late O'Donnell, to meet these expected allies whom he had so fiercelydriven off but two short years before. At Cushendun, onthe Antrim coast, they met with all apparent cordiality, but an English agent, Captain Piers, or Pierce, seizedan opportunity during the carouse which ensued to recallthe bitter memories of Glenfesk. A dispute and a quarrelensued; O'Neil fell covered with wounds, amid the exultingshouts of the avenging Islesmen. His gory head waspresented to Captain Piers, who hastened with it toDublin, where he received a reward of a thousand marksfor his success. High spiked upon the towers of theCastle, that proud head remained and rotted; the body, wrapped in a Kerns saffron shirt, was interred where hefell, a spot familiar to all the inhabitants of the Antrimglens as "the grave of Shane O'Neil. " And so may be said toclose the first decade of Elizabeth's reign over Ireland! CHAPTER IV. SIR HENRY SIDNEY'S DEPUTYSHIP--PARLIAMENT OF 1569--THE SECOND "GERALDINE LEAGUE"--SIR JAMES FITZ-MAURICE. Sir Henry Sidney, in writing to his court, had alwaysreported John O'Neil as "the only strong man in Ireland. "Before his rout at Lough Swilly, he could commonly callinto the field 4, 000 foot and 1, 000 horse; and his twoyears' revolt cost Elizabeth, in money, about 150, 000pounds sterling "over and above the cess laid on thecountry"--besides "3, 500 of her Majesty's soldiers" slainin battle. The removal of such a leader in the very primeof life was therefore a cause of much congratulation toSidney and his royal mistress, and as no other "strongman" was likely soon to arise, the Deputy now turned withrenewed ardour to the task of establishing the Queen'ssupremacy, in things spiritual as well as temporal. Withthis view he urged that separate governments, with largethough subordinate military as well as civil powers, should be created for Munster and Connaught--with competentPresidents, who should reside in the former Province atLimerick, and in the latter, at Athlone. In accordancewith this scheme--which continued to be acted upon fornearly a century--Sir Edward Fitton was appointed firstPresident of Connaught, and Sir John Perrott, the Queen'sillegitimate brother, President of Munster. Leinster andUlster were reserved as the special charge of the LordDeputy. About the time of O'Neil's death Sidney made an officialprogress through the South and West, which he describesas wofully wasted by war, both town and country. Theearldom of the loyal Ormond was far from being wellordered; and the other great nobles were even lessfavourably reported; the Earl of Desmond could neitherrule nor be ruled; the Earl of Clancarty "wanted forceand credit;" the Earl of Thomond had neither wit to govern"nor grace to learn of others;" the Earl of Clanrickardewas well intentioned, but controlled wholly by his wife. Many districts had but "one-twentieth" of their ancientpopulation; Galway was in a state of perpetual defence. Athenry had but four respectable householders left, andthese presented him with the rusty keys of their oncefamous town, which they confessed themselves unable todefend, impoverished as they were by the extortions oftheir lords. All this to the eye of the able Englishmanhad been the result of that "cowardly policy, or lack ofpolicy, " whose sole maxims had been to play off the greatlords against each other and to retard the growth ofpopulation, least "through their quiet might follow"future dangers to the English interest. His own policywas based on very different principles. He proposed tomake the highest heads bow to the supremacy of the royalsword--to punish with exemplary rigour every sign ofinsubordination, especially in the great--and, at thesame time, to encourage with ample rewards, adventurers, and enterprises of all kinds. He proposed to himselfprecisely the part Lord Stafford acted sixty years later, and he entered on it with a will which would have wonthe admiration of that unbending despot. He prided himselfon the number of military executions which marked hisprogress. "Down they go in every corner, " he writes, "anddown they shall go, God willing!" He seized the Earl ofDesmond in his own town of Kilmallock; he took the sonsof Clanrickarde, in Connaught, and carried them prisonersto Dublin. Elizabeth became alarmed at these extrememeasures, and Sidney obtained leave to explain his newpolicy in person to her Majesty. Accordingly in Octoberhe sailed for England, taking with him the Earl and hisbrother John of Desmond, who had been invited to Dublin, and were detained as prisoners of State; Hugh O'Neil, asyet known by no other title than Baron of Dungannon; theO'Conor Sligo, and other chiefs and noblemen. He seemsto have carried his policy triumphantly with the Queen, and from henceforth for many a long year "the dulce ways"and "politic drifts" recommended by the great CardinalStatesman of Henry VIII. Were to give way to thatremorseless struggle in which the only alternative offeredto the Irish was--uniformity or extermination. Of thispolicy, Sir Henry Sidney may, it seems to me, be fairlyconsidered the author; Stafford, and even Cromwell werebut finishers of his work. One cannot repress a sigh thatso ferocious a design as the extermination of a wholepeople should be associated in any degree with theillustrious name of Sidney. The triumphant Deputy arrived at Carrickfergus in September, 1568, from England. Here he received the "submission, "as it is called, of Tirlogh, the new O'Neil, and turnedhis steps southwards in full assurance that this chiefof Tyrone was not another "strong man" like the last. Anew Privy Council was sworn in on his arrival at Dublin, with royal instructions "to concur with" the Deputy, and20, 000 pounds a year in addition to the whole of the cesslevied in the country were guaranteed to enable him tocarry out his great scheme of the "reduction. " A Parliamentwas next summoned for the 17th of January, 1569, thefirst assembly of that nature which had been convenedsince Lord Sussex's rupture with _his_ Parliament nineyears before. The acts of this Parliament, of the 11th of Elizabeth, are much more voluminous than those of the 2nd of thesame reign. The constitution of the houses is also ofinterest, as the earlier records of every form of governmentmust always be. Three sessions were held in the firstyear, one in 1570, and one in 1571. After its dissolution, no Parliament sat in Ireland for fourteen years--sounstable was the system at that time, and so dependentupon accidental causes for its exercise. The firstsittings of Sidney's Parliament were as stormy as thoseof Sussex. It was found that many members presentedthemselves pretending to represent towns not incorporated, and others, officers of election, had returned themselves. Others, again, were non-resident Englishmen, dependenton the Deputy who had never seen the places for whichthey claimed to sit. The disputed elections of allclasses being referred to the judges, they decided thatnon-residence did not disqualify the latter class; butthat those who had returned themselves, and those chosenfor non-corporate towns, were inadmissible. This doubledecision did not give the new House of Commons quite thedesired complexion, though Stanihurst, Recorder of Dublin, the Court candidate, was chosen Speaker. The oppositionwas led by Sir Christopher Barnewall, an able and intrepidman, to whose firmness it was mainly due that a moresweeping proscription was not enacted, under form of law, at this period. The native Englishmen in the House wereextremely unpopular out of doors, and Hooker, one oftheir number, who sat for the deserted borough of Athenry, had to be escorted to his lodgings by a strong guard, for fear of the Dublin mob. The chief acts of the firstsession were a subsidy, for ten years, of 13 shillings4 pence for every ploughland granted to the Queen; anact suspending Poyning's act for the continuance of_that_ Parliament; an act for the attainder of JohnO'Neil; an act appropriating to her Majesty the lands ofthe Knight of the Valley; an act authorizing the LordDeputy to present to vacant benefices in Munster andConnaught for ten years; an act abolishing the title of"Captain, " or _ruler_ of counties or districts, unlessby special warrant under the great seal; an act forreversing the attainder of the Earl of Kildare. In thesittings of 1570 and '71, the chief acts were for theerection of free schools, for the preservation of thepublic records, for establishing an uniform measure inthe sale of corn, and for the attainder of the WhiteKnight, deceased. Though undoubtedly most of these statutesstrengthened Sidney's hands and favoured his policy, theydid not go the lengths which in his official correspondencehe advocated. For the last seven years of his connectionwith Irish affairs, he was accordingly disposed to dispensewith the unmanageable machinery of a Parliament. Ordersin council were much more easily procured than acts oflegislation, even when every care had been taken to packthe House of Commons with the dependents of the executive. The meeting of Parliament in 1569 was nearly coincidentwith the formal excommunication of Elizabeth by PopePius V. Though pretending to despise the bull, the Queenwas weak enough to seek its revocation, through theinterposition of the Emperor Maximilian. The high toneof the enthusiastic Pontiff irritated her deeply, andperhaps the additional severities which she now directedagainst her Catholic subjects, may be, in part, tracedto the effects of the excommunication. In Ireland, thework of reformation, by means of civil disabilities andexecutive patronage, was continued with earnestness. In1564, all Popish priests and friars were prohibited frommeeting in Dublin, or even coming within the city gates. Two years later, _The Book of Articles_, copied from theEnglish Articles, was published, by order of "theCommissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical. " The articlesare twelve in number:--1. The Trinity in Unity; 2. TheSufficiency of the Scriptures to Salvation; 3. TheOrthodoxy of Particular Churches; 4. The Necessity ofHoly Orders; 5. The Queen's Supremacy; 6. Denial of thePope's authority "to be more than other Bishops have;"7. The Conformity of the Book of Common Prayer to theScriptures; 8. The Ministration of Baptism does not dependon the Ceremonial; 9. Condemns "Private Masses, " anddenies that the Mass can be a propitiatory Sacrifice forthe Dead; 10. Asserts the Propriety of Communion in BothKinds; 11. Utterly disallows Images, Relics and Pilgrimages;12. Requires a General Subscription to the foregoingArticles. With this creed, the Irish Establishment startedinto existence, at the command and, of course, with allthe aid of the civil power. The Bishops of Meath andKildare, the nearest to Dublin, for resisting it werebanished their sees; the former to die an exile in Spain, the latter to find refuge and protection with the Earlof Desmond. Several Prelates were tolerated in theirsees, on condition of observing a species of neutrality;but all vacancies, if within the reach of the Englishpower, were filled as they occurred by nominees of thecrown. Those who actively and energetically resisted thenew doctrines were marked out for vengeance, and we shallsee in the next decade how Ireland's martyr age began. The honour and danger of organizing resistance to theprogress of the new religion now devolved upon the noblefamily of the Geraldines of Munster, of whose principalmembers we must, therefore, give some account. Thefifteenth Earl, who had concurred in the act of Henry'selection, died in the year of Elizabeth's accession(1558), leaving three sons, Gerald the sixteenth Earl, John, and James. He had also an elder son by a firstwife, from whom he had been divorced on the ground ofconsanguinity. This son disputed the successionunsuccessfully, retired to Spain, and there died. EarlGerald, though one of the Peers who sat in the Parliamentof the second year of Elizabeth, was one of those whostrenuously opposed the policy of Sussex, and still morestrenuously, as may be supposed, the more extreme policyof Sidney. His reputation, however, as a leader, sufferedseverely by the combat of Affane, in which he was takenprisoner by Thomas, the tenth Earl of Ormond, with whomhe was at feud on a question of boundaries. By order ofthe Queen, the Lord Deputy was appointed arbitrator inthis case, and though the decision was in favour ofOrmond, Desmond submitted, came to Dublin, and wasreconciled with his enemy in the chapter house of St. Patrick's. A year or two later, Gerald turned his armsagainst the ancient rivals of his house--the McCarthysof Muskerry and Duhallow--but was again taken prisoner, and after six months' detention, held to ransom by theLord of Muskerry. After his release, the old feud withOrmond broke out anew--a most impolitic quarrel, as thatEarl was not only personally a favourite with the Queen, but was also nearly connected with her in blood throughthe Boleyns. In 1567, as before related, Desmond wasseized by surprise in his town of Kilmallock by Sidney'sorder, and the following autumn conveyed to London on acharge of treason and lodged in the Tower. This was thethird prison he had lodged in within three years, and byfar the most hopeless of the three. His brother, Sir Johnof Desmond, through the representations of Ormond, wasthe same year arrested and consigned to the same ominousdungeon, from which suspected noblemen seldom emerged, except when the hurdle waited for them at the gate. This double capture aroused the indignation of all thetribes of Desmond, and led to the formidable combinationwhich, in reference to the previous confederacy in thereign of Henry, may be called "the second GeraldineLeague. " The Earl of Clancarty, and such of the O'Briens, McCarthys, and Butlers, as had resolved to resist thecomplete revolution in property, religion, and law, whichSidney meditated, united together to avenge the wrongsof those noblemen, their neighbours, so treacherouslyarrested and so cruelly confined. Sir James, son of SirMaurice Fitzgerald of Kerry, commonly called JamesFitz-Maurice, cousin-germain to the imprisoned noblemen, was chosen leader of the insurrection. He was, accordingto the testimony of an enemy, Hooker, member for Athenry, "a deep dissembler, passing subtile, and able to compassany matter he took in hand; courteous, valiant, expertin martial affairs. " To this we may add that he hadalready reached a mature age; was deeply and sincerelydevoted to his religion; and, according to the eulogistof the rival house of Ormond, one whom nothing coulddeject or bow down, a scorner of luxury and ease, insensibleto danger, impervious to the elements, preferring, aftera hard day's fighting, the bare earth to a luxuriouscouch. One of the first steps of the League was to despatch anembassy for assistance to the King of Spain and the Pope. The Archbishop of Cashel, the Bishop of Emly, and James, the youngest brother of Desmond, were appointed on thismission, of which Sidney was no sooner apprised than heproclaimed the confederates traitors, and at once preparedfor A campaign in Munster. The first blow was struck bythe taking of Clogrennan Castle, which belonged to SirEdmond Butler, one of the adherents of the League. Theattack was led by Sir Peter Carew, an English adventurer, who had lately appeared at Dublin to claim the originalgrant made to Robert Fitzstephen of the moiety of thekingdom of Cork, and who at present commanded the garrisonof Kilkenny. The accomplished soldier of fortune anticipatedthe Deputy's movements by this blow at the confederatedButlers, who retaliated by an abortive attack on Kilkenny, and a successful foray into Wexford, in which they tookthe Castle of Enniscorthy. Sidney, taking the field inperson, marched through Waterford and Dungarvan againstDesmond's strongholds in the vicinity of Youghal. Aftera week's siege he took Castlemartyr, and continued hisroute through Barrymore to Cork, where he establishedhis head-quarters. From Cork, upon receiving the submissionof some timid members of the League, he continued hisroute to Limerick, where Sir Edmond Butler and his brotherswere induced to come in by their chief the Earl of Ormond. From Limerick he penetrated Clare, took the Castles ofClonoon and Ballyvaughan; he next halted some time atGalway, and returned to Dublin by Athlone. Overawed bythe activity of the Deputy, many others of the confederatesfollowed the example of the Butlers. The Earl of Clancartysued for pardon and delivered up his eldest son as ahostage for his good faith; the Earl of Thomond--moresuspected than compromised--yielded all his castles, with the sole exception of Ibrackan. But the next year, mortified at the insignificance to which he had reducedhimself, he sought refuge in France, from which he onlyreturned when the intercession of the English ambassador, Norris, had obtained him full indemnity for the past. Sir James Fitzmaurice, thus deserted by his confederates, had need of all that unyielding firmness of characterfor which he had obtained credit. Castle after castlebelonging to his cousins and himself was taken by thepowerful siege trains of President Perrott; Castlemaine, the last stronghold which commanded an outlet by sea, surrendered after a three months' siege, gallantlymaintained. The unyielding leader had now, therefore, noalternative but to retire into the impregnable passes ofthe Galtees, where he established his head-quarters. Thismountain range, towering from two to three thousand feetover the plain of Ormond, stretches from north-west tosouth-east, some twenty miles, descending with many agentle undulation towards the Funcheon and the Blackwaterin the earldom of Desmond. Of all its valleys Aharlowwas the fairest and most secluded. Well wooded, and wellwatered, with outlets and intricacies known only to thenative population, it seemed as if designed for a nurseryof insurrection. It now became to the patriots of theSouth what the valley of Glenmalure had long been forthose of Leinster--a fortress dedicated by Nature to thedefence of freedom. In this fastness Fitzmaurice continuedto maintain himself, until a prospect of new combinationsopened to him in the West. The sons of the Earl of Clanrickarde, though releasedfrom the custody of Sidney, receiving intimation thatthey were to be arrested at a court which Fitton, Presidentof Connaught, had summoned at Galway, flew to arms andopened negotiations with Fitzmaurice. The latter, withdrawing from Aharlow, promptly joined them in Galway, and during the campaign which followed, aided them withhis iron energy and sagacious counsel. They took anddemolished the works of Athenry, and, in part, those ofthe Court of Athlone. Their successes induced the Deputyto liberate Clanrickarde himself, who had been detaineda prisoner in Dublin, from the outbreak of his sons. Onhis return--their main object being attained--theysubmitted as promptly as they had revolted, and this hopealso being quenched, Fitzmaurice found his way back again, with a handful of Scottish retainers, to the shelter ofAharlow. Sir John Perrott, having by this time no furthersieges to prosecute, drew his toils closer and closerround the Geraldine's retreat. For a whole year, thefidelity of his adherents and the natural strength ofthe place enabled him to baffle all the President'sefforts. But his faithful Scottish guards being at lengthsurprised and cut off almost to a man, Fitzmaurice, withhis son, his kinsman, the Seneschal of Imokilly, and theson of Richard Burke, surrendered to the President atKilmallock, suing on his knees for the Queen's pardon, which was, from motives of policy, granted. On this conclusion of the contest in Munster, the Earlof Desmond and his brother, Sir John, were released fromthe Tower, and transferred to Dublin, where they weretreated as prisoners on parole. The Mayor of the city, who was answerable for their custody, having taken themupon a hunting party in the open country, the brothersput spurs to their horses and escaped into Munster (1574). They were stigmatized as having broken their parole, butthey asserted that it was intended on that party to waylayand murder them, and that their only safety was in flight. Large rewards were offered for their capture, alive ordead, but the necessities of both parties compelled atruce during the remainder of Sidney's official career--which terminated in his resignation--about four yearsafter the escape of the Desmonds from Dublin. Thus werenew elements of combination, at the moment least expected, thrown, into the hands of the Munster Catholics. CHAPTER V. THE "UNDERTAKERS" IN ULSTER AND LEINSTER--DEFEAT ANDDEATH OF SIR JAMES FITZMAURICE. Queen Elizabeth, when writing to Lord Sussex of a rumouredrising by O'Neil, desired him to assure her lieges atDublin, that if O'Neil did rise, "it would be for theiradvantage; for there will be estates for them who want. "The Sidney policy of treating Ireland as a discoveredcountry, whose inhabitants had no right to the soil, except such as the discoverers graciously conceded tothem--begat a new order of men, unknown to the historyof other civilized states, which order we must now be atsome pains to introduce to the reader. These "Undertakers, " as they were called, differed widelyfrom the Norman invaders of a former age. The Normangenerally espoused the cause of some native chief, andtook his pay in land; what he got by the sword he heldby the sword. But the Undertaker was usually a man ofpeace--a courtier like Sir Christopher Hatton--a politicianlike Sir Walter Raleigh--a poet like Edmund Spencer, ora spy and forger like Richard Boyle, first Earl of Cork. He came, in the wake of war, with his elastic "letterspatent, " or, if he served in the field, it was mainlywith a view to the subsequent confiscations. He was adroitat finding flaws in ancient titles, skilled in all thefeudal quibbles of fine and recovery, and ready to employthe secret dagger where hard swearing and fabricateddocuments might fail to make good his title. Sometimesmen of higher mark and more generous dispositions, alluredby the temptations of the social revolution, would enteron the same pursuits, but they generally miscarried fromwant of what was then cleverly called "subtlety, " butwhich plain people could not easily distinguish fromlying and perjury. What greatly assisted them in then:designs was the fact that feudal tenures had never beengeneral in Ireland, so that by an easy process of reasoningthey could prove nineteen-twentieths of all existingtitles "defective, " according to their notions of thelaws of property. Sir Peter Carew, already mentioned, was one of the earliestof the Undertakers. He had been bred up as page to thePrince of Orange, and had visited the Courts of France, Germany, and Constantinople. He claimed, by virtue ofhis descent from Robert Fitzstephen, the barony of Idrone, in Carlow, and one half the kingdom of Desmond. Sir HenrySidney had admitted these pretensions, partly as a menaceagainst the Kavanaghs and Geraldines, and Sir Peterestablished himself at Leighlin, where he kept greathouse, with one hundred servants, over one hundred kerne, forty horse, a stall in his stable, a seat at his boardfor all comers. He took an active part in all militaryoperations, and fell fighting gallantly on a memorableday to be hereafter mentioned. After the attainder of John the Proud in 1569, Sir ThomasSmith, Secretary to the Queen, obtained a grant of thedistrict of the Ards of Down, for his illegitimate son, who accordingly entered on the task of its plantation. But the O'Neils of Clandeboy, the owners of the soil, attacked the young Undertaker, who met a grave where hehad come to found a lordship. A higher name was equallyunfortunate in the same field of adventure. WalterDevereux, Earl of Essex (father of the Essex still moreunfortunate), obtained in 1573 a grant of one moiety ofFarney and Clandeboy, and having mortgaged his Englishestates to the Queen for 10, 000 pounds, associated withhimself many other adventurers. On the 16th of August, he set sail from Liverpool, accompanied by the LordsDacre and Rich, Sir Henry Knollys, the three sons of LordNorris, and a multitude of the common people. But as hehad left one powerful enemy at court in Leicester--so hefound a second at Dublin, in the acting deputy, Fitzwilliam. Though gratified with the title of President of Ulsterand afterwards that of Marshal of Ireland, he found hisschemes constantly counteracted by orders from Dublin orfrom England. He was frequently ordered off from hishead-quarters at Newry, on expeditions into Munster, until those who had followed his banner became disheartenedand mutinous. The O'Neils and the Antrim Scots harassedhis colony and increased his troubles. He attempted bytreachery to retrieve his fortunes. Having invited thealliance of Con O'Donnell, he seized that chief and senthim prisoner to Dublin. Subsequently his chief opponent, Brian, lord of Clandeboy, paid him an amicable visit, accompanied by his wife, brother, and household. As theywere seated at table on the fourth day of then--stay, the soldiers of Essex burst into the banquet hall, putthem all, "women, youths and maidens, " to the sword. Brian and his wife were saved from the slaughter only toundergo at Dublin the death and mutilation inflicted upontraitors. Yet the ambitious schemes of Walter of Essexdid not prosper the more of all these crimes. He died atDublin, two years afterwards (1576), in the 36th year ofhis age, as was generally believed from poison administeredby the orders of the arch-poisoner, Leicester, whoimmediately upon his death married his widow. It is apparent that the interest of the Undertakers couldnot be to establish peace in Ireland so long as war mightbe profitably waged. The new "English interest" thuscreated was often hostile to the soundest rules of policyand always opposed to the dictates of right and justice;but the double desire to conquer and to convert--toanglicize and Protestantize--blinded many to the lawlessmeans by which they were worked out. The massacre of 400persons of the chief families of Leix and Offally, whichtook place at Mullaghmast in 1577, is an evidence of howthe royal troops were used to promote the ends of theUndertakers. To Mullaghmast, one of the ancient raths ofLeinster, situated about five miles from Athy in Kildare, the O'Moores, O'Kellys, Lalors, and other Irish tribeswere invited by the local commander of the Queen's troops, Francis Cosby. The Bowens, Hartpoles, Pigotts, Hovendons, and other adventurers who had grants or designs upon theneighbouring territory were invited to meet them. Oneof the Lalors, perceiving that none of those who enteredthe rath before him emerged again, caused his friends tofall back while he himself advanced alone. At the veryentrance he beheld the dead bodies of some of hisslaughtered kinsmen; drawing his sword, he fought hisway back to his friends, who barely escaped with theirlives to Dysart. Four hundred victims, including 180 ofthe name of O'Moore, are said to have fallen in thisdeliberate butchery. Rory O'Moore, the chief of his name, avenged this massacre by many a daring deed. In rapidsuccession he surprised Naas, Athy, and Leighlin. Fromthe rapidity with which his blows were struck in Kildare, Carlow, and Kilkenny, he appeared to be ubiquitous. Hewas the true type of a guerilla leader, yet merciful asbrave. While Naas was burning, he sat coolly at themarket cross enjoying the spectacle, but he suffered nolives to be taken. Having captured Cosby, he did not, as might be expected, put him to death. His confidencein his own prowess and resources amounted to rashness, and finally caused his death. Coming forth from a woodto parley with a party of the Queen's troops led by hisneighbour, the Lord of Ossory, a common soldier ran himthrough the body with a sword. This was on the last dayof June, 1578--a day mournful through all the midlanddistricts for the loss of their best and bravest captain. While these events occupied the minds and tongues of menin the North and East, a brief respite from the horrorsof war was permitted to the province of Munster. The Earlof Desmond, only too happy to be tolerated in the possessionof his 570, 000 acres, was eager enough to testify hisallegiance by any sort of service. His brothers, thoughless compliant, followed his example for the moment, andno danger was to be apprehended in that quarter, exceptfrom the indomitable James Fitzmaurice, self-exiled onthe continent. No higher tribute could be paid to thecharacter of that heroic man than the closeness withwhich all his movements were watched by English spies, specially set upon his track. They followed him to theFrench court, to St. Malo's (where he resided for sometime with his family), to Madrid, whence he sent his twosons to the famous University of Alcala, and from Madridto Rome. The honourable reception he received at thehands of the French and Spanish Sovereigns was dulyreported; yet both being at peace with England, his planselicited no open encouragement from either. At Rome, however, he obtained some material and much moral support. Here he found many zealous advocates among the Englishand Irish refugees--among them the celebrated Saunders, Alien, sometimes called Cardinal Alien, and O'Mulrian, Bishop of Killaloe. A force of about 1, 000 men was enlistedat the expense of Pope Gregory XIII. , in the Papal States, and placed under an experienced captain, Hercules Pisano. They were shipped at Civita Vecchia by a squadron underthe command of Thomas Stukely, an English adventurer, who had served both for and against the Irish Catholics, but had joined Fitzmaurice in Spain and accompanied himto Rome. On the strength of some remote or pretendedrelationship to the McMurroghs, Stukely obtained fromthe Pope the titles of Marquis of Leinster and Baron ofIdrone and Ross; at Fitzmaurice's urgent request--so itis stated--he was named Vice-Admiral of the fleet. Thewhole expedition was fitted out at the expense of thePope, but it was secretly agreed that it should besupported, after landing in Ireland, at the charge ofPhilip II. Fitzmaurice, travelling overland to Spain, was to unite there with another party of adventurers, and to form a junction with Stukely and Pisano on thecoast of Kerry. So with the Papal benediction gladdeninghis heart, and a most earnest exhortation from the HolyFather to the Catholics of Ireland to follow his banner, this noblest of all the Catholic Geraldines departed fromRome, to try again the hazard of war in his own country. This was in the spring of the year 1579. Sir Henry Sidney, after many years' direction of the government, had beenrecalled at his own request; Sir William Drury was actingas Lord Justice; and Sir Nicholas Malby as President ofMunster. Expectation of the return of Fitzmaurice, atthe head of a liberating expedition, began to be rifethroughout the south and west, and the coasts were watchedwith the utmost vigilance. In the month of June, threepersons having landed in disguise from a Spanish ship, at Dingle, were seized by government spies, and carriedbefore the Earl of Desmond. On examination, one of themproved to be O'Haly, Bishop of Mayo, and another a friarnamed O'Rourke; the third is not named. By the timid, temporizing Desmond, they were forwarded to Kilmallockto Drury, who put them to every conceivable torture, inorder to extract intelligence of Fitzmaurice's movements. After their thighs had been broken with hammers, theywere hanged on a tree, and their bodies used as targetsby the brutal soldiery. Fitzmaurice, with his friends, having survived shipwreck on the coast of Galicia, enteredthe same harbour (Dingle) on the 17th of July. But notidings had yet reached Munster of Stukely and Pisano;and his cousin, the Earl, sent him neither sign offriendship nor promise of co-operation. He thereforebrought his vessels round to the small harbour of Smerwick, and commenced fortifying the almost isolated rock of_Oilen-an-oir_--or golden island, so called from theshipwreck at that point of one of Martin Forbisher'svessels, laden with golden quartz, some years before. Here he was joined by John and James of Desmond, and bya band of 200 of the O'Flaherties of Galway, the onlyallies who presented themselves. These latter, on findingthe expected Munster rising already dead, and themuch-talked-of Spanish auxiliary force so mere a handful, soon withdrew in their own galleys, upon which an Englishship and pinnace, sweeping round from Kinsale, carriedoff the Spanish vessels in sight of the powerless littlefort. These desperate circumstances inspired desperatecouncils, and it was decided by the cousins to endeavourto gain the great wood of Kilmore, near Charleville--inthe neighbourhood of Sir James' old retreat among theGaltee Mountains. In this march they were closely pursuedby the Earl of Desmond, either in earnest or in sham, and were obliged to separate into three small bands, thebrothers of the Earl retiring respectively to the fastnessesof Lymnamore and Glenfesk, while Fitzmaurice, with "adozen horsemen and a few kerne, " made a desperate pushto reach the western side of the Shannon, where he hoped, perhaps, for better opportunity and a warmer reception. This proved for him a fatal adventure. Jaded after a longday's ride he was compelled to seize some horses fromthe plough, in the barony of Clanwilliam, in order toremount his men. These horses were the property of hisrelative, Sir William Burke, who, with his neighbour, Mac-I-Brien of Ara, pursued the fugitives to within sixmiles of Limerick, where Fitzmaurice, having turned toremonstrate with his pursuers, was fired at and mortallywounded. He did not instantly fall. Dashing into themidst of his assailants he cleft down the two sons ofBurke, whose followers immediately turned and fled. Thenalighting from his saddle, the wounded chief receivedthe last solemn rites of religion from the hands of Dr. Allen. His body was decapitated by one of his followers, that the noble head might not be subjected to indignity;but the trunk being but hastily buried was soon afterwardsdiscovered, carried to Kilmallock, and there hung up fora target and a show. This tragical occurrence took placenear the present site of "Barrington's bridge, " on thelittle river Mulkern, county of Limerick, on the 18thday of August, 1579. In honour of his part in thetransaction William Burke was created Baron ofCastleconnell, awarded a pension of 100 marks per annum, and received from Elizabeth an autograph letter ofcondolence on the loss of his sons: it is added by somewriters that he died of joy on the receipt of so manyfavours. Such was the fate of the glorious hopes of SirJames Fitzmaurice. So ended in a squabble with churlsabout cattle, on the banks of an insignificant stream, a career which had drawn the attention of Europe, andhad inspired with apprehension the lion-hearted Queen. As to the expedition under Stukely, its end was even moreromantic. His squadron having put into the Tagus, hefound the King of Portugal, Don Sebastian, on the eve ofsailing against the Moors, and from some promise of afteraid was induced to accompany that chivalrous Prince. Onthe fatal field of Alcacar, Stukely, Pisano, and theItalians under their command shared the fate of thePortuguese monarch and army. Neither Italy nor Irelandheard of them more. Gregory XIII. Did not abandon the cause. On the receiptof all these ill-tidings he issued another Bull, highlylaudatory of the virtues of James Fitzmaurice "of happymemory, " and granting the same indulgence to those whowould fight under John or James of Desmond, "as thatwhich was imparted to those who fought against the Turksfor the recovery of the Holy Land. " This remarkabledocument is dated from Rome, the 13th of May, 1580. CHAPTER VI. SEQUEL OF THE SECOND GERALDINE LEAGUE--PLANTATIONOF MUNSTER--EARLY CAREER OF HUGH O'NEIL, EARL OFTYRONE--PARLIAMENT OF 1585. We must continue to read the history of Ireland by thelight of foreign affairs, and our chief light at thisperiod is derived from Spain. The death of Don Sebastianconcentrated the thoughts of Philip II. On Portugal, which he forcibly annexed to the Spanish crown. Theprogress of the insurrection in the Netherlands alsooccupied so large a place in his attention, that hisprojects against Elizabeth were postponed, year afteryear, to the bitter disappointment of the Irish leaders. It may seem far-fetched to assert, but it is not the lesscertainly true, that the fate of Catholic Munster wasintimately involved in the change of masters in Portugal, and the fluctuations of war in the Netherlands, The "Undertakers, " who had set their hearts on havingthe Desmond estates, determined that the Earl and hisbrothers should not live long in peace, however peaceablythey might be disposed. The old trick of forging letters, already alluded to, grew into a common and familiarpractice during this and the following reign. Such aletter, purporting to be written by the Earl of Desmond--at that period only too anxious to be allowed to livein peace--was made public at Dublin and London. It wasaddressed to Sir William Pelham, the temporary LordJustice, and among other passages contained this patentinvention--that he (the Earl and his brethren) "had takenthis matter in hand with great authority, both from thePope's holiness and King Philip, who do undertake tofurther us in our affairs, as we shall need. " It isutterly incredible that any man in Desmond's positioncould have written such a letter--could have placed inthe hands of his enemies a document which must for everdebar him from entering into terms with Elizabeth or herrepresentatives in Ireland. We have no hesitation, therefore, in classing this pretended letter to Pelhamwith those admitted forgeries which drove the unfortunateLord Thomas Fitzgerald into premature revolt, in thereign of Henry VIII. Sir John of Desmond had been nominated by the gallantFitzmaurice in his last moments as the fittest person torally the remaining defenders of religion and propertyin Munster. The Papal standard and benediction werealmost all he could bequeath his successor, but the energyof John, aided by some favourable local occurrences, assembled a larger force for the campaign of 1579 thanhad lately taken the field. Without the open aid of theEarl, he contrived to get together at one time as manyas 2, 000 men, amongst whom not the least active officerwas his younger brother, Sir James, hardly yet of man'sage. Drs. Saunders and Allen, with several Spanishofficers, accompanied this devoted but undisciplinedmultitude, sharing all the hardships of the men, and thecounsels of the chiefs. Their first camp, and, so tospeak, the nursery of their army, was among the inaccessiblemountains of Slievelogher in Kerry, where the rudimentsof discipline were daily inculcated. When they consideredthe time ripe for action, they removed their camp to thegreat wood of Kilmore, near Charleville, from which theymight safely assail the line of communication betweenCork and Limerick, the main depots of Elizabeth's southernarmy. Nearly half-way between these cities, and withina few miles of their new encampment, stood the strongtown of Kilmallock on the little river Lubach. This famousold Geraldine borough, the focus of several roads, wasthe habitual stopping place of the Deputies in theirprogress, as well as of English soldiers on their march. The ancient fortifications, almost obliterated byFitzmaurice eleven years before, had been replaced bystrong walls, lined with earthworks, and crowned bytowers. Here Sir William Drury fixed his head-quartersin the spring of 1579, summoning to his aid all theQueen's lieges in Munster. With a force of not less than1, 000 English regulars under his own command, and perhapstwice that number under the banner of the Munster"Undertakers" and others, who obeyed the summons, he madean unsuccessful attempt to beat up the Geraldine quartersat Kilmore. One division of his force, consisting of300 men by the Irish, and 200 by the English account, was cut to pieces, with their captains, Herbert, Price, and Eustace. The remainder retreated in disorder to theircamp at Athneasy, a ford on the Morning Star River, fourmiles east of Kilmallock. For nine weeks Drury continuedin the field, without gaining any advantage, yet soharassed day and night by his assailants that his healthgave way under his anxieties. Despairing of recovery, hewas removed by slow stages to Waterford--which would seemto indicate that his communications both with Cork andLimerick were impracticable--but died before reachingthe first mentioned city. The chief command in Munsternow devolved upon Sir Nicholas Malby, an officer who hadseen much foreign service, while the temporary vacancyin the government was filled by the Council at Dublin, whose choice fell on Sir William Pelham, anotherdistinguished military man, lately arrived from England. Throughout the summer and autumn months the war wasmaintained, with varying fortune on either side. In thecombats of Gortnatibrid and Enagbeg, in Limerick, thefinal success, according to Irish accounts, was with theGeraldines, though they had the misfortune to lose CardinalAllen, Sir Thomas Fitzgerald and Sir Thomas Browne. Retiring into winter quarters at Aharlow, they had athird engagement with the garrison of Kilmallock, whichattempted, without success, to intercept their march. The campaign of 1580 was, however, destined to be decisive. Sir John of Desmond, being invited to an amicable conferenceby the Lord Barry, was entrapped by an English forceunder Captain Zouch, in the woods surrounding CastleLyons, and put to death on the spot. The young Sir Jameshad previously been captured on a foray into Muskerry, and executed at Cork, so that of the brothers there nowremained but Earl Gerald, the next victim of themachinations which had already proved so fatal to hisfamily. Perceiving at length the true designs cherishedagainst him, the Earl took the field in the spring of1580, and obtained two considerable advantages, one atPea-field, against the English under Roberts, and a secondat Knockgraffon against the Anglo-Irish, under the brothersof the Earl of Ormond, the recusant members of the originalleague. Both these actions were fought in Tipperary, andraised anew the hopes of the Munster Catholics. Anunsuccessful attempt on Adare was the only other militaryevent in which the Earl bore a part; he wintered inAharlow, where his Christmas was rather that of an outlawthan of the Lord Palatine of Desmond. In Aharlow he hadthe misfortune to lose the gifted and heroic Nuncio, Dr. Saunders, whose great services, at that period, takentogether with those of Cardinal Allen, long endeared thefaithful English to the faithful Irish Catholics. The sequel of the second Geraldine League may be rapidlynarrated. In September, 1580, the fort at Smerwick, whereFitzmaurice had landed from Galicia, received a garrisonof 800 men, chiefly Spaniards and Italians, under DonStephen San Joseph. The place was instantly invested bysea and land, under the joint command of the new Lieutenant, Lord Grey de Wilton, and the Earl of Ormond. Among theofficers of the besieging force were three especiallynotable men--Sir Walter Raleigh, the poet Spenser, andHugh O'Neil, afterwards Earl of Tyrone, but at this timecommanding a squadron of cavalry for her Majesty QueenElizabeth. San Joseph surrendered the place on conditions;that savage outrage ensued, which is known in Irishhistory as "the massacre of Smerwick. " Raleigh andWingfield appear to have directed the operations by which800 prisoners of war were cruelly butchered and flungover the rocks. The sea upon that coast is deep and thetides swift; but it has not proved deep enough to hidethat horrid crime, or to wash the stains of such wantonbloodshed from the memory of its authors! For four years longer the Geraldine League flickered inthe South. Proclamations offering pardon to all concerned, except Earl Gerald and a few of his most devoted adherents, had their effect. Deserted at home, and cut off fromforeign assistance, the condition of Desmond grew moreand more intolerable. On one occasion he narrowly escapedcapture by rushing with his Countess into a river, andremaining concealed up to the chin in water. His dangerscan hardly be paralleled by those of Bruce after thebattle of Falkirk, or by the more familiar adventures ofCharles Edward. At length, on the night of the 11th ofNovember, 1584, he was surprised with only two followersin a lonesome valley about five miles distant from Tralee, among the mountains of Kerry. The spot is still remembered, and the name of "the Earl's road" transports the fancyof the traveller to that tragical scene. Cowering overthe embers of a half-extinct fire in a miserable hovel, the lord of a country, which in time of peace had yieldedan annual rental of "40, 000 golden pieces, " was despatchedby the hands of common soldiers, without pity, or time, or hesitation. A few followers watching their _creaghts_or herds, farther up the valley, found his bleeding trunkflung out upon the highway; the head was transported overseas, to rot upon the spikes of London Tower. The extirpation of the Munster Geraldines, in the rightline, according to the theory of the "Undertakers" andthe Court of England in general, vested in the Queen the570, 000 acres belonging to the late Earl. Proclamationwas accordingly made throughout England, inviting "youngerbrothers of good families" to undertake the plantationof Desmond--each planter to obtain a certain scope ofland, on condition of settling thereupon so manyfamilies--"none of the native Irish to be admitted. "Under these conditions, Sir Christopher Hatton took up10, 000 acres in Waterford; Sir Walter Raleigh 12, 000acres, partly in Waterford and partly in Cork; Sir WilliamHarbart, or Herbert, 13, 000 acres in Kerry; Sir EdwardDenny 6, 000 in the same county; Sir Warham, St. Leger, and Sir Thomas Norris, 6, 000 acres each in Cork; SirWilliam Courtney 10, 000 acres in Limerick; Sir EdwardFitton 11, 500 acres in Tipperary and Waterford, and EdmundSpenser a modest 3, 000 acres in Cork, on the beautifulBlackwater. The other notable Undertakers were the Hides, Butchers, Wirths, Berklys, Trenchards, Thorntons, Bourchers, Billingsleys, &c. , &c. Some of these grants, especiallyRaleigh's, fell in the next reign into the ravening mawof Richard Boyle, the so-called "_great_ Earl ofCork"--probably the most pious hypocrite to be found inthe long roll of the "Munster Undertakers. " Before closing the present chapter, we must present tothe reader, in a formal manner, the personage whose careeris to occupy the chief remaining part of the presentBook--Hugh O'Neil, best known by the title of Earl ofTyrone. We have seen him in the camp of the enemies ofhis country, learning the art of war on the shores ofDingle Bay--a witness to the horrors perpetrated atSmerwick. We may find him later in the same war--in1584--serving under Perrott and Norris, along the Foyleand the Bann, for the expulsion of the Antrim Scots. Thefollowing year, for these and other good services, hereceived the patent of the Earldom originally conferredon his grandfather, Con O'Neil, but suffered to sink intoabeyance by the less politic "John the Proud, " in thedays when he made his peace with the Queen. The next yearhe obtained from his clansmen the still higher title ofO'Neil, and thus he contrived to combine, in his ownperson, every principle of authority likely to ensurehim following and obedience, whether among the clansmenof Tyrone, or the townsmen upon its borders. O'Neil's last official act of co-operation with the Dublingovernment may be considered his participation in theParliament convoked by Sir John Perrott in 1585, andprorogued till the following year. It is remarkable ofthis Parliament, the third and last of Elizabeth's longreign, that it was utterly barren of ecclesiasticallegislation, if we except "an act against sorcery andwitchcraft" from that category. The attainder of the lateEarl of Desmond, and the living Viscount of Baltinglass, in arms with the O'Byrnes in Glenmalure, are the onlymeasures of consequence to be found among the Irishstatutes of the 27th and 28th of Elizabeth. But thoughnot remarkable for its legislation, the Parliament of1585 is conspicuously so for its composition. Within itswalls with the peers, knights, and burgesses of theanglicized counties, sat almost all the native chiefs ofUlster, Connaught, and Munster. The Leinster chiefsrecently in arms, in alliance with the Earl of Desmond, generally absented themselves, with the exception ofFeagh, son of Hugh, the senior of the O'Byrnes, and oneof the noblest spirits of his race and age. He appearsnot to have had a seat in either House; but attended, onhis own business, under the protection of his powerfulfriends and sureties. CHAPTER VII. BATTLE OF GLENMALURE--SIR JOHN PERROTT'S ADMINISTRATION--THE SPANISH ARMADA--LORD DEPUTY FITZWILLIAM--ESCAPE OFHUGH ROE O'DONNELL FROM DUBLIN CASTLE--THE ULSTERCONFEDERACY FORMED. In pursuing to its close the war in Munster, we wereobliged to omit the mention of an affair of considerableimportance, which somewhat consoled the Catholics forthe massacre at Smerwick and the defeat of the Desmonds. We have already observed that what Aharlow was to thesouthern insurgents, the deep, secluded valley of Glenmalurewas to the oppressed of Leinster. It afforded, at thisperiod, refuge to a nobleman whose memory has been mostimproperly allowed to fall into oblivion. This was JamesEustace, Viscount Baltinglass, who had suffered imprisonmentin the Castle for refusing to pay an illegal tax of afew pounds, who was afterwards made the object of aspecial, vindictive enactment, known as "the Statute ofBaltinglass, " and was in the summer of 1580, on hiskeeping, surrounded by armed friends and retainers. Hisfriend, Sir Walter Fitzgerald, son-in-law to the chiefof Glenmalure, and many of the clansmen of Leix, Offallyand Idrone, repaired to him at Slieveroe, near the modernvillage of Blessington, from which they proceeded to forma junction with the followers of the dauntless FeaghMcHugh O'Byrne of Ballincor. Lord Grey, of Wilton, onreaching Dublin in August of that year, obtained informationof this gathering, and determined to strike a decisiveblow in Wicklow, before proceeding to the South. All thechief captains in the Queen's service--the Malbys, Dudleys, Cosbys, Carews, Moors--had repaired to meet him at Dublin, and now marched, under his command, into the neighbouringhighlands. The Catholics, they knew, were concentratedin the valley, on one of the slopes of which Lord Greyconstructed a strong camp, and then, having selected thefittest troops for the service, gave orders to attackthe Irish camp. Sir William Stanley, one of the officersin command, well describes the upshot, in a letter toSecretary Walshingham: "When we entered the glen, " hewrites, "we were forced to slide, sometimes three or fourfathoms, ere we could stay our feet; it was in depth, where we entered, at least a mile, full of stones, rocks, logs and wood; in the bottom thereof a river full ofloose stones, which we were driven to Cross divers times* * * before we were half through the glen, which isfour miles in length, the enemy charged us very hotly* * * it was the hottest piece of service that ever Isaw, for the time, in any place. " As might have beenexpected, the assailants were repulsed with heavy loss;among the slain were Sir Peter Carew, Colonel FrancisCosby of Mullaghmast memory, Colonel Moor, and otherdistinguished officers. The full extent of the defeatwas concealed from Elizabeth, as well as it could be, inthe official despatches; but before the end of Augustprivate letters, such as we have quoted, conveyed thepainful intelligence to the court. The action was foughton the 25th day of August. Lord Grey's deputyship, though it lasted only two years, included the three decisive campaigns in the South, already described. At the period of his recall--or leaveof absence--the summer of 1582, that "most populous andplentiful country, " to use the forcible language of hiseloquent Secretary, Edmund Spenser, was reduced to "aheap of carcasses and ashes. " The war had been truly awar of extermination; nor did Munster recover her dueproportion of the population of the island for nearlytwo centuries afterwards. The appointment of Sir John Perrott dates from 1583, though he did not enter on the duties of Lord Deputy tillthe following year. Like most of the public men of thatage, he was both soldier and statesman. In temper heresembled his reputed father, Henry VIII. ; for he wasimpatient of contradiction and control; fond of expenseand magnificence, with a high opinion of his own abilitiesfor diplomacy and legislation. The Parliament of 1585-6, as it was attended by almost every notable man in thekingdom, was one of his boasts, though no one seems tohave benefited by it much, except Hugh O'Neil, whosetitle of Earl of Tyrone was then formally recognized. Subordinate to Perrott, the office of Governor of Connaughtwas held by Sir Richard Bingham--founder of the fortunesof the present Earls of Lucan--and that of President ofMunster, by Sir Thomas Norris, one of four brothers, allemployed in the Queen's service, and all destined to losetheir lives in that employment. The most important events which marked the four years'administration of Perrott were the pacification of Thomondand Connaught, the capture of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, andthe wreck of a large part of the Spanish Armada, on thenorthern and western coasts. The royal commission issuedfor the first-mentioned purpose exemplifies, in a strikingmanner, the exigencies of Elizabeth's policy at thatmoment. The persons entrusted with its execution wereSir Richard Bingham, the Earls of Thomond and Clanrickarde;Sir Turlogh O'Brien, Sir Richard Bourke (the McWilliam), O'Conor Sligo, Sir Brian O'Ruarc, and Sir MurroghO'Flaherty. The chief duties of this singular commissionwere, to fix a money rental for all lands, free andunfree, in Clare and Connaught; to assess the taxationfairly due to the crown also in money; and to substitutegenerally the English law of succession for the ancientcustoms of Tanistry and gavelkind. In Clare, from fortuitouscauses, the settlement they arrived at was never whollyreversed; in Connaught, the inhuman severity of Binghamrendered it odious from the first, and the successes ofHugh Roe O'Donnell, a few years later, were hailed bythe people of that province as a heaven-sent deliverance. The treacherous capture of this youthful chieftain wasone of the skilful devices on which Sir John Perrott mostprided himself. Although a mere lad, the mysteriouslanguage of ancient prophecy, which seemed to point himout for greatness, give him consequence in the eyes ofboth friends and foes. Through his heroic mother, adaughter of the Lord of the Isles, he would naturallyfind allies in that warlike race. His precocious prowessand talents began to be noised abroad, and stimulatedPerrott to the employment of an elaborate artifice, which, however, proved quite successful. A ship, commanded byone Bermingham, was sent round to Donegal, under pretenceof being direct from Spain. She carried some casks ofSpanish wine, and had a crew of 50 armed men. This shipdropped anchor off Rathmullen Castle on Lough Swilly, inwhich neighbourhood the young O'Donnell--then barelyfifteen--was staying with his foster-father, McSweeny, and several companions of his own age. The unsuspectingyouths were courteously invited on board the pretendedSpanish ship, where, while they were being entertainedin the cabin, the hatches were fastened down, the cableslipped, the sails spread to the wind, and the vesselput to sea. The threats and promises of the astonishedclansmen as they gathered to the shore were answered bythe mockery of the crew, who safely delivered their prizein Dublin, to the great delight of the Lord Deputy andhis Council. Five weary years of fetters and privationthe young captives were doomed to pass in the dungeonsof the Castle before they breathed again the air of theirnative North. But now every ship that reached the English or Irishports brought tidings more and more positive of theimmense armada which King Philip was preparing to launchfrom the Tagus against England. The piratical exploitsof Hawkins and Drake against the Spanish settlements inAmerica, the barbarous execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the open alliance of Elizabeth with the Dutchinsurgents, all acted as stimulants to the habitualslowness of the Spanish sovereign. Another event, thoughof minor importance, added intensity to the nationalquarrel. Sir William Stanley, whose account of the battleof Glenmalure we lately quoted, went over to Philip with1, 300 English troops, whom he commanded as Governor ofDaventer, and was taken into the counsels of the Spanishsovereign. The fleet for the invasion of England was ona scale commensurate with the design. One hundred andthirty-five vessels of war, manned by 8, 000 sailors, andcarrying 19, 000 soldiers, sailed from the Tagus, andafter encountering a severe storm off Cape Finesterre, re-assembled at Corunna. The flower of Spanish braveryembarked in this fleet, named somewhat presumptuously"the invincible armada. " The sons of Sir James Fitzmaurice, educated at Alcala, Thomas, son of Sir John of Desmond, with several other Irish exiles, laymen, and ecclesiastics, were also on board. The fate of the expedition is wellknown. A series of disasters befell it on the coasts ofFrance and Belgium, and finally, towards the middle ofAugust, a terrific storm swept the Spaniards northwardthrough the British channel, scattering ships and menhelpless and lifeless on the coasts of Scotland, and evenas far north as Norway. On the Irish shore nineteengreat vessels were sunk or stranded. In Lough Foyle, one galleon, manned by 1, 100 men, came ashore, and someof the survivors, it is alleged, were given up by O'Donnellto the Lord Deputy, in the vain hope of obtaining inreturn the liberation of his son. Sir John O'Doherty inInnishowen, Sir Brian O'Ruarc at Dromahaire, and HughO'Neil at Dungannon, hospitably entertained and protectedseveral hundreds who had escaped with their lives. Onthe iron-bound coast of Connaught, over 2, 000 men perished. In Galway harbour, 70 prisoners were taken by the Queen'sgarrison, and executed on St. Augustine's hill. In theShannon, the crew of a disabled vessel set her on fire, and escaped to another in the offing. On the coasts ofCork and Kerry nearly one thousand men were lost or castaway. In all, according to a state paper of the time, above 6, 000 of the Spaniards were either drowned, killed, or captured, on the north, west, and southern coasts. Amore calamitous reverse could not have befallen Spain orIreland in the era of the Reformation. It is worthy of remark that at the very moment the fearof the armada was most intensely felt in England--thebeginning of July--Sir John Perrott was recalled fromthe government. His high and imperious temper, not lessthan his reliance on the native chiefs, rather than onthe courtiers of Dublin Castle, had made him many enemies. He was succeeded by a Lord Deputy of a differentcharacter--Sir William Fitzwilliam--who had filled thesame office, for a short period, seventeen years before. The administration of this nobleman was protracted tillthe year 1594, and is chiefly memorable in connectionwith the formation of the Ulster Confederacy, under theleadership of O'Neil and O'Donnell. Fitzwilliam, whose master passion was avarice, had nosooner been sworn into the government than he issued acommission to search for treasure, which the shipwreckedSpaniards were supposed to have saved. "In hopes to fingersome of it, " he at once marched into the territory ofO'Ruarc and O'Doherty; O'Ruarc fled to Scotland, wasgiven up by order of James VI. , and subsequently executedat London; O'Doherty and Sir John O'Gallagher, "two ofthe most loyal subjects in Ulster, " were seized andconfined in the Castle. An outrage of a still moremonstrous kind was perpetrated soon after on the newlyelected chieftain of Oriel, Hugh McMahon. Though he hadengaged Fitzwilliam by a bribe of 600 cows to recognizehis succession, he was seized by order of the Deputy, tried by a jury of common soldiers, on a trumped up chargeof "treason, " and executed at his own door. Sir HarryBagnal who, as Marshal of Ireland, had his head-quartersat Newry, next to Fitzwilliam himself, profited most bythe consequent partition and settlement of McMahon's vastestates. Emboldened by the impunity which attended suchhigh-handed proceedings, and instigated by the Marshal, Fitzwilliam began to practise, against the ablest as wellas the most powerful of all the Northern chiefs, who hadhitherto been known only as a courtier and soldier ofthe Queen. This was Hugh O'Neil, Earl of Tyrone, anotherof Sir Henry Sidney's "strong men, " with the additionaladvantage of being familiar from his youth with thecharacter of the men he was now to encounter. O'Neil, in the full prime of life, really desired to livein peace with Elizabeth, provided he might be allowed togovern Ulster with all the authority attached to hisname. Bred up in England, he well knew the immenseresources of that kingdom, and the indomitable characterof its queen. A patriot of Ulster rather than of Ireland, he had served against the Desmonds, and had been a lookeron at Smerwick. To suppress rivals of his own clan, tocheck O'Donnell's encroachments, and to preserve aninterest at the English Court, were the objects of hisearlier ambition. In pursuing these objects he did nothesitate to employ English troops in Ulster, nor toaccompany the Queen and her Deputy to the service of theChurch of England. If, however, he really believed thathe could long continue to play the Celtic Prince northof the Boyne, and the English Earl at Dublin or London, he was soon undeceived when the fear of the Spanish Armadaceased to weigh on the Councils of Elizabeth. A natural son of John the Proud, called from thecircumstances of his birth "Hugh of the fetters, "communicated to Fitzwilliam the fact of Tyrone havingsheltered the shipwrecked Spaniards, and employed themin opening up a correspondence with King Philip. This soexasperated the Earl, that, having seized the unfortunateHugh of the fetters, he caused him to be hanged as acommon felon--a high-handed proceeding which his enemieswere expert in turning to account. To protect himselffrom the consequent danger, he went to England in May, 1590, without obtaining the license of the Lord Deputy, as by law required. On arriving in London he was imprisoned, but, in the course of a month, obtained his liberty, after signing articles, in which he agreed to drop theCeltic title of O'Neil; to allow the erection of gaolsin his country; that he should execute no man without acommission from the Lord Deputy, except in cases ofmartial law; that he should keep his troop of horsemenin the Queen's pay, ready for the Queen's service, andthat Tyrone should be regularly reduced to shire-ground. For the performance of these articles, which he confirmedon reaching Dublin, he was to place sureties in the handsof certain merchants of that city, or gentlemen of thePale, enjoying the confidence of the Crown. On such hardconditions his earldom was confirmed to him, and he wasapparently taken into all his former favour. But we maydate the conception of his latter and more national policyfrom the period of this journey, and the brief imprisonmenthe had undergone in London. The "profound dissembling mind" which English historians, his cotemporaries, attribute to O'Neil, was now broughtinto daily exercise. When he discovered money to be themaster passion of the Lord Deputy, he procured hisconnivance at the escape of Hugh Roe O'Donnell from DublinCastle. On a dark night in the depth of winter the youthfulchief, with several of his companions, succeeded inescaping to the hills in the neighbourhood of Powerscourt;but, exhausted and bewildered, they were again taken, and returned to their dungeons. Two years later, the heirof Tyrconnell was more fortunate. In Christmas week, 1592, he again escaped, through a sewer of the Castle, with Henry and Art O'Neil, sons of John the Proud. Inthe street they found O'Hagan, the confidential agent ofTyrone, waiting to guide them to the fastness of Glenmalure. Through the deep snows of the Dublin and Wicklow highlandsthe prisoners and their guide plodded their way. Aftera weary tramp they at length sunk down overwhelmed withfatigue. In this condition they were found insensibleby a party despatched by Feagh O'Byrne; Art O'Neil, onbeing raised up, fell backward and expired; O'Donnellwas so severely frost-bitten that he did not recover formany months the free use of his limbs. With his remainingcompanion he was nursed in the recesses of Glenmalure, until he became able to sit a horse, when he set out forhome. Although the utmost vigilance was exercised by allthe warders of the Pale, he crossed the Liffey and theBoyne undiscovered, rode boldly through the streets ofDundalk, and found an enthusiastic welcome, first fromTyrone in Dungannon, and soon after from the aged chief, his father, in the Castle of Ballyshannon. Early in thefollowing year, the elder O'Donnell resigned the chieftaincyin favour of his popular son, who was, on the 3rd of May, duly proclaimed the O'Donnell, from the ancient mound ofKilmacrenan. The Ulster Confederacy, of which, for ten years, O'Neiland O'Donnell were the joint and inseparable leaders, was now imminent. Tyrone, by carrying off, the yearprevious to O'Donnell's escape, the beautiful sister ofMarshal Bagnal, whom he married, had still further inflamedthe hatred borne to him by that officer. Bagnal complainedbitterly of the abduction to the Queen, charging, amongother things, that O'Neil had a divorced wife still alive. A challenge was in consequence sent him by his newbrother-in-law, but the cartel was not accepted. Everyday's events were hastening a general alliance betweenthe secondary chieftains of the Province and the twoleading spirits. The O'Ruarc and Maguire were attackedby Bingham, and successfully defended themselves untilthe Lord Deputy and the Marshal also marched againstthem, summoning O'Neil to their aid. The latter, feelingthat the time was not yet ripe, temporized with Fitzwilliamduring the campaign of 1593, and though in the field atthe head of his horsemen, nominally for the Queen, heseems to have rather employed his opportunities to promotethat Northern Union which he had so much at heart. CHAPTER VIII. THE ULSTER CONFEDERACY--FEAGH MAC HUGH O'BYRNE--CAMPAIGNOF 1595--NEGOTIATIONS, ENGLISH AND SPANISH--BATTLE OFTHE YELLOW FORD--ITS CONSEQUENCES. In the summer of 1594 the cruel and mercenary Fitzwilliamwas succeeded by Sir William Russell, who had served theQueen, both in Ireland "and in divers other places beyondsea, in martial affairs. " In lieu of the arbitrary exactionof county cess--so grossly abused by his predecessor--theshires of the Pale were to pay for the future into theTreasury of Dublin a composition of 2, 100 pounds perannum, out of which the fixed sum of 1, 000 pounds wasallowed as the Deputy's wages. Russell's administrationlasted till May, 1597. In that month he was succeeded byThomas, Lord Borough, who died in August following ofthe wounds received in an expedition against Tyrone;after which the administration remained in the hands ofthe Justices till the appointment of the Earl of Essex. On the arrival of Russell, Tyrone for the last timeventured to appear within the walls of Dublin. Hisinfluence in the city, and even at the Council table, must have been considerable to enable him to enter thegates of the Castle with so much confidence. He came toexplain his wrongs against the previous Deputy, to defendhimself against Bagnal's charges, and to discover, ifpossible, the instructions of Russell. If in one respecthe was gratified by a personal triumph over hisbrother-in-law, in another he had cause for serious alarm, on learning that Sir John Norris, brother of the Presidentof Munster, a commander of the highest reputation, wasto be sent over under the title of Lord General, with2, 000 veterans who served in Brittany, and 1, 000 of anew levy. He further learned that his own arrest had beendiscussed at the Council, and, leaving Dublin precipitately, he hastened to his home at Dungannon. All men's mindswere now naturally filled with wars and rumours of wars. The first blow was struck at "the firebrand of themountains, " as he was called at Court, Feagh Mac HughO'Byrne. The truce made with him expired in 1594, andhis application for his renewal was not honoured with ananswer. On the contrary, his sureties at Dublin, Geoffrey, son of Hugh, and his own son, James, were committed toclose custody in the Castle. His son-in-law, Sir WalterFitzgerald, had been driven by ill-usage, and his friendshipfor Lord Baltinglass, to the shelter of Glenmalure, andthis was, of course, made a ground of charge against itschief. During the last months of 1594, Mynce, Sheriff ofCarlow, informed the Lord Deputy of warlike preparationsin the Glen, and that Brian Oge O'Rourke had actuallypassed to and fro through Dublin city and county, asconfidential agent between Feagh Mac Hugh and Tyrone. InJanuary following, under cover of a hunting party amongthe hills, the Deputy, by a night march on Glenmalure, succeeded in surprising O'Byrne's house at Ballincor, and had almost taken the aged chieftain prisoner. In theflight, Rose O'Toole, his wife, was wounded in the breast, and a priest detected hiding in a thicket was shot dead. Feagh retired to Dromceat, or the Cat's-back Mountain--one of the best positions in the Glen--while a strongforce was quartered in his former mansion to observe hismovements. In April, his son-in-law, Fitzgerald, wastaken prisoner, near Baltinglass, in a retreat where hewas laid up severely wounded; in May, a party under theDeputy's command scoured the mountains and seized theLady Rose, who was attainted of treason, and, likeFitzgerald, barbarously given up to the halter and thequartering knife. Two foster-brothers of the chief were, at the same time and in the same manner, put to death, and a large reward was offered for his own apprehension, alive or dead. Hugh O'Neil announced his resort to arms by a vigorousprotest against the onslaught made on his friend O'Byrne. Without waiting for, or expecting any answer, he surprisedthe fort erected on the Blackwater which commanded thehighway into his own territory. This fort, which wassituated between Armagh and Dungannon, about five milesdistant from either, served, before the fortification ofCharlemont, as the main English stronghold in that partof Ulster. The river Blackwater on which it stood, fromits source on the borders of Monaghan to its outlet inLough Neagh, watered a fertile valley, which now becamethe principal theatre of war; for Hugh O'Neil, andafterwards for his celebrated nephew, it proved to be atheatre of victory. General Norris, on reaching Ireland, at once marched northward to recover the fort latelytaken. O'Neil, having demolished the works, retreatedbefore him; considering Dungannon also unfit to stand aregular siege, he dismantled the town, burnt his owncastle to the ground, having first secured every portablearticle of value. Norris contented himself withreconnoitring the Earl's entrenched camp at some distancefrom Dungannon, and returned to Newry, where he establishedhis head-quarters. The campaign in another quarter was attended with evenbetter success for the Confederates. Hugh Roe O'Donnell, no longer withheld by the more politic O'Neil, displayedin action all the fiery energy of his nature. Under hisbanner he united almost all the tribes of Ulster notenlisted with O'Neil; while six hundred Scots, led byMacLeod of Ara, obeyed his commands. He first descendedon the plains of Annally-O'Farrell (the present countyof Longford), driving the English settlers before him:he next visited the undertaker's tenants in Connaught, ejecting them from Boyle and Ballymoate, and pursuingthem to the gates of Tuam. On his return, the importanttown and castle of Sligo, the property of O'Conor, thenin England, submitted to him. Sir Richard Binghamendeavoured to recover it, but was beaten off with loss. O'Donnell, finding it cheaper to demolish than defendit, broke down the castle and returned in triumph acrossthe Erne. General Norris, having arranged his plan of campaign atNewry, attempted to victual Armagh, besieged by O'Neil, but was repulsed by that leader after a severe struggle. He, however, succeeded in throwing supplies into Monaghan, where a strong garrison was quartered, and to which O'Neiland O'Donnell proceeded to lay siege. While lying beforeMonaghan they received overtures of peace from the LordDeputy, who continually disagreed with Sir John Norrisas to the conduct of the war, and lost no opportunity ofthwarting his plans. He did not now blush to address, asEarl of Tyrone, the man he had lately proclaimed a traitorat Dublin, by the title of the son of a blacksmith. TheIrish leaders at the outset refused to meet theCommissioners--Chief Justice Gardiner and Sir HenryWallop, Treasurer-at-War--in Dundalk, so the latter werecompelled to wait on them in the camp before Monaghan. The terms demanded by O'Neil and O'Donnell, includingentire freedom of religious worship, were reserved bythe Commissioners for the consideration of the Council, with whose sanction, a few weeks afterwards, all theUlster chiefs, except "the Queen's O'Reilly, " were formallytried before a jury at Dublin, and condemned as traitors. Monaghan was thrice taken and retaken in this campaign. It was on the second return of General Norris from thattown he found himself unexpectedly in presence of O'Neil'sarmy, advantageously posted on the left bank of the littlestream which waters the village of Clontibret. Norrismade two attempts to force the passage, but withoutsuccess. Sir Thomas Norris, and the general himself, werewounded; Seagrave, a gigantic Meathian cavalry officer, was slain in a hand to hand encounter with O'Neil; theEnglish retreated hastily on Newry, and Monaghan wasagain surrendered to the Irish. This brilliant combat atClontibret closed the campaign of 1595. General Norris, who, like Sir John Moore, two centuries later, commandedthe respect, and frankly acknowledged the wrongs of thepeople against whom he fought, employed the winter monthsin endeavouring to effect a reconciliation between O'Neiland the Queen's Government. He had conceived a warm andchivalrous regard for his opponent; for he could not denythat he had been driven to take up arms in self-defence. At his instance a royal commission to treat with the Earlwas issued, and the latter cheerfully gave them a meetingin an open field without the walls of Dundalk. The sameterms which he had proposed before Monaghan were repeatedin his _ultimatum_, and the Commissioners agreed to givehim a positive answer by the 2nd day of April. On thatday they attended at Dundalk, but O'Neil did not appear. The Commissioners delayed an entire fortnight, addressinghim in the interim an urgent remonstrance to come in andconclude their negotiation. On the 17th of the month theyreceived his reasons for breaking off the treaty--theprincipal of which was, that the truce had been repeatedlybroken through by the English garrisons--and so thecampaign of 1596 was to be fought with renewed animosityon both sides. Early in May the Lord Deputy made another descent onBallincor, which Feagh Mac Hugh had recovered in theautumn to lose again in the spring. Though worn withyears and infirm of body, the Wicklow chieftain held hisdevoted bands well together, and kept the garrison ofDublin constantly on the defensive. In the new chieftainof the O'Moores he found at this moment a young and activecoadjutor. In an affair at Stradbally Bridge, O'Mooreobtained a considerable victory, leaving among the slainAlexander and Francis Cosby, grandsons of the commanderin the massacre at Mullaghmast. The arrival of three Spanish frigates with arms andammunition in Donegal Bay was welcome news to the NorthernCatholics. They were delivered to O'Donnell, who wasincessantly in the field, while O'Neil was again undergoingthe forms of diplomacy with a new royal commission atDundalk. He himself disclaimed any correspondence withthe King of Spain, but did not deny that such negotiationsmight be maintained by others. It is alleged that, whilemany of the chiefs had signed a formal invitation to theSpanish King to assume their crown, O'Neil had not gonebeyond verbal assurances of co-operation with them. However this may be, he resolved that the entire seasonshould not be wasted in words, so he attacked the stronggarrison left in Armagh, and recovered the primatialcity. According to the Irish practice, he dismantled thefortress, which, however, was again reconstructed by theEnglish before the end of the war. Some other skirmishes, of which we have no very clear account, and which we mayset down as of no decisive character, terminated thecampaign. In May, 1597, Lord Borough, who had distinguished himselfin the Netherlands, replaced Russell as Lord Deputy, andassumed the command-in-chief, in place of Sir John Norris. Simultaneously with his arrival Feagh Mac Hugh O'Byrne, was surprised in Glenmalure by a detachment from Dublin, and slain; he died as he had lived, a hero and a freeman. O'Neil, who was warmly attached to the Wicklow chief, immediately despatched such succour as he could spare toFeagh's sons, and promised to continue to them thefriendship he had always entertained for their father. Against Tyrone the new Lord Deputy now endeavoured tocombine all the military resources at his disposal. Towards the end of July, Sir Conyers Clifford was orderedto muster the available force of Connaught at Boyle, andto march into Sligo and Donegal. A thousand men of theAnglo-Irish were assembled at Mullingar, under the commandof young Barnewell of Trimbleston, who was instructed toeffect a junction with the main force upon the bordersof Ulster. The Lord Deputy, marching in force fromDrogheda, penetrated, unopposed, the valley of theBlackwater, and entered Armagh. From Armagh he moved tothe relief of the Blackwater fort, besieged by O'Neil. At a place called Drumfliuch, where Battleford Bridgenow stands, Tyrone contrived to draw his enemies into anengagement on very disadvantageous ground. The resultwas a severe defeat to the new Deputy, who, a few daysafterwards, died of his wounds at Newry, as his secondin command, the Earl of Kildare, did at Drogheda. SirFrancis Vaughan, Sir Thomas Waller, and other distinguishedofficers, fell in the same action, but the fort, the mainprize of the combatants, remained in English hands tillthe following year. O'Donnell, with equal success, heldBallyshannon, compelled Sir Conyers Clifford to raisethe siege with the loss of the Earl of Thomond, and alarge part of his following. Simultaneously, CaptainRichard Tyrrell of West-Meath--one of O'Neil's favouriteofficers--having laid an ambuscade for young Barnewellat the pass in West-Meath which now bears his name, theMeathian regiment were sabred to a man. Mullingar andMaryborough were taken and sacked, and in the North, SirJohn Chichester, Governor of Carrickfergus, was cut offwith his troop by MacDonald of the Glens. These successes synchronize exactly with the expectationof a second Spanish Armada, which filled Elizabeth withher old apprehensions. Philip was persuaded again totempt the fortune of the seas, and towards the end ofOctober his fleet, under the Adelantado of Castille, appeared off the Scilly Islands, with a view to securethe Isle of Wight, or some other station, from which tooperate an invasion the ensuing spring. Extraordinarymeans were taken for defence; the English troops in Francewere recalled, new levies raised, and the Queen's favourite, the young Earl of Essex, appointed to command the fleet, with Raleigh and Lord Thomas Howard as Vice-Admirals. But the elements again fought for the northern island;a storm, which swept the channel for weeks, drove theEnglish ships into their ports, but scattered those ofSpain over the Bay of Biscay. In this second expeditionsailed Florence Conroy, and other Irish exiles, who hadmaintained for years a close correspondence with theCatholic leaders. Their presence in the fleet, theexistence of the correspondence, and the progress of therevolt itself, will sufficiently account for the apparentvacillations of English policy in Ulster in the lastmonths of 1597. Shortly before Christmas, Ormond, nowLord Lieutenant, accompanied by the Earl of Thomond, attended only by their personal followers, visitedDungannon, and remained three days in conference withO'Neil and O'Donnell. The Irish chiefs reiterated theirold demands: freedom of worship, and the retention ofthe substantial power attached to their ancient rank. They would admit Sheriffs, if they were chosen from amongnatives of their counties, but they declined to givehostages out of their own families. These terms werereferred to the Queen's consideration, who, after muchprotocoling to and fro, finally ratified them the followingApril, and affixed the great seal to O'Neil's pardon. But Tyrone, guided by intelligence received from Spainor England, or both, evaded the royal messenger chargedto deliver him that instrument, and as the late truceexpired the first week of June, devoted himself anew tomilitary preparations. In the month of June, 1598, the Council at Dublin werein a state of fearful perplexity. O'Neil, two days afterthe expiration of the truce, invested the fort on theBlackwater, and seemed resolved to reduce it, if not byforce, by famine. O'Donnell, as usual, was operating onthe side of Connaught, where he had brought back O'Ruarc, O'Conor Sligo, and McDermot, to the Confederacy, fromwhich they had been for a season estranged. Tyrrell andO'Moore, leading spirits in the midland counties wereravaging Ormond's palatinate of Tipperary almost withoutopposition. An English reinforcement, debarked at Dungarvan, was attacked on its march towards Dublin, and lost 400men. In this emergency, before which even the iron nerveof Ormond quailed, the Council took the resolution ofordering one moiety of the Queen's troops under Ormondto march south against Tyrrell and O'Moore; the otherunder Marshal Bagnal, to proceed northward to the reliefof the Blackwater fort. Ormond's campaign was brief andinglorious. After suffering a severe check in Leix, heshut himself up in Kilkenny, where he heard of thedisastrous fate of Bagnal's expedition. On Sunday, the 13th of August, the Marshal reached Newrywith some trifling loss from skirmishes on the route. Hehad with him, by the best accounts, six regiments ofinfantry, numbering in all about 4, 000 men and 350 horse. After resting a day, his whole force marched out of thecity in three divisions; the first under the command ofthe Marshal and Colonel Percy, the cavalry under SirCalisthenes Brooke and Captains Montague and Fleming;the rear guard under Sir Thomas Wingfield and ColonelCosby. The Irish, whose numbers, both mounted and afoot, somewhat exceeded the Marshal's force, but who were notso well armed, had taken up a strong position at Ballinaboy("the Yellow ford"), about two miles north of Armagh. With O'Neil were O'Donnell, Maguire, and McDonnell ofAntrim--all approved leaders beloved by their men. O'Neilhad neglected no auxiliary means of strengthening theposition. In front of his lines he dug deep trenches, covered over with green sods, supported by twigs andbranches. The pass leading into this plain was lined by500 kerne, whose Parthian warfare was proverbial. He hadreckoned on the headlong and boastful disposition of hisopponent, and the result showed his accurate knowledgeof character. Bagnal's first division, veterans fromBrittany and Flanders, including 600 curassiers in completearmour, armed with lances nine feet long, dashed intothe pass before the second and third divisions had timeto come up. The kerne poured in their rapid volleys; manyof the English fell; the pass was yielded, and the wholepower of Bagnal debouched into the plain. His artillerynow thundered upon O'Neil's trenches, and the cavalry, with the plain before them, were ordered to charge; butthey soon came upon the concealed pitfalls, horses fell, riders were thrown, and confusion spread among thesquadron. Then it was O'Neil in turn gave the signal tocharge; himself led on the centre, O'Donnell the left, and Maguire, famous for horsemanship, the Irish horse. The overthrow of the English was complete, and the victorymost eventful. The Marshal, 23 superior officers, withabout 1, 700 of the rank and file fell on the field, whileall the artillery baggage and 12 stand of colours weretaken: the Irish loss in killed and wounded did notexceed 800 men. "It was a glorious victory for therebels, " says the cotemporary English historian, Camden, "and of special advantage: for hereby they got arms andprovisions, and Tyrone's name was cried up all overIreland as the author of their liberty. " It may also beadded that it attracted renewed attention to the Irishwar at Paris, Madrid, and Rome, where the names of O'Neiland O'Donnell were spoken of by all zealous Catholicswith enthusiastic admiration. The battle was over by noon of the 15th of August; andthe only effort to arrest the flight of the survivorswas made by "the Queen's O'Reilly, " who was slain in theattempt. By one o'clock the remnant of the cavalry underMontague were in full career for Dundalk, closely pressedby the mounted men of O'Hanlon. During the ensuing weekthe Blackwater fort capitulated; the Protestant garrisonof Armagh surrendered; and were allowed to march south, leaving their arms and ammunition behind. The panic spreadfar and wide; the citizens of Dublin were enrolled todefend their walls; Lord Ormond continued shut up inKilkenny; O'Moore and Tyrrell, who entered Munster byO'Neil's order, to kindle the elements of resistance, compelled the Lord President to retire from Kilmallockto Cork. O'Donnell established his head-quarters atBallymoate, a dozen miles south of Sligo, which he hadpurchased from the chieftain of Corran for 400 poundsand 300 cows. The castle had served for thirteen yearsas an English stronghold, and was found staunch enoughfifty years later to withstand the siege trains of Cooteand Ludlow. From this point the Donegal chieftain wasenabled to stretch his arm in every direction over lowerConnaught. The result was, that before the end of theyear 1598, nearly all the inhabitants of Clanrickardeand the surrounding districts were induced, either frompolicy or conviction, to give in their adhesion to theNorthern Confederacy. CHAPTER IX. ESSEX'S CAMPAIGN OF 1599--BATTLE OF THE CURLIEUMOUNTAINS--O'NEIL'S NEGOTIATIONS WITH SPAIN--MOUNTJOY, LORD DEPUTY. The last favourite of the many who enjoyed the foolish, if not guilty, favours of Elizabeth was Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, son of that unfortunate nobleman spokenof in a previous chapter as the "undertaker" of Farneyand Clandeboy. Born in 1567, the Earl had barely reachedthe age of manhood when he won the heart of his royalmistress, already verging on threescore. Gifted by naturewith a handsome person, undoubted courage, and manygenerous qualities, he exhibited, in the most importanttransactions of life, the recklessness of a madman andthe levity of a spoiled child; it was apparent to theworld that nothing short of the personal fascinationwhich he exercised over the Queen could so long havepreserved him from the consequences of his continualcaprices and quarrels. Such was the character of theyoung nobleman, who, as was afterwards said, at theinstigation of his enemies, was sent over to restore theascendancy of the English arms in the revolted provinces. His appointment was to last during the Queen's pleasure;he was provided with an army of 20, 000 foot and 2, 000horse; three-fourths of the ordinary annual revenue ofEngland (340, 000 pounds out of 450, 000 pounds) was placedat his disposal, and the largest administrative powers, civil and military, were conferred on him. A new plan ofcampaign in Ulster was decided upon at the royal counciltable, and Sir Samuel Bagnal, brother of the late Marshal, and other experienced officers, were to precede oraccompany him to carry it into execution. The main featureof this plan was to get possession by sea and stronglyfortify Ballyshannon, Donegal, Derry, and the entranceto the Foyle, so as to operate at once in the rear ofthe northern chiefs, as well as along the old familiarbase of Newry, Monaghan, and Armagh. Essex, on being sworn into office at Dublin, on the 15thof April, 1599, immediately issued a proclamation offeringpardon and restoration of property to such of the Irishas would lay down their arms by a given day, but veryfew persons responded to this invitation. He next despatchedreinforcements to the garrisons of Wicklow and Naas, menaced by the O'Moores and O'Byrnes, and to those ofDrogheda, Dundalk, Newry, and Carrickfergus, the onlynorthern strongholds remaining in possession of the Queen. The principal operations, it had been agreed before heleft England, were to be directed against Ulster, butwith the waywardness which always accompanied him, hedisregarded that arrangement, and set forth, at the headof 7, 000 men, for the opposite quarter. He was accompaniedin this march by the Earls of Clanrickarde and Thomond, Sir Conyers Clifford, Governor of Connaught, and O'Conorof Sligo, the only native chief who remained in theEnglish ranks. In Ormond he received the submission ofLord Mountgarrett, son-in-law to Tyrone, and took thestrong castle of Cahir from another of the insurgentButlers. After a halt at Limerick, he set out againstthe Geraldines, who the previous year had joined theNorthern league, at the instance of Tyrrell and O'Moore. Although the only heir of the Earl of Desmond was aprisoner, or ward of Elizabeth in England, James Fitzgerald, son of Thomas Roe, son of the fifteenth Earl by thatmarriage which had been pronounced invalid, assumed thetitle at the suggestion of O'Neil, and was recognized asthe Desmond by the greater portion of the relatives ofthat family. Fitzmaurice, Lord of Lixnaw, the Knight ofGlynn, the White Knight, the Lord Roche, Pierce Lacy ofBuree and Bruff, the last descendant of Hugh de Lacy andthe daughter of Roderick O'Conor, with the McCarthys, O'Donohoes, O'Sullivans, Condons, and other powerfultribes, were all astir to the number, as Carew supposes, of 8, 000 men, all emulous of their compatriots in theNorth. Issuing from Limerick, Essex marched southward tostrengthen the stronghold of Askeaton, into which hesucceeded, after a severe skirmish by the way, in throwingsupplies. Proceeding to victual Adare, he experienceda similar check, losing among others Sir Henry Norris, the third of those brave brothers who had fallen a victimto these Irish wars. In returning to Dublin, by way ofWaterford and Kildare, he was assailed by O'Moore at adifficult defile, which, to this day, is known in Irishas "the pass of the plumes" or feathers. The Earl forceda passage with the loss of 500 lives, and so returnedwith little glory to Dublin. The next military incident of the year transpired in theWest. We have spoken of O'Conor Sligo as the only nativechief who followed Essex to the South. He had been latelyat the English Court, where he was treated with thehighest distinction, in order that he might be used toimpede O'Donnell's growing power in lower Connaught. Onreturning home he was promptly besieged by the Donegalchief in his remaining castle at Colooney, within fivemiles of Sligo. Essex, on learning this fact, orderedSir Conyers Clifford to march to the relief of O'Conorwith all the power he could muster. Clifford despatchedfrom Galway, by sea, stores and materials for therefortification of Sligo town, and set out himself atthe head of 2, 100 men, drafted from both sides of theShannon, under twenty-five ensigns. He had under him SirAlexander Radcliffe, Sir Griffin Markham, and otherexperienced officers. Their rendezvous, as usual, wasthe old monastic town of Boyle, about a day's march tothe south of Sligo. From Boyle, the highway led into theCurlieu mountains, which divide Sligo on the south-eastfrom Roscommon. Here, in the strong pass of Ballaghboy, O'Donnell with the main body of his followers awaitedtheir approach. He had left the remainder, under hiscousin and brother-in-law, Nial Garve (or the _rough_), to maintain the siege of Colooney Castle. O'Ruarc andthe men of Breffni joined him during the battle, buttheir entire force is nowhere stated. It was the eve ofthe Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, and the firstanniversary of the great victory of the Yellow Ford. Thenight was spent by the Irish in fasting and prayer, theearly morning in hearing Mass, and receiving the HolyCommunion. The day was far advanced when the head ofClifford's column appeared in the defile, driving in abarricade erected at its entrance. The defenders, accordingto orders, discharged their javelins and muskets, andfell back farther into the gorge. The English advancedtwelve abreast, through a piece of woodland, after whichthe road crossed a patch of bog. Here the thick of thebattle was fought. Sir Alexander Radcliffe, who led thevanguard, fell early in the action, and his divisionfalling back on the centre threw them all into confusion. O'Ruarc arriving with his men at the critical momentcompleted the rout, and pursued the fugitives to thegates of Boyle. The gallant Clifford, scorning to fly, was found among the slain, and honourably interred byhis generous enemies in the monastery of Lough Key. Onhis head being shown to O'Conor at Colooney, he at oncesurrendered to O'Donnell, and entered into the NorthernConfederacy. Theobald Burke, the commander of the vesselssent round from Galway to fortify Sligo, also submittedto O'Donnell, and was permitted to return to the portfrom which he had lately sailed, with very differentintentions. Essex, whose mind was a prey to apprehension from hisenemies in England had demanded reinforcements before hecould undertake anything against Ulster. It seems hardlycredible that the 15, 000 regular troops in the countryat his coming should be mostly taken up with garrisonduty, yet we cannot otherwise account for theirdisappearance from the field. He asked for 2, 000 freshtroops, and while awaiting their arrival, sent a detachmentof 600 men into Wicklow, who were repulsed with loss byPhelim, son of Feagh, the new Chief of the O'Byrnes. Essex was thrown into transports of rage at this newloss. The officers who retreated were tried bycourt-martial, and, contrary to his usually generoustemper, the surviving men were inhumanly decimated. Early in September, the reinforcement he had asked forarrived with a bitterly reproachful letter from the Queen. He now hastened to make a demonstration against Tyrone, although, from some cause unexplained, he does not seemto have drawn out the whole force at his disposal. FromNewry he proceeded northward towards Carrickfergus, withonly 1, 300 foot and 300 horse. On the high ground to thenorth of the river Lagan, overlooking Anaghclart Bridge, he found the host of O'Neil encamped, and received acourteous message from their leader, soliciting a personalinterview. Essex at first declined, but afterwards acceptedthe invitation, and at an appointed hour the two commandersrode down to the opposite banks of the river, whollyunattended, the advanced guard of each looking curiouslyon from the uplands. O'Neil spurred his horse into thestream up to the saddle girth, and thus for an hour, exposed to the generous but impulsive Englishman, thegrievances of himself and his compatriots. With all theart, for which he was distinguished, he played upon hisknowledge of the Earl's character: he named those enemiesof his own whom he also knew to be hostile to Essex, heshowed his provocations in the strongest light, anddeclared his readiness to submit to her Majesty, oncondition of obtaining complete liberty of conscience, an act of indemnity to include his allies in all the fourProvinces; that the principal officers of state, thejudges, and one half the army should in future be Irishby birth. This was, in effect, a demand for nationalindependence, though the Lord Lieutenant may not haveseen it in that light. He promised, however, to transmitthe propositions to England, and within presence of sixprincipal officers of each side, agreed to a truce tillthe 1st of May following. Another upbraiding letter fromElizabeth, which awaited him on his return to Dublin, drove Essex to the desperate resolution of presentinghimself before her, without permission. The short remainderof his troubled career, his execution in the Tower inFebruary, 1601, and Elizabeth's frantic lamentations, are familiar to readers of English history. In presenting so comprehensive an ultimatum to Essex, O'Neil was emboldened by the latest intelligence receivedfrom Spain. Philip II. , the life-long friend of theCatholics, had, indeed, died the previous September, butone of the first acts of his successor, Philip III. , wasto send envoys into Ireland, assuring its chiefs that hewould continue to them the friendship and alliance ofhis father. Shortly before the conference at Anaghclart, a third Armada, under the Adelantado of Castile, wasawaiting orders in the port of Corunna, and England, forthe third time in ten years, was placed in a posture ofdefence. The Spaniards sailed, but soon divided intotwo squadrons, one of which passed down the BritishChannel unobserved, and anchored in the waters of theSluys, while the other sailed for the Canaries to interceptthe Hollanders. At the same time, however, most positiveassurances were renewed that an auxiliary force mightshortly be expected to land in Ireland in aid of theCatholics. The non-arrival of this force during thefortunate campaign of 1599 was not much felt by theCatholics; and was satisfactorily explained by Philip'senvoys--but the mere fact of the existence of the Spanishalliance gave additional confidence and influence to theconfederates. That fact was placed beyond all questionby the arrival of two Spanish ships laden with storesfor O'Neil, immediately after the interview with Essex. In the summer or autumn ensuing, Mathew of Oviedo, aSpaniard, consecrated at Rome, Archbishop of Dublin, brought over 22, 000 crowns towards the pay of the Irishtroops, and a year afterwards, Don Martin de la Cerdawas sent to reside as envoy with Tyrone. The year 1600 was employed by Hugh O'Neil, after themanner of his ancestors, who were candidates for theKingship of Tara, in a visitation of the Provinces. Havingfirst planted strong garrisons on the southern passesleading into Ulster, he marched at the head of 3, 000 meninto West-Meath, where he obliged Lord Delvin and SirTheobald Dillon to join the Confederation. From Meath hemarched to Ely, whose chief he punished for a late actof treachery to some Ulster soldiers invited to hisassistance. From Ely he turned aside to venerate therelic of the Holy Cross, at Thurles, and being there hegranted his protection to the great Monastery built byDonald More O'Brien. At Cashel he was joined by theGeraldine, whom he caused to be recognized as Earl ofDesmond. Desmond and his supporters accompanied himthrough Limerick into Cork, quartering their retainerson the lands of their enemies, but sparing their friends;the Earl of Ormond with a corps of observation moving ona parallel line of march, but carefully avoiding acollision. In the beginning of March the Catholic armyhalted at Inniscarra, upon the river Lee, about fivemiles west of Cork. Here O'Neil remained three weeks incamp consolidating the Catholic party in South Munster. During that time he was visited by the chiefs of theancient Eugenian clans--O'Donohoe, O'Donovan, and O'Mahoney:thither also came two of the most remarkable men of thesouthern Province, Florence McCarthy, Lord of Carberry, and Donald O'Sullivan, Lord of Bearehaven. McCarthy "likeSaul, higher by the head and shoulders than any of hishouse, " had brain in proportion to his brawn; O'Sullivan, as was afterwards shown, was possessed of military virtuesof a high order. Florence was inaugurated with O'Neil'ssanction as McCarthy More, and although the rival houseof Muskerry fiercely resisted his claim to superiorityat first, a wiser choice could not have been made hadthe times tended to confirm it. While at Inniscarra, O'Neil lost in single combat one ofhis most accomplished officers, the chief of Fermanagh. Maguire, accompanied only by a Priest and two horsemen, was making observations nearer to the city than the camp, when Sir Warham St. Leger, Marshal of Munster, issuedout of Cork with a company of soldiers, probably on asimilar mission. Both were in advance of their attendantswhen they came unexpectedly face to face. Both were famousas horsemen and for the use of their weapons, and neitherwould retrace his steps. The Irish chief, poising hisspear, dashed forward against his opponent, but receiveda pistol shot which proved mortal the same day. He, however, had strength enough left to drive his spearthrough the neck of St. Leger, and to effect his escapefrom the English cavalry. Saint Leger was carried backto Cork where he expired; Maguire, on reaching the camp, had barely time left to make his last confession, whenhe breathed his last. This untoward event, the necessityof preventing possible dissensions in Fermanagh, andstill more, the menacing movements of the new Deputy, lately sworn in at Dublin, obliged O'Neil to return homeearlier than he intended. Soon after reaching Dungannonhe had the gratification of receiving a most graciousletter from Pope Clement VIII. , together with a crown ofphoenix feathers, symbolical of the consideration withwhich he was regarded by the Sovereign Pontiff. A new Deputy had landed at Howth on the 24th of February, 1600, and was sworn in at Dublin the day following. Thiswas Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, afterwards Earl ofDevonshire, a nobleman now in his 37th year. He had beenthe rival, the enemy, and the devoted friend of theunfortunate Essex, whom he equalled in personal gifts, in courage, and in gallantry, but far exceeded in judgment, firmness, and foresight. He was one of a class ofsoldier-statesmen, peculiar to the second half ofElizabeth's reign, who affected authorship and thepatronage of letters as a necessary complement to themanners of a courtier and commander. On the 2nd of April, Mountjoy, still at Dublin, wrote to her Majesty that thearmy had taken heart since his arrival, that he had nofear of the loss of the country, but was more anxiousfor Connaught than any other Province. He deplored thecapture of Lord Ormond by the O'Moores, but hoped, ifGod prospered her arms during the summer, either "to bowor to break the crooked humours of these people. " Thethree succeeding years of peace granted to England--interrupted only by the mad _emeute_ of Essex, and thesilly intrigues of the King of Scotland--enabled Elizabethto direct all the energies of the State, which had soimmensely increased in wealth during her reign, for thesubjugation of the Irish revolt. The capture of Ormond by the O'Moores took place in themonth of April, at a place called Corroneduff, in aninterview between the Earl, the President of Munster, and Lord Thomond, on the one part, and the Leinster Chiefon the other. Ormond, who stood out from his party, hadasked to see the famous Jesuit, Father Archer, then withO'Moore. The Priest advanced leaning on his staff, which, in the heat of a discussion that arose, he raised onceor twice in the air. The clansmen, suspecting danger tothe Jesuit, rushed forward and dragged the Earl from hishorse. Lord Thomond and the President, taking the alarm, plied their spurs, and were but too glad to escape. Ormondremained a prisoner from April to June, during whichinterval he was received by Archer into the Church, towhich he firmly adhered till the day of his death. Onhis liberation he entered into bonds for 3, 000 poundsnot to make reprisals, but Mountjoy took vengeance forhim. The fair, well-fenced, and well-cultivated land ofLeix was cruelly ravaged immediately after Ormond'srelease--the common soldiers cut down with their swords"corn to the value of 10, 000 pounds and upwards, " andthe brave chief, Owny, son of Rory, having incautiouslyexposed himself in an attack on Maryborough, was, on the17th of August, killed by a musket shot. CHAPTER X. MOUNTJOY'S ADMINISTRATION--OPERATIONS IN ULSTER ANDMUNSTER--CAREW'S "WIT AND CUNNING"--LANDING OF SPANIARDSIN THE SOUTH--BATTLE OF KINSALE--DEATH OF O'DONNELLIN SPAIN. The twofold operations against Ulster, neglected by Essex, were vigorously pressed forward by the energetic Mountjoy. On the 16th of May, a fleet arrived in Lough Foyle, havingon board 4, 000 foot and 200 horse, under the command ofSir Henry Dowcra, with abundance of stores, buildingmaterials, and ordnance. At the same moment, the Deputyforced the Moira pass, and made a feigned demonstrationagainst Armagh, to draw attention from the fleet in theFoyle. This feint served its purpose; Dowcra was enabledto land and throw up defensive works at Derry, which hemade his head-quarters, to fortify Culmore at the entranceto the harbour, where he placed 600 men, under the commandof Captain Atford, and to seize the ancient fort ofAileach, at the head of Lough Swilly, where Captain EllisFlood was stationed with 150 men. The attempt againstBallyshannon was, on a nearer view, found impracticable, and deferred; the Deputy, satisfied that the lodgmenthad been made upon Lough Foyle, retired to Dublin, afterincreasing the garrisons at Newry, Carlingford, andDundalk. The Catholic chieftains immediately turnedtheir attention to the new fort at Deny, appeared suddenlybefore it with 5, 000 men, but failing to draw out itsdefenders, and being wholly unprovided with a siege trainand implements--as they appear to have been throughout--they withdrew the second day, O'Donnell leaving a partyin hopes to starve out the foreigners. This party wereunder the command of O'Doherty, of Innishowen, and NialGarve O'Donnell, the most distinguished soldier of hisname, after his illustrious cousin and chief. On the 28thof June, a party of the besieged, headed by Sir JohnChamberlaine, made a sally from the works, but were drivenin with loss, and Chamberlaine killed. On the 29th ofJuly, O'Donnell, who had returned from his annual incursioninto Connaught and Thomond, seized the English cavalryhorses, and defeated the main force of the besieged, whohad issued out to their rescue. From this affair Dowcrawas carried back wounded into Deny. But treason was busy in the Irish camp and country amongthe discontented members of the neighbouring clans. Theelection of chiefs for life, always a fruitful source ofbickering and envy, supplied the very material upon which"the princely policie" of division, recommended by Baconto Essex, might be exercised. Dowcra succeeded in thesummer in winning over Art O'Neil, son of Turlogh, theearly adversary of the great Hugh; before the year wasover, by bribes and promises, he seduced Nial Garve, inthe absence of his chief in Connaught, and Nial, havingonce entered on the career of treason, pursued it withall the dogged courage of Ms disposition. Though hiswife, sister to Red Hugh, forsook him, though his namewas execrated throughout the Province, except by hisblindly devoted personal followers, he served the Englishduring the remainder of the war with a zeal and abilityto which they acknowledged themselves deeply indebted. By a rapid march, at the head of 1, 000 men, supplied byDowcra, he surprised the town of Lifford, which his newallies promptly fortified with walls of stone, andentrusted to him to defend. Red Hugh, on learning thisalarming incident, hastened from the West to invest theplace. After sitting before it an entire month, with noother advantage than a sally repulsed, he concluded togo into winter quarters. Arthur O'Neil and Nial Garvehad the dignity of knighthood conferred upon them, andwere, besides, recognized for the day by the Englishofficials as the future O'Neil and O'Donnell. In likemanner, "a Queen's Maguire" had been raised up in Fermanagh, "a Queen's O'Reilly" in Cavan, and other chiefs of smallerdistricts were provided with occupation enough at theirown doors by the "princely policie" of Lord Bacon. The English interest in Munster during the first year ofMountjoy's administration had recovered much of its lostpredominance. The new President, Sir George Carew, afterwards Earl of Totness, was brother to that knightly"undertaker" who claimed the moiety of Desmond, and methis death at Glenmalure. He was a soldier of the newschool, who prided himself especially on his "wit andcunning, " in the composition of "sham and counterfeitletters. " He had an early experience in the Irish wars, first as Governor of Askeaton Castle, and afterwards asLieutenant General of the Ordnance. Subsequently he wasemployed in putting England in a state of defence againstthe Spaniards, and had just returned from an embassy toPoland, when he was ordered to join Mountjoy with therank of Lord President. He has left us a memoir of hisadministration, civil and military, edited by his naturalson and Secretary, Thomas Stafford--exceedingly interestingto read both as to matter and manner, but the documentsembodied in which are about as reliable as the speecheswhich are read in Livy. Some of them are admitted forgeries;others are at least of doubtful authenticity. Afterescaping with Lord Thomond from the scene of Ormond'scapture, his first act on reaching Cork was to concludea month's truce with Florence McCarthy. This he did, inorder to gain time to perfect a plot for the destructionof O'Neil's other friend, called in derision, by theAnglo-Irish of Munster, the _sugane_ (or straw-rope) Earlof Desmond. This plot, so characteristic of Carew and of the turnwhich English history was about to take in the next reign, deserves to be particularly mentioned. There was, in theservice of the Earl, one Dermid O'Conor, captain of 1, 400hired troops, who was married to lady Margaret Fitzgerald, daughter to the late, and niece to the new-made Earl ofDesmond. This lady, naturally interested in the restorationof her young brother, then the Queen's ward or prisonerat London, to the title and estates, was easily drawninto the scheme of seducing her husband from his patron. To justify and cloak the treachery a letter was writtenby Carew to the _sugane_ Earl reminding him of _his_engagement to deliver up O'Conor; this _letter_, aspre-arranged, was intercepted by the latter, who, watchinghis opportunity, rushed with it open into the Earl'spresence, and arrested him, in the name of O'Neil, as atraitor to the Catholic cause! Anxious to finger hisreward--1, 000 pounds and a royal commission for himself--before giving up his capture, O'Conor imprisoned theEarl in the keep of Castle-Ishin, but the White Knight, the Knight of Glynn, Fitzmaurice of Kerry, and PierceLacy, levying rapidly 2, 000 men, speedily delivered himfrom confinement, while his baffled betrayer, crest-fallenand dishonoured, was compelled to quit the Province. Theyear following he was attacked while marching throughGalway, and remorselessly put to death by Theobald Burke, usually called Theobald of the ships. Another device employed to destroy the influence ofO'Neil's Desmond was the liberation of the young son ofthe late Earl from the Tower and placing him at thedisposal of Carew. The young nobleman, attended by aCaptain Price, who was to watch all his movements, landedat Youghal, where he was received by the Lord President, the Clerk of the Council, Mr. Boyle, afterwards Earl ofCork, and Miler Magrath, an apostate ecclesiastic, whohad been the Queen's Archbishop of Cashel. By his influencewith the warders, Castlemaine, in Kerry, surrendered tothe President. On reaching Kilmallock, he was receivedwith such enthusiasm that it required the effort of aguard of soldiers to make way for him through the crowd. According to their custom the people showered down uponhim from the windows handfuls of wheat and salt--emblemsof plenty and of safety--but the next day, being Sunday, turned all this joy into mourning, not unmingled withanger and shame. The young lord, who had been bred up aProtestant by his keepers, directed his steps to theEnglish Church, to the consternation of the devotedadherents of his house. They clung round him in the streetand endeavoured to dissuade him from proceeding, but hecontinued his course, and on his return was met withhootings and reproaches by those who had hailed him withacclamations the day before. Deserted by the people, andno longer useful to the President, he was recalled toLondon, where he resumed his quarters in the Tower, andshortly afterwards died. The capture of the strong castleof Glynn from the knight of that name, and the surrenderof Carrigafoyle by O'Conor of Kerry, were the otherEnglish successes which marked the campaign of 1600 inMunster. On the other hand, O'Donnell had twice exercisedhis severe supremacy over southern Connaught, burningthe Earl of Thomond's new town of Ennis, and sweepingthe vales and plains of Clare, and of Clanrickarde, ofthe animal wealth of their recreant Earls, now activelyenlisted against the national confederacy. The eventful campaign of 1601 was fought out in almostevery quarter of the kingdom. To hold the coast line, and prevent the advantages being obtained, which thepossession of Derry, and other harbours on Lough Foylegave them, were the tasks of O'Donnell; while to defendthe southern frontier was the peculiar charge of O'Neil. They thus fought, as it were, back to back against theopposite lines of attack. The death of O'Doherty, earlyin this year, threw the succession to Innishowen intoconfusion, and while O'Donnell was personally endeavouringto settle conflicting claims, Nial Garve seized on thefamous Franciscan monastery which stood at the head ofthe bay, within sight of the towers of Donegal Castle. Hugh Roe immediately invested the place, which his relativeas stoutly defended. Three months, from the end of Junetill the end of September, the siege was strictlymaintained, the garrison being regularly supplied withstores and ammunition from sea. On the night of the 29thof September an explosion of gunpowder occurred, and soonthe monastery was wrapped in flames. This was the momentchosen for the final attack. The glare of the burningAbbey reflected over the beautiful bay, the darkness ofnight all round, the shouts of the assailants, and theshrieks of the fugitives driven by the flames upon thespears of their enemies, must have formed a scene ofhorrors such as even war rarely combines. Hundreds ofthe besieged were slain, but Nial Garve himself, withthe remainder, covered by the fire of an English ship inthe harbour, escaped along the strand to the neighbouringmonastery of Magherabeg, which he quickly put into astate of defence. All that was left to O'Donnell of thatmonastery, the burial place of his ancestors, and thechief school of his kinsmen, was a skeleton of stone, standing amid rubbish and ashes. It was never re-inhabitedby the Franciscans. A group of huts upon the shore servedthem for shelter, and the ruined chapel for a place ofworship, while they were still left in the land. While Hugh Roe was investing Donegal Abbey the war hadnot paused on the southern frontier. We have said thatMountjoy had made a second and a third demonstrationagainst Armagh the previous year; in one of these journeyshe raised a strong fort at the northern outlet of theMoira pass, which he called Mount Norris, in honour ofhis late master in the art of war. This work, stronglybuilt and manned, gave him the free _entree_ of the fieldof battle whenever he chose to take it. In June of thisyear he was in the valley of the Blackwater, menacedO'Neil's castle of Benburb, and left Sir Charles Danverswith 750 foot and 100 horse in possession of Armagh. Hefurther proclaimed a reward of 2, 000 pounds for thecapture of Tyrone alive, or 1, 000 pounds for his head. But no Irishman was found to entertain the thought ofthat bribe. An English assassin was furnished withpassports by Danvers, and actually drew his sword on theEarl in his own tent, but he was seized, disarmed, andon the ground of insanity was permitted to escape. Laterin the summer Mountjoy was again on the Blackwater, wherehe laid the foundation of Charlemont, called after himself, and placed 350 men in the works under the command ofCaptain Williams, the brave defender of the old fort inthe same neighbourhood. There were thus quartered inUlster at this period the 4, 000 foot and 400 horse underDowcra, chiefly on the Foyle, with whatever companies ofKerne adhered to Arthur O'Neil and Nial Garve; withChichester in Carrickfergus there were 850 foot and 150horse; with Danvers in Armagh, 750 foot and 100 horse;in Mount Norris, under Sir Samuel Bagnal, 600 foot and50 horse; in and about Downpatrick, lately taken by theDeputy, under Moryson, 300 foot; in Newry, under Stafford, 400 foot and 50 horse; in Charlemont, with Williams, 300foot and 50 horse; or, in all, of English regulars inUlster alone, 7, 000 foot and 800 horse. The position ofthe garrisons on the map will show how firm a graspMountjoy had taken of the Northern Province. The last scene of this great struggle was now about toshift to the opposite quarter of the kingdom. Thelong-looked for Spanish fleet was known to have left theTagus--had been seen off the Scilly Islands. On the 23rdof September the Council, presided over by Mountjoy, wasassembled in Kilkenny Castle: there were present Carew, Ormond, Sir Richard Wingfield, Marshal of the Queen'stroops, uncle to Carew, and founder of the family ofPowerscourt; also Chief Justice Gardiner, and othermembers less known. While they were still sitting amessage arrived from Cork that the Spanish fleet was offthat harbour, and soon another that they had anchored inKinsale, and taken possession of the town withoutopposition. The course of the Council was promptly taken. Couriers were at once despatched to call in the garrisonsfar and near which could possibly be dispensed with forservice in Munster. Letters were despatched to Englandfor reinforcements, and a winter campaign in the Southwas decided on. The Spanish auxiliary force, when it sailed from theTagus, consisted originally of 6, 000 men in fifteen armedvessels and thirty transports. When they reached Kinsale, after suffering severely at sea, and parting company withseveral of their comrades, the soldiers were reduced to3, 400 men--a number inferior to Dowcra's force on theFoyle. The General, Don Jaun del Aguila, was a brave, but testy, passionate and suspicious officer. He has beenseverely censured by some Irish writers for landing inthe extreme South, within fourteen miles of the Englisharsenal and head-quarters at Cork, and for his generalconduct as a commander. However vulnerable he may be onthe general charge, he does not seem fairly to blame forthe choice of the point of debarkation. He landed in theold Geraldine country, unaware, of course, of the eventsof the last few weeks, in which the _sugane_ Earl, andFlorence McCarthy, had been entrapped by Carew's "witand cunning, " and shipped for London, from which theynever returned. Even the northern chiefs, up to thisperiod, evidently thought their cause much stronger inthe South, and Munster much farther restored to vigourand courage than it really was. To the bitter disappointmentand disgust of the Spaniards, only O'Sullivan Beare, O'Driscoll, and O'Conor of Kerry, declared openly forthem; while they could hear daily of chiefs they had beentaught to count as friends, either as prisoners or alliesof the English. On the 17th of October--three weeks fromtheir first arrival--they were arrested in Kinsale bya mixed army of English and Anglo-Irish, 15, 000 strong, under the command of the Deputy and President, of whomabove 5, 000 had freshly arrived at Cork from England. With Mountjoy were the Earls of Thomond and Clanrickarde, more zealous than the English themselves for the triumphof England. The harbour was blockaded by ten ships ofwar, under Sir Richard Leviston, and the forts at theentrance, Rincorran and Castlenepark, being taken bycannonade, the investment on all sides was complete. DonJuan's messengers found O'Neil and O'Donnell busilyengaged on their own frontiers, but both instantly resolvedto muster all their strength for a winter campaign inMunster. O'Donnell _rendezvoused_ at Ballymote, fromwhich he set out, at the head of 2, 500 men, of Tyrconnelland Connaught, on the 2nd day of November. O'Neil, withMcDonnell of Antrim, McGennis of Down, McMahon of Monaghan, and others, his suffragans, marched at the head of between3, 000 and 4, 000 men, through West-Meath towards Ormond. Holy Cross was their appointed place of meeting, wherethey expected to be joined by such of the neighbouringCatholics as were eager to strike a blow for liberty ofworship. O'Donnell reached the neighbourhood first, andencamped in a strongly defensible position, "plashed onevery quarter" for greater security. Mountjoy, anxiousto engage him before O'Neil should come up, detached anumerically superior force, under Carew, for that purpose:but O'Donnell, evacuating his quarters by night, marchedover the mountain of Slieve Felim, casting away much ofhis heavy baggage, and before calling halt was 32 _Irish_miles distant from his late encampment. After thisextraordinary mountain march, equal to 40 of our presentmiles, he made a detour to the westward, descended onCastlehaven, in Cork, and formed a junction with 700Spaniards, who had just arrived to join Del Aguila. Aportion of these veterans were detailed to the forts ofCastlehaven, Baltimore, and Dunboy, commanding three ofthe best havens in Munster; the remainder joined O'Donnell'sdivision. During the whole of November the siege of Kinsale waspressed with the utmost vigour by Mountjoy. The placemounted but three or four effective guns, while 20 greatpieces of ordnance were continually playing on the walls. On the 1st of December a breach was found practicable, and an assault made by a party of 2, 000 English wasbravely repulsed by the Spaniards. The English fleet, ordered round to Castlehaven on the 3rd, were becalmed, and suffered some damage from a battery, manned by Spanishgunners, on the shore. The lines were advanced closertowards the town, and the bombardment became more effective. But the English ranks were considerably thinned by diseaseand desertion, so that on the last day of December, whenthe united Irish force took up their position at Belgoley, a mile to the north of their lines, the Lord Deputy'seffective force did not, it is thought, exceed 10, 000men. The Catholic army has generally been estimated at6, 000 native foot and 500 horse; to these are to be added300 Spaniards, under Don Alphonso Ocampo, who joinedO'Donnell at Castlehaven. The prospect for the besiegers was becoming exceedinglycritical, but the Spaniards in Kinsale were far frombeing satisfied with their position. They had been fullythree months within walls, in a region wholly unknown tothem before their allies appeared. They neither understoodnor made allowance for the immense difficulties of awinter campaign in a country trenched with innumerableswollen streams, thick with woods, which, at that season, gave no shelter, and where camping out at nights wasenough to chill the hottest blood. They only felt theirown inconveniences: they were cut off from escape bysea by a powerful English fleet, and Carew was alreadypractising indirectly on their commander his "wit andcunning, " in the fabrication of rumours, and the forgingof letters. Don Juan wrote urgent appeals to the northernchiefs to attack the English lines without another day'sdelay, and a council of war, the third day after theirarrival at Belgoley, decided that the attack should bemade on the morrow. This decision was come to on themotion of O'Donnell, contrary to the judgment of the morecircumspect and far-seeing O'Neil. Overruled, the latteracquiesced in the decision, and cheerfully prepared todischarge his duty. A story is told by Carew that information was obtainedof the intended attack from McMahon, in return for abottle of _aquavitae_ presented to him by the President. This tale is wholly unworthy of belief, told of a chiefof the first rank, encamped in the midst of a friendlycountry. It is also said--and it seems credible enough--that an intercepted letter of Don Juan's gave theEnglish in good time this valuable piece of information. On the night of the 2nd of January, new style (24th ofDecember, O. S. --in use among the English), the Irish armyleft their camp in three divisions, the vanguard led byTyrrell, the centre by O'Neil, and the rear by O'Donnell. The night was stormy and dark, with continuous peals andflashes of thunder and lightning. The guides lost theirway, and the march, which, even by the most circuitousroute, ought not to have exceeded four or five miles, was protracted through the entire night. At dawn of day, O'Neil, with whom were O'Sullivan and Ocampo, came insight of the English lines, and, to his infinite surprise, found the men under arms, the cavalry in troop posted inadvance of their quarters. O'Donnell's division wasstill to come up, and the veteran Earl now found himselfin the same dilemma into which Bagnal had fallen at theYellow Ford. His embarrassment was perceived from theEnglish camp; the cavalry were at once ordered to advance. For an hour O'Neil maintained his ground alone; at theend of that time he was forced to retire. Of Ocampo's300 Spaniards, 40 survivors were, with their gallantleader, taken prisoners; O'Donnell at length arrived, and drove back a wing of the English cavalry; Tyrrell'shorsemen also held their ground tenaciously. But the routof the centre proved irremediable. Fully 1, 200 of theIrish were left dead on the field, and every prisonertaken was instantly executed. On the English side fellSir Richard Graeme; Captains Danvers and Godolphin, withseveral others, were wounded; their total loss they statedat 200, and the Anglo-Irish, of whom they seldom madecount in their reports, must have lost in proportion. The Earls of Thomond and Clanrickarde were activelyengaged with their followers, and their loss could hardlyhave been less than that of the English regulars. On thenight following their defeat, the Irish leaders heldcouncil together at Innishanon, on the river Bandon, where it was agreed that O'Donnell should instantly takeshipping for Spain to lay the true state of the contestbefore Philip III. ; that O'Sullivan should endeavour tohold the Castle of Dunboy, as commanding a most importantharbour; that Rory O'Donnell, second brother of Hugh Roe, should act as Chieftain of Tyrconnell, and that O'Neilshould return into Ulster to make the best defence inhis power. The loss in men was not irreparable; the lossin arms, colours, and reputation, was more painful tobear, and far more difficult to retrieve. On the 12th of January, nine days after the battle, DonJuan surrendered the town, and agreed to give up at thesame time Dunboy, Baltimore, and Castlehaven. He had lost1, 000 men out of his 3, 000 during a ten weeks' siege, and was heartily sick of Irish warfare. On his return toSpain he was degraded from his rank, for his too greatintimacy with Carew, and confined a prisoner in his ownhouse. He is said to have died of a broken heart occasionedby these indignities. O'Donnell sailed from Castlehaven in a Spanish ship, onthe 6th of January, three clays after the battle, andarrived at Corunna on the 14th. He was received with allthe honours due to a crown prince by the Conde de Caracena, Governor of Galicia. Among other objects, he visited theremains of the tower of Betanzos, from which, accordingto Bardic legends, the sons of Milesius had sailed toseek for the Isle of Destiny among the waves of the west. On the 27th he set out for the Court, accompanied as faras Santa Lucia by the governor, who presented him with1, 000 ducats towards his expenses. At Compostella theArchbishop offered him his own palace, which O'Donnellrespectfully declined: he afterwards celebrated a SolemnHigh Mass for the Irish chief's intention, entertainedhim magnificently at dinner, and presented him, as thegovernor had done, with 1, 000 ducats. At Zamora he receivedfrom Philip III. A most cordial reception, and was assuredthat in a very short time a more powerful armament thanDon Juan's should sail with him from Corunna. He returnedto that port, from which he could every day look outacross the western waves that lay between him and home, and where he could be kept constantly informed of whatwas passing in Ireland. Spring was over and gone, andsummer, too, had passed away, but still the exigenciesof Spanish policy delayed the promised expedition. Atlength O'Donnell set out on a second visit to the SpanishCourt, then at Valladolid, but he reached no further thanSimancas, when, fevered in mind and body, he expired onthe 10th of September, 1602, in the 29th year of his age. He was attended in his last moments by two FranciscanFathers who accompanied him, Florence, afterwards Archbishopof Tuam, and Maurice Donlevy, of his own Abbey of Donegal. His body was interred with regal honours in the Cathedralof Valladolid, where a monument was erected to his memoryby the King of Spain. Thus closed the career of one of the brightest andpurest characters in any history. His youth, his earlycaptivity, his princely generosity, his daring courage, his sincere piety won the hearts of all who came incontact with him. He was the sword as O'Neil was thebrain of the Ulster Confederacy; the Ulysses and Achillesof the war, they fought side by side, without jealousyor envy, for almost as long a period as their prototypeshad spent in besieging Troy. CHAPTER XI. THE CONQUEST OF MUNSTER--DEATH OF ELIZABETH, ANDSUBMISSION OF O'NEIL--"THE ARTICLES OF MELLIFONT. " The days of Queen Elizabeth were now literally numbered. The death of Essex, the intrigues of the King of Scotland, and the successes of Tyrone, preyed upon her spirits. The Irish chief was seldom out of her mind, and, as sheoften predicted, she was not to live to receive hissubmission. She was accustomed to send for her godson, Harrington, who had served in Ireland, to ask him questionsconcerning Tyrone; the French ambassador consideredTyrone's war one of the causes that totally destroyedher peace of mind in her latter days. She received thenews of the victory of Kinsale with pleasure, but, eventhen, she was not destined to receive the submission ofTyrone. The events of the year, so inauspiciously begun for theIrish arms, continued of the same disastrous character. Castlehaven was surrendered by its Spanish guard, accordingto Del Aguila's agreement. Baltimore, after a momentaryresistance, was also given up, but O'Sullivan, whoconsidered the Spanish capitulation nothing short oftreason, threw a body of native troops, probably drawnfrom Tyrrell's men, into Dunboy, under Captain RichardMageoghegan, and Taylor, an Englishman, connected bymarriage with Tyrrell. Another party of the same troopstook possession of Clear Island, but were obliged toabandon it as untenable. The entire strength of the Dunboygarrison amounted to 143 men; towards the end of April--the last of the Spaniards having sailed in March--Carew left Cork at the head of 3, 000 men to besiegeDunboy. Sir Charles Wilmot moved on the same point fromKerry, with a force of 1, 000 men, to join Carew. In thepass near Mangerton Wilmot was encountered by DonaldO'Sullivan and Tyrrell, at the head of then remainingfollowers, but forced a passage and united with hissuperior on the shores of Berehaven. On the 1st of Junethe English landed on Bear Island, and on the 6th openedtheir cannonade. They were 4, 000 men, with every militaryequipment necessary, against 143. After eleven days'bombardment the place was shattered to pieces; the garrisonoffered to surrender, if allowed to retain their arms, but their messenger was hanged, and an instant assaultordered. Over fifty of this band of Christian Spartanshad fallen in the defence, thirty attempted to escape inboats, or by swimming, but were killed to a man while inthe water. The remainder retreated with Mageoghegan, who was severely wounded, to a cellar approached by anarrow stair, where the command was assumed by Taylor. All day the assault had been carried on till night closedupon the scene of carnage. Placing a strong guard on theapproach to the crypt, Carew returned to the charge withthe returning light. Cannon were first discharged intothe narrow chamber which held the last defenders ofDunboy, and then a body of the assailants rushing in, despatched the wounded Mageoghegan with their swords, having found him, candle in hand, dragging himself towardsthe gunpowder. Taylor and fifty-seven others were ledout to execution; of all the heroic band, not a soulescaped alive. The remaining fragments of Dunboy were blown into theair by Carew on the 22nd of June. Dursey Castle, anotherisland fortress of O'Sullivan's, had fallen even earlier;so that no roof remained to the lord of Berehaven. Stillhe held his men well together in the glens of Kerry, during the months of Summer, but the ill-news from Spainin September threw a gloom over those mountains deeperthan was ever cast by equinoctial storm. Tyrrell wasobliged to separate from him in the Autumn, probably fromthe difficulty of providing for so many mouths, andO'Sullivan himself prepared to bid a sad farewell to theland of his inheritance. On the last day of December heleft Glengariffe, with 400 fighting men, and 600 women, children, and servants, to seek a refuge in the distantnorth. After a retreat almost unparalleled, the survivorsof this exodus succeeded in reaching the friendly roofof O'Ruarc, at Dromahaire, not far from Sligo. Theirentire march, from the extreme south to the almost extremenorth-west of the island, a distance, as they travelledit, of not less than 200 miles, was one scene of warfareand suffering. They were compelled to kill their horses, on reaching the Shannon, in order to make boats of thehides, to ferry them to the western bank. At Aughrim theywere attacked by a superior force under Lord Clanrickarde'sbrother, and Captain Henry Malby, but they fought withthe courage of despair, routed the enemy, slaving Malby, and other officers. Of the ten hundred who left the shoresof Glengariffe, but 35 souls reached the Leitrim chieftain'smansion. Among these were the chief himself, with Dermid, father of the historian, who at the date of this marchhad reached the age of seventy. The conquest of Munster, at least, was now complete. In the ensuing January, OwenMcEgan, Bishop of Ross, was slain in the midst of aguerilla party, in the mountains of Carberry, and Mschaplain, being taken, was hanged with the other prisoners. The policy of extermination recommended by Carew waszealously carried out by strong detachments under Wilmot, Harvey, and Flower; Mr. Boyle and the other "Undertakers"zealously assisting as volunteers. Mountjoy, after transacting some civil business at Dublin, proceeded in person to the north, while Dowcra, marchingout of Derry, pressed O'Neil from the north and north-east. In June, Mountjoy was at Charlemont, which he placedunder the custody of Captain Toby Caufield, the founderof an illustrious title taken from that fort. He advancedon Dungannon, but discovered it from the distance, asNorris had once before done, in flames, kindled by thehand of its straitened proprietor. On Lough Neagh heerected a new fort called Mountjoy, so that hiscommunications on the south now stretched from that greatlake round to Omagh, while those of Dowcra, at Augher, Donegal, and Lifford, nearly completed the circle. Almostthe only outlet from this chain of posts was into themountains of O'Cane's country, the north-east angle ofthe present county of Derry. The extensive tract soenclosed and guarded had still some natural advantagesfor carrying on a defensive war. The primitive woods werestanding in masses at no great distance from each other;the nearly parallel vales of Faughan, Moyala, and theriver Roe, with the intermediate leagues of moor andmountain, were favourable to the movements of nativeforces familiar with every ford and footpath. There wasalso, while this central tract was held, a possibilityof communication with other unbroken tribes, such asthose of Clandeboy and the Antrim glens on the east, andBreffni O'Ruarc on the west. Never did the genius of HughO'Neil shine out brighter than in these last defensiveoperations. In July, Mountjoy writes apologetically tothe Council, that "notwithstanding her Majesty's greatforces, O'Neil doth still live. " He bitterly complainsof his consummate caution, his "pestilent judgment tospread and to nourish his own infection, " and of thereverence entertained for his person by the nativepopulation. Early in August, Mountjoy had arranged whathe hoped might prove the finishing stroke in the struggle. Dowcra from Derry, Chichester from Carrickfergus, Danversfrom Armagh, and all who could be spared from Mountjoy, Charlemont, and Mount Norris, were gathered under hiscommand, to the number of 8, 000 men, for a foray intothe interior of Tyrone. Inisloghlin, on the borders ofDown and Antrim, which contained a great quantity ofvaluables, belonging to O'Neil, was captured. Magherlowneyand Tulloghoge were next taken. At the latter place stoodthe ancient stone chair on which the O'Neils wereinaugurated time out of mind; it was now broken intoatoms by Mountjoy's orders. But the most effective warfarewas made on the growing crops. The 8, 000 men spreadthemselves over the fertile fields along the valleys ofthe Bann and the Roe, destroying the standing grain withfire, where it would burn, or with the _praca_, a peculiarkind of harrow, tearing it up by the roots. The horsementrampled crops into the earth which had generouslynourished them; the infantry shore them down with theirsabres, and the sword, though in a very different sensefrom that of Holy Scripture, was, indeed, converted intoa sickle. The harvest month never shone upon such fieldsin any Christian land. In September, Mountjoy reportedto Cecil, "that between Tulloghoge and Toome there layunburied a thousand dead, " and that since his arrival onthe Blackwater--a period of a couple of months--"therewere about 3, 000 starved in Tyrone. " In O'Cane's country, the misery of his clansmen drove the chief to surrenderto Dowcra, and the news of Hugh Roe's death having reachedDonegal, his brother repaired to Athlone, and made hissubmission to Mountjoy, early in December. O'Neil, unableto maintain himself on the river, Roe, retired with 600foot and 60 horse, to Glencancean, near Lough Neagh, themost secure of his fastnesses. His brother Cormac McMahon, and Art O'Neil, of Clandeboy, shared with him the wintryhardships of that last asylum, while Tyrone, Clandeboy, and Monaghan, were given up to horrors, surpassing anythat had been known or dreamt of in former wars. Moryson, secretary to Mountjoy, in his account of this campaign, observes, "that no spectacle was more frequent in theditches of towns, and especially in wasted countries, than to see multitudes of these poor people dead, withtheir mouths all coloured green, by eating nettles, docks, and all things they could rend above ground. " The new year, opening without hope, it began to be rumouredthat O'Neil was disposed to surrender on honourable terms. Mountjoy and the English Council long urged the agedQueen to grant such terms, but without effect. Her prideas a sovereign had been too deeply wounded by the revoltedEarl to allow her easily to forgive or forget his offences. Her advisers urged that Spain had followed her own coursetowards the Netherlands, in Ireland; that the war consumedthree-fourths of her annual revenue, and had obliged herto keep up an Irish army of 20, 000 men for several yearspast. At length she yielded her reluctant consent, andMountjoy was authorized to treat with the arch-rebel uponhonourable terms. The agents employed by the Lord Deputyin this negotiation were Sir William Godolphin and SirGarrett Moore, of Mellifont, ancestor of the Marquis ofDrogheda--the latter, a warm personal friend, though nopartizan of O'Neil's. They found him in his retreat nearLough Neagh early in March, and obtained his promise togive the Deputy an early meeting at Mellifont. Elizabeth'sserious illness, concealed from O'Neil, though well knownto Mountjoy, hastened the negotiations. On the 27th ofMarch he had intelligence of her decease at London onthe 24th, but carefully concealed it till the 5th ofApril following. On the 31st of March, he receivedTyrone's submission at Moore's residence, the ancientCistercian Abbey, and not until a week later did O'Neillearn that he had made his peace with a dead sovereign. The honourable terms on which this memorable religiouswar was concluded were these: O'Neil abjured all foreignallegiance, especially that of the King of Spain; renouncedthe title of O'Neil; agreed to give up his correspondencewith the Spaniards, and to recall his son, Henry, whowas a page at the Spanish Court, and to live in peacewith the sons of John the Proud. Mountjoy granted him anamnesty for himself and his allies; agreed that he shouldbe restored to his estates as he had held them beforethe war, and that the Catholics should have the freeexercise of their religion. That the restoration of hisordinary chieftain rights, which did not conflict withthe royal prerogative, was also included, we have thebest possible evidence: Sir Henry Dowcra having complainedto Lord Mountjoy that O'Neil quartered men on O'Cane, who had surrendered to himself, Mountjoy made answer--"MyLord of Tyrone is taken in with promise to be restored, as well to all his lands as to his honour and dignity, and O'Cane's country is his, and must be obedient to hiscommands. " That the article concerning religion wasunderstood by the Catholics to concede full freedom ofworship, is evident from subsequent events. In Dublin, sixteen of the principal citizens suffered fine andimprisonment for refusing to comply with the act ofuniformity; in Kilkenny the Catholics took possession ofthe Black Abbey, which had been converted into a lay fee;in Waterford they did the same by St. Patrick's Church, where a Dominican preacher was reported to have said, among other imprudent things, that "Jesabel was dead"--alluding to the late Queen. In Cork, Limerick, and Cashel, the cross was carried publicly in procession, the oldChurches restored to their ancient rites, and enthusiasticproclamation made of the public restoration of religion. These events having obliged the Lord Deputy to make aprogress through the towns and cities, he was met atWaterford by a vast procession, headed by religious inthe habits of their order, who boldly declared to him"that the citizens of Waterford could not, in conscience, obey any prince that persecuted the Catholic religion. "When such was the spirit of the town populations, we arenot surprised to learn that, in the rural districts, almost exclusively Catholic, the people entered upon theuse of many of their old Churches, and repaired severalAbbeys--among the number, Buttevant, Kilcrea, and Timoleaguein Cork; Quin Abbey in Clare; Kilconnell in Galway;Rosnariell in Mayo, and Multifarnham in West-Meath. Soconfident were they that the days of persecution werepast, that King James prefaces his proclamation of July, 1605, with the statement--"Whereas we have been informedthat our subjects in the kingdom of Ireland, since thedeath of our beloved sister, have been deceived by afalse rumour, to wit, that we would allow them libertyof conscience, " and so forth. How cruelly they were thenundeceived belongs to the history of the next reign; herewe need only remark that the Articles of Limerick werenot more shamefully violated by the statute 6th and 7th, William III. , than the Articles of Mellifont were violatedby this Proclamation of the third year of James I. CHAPTER XII. STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNING DURING THE REIGNOF ELIZABETH. During the greater part of the reign of Elizabeth, themeans relied upon for the propagation of the reformeddoctrines were more exclusively those of force and coercionthan even in the time of Edward VI. Thus, when Sir WilliamDrury was Deputy, in 1578, he bound several citizens ofKilkenny, under a penalty of 40 pounds each, to attendthe English Church service, and authorized the AnglicanBishop "to make a rate for the repair of the Church, andto distrain for the payment of it"--the first mention ofChurch rates we remember to have met with. Drury's methodof proceeding may be further inferred from the fact, thatof the thirty-six executions ordered by him in the samecity, "one was a blackamoor and two were witches, whowere condemned by the law of nature, for there was nopositive law against witchcraft [in Ireland] in thosedays. " That defect was soon supplied, however, by thestatute 27th of Elizabeth, "against witchcraft andsorcery. " Sir John Perrott, successor to Drury, trod inthe same path, as we judge from the charge of severityagainst recusants, upon which, among other articles, hewas recalled from the government. Towards the end of thesixteenth century, however, it began to be discovered bythe wisest observers that violent methods were worse thanuseless with the Irish. Edmund Spenser urged that "religionshould not be forcibly impressed into them with terrorand sharp penalties, as now is the manner, but ratherdelivered and intimated with mildness and gentleness. "Lord Bacon, in his "Considerations touching the Queen'sService in Ireland, " addressed to Secretary Cecil, recommends "the recovery of the hearts of the people, "as the first step towards their conversion. With thisview he suggested "a toleration of religion (for a timenot definite), except it be in some principal towns andcities, " as a measure "warrantable in religion, and inpolicy of absolute necessity. " The philosophic Chancellorfarther suggested, as a means to this desired end, thepreparation of "versions of Bibles and Catechisms, andother works of instruction in the Irish language. " Inaccordance with these views of conversion, the Universityof Trinity College was established by a royal charter, in the month of January, 1593. The Mayor and Corporationof Dublin had granted the ancient monastery of All Hallowsas a site for the buildings; some contributions werereceived from the Protestant gentry, large grants ofconfiscated Abbey and other lands, which afterwardsyielded a princely revenue, were bestowed upon it, andthe Lord Treasurer Burleigh graciously accepted the officeof its Chancellor. The first Provost was Archbishop Loftus, and of the first three students entered, one was theafterwards illustrious James Usher. The commanders andofficers engaged at Kinsale presented it with the sum of1, 800 pounds for the purchase of a library; and at thesubsequent confiscations in Munster and Ulster, theCollege came in for a large portion of the forfeited lands. Although the Council in England generally recommendedthe adoption of persuasive arts and a limited toleration, those who bore the sword usually took care that theyshould not bear it in vain. A High Commission Court, armed with ample powers to enforce the Act of Uniformity, had been established at Dublin in 1593; but its memberswere ordered to proceed cautiously after the UlsterConfederacy became formidable, and their powers laydormant in the last two or three years of the century. Essex and Mountjoy were both fully convinced of the wisdomof Bacon's views; the former showed a partial toleration, connived at the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice, evenin the capital, and liberated some priests from prison. Mountjoy, in answer to the command of the English Council"to deal moderately in the great matter of religion, "replied by letter that he had already advised "such asdealt in it for a time to hold a restrained hand therein. ""The other course, " he adds, "might have overthrown themeans of our own end of a reformation of religion. " Thisconditional toleration--such as it was--excited theindignation of the more zealous Reformers, whose favouritepreacher, the youthful Usher, did not hesitate to denounceit from the pulpit of Christ Church, as an unhallowedcompromise with antichrist. In 1601, Usher, then but 21years of age, preached his well-known sermon from thetext of the forty days, in which Ezekiel "was to bearthe iniquity of the house of Judah--a day for a year. ""From this year, " cried the youthful zealot, "will Ireckon the sin of Ireland, that those whom you now embraceshall be your ruin, and you shall bear their iniquity. "When the northern insurrection of 1641 took place, thisrhetorical menace was exalted, after the fact, into thedignity of a prophecy fulfilled. After the victory ofKinsale, however, the Ultra Protestant party had lesscause to complain of the temporizing of the civil power;the pecuniary mulct of twelve pence for each absence fromthe English service was again enforced at least in Dublin, and several priests, then in prison, were, on variouspretences, put to death. Among those who suffered in thecapital was the learned Jesuit, Henry Fitzsimons, son ofa Mayor of the city, the author of _Brittanomachia_, withwhom, while in the Castle, Usher commenced a controversy, which was never finished. But the terms agreed upon atMellifont, between Mountjoy and Tyrone, again suspendedfor a short interval the sword of persecution. Notwithstanding its manifold losses by exile and thescaffold, the ancient Church was enabled, through theabundance of vocations, and the zeal of the ordained, tokeep up a still powerful organization. Philip O'Sullivanstates, under the next reign that the government hadascertained through its spies, the names of 1, 160 priests, secular and regular, still in the country. There musthave been between 300 and 400 others detained abroad, either as Professors in the Irish Colleges in Spain, France, and Flanders, or as ecclesiastics, awaiting majororders. Of the regulars at home, 120 were Franciscans, and about 50 Jesuits. There are said to have been butfour Fathers of the Order of St. Dominick remaining atthe time of Elizabeth's death. The reproach of Cambrensishad long been taken away, since every Diocese might nowpoint to its martyrs. Of these we recall among theHierarchy the names of O'Hely, Bishop of Killala, executedat Kilmallock hi 1578; O'Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, burned at the stake in Dublin in 1582; Creagh, Archbishopof Armagh, who died a prisoner in the Tower in 1585;Archbishop McGauran, his successor, slain in the act ofministering to the wounded in the engagement at Tulsk, in Roscommon, in 1593; McEgan, Bishop of Ross, who methis death under precisely similar circumstances in Carberryin 1603. Yet through all these losses the episcopalsuccession was maintained unbroken. In the early part ofthe next reign O'Sullivan gives the names of the fourArchbishops, Peter Lombard of Armagh, Edward McGauran ofDublin, David O'Carny of Cashel, and Florence Conroy ofTuam. On the other hand, the last trying half centuryhad furnished, so far as we can learn, no instance ofapostacy among the Bishops, and but half a dozen at mostfrom all orders of the clergy. We read that Owen O'Conor, an apostate, was advanced by letters patent to Killalain 1591; that Maurice O'Brien of Ara was, in 1570, bythe same authority, elevated to the See of Killaloe, which he resigned in 1612; that Miler Magrath, in earlylife a Franciscan friar, was promoted by the Queen tothe Sees of Clogher, Killala, Anchory and Lismoresuccessively. He finally settled in the See of Cashel, in which he died, having secretly returned to the religionof his ancestors. For the rest, "the Queen's Bishops"were chiefly chosen out of England, though some fewnatives of the Pale, or of the walled towns, educated atOxford, may be found in the list. Of the state of learning in those troubled times thebrief story is easily told. The Bardic Order stillflourished and was held in honour by all ranks of thenative population. The national adversity brought out inthem, as in others, many noble traits of character. TheHarper, O'Dugan, was the last companion that clung tothe last of the Desmonds; the Bard of Tyrconnell, OwenWard, accompanied the Ulster chiefs in their exile, andpoured out his Gaelic dirge above their Roman graves. Although the Bardic compositions continued to be chieflypersonal, relating to the inauguration, journeys, exploits, or death of some favourite chief, a large number ofdevotional poems on the passion of our Lord and the gloriesof the Blessed Virgin are known to be of this age. Thefirst forerunners of what was destined to be a numerousprogeny, the controversial ode or ballad, appeared inElizabeth's reign, in the form of comparisons betweenthe old and new religions, lamentations over the ruin ofreligious houses, and the apostacy of such persons asMiler Magrath and the son of the Earl of Desmond. Thetalents of many of the authors are admitted by Spenser, a competent judge, but the tendency of their writings, he complains, was to foster the love of lawlessness andrebellion rather than of virtue and loyalty. He recommendedthem for correction to the mercies of the Provost Marshal, whom he would have "to walk the country with half adozen or half a score of horsemen, " in quest of thetreasonable poets. As this was the age of the general diffusion of printing, we may observe that the casting of Irish type for theuse of Trinity College, by order of Queen Elizabeth, iscommonly dated from the year 1591; but as the Collegewas not opened for two years later, the true date mustbe anticipated. John Kearney, Treasurer of St. Patrick'sChurch, who died about the year 1600, published a ProtestantCatechism from the College Press, which, says O'Reilly, "was the first book ever printed in Irish types. " In theyear 1593, Florence Conroy translated from the Spanishinto Irish a catechism entitled "Christian Instruction, "which, he states in the preface, he had no opportunityof sending into Ireland "until the year of the age ofour Lord 1598. " Whether it was then printed we are notinformed, but there does not seem to have been any Irishtype in Catholic hands before the foundation of the IrishCollege at Louvain in 1616. The merit of first giving to the press, in the nativelanguage of the country, a version of the Sacred Scriptures, belongs clearly to Trinity College. Nicholas Walsh, Bishopof Ossory, who died in 1585, had commenced, with theassistance of John Kearney, to translate the GreekTestament into Gaelic. He had also the assistance of Dr. Nehemiah Donnellan, and Dr. William Daniel, or O'Daniel, both of whom subsequently filled the See of Tuam. Thistranslation, dedicated to King James, and published byO'Daniel in 1603, is still reprinted by the Bible Societies. The first Protestant translation of the Old Testament, made under Bishop Bedel's eye, and with such revision ofparticular passages as his imperfect knowledge of thelanguage enabled him to suggest, though completed in thereign of Charles I. , was not published before the year1680. It was Bedel, also, who caused the English liturgyto be recited in Irish, in his Cathedral, as early as 1630. Ireland and her affairs naturally attracted, duringElizabeth's reign, the attention of English writers. Ofthese it is enough to mention the Poet Spenser, Secretaryto Lord Grey de Wilton, Fynes Moryson, Secretary to LordMountjoy, and the Jesuit Father, Campian. Campian, earlydistinguished at Oxford, was employed as Cambrensis hadbeen four centuries earlier, and as Plowden was twocenturies later, to write down everything Irish. Hecrossed the Channel in 1570, and composed two booksrapidly, without accurate or full information as to thecondition or history of the country. The nearer view ofCatholic suffering and Catholic constancy exercised apowerful influence on this accomplished scholar; he becamea convert and a Jesuit. For members of that order therewas but one exit out of life, under the law of England:he suffered death at Tyburn in 1581. Richard Stanihurst, son of the Recorder of Dublin, and uncle of ArchbishopUsher, went through precisely the same experiences ashis friend Campian, except that he died, a quarter of acentury later, Chaplain to the Archdukes at Brussels, instead of expiring at the stake. His English hexametersare among the curiosities of literature, but hiscontributions to the history of his country, especiallyhis allusions to events and characters in and about hisown time, are not without their use. Stanihurst wrotehis historical tracts, as did Lombard the Catholic andUsher the Protestant Primate, O'Sullivan, White, O'Meara, and almost all the Irish writers of that age, withoutexception, in the Latin language. The first Latin bookprinted in Ireland is thought to be O'Meara's poem inpraise of Thomas, Earl of Ormond and Ossory, publishedin 1615. The earliest English books printed in Irelandare unknown to me; the collection of Anglo-Irish statutes, ordered to be published while Sir Henry Sidney was Deputy, was the most important undertaking of that class in thereign of Elizabeth. As to institutions of learning, if we except TrinityCollege, which increased rapidly in numbers and reputationunder the patronage of the Crown, and the College ofSaint Nicholas, at Galway--protected by its remotesituation on the brink of the Atlantic--there was nofamous seat of learning left in the island. In the nextreign 1, 300 scholars are stated to have attended thatwestern "school of humanity, " when the EcclesiasticalCommissioners despotically ordered it to be closed, because the learned Principal, John Lynch, "would notconfirm to the religion established. " But the greaternumber of the children of Catholics, who still retainedproperty enough to educate them, were sent beyond seas, a fact with which King James, soon after his accession, reproached the deputation of that body. A proclamationissued by Lord Deputy Chichester, in 1610, alludes tothe same custom, and commands all noblemen, merchants, and others, whose children are abroad for educationalpurposes, to recall them within one year from the datethereof; and in case they refuse to return, all parents, friends, &c. , sending them money, directly or indirectly, will be punished as severely as the law permits. It wasmainly to guard against this danger that "the School ofWards" was established by Elizabeth, and enlarged byJames I. , in which the great Duke of Ormond, Sir PhelimO'Neil, Murrogh, Lord Inchiquin, and other sons of noblefamilies, were educated for the next generation. Earlyin the reign of James there were not less than 300 ofthese Irish children in the Tower, or at the LambethSchool, --and it is humiliating to find the great name ofSir Edward Coke among those who gloried in the successof this unnatural substitution of the State for the Parentin the work of education. BOOK IX. FROM THE ACCESSION OF JAMES I. TILL THE DEATH OF CROMWELL. CHAPTER I. JAMES I. --FLIGHT OF THE EARLS--CONFISCATION OF ULSTER--PENAL LAWS--PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION. James the Sixth of Scotland was in his 37th year when heascended the throne under the title of "James the First, King of Great Britain and Ireland. " His accession naturallyexcited the most hopeful expectations of good governmentin the breasts of the Irish Catholics. He was son of MaryQueen of Scots, whom they looked upon as a martyr to herreligion, and grandson of that gallant King James whostyled himself "Defender of the Faith, " and "_DominusHiberniae_" in introducing the first Jesuits to the UlsterPrinces. His ancestors had always been in alliance withthe Irish, and the antiquaries of that nation loved totrace their descent from the Scoto-Irish chiefs who firstcolonized Argyle, and were for ages crowned at Scone. Hehimself was known to have assisted the late Catholicstruggle as effectually, though less openly than the Kingof Spain, and it is certain that he had employed Catholicagents, like Lord Home and Sir James Lindsay, to excitean interest in his succession among the Catholics, bothin the British Islands and on the Continent. The first acts of the new sovereign were calculated toconfirm the expectations of Catholic liberty thusentertained. He was anxious to make an immediate andlasting peace with Spain; refused to receive a specialembassy from the Hollanders; his ambassador at Paris wasknown to be on terms of intimacy with the Pope's Nuncio;and although personally he assumed the tone of an AnglicanChurchman, on crossing the border he had invited leadingCatholics to his Court, and conferred the honour ofKnighthood on some of their number. The imprudentdemonstrations in the Irish towns were easily quieted, and no immediate notice was taken of their leaders. InMay, 1603, Mountjoy, on whom James had conferred thehigher rank of Lord Lieutenant, leaving Carew as LordDeputy, proceeded to England, accompanied by O'Neil, Roderick O'Donnell, Maguire, and other Irish gentlemen. The veteran Tyrone, now past threescore, though hootedby the London rabble, was graciously received in thatcourt, with which he had been familiar forty years before. He was at once confirmed in his title, the Earldom ofTyrconnell was created for O'Donnell, and the Lordshipof Enniskillen for Maguire. Mountjoy, created Earl ofDevonshire, retained the title of Lord Lieutenant, withpermission to reside in England, and was rewarded by theappointment of Master of the Ordnance and Warden of theNew Forest, with an ample pension from the Crown to himand his heirs for ever, the grant of the county of Lecale(Down), and the estate of Kingston Hall, in Dorsetshire, He survived but three short years to enjoy all theseriches and honours; at the age of 44, wasted withdissipation and domestic troubles, he passed to his finalaccount. The necessity of conciliating the Catholic party inEngland, of maintaining peace in Ireland, and prosecutingthe Spanish negotiations, not less, perhaps, than hisown original bias, led James to deal favourably with theCatholics at first. But having attempted to enforce thenew Anglican Canons, adopted in 1604, against the Puritans, that party retaliated by raising against him the cry offavouring the Papists. This cry alarmed the King, whohad always before his eyes the fear of Presbyterianism, and he accordingly made a speech in the Star Chamber, declaring his utter detestation of Popery, and publisheda proclamation banishing all Catholic missionaries fromthe country. All magistrates were instructed to enforcethe penal laws with rigour, and an elaborate spy systemfor the discovery of concealed recusants was set on foot. This reign of treachery and terror drove a few desperatemen into the gunpowder plot of the following year, andrendered it difficult, if not impossible, for the Kingto return to the policy of toleration, with which, to dohim justice, he seems to have set out from Scotland. Carew, President of Munster during the late war, becameDeputy to Mountjoy on his departure for England. He wassucceeded in October, 1604, by Sir Arthur Chichester, who, with the exception of occasional absences at Court, continued in office for a period of eleven years. Thisnobleman, a native of England, furnishes, in many points, a parallel to his cotemporary and friend, Robert Boyle, Earl of Cork. The object of his life was to found and toendow the Donegal peerage out of the spoils of Ulster, as richly as Boyle endowed his earldom out of theconfiscation of Munster. Both were Puritans rather thanChurchmen, in their religious opinions; Chichester, apupil of the celebrated Cartwright, and a favourer allhis life of the congregational clergy in Ulster. But theycarried their repugnance to the interference of the civilmagistrate in matters of conscience so discreetly as tosatisfy the high church notions both of James and Elizabeth. For the violence they were thus compelled to exerciseagainst themselves, they seem to have found relief inbitter and continuous persecution of others. Boyle, asthe leading spirit in the government of Munster, as LordTreasurer, and occasionally as Lord Justice, had ampleopportunities, during his long career of forty years, toindulge at once his avarice and his bigotry; and nosituation was ever more favourable than Chichester's fora proconsul, eager to enrich himself at the expense ofa subjugated Province. In the projected work of the reduction of the wholecountry to the laws and customs of England, it isinstructive to observe that a Parliament was not calledin the first place. The reformers proceeded byproclamations, letters patent, and orders in council, not by legislation. The whole island was divided into 32counties and 6 judicial circuits, all of which werevisited by Justices in the second or third year of thisreign, and afterwards semi-annually. On the NorthernCircuit Sir Edward Pelham and Sir John Davis wereaccompanied by the Deputy in person, with a numerousretinue. In some places the towns were so wasted by thelate war, pestilence, and famine, that the Viceregalparty were obliged to camp out in the fields, and tocarry with them their own provisions. The Courts wereheld in ruined castles and deserted monasteries; Irishinterpreters were at every step found necessary; sheriffswere installed in Tyrone and Tyrconnell for the firsttime; all lawyers appearing in court and all justices ofthe peace were tendered the oath of supremacy--the refusalof which necessarily excluded Catholics both from thebench and the bar. An enormous amount of litigation asto the law of real property was created by a judgment ofthe Court of King's Bench at Dublin, in 1605, by whichthe ancient Irish customs, of tanistry and gavelkind, were declared null and void, and the entire Feudal system, with its rights of primogeniture, hereditary succession, entail, and vassalage, was held to exist in as full forcein England. Very evidently this decision was not less aviolation of the articles of Mellifont than was the King'sproclamation against freedom of conscience issued aboutthe same tune. Sir John Davis, who has left us two very interestingtracts on Irish affairs, speaking of the new legalregulations of which he was one of the principalsuperintendents, observes that the old-fashioned allowancesto be found so often in the Pipe-Rolls, _pro guidagio etspiagio_, into the interior, may well be spared thereafter, since "the under sheriffs and bailiffs errant are betterguides and spies in time of peace than they were foundin tune of war. " He adds, what we may very well believe, that the Earl of Tyrone complained he had so many eyesupon him, that he could not drink a cup of sack withoutthe government being advertised of it within a few hoursafterwards. This system of social _espionage_, sorepugnant to all the habits of the Celtic family, wasnot the only mode of annoyance resorted to against theveteran chief. Every former dependent who could be inducedto dispute his claims as a landlord, under the newrelations established by the late decision, was sure ofa judgment in his favour. Disputes about boundaries withO'Cane, about the commutation of chieftain-rents intotenantry, about church lands claimed by Montgomery, Protestant Bishop of Derry, were almost invariably decidedagainst him. Harassed by these proceedings, and alluncertain of the future, O'Neil listened willingly tothe treacherous suggestion of St. Lawrence and Lord Howth, that the leading Catholics of the Pale, and those ofUlster, should endeavour to form another confederation. The execution of Father Garnet, Provincial of the Jesuitsin England, the heavy fines inflicted on Lords Stourton, Mordaunt, and Montague, and the new oath of allegiance, framed by Archbishop Abbott, and sanctioned by the EnglishParliament--all events of the year 1606--were calculatedto inspire the Irish Catholics with desperate councils. A dutiful remonstrance against the Act of Uniformity theprevious year had been signed by the principal Anglo-IrishCatholics for transmission to the King, but their delegateswere seized and imprisoned in the Castle, while theirprincipal agent, Sir Patrick Barnwell, was sent to Londonand confined in the Tower. A meeting, at Lord Howth'ssuggestion, was held about Christmas, 1606, at the Castleof Maynooth, then in possession of the dowager Countessof Kildare, one of whose daughters was married toChristopher Nugent, Baron of Delvin, and her granddaughterto Rory, Earl of Tyrconnell. There were present O'Neil, O'Donnell, and O'Cane, on the one part, and Lords Delvinand Howth on the other. The precise result of thisconference, disguised under the pretext of a Christmasparty, was never made known, but the fact that it hadbeen held, and that the parties present had entertainedthe project of another confederacy for the defence ofthe Catholic religion, was mysteriously communicated inan anonymous letter, directed to Sir William Usher, Clerkof the Council, which was dropped in the Council Chamberof Dublin Castle, in March, 1607. This letter, it isnow generally believed, was written by Lord Howth, whowas thought to have been employed by Secretary Cecil, toentrap the northern Earls, in order to betray them. InMay, O'Neil and O'Donnell were cited to attend the LordDeputy in Dublin, but the charges were for the time keptin abeyance, and they were ordered to appear in Londonbefore the feast of Michaelmas. Early in September O'Neilwas with Chichester at Slane, in Meath, when he receiveda letter from Maguire, who had been out of the country, conveying information on which he immediately acted. Taking leave of the Lord Deputy as if to prepare for hisjourney to London, he made some stay with his old friend, Sir Garrett Moore, at Mellifont, on parting from whosefamily he tenderly bade farewell to the children and eventhe servants, and was observed to shed tears. At Dungannonhe remained two days, and on the shore of Lough Swillyhe joined O'Donnell and others of his connexions. TheFrench ship, in which Maguire had returned, awaited themoff Rathmullen, and there they took shipping for France. With O'Neil, in that sorrowful company, were his lastcountess, Catherine, daughter of Magenniss, his threesons, Hugh, John, and Brian; his nephew, Art, son ofCormac, Rory O'Donnell, Caffar, his brother, Nuala, hissister, who had forsaken her husband Nial _Garve_, whenhe forsook his country; the lady Rose O'Doherty, wife ofCaffar, and afterwards of Owen Roe O'Neil; Maguire, OwenMacWard, chief bard of Tyrconnell, and several others. "Woe to the heart that meditated, woe to the mind thatconceived, woe to the council that decided on the projectof that voyage!" exclaimed the Annalists of Donegal, inthe next age. Evidently it was the judgment of theirimmediate successors that the flight of the Earls was arash and irremediable step for them; but the informationon which they acted, if not long since destroyed, has, as yet, never been made public. We can pronounce nojudgment as to the wisdom of their conduct, from theincomplete statements at present in our possession. There remained now few barriers to the wholesaleconfiscation of Ulster, so long sought by "the Undertakers, "and these were rapidly removed. Sir Cahir O'Doherty, chief of Innishowen, although he had earned his Knighthoodwhile a mere lad, fighting by the side of Dowcra, in analtercation with Sir George Paulett, Governor of Derry, was taunted with conniving at the escape of the Earls, and Paulett in his passion struck him in the face. Theyouthful chief--he was scarcely one and twenty--was drivenalmost to madness by this outrage. On the night of the3rd of May, by a successful stratagem, he got possessionof Culmore fort, at the month of Lough Foyle, and beforemorning dawned had surprised Derry; Paulett, his insulter, he slew with his own hand, most of the garrison wereslaughtered, and the town reduced to ashes. Nial _Garve_O'Donnell, who had been cast off by his old protectors, was charged with sending him supplies and men, and forthree months he kept the field, hoping that every galemight bring him assistance from abroad. But those samesummer months and foreign climes had already proved fatalto many of the exiles, whose co-operation he invoked. InJuly, Rory O'Donnell expired at Rome, in August, Maguiredied at Genoa, on his way to Spain, and in September, Caffar O'Donnell was laid in the same grave with hisbrother, on St. Peter's hill. O'Neil survived his comrades, as he had done his fortunes, and like another Belisarius, blind and old, and a pensioner on the bounty of strangers, he lived on, eight weary years, in Rome. O'Doherty, enclosed in his native peninsula, between the forces ofthe Marshal Wingfield and Sir Oliver Lambert, Governorof Connaught, fell by a chance shot, at the rock of Doon, in Kilmacrenan. The superfluous traitor, Nial Garve, was, with his sons, sent to London, and imprisoned inthe Tower for life. In those dungeons, Cormac, brotherof Hugh O'Neil, and O'Cane also languished out theirdays, victims to the careless or vindictive temper ofKing James. Sir Arthur Chichester received, soon afterthese events, a grant of the entire barony of Innishowen, and subsequently a grant of the borough of Dungannon, with 1, 300 acres adjoining; Wingfield obtained the districtof Fercullan near Dublin, with the title of ViscountPowerscourt; Lambert was soon after made Earl of Cavan, and enriched with the lands of Carig, and other estatesin that county. To justify at once the measures he proposed, as well asto divert from the exiles the sympathies of Europe, KingJames issued a proclamation bearing date the 5th ofNovember, 1608, giving to the world the English versionof the flight of the Earls. The whole of Ulster was thensurveyed in a cursory manner by a staff over which presidedSir William Parsons as Surveyor-General. The surveysbeing completed early in 1609, a royal commission wasissued to Chichester, Lambert, St. John, Ridgeway, Moore, Davis, and Parsons, with the Archbishop of Armagh, andthe Bishop of Derry, to inquire into the portions forfeited. Before these Commissioners Juries were sworn on eachparticular case, and these Juries duly found that, inconsequence of "the rebellion" of O'Neil, O'Donnell, andO'Doherty, the entire six counties of Ulster, enumeratedby baronies and parishes, were forfeited to the Crown. By direction from England the Irish Privy Council submitteda scheme for planting these counties "with colonies ofcivil men well affected in religion, " which scheme, withseveral modifications suggested by the English PrivyCouncil, was finally promulgated by the royal legislatorunder the title of "Orders and Conditions for the Planters. "According to the division thus ordered, upwards of 43, 000acres were claimed and conceded to the Primate and theProtestant Bishops of Ulster; in Tyrone, Derry, andArmagh, Trinity College got 30, 000 acres, with sixadvowsons in each county. The various trading guilds ofthe city of London--such as the drapers, vintners, cordwainers, drysalters--obtained in the gross 209, 800acres, including the city of Derry, which they rebuiltand fortified, adding _London_ to its ancient name. Thegrants to individuals were divided into three classes--2, 000, 1, 500, and 1, 000 acres each. Among the conditionson which these grants were given was this--"that theyshould not suffer any labourer, that would not take theoath of supremacy, " to dwell upon their lands. But thisdespotic condition--equivalent to sentence of death ontens of thousands of the native peasantry--was fortunatelyfound impracticable in the execution. Land was littleworth without hands to till it; labourers enough couldnot be obtained from England and Scotland, and theHamiltons, Stewarts, Folliots, Chichesters, and Lamberts, having, from sheer necessity, to choose between Irishcultivators and letting their new estates lie waste andunprofitable, it is needless to say what choice they made. The spirit of religious persecution was exhibited notonly in the means taken to exterminate the peasantry, todestroy the northern chiefs, and to intimidate theCatholics of "the Pale" by abuse of law, but by manycruel executions. The Prior of the famous retreat ofLough Derg was one of the victims of this persecution;a Priest named O'Loughrane, who had accidentally sailedin the same ship with the Earls to France, was takenprisoner on his return, hanged and quartered. ConorO'Devany, Bishop of Down and Conor, an octogenarian, suffered martyrdom with heroic constancy at Dublin, in1611. Two years before, John, Lord Burke of Brittas, was executed in like manner on a charge of havingparticipated in the Catholic demonstrations which tookplace at Limerick on the accession of King James. Theedict of 1610 in relation to Catholic children educatedabroad has been quoted in a previous chapter, _apropos_of education, but the scheme submitted by Knox, Bishopof Raphoe, to Chichester in 1611 went even beyond thatedict. In this project it was proposed that whoever shouldbe found to harbour a Priest should forfeit all hispossessions to the Crown--that quarterly returns shouldbe made out by counties of all who refused to take theoath of supremacy, or to attend the English Churchservice--that no Papist should be permitted to exercisethe function of a schoolmaster; and, moreover, that allchurches injured during the late war should be repairedat the expense of the Papist inhabitants for the use ofthe Anglican congregation. Very unexpectedly to the nation at large, after a lapseof 27 years, during which no Parliament had been held, writs were issued for the attendance of both Houses, atDublin, on the 18th of May, 1613. The work of confiscationand plantation had gone on for several years without thesanction of the legislature, and men were at a loss toconceive for what purpose elections were now ordered, unless to invent new penal laws, or to impose freshburdens on the country. With all the efforts which hadbeen made to introduce civil men, well affected inreligion, it was certain that the Catholics would returna large majority of the House of Commons, not only inthe chief towns, but from the fifteen old, and seventeennew counties, lately created. To counterbalance thismajority, over forty boroughs, returning two memberseach, were created, by royal charter, in places thinlyor not at all inhabited, or where towns were merelyprojected on the estates of leading "Undertakers. " Againstthe issue of writs returnable by these fictitiouscorporations, the Lords Gormanstown, Slane, Killeen, Trimbleston, Dunsany, and Howth, signed an humbleremonstrance to the King, concluding with a prayer forthe relaxation of the penal laws affecting religion. TheKing, whose notions of prerogative were extravagantlyhigh, was highly incensed at this petition of the Catholicpeers of Leinster, and Chichester proceeded with his fullapprobation to pack the Parliament. At the elections, however, many "recusant lawyers" and other Catholiccandidates were returned, so that when the day of meetingarrived, 101 Catholic representatives assembled at Dublin, some accompanied by bands of from 100 to 200 armedfollowers. The supporters of the government claimed 125votes, and six were found to be absent, making the wholenumber of the House of Commons 232. The Upper Houseconsisted of 50 Peers, of whom there were 25 ProtestantBishops, so that the Deputy was certain of a majority inthat chamber, on all points of ecclesiastical legislation, at least. Although, with the facts before us, we cannotagree with Sir John Davis that King James I. Gave Irelandher "first free Parliament, " it is impossible not toentertain a high sense of admiration for the constitutionalfirmness of the recusant or Catholic party in thatassembly. At the very outset they successfully resistedthe proposition to meet in the Castle, surrounded by theDeputy's guards, as a silent menace. They next contendedthat before proceeding to the election of Speaker theCouncil should submit to the Judges the decision of thealleged invalid elections. A tumultous and protracteddebate was had on this point. The Castle party arguedthat they should first elect a Speaker and then proceedto try the elections; the Catholics contended that therewere persons present whose votes would determine theSpeakership, but who had no more title in law than thehorseboys at the door. This was the preliminary trialof strength. The candidate of the Castle for the Speakershipwas Sir John Davis; of the Catholics, Sir John Everard, who had resigned his seat on the bench rather than takethe oath of supremacy framed by Archbishop Abbott. TheCastle party having gone into the lobby to be counted, the Catholics placed Sir John Everard in the Chair. Ontheir return the government supporters placed Sir JohnDavis in Everard's lap, and a scene of violent disorderensued. The House broke up in confusion; the recusantsin a body declared their intention not to be present atits deliberations, and the Lord Deputy, finding themresolute, suddenly prorogued the session. Both partiessent deputies to England to lay their complaints at thefoot of the throne. The Catholic spokesmen, Talbot andLutrell, were received with a storm of reproaches, andcommitted, the former to the Tower, the other to theFleet Prison. They were, however, released after a briefconfinement, and a Commission was issued to inquire intothe alleged electoral frauds. By the advice of Everardand others of their leaders, a compromise was effectedwith the Castle party; members returned for boroughsincorporated after the writs were issued were declaredexcluded, the contestation of seats on other grounds ofirregularity were withdrawn, and the House accordinglyproceeded to the business for which they were calledtogether. The chief acts of the sessions of 1614, '15, and '16, beside the grant of four entire subsidies tothe Crown, were an act joyfully recognizing the King'stitle; acts repealing statutes of Elizabeth and Henry VIII. , as to distinctions of race; an act repealing the 3 and 4of Philip and Mary, against "bringing Scots into Ireland, "and the acts of attainder against O'Neil, O'Donnell, andO'Doherty. The recusant minority have been heavily censuredby our recent historians for consenting to these attainders. Though the censure may be in part deserved, it is, nevertheless, clear that they had not the power to preventtheir passage, even if they had been unanimous in theiropposition; but they had influence enough, fortunately, tooblige the government to withdraw a sweeping penal lawwhich it was intended to propose. An Act of oblivion andamnesty was also passed, which was of some advantage. Onthe whole, both for the constitutional principles whichthey upheld, and the religious proscription which theyresisted, the recusant minority in the Irish Parliament ofJames I. Deserve to be held in honour by all who valuereligious and civil liberty. CHAPTER II. LAST YEARS OF JAMES--CONFISCATION OF THE MIDLANDCOUNTIES--ACCESSION OF CHARLES I. --GRIEVANCES AND"GRACES"--ADMINISTRATION OF LORD STRAFFORD. From the dissolution of James's only Irish Parliament inOctober, 1615, until the tenth of Charles I. --an intervalof twenty years--the government of the country was againexclusively regulated by arbitrary proclamations andorders in Council. Chichester, after the unusually longterm of eleven years, had leave to retire in 1816; hewas succeeded by the Lord Grandison, who held the officeof Lord Deputy for six years, and he, in turn, by HenryCarey, Viscount Falkland, who governed from 1622 till1629--seven years. Nothing could well be more fluctuatingthan the policy pursued at different periods by theseViceroys and their advisers; violent attempts at coercionalternated with the meanest devices to extort money fromthe oppressed; general declarations against recusantswere repeated with increased vehemence, while particulartreaties for a local and conditional toleration werenotoriously progressing; in a word, the administrationof affairs exhibited all the worst vices and weaknessesof a despotism, without any of the steadiness or magnanimityof a really paternal government. Some of the edicts issueddeserve particular notice, as characterizing theadministrations of Grandison and Falkland. The municipal authorities of Waterford, having invariablyrefused to take the oath of supremacy, were, by an orderin Council, deprived of their ancient charter, which waswithheld from them for nine years. The ten shilling taxon recusants for non-attendance at the Anglican servicewas rigorously enforced in other cities, and was almostinvariably levied with costs, which not seldom swelledthe ten shillings to ten pounds. A new instrument ofoppression was also, in Lord Grandison's time, invented--"the Commission for the Discovery of DefectiveTitles. " At the head of this Commission was placed SirWilliam Parsons, the Surveyor-General, who had come intothe kingdom in a menial situation, and had, through along half century of guile and cruelty, contributed asmuch to the destruction of its inhabitants, by theperversion of law, as any armed conqueror could have doneby the edge of the sword. Ulster being already applotted, and Munster undergoing the manipulation of the new Earlof Cork, there remained as a field for the ParsonsCommission only the Midland Counties and Connaught. Ofthese they made the most in the shortest space of time. A horde of clerkly spies were employed under the name of"Discoverers, " to ransack old Irish tenures in the archivesof Dublin and London, with such good success, that in avery short time 66, 000 acres in Wicklow, and 385, 000acres in Leitrim, Longford, the Meaths, and King's andQueen's Counties, were "found by inquisition to be vestedin the Crown. " The means employed by the Commissioners, in some cases, to elicit such evidence as they required, were of the most revolting description. In the Wicklowcase, courts-martial were held, before which unwillingwitnesses were tried on the charge of treason, and someactually put to death. Archer, one of the number, hadhis flesh burned with red hot iron, and was placed on agridiron over a charcoal fire, till he offered to testifyanything that was necessary. Yet on evidence so obtainedwhole baronies and counties were declared forfeited tothe Crown. The recusants, though suffering under every sort ofinjustice, and kept in a state of continual apprehension--a condition worse even than the actual horrors theyendured--counted many educated and wealthy persons intheir ranks, besides mustering fully ninety per cent, ofthe whole population. They were, therefore, far frombeing politically powerless. The recall of Lord Grandisonfrom the government was attributed to their direct orindirect influence upon the King. When James Usher, thenBishop of Meath, preached before his successor from thetext "He beareth not the sword in vain, " they weresufficiently formidable to compel him publicly to apologisefor his violent allusions to their body. Perhaps, however, we should mainly see in the comparative toleration, extended by Lord Falkland, an effect of the diplomacythen going on, for the marriage of Prince Charles to theInfanta of Spain. When, in 1623, Pope Gregory XV. Granteda dispensation for this marriage, James solemnly sworeto, a private article of the marriage treaty, by whichhe bound himself to suspend the execution of the Penallaws, to procure their repeal in Parliament, and to granta toleration of Catholic worship in private houses. Butthe Spanish match was unexpectedly broken off, immediatelyafter his decease (June, 1625), whereupon Charles marriedHenrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV. Of France. The new monarch inherited from his father three kingdomsheaving in the throes of disaffection and rebellion. InEngland the most formidable of the malcontents were thePuritans, who reckoned many of the first nobility, andthe ablest members of the House of Commons among theirchiefs; the restoration of episcopacy, and the declarationby the subservient Parliament of Scotland, that no GeneralAssembly should be called without the King's sanction, had laid the sure foundations of a religious insurrectionin the North; while the events, which we have alreadydescribed, filled the minds of all orders of men inIreland with agitation and alarm. The marriage of Charleswith Henrietta Maria gave a ray of assurance to theco-religionists of the young Queen, for they had not thendiscovered that it was ever the habit of the Stuarts "tosacrifice their friends to the fear of their enemies. "While he was yet celebrating his nuptials at Whitehall, surrounded by Catholic guests, the House of Commonspresented Charles "a pious petition, " praying him to putinto force the laws against recusants; a prayer which hewas compelled by motives of policy to answer in theaffirmative. The magistrates of England received ordersaccordingly, and when the King of France remonstratedagainst this flagrant breach of one of the articles ofthe marriage treaty (the same included in the terms ofthe Spanish match), Charles answered that he had neverlooked on the promised toleration as anything but anartifice to secure the Papal dispensation. But the King'scompliance failed to satisfy the Puritan party in theHouse of Commons, and that same year began their contestwith the Crown, which ended only on the scaffold beforeWhitehall in 1648. Of their twenty-three years' struggle, except in so far as it enters directly into our narrative, we shall have little to say, beyond reminding the reader, from time to time, that though it occasionally lulleddown it was never wholly allayed on either side. Irish affairs, in the long continued suspension of thefunctions of Parliament, were administered in general bythe Privy Council, and in detail by three special courts, all established in defiance of ancient constitutionalusage. These were the Court of Castle Chamber, modelledon the English Star Chamber, and the Ecclesiastical HighCommissioners Court, both dating from 1563; and the Courtof Wards and Liveries, originally founded by Henry VIII. , but lately remodelled by James. The Castle Chamber wascomposed of certain selected members of the Privy Councilacting in secret with absolute power; the High CommissionCourt was constituted under James and Charles, of theprincipal Archbishops and Bishops, with the Lord Deputy, Chancellor, Chief Justice, Master of the Rolls, Masterof the Wards, and some others, laymen and jurists. Theywere armed with unlimited power "to visit, reform, redress, order, correct and amend, all such errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, offences, contempts and enormities, " ascame under the head of spiritual or ecclesiasticaljurisdiction. They were, in effect, the Castle Chamber, acting as a spiritual tribunal of last resort; and wereprovided with their own officers, Registers and Receiversof Fines, Pursuivants, Criers and Gaolers. The Court ofWards exercised a jurisdiction, if possible, more repugnantto our first notions of liberty than that of the HighCommission Court. It retained its original power "tobargain and sell the custody, wardship and marriage, " ofall the heirs of such persons of condition as died inthe King's homage; but their powers, by royal letterspatent of the year 1617, were to be exercised by a Masterof Wards, with an Attorney and Surveyor, all nominatedby the Crown. The Court was entitled to farm all theproperty of its Wards during nonage, for the benefit ofthe Crown, "taking one year's rent from heirs male, andtwo from heirs female, " for charges of stewardship. Thefirst master, Sir William Parsons, was appointed in 1622, and confirmed at the beginning of the next reign, witha salary of 300 pounds per annum, and the right to ranknext to the Chief Justice of the King's Bench at thePrivy Council. By this appointment the minor heirs ofall the Catholic proprietors were placed, both as toperson and property, at the absolute disposal of one ofthe most intense anti-Catholic bigots that ever appearedon the scene of Irish affairs. In addition to these civil grievances an order had latelybeen issued to increase the army in Ireland by 5, 000 men, and means of subsistence had to be found for that additionalforce, within the kingdom. In reply to the murmurs ofthe inhabitants, they were assured by Lord Falkland thatthe King was their friend, and that any just and temperaterepresentation of their grievances would secure hiscareful and instant attention. So encouraged, the leadingCatholics convoked a General Assembly of their nobilityand gentry, "with several Protestants of rank, " at Dublin, in the year 1628, in order to present a dutiful statementof their complaints to the King. The minutes of thisimportant Assembly, it is to be feared, are for ever lostto us. We only know that it included a large number oflanded proprietors, of whom the Catholics were still avery numerous section. "The entire proceedings of thisAssembly, " says Dr. Taylor, "were marked by wisdom andmoderation. They drew up a number of articles, in thenature of a Bill of Rights, to which they humbly solicitedthe royal assent, and promised that, on their beinggranted, they would raise a voluntary assessment of100, 000 pounds for the use of the Crown. The principalarticles in these 'graces, ' as they were called, wereprovisions for the security of property, the dueadministration of justice, the prevention of militaryexactions, the freedom of trade, the better regulationof the clergy, and the restraining of the tyranny of theecclesiastical courts. Finally, they provided that theScots, who had been planted in Ulster, should be seemedin their possessions, and a general pardon granted forall offences. " Agents were chosen to repair to Englandwith this petition, and the Assembly, hoping for the bestresults, adjourned. But the ultra Protestant party hadtaken the alarm, and convoked a Synod at Dublin tocounteract the General Assembly. This Synod vehementlyprotested against selling truth "as a slave, " and"establishing for a price idolatry in its stead. " Theylaid it down as a dogma of _their_ faith that "to grantPapists a toleration, or to consent that they may freelyexercise their religion and profess their faith anddoctrines, was a grievous sin;" wherefore they prayedGod "to make those in authority zealous, resolute, andcourageous against all Popery, superstition, and idolatry. "This declaration of the extreme Protestants, includingnot only Usher, and the principal Bishops, but Chichester, Boyle, Parsons, and the most successful "Undertakers, "all deeply imbued with Puritan notions, naturally foundamong their English brethren advocates and defenders. The King, who had lately, for the third time, renewedwith France the articles of his marriage treaty, wasplaced in a most difficult position. He desired to savehis own honour, he sorely needed the money of the Catholics, but he trembled before the compact, well organizedfanaticism of the Puritans. In his distress he had recourseto a councillor, who, since the assassination of Buckingham, his first favourite, divided with Laud the royal confidence. This was Thomas, Lord Wentworth, better known by hissubsequent title of Earl of Strafford, a statesman bornto be the wonder and the bane of three kingdoms. Strafford(for such for clearness we must call him) boldly advisedthe King to grant "the graces" as his own personal act, to pocket the proposed subsidy, but to contrive that thepromised concessions he was to make should never go intoeffect. This infamous deception was effected in thiswise: the King signed, with his own hand, a schedule offifty-one "graces, " and received from the Irish agentsin London bonds for 120, 000 pounds, (equal to ten timesthe amount at present), to be paid in three annualinstalments of 40, 000 pounds. He also agreed that Parliamentshould be immediately called in Ireland, to confirm theseconcessions, while at the same time he secretly instructedLord Falkland to see that the writs of election wereinformally prepared, so that no Parliament could be held. This was accordingly done; the agents of the GeneralAssembly paid their first instalment; the subscribersheld the King's autograph; the writs were issued, but onbeing returned, were found to be technically incorrect, and so the legal confirmation of the graces was indefinitelypostponed, under one pretext or another. As evidence ofthe national demands at this period, we should add, thatbeside the redress of minor grievances, the articlessigned by the King provided that the recusants should beallowed to practise in the courts of law; to sue thelivery of their lands out of the Court of Wards, on takingan oath of civil allegiance in lieu of the oath ofsupremacy; that the claims of the Crown to the forfeitureof estates, under the plea of defects of title, shouldnot be held to extend beyond sixty years anterior to1628; that the "Undertakers" should have time allowedthem to fulfil the conditions of their leases; that theproprietors of Connaught should be allowed to make a newenrollment of their estates, and that a Parliament shouldbe held. A royal proclamation announced these concessions, as existing in the royal intention, but, as we havealready related, such promises proved to be worth no morethan the paper on which they were written. In 1629 Lord Falkland, to disarm the Puritan outcryagainst him, had leave to withdraw, and for four years--an unusually long interregnum--the government was leftin the hands of Robert Boyle, now Earl of Cork, and AdamLoftus, Viscount Ely, one of the well dowered offspringof Queen Elizabeth's Archbishop of Dublin. Ely held theoffice of Lord Chancellor, and Cork that of Lord HighTreasurer; as Justices, they now combined in their ownpersons almost all the power and patronage of the kingdom. Both affected a Puritan austerity and enthusiasm, whichbarely cloaked a rapacity and bigotry unequalled in anyformer administration. In Dublin, on Saint Stephen's Day, 1629, the Protestant Archbishop, Bulkley, and the Mayorof the city, entered the Carmelite Chapel, at the headof a file of soldiers, dispersed the congregation, desecrated the altar, and arrested the officiating friars. The persecution was then taken up and repeated whereverthe executive power was strong enough to defy the popularindignation. A Catholic seminary lately established inthe capital was confiscated, and turned over to TrinityCollege as a training school. Fifteen religious houses, chiefly belonging to the Franciscan Order, which hadhitherto escaped from the remoteness of their situation, were, by an order of the English Council, confiscated tothe Crown, and their novices compelled to emigrate inorder to complete their studies abroad. A reprimand fromthe King somewhat stayed the fury of the Justices, whosesupreme power ended with Stafford's appointment in 1633. The advent of Stafford was characteristic of his wholecourse. The King sent over another letter concerningrecusants, declaring that the laws against them, at thesuggestion of the Lords Justices, should be put strictlyin force. The Justices proved unwilling to enter thisletter on the Council book, and it was accordingly withheldtill Stafford's arrival, but the threat had the desiredeffect of drawing "a voluntary contribution" of 20, 000pounds out of the alarmed Catholics. Equipped partlywith this money Stafford arrived in Dublin in July, 1633, and entered at once on the policy, which he himselfdesignated by the one emphatic word--"THOROUGH. " He tookup his abode in the Castle, surrounded by a Body Guard, a force hitherto unknown at the Irish Court; he summonedonly a select number of the Privy Council, and, havingkept them waiting for hours, condescended to address themin a speech full of arrogance and menace. He declaredhis intention of maintaining and augmenting the army;advised them to amend their grants forthwith; told themfrankly he had called them to Council, more out of courtesythan necessity, and ended by requiring from them a year'ssubsidy in advance. As this last request was accompaniedby a positive promise to obtain the King's consent tothe assembling of Parliament, it was at once granted;and soon after writs were issued for the meeting of bothHouses in July following. When this long-prayed-for Parliament at last met, theLord Deputy took good care that it should be little elsethan a tribunal to register his edicts. A great manyofficers of the army had been chosen as Burgesses, whilethe Sheriffs of counties were employed to secure theelection of members favourable to the demands of theCrown. In the Parliament of 1613 the recusants were, admitting all the returns to be correct, nearly one-half;but in that of 1634 they could not have exceeded one-third. The Lord Deputy nominated their Speaker, whom they didnot dare to reject, and treated them invariably with thesupreme contempt which no one knows so well how to exhibittowards a popular assembly as an apostate liberal. "Surely, " he said in his speech from the throne, "sogreat a meanness cannot enter your hearts, as once tosuspect his Majesty's gracious regard of you, andperformance with you, once you affix yourselves upon hisgrace. " His object in this appeal was the sordid andcommonplace one--to obtain more money without renderingvalue for it. He accordingly carried through four wholesubsidies of 50, 000 pounds sterling each in the sessionof 1634; and two additional subsidies of the same amountat the opening of the next session. The Parliament, havingthus answered his purpose, was summarily dissolved inApril, 1635, and for four years more no other was called. During both sessions he had contrived, according to hisagreement with the King, to postpone indefinitely theact which was to have confirmed "the graces, " guaranteedin 1628. He even contrived to get a report of a Committeeof the House of Commons, and the opinions of some of theJudges, against legislating on the subject at all, whichreport gave King Charles "a great deal of contentment. " With sufficient funds in hand for the ordinary expensesof the government, Strafford applied himself earnestlyto the self-elected task of making his royal master "asabsolute as any King in Christendom" on the Irish sideof the channel. The plantation of Connaught, delayed bythe late King's death, and abandoned among the new King'sgraces, was resumed as a main engine of obtaining moremoney. The proprietary of that Province had, in thethirteenth year of the late reign, paid 3, 000 pounds intothe Record Office at Dublin, for the registration oftheir deeds, but the entries not being made by the clerkemployed, the title to every estate in the five westerncounties was now called in question. The "Commissionersto Inquire into Defective Titles" were let loose uponthe devoted Province, with Sir William Parsons at theirhead, and the King's title to the whole of Mayo, Sligoand Roscommon, was found by packed, bribed, or intimidatedjuries; the grand jury of Galway having refused to finda similar verdict, were summoned to the Court of CastleChamber, sentenced to pay a fine of 4, 000 pounds each tothe Crown, and the Sheriff that empanelled them, a fineof 1, 000 pounds. The lawyers who pleaded for the actualproprietors were stripped of their gowns, the sheriffdied in prison, and the work of spoliation proceeded. The young Earl of Ormond was glad to compound for aportion of his estates; the Earl of Kildare was committedto prison for refusing a similar composition; the Earlof Cork was compelled to pay a heavy fine for his intrusioninto lands originally granted to the Church; the O'Byrnesof Wicklow commuted for 15, 000 pounds, and the LondonCompanies, for their Derry estates, paid no less than70, 000 pounds: a forced contribution for which thosefrugal citizens never forgave the thorough-going Deputy. Bythese means, and others less violent, such as bounties tothe linen trade, he raised the annual revenue of the kingdomto 80, 000 pounds a year, and was enabled to embody forthe King's service an army of 10, 000 foot and 1, 000 horse. These arbitrary measures were entirely in consonance withthe wishes of Charles. In a visit to England in 1636, the King assured Strafford personally of his cordialapprobation of all he had done, encouraged him to proceedfearlessly in the same course, and conferred on him thehigher rank of Lord Lieutenant. Three years later, onthe first rumour of a Scottish invasion of England, Strafford was enabled to remit his master 30, 000 poundsfrom the Irish Treasury, and to tender the services ofthe Anglo-Irish army, as he thought they could be safelydispensed with by the country in which they had been thusfar recruited and maintained. CHAPTER III. LORD STRAFFORD'S IMPEACHMENT AND EXECUTION--PARLIAMENTOF 1639-'41--THE INSURRECTION OF 1641--THE IRISH ABROAD. The tragic end of the despot, whose administration wehave sketched, was now rapidly approaching. When hedeserted the popular ranks in the English House of Commonsfor a Peerage and the government of Ireland, the fearlessPym prophetically remarked, "Though you have left us, Iwill not leave you while your head is on your shoulders. "Yet, although conscious of having left able and vigilantenemies behind him in England, Strafford proceeded inhis Irish administration as if he scorned to conciliatethe feelings or interests of any order of men. By thehighest nobility, as well as the humblest of the mechanicclass, his will was to be received as law; so that neitherin Church, nor in State, might any man express even themost guarded doubt as to its infallibility. LordMountnorris, for example, having dropped a casual, andaltogether innocent remark at the Chancellor's table onthe private habits of the Deputy, was brought to trialby court martial on a charge of mutiny, and sentenced tomilitary execution. Though he was not actually put todeath, he underwent a long and rigorous imprisonment, and at length was liberated without apology or satisfaction. If they were not so fully authenticated, the particularsof this outrageous case would hardly be credible. The examples of resistance to arbitrary power, which forsome years had been shown by both England and Scotland, were not thrown away upon the still worse used Irish. During the seven years of Strafford's iron rule, Hampdenhad resisted the collection of ship money, Cromwell hadbegun to figure in the House of Commons, the Solemn Leagueand Covenant was established in Scotland, and the Scotshad twice entered England in arms to seal with theirblood, if need were, their opposition to an episcopalestablishment of religion. It was in 1640, upon theoccasion of their second invasion, that Strafford wasrecalled from Ireland to assume command of the royalforces in the North of England. After a single indecisivecampaign, the King entertained the overtures of theCovenanters, and the memorable Long Parliament havingmet in November, one of its first acts was the impeachmentof Strafford for high crimes and misdemeanors. The chiefarticles against him related to his administration ofIrish affairs, and were sustained by delegates from theIrish House of Commons, sent over for that purpose: thewhole of the trial deserves to be closely examined byevery one interested in the constitutional history ofEngland and Ireland. A third Parliament, known as the 14th, 15th and 16thCharles I. , met at Dublin on the 20th March, 1639, wasprorogued till June, and adjourned till October. Yieldingthe point so successfully resisted in 1613, its sittingswere held in the Castle, surrounded by the viceregalguard. With one exception, the acts passed in its firstsession were of little importance, relating only to theallotment of glebe lands and the payment of twentieths. The exception, which followed the voting of four entiresubsidies to the King, was an Act ordaining "that thisParliament shall not determine by his Majesty's assentto this and other Bills. " A similar statute had beenpassed in 1635, but was wholly disregarded by Strafford, who no doubt meant to take precisely the same course inthe present instance. The members of this Assembly havebeen severely condemned by modern writers for passing ahigh eulogium upon Strafford in their first session andreversing it after his fall. But this censure is not wellfounded. The eulogium was introduced by the Castle partyin the Lords, as part of the preamble to the Supply Bill, which, on being returned to the Commons, could only berejected _in toto_, not amended--a proceeding in the lastdegree revolutionary. But those who dissented from thatingenious device, at the next session of the House, tookcare to have their protest entered on the journals anda copy of it despatched to the King. This second proceedingtook place in February, 1640, and as the Lord Lieutenantwas not arraigned till the month of November following, the usual denunciations of the Irish members are altogetherundeserved. At no period of his fortune was the Earl moreformidable as an enemy than at the very moment the Protestagainst "his manner of government" was ordered "to beentered among the Ordinances" of the Commons of Ireland. Nor did this Parliament confine itself to mere protestationsagainst the abuses of executive power. At the veryopening of the second session, on the 20th of January, they appointed a committee to wait on the King in England, with instructions to solicit a bill in explanation ofPoyning's law, another enabling them to originate billsin Committee of their own House, a right taken away bythat law, and to ask the King's consent to the regulationof the courts of law, the collecting of the revenue, andthe quartering of soldiers by statute instead of by Ordersin Council. On the 16th of February the House submitteda set of queries to the Judges, the nature of which maybe inferred from the first question, viz. : "Whether thesubjects of this Kingdom be a free people, and to begoverned only by the common law of England, and statutespassed in this Kingdom ?" When the answers received weredeemed insufficient, the House itself, turning the queriesinto the form of resolutions, proceeded to vote on them, one by one, affirming in every point the rights, theliberties, and the privileges of their constituents. The impeachment and attainder of Strafford occupied thegreat part of March and April, 1641, and throughout thosemonths the delegates from Ireland assisted at the pleadingsin Westminster Hall and the debates in the EnglishParliament. The Houses at Dublin were themselves occupiedin a similar manner. Towards the end of February articlesof impeachment were drawn up against the Lord Chancellor, Bolton, Dr. Bramhall, Bishop of Derry, Chief-JusticeLowther, and Sir George Radcliffe, for conspiring withStrafford to subvert the constitution, and laws, and tointroduce an arbitrary and tyrannical government. InMarch, the King's letter for the continuance of Parliamentwas laid before the Commons, and on the 3rd of April, his further letter, declaring that all his Majesty'ssubjects of Ireland "shall, from henceforth, enjoy thebenefit of the said graces [of 1628] according to thetrue intent thereof. " By the end of May the Judges, notunder impeachment, sent in their answers to the Queriesof the Commons, which answers were voted insufficient, and Mr. Patrick Darcy, Member for Navan, was appointedto serve as Proculator at a Conference with the Lords, held on the 9th of June, "in the dining-room of theCastle, " in order to set forth the insufficiency of suchreplies. The learned and elaborate argument of Darcy wasordered to be printed by the House; and on the 26th dayof July, previous to their prorogation, they resolvedunanimously, that the subjects of Ireland "were a freepeople, to be governed only by the common law of England, and statutes made and established in the kingdom ofIreland, and according to the lawful custom used in thesame. " This was the last act of this memorable session;the great northern insurrection in October having, ofcourse, prevented subsequent sessions from being held. Constitutional agitators in modern times have been aptto select their examples of a wise and patrioticparliamentary conduct from the opposition to the Act ofUnion and the famous struggles of the last century; butwhoever has looked into such records as remain to us ofthe 15th and 16th of Charles First, and the debates onthe impeachment of Lord Chancellor Bolton, will, in myopinion, be prepared to admit, that at no period whateverwas constitutional law more ably expounded in Irelandthan in the sessions of 1640 and 1641; and that not onlythe principles of Swift and of Molyneux had a triumph in1782, but the older doctrines also of Sir Ralph Kelly, Audley Mervin, and Patrick Darcy. Strafford's Deputy, Sir Christopher Wandesford, havingdied before the close of 1640, the King appointed Robert, Lord Dillon, a liberal Protestant, and Sir William Parsons, Lords Justices. But the pressure of Puritan influence inEngland compelled him in a short time to remove Dillonand substitute Sir John Borlace, Master of the Ordnance--a mere soldier--in point of fanaticism a fittingcolleague for Parsons. The prorogation of Parliament soongave these administrators opportunities to exhibit thespirit in which they proposed to carry on the government. When at a public entertainment in the capital, Parsonsopenly declared that in twelve months more no Catholicsshould be seen in Ireland, it was naturally inferred thatthe Lord Justice spoke not merely for himself but forthe growing party of the English Puritans and ScottishCovenanters. The latter had repeatedly avowed that theynever would lay down their arms until they had wroughtthe extirpation of Popery, and Mr. Pym, the Puritan leaderin England, had openly declared that his party intendednot to leave a priest in Ireland. The infatuation ofthe unfortunate Charles in entrusting at such a momentthe supreme power, civil and military, to two of thedevoted partizans of his deadliest enemies, could notfail to arouse the fears of all who felt themselvesobnoxious to the fanatical party, either by race or byreligion. The aspirations of the chief men among the old Irish forentire freedom of worship, their hopes of recovering atleast a portion of their estates, the example of theScots, who had successfully upheld both their Church andnation against all attempts at English supremacy, thedangers that pressed, and the fears that overhung them, drove many of the very first abilities and noblestcharacters into the conspiracy which exploded with suchterrific energy on the 23rd of October, 1641. The project, though matured on Irish soil, was first conceived amongthe exiled Catholics, who were to be found at that dayin all the schools and camps of Spain, Italy, France andthe Netherlands. Philip III. Had an Irish legion, underthe command of Henry O'Neil, son of Tyrone, which, afterhis death was transferred to his brother John. In thislegion, Owen Roe O'Neil, nephew of Tyrone, learned theart of war, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. The number of Irish serving abroad had steadily increasedafter 1628, when a license of enlistment was granted byKing James. An English emissary, evidently well-informed, was enabled to report, about the year 1630, that therewere in the service of the Archduchess Isabella, in theSpanish Netherlands alone, "100 Irish officers able tocommand companies, and 20 fit to be colonels. " The namesof many others are given as men of noted courage, goodengineers, and "well-beloved" captains, both Milesiansand Anglo-Irish, residing at Lisbon, Florence, Milan andNaples. The emissary adds that they had long beenproviding arms for an attempt upon Ireland, "and had inreadiness 5, 000 or 6, 000 arms laid up in Antwerp for thatpurpose, _bought out of the deduction of their monthlypay_. " After the death of the Archduchess, in 1633, anattempt was made by the Franco-Dutch, under Prince Mauriceand Marshal Chatillon, to separate the Belgian Provincesfrom Spain. In the sanguinary battle at Avien victorydeclared for the French, and on their junction with PrinceMaurice, town after town surrendered to their arms. Thefirst successful stand against them was made at Louvain, defended by 4, 000 Belgians, Walloons, Spaniards and Irish;the Irish, 1, 000 strong, under the command of ColonelPreston, of the Gormanstown family, greatly distinguishedthemselves. The siege was raised on the 4th of July, 1635, and Belgium was saved for that time to Philip IV. At the capture of Breda, in 1637, the Irish were againhonourably conspicuous, and yet more so in the successfuldefence of Arras, the capital of Artois, three yearslater. Not yet strengthened by the citadel of Vauban, this ancient Burgundian city, famous for its cathedraland its manufactures, dear to the Spaniards as one ofthe conquests of Charles V. , was a vital point in thecampaign of 1640. Besieged by the French, under MarshalMillerie, it held out for several weeks under the commandof Colonel Owen Roe O'Neil. The King of France lying atAmiens, within convenient distance, took care that thebesiegers wanted for nothing; while the Prince-Cardinal, Ferdinand, the successor of the Archduchess in thegovernment, marched to its relief at the head of his mainforce with the Imperialists, under Launboy, and the troopsof the Duke of Lorrain, commanded by that Prince inperson. In an attack on the French lines the Allies werebeaten off with loss, and the brave commander was leftagain unsuccoured in the face of his powerful assailant. Subsequently Don Philip de Silva, General of the Horseto the Prince Cardinal, was despatched to its relief, but failed to effect anything; a failure for which hewas court-martialed, but acquitted. The defenders, afterexhausting every resource, finally surrendered the placeon honourable terms, and marched out covered with glory. These stirring events, chronicled in prose and verse athome, rekindled the martial ardour which had slumberedsince the disastrous day of Kinsale. In the ecclesiastics who shared their banishment, themilitary exiles had a voluntary diplomatic _corps_ wholost no opportunity of advancing the common cause. AtRome, their chief agent was Father Luke Wadding, founderof Saint Isidore's, one of the most eminent theologiansand scholars of his age. Through the friendship ofGregory XV. And Urban VIII. , many Catholic princes becamedeeply interested in the religious wars which the Irishof the previous ages had so bravely waged, and whichtheir descendants were now so anxious to renew. CardinalRichelieu--who wielded a power greater than that ofKings--had favourably entertained a project of invasionsubmitted to him by the son of Hugh O'Neil, a chief who, while living, was naturally regarded by the exiles astheir future leader. To prepare the country for such an invasion (if the returnof men to their own country can be called by that name), it was necessary to find an agent with talents fororganization, and an undoubted title to credibility andconfidence. This agent was fortunately found in the personof Rory or Roger O'Moore, the representative of theancient chiefs of Leix, who had grown up at the SpanishCourt as the friend and companion of the O'Neils. O'Moorewas then in the prime of life, of handsome person, andmost seductive manners; his knowledge of character wasprofound; his zeal for the Catholic cause, intense; hispersonal probity, honour, and courage, undoubted. Theprecise date of O'Moore's arrival in Ireland is not givenin any of the cotemporary accounts, but he seems to havebeen resident in the country some time previous to hisappearance in public life, as he is familiarly spoken ofby his English cotemporaries as "Mr. Roger Moore ofBallynagh. " During the Parliamentary session of 1640, hetook lodgings in Dublin, where he succeeded in enlistingin his plans Conor Maguire, Lord Enniskillen, PhilipO'Reilly, one of the members for the county of Cavan, Costelloe McMahon, and Thorlogh O'Neil, all persons ofgreat influence in Ulster. During the ensuing assizes inthe Northern Province he visited several country towns, where in the crowd of suitors and defendants he could, without attracting special notice, meet and converse withthose he desired to gain over. On this tour he receivedthe important accession of Sir Phelim O'Neil of Kinnaird, in Tyrone, Sir Con Magennis of Down, Colonel Hugh McMahonof Monaghan, and Dr. Heber McMahon, Administrator ofClogher. Sir Phelim O'Neil, the most considerable man ofhis name tolerated in Ulster, was looked upon as thegreatest acquisition, and at his castle of Kinnaird hisassociates from the neighbouring counties, under a varietyof pretexts, contrived frequently to meet. From Ulster, the indefatigable O'Moore carried the threads of theconspiracy into Connaught with equal success, findingboth among the nobility and clergy many adherents. InLeinster, among the Anglo-Irish, he experienced thegreatest timidity and indifference, but an unforeseencircumstance threw into his hands a powerful lever, tomove that province. This was the permission granted bythe King to the native regiments, embodied by Strafford, to enter into the Spanish service, if they so desired. His English Parliament made no demur to the arrangement, which would rid the island of some thousands of disciplinedCatholics, but several of their officers, under theinspiration of O'Moore, kept their companies together, delaying their departure from month to month. Among thesewere Sir James Dillon, Colonel Plunkett, Colonel Byrne, and Captain Fox, who, with O'Moore, formed the firstdirecting body of the Confederates in Leinster. In May, 1641, Captain Neil O'Neil arrived from theNetherlands with an urgent request from John, Earl ofTyrone, to all his clansmen to prepare for a generalinsurrection. He also brought them the cheering news thatCardinal Richelieu--then at the summit of his greatness--had promised the exiles arms, money, and means oftransport. He was sent back, almost immediately, withthe reply of Sir Phelim, O'Moore and their friends, thatthey would be prepared to take the field a few days beforeor after the festival of All Hallows--the 1st of November. The death of Earl John, the last surviving son of theillustrious Tyrone, shortly afterwards, though it grievedthe Confederates, wrought no change in their plans. Inhis cousin-germain, the distinguished defender of Arras, they reposed equal confidence, and their confidence couldnot have been more worthily bestowed. CHAPTER IV. THE INSURRECTION OF 1641. The plan agreed upon by the Confederates included fourmain features. I. A rising after the harvest was gatheredin, and a campaign during the winter months, when suppliesfrom England were most difficult to be obtained by theirenemies. II. A simultaneous attack on one and the sameday or night on all the fortresses within reach of theirfriends. III. To surprise the Castle of Dublin, whichwas said to contain arms for 12, 000 men. IV. Aid inofficers, munitions, and money from abroad. All thedetails of this project were carried successfully intoeffect, except the seizure of Dublin Castle--the mostdifficult as it would have been the most decisive blowto strike. Towards the end of August, a meeting of those who couldmost conveniently attend was held in Dublin. There werepresent O'Moore and Maguire, of the civilians, and ColonelsPlunkett, Byrne, and McMahon of the army. At this meetingthe last week of October, or first of November, was fixedupon as the time to rise; subsequently Saturday, the 23rdof the first named month, a market day in the capitalwas selected. The northern movements were to be arrangedwith Sir Phelim O'Neil, while McMahon, Plunkett, andByrne, with 200 picked men, were to surprise the Castleguard--consisting of only a few pensioners and 40halbediers--turn the guns upon the city to intimidatethe Puritan party, and thus make sure of Dublin; O'Moore, Lord Maguire, and other civilians, were to be in town, in order to direct the next steps to be taken. As theday approached, the arrangements went on with perfectsecrecy but with perfect success. On the 22nd of Octoberhalf the chosen band were in waiting, and the remainderwere expected in during the night. Some hundreds ofpersons, in and about Dublin, and many thousands throughoutthe country, must have been in possession of that momentoussecret, yet it was by the mere accident of trusting adrunken dependent out of sight, that the first knowledgeof the plot was conveyed to the Lords Justices on thevery eve of its execution. Owen O'Connolly, the informant on this occasion, was oneof those ruffling squires or henchmen, who accompaniedgentlemen of fortune in that age, to take part in theirquarrels, and carry their confidential messages. That hewas not an ordinary domestic servant, we may learn fromthe fact of his carrying a sword, after the custom ofthe class to which we have assigned him. At this periodhe was in the service of Sir John Clotworthy, one of themost violent of the Puritan Undertakers, and had conformedto the established religion. Through what recklessness, or ignorance of his true character, he came to be invitedby Colonel Hugh McMahon to his lodgings, and there, onthe evening of the 22nd, entrusted with a knowledge ofnext day's plans, we have now no means of deciding. O'Connolly's information, as tendered to the Justices, states that on hearing of the proposed attack on theCastle, he pretended an occasion to withdraw, leavinghis sword in McMahon's room to avoid suspicion, and thatafter jumping over fences and palings, he made his wayfrom the north side of the city to Sir William Parsonsat the Castle. Parsons at first discredited the tale, which O'Connolly (who was in liquor) told in a confusedand rambling manner, but he finally decided to consulthis colleague, Borlase, by whom some of the Council weresummoned, the witness's deposition taken down, ordersissued to double the guard, and officers despatched, whoarrested McMahon at his lodgings. When McMahon came tobe examined before the Council, it was already the morningof the 23rd; he boldly avowed his own part in the plot, and declared that what was that day to be done was nowbeyond the power of man to prevent. He was committedclose prisoner to the Castle where he had hoped to command, and search was made for the other leaders in town. Maguirewas captured the next morning, and shared McMahon'scaptivity; but O'Moore, Plunkett, and Byrne succeeded inescaping out of the city. O'Connolly was amply rewardedin lands and money; and we hear of him once afterwards, with the title of Colonel, in the Parliamentary army. As McMahon had declared to the Justices, the rising wasnow beyond the power of man to prevent. In Ulster, bystratagem, surprise, or force, the forts of Charlemontand Mountjoy, and the town of Dungannon, were seized onthe night of the 22nd by Sir Phelim O'Neil or hislieutenants; on the next day Sir Conor Magennis took thetown of Newry, the McMahons possessed themselves ofCarrickmacross and Castleblaney, the O'Hanlons Tandragee, while Philip O'Reilly and Roger Maguire razed Cavan andFermanagh. A proclamation of the northern leaders appearedthe same day, dated from Dungannon, setting forth their"true intent and meaning" to be, not hostility to hisMajesty the King, "nor to any of his subjects, neitherEnglish nor Scotch; but only for the defence and libertyof ourselves and the Irish natives of this kingdom. " Amore elaborate manifesto appeared shortly afterwards fromthe pen of Rory O'Moore, in which the oppressions of theCatholics for conscience' sake were detailed, the King'sintended "graces" acknowledged, and their frustration bythe malice of the Puritan party exhibited: it alsoendeavoured to show that a common danger threatened theProtestants of the Episcopal Church with Roman Catholics, and asserted in the strongest terms the devotion of theCatholics to the Crown. In the same politic and tolerantspirit, Sir Conor Magennis wrote from Newry on the 25thto the officers commanding at Down. "We are, " he wrote, "for our lives and liberties. We desire no blood to beshed, but if you mean to shed our blood, be sure we shallbe as ready as you for that purpose. " This threat ofretaliation, so customary in all wars, was made on thethird day of the rising, and refers wholly to futurecontingencies; the monstrous fictions which were afterwardscirculated of a wholesale massacre committed on the 23rdwere not as yet invented, nor does any public documentor private letter, written in Ireland in the last weekof October, or during the first days of November, so muchas allude to those tales of blood and horror, afterwardsso industriously circulated, and so greedily swallowed. Fully aroused from their lethargy by McMahon's declaration, the Lords Justices acted with considerable vigour. Dublinwas declared to be in a state of siege; courts martialwere established; arms were distributed to the Protestantcitizens, and some Catholics; and all strangers wereordered to quit the city under pain of death. Sir FrancisWilloughby, Governor of Galway, who arrived on the nightof the 22nd, was entrusted with the command of the Castle, Sir Charles Coote was appointed Military Governor of thecity, and the Earl, afterwards Duke of Ormond, was summonedfrom Carrick-on-Suir to take command of the army. AsCoote played a very conspicuous part in the opening scenesof this war, and Ormond till its close, it may be wellto describe them both, more particularly, to the reader. Sir Charles Coote, one of the first Baronets of Ireland, like Parsons, Boyle, Chichester, and other Englishmen, had come over to Ireland during the war against Tyrone, in quest of fortune. His first employments were inConnaught, where he filled the offices of Provost-Marshaland Vice-Governor in the reign of James I. His successas an Undertaker entitles him to rank with the fortunateadventurers we have mentioned; in Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim, Queen's, and other counties, his possessionsand privileges raised him to the rank of the richestsubjects of his time. In 1640 he was a colonel of foot, with the estates of a Prince and the habits of aProvost-Marshal. His reputation for ferocious crueltyhas survived the remembrance even of his successfulplunder of other people's property; before the campaignsof Cromwell there was no better synonym for wanton crueltythan the name of Sir Charles Coote. James Butler, Earl, Marquis, and Duke of Ormond deservedlyranks amongst the principal statesmen of his time. Duringa public career of more than half a century his conductin many eminent offices of trust was distinguished bysupreme ability, life-long firmness and consistency. Asa courtier of the House of Stuart, it was impossible thathe should have served and satisfied both Charleses withoutparticipating in many indefensible acts of government, and originating some of them. Yet judged, not from theIrish but the Imperial point of view, not by an abstractstandard but by the public morality of his age, he willbe found fairly deserving of the title of "the greatDuke" bestowed on him during his lifetime. When summonedby the Lords Justices to their assistance in 1641, hewas in the thirty-first year of his age, and had so faronly distinguished himself in political life as the friendof the late Lord Strafford. He had, however, the goodfortune to restore in his own person the estates of hisfamily, notwithstanding that they were granted in greatpart to others by King James; his attachment to the causeof King Charles was very naturally augmented by the factthat the partiality of that Prince and his ill-fatedfavourite had enabled him to retrieve both the hereditarywealth and the high political influence which formerlybelonged to the Ormond Butlers. Such an ally wasindispensable to the Lords Justices in the first panicof the insurrection; but it was evident to near observersthat Ormond, a loyalist and a churchman, could not longact in concert with such devoted Puritans as Parsons, Borlase, and Coote. The military position of the several parties--there wereat least three--when Ormond arrived at Dublin, in thefirst week of November, may be thus stated: I. In Munsterand Connaught there was but a single troop of royal horse, each, left as a guard with the respective Presidents, St. Leger and Willoughby; in Kilkenny, Dublin, and otherof the midland counties, the gentry, Protestant andCatholic, were relied on to raise volunteers for theirown defence; in Dublin there had been got together 1, 500old troops; six new regiments of foot were embodied;and thirteen volunteer companies of 100 each. In theCastle were arms and ammunition for 12, 000 men, witha fine train of field artillery, provided by Staffordfor his campaign in the north of England. Ormond, asLieutenant-General, had thus at his disposal, in onefortnight after the insurrection broke out, from 8, 000to 10, 000 well appointed men; his advice was to take thefield at once against the northern leaders before theother Provinces became equally inflamed. But his judgmentwas overruled by the Justices, who would only consent, while awaiting their cue from the Long Parliament, tothrow reinforcements into Drogheda, which thus becametheir outpost towards the north. II. In Ulster therestill remained in the possession of "the Undertakers"Enniskillen, Deny, the Castles of Killeagh and Crohanin Cavan, Lisburn, Belfast, and the stronghold ofCarrickfergus, garrisoned by the regiments of ColonelChichester and Lord Conway. King Charles, who was atEdinburgh endeavouring to conciliate the Scottish Parliamentwhen news of the Irish rising reached him, procured theinstant despatch of 1, 500 men to Ulster, and authorizedLords Chichester, Ardes and Clandeboy, to raise newregiments from among their own tenants. The force thusembodied--which may be called from its prevailing elementthe _Scottish_ army--cannot have numbered less than 5, 000foot, and the proportionate number of horse. III. TheIrish in the field by the first of November are statedin round numbers at 30, 000 men in the northern countiesalone; but the whole number supplied with arms andammunition could not have reached one-third of thatnominal total. Before the surprise of Charlemont andMountjoy forts, Sir Phelim O'Neil had but a barrel ortwo of gunpowder; the stores of those forts, with 70barrels taken at Newry by Magennis, and all the armscaptured in the simultaneous attack, which at the outsidecould not well exceed 4, 000 or 5, 000 stand--constitutedtheir entire equipment. One of Ormond's chief reasonsfor an immediate campaign in the North was to preventthem having time to get "pikes made"--which shows theirdeficiency even in that weapon. Besides this defect therewas one, if possible, still more serious. Sir Phelim wasa civilian, bred to the profession of the law; RoryO'Moore, also, had never seen service; and althoughColonel Owen O'Neil and others had promised to join them"at fourteen days' notice, " a variety of accidentsprevented the arrival of any officer of distinction duringthe brief remainder of that year. Sir Phelim, however, boldly assumed the title of "Lord General of the CatholicArmy in Ulster, " and the still more popular title withthe Gaelic speaking population of "The O'Neil. " The projected winter campaign, after the first week'ssuccesses, did not turn out favourably for the northernInsurgents. The beginning of November was marked by thebarbarous slaughter committed by the Scottish garrisonof Carrickfergus in the Island Magee. Three thousandpersons are said to have been driven into the fathomlessnorth sea, over the cliffs of that island, or to haveperished by the sword. The ordinary inhabitants couldnot have exceeded one-tenth as many, but the presence ofso large a number may be accounted for by the suppositionthat they had fled from the mainland across the peninsula, which is left dry at low water, and were pursued to theirlast refuge by the infuriated Covenanters. From this dateforward until the accession of Owen Roe O'Neil to thecommand, the northern war assumed a ferocity of characterforeign to the nature of O'Moore, O'Reilly and Magennis. That Sir Phelim permitted, if he did not sometimes inhis gusts of stormy passion instigate, those acts ofcruelty, which have stained his otherwise honourableconduct, is too true; but he stood alone among hisconfederates in that crime, and that crime stands alonein his character. Brave to rashness and disinterested toexcess, few rebel chiefs ever made a more heroic end outof a more deplorable beginning. The Irish Parliament, which was to have met on the 16thof November, was indefinitely prorogued by the LordsJustices, who preferred to act only with their chosenquorum of Privy Counsellors. The Catholic Lords of thePale, who at first had arms granted for their retainersout of the public stores, were now summoned to surrenderthem by a given day; an insult not to be forgiven. LordsDillon and Taafe, then deputies to the King, were seizedat Ware by the English Puritans, their papers taken fromthem, and themselves imprisoned. O'Moore, whose clansmenhad recovered Dunamase and other strongholds in hisancient patrimony, was still indefatigable in his propagandaamong the Anglo-Irish. By his advice Sir Phelim marchedto besiege Drogheda, at the head of his tumultuous bands. On the way southward he made an unsuccessful attack uponLisburn, where he lost heavily; on the 24th of Novemberhe took possession of Mellifont Abbey, from whose gatethe aged Tyrone had departed in tears, twenty-five yearsbefore. From Mellifont he proceeded to invest Drogheda;Colonel Plunkett, with the title of General, being thesole experienced officer as yet engaged in his ranks. Astrongly walled town as Drogheda was, well manned, andeasily accessible from the sea, cannot be carried withoutguns and engineers by any amount of physical courage. Whenever the Catholics were fairly matched in the openfield, they were generally successful, as at Julianstown, during this siege, where one of their detachments cutoff five out of six companies marching from Dublin toreinforce the town; but though the investment was complete, the vigilant governor, Sir Henry Tichburne, successfullyrepulsed the assailants. O'Moore, who lay between Ardeeand Dundalk with a reserve of 2, 000 men, found time duringthe siege to continue his natural career, that of adiplomatist. The Puritan party, from the Lord Justicedownwards, were, indeed, every day hastening that unionof Catholics of all origins which the founder of theConfederacy so ardently desired to bring about. Theiravowed maxim was that the more men rebelled, the moreestates there would be to confiscate. In Munster, theirchief instruments were the aged Earl of Cork, stillinsatiable as ever for other men's possessions, and thePresident St. Leger; in Leinster, Sir Charles Coote. LordCork prepared 1, 100 indictments against men of propertyin his Province, which he sent to the Speaker of the LongParliament, with an urgent request that they might bereturned to him, with authority to proceed against theparties named, as outlaws. In Leinster, 4, 000 similarindictments were found in the course of two days by thefree use of the rack with witnesses. Sir John Read, anofficer of the King's Bedchamber, and Mr. Barnwall, ofKilbrue, a gentleman of threescore and six, were amongthose who underwent the torture. When these were theproceedings of the tribunals in peaceable cities, we mayimagine what must have been the excesses of the soldieryin the open county. In the South, Sir William St. Legerdirected a series of murderous raids upon the peasantryof Cork, which at length produced their natural effect. Lord Muskerry and other leading recusants, who had offeredtheir services to maintain the peace of the Province, were driven by an insulting refusal to combine for theirown protection. The 1, 100 indictments of Lord Cork soonswelled their ranks, and the capture of the ancient cityof Cashel by Philip O'Dwyer announced the insurrectionof the South. Waterford soon after opened its gates toColonel Edmund Butler; Wexford declared for the Catholiccause, and Kilkenny surrendered to Lord Mountgarret. InWicklow, Coote's troopers committed murders such as hadnot been equalled since the days of the Pagan Northmen. Little children were carried aloft writhing on the pikesof these barbarians, whose worthy commander confessedthat "he liked such frolics. " Neither age nor sex wasspared, and an ecclesiastic was especially certain ofinstant death. Fathers Higgins and White of Naas, inKildare, were given up by Coote to these "lambs, " thougheach had been granted a safe conduct by his superiorofficer, Lord Ormond. And these murders were taking placeat the very tune when the Franciscans and Jesuits ofCashel were protecting Dr. Pullen, the Protestant Chancellorof that Cathedral and other Protestant prisoners; whilealso the Castle of Cloughouter, in Cavan, the residenceof Bishop Bedell, was crowded with Protestant fugitives, all of whom were carefully guarded by the chivalrousPhilip O'Reilly. At length the Catholic Lords of the Pale began to feelthe general glow of an outraged people, too long submissiveunder every species of provocation. The Lords Justiceshaving summoned them to attend in Dublin on the 8th ofDecember, they met at Swords, at the safe distance ofseven miles, and sent by letter their reasons for nottrusting themselves in the capital. To the allegationsin this letter the Justices replied by proclamation, denying most of them, and repeating their summons toLords Fingal, Gormanstown, Slane, Dunsany, Netterville, Louth, and Trimleston, to attend in Dublin on the 17th. But before the 17th came, as if to ensure the defeat ofthen own summons, Coote was let loose upon the flourishingvillages of Fingal, and the flames kindled by his menmight easily be discovered from the round tower of Swords. On the 17th, the summoned Lords, with several of theneighbouring gentry, met by appointment on the hill ofCrofty, in the neighbouring county of Meath; while theywere engaged in discussing the best course to be taken, a party of armed men on horseback, accompanied by a guardof musketeers, was seen approaching. They proved to beO'Moore, O'Reilly, Costelloe McMahon, brother of theprisoner, Colonel Byrne, and Captain Fox. Lord Gormanstown, advancing in front of his friends, demanded of thenew-comers "why they came armed into the Pale?" To whichO'Moore made answer "that the ground of their comingthither was for the freedom and liberty of theirconsciences, the maintenance of his Majesty's prerogative, in which they understood he was abridged, and the makingthe subjects of this kingdom as free as those of England. "Lord Gormanstown, after consulting a few moments withhis friends, replied: "Seeing these be your true ends, we will likewise join with you. " The leaders then embraced, amid the acclamations of their followers, and the generalconditions of then: union having been unanimously agreedupon, a warrant was drawn out authorizing the Sheriff ofMeath to summon the gentry of the county to a finalmeeting at the Hill of Tara on the 24th of December. CHAPTER V. THE CATHOLIC CONFEDERATION--ITS CIVIL GOVERNMENT ANDMILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. How a tumultuous insurrection grew into a nationalorganization, with a senate, executive, treasury, army, ships, and diplomacy, we are now to describe. It may, however, be assumed throughout the narrative, that thesuccess of the new Confederacy was quite as much to beattributed to the perverse policy of its enemies as tothe counsels of its best leaders. The rising in themidland and Munster counties, and the formal adhesion ofthe Lords of the Pale, were two of the principal stepstowards the end. A third was taken by the Bishops of theProvince of Armagh, assembled in Provincial Synod atKells, on the 22nd of March, 1642, where, with theexception of Dease of Meath, they unanimously pronounced"the war just and lawful. " After solemnly condemning allacts of private vengeance, and all those who usurpedother men's estates, this provincial meeting invited anational synod to meet at Kilkenny on the 10th day ofMay following. On that day accordingly, all the Prelatesthen in the country, with the exception of Bishop Dease, met at Kilkenny. There were present O'Reilly, Archbishopof Armagh; Butler, Archbishop of Cashel; O'Kealy, Archbishopof Tuam; David Rothe, the venerable Bishop of Ossory;the Bishops of Clonfert, Elphin, Waterford, Lismore, Kildare, and Down and Conor; the proctors of Dublin, Limerick, and Killaloe, with sixteen other dignitariesand heads of religious orders--in all, twenty-nine prelatesand superiors, or their representatives. The most remarkableattendants were, considering the circumstances of theirProvince, the prelates of Connaught. Strafford's reignof terror was still painfully remembered west of theShannon, and the immense family influence of Ulick Burke, then Earl, and afterwards Marquis of Clanrickarde, wasexerted to prevent the adhesion of the western populationto the Confederacy. But the zeal of the Archbishop ofTuam, and the violence of the Governor of Galway, SirFrancis Willoughby, proved more than a counterpoise forthe authority of Clanrickarde and the recollection ofStrafford: Connaught, though the last to come into theConfederation, was also the last to abandon it. The Synod of Kilkenny proceeded with the utmost solemnityand anxiety to consider the circumstances of their ownand the neighbouring kingdoms. No equal number of mencould have been found in Ireland, at that day, with anequal amount of knowledge of foreign and domestic politics. Many of them had spent years upon the Continent, whilethe French Huguenots held their one hundred "cautionarytowns, " and "leagues" and "associations" were the ordinaryinstruments of popular resistance in the Netherlands andGermany. Nor were the events transpiring in the neighbouringisland unknown or unweighed by that grave assembly. Thetrue meaning and intent of the Scottish and Englishinsurrections were by this time apparent to every one. The previous months had been especially fertile in events, calculated to rouse their most serious apprehensions. InMarch, the King fled from London to York; in April, thegates of Hull were shut in his face by Hotham, itsgovernor; and in May, the Long Parliament voted a levyof 16, 000 without the royal authority. The Earl of Warwickhad been appointed the Parliamentary commander of thefleet, and the Earl of Essex, their Lord General, withCromwell as one of his captains. From that hour it wasevident the sword alone could decide between Charles andhis subjects. In Scotland, too, events were occurring inwhich Irish Catholics were vitally interested. The contestfor the leadership of the Scottish royalists between theMarquises of Hamilton and Montrose had occupied the earlymonths of the year, and given their enemies of the Kirkand the Assembly full time to carry on their correspondencewith the English Puritans. In April, all parties inScotland agreed in despatching a force of 2, 500 men, under"the memorable Major Monroe, " for the protection of theScottish settlers in Ulster. On the 15th of that monththis officer landed at Carrickfergus, which was "givenup to him by agreement, " with the royalist ColonelChichester; the fortress, which was by much the strongestin that quarter, continued for six years the head-quartersof the Scottish general, with whom we shall have occasionto meet again. The state of Anglo-Irish affairs was for some months oneof disorganization and confusion. In January and Februarythe King had been frequently induced to denounce byproclamation his "Irish rebels. " He had offered theParliament to lead their reinforcements in person, hadurged the sending of arms and men, and had repeatedlydeclared that he would never consent to tolerate Poperyin that country. He had failed to satisfy his enemies, by these profuse professions had dishonoured himself, and disgusted many who were far from being hostile tohis person or family. Parsons and Borlase were stillcontinued in the government, and Coote was entrusted bythem, on all possible occasions, with a command distinctfrom that of Ormond. Having proclaimed the Lords of thePale rebels for refusing to trust their persons withinthe walls of Dublin, Coote was employed during Januaryto destroy Swords, their place of rendezvous, and toravage the estates of their adherents in that neighbourhood. In the same month 1, 100 veterans arrived at Dublin underSir Simon Harcourt; early in February arrived Sir RichardGrenville with 400 horse, and soon after Lieutenant-ColonelGeorge Monk, afterwards Duke of Albemarle, with LordLeicester's regiment, 1, 500 strong. Up to this periodOrmond had been restrained by the Justices, who were astimid as they were cruel, to operations within an easymarch of Dublin. He had driven the O'Moores and theirAllies out of Naas; had reinforced some garrisons inKildare; he had broken up, though not without much loss, an entrenched camp of the O'Byrnes at Kilsalgen wood, onthe borders of Dublin; at last the Justices felt secureenough, at the beginning of March, to allow him to marchto the relief of Drogheda. Sir Phelim O'Neil had investedthe place for more than three months, had been twicerepulsed from its walls, made a last desperate attempt, towards the end of February, but with no better success. After many lives were lost the impetuous lawyer-soldierwas obliged to retire, and on the 8th of March, hearingof Ormond's approach at the head of 4, 000 fresh troops, he hastily retreated northward. On receiving this report, the Justices recalled Ormond to the capital; Sir HenryTichburne and Lord Moore were despatched with a strongforce, on the rear of the Ulster forces, and drove themout of Ardee and Dundalk--the latter after a sharp action. The march of Ormond into Meath had, however, been productiveof offers of submission from many of the gentry of thePale, who attended the meetings at Crofty and Tara. LordDunsany and Sir John Netterville actually surrendered onthe Earl's guarantee, and were sent to Dublin; LordsGormanstown, Netterville, and Slane, offered by letterto follow their example; but the two former were, onreaching the city, thrust into the dungeons of the Castle, by order of the Justices; and the proposals of the latterwere rejected with contumely. About the same time theLong Parliament passed an act declaring 2, 500, 000 acresof the property of Irish recusants forfeited to the State, and guaranteeing to all English "adventurers" contributingto the expenses of the war, and all soldiers serving init, grants of land in proportion to their service andcontribution. This act, and a letter from Lord Essex, the Parliamentarian Commander-in-Chief, recommending thetransportation of captured recusants to the West IndianColonies, effectually put a stop to these negotiations. In Ulster, by the end of April, there were 19, 000 troops, regulars and volunteers, in the garrison or in the field. Newry was taken by Monroe and Chichester, where 80 menand women and 2 priests were put to death. Magennis wasobliged to abandon Down, and McMahon Monaghan; Sir Philemwas driven to burn Armagh and Dungannon, and to take hislast stand at Charlemont. In a severe action with SirRobert and Sir William Stewart, he had displayed hisusual courage with better than his usual fortune, which, perhaps, we may attribute to the presence with him ofSir Alexander McDonnell, brother to Lord Antrim, thefamous _Colkitto_ of the Irish and Scottish wars. Butthe severest defeat which the Confederates had was inthe heart of Leinster, at the hamlet of Kilrush, withinfour miles of Athy. Lord Ormond, returning from a secondreinforcement of Naas and other Kildare forts, at thehead, by English account, of 4, 000 men, found on the 13thof April the Catholics of the midland counties, underLords Mountgarrett, Ikerrin, and Dunboyne, Sir MorganCavenagh, Rory O'Moore, and Hugh O'Byrne, drawn up, byhis report, 8, 000 strong, to dispute his passage. WithOrmond were the Lord Dillon, Lord Brabazon, Sir RichardGrenville, Sir Charles Coote, and Sir T. Lucas. The combatwas short but murderous. The Confederates left 700 men, including Sir Morgan Cavenagh, and some other officers, dead on the field; the remainder retreated in disorder, and Ormond, with an inconsiderable diminution of numbers, returned in triumph to Dublin. For this victory the LongParliament, in a moment of enthusiasm, voted theLieutenant-General a jewel worth 500 pounds. If anysatisfaction could be derived from such an incident, theviolent death of their most ruthless enemy, Sir CharlesCoote, might have afforded the Catholics some consolation. That merciless saberer, after the combat at Kilrush, hadbeen employed in reinforcing Birr, and relieving theCastle of Geashill, which the Lady Letitia of Offallyheld against the neighbouring tribe of O'Dempsey. On hisreturn from this service he made a foray against a Catholicforce, which had mustered in the neighbourhood of Trim;here, on the night of the 7th of May, heading a sally ofhis troop, he fell by a musket shot--not without suspicionof being fired from his own ranks. His son and namesake, who imitated him in all things, was ennobled at therestoration by the title of the Earl of Mountrath. InMunster the President St. Leger, though lately reinforcedby 1, 000 men from England, did not consider himself strongenough for other than occasional forays into theneighbouring county, and little was effected in thatProvince. Such was the condition of affairs at home and abroad whenthe National Synod assembled at Kilkenny. As the mostpopular tribunal invested with the highest moral powerin the kingdom, it was their arduous task to establishorder and authority among the chaotic elements of therevolution. By the admission of those most opposed tothem they conducted their deliberations for nearly threeweeks with equal prudence and energy. They first, on themotion of the venerable Bishop Rothe, framed an oath ofassociation to be publicly taken by all their adherents, by the first part of which they were bound to bear "truefaith and allegiance" to King Charles and his lawfulsuccessors, "to maintain the fundamental laws of Ireland, the free exercise of the Roman Catholic faith and religion. "By the second part of this oath all Confederate Catholics--for so they were to be called--as solemnly boundthemselves never to accept or submit to any peace "withoutthe consent and approbation of the general assembly ofthe said Confederate Catholics. " They then proceeded tomake certain constitutions, declaring the war just andlawful; condemning emulations and distinctions foundedon distinctions of race, such as "new" and "old Irish;"ordaining an elective council for each Province; and aSupreme or National Council for the whole kingdom;condemning as excommunicate all who should, having takenthe oath, violate it, or who should be guilty of murder, violence to persons, or plunder under pretence of thewar. Although the attendance of the lay leaders of themovement at Kilkenny was far from general, the exigenciesof the case compelled them, to nominate, with theconcurrence of the Bishops, the first Supreme Council ofwhich Lord Mountgarrett was chosen President, and Mr. Richard Belling, an accomplished writer and lawyer, Secretary. By this body a General Assembly of the entireNation was summoned to meet at the same city, on the 23rdof October following--the anniversary of the Ulsterrising, commonly called by the English party "LordMaguire's day. " The choice of such an occasion by men ofMountgarrett's and Selling's moderation and judgment, six months after the date of the alleged "massacre, "would form another proof, if any were now needed, thatnone of the alleged atrocities were yet associated withthe memory of that particular day. The events of the five months, which intervened betweenthe adjournment of the National Synod at the end of May, and the meeting of the General Assembly on the 23rd ofOctober, may best be summed up under the head of therespective provinces. I. The oath of Confederation wastaken with enthusiasm in Munster, a Provincial Councilelected, and General Barry chosen Commander-in-Chief. Barry made an attempt upon Cork, which was repulsed, buta few days later the not less important city of Limerickopened its gates to the Confederates, and on the 21st ofJune the citadel was breached and surrendered by Courtenay, the Governor. On the 2nd of July St. Leger died at Cork(it was said of vexation for the loss of Limerick), andthe command devolved on his son-in-law, Lord Inchiquin, a pupil of the school of Wards, and a soldier of theschool of Sir Charles Coote. With Inchiquin was associatedthe Earl of Barrymore for the civil administration, buton Barrymore's death in September both powers remainedfor twelve months in the hands of the survivor. The gainof Limerick was followed by the taking of Loughgar andAskeaton, but was counterbalanced by the defeat ofLiscarroll, when the Irish loss was 800 men, with severalcolours; Inchiquin reported only 20 killed, includingthe young lord Kinalmeaky, one of the five sons whom theEarl of Cork gave to this war. II. In Connaught, LordClanrickarde was still enabled to avert a general outbreak. In vain the western Prelates besought him in a patheticremonstrance to place himself at the head of its injuredinhabitants, and take the command of the Province. Hecontinued to play a middle part between the President, Lord Ranelagh, Sir Charles Coote the younger, andWilloughby, Governor of Galway, until the popularimpatience burst all control. The chief of the O'Flahertysseized Clanrickarde's castle, of Aughrenure, and theyoung men of Galway, with a skill and decision quiteequal to that of the Derry apprentices of an after day, seized an English ship containing arms and supplies, lying in the bay, marched to the Church of Saint Nicholas, took the Confederate oath, and shut Willoughby up in thecitadel. Clanrickarde hastened to extinguish this sparkof resistance, and induced the townsmen to capitulate onhis personal guarantee. But Willoughby, on the arrivalof reinforcements, under the fanatical Lord Forbes, atonce set the truce made by Clanrickarde at defiance, burned the suburbs, sacked the Churches, and during Augustand September, exercised a reign of terror in the town. About the same time local risings took place in Sligo, Mayo, and Roscommon, at first with such success that thePresident of the Province, Lord Ranelagh, shut himselfup in the castle of Athlone, where he was closely besieged. III. In Leinster, no military movement of much importancewas made, in consequence of the jealousy the Justicesentertained of Ormond, and the emptiness of the treasury. In June, the Long Parliament remitted over the paltrysum of 11, 500 pounds to the Justices, and 2, 000 of thetroops, which had all but mutinied for their pay, weredespatched under Ormond to the relief of Athlone. Commissioners arrived during the summer, appointed bythe Parliament to report on the affairs of Ireland, towhom the Justices submitted a penal code worthy of thebrain of Draco or Domitian; Ormond was raised to the rankof Marquis, by the King; while the army he commanded grewmore and more divided, by intrigues emanating from thecastle and beyond the channel. Before the month of October, James Touchet, Earl of Castlehaven, an adventurousnobleman, possessed of large estates both in Ireland andEngland, effected his escape from Dublin Castle, wherehe had been imprisoned on suspicion by Parsons and Borlase, and joined the Confederation at Kilkenny. In September, Colonel Thomas Preston, the brave defender of Louvain, uncle to Lord Gormanstown, landed at Wexford, with threefrigates and several transports, containing a few siegeguns, field pieces, and other stores, 500 officers, anda number of engineers. IV. In Ulster, where the firstblow was struck, and the first hopes were excited, theprospect had become suddenly overclouded. Monroe tookDunluce from Lord Antrim by the same stratagem by whichSir Phelim took Charlemont--inviting himself as a guest, and arresting his host at his own table. A want of cordialco-operation between the Scotch commander and "theUndertakers" alone prevented them extinguishing, in onevigorous campaign, the northern insurrection. So weakand disorganized were now the thousands who had risen ata bound one short year before, that the garrisons ofEnniskillen, Deny, Newry, and Drogheda, scoured almostunopposed the neighbouring counties. The troops of Cole, Hamilton, the Stewarts, Chichesters, and Conways, foundlittle opposition, and gave no quarter. Sir William Cole, among his claims of service rendered to the State, enumerated "7, 000 of the rebels famished to death, " withina circuit of a few miles from Enniskillen. The disheartenedand disorganized natives were seriously deliberating awholesale emigration to the Scottish highlands, when aword of magic effect was whispered from the sea coast tothe interior. On the 6th of July, Colonel Owen Roe O'Neilarrived off Donegal with a single ship, a single companyof veterans, 100 officers, and a considerable quantityof ammunition. He landed at Doe Castle, and was escortedby his kinsman, Sir Phelim, to the fort of Charlemont. A general meeting of the northern clans was quickly calledat Clones, in Monaghan, and there, on an early day afterhis arrival, Owen O'Neil was elected "General-in-Chiefof the Catholic Army" of the North, Sir Phelim resigningin his favour, and taking instead the barren title of"President of Ulster. " At the same moment Lord Lievenarrived from Scotland with the remainder of the 10, 000voted by the Parliament of that kingdom. He had knownO'Neil abroad, had a high opinion of his abilities, andwrote to express his surprise "that a man of his reputationshould be engaged in so bad a cause;" to which O'Neilreplied that "he had a better right to come to the reliefof his own country than his lordship had to march intoEngland against his lawful King. " Lieven, before returninghome, urged Monroe to act with promptitude, for that hemight expect a severe lesson if the new commander oncesucceeded in collecting an army. But Monroe proved deafto this advice, and while the Scottish and English forcesin the Province would have amounted, if united, to 20, 000foot and 1, 000 horse, they gave O'Neil time enough toembody, officer, drill, and arm (at least provisionally), a force not to be despised by even twice their numbers. CHAPTER VI. THE CONFEDERATE WAR--CAMPAIGN OF 1643--THE CESSATION. The city of Kilkenny, which had become the capital ofthe Confederacy, was favourably placed for the directionof the war in Leinster and Munster. Nearly equidistantfrom Dublin, Cork, and Limerick, a meeting place for mostof the southern and south-western roads, important initself both as a place of trade, and as the residence ofthe Duke of Ormond and the Bishop of Ossory, a betterchoice could not, perhaps, have been made, so far asregarded the ancient southern "Half-Kingdom. " But itseems rather surprising that the difficulty of directingthe war in the North and North-West, from a point so farsouth, did not occur to the statesmen of the Confederacy. In the defective communications of those days, especiallyduring a war, partaking even partially of the characterof civil strife, it was hard, if not impossible to expect, that a supervision could be exercised over a general oran army on the Erne or the Bann, which might be quitepossible and proper on the Suir or the Shannon. A similarnecessity in England necessitated the creation of thePresidency of the North, with its council and head-quartersin the city of York; nor need we be surprised to findthat, from the first, the Confederate movements combinedthemselves into two groups--the northern and the southern--those which revolved round the centre of Kilkenny, andthose which took their law from the head-quarters of OwenO'Neil, at Belturbet, or wherever else his camp happenedto be situated. The General Assembly met, according to agreement, on the23rd of October, 1642, at Kilkenny. Eleven-bishops andfourteen lay lords represented the Irish peerage; twohundred and twenty-six commoners, the large majority ofthe constituencies. Both bodies sat in the same chamber, divided only by a raised dais. The celebrated lawyer, Patrick Darcy, a member of the Commons' House, was chosenas chancellor, and everything was conducted with thegravity and deliberation befitting so venerable anAssembly, and so great an occasion. The business mostpressing, and most delicate, was felt to be theconsideration of a form of supreme executive government. The committee on this subject, who reported after theinterval of a week, was composed of Lords Gormanstownand Castlehaven, Sir Phelim O'Neil, Sir Richard Belling, and Mr. Darcy. A "Supreme Council" of six members foreach province was recommended, approved, and elected. The Archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, and Tuam, the Bishopsof Down and of Clonfert, the Lords Gormanstown, Mountgarrett, Roche, and Mayo, with fifteen of the mosteminent commoners, composed this council. It was providedthat the vote of two-thirds should be necessary to anyact affecting the basis of the Confederacy, but a quorumof nine was sufficient for the transaction of ordinarybusiness. A guard of honour of 500 foot and 200 horsewas allowed for their greater security. The venerableMountgarrett, the head of the Catholic Butlers, (son-in-lawof the illustrious Tyrone, who, in the last years ofElizabeth, had devoted his youthful sword to the samegood cause, ) was elected president of this, council; andSir Richard Belling, a lawyer, and a man of letters, thecontinuator of Sir Philip Sydney's _Arcadia_, was appointedsecretary. The first act of this Supreme Council was to appointGeneral O'Neil as Commander-in-Chief in Ulster; GeneralPreston, in Leinster; General Barry, in Munster; and SirJohn Burke as Lieutenant-General in Connaught; the supremecommand in the West being held over for Clanrickarde, who, it was still hoped, might be led or driven into theConfederacy. We shall endeavour to indicate in turn theoperations of these commanders, thus chosen or confirmed;leaving the civil and diplomatic business transacted bythe General Assembly, or delegated to the Supreme Council, for future mention. Contrary to the custom of that age, the Confederate troopswere not withdrawn into winter quarters. In November, General Preston, at the head of 6, 000 foot and 600 horse, encountered Monk at Tymahoe and Ballinakil, with someloss; but before the close of December he had reducedBirr, Banagher, Burris, and Fort Falkland, and foundhimself master of King's county, from the Shannon to theBarrow. In February, however, he sustained a seriouscheck at Rathconnell, in endeavouring to intercept theretreat of the English troops from Connaught, under thecommand of Lord Ranelagh, and the younger Coote; and inMarch, equal ill success attended his attempt to interceptOrmond, in his retreat from the unsuccessful siege ofthe town of Ross. Lord Castlehaven, who was Preston'ssecond in command, attributes both these reverses to theimpetuosity of the general, whose imprudence seems tohave been almost as great as his activity was conspicuous. In April and May, Preston and Castlehaven took severalstrongholds in Carlow, Kildare, and West-Meath, and theGeneral Assembly, which met for its second session, onthe 20th of May, 1643, at Kilkenny, had, on the whole, good grounds to be satisfied with the success of the warin Leinster. In the Southern Province, considerable military successesmight also be claimed by the Confederates. The Munstertroops, under Purcell, the second in command, a capablesoldier, who had learned the art of war in the armies ofthe German Empire, relieved Ross, when besieged by Ormond;General Barry had successfully repulsed an attack on hishead-quarters, the famous old Desmond town of Killmallock. In June, Barry, Purcell, and Castlehaven drove the enemybefore them across the Funcheon, and at Kilworth broughttheir main body, under Sir Charles Vavasour, to action. Vavasour's force was badly beaten, himself captured, withhis cannon and colours, and many of his officers and men. Inchiquin, who had endeavoured to form a junction withVavasour, escaped to one of the few remaining garrisonsopen to him--probably Youghal. In Connaught, the surrender of Galway, on the 20th ofJune, eclipsed all the previous successes, and they werenot a few, of Lieutenant-General Burke. From the day LordRanelagh and the younger Coote deserted the Westernprovince, the Confederate cause had rapidly advanced. The surrender of "the second fort in the Kingdom"--asea-port in that age, not unworthy to be ranked withCadiz and Bristol, for its commercial wealth andreputation--was a military event of the first importance. An English fleet appeared three days after the surrenderof Willoughby, in Galway harbour; but nine long yearselapsed before the Confederate colours were lowered fromthe towers of the Connaught citadel. In the North, O'Neil, who, without injustice to any ofhis contemporaries, may certainly be said to have made, during his seven years' command, the highest Europeanreputation among the Confederate generals, gathered hisrecruits into a rugged district, which forms a sort ofnatural camp in the north-west corner of the island. Themountain plateau of Leitrim, which sends its spursdownwards to the Atlantic, towards Lough Erne, and intoLongford, accessible only by four or five lines of road, leading over narrow bridges and through deep defiles, was the nursery selected by this cautious leader, inwhich to collect and organize his forces. In the beginningof May--seven months after the date of his commission, and ten from his solitary landing at Doe Castle--we findhim a long march from his mountain fortress in Leitrim, at Charlemont, which he had strengthened and garrisoned, and now saved from a surprise attempted by Monroe, fromCarrickfergus. Having effected that immediate object, heagain retired towards the Leitrim highlands, fighting bythe way a smart cavalry action at Clonish, with a superiorforce, under Colonels Stewart, Balfour, and Mervyn. Inthis affair O'Neil was only too happy to have carriedoff his troop with credit; but a fortnight brought himconsolation for Clonish in the brilliant affair ofPortlester. He had descended in force from his hills andtaken possession of the greater part of the ancient Meath. General Monk and Lord Moore were despatched against him, but reinforced by a considerable body of MeathianConfederates, under Sir James Dillon, he resolved to riskhis first regular engagement in the field. Taking advantageof the situation of the ground, about five miles fromTrim, he threw up some field works, placed sixty men inPortlester mill, and patiently awaited the advance ofthe enemy. Their assault was overconfident, their routcomplete. Lord Moore, and a large portion of the assailantswere slain, and Monk fled back to Dublin. O'Neil, gatheringfresh strength from these movements, abandoned his mountainstronghold, and established his head-quarters on theriver Erne between Lough Oughter (memorable in his lifeand death) and the upper waters of Lough Erne. At thispoint stood the town of Belturbet, which, in "thePlantation" of James I. , had been turned over exclusivelyto British settlers, whose "cagework" houses, and fouracres of garden ground each, had elicited the approvalof the surveyor Pynnar, twenty years before. The surroundingcountry was covered with the fortified castles andloop-holed lawns of the chief _Undertakers_--but few werefound of sufficient strength to resist the arms of O'Neil. At Belturbet, he was within a few days' march of thevital points of four other counties, and in case of theworst, within the same distance of his protective fastness. Here, towards the end of September, busied with presentduties and future projects, he heard, for the first time, with astonishment and grief, that the requisite majorityof "the Supreme Council" had concluded, on the 13th ofthat month, a twelve-months' truce with Ormond, thusputting in peril all the advantages already acquired bythe bravery of the Confederate troops, and the skill oftheir generals. The war had lasted nearly two years, and this was thefirst time the Catholics had consented to negotiate. Themoment chosen was a critical one for all the threeKingdoms, and the interests involved were complicated inthe extreme. The Anglo-Irish, who formed the majority ofthe Supreme Council, connected by blood and language withEngland, had entered into the war, purely as one ofreligious liberty. Nationally, they had, apart from thecivil disabilities imposed on religious grounds, noantipathy, no interest, hostile to the general body ofEnglish loyalists, represented in Ireland by the King'slieutenant, Ormond. On his side, that nobleman gave allhis thoughts to, and governed all his actions by theexigencies of the royal cause, throughout the threeKingdoms. When Charles seemed strong in England, Ormondrated the Catholics at a low figure; but when reversesincreased he estimated their alliance more highly. Afterthe drawn battle of Edgehill, fought on the very day ofthe first meeting of the General Assembly at Kilkenny, the King had established his head-quarters at Oxford, inthe heart of four or five of the most loyal counties inEngland. Here he at first negotiated with the Parliament, but finally the sword was again invoked, and while theKing proclaimed the Parliament rebels, "the solemn leagueand covenant" was entered into, at first separately, andafterwards jointly, by the Puritans of England andPresbyterians of Scotland. The military events duringthat year, and in the first half of the next, were uponthe whole not unfavourable to the royal cause. The greatbattle of Marston Moor, (July 2nd, 1644, ) which"extinguished the hopes of the Royalists in the Northerncounties, " was the first Parliamentary victory of nationalimportance. It was won mainly by the energy and obstinacyof Lieutenant-General Cromwell, from that day forth theforemost English figure in the Civil War. From his courtat Oxford, where he had seen the utter failure ofendeavouring to conciliate his English and Scottishenemies, the King had instructed Ormond--lately createda Marquis--to treat with the Irish Catholics, and toobtain from them men and money. The overtures thus madewere brought to maturity in September; the Cessation wasto last twelve months; each party was to remain inpossession of its own quarters, as they were held at thedate of the treaty; the forces of each were to unite topunish any infraction of the terms agreed on; the agentsof the Confederates, during the cessation, were to havefree access and safe conduct to the King; and for theseadvantages, the Supreme Council were to present hisMajesty immediately with 15, 000 pounds in money, andprovisions to the value of 15, 000 pounds more. Such was "the truce of Castlemartin, " condemned by O'Neil, by the Papal Nuncio, Scarampi, and by the great majorityof the old Irish, lay and clerical; still more violentlydenounced by the Puritan Parliament as favouring Popery, and negotiated by Popish agents; beneficial to Ormondand the Undertakers, as relieving Dublin, freeing thechannel from Irish privateers, and securing them in thegarrisons throughout the Kingdom which they still held;in one sense advantageous to Charles, from the immediatesupplies it afforded, and the favourable impression itcreated of his liberality, at the courts of his Catholicallies; but on the other hand disadvantageous to him inEngland and Scotland, from the pretexts it furnished hisenemies, of renewing the cry of his connivance withPopery, a cry neither easily answered, nor, of itself, liable quickly to wear out. CHAPTER VII. THE CESSATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. While the Confederate delegates, reverently uncovered, and Ormond, in hat and plume, as representing royalty, were signing "the cessation" at Castlemartin, the memorableMonroe, with all his men, were taking the covenant, ontheir knees, in the church of Carrickfergus, at the handsof the informer O'Connolly, now a colonel in theParliamentary army, and high in the confidence of itschiefs. Soon after this ceremony, Monroe, appointed bythe English Parliament Commander-in-Chief of all theirforces in Ulster, united under his immediate leadership, of Scots, English, and Undertakers, not less than 10, 000men. With this force he marched southward as far as Newry, which he found an easy prey, and where he put to thesword, after surrender, sixty men, eighteen women, andtwo ecclesiastics. In vain the Confederates entreatedOrmond to lead them against the common enemy in the North;pursuing always a line of policy of his own, in whichtheir interest had a very slender part, that astutepolitician neither took the field, nor consented thatthey should do so of themselves. But the Supreme Council, roused by the remonstrances of the clergy, ordered LordCastlehaven, with the title of Commander-in-Chief, tomarch against Monroe. This was virtually supersedingO'Neil in his own province, and that it was so felt, evenby its authors, is plain from their giving himsimultaneously the command in Connaught. O'Neil, nevergreater than in acts of self-denial and self-sacrifice, stifled his profound chagrin, and cheerfully offered toserve under the English Earl, placed over his head. Butthe northern movements were, for many months, languidand uneventful; both parties seemed uncertain of theirtrue policy; both, from day to day, awaited breathlesslyfor tidings from Kilkenny, Dublin, London, Oxford, orEdinburgh, to learn what new forms the general contestwas to take, in order to guide their own conduct by theshifting phases of that intricate diplomacy. Among the first consequences of the cessation were thedebarkation at Mostyn, in Scotland, of 3, 000 well providedIrish troops, under _Colkitto_ (the left-handed, ) AlexanderMcDonnell, brother of Lord Antrim. Following the bannerof Montrose, these regiments performed great things atSaint Johnstown, at Aberdeen, at Inverlochy, all whichhave been eloquently recorded by the historians of thatperiod. "Their reputation, " says a cautious writer, "morethan their number, unnerved the prowess of their enemies. No force ventured to oppose them in the field; and asthey advanced, every fort was abandoned or surrendered. "A less agreeable result of "the cessation, " for the courtat Oxford, was the retirement from the royal army of theEarl of Newcastle, and most of his officers, on learningthat such favourable conditions had been made with IrishPapists. To others of his supporters--as the Earl ofShrewsbury--Charles was forced to assume a tone of apologyfor that truce, pleading the hard necessities whichcompelled him: the truth seems to be, that there werenot a few then at Oxford, who, like Lord Spencer, wouldgladly have been on the other side--or at all events ina position of neutrality--provided they could have found"a salve for their honour, " as gentlemen and cavaliers. The year 1644 opened for the Irish with two events ofgreat significance--the appointment of Ormond as Viceroy, in January, and the execution at Tyburn, by order of theEnglish Parliament, of Lord Maguire, a prisoner in theTower since October, 1641. Maguire died with a courageand composure worthy of his illustrious name, and hisprofoundly religious character. His long absence had noteffaced his memory from the hearts of his devoted clansmenof Fermanagh, and many a prayer was breathed, and manya vow of vengeance muttered among them, for what theymust naturally have regarded as the cold-blooded judicialmurder of their chief. Two Irish deputations--one Catholic, the other Protestant--proceeded this year to the King, at Oxford, with theapproval of Ormond, who took care to be represented byconfidential agents of his own. The Catholics found azealous auxiliary in the queen, Henrietta Maria, who, asa co-religionist, felt with them, and, as a Frenchwoman, was free from insular prejudices against them. The IrishProtestants found a scarcely less influential advocatein the venerable Archbishop Usher, whose presence andcountenance, as the most puritanical of his prelates, was most essential to the policy of Charles. The Kingheard both parties graciously--censured some of thedemands of both as extravagant, and beyond his power toconcede--admitted others to be reasonable and worthy ofconsideration--refused to confirm the churches they hadseized to the Catholics--but was willing to allow themtheir "seminaries of education"--would not consent toenforce the penal laws on the demand of the Protestants--but declared that neither should the Undertakers bedisturbed in their possessions or offices. In short, hepathetically exhorted both parties to consider his caseas well as their own; promised them to call together theIrish Parliament at the earliest possible period; and sogot rid of both deputations, leaving Ormond master ofthe position for some time longer. The agents and friends of the Irish Catholics on theContinent were greatly embarrassed, and not a littledisheartened by the cessation. At Paris, at Brussels, atMadrid, but above all at Rome, it was regretted, blamed, or denounced, according to the temper or the insight ofthe discontented. His Catholic Majesty had some timebefore remitted a contribution of 20, 000 dollars to theConfederate Treasury; one of Richelieu's last acts wasto invite Con, son of Hugh O'Neil, to the French Court, and to permit the shipment of some pieces of ordnance toIreland; from Rome, the celebrated Franciscan, FatherLuke Wadding, had remitted 26, 000 dollars, and the NuncioScarampi had brought further donations. The facility, therefore, with which the cessation had been agreed upon, against the views of the agents of the Catholic powersat Kilkenny, without any apparently sufficient cause, had certainly a tendency to check and chill the enthusiasmof those Catholic Princes who had been taught to look onthe insurrection of the Irish as a species of Crusade. Remonstrances, warm, eloquent, and passionate, were pouredin upon the most influential members of the SupremeCouncil, from those who had either by delegation, or fromtheir own free will, befriended them abroad. Theseremonstrances reached that powerful body at Waterford, at Limerick, or at Galway, whither they had gone on anofficial visitation, to hear complaints, settlecontroversies, and provide for the better collection ofthe assessments imposed on each Province. An incident which occurred in Ulster, soon startled theSupreme Council from their pacific occupations. GeneralMonroe, having proclaimed that all Protestants withinhis command should take "the solemn league and covenant, "three thousand of that religion, still loyalists, met atBelfast, to deliberate on their answer. Monroe, however, apprised of their intentions, marched rapidly fromCarrickfergus, entered the town under cover of night, and drove out the loyal Protestants at the point of thesword. The fugitives threw themselves into Lisburn, andMonroe appointed Colonel Hume as Governor of Belfast, for the Parliaments of Scotland and England. Castlehaven, with O'Neil still second in command, was now despatchednorthward against the army of the Covenant. Monroe, whohad advanced to the borders of Meath as if to meet them, contented himself with gathering in great herds of cattle;as they advanced, he slowly fell back before them throughLouth and Armagh, to his original head-quarters; Castlehaventhen returned with the main body of the Confederate troopsto Kilkenny, and O'Neil, depressed, but not dismayed, carried his contingent to their former position atBelturbet. In Munster, a new Parliamentary party had time to formits combinations under the shelter of the cessation. TheEarl of Inchiquin, who had lately failed to obtain thePresidency of Munster from the King at Oxford, and theLord Broghill, son of the great Southern Undertaker--thefirst Earl of Cork, --were at the head of this movement. Under pretence that the quarters allotted them by thecessation had been violated, they contrived to seize uponCork, Youghal, and Kinsale. At Cork, they publicly executedFather Mathews, a Friar, and proceeding from violence toviolence, they drove from the three places all the Catholicinhabitants. They then forwarded a petition to the King, beseeching him to declare the Catholics "rebels, " anddeclaring their own determination to "die a thousanddeaths sooner than condescend to any peace with them. "At the same time they entered into or avowed theircorrespondence with the English Parliament, which naturallyenough encouraged and assisted them. The Supreme Councilmet these demonstrations with more stringent instructionsto General Purcell, now their chief in command, (Barryhaving retired on account of advanced age, ) to observethe cessation, and to punish severely every infractionof it. At the same time they permitted or directed Purcellto enter into a trace with Inchiquin till the followingApril; and then they rested on their arms, in religiousfidelity to the engagements they had signed at Castlemartin. The twelve-months' truce was fast drawing to a close, when the battle of Marston Moor stimulated Ormond toeffect a renewal of the treaty. Accordingly, at hisrequest, Lord Muskerry, and five other commissioners, left Kilkenny on the last day of August for Dublin. Between them and the Viceroy, the cessation was prolongedtill the first of December following; and when that daycame, it was further protracted, as would appear, forthree months, by which time, (March, 1645, ) Ormond informedthem that he had powers from the King to treat for apermanent settlement. During the six months that the original cessation wasthus protracted by the policy of Ormond, the SupremeCouncil sent abroad new agents, "to know what they hadto trust to, and what succours they might really dependon from abroad. " Father Hugh Bourke was sent to Spain, and Sir Richard Belling to Rome, where Innocent X, hadrecently succeeded to that generous friend of the CatholicIrish. Urban VIII. The voyage of these agents was notfree from hazard, for, whereas, before the cessation, the privateers commissioned by the Council, shelteredand supplied in the Irish harbours, had kept the southerncoast clear of hostile shipping, now that they had beenwithdrawn under the truce, the parliamentary cruisershad the channel all to themselves. Waterford andWexford--the two chief Catholic ports in that quarter--instead of seeing their waters crowded with prizes, nowbegan to tremble for their own safety. The strong fortof Duncannon, on the Wexford side of Waterford harbour, was corruptly surrendered by Lord Esmond, to Inchiquinand the Puritans. After a ten-weeks' siege, however, andthe expenditure of 19, 000 pounds of powder, the Confederatesretook the fort, in spite of all the efforts made forits relief. Esmond, old and blind, escaped by a timelydeath the penalty due to his treason. Following up thissuccess, Castlehaven rapidly invested other southernstrongholds in possession of the same party, Cappoquin, Lismore, Mallow, Mitchelstown, Doneraile and Liscarrollsurrendered on articles; Rostellan, commanded by Inchiquin'sbrother, was stormed and taken; Boghill was closelybesieged in Youghal, but, being relieved from sea, successfully defended himself. In another quarter, theParliament was equally active. To compensate for the lossof Galway, they had instructed the younger Coote, on whomthey had conferred the Presidency of Connaught, to withdrawthe regiment of Sir Frederick Hamilton, and 400 othertroops, from the command of Monroe, and with these, SirRobert Stewart's forces, and such others as he couldhimself raise, to invest Sligo. Against the force thuscollected, Sligo could not hope to contend, and soon, from that town, as from a rallying and resting place, 2, 000 horsemen were daily launched upon the adjoiningcountry. Lord Clanrickarde, the royal president of theprovince, as unpopular as trimmers usually are in timesof crisis, was unable to make head against this newdanger. But the Confederates, under Sir James Dillon, and Dr. O'Kelly, the heroic Archbishop of Tuam, moved bythe pitiful appeals of the Sligo people, boldly endeavouredto recover the town. They succeeded in entering the walls, but were subsequently repulsed and routed. The Archbishopwas captured and tortured to death; some of the noblestfamilies of the province and of Meath had also to mourntheir chiefs; and several valuable papers, found orpretended to be found in the Archbishop's carriage, wereeagerly given to the press of London by the Parliamentof England. This tragedy at Sligo occurred on Sunday, October 26th, 1645. CHAPTER VIII. GLAMORGAN'S TREATY--THE NEW NUNCIO RINUCCINI--O'NEIL'S POSITION--THE BATTLE OF BENBURB. Ormond had amused the Confederates with negotiations fora permanent peace and settlement, from spring tillmidsummer, when Charles, dissatisfied with these endlessdelays, despatched to Ireland a more hopeful ambassador. This was Herbert, Earl of Glamorgan, one of the fewCatholics remaining among the English nobility; son andheir to the Marquis of Worcester, and son-in-law to HenryO'Brien, Earl of Thomond. Of a family devoutly attachedto the royal cause, to which it is said they had contributednot less than 200, 000 pounds, Glamorgan's religion, hisrank, his Irish connections, the intimate confidence ofthe King which he was known to possess, all marked outhis embassy as one of the utmost importance. The story of this mission has been perplexed and darkenedby many controversies. But the general verdict of historiansseems now to be, that Charles I. , whose many good qualitiesas a man and a ruler are cheerfully admitted on all hands, was yet utterly deficient in downright good faith; thatduplicity was his besetting sin; and that Glamorgan'sembassy is one, but only one, of the strongest evidencesof that ingrained duplicity. It may help to the clearer understanding of the negotiationsconducted by Glamorgan in Ireland, if we give in thefirst place the exact dates of the first transactions. The Earl arrived at Dublin about the 1st of August, and, after an interview with Ormond, proceeded to Kilkenny. On the 28th of that month, preliminary articles wereagreed to and signed by the Earl on behalf of the King, and by Lords Mountgarrett and Muskerry on behalf of theConfederates. It was necessary, it seems, to get theconcurrence of the Viceroy to these terms, and accordinglythe negotiators on both sides repaired to Dublin. Here, Ormond contrived to detain them ten long weeks indiscussions on the articles relating to religion; it wasthe 12th of November when they returned to Kilkenny, witha much modified treaty. On the next day, the 13th, thenew Papal Nuncio, a prelate who, by his rank, his eloquence, and his imprudence, was destined to exercise a powerfulinfluence on the Catholic councils, made his public entryinto that city. This personage was John Baptist Rinuccini, Archbishop ofFermo, in the Marches of Ancona, which see he had preferredto the more exalted dignity of Florence. By birth aTuscan, the new Nuncio had distinguished himself fromboyhood by his passionate attachment to his studies. AtBologna, at Perugia, and at Rome, his intense applicationbrought him early honours, and early physical debility. His health, partially restored in the seclusion of hisnative valley of the Arno, enabled him to return againto Rome. Enjoying the confidence of Gregory XV. AndUban VIII. , he was named successively, Clerk of theChamber, Secretary of the Congregation of Rites, andArchbishop of Fermo. This was the prelate chosen by thenew Pope, Innocent X. , for the nunciature in Ireland: aman of noble birth, in the fifty-third year of his age, of uncertain bodily health, of great learning, especiallyas a canonist, of a fiery Italian temperament, --"regularand even austere in his life, and far from any taint ofavarice or corruption, "--such was the admission of hisenemies. Leaving Italy in May, accompanied by the Dean of Fermo, who has left us a valuable record of the embassy, hisother household officers, several Italian noblemen, andSir Richard Belling, the special agent at Rome, theNuncio, by way of Genoa and Marseilles, reached Paris. In France he was detained nearly five months, in afruitless attempt to come to some definite arrangementas to the conduct of the Catholic war, through QueenHenrietta Maria, then resident with the young Prince ofWales--afterwards Charles II. --at the French court. TheQueen, like most persons of her rank, overwhelmed withadversity, was often unreasonably suspicious and exacting. Her sharp woman's tongue did not spare those on whom heranger fell, and there were not wanting those, who, apprehensive of the effect in England of her negotiatingdirectly with a papal minister, did their utmost to delayor to break off their correspondence. A nice point ofcourt etiquette further embarrassed the business. TheNuncio could not uncover his head before the Queen, andHenrietta would not receive him otherwise than uncovered. After three months lost in Paris, he was obliged toproceed on his journey, contenting himself with an exchangeof complimentary messages with the Queen, whom even thecrushing blow of Naseby could not induce to waive a pointof etiquette with a Priest. On reaching Rochelle, where he intended to take shipping, a further delay of six weeks took place, as was supposedby the machinations of Cardinal Mazarin. Finally, theNuncio succeeded in purchasing a frigate of 26 guns, the_San Pietro_, on which he embarked with all his Italiansuite, Sir Richard Belling, and several Franco-Irishofficers. He had also on board a considerable sum inSpanish gold, (including another contribution of 36, 000dollars from Father Wadding, ) 2, 000 muskets, 2, 000 cartouchbelts, 4, 000 swords, 2, 000 pike heads, 400 brace ofpistols, 20, 000 pounds of powder, with match, shot, andother stores. Weighing from St. Martin's in the Isle ofRhe, the _San Pietro_ doubled the Land's End, and stoodover towards the Irish coast. The third day out theywere chased for several hours by two Parliamentarycruisers, but escaped under cover of the night; on thefourth morning, being the 21st of October, they foundthemselves safely embayed in the waters of Kenmare, onthe coast of Kerry. The first intelligence which reached the Nuncio on landing, was the negotiation of Glamorgan, of which he had alreadyheard, while waiting a ship at Rochelle. The next wasthe surrender by the Earl of Thomond, of his noble oldcastle of Bunratty, commanding the Shannon within sixmiles of Limerick, to the Puritans. This surrender had, however, determined the resolution of the city of Limerick, which hitherto had taken no part in the war, to open itsgates to the Confederates. The loss of Bunratty was morethan compensated by the gaining of one of the finest andstrongest towns in Munster, and to Limerick accordinglythe Nuncio paid the compliment of his first visit. Herehe received the mitre of the diocese in dutiful submissionfrom the hands of the Bishop, on entering the Cathedral;and here he celebrated a solemn requiem mass for therepose of the soul of the Archbishop of Tuam, latelyslain before Sligo. Prom Limerick, borne along on hislitter, such was the feebleness of his health, he advancedby slow stages to Kilkenny, escorted by a guard of honour, despatched on that duty, by the Supreme Council. The pomp and splendour of his public entry into theCatholic capital was a striking spectacle. The previousnight he slept at a village three miles from the city, for which he set out early on the morning of the 13th ofNovember, escorted by his guard, and a vast multitude ofthe people. Five delegates from the Supreme Councilaccompanied him. A band of fifty students mounted onhorseback met him on the way, and their leader, crownedwith laurel, recited some congratulatory Latin verses. At the city gate he left the litter and mounted a horserichly housed; here the procession of the clergy and thecity guilds awaited him; at the Market Cross, a Latinoration was delivered in his honour, to which he graciouslyreplied in the same language. From the Cross he wasescorted to the Cathedral, at the door of which he wasreceived by the aged Bishop, Dr. David Rothe. At thehigh altar he intonated the _Te Deum_, and gave themultitude the apostolic benediction. Then he was conductedto his lodgings, where he was soon waited upon by LordMuskerry and General Preston, who brought him to KilkennyCastle, where, in the great gallery, which elicited evena Florentine's admiration, he was received in statelyformality by the President of the Council--LordMountgarrett. Another Latin oration on the nature of hisembassy was delivered by the Nuncio, responded to by Heber, Bishop of Clogher, and so the ceremony of reception ended. The Nuncio brought from Paris a new subject of difficulty, in the form of a memorial from the English Catholics atRome, praying that they might be included in the termsof any peace which might be made by their Irishco-religionists with the King. Nothing could be morenatural than that the members of the same persecutedchurch should make common cause, but nothing could bemore impolitic than some of the demands made in theEnglish memorial. They wished it to be stipulated withCharles, that he would allow a distinct militaryorganization to the English and Irish Catholics in hisservice, under Catholic general officers, subject onlyto the King's commands, meaning thereby, if they meantwhat they said, independence of all parliamentary andministerial control. Yet several of the stipulations ofthis memorial were, after many modifications anddiscussions, adopted by Glamorgan into his originalarticles, and under the treaty thus ratified, theConfederates bound themselves to despatch 10, 000 men, fully armed and equipped, to the relief of Chester andthe general succour of the King in England. Towards theclose of December, the English Earl, with two Commissionersfrom the Supreme Council, set forth for Dublin, to obtainthe Viceroy's sanction to the amended treaty. But inDublin a singular counterplot in this perplexed dramaawaited them. On St. Stephen's day, while at dinner, Glamorgan was arrested by Ormond, on a charge of havingexceeded his instructions, and confined a close prisonerin the castle. The gates of the city were closed, andevery means taken to give _eclat_ to this extraordinaryproceeding. The Confederate Commissioners were carriedto the castle, and told they might congratulate themselveson not sharing the cell prepared for Glamorgan. "Go back, "they were told, "to Kilkenny and tell the President ofthe Council, that the Protestants of England would flingthe King's person out at his window, _if they believedit possible_ that he lent himself to such an undertaking. "The Commissioners accordingly went back and deliveredtheir errand, with a full account of all the circumstances. Fortunately, the General Assembly had been called for anearly day in January, 1646, at Kilkenny. When, therefore, they met, their first resolution was to despatch SirRobert Talbot to the Viceroy, with a letter suspendingall negotiations till the Earl of Glamorgan was set atliberty. By the end of January, on the joint bail, for40, 000 pounds, of the Earls of Clanrickarde and Kildare, the English envoy was enlarged, and, to the still furtheramazement of the simple-minded Catholics, on his arrivalat Kilkenny, he justified rather than censured the actionof Ormond. To most observers it appeared that thesenoblemen understood each other only too well. From January till June, Kilkenny was delivered over tocabals, intrigues, and recriminations. There was an "oldIrish party, " to which the Nuncio inclined, and an"Anglo-Irish party, " headed by Mountgarrett and themajority of the Council. The former stigmatized the latteras Ormondists, and the latter retorted on them with thename of the Nuncio's party. In February came news of aforeign treaty made at Rome between Sir Kenelm Digby andthe Pope's Ministers, most favourable to the English andIrish Catholics. On the 28th of March, a final modificationof Glamorgan's articles, reduced to thirty in number, was signed by Ormond for the King, and Lord Muskerry andthe other Commissioners for the Confederates. Thesethirty articles conceded, in fact, all the most essentialclaims of the Irish; they secured them equal rights asto property, in the Army, in the Universities, and atthe Bar; they gave them seats in both Houses and on theBench; they authorized a special commission of Oyer andTerminer, composed wholly of Confederates; they declaredthat "the independency of the Parliament of Ireland onthat of England, " should be decided by declaration ofboth Houses "agreeably to the laws of the Kingdom ofIreland. " In short, this final form of Glamorgan's treatygave the Irish Catholics, in 1646, all that was subsequentlyobtained either for the church or the country, in 1782, 1793, or 1829. Though some conditions were omitted, towhich Rinuccini and a majority of the Prelates attachedimportance, Glamorgan's treaty was, upon the whole, acharter upon which a free church and a free people mightwell have stood, as the fundamental law of their religiousand civil liberties. The treaty, thus concluded at the end of March, was tolie as an _escroll_ in the hands of the Marquis ofClanrickarde till the 1st of May, awaiting Sir KenelmDigby with the Roman protocol. And then, not withstandingthe dissuasions of Rinuccini to the contrary, it was tobe kept secret from the world, though some of itsobligations were expected to be at once fulfilled, ontheir side, by the Catholics. The Supreme Council, evereager to exhibit their loyalty, gathered together 6, 000troops for the relief of Chester and the service of theKing in England, so soon as both treaties--the Irish andthe Roman--should be signed by Charles. While so waiting, they besieged and took Bunratty castle--already referredto--but Sir Kenelm Digby did not arrive with May, andthey now learned, to their renewed amazement, thatGlamorgan's whole negotiation was disclaimed by the Kingin England. In the same interval Chester fell, and theKing was obliged to throw himself into the hands of theScottish Parliament, who surrendered him for a price totheir English coadjutors. These tidings reached Irelandduring May, and, varied with the capture of an occasionalfortress, lost or won, occupied all men's minds. But thefirst days of June were destined to bring with them avictory of national--of European importance--won by OwenO'Neil, in the immediate vicinity of his grand-uncle'sfamous battle-field of the Yellow Ford. During these three years of intrigue and negotiation, the position of General O'Neil was hazardous and difficultin the extreme. One campaign he had served under astranger, as second on his own soil. In the other two hewas fettered by the terms of "cessation" to his ownquarters; and to add to his embarrassments, his impetuouskinsman Sir Phelim, brave, rash, and ambitious, recentlymarried to a daughter of his ungenerous rival, GeneralPreston, was incited to thwart and obstruct him amongsttheir mutual clansmen and connections. The only recompensewhich seems to have been awarded to him, was the confidenceof the Nuncio, who, either from that knowledge of characterin which the Italians excel, or from bias received fromsome other source, at once singled him out as the man ofhis people. What portion of the Nuncio's supplies reachedthe Northern General we know not, but in the beginningof June, he felt himself in a position to bring on anengagement with Monroe, who, lately reinforced by bothParliaments, had marched out of Carrickfergus into Tyrone, with a view of penetrating as far south as Kilkenny. Onthe 4th day of June, the two armies encountered at Benburb, on the little river Blackwater, about six miles north ofArmagh, and the most signal victory of the war came torecompense the long-enduring patience of O'Neil. The battle of Benburb has been often and well described. In a naturally strong position--with this leader thechoice of ground seems to have been a first consideration--the Irish, for four hours, received and repulsed thevarious charges of the Puritan horse. Then as the sunbegan to descend, pouring its rays upon the opposingforce, O'Neil led his whole force--five thousand menagainst eight--to the attack. One terrible onset sweptaway every trace of resistance. There were counted onthe field, 3, 243 of the Covenanters, and of the Catholics, but 70 killed and 100 wounded. Lord Ardes, and 21 Scottishofficers, 32 standards, 1, 500 draught horses, and allthe guns and tents, were captured. Monroe fled in panicto Lisburn, and thence to Carrickfergus, where he shuthimself up, till he could obtain reinforcements. O'Neilforwarded the captured colours to the Nuncio, at Limerick, by whom they were solemnly placed in the choir of St. Mary's Cathedral, and afterwards, at the request of PopeInnocent, sent to Rome. _Te Deum_ was chanted in theConfederate Capital; penitential psalms were sung in theNorthern fortress. "The Lord of Hosts, " wrote Monroe, "had rubbed shame on our faces, till once we are humbled;"O'Neil emblazoned the cross and keys on his banner withthe Red Hand of Ulster, and openly resumed the titleoriginally chosen by his adherents at Clones, "theCatholic Army. " CHAPTER IX. FROM THE BATTLE OF BENBURB TILL THE LANDING OFCROMWELL AT DUBLIN. The Nuncio, elated by the great victory of O'Neil, towhich he felt he had personally contributed by hisseasonable supplies, provoked and irritated by Ormond'sintrigues and the King's insincerity, rushed with allthe ardour of his character into making the war anuncompromising Catholic crusade. In this line of conduct, he was supported by the Archbishops of Dublin and Cashel, by ten of the Bishops, including the eminent Prelates ofLimerick, Killalla, Ferns, and Clogher; the Procuratorof Armagh; nine Vicars-general, and the Superiors of theJesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Augustinians. Thepeace party, on the other hand, were not without clericaladherents, but they were inconsiderable, as to influenceand numbers. They were now become as anxious to publishthe Thirty Articles agreed upon at the end of March, asthey then were to keep them secret. Accordingly, withOrmond's consent, copies of the treaty were sent earlyin August to the sheriffs of counties, mayors of cities, and other leading persons, with instructions to proclaimit publicly in due form; upon hearing which, the Nuncioand his supporters of the clergy, secular and regular, assembled in council at Waterford, on the 12th of August, solemnly declared that they gave no consent, and wouldnot, "to any peace, " that did not grant "further, surer, and safer considerations for their religion, king, andcountry, " according to the original oath of the Confederacy. The rupture between the clergy and the laymen of theCouncil was now complete. The prelates who signed thedecree of Waterford, of course, thereby withdrew fromthe body whose action they condemned. In vain the learnedDarcy and the eloquent Plunkett went to and fro betweenthe two bodies: concord and confidence were at an end. The synod decided to address Lord Mountgarrett in futureas President of "the _late_ Supreme Council. " The heraldswho attempted to publish the Thirty Articles in Clonmeland Waterford were hooted or stoned; while in Limerickthe mayor, endeavouring to protect them, shared thisrough usage. Ormond, who was at Kilkenny at the criticalmoment of the breach, did his utmost to sustain theresolution of those who were stigmatized by his name;while the Nuncio, suspicious of Preston, wrote urgentlyto O'Neil to lead his army into Leinster, and remove theremnant of the late council from Kilkenny. All that thosewho held a middle course between the extremes could do, was to advocate an early meeting of the General Assembly;but various exigencies delayed this much-desired meeting, till the 10th day of January, 1647. The five intervening months were months of triumph forRinuccini. Lord Digby appeared at Dublin as a specialagent from the King, to declare his consent to Glamorgan'soriginal terms; but Ormond still insisted that he had noauthority to go beyond the Thirty Articles. Charleshimself wrote privately to Rinuccini, promising to confirmeverything which Glamorgan had proposed, as soon as heshould come into "the Nuncio's hands. " Ormond, after afruitless attempt to convert O'Neil to his views, hadmarched southward with a guard of 1, 500 foot, and 500horse, to endeavour to conciliate the towns, and to winover the Earl of Inchiquin. In both these objects hefailed. He found O'Neil before him in his county palatinateof Tipperary, and the Mayor of Cashel informed him thathe dared not allow him into that city, for fear ofdispleasing the northern general. Finding himself thusunexpectedly within a few miles of "the Catholic Army, "10, 000 strong, the Viceroy retreated precipitately throughKilkenny, Carlow, and Kildare, to Dublin. Lord Digby, who had accompanied him, after an unsuccessful attemptto cajole the Synod of Waterford, made the best of hisway back to France; the Marquis of Clanrickarde, who hadalso been of the expedition, shared the flight of Ormond. Towards the middle of September, O'Neil's army, aftercapturing Roscrea Castle, marched to Kilkenny, and encampednear that city. His forces had now augmented to 12, 000foot, and 1, 500 horse; on the 18th of the month, heescorted the Nuncio in triumph into Kilkenny, where theOrmondist members of the old council were committed toclose custody in the castle. A new council, of fourbishops and eight laymen, was established on the 26th, with the Nuncio as president; Glamorgan succeededCastlehaven, who had gone over to Ormond, as commanderin Munster; while O'Neil and Preston were ordered tounite their forces for the siege of Dublin. The sanguineItalian dreamt of nothing less, for the moment, than thecreation of Viceroys, the deliverance of the King, andthe complete restoration of the ancient religion. O'Neil and Preston, by different routes, on which theywere delayed in taking several garrisoned posts, unitedat Lucan in the valley of the Liffey, seven miles westof Dublin, on the 9th of November. Their joint forcesare represented at 16, 000 foot, and 1, 600 horse--of whichPreston had about one-third, and O'Neil the remainder. Preston's head-quarters were fixed at Leixlip, and O'Neil'sat Newcastle--points equi-distant, and each within twohours' march of the capital. Within the walls of thatcity there reigned the utmost consternation. Many of theinhabitants fled beyond seas, terrified by the fanciedcruelty of the Ulstermen. But Ormond retained all hispresence of mind, and readiness of resources. He entered, at first covertly, into arrangements with theParliamentarians, who sent him a supply of powder; hewrote urgently to Monroe to make a diversion in hisfavour; he demolished the mills and suburbs which mightcover the approaches of the enemy; he employed soldiers, civilians, and even women, upon the fortifications, --Lady Ormond setting an example to her sex, in renderingher feeble assistance. Clanrickarde, in Preston's tent, was doing the work of stimulating the old antipathy ofthat general towards O'Neil, which led to conflictingadvices in Council, and some irritating personalaltercations. To add to the Confederate embarrassment, the winter was the most severe known for many years; fromtwenty to thirty sentinels being frozen at night at theirposts. On the 13th of November, while the plan of theConfederate attack was still undecided, commissioners ofthe Parliament arrived, with ample stores, in Dublin Bay. On the next day they landed at Ringsend, and entered intonegotiations with Ormond; on the 16th the siege wasraised, and on the 23rd Ormond broke off the treaty, having unconsciously saved Dublin from the Confederates, by the incorrect reports of supplies being received, which were finally carried northward to Monroe. The month of January brought the meeting of the GeneralAssembly. The attendance in the great gallery of OrmondCastle was as large, and the circumstances upon the wholeas auspicious as could be desired, in the seventh yearof such a struggle. The members of the old council, liberated from arrest, were in their places. O'Neil andPreston, publicly reconciled, had signed a solemn engagementto assist and sustain each other. The Nuncio, the Primateof Ireland, and eleven bishops took their seats; thepeers of oldest title in the kingdom were present; twohundred and twenty-four members represented the Commonsof Ireland, and among the spectators sat the ambassadorsof France and Spain, and of King Charles. The main subjectof discussion was the sufficiency of the Thirty Articles, and the propriety of the ecclesiastical censure promulgatedagainst those who had signed them. The debate embracedall that may be said on the question of clericalinterference in political affairs, on conditional andunconditional allegiance, on the power of the Pontiffspeaking _ex cathedra_, and the prerogatives of thetemporal sovereign. It was protracted through an entiremonth, and ended with a compromise, which declared thatthe Commissioners had acted in good faith in signing thearticles, while it justified the Synod of Waterford forhaving, as judges of the nature and intent of the oathof Confederation, declared them insufficient andunacceptable. A new oath of Confederacy, solemnly bindingthe associates not to lay down their arms till they hadestablished the free and public exercise of religion asit had existed in the reign of Henry VII. , was framedand taken by the entire General Assembly; the ThirtyArticles were declared insufficient and unacceptable byall but a minority of twelve votes; a new Supreme Councilof twenty-four was chosen, in whom there were not knownto be above four or five partisans of Ormond's policy. The church plate throughout the kingdom was ordered tobe coined into money, and a formal proposal to co-operatewith the Viceroy on the basis of the new oath was made, but instantly rejected; among other grounds, on this, that the Marquis had, at that moment, his son and andother sureties with the Puritans who, in the last resort, he infinitely preferred to the Roman Catholics. The military events of the year 1647 were much moredecisive than its politics. Glamorgan still commanded inMunster, Preston in Leinster, and O'Neil in both Ulsterand Connaught. The first was confronted by Inchiquin, at the head of a corps of 5, 000 foot and 1, 500 horse, equipped and supplied by the English Puritans; the secondsaw the garrisons of Dundalk, Drogheda, and Dublin, reinforced by fresh regiments of Covenanters, and fed byParliamentary supplies from the sea; the latter was inthe heart of Connaught, organizing and recruiting andattempting all things within his reach, but hampered formoney, clothing and ammunition. In Connaught, O'Neil wassoon joined by the Nuncio, who, as difficulties thickened, began to lean more and more on the strong arm of thevictor of Benburb; in Munster, the army refused to followthe lead of Glamorgan, and clamoured for their old chief, Lord Muskerry; finally, that division of the nationaltroops was committed by the Council to Lord Taafe, apolitician of the school of Ormond and Clanrickarde, wholly destitute of military experience. The vigorousInchiquin had little difficulty in dealing with such anantagonist; Cashel was taken without a blow in its defence, and a slaughter unparalleled till the days of Droghedaand Wexford, deluged its streets and churches. At Knocknos, later in the autumn (Nov. 12th), Taafe was utterly routed;the gallant _Colkitto_, serving under him, lamentablysacrificed after surrendering his sword; and Inchiquinenabled to dictate a cessation covering Munster--far lessfavourable to Catholics than the truce of Castlemartin--to the Supreme Council. This truce was signed atDungarvan, on the 20th of May, 1648, and on the 27th theNuncio published his solemn decree of excommunicationagainst all its aiders and abettors, and himself madethe best of his way from Kilkenny to Maryboro', whereO'Neil then lay. The military and political situation of O'Neil, duringthe latter months of 1647 and the whole of 1648, was oneof the most extraordinary in which any general had everbeen placed. His late sworn colleague, Preston, was nowcombined with Inchiquin against him; the royalistClanrickarde, in the western counties, pressed upon hisrear, and captured his garrison in Athlone; theParliamentary general, Michael Jones, to whom Ormond hadfinally surrendered Dublin, observed rather than impededhis movements in Leinster; the lay majority of the SupremeCouncil proclaimed him a traitor--a compliment which hefully returned; the Nuncio threw himself wholly into hishands; finally, at the close of '48, Ormond, returningfrom France to Ireland, concluded, on the 17th of January, a formal alliance with the lay members, under the titleof "Commissioners of Trust, " for the King and Kingdom;and Rinuccini, despairing, perhaps, of a cause sodistracted, sailed in his own frigate, from Galway, onthe 23rd of February. Thus did the actors change theirparts, alternately triumphing and fleeing for safety. The verdict of history may condemn the Nuncio, of whomwe have now seen the last, for his imperious self-will, and his too ready recourse to ecclesiastical censures;but of his zeal, his probity, and his disinterestedness, there can be, we think, no second opinion. Under the treaty of 1649--which conceded full civil andreligious equality to the Roman Catholics--Ormond wasonce more placed at the head of the government and incommand of the royal troops. A few days after the signingof that treaty, news of the execution of Charles I. Havingreached Ireland, the Viceroy proclaimed the Prince ofWales by the title of Charles II. , at Cork and Youghal. Prince Rupert, whose fleet had entered Kinsale, causedthe same ceremony to be gone through in that ancientborough. With Ormond were now cordially united Preston, Inchiquin, Clanrickarde, and Muskerry, on whom the leadof the Supreme Council devolved, in consequence of theadvanced age of Lord Mountgarrett, and the remainder ofthe twelve Commissioners of Trust. The cause of the youngPrince, an exile, the son of that Catholic queen fromwhom they had expected so much, was far from unpopularin the southern half of the island. The Anglican interestwas strong and widely diffused through both Leinster andMunster; and, except a resolute prelate, like Dr. French, Bishop of Ferns, or a brave band of townsmen like thoseof Waterford, Limerick, and Galway, or some remnant ofmountain tribes, in Wicklow and Tipperary, the national, or "old Irish policy, " had decidedly lost ground fromthe hour of the Nuncio's departure. Owen O'Neil and the Bishops still adhered to that nationalpolicy. The former made a three-months' truce with GeneralMonck, who had succeeded Monroe in the command of allthe Parliamentary troops in his province. The singularspectacle was even exhibited of Monck forwarding suppliesto O'Neil, to be used against Inchiquin and Ormond, andO'Neil coining to the rescue of Coote, and raising forhim the siege of Londonderry. Inchiquin, in rapidsuccession, took Drogheda, Trim, Dundalk, Newry, and thenrapidly countermarched to join Ormond in besieging Dublin. At Rathmines, near the city, both generals were surprisedand defeated by the Parliamentarians under Michael Jones. Between desertions, and killed and wounded, they lost, by their own account, nearly 3, 000, and by the Puritanaccounts, above 5, 000 men. This action was the virtualclose of Ormond's military career; he never after madehead against the Parliamentary forces in open field. The Catholic cities of Limerick and Galway refused toadmit his garrisons; a synod of the Bishops, assembledat Jamestown (in Roscommon), strongly recommended hiswithdrawal from the kingdom; and Cromwell had arrived, resolved to finish the war in a single campaign. Ormondsailed again for France, before the end of 1649, to returnno more until the restoration of the monarchy, on thedeath of the great Protector. CHAPTER X. CROMWELL'S CAMPAIGN---1649-1650. An actor was now to descend upon the scene, whose characterhas excited more controversy than that of any other personageof those times. Honoured as a saint, or reprobated as ahypocrite, worshipped for his extraordinary successes, oranathematized for the unworthy artifices by which herose--who shall deal out, with equal hand, praise and blameto Oliver Cromwell'? Not for the popular writer of Irishhistory, is that difficult judicial task. Not for us tore-echo cries of hatred which convince not the indifferent, nor correct the errors of the educated or cultivated: thesimple, and, as far as possible, the unimpassioned narrativeof facts, will constitute the whole of our duty towardsthe Protector's campaign in Ireland. Cromwell left London in great state, early in July, "ina coach drawn by six gallant Flanders mares, " and madea sort of royal procession across the country to Bristol. From that famous port, where Strongbow confederated withDermid McMurrogh, and from which Dublin drew its firstAnglo-Norman colony, he went on to Milford Haven, atwhich he embarked, arriving in Dublin on the 15th ofAugust. He entered the city in procession, and addressedthe townsfolk from "a convenient place. " He had with himtwo hundred thousand pounds in money, eight regiments offoot, six of horse, and some troops of dragoons; besidesthe divisions of Jones and Monck, already in the country, and subject to his command. Among the officers werenames of memorable interest--Henry Cromwell, second sonof the Protector, and future Lord Deputy; Monck, Blake, Jones, Ireton, Ludlow, Hardress Waller, Sankey, and othersequally prominent in accomplishing the King's death, orin raising up the English commonwealth. Cromwell's command in Ireland extends from the middle ofAugust, 1649, to the end of May, 1650, about nine monthsin all, and is remarkable for the number of sieges ofwalled towns crowded into that brief period. There was, during the whole time, no great action in the field, likeMarston Moor, or Benburb, or Dunbar; it was a campaignof seventeenth century cannon against mediaeval masonry;what else was done, was the supplemental work of mutualbravery on both sides. Drogheda, Dundalk, Newry, andCarlingford fell in September; Arklow, Enniscorthy, andWexford in October; Ross, one of the first seaports inpoint of commerce, surrendered the same month; Waterfordwas attempted and abandoned in November; Dungarvan, Kinsale, Bandon, and Cork were won over by Lord Broghillin December; Fethard, Callan, and Cashel in January andFebruary; Carrick and Kilkenny in March; and Clonmel, early in May. Immediately after this last capitulation, Cromwell was recalled to lead the armies of the Parliamentinto Scotland: during the nine months he had commandedin Ireland, he had captured five or six county capitals, and a great number of less considerable places. The terrorof his siege-trains and Ironsides was spread over thegreater part of three Provinces, and his well-reportedsuccesses had proved so many steps to the assumption ofthat sovereign power at which he already aimed. Of the spirit in which these several sieges were conducted, it is impossible to speak without a shudder. It was, intruth, a spirit of hatred and fanaticism, altogetherbeyond the control of the revolutionary leader. AtDrogheda, the work of slaughter occupied five entiredays. Of the brave garrison of 3, 000 men, not thirty werespared, and these, "were in hands for the Barbadoes;"old men, women, children and priests, were unsparinglyput to the sword. Wexford was basely betrayed by CaptainJames Stafford, commander of the castle, whose midnightinterview with Cromwell, at a petty rivulet without thewalls, tradition still recounts with horror and detestation. This port was particularly obnoxious to the Parliament, as from its advantageous position on the Bristol channel, its cruisers greatly annoyed and embarrassed theircommerce. "There are, " Cromwell writes to SpeakerLenthall, "great quantities of iron, hides, tallow, salt, pipe and barrel staves, which are under commissioners'hands to be secured. We believe there are near a hundredcannon in the fort and elsewhere in and about the town. Here is likewise some very good shipping; here are threevessels, one of them of thirty-four guns, which a week'stime would fit for sea; there is another of about twentyguns, very nearly ready likewise. " He also reports twoother frigates, one on the stocks, which "for herhandsomeness' sake" he intended to have finished for theParliament, and another "most excellent vessel forsailing, " taken within the fort, at the harbour's mouth. By the treachery of Captain Stafford, this strong andwealthy town was at the mercy of those "soldiers of theLord and of Gideon, " who had followed Oliver to his Irishwars. The consequences were the same as at Drogheda--merciless execution on the garrison and the inhabitants. In the third month of Cromwell's campaign, the report ofOwen O'Neil's death went abroad, palsying the Catholicarms. By common consent of friend and foe, he wasconsidered the ablest civil and military leader that hadappeared in Ireland during the reigns of the Stuart kings. Whether in native ability he was capable of coping withCromwell, was for a long time a subject of discussion;but the consciousness of irreparable national loss, perhaps, never struck deeper than amid the crash of thatirresistible cannonade of the walled towns and cities ofLeinster and Munster. O'Neil had lately, despairing ofbinding the Scots or the English, distrustful alike ofCoote and of Monck, been reconciled to Ormond, and wasmarching southward to his aid at the head of 6, 000 chosenmen. Lord Chancellor Clarendon assures us that Ormondhad the highest hopes from this junction, and the utmostconfidence in O'Neil's abilities. But at a ball at Derry, towards the end of August, he received his death, it issaid, in a pair of poisoned russet leather slipperspresented to him by one Plunkett; marching southward, borne in a litter, he expired at Clough Oughter Castle, near his old Belturbet camp, on the 6th of November, 1649. His last act was to order one of his nephews--HughO'Neil--to form a junction with Ormond in Munster withoutdelay. In the chancel of the Franciscan Abbey of Cavan, now grass-grown and trodden by the hoofs of cattle, hisbody was interred; his nephew and successor did honourto his memory at Clonmel and Limerick. It was nowremembered, even by his enemies, with astonishment andadmiration, how for seven long years he had subsistedand kept together an army, the creature of his genius;without a government at his back, without regular supplies, enforcing obedience, establishing discipline, winninggreat victories, maintaining, even at the worst, a nativepower in the heart of the kingdom. When the archives ofthose years are recovered (if they ever are), no namemore illustrious for the combination of great qualitieswill be found preserved there than the name of this lastnational leader of the illustrious lineage of O'Neil. The unexpected death of the Ulster general favoured stillfarther Cromwell's southern movements. The gallant, butimpetuous Bishop of Clogher, Heber McMahon, was the onlynorthern leader who could command confidence enough tokeep O'Neil's force together, and on him, therefore, thecommand devolved. O'Ferrall, one of Owen's favouriteofficers, was despatched to Waterford, and mainlycontributed to Cromwell's repulse before that city; HughO'Neil covered himself with glory at Clonmel and Limerick;Daniel O'Neil, another nephew of Owen, remained attachedto Ormond, and accompanied him to France; but within sixmonths from the loss of their Fabian chief, who knew aswell when to strike as to delay, the brave Bishop ofClogher sacrificed the remnant of "the Catholic Army" atthe pass of Scariffhollis, in Donegal, and, two daysafter, his own life by a martyr's death, at Omagh. Atthe date of Cromwell's departure--when Ireton took commandof the southern army--there remained to the Confederatesonly some remote glens and highlands of the North andWest, the cities of Limerick and Galway, with the countyof Clare, and some detached districts of the province ofConnaught. The last act of Cromwell's proper campaign was the siegeof Clonmel, where he met the stoutest resistance he hadanywhere encountered. The Puritans, after effecting abreach, made an attempt to enter, chanting one of theirscriptural battle-songs. They were, by their own account, "obliged to give back a while, " and finally night settleddown upon the scene. The following day, finding the placeno longer tenable, the garrison silently withdrew toWaterford, and subsequently to Limerick. The inhabitantsdemanded a parley, which was granted; and Cromwell takescredit, and deserves it, when we consider the men he hadto humour, for having kept conditions with them. From before Clonmel he returned at once to England, wherehe was received with royal honours. All London turnedout to meet the Conqueror who had wiped out the humiliationof Benburb, and humbled the pride of the detested Papists. He was lodged in the palace of the king, and chosen"Captain-general of all the forces raised, or to beraised, by the authority of the Parliament of England. " CHAPTER XI. CLOSE OF THE CONFEDERATE WAR. The tenth year of the contest of which we have endeavouredto follow the most important events, opened upon theremaining Catholic leaders, greatly reduced in numbersand resources, but firm and undismayed. Two chief seaports, and some of the western counties still remained to them;and accordingly we find meetings of the Bishops and othernotables during this year (1650), at Limerick, at Loughrea, and finally at Jamestown, in the neighbourhood of OwenO'Neil's nursery of the first "Catholic Army. " The Puritan commander was now Henry Ireton, son-in-lawof Cromwell, by a marriage contracted about two yearsbefore. The completion of the Protector's policy couldhave devolved upon few persons more capable ofunderstanding, or more fearless in executing it; and intwo eventful campaigns he proved himself the able successorof the Protector. In August following Cromwell's departure, Waterford and Duncannon were taken by Ireton; and thereonly remained to the Confederates the fortresses of Sligo, Athlone, Limerick, and Galway, with the country includedwithin the irregular quadrangle they describe. The youngerCoote making a feint against Sligo, which Clanrickardehastened to defend, turned suddenly on his steps, andsurprised Athlone. Sligo, naturally a place of no greatstrength after the invention of artillery, soon afterfell, so that Galway and Limerick alone were left, atthe beginning of 1651, to bear all the brunt of Puritanhostility. Political events of great interest happened during thetwo short years of Ireton's command. The Assembly, whichmet at Jamestown in August, and again at Loughrea inNovember, 1650, made the retirement of Ormond from theGovernment a condition of all future efforts in the royalcause, and that nobleman, deeply wounded by this condition, had finally sailed from Galway, in December, leaving toClanrickarde the title of Lord Deputy, and to Castlehaventhe command of the forces which still kept the field. The news from Scotland of the young king's subscriptionto the covenant, and denunciation of all terms with IrishPapists, came to aid the councils of those, who, likethe eloquent French, Bishop of Ferns, demanded a nationalpolicy, irrespective of the exigencies of the Stuartfamily. An embassy was accordingly despatched to Brussels, to offer the title of King-Protector to the Duke ofLorraine, or failing with him, to treat with any "otherCatholic prince, state, republic, or person, as theymight deem expedient for the preservation of the Catholicreligion and nation. " A wide latitude, dictated bydesperate circumstances. The ambassadors were BishopFrench and Hugh Rochfort; the embassy one of the mostcurious and instructive in our annals. The Duke expressed himself willing to undertake anexpedition to Ireland--to supply arms and money to theConfederates--on the condition of receiving Athlone, Limerick, Athenry and Galway into his custody, with thetitle of Protector. A considerable sum of money (20, 000pounds) was forwarded at once; four Belgian frigatesladen with stores were made ready for sea; the Canon DeHenin was sent as envoy to the Confederates, and thislast venture looked most promising of success, had notClanrickarde in Galway, and Charles and Ormond in Paris, taking alarm at the new dignity conferred upon the Duke, countermined the Bishop of Ferns and Mr. Rochfort, anddefeated by intrigue and correspondence their hopefulenterprise. The decisive battle of Worcester, fought on the 3rd ofSeptember, 1651, drove Charles II. Into that nine years'exile, from which he only returned on the death ofCromwell. It may be considered the last military eventof importance in the English civil war. In Ireland thecontest was destined to drag out another campaign, beforethe walls of the two gallant cities, Galway and Limerick. Limerick was the first object of attack. Ireton, leavingSankey to administer martial law in Tipperary, struckthe Shannon opposite Killaloe, driving Castlehaven beforehim. Joined by Coote and Reynolds, fresh from the siegesof Athenry and Athlone, he moved upon Limerick by theConnaught bank of the river, while Castlehaven fled toClanrickarde in Galway, with a guard of forty horse, allthat remained intact of the 4, 000 men bequeathed him byOrmond. From the side of Munster, Lord Muskerry attempteda diversion in favour of Limerick, but was repulsed atCastleishen, by "the flying camp" of Lord Broghill. Thebesiegers were thus not only delivered of a danger, butreinforced by native troops--if the "Undertakers" couldbe properly called so--which made them the most formidablearmy that had ever surrounded an Irish city. From earlysummer till the last week of October, the main force ofthe English and Anglo-Irish, supplied with every speciesof arm then invented, assailed the walls of Limerick. The plague, which during these months swept with suchfearful mortality over the whole kingdom, struck downits defenders, and filled all its streets with desolationand grief. The heroic bishops, O'Brien of Emly, andO'Dwyer of Limerick, exerted themselves to uphold, byreligious exhortations, the confidence of the besieged;while Hugh O'Neil and General Purcell maintained thecourage of their men. Clanrickarde had offered to chargehimself with the command, but the citizens preferred totrust in the skill and determination of the defender ofClonmel, whose very name was a talisman among them. Themunicipal government, however, composed of the men ofproperty in the city, men whose trade was not war, whosereligion was not enthusiastic, formed a third party, --aparty in favour of peace at any price. With the Mayor attheir head, they openly encouraged the surrender of oneof the outworks to the besiegers, and this betrayal, onthe 27th of October, compelled the surrender of the entireworks. Thus Limerick fell, divided within itself bymilitary, clerical, and municipal factions; thus gloryand misfortune combined to consecrate its name in thenational veneration, and the general memory of mankind. The Bishop of Emly and General Purcell were executed astraitors; the Bishop of Limerick escaped in the disguiseof a common soldier, and died at Brussels; O'Neil's lifewas saved by a single vote; Sir Geoffrey Gabney, AldermenStritch and Fanning, and other leading Confederates, expiated their devotion upon the scaffold. On the 12th of May following--seven months after thecapture of Limerick, Galway fell. Ireton, who survivedthe former siege but a few days, was succeeded by Ludlow, a sincere republican of the school of Pym and Hampden--ifthat school can be called, in our modern sense, republican. It was the sad privilege of General Preston, whose nameis associated with so many of the darkest, and with someof the brightest incidents of this war, to order thesurrender of Galway, as he had two years previously givenup Waterford. Thus the last open port, the last considerabletown held by the Confederates, yielded to the overwhelmingpower of numbers and munitions, in the twelfth year ofthat illustrious war which Ireland waged for her religiousand civil liberties, against the forces of the twoadjoining kingdoms, sometimes estranged from one another, but always hostile alike to the religious belief and thepolitical independence of the Irish people. With the fall of Galway, the Confederate war drew rapidlyto a close. Colonels Fitzpatrick, O'Dwyer, Grace, andThorlogh O'Neil, surrendered their posts; Lords Enniskillenand West-Meath followed their example; Lord Muskerryyielded Ross Castle, on Killarney, in June; Clanrickardelaid down his arms at Carrick, in October. The usualterms granted were liberty to transport themselves andfollowers to the service of any foreign state or princeat peace with the commonwealth; a favoured few werepermitted to live and die in peace on their own estates, under the watchful eye of some neighbouring garrison. The chief actors in the Confederate war not alreadyaccounted for, terminated their days under many differentcircumstances. Mountgarrett and Bishop Rothe died beforeGalway fell, and were buried in the capital of theConfederacy; Bishop McMahon of Clogher, surrendered toSir Charles Coote, and was executed like a felon by onehe had saved from destruction a year before at Derry;Coote, after the Restoration, became Earl of Mountrath, and Broghill, Earl of Orrery; Clanrickarde died unnoticedon his English estate, under the Protectorate; Inchiquin, after many adventures in foreign lands, turned Catholicin his old age, and this burner of churches bequeathedan annual alms for masses for his soul; Jones, Corbet, Cook, and the fanatical preacher, Hugh Peters, perishedon the scaffold with the other regicides executed byorder of the English Parliament; Ormond having sharedthe evils of exile with the King, shared also the splendourof his restoration, became a Duke, and took his place, as if by common consent, at the head of the peerage ofthe empire; his Irish rental, which before the war wasbut 7, 000 pounds a year, swelled suddenly on the Restorationto 80, 000 pounds; Nicholas French, after some sojourn inSpain, where he was coadjutor to the Archbishop of SaintJames, returned to Louvain, where he made his firststudies, and there spent the evening of his days in thecomposition of those powerful pamphlets which kept alivethe Irish cause at home and on the continent; a Romanpatrician did the honours of sepulture to Luke Wadding, and Cromwell interred James Usher in Westminster Abbey;the heroic defender of Clonmel and Limerick, and thegallant, though vacillating Preston, were cordiallyreceived in France; while the consistent republican, Ludlow, took refuge as a fugitive in Switzerland. Sir Phelim O'Neil, the first author of the war, was amongthe last to suffer the penalties of defeat. For a moment, towards the end, he renewed his sway over the remnant ofOwen's soldiers, took Ballyshannon, and two or threeother places. Compelled at last to surrender, he wascarried to Dublin, and tried on a charge of treason, acommittee closeted behind the bench dictating theinterrogatories to his judges, and receiving his answersin reply. Condemned to death, as was expected, he wasoffered his life by the Puritan colonel, Hewson, on thevery steps of the scaffold, if he would inculpate thelate King Charles in the rising of 1641. This he "stoutlyrefused to do, " and the execution proceeded with all itsatrocious details. Whatever may have been the excessescommitted under his command by a plundered people, attheir first insurrection--and we know that they havebeen exaggerated beyond all bounds--it must be admittedhe died the death of a Christian, a soldier, and agentleman. CHAPTER XII. IRELAND UNDER THE PROTECTORATE--ADMINISTRATION OFHENRY CROMWELL--DEATH OF OLIVER. The English republic rose from the scaffold of the King, in 1649; its first government was a "Council of State"of forty-one members; under this council, Cromwell heldat first the title of Lord General; but, on the 16thDecember, 1653, he was solemnly installed, in WestminsterHall, as "Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland. " He was then in his fifty-fourthyear; his reign--if such it may be called--lasted lessthan five years. The policy of the Protector towards Ireland is even lessdefensible than his military severities. For the barbaritiesof war there may be some apology, the poor one at leastthat such outrages are inseparable from war itself; butfor the cold-blooded, deliberate atrocities of peace, nosuch defence can be permitted before the tribunal of afree posterity. The Long Parliament, still dragging out its date, underthe shadow of Cromwell's great name, declared in itssession of 1652, the rebellion in Ireland "subdued andended, " and proceeded to legislate for that kingdom asa conquered country. On the 12th of August, they passedtheir Act of Settlement, the authorship of which wasattributed to Lord Orrery, in this respect the worthyson of the first Earl of Cork. Under this Act, there werefour chief descriptions of persons whose status was thussettled: 1st. All ecclesiastics and royalist proprietorswere exempted from pardon of life or estate. 2nd. Allroyalist commissioned officers were condemned to banishment, and the forfeit of two-thirds of their property, one-thirdbeing retained for the support of their wives and children. 3rd. Those who had not been in arms, but could be shown, by a Parliamentary commission, to have manifested "aconstant, good affection" to the war, were to forfeitone-third of their estates, and receive "an equivalent"for the remaining two-thirds west of the Shannon. 4th. All husbandmen and others of the inferior sort, "notpossessed of lands or goods exceeding the value of 10pounds, " were to have a free pardon, on condition alsoof transporting themselves across the Shannon. This last condition of the Cromwellian settlementdistinguished it, in our annals, from every otherproscription of the native population formerly attempted. The great river of Ireland, rising in the mountains ofLeitrim, nearly severs the five western counties fromthe rest of the kingdom. The province thus set apart, though one of the largest in superficial extent, had alsothe largest proportion of waste and water, mountain andmoorland. The new inhabitants were there to congregatefrom all the other provinces before the 1st day of May, 1654, under penalty of outlawry and all its consequences;and when there, they were not to appear within two milesof the Shannon or four miles of the sea. A rigorouspassport system, to evade which was death without formof trial, completed this settlement, the design of whichwas to shut up the remaining Catholic inhabitants fromall intercourse with mankind, and all communion with theother inhabitants of their own country. A new survey of the whole kingdom was also ordered, underthe direction of Dr. William Petty, the fortunate economist, who founded the house of Lansdowne. By him the surfaceof the kingdom was estimated at ten millions and a halfplantation acres, three of which were deducted for wasteand water. Of the remainder, above 5, 000, 000 were inCatholic hands in 1641; 300, 000 were church and collegelands; and 2, 000, 000 were in possession of the Protestantsettlers of the reigns of James and Elizabeth. Under theProtectorate, 5, 000, 000 acres were confiscate; thisenormous spoil, two-thirds of the whole island, went tothe soldiers and adventurers who had served against theIrish, or had contributed to the military chest, since1641--except 700, 000 acres given in "exchange" to thebanished in Clare and Connaught; and 1, 200, 000 confirmedto "innocent Papists. " Such was the complete uprootingof the ancient tenantry or clansmen, from their originalholdings, that during the survey, orders of Parliamentwere issued to bring back individuals from Connaught topoint out the boundaries of parishes in Munster. It cannotbe imputed among the sins so freely laid to the historicalaccount of the native legislature, that an Irish parliamenthad any share in sanctioning this universal spoliation. Cromwell anticipated the union of the kingdoms by ahundred and fifty years, when he summoned, in 1653, thatassembly over which "Praise-God Barebones" presided;members for Ireland and Scotland sat on the same bencheswith the commons of England. Oliver's first deputy inthe government of Ireland was his son-in-law, Fleetwood, who had married the widow of Ireton; but his realrepresentative was his fourth son, Henry Cromwell, Commander-in-Chief of the army. In 1657, the title ofLord Deputy was transferred from Fleetwood to Henry, whounited the supreme civil and military authority in hisown person, until the eve of the restoration, of whichhe became an active partisan. We may thus properly embracethe five years of the Protectorate as the period of HenryCromwell's administration. In the absence of a Parliament, the government of Irelandwas vested in the Deputy, the Commander-in-Chief, andfour commissioners, Ludlow, Corbett, Jones, and Weaver. There was, moreover, a High Court of Justice, whichperambulated the kingdom, and exercised an absoluteauthority over life and property, greater than evenStrafford's Court of Castle Chamber had pretended to. Over this court presided Lord Lowther, assisted by Mr. Justice Donnellan, by Cooke, solicitor to the Parliamenton the trial of King Charles, and the regicide, Reynolds. By this court, Sir Phelim O'Neil, Viscount Mayo, andColonels O'Toole and Bagnall, were condemned and executed;by them the mother of Colonel Fitzpatrick was burnt atthe stake; and Lords Muskerry and Clanmaliere set atliberty, through some secret influence. The commissionerswere not behind the High Court of Justice in executiveoffices of severity. Children under age, of both sexes, were captured by thousands, and sold as slaves to thetobacco planters of Virginia and the West Indies. SecretaryThurloe informs Henry Cromwell that "the Committee ofthe Council have authorized 1, 000 girls and as manyyouths, to be taken up for that purpose. " Sir WilliamPetty mentions 6, 000 Irish boys and girls shipped to theWest Indies. Some cotemporary accounts make the totalnumber of children and adults so transported 100, 000souls. To this decimation, we may add 34, 000 men offighting age, who had permission to enter the armies offoreign powers, at peace with the commonwealth. The chiefcommissioners, sitting at Dublin, had their deputies ina commission of delinquencies, sitting at Athlone, andanother of transportation, sitting at Loughrea. Undertheir superintendence, the distribution made of the soilamong the Puritans "was nearly as complete as that ofCanaan by the Israelites. " Whenever native labourers werefound absolutely necessary for the cultivation of theestates of their new masters, they were barely tolerated"as the Gibeonites had been by Joshua. " Such Irishgentlemen as had obtained pardons, were obliged to weara distinctive mark on their dress under pain of death;those of inferior rank were obliged to wear a round blackspot on the right cheek under pain of the branding ironand the gallows; if a Puritan lost his life in any districtinhabited by Catholics, the whole population were heldsubject to military execution. For the rest, whenever"Tory" or recusant fell into the hands of these militarycolonists, or the garrisons which knitted them together, they were assailed with the war cry of the Jews--"Thatthy feet may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and that the tongues of thy dogs may be red with thesame. " Thus penned in between "the mile line" of theShannon, and "the four mile-line" of the sea, the remnantof the Irish nation passed seven years of a bondageunequalled in severity by anything which can be found inthe annals of Christendom. The conquest was not only a military but a religioussubjugation. The 27th of Elizabeth--the old act ofuniformity--was rigorously enforced. The Catholic lawyerswere disbarred and silenced; the Catholic schoolmasterswere forbidden to teach, under pain of felony. Recusants, surrounded in glens and caves, offering up the holysacrifice through the ministry of some daring priest, were shot down or smoked out like vermin. The ecclesiasticsnever, in any instance, were allowed to escape. Amongthose who suffered death during the short space of theProtectorate, are counted "three bishops and three hundredecclesiastics. " The surviving prelates were in exile, except the bedridden Bishop of Kilmore, who for yearshad been unable to officiate. So that, now, that ancienthierarchy which in the worst Danish wars had stillrecruited its ranks as fast as they were broken, seemedon the very eve of extinction. Throughout all the islandno episcopal hand remained to bless altars, to ordainpriests, or to confirm the faithful. The Irish church aswell as the Irish state, touched its lowest point ofsuffering and endurance in the decade which intervenedbetween the death of Charles I. And the death of Cromwell. The new population imposed upon the kingdom, soon splitup into a multitude of sects. Some of them became Quakers:many adhered to the Anabaptists; others, after theRestoration, conformed to the established church. Thatdeeper tincture of Puritanism which may be traced in theIrish, as compared with the English establishment, tookits origin even more from the Cromwellian settlement thanfrom the Calvinistic teachings of Archbishop Usher. Oliver died in 1658, on his "fortunate day, " the 3rd ofSeptember, leaving England to experience twenty monthsof republican intrigue and anarchy. Richard Cromwell--Lambert--Ludlow--Monck--each played his part in thisstormy interval, till, the time being ripe for arestoration, Charles II. Landed at Dover on the 23rd ofMay, 1660 and was carried in triumph to London. BOOK X. FROM THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES II. TOTHE ACCESSION OF GEORGE I. CHAPTER I. REIGN OF CHARLES II. Hope is dear to the heart of man, and of all her votariesnone have been more constant than the Irish. Half acentury of the Stuarts had not extinguished their blindpartiality for the descendants of the old Scoto-Irishkings. The restoration of that royal house was, therefore, an event which penetrated to the remotest wilds ofConnaught, lighting up with cheering expectation the mostdesolate hovels of the proscribed. To the Puritans settledin Ireland, most of whom, from the mean condition ofmenial servants, common soldiers and subaltern officers, had become rich proprietors, the same tidings broughtapprehension and alarm. But their leaders, the Protestantgentry of an earlier date, wealthy, astute and energetic, uniting all their influence for the common protection, turned this event, which seemed at one time to threatentheir ruin, to their advantage and greater security. Thechief of these greater leaders was the accomplished LordBroghill, whom we are to know during this reign underhis more famous title of Earl of Orrery. The position of the Irish as compared with the EnglishPuritans, was essentially different in the eyes of Ormond, Clarendon, and the other counsellors of the king. Thoughthe former represented dissent as against the church, they also represented the English as against the Irishinterest, in Ireland. As dissenters they were dislikedand ridiculed, but as colonists they could not be disturbed. When national antipathy was placed in one scale andreligious animosity in the other, the intensely nationalfeeling of England for the Cromwellians, as Englishmensettled in a hostile country, prevailed over every otherconsideration. In this, as in all other conjunctures, ithas been the singular infelicity of the one island to besubjected to a policy directly opposite to that pursuedin the other. While in England it was considered wiseand just to break down the Puritans as a party--throughthe court, the pulpit, and the press; to drive the violentinto exile, and to win the lukewarm to conformity; inIreland it was decided to confirm them in their possessions, to leave the government of the kingdom in their hands, and to strengthen their position by the Acts of Settlementand Explanation. These acts were hailed as "the MagnaCharta of Irish Protestantism, " but so far as the vastmajority of the people were concerned, they were ascruelly unjust as the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, or the edicts which banished the Moors and Jews from theSpanish peninsula. The struggle for possession of the soil inaugurated bythe confiscations of Elizabeth and James was continuedagainst great odds by the Catholic Irish throughout thisreign. Though the royal declaration of Breda, whichpreceded the restoration, had not mentioned them expressly, they still claimed under it not only the "liberty totender consciences, " but that "just satisfaction" tothose unfairly deprived of their estates, promised inthat declaration. Accordingly, several of the old gentryreturned from Connaught, or places abroad, took possessionof their old homes, or made their way at once to Dublinor London, to urge their claims to their former estates. To their dismay, they found in Dublin, Coote and Broghillestablished as Lords Justices, and the new Parliament--thefirst that sat for twenty years--composed of an overwhelmingmajority of Undertakers, adventurers, and Puritanrepresentatives of boroughs, from which all the Catholicelectors had been long excluded. The Protestant interest, or "ascendancy party, " as it now began to be commonlycalled, counted in the Commons 198 members to 64 Catholics;in the House of Lords, 72 Protestant to 21 Catholic peers. The former elected Sir Audley Mervyn their Speaker, andthe able but curiously intricate and quaint discoursesof the ancient colleague of Kelly and Darcy in theassertion of Irish legislative independence, shows howdifferent was the spirit of Irish Protestantism in 1661as compared with 1641. The Lords chose Bramhall, thelong-exiled Bishop of Derry, now Archbishop of Armagh, as their Speaker, and attempted to compel their members"to take the sacrament" according to the Anglican ritual. The majority of both Houses, to secure the good-will ofOrmond, voted him the sum of 30, 000 pounds, and thenproceeded to consider "the Bill of Settlement, " in relationto landed property. The Catholic bar, which had beenapparently restored to its freedom, presented a strikingarray of talent, from which their co-religionists selectedthose by whom they desired to be heard at the bar of theHouse. The venerable Darcy and the accomplished Bellingwere no longer their oracles of the law; but they hadthe services of Sir Nicholas Plunkett, an old confederate, of Sir Richard Nagle, author of the famous "CoventryLetter, " of Nugent, afterwards Lord Riverston, and otherable men. In the House of Lords they had an intrepidally in the Earl of Kildare, and in England an agentequally intrepid, in Colonel Richard Talbot, afterwardsEarl of Tyrconnell. The diplomatic and parliamentarystruggle between the two interests, the disinherited andthe new proprietory, was too protracted, and the detailsare too involved for elucidation in every part; but theresult tells its own story. In 1675--in the fifteenthyear of the restoration--the new settlers possessed above4, 500, 000 acres, to about 2, 250, 000 still retained bythe old owners. These relative proportions were exactlythe reverse of those existing before the Cromwelliansettlement; a single generation had seen this greatrevolution accomplished in landed property. The Irish Parliament having sent over to England theheads of their bill, according to the constitutional ruleestablished by Poyning's Act, the Irish Catholics sentover Sir Nicholas Plunkett to obtain modifications ofits provisions. But Plunkett was met in England with suchan outcry from the mob and the press as to the allegedatrocities of the Confederate war, and his own formernegotiations on the continent, that he was unable toeffect anything; while Colonel Talbot, for his too warmexpostulations with Ormond, was sent to the Tower. Anorder of Council, forbidding Plunkett the presence, anddeclaring that "no petition or further address be madefrom the Roman Catholics of Ireland, as to the Bill ofSettlement, " closed the controversy, and the Act soonafter received the royal assent. Under this act, a court was established at Dublin, totry the claims of "nocent" and "innocent. " Notwithstandingevery influence which could be brought to bear on them, the judges, who were Englishmen, declared in their firstsession, one hundred and sixty-eight innocent to nineteennocent. Proceeding in this spirit "to the great loss anddissatisfaction of the Protestants, " the latter, greatlyalarmed, procured the interference of Ormond, now LordLieutenant (1662), in effecting a modification of thecommission, appointing the court, by which its durationwas limited to an early day. The consequence was, thatwhile less than 800 claims were decided on when the fatalday arrived, over 3, 000 were left unheard, at least athird of whom were admitted even by their enemies to beinnocent. About 500 others had been restored by name inthe Act of Settlement itself; but, by the Act of Explanation(1665), "no Papist who had not been adjudged innocent"under the former act could be so adjudged thereafter, "or entitled to claim any lands or settlements. " Thus, even the inheritance of hope, and the reversion ofexpectation, were extinguished for ever for the sons anddaughters of the ancient gentry of the kingdom. The religious liberties of this people, so crippled inproperty and political power, were equally at the mercyof the mob and of the monarch. To combat the war ofcalumny waged against them by the Puritan press andpulpit, the leading Catholics resolved to join in anofficial and authentic declaration of their true principles, as to the spiritual power of the Pope, their allegianceto the prince, and their relations to their fellow subjectsof other denominations. With this intention a meetingwas held at the house of the Marquis of Clanrickarde, inDublin, at which Lords Clancarty, Carlingford, Fingal, Castlehaven, and Inchiquin, and the leading commoners oftheir faith, were present. At this meeting, Father PeterWalsh, a Franciscan, and an old courtier of Ormond's, as"Procurator of all the Clergy of Ireland, " secular andregular, produced credentials signed by the survivingbishops or their vicars--including the Primate O'Reilly, the Bishops of Meath, Ardagh, Kilmore, and Ferns. RichardBelling, the secretary to the first Confederate Council, and Envoy to Rome, submitted the celebrated documentknown as "The Remonstrance, " deeply imbued with the spiritof the Gallican church of that day. It was signed byabout seventy Catholic peers and commoners, by the Bishopof Kilmore, by Procurator Walsh, and by the townsmen ofWexford--almost the only urban community of Catholicsremaining in the country. But the propositions it containedas to the total independency of the temporal on thespiritual power, and the ecclesiastical patronage ofprinces, were condemned at the Sorbonne, at Louvain, andat Rome. The regular orders, by their several superiors, utterly rejected it; the exiled bishops withdrew theirproxies from Father Walsh, and disclaimed his conduct;the Internuncio at Brussels, charged with the affairs ofthe British Isles, denounced it as contrary to the canons;and the elated Procurator found himself involved in acontroversy from which he never afterwards escaped, andwith which his memory is still angrily associated. The conduct of Ormond in relation to this whole businessof the Remonstrance, was the least creditable part ofhis administration. Writhing under the eloquent pamphletsof the exiled Bishop of Ferns, keenly remembering hisown personal wrongs against the former generation ofbishops, of whom but three or four were yet living, heresolved "to work that division among the Romish clergy, "which he had long meditated. With this view, he connivedat a meeting of the surviving prelates and the superiorsof regular orders, at Dublin, in 1666. To this synod safeconduct was permitted to the Primate O'Reilly, banishedto Belgium nine years before; to Peter Talbot, Archbishopof Dublin, John Burke, Archbishop of Tuam, PatrickPlunkett, Bishop of Ardagh, the vicars-general of otherprelates, and the superiors of the regulars. This venerablebody deliberated anxiously for an entire week, FatherWalsh acting as ambassador between them and the Viceroy;at length, in spite of all politic considerations, theyunanimously rejected the servile doctrine of the"Remonstrance, " substituting instead a declaration oftheir own dictation. Ormond now cast off all affectationof liberality; Primate O'Reilly was sent back to hisbanishment, the other prelates and clergy were drivenback to their hiding-places, or into exile abroad, andthe wise, experienced, high-spirited duke, did not hesitateto avail himself of "the Popish plot" mania, which soonafter broke out, to avenge himself upon an order of menwhom he could neither break nor bend to his purposes! Of1, 100 secular priests, and 750 regulars, still left, onlysixty-nine had signed the Clanrickarde House Remonstrance. An incident of this same year--1666--illustrates moreforcibly than description could do, the malignant feelingwhich had been excited in England against everythingIrish. The importation of Irish cattle had long beenconsidered an English grievance, it was now declared bylaw "a nuisance. " The occasion taken to pass this statutewas as ungracious as the act itself was despicable. Inconsequence of "the great fire, " which still glows forus in the immortal verse of Dryden, the Irish had sentover to the distressed, a contribution of 15, 000 bullocks. This was considered by the generous recipients a merepretence to preserve the trade in cattle between the twokingdoms, and accordingly both Houses, after some sharpresistance in the Lords', gravely enacted that theimportation of Irish beef into England was "a nuisance, "to be abated. From this period most probably dates thefamous English sarcasm against Irish bulls. The act prohibiting the export of cattle from Ireland, and the equally exclusive and unjust Navigation Act--originally devised by Cromwell--so paralyzed every Irishindustry, that the Puritan party became almost asdissatisfied as the Catholics. They maintained a closecorrespondence with their brethren in England, and beganto speculate on the possibilities of another revolution. Ormond, to satisfy their demands, distributed 20, 000stand of arms among them, and reviewed the LeinsterMilitia, on the Curragh, in 1667. The next year he wasrecalled, and Lords Robarts, Berkely, and Essex, successively appointed to the government. The first, aPuritan, and almost a regicide, held office but a fewmonths; the second, a cavalier and a friend of toleration, for two years; while Essex, one of those fair-minded butyielding characters, known in the next reign as "Trimmers, "petitioned for his own recall and Ormond's restoration, in 1676. The only events which marked these last nineyears--from Ormond's removal till his reappointment--were the surprise of Carrickfergus by a party of unpaidsoldiers, and their desperate defence of that ancientstronghold; the embassies to and from the Irish Catholicsand the court, of Colonel Richard Talbot; and theestablishment of extensive woollen manufactories atThomastown, Callan, and Kilkenny, under the patronage ofOrmond. CHAPTER II. REIGN OF CHARLES II. (CONCLUDED. ) For the third time, the aged Ormond, now arrived at theperiod usually allotted to the life of man, returned toIreland, with the rank of Viceroy. During the ensuingseven years, he clung to power with all the tenacity ofhis youth, and all the policy of his prime; they wereseven years of extraordinary sectarian panic andexcitement--the years of the Cabal, the Popish plot, andthe Exclusion Bill, in England--and of fanaticalconspiracies and explosions almost as dangerous in Ireland. The Popish plot mania held possession of the Englishpeople much longer than any other moral epidemic of equalvirulence. In the month of October, 1678, its allegedexistence in Ireland was communicated to Ormond; in July, 1681, its most illustrious victim, Archbishop Plunkett, perished on the scaffold at Tyburn. Within these twopoints of time what a chronicle of madness, folly, perjury, and cruelty, might be written? Ormond, too old in statecraft to believe in the existenceof these incredible plots, was also too well aware ofthe dangerous element of fanaticism represented by TitusOates, and his imitators, to subject himself to suspicion. On the first intelligence of the plot, he instantly issuedhis proclamation for the arrest of Archbishop Talbot, ofDublin, who had been permitted to return from exile underthe rule of Lord Berkely, and had since resided with hisbrother, Colonel Talbot, at Cartown, near Maynooth. Thisprelate was of Ormond's own age, and of a family asancient; while his learning, courage, and morality, madehim an ornament to his order. He was seized in his sickbed at Cartown, carried to Dublin in a chair, and confineda close prisoner in the castle, where he died two yearslater. He was the last distinguished captive destined toend his days in that celebrated state prison, which hassince been generally dedicated to the peaceful purposesof reflected royalty. Colonel Talbot was at the same time arrested, but allowedto retire beyond seas; Lord Mountgarrett, an octogenarian, and in his dotage, was seized, but nothing could be madeout against him; a Colonel Peppard was also denouncedfrom England, but no such person was found to exist. Sofar the first year of the plot had passed over, and provednothing against the Catholic Irish. But the example ofsuccessful villainy in England, of Oates idolized, pensioned, and all-powerful, extended to the sisterkingdom, and brought an illustrious victim to the scaffold. This was Oliver Plunkett, a scion of the noble family ofFingal, who had been Archbishop of Armagh, since thedeath of Dr. O'Reilly, in exile, in 1669. Such had beenthe prudence and circumspection of Dr. Plunkett, duringhis perilous administration, that the agents of LordShaftesbury, sent over to concoct evidence for theoccasion, were afraid to bring him to trial in the vicinageof his arrest, or in his own country. Accordingly, theycaused him to be removed from Dublin to London, contraryto the laws and customs of both Kingdoms, which had firstbeen violated towards state prisoners in the case of LordMaguire, forty years before. Dr. Plunkett, after ten months' confinement without trialin Ireland, was removed, 1680, and arraigned at London, on the 8th of June, 1681, without having had permissionto communicate with his friends or to send for witnesses. The prosecution was conducted by Maynard and Jeffries, in violation of every form of law, and every considerationof justice. A "crown agent, " whose name is given asGorman, was introduced by "a stranger" in court, andvolunteered testimony in his favour. The Earl of Essexinterceded with the King on his behalf, but Charlesanswered, almost in the words of Pilate--"I cannot pardonhim, because I dare not. His blood be upon your conscience;you could have saved him if you pleased. " The Jury, aftera quarter of an hour's deliberation, brought in theirverdict of guilty, and the brutal Chief-Justice condemnedhim to be hung, emboweled, and quartered on the 1st dayof July, 1681. The venerable martyr, for such he may wellbe called, bowed his head to the bench, and exclaimed:_Deo gratias!_ Eight years from the very day of hisexecution, on the banks of that river beside which hehad been seized and dragged from his retreat, the lastof the Stuart kings was stricken from his throne, andhis dynasty stricken from history! Does not the blood ofthe innocent cry to Heaven for vengeance? The charges against Dr. Plunkett were, that he maintainedtreasonable correspondence with France and Rome, and theIrish on the continent; that he had organised aninsurrection in Louth, Monaghan, Cavan, and Armagh; thathe made preparations for the landing of a French forceat Carlingford; and that he had held several meetings toraise men for these purposes. Utterly absurd and falseas these charges were, they still indicate the troubledapprehensions which filled the dreams of the ascendencyparty. The fear of French invasion, of new insurrections, of the resumption of estates, haunted them by night andday. Every sign was to them significant of danger, andevery rumour of conspiracy was taken for fact. The reportof a strange fleet off the Southern coast, which turnedout to be English, threw them all into panic; and theCorpus Christi crosses which the peasantry affixed totheir doors, were nothing but signs for the Papistdestroyer to pass by, and to spare his fellows in thegeneral massacre of Protestants. Under the pressure of these panics, real or pretended, proclamation after proclamation issued from the Castle. By one of these instruments, Ormond prohibited Catholicsfrom entering the Castle of Dublin, or any other fortress;from holding fairs or markets within the walls of corporatetowns, and from carrying arms to such resorts. By another, he declared all relatives of known _Tories_--a Gaelicterm for a driver of prey--to be arrested, and banishedthe kingdom, within fourteen days, unless such Torieswere killed, or surrendered, within that time. Wherethis device failed to reach the destined victims--as inthe celebrated case of Count Redmond O'Hanlon--it is tobe feared that he did not hesitate to whet the dagger ofthe assassin, which was still sometimes employed, evenin the British Islands, to remove a dangerous antagonist. Count O'Hanlon, a gentleman of ancient lineage, asaccomplished as Orrery, or Ossory, was indeed an outlawto the code then in force; but the stain of his cowardlyassassination must for ever blot and rot the princelyescutcheon of James, Duke of Ormond. The violence of religious and social persecution began tosubside during the last two or three years of Charles II. Monmouth's banishment, Shaftesbury's imprisonment, theexecution of Russell and Sidney on the scaffold, markedthe return of the English public mind to political pursuitsand objects. Early in 1685, the king was taken mortallyill. In his last moments he received the rites of theCatholic church, from the hands of Father Huddleston, who was said to have saved his life at the battle ofWorcester, and who was now even more anxious to savehis soul. This event took place on the 16th of February. King Jameswas immediately proclaimed successor to his brother. Oneof his first acts was to recall Ormond from Ireland andto appoint in his place the Earl of Clarendon, son ofthe historian and statesman of the Restoration. Ormondobeyed, not without regret; he survived his fall aboutthree years. He was interred in Westminster in 1688, three months before the landing of William, and the secondbanishment of the Stuarts. CHAPTER III. THE STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNING IN IRELAND DURINGTHE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. Before plunging into the troubled torrent of the revolutionof 1688, let us cast a glance back on the century, andconsider the state of learning and religion during thosethree generations. If we divide the Irish literature of this century bysubjects, we shall find extant a respectable body, bothin quantity and quality, of theology, history, law, politics, and poetry. If we divide it by the languagesin which that literature was written, we may consider itas Latin, Gaelic, and English. I. Latin continued throughout Europe, even till this lateday, the language of the learned, but especially oftheologians, jurists, and historians. In Latin, the greattomes of O'Sullivan, Usher, Colgan, Wadding, and White, were written--volumes which remain as so many monumentsof the learning and industry of that age. The chiefobjects of these illustrious writers were, to restorethe ancient ecclesiastical history of Ireland, to rescuethe memory of her saints and doctors from oblivion, andto introduce the native annals of the kingdom to theattention of Europe. Though Usher differed in religion, and in his theory of the early connection of the Irishwith the Roman Church, from all the rest, yet he standspre-eminent among them for labour and research. TheWaterford Franciscan, Wadding, can only be named withhim for inexhaustible patience, various learning, anduntiring zeal. Both were honoured of princes andparliaments. The Confederates would have made Wadding acardinal; King James made Usher an archbishop; oneinstructed the Westminster Assembly; the other was sentby the King of Spain to maintain the thesis of theImmaculate Conception at Rome, and subsequently wasentrusted by the Pope to report upon the propositions ofJansenius. O'Sullivan, Conde de Berehaven, in Spain, and Peter White, have left us each two or three Latinvolumes on the history of the country, highly prized byall subsequent writers. But the most indispensable ofthe legacies left us in this tongue, are Colgan's "ActaSanctorum"--from January to March--and Dr. John Lynch's"Cambrensis Eversus. " Many other works and authors mightbe mentioned, but these are the great Latinists to whomwe are indebted for the most important services renderedto our national history. II. In the Gaelic literature of the country we countGeoffrey Keating, Duald McFirbis, and "the Four Masters"of Donegal. Few writers have been more rashly judgedthan Keating. A poet, as well as a historian, he gave aprominence in the early chapters of his history to bardictales, which English critics have seized upon to damagehis reputation for truthfulness and good sense. But thesetales he gives as tales--as curious and illustrative--ratherthan as credible and unquestionable. The purity of hisstyle is greatly extolled by Gaelic critics; and theinterest of his narrative, even in a translation, isundoubted. McFirbis, an annalist and genealogist byinheritance, is known to us not only for his profoundnative lore, and tragic death, but also for the assistancehe rendered Sir James Ware, Dr. Lynch, and RoderickO'Flaherty. The master-piece, however, of our Gaelicliterature of this age, is the work now called "The Annalsof the Four Masters. " In the reign of James I. , a fewFranciscan friars, living partly in Donegal Abbey andpartly in St. Anthony's College, at Louvain, undertookto collect and collate all the manuscript remains ofIrish antiquity they could gather or borrow, or be allowedto copy. Father Hugh Ward was the head of this group, and by him the lay brother Michael O'Clery, one of thegreatest benefactors his country ever saw, was sent fromBelgium to Ireland. From 1620 to 1630, O'Clery travelledthrough the kingdom, buying or transcribing everythinghe could find relating to the lives of the Irish saints, which he sent to Louvain, where Ward and Colgan undertookto edit and illustrate them. Father Ward died in theearly part of the undertaking, but Father Colgan spenttwenty years in prosecuting the original design, so faras concerned our ecclesiastical biography. After collecting these materials, Father O'Clery waited, as he tells us, on "the noble Fergall O'Gara, " one ofthe two knights elected to represent the county of Sligoin the Parliament of 1634, and perceiving the anxiety ofO'Gara, "from the cloud which at present hangs over ourancient Milesian race, " he proposed to collect the civiland military annals of Erin into one large digest. O'Gara, struck with this proposal, freely supplied the means, and O'Clery and his coadjutors set to work in the FranciscanConvent of Donegal, which still stood, not more than halfin ruins. On the 22nd of January, 1632, they commenced this digest, and on the 10th of August, 1636, it was finished--havingoccupied them four years, seven months and nineteen days. The MS. , dedicated to O'Gara, is authenticated by thesuperiors of the convent; from that original two editionshave recently been printed in both languages. These annals extend to the year 1616, the time of thecompilers. Originally they bore the title of "Annals ofthe Kingdom of Ireland, " but Colgan having quoted themas "The Annals of the Four Masters, " that name remainsever since. The "Four Masters" were Brother MichaelO'Clery, Conary and Peregrine O'Clery, his brothers, bothlaymen and natives of Donegal, and Florence Conroy ofRoscommon, another hereditary antiquary. The first edition of the New Testament, in the Gaelictongue, so far as we are aware, appeared at Dublin, in1603, in quarto. The translation was the work of a nativescholar, O'Cionga (Anglicized King). It was made at theexpense and under the supervision of Dr. William O'Donnell, one of the first fellows of Trinity, and published atthe cost of the people of Connaught. Dr. O'Donnell, anamiable man, and an enemy of persecution, becamesubsequently Archbishop of Tuam, in which dignity hedied, in 1628. A translation of the Book of Common Prayer, by O'Donnell, appeared early in the century, and towardsits close (1685), a translation of the Old Testament, made for Bishop Bedell by the Gaelic scholars of Meathand Cavan, was published at the expense of the famousRobert Boyle. Bedell had also caused to be publishedGaelic translations of certain homilies of Saint Leo andSaint John Chrysostom, on the importance of studying theholy Scriptures. The only other Gaelic publications ofthis period were issued from the Irish colleges at Louvainand Rome. Thence issued the devotional tracts of Conroy, of Gernon, and O'Molloy, and the Irish grammars of O'Cleryand Stapleton. The devotional tracts, with their fancifultitles, of "Lamps, " and "Mirrors, " were smuggled acrossfrom Ostend and Dunkirk with other articles of contraband, and did much to keep alive the flame of faith and hopein the hearts of the Gaelic-speaking population. The bardic order also, though shorn of much of theirancient splendour, and under the Puritan _regime_ persecutedas vagrants, still flourished as an estate of the realm. The national tendency to poetic writing was not confinedto the hereditary verse-makers, but was illustrated bysuch men as the martyred Plunkett, and the Bishops ofMeath and Kerry--Dr. Thomas Dease, and Dr. John O'Connell. But the great body of Gaelic verse of the first half ofthis century is known under the name of "The Contentionsof the Bards, " the subject being the relative dignity, power, and prowess of the North and South. The gauntletin this poetic warfare, was thrown down by McDaire, theBard of Donogh O'Brien, fourth Earl of Thomond, and takenup on the part of Ulster by Lewy O'Clery. Reply led torejoinder, and one epistle to another, until all thechief bards of the four provinces had taken sides. Halfa dozen writers, _pro_ and _con_, were particularlydistinguished; McDaire himself, Turlogh O'Brien, and ArtOge O'Keefe on behalf of the Southerners; O'Clery, O'Donnell, the two McEgans, and Robert McArthur on theside of the North. An immense mass of devotional Gaelic poetry may be tracedto this period. The religious wars, the calamities ofthe church and of the people, inspired many a priest andlayman to seize the harp of David, and pour forth hishopes and griefs in sacred song. The lament of Mac Wardover the Ulster princes buried at Rome, the odes of DermodConroy and Flan McNamee, in honour of our Blessed Lady, are of this class. Thus it happened that the bardic order, which in ancient times was the formidable enemy ofChristianity, became, through adversity and affliction, its greatest supporter. III. Our Hiberno-English literature is almost entirelythe creation of this century. Except some few remarkablestate papers, we have no English writings of any reputationof an earlier period. Now, however, when the language ofthe empire, formed and enriched by the great minds ofElizabeth's era, began to extend its influence at homeand abroad, a school of Hiberno-English writers appeared, both numerous and distinguished. This school was as yetcomposed mainly of two classes--the dramatic poets, andthe pamphleteers. Of the latter were Bishop French, SirRichard Nagle, Sir Richard Belling, Lord Orrery, FatherPeter Walsh, and William Molyneux; of the former, LudowickBarry, Sir John Denham, the Earl of Roscommon, and RichardFlecknoe, --the Mac Flecknoe of Dryden. It is true thereappeared as yet no supreme name like Swift's; but asindicating the gradual extension of the English languageinto Ireland, the popular pamphlets and pieces writtenfor the stage, are illustrations of our mental life notto be overlooked. Of the ancient schools of the island, after the finalsuppression of the college at Galway in 1652, not oneremained. A diocesan college at Kilkenny, and the DublinUniversity, were alone open to the youth of the country. But the University remained exclusively in possession ofthe Protestant interest, nor did it give to the worldduring the century, except Usher, Ware and Orrery, anygraduate of national, not to say, European reputation. In the bye-ways of the South and West, in the Irishcolleges on the continent of Europe--at Paris, Louvain, Lisle, Salamanca, Lisbon, or Rome--the children of theproscribed majority could alone acquire a degree inlearning, human or divine. It was as impossible twocenturies ago, to speak of Trinity College with respect, as it is in our time, remembering all it has since done, to speak of it without veneration. Though the Established Church had now completed itscentury and a half of existence, it was as far from thehearts of the Irish as ever. Though the amiable Bedelland the learned O'Donnell had caused the sacred Scripturesto be translated into the Gaelic tongue, few convertshad been made from the Catholic ranks, while the spiritof animosity was inflamed by a sense of the cruel andundeserved disabilities inflicted in the name of religion. The manifold sects introduced under Cromwell gave a keeneredge to Catholic contempt for the doctrines of thereformation; and although the restoration of the monarchythrew the extreme sectaries into the shade, it addednothing to the influence of the church, except the fatalgift of political patronage. For the first time, the highdignity of Archbishop of Armagh began to be regarded asthe inheritance of the leader of the House of Lords; thenBrahmall and Boyle laid the foundation of that primatialpower which Boulter and Stone upheld under another dynasty, but which vanished before the first dawn of Parliamentaryindependence. In the quarter of a century which elapsed from therestoration to the revolution, the condition of theCatholic clergy and laity was such as we have alreadydescribed. In 1662, an historian of the Jesuit missionariesin Ireland described the sufferings of ecclesiastics asdeplorable; they were forced to fly to the herds of cattlein remote places, to seek a refuge in barns and stables, or to sleep at night in the porticoes of temples, lestthey should endanger the safety of the laity. In thatsame year, Orrery advised Ormond to purge the walledtowns of Papists, who were still "three to one Protestant;"in 1672, Sir William Petty computed them at "eight toone" of the entire population. "So captive Israel multiplied in chains. " The martyrdom of the Archbishop of Dublin, in 1680, andof the Archbishop of Armagh in 1681, were, however, thelast of a series of executions for conscience' sake, fromthe relation of which the historian might well have beenexcused, if it was not necessary to remind our emancipatedposterity at what a price they have been purchased. CHAPTER IV. ACCESSION OF JAMES II. --TYRCONNELL'S ADMINISTRATION. From the accession of King James till his final flightfrom Ireland, in July, 1690, there elapsed an intervalof five years and five months; a period fraught withconsequences of the highest interest to this history. The new King was, on his accession, in his fifty-secondyear; he had served, as Duke of York, with credit bothby land and sea, was an avowed Catholic, and married toa Catholic princess, the beautiful and unfortunate Maryof Modena. Within a month from the proclamation of the King, Ormondquitted the government for the last time, leaving PrimateBoyle, and Lord Granard, as Justices. In January, 1686, Lord Clarendon, son of the historian, assumed thegovernment, in which he continued, till the 16th of March, 1687. The day following the national anniversary, ColonelRichard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell, a Catholic, and theformer agent for the Catholics, was installed as LordDeputy. Other events, connecting these with each other, had filled with astonishment and apprehension theascendancy party. James proceeded openly with what he hoped to make acounter-reformation of England, and to accomplish whichhe relied on France on the one hand, and Ireland on theother. In both cases he alarmed the fears and woundedthe pride of England; but when he proceeded from oneillegality to another, when he began to exercise adispensing power above the laws--to instruct the judges, to menace the parliament, and imprison the bishops--thenobility, the commons, and the army gradually combinedagainst him, and at last invited over the Prince ofOrange, as the most capable vindicator of their outragedconstitution. The headlong King had a representative equally rash, inTyrconnell. He was a man old enough to remember wellthe uprising of 1641, had lived in intimacy with Jamesas Duke of York, was personally brave, well skilled inintrigue, but vain, loud-spoken, confident, and incapableof a high command in military affairs. The colonelcy ofan Irish regiment, the earldom of Tyrconnell, and a seatin the secret council or cabinet of the King, were honoursconferred on him during the year of James's accession. When Clarendon was named Lord-Lieutenant at the beginningof 1686, Tyrconnell was sent over with him asLieutenant-General of the army. At his instigation, aproclamation was issued, that "all classes" of hisMajesty's subjects might be allowed to serve in the army;and another, that all arms hitherto given out should bedeposited, for greater security, at one of the King'sstores provided for the purpose in each town or county. Thus that exclusively Protestant militia, which for twentyyears had executed the Act of Settlement and the Act ofUniformity in every quarter of the kingdom, found themselvessuddenly disarmed, and a new Catholic army rising ontheir ruins. The numbers disbanded are nowhere stated;they probably amounted to 10, 000 or 15, 000 men and verynaturally they became warm partisans of the Williamiterevolution. The recriminations which arose between thenew and the old militia were not confined to the nicknames, Whig and Tory, or to the bandying of sarcasms on eachothers' origin; swords were not unfrequently drawn, andmuskets discharged, even in the streets of Dublin, underthe very walls of the Castle. Through Tyrconnell's influence, a similar revolution hadbeen wrought in the exclusive character of the courts ofjustice, and the corporations of towns, to that whichremodelled the militia. Rice, Daly, and Nugent, wereelevated to the bench during Lord Clarendon's time; theCorporation of Dublin having refused to surrender theirexclusive charter, were summarily rejected by a _quowarranto_, issued in the exchequer; other towns weresimilarly treated, or induced to make surrender, and anew series of charters at once granted by James, entitlingCatholics to the freedom of the boroughs, and the highestmunicipal offices. And now, for the first time in thatgeneration, Catholic mayors and sheriffs, escorted byCatholic troops as guards of honour, were seen marchingin open day to their own places of worship, to the dismayand astonishment of the ascendancy party. Not that allProtestants were excluded either from town councils, themilitia, or the bench, but those only were elected orappointed who concurred in the new arrangements, andwere, therefore, pretty certain to forfeit the confidenceof their co-religionists in proportion as they deservedthat of the Deputy. Topham and Coghill, Masters inChancery, were deprived of their offices, and the ProtestantChancellor was arbitrarily removed to make way for BaronRice, a Catholic. The exclusive character of TrinityCollege was next assailed, and though James did notventure to revoke the charter of Elizabeth, establishingcommunion with the Church of England as the test offellowship, the internal administration was in severalparticulars interfered with, its plate was seized in theKing's name under plea of being public property, and theannual parliamentary grant of 388 pounds was discontinued. These arbitrary acts filled the more judicious Catholicswith apprehension, but gained the loud applause of theunreasoning multitude. Dr. Macguire, the successor ofthe martyred Plunkett, who felt in Ulster the rising tideof resistance, was among the signers of a memorial tothe King, dutifully remonstrating against the violentproceedings of his Deputy. From Rome also, disapprobationwas more than once expressed, but all without avail;neither James nor Talbot could be brought to reason. TheProtestants of the eastern and southern towns and countieswho could contrive to quit their homes, did so; hundredsfled to Holland to return in the ranks of the Prince ofOrange; thousands fled to England, bringing with themtheir tale of oppression, embellished with all the bitterexaggeration of exiles; ten thousand removed from Leinsterinto Ulster, soon to recross the Boyne, under verydifferent auspices. Very soon a close correspondencewas established between the fugitives in Holland, England, and Ulster, and a powerful lever was thus placed in thehands of the Prince of Orange, to work the downfall ofhis uncle and father-in-law. But the best allies ofWilliam were, after all, the folly and fatuity of James. The importation of Irish troops, by entire battalions, gave the last and sorest wound to the national pride ofEngland, and still further exasperated the hatred andcontempt which his majesty's English regiments had begunto feel for their royal master. Tyrconnell, during the eventful summer months when therevolution was ripening both in Holland and England, hadtaken, unknown even to James, a step of the gravestimportance. To him the first intelligence of thepreparations of William were carried by a ship fromAmsterdam, and by him they were communicated to theinfatuated King, who had laughed at them as too absurdfor serious consideration. But the Irish ruler, fullybelieving his informants, and never deficient in audacity, had at once entered into a secret treaty with Louis XIV. To put Ireland under the protection of France, in theevent of the Prince of Orange succeeding to the Britishthrone. No proposition could more entirely suit theexigencies of Louis, of whom William was by far the ablestand most relentless enemy. The correspondence which hascome to light in recent times, shows the importance whichhe attached to Tyrconnell's proposition--an importancestill further enhanced by the direct but unsuccessfuloverture made to the earl by William himself, on landingin England, and before embarking in the actual invasionof Ireland. William Henry, Prince of Orange, now about to enter onthe scene, was in 1688 in the thirty-seventh year of hisage. Fearless of danger, patient, silent, impervious tohis enemies, rather a soldier than a statesman, indifferentin religion, and personally adverse to persecution forconscience' sake, his great and almost his only publicpassion was the humiliation of France through theinstrumentality of a European coalition. As ananti-Gallican, as the representative of the most illustriousProtestant family in Europe, as allied by blood andmarriage to their kings, he was a very fit and properchief for the English revolutionists; but for the twoformer of these reasons he was just as naturallyantipathetic to the Catholic and Celtic majority of theIrish. His designs had been long gradually maturing, whenJames's incredible imprudence hastened his movements. Twenty-four ships of war were assembled at Helvoetsluys;7, 000 sailors were put on board; all the veterans of theNetherlands were encamped at Nimeguen, where 6, 000 recruitswere added to their numbers. On the 5th of November, theanniversary of the gunpowder plot, "the Deliverer, " ashe was fondly called in England, landed at Torbay; onthe 25th of December, James, deserted by his nobles, hisarmy, and even his own unnatural children, arrived, afugitive and a suppliant, at the court of France. A few Irish incidents of this critical moment deservemention. The mania against everything Irish took inEngland forms the most ludicrous and absurd. Wharton'sdoggerel refrain of Lillibullero, was heard in everycircle outside the court; all London, lighted with torches, and marshalled under arms, awaited during the memorable"Irish night" the advent of the terrible and detestedregiments brought over by Tyrconnell; some companies ofthese troops quartered in the country were fallen uponby ten times their numbers, and cut to pieces. Others, fighting and inquiring their way, forced a passage toChester or Bristol, and obtained a passage home. Theypassed at sea, or encountered on the landing-places, multitudes of the Protestant Irish, men, women andchildren, flying in exactly the opposite direction. Tyrconnell was known to meditate the repeal of the Actof Settlement; the general rumour of a Protestant massacrefixed for the 9th of December, originated no one knewhow, was spread about no one knew by whom. In vain theLord Deputy tried to stay the panic--his assurance ofprotection, and the still better evidence of their ownexperience, which proved the Irish Catholics incapableof such a project, could not allay their terrors. Theyrushed into England by every port, and inflamed stillmore the hostility which already prevailed againstKing James. In Ulster, David Cairnes of Knockmany, the Rev. JohnKelso of Enniskillen, a Presbyterian, and Rev. GeorgeWalker of Donaghmore, an Anglican minister, were activeinstruments of the Prince of Orange. On the 7th of Decemberthe gates of Derry were shut by "the youthhood" againstthe Earl of Antrim and his Highlanders. Enniskillen wasseized by a similar impulse of the popular will, and anassociation was quickly formed throughout Ulster inimitation of the English association which had invitedover William, under the auspices of Lord Blaney, SirArthur Rawdon, Sir Clotworthy Skeffington, and others, "for the maintenance of the Protestant religion and thedependency of Ireland upon England. " By these associates, Sligo, Coleraine, and the fort of Culmore, at the mouthof the Foyle, were seized for King William; while theTown Council of Derry, in order to gain time, despatchedone ambassador with one set of instructions to Tyrconnell, and another, with a very different set, to "the Committeefor Irish Affairs, " which sat at Whitehall, under thepresidency of the Earl of Shrewsbury. CHAPTER V. KING JAMES IN IRELAND--IRISH PARLIAMENT OF 1689. A few days after his arrival in France, James despatcheda messenger to Tyrconnell, with instructions expressinggreat anxiety as to the state of affairs in Ireland. "Iam sure, " wrote the fugitive monarch, "you will hold outto the utmost of your power, and I hope this king willso press the Hollanders, that the Prince of Orange willnot have men to spare to attack you. " All the aid hecould obtain from Louis at the moment was 7, 000 or 8, 000muskets, which were sent accordingly. Events succeeded each other during the first half of theyear 1689 with revolutionary rapidity. The conventionsof England and Scotland, though far from being unanimous, declared by immense majorities, that James had abdicated, and that William and Mary should be offered the crownsof both kingdoms. In February, they were proclaimed asking and queen of "England, France, and Ireland, " and inMay, the Scottish commissioners brought them the tenderof the crown of Scotland. The double heritage of theStuart kings was thus, after nearly a century of possession, transferred by election to a kindred prince, to theexclusion of the direct descendants of the great championof "the right divine, " who first united under his sceptrethe three kingdoms. James, at the Court of France, was duly informed of allthat passed at London and Edinburgh. He knew that he hadpowerful partizans in both conventions. The first feverof popular excitement once allayed, he marked withexultation the symptoms of reaction. There was much inthe circumstances attending his flight to awaken popularsympathy, and to cast a veil over his errors. The patheticpicture drawn of parental suffering by the great dramatistin the character of King _Lear_, seemed realized to thelife in the person of King James. Message followed messagefrom the three kingdoms, urging him to return and placehimself at the head of his faithful subjects in a waragainst the usurper. The French king approved of theserecommendations, for in fighting James's battle he wasfighting his own, and a squadron was prepared at Brestto carry the fugitive back to his dominions. Accompaniedby his natural sons, the Duke of Berwick and the GrandPrior Fitzjames, by Lieutenant-Generals de Rosen and deMaumont, Majors-General de Pusignan and de Lery (orGeraldine), about a hundred officers of all ranks, and1, 200 veterans, James sailed from Brest, with a fleet of33 vessels, and landed at Kinsale on the 12th day ofMarch (_old style_). His reception by the Southernpopulation was enthusiastic in the extreme. From Kinsaleto Cork, from Cork to Dublin, his progress was accompaniedby Gaelic songs and dances, by Latin orations, loyaladdresses, and all the decorations with which a popularfavourite can be welcomed. Nothing was remembered by thateasily pacified people but his great misfortunes and hissteady fidelity to his and their religion. Fifteenchaplains, nearly all Irish, accompanied him, and addedto the delight of the populace; while many a long-absentsoldier, now came back in the following of the king, tobless the sight of some aged parent or faithful lover. The royal entry into Dublin was the crowning pageant ofthis delusive restoration. With the tact and taste forsuch demonstrations hereditary in the citizens, the tradesand arts were marshalled before him. Two venerable harpersplayed on their national instruments near the gate bywhich he entered; a number of religious in their robes, with a huge cross at their head, chanted as they went;forty young girls, dressed in white, danced the ancient_Rinka_, scattering flowers as they danced. The Earl ofTyrconnell, lately raised to a dukedom, the judges, themayor and corporation, completed the procession, whichmarched over newly sanded streets, beneath arches ofevergreens and windows hung with "tapestry and cloth ofArras. " Arrived at the castle the sword of state waspresented to him by the deputy, and the keys of the cityby the recorder. At the inner entrance, the primate, Dr. Dominick Macguire, waited in his robes to conduct him tothe chapel, lately erected by Tyrconnell, where _Te Deum_was solemnly sung. But of all the incidents of thatstriking ceremonial, nothing more powerfully impressedthe popular imagination than the green flag floating fromthe main tower of the castle, bearing the significantinscription--"_Now or Never--Now and Forever_. " A fortnight was devoted by James in Dublin to daily andnightly councils and receptions. The chief advisers whoformed his court were the Count d'Avaux, Ambassador ofFrance, the Earl of Melfort, principal Secretary of State, the Duke of Tyrconnell, Lieutenant-General Lord Mountcashel, Chief Justice Nugent, and the superior officers of thearmy, French and Irish. One of the first things resolvedupon at Dublin was the appointment of the gallant ViscountDundee as Lieutenant-General in Scotland--and the despatchto his assistance of an Irish auxiliary force, whichserved under that renowned chief with as much honour astheir predecessors had served under Montrose. Communications were also opened through the Bishop ofChester with the west of England Jacobites, always numerousin Cheshire, Shropshire, and other counties nearest toIreland. Certain changes were then made in the PrivyCouncil; Chief Justice Keating's attendance was dispensedwith as one opposed to the new policy, but his judicialfunctions were left untouched. Dr. Cartwright, Bishop ofChester, and the French Ambassador were sworn in, andwrits were issued convoking the Irish Parliament for the7th day of May following. Intermitting, for the present, the military events whichmarked the early months of the year, we will follow theacts and deliberations of King James's Parliament of1689. The Houses met, according to summons, at theappointed time, in the building known as "the Inns ofCourt, " within a stone's throw of the castle. There werepresent 228 Commoners, and 46 members of the Upper House. In the Lords several Protestant noblemen and prelatestook their seats, and some Catholic peers of ancientdate, whose attainders had been reversed, were seen forthe first time in that generation in the front rank oftheir order. In the Lower House the University and a fewother constituencies were represented by Protestants, but the overwhelming majority were Catholics, either ofNorman or Milesian origin. The King made a judiciousopening speech, declaring his intention to uphold therights of property, and to establish liberty of consciencealike for Protestant and Catholic. He referred to thedistressed state of trade and manufactures, and recommendedto the attention of the Houses, those who had been unjustlydeprived of their estates under the "Act of Settlement. " Three measures passed by this Parliament entitle itsmembers to be enrolled among the chief assertors of civiland religious liberty. One was the "Act for establishingLiberty of Conscience, " followed by the supplemental actthat all persons should pay tithes only to the clergy oftheir own communion. An act abolishing writs of errorand appeal into England, established the judicialindependence of Ireland; but a still more necessarymeasure repealing Poyning's Law, was defeated throughthe personal hostility of the King. An act repealing theAct of Settlement was also passed, under protest fromthe Protestant Lords, and received the royal sanction. A bill to establish Inns of Court, for the education ofIrish law students, was, however, rejected by the King, and lost; an "Act of Attainder, " against persons in armsagainst the Sovereign, whose estates lay in Ireland, wasadopted. Whatever may be the bias of historians, it cannotbe denied that this Parliament showed a spirit worthy ofthe representatives of a free people. "Though Papists, "says Mr. Grattan, our highest parliamentary authority, "they were not slaves; they wrung a constitution fromKing James before they accompanied him to the field. " The King, unfortunately, had not abandoned the arbitraryprinciples of his family, even in his worst adversity. His interference with the discussions on Poyning's Law, and the Inns of Court bill, had shocked some of his mostdevoted adherents. But he proceeded from obstructive toactive despotism. He doubled, by his mere proclamation, the enormous subsidy of 20, 000 pounds monthly voted himby the Houses. He established, by the same authority, abank, and decreed in his own name a bank restriction act. He debased the coinage, and established a fixed scale ofprices to be observed by all merchants and traders. Inone respect--but in one only--he grossly violated hisown professed purpose of establishing liberty of conscience, by endeavouring to force fellows and scholars on theUniversity of Dublin contrary to its statutes. He evenwent so far as to appoint a provost and librarian withoutconsent of the senate. However we may condemn theexclusiveness of the College, this was not the way tocorrect it; bigotry on the one hand, will not justifydespotism on the other. More justifiable was the interference of the King forthe restoration of rural schools and churches, and thedecent maintenance of the clergy and bishops. Hisappointments to the bench were also, with one or twoexceptions, men of the very highest character. "Theadministration of justice during this brief period, " saysDr. Cooke Taylor, "deserves the highest praise. With theexception of Nugent and Fritton, the Irish judges wouldhave been an honour to any bench. " CHAPTER VI. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR--CAMPAIGN OF 1689--SIEGESOF DERRY AND ENNISKILLEN. When Tyrconnell met the King at Cork, he gave his Majestya plain account of the posture of military affairs. InUlster, Lieutenant-General Richard Hamilton, at the headof 2, 500 regular troops, was holding the rebels in check, from Charlemont to Coleraine; in Munster, Lieutenant-GeneralJustin McCarthy, Lord Mountcashel, had taken Bandon andCastlemartyr; throughout the four provinces, the Catholics, to the number of fifty regiments (probably 30, 000 men), had volunteered their services; but for all these volunteershe had only 20, 000 old arms of all kinds, not over 1, 000of which were found really valuable. There were besidesthese, regiments of horse, Tyrconnell's, Russell's, andGalmony's, and one of dragoons, eight small pieces ofartillery, but neither stores in the magazines, nor cashin the chest. While at Cork, Tyrconnell, in return forhis great exertions, was created a Duke, andGeneral-in-Chief, with De Rosen as second in command. A week before James reached Dublin, Hamilton had beatenthe rebels at Dromore, and driven them in on Coleraine, from before which he wrote urgently for reinforcements. On receipt of this communication, the Council exhibited, for the first time, those radical differences of opinion, amounting almost to factious opposition, which crippledall King James's movements at this period. One partystrenuously urged that the King himself should marchnorthward with such troops as could be spared; that hispersonal appearance before Derry, would immediatelyoccasion the surrender of that city, and that he mightin a few weeks, finish in person the campaign of Ulster. Another, at whose head was Tyrconnell, endeavoured todissuade his Majesty from this course, but he at lengthdecided in favour of the plan of Melfort and his friends. Accordingly, he marched out of Dublin, amid torrents ofApril rain, on the eighth of that month, intending toform a junction with Hamilton, at Strabane, and thenceto advance to Derry. The march was a weary one througha country stripped bare of every sign of life, and desolatebeyond description. A week was spent between Dublin andOmagh; at Omagh news of an English fleet on the Foylecaused the King to retrace his steps hastily to Charlemont. At Charlemont, however, intelligence of fresh successesgained by Hamilton and De Rosen, at Cladyford and Strabane, came to restore his confidence; he instantly set forward, despite the tempestuous weather, and the almost impassableroads, and on the eighteenth reached the Irish camp atJohnstown, within four or five miles of Derry. It was now four months since "the youthhood" of Derryhad shut the Watergate against Lord Antrim's regiment, and established within their walls a strange sort ofgovernment, including eighteen clergymen and the towndemocracy. The military command remained withLieutenant-Colonel Lundy, of Mountjoy's regiment, butthe actual government of the town was vested, first, in"Governor" Baker, and afterwards in the Reverend GeorgeWalker, rector of Donaghmore, best known to us as _Governor_Walker. The Town Council had despatched Mr. Cairnes, andsubsequently Captain Hamilton, founder of the Abercornpeerage, to England for succour, and had openly proclaimedWilliam and Mary as King and Queen. Defensive works wereadded, where necessary, and on the very day of the affairof Cladyford, 480 barrels of gunpowder were landed fromEnglish ships and conveyed within the walls. As the Royalist forces concentrated towards Derry, thechiefs of the Protestant Association fell back beforethem, each bringing to its garrison the contribution ofhis own followers. From the valley of the Bann, overthe rugged summits of Carntogher, from the glens ofDonegal, and the western sea coast round to Mayo, troopsof the fugitives hurried to the strong town of the Londontraders, as to a city of refuge. Enniskillen alone, resolute in its insular situation, and in a courage akinto that which actuated the defenders of Derry, stood asan outpost of the main object of attack, and delayed thejunction of the Royalists under Mountcashel with thoseunder Hamilton and De Rosen. Coleraine was abandoned. Captain Murray, the commander of Culmore, forced his wayat the head of 1, 500 men into Derry, contrary to thewishes of the vacillating and suspected Lundy, and, fromthe moment of his arrival, infused his own determinedspirit into all ranks of the inhabitants. Those who had advised King James to present himself inperson before the Protestant stronghold, had not actedaltogether, upon presumption. It is certain that therewere Jacobites, even in Derry. Lundy, the governor, eitherdespairing of its defence, or undecided in his allegiancebetween James and William, had opened a correspondencewith Hamilton and De Rosen. But the true answer of thebrave townsmen, when the King advanced too near theirwalls, was a cannon shot which killed one of his staff, and the cry of "No Surrender" thundered from the walls. James, awakened from his self-complacent dream by thisunexpected reception, returned to Dublin, to open hisParliament, leaving General Hamilton to continue thesiege. Colonel Lundy, distrusted, overruled, and menaced, escaped over the walls by night, disguised as a commonlabourer, and the party of Murray, Baker, Walker, andCairnes, reigned supreme. The story of the siege of Derry--of the heroic constancyof its defenders--of the atrocities of De Rosen andGalmoy--the clemency of Maumont--the forbearance ofHamilton--the struggles for supremacy among itsmagnates--the turbulence of the townsfolk--the joyfulraising of the siege--all these have worthily employedsome of the most eloquent pens in our language. The reliefcame by the breaking of the boom across the harbour'smouth on the last day of July; the bombardment hadcommenced on the 21st of April; the gates had been shuton the 7th of December. The actual siege had lasted abovethree months, and the blockade about three weeks. Thedestruction of life on both sides has never been definitelystated. The besieged admit a loss of 4, 000 men; thebesiegers of 6, 000. The want of siege guns in the Jacobitecamp is admitted by both parties, but, nevertheless, thedefence of the place well deserves to be celebrated, asit has been by an imperial historian, "as the mostmemorable in British annals. " Scarcely inferior in interest and importance to the siegeof Derry, was the spirited defence of Enniskillen. Thatfine old town, once the seat of the noble family ofMaguire, is naturally dyked and moated round about, bythe waters of Lough Erne. In December, '88, it had closedits gates, and barricaded its causeways to keep out aJacobite garrison. In March, on Lord Galmoy's approach, all the outlying garrisons, in Fermanagh and Cavan, haddestroyed their posts, and gathered into Enniskillen. The cruel and faithless Galmoy, instead of inspiringterror into the united garrison, only increased theirdetermination to die in the breach. So strong in positionand numbers did they find themselves, with the absolutecommand of the lower Lough Erne to bring in their supplies, that in April they sent off a detachment to the reliefof Derry, and in the months of May and June, made severalsuccessful forays to Ballincarrig, Omagh, and Belturbet. In July, provided with a fresh supply of ammunition fromthe fleet intended for the relief of Derry, they beat upthe Duke of Berwick's quarters at Trellick, but wererepulsed with some loss. The Duke being soon after recalledto join De Rosen, the siege of Enniskillen was committedto Lord Mountcashel, under whom, as commander of thecavalry, served Count Anthony Hamilton, author of thewitty but licentious "Memoirs of Grammont, " and otherdistinguished officers. Mountcashel's whole force consistedof three regiments of foot, two of dragoons, and somehorse; but he expected to be joined by Colonel Sarsfieldfrom Sligo, and Berwick from Derry. The besieged haddrawn four regiments of foot from Cavan alone, and wereprobably twice that number in all; and they had, inColonels Wolseley and Berry, able and energetic officers. The Enniskilleners did not await the attack within theirfortress. At Lisnaskea, under Berry, they repulsed theadvanced guard of the Jacobites under Anthony Hamilton;and the same day--the day of the relief of Derry--theirwhole force were brought into action with Mountcashel'sat Newtown-Butler. To the cry of "No Popery, " Wolseleyled them into an action, the most considerable yet fought. The raw southern levies on the Royalist side, were routedby the hardy Enniskilleners long familiar with the useof arms, and well acquainted with every inch of theground; 2, 000 of them were left on the field; 400 prisonerswere taken, among them dangerously, but not mortallywounded, was the Lieutenant-General himself. The month of August was a month of general rejoicing forthe Williamites of Ulster, De Rosen and Berwick hadretreated from Deny; Sarsfield, on his way to joinMountcashel, fell back to Sligo on hearing of his defeatat Newtown-Butler; Culmore, Coleraine, and Ballyshannon, were retaken and well supplied; fugitives returnedtriumphantly to their homes, in Cavan, Fermanagh, Tyrone, and Armagh. A panic created by false reports spread amonghis troops at Sligo, compelled Sarsfield to fall stillfurther back to Athlone. Six months after his arrival, with the exception of the forts of Charlemont andCarrickfergus, King James no longer possessed a garrisonin that province, which had been bestowed by his grandfatherupon the ancestors of those who now unanimously rejectedand resisted him. The fall of the gallant Dundee in the battle ofKillicrankie, five days before the relief of Derry, freedKing William from immediate anxiety on the side ofScotland, and enabled him to concentrate his wholedisposable force on Ireland. On the 13th of August, anarmy of eighteen regiments of foot, and four or five ofhorse, under the Marshal Duke de Schomberg, with CountSolmes as second in command, sailed into Belfast Lough, and took possession of the town. On the 20th, the Marshalopened a fierce cannonade on Carrickfergus, defended byColonels McCarthy More and Cormac O'Neil, while the fleetbombarded it from sea. After eight days' incessantcannonade, the garrison surrendered on honourable terms, and Schomberg faced southward towards Dublin. Brave, andlong experienced, the aged Duke moved according to thecautious maxims of the military school in which he hadbeen educated. Had he advanced rapidly on the capital, James must have fallen back, as De Rosen advised, on theline of the Shannon; but O'Regan, at Charlemont, andBerwick, at Newry, seemed to him obstacles so serious, that nearly a month was wasted in advancing from Belfastto Dundalk, where he entrenched himself in September, and went into whiter quarters. Here a terrible dysenterybroke out among his troops, said to have been introducedby some soldiers from Derry, and so destructive were itsravages, that there were hardly left healthy men enoughto bury the dead. Several of the French Catholics underhis command, also, deserted to James, who, from hishead-quarters at Drogheda, offered every inducement tothe deserters. Others discovered in the attempt weretried and hanged, and others, still suspected of similardesigns, were marched down to Carlingford, and shippedfor England. In November, James returned from Droghedato Dublin, much elated that Duke Schomberg, whose fatalcamp at Dundalk he had in vain attempted to raise, hadshrunk from meeting him in the field. CHAPTER VII. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR--CAMPAIGN OF 1690--BATTLE OFTHE BOYNE--ITS CONSEQUENCES--THE SIEGES OF ATHLONEAND LIMERICK. The armies now destined to combat for two kings on Irishsoil were strongly marked by those distinctions of raceand religion which add bitterness to struggles for power, while they present striking contrasts to the eye of thepainter of military life and manners. King James's troopswere chiefly Celtic and Catholic. There were fourregiments commanded by O'Neils, two by O'Briens, two byO'Kellys, one each by McCarthy More, Maguire, O'More, O'Donnell, McMahon, and Magennis, principally recruitedamong their own clansmen. There were also the regimentsof Sarsfield, Nugent, De Courcy, Fitzgerald, Grace, andBurke, chiefly Celts, in the rank and file. On the otherhand, Schomberg led into the field the famous blue Dutchand white Dutch regiments; the Huguenot regiments ofSchomberg, La Millinier, Du Cambon, and La Callimotte;the English regiments of Lords Devonshire, Delamere, Lovelace, Sir John Lanier, Colonels Langston, Villiers, and others; the Anglo-Irish regiments of Lords Meath, Roscommon, Kingston, and Drogheda; with the Ulstermen, under Brigadier Wolseley, Colonels Gustavus Hamilton, Mitchelburne, Loyd, White, St. Johns, and Tiffany. Someimportant changes had taken place on both sides duringthe winter months. D'Avaux and De Rosen had been recalledat James's request; Mountcashel, at the head of the firstFranco-Irish brigade, had been exchanged for 6, 000 French, under De Lauzan, who arrived the following March in thedouble character of general and ambassador. The reportthat William was to command in person in the next campaign, was, of itself, an indication pregnant with other changesto the minds of his adherents. Their abundant supplies of military stores from England, wafted from every port upon the channel, where James hadnot a keel afloat, enabled the Williamite army to takethe initiative in the campaign of 1690. At Cavan, BrigadierWolseley repulsed the Duke of Berwick, with the loss of200 men and some valuable officers. But the chief incidentpreceding William's arrival was the siege of Charlemont. This siege, which commenced apparently in the previousautumn, had continued during several months, till thegarrison were literally starved out, in May. The famishedsurvivors were kindly treated, by order of Schomberg, and their gallant and eccentric chief, O'Regan, wasknighted by the King, for his persistent resistance. Amonth from the day on which Charlemont fell, (June 14th), William landed at Carrickfergus, accompanied by PrinceGeorge of Denmark, the Duke of Wurtemburg, the Prince ofHesse-Darmstadt, the second and last Duke of Ormond, Major-General Mackay, the Earls of Oxford, Portland, Scarborough, and Manchester, General Douglas, and otherdistinguished British and foreign officers. At Belfast, his first head-quarters, he ascertained the forces athis disposal to be upwards of 40, 000 men, composed of "astrange medley of all nations"--Scandinavians, Swiss, Dutch, Prussians, Huguenot-French, English, Scotch, "Scotch-Irish, " and Anglo-Irish. Perhaps the mostextraordinary element in that strange medley was theDanish contingent of horse and foot. Irish tradition andIrish prophecy still teemed with tales of terror andpredictions of evil at the hands of the Danes, whilethese hardy mercenaries observed, with grim satisfaction, that the memory of their fierce ancestors had not becomeextinct after the lapse of twenty generations. At theBoyne, and at Limerick, they could not conceal theirexultation as they encamped on some of the very earthworksraised by men of their race seven centuries before, andit must be admitted they vindicated their descent, bothby their courage and their cruelty. On the 16th of June, James, informed of William's arrival, marched northward at the head of 20, 000 men, French andIrish, to meet him. On the 22nd, James was at Dundalkand William at Newry; as the latter advanced, the Jacobitesretired, and finally chose their ground at the Boyne, resolved to hazard a battle, for the preservation ofDublin, and the safety of the province of Leinster. On the last day of June, the hostile forces confrontedeach other at the Boyne. The gentle, legendary river, wreathed in all the glory of its abundant foliage, wasstartled with the cannonade from the northern bank, whichcontinued through the long summer's evening, and wokethe early echoes of the morrow. William, strong in hisveteran ranks, welcomed the battle; James, strong in hisdefensive position, and the goodness of his cause, awaitedit with confidence. On the northern bank near to the fordof Oldbridge, William, with his chief officers, breakfastingon the turf, nearly lost his life from a sudden dischargeof cannon; but he was quickly in the saddle, at all pointsreviewing his army. James, on the hill of Donore, lookeddown on his devoted defenders, through whose ranks rodeTyrconnell, lame and ill, the youthful Berwick, theadventurous Lauzan, and the beloved Sarsfield--everywherereceived with cordial acclamations. The battle commencedat the ford of Oldbridge, between Sir Neil O'Neil, andthe younger Schomberg; O'Neil fell mortally wounded, andthe ford was forced. By this ford, William ordered hiscentre to advance under the elder Schomberg, as the hourof noon approached, while he himself moved with the leftacross the river, nearer to Drogheda. Lauzan, withSarsfield's horse, dreading to be outflanked, had gallopedto guard the bridge of Slane, five miles higher up thestream, where alone a flank movement was possible. Thebattle was now transferred from the gunners to theswordsmen and pikemen--from the banks to the fords andborders of the river, William, on the extreme left, swamhis horse across, in imminent danger; Schomberg andCallimotte fell in the centre, mortally wounded. Newswas brought to William, that Dr. Walker--recentlyappointed to the See of Derry--had also fallen, "Whatbrought him there?" was the natural comment of thesoldier-prince. After seven hours' fighting the Irishfell back on Duleek, in good order. The assailants admittedfive hundred killed, and as many wounded; the defenderswere said to have lost from one thousand to fifteenhundred men--less than at Newtown-Butler. The carnage, compared with some great battles of that age, wasinconsiderable, but the political consequences weremomentous. The next day, the garrison of Drogheda, onethousand three hundred strong, surrendered; in anotherweek, William was in Dublin, and James, terrified by thereports which had reached him, was _en route_ for France. It is hardly an exaggeration to say, that the fate ofEurope was decided by the result of the battle of theBoyne. At Paris, at the Hague, at Vienna, at Rome, atMadrid, nothing was talked of but the great victory ofthe Prince of Orange over Louis and James. It is one ofthe strangest complications of history that the vanquishedIrish Catholics seem to have been never once thought ofby Spain, Austria, or the Pope. In the greater issues ofthe European coalition against France, their interests, and their very existence, were for the moment forgotten. The defeat at the Boyne, and the surrender of Dublin, uncovered the entire province of Leinster, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, Duncannon, Clonmel, and other placesof less importance, surrendered within six weeks. Theline of the Shannon was fallen back upon by the Irish, and the points of attack and defence were now shifted toAthlone and Limerick. What Enniskillen and Derry hadbeen, in the previous year, to the Williamite party inthe north, cities of refuge, and strongholds of hope, these two towns upon the Shannon had now become, by thefortune of war, to King James's adherents. On the 17th of July, General Douglas appeared beforeAthlone, and summoned it to surrender. The veterancommandant, Colonel Richard Grace, a Confederate of 1641, having destroyed the bridge, and the suburbs on theLeinster side of the Shannon, replied by discharging hispistol over the head of the drummer who delivered themessage. Douglas attempted to cross the river atLanesborough, but found the ford strongly guarded by oneof Grace's outposts; after a week's ineffectual bombardment, he withdrew from before Athlone, and proceeded to Limerick, ravaging and slaying as he went. Limerick had at first been abandoned by the French underLauzan, as utterly indefensible. That gay intriguerdesired nothing so much as to follow the King to Prance, while Tyrconnell, broken down with physical sufferingand mental anxiety, feebly concurred in his opinion. Theyaccordingly departed for Galway, leaving the city to itsfate, and, happily for the national reputation, to boldercounsels than their own. De Boisseleau did not underratethe character of the Irish levies, who had retreatedbefore twice their numbers at the Boyne; he declaredhimself willing to remain, and, sustained by Sarsfield, he was chosen as commandant. More than ten thousand foothad gathered "as if by instinct" to that city, and onthe Clare side Sarsfield still kept together his cavalry, at whose head he rode to Galway and brought back. Tyrconnell. On the 9th of August, William, confident ofan easy victory, appeared before the town, but more thantwelve months were to elapse before all his power couldreduce those mouldering walls, which the fugitive Frenchambassador had declared "might be taken with roastedapples. " An exploit, planned and executed by Sarsfield the daysucceeding William's arrival, saved the city for anotheryear, and raised that officer to the highest pitch ofpopularity. Along the Clare side of the Shannon, undercover of the night, he galloped as fast as horse couldcarry him, at the head of his dragoons, and crossed theriver at Killaloe. One Manus O'Brien, a Protestant ofClare, who had encountered the flying horsemen, andlearned enough to suspect their design, hastened toWilliam's camp with the news, but he was at first laughedat for his pains. William, however, never despising anyprecaution in war, despatched Sir John Lanier with 500horse to protect his siege-train, then seven miles inthe rear, on the road between Limerick and Cashel. Sarsfield, however, was too quick for Sir John. The dayafter he had crossed at Killaloe he kept his men _perdu_in the hilly country, and the next night swooped downupon the convoy in charge of the siege-train, who werequietly sleeping round the ruined church of Ballanedy. The sentinels were sabred at their posts, the guards, half-dressed, fled in terror or were speedily killed. The gun-carriages were quickly yoked, and drawn togetherto a convenient place, where, planted in pits withammunition, they were, with two exceptions, successfullyblown to atoms. Lanier arrived within view of the terrificscene in time to feel its stunning effects. The groundfor miles round shook as from an earthquake; the glareand roar of the explosion were felt in William's camp, and through the beleaguered city. On the morrow, all wasknown. Sarsfield was safely back in his old encampment, without the loss of a single man; Limerick was in anuproar of delight, while William's army, to the lowestrank, felt the depression of so unexpected a blow. A weeklater, however, the provident prince had a new siege-trainof thirty-six guns and four mortars brought up fromWaterford, pouring red-hot shot on the devoted city. Another week--on the 27th of August--a gap having beenmade in the walls near Saint John's gate, a stormingparty of the English guards, the Anglo-Irish, Prussians, and Danes, was launched into the breach. After an actionof uncommon fierceness and determination on both sides, the besiegers retired with the loss of 30 officers, and800 men killed, and 1, 200 wounded. The besieged admitted400 killed--their wounded were not counted. Four dayslater, William abandoned the siege, retreated to Waterford, and embarked for England, with Prince George of Denmark, the Dukes of Wurtemburg and Ormond, and others of hisprincipal adherents. Tyrconnell, labouring with theillness of which he soon after died, took advantage ofthe honourable pause thus obtained, to proceed on hisinterrupted voyage to Prance, accompanied by the ambassador. Before leaving, however, the young Duke of Berwick wasnamed in his stead as Commander-in-Chief; Fitton, Nagle, and Plowden, as Lords Justices; sixteen "senators" wereto form a sort of Cabinet, and Sarsfield to be second inmilitary command. His enemies declared that Tyrconnellretired from the contest because his early spirit andcourage had failed him; he himself asserted that hisobject was to procure sufficient succours from King Louis, to give a decisive issue to the war. His subsequentnegotiations at Paris proved that though his bodily healthmight be wretched, his ingenuity and readiness of resourcehad not deserted him. He justified himself both withJames and Louis, outwitted Lauzan, propitiated Louvois, disarmed the prejudices of the English Jacobites, and, in short, placed the military relations of France andIreland on a footing they had never hitherto sustained. The expedition of the following spring, under command ofMarshal Saint Ruth, was mainly procured by his ablediplomacy, and though he returned to Ireland to survivebut a few weeks the disastrous day of Aughrim, it isimpossible from the Irish point of view, not to recallwith admiration, mixed indeed with alloy, but still withlargely prevailing admiration, the extraordinary energy, buoyancy and talents of Richard, Duke of Tyrconnell. CHAPTER VIII. THE WINTER OF 1690-91, The Jacobite party in England were not slow to exaggeratethe extent of William's losses before Athlone and Limerick. The national susceptibility was consoled by the readyreflection, that if the beaten troops were partly English, the commanders were mainly foreigners. A native hero wasneeded, and was found in the person of Marlborough, acaptain, whose name was destined to eclipse every otherEnglish reputation of that age. At his suggestion anexpedition was fitted out against Cork, Kinsale, andother ports of the south of Ireland, and the command, though not without some secret unwillingness on William'spart, committed to him. On the 23rd of September, at thehead of 8, 000 fresh troops, amply supplied with allnecessary munitions, Marlborough assaulted Cork. Afterfive days' bombardment, in which the Duke of Grafton, and other officers and men were slain, the Governor, McEligot, capitulated on conditions, which, in spite ofall Marlborough's exertions, were flagrantly violated. The old town of Kinsale was at once abandoned as untenablethe same day, and the new fort, at the entrance to theharbour, was surrendered after a fortnight's cannonade. Covered with glory from a five weeks' campaign, Marlboroughreturned to England to receive the acclamations of thepeople and the most gracious compliments of the prince. Berwick and Sarsfield on the one side and Ginkle andLanier on the other, kept up the winter campaign till anadvanced period, on both banks of the Shannon. About themiddle of September, the former made a dash over thebridge of Banagher, against Birr, or Parsonstown, thefamily borough of the famous _Undertaker_. The English, in great force, under Lanier, Kirke, and Douglas, hastenedto its relief, and the Irish fell back to Banagher. Todestroy "that convenient pass" became now the object ofone party, to protect it, of the other. After someskirmishing and manoeuvring on both sides, the disputedbridge was left in Irish possession, and the English fellback to the borough and castle of Sir Lawrence Parsons. During the siege of the new fort at Kinsale, Berwick andSarsfield advanced as far as Kilmallock to its relief, but finding themselves so inferior in numbers toMarlborough, they were unwillingly compelled to leaveits brave defenders to their fate, Although the Duke of Berwick was the nominalCommander-in-Chief, his youth, and the distractionsincident to youth, left the more mature and popularSarsfield the possession of real power, both civil andmilitary. Every fortunate accident had combined to elevatethat gallant cavalry officer into the position of nationalleadership. He was the son of a member of the Irish Commons, proscribedfor his patriotism and religion in 1641, by Anna O'Moore, daughter of the organizer of the Catholic Confederation. He was a Catholic in religion, spoke Gaelic as easily asEnglish, was brave, impulsive; handsome, and generous toa fault, like the men he led. In Tyrconnell's absenceevery sincere lover of the country came to him withintelligence, and looked to him for direction. Early inNovember he learned through his patriotic spies theintention of the Williamites to force the passage of theShannon in the depth of winter. On the last day ofDecember, accordingly, they marched in great force underKirke and Lanier to Jonesboro', and under Douglas toJamestown. At both points they found the indefatigableSarsfield fully prepared for them, and after a fortnight'sintense suffering from exposure to the weather, were gladto get back again to their snug quarters at Parsonstown. Early in February Tyrconnell landed at Limerick with aFrench fleet, escorted by three vessels of war, and ladenwith provisions, but bringing few arms and noreinforcements. He had brought over, however, 14, 000golden louis, which were found of the utmost service inre-clothing the army, besides 10, 000 more which he haddeposited at Brest to purchase oatmeal for subsequentshipment. He also brought promises of military assistanceon a scale far beyond anything France had yet afforded. It is almost needless to say he was received at Galwayand Limerick with an enthusiasm which silenced, if itdid not confute, his political enemies, both in Irelandand France. During his absence intrigues and factions had been riferthan ever in the Jacobite ranks. Sarsfield had discoveredthat the English movement on the Shannon in December waspartly hastened by foolish or treacherous correspondenceamong his own associates. Lord Riverston and his brotherwere removed from the Senate, or Council of Sixteen--fourfrom each province--and Judge Daly, ancestor of theDunsandle family, was placed under arrest at Galway. Theyouthful Berwick sometimes complained that he was tutoredand overruled by Sarsfield; but though the impetuoussoldier may occasionally have forgotten the lessonslearned in courts, his activity seems to have been thegreatest, his information the best, his advice the mostdisinterested, and his fortitude the highest of any memberof the council. By the time of Tyrconnell's return hehad grown to a height of popularity and power, whichcould not well brook a superior either in the cabinetor the camp. On the arrival of the Lord Lieutenant, who was alsoCommander-in-Chief, the ambition of Sarsfield was gratifiedby the rank of Earl of Lucan, a title drawn from thatpleasant hamlet, in the valley of the Liffey, where hehad learned to lisp the catechism of a patriot at theknee of Anna O'Moore. But his real power was muchdiminished. Tyrconnell, Berwick, Sir Richard Nagle, whohad succeeded the Earl of Melfort as chief secretary forKing James, all ranked before him at the board, and whenSaint Ruth arrived to take command-in-chief, he mightfairly have complained that he was deprived of the chiefreward to which he had looked forward. The weary winter and the drenching spring months woreaway, and the Williamite troops, sorely afflicted bydisease, hugged their tents and huts. Some relief wassent by sea to the Jacobite garrison of Sligo, commandedby the stout old Sir Teague O'Regan, the former defenderof Charlemont. Athlone, too, received some succours, andthe line of the Shannon was still unbroken fromSlieve-an-iron to the sea. But still the promised Frenchassistance was delayed. Men were beginning to doubt bothKing Louis and King James, when, at length at the beginningof May, the French ships were signalled from the cliffsof Kerry. On the 8th, the Sieur de Saint Ruth, withGenerals D'Usson and De Tesse, landed at Limerick, andassisted at a solemn _Te Deum_ in St. Mary's Cathedral. They brought considerable supplies of clothes, provisions, and ammunitions, but neither veterans to swell the ranks, nor money to replenish the chest. Saint Ruth enteredeagerly upon the discharge of his duties as generalissimo, while Sarsfield continued the nominal second in command. CHAPTER IX. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR--CAMPAIGN OF 1691--BATTLEOF AUGHRIM--CAPITULATION OF LIMERICK. Saint Ruth, with absolute powers, found himself placedat the head of from 20, 000 to 25, 000 men, in the fieldor in garrison, regular or irregular, but all, with hardlyan exception, Irish. His and Tyrconnell's recent supplieshad sufficed to renew the clothing and equipment of thegreater part of the number, but the whole contents ofthe army chest, the golden hinge on which war moves, wasestimated in the beginning of May to afford to eachsoldier only "a penny a day for three weeks. " He hadunder him some of the best officers that France couldspare, or Ireland produce, and he had with him the heartsof nine-tenths of the natives of the country. A singular illustration of the popular feeling occurredthe previous August. The Milesian Irish had cherishedthe belief ever since the disastrous day of Kinsale, thatan O'Donnell from Spain, having on his shoulder a redmark (_ball derg_), would return to free them from theEnglish yoke, in a great battle near Limerick. Accordingly, when a representative of the Spanish O'Donnells actuallyappeared at Limerick, bearing as we know many of hisfamily have done, even to our day, the unmistakable redmark of the ancient Tyrconnell line, immense numbers ofthe country people who had held aloof from the Jacobitecause, obeyed the voice of prophecy, and flocked roundthe Celtic deliverer. From 7, 000 to 8, 000 recruits weresoon at his disposal, and it was not without bitterindignation that the chief, so enthusiastically received, saw regiment after regiment drafted from among hisfollowers, and transferred to other commanders. Bred upa Spanish subject--the third in descent from an Irishprince--it is not to be wondered at that he regarded the_Irish_ cause as all in all, and the interests of KingJames as entirely secondary. He could hardly considerhimself as bound in allegiance to that king; he was inno way indebted to him or his family, and if we learnthat when the war grew desperate, but before it was ended, he had entered into a separate treaty for himself andhis adherents, with William's generals, we must remember, before we condemn him, that we are speaking of anHiberno-Spaniard, to whom the house of Stuart was no moresacred than the house of Orange. The Williamite army rendezvoused at Mullingar towardsthe end of May, under Generals De Ginkle, Talmash andMackay. On the 7th of June, they moved in the directionof Athlone, 18, 000 strong, "the ranks one blaze of scarlet, and the artillery such as had never before been seen inIreland. " The capture of Ballymore Castle, in West-Meath, detained them ten days; on the 19th, joined by the Dukeof Wurtemburg, the Prince of Hesse and the Count ofNassau, with 7, 000 foreign mercenaries, the whole satdown before the English town of Athlone, which SaintRuth, contrary to his Irish advisers, resolved to defend. In twenty-four hours those exposed outworks abandoned bythe veteran Grace the previous year, fell, and thebombardment of the Irish town on the opposite or Connaughtbank, commenced. For ten days--from the 20th to the 30thof June--that fearful cannonade continued. Storey, theWilliamite chaplain, to whom we are indebted for manyvaluable particulars of this war, states that the besiegersfired above 12, 000 cannon shot, 600 shells and many tonsof stone, into the place. Fifty tons of powder were burnedin the bombardment. The castle, an imposing but loftyand antique structure, windowed as much for a residenceas a fortress, tumbled into ruins; the bridge was brokendown and impassable; the town a heap of rubbish, wheretwo men could no longer walk abreast. But the Shannonhad diminished in volume as the summer advanced, andthree Danes employed for that purpose found a ford abovethe bridge, and at six o'clock on the evening of the lastday of June, 2, 000 picked men, headed by Gustavus Hamilton'sgrenadiers, dashed into the ford at the stroke of a bell. At the same instant all the English batteries on theLeinster side opened on the Irish town, wrapping theriver in smoke, and distracting the attention of thebesiegers. Saint Ruth was, at this critical moment, athis camp two miles off, and D'Usson, the commandant, wasalso absent from his post. In half an hour the Williamiteswere masters of the heap of rubbish which had once beenAthlone, with a loss of less than fifty men killed andwounded. For this bold and successful movement De Ginklewas created Earl of Athlone, and his chief officers werejustly ennobled. Saint Ruth, over-confident, in a strangecountry, withdrew to Ballinasloe, behind the river Suck, and prepared to risk everything on the hazard of a pitchedbattle. De Ginkle moved slowly from Athlone in pursuit of hisenemy. On the morning of the 11th of July, as the earlyhaze lifted itself in wreaths from the landscape, hefound himself within range of the Irish, drawn up, northand south, on the upland of Kilcommodan hill, with amorass on either flank, through which ran two narrowcauseways--on the right, "the pass of Urrachree, " on theleft, the causeway leading to the little village ofAughrim. Saint Ruth's force must have numbered from 15, 000to 20, 000 men, with nine field-pieces; De Ginkle commandedfrom 25, 000 to 30, 000, with four batteries--two of whichmounted six guns each. During the entire day, attackafter attack, in the direction of Urrachree or of Aughrimwas repulsed, and the assailants were about to retire indespair. As the sun sank low, a last desperate attemptwas made with equal ill success. "Now, my children, "cried the elated Saint Ruth, "the day is ours! Now Ishall drive them back to the walls of Dublin!" At thatmoment he fell by a cannon shot to the earth, and stayedthe advancing tide of victory. The enemy marked thecheck, halted, rallied and returned. Sarsfield, who hadnot been entrusted with his leader's plan of action, wasunable to remedy the mischief which ensued. Victoryarrested was converted into defeat. The sun went down onAughrim, and the last great Irish battle between theReformed and Roman religions. Four thousand of theCatholics were killed and wounded, and three thousand ofthe Protestants littered the field. Above five hundredprisoners, with thirty-two pairs of colours, elevenstandards, and a large quantity of small arms, fell intothe hands of the victors. One portion of the fugitivesurvivors fled to Galway, the larger part, including allthe cavalry, to Limerick. This double blow at Athlone and Aughrim shook to piecesthe remaining Catholic power in Connaught. Galwaysurrendered ten days after the battle; Balldearg O'Donnell, after a vain attempt to throw himself into it in time, made terms with De Ginkle, and carried his two regimentsinto Flanders to fight on the side Spain and Rome hadchosen to take in the European coalition. Sligo, the lastwestern garrison, succumbed, and the brave Sir TeagueO'Regan marched his 600 men, survivors, southward toLimerick. Thus once more all eyes and all hearts in the BritishIslands were turned towards the well-known city of thelower Shannon. There, on the 14th of August, Tyrconnellexpired, stricken down by apoplexy. On the 25th, DeGinkle, reinforced by all the troops he could gather inwith safety, had invested the place on three sides. Sixtyguns, none of less than 12 pounds calibre, opened theirdeadly fire against it. An English fleet ascended theriver, hurling its missiles right and left. On the 9thof September the garrison made an unsuccessful sally, with heavy loss; on the 10th, a breach, forty yards wide, was made in the wall overhanging the river; on the nightof the 15th, through the treachery or negligence ofBrigadier Clifford, on guard at the Clare side of theriver, a pontoon bridge was laid, and a strong Englishdivision crossed over in utter silence. The Irish horse, which had hitherto kept open communications with thecountry on that side, fell back to Six Mile Bridge. Onthe 24th, a truce of three days was agreed upon, and onthe 3rd of October the memorable "Treaty of Limerick"was signed by the Williamite and Jacobite commissioners. The _civil_ articles of Limerick will be mentioned fartheron; the _military_ articles, twenty-nine in number, provided that all persons willing to expatriate themselves, as well officers and soldiers as rapparees and volunteers, should have free liberty to do so, to any place beyondseas, except England and Scotland; that they might departin whole bodies, companies, or parties; that if plunderedby the way, William's government should make good theirloss; that fifty ships of 200 tons each should be providedfor their transportation, besides two men-of-war for theprincipal officers; that the garrison of Limerick mightmarch out with all their arms, guns and baggage, "coloursflying, drums beating, and matches lighting!" It was alsoagreed, that those who so wished might enter the serviceof William, retaining their rank and pay; but though DeGinkle was most eager to secure for his master some ofthose stalwart battalions, only 1, 000 out of the 13, 000that marched out of Limerick filed to the left at King'sIsland, Two thousand others accepted passes and protections;4, 500 sailed with Sarsfield from Cork, 4, 700 with D'Ussonand De Tesse, embarked in the Shannon on board a Frenchfleet which arrived a week too late to prevent thecapitulation; in English ships, 3, 000 embarked withGeneral Wauchop; all which, added to Mountcashel's brigade, over 5, 000 strong, gave an Irish army of from 20, 000 to25, 000 men to the service of King Louis. As the ships from Ireland reached Brest and the ports ofBrittany, James himself came down from Saint Germain toreceive them. They were at once granted the rights ofFrench citizenship without undergoing the forms ofnaturalization. Many of them rose to eminent positionsin war and in diplomacy, became founders of distinguishedfamilies, or dying childless, left their hard-won goldto endow free bourses at Douay and Louvain, for poorIrish scholars destined for the service of the church, for which they had fought the good fight, in anothersense, on the Shannon and the Boyne. The migration ofecclesiastics was almost as extensive as that of themilitary. They were shipped by dozens and by scores, from Dublin, Cork, and Galway. In seven years from thetreaty, there remained but 400 secular and 800 regularclergy in the country. Nearly double that number, deportedby threats or violence, were scattered over Europe, pensioners on the princes and bishops of their faith, orthe institutions of their order. In Rome, 72, 000 francsannually were allotted for the maintenance of the fugitiveIrish clergy, and during the first three months of 1699, three remittances from the Holy Father, amounting to90, 000 livres, were placed in the hands of the Nuncio atParis, for the temporary relief of the fugitives in Franceand Flanders. It may also be added here, that till theend of the eighteenth century, an annual charge of 1, 000Roman crowns was borne by the Papal treasury for theencouragement of Catholic Poor-schools in Ireland. The revolutionary war, thus closed, had cost King William, or rather the people of England, at least 10, 000, 000 ofpounds sterling, and with the other wars of that reign, laid the foundation of the English national debt. As tothe loss of life, the Williamite chaplain, Storey, placesit "at 100, 000, young and old, besides treble the numberthat are ruined and undone. " The chief consolation ofthe vanquished in that struggle was, that they had wrungeven from their adversaries the reputation of being "oneof the most warlike of nations"--that they "buried thesynagogue with honour. " CHAPTER X. REIGN OF KING WILLIAM. From the date of the treaty of Limerick, William wasacknowledged by all but the extreme Jacobites, at least_de facto_--King of Ireland. The prevailing party inUlster had long recognized him, and the only expressionof the national will then possible accepted his title, in the treaty signed at Limerick on the 3rd of October, 1691. For three years Ireland had resisted his power, for twelve years longer she was to bear the yoke ofhis government. Though the history of William's twelve years' reign inIreland is a history of proscription, the King himselfis answerable only as a consenting party to suchproscription. He was neither by temper nor policy apersecutor; his allies were Spain, Austria and Rome; hehad thousands of Catholics in his own army, and he gavehis confidence as freely to brave and capable men of onecreed as of another. But the oligarchy, calling itselfthe "Protestant Ascendancy, " which had grown so powerfulunder Cromwell and Charles II. , backed as they once againwere by all the religious intolerance of England, provedtoo strong for William's good intentions. He was, moreover, pre-occupied with the grand plans of the European coalition, in which Ireland, without an army, was no longer anelement of calculation. He abandoned, therefore, notwithout an occasional grumbling protest, the vanquishedCatholics to the mercy of that oligarchy, whose history, during the eighteenth century, forms so prominent afeature of the history of the kingdom. The civil articles of Limerick, which Sarsfield vainlyhoped might prove the _Magna Charta_ of his co-religionists, were thirteen in number. Art. I. Guaranteed to membersof that denomination, remaining in the kingdom, "suchprivileges in the exercise of their religion as areconsistent with the law of Ireland, or as they enjoyedin the reign of King Charles II. ;" this article furtherprovided, that "their majesties, as soon as their affairswill permit them to summon a Parliament in this kingdom, will endeavour to procure the said Roman Catholics suchfurther security in that particular as may preserve themfrom any disturbance on account of their said religion. "Art. II. Guaranteed pardon and protection to all whohad served King James, on taking the oath of allegianceprescribed in Art. IX. , as follows: "I, A. B. , do solemnly promise and swear that I will befaithful and bear true allegiance to their majesties, King William and Queen Mary; so help me God. " Arts. III. , IV. , V. And VI. Extended the provisions ofArts. I. And II. To merchants and other classes of men. Art. VII. Permits "every nobleman and gentleman compromisedin the said articles" to carry side arms and keep "a gunin their houses. " Art. VIII. Gives the right of removinggoods and chattels without search. Art. IX. Is as follows: "The oath to be administered to such Roman Catholics assubmit to their majesties' government _shall be the oathaforesaid, and no other_. " Art. X. Guarantees that "no person or persons who shallat any time hereafter break these articles, or any ofthem, shall thereby make or cause any other person orpersons to _forfeit or lose the benefit of them_. "Arts. XI. And XII. Relate to the ratification of thearticles "within eight months or sooner. " Art. XIII. Refers to the debts of "Colonel John Brown, commissaryof the Irish army, to several Protestants, " and arrangesfor their satisfaction. These articles were signed before Limerick, at the wellknown "Treaty Stone, " on the Clare side of the Shannon, by Lord Scravenmore, Generals Mackay, Talmash, and DeGinkle, and the Lords Justices Porter and Coningsby, forKing William, and by Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, ViscountGalmoy, Sir Toby Butler, and Colonels Purcell, Cusack, Dillon, and Brown, for the Irish. On the 24th of Februaryfollowing, royal letters patent confirmatory of the treatywere issued from Westminster, in the name of the Kingand Queen, whereby they declared, that "we do for us, our heirs, and successors, as far as in us lies, ratifyand confirm the same and every clause, matter, and thingtherein contained. And as to such parts thereof, forwhich an act of Parliament shall be found to be necessary, we shall recommend the same to be made good by Parliament, and shall give our royal assent to any bill or bills thatshall be passed by our two Houses of Parliament to thatpurpose. And whereas it appears unto us, that it wasagreed between the parties to the said articles, thatafter the words Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, Mayo, orany of them, in the second of the said articles; whichwords having been casually omitted by the writer of thearticles, the words following, viz. : 'And all such asare under their protection in the said counties' shouldbe inserted, and be part of the said omission, was notdiscovered till after the said articles were signed, butwas taken notice of before the second town was surrendered, and that our said justices and generals, or one of them, did promise that the said clause should be made good, itbeing within the intention of the capitulation, andinserted in the foul draft thereof: Our further will andpleasure is, and we do hereby ratify and confirm the saidomitted words, viz. , 'And all such as are under theirprotection in the said counties, ' hereby for us, ourheirs and successors, ordaining and declaring that alland every person and persons therein concerned shall andmay have, receive, and enjoy the benefit thereof, in suchand the same manner as if the said words had been insertedin their proper place in the said second article, anyomission, defect, or mistake in the said second articlein any wise notwithstanding. Provided always, and ourwill and pleasure is, that these our letters patent shallbe enrolled in our Court of Chancery, in our said kingdomof Ireland, within the space of one year next ensuing. " But the Ascendancy party were not to be restrained bythe faith of treaties, or the obligations of the Sovereign. The Sunday following the return of the Lords Justicesfrom Limerick, Dopping, Bishop of Meath, preached beforethem at Christ's church, on the crime of keeping faithwith Papists. The grand jury of Cork, urged on by Cox, the Recorder of Kinsale, one of the historians of thosetimes, returned in their inquest that the restoration ofthe Earl of Clancarty's estates "would be dangerous tothe Protestant interest. " Though both William andGeorge I. , interested themselves warmly for that noblefamily, the hatred of the new oligarchy proved too strongfor the clemency of kings, and the broad acres of thedisinherited McCarthys, remained to enrich an alien andbigoted aristocracy. In 1692, when the Irish Parliament met, a few Catholicpeers, and a very few Catholic commoners took their seats. One of the first acts of the victorious majority was toframe an oath in direct contravention to the oath prescribedby the ninth civil article of the treaty, to be taken bymembers of both Houses. This oath solemnly and explicitlydenied "that in the sacrament of the Lord's supper thereis any transubstantiation of the elements;" and as solemnlyaffirmed, "that the invocation or adoration of the VirginMary, or any other saint, and the sacrifice of the mass, as they are now used in the church of Rome, are damnableand idolatrous. " As a matter of course, the Catholicpeers and commoners retired from both Houses, rather thantake any such oath, and thus the Irish Parliament assumed, in 1692, that exclusively Protestant character which itcontinued to maintain, till its extinction in 1800. TheLord Justice Sydney, acting in the spirit of his originalinstructions, made some show of resistance to theproscriptive spirit thus exhibited. But to teach him howthey regarded his interference, a very small supply wasvoted, and the assertion of the absolute control of theCommons over all supplies--a sound doctrine when rightlyinterpreted--was vehemently asserted. Sydney had thesatisfaction of proroguing and lecturing the House, butthey had the satisfaction soon after of seeing him recalledthrough their influence in England, and a more congenialViceroy in the person of Lord Capel sent over. About the same time, that ancient engine of oppression, a Commission to inquire into estates forfeited, wasestablished, and, in a short time, decreed that 1, 060, 792acres were escheated to the crown. This was almost thelast fragment of the patrimony of the Catholic inhabitants. When King William died, there did not remain in Catholichands "one-sixth part" of what their grandfathers held, even after the passage of the Act of Settlement. In 1695, Lord Capel opened the second Irish Parliament, summoned by King William, in a speech in which he assuredhis delighted auditors that the King was intent upon afirm settlement of Ireland upon a Protestant interest. Large supplies were at once voted to his majesty, andthe House of Commons then proceeded to the appointmentof a committee to consider what penal laws were alreadyin force against the Catholics, not for the purpose ofrepealing them, but in order to add to their number. Theprincipal penal laws then in existence were: 1. An act, subjecting all who upheld the jurisdiction ofthe See of Rome, to the penalties of a _premunire_; andordering the oath of supremacy to be a qualification foroffice of every kind, for holy orders, and for a degreein the university. 2. An act for the uniformity of Common Prayer, imposinga fine of a shilling on all who should absent themselvesfrom places of worship of the Established Church onSundays. 3. An act, allowing the Chancellor to name a guardian tothe child of a Catholic. 4. An act to prevent Catholics from becoming privatetutors in families, without license from the ordinariesof their several parishes, and taking the oath of supremacy. To these, the new Parliament added, 1. An act to depriveCatholics of the means of educating their children athome or abroad, and to render them incapable of beingguardians of their own or any other person's children;2. An act to disarm the Catholics; and, 3. Another tobanish all the Catholic priests and prelates. Having thusviolated the treaty, they gravely brought in a bill "toconfirm the Articles of Limerick. " "The very title ofthe bill, " says Dr. Cooke Taylor, "contains evidence ofits injustice. " It is styled "A Bill for the Confirmationof Articles (not _the_ articles) made at the Surrenderof Limerick. " And the preamble shows that the little word_the_ was not accidentally omitted. It runs thus:--"Thatthe said articles, or _so much of them as may consistwith the safety and welfare of your majesty's subjectsin these kingdoms_, may be confirmed, " &c. The parts thatappeared to these legislators inconsistent with "thesafety and welfare of his majesty's subjects, " were thefirst article, which provided for the security of theCatholics from all disturbances on account of theirreligion; those parts of the second article which confirmedthe Catholic gentry of Limerick, Clare, Cork, Kerry, andMayo, in the possession of their estates, and allowedall Catholics to exercise their trades and professionswithout obstruction; the fourth article, which extendedthe benefit of the peace to certain Irish officers thenabroad; the seventh article, which allowed the Catholicgentry to ride armed; the ninth article, which providesthat the oath of allegiance shall be the only oath requiredfrom Catholics; and one or two others of minor importance. All of these are omitted in the bill for "The confirmationof Articles made at the Surrender of Limerick. " The Commons passed the bill without much difficulty. TheHouse of Lords, however, contained some few of the ancientnobility, and some prelates, who refused to acknowledgethe dogma, "that no faith should be kept with Papists, "as an article of their creed. The bill was strenuouslyresisted, and when it was at length carried, a strongprotest against it was signed by Lords Londonderry, Tyrone, and Duncannon, the Barons of Ossory, Limerick, Killaloe, Kerry, Howth, Kingston, and Strabane, and, totheir eternal honour be it said, the Protestant bishopsof Kildare, Elphin, Derry, Clonfert, and Killala! The only other political incidents of this reign, importantto Ireland, were the speech from the throne in answer toan address of the English Houses, in which William promisedto discourage the woollen and encourage the linenmanufacture in Ireland, and the publication of the famousargument for legislative independence, "The Case ofIreland Stated. " The author of this tract, the brightprecursor of the glorious succession of men, who, oftendefeated or abandoned by their colleagues, finallytriumphed in 1782, was William Molyneux, member for theUniversity of Dublin. Molyneux's book appeared in 1698, with a short, respectful, but manly dedication to KingWilliam. Speaking of his own motives in writing it, hesays, "I am not at all concerned in wool or the wooltrade. I am no ways interested in forfeitures or grants. I am not at all concerned whether the bishop or thesociety of Derry recover the lands they contest about. "Such were the domestic politics of Ireland at that day;but Molyneux raised other and nobler issues when headvanced these six propositions, which lie supported withincontestible ability. "1. How Ireland became a kingdom _annexed_ to the crownof England. And here we shall at large give a faithfulnarrative of the first expedition of the Britons intothis country, and King Henry II. 's arrival here, such asour best historians give us. "2. We shall inquire whether this expedition and theEnglish settlement that afterwards followed thereon, canproperly be called a _conquest_; or whether any victoriesobtained by the English in any succeeding ages in thiskingdom, upon any rebellion, may be called a _conquest_thereof. "3. Granting that it were a _conquest_, we shall inquirewhat _title_ a conquest gives. "4. We shall inquire what _concessions_ have been fromtime to time made to Ireland, to take off what even themost rigorous asserters of a conqueror's title do pretendto. And herein we shall show by what degrees the Englishform of government, and the English statute laws, cameto be received among us; and this shall appear to bewholly by the _consent_ of the people and the Parliamentof Ireland. "5. We shall inquire into the precedents and opinions ofthe learned in the laws relating to this matter, withobservations thereon. "6. We shall consider the reasons and arguments that maybe further offered on one side and t'other; and we shalldraw some general conclusions from the whole. " The English Parliament took alarm at these bold doctrines, seldom heard across the channel since the days of PatrickDarcy and the Catholic Confederacy. They ordered the bookto be burned by the hands of the common hangman, as of"dangerous tendency to the crown and people of England, by denying the power of the King and Parliament of Englandto bind the kingdom and people of Ireland, and thesubordination and dependence that Ireland had, and oughtto have, upon England, as being united and annexed tothe imperial crown of England. " They voted an address tothe King in the same tone, and received an answer fromhis majesty, assuring them that he would enforce the lawssecuring the dependence of Ireland on the imperial crownof Great Britain. But William's days were already numbered. On the 8th ofMarch, 1702, when little more than fifty years of age, he died from the effects of a fall from his horse. Hisreign over Ireland is synonymous to the minds of thatpeople of disaster, proscription and spoliation; ofviolated faith and broken compacts; but these wrongs weredone in his name rather than by his orders; often withouthis knowledge, and sometimes against his will. Rigid asthat will was, it was forced to bend to the anti-Poperystorm which swept over the British Islands after theabdication of King James; but the vices and follies ofhis times ought no more be laid to the personal accountof William than of James or Louis, against whom he fought. CHAPTER XI. REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. The reign of Queen Anne occupies twelve years (1702 to1714. The new sovereign, daughter of James by his firstmarriage, inherited the legacy of William's wars, arisingout of the European coalition. Her diplomatists, and hertroops, under the leadership of Marlborough, continuedthroughout her reign to combat against France, in Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands; the treaty of Utrecht beingsigned only the year before her majesty's decease. Indomestic politics, the main occurrences were the struggleof the Whigs and Tories, immortalized for us in the pagesof Swift, Steele, Addison, and Bolingbroke; the limitationof the succession to the descendants of the ElectressSophia, in the line of Hanover; and the abortive Jacobitemovement on the Queen's death which drove Ormond andAtterbury into exile. In Ireland, this is the reign, _par excellence_, of thepenal code. From the very beginning of the Queen's reign, an insatiate spirit of proscription dictated the councilsof the Irish oligarchy. On the arrival of the secondand last Duke of Ormond, in 1703, as Lord-Lieutenant, the Commons waited on him in a body, with a bill "fordiscouraging the further growth of Popery, " to which theduke having signified his entire concurrence, it wasaccordingly introduced, and became law. The followingare among the most remarkable clauses of this act: Thethird clause provides, that if the son of an estatedPapist shall conform to the established religion, thefather shall be incapacitated from selling or mortgaginghis estate, or disposing of any portion of it by will. The fourth clause prohibits a Papist from being theguardian of his own child; and orders, that if at anytime the child, though ever so young, pretends to be aProtestant, it shall be taken from its own father, andplaced under the guardianship of the nearest Protestantrelation. The sixth clause renders Papists incapable ofpurchasing any manors, tenements, hereditaments, or anyrents or profits arising out of the same, or of holdingany lease of lives, or other lease whatever, for any termexceeding thirty-one years. And with respect even to suchlimited leases, it further enacts, that if a Papist shouldhold a farm producing a profit greater than one-third ofthe amount of the rent, his right to such should immediatelycease, and pass over entirely to the first Protestantwho should discover the rate of profit. The seventh clauseprohibits Papists from succeeding to the properties orestates of their Protestant relations. By the tenthclause, the estate of a Papist, not having a Protestantheir, is ordered to be gavelled, or divided in equalshares between all his children. The sixteenth andtwenty-fourth clauses impose the oath of abjuration, andthe sacramental test, as a qualification for office, andfor voting at elections. The twenty-third clause deprivesthe Catholics of Limerick and Galway of the protectionsecured to them by the articles of the treaty of Limerick. The twenty-fifth clause vests in her majesty all advowsonspossessed by Papists. Certain Catholic barristers, living under protection, not yet excluded from the practice of their profession, petitioned to be heard at the bar of the House of Commons. Accordingly, Mr. Malone, the ancestor of three generationsof scholars and orators, Sir Stephen Rice, one of themost spotless characters of the age, formerly chief-justiceunder King James, and Sir Theobald Butler, were heardagainst the bill. The argument of Butler, who stood atthe very head of his profession, remains to us almost inits entirety, and commands our admiration by its solidityand dignity. Never was national cause more worthilypleaded; never was the folly of religious persecutionmore forcibly exhibited. Alluding to the monstrous fourthclause of the bill, the great advocate exclaimed:-- "It is natural for the father to love the child; but weall know that children are but too apt and subject, without any such liberty as this bill gives, to slightand neglect their duty to their parents; and surely suchan act as this will not be an instrument of restraint, but rather encourage them more to it. "It is but too common with the son, who has a prospectof an estate, when once he arrives at the age of one andtwenty, to think the old father too long in the waybetween him and it; and how much more will he be subjectto it, when, by this act, he shall have liberty, beforehe comes to that age, to compel and force my estate fromme, without asking my leave, or being liable to accountwith me for it, or out of his share thereof, to a moietyof the debts, portions, or other encumbrances, with whichthe estate might have been charged before the passing ofthis act! "Is not this against the laws of God and man? Againstthe rules of reason and justice, by which all men oughtto be governed? Is not this the only way in the world tomake children become undutiful? and to bring the greyhead of the parent to the grave with grief and tears? "It would be hard from any man; but from a son, a child, the fruit of my body, whom I have nursed in my bosom, and tendered more dearly than my own life, to become myplunderer, to rob me of my estate, to cut my throat, andto take away my bread, is much more grievous than fromany other, and enough to make the most flinty hearts tobleed to think on it. And yet this will be the case ifthis bill pass into a law; which I hope this honourableassembly will not think of, when they shall more seriouslyconsider, and have weighed these matters. "For God's sake, gentlemen, will you consider whetherthis is according to the golden rule, to do as you wouldbe done unto? And if not, surely you will not, nay, youcannot, without being liable to be charged with the mostmanifest injustice imaginable, take from us our birthrights, and invest them in others, before our faces. " When Butler and Malone had closed, Sir Stephen Rice washeard, not in his character of council, but as one ofthe petitioners affected by the act. But neither theaffecting position of that great jurist, who, from therank of chief baron had descended to the outer bar, northe purity of his life, nor the strength of his argument, had any effect upon the oligarchy who heard him. He wasanswered by quibbles and cavils, unworthy of record, andwas finally informed that any rights which Papists"pretended to be taken from them by the Bill, was intheir own power to remedy, by conforming, which in prudencethey ought to do; and that they had none to blame butthemselves. " Next day the bill passed into law. The remnant of the clergy were next attacked. On the 17thof March, 1705, the Irish Commons resolved, that "informingagainst Papists was an honourable service to thegovernment, " and that all magistrates and others whofailed to put the penal laws into execution, "werebetrayers of the liberties of the kingdom. " But eventhese resolutions, rewards, and inducements wereinsufficient to satisfy the spirit of persecution. A further act was passed, in 1709, imposing additionalpenalties. The first clause declares, that no Papistshall be capable of holding an annuity for life. Thethird provides, that the child of a Papist, on conforming, shall at once receive an annuity from his father; andthat the Chancellor shall compel the father to discover, upon oath, the full value of his estate, real and personal, and thereupon make an order for the support of suchconforming child or children, and for securing such ashare of the property, after the father's death, as thecourt shall think fit. The fourteenth and fifteenthclauses secure jointures to Popish wives who shall conform. The sixteenth prohibits a Papist from teaching, even asassistant to a Protestant master. The eighteenth givesa salary of 30 pounds per annum to Popish priests whoshall conform. The twentieth provides rewards for thediscovery of Popish prelates, priests, and teachers, according to the following whimsical scale:--For discoveringan archbishop, bishop, vicar-general, or other person, exercising any foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction, 50pounds; for discovering each regular clergyman, and eachsecular clergyman, not registered, 20 pounds; and fordiscovering each Popish schoolmaster or usher, 10 pounds. The twenty-first clause empowers two justices to summonbefore them any Papist over eighteen years of age, andinterrogate him when and where he last heard mass said, and the names of the persons present, and likewise touchingthe residence of any Popish priest or schoolmaster; andif he refuse to give testimony, subjects him to a fineof 20 pounds, or imprisonment for twelve months. Several other penal laws were enacted by the sameParliament, of which we can only notice one; it excludedCatholics from the office of sheriff, and from grandjuries, and enacts, that, in trials upon any statute forstrengthening the Protestant interest, the plaintiffmight challenge a juror for being a Papist, which challengethe judge was to allow. By a royal proclamation of the same year, "all registeredpriests" were to take "the oath of abjuration before the25th of March, 1710, " under penalty of _premunire_. Underthis proclamation and the tariff of rewards just cited, there grew up a class of men, infamous and detestable, known by the nickname of "priest hunters. " One of themost successful of these traffickers in blood was aPortuguese Jew, named Garcia, settled at Dublin. He wasvery skilful at disguises. "He sometimes put on the mienof a priest, for he affected to be one, and thus worminghimself into the good graces of some confiding Catholicgot a clue to the whereabouts of the clergy. " In 1718, Garcia succeeded in arresting seven unregistered priests, for whose detection he had a sum equal to two or threethousand dollars of American money. To such an excesswas this trade carried, that a reaction set in, and aCatholic bishop of Ossory, who lived at the time theseacts were still in force, records that "the priest-catchers'occupation became exceedingly odious both to Protestantsand Catholics, " and that himself had seen "ruffians ofthis calling assailed with a shower of stones, flung byboth Catholics and Protestants. " But this creditablereaction only became general under George II. , twentyyears after the passage of the act of Queen Anne. We shall have to mention some monstrous additions madeto the code during the first George's reign, and someattempts to repair and perfect its diabolical machinery, even so late as George III. ; but the great body of thepenal law received its chief accessions from theoligarchical Irish Parliament, under Queen Anne. Hitherto, we have often had to point out, how with all itsconstitutional defects--with the law of Poynings, obligingheads of bills to be first sent to England--fetteringits freedom of initiative;--how, notwithstanding alldefects, the Irish Parliament had asserted, at manycritical periods, its own and the people's rights, withan energy worthy of admiration. But the collective bigotsof this reign were wholly unworthy of the name of aparliament. They permitted the woollen trade to besacrificed without a struggle, --they allowed the boldpropositions of Molyneux, one of their own number, to becondemned and reprobated without a protest. The knottedlash of Jonathan Swift was never more worthily applied, than to "the Legion Club, " which he has consigned to suchan unenviable immortality. Swift's inspiration may havebeen mingled with bitter disappointment and personalrevenge; but, whatever motives animated him, his fearlessuse of his great abilities must always make him the firstpolitical, as he was certainly the first literary characterof Ireland at that day. In a country so bare and nakedas he found it; with a bigotry so rampant and unitedbefore him; it needed no ordinary courage and capacityto evoke anything like public opinion or public spirit. Let us be just to that most unhappy man of genius; letus proclaim that Irish nationality, bleeding at everypore, and in danger of perishing by the wayside, foundshelter on the breast of Swift, and took new heart fromthe example of that bold churchman, before whom theParliament, the bench of Bishops, and the Viceroy, trembled. CHAPTER XII. THE IRISH SOLDIERS ABROAD DURING THE REIGNS OFWILLIAM AND ANNE. The close of the second reign from the siege of Limerickimposes the duty of casting our eyes over the map ofEurope, in quest of those gallant exiles whom we haveseen, in tens of thousands, submitting to the hardnecessity of expatriation. Many of the Meath and Leinster Irish, under their nativecommanders, the Kavanaghs and Nugents, carried theirswords into the service of William's ally, the Emperorof Austria, and distinguished themselves in all thecampaigns of Prince Eugene. Spain attracted to herstandard the Irish of the north-west, the O'Donnells, the O'Reillys, and O'Garas, whose regiments, during morethan one reign, continued to be known by flames of Ulsterorigin. In 1707, the great battle of Almanza, whichdecided the Spanish succession, was determined by O'Mahony'sfoot and Fitzjames's Irish horse. The next year Spainhad five Irish regiments in her regular army, three offoot and two of dragoons, under the command of Lacy, Lawless, Wogan, O'Reilly, and O'Gara. But it was in Francethat the Irish served in the greatest number, and madethe most impressive history for themselves and theirdescendants. The recruiting agents of France had long been in thehabit of crossing the narrow seas, and bringing back thestalwart sons of the western Island to serve theirambitious kings, in every corner of the continent. AnIrish troop of horse served, in 1652, under Turenne, against the great Conde. In the campaigns of 1673, 1674and 1675, under Turenne, two or three Irish regimentswere in every engagement along the Rhine. At Altenheim, their commander, Count Hamilton, was created a major-generalof France. In 1690, these old regiments, with the sixnew ones sent over by James, were formed into a brigade, and from 1690 to 1693, they went through the campaignsof Savoy and Italy, under Marshal Catinat, against PrinceEugene. Justin McCarthy, Lord Mountcashel, who commandedthem, died at Bareges of wounds received at Staffardo. At Marsiglia, they routed, in 1693, the allies, killingDuke Schomberg, son to the Huguenot general who fell atthe Boyne. The "New" or Sarsfield's brigade was employed underLuxembourg, against King William, in Flanders, in 1692and 1693. At Namur and Enghien, they were greatlydistinguished, and William more than once sustained heavyloss at their hands. Sarsfield, their brigadier, forthese services, was made mareschal-de-camp. At Landen, on the 29th of July, '93, France again triumphed to thecry, "Remember Limerick!" Sarsfield, leading on the fiercepursuers, fell, mortally wounded. Pressing his hand uponthe wound, he took it away dripping with blood, and onlysaid, "Oh, that this was for Ireland!" In the war of the Spanish succession, the remnants ofboth brigades, consolidated into one, served under theirfavourite leader, the Marshal Duke of Berwick, throughnearly all his campaigns in Belgium, Spain and Germany. The third Lord Clare, afterwards Field-Marshal CountThomond, was by the Duke's side at Phillipsburg, in 1733, when he received his death-wound from the explosion ofa mine. These exiled Clare O'Briens commanded for threegenerations their famous family regiment of dragoons. The first who followed King James abroad died of woundsreceived at the battle of Ramillies; the third, withbetter fortune, outlived for nearly thirty years theglorious day of Fontenoy. The Irish cavalry regiments inthe service of France were Sheldon's, Galmoy's, Clare's, and Killmallock's; the infantry were known as the regimentsof Dublin, Charlemont, Limerick, and Athlone. There weretwo other infantry regiments, known as Luttrel's andDorrington's--and a regiment of Irish marines, of whichthe Grand Prior, Fitzjames, was colonel. During the latteryears of Louis XIV. , there could not have been less, atany one time, than from 20, 000 to 30, 000 Irish in hisarmies, and during the succeeding century, authenticdocuments exist to prove that 450, 000 natives of Irelanddied in the military service of France. In the dreary reigns of William, Anne, and the two firstGeorges, the pride and courage of the disarmed anddisinherited population abiding at home, drew new lifeand vigour from the exploits of their exiled brethren. The channel smuggler and the vagrant ballad-singer keptalive their fame for the lower class of the population, while the memoirs of Marlborough and Eugene, issuing fromthe Dublin press, communicated authentic accounts oftheir actions, to the more prejudiced, or better educated. The blows they struck at Landen, at Cremona, and atAlmanza, were sensibly felt by every British statesman;when, in the bitterness of defeat, an English King cursed"the laws that deprived him of such subjects, " the doomof the penal code was pronounced. The high character of the famous captains of these brigadeswas not confined to the field of battle. At Paris, Vienna, and Madrid, their wit and courtesy raised them to thefavour of princes, over the jealousy of all their rivals. Important civil and diplomatic offices were entrusted tothem--embassies of peace and war--the government ofprovinces, and the highest administrative offices of thestate. While their kinsmen in Ireland were declaredincapable of filling the humblest public employments, orof exercising the commonest franchise, they met Britishambassadors abroad as equals, and checked or counterminedthe imperial policy of Great Britain. It was impossiblethat such a contrast of situations should not attractthe attention of all thinking men! It was impossible thatsuch reputations should shine before all Europe withoutreacting powerfully on the fallen fortunes of Ireland! BOOK XI. FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE I. TO THE LEGISLATIVEUNION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. CHAPTER I. ACCESSION OF GEORGE I. --SWIFT'S LEADERSHIP. The last years of Queen Anne had been years of intrigueand preparation with the Jacobite leaders throughout thethree kingdoms. At their head stood Ormond, the secondand last _Duke_ of his name, and with him were associatedat one stage or another of his design, Bolingbroke, Orrery, Bishop Atterbury, and other influential persons. It was thought that had this party acted promptly on thedeath of the Queen, and proclaimed James III. (or "thePretender, " as he was called by the partisans of the newdynasty), the Act of Succession might have remained adead letter, and the Stuarts recovered their ancientsovereignty. But the partisans of the elector were thefirst in the field, and King George was accordinglyproclaimed, on the 1st of August, at London, and on the6th of August, at Dublin. In Dublin, where serious apprehensions of a Jacobiterising were entertained, the proclamation was made bythe glare of torches at the extraordinary hour of midnight. Two or three arrests of insignificant persons were made, and letters to Swift being found on one of them, the Deanwas thought by his friends to be in some danger. But itwas not correct to say, as many writers have done, thathe found it necessary to retire from Dublin. The onlyinconvenience he suffered was from the hootings andrevilings of the Protestant rabble in the street, and abrutal threat of personal violence from a young nobleman, upon whom he revenged himself in a characteristic petitionto the House of Lords "for protection against the saidlord. " Pretending not to be quite sure of his assailant, he proceeds to explain: "Your petitioner is informed thatthe person who spoke the words above mentioned is of yourLordships' House, under the style and title of LordBlaney; whom your petitioner remembers to have introducedto Mr. Secretary Addison, in the Earl of Wharton'sgovernment, and to have done him other good offices atthat time, because he was represented as a young man ofsome hopes and a broken fortune. " The entire document isa curious picture of the insolence of the ascendancyparty of that day, even towards dignitaries of their ownchurch who refused to go all lengths in the only politicsthey permitted or tolerated. It was while smarting under these public indignities, and excluded from the society of the highest class inhis own country, with two or three exceptions, thatSwift laid the foundations of his own and his country'spatriotism, among the educated middle class of the Irishcapital. From the college and the clergy he drew Dr. Sheridan--ancestor of six generations of men and womenof genius! Doctors Delaney, Jackson, Helsham, Walmsley, Stopford (afterwards Bishop of Cloyne), and the threereverend brothers Grattan. In the city he selected ashis friends and companions four other Grattans, one ofwhom was Lord-Mayor, another physician to the castle, one a schoolmaster, the other a merchant. "Do you knowthe Grattans?" he wrote to the Lord-Lieutenant, LordCarteret; "then pray obtain their acquaintance. TheGrattans, my lord, can raise 10, 000 men. " Among the classrepresented by this admirable family of seven brothers, and in that of the tradesmen immediately below them, ofwhich we may take his printers, Waters and Faulkner fortypes, Swift's haughty and indignant denunciations ofthe oligarchy of the hour produced striking effects. The humblest of the community began to raise their heads, and to fix their eyes steadily on public affairs andpublic characters. Questions of currency, of trade, ofthe administration of justice and of patronage, wereearnestly discussed in the press and in society, and thusby slow but gradually ascending steps, a spirit ofindependence was promoted where hitherto only servilityhad reigned. The obligations of his cotemporaries to Swift are not tobe counted simply by what he was able to originate or toadvocate in their behalf--for not much could be done inthat way, in such times, and in such a position as his--but rather in regard to the enemies and maligners ofthat people, whom he exposed and punished. To understandthe value of his example and inspiration, we must readover again his castigations of Wharton, of Burnet, ofBoulter, of Whitshed, of Allan, and all the leaders ofthe oligarchy, in the Irish Parliament. When we have doneso, we shall see at once how his imperial reputation, his personal position, and every faculty of his powerfulmind were employed alike to combat injustice andproscription, to promote freedom of opinion and of trade, to punish the abuses of judicial power, and to cultivateand foster a spirit of self reliance and economy amongall classes--especially the humblest. In his times, andin his position, with a cassock "entangling his course, "what more could have been expected of him? The Irish Parliament met in 1715--elected, according tothe then usage, for the lifetime of the King--commencedits career by an act of attainder against the Pretender, accompanied by a reward of 50, 000 pounds for hisapprehension. The Lords-Justices, the Duke of Graftonand the Earl of Galway, recommended in their speech tothe Houses, that they should cultivate such unanimityamong themselves as "at once to put an end to all otherdistinctions in Ireland, but that of Protestant andPapist. " In the same speech, and in all the debates ofthat reign, the Catholics were spoken of as "the commonenemy, " and all who sympathized with them, as "enemiesof the constitution. " But far as this Parliament was fromall our ideas of what a national legislature ought tobe, it was precisely at this period, when the administrationcould not be worse, that the foundation was laid of thegreat contest for legislative independence, which was tocontinue through three generations, and to constitutethe main staple of the Irish history of this century. In the year 1717, the English House of Lords entertainedand decided, as a court of last resort, an appeal fromthe Irish courts, already passed on by the Irish Lords, in the famous real-estate case of Annesley _versus_Sherlock. The proceeding was novel, and was protestedagainst in the English House at the time by the Duke ofLeeds, and in the Irish, by the majority of the wholeHouse. But the British Parliament, not content withclaiming the power, proceeded to establish the principle, by the declaratory act--6th George I. --for securing thedependence of Ireland on the crown of Great Britain. Thisstatute, even more objectionable than the law of Poynings, continued unrepealed till 1782, notwithstanding all thearguments and all the protests of the Irish patriot party. The Lords of Ireland, unsupported by the bigoted andunprincipled oligarchy in the Commons, were shorn oftheir appellate jurisdiction, and their journals for manyyears contain few entries of business done, beyond servileaddresses to successive Viceroys, and motions ofadjournment. In their session of 1723, the ascendancy party in theCommons proceeded to their last extreme of violenceagainst the prostrate Catholics. An act was introducedfounded on eight resolutions, "further to prevent thegrowth of Popery. " One of these resolutions, regularlytransmitted to England by the Viceroy-proposed that everypriest, arrested within the realm, should suffer thepenalty of _castration_! For the first time, a penal lawwas rejected with horror and indignation by the EnglishPrivy Council, and the whole elaborate edifice, overweightedwith these last propositions, trembled to its base. Butthough badly shaken, it was yet far from coming down. "Do not the corruptions and villainies of men, " saidSwift to his friend Delaney, "eat your flesh and exhaustyour spirits?" They certainly gnawed at the heart of thecourageous Dean, but at the same time, they excited ratherthan exhausted his spirits. In 1720 he resumed his pen, as a political writer, in his famous proposal "for theuniversal use of Irish manufactures. " Waters, the printerof this piece, was indicted for a seditious libel, beforeChief-Justice Whitshed, the immortal "_coram nobis_" ofthe Dean's political ballads. The jury were detainedeleven hours, and sent out nine times, to compel them toagree on a verdict. They at length finally declared theycould not agree, and a _nol. Pros_. Was soon afterentered by the crown. This trial of Swift's printer in1720, is the first of a long series of duels with thecrown lawyers, which the Irish press has since maintainedwith as much firmness and self-sacrifice as any pressever exhibited. And it may be said that never, not evenunder martial law, was a conspicuous example of civiccourage more necessary, or more dangerous. Browne, Bishopof Cork, had been in danger of deprivation for preachinga sermon against the well-known toast to the memory ofKing William; Swift was threatened, as we see, a fewyears earlier, with personal violence by a Whig lord, and pelted by a Protestant rabble, for his supposedJacobitism; his friend, Dr. Sheridan, lost his Munsterliving for having accidentally chosen as his text, onthe anniversary of King George's coronation, "sufficientfor the day is the evil thereof. " Such was the intoleranceof the oligarchy towards their own clergy. What must ithave been to others! The attempt to establish a National Bank, and theintroduction of a debased copper coinage, for which apatent had been, granted to one William Wood, next employedthe untiring pen of Swift. The halfpenny controversy, was not, as is often said, a small matter; it was nearlyas important as the bank project itself. Of the 100, 000pounds worth coined, the intrinsic value was shown to benot more than 6, 000 pounds. Such was the storm excitedagainst the patentee, that his Dublin agents were obligedto resign their connection with him, and the royalletters-patent were unwillingly cancelled. The bankproject was also rejected by Parliament, adding anotherto the triumphs of the invincible Dean. During the last years of this reign, Swift was the mostpowerful and popular person in Ireland, and perhaps inthe empire. The freedom with which he advised Carteretthe Viceroy, and remonstrated with Walpole, the Premier, on the misrule of his country, was worthy of the ascendancyof his genius. No man of letters, no churchman, nostatesman of any country in any age, ever showed himselfmore thoroughly independent, in his intercourse with menof office, than Swift. The vice of Ireland was exactlythe other way, so that in this respect also, the patriotwas the liberator. Rising with the rise of public spirit, the great churchman, in his fourth letter, in the assumed character of _M. B. Drapier_, confronted the question of legislativeindependence. Alluding to the pamphlet of Molyneux, published thirty years before, he pronounced its argumentsinvincible, and the contrary system "the very definitionof slavery. " "The remedy, " he concludes, addressing theIrish people, "is wholly in your own hands, and thereforeI have digressed a little, in order to refresh and continuethat spirit so seasonably raised among you, and to letyou see, that, by the laws of God, of nature, of nations, and of your country, _you are, and ought to be, as freea people as your brethren in England_. " For this letteralso, the printer, Harding, was indicted, but the Dublingrand jury, infected with the spirit of the times, unanimously ignored the bill. A reward of 300 pounds wasthen issued from the castle for the discovery of theauthor, but no informer could be found base enough tobetray him. For a time, however, to escape the ovationshe despised, and the excitement which tried his health, Swift retired to his friend Sheridan's cottage on thebanks of Lough Ramor, in Cavan, and there recreatedhimself with long rides about the country, and thecomposition of the Travels of the immortal Gulliver. Sir Robert Walpole, alarmed at the exhibition of popularintelligence and determination evoked by Swift, committedthe government of Ireland to his rival, Lord Carteret--whomhe was besides not sorry to remove to a distance--andappointed to the See of Armagh, which fell vacant aboutthe time of the currency dispute, Dr. Hugh Boulter, Bishopof Bristol, one of his own creatures. This prelate, apolitician by taste and inclination, modelled his policyon his patron's, as far as his more contracted sphereand inferior talents permitted. To buy members in marketovert, with peerages, or secret service money, was hischief means of securing a Parliamentary majority. AnEnglishman by birth and education; the head of theProtestant establishment in Ireland, it was inevitablethat his policy should be English and Protestant, inevery particular. To resist, depress, disunite, anddefeat the believers in the dangerous doctrines of Swiftand Molyneux, was the sole rule of his nearly twentyyears' political supremacy in Irish affairs. (1724-1742. )The master of a princely income, endowed with strongpassions, unlimited patronage, and great activity, hemay be said to have reigned rather than led, even whenthe nominal viceroyalty was in the hands of such ableand accomplished men as Lords Carteret, Dorset andDevonshire. His failure in his first state trial, againstHarding the printer, nothing discouraged him; he had comeinto Ireland to secure the English interest, by uprootingthe last vestiges of Popery and independence, and hedevoted himself to those objects with perseveringdetermination. In 1727--the year of George the First'sdecease--he obtained the disfranchisement of Catholicelectors by a clause quietly inserted without notice ina Bill regulating elections; and soon after he laid thefoundations of those nurseries of proselytism, "theCharter Schools. " CHAPTER II. REIGN OF GEORGE II. --GROWTH OF PUBLIC SPIRIT--THE"PATRIOT" PARTY--LORD CHESTERFIELD'S ADMINISTRATION. The accession of King George II. In 1727, led to noconsiderable changes, either in England or Ireland. SirRobert Walpole continued supreme in the one country, andPrimate Boulter in the other. The Jacobites, disheartenedby their ill success in 1715, and repelled rather thanattracted by the austere character of him they calledKing James III. , made no sign. The new King's first actwas to make public the declaration he had addressed tothe Privy Council, of his firm resolution to uphold theexisting constitution "in church and state. " The Catholic population, beginning once more to raisetheir heads, thought this a suitable occasion to presenta humble and loyal address of congratulation to the LordsJustices, in the absence of the Viceroy. Lord Delvin andseveral of their number accordingly appeared at theCastle, and delivered their address, which they beggedmight be forwarded to the foot of the throne. No noticewhatever was taken of this document, either at Dublin orLondon, nor were the class who signed it permitted bylaw to "testify their allegiance" to the sovereign, forfifty years later--down to 1778. The Duke of Dorset, who succeeded Lord Carteret as Viceroyin 1731, unlike his immediate predecessor, refrained fromsuggesting additional severities against the Catholics. His first term of office--two years--was almost entirelyoccupied with the fiercest controversy which had everwaged in Ireland between the Established Church and theProtestant Dissenters. The ground of the dispute wasthe sacramental test, imposed by law upon the members ofboth Houses, and all burgesses and councillors of corporatetowns. By the operations of this law, when rigidlyenforced, Presbyterians and other dissenters were aseffectually excluded from political and municipal officesas Catholics themselves. Against this exclusion it wasnatural that a body so numerous, and possessed of so muchproperty, especially in Ulster, should make a vigorousresistance. Relying on the great share they had in therevolution, they endeavoured, though ineffectually, toobtain under King William the repeal of the Test Act ofKing Charles II. Under Queen Anne they were equallyunsuccessful, as we may still read with interest in thepages of Swift, De Foe, Tennison, Boyse, and King. Swift, especially, brought to the controversy not only the zealof a churchman, but the prejudices of an Anglo-Irishman, against the new-comers in the north. He upbraids them in1708, as glad to leave then--barren hills of Lochaberfor the fruitful vales of Down and Antrim, for theirparsimony and their clannishness. He denied to them, with bitter scorn, the title they had assumed of "BrotherProtestants, " and as to the Papists, whom they affectedto despise, they were, in his opinion, as much superiorto the Dissenters, as a lion, though chained and clippedof its claws, is a stronger and nobler animal than anangry cat, at liberty to fly at the throats of truechurchmen. The language of the Presbyterian championswas equally bold, denunciatory, and explicit. They broadlyintimated, in a memorial to Parliament, that under theoperation of the test, they would be unable to take uparms again, as they had done in 1688, for the maintenanceof the Protestant succession; a covert menace ofinsurrection, which Swift and their other opponents didnot fail to make the most of. Still farther to embarrassthem, Swift got up a paper making out a much strongercase in favour of the Catholics than of "their brethren, the Dissenters, " and the controversy closed, for thatage, in the complete triumph of the established clergy. This iniquitous deprivation of equal civil rights, accompanied with the onerous burthen of tithes fallingheaviest on the cultivators of the soil, produced thefirst great Irish exodus to the North American colonies. The tithe of agistment or pasturage, lately abolished, had made the tithe of tillage more unjust and unequal. Outraged in their dearest civil and religious rights, thousands of the Scoto-Irish of Ulster, and the Milesianand Anglo-Irish of the other provinces, preferred toencounter the perils of an Atlantic flitting rather thanabide under the yoke and lash of such an oligarchy. Inthe year 1729, five thousand six hundred Irish landed atthe single port of Philadelphia; in the next ten yearsthey furnished to the Carolinas and Georgia the majorityof their immigrants; before the end of this reign, severalthousands of heads of families, all bred and married inIreland, were rearing up a free posterity along the slopesof the Blue Ridge in Virginia and Maryland, and even asfar north as the valleys of the Hudson and the Merrimac. In the ranks of the thirteen United Colonies, thedescendants of those Nonconformists were to repeat, forthe benefit of George III. , the lesson and example theirancestors had taught to James II. At Enniskillen andat Derry. Swift, with all his services to his own order, disliked, and was disliked by them. Of the bishops he has recordedhis utter contempt in some of the most cutting coupletsthat even he ever wrote. Boulter he detested; NarcissusMarsh he despised; with Dr. King of Dublin, Dr. Boltonof Cashel, and Dr. Horte of Tuam, he barely kept upappearances. Except Sterne, Bishop of Clogher, Berkely, Bishop of Cloyne, and Stopford, his successor, heentertained neither friendship nor respect for one ofthat order. And on their part, the right reverend prelatescordially reciprocated his antipathy. They resisted hisbeing made a member of the Linen Board, a Justice of thePeace, or a Visitor of Trinity College. Had he appearedamongst them in Parliament as their peer, they would havebeen compelled to accept him as a master, or combineagainst him as an enemy. No wonder, then, that successiveViceroys shrank from nominating him to any of the mitreswhich death had emptied; "the original sin of his birth"was aggravated in their eyes by the actual sin of hispatriotism. No wonder the sheets of paper that litteredhis desk, before he sunk into his last sad scene ofdotage, were found scribbled all over with his favouritelines-- "Better we all were in our graves, Than live in slavery to slaves. " But the seeds of manly thought he had so broadly sown, though for a season hidden even from the sight of thesower, were not dead, nor undergoing decay. With somethingof the prudence of the founder, "the Patriot party, " asthe opposition to the Castle party began to be called, occupied themselves at first with questions of taxationand expenditure. In 1729, the Castle attempted to makeit appear that there was a deficit--that in short "thecountry owed the government"--the large sum of 274, 000pounds! The Patriots met this claim, by a motion forreducing the cost of all public establishments. This wasthe chosen ground of both parties, and a more popularlyintelligible ground could not be taken. Between retrenchmentand extravagance, between high taxes and low, even theleast educated of the people could easily decide; andthenceforward for upwards of twenty years, no sessionwas held without a spirited debate on the supplies, andthe whole subject of the public expenditure. The Duke of Devonshire, who succeeded the Duke of Dorsetas Viceroy in 1737, contributed by his private munificenceand lavish hospitalities to throw a factitious popularityround his administration. No Dublin tradesman could findit in his heart to vote against the nominee of so liberala nobleman, and the public opinion of Dublin was as yetthe public opinion of Ireland. But the Patriot party, though unable to stem successfully the tide of corruptionand seduction thus let loose, held their difficult positionin the legislature with great gallantry and ability. New men had arisen during the dotage of Swift, who reveredhis maxims, and imitated his prudence. Henry Boyle, speaker of the House of Commons, afterwards Earl ofShannon; Anthony Malone--son of the _confrere_ of SirToby Butler, and afterwards Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Edward O'Brien, member for Clare, and his son, SirLucius, member for Ennis, were the pillars of the party. Out of doors, the most active spirit among the Patriotswas Charles Lucas, a native of Clare, who, from hisapothecary's shop in Dublin, attempted, not without bothtalents, zeal and energy, to play the part of Swift, atthe press and among the people. His public writings, commenced in 1741, brought him at first persecution andexile, but they afterwards conducted him to therepresentation of the capital, and an honourable nichein his country's history. The great event which may be said to divide into twoepochs the reign of George II. Was the daring invasionof Scotland in 1745, by "the young Pretender"--CharlesEdward. This brave and unfortunate Prince, whose adventureswill live for ever in Scottish song and romance, wasaccompanied from France by Sir Thomas Sheridan, ColonelO'Sullivan, and other Irish refugees, still fondly attachedto the house of Stuart. It is not to be supposed thatthese gentlemen would be without correspondents in Ireland, nor that the state of that country could be a matter ofindifference to the astute advisers of King George. Inreality, Ireland was almost as much their difficulty asScotland, and their choice of a Viceroy, at this criticalmoment, showed at once their estimate of the importanceof the position, and the talents of the man. Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, a greatname in the world of fashion, in letters, and in diplomacy, is especially memorable to us for his eight months'viceroyalty over Ireland. That office had been long theobject of his ambition, and he could hardly have attainedit at a time better calculated to draw out his eminentadministrative abilities. By temper and conviction opposedto persecution, he connived at Catholic worship underthe very walls of the Castle. The sour and jaundicedbigotry of the local oligarchy he encountered with _bonmots_ and raillery. The only "dangerous Papist" he hadseen in Ireland, he declared to the King on his return, was a celebrated beauty of that religion--Miss Palmer. Relying on the magical effect of doing justice to allclasses, and seeing justice done, he was enabled to sparefour regiments of troops for the war in Scotland, insteadof demanding additions to the Irish garrisons. Butwhether to diminish the influence which his brilliantadministration had created in England, or through themachinations of the oligarchy, still powerful at Dublin, within ten days from the decisive battle of Culloden, hewas recalled. The fruits of his policy might be alreadyobserved, as he walked on foot, his countess on his arm, to the place of embarkation, amid the acclamations ofall ranks and classes of the people, and their affectionateprayers for his speedy return. CHAPTER III. THE LAST JACOBITE MOVEMENT--THE IRISH SOLDIERS ABROAD--FRENCH EXPEDITION UNDER THUROT, OR O'FARRELL. The mention of the Scottish insurrection of 1745 bringsnaturally with it another reference to the history ofthe Irish soldiers in the military service of France. This year was in truth the most eventful in the annalsof that celebrated legion, for while it was the year ofFontenoy and victory on the one hand, it was on the otherthe year of Culloden and defeat. The decisive battle of Fontenoy, in which the Franco-Irishtroops bore so decisive a part, was fought on the 11thof May, 1745. The French army, commanded by Saxe, andaccompanied by King Louis, leaving 18, 000 men to besiegeNamur, and 6, 000 to guard the Scheldt, took a positionbetween that river and the allies, having their centreat the village of Fontenoy. The British and Dutch, underthe King's favourite son, the Duke of Cumberland, were55, 000 strong; the French 45, 000. After a hard day'sfighting, victory seemed to declare so clearly againstFrance, that King Louis, who was present, prepared forflight. At this moment Marshal Saxe ordered a final chargeby the seven Irish regiments under Counts Dillon andThomond. The tide was turned, beyond expectation, to thecry of "Remember Limerick!" France was delivered, Englandchecked, and Holland reduced from a first to a second-ratepower upon that memorable day. But the victory was dearlybought. One-fourth of all the Irish officers, includingCount Dillon, were killed, and one-third of all the men. The whole number slain on the side of France was set downat 7, 000 by English accounts, while they admitted forthemselves alone, 4, 000 British and 3, 300 Hanoveriansand Dutch. "Foremost of all, " says the just-minded LordMahon, "were the gallant brigade of Irish exiles. " Itwas this defeat of his favourite son which wrung fromKing George II. The oft-quoted malediction on the lawswhich deprived him of such subjects. The expedition of Prince Charles Edward was undertakenand conducted by Irish aid, quite as much as by Frenchor Scottish. The chief parties to it, besides the oldMarquis of Tullibardine and the young Duke of Perth, werethe Waterses, father and son, Irish bankers at Paris, who advanced one hundred and eighty thousand livresbetween them; Walsh, an Irish merchant at Nantz, who puta privateer of eighteen guns into the venture; Sir ThomasGeraldine, the Pretender's agent at Paris; Sir ThomasSheridan, the prince's preceptor, who, with ColonelsO'Sullivan and Lynch, Captain O'Neil, and other officersof the brigade, formed the staff, on which Sir JohnMcDonald, a Scottish officer in the Spanish service, wasalso placed. Fathers Kelly and O'Brien volunteered inthe expedition. On the 22nd of June, 1745, with sevenfriends, the prince embarked in Walsh's vessel, theDoutelle, at St. Nazaire, on the Loire, and on the 19thof July, landed on the northern coast of Scotland, nearMoidart. The Scottish chiefs, little consulted or consideredbeforehand, came slowly and dubiously to the landing-place. Under their patriarchal control there were still in thekingdom about a hundred thousand men, and about one-twelfthof the Scottish population. Clanronald, Cameron of Lochiel, the Laird of McLeod, and a few others, having arrived, the royal standard was unfurled on the 19th of August atGlenfinin, where that evening twelve hundred men--theentire army so far--were formed into camp, under theorders of O'Sullivan. From that day until the day ofCulloden, O'Sullivan seems to have manoeuvred the prince'sforces. At Perth, at Edinburgh, at Preston, at Manchester, at Culloden, he took command in the field, or in garrison;and even after the sad result, he adhered to his sovereign'sson with an honourable fidelity which defied despair. Charles, on his part, placed full confidence in his Irishofficers. In his proclamation after the battle of Preston, he declared it was not his intention to enforce on thepeople of England, Scotland, or Ireland, "a religion theydisliked. " In a subsequent paper, he asks, "Have youfound reason to love and cherish your governors as thefathers of the people of Great Britain and Ireland? Hasa family upon whom a faction unlawfully bestowed thediadem of a rightful prince, retained a due sense of sogreat a trust and favour?" These and his other proclamationsbetrayed an Irish pen; probably Sir Thomas Sheridan's. One of Charles's English adherents, Lord Elcho, who kepta journal of the campaign, notes, complainingly, theIrish influence under which he acted. "The prince andhis old governor, Sir Thomas Sheridan, " are especiallyobjected to, and the "Irish favourites" are censured ina body. While at Edinburgh, a French ship, containingsome arms, supplies, and "Irish officers, " arrived; atthe same time efforts were made to recruit for the princein Ireland; but the agents being taken in some cases, the channel narrowly watched, and the people not veryeager to join the service, few recruits were obtained. The Irish in France, as if to cover the inaction of theircountrymen at home, strained every nerve. The Watersesand O'Brien of Paris were liberal bankers to the expedition. Into their hands James "exhausted his treasury" to supporthis gallant son. At Fontainebleau, on the 23rd of October, Colonel O'Brien, on the part of the prince, and theMarquis D'Argeusson for Louis XV. , formed a treaty of"friendship and alliance, " one of the clauses of whichwas, that certain Irish regiments, and other Frenchtroops, should be sent to sustain the expedition. UnderLord John Drummond a thousand men were shipped fromDunkirk, and arrived at Montrose in the Highlands aboutthe time Charles had penetrated as far south as Manchester. The officers, with the prince, here refused to advanceon London with so small a force; a retreat was decidedon; the sturdy defence of Carlisle, and victory of Falkirk, checked the pursuit; but the overwhelming force of theDuke of Cumberland compelled them to evacuate Edinburgh, Perth, and Glasgow--operations which consumed February, March, and the first half of April, 1746. The next plan of operations seems to have been toconcentrate in the western Highlands, with Inverness forhead-quarters. The town Charles easily got, butFort-George, a powerful fortress, built upon the site ofthe castle where Macbeth was said to have murdered Duncan, commanded the Loch. Stapleton and his Irish, capturedit, however, as well as the neighbouring Fort-Augustus. Joined by some Highlanders, they next attemptedFort-William, the last fortress of King George in thenorth, but on the 3rd of April were recalled to themain body. To cover Inverness, his head-quarters, Charles resolvedto give battle. The ground chosen, flanked by the riverNairn, was spotted with marsh and very irregular; it wascalled Culloden, and was selected by O'Sullivan. BrigadierStapleton and Colonel Kerr reported against it as a fieldof battle; but Charles adopted O'Sullivan's opinion ofits fitness for Highland warfare. When the preparationsfor battle began, "many voices exclaimed, 'We'll giveCumberland another Fontenoy!'" The Jacobites were placedin position by O'Sullivan, "at once their adjutant andquarter-master-general, " and, as the burghers of Prestonthought, "a very likely fellow. " He formed two lines, the great clans being in the first, the Ogilvies, Gordons, and Murrays; the French and Irish in the second. Fourpieces of cannon flanked each wing, and four occupiedthe centre. Lord George Murray commanded the right wing, Lord John Drummond the left, and Brigadier Stapleton thereserve. They mustered in all less than five thousandmen. The British formed in three lines, ten thousandstrong, with two guns between every second regiment ofthe first and second line. The action commenced aboutnoon of April 16th, and before evening half the troopsof Prince Charles lay dead on the field, and the restwere hopelessly broken. The retreat was pell-mell, exceptwhere "a troop of the Irish pickets, by a spirited fire, checked the pursuit, which a body of dragoons commencedafter the Macdonalds, and Lord Lewis Gordon's regimentsdid similar service. " Stapleton conducted the French andIrish remnant to Inverness, and obtained for them bycapitulation "fair quarter and honourable treatment. " The unhappy prince remained on the field almost to thelast. "It required, " says Mr. Chambers, "all theeloquence, and, indeed, all the active exertion, ofO'Sullivan to make Charles quit the field. A cornet inhis service, when questioned on this subject at the pointof death, declared he saw O'Sullivan, after using entreatiesin vain, turn the head of the prince's horse and draghim away. " From that night forth, O'Sullivan, O'Neil, and a poorsedan carrier of Edinburgh, called Burke, accompaniedhim in all his wanderings and adventures among the Scottishislands. At Long Island they were obliged to part company, the prince proceeding alone with Miss Flora McDonald. Hehad not long left, when a French cutter hove in sightand took off O'Sullivan, intending to touch at anotherpoint, and take in the prince and O'Neil. The same nightshe was blown off the coast, and the prince, after manyother adventures, was finally taken off at Badenoch, onthe 15th of September, 1746, by the L'Heureux, a Frencharmed vessel, in which Captain Sheridan (son of SirThomas), Mr. O'Beirne, a lieutenant in the French army, "and two other gentlemen, " had adventured in search ofhim. Poor O'Neil, in seeking to rejoin his master, wastaken prisoner, carried to London, and is lost from therecord. O'Sullivan reached France safely, where, withStapleton, Lynch, and the Irish and Scotch officers, hewas welcomed and honoured of all brave men. Such was the last struggle of the Stuarts. For yearsafter, the popular imagination in both countries clungfondly to Prince Charles. But the cause was dead. As ifto bury it for ever, Charles, in despair, grew dissipatedand desponding. In 1755, "the British Jacobites" sentColonel McNamara, as their agent, to induce him to putaway his mistress, Miss Walsingham, a demand with whichhe haughtily refused to comply. In 1766, when James III. Died at Avignon, the French king and the Pope refused toacknowledge the prince by the title of Charles III. Whenthe latter died, in 1788, at Rome, Cardinal York contentedhimself with having a medal struck, with the inscription"Henricus IX. , Anglae Rex. " He was the last of the Stuarts. Notwithstanding the utter defeat of the Scottish expedition, and the scatterment of the surviving companies of thebrigade on all sorts of service from Canada to India, there were many of the exiled Irish in France, who didnot yet despair of a national insurrection against thehouse of Hanover. In the year 1759, an imposing expeditionwas fitted out at Brest under Admiral Conflaus, andanother at Dunkirk, under Commodore Thurot, whose realname was O'Farrell. The former, soon after putting tosea, was encountered at Quiberon by the English underHawke, and completely defeated; but the latter enteredthe British channel unopposed, and proceeded to theappointed _rendezvous_. While cruising in search ofConflaus, the autumnal equinox drove the intrepid Thurotinto the Northern ocean, and compelled him to winteramong the frozen friths of Norway and the Orkneys. Oneof his five frigates returned to France, another wasnever heard of, but with the remaining three he emergedfrom the Scottish Islands, and entered Lough Foyle earlyin 1760. He did not, however, attempt a landing at Derry, but appeared suddenly before Carrickfergus, on the 21stof February, and demanded its surrender. Placing himselfat the head of his marines and sailors, he attacked thetown, which, after a brave resistance by the commandant, Colonel Jennings, he took by assault. Here, for the firsttime, this earlier Paul Jones heard of the defeat of hisadmiral; after levying contributions on the rich burgessesand proprietors of Carrickfergus and Belfast, he againput to sea. His ships, battered by the wintry stormswhich they had undergone in northern latitudes, fell innear the Isle of Man with three English frigates, justout of port, under Commodore Elliott. A gallant actionensued, in which Thurot, or O'Farrell, and three hundredof his men were killed. The survivors struck to thevictors, and the French ships were towed in a sinkingstate, into the port of Ramsey. The life thus lost in the joint service of France andIreland, was a life illustrative of the Irish refugeeclass among whom he became a leader. Left an orphan inchildhood, O'Farrell, though of a good family, had beenbred in France in so menial a condition that he firstvisited England as a domestic servant. From that conditionhe rose to be a dexterous and successful captain in thecontraband trade, so extensive in those times. In thiscapacity he visited almost every port of either channel, acquiring that accurate knowledge which, added to hisadmitted bravery and capacity, placed him at length atthe head of a French squadron. "Throughout the expedition, "says Lord Mahon, "the honour and humanity of this braveadventurer are warmly acknowledged by his enemies. " "Hefought his ship, " according to the same author, "untilthe hold was almost filled with water, and the deckcovered with dead bodies. " CHAPTER IV. REIGN OF GEORGE II. (CONCLUDED)--MALONE'S LEADERSHIP. The Earl of Harrington, afterwards Duke of Devonshire, succeeded Lord Chesterfield in the government, in 1746. He was provided with a prime minister in the person ofthe new Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. George Stone, whosecharacter, if he was not exceedingly calumniated by hiscotemporaries, might be compared to that of the worstpoliticians of the worst ages of Europe. Originally, theson of the jailer of Winchester, he had risen by dint oftalents, and audacity, to receive from the hands of hissovereign, the illustrious dignity of Primate of Ireland. But even in this exalted office, the abominable vices ofhis youth accompanied him. His house at Leixlip, was atonce a tavern and a brothel, and crimes, which arenameless, were said to be habitual under his roof. "Maythe importation of Ganymedes into Ireland, be soondiscontinued, " was the public toast, which disguisedunder the transparent gauze of a mythological allusion, the infamies of which he was believed to be the patron. The prurient page of Churchill was not quite so scrupulous, and the readers of the satire entitled "The Times, " willneed no further key to the horrible charges commonlyreceived on both sides of the channel, against PrimateStone. The viceroyalty of Ireland, which had become an objectof ambition to the first men in the empire, was warmlycontested by the Earl of Harrington and the Duke ofDorset. The former, through his Stanhope influence andconnections, prevailed over his rival, and arrived inIreland, warmly recommended by the popular Chesterfield. During his administration, Primate Stone, proceeding fromone extreme to another, first put forward the dangeroustheory, that all surplus revenue belonged of right tothe crown, and might be paid over by the Vice-Treasurers, to his majesty's order, without authority of Parliament. At this period, notwithstanding the vicious system ofher land tenures, and her recent losses by emigration, Ireland found herself in possession of a considerablesurplus revenue. Like wounds and bruises in a healthy body, the sufferingsand deprivations of the population rapidly disappearedunder the appearance even of improvement in the government. The observant Chesterfield, who continued through lifewarmly attached to the country in which his name wasremembered with so much affection, expresses to hisfriend, Chevenix, Bishop of Waterford, in 1751, hissatisfaction at hearing "that Ireland improves daily, and that a spirit of industry spreads itself, to thegreat increase of trade and manufactures. " This new-bornprosperity the Primate and politicians of his schoolwould have met by an annual depletion of the treasury, instead of assisting its march by the reduction of taxes, and the promotion of necessary public works. The surpluswas naturally regarded, by the Patriot party, in thelight of so much national capital; they looked upon itas an improvement fund, for the construction of canals, highways, and breakwaters, for the encouragement of thelinen and other manufactures, and for the adornment ofthe capital with edifices worthy of the chief city of aflourishing kingdom. The leader of the Patriot party, Anthony Malone, wascompared at this period, by an excellent authority, to"a great sea in a calm. " He was considered, even by thefastidious Lord Shelburne, the equal, in oratory, ofChatham and Mansfield. He seems to have at all times, however, sunk the mere orator in the statesman, and tohave used his great powers of argument even more inCouncil than in the arena. His position at the bar, asPrime Sergeant, by which he took precedence even of theAttorney-General, gave great weight to his opinions onall questions of constitutional law. The roysteringcountry gentlemen, who troubled their heads but littlewith anything besides dogs and horses, pistols and claret, felt secure in their new-fledged patriotism, under thebroad aegis of the law extended over them by the mosteminent lawyer of his age. The Speaker of the Commons, Henry Boyle, aided and assisted Malone, and when leftfree to combat on the floor, his high spirit and greatfortune gave additional force to his example and confidenceto his followers. Both were men too cautious to allowtheir adversaries any parliamentary advantage over them, but not so their intrepid coadjutor out of doors, ApothecaryLucas. He, like Swift, rising from local and municipalgrievances to questions affecting the constitution ofParliament itself, was in 1749, against all the effortsof his friends in the House of Commons, declared by themajority of that House to be "an enemy to his country, "and a reward was accordingly issued for his apprehension. For a time he was compelled to retire to England; but hereturned, to celebrate in his Freeman's Journal thehumiliation of the primate, and the defeat of the policyboth of Lord Harrington, and his successor, the Duke ofDorset. This nobleman, resolved to cast his predecessor into theshade by the brilliancy of his success, proceeded to takevigorous measures against the patriots. In his firstspeech to Parliament in 1751, he informed them his Majesty"consented" to the appropriation of the surplus revenue, by the House of Commons, and a clause was added to theannual supply bill in the English Council, containingthe same obnoxious word, "consent. " On this occasion, not feeling themselves strong enough to throw out thebill, and there being no alternative but rejection oracceptance, the Patriots permitted it to pass underprotest. But the next session, when a similar additionwas made, the Commons rejected the supply bill altogether, by a majority of 122 to 117. This was a measure of almostrevolutionary consequence, since it left every branch ofthe public service unprovided for, for the ensuing twelvemonths. Both the advisers of the King in England, and the Viceroyin Ireland, seemed by their insane conduct as if theydesired to provoke such a collision. Malone's patent ofprecedence as Prime Sergeant was cancelled; the speakerwas dismissed from the Privy Council, and the surplusrevenue was withdrawn from the Vice-Treasurer, by a King'sletter. The indignation of the Dubliners at these outragesrose to the utmost pitch. Stone, Healy, Hutchinson, andothers of the Castle party, were waylaid and menaced inthe streets, and the Viceroy himself hooted wherever heappeared. Had the popular leaders been men less cautious, or less influential, the year 1753 might have witnesseda violent revolutionary movement. But they plantedthemselves on the authority of the constitution, theyunited boldness with prudence, and they triumphed. ThePrimate and his creatures raised against them in vainthe cuckoo cry of disloyalty, both in Dublin and London. The English Whigs, long engaged themselves in a similarstruggle with the overgrown power of the crown, sympathizedwith the Irish opposition, and defended their motivesboth in society and in Parliament. The enemies of theDorset family as naturally took their part, and the dukehimself was obliged to go over to protect his interestat court, leaving the odious Primate as one of theLords-Justices. At his departure his guards were hardlyable to protect him from the fury of the populace, tothat waterside to which Chesterfield had walked on foot, seven years before, amid the benedictions of the samepeople. The Patriots had at this crisis a great addition to theirstrength, in the accession of James, the twentieth Earlof Kildare, successively Marquis and Duke of Leinster. This nobleman, in the prime of life, married to thebeautiful Emily Lennox, daughter of the Duke of Richmond, followed Dorset to England, and presented to the King, with his own hand, one of the boldest memorials everaddressed to a sovereign by a subject. After recitingthe past services of his family in maintaining the imperialconnection, he declared himself the organ of severalthousands of his Majesty's liege subjects, "as well thenobles as the clergy, the gentry, and the commonalty ofthe kingdom. " He dwells on the peculation and extravaganceof the administration, under "the Duumvirate" of theViceroy and the Primate, which he compares with the leagueof Strafford and Laud. He denounces more especially LordGeorge Sackville, son to Dorset, for his intermeddlingin every branch of administration. He speaks of Dr. Stoneas "a greedy churchman, who affects to be a second Wolseyin the senate. " This high-toned memorial struck withastonishment the English ministers, who did not hesitateto hint, that, in a reign less merciful, it would nothave passed with impunity. In Ireland it raised the hardyearl to the pinnacle of popular favour. A medal was struckin his honour, representing him guarding a heap of treasurewith a drawn sword, and the motto--"Touch not, saysKildare. " At the opening of the next Parliament, he wasa full hour making his way among the enthusiastic crowd, from his house in Kildare street to College Green. Inlittle more than a year, the Duke of Dorset, whom Englishministers had in vain endeavoured to sustain, was removed, and the Primate, by his Majesty's orders, was struckfrom the list of privy counsellors. Lord Harrington, now Duke of Devonshire, replaced thedisgraced and defeated Dorset, and at once surroundedhimself with advisers from the ranks of the opposition. The Earl of Kildare was his personal and political friend, and his first visit, on arriving, was paid at Carton. The Speaker, Mr. Boyle, the Earl of Bessborough, head ofthe popular family of the Ponsonbys, and Mr. Malone, werecalled to the Privy Council. Lucas, exalted rather thaninjured by years of exile, was elected one of the membersfor the city of Dublin, and the whole face of affairspromised a complete and salutary change of administration. After a year in office, Devonshire returned to Englandin ill-health, leaving Lord Kildare as one of the Justices, an office which he continued to fill, till the arrivalin September, 1756, of John, fourth Duke of Bedford, asLord-Lieutenant, with Mr. Rigby, "a good four bottleman, " as chief secretary. The instructions of the Duke of Bedford, dictated by thegenius and wisdom of Chatham, were, to employ "allsoftening and healing arts of government. " His own desire, as a Whig, at the head of the Whig families of England, was to unite and consolidate the same party in Ireland, so as to make them a powerful auxiliary force to theEnglish Whigs. Consistently with this design, lie wishedwell to the country he was sent to rule, and was sincerelydesirous of promoting measures of toleration. But hefound the Patriots distracted by success, and disorganizedby the possession of power. The Speaker, who had struggledso successfully against his predecessors, was in theUpper House as Earl of Shannon, and the chair of theCommons was filled by John Ponsonby, of the Bessboroughfamily. The Ponsonby following, and the Earl of Kildare'sfriends were at this period almost as much divided fromeach other in their views of public policy, as eitherwere from the party of the Primate. The Ponsonby party, still directed by Malone, wished to follow up the recentvictory on the money bills, by a measure of Catholicrelief, a tax upon absentees, and a reduction of thepension list, shamelessly burthened beyond all formerproportion. Lord Kildare and his friends were not thenprepared to go such lengths, though that high spiritednobleman afterwards came into most of these measures. After endeavouring in vain to unite, these two interests, the Duke of Bedford found, or fancied himself compelled, in order to secure a parliamentary majority, to listento the overtures of the, obsequious Primate, to restorehim to the Council, and to leave him, together with hisold enemy, Lord Shannon, in the situation of jointadministrators, during his journey to England, in 1758. The Earl of Kildare, it should be remarked, firmly refusedto be associated with Stone, on any terms, or for anytime, long or short. The closing of this important reign is notable for thefirst Catholic meeting held since the reign of QueenAnne. In the spring of 1757, four hundred respectablegentlemen attended by mutual agreement, at Dublin, amongwhom were Lords Devlin, Taafe, and Fingal, the antiquary, Charles O'Conor, of Balanagar, the historian of the _CivilWars_, Dr. Curry, and Mr. Wyse, a merchant of Waterford, the ancestor of a still better known labourer in the samecause. The then recent persecution of Mr. Saul, a Dublinmerchant, of their faith, for having harboured a younglady whose friends wished to coerce her into a change ofreligion, gave particular significance to this assembly. It is true the proceedings were characterized by cautionamounting almost to timidity, but the unanimous declarationof their loyal attachment to the throne, at a moment whenFrench invasion was imminent, produced the best effect, and greatly strengthened the hands of the Clanbrassils, Ponsonbys, Malones, Dalys, and other advocates of anenlarged toleration in both Houses. It is true no immediatelegislation followed, but the way was prepared for futureameliorations by the discretion and tact of the Catholicdelegates of 1757. They were thenceforth allowed at leastthe right of meeting and petitioning, of which they hadlong been deprived, and the restoration of which marksthe first step in their gradual recovery of their civilliberties. In 1759 a rumour broke out in Dublin that a legislativeunion was in contemplation by the Primate and his faction. On the 3rd of December, the citizens rose _en masse_, and surrounded the Houses of Parliament. They stoppedthe carriages of members, and obliged them to swearopposition to such a measure. Some of the Protestantbishops, and the Lord Chancellor were roughly handled;a privy counsellor was thrown into the river; the AttorneyGeneral was wounded and obliged to take refuge in thecollege; Lord Inchiquin was abused till he said his namewas O'Brien, when the rage of the people "was turned intoacclamations. " The Speaker, Mr. Ponsonby, and the ChiefSecretary, Mr. Rigby, had to appear in the porch of theHouse of Commons, solemnly to assure the citizens thatno union was dreamed of, and if it was proposed, thatthey would be the first to resist it. Public spirit hadevidently grown bold and confident, and we can wellbelieve Secretary Rigby when he writes to the elder Pitt, that "the mob" declared, "since they have no chance ofnumbers in the House, they must have recourse to numbersout of doors. " CHAPTER V. ACCESSION OF GEORGE III. --FLOOD'S LEADERSHIP--OCTENNIAL PARLIAMENTS ESTABLISHED. George III. , grandson of the late king, commenced, inOctober, 1760, at the age of two and twenty, the longestreign in British history. Including the period of theregency, he reigned over his empire nearly sixty years--an extraordinary term of royal power, and quite asextraordinary for its events as for its extreme length. The great movement of the Irish mind, at the beginningof this reign, was the limitation of the duration ofParliament, hitherto elected for the King's life. Thisreform, long advocated out of doors, and by the moreprogressive members within the House, was reserved forthe new Parliament under the new reign. To this Parliamentwere returned several men of great promise, men of a newgeneration, nurtured in the school of Swift and Malone, but going even beyond their masters in their determinationto liberate the legislature of their country from theundue influence of the crown and the castle. Among thosenew members were three destined to national celebrity, Dr. Lucas, Mr. Hussey Burgh, and Mr. Dennis Bowes Daly;and one destined to universal reputation--Henry Flood. This gentleman, the son of a former Chief Justice, intermarried into the powerful oligarchical family ofthe Beresfords, was only in his 28th year when firstelected member for Kilkenny; but, in point of genius andacquirements, he was even then the first man in Ireland, and one of the first in the empire. For a session or twohe silently observed the forms of the House, preparinghimself for the great contest to come; but when at lasthe obtained the ear of his party he was heard to somepurpose. Though far from advocating extreme measures, he had abundant boldness; he was not open to the objectionlevelled against the leader of the past generation, Mr. Malone, of whom Grattan said, "he was a colony-bred man, and he feared to bring down England upon Ireland. " The Duke of Bedford vacated the viceroyalty in 1761, andLord Halifax took his place. In the first parliamentarysession, Dr. Lucas introduced his resolutions limitingthe duration of Parliament to seven years, a projectwhich Flood afterwards adopted and mainly contributed tocarry. The heads of the bill embodying these resolutionswere transmitted to London by the Lord-Lieutenant, butnever returned. In 1763, under the government of theMarquis of Hertford, similar resolutions were introducedand carried, but a similar fate awaited them. Again theywere passed, and again rejected, the popular dissatisfactionrising higher and higher with every delay of the reform. At length, in the session of 1767, "the Septennial Bill, "as it was called, was returned from England, changed tooctennial, and with this alteration it passed into law, in February, 1768. A new Parliament the same year waselected under the new act, to which all the friends ofthe measure were triumphantly returned. The faithfulLucas, however, survived his success little better thantwo years; he died amid the very sincere regrets of allmen who were not enemies of their country. At his funeralthe pall was borne by the Marquis of Kildare, LordCharlemont, Mr. Flood, Mr. Hussey Burgh, Sir LuciusO'Brien, and Mr. Ponsonby. Lord Halifax, and his chief secretary, Mr. Hamilton (knownto us as "the single-speech Hamilton, " of literaryhistory), received very graciously the loyal addressespresented by the Catholics, soon after his Majesty'saccession. In a speech from the throne, the Viceroyproposed, but was obliged to abandon the proposition, toraise six regiments of Catholics, under their own officers, to be taken into the service of Portugal, the ally ofGreat Britain. His administration was otherwise remarkableneither for its length nor its importance; nor is thereanything else of consequence to be mentioned of hislordship, except that his nephew, and chief secretary, had the honour to have Edmund Burke for his privatesecretary, and the misfortune to offend him. During the government of the Marquis of Hertford, andhis successor, Lord Townsend (appointed in 1768), thePatriot party contended on the ground of rendering thejudges independent, diminishing the pension list, andmodifying the law of Poynings, requiring heads of billsto be sent into England, and certified by both PrivyCouncils, before they could be passed upon by thelegislature. The question of supply, and that of theduration of Parliament, being settled, these reforms werethe next objects of exertion. When we know that the lateKing's mistresses, the Queen Dowager of Prussia, PrinceFerdinand, and other connections of the royal family, equally alien to the country, were pensioners to theamount of thousands of pounds annually on the Irishestablishment, we can understand more clearly the bitternessof the battle Mr. Flood and his colleagues were calledupon to fight in assailing the old system. But they foughtit resolutely and perseveringly. Death had removed theirmost unscrupulous enemy, Primate Stone, during the Hertfordadministration, and the improved tone and temper of publicopinion would not tolerate any attempt to raise up asuccessor of similar character. Lord Townsend, an oldcampaigner and _bon vivant_, was expressly chosen as mostcapable of restoring the old system of government bycloseting and corruption, but he found the Ireland ofhis day very materially altered from the defencelessprovince, which Stone and Dorset had attempted to cajoleor to coerce, twenty years before. The Parliament of 1769--the first limited Parliamentwhich Ireland had seen since the revolution--proved, inmost respects, worthy of the expectations formed of it. John Ponsonby was chosen Speaker, and Flood regarded, around him, well-filled benches and cheering countenances. The usual supply bill was passed and sent up to thecastle, but on its return from England was found to bealtered--15, 000 men, among other changes, being chargedto the Irish military establishment, instead of 12, 000, as formerly. The Commons, resolute to assert their rights, threw out the bill, as had been done in 1753, and theLord Lieutenant, protesting in the House of Lords againsttheir conduct, ordered them to be prorogued. Prorogationfollowed prorogation, till February, 1771, the intervalbeing occupied in closeting and coquetting with membersof the opposition, in the creation of new places, andthe disposal of them to the relatives of those capableof being bought. No one was surprised, when the Housesreassembled, to find that a bare majority of the Commonsvoted a fulsome address of confidence to the LordLieutenant. But this address, Speaker Ponsonby indignantlyrefused to present. He preferred resignation to disgrace, and great was the amazement and indignation when hisfriend, Mr. Perry, elected by a bare majority, consentedto take the post--no longer a post of honour. In justiceto Mr, Perry, however, it must be added, that in thechair as on the floor of Parliament, he still continuedthe patriot--that if he advanced his own fortunes, itwas not at the expense of the country--that some of thebest measures passed by this and the subsequent Parliament, owed their final success, if not their first suggestion, to his far-seeing sagacity. The methods taken by Lord Townsend to effect his ends, not less than those ends themselves, aroused the spiritand combined the ranks of the Irish opposition. The pressof Dublin teemed with philippics and satires, upon hiscreatures and himself. The wit, the scholarship, theelegant fancy, the irresistible torrent of eloquence, aswell as the popular enthusiasm, were against him, and in1772, borne down by these combined forces, he confessedhis failure by resigning the sword of state into thehands of Lord Harcourt. The new Viceroy, according to custom, began his reign bytaking an exactly opposite course to his predecessor, and ended it by falling into nearly the same errors andabuses. He suggested an Absentee-tax, which was introducedby Flood, but rejected through the preponderating influenceof the landed aristocracy. In preparing the tables ofexpenditure, he had caused arrears amounting to 265, 000pounds, and an annual increase of 100, 000 pounds, to beadded to the estimates. Moreover, his supply bill wasdiscovered, at the second reading, to extend over _twoyears_ instead of one--a discovery which occasioned thegreatest indignation. Flood raised his powerful voice inwarning, not unmingled with menace; Burgh declared, thatif any member should again bring in such a bill, he wouldhimself move his expulsion from the House; while GeorgeOgle, member for Wexford, proposed that the bill itselfshould be burned before the porch, by the common hangman. He was reminded that the instrument bore the great seal;to which he boldly answered, that the seal would help tomake it burn the better. It was not thought politic totake notice of this revolutionary retort. CHAPTER VI. FLOOD'S LEADERSHIP--STATE OF THE COUNTRY BETWEEN1760 AND 1776. England was engaged in two great wars during the periodof Flood's supremacy in the Irish Parliament--the sevenyears' war, concluded by the peace of Paris in 1763, andthe American war, concluded by the treaty of Versailles, in 1783. To each of these wars Ireland was the secondlargest contributor both as to men and money; and by bothshe was the severest sufferer, in her manufactures, herprovision trade, and her general prosperity. While armycontracts, and all sorts of military and naval expenditurein a variety of ways returned to the people of Englandthe produce of their taxes, the Irish had no suchcompensation for the burdens imposed on their more limitedresources. The natural result was, that that incipientprosperity which Chesterfield hailed with pleasure in1751, was arrested in its growth, and fears began to beseriously entertained that the country would be drivenback to the lamentable condition from which it had slowlyand laboriously emerged during the reign of George II. The absence of employment in the towns threw the labouringclasses more and more upon the soil for sustenance, whilethe landlord legislation of the period threw them ashelplessly back upon other pursuits than agriculture. Agrarian injustice was encountered by conspiracy, andfor the first time in these pages, we have to record theintroduction of the diabolical machinery of secretoath-bound associations among the Irish peasantry. Ofthe first of these combinations in the southern counties, a cotemporary writer gives the following account: "Somelandlords in Munster, " he says, "have let their lands tocotters far above their value, and, to lighten theirburden, allowed commonange to their tenants by way ofrecompense: afterwards, in despite of all equity, contraryto all compacts, the landlords enclosed these commons, and precluded their unhappy tenants from the only meansof making their bargains tolerable. " The peasantry ofWaterford, Cork, and other southern counties met intumultuous crowds, and demolished the new enclosures. The oligarchical majority took their usual cue on suchoccasions: they pronounced, at once, that the cause ofthe riots was "treason against the state;" they evenobtained a select committee to "inquire into the causeand progress of the Popish insurrection in Munster. "Although the London Gazette, on the authority of royalcommissioners, declared that the rioters "consistedindiscriminately of persons of different persuasions, "the Castle party would have it "another Popish plot. "Even Dr. Lucas was carried away by the passions of thehour, and declaimed against all lenity, as cowardly andcriminal. A large military force, under the Marquis of Drogheda, was accordingly despatched to the south. The Marquisfixed his head-quarters at Clogheen, in Tipperary, theparish priest of which was the Rev. Nicholas Sheehy. Themagistracy of the county, especially Sir Thomas Maude, William Bagnel, John Bagwell, Daniel Toler, and ParsonHewitson, were among the chief maintainers of the existenceof a Popish plot, to bring in the French and the Pretender. Father Sheehy had long been fixed upon as their victim:largely connected with the minor gentry, educated inFrance, young, popular, eloquent and energetic, a sterndenouncer of the licentious lives of the squires, and ofthe exacting tithes of the parsons, he was particularlyobnoxious. In 1763 he was arrested on a charge of hightreason, for drilling and enrolling Whiteboys, but wasacquitted. Towards the close of that year, Bridge, oneof the late witnesses against him, suddenly disappeared. A charge of murder was then laid against the priest ofClogheen, and a prostitute named Dunlea, a vagrant ladnamed Lonergan, and a convicted horse stealer calledToohey, were produced in evidence against him, after hehad lain nearly a year in prison, heavily fettered. Onthe 12th of March, 1765, he was tried at Clonmel, on thisevidence; and notwithstanding an _alibi_ was proved, hewas condemned, and beheaded on the third day afterwards. Beside the old ruined church of Shandraghan, his well-worntomb remains till this day. He died in his thirty-eighthyear. Two months later, Edward Sheehy, his cousin, andtwo respectable young farmers, named Buxton and Farrell, were executed under a similar charge, and upon the sametestimony. All died with religious firmness and composure. The fate of their enemies is notorious; with a singleexception, they met deaths violent, loathsome, andterrible. Maude died insane, Bagwell in idiocy, one ofthe jury committed suicide, another was found dead in aprivy, a third was killed by his horse, a fourth wasdrowned, a fifth shot, and so through the entire list. Toohey was hanged for felony, the prostitute Dunlea fellinto a cellar and was killed, and the lad Lonergan, afterenlisting as a soldier, died of a loathsome disease ina Dublin infirmary. In 1767, an attempt to revive the plot was made by theMunster oligarchy, without success. Dr. McKenna, Bishopof Cloyne, was arrested but enlarged; Mr. Nagle, ofGarnavilla (a relative of Edmund Burke), Mr. RobertKeating, and several respectable Catholic gentlemen, werealso arrested. It appears that Edmund Burke was chargedby the ascendancy party with having "sent his brotherRichard, recorder of Bristol, and Mr. Nagle, a relation, on a mission to Munster, to levy money on the Popish bodyfor the use of the Whiteboys, who were exclusivelyPapists. " The fact was, that Burke did originate asubscription for the defence of the second batch ofvictims, who, through his and other exertions, werefortunately saved from the fate of their predecessors. Contemporaneous with the Whiteboys were the northernagrarians, called "Hearts of Steel, " formed among theabsentee Lord Downshire's tenants, in 1762; the "OakBoys, " so called from wearing oak leaves in their hats;and the "Peep o' Day Boys, " the precursors of the OrangeAssociation. The infection of conspiracy ran through allIreland, and the disorder was neither short-lived nortrivial. Right-boys, Defenders, and a dozen otherdenominations descended from the same evil genius, whoeverhe was, that first introduced the system of signs, andpasswords, and midnight meetings, among the peasantry ofIreland. The celebrated society of United Irishmen wasthe highest form which that principle, in our politics, ever reached. In its origin, it was mainly a Protestantorganization. From the first, the Catholic bishops and clergy strenuouslyopposed these secret societies. The Bishop of Cloyneissued a reprobatory pastoral; Father Arthur O'Learyemployed his facile pen against them; the Bishop of Ossoryanathematized them in his diocese. Priests in Kildare, Kilkenny, and Munster, were often in personal danger fromthese midnight legislators; their chapels had beenfrequently nailed up, and their bishops had been oftenobliged to remove them from one neighbourhood to anotherto prevent worse consequences. The infatuation was notto be stayed; the evil was engrafted on society, and manya long year, and woeful scene, and blighted life, andbroken heart, was to signalize the perpetuation of secretsocieties among the population. These startling symptoms of insubordination and lawlessness, while they furnished plausible pretexts to the advocatesof repression, still further confirmed the Patriot partyin their belief, that, nothing short of a free trade inexports and imports, and a thorough system of retrenchmentin every branch of the public service, could save thenation from bankruptcy and ruin. This was Flood's opinion, and he had been long recognized as the leading spirit ofthe party. The aged Malone, true to his principles ofconciliation and constitutionalism to the last, passedaway from the scene, in the midst of the exciting eventsof 1776. For some years before his death, his formerplace had been filled by the younger and more vigorousmember for Kilkenny, who, however, did not fail to consulthim with all the deference due to his age, his services, and his wisdom. One of his last official acts waspresiding over the committee of the whole House, whichvoted the American contingent, but rejected the admissionof German troops to supply their place. CHAPTER VII. GRATTAN'S LEADERSHIP--"FREE TRADE, " AND THE VOLUNTEERS. The revolt of the American colonies against the oppressivelegislation of the British Parliament, was the nextcircumstance that deeply affected the constitutionalstruggle, in which the Irish Parliament had so long beenengaged. The similarity in the grievances of Ireland andthe colonies, the close ties of kindred establishedbetween them, the extent of colonial commerce involvedin the result, contributed to give the American Declarationof Independence more importance in men's eyes at Dublin, than anywhere else out of the colonies, except, perhaps, London. The first mention made of American affairs to the Irishlegislature, was in Lord Townsend's message in 1775, calling for the despatch of 4, 000 men from the Irishestablishment, to America, and offering to supply theirplace by as many foreign Protestant (German) troops. Thedemand was warmly debated. The proposition to receivethe proffered foreign troops was rejected by a majorityof thirty-eight, and the contingent for America passedon a division, upon Flood's plea that they would go outmerely as "4, 000 armed negotiators. " This expression ofthe great parliamentary leader was often afterwards quotedto his prejudice, but we must remember, that, at the timeit was employed, no one on either side of the contesthad abandoned all hopes of accommodation, and that thesignificance of the phrase was rather pointed againstLord North than against the colonies. The 4, 000 men wentout, among them Lord Rawdon (afterwards Lord Moira), LordEdward Fitzgerald, and many others, both officers andmen, who were certainly no enemies of liberty, or thecolonies. Some slight relaxation of the commercial restrictionswhich operated so severely against Irish industry weremade during the same year, but these were more thancounterbalanced by the embargo on the export of provisionsto America, imposed in February, 1776. This arbitrarymeasure--imposed by order in Council--was so near beingcensured by the Parliament then sitting, that the Housewas dissolved a month afterwards, and a new electionordered. To meet the new Parliament it was thoughtadvisable to send over a new Viceroy, and accordinglyLord Buckinghamshire entered into office, with Sir RichardHeron as chief secretary. In the last session of the late Parliament, a young_protege_ of Lord Charlemont--he was only in histwenty-ninth year--had taken his seat for the borough ofCharlemont. This was Henry Grattan, son of the Recorderof Dublin, and grandson of one of those Grattans who, according to Dean Swift, "could raise 10, 000 men. " Theyouth of Grattan had been neither joyous nor robust; inearly manhood he had offended his father's conservatism;the profession of the law, to which he was bred, he foundirksome and unsuited to his tastes; society, as thenconstituted, was repulsive to his over-sensitive spiritand high Spartan ideal of manly duty; no letters aresadder to read than the early correspondence of Grattan, till he had fairly found his inspiration in listeningenraptured to the eloquent utterances of Chatham, orcomparing political opinions with such a friend as Flood. At length he found a seat in the House of Commons, where, during his first session, he spoke on three or fouroccasions, briefly, modestly, and with good effect; therehad been no sitting during 1776, nor before October ofthe following year; it was, therefore, in the sessionsfrom '78 to '82 inclusive, that this young member raisedhimself to the head of the most eloquent men, in one ofthe most eloquent assemblies the world has ever seen. The fact of Mr. Flood, after fourteen years of opposition, having accepted office under Lord Harcourt's administration, and defended the American expedition and the embargo, had greatly lessened the popularity of that eminent man. There was indeed, no lack of ability still left in theranks of the opposition--for Burgh, Daly, and Yelvertonwere there; but for a supreme spirit like Grattan--whoseburning tongue was ever fed from his heart of fire--thereis always room in a free senate, how many soever ableand accomplished men may surround him. The fall of 1777 brought vital intelligence from America. General Burgoyne had surrendered at Saratoga, and Francehad decided to ally herself with the Americans. The effectin England and in Ireland was immense. When the IrishHouses met, Mr. Grattan moved an address to the King infavour of retrenchment, and against the pension list, and Mr. Daly moved and carried an address deploring thecontinuance of the American war, with a governmentalamendment assuring his Majesty that he might still relyon the services of his faithful Commons. The secondCatholic relief bill, authorizing Papists to loan moneyon mortgage, to lease lands for any period not exceeding999 years--to inherit and bequeath real property, solimited, passed, not without some difficulty, into law. The debate had been protracted, by adjournment afteradjournment, over the greatest part of three months; themain motion had been further complicated by an amendmentrepealing the Test Act in favour of Dissenters, whichwas, fortunately, engrafted on the measure. The vote inthe Commons, in favour of the bill so amended, was 127_yeas_ to 89 _nays_, and in the Lords, 44 _Contents_ to28 _Noncontents_. In the English House of Commons, Lord Nugent moved, inApril, a series of resolutions raising the embargo onthe Irish provision trade; abolishing, so far as Irelandwas concerned, the most restrictive clauses of theNavigation Act, both as to exports and imports, with theexception of the article of tobacco. Upon this themanufacturing and shipping interest of England, takingthe alarm, raised such a storm in the towns and citiesthat the ministry of the day were compelled to resistthe proposed changes, with a few trifling exceptions. But Grattan had caught up, in the other island, the cryof "free trade, " and the people echoed it after theirorator, until the whole empire shook with the populardemand. But what gave pith and power to the Irish demands wasthe enrolment and arming of a numerous volunteer force, rendered absolutely necessary by the defenceless stateof the kingdom. Mr. Flood had long before proposed anational militia, but being in opposition and in theminority, he had failed. To him and to Mr. Perry, as muchas to Lord Charlemont and Mr. Grattan, the militia billof 1778, and the noble army of volunteers equipped underits provisions, owed their origin. Whether this forcewas to be a regular militia, subject to martial law, orcomposed of independent companies, was for some monthsa subject of great anxiety at the castle; but necessityat length precipitated a decision in favour of volunteercompanies, to be supplied with arms by the state, butdrilled and clothed at their own expense, with power toelect their own officers. The official announcement ofthis decision once made, the organization spread rapidlyover the whole kingdom. The Ulster corps, first organized, chose as their commander the Earl of Charlemont, whilethose of Leinster elected the Duke of Leinster. Simultaneously, resolutions against the purchase ofEnglish goods and wares were passed at public meetings, and by several of the corporate bodies. Lists of theimporters of such goods were obtained at the customhouses, and printed in handbills, to the alarm of theimporters. Swift's sardonic maxim, "to burn everythingcoming from England, _except the coals_, " began tocirculate as a toast in all societies, and the consternationof the Castle, at this resurrection of the redoubtableDean, was almost equal to the apprehension entertainedof him while living. While the Castle was temporizing with both the militaryand the manufacture movement, in a vague expectation todefeat both, the press, as is usual in such nationalcrises, teemed with publications of great fervour andability. Dr. Jebb, Mr. (afterwards Judge) Johnson, Mr. Pollock, Mr. Charles Sheridan, Father Arthur O'Leary, and Mr. Dobbs, M. P. , were the chief workers in thisdepartment of patriotic duty. Cheered, instructed, restrained within due bounds by these writings and thereported debates of Parliament, the independent companiesproceeded with their organization. In July, 1779, afterall the resources of prevarication had been exhausted, arms were issued to the several recognized corps, andthe Irish volunteers became in reality a national armyfor domestic protection and defence. When this point was reached, Mr. Grattan and his friendstook anxious council as to their future movements. Parliament was to meet on the 12th of October, and inthat sweet autumnal month, Grattan, Burgh, and Daly, metupon the sea-shore, near Bray, in view of one of theloveliest landscapes on earth, to form their plan forthe session. They agreed on an amendment to the addressin answer to the royal speech, demanding in explicitterms "free export and import" for Irish commerce. WhenParliament met, and the address and amendment were moved, it was found that Flood, Burgh, Hutchinson, and Gardiner, though all holding offices of honour and emolument undergovernment, would vote for it. Flood suggested to substitutethe simple term "free trade, " and with this and one otherverbal alteration suggested by Burgh, the amendment passedwith a single dissenting voice. The next day the Speaker, Mr. Perry, who was all alongin the confidence of the movers of the amendment, Daly, Grattan, Burgh, Flood, Hutchinson, Ponsonby, Gardiner, and the whole House, went up with the amended address tothe castle. The streets were lined with volunteers, commanded in person by the Duke of Leinster, who presentedarms to the patriotic Commons as they passed. Most ofthe leading members wore the uniform of one or other ofthe national companies, and the people saw themselves atthe same moment under the protection of a patrioticmajority in the legislature, and a patriotic force inthe field. No wonder their enthusiastic cheers rangthrough the corridors of the castle with a strangelyjubilant and defiant emphasis. It was not simply thespectacle of a nation recovering its spirit, but recoveringit with all military _eclat_ and pageantry. It was thedisarmed armed and triumphant--a revolution not only innational feeling, but in the external manifestation ofthat feeling. A change so profound stirred sentimentsand purposes even deeper than itself, and suggested tothe ardent imagination of Grattan the establishment ofentire national independence, saving always the rightsof the crown. The next day, the Houses, not to be outdone in courtesy, voted their thanks to the volunteers for "their just andnecessary exertions in defence of their country!" CHAPTER VIII. GRATTAN'S LEADERSHIP--LEGISLATIVE AND JUDICIALINDEPENDENCE ESTABLISHED. The task which Mr. Grattan felt called upon to undertake, was not _revolutionary_, in the usually accepted senseof the term. He was a Monarchist and a Whig in generalpolitics; but he was an Irishman, proud and fond of hiscountry, and a sincere lover of the largest religiousliberty. With the independence of the judiciary and thelegislature, with freedom of commerce and of conscience, he would be well content to stand by the British connection. "The sea, " he said, in his lofty figurative language, "protests against union--the ocean against separation. "But still, within certain legal limits, his task _was_revolutionary, and was undertaken under all thediscouragements incident to the early stages of greatconstitutional reforms. Without awaiting the action of the English Parliament, in relation to free trade, a public-spirited citizen ofDublin, Alderman James Horan, demanded an entry at thecustom house, for some parcels of Irish woollens, whichhe proposed exporting to Rotterdam, contrary to theprohibitory enactment, the 10th and 11th of William III. The commissioners of customs applied for instructions tothe Castle, and the Castle to the Secretary of State, Franklin's friend, Lord Hillsborough. For the moment acollision similar to that which had taken place at Boston, on a not dissimilar issue, seemed imminent. A frigatewas stationed off Howth, with instructions, it was said, to intercept the prohibited woollens, but Alderman Horan, by the advice of his friends, allowed his application toremain on the custom house files. It had served itspurpose of bringing home practically to the people, thevalue of the principle involved in the demand for freedomof exports and imports. At the same time that thispractical argument was discussed in every circle, Mr. Grattan moved in the House of Commons, in amendment tothe supply bill, that, "At this time it is inexpedientto grant new taxes. " The government divided the House, but to their mortification found only 47 supporters; forGrattan's amendment there were 170. A subsequent amendmentagainst granting duties for the support of the loan fund, was also carried by 138 to 100. These adverse votes were communicated with greattrepidation, by the Lord Lieutenant, to the Britishadministration. At length Lord North thought it essentialto make some concessions, and with this view he broughtin resolutions, declaring the trade with the Britishcolonies in America and Africa, and the free export ofglass and woollens, open to the Irish merchant. A weeklater, similar resolutions were passed in the IrishCommons, and in February, 1780, "a free trade" in thesense in which it had been demanded, was established bylaw, placing Ireland in most respects, as to foreign andcolonial commerce, on an equality with England. In February, the Viceroy again alarmed the Britishadministration, with the reported movement for the repealof "Poyning's law, "--the statute which required heads ofbills to be transmitted to, and approved in England, before they could be legislated upon. He received inreply, the royal commands to resist by every means inhis power, any attempted "change in the constitution, "and he succeeded in eliciting from the House of Lords, an address, strongly condemnatory of "the misguided men, "who sought to raise such "groundless jealousies, " betweenthe two kingdoms. But the Patriot Commoners were not tobe so deterred. They declared the repeal of Poyning'sact, and the 6th of George I. , to be their ultimatum, and notices of motion to that effect were immediatelyplaced on the journals of the House of Commons. In the early days of April, Grattan, who, more than anyof our orators, except perhaps Burke, was sensitive tothe aspects of external nature, and imbued with the poetryof her works, retired from the city, to his uncle DeanMarlay's house, Cellbridge Abbey, formerly the residenceof Swift's ill-fated Vannessa. "Along the banks of thatriver, " he said, many years afterwards, "amid the grovesand bowers of Swift and Vannessa, I grew convinced thatI was right; arguments, unanswerable, came to my mind, and what I then presaged, confirmed me in my determinationto persevere. " With an enthusiasm intensified andrestrained--but wonderful in the fire and grandeur ofits utterance--he rose in his place, on the 19th of themonth, to move that "the King, Lords, and Commons ofIreland, are the only power competent to enact laws tobind Ireland. " He was supported by Hussey Burgh, Yelverton, and Forbes; Flood favoured postponement, and laid thefoundation of his future estrangement from Grattan; Dalywas also for delay; Fitzgibbon, afterwards Lord Clare, Provost Hutchinson, and John Foster, afterwards LordOriel, resisted the motion. The Castle party moved inamendment that "there being an equivalent resolutionalready on the journals of the House"--alluding to oneof the resolutions against Stafford's tyranny in 1641--anew resolution was unnecessary. This amendment was carriedby 136 to 79, thus affirming the formula of independenceadopted in 1641, but depriving Grattan of the honour ofputting it, in his own words, on the record. The substantialresult, however, was the same; the 19th of April wastruly what Grattan described it, "a great day for Ireland. ""It is with the utmost concern, " writes the Viceroy nextday to Lord Hillsborough, "I must acquaint your Lordshipthat although so many gentlemen expressed their concernthat the subject had been introduced, the sense of theHouse _against_ the obligation of _any statutes_ of theParliament of Great Britain, within this kingdom, isrepresented to me to have been almost unanimous. " Ten days later, a motion of Mr. Yelverton's to repealPoyning's law, as far as related to the Irish privycouncil's supervision of heads of bills, was negativedby 130 to 105. During the remainder of the session the battle ofindependence was fought on the Mutiny Bill. The Viceroyand the Chief Secretary, playing the game of power, wereresolved that the influence of the crown should not bediminished, so far as the military establishments wereconcerned. Two justices of the peace in Sligo and Mayo, having issued writs of _habeas corpus_ in favour ofdeserters from the army, on the ground that neither theBritish Mutiny Act, nor any other British statute, wasbinding on Ireland, unless confirmed by an act of itsown legislature, brought up anew the whole question. LordNorth, who, with all his proverbial tact and good humour, in the House of Commons, always pursued the most arbitrarypolicy throughout the empire, proposed a perpetual MutinyBill for Ireland, instead of the Annual Bill, in forcein England. It was introduced in the Irish House ofCommons by Mr. Gervase Parker Bushe, and, by a vote oftwo to one, postponed for a fortnight. During the interval, the British authorities remained obdurate to argumentand remonstrance. In vain, the majority of the Irishprivy counsellors advised concession; in vain, Flood, who was consulted, pointed out the futility of attemptingto force such a measure; it was forced, and, under thecry of loyalty, a draft bill was carried through bothHouses, and remitted to England in June. Early in Augustit was returned; on the 12th it was read a first time;on the 16th, a second; and it was carried through Committeeby 114 to 62. It was at this emergency the Volunteersperformed the second act of their great drama of Ireland'sliberation. A series of reviews were held, and significantaddresses presented to Lord Camden (then on a visit tothe country), Lord Charlemont, Mr. Flood, and Mr. Grattan. On the re-assembling of Parliament in August, when thebill was referred to, Mr. Grattan declared that he wouldresist it to the last; that if passed into law, he andhis friends would _secede_, and would appeal to the peoplein "a formal instrument. " A new series of corporationand county meetings was convened by the Patriot party, which warmly condemned the Perpetual Mutiny Act, and aswarmly approved the repeal of Poyning's Act, and the 6thof George I. : questions which were all conceived to beintermixed together, and to flow from the assertion ofa common principle. Parliament being prorogued in September, only threw the whole controversy back again into thefurnace of popular agitation. The British Governmenttried a lavish distribution of titles and a change ofViceroys, --Lord Carlisle being substituted in Decemberfor Lord Buckingham--but the spirit abroad was too generaland too earnest, to be quelled by the desertion ofindividuals, however numerous or influential. With LordCarlisle, came, as Chief Secretary, Mr. Eden, afterwardsLord Auckland; he had been, with his chief, a peacecommissioner to America, two years before, and had failed;he was an intriguing and accomplished man, but he provedhimself as unequal as Heron or Rigby to combat the movementfor Irish independence. Parliament was not again called together till the monthof October, 1781; the interval being busily occupied onboth sides with endeavours to create and sustain a party. Soon after the meeting, Mr. Grattan, seconded by Mr. Flood, moved for a limitation of the Mutiny Bill, whichwas lost; a little later, Mr. Flood himself introduceda somewhat similar motion, which was also outvoted twoto one; and again, during the session, Mr. Yelverton, having abandoned his promised motion against Poyning'slaw, on news of Lord Cornwallis's surrender reachingDublin, Flood took it up, moved it, and was defeated. Afurther measure of relief for Roman Catholics, introducedby Mr. Gardiner, author of the act of 1778, and warmlysupported by Grattan, was resisted by Flood in the oneHouse, and Lord Charlemont in the other. It miscarried, and left another deposit of disagreement between theactual and the former leader of the Patriot party. Still no open rupture had taken place between the twoPatriot orators. When the convention of the volunteerswas called at Dungannon for the 15th of February, 1782, they consulted at Charlemont House as to the resolutionsto be passed. They were agreed on the constitutionalquestion; Grattan, of his own generous free will, addedthe resolution in favour of emancipation. Two hundredand forty-two delegates, representing 143 corps, unanimouslyadopted the resolutions so drafted, as their own, and, from the old head-quarters of Hugh O'Neil, sent forthanew an unequivocal demand for civil and religious liberty. The example of Ulster soon spread through Ireland. Ameeting of the Leinster volunteers, Mr. Flood in thechair, echoed it from Dublin; the Munster corps endorsedit unanimously at Cork; Lord Clanrickarde summoned togetherthose of the western counties at Portumna--an historicspot, suggestive of striking associations. Strengthenedby these demonstrations of public opinion, Mr. Grattanbrought forward, on the 22nd of February, his motiondeclaratory of the rights of Ireland. An amendment infavour of a six months' postponement of the question wascarried; but on the 16th of April, just two years fromhis first effort on the subject (the administration ofLord North having fallen in the meantime), the oratorhad the satisfaction of carrying his address declaratoryof Irish legislative independence. It was on this occasionthat he exclaimed: "I found Ireland on her knees; Iwatched over her with a paternal solicitude; I have tracedher progress from injury to arms, and from arms to liberty. Spirit of Swift! Spirit of Molyneux! your genius hasprevailed! Ireland is now a nation! in that new characterI hail her! and bowing to her august presence, I say, _Esto perpetua!_" Never was a new nation more nobly heralded into existence!Never was an old nation more reverently and tenderlylifted up and restored! The Houses adjourned to giveEngland time to consider Ireland's _ultimatum_. Withina month it was accepted by the new British administration, and on the 27th of May, the new Whig Viceroy, the Dukeof Portland, was authorized to announce from the thronethe establishment of the judicial and legislativeindependence of Ireland. CHAPTER IX. THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE--FIRST PERIOD. The accession of the Rockingham administration to power, in 1782, was followed by the recall of Lord Carlisle, and the substitution, as Viceroy, of one of the leadingLords of the Whig party. The nobleman selected to thisoffice was William Henry, third Duke of Portland, afterwardstwice prime minister; then in the prime of life, possessedof a very ample fortune, and uniting in his own personthe two great Whig families of Bentinck and Cavendish. The policy he was sent to represent at Dublin wasundoubtedly an imperial policy; a policy which looked asanxiously to the integrity of the empire as any Torycabinet could have desired; but it was, in most otherrespects, a policy of conciliation and concession, dictatedby the enlarged wisdom of Burke, and adopted by themagnanimous candour of Fox. Yet by a generous people, who always find it more difficult to resist a liberalthan an illiberal administration, it was, in reality, apolicy more to be feared than welcomed; for its almostcertain effects were to divide their ranks into twosections--a moderate and an extreme party--between whomthe national cause, only half established, might rungreat danger of being lost, almost as soon as it was won. With the Duke of Portland was associated, as ChiefSecretary, Colonel Fitzpatrick, of the old Ossory family, one of those Irish wits and men of fashion, who form sostriking a group in the middle and later years of KingGeorge III. As the personal and political friend of Flood, Charlemont, and Grattan, and the first Irish secretaryfor several administrations, he shared the brilliantovation with which the Duke of Portland was received, onhis arrival at Dublin; but for the reason already mentioned, the imperial, in so far as opposed to the national policy, found an additional advantage in the social successesand great personal popularity of the new secretary. The critical months which decided the contest forindependence--April and May--passed over fortunately forIreland. The firmness of the leaders in both Houses, the energy especially of Grattan, whose cry was "No time, no time!" and the imposing attitude of the volunteers, carried the question. Lord Rockingham and Mr. Fox byletter, the new Viceroy and Secretary in person, hadurged every argument for adjournment and delay, butGrattan's _ultimatum_ was sent over to England, andfinally and formally accepted. The demands were _five_. I. The repeal of the 6th of George I. II. The repeal ofthe Perpetual Mutiny Act. III. An Act to abolish thealteration or suppression of Bills. IV. An Act to establishthe final jurisdiction of the Irish Courts and the IrishHouse of Lords. V. The repeal of Poyning's Law. Thiswas the constitutional charter of 1782, which restoredIreland, for the first time in that century, to the rankand dignity of a free nation. Concession once determined on, the necessary bills wereintroduced in both Parliaments simultaneously, and carriedpromptly into law. On the 27th of May, the Irish Houseswere enabled to congratulate the Viceroy that "noconstitutional question any longer existed between thetwo countries. " In England it was proclaimed no lessexplicitly by Fox and his friends, that the independencyof the two legislatures "was fixed and ascertained forever. " But there was, unfortunately, one ground fordispute still left, and on that ground Henry Flood andHenry Grattan parted, never to be reconciled. The elder Patriot, whose conduct from the moment of hisretirement from office, in consequence of his Free Tradevote and speech in '79, had been, with occasionalexceptions, arising mostly from bodily infirmity, asenergetic and consistent as that of Grattan himself, sawno sufficient constitutional guarantee in mere acts ofParliament repealing other acts. He demanded "expressrenunciation" of legislative supremacy on the part ofEngland; while Grattan maintained the sufficiency of"simple repeal. " It is possible even in such noble naturesas these men had--so strangely are we constituted--thatthere was a latent sense of personal rivalry, whichprompted them to grasp, each, at the larger share ofpatriotic honour. It is possible that there were other, and inferior men, who exasperated this latent personalrivalry. Flood had once reigned supreme, until Grattaneclipsed him in the sudden splendour of his career. Inscholarship and in genius the elder Patriot was, takenall in all, the full peer of his successor; but Grattanhad the national temperament, and he found his way morereadily into the core of the national heart; he was theman of the later, the bolder, and the more liberal school;and such was the rapidity of his movements, that evenFlood, from '79 to '82, seemed to be his follower, ratherthan his coadjutor. In the hopeful crisis of the struggle, the slower and more experienced statesman was for themoment lost sight of. The leading motions were all placedor left in the hands of Grattan by the consent of theirleading friends; the bills repealing the Mutiny Act, the6th George I. , and Poyning's law, were entrusted to Burgh, Yelverton, and Forbes; the thanks of the House were votedto Grattan alone after the victory, with the substantialaddition of 50, 000 pounds to purchase for him an estate, which should become an enduring monument of the nationalgratitude. The open rupture between the two great orators followedfast on the triumph of their common efforts. It was stillthe first month--the very honeymoon of independence. Onthe 13th of June, Mr. Grattan took occasion to notice inhis place, that a late British act relating to theimportation of sugars, was so generally worded as apparentlyto include Ireland; but this was explained to be a mereerror of the clerk, the result of haste, and one whichwould be promptly corrected. Upon this Mr. Flood firsttook occasion to moot the insufficiency of "simple repeal, "and the necessity of "express renunciation, " on the partof England. On the 19th, he moved a formal resolution onthe subject, which was superseded by the order of theday; but on the 19th of July, he again moved, at greatlength, and with great power of logical and historicalargument, for leave to bring in an Irish Bill of Rights, declaring "the sole and exclusive right of the IrishParliament to make laws in all cases whatsoever, _externaland internal_. " He was supported by Sir Simon Bradstreet, Mr. English, and Mr. Walshe, and opposed by Grattan, who, in one of his finest efforts, proposed a counter resolution, "that the legislature of Ireland is independent; and thatany person who shall, by writing or otherwise, maintainthat a right in any other country, to make laws forIreland, _internally_ or _externally_, exists or can berevived, _is inimical to the peace of both kingdoms_. "This extreme proposition--pointing out all who differedfrom himself as public enemies--the mover, however, withdrew, and substituted in its stead the milder formula, that leave was refused to bring in the bill, because thesole and exclusive right of legislation in the IrishParliament in all cases, whether externally or internally, hath been already asserted by Ireland, and fully, finally, and irrevocably acknowledged by the British Parliament. Upon this motion Flood did not think it advisable todivide the House, so it passed without a division. But the moot point thus voted down in Parliament disquietedand alarmed the minds of many out of doors. The volunteersas generally sided with Flood as the Parliament had sidedwith Grattan. The lawyer corps of the city of Dublin, containing all the great names of the legal profession, endorsed the constitutional law of the member for Kilkenny;the Belfast volunteers did likewise; and Grattan's owncorps, in a respectful address, urged him to give hisadherence to the views of "the best informed body of menin the kingdom, "--the lawyers' corps. Just at that momentLord Abingdon, in the English House of Lords, gave noticeof a mischievous motion to assert the external supremacyof the English Parliament; and Lord Mansfield, in theKing's Bench, decided an Irish appeal case, notwithstandingthe recent statute establishing the judicial independenceof the Irish courts. It is true the case had been appealedbefore the statute was passed; and that Lord Abingdonwithdrew his motion for want of a seconder; but the alarmwas given, and the popular mind in Ireland, jealouslywatchful of its new-born liberties, saw in these attemptsrenewed cause for apprehension. In opposition to allthis suddenly awakened suspicion and jealousy, Grattan, who naturally enough assumed his own interest in preservingthe new constitution to be quite equal to those who castdoubts on its security, invariably held one language. The settlement already made, according to his view, wasfinal; it was an international treaty; its maintenancemust depend on the ability and disposition of the partiesto uphold it, rather than on the multiplication ofdeclaratory acts. Ireland had gone to England with acharter, not for a charter, and the nation which wouldinsist upon the humiliation of another, was a foolishnation. This was the lofty light in which he viewed thewhole transaction, and in this light, it must be added, he continued to view it till the last. Many of the chiefEnglish and Irish jurists of his time, Lord Camden, LordKenyon, Lord Erskine, Lord Kilwarden, Judges Chamberlain, Smith, and Kelly, Sir Samuel Rommilly, Sir Arthur Pigott, and several others, agreed fully in Grattan's doctrine, that the settlement of '82 was final and absolute, and"terminated all British jurisdiction over Ireland. " Butalthough these are all great names, the instinct ofnational self-preservation may be considered in suchcritical moments more than a counterpoise to the mostmatured opinions of the oracles of the law. Such musthave been the conviction also of the English Parliament, for, immediately on their meeting in January, 1783, theypassed the _Act of Renunciation_ (23rd George III. ), expressly declaring their admission of the "exclusiverights of the Parliament and Courts of Ireland in mattersof legislature and judicature. " This was Flood's greatesttriumph. Six months before his doctrine obtained butthree supporters in the Irish Commons; now, at hissuggestion, and on his grounds, he saw it unanimouslyaffirmed by the British Parliament. On two other questions of the utmost importance theseleading spirits also widely differed. Grattan was infavour of, and Flood opposed to, Catholic emancipation;while Flood was In favour of, and Grattan, at that moment, opposed to, a complete reform of parliamentaryrepresentation. The Catholic question had its next greattriumph after Flood's death, as will be mentioned furtheron; but the history of the Irish reform movement of 1783, '84, and '85, may best be disposed of here. The Reformers were a new party rising naturally out ofthe popular success of 1782. They were composed of allbut a few of the more aristocratic corps of the volunteers, of the townsmen, especially in the seaports andmanufacturing towns, of the admirers of American example, of the Catholics who had lately acquired property andrecognition, but not the elective franchise, of the gentryof the second and third degree of wealth, overruled andovershadowed by the greater lords of the soil. Thesubstantial grievance of which they complained was, thatof the 300 members of the House of Commons, only 72 werereturned by the people; 53 Peers having the power tonominate 123 and secure the election of 10 others; while52 Commoners nominated 91 and controlled the choice of4 others. The constitution of what ought to have beenthe people's house was, therefore, substantially in thehands of an oligarchy of about a hundred great proprietors, bound together by the spirit of their class, byintermarriage, and by the hereditary possession of power. To reduce this exorbitant influence within reasonablebounds, was the just and wise design to which Flooddedicated all his energies, after the passage of the _Actof Renunciation_, and the success of which would certainlyhave restored him to complete equality with Grattan. In the beginning of 1783, the famous coalition ministryof Lord North and Mr. Pox was formed in England. Theywere at first represented at Dublin Castle, for a fewmonths, by Lord Temple, who succeeded the Duke of Portland, and established the order of _Knights of Saint Patrick_;then by Lord Northington, who dissolved Parliament earlyin July. A general election followed, and the reformparty made their influence felt in all directions. Countymeetings were held; conventions by districts and byprovinces were called by the reforming Volunteers, inJuly, August, and September. The new Parliament was tobe opened on the 14th of October, and the Volunteersresolved to call a convention of their whole body atDublin, for the 10th of November. The Parliament met according to summons, but thoughsearching retrenchment was spoken of, no promise was heldout of a constitutional reform; the limitation of theregular troops to a fixed number was declared advisable, and a vote of thanks to the Volunteers was passed withoutdemur. But the proceedings of the Houses were soon eclipsedby the portentous presence of the Volunteer Convention. One hundred and sixty delegates of corps attended on theappointed day. The Royal Exchange was too small toaccommodate them, so they adjourned to the Rotunda, accompanied by mounted guards of honour. The splendidand eccentric Bishop of Derry (Earl of Bristol), had hisdragoon guards; the courtly but anxious Charlemont hadhis troop of horse; Flood, tall, emaciated, and solemnto sadness, was hailed with popular acclamations; therealso marched the popular Mr. Day, afterwards Judge; RobertStewart, father of Lord Castlereagh; Sir Richard Musgrave, a reformer also, in his youth, who lived to confoundreform with rebellion in his old age. The Earl of Charlemontwas elected president of this imposing body, and for anentire month Dublin was divided between the extraordinaryspectacle of two legislatures--one sitting at the Rotunda, and the other at College Green, many members of eachbeing members of the other; the uniform of the volunteersparkling in the Houses, and the familiar voices of bothHouses being heard deliberating and debating among theVolunteers. At length, on the 29th of November, after three weeks'laborious gestation, Flood brought before Parliament theplan of reform agreed to by the Convention. It proposedto extend the franchise to every _Protestant_ freeholderpossessed of a lease worth forty shillings yearly; toextend restricted borough constituencies by annexing tothem neighbouring populous parishes; that the votingshould be held on one and the same day; that pensionersof the crown should be incapable of election; that membersaccepting office should be subject to re-election; thata stringent bribery oath should be administered tocandidates returned; and, finally, that the duration ofParliament should be limited to three years. It was, indeed, an excellent Protestant Reform Bill, for thoughthe Convention had received Father Arthur O'Leary withmilitary honours, and contained many warm friends ofCatholic rights, the majority were still intolerant of_religious_ freedom. In this majority it is painful tohave to record the names of Flood and Charlemont. The debate which followed the introduction of this proposedchange in the constitution was stormy beyond all precedent. Grattan, who just one month before (Oct. 28th) had thatfierce vituperative contest with Flood familiar to everyschool-boy, in its worst and most exaggerated form, supported the proposal. The law officers of the crown, Fitzgibbon, Yelverton, Scott, denounced it as an audaciousattempt of armed men to dictate to the House its ownconstitution. The cry of privilege and prerogative wasraised, and the measure was rejected by 157 to 77. Flood, weary in mind and body, retired to his home; the Convention, which outsat the House, adjourned, amid the bitterindignation of some, and the scarcely concealed reliefof others. Two days later they met and adopted a strikingaddress to the throne, and adjourned _sine die_. Thiswas, in fact, the last important day of the Volunteersas a political institution. An attempt a month later tore-assemble the Convention was dexterously defeated bythe President, Lord Charlemont. The regular army was nextsession increased to 15, 000 men; 20, 000 pounds were votedto clothe and equip a rival force--"the Militia"--andthe Parliament, which had three times voted them itsthanks, now began to look with satisfaction on theirrapid disorganization and disbandment. This, perhaps, is the fittest place to notice the fewremaining years of the public life of Henry Flood. Afterthe session of 1785, in which he had been outvoted onevery motion he proposed, he retired from the IrishParliament, and allowed himself to be persuaded, at theage of fifty-three, to enter the English. He was electedfor Winchester, and made his first essay on the new scene, on his favourite subject of representative reform. Buthis health was undermined; he failed, except on one ortwo occasions, to catch the ear of that fastidiousassembly, and the figure he made there somewhat disappointedhis friends. He returned to Kilkenny to die in 1791, bequeathing a large portion of his fortune to TrinityCollege, to enrich its MS. Library, and to found apermanent professorship of the Irish language. "He wasan oak of the forest, " said Grattan, "too old to betransplanted at fifty. " "He was a man, " said one who alsoknew him well, Sir Jonah Barrington, "of profound abilities, high manners, and great experience in the affairs ofIreland. He had deep information, an extensive capacity, and a solid judgment. " In his own magnificent "Ode toFame, " he has pictured his ideal of the Patriot-orator, who finds some consolation amid the unequal struggle withthe enemies of his country, foreign and domestic, in aprophetic vision of his own renown. Unhappily, the worksof this great man come down to us in as fragmentary astate as those of Chatham; but enough remains to enableus to class him amongst the greatest masters of ourspeech, and, as far as the drawbacks allowed, among theforemost statesmen of his country. It is painful to be left in doubt, as we are, whether hewas ever reconciled to Grattan. The presumption, fromthe silence of their cotemporaries, is, that they nevermet again as friends. But it is consoling to rememberthat in his grave, the survivor rendered him that tributeof justice which almost takes the undying sting out ofthe philippic of 1783; it is well to know, also, thatone of Grattan's latest wishes, thirty years after thedeath of Flood, when he felt his own last hours approaching, was, that it should be known that he "did not speak thevile abuse reported in the Debates" in relation to hisillustrious rival. The best proof that what he did saywas undeserved, is that that rival's reputation forintegrity and public spirit has survived even his terribleonslaught. CHAPTER X. THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE--SECOND PERIOD. The second period of the era of independence may be saidto embrace the nine years extending from the dissolutionof the last Volunteer Convention, at the end of 1784, tothe passage of the Catholic Relief Bill of 1793. Theywere years of continued interest and excitement, both inthe popular and parliamentary affairs of the country;but the events are, with the exception of the last named, of a more secondary order than those of the previousperiod. The session of 1785 was first occupied with debatesrelating to what might be called the cross-channel tradebetween England and Ireland. The question of trade broughtwith it, necessarily, the question of revenue; of theduties levied in both kingdoms; of the conflict of theircommercial laws, and the necessity of their assimilation;of the appropriations to be borne by each, to the generalexpense of the army and navy; of the exclusive right ofthe English East India Company to the Indian trade;--inshort, the whole of the fiscal and commercial relationsof the two countries were now to be examined and adjusted, as their constitutional relations had been in previousyears. The first plan came from the Castle, through Mr. ThomasOrde, then Chief Secretary, afterwards Lord Bolton. Itconsisted of eleven propositions, embracing every divisionof the subject. They had been arrived at by consultationwith Mr. Joshua Pim, a most worthy Quaker merchant, thefounder of an equally worthy family; Mr. Grattan, Mr. Foster, and others. They were passed as resolutions inIreland, and sent by Mr. Orde to England to see whetherthey would be adopted there also, the second Pitt, thenChancellor of the Exchequer, gave his concurrence, butwhen he introduced to the English Parliament _his_resolutions--twenty in number--it was found that inseveral important respects they differed from the Irishpropositions. On being taken up and presented to theIrish Parliament, in August, the administration foundthey could command, in a full House, only a majority ofsixteen for their introduction, and so the whole arrangementwas abandoned. No definite commercial treaty between thetwo kingdoms was entered into until the Union, and therecan be little doubt that the miscarriage of the Conventionof 1785 was one of the determining causes of that Union. The next session was chiefly remarkable for an unsuccessfulattempt to reduce the Pension List. In this debate, Curran, who had entered the House in 1783, particularlydistinguished himself. A fierce exchange of personalitieswith Mr. Fitzgibbon led to a duel between them, in which, fortunately, neither was wounded, but their publichostility was transferred to the arena of the courts, where some of the choicest _morceaux_ of genuine Irishwit were uttered by Curran, at the expense of his rival, first as Attorney-General, and subsequently as Chancellor. The session of 1787 was introduced by a speech from thethrone, in which the usual paragraph in favour of theProtestant Charter Schools was followed by another advisingthe establishment of a general system of schools. Thisraised the entire question of education, one of the mostdifficult to deal with in the whole range of Irishpolitics. On the 10th of April, Mr. Orde--destined tobe the author of just, but short-lived projects--introducedhis plan of what might be called national education. Heproposed to establish four great provincial academies, a second university in some north-western county, toreform the twenty-two diocesan schools, so richly endowedunder the 28th Henry VIII. , and to affiliate on TrinityCollege two principal preparatory schools, north andsouth. In 1784, and again in this very year, the humaneJohn Howard had reported of the Irish Charter Schools, then half a century established, that they were "a disgraceto all society. " Sir J. Fitzpatrick, the Inspector ofPrisons, confirmed the general impression of Howard: hefound the children in these schools "puny, filthy, illclothed, without linen, indecent to look upon. " A seriesof resolutions was introduced by Mr. Orde, as the basisof better legislation in the next session; but it is tobe regretted that the proposed reform never went fartherthan the introduction and adoption of these resolutions. The session of 1788 was signalized by a great domesticand a great imperial discussion--the Tithe question, andthe Regency question. The Tithe question had slumbered within the walls ofParliament since the days of Swift, though not in thelonely lodges of the secret agrarian societies. Veryrecent outbreaks of the old agrarian combinations againstboth excessive rents and excessive tithes, in the Leinsteras well as in southern counties, had called generalattention to the subject, when Grattan, in 1787, movedthat, if it should appear, by the commencement of thefollowing session, that tranquillity had been restoredin the disturbed districts, the House would take intoconsideration the subject of tithes. Accordingly, veryearly in the next ensuing session, he moved for a committeeon the subject, in a three hours' speech, which ranksamong the very highest efforts of his own or any otherage. He was seconded by Lord Kingsborough, one of themost liberal men of his order, and sustained by Curranand Brownlow; he was opposed by Attorney-General Fitzgibbon, and by Messrs. Hobart, Browne, and Parsons. The vote was, _for_ the Committee of Inquiry, 49; _against_ it, 121. A second attempt, a little later in the session, wasequally unsuccessful, except for the moral effect producedout of doors by another of those speeches, which it isimpossible to read even at this day, without falling intothe attitude, and assuming the intonation, and feelingthe heartfelt inspiration of the orator. The Regency question was precipitated upon both Parliamentsby the mental disorder, which, for the second or thirdtime, attacked George III. , in 1788. The question was, whether the Prince of Wales should reign with as fullpowers as if his father were actually deceased; whetherthere should be restrictions or no restrictions. Mr. Pittand his colleagues contended successfully for restrictionsin England, while Mr. Fox and the opposition took thecontrary position. The English Houses and people wentwith Pitt, but the Irish Parliament went for anunconditional regency. They resolved to offer the crownof Ireland to him they considered _de_ facto theirSovereign, as freely as they had rendered their allegianceto the incapable king; but the Lord Lieutenant--theMarquis of Buckingham--declined to transmit theirover-zealous address, and by the time their joint delegationof both Houses reached London, George III. Had recovered!They received the most gracious reception at CarltonHouse, but they incurred the implacable enmity of WilliamPitt, and created a second determining cause in his mindin favour of an early legislative union. The prospect of the accession of the Prince to power, wrought a wonderful and a salutary change, though temporary, in the Irish Commons. In the session of 1789, Mr Grattancarried, by 105 to 85, a two months', in amendment to atwelve-months' supply bill. Before the two months expiredhe brought in his police bill, his pension bill, and hisbill to prevent officers of the revenue from voting atelections, but ere these reforms could be passed intolaw, the old King recovered, the necessary majority wasreversed, and the measures, of course, defeated or delayedtill better times. The triumph of the oligarchy was inproportion to their fright. The House having passed avote of censure on Lord Buckingham, the Viceroy, forrefusing to transmit their address to the Regent, a threatwas now held out that every one who had voted for thecensure, holding an office of honour or emolument inIreland, would be made "the victim of his vote. " In replyto this threat, a "Round Robin" was signed by the Dukeof Leinster, the Archbishop of Tuam, eighteen peers, allthe leading Whig commoners--the Ponsonbys, Langrishes, Grattan, Connolly, Curran, O'Neil, Day, Charles FrancisSheridan, Bowes Daly, George Ogle, etc. , etc. --declaringthat they would regard any such proscription as an attackon the independence of Parliament, and would jointlyoppose any administration who should resort to suchproscription. But the bold and domineering spirit ofFitzgibbon--the leader of the Castle party, then, andlong afterwards--did not shrink before even so formidablea phalanx. The Duke of Leinster was dismissed from thehonorary office of Master of the Rolls; the Earl ofShannon, from the Vice-Treasurership; William Ponsonbyfrom the office of Postmaster-General; Charles FrancisSheridan, from that of Secretary at War, and ten or twelveother prominent members of the _Irish_ administrationlost places and pensions to the value of 20, 000 poundsa year, for their over-zeal for the Prince of Wales. Atthe same time, Mr. Fitzgibbon was appointed Lord Chancellor, a vacancy having opportunely occurred, by the death ofLord Lifford, in the very midst of the prescriptivecrisis. This elevation transferred him to the UpperHouse, where, for the remaining years of the Parliament, he continued to dogmatize and domineer, as he had donein the Commons, often rebuked, but never abashed. Indeed, the milder manners of the patrician body were ill suitedto resist this ermined demagogue, whose motto throughlife was _audacity, again audacity, and always audacity_. The names of Wolfe, Toler, Corry, Coote, Beresford, andCooke, are also found among the promotions to legal andadministrative office; names familiar to the last generationas the pillars of the oligarchical faction, before andafter the Union. To swamp the opposition peers, the Earlsof Antrim, Tyrone, and Hillsborough were made Marquisesof Antrim, Waterford, and Downshire; the ViscountsGlenawley, Enniskillen, Erne, and Carysfort, were createdEarls of Annesley, Enniskillen, Erne, and Carysfort. ThenJudge Scott became Viscount Clonmel; then the Lordshipsof Loftus, Londonderry, Kilmaine, Cloncurry, Mountjoy, Glentworth, and Caledon, were founded for as many convenientCommoners, who either paid for their patents, in boroughs, or in hard cash. It was the very reign and carnival ofcorruption, over which presided the invulnerableChancellor--a true "King of Misrule. " In reference tothis appalling spectacle, well might Grattan exclaim--"Ina free country the path of public treachery leads to theblock; but in a nation governed like a province, to thehelm!" But the thunders of the orator fell, and werequenched in the wide spreading waters of corruption. The Whig Club--an out-of-door auxiliary of the opposition--was a creation of this year. It numbered the chiefsigners of the "Round Robin, " and gained many adherents. It exercised very considerable influence in the generalelection of 1790, and for the few following years, untilit fell to pieces in the presence of the more ardentpolitics which preceded the storm of 1798. Backed though he was by Mr. Pitt, both as his relativeand principal, the Marquis of Buckingham was compelledto resign the government, and to steal away from Dublin, under cover of night, like an absconding debtor. TheChancellor and the Speaker--Fitzgibbon and Foster, Irishmenat least by birth and name--were sworn in as Justices, until the arrival of the Earl of Westmoreland, in theensuing January. The last two Viceroys of the decade thus closed, form amarked contrast worthy of particular portraiture. TheDuke of Rutland, a dashing profligate, was sent over, itwas thought, to ruin public liberty by undermining privatevirtue, a task in which he found a willing helpmate inhis beautiful but dissipated Duchess. During his threeyears' reign were sown the seeds of that reckless privateexpenditure, and general corruption of manners, whichdrove so many bankrupt lords and gentlemen into the marketovert, where Lord Castlereagh and Secretary Cooke, adozen years later, priced the value of their parliamentarycattle. Lord Rutland died of dissipation at little overthirty, and was succeeded by the Marquis of Buckingham(formerly Lord Temple), the founder of the Irish Orderof Chivalry, a person of the greatest pretensions, as areformer of abuses and an enemy of government by corruption. Yet with all his affected superiority to the base artsof his predecessor, the Marquis's system was still moreopposite to every idea of just government than the Duke's. The one outraged public morals, the other pensioned andennobled the betrayers of public trusts; the one naturalizedthe gaming-table and the keeping of mistresses as customsof Irish society; the other sold or allowed the highestoffices and honours of the state--from a weighership inthe butter market to an earl's coronet--to be put up atauction, and knocked down to the highest bidder. Howcheering in contrast with the shameful honours, flauntedabroad in those shameful days, are even the negativevirtues of the Whig patricians, and how splendid theheroic constancy of Charlemont, Grattan, Curran, andtheir devoted minority of honest legislators! With Lord Westmoreland was associated, as Chief Secretary, Mr. Hobart, formerly in the army, a man of gay, convivialhabits, very accomplished, and, politically, very unprincipled. These gentlemen, both favourites of Pitt, adopted the counsellors, and continued the policy of the late Viceroy. Inpursuance of this policy, a dissolution took place, and thegeneral election of 1790 was ordered. We have alreadyexhibited the influences which controlled the choice of membersof the House of Commons. Of the one hundred and five greatproprietors, who owned two-thirds of the seats, perhaps afourth might be found in the ranks of the Whig club. Theonly other hope for the national party was in the boroughs, which possessed a class of freemen, engaged in trade, toonumerous to be bought, or too public spirited to be dictated to. Both influences combined might hope to return a powerfulminority, and, on this occasion (1790) they certainly did so. Grattan and Lord Henry Fitzgerald were elected for Dublin, over the Lord Mayor and one of the Aldermen, backed by thewhole power of the Castle; Curran, Ponsonby, Brownlow, Forbes, and nearly all "the victims of their vote" were re-elected. To these old familiar names were now added othersdestined to equal, if not still wider fame--Arthur Wellesley, member for Trim; Arthur O'Conor, member for Phillipstown;Jonah Barrington, member for Tuam; and Robert Stewart, one of the members for the County Down, then only in histwenty-second year, and, next to Lord Edward Fitzgerald, lately elected for Athy, the most extreme reformer among thenew members. Arthur O'Conor, on the other hand, commencedhis career with the Court by moving the address inanswer to the speech from the throne! The new Parliament, which met in July, 1790, unanimouslyre-elected Mr. Foster, Speaker; passed a very loyaladdress, and, after a fortnight's sitting, was proroguedtill the following January. The session of '91 was markedby no event of importance, the highest opposition voteseems to have been from 80 to 90, and the ministerialmajority never less than 50. The sale of Peerages, theEast India trade, the Responsibility (for money warrants)Bill, the Barren Lands Bill, and the Pension Bill, werethe chief topics. A committee to inquire into the bestmeans of encouraging breweries, and discouraging the useof spirituous liquors, was also granted, and some curiousfacts elicited. Nothing memorable was done, but much thatwas memorable was said--for the great orator had stilla free press, and a home audience to instruct and elevate. The truth is, the barrenness of these two sessions wasdue to the general prosperity of the country, more eventhan to the dexterous management of Major Hobart and theCabinet balls of Lord Westmoreland. There was, moreover, hanging over the minds of men the electric pressure ofthe wonderful events with which France shook the Continent, and made the Islands tremble. There was hasty hope, oridle exultation, or pious fear, or panic terror, in thehearts of the leading spectators of that awful drama, according to the prejudices or principles they maintained. Over all the three kingdoms there was a preternaturalcalm, resembling that physical stillness which in otherlatitude precedes the eruption of volcanoes. CHAPTER XI. THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE--THIRD PERIOD--CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL OF 1793. Before relating the consequences which attended the spreadof French revolutionary opinions in Ireland, it isnecessary to exhibit the new and very important positionassumed by the Roman Catholic population at that period. The relief bills in 1774 and 1778, by throwing open toCatholics the ordinary means of acquiring property, whether moveable or immoveable, had enabled many of themto acquire fortunes, both in land and in trade. Of thisclass were the most efficient leaders in the formationof the Catholic Committee of 1790--John Keogh, EdwardByrne, and Richard McCormick. They were all men who hadacquired fortunes, and who felt and cherished theindependence of self-made men. They were not simplyCatholic agitators claiming an equality of civil andreligious rights with their Protestant fellow-countrymen;they were nationalists, in the broadest and most generousmeaning of the term. They had contributed to the ranksand expenses of the Volunteers; they had swelled thechorus of Grattan's triumph, and borne their share ofthe cost in many a popular contest. The new generationof Protestant patriots--such men as the Hon. Simon Butler, Wolfe Tone, and Thomas Addis Emmet, were their intimateassociates, shared their opinions, and regarded theirexclusion from the pale of the constitution as a publiccalamity. There was another and a smaller, but not less importantclass--the remnant of the ancient Catholic peerage andlanded gentry, who, through four generations, had preferredcivil death to religious apostasy. It was impossible notto revere the heroic constancy of that class, and thepersonal virtues of many among them. But they were, perhaps, constitutionally, too timid and too punctiliousto conduct a popular movement to a successful issue. Theyhad, after much persuasion, lent their presence to theCommittee, but on some alarm, which at that time seemsto have been premature, of the introduction of Frenchrevolutionary principles among their associates, theyseceded in a mass. A formal remonstrance against whatremained, pretending to act for the Catholic body, wassigned by Lord Kenmare and sixty-seven others, whowithdrew. As a corrective, it was inadequate; as apreventive, useless. It no doubt hastened in the end theevil it deprecated in the beginning; it separated theCatholic gentry from the Catholic democracy, and thrustthe latter more and more towards those liberal Protestants, mainly men of the middle class like themselves, who beganabout this time to club together at Belfast and Dublin, under the attractive title of "United Irishmen. " Whateverthey were individually, the union of so many hereditaryCatholic names had been of very great service to thecommittee. So long as they stood aloof, the committeecould not venture to speak for _all_ the Catholics; itcould only speak for a part, though that part might benine-tenths of the whole: this gave for a time a doubtfuland hesitating appearance to their proceedings. So lowwas their political influence, in 1791, that they couldnot get a single member of Parliament to present theirannual petition. When at last it was presented, it waslaid on the table and never noticed afterwards. To theirfurther embarrassment, Mr. McKenna and some others formed"the Catholic Society, " with the nominal object ofspreading a knowledge of Catholic principles, throughthe press, but covertly, to raise up a rival organization, under the control of the seceders. At this period JohnKeogh's talents for negotiation and diplomacy saved theCatholic body from another term of anarchical imbecility. A deputation of twelve having waited this year on theChief Secretary with a list of the existing penal laws, found no intention, at the Castle, of further concession. They were "dismissed without an answer. " Under thesecircumstances, the Committee met at Allen's Court. "Itwas their determination, " says Keogh, "to give up thecause as desperate, lest a perseverance in what theyconsidered an idle pursuit might not only prove ineffectual, but draw down a train of persecution on the body. " Keoghendeavoured to rally them; proposed a delegation toLondon, to be sent at the expense of the Committee;offered, at last, to go at his own charge, if theyauthorized him. This proposal was accepted, and Keoghwent. "I arrived in London, " he adds, "without anyintroduction from this country, without any support, anyassistance, any instructions. " He remained three months, converted Mr. Dundas, brought back with him the son ofBurke as Secretary, and a promise of four concessions:1st. The magistracy. 2nd. The grand juries. 3rd. Thesheriffs of counties. 4th. The bar. It was in thisinterview that Keogh, after obtaining Mr. Dundas's expresspermission and promise not to be offended, said to him, according to Charles Butler's account, "Since you giveme this permission, and your deliberate promise not tobe offended, I beg leave to repeat, that there _is_ onething which you ought to know, but which you don't suspect:you, Mr. Dundas, know nothing of Ireland. " Mr. Dundas, as may be supposed, was greatly surprised; but, withperfect good humour, told Mr. Keogh that he believedthis was not the case; it was true that he never had beenin Ireland, but he had conversed with many Irishmen. "Ihave drunk, " he said, "many a good bottle of wine withLord Hillsborough, Lord Clare, and the Beresfords. " "Yes, sir, " said Mr. Keogh, "I believe you have; and that youdrank many a good bottle of wine with them before youwent to war with America. " On the return of Keogh to Dublin, a numerous meeting washeld to hear his report. At this meeting, the fair promisesof the English ministers were contrasted with the hostilityof the Castle. The necessity of a strong organization, to overcome the one and hasten the other, was felt byall: it was then decided to form the Committee into aConvention. By this plan, the Catholics in each countyand borough were called on to choose, in a private manner, certain electors, who were to elect two or more delegates, to represent the town or county in the general meetingat Dublin, on the 3rd day of December following. Acircular, signed by Edward Byrne, Chairman, and RichardMcCormick, Secretary, explaining the plan and the modeof election, was issued on the 14th of January, and theCatholics everywhere prepared to obey it. The corporations of Dublin and other cities, the grandjuries of Derry, Donegal, Leitrim, Roscommon, Limerick, Cork, and other counties, at once pronounced most stronglyagainst the proposed Convention. They declared it"unconstitutional, " "alarming, " "most dangerous;" theydenounced it as a copy of the National Assembly of France;they declared that they would "resist it to the utmostof their power;" they pledged "their lives and fortunes"to suppress it. The only answer of the Catholics was thelegal opinion of Butler and Burton, two eminent lawyers, Protestants and King's counsellors, that the measure wasentirely legal. They proceeded with their selection ofdelegates, and on the appointed day the Convention met. From the place of meeting', this Convention was popularlycalled "the Back Lane Parliament. " Above 200 members werepresent. The Convention proceeded (Mr. Byrne in the chair) todeclare itself the only body competent to speak for theCatholics of Ireland. They next discussed the substanceof the proposed petition to the King. The debate on thissubject, full of life and colour, has been preserved forus in the memoirs of Tone, who, although a Protestant, had been elected Secretary to the Catholic Committee. Great firmness was exhibited by Teeling of Antrim, Bellewof Galway, McDermott of Sligo, Devereux of Wexford, SirThomas French, and John Keogh. These gentlemen contended, and finally carried, without a division, though notwithout a two-days' debate, a petition, asking completeand unrestricted emancipation. With the addition of theChairman and Secretary, they were appointed as deputiesto proceed to London, there to place the Catholic ultimatumin the hands of King George. The deputies, whether by design or accident, took Belfaston their way to England. This great manufacturing town, at the head of the staple industry of the north, had beenin succession the head-quarters of the Volunteers, theNorthern Whigs, and the United Irishmen. Belfast haddemanded in vain, for nearly a generation, that its 20, 000inhabitants should no longer be disfranchised, while adozen burgesses--creatures of Lord Donegal--controlledthe representation. Community of disfranchisement hadmade the Belfastians liberal; the Catholic deputies werepublicly received with bonfires and ringing of bells, their expenses were paid by the citizens, and theircarriage drawn along in triumph, on the road toPort-Patrick. Arrived at London, after much negotiation and delay withministers, a day was fixed for their introduction to theKing. It was Wednesday, the 2nd of January, 1793; theywere presented by Edmund Burke and the Home Secretary toGeorge III. , who "received them very graciously;" theyplaced in his hands the petition of their co-religionists, and, after some compliments, withdrew. In a few days, they were assured their case would be recommended to theattention of Parliament in the next royal speech, andso, leaving one of their number behind as "charged'affaires, " they returned to Dublin highly elated. The Viceroy, on their return, was all attention to theCatholics; the Secretary, who, a year before, would notlisten to a petition, now laboured to fix a limit toconcession. The demand of complete emancipation, was notmaintained in this negotiation as firmly as in the Decemberdebates of "the Back Lane Parliament. " The shock of theexecution of the King of France; the efforts of the secretcommittee of the House of Lords to inculpate certainCatholic leaders in the United-Irish system, and aspatrons of the Defenders; the telling argument, that topress all was to risk all, --these causes combined toinduce the sub-committee to consent to less than theConvention had decided to insist upon. Negotiation wasthe strong ground of the government, and they kept it. Finally, the bill was introduced by the Chief Secretary, and warmly supported by Grattan, Curran, Ponsonby, Forbes, and Hutchinson, Provost of Trinity College. It was resistedin the Lower House by Mr. Speaker Foster, Mr. Ogle, andDr. Duigenan, an apostate, who exhibited all the bitternessof his class; and in the Upper House, by the Chancellor, the son of an apostate, and the majority of the lordsspiritual. On the 9th day of April, 1793, it became thelaw of Ireland. "By one comprehensive clause, " says Tone, "all penalties, forfeitures, disabilities, and incapacitiesare removed; the property of the Catholic is completelydischarged from the restraints and limitations of thepenal laws, and their liberty, in a great measure, restored, by the restoration of the right of electivefranchise, so long withheld, so ardently pursued. Theright of self-defence is established by the restorationof the privilege to carry arms, subject to a restraint, which does not seem unreasonable, as excluding none butthe very lowest orders. The unjust and unreasonabledistinctions affecting Catholics, as to service on grandand petty juries, are done away; the army, navy, and allother offices and places of trust are opened to them, subject to exceptions hereafter mentioned. Catholics maybe masters or fellows of any college hereafter to befounded, subject to two conditions, that such college bea member of the University, and that it be not foundedexclusively for the education of Catholics. They may bemembers of any lay body corporate, except Trinity College, any law, statute, or bye-law of such corporation to thecontrary notwithstanding. They may obtain degrees in theUniversity of Dublin. These, and some lesser immunitiesand privileges, constitute the grant of the bill, thevalue of which will be best ascertained by referring tothe petition. " It is true, Catholics were still excluded from the highoffices of Lord Lieutenant, Lord Deputy, and LordChancellor. What was much more important, they wereexcluded from sitting in Parliament--from exercisinglegislative and judicial functions, Still the franchise, the juries, the professions, and the University, wereimportant concessions. Their first fruits were DanielO'Connell and Thomas Moore! The Committee having met to return thanks to theparliamentary supporters of the bill, their own futureoperations came also under debate. Some members advisedthat they should add reform to their programme, as theremnant of the penal laws were not sufficient to interestand attract the people. Some would have gone much furtherthan reform; some were well content to rest on theirlaurels. There were ultras, moderate men, and conservatives, even in the twelve. The latter were more numerous thanWolfe Tone liked or expected. That ardent revolutionisthad, indeed, at bottom, a strong dislike of the Catholicreligion; he united himself with that body because heneeded a party; he remained with them because it gavehim importance; but he chiefly valued the position as itenabled him to further an ulterior design--an Irishrevolution and a republic on the French plan. The exampleof France had, however, grown by this time rather a terrorthan an attraction to more cautious men than Tone. EdwardByrne, Sir Thomas French, and other leading Catholics, were openly hostile to any imitation of it, and the dinnerat Daly's, to celebrate the passage of the act, wasstrongly anti-Gallican in spirit and sentiment. Keogh, McCormick, and McNevin, however, joined the UnitedIrishmen, and the two latter were placed on the Directory. Keogh withdrew, when, in 1795, that organization becamea secret society. The Bishops, who had cheered on, rather than participatedin the late struggle, were well satisfied with the newmeasure. They were, by education and conviction, conservatives. Dr. Plunkett of Meath, Dr. Egan ofWaterford, Dr. Troy of Dublin, and Dr. Moylan of Cork, were the most remarkable for influence and ability atthis period. Dr. Butler of Cashel, and his opponent, Dr. Burke of Ossory, the head of the resolute old ultramontaneminority, were both recently deceased. With the exceptionof Dr. James Butler, Bishop of Cloyne and Ross, whodeserted his faith and order on becoming unexpectedlyheir to an earldom, the Irish prelates of the reign ofGeorge III. Were a most zealous and devoted body. LordDunboyne's fall was the only cause of a reproach withintheir own ranks. That unhappy prelate made, many yearsafterwards, a death-bed repentance, was reconciled tohis church, and bequeathed a large part of his inheritedwealth to sustain the new national college, the foundingof which, ever since the outbreak of the French revolution, the far-seeing Burke was urging upon Pitt and all hisIrish correspondents. In 1794, the Irish Bishops, having applied for a "royallicense" to establish academies and seminaries, weregraciously received, and Lord Fitzwilliam's governmentthe next session brought in the Act of Incorporation. Itbecame law on the 5th of June, 1795, and the college wasopened the following October with fifty students. DrHussey, afterwards Bishop of Waterford, the friend ofBurke, who stood by his deathbed, was first President;some refugee French divines were appointed toprofessorships; and the Irish Parliament voted the veryhandsome sum of 8, 000 pounds a year to the new foundation. Maynooth, whatever its after lot, was the creation inthe first instance of the Irish Parliament. We have thus, in the third century after the reformation, after threegreat religious wars, after four confiscations, afterthe most ingenious, cruel, and unchristian methods ofoppression and proselytism, had been tried and had failed, the grand spectacle of the Catholics of Ireland restored, if not fully, yet to the most precious of the civil andreligious liberties of a people! So powerless againstconscience is and ever must be coercion! CHAPTER XII. THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE--EFFECTS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONIN IRELAND--SECESSION OF GRATTAN, CURRAN, AND THEIRFRIENDS, FROM PARLIAMENT, IN 1797. The era of independence which we have desired to markdistinctly to the reader's mind, may be said to terminatein 1797, with the hopeless secession of Grattan and hisfriends from Parliament. Did the events within and withoutthe House justify that extreme measure? We shall proceedto describe them as they arose, leaving the decision ofthe question to the judgment of the reader. The session of 1793, which extended into July, was, besides the Catholic Relief Bill, productive of otherimportant results. Under the plea of the spread of Frenchprinciples, and the widespread organization of seditiousassociations--a plea not wanting in evidence--an ArmsAct was introduced and carried, prohibiting the importationof arms and gunpowder, and authorizing domiciliary visits, at any hour of the night or day, in search of such arms. Within a month from the passage of this bill, bravelybut vainly opposed by Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and theopposition generally, the surviving Volunteer corps, inDublin and its vicinity, were disbanded, their arms, artillery, and ammunition taken possession of either byforce or negotiation, and the very wreck of that oncepowerful patriot army swept away. In its stead, by nearlythe same majority, the militia were increased to 16, 000men, and the regulars from 12, 000 to 17, 000--thus placingat the absolute control of the Commander-in-Chief, andthe chiefs of the oligarchy, a standing army of 33, 000men. At the same period, Lord Clare (he had been made anearl in 1792), introduced his Convention Act, againstthe assemblage in convention of delegates purporting torepresent the people. With Grattan only 27 of the Commonsdivided against this measure, well characterized as "theboldest step that ever yet was made to introduce militarygovernment. " "If this bill had been law, " Grattan added, "the independence of the Irish Parliament, the emancipationof the Catholics, and even the English revolution of1688, could never have taken place!" The teller in favourof the Convention Act was Major Wellesley, member forTrim, twenty years later--Duke of Wellington! It becameand still remains the law of Ireland. Against this reactionary legislation we must credit thesession of '93, besides the Catholic Relief Bill and theEast India Trade Bill, with Mr. Grattan's Barren LandsBill, exempting all newly reclaimed lands from the paymentof tithes for a period of seven years; Mr. Forbes'sPension Bill, limiting the pension list to 80, 000 poundssterling per annum, and fixing the permanent civil listat 250, 000 pounds per annum; and the excellent measureof the same invaluable member, excluding from Parliamentall persons holding offices of profit under the crown, except the usual ministerial officers, and those employedin the _revenue service_. This last salvo was forced intothe bill by the oligarchical faction, for whose juniorbranches the revenue had long been a fruitful source ofprovision. Parliament met next, on the 21st of January, '94, andheld a short two-months' session. The most remarkableincidents of these two months were the rejection of Mr. George Ponsonby's annual motion for parliamentary reform, and the striking position taken by Grattan, Curran, andall but seven or eight of their friends, in favour ofthe war against the French republic. Mr. Ponsonby proposed, in the spirit of Flood's plan ten years earlier, to uniteto the boroughs four miles square of the adjoining country, thus creating a counterpoise to the territorial aristocracyon the one hand, and the patrons of boroughs on the other;he also proposed to extend the suffrage to every tradesmanwho had served five years' apprenticeship, and gave eachcounty _three_ instead of two members, leaving intact, of course, the forty-shilling freehold franchise. Notmore than 44 members, however, divided in favour of thenew project, while 142 voted against it! Had it passed, the parliamentary history of the next six years couldnever have been written. It was on this Reform bill, and on the debate on theaddress, that Grattan took occasion to declare his settledand unalterable hostility to those "French principles, "then so fashionable with all who called themselves friendsof freedom, in the three kingdoms. In the great socialschism which had taken place in Europe, in consequenceof the French revolution of 1789-'91, those kingdoms, the favourite seat of free inquiry and free discussion, could not hope to escape. The effects were visible inevery circle, among every order of men; in all thechurches, workshops, saloons, professions, into whichmen were divided. Among publicists, most of all, theshock was most severely felt; in England it separatedBurke and Windham from Fox, Erskine, Sheridan, and Grey;in Ireland it separated Grattan and Curran from LordEdward Fitzgerald, Arthur O'Conor, Addis Emmet, WolfeTone, and all those ardent, able, and honest men, whohailed the French, as the forerunner of a complete seriesof European republics, in which Ireland should shine out, among the brightest and the best. Grattan, who agreed with and revered Burke, looked uponthe "anti-Jacobin war, " as a just and necessary war. Itwas not in his nature to do anything by halves, and hetherefore cordially supported the paragraph in the addresspledging Ireland's support to that war. He was aconstitutionalist of the British, not of the French type. In the subsequent Reform debate he declared that he wouldalways and ever resist those who sought to remodel theIrish constitution on a French original. He asserted, moreover, that great mischief had been already done bythe advocates of such a design, "It"--this design--"hasthrown back for the present the chance of any rationalimprovement in the representation of the people, " hecried, "and has betrayed a good reform _to the hopes ofa shabby insurrection_. " Proceeding in his own condensed, crystalline antithesis, he thus enlarged on his ownopinions: "There are two characters equally enemies tothe reform of Parliament, and equally enemies to thegovernment--the leveller of the constitution, and thefriend of its abuses; they take different roads to arriveat the same end. The levellers propose to subvert theKing and parliamentary constitution by a rank andunqualified democracy--the friends of its abuses proposeto support the King and buy the Parliament, and in theend to overset both, by a rank and avowed corruption. They are both incendiaries; the one would destroy governmentto pay his court to liberty; the other would destroyliberty to pay his court to government; but the libertyof the one would be confusion, and the government of theother would be pollution. " We can well understand that this language pleased aslittle the United Irishmen as the Castle. It was knownthat in private he was accustomed to say, that, "thewonder was not that Mr. Sheares should die on the scaffold, but that Lord Clare was not there beside him. " He stoodin the midst of the ways, crying aloud, with the wisdomof his age and his genius, but there were few to heedhis warnings. The sanguine innovator sneered or pitied;the truculent despot scowled or menaced; to the one hisauthority was an impediment, to the other his reputationwas a reproach. It was a public situation as full ofconflict as man ever occupied, and we are not astonished, on a nearer view, that it led, after three years hopingagainst hope, to the despairing secession of 1797. A bright gleam of better things shot for an instant acrossthe gloomy prospect, with which the year '94 closed forthe country. Lord Westmoreland was recalled, and LordFitzwilliam, largely connected with Ireland by property, and one of the most just and liberal men in England, wasto be his successor. The highest expectations wereexcited; the best men congratulated each other on thecertain promise of better times close at hand; and thenation, ever ready to believe whatever it wished tobelieve, saw in prospect, the oligarchy restrained, thepatriots triumphant, and the unfinished fabric ofindependence completed, and crowned with honour. This new reign, though one of the shortest, was one ofthe most important Ireland ever saw. Lord Fitzwilliam, the nephew of Lord Rockingham, the first to acknowledgethe constitution of 1782, had married a Ponsonby; he wasa Burke whig--one of those who, with the Duke of Portland, Earl Spencer, and Mr. Windham, had followed the "greatEdmund, " in his secession from the Fox-and-Sheridanmajority of that party, in 1791. Pitt, anxious to conciliatethese new allies, had brought them all into office in1794--Earl Fitzwilliam being placed in the dignifiedposition of President of the Council. When spoken offor the Viceroyalty he wrote to Grattan, bespeaking hissupport, and that of "his friends, the Ponsonbys;" thisletter and some others brought Grattan to London, wherehe had two or three interviews with Pitt, the Duke ofPortland, and Lord Fitzwilliam. Better still, he made apilgrimage to Beaconsfield, and had the benefit of thelast advice of the aged Burke. With Pitt he was disappointedand dissatisfied, but he still hoped and expected greatgood from the appointment of Lord Fitzwilliam to theoffice of Viceroy. It seems to have been fully understoodthat the new Lord Lieutenant would have very full powersto complete the gracious work of Catholic emancipation:with this express understanding, Mr. Grattan was pressedto accept the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, but steadilydeclined; he upheld in that position Sir Henry Parnell, an old personal, rather than political friend, one of afamily of whom Ireland has reason to retain a gratefulrecollection. He was, however, with Ponsonby, Curran, and others of his friends in both Houses, added to thePrivy Council, where they were free to shape the measuresof the new administration. At the King's levee, on the10th of December, when Lord Fitzwilliam was sworn in, the aged Burke, in deep mourning for his idolized son, attended; Grattan was so much spoken to by the King asto draw towards him particular attention; Mr. Pitt, theDuke of Portland, and other ministers, were present. Alltook and held the tone that complete emancipation was athing settled: Burke congratulated Grattan on the event, and the new Viceroy was as jubilant and as confident asanybody, that the great controversy was at length to befinally closed under his auspices. On the 4th of January, Lord Fitzwilliam reached Dublin;and on the 25th of March he was recalled. The history ofthese three months--of this short-lived attempt to governIreland on the advice of Grattan--is full of instruction. The Viceroy had not for a moment concealed his intentionof thoroughly reforming the Irish administration. On hisarrival at the Castle, Mr. Cooke was removed from theSecretaryship, and Mr. Beresford from the Revenue Board. Great was the consternation, and unscrupulous the intriguesof the dismissed. When the Parliament met at the end ofJanuary, Grattan assumed the leadership of the House ofCommons, and moved the address in answer to the speechfrom the throne. No opposition was offered--and it passedwithout a division. Immediately, a bill granting theCatholics complete emancipation--rendering them eligibleeven to the office of Chancellor, withheld in 1829--wasintroduced by Grattan. Then the oligarchy found theirvoices. The old cry of "the Church in danger" was raised, delegations proceeded to London, and every agency ofinfluence was brought to bear on the King and the Englishcabinet. From the tenor of his letters, Lord Fitzwilliamfelt compelled in honour to tell Mr. Pitt, that he mightchoose between him and the Beresfords. He did choose--butnot till the Irish Parliament, in the exuberance of itsconfidence and gratitude, had voted the extraordinarysubsidy of 20, 000 men for the navy, and _a million, eighthundred thousand pounds, towards the expenses of the warwith France!_ Then, the popular Viceroy was recalled amidthe universal regrets of the people. The day of hisdeparture from Dublin was a day of general mourning, except with the oligarchical clique, whose leaders hehad so resolutely thrust aside. To them it was a day ofinsolent and unconcealed rejoicing; and, what is not atall uncommon under such circumstances, the infatuatedpartisans of the French revolution, rejoiced hardly lessthan the extremest Tories, at the sudden collapse of agovernment equally opposed to the politics of both. Grattan, than whom no public man was ever more free fromunjust suspicion of others, always remained under theconviction that Pitt had made merely a temporary use ofLord Fitzwilliam's popularity, in order to cheat theIrish out of the immense supplies they had voted; andall the documents of the day, which have since seen thelight, accord well with that view of the transaction. Lord Fitzwilliam was immediately replaced by Lord Camden, whose Viceroyalty extended into the middle of the year1798: a reign which embraced all that remains to us tonarrate, of the Parliamentary politics of the era ofIndependence. The sittings of Parliament were resumed during April, May, and June, but the complete emancipation bill wasrejected three to one--155 to 55; the debates were nowmarked, on the part of Toler, Duigenan, Johnson, andothers, with the most violent anti-Catholic spirit. Allthis tended to inflame still more the exasperated feelingwhich already prevailed in the country between Orangemenand Defenders. Thus it came, that the High Court ofParliament, which ought to have been the chief school ofpublic wisdom--the calm correcting tribunal of publicopinion--was made a principal engine in the disseminationof those prejudices and passions, which drove honest mento despair of constitutional redress, and swelled theranks of the secret political societies, till they becameco-extensive with the population. The session of 1796 was even more hopeless than theimmediately preceding one. A trade motion of Grattan'son the address commanded only 14 votes out of 140; inthe next session his motion in favour of equal rights topersons of all religious creeds, obtained but 12 votesout of 160! From these figures it is clear that above athird of the members of the House no longer attended;that of those who did attend, the overwhelming andinvariable majority--ten to one--were for all the measuresof repression and coercion which marked these two sessions. The Insurrection Act, giving power to the magistrates ofany county to proclaim martial law; the Indemnity Act, protecting magistrates from the consequences of exercising"a vigour beyond the law;" the Riot Act, giving authorityto disperse any number of persons by force of arms withoutnotice; the Suspension of the _habeas corpus_ (againstwhich only 7 members out of a House of 164 voted)--allwere evidences to. Grattan, that the usefulness of theHouse of Commons, as then constituted, was, for the tune, lost or destroyed. It is quite clear that he came tothis conviction slowly and reluctantly; that he struggledagainst it with manly fortitude through three sessions;that he yielded to it at length, when there was no longera possibility of resistance, --when to move or to dividethe House, had become a wretched farce, humiliating tothe country, and unworthy of his own earnest andenthusiastic patriotism. Under these circumstances, the powerless leader and hisdevoted staff resolved to withdraw, formally and openly, from further attendance on the House of Commons. Thedeplorable state of the country, delivered over to anirresponsible magistracy and all the horrors of martiallaw; the spread among the patriotic rising generation ofFrench principles; the scarcely concealed design of theCastle to goad the people into insurrection, in order todeprive them of their liberties; all admonished thefaithful few that the walls of Parliament were no longertheir sphere of usefulness. One last trial was, however, made in May, 1797, for a reform of Parliament. Mr. GeorgePonsonby moved his usual motion, and Curran, Hardy, SirLawrence Parsons, Charles Kendall Bushe, and others, ablysupported him. The division was 30 to 117. It was on thisdebate, that Grattan, whose mournful manner contrastedso strongly with his usual enthusiasm, concluded a solemnexposition of the evils the administration were bringingon the country, by these affecting words:--"We haveoffered you our measure--you will reject it; we deprecateyours--you will persevere; having no hopes left to persuadeor to dissuade, and having discharged our duty, we shalltrouble you no more, _and after this day shall not attendthe House of Commons_. " The secession thus announced wasaccomplished; at the general election, two months later, Grattan and his colleague, Lord Henry Fitzgerald, refusedto stand again for Dublin; Curran, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Arthur O'Conor, and others, followed his example. A fewpatriots, hoping against hope, were, however, returned, a sort of forlorn hope, to man the last redoubt of theConstitution. Of these was William Conyngham Plunkett, member for Charlemont, Grattan's old borough, aconstitutionalist of the school of Edmund Burke, worthyto be named among the most illustrious of his disciples. In the same July, on the 7th of the month, on which theIrish elections were held, that celebrated Anglo-Irishstatesman expired at Beaconsfield, in the sixty-seventhyear of his age. His last thoughts--his last wishes, likehis first--were with his native land. His regards continuedfixed on the state of Ireland, while vision and facultyremained. His last efforts in writing and conversationwere to plead for toleration, concession and conciliationtowards Ireland. The magisterial gravity of Burke wasnot calculated to permit him to be generally popular withan impulsive people, but as years roll on, and educationextends its dominion, his reputation rises and brightensabove every other reputation of his age, British or Irish. Of him no less truly than powerfully did Grattan say inthe Imperial Parliament, in 1815: "He read everything, he saw everything, he foresaw everything. His knowledgeof history amounted to a power of foretelling; and whenhe perceived the wild work that was doing in France, thatgreat political physician, intelligent of symptoms, distinguished between the access of fever and the forceof health; and what other men conceived to be the vigourof her constitution, he knew to be no more than theparoxysm of her madness; and then, prophet-like, hedenounced the destinies of France, and in his propheticfury, admonished nations. " CHAPTER XIII. THE UNITED IRISHMEN. Half measures of justice may satisfy the generation whichachieves them, but their successors will look with othereyes, as well on what has been won as on that which iswithheld. The part in possession will appear to theiryouthful sense of abstract right and wrong far lessprecious than the part in expectancy, for it is in thenature of the young to look forward, as it is of the oldto turn their regards to the past. The very recollectionof their fathers will stimulate the new generation toemulate their example, and will render them averse tobeing bound by former compromises. So necessary is itfor statesmen, when they yield to a just demand longwithheld, to yield gracefully and to yield all that isfairly due. The celebrated group known to us as "the United Irishmen, "were the birth of a new generation, entering together onthe public stage. With few exceptions, the leadingcharacters were all born within a few years of each other:Neilson in 1761, Tone, Arthur O'Conor and Lord EdwardFitzgerald in '62, McNevin in '63, Sampson and ThomasAddis Emmet in '64, and Russell in '67. They had emergedinto manhood while the drums of the Volunteers werebeating victorious marches, when the public hopes ranhigh, and the language of patriotism was the familiarspeech of every-day life. In a settled state of society it would have been naturalfor the first minds of the new generation to carry theirtalents, gratefully and dutifully, into the service ofthe first reputations of the old; but Irish society, inthe last years of the last century, was not in a settledcondition; the fascination of French example, and thegoading sense of national wrongs only half-righted, inflamed the younger generation with a passionate thirstfor speedy and summary justice on their oppressors. Wemust not look, therefore, to see the Tones and Emmetscontinuing in the constitutional line of public conductmarked out by Burke in the one kingdom, and Grattan inthe other. The new age was revolutionary, and the newmen were filled with the spirit of the age. Their actionsstand apart; they form an episode in the history of thecentury to which there may be parallels, but a chapterin the history of their own country original and alone. The United Irish Society sprung up at Belfast in October, 1791. In that month, Theobold Wolf Tone, then in his 28thyear, a native of Kildare, a member of the bar, and anexcellent popular pamphleteer, on a visit to his friendThomas Russell, in the northern capital, was introducedto Samuel Neilson, proprietor of the _Northern Star_newspaper, and several other kindred spirits, all staunchreformers, or "something more. " Twenty of these gentlemenmeeting together, adopted a programme prepared by Tone, which contained these three simple propositions: that"English influence" was the great danger of Irish liberty;that a reform of Parliament could alone create acounterpoise to that influence; and that such a reformto be just should include Irishmen of all religiousdenominations. On Tone's return to Dublin, early inNovember, a branch society was formed on the Belfastbasis. The Hon. Simon Butler, a leading barrister, waschosen Chairman, and Mr. Napper Tandy, an active middle-agedmerchant, with strong republican principles, was Secretary. The solemn declaration or oath, binding every member "toforward a brotherhood of affection, an identity ofinterests, a communion of rights, and a union of poweramong Irishmen of all religious persuasions, " was drawnup by the Dublin club, and became the universal bond oforganization. Though the Belfast leaders had been longin the habit of meeting in "secret committee, " to directand control the popular movements in their vicinage, thenew society was not, in its inception, nor for threeyears afterwards, a secret society. When that radicalchange was proposed, we find it resisted by a considerableminority, who felt themselves at length compelled toretire from an association, the proceedings of which theycould no longer approve. In justice to those who remained, adopting secrecy as their only shield, it must be said, that the freedom of the press and of public discussionhad been repeatedly and frequently violated before theyabandoned the original maxims and tactics of their body, which were all open, and above-board. In 1792, Simon Butler, and Oliver Bond--a prosperousDublin merchant of northern origin--was summoned to thebar of the House of Lords, condemned to six months'imprisonment, and a fine of 500 pounds each, for havingacted as Chairman and Secretary of one of the meetings, at which an address to the people, strongly reflectingon the corrupt constitution of Parliament, was adopted. In '94, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, one of the purest andmost chivalrous characters of any age, was convicted, bya packed jury, of circulating the famous "UniversalEmancipation" address of his friend, Dr. William Drennan, the poet-politician of the party. He was defended byCurran, in the still more famous speech in which occurshis apostrophe to "the genius of Universal Emancipation;"but he atoned in the cells of Newgate, for circulatingthe dangerous doctrine which Drennan had broached, andCurran had immortalized. The regular place of meeting of the Dublin society wasthe Tailors' Hall, in Back Lane, a spacious building, called, from the number of great popular gatherings heldin it, "the Back Lane Parliament. " Here Tandy, in theuniform of his new National Guard, whose standard borethe harp without the crown, addressed his passionateharangues to the applauding multitude; here Tone, whose_forte_, however, was not oratory, constantly attended;here, also, the leading Catholics, Keogh and McCormack, the "Gog" and "Magog, " of Tone's extraordinary _Memoirs_, were occasionally present. And here, on the night of the4th of May, 1794, the Dublin society found themselvessuddenly assailed by the police, their papers seized, their officers who were present arrested, and theirmeeting dispersed. From that moment we may date the newand _secret_ organization of the brotherhood, though itwas not in general operation till the middle of thefollowing year. This new organization, besides its secrecy, had otherrevolutionary characteristics. For "reform of Parliament"was substituted in the test, or oath, representation "ofall the people of Ireland, " and for petitions andpublications, the enrolment of men, by baronies andcounties, and the appointment of officers, from the leastto the highest in rank, as in a regular army. The unitwas a lodge of twelve members, with a chairman andsecretary, who were also their corporal and sergeant;five of these lodges formed a company, and the officersof five such companies a baronial committee, from whichagain, in like manner, the county committees were formed. Each of the provinces had its Directory, while in Dublinthe supreme authority was established, in an "ExecutiveDirectory" of five members. The orders of the Executivewere communicated to not more than one of the ProvincialDirectors, and by him to one of each County Committee, and so in a descending scale, till the rank and file werereached; an elaborate contrivance, but one which provedwholly insufficient to protect the secrets of theorganization from the ubiquitous espionage of thegovernment. In May, 1795, the new organization lost the services ofWolfe Tone, who was compromised by a strange incident, to a very serious extent. The incident was the arrestand trial of the Rev. William Jackson, an Anglicanclergyman, who had imbibed the opinions of Price andPriestley, and had been sent to Ireland by the FrenchRepublic, on a secret embassy. Betrayed by a friend andcountryman, named Cockayne, the unhappy Jackson tookpoison in prison, and expired in the dock. Tone had beenseen with Jackson, and through the influence of hisfriends, was alone protected from arrest. He was compelled, however, to quit the country, in order to preserve hispersonal liberty. He proceeded with his family to Belfast, where, before taking shipping for America, he renewedwith his first associates, their vows and projects, onthe summit of "the Cave Hill, " which looks down upon therich valley of the Laggan, and the noble town and portat its outlet. Before quitting Dublin, he had solemnlypromised Emmet and Russell, in the first instance, as hedid his Belfast friends in the second, that he would makethe United States his _route_ to France, where he wouldnegotiate a formidable national alliance, for "the UnitedIrishmen. " In the year in which Tone left the country, Lord EdwardFitzgerald, brother of the Duke of Leinster, and formerlya Major in the British Army, joined the society; in thenext year--near its close--Thomas Addis Emmet, who hadlong been in the confidence of the promoters, joined, asdid, about the same time, Arthur O'Conor, nephew of LordLongueville, and ex-member for Phillipstown, and Dr. William James McNevin, a Connaught Catholic, educated inAustria, then practising his profession with eminentsuccess in Dublin. These were felt to be importantaccessions, and all four were called upon to act on "theExecutive Directory, " from time to time, during 1796 and1797. The coercive legislation carried through Parliament, session after session--the Orange persecutions in Armaghand elsewhere--the domiciliary visits--the militaryoutrages in town and country--the free quarters, whippingand tortures--the total suppression of the public press--the bitter disappointment of Lord Fitzwilliam'srecall--the annual failure of Ponsonby's motion forreform--finally, the despairing secession of Grattan andhis friends from Parliament--had all tended to expandthe system, which six years before was confined to a fewdozen enthusiasts of Belfast and Dublin, into the dimensionsof a national confederacy. By the close of this year, 500, 000 men had taken the test, in every part of thecountry, and nearly 300, 000 were reported as armed, eitherwith firelocks or pikes. Of this total, 110, 000 alonewere returned for Ulster; about 60, 000 for Leinster, andthe remainder from Connaught and Munster. A fund, ludicrously small, 1, 400 pounds sterling, remained inthe hands of the Executive, after all the outlay whichhad taken place, in procuring arms, in extending theunion, and in defending prisoners arrested as members ofthe society. Lord Edward Fitzgerald was chosenCommander-in-Chief; but the main reliance, for munitions, artillery, and officers, was placed upon the FrenchRepublic. CHAPTER XIV. NEGOTIATIONS WITH FRANCE AND HOLLAND--THE THREEEXPEDITIONS NEGOTIATED BY TONE AND LEWINES. The close of the year 1795 saw France under the governmentof the Directory, with Carnot in the cabinet, and Pichegru, Jourdain, Moreau, Hoche, and Buonaparte at the head ofits armies. This government, with some change of persons, lasted from October, 1795, to November, '99, when it wassupplanted by the Consular Revolution. Within the compassof those four years lie the negotiations which werecarried on and the three great expeditions which werefitted out by France and Holland, at the instance of theUnited Irishmen. On the 1st of February, 1796, Tone, who had sailed fromBelfast the previous June, arrived at Havre from NewYork, possessed of a hundred guineas and some usefulletters of introduction. One of these letters, writtenin cipher, was from the French Minister at Philadelphiato the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Charles Lacroix;another was to the American Minister in France, Mr. Monroe, afterwards President of the United States, bywhom he was most kindly received, and wisely advised, onreaching Paris. Lacroix received him courteously, andreferred him to a subordinate called Madgett, but afternearly three months wasted in interviews and explanations, Tone, by the advice of Monroe, presented himself at theLuxembourg Palace, and demanded audience of the "Organizerof Victory. " Carnot also listened to him attentively, asked and obtained his true name, and gave him another_rendezvous_. He was next introduced to Clarke (afterwardsDuc de Feltre), Secretary at War, the son of an Irishman, whom he found wholly ignorant of Ireland; and finally, on the 12th of July, General Hoche, in the most frankand winning manner, introduced himself. At first theDirectory proposed sending to Ireland no more than 5, 000men, while Tone pleaded for 20, 000; but when Hoche acceptedthe command, he assured Tone he would go "in sufficientforce. " The "pacificator of La Vendee, " as the younggeneral was called--he was only thirty-two, --won at oncethe heart of the enthusiastic founder of the UnitedIrishmen, and the latter seems to have made an equallyfavourable impression. He was at once presented withthe commission of a _chef de brigade_ of infantry--a rankanswering to that of colonel with us--and was placed asadjutant on the general's staff. Hoche was all ardourand anxiety; Carnot cheered him on by expressing hisbelief that it would be "a most brilliant operation;"and certainly Tone was not the man to damp suchexpectations, or allow them to evaporate in merecomplimentary assurances. During the autumn months the expedition was busily beingfitted out at Brest, and the general head-quarters wereat Rennes. The Directory, to satisfy themselves that allwas as represented by Tone, had sent an agent of theirown to Ireland, by whom a meeting was arranged on theSwiss frontier between Lord Edward Fitzgerald, ArthurO'Conor, Dr. McNevin, and Hoche. From this meeting--thesecret of which he kept to himself--the young generalreturned in the highest spirits, and was kinder than everto his adjutant. At length, early in December, all wasready, and on the 16th the Brest fleet stood out to sea;17 sail of the line, 13 frigates, and 13 smaller ships, carrying 15, 000 picked troops, the _elite_ of "the Armyof the Ocean, " and abundance of artillery and munitionsof war. Tone was in the _Indomptable_, 80 guns, commandedby a Canadian, named Bedout; Hoche and the Admiral inthe frigate _Fraternite_; Grouchy, so memorable for thepart he played then and afterwards, was second in command. On the third morning, after groping about and losing eachother in Atlantic fog, one-half the fleet (with the fatalexception of the _Fraternite_) found themselves close inwith the coast of Kerry. They entered Bantry Bay, andcame to anchor, ten ships of war, and "a long line ofdark hulls resting on the green water. " Three or fourdays they lay dormant and idle, waiting for the Generaland Admiral; Bouvet, the Vice-Admiral, was opposed tomoving in the absence of his chief; Grouchy was irresoluteand nervous; but at length, on Christmas day, the councilof war decided in favour of debarkation. The landing wasto take place next morning; 6, 500 veterans were preparedto step ashore at daylight, but without their artillery, their military chest, and their general. Two hours beyondmidnight Tone was roused from sleep by the wind, whichhe found blowing half a gale. Pacing the gallery of the_Indomptable_ till day dawned, he felt it rising louderand angrier, every hour. The next day it was almost ahurricane, and the Vice-Admiral's frigate, running underthe quarter of the great 80-gun ship, ordered them toslip anchor and stand out to sea. The whole fleet wassoon driven off the Irish coast; that part of it, inwhich Grouchy and Tone were embarked, made its entranceinto Brest on New Year's day; the ship which carriedHoche and the Admiral, only arrived at La Rochelle onthe 15th. The Directory and the General, so far frombeing discouraged by this failure, consoled themselvesby the demonstration they had made, of the possibilityof a great fleet passing to and fro, in British waters, for nearly a month, without encountering a single Britishvessel of war. Not so the Irish negotiator; on him, light-hearted and daring as he was, the disappointmentfell with crushing weight; but he magnanimously carriedGrouchy's report to Paris, and did his utmost to defendthe unlucky general from a cabal which had been formedagainst him. While Tone was reluctantly following his new chief tothe Meuse and the Rhine--with a promise that the Irishexpedition was delayed, not abandoned--another, and noless fortunate negotiator, was raising up a new ally forthe same cause, in an unexpected quarter. The Batavianrepublic, which had risen in the steps of Pichegru'svictorious army, in 1794, was now eager to imitate theexample of France. With a powerful fleet, and an unemployedarmy, its chiefs were quite ready to listen to any proposalwhich would restore the maritime ascendancy of Holland, and bring back to the recollection of Europe the memoryof the puissant Dutch republic. In this state of affairs, the new agent of the Irish Directory, Edward John Lewines, a Dublin attorney, a man of great ability and energy, addressed himself to the Batavian government. He had beensent abroad with very general powers, to treat withHolland, Spain, France, or any other government at warwith England, for a loan of half a million sterling, anda sufficient auxiliary force to aid the insurrection. During two months' stay at Hamburg, the habitual routein those days from the British ports to the continent, he had placed himself in communication with the Spanishagent there, and had, in forty days, received an encouraginganswer from Madrid. On his way, probably to Spain, tofollow up that fair prospect, he reached the Netherlands, and rapidly discovering the state of feeling in the Dutch, or as it was then called, the _Batavian_ republic, headdressed himself to the Directors, who consulted Hoche, by whom in turn Tone was consulted. Tone had a highopinion of Lewines, and at once proceeded with him tothe Hague, where they were joined, according to agreement, by Hoche. The Dutch Committee of Foreign Affairs, theCommander-in-Chief, General Dandaels, and the Admiral, De Winter, entered heartily into the project. There werein the Texel 16 ships of the line and 10 frigates, victualled for three months, with 15, 000 men and 80 fieldguns on board. The only serious difficulty in the waywas removed by the disinterestedness of Hoche; the FrenchForeign Minister having demanded that 5, 000 French troopsshould be of the expedition, and that Hoche should commandin chief; the latter, to conciliate Dandaels and theDutch, undertook to withdraw the proposal, and gracefullyyielded his own pretensions. All then was settled: Tonewas to accompany Dandaels with the same rank he had inthe Brest expedition, and Lewines to return, and remain, as "Minister-resident" at Paris. On the 8th of July, Tonewas on board the flagship, the _Vryheid_, 74 guns, inthe Texel, and "only waiting for a wind, " to lead anothernavy to the aid of his compatriots. But the winds, "the only unsubsidized allies of England, "were strangely adverse. A week, two, three, four, five, passed heavily away, without affording a single day inwhich that mighty fleet could make an offing. Sometimesfor an hour or two it shifted to the desired point, thesails were unclewed and the anchors shortened, but then, as if to torture the impatient exiles on board, it veeredback again and settled steadily in the fatal south-west. At length, at the end of August, the provisions beingnearly consumed, and the weather still unfavourable, theDutch Directory resolved to land the troops and postponethe expedition. De Winter, as is known, subsequentlyfound an opportunity to work out, and attack Lord Duncan, by whom he was badly beaten. Thus ended Irish hopes ofaid from Holland. The indomitable Tone rejoined his chiefon the Rhine, where, to his infinite regret, Hoche diedthe following month--September 18th, 1797--of a rapidconsumption, accelerated by cold and carelessness. "Hoche, "said Napoleon to Barry O'Meara at Saint Helena, "was oneof the first generals France ever produced. He was brave, intelligent, abounding in talent, decisive and penetrating. Had he landed in Ireland, he would have succeeded. Hewas accustomed to civil war, had pacified La Vendee, andwas well adapted for Ireland. He had a fine, handsomefigure, a good address, was prepossessing and intriguing. "The loss of such a patron, who felt himself, accordingto Tone's account, especially bound to follow up theobject of separating Ireland from England, was a calamitygreater and more irreparable than the detention of onefleet or the dispersion of the other. The third expedition, in promoting which Tone and Lewinesbore the principal part, was decided upon by the FrenchDirectory, immediately after the conclusion of peace withAustria, in October, 1797. The decree for the formationof "the Army of England, " named Buonaparte Commander-in-Chief, with Desaix as his second. Buonaparte consultedClarke as to who he most confided in among the numerousIrish refugees then in Paris--there were some twenty orthirty, all more or less known, and more or less incommunication with the Directory--and Clarke answeredat once, "Tone, of course. " Tone, with Lewines, the onein a military, the other in an ambassadorial capacity, had frequent interviews with the young conqueror of Italy, whom they usually found silent and absorbed, alwaysattentive, sometimes asking sudden questions betrayinggreat want of knowledge of the British Islands, andoccasionally, though rarely, breaking out into irresistibleinvectives against Jacobinism and the English system, both of which he so cordially detested. Every assurancewas given by the General, by the Directors, by Merlin duDouai, Barras, and Talleyrand especially, that theexpedition against England would never be abandoned. Tone, in high spirits as usual, joined the division underthe command of his countryman, General Kilmaine, and tookup his quarters at Havre, where he had landed withoutknowing a soul in France two years before. The winter wore away in busy preparations at Havre, atBrest, and at La Rochelle, --and, which seemed mysteriousto the Irish exiles--at Toulon. All the resources ofFrance, now without an enemy on the Continent, were putforth in these preparations. But it soon appeared theywere not put forth for Ireland. On the 20th of May, 1798--within three days of the outbreak in Dublin, Wexford, and Kildare--Buonaparte sailed with the _elite_ of allthat expedition for Alexandria, and "the Army of England"became, in reality, "the Army of Egypt. " The bitterness, the despondency, and desperation whichseized on the Irish leaders in France, and on the rankand file of the United Irishmen at home, on receivingthis intelligence are sufficiently illustrated in thesubsequent attempts under Humbert and Bompart, and thepartial, ineffectual risings in Leinster, Ulster, andConnaught, during the summer and autumn of 1798. Afterall their high hopes from France and her allies, thiswas what it had come to at last! A few frigates, withthree or four thousand men, were all that could be sparedfor the succour of a kingdom more populous than Egyptand Syria combined; the granary of England, and the keyof her Atlantic position. It might have been some comfortto the family of Tone to have read, thirty years afterwards, in their American asylum, or for the aged Lewines to haveread in the Parisian retreat in which he died, thememorable confession of Napoleon at Saint Helena: "Ifinstead of the expedition to Egypt, I had undertaken thatto Ireland, what, " he asked, "could England do now? Onsuch chances, " he mournfully added, "depend the destiniesof empires!" CHAPTER XV. THE INSURRECTION OF 1798. It is no longer matter of assertion merely, but simplematter of fact, that the English and Irish ministers ofGeorge III. Regarded the insurrectionary movement ofthe United Irishmen as at once a pretext and a means foreffecting a legislative union between the two countries. Lord Camden, the Viceroy who succeeded Lord Fitzwilliamin March, '95--with Mr. Pelham as his Chief Secretary, in a letter to his relative, the Hon. Robert Stewart, afterwards Lord Castlereagh, announced this policy, inunmistakable terms, so early as 1793; and all the officialcorrespondence published of late years, concerning thatperiod of British and Irish history, establishes the factbeyond the possibility of denial. Such being the design, it was neither the wish nor theinterest of the Government, that the insurrection shouldbe suppressed, unless the Irish constitution could beextinguished with it. To that end they proceeded in thecoercive legislation described in a previous chapter; tothat end they armed with irresponsible power the militaryofficers and the oligarchical magistracy; with that viewthey quartered those yeomanry regiments, which were knownto be composed of Orangemen, on the wretched peasantryof the most Catholic counties, while the corps in whichCatholics or United Irishmen were most numerous, weresent over to England, in exchange for Scotch fenciblesand Welsh cavalry. The outrages committed by all thesevolunteer troops, but above all by the Orange yeomanryof the country, were so monstrous, that the gallant andhumane Sir John Moore exclaimed, "If I were an Irishman, I would be a rebel!" It was, indeed, impossible for any man, however obscure, or however eminent, to live longer in the country, withouttaking sides. Yet the choice was at best a hard andunhappy one. On the one side was the Castle, hardlyconcealing its intention of goading on the people, inorder to rob them of their Parliament; on the other wasthe injured multitude, bound together by a secret systemwhich proved in reality no safeguard against traitors intheir own ranks, and which had been placed by its Protestantchiefs under the auspices of an infidel republic. Betweenthe two courses men made election according to their biasor their necessities, or as they took local or general, political or theological views of the situation. BothHouses of the legislature unanimously, sustained thegovernment against the insurrection; as did the judges, the bar, and the Anglican clergy and bishops. ThePresbyterian body were in the beginning all but unanimousfor a republican revolution and the French alliance; thegreat majority of the Catholic peasantry were, as thecrisis increased, driven into the same position, whileall their bishops and a majority of the Catholicaristocracy, adhered to that which they, with the naturaltendency of their respective orders, considered the sideof religion and authority. Thus was the nation sub-dividedwithin itself; Protestant civilian from Protestantecclesiastic, Catholic layman from Catholic priest, tenantfrom lord, neighbour from neighbour, father from son, and friend from friend. During the whole of '97, the opposing parties were in aferment of movement and apprehension. As the year woreon, the administration, both English and Irish, began tofeel that the danger was more formidable than they hadforeseen. The timely storm which had blown Grouchy outof Bantry Bay, the previous Christmas, could hardly bereckoned on again, though the settled hostility of theFrench government knew no change. Thoroughly well informedby their legion of spies both on the Continent and inIreland, every possible military precaution was taken. The Lord Lieutenant's proclamation for disarming thepeople, issued in May, was rigorously enforced by GeneralJohnstone in the South, General Hutchinson in the West, and Lord Lake in the North. Two hundred thousand pikesand pike-heads were said to have been discovered orsurrendered during the year, and several thousand firelocks. The yeomanry, and English and Scotch corps amounted to35, 000 men, while the regular troops were increased to50, 000 and subsequently to 80, 000, including threeregiments of the Guards. The defensive works at Cork, and other vulnerable points were strengthened at animmense cost; the "Pigeon House" fort, near Dublin, wasenlarged, for the city itself was pronounced by GeneralVallancy, Colonel Packenham, and other engineer authoritiesdangerously weak, if not wholly untenable. A system oftelegraphic signals was established from all points ofthe coast with the Capital, and every precaution takenagainst the surprise of another French invasion. During the summer assize, almost every considerable townand circuit had its state trial. The sheriffs had beencarefully selected beforehand by the Castle, and thejuries were certain to be of "the right sort, " under theauspices of such sheriffs. Immense sums in the aggregatewere contributed by the United Irish for the defence oftheir associates; at the Down assizes alone, not lessthan seven hundred or eight hundred guineas were spentin fees and retainers; but at the close of the term, Mr. Beresford was able to boast to his friend Lord Auckland, that but one of all the accused had escaped the penaltyof death or banishment! The military tribunals, however, did not wait for the idle formalities of the civil courts. Soldiers and civilians, yeomen and townsmen, against whomthe informer pointed his finger, were taken out, andsummarily executed. Ghastly forms hung upon the thick-setgibbets, not only in the market places of country towns, and before the public prisons, but on all the bridges ofthe metropolis. Many of the soldiers, in every militarydistrict were shot weekly and almost daily for real oralleged complicity with the rebels. The horrid tortureof picketing, and the blood-stained lash, were constantlyresorted to, to extort accusations or confessions. Overall these atrocities the furious and implacable spiritof Lord Clare presided in Council, and the equallyfurious and implacable Luttrel, Lord Carhampton, asCommander-in-Chief. All moderate councils were denouncedas nothing short of treason, and even the elder Beresford, the Privy Counsellor, was compelled to complain of theviolence of his noble associates, and his inability torestrain the ferocity of his own nearest relatives--meaning probably his son John Claudius, and his son-in-law, Sir George Hill. It was while this spirit was abroad, a spirit as destructiveas ever animated the Councils of Sylla or Marius in OldRome, or prompted the decrees of Robespierre or Marat inFrance, that the genius and courage of one man redeemedthe lost reputation of the law, and upheld against allodds the sacred claims of personal liberty. This man wasJohn Philpot Curran, the most dauntless of advocates, one of the truest and bravest of his race. Although apolitician of the school of Grattan, and wholly untaintedwith French principles, he identified himself absolutelywith his unhappy clients, "predoomed to death. " The geniusof patriotic resistance which seemed to have withdrawnfrom the Island with Grattan's secession from Parliament, now re-appeared in the last place where it might havebeen expected--in those courts of death, rather than ofjustice--before those predetermined juries, besides thehopeless inmates of the crowded dock, personified in theperson of Curran. Often at midnight, amid the clash ofarms, his wonderful pleadings were delivered; sometimes, as in Dublin, where the court rooms adjoined the prisons, the condemned, or the confined, could hear, in theircells, his piercing accents breaking the stillness ofthe early morning, pleading for justice and mercy--pleadingalways with superhuman perseverance, but almost alwaysin vain. Neither menaces of arrest, nor threats ofassassination, had power to intimidate that all-daringspirit; nor, it may be safely said, can the whole libraryof human history present us a form of heroism superiorin kind or degree to that which this illustrious advocateexhibited during nearly two years, when he went forthdaily, with his life in his hand, in the holy hope tosnatch some human victim from the clutch of the destroyerthirsting for his blood. In November, '97, some said from fear of personalconsequences, some from official pressure in a highquarter, Lord Carhampton resigned the command of theforces, and Sir Ralph Abercromby was appointed in hisstead. There could not be a more striking illustrationof the system of terror patronized by government thanwas furnished in the case of Sir Ralph as Commander-in-Chief. That distinguished soldier, with his half centuryof services at his back, had not been a week in Dublinbefore he discovered the weakness of the Viceroy, andthe violence of his principal advisers, the Chancellor, the Speaker, Lord Castlereagh and the Beresfords. Writingin confidence to his son, he says, "The abuses of allkinds I found here can scarcely be believed or enumerated. "The instances he cites of such abuses are sufficientlyhorrible to justify the strong language which broughtdown on his head so much hostility, when he declared inhis proclamation of February '98, that the Irish armywas "formidable to every one but the enemy. " Thesewell-known opinions were so repugnant to the Castlepolicy, that that party held a caucus in the Speaker'sChambers, at which it was proposed to pass a vote ofcensure in Parliament on the General, whom they denouncedas "a sulky mule, " "a Scotch beast, " and by other similarnames. Though the Parliamentary censure dropped, theyactually compelled Lord Camden to call on him to retracthis magnanimous order. To this humiliation the veteranstooped "for the sake of the King's service, " but at thesame time he proffered his resignation. After two months'correspondence, it was finally accepted, and the soldierwho was found too jealous of the rights of the people tobe a fit instrument of their destruction, escaped fromhis high position, not without a profound sentiment ofrelief. His verdict upon the barbarous policy pursued inhis time was always expressed, frankly and decisively. His entire correspondence, private and public, bears oneand the same burthen--the violence, cruelty, and tyrannyof Lord Camden's chief advisers, and the pitiful weaknessof the Viceroy himself. Against the infamous plan ofletting loose a lustful and brutal soldiery to live at"free quarters" on a defenceless and disarmed people--anoutrage against which Englishmen had taken perpetualsecurity at _their_ revolution, as may be seen in "theBill of Rights, " he struggled during his six months'command, but with no great success. The plan, with allits horrors, was upheld by the Lord-Lieutenant, and morethan any other cause, precipitated the rebellion whichexploded at last, just as Sir Ralph was allowed to retirefrom the country. His temporary successor, Lord Lake, was troubled with no such scruples as the gallant oldScotsman. Events followed each other in the first months of 1798, fast and furiously. Towards the end of February, ArthurO'Conor, Father James Quigley, the brothers John andBenjamin Binns, were arrested at Margate on their way toFrance; on the 6th of March, the _Press_ newspaper, theDublin organ of the party, as the _Star_ had been theUlster organ, was seized by Government, Lord EdwardFitzgerald and William Sampson being at the time in theoffice. On the 12th of March, on the information of thetraitor, Thomas Reynolds, the Leinster delegates wereseized in conclave, with all their papers, at the houseof Oliver Bond, in Bridge Street, Dublin. On the sameinformation. Addis Emmet and Dr. McNevin were taken intheir own houses, and Sampson in the north of England:of all the executive, Lord Edward alone escaping thosesent in search of him. This was, as Tone notes in hisjournal, on the ill news reaching France, "a terribleblow. " O'Conor's arrest in Kent, Sampson's in Carlisle, and the other arrests in Belfast and Dublin, proved tootruly that treason was at work, and that the much-prizedoath of secrecy was no protection whatever against thedevices of the Castle and the depravity of its secretagents. The extent to which that treason extended, thenumber of associates who were in the pay of their deadlyenemies, was never known to the United Irish leaders;time has, however, long since "revealed the secrets ofthe prison-house, " and we know now, that men they trustedwith all their plans and hopes, such as McNally andMcGucken, were quite as deep in the conspiracy to destroythem as Mr. Reynolds and Captain Armstrong. The most influential members of the Dublin Societyremaining at large contrived to correspond with eachother, or to meet by stealth after the arrest at Bond's. The vacancies in the Executive were filled up by thebrothers John and Henry Sheares, both barristers, sonsof a wealthy Cork banker, and former member of Parliament, and by Mr. Lawless, a surgeon. For two months longerthese gentlemen continued to act in concert with LordEdward, who remained undetected, notwithstanding all theefforts of Government, from the 12th of March till the19th of May following. During those two months the newdirectors devoted themselves with the utmost energy tohurrying on the armament of the people, and especiallyto making proselytes among the militia, where the gainof one man armed and disciplined was justly accountedequal to the enlistment of three or four ordinary adherents. This part of their plan brought the brothers Sheares intocontact, among others, with Captain John WarnefordArmstrong, of the Queen's County Yeomanry, whom theysupposed they had won over, but who was, in reality, abetter-class spy, acting under Lord Castlereagh'sinstructions. Armstrong cultivated them sedulously, dinedat their table, echoed their opinions, and led thecredulous brothers on to their destruction. All at lastwas determined on; the day of the rising was fixed--the23rd day of May--and the signal was to be the simultaneousstoppage of the mail coaches, which started nightly fromthe Dublin post-office, to every quarter of the kingdom. But the counterplot anticipated the plot. Lord Edward, betrayed by a person called Higgins, proprietor of the_Freeman's Journal_, was taken on the 19th of May, aftera desperate struggle with Majors Swan and Sirr, andCaptain Ryan, in his hiding-place in Thomas Street; thebrothers Sheares were arrested in their own house on themorning of the 21st, while Surgeon Lawless escaped fromthe city, and finally from the country, to France. Thus, for the second time, was the insurrection left withouta head; but the organization had proceeded too far to beany longer restrained, and the Castle, moreover, to usethe expression of Lord Castlereagh, "took means to makeit explode. " The first intelligence of the rebellion was received inDublin on the morning of the 24th of May. At Rathfarnham, within three miles of the city, 500 insurgents attackedLord Ely's yeomanry corps with some success, till LordRoden's dragoons, hastily despatched from the city, compelled them to retreat, with the loss of some prisonersand two men killed, whom Mr. Beresford saw the next day, literally "_cut to pieces_--a horrid sight. " At Dunboynethe insurgents piked an escort of the Reay Fencibles(Scotch) passing through their village, and carried offtheir baggage. At Naas, a large popular force attackedthe garrison, consisting of regulars, Ancient Britons(Welsh), part of a regiment of dragoons, and the ArmaghMilitia; the attack was renewed three times with greatbravery, but finally, discipline, as it always will, prevailed over mere numbers, and the assailants were repulsedwith the loss of 140 of their comrades. At Prosperous, where they cut off to a man a strong garrison composed ofNorth Cork Militia, under Captain Swayne, the rising wasmore successful. The commander in this exploit was Dr. Esmonde, brother of the Wexford baronet, who, being betrayedby one of his own subalterns, was the next morning arrestedat breakfast in the neighbourhood, and suffered death atDublin on the 14th of the following month. There could hardly be found a more unfavourable fieldfor a peasant war than the generally level and easilyaccessible county of Kildare, every parish of which iswithin a day's march of Dublin. From having been theresidence of Lord Edward, it was, perhaps, one of themost highly organized parts of Leinster, but as it hadthe misfortune to be represented by Thomas Reynolds, ascounty delegate, it laboured under the disadvantage ofhaving its organization better known to the governmentthan any other. We need hardly be surprised, therefore, to find that the military operations in this county wereall over in ten days or a fortnight; when those who hadneither surrendered nor fallen, fell back into Meath orConnaught, or effected a junction with the Wicklow rebelsin their mountain fastnesses. Their struggle, though sobrief, had been creditable for personal bravery. Attackedby a numerous cavalry and militia under General Wilford, by 2, 500 men, chiefly regulars, under General Dundas, and by 800 regulars brought up by forced marches fromLimerick, under Sir James Duff, they showed qualities, which, if well directed, would have established for theirpossessors a high military reputation. At Monastereventhey were repulsed with loss, the defenders of the townbeing in part Catholic loyalists, under Captain Cassidy;at Rathangan, they were more successful, taking andholding the town for several days; at Clane, the captorsof Prosperous were repulsed; while at Old Killcullen, their associates drove back General Dundas' advance, withthe loss of 22 regulars and Captain Erskine killed. SirJames Duff's wanton cruelty in sabring and shooting downan unarmed multitude on the Curragh, won him the warmapproval of the extermination party in the Capital, whileGenerals Wilford and Dundas narrowly escaped beingreprimanded for granting a truce to the insurgents underAylmer, and accepting of the surrender of that leaderand his companions. By the beginning of June the sixKildare encampments of insurgents were totally dispersed, and their most active officers in prison or fugitiveswest or south. By a preconcerted arrangement, the local chiefs of theinsurrection in Dublin and Meath, gathered with their menon the third day after the outbreak, at the historic hillof Tara. Here they expected to be joined by the men ofCavan, Longford, Louth and Monaghan; but before thenortherners reached the trysting place, three companies ofthe Reay Fencibles, under Captain McClean, the Kells andNavan Yeomanry, under Captain Preston, (afterwards LordTara, ) and a troop of cavalry under Lord Fingal, surroundedthe royal hill. The insurgents, commanded by Gilshine andother leaders, intrenched themselves in the graveyard whichoccupies the summit of Tara, and stoutly defended theirposition. Twenty-six of the Highlanders and six of theYeomanry fell in the assault, but the bullet reached fartherthan the pike, and the defenders were driven, after a sharpaction, over the brow of the eminence, and many of themshot or sabred down as they fled. Southward from the Capital the long pent-up flame ofdisaffection broke out on the same memorable day, May23rd. At Dunlavin, an abortive attempt on the barrackrevealed the fact that many of the Yeomanry were thoroughlywith the insurgents. Hardly had the danger from withoutpassed over, when a military inquiry was improvised. Bythis tribunal, nineteen Wexford, and nine Kildare Yeomanry, were ordered to be shot, and the execution of the sentencefollowed immediately on its rending. At Blessington, thetown was seized, but a nocturnal attack on Carlow wasrepulsed with great loss. In this last affair, the rebelshad _rendezvoused_ in the domain of Sir Edward Crosbie, within two miles of the town. Here arms were distributedand orders given by their leader, named Roche. Silentlyand quickly they reached the town they hoped to surprise. But the regular troops, of which the garrison was chieflycomposed, were on the alert, though their preparationswere made full as silently. When the peasantry emergedfrom Tullow Street, into an exposed space, a deadly firewas opened upon them from the houses on all sides. Theregulars, in perfect security themselves, and abundantlysupplied with ammunition, shot them down with deadlyunerring aim. The people soon found there was nothingfor it but retreat, and carrying off as best they couldtheir killed and wounded, they retired sorely discomfited. For alleged complicity in this attack, Sir Edward Crosbiewas shortly afterward arrested, tried and executed. Therewas not a shadow of proof against him; but he was knownto sympathize with the sufferings of his countrymen, tohave condemned in strong language the policy of provocation, and that was sufficient. He paid with the penalty of hishead for the kindness and generosity of his heart. CHAPTER XVI. THE INSURRECTION OF 1798--THE WEXFORD INSURRECTION. The most formidable insurrection, indeed the only reallyformidable one, broke out in the county of Wexford, acounty in which it was stated there were not 200 swornUnited Irishmen, and which Lord Edward Fitzgerald hadaltogether omitted from his official list of countiesorganized in the month of February. In that brief interval, the Government policy of provocation had the desiredeffect, though the explosion was of a nature to startlethose who occasioned it. Wexford, geographically, is a peculiar county, and itspeople are a peculiar people. The county fills up thesouth-eastern corner of the island, with the sea south-east, the river Barrow to the west, and the woods and mountainsof Carlow and Wicklow to the north. It is about fortymiles long by twenty-four broad; the surface undulatingand rising into numerous groups of detached hills, twoor more of which are generally visible from each conspicuoussummit. Almost in the midst flows the river Slaney, springing from a lofty Wicklow peak, which sends down onits northern slope the better known river Liffey. On theestuary of the Slaney, some seventy miles south of Dublin, stands the county town, the traveller journeying to whichby the usual route then taken, passed in successionthrough Arklow, Gorey, Ferns, Enniscorthy, and otherplaces of less consequence, though familiar enough inthe fiery records of 1798. North-westward, the only roadin those days from Carlow and Kilkenny, crossed theBlackstairs at Scollagh-gap, entering the county atNewtownbarry, the ancient Bunclody; westward, some twentymiles, on the river Barrow, stands New Ross, oftenmentioned in this history, the road from which to thecounty town passes through Scullabogue and Taghmon(_Ta'mun_), the former at the foot of Carrickbyrne rock, the latter at the base of what is rather hyperbolicallycalled "the _mountain_ of Forth. " South and west of thetown, towards the estuary of Waterford, lie the baroniesof Forth and Bargy, a great part of the population ofwhich, even within our own time, spoke the languageChaucer and Spenser wrote, and retained many of thecharacteristics of their Saxon, Flemish, and Cambrianancestors. Through this singular district lay the roadtowards Duncannon fort, on Waterford harbour, with branchesrunning off to Bannow, Ballyhack, and Dunbrody. We shall, therefore, speak of all the localities we may have occasionto mention as on or near one of the four main roads ofthe county, the Dublin, Carlow, Boss, and Waterford roads. The population of this territory was variously estimatedin 1798, at 150, 000, 180, 000, and 200, 000. They were, generally speaking, a comfortable and contented peasantry, for the Wexford landlords were seldom absentees, and thefarmers held under them by long leases and reasonablerents. There were in the country few great lords, butthere was little poverty and no pauperism. In such asoil, the secret societies were almost certain to fail, and if it had not been for the diabolical experiments ofLord Kingsborough's North Cork Militia, it is very probablethat that orderly and thrifty population would have seenthe eventful year we are describing pass over their homeswithout experiencing any of the terrible trials whichaccompanied it. But it was impossible for human natureto endure the provocations inflicted upon this patientand prosperous people. The pitch-cap and the trianglewere resorted to on the slightest and most frivolouspretexts. "A sergeant of the North Cork Militia, " saysMr. Hay, the county historian, "nicknamed, _Tom theDevil_, was most ingenious in devising new modes oftorture. Moistened gunpowder was frequently rubbed intothe hair cut close and then set on fire; some, whileshearing for this purpose, had the tips of their earssnipt off; sometimes an entire ear, and often both earswere completely cut off; and many lost part of theirnoses during the like preparation. But, strange to tell, "adds Mr. Hay, "these atrocities were publicly practisedwithout the least reserve in open day, and no magistrateor officer ever interfered, but shamefully connived atthis extraordinary mode of quieting the people! Some ofthe miserable sufferers on these shocking occasions, orsome of their relations or friends, actuated by a principleof retaliation, if not of revenge, cut short the hair ofseveral persons whom they either considered as enemiesor suspected of having pointed them out as objects forsuch desperate treatment. This was done with a view thatthose active citizens should fall in for a little experienceof the like discipline, or to make the fashion of shorthair so general that it might no longer be a mark ofparty distinction. " This was the origin of the nickname"Croppy, " by which, during the remainder of theinsurrection, it was customary to designate all who weresuspected or proved to be hostile to, the government. Among the magistracy of the county were several personswho, whatever might have been their conduct in ordinarytimes, now showed themselves utterly unfit to be entrustedwith those large discretionary powers which Parliamenthad recently conferred upon all justices of the peace. One of these magistrates, surrounded by his troops, perambulated the county with an executioner, armed withall the equipments of his office; another carried awaythe lopped hands and fingers of his victims, with whichhe stirred his punch in the carousals that followed everyexpedition. At Carnew, midway between the Dublin andCarlow roads, on the second day of the insurrection, twenty-eight prisoners were brought out to be shot at astargets in the public ball alley; on the same dayEnniscorthy witnessed its first execution for treason, and the neighbourhood of Ballaghkeen was harried by Mr. Jacob, one of the magistrates whose method of preservingthe peace of the county has been just referred to. Themajority of the bench, either weakly or willingly, sanctioned these atrocities, but some others, among thema few of the first men in the county, did not hesitateto resist and condemn them. Among these were Mr. BeauchampBagenal Harvey of Bargy Castle, Mr. Fitzgerald of Newpark, and Mr. John Henry Colclough of Tintern Abbey; but allthese gentlemen were arrested on Saturday, the 26th ofMay--the same day, or more strictly speaking, the eveof the day on which the Wexford outbreak occurred. On the day succeeding these arrests, being Whitsunday, Father John Murphy, parish priest of Kilcormick, the sonof a small farmer of the neighbourhood, educated in Spain, on coming to his little wayside chapel, found it laid inashes. To his flock, as they surrounded him in the openair, he boldly preached that it would be much better forthem to die in a fair field than to await the torturesinflicted by such magistrates as Archibald Jacob, HunterGowan, and Hawtrey White. He declared his readiness toshare their fate, whatever it might be, and in response, about 2, 000 of the country people gathered in a few hoursupon Oulart Hill, situated about half-way betweenEnniscorthy and the sea, and eleven miles north of Wexford. Here they were attacked on the afternoon of the same dayby the North Cork Militia, Colonel Foote, the ShilmalierYeoman cavalry, Colonel Le Hunte, and the Wexford cavalry. The rebels, strong in their position, and more generallyaccustomed to the use of arms than persons in theircondition in other parts of the country, made a braveand successful stand. Major Lambert, the Hon. Captain DeCourcy (brother of Lord Kinsale), and some other officers, fell before the long-shore guns of the Shilmalier fowlers;of the North Cork detachment, only the colonel, a sergeant, and two or three privates escaped; the cavalry, at thetop of their speed, galloped back to the county town. The people were soon thoroughly aroused. Another popularpriest of the diocese, Michael Murphy, on reaching Gorey, finding his chapel also rifled, and the altar desecrated, turned his horse's head and joined the insurgents, whohad gathered on Kilthomas hill, near Carnew. Signal firesburned that night on all the eminences of the county, which seemed as if they had been designed for so manywatch-towers; horns resounded; horsemen galloped far andnear; on the morrow of Whitsunday all Wexford arose, animated with the passions and purposes of civil war. On the 28th, Ferns, Camolin, and Enniscorthy were takenby the insurgents; the latter, after an action of fourhours, in which a captain, two lieutenants, and eightyof the local yeomanry fell. The survivors fled to Wexford, which was as rapidly as possible placed in a state ofdefence. The old walls and gates were still in goodrepair, and 300 North Cork, 200 Donegal, and 700 localmilitia ought to have formed a strong garrison withinsuch ramparts, against a mere tumultuous peasantry. Theyeomen, however, thought otherwise, and two of the threeimprisoned popular magistrates were sent to Enniscorthyto exhort and endeavour to disperse the insurgents. Oneof them only returned, the other, Mr. Fitzgerald, joinedthe rebels, who, continuing their march, were allowed totake possession of the county town without striking ablow. Mr. Bagenal Harvey, the magistrate still in prison, they insisted on making their Commander-in-Chief; agentleman of considerable property, by no means destituteof courage, but in every other respect quite unequal tothe task imposed upon him. After a trial of his generalshipat the battle of Ross, he was transferred to the morepacific office of President of the Council, which continuedto sit and direct operations from Wexford, with theco-operation of a sub-committee at Enniscorthy. CaptainMatthew Keogh, a retired officer of the regular army, aged but active, was made governor of the town, in whicha couple of hundred armed men were left as his guards. An attempt to relieve the place from Duncannon had utterlyfailed. General Fawcett, commanding that importantfortress, set out on his march with this object on the30th of May--his advanced guard of 70 Meathian yeomanry, having in charge three howitzers, whose slower movementsit was expected the main force would overtake long beforereaching the neighbourhood of danger. At Taghmon thisforce was joined by Captain Adams with his command, andthus reinforced they continued their march to Wexford. Within three miles of the town the road wound round thebase of the "three rock" mountain; evening fell as theroyalists approached this neighbourhood, where the victorsof Oulart, Enniscorthy, and Wexford had just improviseda new camp. A sharp volley from the long-shore-men'sguns, and a furious onslaught of pikes threw the royaldetachment into the utmost disorder. Three officers ofthe Meathian cavalry, and nearly one hundred men wereplaced _hors de combat_; the three howitzers, elevengunners, and several prisoners taken; making the thirdconsiderable success of the insurgents within a week. Wexford county now became the theatre of operations, onwhich all eyes were fixed. The populace gathered as ifby instinct into three great encampments, on VinegarHill, above Enniscorthy; on Carrickbyrne, on the roadleading to Ross, and on the hill of Corrigrua, sevenmiles from Gorey. The principal leaders of the firstdivision were Fathers Kearns and Clinch, and Messrs. Fitzgerald, Doyle, and Redmond; of the second, BagenalHarvey, and Father Philip Roche; of the last, AnthonyPerry of Inch, Esmond Kyan, and the two Fathers Murphy, Michael, and John. The general plan of operations wasthat the third division should move by way of Arklow andWicklow on the Capital; the second to open communicationwith Carlow, Kilkenny, and Kildare by Newtownbarry andScollagh-gap; while the first was to attack New Ross, and endeavour to hasten the rising in Munster. On the 1st of June, the advance of the northern divisionmarching upon Gorey, then occupied in force by GeneralLoftus, were encountered four miles from the town, anddriven back with the loss of about a hundred killed andwounded. On the 4th of June, Loftus, at the instance ofColonel Walpole, aid-de-camp to the Lord Lieutenant, whohad lately joined him with considerable reinforcements, resolved to beat up the rebel quarters at Corrigrua. Itwas to be a combined movement; Lord Ancram, posted withhis militia and dragoons at the bridge of Scaramalsh, where the poetic Banna joins the Slaney, was to preventthe arrival of succours from Vinegar Hill; Captain McManus, with a couple of companies of yeomanry, stationed atanother exposed point from which intelligence could beobtained and communicated; while the General and ColonelWalpole, marched to the attack by roads some distanceapart, which ran into one within two miles of Corrigruacamp. The main body of the King's troops were committedto the lead of Walpole, who had also two six-poundersand a howitzer. After an hour-and-a-half's march hefound the country changed its character near the villageof Clogh (_clo'_), where the road descending from thelevel arable land, dips suddenly into the narrow andwinding pass of Tubberneering. The sides of the pass werelined with a bushy shrubbery, and the roadway at thebottom embanked with ditch and dike. On came the confidentWalpole, never dreaming that these silent thickets wereso soon to re-echo the cries of the onslaught. The 4thdragoon guards, the Ancient Britons, under Sir WatkynWynne, the Antrim militia, under Colonel Cope, had allentered the defile before the ambuscade was discovered. Then, at the first volley, Walpole fell, with several ofthose immediately about Ms person; out from the shrubberyrushed the pikemen, clearing ditch and dike at a bound;dragoons and fencibles went down like the sward beforethe scythe of the mower; the three guns were captured, and turned on the flying survivors; the regimental flagstaken, with all the other spoils pertaining to such aretreat. It was, in truth, an immense victory for a mobof peasants, marshalled by men who that day saw theirfirst, or, at most, their second action. Before forty-eighthours they were masters of Gorey, and talked of nothingless than the capture of Dublin within another week orfortnight! From Vinegar Hill the concerted movement was made againstNewtonbarry, on the 2nd of June, the rebels advancing byboth banks of the Slaney, under cover of a six-pounder--the only gun they had with them. The detachment in commandof the beautiful little town, half hidden in its leafyvalley, was from 600 to 800 strong, with a troop ofdragoons, and two battalion guns, under command of ColonelL'Estrange; these, after a sharp fusilade on both sides, were driven out, but the assailants, instead of followingup the blow, dispersed for plunder or refreshment, wereattacked in turn, and compelled to retreat, with a reportedloss of 400 killed. Three days later, however, a still moreimportant action, and a yet more disastrous repulse fromthe self-same cause, took place at New Ross, on the Barrow. The garrison of Ross, on the morning of the 5th of June, when General Harvey appeared before it, consisted of1, 400 men--Dublin, Meath, Donegal, and Clare militia, Mid-Lothian fencibles, and English artillery. GeneralJohnson, a veteran soldier, was in command, and the place, strong in its well preserved old walls, had not heard ashot fired in anger since the time of Cromwell. Harveywas reported to have with him 20, 000 men; but if we allowfor the exaggeration of numbers common to all suchmovements, we may, perhaps, deduct one-half, and stillleave him at the head of a formidable force--10, 000 men, with three field-pieces. Mr. Furlong, a favourite officer, being sent forward to summon the town, was shot down bya sentinel, and the attack began. The main point ofassault was the gate known as "three bullet gate, " andthe hour, five o'clock of the lovely summer's morning. The obstinacy with which the town was contested, may bejudged from the fact, that the fighting continued fornearly ten hours, with the interruption of an hour ortwo at noon. This was the fatal interruption for therebels. They had, at a heavy cost, driven out the royalists, with the loss of a colonel (Lord Mountjoy), three captains, and above 200 men killed: but of their friends and comradestreble the number had fallen. Still the town, an objectof the first importance, was theirs, when worn out withheat, fatigue, and fasting since sunrise, they indulgedthemselves in the luxury of a deep unmeasured carouse. The fugitive garrison finding themselves unpursued, haltedto breathe on the Kilkenny bank of the river, were ralliedby the veteran Johnson, and led back again across thebridge, taking the surprised revellers completelyunprepared. A cry was raised that this was a fresh forcefrom Waterford; the disorganised multitude endeavouredto rally in turn, but before the leaders could collecttheir men, the town was once more in possession of theBang's troops. The rebels, in their turn, unpursued bytheir exhausted enemies, fell back upon their campingground of the night before, at Corbet hill andSlieve-kielter. At the latter, Father Philip Roche, dissatisfied with Harvey's management, established aseparate command, which he transferred to a layman of hisown name, Edward Roche, with whom he continued to actand advise during the remainder of this memorable month. The summer of 1798 was, for an Irish summer, remarkablydry and warm. The heavy Atlantic rains which at allseasons are poured out upon that soil, seemed suspendedin favour of the insurgent multitudes, amounting to30, 000, or 40, 000 at the highest, who, on the differenthill summits, posted their nightly sentinels, and threwthemselves down on turf and heather to snatch a shortrepose. The kindling of a beacon, the lowing of cattle, or the hurried arrival of scout or messenger, hardlyinterfered with slumbers which the fatigues of the day, and, unhappily also, the potations of the night rendereddoubly deep. An early morning mass mustered all theCatholics, unless the very depraved, to the chaplain'stent--for several of the officers, and the chaplainsalways were supplied with tents; and then a hasty mealwas snatched before the sun was fairly above the horizon, and the day's work commenced. The endurance exhibited bythe rebels, their personal strength, swiftness and agility;their tenacity of life, and the ease with which theirworst wounds were healed, excited the astonishment ofthe surgeons and officers of the regular army. The truthis, that the virtuous lives led by that peaceful peasantrybefore the outbreak, enabled them to withstand privationsand hardships under which the better fed and better cladIrish yeomen and English guardsmen would have sunkprostrate in a week. Several signs now marked the turning of the tide againstthe men of Wexford. Waterford did not rise after thebattle of Ross; while Munster, generally, was left toundecided councils, or held back in hopes of anotherFrench expedition. The first week of June had passedover, and neither northward nor westward was there anymovement formidable enough to draw off from the devotedcounty the combined armies which were now directed againstits camps. A gunboat fleet lined the coast from Bannowround to Wicklow, which soon after appeared off Wexfordbar, and forced an entrance into the harbour. A few daysearlier, General Needham marched from Dublin, and tookup his position at Arklow, at the head of a force variouslystated at 1, 500 to 2, 000 men, composed of 120 cavalryunder Sir Watkyn Wynne, two brigades of militia underColonels Cope and Maxwell, and a brigade of English andScotch fencibles under Colonel Skerrett. There were alsoat Arklow about 300 of the Wexford and Wicklow mountedyeomanry raised by Lord Wicklow, Lord Mountnorris, andother gentlemen of the neighbourhood. Early on the morningof the 9th of June the northern division of the rebelsleft Gorey in two columns, in order if possible to drivethis force from Arklow. One body proceeding by the coastroad hoped to turn the English position by way of thestrand, the other taking the inner line of the Dublinroad, was to assail the town at its upper or inlandsuburb. But General Needham had made the most of his twodays' possession; barricades were erected across theroad, and at the entrance to the main street; the graveyardand bridge commanding the approach by the shore road weremounted with ordnance; the cavalry were posted where theycould best operate, near the strand; the barrack wallwas lined with a _banquette_ or stage, from which themusketeers could pour their fire with the greatestadvantage, and every other precaution taken to give therebels a warm reception. The action commenced early inthe afternoon, and lasted till eight in the evening--fiveor six hours. The inland column suffered most severelyfrom the marksmen on the _banquette_, and the gallantFather Michael Murphy, whom his followers believed to beinvulnerable, fell leading them on to the charge for thethird time. On the side of the sea, Esmond Kyan was badlywounded in the arm, which he was subsequently obliged tohave amputated, and though the fearless Shilmaliers drovethe cavalry into and over the Avoca, discipline andordnance prevailed once again over numbers and courage. As night fell, the assailants retired slowly towardsCoolgreney, carrying off nine carloads of their wounded, and leaving, perhaps, as many more on the field; theirloss was variously reported from 700 to 1, 000, and even1, 500. The opposite force returned less than 100 killed, including Captain Knox, and about as many wounded. Therepulse was even more than that at Ross, dispiriting tothe rebels, who, as a last resort, now decided toconcentrate all their strength on the favourite positionat Vinegar Hill. Against this encampment, therefore, the entire availableforce of regulars and militia within fifty miles of thespot were concentrated by orders of Lord Lake, theCommander-in-Chief. General Dundas from Wicklow was tojoin General Loftus at Carnew on the 18th; General Needhamwas to advance simultaneously to Gorey; General Sir HenryJohnson to unite at Old Ross with Sir James Duff fromCarlow; Sir Charles Asgill was to occupy Gore's bridgeand Borris; Sir John Moore was to land at Ballyhack ferry, march to Foulke's Mill, and united with Johnson and Duff, to assail the rebel camp on Carrickbyrne. These variousmovements ordered on the 16th, were to be completed bythe 20th, on which day, from their various new positions, the entire force, led by these six general officers, wasto surround Vinegar Hill, and make a simultaneous attackupon the last stronghold of the Wexford rebellion. This elaborate plan failed of complete execution in twopoints. _First_, the camp on Carrickbyrne, instead ofwaiting the attack, sent down its fighting men to Foulke'sMill, where, in the afternoon of the 20th they beat upSir John Moore's quarters, and maintained from 3 o'clocktill dark, what that officer calls "a pretty sharp action. "Several tunes they were repulsed and again formed behindthe ditches and renewed the conflict; but the arrival oftwo fresh regiments, under Lord Dalhousie, taught themthat there was no farther chance of victory. By thisaffair, however, though at a heavy cost, they had preventedthe junction of all the troops, and, not withoutsatisfaction, they now followed the two Roches, the priestand the layman, to the original position of the mountainof Forth; Sir John Moore, on his part, taking the samedirection, until he halted within sight of the walls ofWexford. The other departure from Lord Lake's plan wason the side of General Needham, who was ordered to approachthe point of attack by the circuitous route of Oulart, but who did not come up in time to complete the investmentof the hill. On the morning of the appointed day, about 13, 000 royaltroops were in movement against the 20, 000 rebels whomthey intended to dislodge. Sir James Duff obtainedpossession of an eminence which commanded the lower lineof the rebel encampment, and from this point a briskcannonade was opened against the opposite force; at thesame time the columns of Lake, Wilford, Dundas, andJohnson, pushed up the south-eastern, northern and westernsides of the eminence, partially covered by the fire ofthese guns, so advantageously placed. After an hour anda half's desperate fighting, the rebels broke and fledby the unguarded side of the hill. Their rout was complete, and many were cut down by the cavalry, as they pressedin dense masses on each other, over the level fields andout on the open highways. Still this action was far frombeing one of the most fatal as to loss of life, foughtin that county; the rebel dead were numbered only at 400, and the royalists killed and wounded at less than halfthat number. It was the last considerable action of the Wexford rising, and all the consequences which followed being attributedarbitrarily to this cause, helped to invest it with adisproportionate importance. The only leader lost on therebel side was Father Clinch of Enniscorthy, who encounteredLord Roden hand to hand in the retreat, but who, whileengaged with his lordship whom he wounded, was shot downby a trooper. The disorganization, however, which followedon the dispersion, was irreparable. One column had takenthe road by Gorey to the mountains of Wicklow--anotherto Wexford, where they split into two parts, a portioncrossing the Slaney into the sea-coast parishes, andfacing northward by the shore road, the other fallingback on "the three rocks" encampment, where the Messrs. Roche held together a fragment of their former command. Wexford town, on the 22nd, was abandoned to Lord Lake, who established himself in the house of Governor Keogh, the owner being lodged in the common jail. Within theweek, Bagenal Harvey, Father Philip Roche, and Kelly ofKillane, had surrendered in despair, while Messrs. Groganand Colclough, who had secreted themselves in a cave inthe great Saltee Island, were discovered, and conductedto the same prison. Notwithstanding the capitulationagreed to by Lord Kingsborough, the execution anddecapitation of all these gentlemen speedily followed, and their ghastly faces looked down for many a day fromthe iron spikes above the entrance of Wexford Court House. Mr. Esmond Kyan, the popular hero of the district, asmerciful as brave, was discovered some time subsequentlypaying a stealthy visit to his family; he was put todeath on the spot, and his body, weighted with heavystones, thrown into the harbour. A few mornings afterwardsthe incoming tide deposited it close by the dwelling ofhis father-in-law, and the rites of Christian burial, sodear to all his race, were hurriedly rendered to thebeloved remains. The insurrection in this county, while it abounded ininstances of individual and general heroism, was stainedalso, on both sides, by many acts of diabolical cruelty. The aggressors, both in time and in crime were the yeomanryand military; but the popular movement dragged wretchesto the surface who delighted in repaying torture withtorture, and death with death. The butcheries of Dunlavinand Carnew were repaid by the massacres at Scullabogueand Wexford bridge, in the former of which 110, and inthe latter 35 or 40 persons were put to death in coldblood, by the monsters who absented themselves from thebattles of Ross and Vinegar Hill. The executions atWexford bridge would probably have been swelled to doublethe number, had not Father Corrin, one of the priests ofthe town, rushing in between his Protestant neighboursand the ferocious Captain Dixon, and summoning all presentto pray, invoked the Almighty "to show them the samemercy" they showed their prisoners. This awful supplicationcalmed even that savage rabble, and no further executiontook place. Nearly forty years afterwards, Captain Kellet, of Clonard, ancestor of the Arctic discoverer, and otherswhom he had rescued from the very grasp of the executioner, followed to the grave that revered and devoted ministerof mercy! It would be a profitless task to draw out a parallel ofthe crimes committed on both sides. Two facts only needbe recorded: that although from 1798 to 1800, not lessthan _sixty-five_ places of Catholic worship were demolishedor burned in Leinster, (twenty-two of which were inWexford county), only _one_ Protestant Church, that ofOld Ross, was destroyed in retaliation; and that althoughtowards men, especially men in arms, the rebels acted onthe fierce Mosaic maxim of "an eye for an eye and a toothfor a tooth, " no outrage upon women is laid to theircharge, even by their most exasperated enemies. CHAPTER XVII. THE INSURRECTION ELSEWHERE--FATE OF THE LEADINGUNITED IRISHMEN. On the 21st of June, the Marquis Cornwallis, whose nameis so familiar in American and East Indian history, arrived in Dublin, to assume the supreme power, bothcivil and military. As his Chief Secretary, he recommendedLord Castlereagh, who had acted in that capacity duringthe latter part of Lord Camden's administration inconsequence of Mr Pelham's illness; and the Pitt-Portlandadministration appointed his lordship accordingly, because, among other good and sufficient reasons, "he was so unlikean Irishman. " While the new Viceroy came to Ireland still more resolutethan his predecessor to bring about the long-desiredlegislative union, it is but justice to his memory tosay, that he as resolutely resisted the policy of tortureand provocation pursued under Lord Camden. That policyhad, indeed, served its pernicious purpose, and it wasnow possible for a new ruler to turn a new leaf; thisLord Cornwallis did from the hour of his arrival, notwithout incurring the ill-concealed displeasures of theCastle cabal. But his position gave him means of protectionwhich Sir Ralph Abercromby had not; he was known to enjoythe personal confidence of the King; and those who didnot hesitate three months before to assail by every abusiveepithet the humane Scottish Baronet, hesitated long beforecriticising with equal freedom the all-powerful Viceroy. The sequel of the insurrection may be briefly related:next to Wexford, the adjoining county of Wicklow, famousthroughout the world for its lakes and glens, maintainedthe chief brunt of the Leinster battle. The brothersByrne, of Ballymanus, with Holt, Hackett, and other localleaders, were for months, from the difficult nature ofthe country, enabled to defy those combined movements bywhich, as in a huge net, Lord Lake had swept up the campsof Wexford. At Hacketstown, on the 25th of June, theByrnes were repulsed with considerable loss, but atBallyellis, on the 30th, fortune and skill gave them andtheir Wexford comrades a victory, resembling in manyrespects that of Clough. General Needham, who had againestablished his head-quarters at Gorey, detached ColonelPreston, with some troops of Ancient Britons, the 4thand 5th dragoons, and three yeomanry corps, to attackthe insurgents who were observed in force in theneighbourhood of Monaseed. Aware of this movement, theByrnes prepared in the ravine of Ballyellis a well-laidambuscade, barricading with carts and trees the fartherend of the pass. Attacked by the royalists they retreatedtowards this pass, were hotly pursued, and then turnedon their pursuers. Two officers and sixty men were killedin the trap, while the terrified rear-rank fled for theirlives to the shelter of their head-quarters. AtBallyraheene, on the 2nd of July, the King's troopssustained another check in which they lost two officersand ten men, but at Ballygullen, on the 4th, the insurgentswere surrounded between the forces of General Needham, Sir James Duff, and the Marquis of Huntley. This was thelast considerable action in which the Wicklow and Wexfordmen were unitedly engaged. In the dispersion whichfollowed, "Billy Byrne of Ballymanus, " the hero of hiscounty, paid the forfeit of his life; while his brother, Garrett, subsequently surrendered, and was included inthe Banishment Act. Anthony Perry of Inch, and Father Kearns, leading a muchdiminished band into Kildare, formed a junction withAylmer and Reynolds of that county, and marched intoMeath, with a view of reaching and surprising Athlone. The plan was boldly and well conceived, but their meansof execution were deplorably deficient. At Clonard theywere repulsed by a handful of troops well armed andposted; a combined movement always possible in Meath, drove them from side to side during the midweek of July, until at length, hunted down as they were, they broke upin twos and threes to seek any means of escape. FatherKearns and Mr. Perry were, however, arrested, and executedby martial law at Edenderry. Both died bravely; the priestsustaining and exhorting his companion to the last. Still another band of the Wexford men, under Father JohnMurphy and Walter Devereux, crossed the Barrow at Gore'sbridge, and marched upon Kilkenny. At Lowgrange theysurprised an outpost; at Castlecomer, after a sharpaction, they took the town, which Sir Charles Asgillendeavoured, but without success, to relieve. Thence theycontinued their march towards Athy in Kildare, but beingcaught between two or rather three fires, that of MajorMathews, from Maryboro', General Dunne, from Athy, andSir Charles Asgill, they retreated on old Leighlin, asif seeking the shelter of the Carlow mountains. AtKillcomney Hill, however, they were forced into actionunder most unfavourable circumstances, and utterly routed. One, Father Murphy, fell in the engagement, the other, the precursor of the insurrection, was captured threedays afterward, and conveyed a prisoner to General Duff'sheadquarters at Tullow. Here he was put on his trialbefore a Military Commission composed of Sir James Duff, Lord Roden, Colonels Eden and Foster, and Major Hall. Hall had the meanness to put to him, prisoner as he was, several insulting questions, which at length thehigh-spirited rebel answered with a blow. The Commissionthought him highly dangerous, and instantly ordered himto execution. His body was burned, his head spiked onthe market-house of Tullow, and his memory gibbeted inall the loyal publications of the period. On his person, before execution, were found a crucifix, a pix, andletters from many Protestants, asking his protection; asto his reputation, the priest who girded on the swordonly when he found his altar overthrown and his flockdevoured by wolves, need not fear to look posterity inthe face. Of the other Leinster leaders, Walter Devereux, the lastcolleague of Father Murphy, was arrested at Cork, on theeve of sailing for America, tried and executed; Fitzgeraldand Aylmer were spared on condition of expatriation;months afterwards, Holt surrendered, was transported, and returned after several years, to end his days wherehe began his career; Dwyer alone maintained the life ofa Rapparee for five long years among the hills of Wicklow, where his adventures were often of such a nature as tothrow all fictitious conceptions of an outlaw's life intocommonplace by comparison. Except in the fastnessesfrequented by this extraordinary man, and in the wood ofKillaughram, in Wexford, where the outlaws, with the laststroke of national humour, assumed the name of _The Babesin the Wood_, the Leinster insurrection was utterlytrodden out within two months from its first beginning, on the 23rd of May. So weak against discipline, arms, munitions and money, are all that mere naked valour anddevotion can accomplish! In Ulster, on the organization of which so much time andlabour had been expended for four or five years preceding, the rising was not more general than in Leinster, andthe actual struggle lasted only a week. The two countieswhich moved _en masse_ were Down and Antrim, the originalchiefs of which, such as Thomas Russell and Samuel Neilson, were unfortunately in prison. The next leader on whomthe men of Antrim relied, resigned his command on thevery eve of the appointed day; this disappointment andthe arrest of the Rev. Steele Dickson in Down, compelleda full fortnight's delay. On the 7th of June, however, the more determined spirits resolved on action, and thefirst movement was to seize the town of Antrim, which, if they could have held it, would have given them commandof the communications with Donegal and Down, from bothof which they might have expected important additions totheir ranks. The leader of this enterprise was Henry JohnMcCracken, a cotton manufacturer of Belfast, thirty twoyears of age, well educated, accomplished and resolute, with whom was associated a brother of William Orr, theproto-martyr of the Ulster Union. The town of Antrim wasoccupied by the 22nd light dragoons, Colonel Lumley, andthe local yeomanry under Lord O'Neil. In the first assaultthe insurgents were successful, Lord O'Neil, five officers, forty-seven rank and file having fallen, and two gunsbeing captured; but Lumley's dragoons had hardly vanishedout of sight, when a strong reinforcement from Blariscamp arrived and renewed the action, changing prematureexultation into panic and confusion. Between two andthree hundred of the rebels fell, and McCracken and hisstaff, deserted by their hasty levies, were arrested, wearied and hopeless, about a month later, wanderingamong the Antrim hills. The leaders were tried at Belfastand executed. In Down two actions were fought, one at Saintfield onthe 7th of June, under Dr. Jackson--where Colonel Stapletonwas severely handled--and another and more important oneat Ballynahinch, under Henry Munro, on the 13th, whereNugent, the district General, commanded in person. Here, after a gallant defence, the men of Down were utterlyrouted; their leader, alone and on foot, was capturedsome five or six miles from the field, and executed twodays afterwards before his own door at Lisburn. He diedwith the utmost composure; his wife and mother lookingdown, on the awful scene from the windows of his own house. In Munster, with the exception of a trifling skirmishbetween the West-Meath yeomanry under Sir Hugh O'Reilly, with whom were the Caithness legion, under Major Innes, and a body of 300 or 400 ill-armed peasants, who attackedthem on the 19th of June, on the road from Clonakilty toBandon, there was no notable attempt at insurrection. But in Connaught, very unexpectedly, as late as the endof August, the flame extinguished in blood in Leinsterand Ulster, again blazed up for some days with portentousbrightness. The counties of Mayo, Sligo, Roscommon andGalway had been partially organized by those fugitivesfrom Orange oppression in the North, who, in the years'95, '96, and '97, had been compelled to flee for theirlives into Connaught, to the number of several thousands. They brought with the tale of their sufferings the secretof Defenderism; they first taught the peasantry of theWest, who, safe in their isolated situation and theiroverwhelming numbers, were more familiar with povertythan with persecution, what manner of men then held swayover all the rest of the country, and how easily it wouldbe for Irishmen once united and backed by France, toestablish under their own green flag, both religiousand civil liberty. When, therefore, three French frigates cast anchor inKillalla Bay, on the 22nd of August, they did not findthe country wholly unprepared, though far from being asripe for revolt as they expected. These ships had onboard 1, 000 men, with arms for 1, 000 more, under commandof General Humbert, who had taken on himself, in thestate of anarchy which then prevailed in France, to sailfrom La Rochelle with this handful of men, in aid of theinsurrection. With Humbert were Mathew Tone and BartholmewTeeling; and immediately on his arrival he was joined byMessrs. McDonnell, Moore, Bellew, Barrett, O'Dowd, andO'Donnell of Mayo, Blake of Galway, Plunkett of Roscommon, and a few other influential gentlemen of that Province--almost all Catholics. Three days were spent at Killalla, which was easily taken, in landing stores, enrollingrecruits, and sending out parties of observation. Onthe 4th, (Sunday, ) Humbert entered Ballina withoutresistance, and on the same night set out for Castlebar, the county town. By this time intelligence of his landingwas spread over the whole country, and both Lord Lakeand General Hutchinson had advanced to Castlebar, wherethey had from 2, 000 to 3, 000 men under their command. The place could be reached only by two routes from thenorth-west, by the Foxford road, or a long desertedmountain road which led over the pass of Barnagee, withinsight of the town. Humbert, accustomed to the long marchesand difficult country of La Vendee, chose the unfrequentedand therefore unguarded route, and, to the consternationof the British generals, descended through the pass ofBarnagee, soon after sunrise, on the morning of Monday, August 27th. His force consisted of 900 French bayonets, and between 2, 000 and 3, 000 new recruits. The action, which commenced at 7 o'clock, was short, sharp, anddecisive; the yeomanry and regulars broke and fled, someof them never drawing rein till they reached Tuam, whileothers carried their fears and their falsehoods as farinland as Athlone--more than sixty miles from the sceneof action. In this engagement, still remembered as "theraces, " the royalists confessed to the loss, killed, wounded, or prisoners, of 18 officers, and about 350 men, while the French commander estimated the killed alone at600. Fourteen British guns and five stand of colourswere also taken. A hot pursuit was continued for somedistance by the native troops under Mathew Tone, Teeling, and the Mayo officers; but Lord Roden's famous corps of"Fox hunters" covered the retreat and checked the pursuersat French Hill. Immediately after the battle a ProvisionalGovernment was established at Castlebar, with Mr. Mooreof Moore Hall, as President; proclamations addressed tothe inhabitants at large, commissions to raise men, and_assignats_ payable by the future Irish Republic, wereissued in its name. Meanwhile the whole of the royalist forces were now inmovement toward the capital of Mayo, as they had beentoward Vinegar Hill two months before. Sir John Mooreand General Hunter marched from Wexford toward the Shannon. General Taylor, with 2, 500 men, advanced from Sligotowards Castlebar; Colonel Maxwell was ordered fromEnniskillen to assume command at Sligo; General Nugentfrom Lisburn occupied Enniskillen, and the Viceroy, leaving Dublin in person, advanced rapidly through themidland counties to Kilbeggan, and ordered Lord Lake andGeneral Hutchinson, with such of their command as couldbe depended on, to assume the aggressive from the directionof Tuam. Thus Humbert and his allies found themselvessurrounded on all sides--their retreat cut off by sea, for their frigates had returned to France immediately ontheir landing; three thousand men against not less thanthirty thousand, with at least as many more in reserve, ready to be called into action at a day's notice. The French general determined if possible to reach themountains of Leitrim, and open communications with Ulster, and the northern coast, upon which he hoped soon to seesuccour arrive from France. With this object he marchedfrom Castlebar to Cooloney (35 miles), in one day; herehe sustained a check from Colonel Vereker's militia, which necessitated a change of route; turning aside, hepassed rapidly through Dromahaine, Manor-Hamilton, andBallintra, making for Granard, from which accounts of aformidable popular outbreak had just reached him. Inthree days and a half he had marched 110 miles, flinginghalf his guns into the rivers that he crossed, lest theyshould fall into the hands of his pursuers. At Ballinamuck, county Longford, on the borders of Leitrim, he foundhimself fairly surrounded, on the morning of the 8th ofSeptember; and here he prepared to make a last desperatestand. The end could not be doubtful, the numbers againsthim being ten to one; after an action of half an hour'sduration, two hundred of the French having thrown downtheir arms, the remainder surrendered, as prisoners ofwar. For the rebels no terms were thought of, and thefull vengeance of the victors was reserved for them. Mr. Blake, who had formerly been a British officer, wasexecuted on the field; Mathew Tone and Teeling wereexecuted within the week in Dublin; Mr. Moore, Presidentof the Provisional Government, was sentenced to banishmentby the clemency of Lord Cornwallis, but died on shipboard;ninety of the Longford and Kilkenny militia who had joinedthe French were hanged, and the country generally givenup to pillage and massacre. As an evidence of theexcessive thirst for blood, it may be mentioned that atthe re-capture of Killalla a few days later, four hundredpersons were killed, of whom fully one-half werenon-combatants. The disorganization of all government in France in thelatter half of '98, was illustrated not only by Humbert'sunauthorized adventure, but by a still weaker demonstrationunder General Reay and Napper Tandy, about the same time. With a single armed brig these daring allies made adescent, on the 17th of September, on Rathlin Island, well equipped with eloquent proclamations, bearing thedate "first year of Irish liberty. " From the postmasterof the island they ascertained Humbert's fate, andimmediately turned the prow of their solitary ship inthe opposite direction; Reay, to rise in after times tohonour and power; Tandy, to continue in old age thedashing career of his manhood, and to expiate in exilethe crime of preferring the country of his birth to thegeneral centralizing policy of the empire with which hewas united. Twelve days after the combat at Ballinamuck, while Humbert and his men were on their way throughEngland to France, a new French fleet, under AdmiralBompart, consisting of one 74-gun ship, "the Hoche, "eight frigates, and two smaller vessels, sailed fromBrest. On board this fleet were embarked 3, 000 men underGeneral Hardi, the remnant of the army once menacingEngland. In this fleet sailed Theobold Wolfe Tone, trueto his motto, _nil desperandum_, with two or three otherrefugees of less celebrity. The troops of General Hardi, however, were destined never to land. On the 12th ofOctober, after tossing about for nearly a month in theGerman ocean and the North Atlantic, they appeared offthe coast of Donegal, and stood in for Lough Swilly. Butanother fleet also was on the horizon. Admiral Sir JohnBorlase Warren, with an equal number of ships, but a muchheavier armament, had been cruising on the track of theFrench during the whole time they were at sea. After manydisappointments, the flag-ship and three of the frigateswere at last within range and the action began. Six hours'fighting laid the Hoche a helpless log upon the water;nothing was left her but surrender; two of the frigatesshared the same fate on the same day; another was capturedon the 14th, and yet another on the 17th. The remainderof the fleet escaped back to France. The French officers landed in Donegal were received withcourtesy by the neighbouring gentry, among whom was theEarl of Cavan, who entertained them at dinner. Here itwas that Sir George Hill, son-in-law to CommissionerBeresford, an old college friend of Tone's, identifiedthe founder of the United Irishmen under the uniform ofa French Adjutant-General. Stepping up to his oldschoolmate he addressed him by name, which Tone instantlyacknowledged, inquiring politely for Lady Hill, and othermembers of Sir George's family. He was instantly arrested, ironed, and conveyed to Dublin under a strong guard. Onthe 10th of November he was tried by court-martial andsentenced to be hanged: he begged only for a soldier'sdeath--"to be shot by a platoon of grenadiers. " Thisfavour was denied him, and the next morning he attemptedto commit suicide. The attempt did not immediately succeed;but one week later--on the 19th of November--he died fromthe results of his self-inflicted wound, with a complimentto the attendant physician upon his lips. Truth compelsus to say he died the death of a Pagan; but it was aPagan of the noblest and freest type of Grecian and Romantimes. Had it occurred in ancient days, beyond theChristian era, it would have been a death every wayadmirable; as it was, that fatal final act must alwaysstand between Wolfe Tone and the Christian people forwhom he suffered, sternly forbidding them to invoke himin their prayers, or to uphold him as an example to theyoung men of their country. So closed the memorable year1798, on the baffled and dispersed United Irishmen. Ofthe chiefs imprisoned in March and May, Lord Edward haddied of his wounds and vexation; Oliver Bond of apoplexy;the brothers Sheares, Father Quigley, and William MichaelByrne on the gibbet. In July, on Samuel Nelson's motion, the remaining prisoners in Newgate, Bridewell, andKilmainham, agreed, in order to stop the effusion ofblood, to expatriate themselves to any country not atwar with England, and to reveal the general secrets oftheir system, without inculpating individuals. Theseterms were accepted, as the Castle party needed theirevidence to enable them to promote the cherished schemeof legislative Union. But that evidence delivered beforethe Committees of Parliament by Emmet, McNevin, andO'Conor, did not altogether serve the purposes ofgovernment. The patriotic prisoners made it at once aprotest against, and an exposition of, the despotic policyunder which their country had been goaded into rebellion. For their firmness they were punished by three years'confinement in Fort George, in the Scottish Highlands, where, however, a gallant old soldier, Colonel Stuart, endeavoured to soften the hard realities of a prison byall the kind attentions his instructions permitted himto show these unfortunate gentlemen. At the peace ofAmiens, (1802), they were at last allowed the melancholyprivilege of expatriation. Russell and Dowdall werepermitted to return to Ireland, where they shared thefate of Robert Emmet in 1803; O'Conor, Corbet, Allen, Ware, and others, cast their lot in France, where theyall rose to distinction; Emmet, McNevin, Sampson, andthe family of Tone were reunited in New York, where themany changes and distractions of a great metropolitancommunity have not even yet obliterated the memories oftheir virtues, their talents, and their accomplishments. It is impossible to dismiss this celebrated group of men, whose principles and conduct so greatly influenced theircountry's destiny, without bearing explicit testimony totheir heroic qualities as a class. If ever a body ofpublic men deserved the character of a brotherhood ofheroes, so far as disinterestedness, courage, self-denial, truthfulness and glowing love of country constituteheroism, these men deserved that character. The wisdomof their conduct, and the intrinsic merit of their plans, are other questions. As between their political systemand that of Burke, Grattan and O'Connell, there alwayswill be, probably, among their countrymen, very decideddifferences of opinion. That is but natural: but as tothe personal and political virtues of the United Irishmenthere can be no difference; the world has never seen amore sincere or more self-sacrificing generation. CHAPTER XVIII. ADMINISTRATION OF LORD CORNWALLIS--BEFORE THE UNION. "Nothing strengthens a dynasty, " said the first Napoleon, "more than an unsuccessful rebellion. " The partialuprising; of the Irish people in 1798 was a rebellion ofthis class, and the use of such a failure to an able andunscrupulous administration, was illustrated in theextinction of the ancient legislature of the kingdom, before the recurrence of the third, anniversary ofthe insurrection. This project, the favourite and long-cherished design ofMr. Pitt, was cordially approved by his principalcolleagues, the Duke of Portland, Lord Grenville, andMr. Dundas; indeed, it may be questioned whether it wasnot as much Lord Grenville's design as Pitt's, and asmuch George the Third's personal project as that of anyof his ministers. The old King's Irish policy was alwaysof the most narrow and illiberal description. In hismemorandum on the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam, he explainshis views with the business-like brevity which characterizedall his communications with his ministers while he retainedpossession of his faculties; he was totally opposed toLord Fitzwilliam's emancipation policy, which he thoughtadopted "in implicit obedience to the heated imaginationof Mr. Burke. " To Lord Camden his instructions were, "to support the old English interest as well as theProtestant religion, " and to Lord Cornwallis, that nofurther "indulgence could be granted to Catholics, " butthat he should steadily pursue the object of effectingthe union of Ireland and England. The new Viceroy entered heartily into the views of hisSovereign. Though unwilling to exchange his Englishposition as a Cabinet Minister and Master-General ofOrdnance for the troubled life of a Lord-Lieutenant ofIreland, he at length allowed himself to be persuadedinto the acceptance of that office, with a view mainlyto carrying the Union. He was ambitious to connect hisname with that great imperial measure, so often projected, but never formally proposed. If he could only succeed inincorporating the Irish with the British legislature, hedeclared he would feel satisfied to retire from all otherpublic employments; that he would look on his day asfinished, and his evening of ease and dignity fullyearned. He was not wholly unacquainted with the kingdomagainst which he cherished these ulterior views; for hehad been, nearly thirty years before, when he fell underthe lash of _Junius_, one of the Vice-Treasurers ofIreland. For the rest he was a man of great information, tact, and firmness; indefatigable in business; tolerantby temperament and conviction; but both as a general anda politician it was his lot to be identified in Indiaand in Ireland with successes which might better havebeen failures, and in America, with failures which weremuch more beneficial to mankind than his successes. In his new sphere of action his two principal agents wereLord Clare and Lord Castlereagh, both Irishmen; theChancellor, the son of what in that country is called a"spoiled priest, " and the Secretary, the son of anex-volunteer, and member of Flood's Reform Convention. It is not possible to regard the conduct of these highofficials in undermining and destroying the ancientnational legislature of their own country, in the samelight as that of Lord Cornwallis, or Mr. Pitt, or LordGrenville. It was but natural, that as Englishmen, theseministers should consider the empire in the first place;that they should desire to centralize all the resourcesand all the authority of both Islands in London; that tothem the existence of an independent Parliament at Dublin, with its ample control over the courts, the revenues, the defences, and the trade of that kingdom, should appearan obstacle and a hindrance to the unity of the imperialsystem. From their point of view they were quite right, and had they pursued their end, complete centralization, by honourable means, no stigma could attach to them evenin the eyes of Irishmen; but with Lords Clare andCastlereagh the case was wholly different. Born in theland, deriving income as well as existence from the soil, elected to its Parliament by the confidence of theircountrymen, attaining to posts of honour in consequenceof such election, that they should voluntarily offertheir services to establish an alien and a hostile policyon the ruins of their own national constitution, which, with all its defects, was national, and was corrigible;this betrayal of their own, at the dictate of anotherState, will always place the names of Clare and Castlereaghon the detested list of public traitors. Yet though insuch treason, united and identified, no two men could bemore unlike in all other respects. Lord Clare was fiery, dogmatic, and uncompromising to the last degree; whileLord Castlereagh was stealthy, imperturbable, insidious, bland, and adroit. The Chancellor endeavoured to carryeverything with a high hand, with a bold, defiant, confident swagger; the Secretary, on the contrary, trustedto management, expediency, and silent tenacity of purpose. The one had faith in violence, the other in corruption;they were no inapt personifications of the two chiefagencies by which the union was effected--Force and Fraud. The Irish Parliament, which had been of necessity adjournedduring the greater part of the time the insurrectionlasted, assembled within a week of Lord Cornwallis'arrival. Both Houses voted highly loyal addresses tothe King and Lord-Lieutenant, the latter seconded in theCommons by Charles Kendal Bushe, the college companionof Wolfe Tone! A vote of 100, 000 pounds to indemnifythose who had suffered from the rebels--subsequentlyincreased to above 1, 000, 000 pounds--was passed _unavoce_; another, placing on the Irish establishment certainEnglish militia regiments, passed with equal promptitude. In July, five consecutive acts--a complete code ofpenalties and proscription--were introduced, and, aftervarious debates and delays, received the royal sanctionon the 6th of October, the last day of the session of1798. These acts were: 1. The Amnesty Act, the exceptionsto which were so numerous "that few of those who tookany active part in the rebellion, " were, according tothe Cornwallis' correspondence, "benefited by it. " 2. AnAct of Indemnity, by which all magistrates who had"exercised a vigour beyond the law" against the rebels, were protected from the legal consequences of such acts. 3. An act for attainting Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Mr. Harvey, and Mr. Grogan, against which Curran, taking "hisinstructions from the grave, " pleaded at the bar of theHouse of Lords, but pleaded in vain. (This act was finallyreversed by the Imperial Parliament in 1819. ) 4. An actforbidding communication between persons in Ireland andthose enumerated in the Banishment Act, and making thereturn to Ireland, after sentence of banishment by acourt-martial, a transportable felony. 5. An act to compelfifty-one persons therein named to surrender before 1stof December, 1798, under pain of high treason. Among thefifty-one were the principal refugees at Paris andHamburg-Tone, Lewines, Tandy, Deane Swift, Major Plunkett, Anthony McCann, Harvey Morres, etc. On the same day inwhich the session terminated, and the royal sanction wasgiven to these acts, the name of Henry Grattan was, asignificant coincidence, formally struck, by the King'scommands, from the roll of the Irish Privy Council! This legislation of the session of 1798, was fatal tothe Irish Parliament. The partisans of the Union, whohad used the rebellion to discredit the constitution, now used the Parliament to discredit itself. Under theinfluence of a fierce reactionary spirit, when all mercifuland moderate councils were denounced as treasonable, itwas not difficult to procure the passage of sweepingmeasures of proscription. But with their passage vanishedthe former popularity of the domestic legislature. Andwhat followed? The constitution of '82 could only beupheld in the hearts of the people; and, with all itsdefects, it had been popular before the sudden spread ofFrench revolutionary notions distracted and dissipatedthe public opinion which had grown up within the era ofindependence. To make the once cherished authority, whichliberated trade in '79, and half emancipated the Catholicsin '93, the last executioner of the vengeance of theCastle against the people, was to place a gulf betweenit and the affections of that people in the day of trial. To make the anti-unionists in Parliament, such as theSpeaker, Sir Lawrence Parsons, Plunkett, Ponsonby andBushe, personally responsible for this vindictive code, was to disarm them of the power, and almost of the right, to call on the people whom they turned over, bound handand foot, to the mercy of the minister in '98, to aidthem against the machinations of that same minister in'99. The last months of the year were marked besides byevents already referred to, and by negotiations incessantlycarried on, both in England and Ireland, in favour ofthe Union. Members of both Houses were personally courtedand canvassed by the Prime Minister, the Secretaries ofState, the Viceroy and the Irish Secretary. Titles, pensions and offices were freely promised. Vast sums ofsecret service money, afterwards added as a charge tothe public debt of Ireland, were remitted from Whitehall. An army of pamphleteers, marshalled by Under-SecretaryCooke, and confidentially directed by the able butanti-national Bishop of Meath, (Dr. O'Beirne, ) and byLord Castlereagh personally, plied their pens in favourof "the consolidation of the empire. " The Lord Chancellor, the Chief Secretary and Mr. Beresford, made journeys toEngland, to assist the Prime Minister with their localinformation, and to receive his imperial confidence inreturn. The Orangemen were neutralized by securing amajority of their leaders; the Catholics, by theestablishment of familiar communication with the bishops. The Viceroy complimented Dr. Troy at Dublin; the Duke ofPortland lavished personal attentions on Dr. Moylan, inEngland. The Protestant clergy were satisfied with theassurance that the maintenance of their establishmentwould be made a fundamental article of the Union, whilethe Catholic bishops were given to understand that completeEmancipation would be one of the first measures submittedto the Imperial Parliament. The oligarchy were to beindemnified for their boroughs, while the advocates ofReform were shown how hopeless it was to expect a Houseconstituted of _their_ nominees, ever to enlarge or amendits own exclusive constitution. Thus for every descriptionof people a particular set of appeals and arguments wasfound, and for those who discarded the affectation ofreasoning on the surrender of their national existence, there were the more convincing arguments of titles, employments, and direct pecuniary purchase. At the closeof the year of the rebellion, Lord Cornwallis was ableto report to Mr. Pitt that the prospects of carrying themeasure were better than could have been expected, andon this report he was authorized to open the matterformally to Parliament in his speech at the opening ofthe following session. On the 22nd of January, 1799, the Irish legislature metunder circumstances of great interest and excitement. The city of Dublin, always keenly alive to its metropolitaninterests, sent its eager thousands by every avenuetowards College Green. The Viceroy went down to the Houseswith a more than ordinary guard, and being seated on thethrone in the House of Lords, the Commons were summonedto the bar. The House was considered a full one, 217members being present. The viceregal speech congratulatedboth Houses on the suppression of the late rebellion, onthe defeat of Bompart's squadron, and the recent Frenchvictories of Lord Nelson; then came, amid profoundexpectation, this concluding sentence:--"The unremittingindustry, " said the Viceroy, "with which our enemiespersevere in their avowed design of endeavouring to effecta separation of this kingdom from Great Britain, musthave engaged your attention, and his Majesty commands meto express his anxious hope that this consideration, joined to the sentiment of mutual affection and commoninterest, may dispose the Parliaments in both kingdomsto provide the most effectual means of maintaining andimproving a connection essential to their common security, and of consolidating, as far as possible, into one firmand lasting fabric, the strength, the power, and theresources of the British empire. " On the paragraph ofthe address, re-echoing this sentiment, which was carriedby a large majority in the Lords, a debate ensued in theCommons, which lasted till one o'clock of the followingday, above twenty consecutive hours. Against the suggestionof a Union spoke Ponsonby, Parsons, Fitzgerald, Barrington, Plunkett, Lee, O'Donnell and Bushe; in its favour, LordCastlereagh, the Knight of Kerry, Corry, Fox, Osborne, Duigenan, and some other members little known. Thegalleries and lobbies were crowded all night by the firstpeople of the city, of both sexes, and when the divisionwas being taken, the most intense anxiety was manifested, within doors and without. At length the tellers madetheir report to the Speaker, himself an ardentanti-Unionist, and it was announced that the numberswere--"for the address 105, for the amendment 106, " sothe paragraph in favour of "consolidating the empire"was lost by one vote! The remainder of the address, tainted with the association of the expunged paragraph, was barely carried by 107 to 105. Mr. Ponsonby hadattempted to follow his victory by a solemn pledge bindingthe majority never again to entertain the question, butto this several members objected, and the motion waswithdrawn. The ministry found some consolation in thiswithdrawal, which they characterized as "a retreat aftera victory, " but to the public at large, unused to placemuch stress on the minor tactics of debate, nothingappeared but the broad, general fact, that the firstoverture for a Union had been rejected. It was a day ofimmense rejoicing in Dublin; the leading anti-Unionistswere escorted in triumph to their homes, while theUnionists were protected by strong military escorts fromthe popular indignation. At night the city was illuminated, and the patrols were doubled as a protection to theobnoxious minority. Mr. Ponsonby's amendment, affirmed by the House of Commons, was in these words:--"That the House would be ready toenter into any measure short of surrendering their free, resident and independent legislature as established in1782. " This was the _ultimatum_ of the great party whichrallied in January, 1799, to the defence of the establishedconstitution of their country. The arguments with whichthey sustained their position were few, bold, andintelligible to every capacity. There was the argumentfrom Ireland's geographical situation, and the policyincident to it; the historical argument; the argumentfor a resident gentry occupied and retained in the countryby their public duties; the commercial argument; therevenue argument; but above all, the argument of theincompetency of Parliament to put an end to its ownexistence. "Yourselves, " exclaimed the eloquent Plunkett, "you may extinguish, but Parliament you cannot extinguish. It is enthroned in the hearts of the people--it isenshrined in the sanctuary of the constitution--it is asimmortal as the island that protects it. As well mightthe frantic suicide imagine that the act which destroyshis miserable body should also extinguish his eternalsoul. Again, therefore, I warn you. Do not dare to layyour hands on the Constitution--it is above your powers!" These arguments were combated on the grounds that theislands were already united under one crown--that thatspecies of union was uncertain and precarious--that theIrish Parliament was never in reality a nationallegislature; that it existed only as an instrument ofclass legislation; that the Union would benefit Irelandmaterially as it had benefited Scotland; that she wouldcome in for a full share of imperial honours, expenditureand trade; that such a Union would discourage all futurehostile attempts by France or any other foreign poweragainst the connection, and other similar arguments. Butthe division which followed the first introduction ofthe subject showed clearly to the Unionists that theycould not hope to succeed with the House of Commons asthen constituted; that more time and more preparationwere necessary. Accordingly, Lord Castlereagh was authorizedin March, to state formally in his place, that it wasnot the intention of the government to bring up thequestion again during that session; an announcement whichwas hailed with a new outburst of rejoicing in the city. But those who imagined the measure was abandoned weresadly deceived. Steps were immediately taken by the Castleto deplete the House of its majority, and to supply theirplaces before another session with forty or fifty newmembers, who would be entirely at the beck of the ChiefSecretary. With this view, thirty-two new county judgeshipswere created; a great number of additional inspectorshipsand commissioners were also placed at the Minister'sdisposal; thirteen members had peerages for themselvesor for their wives, with remainder to their children, and nineteen others were presented to various lucrativeoffices. The "Escheatorship of Munster"--a sort of ChilternHundreds office--was accepted by those who agreed towithdraw from opposition, for such considerations, butwho could not be got to reverse their votes. By thesemeans, and a lavish expenditure of secret service money, it was hoped that Mr. Pitt's stipulated majority of "notless than fifty" could be secured during the year. The other events of the session of '99, though interestingin themselves, are of little importance compared to theunion debates. In the English Parliament, which met onthe same day as the Irish, a paragraph identical withthat employed by Lord Cornwallis in introducing thesubject of the Union, was inserted in the King's speech. To this paragraph, repeated in the address, an amendmentwas moved by the celebrated Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and resisted with an eloquence scarcely inferior to hisown, by his former _protege_ and countryman, GeorgeCanning. Canning, like Sheridan, had sprung from a lineof Irish literateurs and actors; he had much of the witand genius of his illustrious friend, with more worldlywisdom, and a higher sentiment of personal pride. In veryearly life, distinguished by great oratorical talents, he had deliberately attached himself to Mr. Pitt, whileSheridan remained steadfast to the last, in the ranks ofthe Whig or liberal party. For the land of their ancestorsboth had, at bottom, very warm, good wishes; but Canninglooked down upon her politics from the heights of empire, while Sheridan felt for her honour and her interests withthe affection of an expatriated son. We can well credithis statement to Grattan, years afterwards, when referringto his persistent opposition to the Union, he said, hewould "have waded in blood to his knees, " to preservethe Constitution of Ireland. In taking this course hehad with him a few eminent friends: General Fitzpatrick, the former Irish Secretary, Mr. Tierney, Mr. Hobhouse, Dr. Lawrence, the executor of Edmund Burke, and Mr. , afterwards Earl Grey. Throughout the entire discussionthese just minded Englishmen stood boldly forward forthe rights of Ireland, and this highly honourable conductwas long remembered as one of Ireland's real obligationsto the Whig party. The resolutions intended to serve as "the basis of union, "were introduced by Mr. Pitt, on the 21st of January, andafter another powerful speech in opposition, from Mr. Grey, who was ably sustained by Mr. Sheridan, Dr. Lawrence, and some twenty others, were put and carried. The followingare the resolutions:-- 1st. "In order to promote and secure the essentialinterests of Great Britain and Ireland, and to consolidatethe strength, power, and resources of the British empire, it will be advisable to concur in such measures as maytend to unite the two kingdoms of Great Britain andIreland into one kingdom, in such manner, and in suchterms and conditions as may be established by acts ofthe respective Parliaments of his Majesty's said kingdoms. 2nd. "It would be fit to propose as the first article, to serve as a basis of the said union, that the saidkingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall, on a day tobe agreed upon, be united into one kingdom, by the nameof the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 3rd. "For the same purpose it would be fit to propose, that the succession to the monarchy and the imperialcrown of the said United Kingdom, shall continue limitedand settled, in the same manner as the imperial crown ofthe said Great Britain and Ireland now stands limitedand settled, according to the existing law, and to theterms of the union between England and Scotland. 4th. "For the same purpose it would be fit to proposethat the said United Kingdom be represented in one andthe same Parliament, to be styled the Parliament of theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and thatsuch a number of Lords, spiritual and temporal, and sucha number of members of the House of Commons, as shall behereafter agreed upon by the acts of the respectiveParliaments as aforesaid, shall sit and vote in the saidParliament on the part of Ireland, and shall be summoned, chosen, and returned, in such manner as shall be fixedby an act of the Parliament of Ireland previous to thesaid union; and that every member hereafter to sit andvote in the said Parliament of the United Kingdom shall, until the said Parliament shall otherwise provide, take, and subscribe the said oaths, and make the same declarationsas are required by law to be taken, subscribed, and madeby the members of the Parliaments of Great Britain andIreland. 5th. "For the same purpose it would be fit to propose, that the Churches of England and Ireland, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, shall bepreserved as now by law established. 6th. "For the same purpose it would be fit to propose, that his Majesty's subjects in Ireland shall at all timesbe entitled to the same privileges, and be on the samefooting in respect of trade and navigation in all portsand places belonging to Great Britain, and in all caseswith respect to which treaties shall be made by hisMajesty, his heirs, or successors, with any foreign power, as his Majesty's subjects in Great Britain; that no dutyshall be imposed on the import or export between GreatBritain and Ireland, of any articles now duty free, andthat on other articles there shall be established, fora time to be limited, such a moderate rate of equal dutiesas shall, previous to the Union, be agreed upon andapproved by the respective Parliaments, subject, afterthe expiration of such limited time, to be diminishedequally with respect to both kingdoms, but in no case tobe increased; that all articles which may at any timehereafter be imported into Great Britain from foreignparts shall be importable through either kingdom intothe other, subject to the like duties and regulations, as if the same were imported directly from foreign parts:that where any articles, the growth, produce, or manufactureof either kingdom, are subject to an internal duty inone kingdom, such counter-vailing duties (over and aboveany duties on import to be fixed as aforesaid) shall beimposed as shall be necessary to prevent any inequalityin that respect; and that all matters of trade andcommerce, other than the foregoing, and than such othersas may before the Union be specially agreed upon for thedue encouragement of the agriculture and manufactures ofthe respective kingdoms, shall remain to be regulatedfrom time to time by the United Parliament. 7th. "For the like purpose it would be fit to propose, that the charge arising from the payment of the interestsor sinking fund for the reduction of the principal ofthe debt incurred in either kingdom before the Union, shall continue to be separately defrayed by Great Britainand Ireland respectively; that, for a number of years tobe limited, the future ordinary expenses of the UnitedKingdom, in peace or war, shall be defrayed by GreatBritain and Ireland jointly, according to such proportionsas shall be established by the respective Parliamentsprevious to the Union; and that, after the expiration ofthe time to be so limited, the proportion shall not beliable to be varied, except according to such rates andprinciples, as shall be in like manner agreed upon previousto the Union. 8th. "For the like purpose, that all laws in force atthe time of the Union, and all the courts of civil orecclesiastical jurisdiction within the respective kingdoms, shall remain as now by law established within the same, subject only to such alterations or regulations as mayfrom time to time as circumstances may appear to theParliament of the United Kingdom to require. " Mr. Pitt, on the passage of these resolutions, proposedan address stating that the Commons had proceeded withthe utmost attention to the consideration of the importantobjects recommended in the royal message, that theyentertained a firm persuasion of the probable benefitsof a complete and entire Union between Great Britain andIreland, founded on equal and liberal principles; thatthey were therefore induced to lay before his Majestysuch propositions as appeared to them to be best calculatedto form the basis of such a settlement, leaving it tohis wisdom in due time and in proper manner, to communicatethem to the Lords and Commons of Ireland, with whom theywould be at all times ready to concur in all such measuresas might be found most conducive to the accomplishmentof that great and salutary work. On the 19th of March, Lord Grenville introduced the sameresolutions in the Lords, where they were passed aftera spirited opposition speech from Lord Holland, and thebasis, so far as the King, Lords, and Commons of Englandwere concerned, was laid. In proroguing the Irish Houseson the 1st of June, Lord Cornwallis alluded to theseresolutions, and the anxiety of the King, as the commonfather of his people, to see both kingdoms united in theenjoyment of the blessings of a free constitution. This prorogation was originally till August, but in Augustit was extended till January, 1800. In this long intervalof eight months, the two great parties, the Unionistsand the anti-Unionists were incessantly employed, throughthe press, in social intercourse, in the grand jury room, in county and city meetings, by correspondence, petitions, addresses, each pushing forward its own views with allthe zeal and warmth of men who felt that on one side theywere labouring for the country, on the other for theempire. Two incidents of this interval were deeply feltin the patriot ranks, the death at an advanced age ofthe venerable Charlemont, the best member of his orderIreland had ever known, and the return to the kingdomand to public life of Lord Charlemont's early friend and_protege_, Henry Grattan. He had spent above a year inEngland, chiefly in Wales and the Isle of Wight. Hishealth all this time had been wretched; his spirits lowand despondent, and serious fears were at some momentsentertained for his life. He had been forbidden to reador write, or to hear the exciting news of the day. Soothedand cheered by that admirable woman, whom Providence hadgiven him, he passed the crisis, but he returned tobreathe his native air, greatly enfeebled in body, andsorely afflicted in mind. The charge of theatricalaffectation of illness has been brought against Grattanby the Unionists, --against Grattan who, as to his personalhabits, was simplicity itself! It is a charge undeservingof serious contradiction. CHAPTER XIX. LAST SESSION OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT--THE LEGISLATIVEUNION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. When the Irish Parliament met for the last time, on the15th of January, 1800, the position of the Union questionstood thus: 27 new Peers had been added to the House ofLords, where the Castle might therefore reckon with safetyon a majority of three to one. Of the Lords spiritual, only Dr. Marlay of Waterford, and Dr. Dixon of Down andConor, had the courage to side with their country againsttheir order. In the Commons there was an infusion of some50 new borough members, many of them general officers, such as Needham, and Pakenham, all of them nominees ofthe Castle, except Mr. Saurin, returned for Blessington, and Mr. Grattan, at the last moment, for Wicklow. Thegreat constitutional body of the bar had, at a generalmeeting, the previous December, declared against themeasure by 162 to 33. Another powerful body, the bankers, had petitioned against it, in the interest of the publiccredit. The Catholic bishops, in their annual meeting, had taken up a position of neutrality as a body, butunder the artful management of Lord Castlereagh, theArchbishops of Dublin and Tuam, with the Bishop of Cork, and some others, were actively employed in counteractinganti-Union movements among the people. Although the vastmajority of that people had too much reason to be disgustedand discontented with the legislation of the previousthree years, above 700, 000 of them petitioned againstthe measure, while all the signatures which could beobtained in its favour, by the use of every means at thecommand of the Castle, did not much exceed 7, 000. The Houses were opened on the 15th of January. The Viceroynot going down, his message was read in the Lords, bythe Chancellor, and in the Commons, by the Chief Secretary. It did not directly refer to the basis laid down inEngland, nor to the subject matter itself; but the leadersof the Castle party in both Houses, took care to supplythe deficiency. In the Lords, proxies included, LordClare had 75 to 26 for his Union address: in the Commons, Lord Castlereagh congratulated the country on theimprovement which had taken place in public opinion, since the former session. He briefly sketched his planof Union, which, while embracing the main propositionsof Mr. Pitt, secured the Church establishment, bid highfor the commercial interests, hinted darkly of emancipationto the Catholics, and gave the proprietors of boroughsto understand that their interest in those convenientconstituencies would be capitalized, and a good roundsum given to buy out their perpetual patronage. Inamendment to the address, Sir Lawrence Parsons moved, seconded by Mr. Savage of Down, that the House wouldmaintain _intact_ the Constitution of '82, and the debateproceeded on this motion. Ponsonby replied to Castlereagh;Plunkett and Bushe were answered by the future judges, St. George Daly and Luke Fox; Toler contributed his farce, and Dr. Duigenan his fanaticism. Through the long hoursof the winter's night the eloquent war was vigorouslymaintained. One who was himself a distinguished actor inthe struggle, (Sir Jonah Barrington, ) has thus describedit: "Every mind, " he says, "was at its stretch, everytalent was in its vigour: it was a momentous trial; andnever was so general and so deep a sensation felt in anycountry. Numerous British noblemen and commoners werepresent at that and the succeeding debate, and theyexpressed opinions of Irish eloquence which they hadnever before conceived, nor ever after had an opportunityof appreciating. Every man on that night seemed to beinspired by the subject. Speeches more replete with talentand energy, on both sides, never were heard in the IrishSenate; it was a vital subject. The sublime, the eloquent, the figurative orator, the plain, the connected, themetaphysical reasoner, the classical, the learned, andthe solemn declaimer, in a succession of speeches so fullof energy and enthusiasm, so interesting in their nature, so important in their consequence, created a variety ofsensations even in the bosom of a stranger, and couldscarcely fail of exciting some sympathy with a nation whichwas doomed to close for ever that school of eloquence whichhad so long given character and celebrity to Irish talent. " At the early dawn, a special messenger from Wicklow, justarrived in town, roused Henry Grattan from his bed. Hehad been elected the previous night for the borough ofWicklow, (which cost him 2, 400 pounds sterling), and thiswas the bearer of the returning officer's certificate. His friends, weak and feeble as he was, wished him to godown to the House, and his heroic wife seconded theirappeals. It was seven o'clock in the morning of the 16thwhen he reached College Green, the scene of his firsttriumphs twenty years before. Mr. Egan, one of thestaunchest anti-Unionists, was at the moment, on somerumour, probably, of his approach, apostrophising warmlythe father of the Constitution of '82, when that strikingapparition appeared at the bar. Worn and emaciated beyonddescription, he appeared leaning on two of his friends, Arthur Moore and W. B. Ponsonby. He wore his volunteeruniform, blue with red facings, and advanced to the table, where he removed his cocked hat, bowed to the Speaker, and took the oaths. After Mr. Egan had concluded, hebegged permission from his seat beside Plunkett, toaddress the House sitting, which was granted, and thenin a discourse of two hours' duration, full of his ancientfire and vigour, he asserted once again, by the divineright of intellect, his title to be considered the firstCommoner of Ireland. Gifted men were not rare in thatassembly; but the inspiration of the heart, theuncontrollable utterance of a supreme spirit, not lessthan the extraordinary faculty of condensation, in which, perhaps, he has never had a superior in our language, gave the Grattan of 1800 the same pre-eminence among hiscotemporaries, that was conceded to the Grattan of 1782. After eighteen hours' discussion the division was taken, when the result of the long recess was clearly seen; forthe amendment there appeared 96, for the address 138members. The Union majority, therefore, was 42. It wasapparent from that moment that the representation of thepeople in Parliament had been effectually corrupted; thatthat assembly was no longer the safeguard of the libertiesof the people. Other ministerial majorities confirmedthis impression. A measure to enable 10, 000 of the Irishmilitia to enter the regular army, and to substituteEnglish militia in their stead, followed; an inquiry intooutrages committed by the sheriff and military in King'scounty, was voted down; a similar motion somewhat later, in relation to officials in Tipperary met the same fate. On the 5th of February, a formal message proposing abasis of Union was received from his Excellency, anddebated for twenty consecutive hours--from 4 o'clock ofone day, till 12 of the next. Grattan, Plunkett, Parnell, Ponsonby, Saurin, were, as always, eloquent and able, but again the division told for the minister, 160 to117--majority 43. On the 17th of February, the House wentinto Committee on the proposed articles of Union, andthe Speaker (John Foster) being now on the floor, addressedthe House with great ability in review of Mr. Pitt'srecent Union speech, which he designated "a paltryproduction. " But again, a majority mustered, at the nodof the minister, 161 to 140--a few not fully committedshowing some last faint spark of independence. It was onthis occasion that Mr. Corry, Chancellor of the Exchequer, member for Newry, made for the third or fourth time thatsession, an attack on Grattan, which brought out, on theinstant, that famous "philippic against Corry, " unequalledin our language, for its well-suppressed passion, andfinely condensed denunciation. A duel followed, as soonas there was sufficient light; the Chancellor was wounded, after which the Castlereagh tactics of "fighting downthe opposition, " received an immediate and lasting check. Throughout the months of February and March, with anoccasional adjournment, the Constitutional battle wasfought on every point permitted by the forms of the House. On the 25th of March, the Committee, after another powerfulspeech from the Speaker, finally reported the resolutionswhich were passed by 154 to 107--a majority of 47. TheHouses then adjourned for six weeks, to allow time forcorresponding action to be taken in England. There waslittle difficulty in carrying the measure. In the UpperHouse, Lords Derby, Holland, and King only opposed it;in the Lower, Sheridan, Tierney, Grey, and Lawrencemustered on a division, 30 votes against Pitt's 206. Onthe 21st of May, in the Irish Commons, Lord Castlereaghobtained leave to bring in the Union Bill by 160 to 100;on the 7th of June the final passage of the measure waseffected. That closing scene has been often described, but never so graphically, as by the diamond pen of JonahBarrington. "The galleries were full, but the change was lamentable. They were no longer crowded with those who had beenaccustomed to witness the eloquence and to animate thedebates of that devoted assembly. A monotonous andmelancholy murmur ran through the benches; scarcely aword was exchanged amongst the members; nobody seemed atease; no cheerfulness was apparent; and the ordinarybusiness, for a short time, proceeded in the usual manner. "At length, the expected moment arrived: the order ofthe day for the third reading of the bill for a 'legislativeunion between Great Britain and Ireland' was moved byLord Castlereagh. Unvaried, tame, cold-blooded, the wordsseemed frozen as they issued from his lips; and, as ifa simple citizen of the world, he seemed to have nosensation on the subject. "At that moment he had no country, no God, but hisambition. He made his motion, and resumed his seat, withthe utmost composure and indifference. "Confused murmurs again ran through the House. It wasvisibly affected. Every character, in a moment, seemedinvoluntarily rushing to its index--some pale, someflushed, some agitated--there were few countenances towhich the heart did not despatch some messenger. Severalmembers withdrew before the question could be repeated, and an awful, momentary silence succeeded their departure. The Speaker rose slowly from that chair which had beenthe proud source of his honours and of his high character. For a moment he resumed his seat, but the strength ofhis mind sustained him in his duty, though his strugglewas apparent. With that dignity which never failed tosignalize his official actions, he held up the bill fora moment in silence. He looked steadily around him onthe last agony of the expiring Parliament. He at lengthrepeated, in an emphatic tone, 'As many as are of opinionthat THIS BILL do pass, say _ay_! The affirmative waslanguid, but indisputable. Another momentary pause ensued. Again his lips seemed to decline their office. At length, with an eye averted from the object he hated, he proclaimed, with a subdued voice, '_The, AYES have it_. ' The fatalsentence was now pronounced. For an instant he stoodstatue-like; then indignantly, and with disgust, flungthe bill upon the table, and sank into his chair with anexhausted spirit. An independent country was thus degradedinto a province. Ireland, as a nation, was extinguished. " The final division in the Commons was 153 to 88, nearly60 members absenting themselves, and in the Lords, 76 to17. In England all the stages were passed in July, andon the 2nd of August, the anniversary of the King'saccession, the royal assent was given to the twofoldlegislation, which declared the kingdoms of Great Britainand Ireland one and inseparable! By the provisions of this statute, compact, or treaty, the Sovereignty of the United Kingdom was to follow theorder of the Act of Succession; the Irish peerage was tobe reduced by the filling of one vacancy for every threedeaths, to the number of one hundred; from among these, twenty-eight representative Peers were to be elected forlife, and four spiritual Lords to sit in succession. Thenumber of Irish representatives in the Imperial Parliamentwas fixed at one hundred (increased to one hundred andfive); the churches of England and Ireland were unitedlike the kingdoms, and declared to be one in doctrineand discipline. The debt of Ireland, which was less than4, 000, 000 pounds in 1797, increased to 14, 000, 000 poundsin '99, and had risen to nearly 17, 000, 000 pounds in1801, was to be alone chargeable to Ireland, whoseproportionate share of general taxation was then estimatedat 2-17ths of that of the United Kingdom. The Courts ofLaw, the Privy Council, and the Viceroyalty, were toremain at Dublin, the cenotaph and the shadows ofdeparted nationality. On the 1st day of January, 1801, in accordance with thisgreat Constitutional change, a new imperial standard wasrun up on London Tower, Edinburgh Castle, and DublinCastle. It was formed of the three crosses of St. Patrick, Saint Andrew, and Saint George, and is that popularlyknown to us as "the Union Jack. " The _fleur de lis_, andthe word "France, " were struck from the royal title, which was settled, by proclamation, to consist henceforthof the words _Dei Gratia, Britanniarum Rex, Fidei Defensor_. The foul means by which this counter revolution wasaccomplished, have, perhaps, been already sufficientlyindicated. It may be necessary, however, in order toaccount for the continued hostility of the Irish peopleto the measure, after more than sixty years' experienceof its results, to recapitulate them very briefly. Ofall who voted for the Union, in both Houses, it was saidthat only six or seven were known to have done so onconviction. Great borough proprietors, like Lord Ely andLord Shannon, received as much as 45, 000 pounds sterlingin "compensation" for their loss of patronage; whileproprietors of single seats received 15, 000 pounds. Thatthe majority was avowedly purchased, in both Houses, isno longer matter of inference, nay, that some of themwere purchased twice over is now well known. Lord Carysfort, an active partisan of the measure, writing in February, 1800, to his friend the Marquis of Buckingham, franklysays: "The majority, which has been bought at an enormousprice, must be bought over again, perhaps more than once, before all the details can be gone through. " His lordshiphimself, and the order to which he belonged, and thosewho aspired to enter it, were, it must be added, amongthe most insatiable of these purchased supporters. TheDublin _Gazette_ for July, 1800, announced not less thansixteen new peerages, and the same publication for thelast week of the year, contained a fresh list of twenty-sixothers. Forty-two creations in six months was a stretchof prerogative far beyond the most arbitrary of theStuarts or Tudors, and forms one, not of the leastunanswerable evidences, of the utterly corruptconsiderations which secured the support of the Irishmajority in both Houses. It was impossible that a people like the Irish, disinterested and unselfish to a fault, should ever cometo respect a compact brought about by such means andinfluences as these. Had, however, the Union, vile aswere the means by which it was accomplished, proved tothe real benefit of the country--had equal civil andreligious rights been freely and at once extended to thepeople of the lesser kingdom--there is no reason to doubtthat the measure would have become popular in time, andthe vices of the old system be better remembered thanits benefits, real or imaginary. But the Union was neverutilized for Ireland; it proved in reality what SamuelJohnson had predicted, when spoken of in his day: "Donot unite with us, sir, " said the gruff old moralist toan Irish acquaintance; "it would be the union of theshark with his prey; we should unite with you only todestroy you. " In glancing backward over the long political connexionof Ireland and England, we mark four great epochs. TheAnglo-Norman invasion in 1169; the statute of Kilkennydecreeing eternal separation between the races, "theEnglish pale" and "the Irish enemy, " 1367; the Union ofthe Crowns, in 1541, and the Legislative Union, in 1801. One more cardinal event remains to be recorded--theEmancipation of the Catholics, in 1829. BOOK XII. FROM THE UNION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND TO THEEMANCIPATION OF THE CATHOLICS. CHAPTER I. AFTER THE UNION--DEATH OF LORD CLARE--ROBERT EMMET'S EMEUTE. The plan of this brief compendium of Irish history obligesus to sketch for some years farther on, the politicaland religious annals of the Irish people. Having describedin what manner their distinctive political nationalitywas at length lost, it only remains to show how theirreligious liberties were finally recovered. The first striking effect of the Union was to introduceCatholic Emancipation into the category of imperialdifficulties, and to assign it the very first place onthe list. By a singular retribution, the Pitt administrationwith its 200 of a House of Commons majority, its absolutecontrol of the Lords, and its seventeen years' prescriptionin its favour, fell upon this very question, after theyhad used it to carry the Union, within a few weeks ofthe consummation of that Union. The cause of this crisiswas the invincible obstinacy of the King, who had takeninto his head, at the time of Lord Fitzwilliam's recallfrom Ireland, that his coronation oath bound him inconscience to resist the Catholic claims. The suggestionof this obstacle was originally Lord Clare's; and thoughLord Kenyon and Lord Stowell had declared it unfoundedin law, Lord Loughborough and Lord Eldon were unfortunatelyof a different opinion. With George III. The idea becamea monomaniac certainty, and there is no reason to doubtthat he would have preferred abdication to its abandonment. The King was not for several months aware how far hisPrune Minister had gone on the Catholic question inIreland. But those who were weary of Pitt's ascendancy, were, of course, interested in giving him this importantinformation. The minister himself, wrapped in his austereself-reliance, did not volunteer explanations even tohis Sovereign, and the King broke silence very unexpectedly, a few days after the first meeting of the ImperialParliament (January 22nd, 1801). Stepping up to Mr. Dundasat the levee, he began in his usual manner, "What's this?what's this? this, that this young Lord (Castlereagh)has brought over from Ireland to throw at my head? Themost Jacobinical thing I ever heard of! Any man whoproposes such a thing is my personal enemy. " Mr. Dundasreplied respectfully but firmly, and immediatelycommunicated the conversation to Mr. Pitt. The King'sremarks had been overheard by the bystanders, so thateither the minister or the Sovereign had now to give way. Pitt, at first, was resolute; the King then offered toimpose silence on himself as regarded the whole subject, provided Mr. Pitt would agree to do likewise, but thehaughty minister refused, and tendered his resignation. On the 5th of February, within five weeks of theconsummation of the Union, this tender was most reluctantlyand regretfully accepted. Lord Grenville, Mr. Dundas, and others of his principal colleagues went out of officewith him; Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh followingtheir example. Of the new Cabinet, Addington, the Speaker, was Premier, with Lord Hardwicke as Lord-Lieutenant ofIreland. By the enemies of Pitt this was looked upon asa mere administration _ad interim_; as a concertedarrangement to enable him to evade an unfavourablepeace--that of Amiens--which he saw coming; but it isonly fair to say, that the private letters of the period, since published, do not sanction any such imputation. Itis, however, to be observed, _per contra_, that threeweeks after his formal resignation, he had no hesitationin assuring the King, who had just recovered from one ofhis attacks brought on by this crisis, that he wouldnever again urge the Catholic claims on his Majesty'snotice. On this understanding he returned to office inthe spring of 1804; to this compact he adhered till hisdeath, in January, 1806. In Ireland, the events immediately consequent upon theUnion, were such as might have been expected. Many ofthose who had been instrumental in carrying it, weredisappointed and discontented with their new situationin the empire. Of these, the most conspicuous and theleast to be pitied, was Lord Clare. That haughty, domineering spirit, accustomed to dictate with almostabsolute power to the Privy Counsellors and peerage ofIreland, experienced nothing but mortification in theImperial House of Lords. The part he hoped to play onthat wider stage he found impossible to assume; heconfronted there in the aged Thurlow and the astuteLoughborough, law lords as absolute as himself, who soonmade him conscious that, though a main agent of the Union, he was only a stranger in the united legislature. TheDuke of Bedford reminded him that "the Union had nottransferred his dictatorial powers to the ImperialParliament;" other noble Lords were hardly less severe. Pitt was cold, and Grenville ceremonious; and in thearrangements of the Addington ministry he was not evenconsulted. He returned to Ireland before the first yearof the Union closed, in a state of mind and temper whichpreyed upon his health. Before the second session of theImperial Parliament assembled, he had been borne to thegrave amid the revilings and hootings of the multitude. Dublin, true to its ancient disposition, which led thetownsfolk of the twelfth century to bury the ancestor ofDermid McMurrogh with the carcass of a dog, filled thegrave of the once splendid Lord Chancellor with everydescription of garbage. On the other hand, Lord Castlereagh, younger, suppler, and more accommodating to English prejudices, rose fromone Cabinet office to another, until at length, in fifteenyears from the Union, he directed the destinies of theEmpire, as absolutely, as he had moulded the fate ofIreland. To Castlereagh and the Wellesley family, theUnion was in truth, an era of honour and advancement. The sons of the spendthrift amateur, Lord Mornington, were reserved to rule India, and lead the armies ofEurope; while the son of Flood's colleague in the Reformconvention of 1783, was destined to give law to Christendom, at the Congress of Vienna. A career very different in all respects from those justmentioned, closed in the second year of Dublin's widowhoodas a metropolis. It was the career of a young man offour-and-twenty, who snatched at immortal fame and obtainedit, in the very agony of a public, but not for him, ashameful death. This was Robert, youngest brother ofThomas Addis Emmet, whose _emeute_ of 1803 would longsince have sunk to the level of other city riots, butfor the matchless dying speech of which it was the preludeand the occasion. This young gentleman was in his 20thyear when expelled with nineteen others from TrinityCollege, in 1798, by order of the visitors, Lord Clareand Dr. Duigenan. His reputation as a scholar and debaterwas already established within the college walls, andthe highest expectations were naturally entertained ofhim, by his friends. One of his early college companions--Thomas Moore--who lived to know all the leading menof his age, declares that of all he had ever known, hewould place among "the highest of the few" who combinedin "the greatest degree pure moral worth with intellectualpower"--Robert Emmet. After the expatriation of hisbrother, young Emmet visited him at Fort-George, andproceeded from thence to the Continent. During the yearthe Union was consummated he visited Spain, and travelledthrough Holland, France, and Switzerland, till the peaceof Amiens. Subsequently he joined his brother's familyin Paris, and was taken into the full confidence of theexiles, then in direct communication with Buonaparte andTalleyrand. It was not concealed from the Irish by eitherthe First Consul, or his minister, that the peace withEngland was likely to have a speedy termination; and, accordingly, they were not unprepared for the newdeclaration of war between the two countries, which wasofficially made at London and Paris, in May, 1803--littlemore than twelve months after the proclamation of thepeace of Amiens. It was in expectation of this rupture, and a consequentinvasion of Ireland, that Robert Emmet returned to Dublin, in October, 1802, to endeavour to re-establish in somedegree the old organization of the United Irishmen. Inthe same expectation, McNevin, Corbet, and others of theIrish in France, formed themselves, by permission of theFirst Consul, into a legion, under command of Tone'strusty aid-de-camp, McSheehey; while Thomas Addis Emmetand Arthur O'Conor remained at Paris, the plenipotentiariesof their countrymen. On the rupture with England Buonapartetook up the Irish negotiation with much earnestness; heeven suggested to the exiles the colours and the mottounder which they were to fight, when once landed on theirown soil. The flag on a tricolour ground, was to have agreen centre, bearing the letters _R. I. --RepubliqueIrlandaise_. The legend at large was to be: _L'independencede l'Irlande--Liberte de Conscience_; a motto whichcertainly told the whole story. The First Consul alsosuggested the formation of an Irish Committee at Paris, and the preparation of statements of Irish grievancesfor the _Moniteur_, and the semi-official papers. Robert Emmet seems to have been confidently of opinionsoon after his return to Dublin, that nineteen out ofthe thirty-two counties would rise; and, perhaps, if asufficient French force had landed, his opinion mighthave been justified by the fact. So did not think, however, John Keogh, Valentine Lawless (Lord Cloncurry), and otherclose observers of the state of the country. But Emmetwas enthusiastic, and he inspired his own spirit intomany. Mr. Long, a merchant, placed 1, 400 pounds sterlingat his disposal; he had himself, in consequence of therecent death of his father, stock to the amount of 1, 500pounds converted into cash, and with these funds heentered actively on his preliminary preparations. Hischief confidants and assistants were Thomas Russell andMathew Dowdall, formerly prisoners at Fort-George, butnow permitted to return; William Putnam McCabe, the mostadventurous of all the party, a perfect Proteus indisguise; Gray, a Wexford attorney; Colonel Lumm ofKildare, an old friend of Lord Edward Fitzgerald; Mr. Long, before mentioned; Hamilton, an Enniskillen barrister, married to Russell's niece; James Hope of Templepatrick, and Michael Dwyer, the Wicklow outlaw, who had remainedsince '98 uncaptured in the mountains. In the month of March, when the renewal of hostilitieswith France was decided on in England, the preparationsof the conspirators were pushed forward with redoubledenergy. The still wilder conspiracy headed by ColonelDespard in London, the previous winter, the secret andthe fate of which was well known to the Dublin leaders--Dowdall being Despard's agent--did not in the leastintimidate Emmet or his friends. Despard suffered deathin February, with nine of his followers, but his Irishconfederates only went on with their arrangements witha more reckless resolution. Their plan was the plan ofO'Moore and McGuire, to surprise the Castle, seize theauthorities and secure the capital; but the Dublin of1803 was in many respects very different from the Dublinof 1641. The discontent, however, arising from the recentloss of the Parliament might have turned the city scalein Emmet's favour, had its first stroke been successful. The emissaries at work in the Leinster and Ulster countiesgave besides sanguine reports of success, so that, judgingby the information in his possession, an older and coolerhead than Robert Emmet's might well have been misled intothe expectation of nineteen counties rising if the signalcould only be given from Dublin Castle. If the blow couldbe withheld till August, there was every reason to expecta French invasion of England, which would drain away allthe regular army, and leave the people merely the militiaand the volunteers to contend against. But all the Dublinarrangements exploded in the melancholy _emeute_ of the23rd of July, 1803, in which the Chief-Justice, LordKilwarden, passing through the disturbed quarter of thecity at the time, was cruelly murdered; for which, andfor his cause, Emmet suffered death on the same spot onthe 20th of September following. For the same cause, the equally pure-minded and chivalrous Thomas Russellwas executed at Downpatrick; Kearney, Roche, Redmond andHowley also suffered death at Dublin; Alien, Putnam, McCabe, and Dowdall escaped to France, where the formerbecame an officer of rank in the army of Napoleon; MichaelDwyer, who Lad surrendered on condition of being allowedto emigrate to' North America, died in exile in Australia, in 1825. Others of Emmet's known or suspected friends, after undergoing two, three, and even four years'imprisonment, were finally discharged without trial. Mr. Long, his generous banker, and James Hope, hisfaithful emissary, were both permitted to end; theirdays in Ireland. The trial of Robert Emmet, from the wonderful death-speechdelivered at it, is perfectly well known. But in justiceto a man of genius equal if not superior to his own--anIrishman, whose memory is national property, as well asEmmet's, it must here be observed, that the latter neverdelivered, and had no justification to deliver the vulgardiatribe against Plunkett, his prosecutor, now constantlyprinted in the common and incorrect versions of thatspeech. Plunkett, as Attorney-General, in 1803, had nooption but to prosecute for the crown; he was a politicianof a totally different school from that of Emmet; heshared all Burke and Grattan's horror of Frenchrevolutionary principles. In the fervour of his accusatoryoration he may have gone too far; he may have, and inreading it now, it is clear to us that he did press toohard upon the prisoner in the dock. He might have performedhis awful office with more sorrow and less vehemence, for there was no doubt about Ms jury. But withal, he gaveno fair grounds for any such retort as is falsely attributedto Emmet, the very style of which proves its falsity. Itis now well known that the apostrophe in the death-speech, commencing "you viper, " alleged to have been addressedto Plunkett, was the interpolation many years afterwardsof that literary Ishmaelite--Walter Cox of the _HibernianMagazine_, --who through such base means endeavoured toaim a blow at Plunkett's reputation. The personal reputationof the younger Emmet, the least known to his countrymenof all the United Irish leaders, except by the crowningact of his death, is safe beyond the reach of calumny, or party zeal, or time's changes. It is embalmed in theverse of Moore and Southey, and the precious prose ofWashington Irvine. Men of genius in England and Americahave done honour to his memory; in the annals of his owncountry his name deserves to stand with those youthfulchiefs, equally renowned, and equally ready to seal theirpatriotism with their blood--Sir Cahir O'Doherty andHugh Roe O'Donnell. CHAPTER II. ADMINISTRATION OF LORD HARDWICKE (1801 TO 1806), AND OF THE DUKE OF BEDFORD (1806 TO 1808). During the five years in which Lord Hardwicke was Viceroyof Ireland, the _habeas corpus_ remained suspended, andthe Insurrection Act continued in force. These were theyears in which the power of Napoleon made the mostastonishing strides; the years in which he remodelledthe German Empire, placed on his head the iron crown ofLombardy, on his sister's that of Etruria, and on hisbrother's that of Holland; when the Consulate gave placeto the Empire, and Dukedoms and Principalities were freelydistributed among the marshals of the Grand Army. Duringall these years, Napoleon harassed England with menacesof invasion, and excited Ireland with corresponding hopesof intervention. The more far-seeing United Irishmen, however, had so little faith in these demonstrations thatEmmet and McNevin emigrated to the United States, leavingbehind them in the ranks of the French Army, those oftheir compatriots who, either from habit or preference, had become attached to a military life. It must howeverbe borne in mind, for it is essential to the understandingof England's policy towards Ireland, in the first twelveor fourteen years after the Union, that the wild hope ofa French invasion never forsook the hearts of a largeportion of the Irish people, so long as Napoleon Buonapartecontinued at the head of the government of France. Duringthe whole of that period the British government were keptin constant apprehension for Ireland; under this feelingthey kept up and increased the local militia; strengthenedgarrisons, and replenished magazines; constructed a chainof Martello towers round the entire coast, and maintainedin full rigour the Insurrection Act. They refused, indeed, to the Munster magistrates in 1803, and subsequently, the power of summary convictions which they possessed in'98; but they sent special Commissions of their own intothe suspected counties, who sentenced to death with aslittle remorse as if they had been so many hydrophobicdogs. Ten, twelve, and even twenty capital executionswas no uncommon result of a single sitting of one ofthose murderous commissions, over which Lord Norburypresided; but it must be added that there were otherjudges, who observed not only the decencies of everydaylife, but who interpreted the law in mercy as well as injustice. They were a minority, it is true, but there weresome such, nevertheless. The session of the Imperial Parliament of 1803-'4, waschiefly remarkable for its war speeches and war budget. In Ireland 50, 000 men of the regular militia were underarms and under pay; 70, 000 volunteers were enrolled, battalioned, and ready to be called out in case ofemergency, to which it was proposed to add 25, 000sea-fencibles. General Fox, who it was alleged hadneglected taking proper precaution at the time of RobertEmmet's _emeute_, was replaced by Lord Cathcart, asCommander-in-Chief. The _public_ reports at least of thisofficer, were highly laudatory of the discipline andconduct of the Irish militia. In May, 1804, Mr. Pitt returned to power, as Chancellorof the Exchequer and Prime Minister, when the whole Pittpolicy towards Ireland, France, and America, was of courseresumed; a policy which continued to be acted on duringthe short remainder of the life of its celebrated author. The year 1805 may be called the first year of the revivalof public spirit and public opinion after the Union. Inthat year Grattan had allowed himself to be persuaded byFox, into entering the Imperial Parliament, and his oldfriend Lord Fitzwilliam found a constituency for him, inhis Yorkshire borough of Malton. About the same time, Pitt, or his colleagues, induced Plunkett to enter thesame great assembly, providing him with a constituencyat Midhurst, in Sussex. But they did not succeed--if theyever attempted--to match Plunkett with Grattan. Thosegreat men were warm and close friends in the Imperial asthey had been in the Irish Parliament; very dissimilarin their genius, they were both decided anti-Jacobins;both strenuous advocates of the Catholic claims, and bothproud and fond of their original country. Grattan hadmore poetry, and Plunkett more science; but the heart ofthe man of colder exterior opened and swelled out, inone of the noblest tributes ever paid by one great oratorto another, when Plunkett introduced in 1821, in theImperial Parliament, his allusion to his illustriousfriend, then recently deceased. Preparatory to the meeting of Parliament in 1805, themembers of the old Catholic Committee, who had not metfor any such purpose for several years, assembled inDublin, and prepared a petition which they authorizedtheir chairman, Lord Fingall, to place in such hands ashe might choose, for presentation in both Houses. Hislordship on reaching London waited on Mr. Pitt, andentreated him to take charge of the petition; but hefound that the Prime Minister had promised the King onething and the Catholics another, and, therefore, declinedacceding to his request. He then gave the petition intothe charge of Lord Grenville and Mr. Fox, and by themthe subject was brought accordingly before the Lords andCommons. This debate in the Commons was remarkable inmany respects, but most of all for Grattan's _debut_. A lively curiosity to hear one of whom so much had beensaid in his own country, pervaded the whole House, asGrattan rose. His grotesque little figure, his eccentricaction, and his strangely cadenced sentences rathersurprised than attracted attention, but as he warmed withthe march of ideas, men of both parties warmed to thegenial and enlarged philosophy, embodied in the interfusedrhetoric and logic of the orator; Pitt was seen to beattime with his hand to every curiously proportioned period, and at length both sides of the House broke into heartyacknowledgments of the genius of the new member forMalton. But as yet their cheers were not followed bytheir votes; the division against going into Committeewas 336 to 124. In sustaining Fox's motion, Sir John Cox Hippesley hadsuggested "the Veto" as a safeguard against theencroachments of Rome, which the Irish bishops would notbe disposed to refuse. Archbishop Troy, and Dr. Moylan, Bishop of Cork, gave considerable praise to this speech, and partly at their request it was published in pamphletform. This brought up directly a discussion among theCatholics, which lasted until 1810, was renewed in 1813, and not finally set at rest till the passage of the billof 1829, without any such safeguard. Sir John C. Hippesleyhad modelled his proposal, he said, on the liberties ofthe Gallican Church. "Her privileges, " he added, "dependedon two prominent maxims: 1st. That the Pope had noauthority to order or interfere in anything in which thecivil rights of the kingdom were concerned. 2nd. Thatnotwithstanding the Pope's supremacy was acknowledged incases purely spiritual, yet, in other respects, his powerwas limited by the decrees of the ancient councils ofthe realm. " The Irish Church, therefore, was to besimilarly administered, to obviate the objections of theopponents of complete civil emancipation. In February, 1806, on the death of Pitt, Mr. Fox cameinto power, with an uncertain majority and a powerfulopposition. In April, the Duke of Bedford arrived, asViceroy, at Dublin, and the Catholics presented, throughMr. Keogh, a mild address, expressive of their hopes that"the glorious development" of their emancipation wouldbe reserved for the new government. The Duke returnedan evasive answer in public, but privately, both at Dublinand London, the Catholics were assured that, as soon asthe new Premier could convert the King--as soon as hewas in a position to act--he would make their cause hisown. No doubt Fox, who had great nobleness of soul, intended to do so; but on the 13th of September of thesame year, he followed his great rival, Pitt, to thevaults of Westminster Abbey. A few months only hadintervened between the death of the rivals. Lords Grey and Grenville, during the next recess, havingformed a new administration, instructed their IrishSecretary, Mr. Elliot, to put himself in communicationwith the Catholics, in relation to a measure making themeligible to naval and military offices. The Catholicsaccepted this proposal with pleasure, but at the openingof the session of 1807, in a deputation to the Irishgovernment, again urged the question of completeemancipation. The bill in relation to the army and navyhad, originally, the King's acquiescence; but early inMarch, after it had passed the Commons, George III. Changed his mind--if the expression may be used of him--at that time. He declared he had not considered it atfirst so important as he afterwards found it; he intimatedthat it could not receive his sanction; he went farther--he required a written pledge from Lords Grey andGrenville never again to bring forward such a measure, "nor ever to propose anything connected with the Catholicquestion. " This unconstitutional pledge they refused togive, hurried the bill into law, and resigned. Mr. SpencerPerceval was then sent for, and what was called "theNo-Popery Cabinet, " in which Mr. Canning and LordCastlereagh were the principal Secretaries of State, wasformed. Thus, for the second time in six years, had theCatholic question made and unmade cabinets. The Catholics were a good deal dispirited in 1805, bythe overwhelming majority by which their petition of thatyear was refused to be referred to a committee. In 1806, they contented themselves with simply addressing the Dukeof Bedford, on his arrival at Dublin. In 1807, the"No-Popery Cabinet, " by the result of the elections, wasplaced in possession of an immense majority--a fact whichexcluded all prospects of another change of government. But the Committee were too long accustomed todisappointments to despair even under these reverses. Early in the next session their petition was presentedby Mr. Grattan in the Commons, and Lord Donoughmore inthe Lords. The majority against going into committee was, in the Commons, 153; in the Lords, 87. Similar motionsin the session of 1808, made by the same parties, wererejected by majorities somewhat reduced, and the question, on the whole, might be said to have recovered some ofits former vantage ground, in despite of the bitter, pertinacious resistance of Mr. Perceval, in the one House, and the Duke of Portland, in the other. The short-lived administration of Mr. Fox, though it wassaid to include "all the talents, " had been full ofnothing but disappointment to his Irish supporters. TheDuke of Bedford was, indeed, a great improvement on LordHardwicke, and Mr. Ponsonby on Lord Redesdale, asChancellor, and the liberation of the political prisonersconfined since 1803 did honour to the new administration. But there the measures of justice so credulously expected, both as to persons and interests, ended. Curran, whoseprofessional claims to advancement were far beyond thoseof dozens of men who had been, during the past ten years, lifted over his head, was neglected, and very naturallydissatisfied; Grattan, never well adapted for a courtier, could not obtain even minor appointments for his oldestand staunchest adherents; while the Catholics found theirWhig friends, now that they were in office, as anxiousto exact the hard conditions of the Veto as Castlereaghhimself. In truth, the Catholic body at this period, and for afew years subsequently, was deplorably disorganized. Theyoung generation of Catholic lawyers who had grown upsince the Relief Act of '93 threw the profession open tothem, were men of another stamp from the old generationof Catholic merchants, who had grown up under the ReliefAct of 1778. In the ten years before the Union, theCatholic middle class was headed by men of business; inthe period we have now reached, their principal spokesmencame from "the Four Courts. " John Keogh, the ablest, wisest and firmest of the former generation, was nowpassing into the decline of life, was frequently absentfrom the Committee, and when present, frequently overruledby younger and more ardent men. In 1808, his absence, from illness, was regretted by Mr. O'Connell in an eloquentspeech addressed to the Committee on the necessity ofunited action and incessant petitions. "Had he beenpresent, " said the young barrister, "his powers ofreasoning would have frightened away the captiousobjections" to that course, "and the Catholics of Irelandwould again have to thank their old and useful servantfor the preservation of their honour and the support oftheir interests. " It was a strange anomaly, and one whichcontinued for some years longer, that the statesmen ofthe Catholic body should be all Protestants. A moregenerous or tolerant spirit than Grattan's never existed;a clearer or more fearless intellect than Plunkett's wasnot to be found; nobler and more disinterested friendsthan Ponsonby, Curran, Burroughs and Wallace, no peopleever had; but still they were friends from without; menof another religion, or of no particular religion, advisingand guiding an eminently religious people in their strugglefor religious liberty. This could not always last; itwas not natural, it was not desirable that it shouldlast, though some years more were to pass away beforeCatholic Emancipation was to be accomplished by the union, the energy and the strategy of the Catholics themselves. CHAPTER III. ADMINISTRATION OF THE DUKE OF RICHMOND (1807 TO 1813). Charles, fourth Duke of Richmond, succeeded the Duke ofBedford, as Viceroy, in April, 1807, with Lord Mannersas Lord Chancellor, John Foster, Chancellor of theExchequer--for the separate exchequer of Ireland continuedto exist till 1820--and Sir Arthur Wellesley as ChiefSecretary. Of these names, the two last were alreadyfamiliar to their countrymen, in connection with thehistory of their own Parliament; but the new ChiefSecretary had lately returned home covered with Indianlaurels, and full of the promise of other honours andvictories to come. The spirit of this administration was repressive, anti-Catholic and high Tory. To maintain and strengthenBritish power, to keep the Catholics quiet, to getpossession of the Irish representation and convert itinto a means of support for the Tory party in England, these were the leading objects of the seven years'administration of the Duke of Richmond. Long afterwards, when the Chief Secretary of 1807 had become "the mosthigh, mighty and noble prince, " whom all England andnearly all Europe delighted to honour, he defended theIrish administration of which he had formed a part, forits habitual use of corrupt means and influence, inarguments which do more credit to his frankness than hismorality. He had "to turn the moral weakness of individualsto good account, " such was his argument. He stoutly deniedthat "the whole nation is, or ever was corrupt;" but as"almost every man of mark has his price, " the ChiefSecretary was obliged to use corrupt influences "tocommand a majority in favour of order;" however theparticular kinds of influence employed might go againsthis grain, he had, as he contended, no other alternativebut to employ them. With the exception of a two months' campaign in Denmark--July to September, 1807--Sir Arthur Wellesley continuedto fill the office of Chief Secretary, until his departurefor the Peninsula, in July, 1808. Even then he wasexpressly requested to retain the nominal office, withpower to appoint a deputy, and receive meanwhile the veryhandsome salary of 8, 000 pounds sterling a year. In thewonderful military events, in which during the next sevenyears Sir Arthur was to play a leading part, thecomparatively unimportant particulars of his IrishSecretariate have been long since forgotten. We havealready described the general spirit of that administration:it is only just to add, that the dispassionate and resolutesecretary, though he never shrank from his share of thejobbery done daily at the Castle, repressed with as muchfirmness the over-zeal of those he calls "red-hotProtestants, " as he showed in resisting, at that period, what he considered the unconstitutional pretensions ofthe Catholics. An instance of the impartiality to whichhe was capable of rising, when influenced by partisansor religious prejudices, is afforded by his letterdissuading the Wexford yeomanry from celebrating theanniversary of the battle of Vinegar Hill. He regardedsuch a celebration as certain "to exasperate party spirit, "and "to hurt the feelings of others;" he, therefore, inthe name of the Lord-Lieutenant, strongly discouragedit, and the intention was accordingly abandoned. It isto be regretted that the same judicious rule was not atthe same tune enforced by government as to the celebrationof the much more obsolete and much more invidiousanniversaries of Aughrim and the Boyne. The general election which followed the death of Fox, inNovember, 1806, was the first great trial of politicalstrength under the Union. As was right and proper, Mr. Grattan, no longer indebted for a seat to an Englishpatron, however liberal, was returned at the head of thepoll for the city of Dublin. His associate, however, thebanker, La Touche, was defeated; the second member electbeing Mr. Robert Shaw, the Orange candidate. The Catholicelectors to a man, under the vigorous prompting of JohnKeogh and his friends, polled their votes for theirProtestant advocate; they did more, they subscribed thesum of 4, 000 pounds sterling to pay the expenses of thecontest, but this sum Mrs. Grattan induced the treasurerto return to the subscribers. Ever watchful for herhusband's honour, that admirable woman, as ardent apatriot as himself, refused the generous tender of theCatholics of Dublin. Although his several electionshad cost Mr. Grattan above 54, 000 pounds--more than thewhole national grant of 1782--she would not, in thiscase, that any one else should bear the cost of his lasttriumph in the widowed capital of his own country. The great issue tried in this election of 1807, in thoseof 1812, 1818, and 1826, was still the Catholic question. All other Irish, and most other imperial domestic questionswere subordinate to this. In one shape or another, itcame up in every session of Parliament. It entered intothe calculations of every statesman of every party; itcontinued to make and unmake cabinets; in the press andin every society, it was the principal topic of discussion. While tracing, therefore, its progress, from year toyear, we do but follow the main stream of national history;all other branches come back again to this centre, orexhaust themselves in secondary and forgotten results. The Catholics themselves, deprived in Ireland of aParliament on which they could act directly, were drivenmore and more Into permanent association, as the onlymeans of operating a change in the Imperial legislature. The value of a legal, popular, systematic, and continuouscombination of "the people" acting within the law, bymeans of meetings, resolutions, correspondence, andpetitions, was not made suddenly, nor by all the partyinterested, at one and the same time. On the minds of themore sagacious, however, an impression, favourable to suchorganized action, grew deeper year by year, and at lastsettled into a certainty which was justified by success. In May, 1809, the Catholic Committee had been reconstructed, and its numbers enlarged. In a series of resolutions itwas agreed that the Catholic lords, the surviving delegatesof 1793, the committee which managed the petitions of1805 and 1807, and such persons "as shall distinctlyappear to them to possess the confidence of the Catholicbody, " do form henceforth the General Committee. It wasproposed by O'Connell, to avoid "the Convention Act, ""that the noblemen and gentlemen aforesaid are notrepresentatives of the Catholic body, or any portionthereof. " The Committee were authorized to collect fundsfor defraying expenses; a Treasurer was chosen, and apermanent Secretary, Mr. Edward Hay, the historian ofthe Wexford rebellion--an active and intelligent officer. The new Committee acted with great judgment in 1810, butin 1811 Lord Fingal and his friends projected a GeneralAssembly of the leading Catholics, contrary to theConvention Act, and to the resolution just cited. O'Connellwas opposed to this proposition; yet the assembly met, and were dispersed by the authorities. The Chairman, LordFingal, and Drs. Sheridan and Kirwan, Secretaries, werearrested. Lord Fingal, however, was not prosecuted, butthe Secretaries were, and one of them expiated by twoyears' imprisonment his violation of the act. To getrid of the very pretext of illegality, the CatholicCommittee dissolved, but only to reappear under a lessvulnerable form, as "the Catholic Board. " It is from the year 1810 that we must date the rise, among the Catholics themselves, of a distinctive line ofpolicy, suited to the circumstances of the present century, and the first appearance of a group of public men, capableof maintaining and enforcing that policy. Not that theancient leaders of that body were found deficient, informer times, either in foresight or determination; butnew times called for new men; the Irish Catholics werenow to seek their emancipation from the imperial government;new tactics and new combinations were necessary to success;and, in brief, instead of being liberated from theirbonds at the good will and pleasure of benevolentProtestants, it was now to be tested whether they werecapable of contributing to their own emancipation, --whetherthey were willing and able to assist their friends andto punish their enemies. Though the Irish Catholics could not legally meet inconvention any more than their Protestant fellow-countrymen, there was nothing to prevent them assembling voluntarily, from every part of the kingdom, without claim to delegation. With whom the happy idea of "the aggregate meetings"originated is not certainly known, but to O'Connell andthe younger set of leading spirits this was a machinerycapable of being worked with good effect. No longerconfined to a select Committee, composed mainly of a fewaged and cautious, though distinguished persons, thefearless "agitators, " as they now began to be called, stood face to face with the body of the people themselves. The disused theatre in Fishamble Street was their habitualplace of meeting in Dublin, and there, in 1811 and 1812, the orators met to criticise the conduct of the Duke ofRichmond--to denounce Mr. Wellesley Pole--to attackSecretaries of State and Prime Ministers--to return thanksto Lords Grey and Grenville for refusing to give theunconstitutional anti-Catholic pledge required by theKing, and to memorial the Prince Regent. From thosemeetings, especially in the year 1812, the leadership ofO'Connell must be dated. After seven years of wearisomeprobation, after enduring seven years the envy and thecalumny of many who, as they were his fellow-labourers, should have been his friends; after demonstrating forseven years that his judgment and his courage were equalto his eloquence, the successful Kerry barrister, thenin his thirty-seventh year, was at length generallyrecognized as "the counsellor" of his co-religionists--as the veritable "Man of the People. " Dangers, delaysand difficulties lay thick and dark in the future, butfrom the year, when in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, thevoice of the famous advocate was recognized as the voiceof the Catholics of Ireland, their cause was taken outof the category of merely ministerial measures, andexhibited in its true light as a great national contest, entered into by the people themselves for complete civiland religious freedom. Sir Arthur Wellesley had been succeeded in 1810 in theSecretaryship by his brother, Mr. Wellesley Pole, whochiefly signalized his administration by a circularagainst conventions, and the prosecution of Sheridan andKirwan, in 1811. He was in turn succeeded by a much moreable and memorable person--_Mr_. , afterwards Sir RobertPeel. The names of Peel and Wellington come thus intojuxtaposition in Irish politics in 1812, as they will befound hi juxtaposition on the same subject twenty andthirty years later. Early in the session of 1812, Mr. Perceval, the Premier, had been assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons, by Bellingham, and a new political crisis was precipitatedon the country. In the government which followed, LordLiverpool became the chief, with Castlereagh and Canningas members of his administration. In the general electionwhich followed, Mr. Grattan was again returned for Dublin, and Mr. Plunkett was elected for Trinity College, butMr. Curran was defeated at Newry, and Mr. ChristopherHely Hutchinson, the liberal candidate, at Cork. Uponthe whole, however, the result was favourable to theCatholic cause, and the question was certain to haveseveral additional Irish supporters in the new Houseof Commons. In the administrative changes that followed, Mr. Peel, though only in his twenty-fourth year, was appointed tothe important post of Chief Secretary, The son of thefirst baronet of the name--this youthful statesman hadfirst been elected for Cashel, almost as soon as he cameof age, in 1809. He continued Chief Secretary for sixyears, from the twenty-fourth to the thirtieth year ofhis age. He distinguished himself in the House of Commonsalmost as soon as he entered it, and the predictions ofhis future premiership were not, even then, confined tomembers of his own family. No English statesman, sincethe death of William Pitt, has wielded so great a powerin Irish affairs as Sir Robert Peel, and it is, therefore, important to consider, under what influence, and by whatmaxims he regulated his public conduct during the timehe filled the most important administrative office inthat country. Sir Robert Peel brought to the Irish government, notwithstanding his Oxford education and the advantagesof foreign travel which he had enjoyed, prejudices themost illiberal, on the subject of all others on which astatesman should be most free from prejudice--religion. An anti-Catholic of the school of Mr. Perceval and LordEldon, he at once constituted himself the principalopponent of Grattan's annual motion in favour of CatholicEmancipation. That older men, born in the evil time, should be bigots and defenders of the Penal Code, washardly wonderful, but a young statesman, exhibiting atthat late day, such studied and active hostility to solarge a body of his fellow subjects, naturally drew uponhis head the execrations of all those whose enfranchisementhe so stubbornly resisted. Even his great abilities weremost absurdly denied, under this passionate feeling ofwrong and injustice. His Constabulary and his StipendiaryMagistracy were resisted, ridiculed, and denounced, asoutrages on the liberty of the subject, and assaults onthe independence of the bench. The term _Peeler_ becamesynonymous with spy, informer, and traitor, and the ChiefSecretary was detested not only for the illiberal sentimentshe had expressed, but for the machinery of order he hadestablished. After half a century's experience, we maysafely say, that the Irish Constabulary have shownthemselves to be a most valuable police, and as littledeserving of popular ill-will as any such body can everexpect to be, but they were judged very differently duringthe Secretaryship of their founder; for, at that time, being new and intrusive, they may, no doubt, have deservedmany of the hard and bitter things which were generallysaid of them. The first session of the new Parliament in the year 1813--the last of the Duke of Richmond's Viceroyalty--wasremarkable for the most important debate which had yetarisen on the Catholic question. In the previous year, a motion of Canning's, in favour of "a final andconciliatory adjustment, " which was carried by an unexpectedmajority of 235 to 106, encouraged Grattan to prepare adetailed Emancipation Bill, instead of making his usualannual motion of referring the Catholic petitions to theconsideration of the Committee. This bill recited theestablishment of the Protestant succession to the crown, and the establishment of the Protestant religion in theState. It then proceeded to provide that Roman Catholicsmight sit and vote in Parliament; might hold all offices, civil and military, except the offices of Chancellor orKeeper of the Great Seal in England, or Lord-Lieutenant, Lord Deputy, or Chancellor of Ireland; another sectionthrew open to Roman Catholics all lay corporations, whilea proviso excluded them either from holding or bestowingbenefices in the Established Church. Such was theEmancipation Act of 1813, proposed by Grattan; an actfar less comprehensive than that introduced by the samestatesman in 1795, into the Parliament of Ireland, butstill, in many of its provisions, a long stride in advance. Restricted and conditioned as this measure was, it stilldid not meet the objections of the opponents of thequestion, in giving the crown a Veto in the appointmentof the bishops. Sir John Hippesley's pernicioussuggestion--reviving a very old traditional policy--wasembodied by Canning in one set of amendments, and byCastlereagh in another. Canning's amendments, as summarisedby the eminent Catholic jurist, Charles Butler, were tothis effect:-- "He first appointed a certain number of Commissioners, who were to profess the Catholic religion, and to be laypeers of Great Britain or Scotland, possessing a freeholdestate of one thousand pounds a year; to be filled up, from time to time, by his Majesty, his heirs, or successors. The Commissioners were to take an oath for the faithfuldischarge of their office, and the observance of secrecyin all matters not thereby required to be disclosed, withpower to appoint a Secretary with salary (proposed to befive hundred pounds a year), payable out of the consolidatedfund. The Secretary was to take an oath similar to thatof the Commissioners. "It was then provided, that every person elected to thedischarge of Roman Catholic episcopal functions in GreatBritain or Scotland should, previously to the dischargeof his office, notify his then election to the Secretary;that the Secretary should notify it to the Commissioners, and they to the Privy Council, with a certificate 'thatthey did not know or believe anything of the personnominated, which tended to impeach his loyalty or peaceableconduct;' unless they had knowledge of the contrary, inwhich case they should refuse their certificate. Personsobtaining such a certificate were rendered capable ofexercising episcopal functions within the United Kingdom;if they exercised them without a certificate, they wereto be considered guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable tobe sent out of the kingdom. "Similar provisions respecting Ireland were thenintroduced. " "The second set of clauses, " says Mr. Butler, "wassuggested by Lord Castlereagh, and provided that theCommissioners under the preceding clauses--with theaddition, as to Great Britain, of the Lord Chancellor, or Lord Keeper, or first Commissioner of the Great Sealfor the time being, and of one of his Majesty's principalSecretaries of State, being a Protestant, or such otherProtestant member of his Privy Council as his Majestyshould appoint--and with a similar addition in respectto Ireland--and with the further addition, as to GreatBritain, of the person then exercising episcopal functionsamong the Catholics in London--and, in respect to Ireland, of the titular Roman Catholic Archbishops of Armagh andDublin, --should be Commissioners for the purposesthereinafter mentioned. "The Commissioners thus appointed were to take an oathfor the discharge of their office, and observance ofsecrecy, similar to the former, and employ the sameSecretary, and three of them were to form a quorum. "The bill then provided, that subjects of his Majesty, receiving any bull, dispensation, or other instrument, from the See of Rome, or any person in foreign parts, acting under the authority of that See, should, withinsix weeks, send a copy of it, signed with his name, tothe Secretary of the Commissioners, who should transmitthe same to them. "But with a proviso, that if the person receiving thesame should deliver to the Secretary of the Commission, within the time before prescribed, a writing under hishand, certifying the fact of his having received such abull, dispensation, or other instrument, and accompanyinghis certificate with an oath, declaring that 'it related, wholly and exclusively, to spiritual concerns, and thatit did not contain, or refer to, any matter or thingwhich did or could, directly or indirectly, affect orinterfere with the duty and allegiance which he owed tohis Majesty's sacred person and government, or with thetemporal, civil, or social rights, properties, or dutiesof any other of his Majesty's subjects, then theCommissioners were, in their discretion, to receive suchcertificate and oath, in lieu of the copy of the bull, dispensation, or other instrument. "Persons conforming to these provisions were to be exemptedfrom all pains and penalties, to which they would beliable under the existing statutes; otherwise, they wereto be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor; and in lieuof the pains and penalties, under the former statutes, be liable to be sent out of the kingdom. "The third set of clauses provided that, within a timeto be specified, the Commissioners were to meet andappoint their Secretary, and give notice of it to hisMajesty's principal Secretaries of State in Great Britainand Ireland; and the provisions of the act were to be inforce from that time. " On the second reading, in May, the Committee of Parliament, on motion of the Speaker, then on the floor, struck outthe clause enabling Catholics "to sit and vote in eitherHouse of Parliament, " by a majority of four votes: 251against 247. Mr. Ponsonby immediately rose, and, observingthat, as "the bill without the clause, " was unworthy bothof the Catholics and its authors, he moved the chairmando leave the chair. The committee rose, without a division, and the Emancipation Bill of 1813 was abandoned. Unhappily, the contest in relation to the Veto, whichhad originated in the House of Commons, was extended tothe Catholic body at large. Several of the noblemen, members of the board, were not averse to granting somesuch power as was claimed to the crown; some of theprofessional class, more anxious to be emancipated thanparticular as to the means, favoured the same view. Thebishops at the time of the Union, were known to haveentertained the idea, and Sir John Hippesley had publishedtheir letters, which certainly did not discourage hisproposal. But the second order of the clergy, the immensemajority of the laity, and all the new prelates, calledto preside over vacant sees, in the first decade of thecentury, were strongly opposed to any such connexion withthe head of the State. Of this party, Mr. O'Connell wasthe uncompromising organ, and, perhaps, it was his courseon this very subject of the Veto, more than anythingelse, which established his pretensions to be consideredthe leader of the Catholic body. Under the prompting ofthe majority, the Catholic prelates met and passed aresolution declaring that they could not accept the billof 1813 as a satisfactory settlement. This resolutionthey formally communicated to the Catholic Board, whovoted them, on O'Connell's motion, enthusiastic thanks. The minority of the Board were silent rather than satisfied, and their dissatisfaction was shown rather by theirabsence from the Board meetings than by open opposition. Mr. O'Connell's position, from this period forward, maybe best understood from the tone in which he was spokenof in the debates of Parliament. At the beginning of thesession of 1815, we find the Chief Secretary (Mr. Peel)stating that he "possesses more influence than any otherperson" with the Irish Catholics, and that no meeting ofthat body was considered complete unless a vote of thanksto Mr. O'Connell was among the resolutions. CHAPTER IV. O'CONNELL'S LEADERSHIP--1813 TO 1821. While the Veto controversy was carried into the pressand the Parliamentary debates, the extraordinary eventsof the last years of Napoleon's reign became of suchextreme interest as to cast into the shade all questionsof domestic policy. The Parliamentary fortunes of theCatholic question varied with the fortunes of the war, and the remoteness of external danger. Thus, in 1815, Sir Henry Parnell's motion for a committee was rejectedby a majority of 228 to 147; in 1816, on Mr. Grattan'ssimilar motion, the vote was 172 to 141; in 1817, Mr. Grattan was again defeated by 245 to 221; in this sessionan act exempting officers in the army and navy fromforswearing Transubstantiation passed and became law. The internal condition of the Catholic body, both inEngland and Ireland, during all those years, was far fromenviable. In England there were Cisalpine and Ultramontanefactions; in Ireland, Vetoists and anti-Vetoists. Thelearned and amiable Charles Butler--among jurists, theornament of his order, was fiercely opposed to the noless learned Dr. Milner, author of "The End of Controversy, "and "Letters to a Prebendary. " In Ireland, a very youngbarrister, who had hardly seen the second anniversary ofhis majority, electrified the aggregate meetings with anew Franco-Irish order of eloquence, naturally enoughemployed in the maintenance of Gallican ideas of churchgovernment. This was Richard Lalor Shiel, the author oftwo or three successful tragedies, and the man, next toO'Connell, who wielded the largest tribunitian power overthe Irish populace during the whole of the subsequentagitation. Educated at Stoneyhurst, he imbibed fromrefugee professors French idioms and a French standardof taste, while, strangely enough, O'Connell, to whom hewas at first opposed, and of whom he became afterwardsthe first lieutenant, educated in France by Britishrefugees, acquired the cumbrous English style of theDouay Bible and the Rheims Testament. The contrast betweenthe two men was every way extreme; physically, mentally, and politically; but it is pleasant to know that theirdifferences never degenerated into distrust, envy ormalice; that, in fact, Daniel O'Connell had throughoutall his after life no more steadfast personal friend thanRichard Lalor Shiel. In the progress of the Catholic agitation, the nextmemorable incident was O'Connell's direct attack on thePrince Regent. That powerful personage, the _de facto_Sovereign of the realm, had long amused the Irish Catholicswith promises and pledges of being favourable to theircause. At an aggregate meeting, in June, 1812, Mr. O'Connell maintained that there were four distinct pledgesof this description in existence: 1. One given in 1806, through the Duke of Bedford, then Lord-Lieutenant, toinduce the Catholics to withhold their petitions for atime. 2. Another given the same year in the Prince'sname by Mr. Ponsonby, then Chancellor. 3. A pledge givento Lord Kenmare, _in writing_, when at Cheltenham. 4. Averbal pledge given to Lord Fingal, in the presence ofLords Clifford and Petre, and reduced to writing andsigned by these three noblemen, soon after quitting thePrince's presence. Over the meeting at which this indictmentwas preferred, Lord Fingal presided, and the celebrated"witchery" resolutions, referring to the influence thenexercised on the Prince by Lady Hertford, were proposedby his lordship's son, Lord Killeen. It may, therefore, be fairly assumed, that the existence of the fourth pledgewas proved, the first and second were never denied, andas to the third--that given to Lord Kenmare--the onlycorrection ever made was, that the Prince's message wasdelivered verbally, by his Private Secretary, ColonelMcMahon, and not in writing. Lord Kenmare, who died inthe autumn of 1812, could not be induced, from a motiveof delicacy, to reduce his recollection of this messageto writing, but he never denied that he had received it, and O'Connell, therefore, during the following years, always held the Prince accountable for this, as for hisother promises. Much difference of opinion arose as tothe wisdom of attacking a person in the position of thePrince; but O'Connell, fully persuaded of the utterworthlessness of the declarations made in that quarter, decided for himself that the bold course was the wisecourse. The effect already was various. The English Whigs, the Prince's early and constant friends, who had followedhim to lengths that honour could hardly sanction, andwho had experienced his hollow-heartedness when latelycalled to govern during his father's illness; they, ofcourse, were not sorry to see him held up to odium inIreland, as a dishonoured gentleman and a false friend. The Irish Whigs, of whom Lord Moira and Mr. Ponsonby werethe leaders, and to whom Mr. Grattan might be said to beattached rather than to belong, saw the rupture withregret, but considered it inevitable. Among "the Prince'sfriends" the attacks upon him in the Dublin meetings wereregarded as little short of treason; while by himself, it is well known the "witchery" resolutions of 1812 wereneither forgotten nor forgiven. The political position of the Holy See, at this period, was such as to induce and enable an indirect Englishinfluence to be exercised, through that channel, uponthe Irish Catholic movement. Pope Pius VII. , a prisonerin France, had delegated to several persons at Romecertain vicarious powers, to be exercised in his name, in case of necessity; of these, more than one had followedhim into exile, so that the position of his representativedevolved at length upon Monsignor Quarrantotti, who, early in 1814, addressed a rescript to Dr. Poynter, vicar-apostolic of the London district, commendatory ofthe Bill of 1813, including the Veto, and the EcclesiasticalCommission proposed by Canning and Castlereagh. Againstthese dangerous concessions, as they considered them, the Irish Catholics despatched their remonstrances toRome, through the agency of the celebrated WexfordFranciscan, Father Richard Hayes; but this clergyman, having spoken with too great freedom, was arrested, andsuffered several months' confinement in the Eternal City. A subsequent embassy of Dr. Murray, coadjutor to theArchbishop of Dublin, on behalf of his brother prelates, was attended with no greater advantage, though the envoyhimself was more properly treated. On his return toIreland, at a meeting held to hear his report, severalstrong resolutions were unanimously adopted, of whichthe spirit may be judged from the following--the concludingone of the series--"Though we sincerely venerate thesupreme Pontiff as visible head of the Church, we do notconceive that our apprehensions for the safety of theRoman Catholic Church in Ireland can or ought to beremoved by any determination of His Holiness, adopted orintended to be adopted, not only without our concurrence, but in direct opposition to our repeated resolutions andthe very energetic memorial presented on our behalf, andso ably supported by our Deputy, the Most Reverend Dr. Murray; who, in that quality, was more competent to informHis Holiness of the real state and interests of the RomanCatholic Church in Ireland than any other with whom heis said to have consulted. " The resolutions were transmitted to Rome, signed by thetwo Archbishops present, by Dr. Everard, the coadjutorof the Archbishop of Cashel, by Dr. Murray, the coadjutorof the Archbishop of Dublin, by the Bishops of Meath, Cloyne, Clonfert, Kerry, Waterford, Derry, Achonry, Killala, Killaloe, Kilmore, Ferns, Limerick, Elphin, Cork, Down and Conor, Ossory, Raphoe, Clogher, Dromore, Kildare and Leighlin, Ardagh, and the Warden of Galway. Dr. Murray, and Dr. Murphy, Bishop of Cork, werecommissioned to carry this new remonstrance to Rome, andthe greatest anxiety was felt for the result of theirmission. A strange result of this new _embroglio_ in the Catholiccause was, that it put the people on the defensive fortheir religious liberties, not so much against Englandas against Home. The unlucky Italian Monsignor who hadvolunteered his sanction of the Veto, fared scarcelybetter at the popular gatherings than Lord Castlereagh, or Mr. Peel. "Monsieur Forty-eight, " as he was nicknamed, in reference to some strange story of his ancestor takinghis name from a lucky lottery ticket of that number, wasdeclared to be no better than a common Orangeman, and ifthe bitter denunciations uttered against him, on theLiffey and the Shannon, had only been translated intoItalian, the courtly Prelate must have been exceedinglyamazed at the democratic fury of a Catholic population, as orthodox as himself, but much more jealous of Stateinterference with things spiritual. The second order ofthe clergy were hardly behind the laity, in the fervourof their opposition to the rescript of 1814. Then--entirebody, secular and regular, residing in and about Dublin, published a very strong protest against it, headed byDr. Blake, afterwards Bishop of Dromore, in which it wasdenounced as "pregnant with mischief" and entirely"non-obligatory upon the Catholic Church in Ireland. "The several ecclesiastical provinces followed up thesedeclarations with a surprising unanimity, and althougha Vetoistical address to His Holiness was despatched bythe Cisalpine club in England, the Irish ideas of Churchgovernment triumphed at Rome. Drs. Murray and Milnerwere received with his habitual kindness by Pius VII. ;the illustrious Cardinal Gonsalvi was appointed by thePope to draw up an explanatory rescript, and MonsignorQuarrantotti was removed from his official position. Thefirmness manifested at that critical period by the Irishchurch has since been acknowledged with many encomiumsby all the successors of Pope Pius VII. The Irish government under the new Viceroy, Lord Whitworth(the former ambassador to Napoleon), conceiving that thetime had come, in the summer of 1814, to suppress theCatholic Board, a proclamation forbidding his Majesty'ssubjects to attend future meetings of that body issuedfrom Dublin Castle, on the 3rd of June. The leaders ofthe body, after consultation at Mr. O'Connell's residence, decided to bow to this proclamation and to meet no moreas a Board; but this did not prevent them, in the followingwinter, from holding a new series of Aggregate meetings, far more formidable, in some respects, than the deliberativemeetings which had been suppressed. In the vigorous andsomewhat aggressive tone taken at these meetings, LordFingal, the chief of the Catholic peerage, did not concur, and he accordingly withdrew for some years from theagitation, Mr. Shiel, the Bellews, Mr. Ball, Mr. Wyse ofWaterford, and a few others, following his example. WithO'Connell remained the O'Conor Don, Messrs. Finlay andLidwell (Protestants), Purcell O'Gorman, and other popularpersons. But the cause sustained a heavy blow in thetemporary retirement of Lord Fingal and his friends, andan attempt to form a "Catholic Association, " in 1815, without their co-operation, signally failed. During the next five years, the fortunes of the greatIrish question fluctuated with the exigencies of Imperialparties. The second American war had closed, if notgloriously, at least without considerable loss to England;Napoleon had exchanged Elba for St. Helena: Wellingtonwas the Achilles of the Empire, and Castlereagh itsUlysses. Yet it was not in the nature of those freeIslanders, the danger and pressure of foreign war removed, to remain always indifferent to the two great questionsof domestic policy--Catholic Emancipation and ParliamentaryReform. In the session of 1816, a motion of Sir JohnNewport's to inquire into the state of Ireland, wassuccessfully resisted by Sir Robert Peel, but the conditionand state of public feeling in England could not be aswell ignored by a Parliament sitting in London. Inreturning from the opening of the Houses in January, 1817, the Regent was hooted in the street, and his carriageriddled with stones. A reward of 1, 000 pounds, issuedfor the apprehension of the ringleaders, only gaveadditional _eclat_ to the fact, without leading to theapprehension of the assailants. The personal unpopularity of the Regent seems to haveincreased, in proportion as death removed from him allthose who stood nearest to the throne. In November, 1817, his oldest child, the Princess Charlotte, married toLeopold, since King of Belgium, died in childbed; in1818, the aged Queen Charlotte died; in January, 1820, the old King, in the eighty-second year of his age, departed this life. Immediately afterwards the formerPrincess of Wales, long separated from her profligatehusband, returned from the Continent to claim her rightfulposition as Queen Consort. The disgraceful accusationsbrought against her, the trial before the House of Lordswhich followed, the courage and eloquence of her counsel, Brougham and Denman, the eagerness with which the peoplemade her cause their own, are all well remembered events, and all beside the purpose of this history. The unfortunatelady died after a short illness, on the 7th of August, 1821; the same month in which Ms Majesty--George IV. --departed on that Irish journey, so satirized in theundying verse of Moore and Byron. Two other deaths, far more affecting than any among themortalities of royalty, marked the period at which wehave arrived. These were the death of Curran in 1817, and the death of Grattan, in 1820. Curran, after his failure to be returned for Newry, in1812, had never again attempted public life. He remainedin his office of Master of the Rolls, but his healthbegan to fail sensibly. During the summers of 1816 and'17, he sought for recreation in Scotland, England andFrance, but the charm which travel could not give--thecharm of a cheerful spirit--was wanting. In October, 1817, his friend, Charles Phillips, was suddenly calledto his bed-side at Brompton, near London, and found himwith one side of his face and body paralyzed cold. "Andthis was all, " says his friend, "that remained ofCurran--the light of society--the glory of the forum--the Fabricius of the senate--the idol of his country. "Yes! even to less than this, was he soon to sink. Onthe evening of the 14th of October, he expired, in the68th year of his age, leaving a public reputation as freefrom blemish as ever did any man who had acted a leadingpart, in times like those through which he had passed. He was interred in London, but twenty years afterwards, the committee of the Glasnevin Cemetery, near Dublin, obtained permission of his representatives to remove hisashes to their grounds, where they now finally repose. A tomb modelled from the tomb of Scipio covers the grave, bearing the simple but sufficient inscription--CURRAN. Thus was fulfilled the words he had uttered longbefore--"The last duties will be paid by that country onwhich they are devolved; nor will it be for charity thata little earth will be given to my bones. Tenderly willthose duties be paid, as the debt of well-earned affection, and of gratitude not ashamed of her tears. " Grattan's last days were characteristic of his wholelife. As the session of 1820 progressed, though sufferingfrom his last struggle with disease, he was stirred byan irresistible desire to make his way to London, andpresent once more the petition of the Catholics. Sincethe defeat of his Relief Bill of 1813, there had beensome estrangement between him and the more advancedsection of the agitators, headed by O'Connell. This hewas anxious, perhaps, to heal or to overcome. He thought, moreover, that even if he should die in the effort, itwould be, as he said himself, "a good end. " Amid-- "The trees which a nation had given, and which bowed As if each brought a new civic crown to his head, " he consulted with the Catholic delegates early in May. O'Connell was the spokesman, and the scene may yet berendered immortal by some great national artist. Allpresent felt that the aged patriot was dying, but stillhe would go once more to London, to fall, as he said, "at his post. " In leaving Ireland he gave to his oldestfriends directions for his funeral--that he might beburied in the little churchyard of Moyanna, on the estatethe people gave him in 1782! He reached London, by slowstages, at the end of May, and proposed to be in hisplace in the House on the 4th of June. But thisgratification was not permitted him: on the morning ofthe 4th, at six o'clock, he called his son to his bed-side, and ordered him to bring him a paper containing his lastpolitical opinions. "Add to it, " he said, with all hisold love of antithesis, "that I die with a love of libertyin my heart, and this declaration in favour of my country, in my hand. " So worthily ended the mortal career of Henry Grattan. Hewas interred by the side of his old friend, Charles JamesPox, in Westminster Abbey; the mourners included thehighest imperial statesmen, and the Catholic orphanchildren; his eulogium was pronounced in the House ofCommons by William Conyngham Plunkett, and in the Irishcapital by Daniel O'Connell. CHAPTER V. RETROSPECT OF THE STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNINGDURING THE REIGN OF GEORGE III. Before relating the decisive events in the contest forCatholic Emancipation, which marked the reign of George IV. We may be permitted to cast a glance backward over thereligious and secular state of Ireland, during the sixtyyears' reign of George III. The relative position of the great religious denominationsunderwent a slow but important revolution during thislong reign. In the last days of George II. , a Chief-Justicewas bold enough to declare that "the laws did not presumea Papist to exist in the kingdom;" but under the sway ofhis successor, though much against that successor's will, they advanced from one constitutional victory to another, till they stood, in the person of the Earl Marshal, onthe very steps of the throne. In the towns and cities, the Catholic laity, once admitted to commerce and theprofessions, rose rapidly to wealth and honour. A DublinPapist was at the head of the wine trade; another wasthe wealthiest grazier in the kingdom; a third, at Cork, was the largest provision merchant. With wealth camesocial ambition, and the heirs of these enfranchisedmerchants were by a natural consequence the judges andlegislators of the next generation. The ecclesiastical organization of Ireland, as describedin 1800 by the bishops in answer to queries of the ChiefSecretary, was simple and inexpensive. The four archbishopsand twenty bishops, were sustained by having certainparishes attached to their cathedrals, _in commendam_:other _Cathedraticum_ there seems to have been none. Armagh had then 350 parish priests, Tuam 206, Cashel 314, and Dublin 156: in all 1126. The number of curates orcoadjutors was at least equal to that of the parishpriests; while of regulars then returned the number didnot exceed 450. This large body of religious--24 prelates, nearly 3, 000 clergy--exclusive of female religious--werethen, and have ever since been, sustained by the voluntarycontributions of the laity, paid chiefly at the two greatfestivals of Christmas and Easter, or by customaryofferings made at the close of the ceremonies of marriages, baptisms, and death. Though the income of some of thechurches was considerable, in the great majority of casesthe amount received barely sufficed to fulfil the injunctionof St. Patrick to his disciples, that "the lamp shouldtake but that wherewith it was fed. " The Presbyterian clergy, though in some respects moredependent on their congregations than the Catholics were, did not always, nor in all cases, depend on the voluntaryprinciple for their maintenance. The Irish Supply Billcontained an annual item before the Union of 7, 700 poundsfor the Antrim Synod, and some other dissenting bodies. The _Regium Donum_ was not, indeed, general; but that itmight be made so, was one of the inducements held out tomany of that clergy to secure their countenance for theLegislative Union. The Established Church continued, of course, to monopolizeUniversity honours, and to enjoy its princely revenuesand all political advantages. Trinity College continuedannually to farm its 200, 000 acres at a rental averaging100, 000 pounds sterling. Its wealth, and the uses towhich it is put, are thus described by a recent writer:"Some of Trinity's senior fellows enjoy higher incomesthan Cabinet ministers; many of her tutors have revenuesabove those of cardinals; and junior fellows, of a fewdays' standing, frequently decline some of her thirty-onechurch livings with benefices which would shame thepoverty of scores of continental, not to say Irish, Catholic archbishops. Even eminent judges hold herprofessorships; some of her chairs are vacated for theEpiscopal bench only; and majors and field officers wouldacquire increased pay by being promoted to the rank ofhead porter, first menial, in Trinity College. Apart fromher princely fellowships and professorships, her seventyFoundation, and sixteen non-Foundation Scholarships, herthirty Sizarships, and her fourteen valuable Studentships, she has at her disposal an aggregate, by bequests, benefactions, and various endowments, of 117 permanentexhibitions, amounting to upwards of 2, 000 pounds perannum. " The splendour of the highest Protestant dignitariesmay be inferred from what has been said formerly of theBishop of Derry, of the Era of Independence. The statemaintained by the chief bishop--Primate Robinson, whoruled Armagh from 1765 to 1795--is thus described by Mr. Cumberland in his _Memoirs_. "I accompanied him, " saysCumberland, "on Sunday forenoon to his cathedral. Wewent in his chariot of six horses attended by threefootmen behind, whilst my wife and daughters, with SirWilliam Robinson, the primate's elder brother, followedin my father's coach, which he lent me for the journey. At our approach the great western door was thrown open, and my friend (in person one of the finest men that couldbe seen) entered, like another Archbishop Laud, in highprelatical state, preceded by his officers and ministersof the church, conducting him in files to the robingchamber, and back again to the throne. It may well beconceived with what invidious eyes the barely toleratedPapists of the city of Saint Patrick must have looked onall this pageantry, and their feelings were no doubtthose in some degree of all their co-religioniststhroughout the kingdom. " The Irish Establishment, during the reign of George III. , numbered among its prelates and clergy many able andamiable men. At the period of the Union, the two mostdistinguished were Dr. O'Beirne, Bishop of Meath, anex-priest, and Dr. Young, Bishop of Clonfert, a formerfellow of Trinity College. As a Bible scholar, Dr. Youngranked deservedly high, but as a variously accomplishedwriter, Dr. O'Beirne was the first man of his order. Hispolitical papers, though occasionally disfigured withthe bigotry natural to an apostate, are full of a vigoroussagacity; his contributions to general literature, suchas his paper on _Tanistry_, in Vallency's _Collectanea_, show how much greater things still he was capable of. Itis not a little striking that the most eminent bishop, as well as the most celebrated Anglican preacher of thatage, in Ireland (Dean Kirwan), should both have beenordained as Catholic priests. The national literature which we have noted a centuryearlier, as changing gradually its tongue, was now mainly, indeed we might almost say solely, expressed in English. It is true the songs of "Carolan the Blind, " were sungin Gaelic by the Longford firesides, where the author of"the Deserted Village" listened to their exquisite melody, moulding his young ear to a sense of harmony full asexquisite; but the glory of the Gaelic muse was past. He, too, unpromising as was his exterior, was to be oneof the bright harbingers of another great era ofHiberno-English literature. When, within two generations, out of the same exceedingly restricted class of educatedIrishmen and women, we count the names of Goldsmith, Samuel Madden, Arthur Murphy, Henry Brooke, CharlesMacklin, Sheridan, Burke, Edmund Malone, Maria Edgeworth, Lady Morgan, "Psyche" Tighe, and Thomas Moore, it isimpossible not to entertain a very high opinion of themental resources of that population, if only they werefairly wrought and kindly valued by the world. One memorable incident of literary history--the Ossianicoutbreak of 1760--aided powerfully though indirectly inthe revival of the study of the ancient Celtic historyof Scotland and Ireland. Something was done then, by theRoyal Irish Academy, to meet that storm of Anglo-Normanincredulity and indignation; much more has been donesince, to place the original records of the Three Kingdomson a sound critical basis. The dogmatism of the unbelieversin the existence of a genuine body of ancient Celticliterature has been rebuked; and the folly of the theoristswho, upon imaginary grounds, constructed pretentioussystems, has been exposed. The exact originals ofMacPherson's odes have not been found, after a centuryof research, and may be given up, as non-existent; butthe better opinion seems now to be, by those who havestudied the fragments of undoubted antiquity attributedto the son of the warrior Fion, that whatever the moderntranslator may have invented, he certainly did not inventOssian. To the stage, within the same range of time, Ireland gavesome celebrated names: Quinn, Barry, Sheridan, Mrs. Woffington, Mrs. Jordan, and Miss O'Neill; and to painting, one pre-eminent name--the eccentric, honest, and original, James Barry. But of all the arts, that in which the Irish of theGeorgian era won the highest and most various triumphswas the art of Oratory, What is now usually spoken of as"the Irish School of Eloquence, " may be considered tohave taken its rise from the growth of the Patriot partyin Parliament, in the last years of George II. Everycontemporary account agrees in placing its first greatname--Anthony Malone--on the same level with Chatham andMansfield. There were great men before Malone, as beforeAgamemnon; such as Sir Toby Butler, Baron Rice, andPatrick Darcy; but he was the first of our later successionof masters. After him came Flood and John Hely Hutchinson;then Grattan and Curran; then Plunkett and Bushe; thenO'Connell and Shiel. In England, at the same time, Burke, Barre, Sheridan, and Sir Phillip Francis, upheld thereputation of Irish oratory; a reputation generouslyacknowledged by all parties, as it was illustrated inthe ranks of all. The Tories, within our own recollection, applauded as heartily the Irish wit and fervour of Canning, Croker, and North, as the Whigs did the exhibition ofsimilar qualities in their Emancipation allies. Nothing can be less correct, than to pronounce judgmenton the Irish School, either of praise or blame, in sweepinggeneral terms. Though a certain family resemblance maybe traced among its great masters, no two of them willbe found nearly alike. There are no echoes, no servileimitators, among them. In vigorous argumentation andsevere simplicity, Plunkett resembled Flood, but thetemperament of the two men--and Oratory is nearly as mucha matter of temperament as of intellect--was widelydifferent. Flood's movement was dramatic, while Plunkett'swas mathematical. In structural arrangement, Shiel, occasionally--very occasionally--reminds us of Grattan;but if he has not the wonderful condensation of thought, neither has he the frequent antithetical abuses of thatgreat orator. Burke and Sheridan are as distinguishableas any other two of their contemporaries; Curran standsalone; O'Connell never had a model, and never had animitator who rose above mimicry. Every combination ofpowers, every description of excellence, and every varietyof style and character, may be found among the masterpiecesof this great school. Of their works many will live forever. Most of Burke's, many of Grattan's, and one or twoof Curran's have reached us in such preservation aspromises immortality. Selections from Flood, Sheridan, Canning, Plunkett and O'Connell will survive; Shiel willbe more fortunate for he was more artistic, and morewatchful of his own fame. His exquisite finish will do, for him, what the higher efforts of men, more indifferentto the audience of posterity, will have forfeited for them. It is to be observed, farther, that the inspiration ofall these men was drawn from the very hearts of the peopleamong whom they grew. With one or two exceptions, sonsof humble peasants, of actors, of at most middle classmen, they were true, through every change of personalposition, to the general interests of the people--to thecommon weal. From generous thoughts and a lofty scorn offalsehood, fanaticism and tyranny, they took theirinspiration; and as they were true to human nature, sowill mankind, through successive ages, dwell fondly ontheir works and guard lovingly their tombs. CHAPTER VI. THE IRISH ABROAD, DURING THE REIGN OF GEORGE III. The fond tenacity with which the large numbers of theIrish people who have established themselves in foreignstates have always clung to their native country; theactive sympathy they have personally shown for theirrelatives at home; the repeated efforts they have madeto assist the Irish in Ireland, in all their publicundertakings, requires that, as an element in O'Connell'sfinal and successful struggle for Catholic Emancipation, we should take a summary view of the position of "theIrish abroad. " While the emigrants of that country to America naturallypursued the paths of peace, those who, from choice ornecessity, found their way to the European Continent, were, with few exceptions, employed mainly in twodepartments--war and diplomacy. An Irish Abbe, liked thecelebrated preacher, McCarthy--or an Irish merchant firm, such as the house of the same name at Bordeaux, might bemet with, but most of those who attained any distinctiondid so by the sword or the pen, in the field or thecabinet. In France, under the revolutionary governments from '91to '99, the Irish were, with their old-world notions ofGod and the Devil, wholly out of place; but under theConsulate and the Empire, they rose to many employmentsof the second class, and a few of the very first. Fromthe ranks of the expatriated of '98, Buonaparte promotedArthur O'Conor and William Corbet to the rank of General;Ware, Alien, Byrne, the younger Tone, and Keating, tothat of Colonel. As individuals, the Emperor was certainlya benefactor to many Irishmen; but, as a nation, it wasone of then: most foolish delusions, to expect in him adeliverer. On the restoration of the Bourbons, the Irishofficers who had acquired distinction under Napoleonadhered generally to his fortunes, and tendered theirresignations; in their place, a new group of Franco-Irishdescendants of the old Brigades-men, began to showthemselves in the _salons_ of Paris, and the Bureaus ofthe Ministers. The last swords drawn for "the legitimatebranch" in '91, was by Count Dillon and his friend CountWall; their last defender, in 1830, was General Wall, ofthe same family. Though the Irish in France, especially those resident atParis, exercised the greatest influence in favour oftheir original country--an influence which met alltravelled Englishmen, wherever the French language wasunderstood--their compatriots in Spain and Austria hadalso contributed their share to range Continental opinionon the side of Ireland. Three times, during the century, Spain was represented at London by men of Irish birth, or Irish origin. The British merchant who found AlexanderO'Reilly Governor of Cadiz, or the diplomatist who methim as Spanish ambassador, at the Court of Louis XVI. , could hardly look with uninstructed eyes, upon the lotof his humblest namesake in Cavan. This family, indeed, produced a succession of eminent men, both in Spain andAustria. "It is strange, " observed Napoleon to thosearound him, on his second entry into Vienna, in 1809, "that on each occasion--in November, 1805, as this day--on arriving in the Austrian capital, I find myself intreaty and in intercourse with the respectable CountO'Reilly. " Napoleon had other reasons for rememberingthis officer; it was his dragoon regiment which savedthe remnant of the Austrians, at Austerlitz. In theAustrian army list at that period, when she was the allyof England, there were above forty Irish names, from thegrading of Colonel up to that of Field-Marshal. In almostevery field of the Peninsula, Wellington and Anglesealearned the value of George the Second's imprecation onthe Penal Code, which deprived him of such soldiers asconquered at Fontenoy. It cannot be doubted that eventhe constant repetition of the names of the Blakes, O'Donnells, and Sarsfields, in the bulletins sent hometo England, tended to enforce reflections of thatdescription on the statesmen and the nation, and toinspirit and sustain the struggling Catholics. A powerfulargument for throwing open the British army and navy tomen of all religions, was drawn from these foreignexperiences; and, if such men were worthy to holdmilitary commissions, why not also to sit in Parliament, and on the Bench? The fortunes of the Irish in America, though less brilliantfor the few, were more advantageous as to the many. Theywere, during the war of the revolution, and the war of1812, a very considerable element in the American republic. It was a violent exaggeration to say, as Lord Mountjoydid in moving for the repeal of the Penal laws, "thatEngland lost America by Ireland;" but it is very certainthat Washington placed great weight on the active aid ofthe gallant Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Southern Irishtroops, and the sturdy Scotch-Irish of New Hampshire. Franklin, in his visit to Ireland, before the rupture, and Jefferson in his correspondence, always enumeratesthe Irish, as one element of reliance, in the contestbetween the Colonies and the Empire. In the immediate cause of the war of 1812, this peoplewere peculiarly interested. If the doctrines of "theright of search" and "once a subject always a subject, "were to prevail, no Irish emigrant could hope to become--or having become, could hope to enjoy the protectionof--an American citizen. It was, therefore, natural thatmen of that origin should take a deep interest in thewar, and it seems something more than a fortuitouscircumstance, when we find in the chairman of the SenatorialCommittee of 1812, which authorized the President toraise the necessary levies--an Irish emigrant, JohnSmilie, and in the Secretary-at-war, who acted under thepowers thus granted, the son of an Irish emigrant, JohnCaldwell Calhoun. On the Canadian frontier, during thewar which followed, we find in posts of importance, Brady, Mullany, McComb, Croghan and Reilly; on the lakes, Commodore McDonough, and on the ocean, Commodores Shawand Stewart--all Irish. On the Mississippi, another sonof Irish emigrant parents, with his favourite lieutenants, Carroll, Coffee, and Butler, brought the war to a closeby their brilliant defence of New Orleans. The moral ofthat victory was not lost upon England; the life of AndrewJackson, with a dedication "to the People of Ireland"was published at London and Dublin, by the most generallypopular writer of that day--William Cobbett. In the cause of South American independence, the Irishunder O'Higgins and McKenna in Chili, and under Bolivarand San Martin in Colombia and Peru, were largely engaged, and honourably distinguished. Colonel O'Conor, nephew toArthur, was San Martin's chief of the staff; GeneralDevereux, with his Irish legion, rendered distinguishedservices to Bolivar and Don Bernardo. O'Higgins was hailedas the Liberator of Chili. During that long ten years'struggle, which ended with the evacuation of Carraccasin 1823, Irish names are conspicuous on almost everyfield of action. Bolivar's generous heart was warmlyattached to persons of that nation. "The doctor whoconstantly attends him, " says the English General, Miller, "is Dr. Moore, an Irishman, who had followed the Liberatorfrom Venezuela to Peru. He is a man of great skill inhis profession, and devotedly attached to the person ofthe Liberator. Bolivar's first aide-de-camp, ColonelO'Leary, is a nephew of the celebrated Father O'Leary. In 1818, he embarked, at the age of seventeen, in thecause of South American independence, in which he hasserved with high distinction, having been present atalmost every general action fought in Colombia, andhas received several wounds. He has been often employedon diplomatic missions, and in charges of greatresponsibility, in which he has always acquitted himselfwith great ability. " That these achievements of the Irish abroad produced afavourable influence on the situation of the Irish athome, we know from many collateral sources; we know italso from the fact, that when O'Connell succeeded infounding a really national organization, subscriptionsand words of encouragement poured in on him, not onlyfrom France, Spain, and Austria, but from North and SouthAmerica, not only from the Irish residents in thosecountries, but from their native inhabitants--soldiersand statesmen--of the first consideration. The servicesand virtues of her distinguished children in foreignclimes, stood to the mother country instead of treatiesand alliances. CHAPTER VII. O'CONNELL'S LEADERSHIP--THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION--1821 TO 1826. At the beginning of the year 1821, O'Connell, during theintervals of Ms laborious occupations in court and oncircuit, addressed a series of stirring letters to "thePeople of Ireland, " remarkable as containing some of thebest and most trenchant of his political writings. Hisobject was to induce the postponement of the annualpetition for Emancipation, and the substitution insteadof a general agitation for Parliamentary reform, inconjunction with the English reformers. Against thisconclusion--which he ridiculed "as the fashion for January, 1821"--Mr. Shiel published a bitter, clever, rhetoricalreply, to which O'Connell at once sent forth a severeand rather contemptuous rejoinder. Shiel was quite contentto have Mr. Plunkett continue Grattan's annual motion, with all its "conditions" and "securities. " O'Connelldeclared he had no hope in petitions except from a reformedParliament, and he, therefore, was opposed to such motionsaltogether, especially as put by Mr. Plunkett, and theother advocates of a Veto. Another session was lost inthis controversy, and when Parliament rose, it wasannounced that George IV. Was coming to Ireland "on amission of Conciliation. " On this announcement, Mr. O'Connell advised that theCatholics should take advantage of his Majesty's presenceto assemble and consider the state of their affairs; buta protest against "connecting in any manner the King'svisit with Catholic affairs, " was circulated by LordsFingal, Netterville, Gormanstown, and Killeen, Messrs. Baggott, Shiel, Wyse, and other Commoners. O'Connellyielded, as he often did, for the sake of unanimity. TheKing's visit led to many meetings and arrangements, insome of which his advice was taken, while in others hewas outvoted or overruled. Nothing could exceed thepatience he exhibited at this period of his life, whenhis natural impetuous temperament was still far frombeing subdued by the frosts of age. Many liberal Protestants at this period--the King's briefvisit--were so moved with admiration of the judiciousand proper conduct of the Catholic leaders, that a newbut short-lived organization, called "the ConciliationCommittee, " was formed. The ultra Orange zealots, however, were not to be restrained even by the presence of theSovereign for whom they professed so much devotion. Inthe midst of the preparations for his landing, theycelebrated, with all its offensive accompaniments, the12th of July, and at the Dublin dinner to the King--thoughafter he had left the room--they gave their charter toastof "the glorious, pious, and immortal memory. " TheCommittee of Conciliation soon dwindled away, and, likethe visit of George IV. , left no good result behind. The year 1822 was most remarkable, at its commencement, for the arrival of the Marquis of Wellesley, asLord-Lieutenant, and at its close, for the assaultcommitted on him in the theatre by the Dublin Orangemen. Though the Marquis had declined to interfere in preventingthe annual Orange celebration, he was well known to befriendly to the Catholics; their advocate, Mr. Plunkett, was his Attorney General; and many of their leaders werecordially welcomed at the Castle. These proofs weresufficient for the secret tribunals which sat upon hisconduct, and when his Lordship presented himself, on thenight of the 14th of December, at the theatre, he wasassailed by an organized mob, one of whom flung a heavypiece of wood, and another a quart bottle, towards thestate box. Three Orangemen, mechanics, were arrestedand tried for the offence, but acquitted on a technicaldefect of evidence; a general feeling of indignation wasexcited among all classes in consequence, and it isquestionable if Orangeism, in Dublin, ever recovered thedisgust occasioned by that dastardly outrage. The great and fortunate event, however, for the Catholics, was the foundation of their new Association, which wasfinally resolved upon at an Aggregate Meeting held in"Townsend Street Chapel, " on the 10th of May, 1823. Thismeeting had been called by an imposing requisition signedwith singular unanimity by all the principal Catholicgentlemen. Lord Killeen presided. Mr. O'Connell movedthe formation of the Association; Sir Thomas Esmondeseconded the motion; Mr. Shiel--lately and sincerelyreconciled to O'Connell--sustained it. The plan was simpleand popular. The Association was to consist of memberspaying a guinea a year, and associates paying a shilling;a standing committee was to form the government; theregular meetings were to be weekly--every Saturday; andthe business to consist of organization, correspondence, public discussions, and petitions. It was, in effect, tobe a sort of extern and unauthorized Parliament, actingalways within the Constitution, with a view to themodification of the existing laws, by means not prohibitedin those laws themselves. It was a design, subtle inconception, but simple in form; a natural design for alawyer-liberator to form; and for a people stronglyprepossessed in his favour to adopt; but one, at the sametime, which would require a rare combination ofcircumstances to sustain for any great length of time, under a leader less expert, inventive, and resolute. The Parliamentary position of the Catholic question, atthe moment of the formation of the Association, hadundergone another strange alteration. Lord Castlereagh, having attained the highest honours of the empire, diedby his own hand the previous year. Lord Liverpool remainedPremier, Lord Eldon Chancellor, Mr. Canning became ForeignSecretary, with Mr. Peel, Home Secretary, the Duke ofWellington continuing Master-General of the Ordnance. Tothis cabinet, so largely anti-Catholic, the chosen organof the Irish Catholics, Mr. Plunkett, was necessarilyassociated as Irish Attorney General. His situation, therefore, was in the session of 1823 one of greatdifficulty; this Sir Francis Burdett and the radicalreformers at once perceived, and in the debates whichfollowed, pressed him unmercifully. They quoted againsthim his own language denouncing cabinet compromises onso vital a question, in 1813, and to show their indignation, when he rose to reply, they left the House in a body. His speech, as always, was most able, but the House, whenhe sat down, broke into an uproar of confusion. Partyspirit ran exceedingly high; the possibility of advancingthe question during the session was doubtful, and a motionto adjourn prevailed. A fortnight later, at the firstmeeting of the Catholic Association, a very cordial voteof thanks to Plunkett was carried by acclamation. The new Catholic organization was labouring hard to meritpopular favour. Within the year of its organization wefind the Saturday meetings engaged with such questionsas church rates; secret societies; correspondence withmembers of both Houses; voting public thanks to Mr. Brougham; the penal laws relating to the rights ofsepulture; the purchase of a Catholic cemetery nearDublin; the commutation of tithes; the admission ofCatholic freemen into corporations; the extension of theAssociation into every county in Ireland, and other moreincidental subjects. The business-like air of the weeklymeetings, at this early period, is remarkable: they werecertainly anything but mere occasions for rhetoricaldisplay. But though little could be objected against, and so much might be said in favour of the labours ofthe Association, it was not till nearly twelve monthsafter its organization, when O'Connell proposed andcarried his system of monthly penny subscriptions to the"Catholic Rent, " that it took a firm and far-reachinghold on the common people, and began to excite the seriousapprehensions of the oligarchical factions in Irelandand England. This bold, and at this time much ridiculed step, infusednew life and a system hitherto unknown into the Catholicpopulation. The parish collectors, corresponding directlywith Dublin, established a local agency, co-extensivewith the kingdom; the smallest contributor felt himselfpersonally embarked in the contest; and the movementbecame, in consequence, what it had not been before, aneminently popular one. During the next six months thereceipts from penny subscriptions exceeded 100 poundssterling per month, representing 24, 000 subscribers;during the next year they averaged above 500 pounds aweek, representing nearly half a million enrolledAssociates! With the additional means at the disposal of the FinanceCommittee of the Association, its power rose rapidly. Amorning and an evening journal were at its command inDublin; many thousands of pounds were expended in defendingthe people in the courts, and prosecuting their Orangeand other enemies. Annual subsidies, of 5, 000 poundseach, were voted for the Catholic Poor schools, and theeducation of missionary priests for America; the expensesof Parliamentary and electioneering agents were alsoheavy. But for all these purposes "the Catholic Rent, "of a penny per month from each associate, was foundamply sufficient. At the close of 1824, the government, really alarmed atthe formidable proportions assumed by the agitation, caused criminal informations to be filed against Mr. O'Connell, for an alleged seditious allusion to theexample of Bolivar, the liberator of South America; butthe Dublin grand jury ignored the bills of indictmentfounded on these informations. Early in the followingsession, however, a bill to suppress "Unlawful Associationsin Ireland, " was introduced by Mr. Goulburn, who hadsucceeded Sir Robert Peel as Chief Secretary, and wassupported by Plunkett--a confirmed enemy of all extra-legalcombinations. It was aimed directly at the CatholicAssociation, and passed both Houses; but O'Connell foundmeans "to drive, " as he said, "a coach and six throughit. " The existing Association dissolved on the passageof the act; another, called "the _New_ CatholicAssociation, " was formed for "charitable and otherpurposes, " and the agitators proceeded with theirorganization, with one word added to then--title, andimmensely additional _eclat_ and success. In Parliament, the measure thus defeated was followed byanother, the long-promised Relief Bill. It passed in theCommons in May, accompanied by two clauses, or as theywere called, "wings, " most unsatisfactory to the Catholicbody. One clause disfranchised the whole class of electorsknown as the "forty-shilling freeholders;" the otherprovided a scale of state maintenance for the Catholicclergy. A bishop was to have 1, 000 pounds per annum; adean 300 pounds; a parish priest 200 pounds; a curate 60pounds. This measure was thrown out by the House of Lords, greatly to the satisfaction, at least, of the IrishCatholics. It was during this debate in the Upper Housethat the Duke of York, presumptive heir to the throne, made what was called his "ether speech"--from his habitof dosing himself with that stimulant on trying occasions. In this speech he declared, that so "help him God, " hewould never, never consent to acknowledge the claims putforward by the Catholics. Before two years were over, death had removed him to the presence of that Awful Beingwhose name he had so rashly invoked, and his brother, the Duke of Clarence, assumed his position, as next insuccession to the throne. The Catholic delegates, Lord Killeen, Sir Thomas Esmonde, Lawless, and Shiel, were in London at the time the Dukeof York made his memorable declaration. If, on the onehand, they were regarded with dislike amounting to hatred, on the other, they were welcomed with cordiality by allthe leaders of the liberal party. The venerable EarlFitzwilliam emerged from his retirement to do them honour;the gifted and energetic Brougham entertained them withall hospitality; at Norfolk House they were banqueted inthe room in which George III. Was born: themillionaire-demagogue Burdett, the courtly, liberal LordGrey, and the flower of the Catholic nobility, wereinvited to meet them. The delegates were naturally cheeredand gratified; they felt, they must have felt, that theircause had a grasp upon Imperial attention, which nothingbut concession could ever loosen. Committees of both Houses, to inquire into the state ofIreland, had sat during a great part of this Session, and among the witnesses were the principal delegates, with Drs. Murray, Curtis, Kelly, and Doyle. The evidenceof the latter--the eminent Prelate of Kildare andLeighlin--attracted most attention. His readiness ofresource, clearness of statement, and wide range ofinformation, inspired many of his questioners with afeeling of respect, such as they had never beforeentertained for any of his order. His writings had alreadymade him honourably distinguished among literary men;his examination before the Committees made him equallyso among statesmen. From that period he could reckon theMarquises of Anglesea and Wellesley, Lord Lansdowne andMr. Brougham, among his correspondents and friends, and, what he valued even more, among the friends of his cause. Mr. O'Connell, on the other hand, certainly lost groundin Ireland by his London journey. He had, unquestionably, given his assent to both "wings, " in 1825, as he did tothe remaining one in 1828, and thereby greatly injuredhis own popularity. His frank and full recantation ofhis error, on his return, soon restored him to the favourof the multitude, and enabled him to employ, with thebest effect, the enormous influence which he showed hepossessed at the general elections of 1826. By him mainlythe Beresfords were beaten in Waterford, the Fosters inLouth, and the Leslies in Monaghan. The independence ofLimerick city, of Tipperary, Cork, Kilkenny, Longford, and other important constituencies, was secured. Theparish machinery of the Association was found invaluablefor the purpose of bringing up the electors, and thepeople's treasury was fortunately able to protect to someextent the fearless voter, who, in despite of his landlord, voted according to the dictates of his own heart. The effect of these elections on the empire at large wasvery great. When, early in the following spring, LordLiverpool, after fifteen years' possession of power, diedunexpectedly, George IV. Sent for Canning and gave him_carte blanche_ to form a cabinet without excepting thequestion of Emancipation. That high spirited and reallyliberal statesman associated with himself a ministry, three-fourths of whom were in favour of granting theCatholic claims. This was in the month of April; but tothe consternation of those whose hopes were now so justlyraised, the gifted Premier held office only four months;his lamented death causing another "crisis, " and one morepostponement of "the Catholic question. " CHAPTER VIII. O'CONNELL'S LEADERSHIP--THE CLARE ELECTION--EMANCIPATIONOF THE CATHOLICS. A very little reflection will enable us to judge, evenat this day, the magnitude of the contest in whichO'Connell was the great popular leader, during the reignof George IV. In Great Britain, a very considerablesection of the ancient peerage and gentry, with the EarlMarshal at their head, were to be restored to politicalexistence, by the act of Emancipation; a missionary, andbarely tolerated clergy were to be clothed, in their owncountry, with the commonest rights of British subjects--protection to life and property. In Ireland, seven-eighthsof the people, one-third of the gentry, the whole of theCatholic clergy, the numerous and distinguished array ofthe Catholic bar, and all the Catholic townsmen, taxedbut unrepresented in the corporate bodies, were to enteron a new civil and social condition, on the passage ofthe act. In the colonies, except Canada, where that churchwas protected by treaty, the change of Imperial policytowards Catholics was to be felt in every relation oflife, civil, military, and ecclesiastical, by all personsprofessing that religion. Some years ago, a bishop ofSouthern Africa declared, that, until O'Connell's time, itwas impossible for Catholics to obtain any considerationfrom the officials at the Cape of Good Hope. Could therebe a more striking illustration of the magnitude of themovement, which, rising in the latitude of Ireland, flungits outermost wave of influence on the shores of theIndian ocean? The adverse hosts to be encountered in this great contest, included a large majority of the rank and wealth of bothkingdoms. The King, who had been a Whig in his youth, had grown into a Tory in his old age; the House of Lordswere strongly hostile to the measure, as were also theuniversities, both in England and Ireland; the Tory party, in and out of Parliament; the Orange organization inIreland; the civil and military authorities generally, with the great bulk of the rural magistracy and themunicipal authorities. The power to overcome this powershould be indeed formidable, well organized and wiselydirected. The Lord Lieutenant selected by Mr. Canning, was theMarquis of Anglesea, a frank soldier, as little accustomedto play the politician as any man of his order anddistinction could be. He came to Ireland, in many respectsthe very opposite of Lord Wellesley; no orator certainly, and so far as he had spoken formerly, an enemy ratherthan a friend to the Catholics. But he had not beenthree months in office when he began to modify his views;he was the first to prohibit, in Dublin, the annual Orangeoutrage on the 12th of July, and by subsequent, thoughslow degrees, he became fully convinced that the Catholicclaims could be settled only by Concession. Lord FrancisLeveson Gower, afterwards Earl of Ellesmere, accompaniedthe Marquis as Chief Secretary. The accession to office of a prime minister friendly tothe Catholics, was the signal for a new attempt to raisethat "No-Popery" cry which had already given twenty yearsof political supremacy to Mr. Perceval and Lord Liverpool. In Ireland, this feeling appeared under the guise of whatwas called "the New Reformation, " which, during the summerof 1827, raged with all the proverbial violence of the_odium theologicum_ from Cork to Derry. Priests andparsons, laymen and lawyers, took part in this generalpolitico-religious controversy, in which every possiblesubject of difference between Catholic and Protestantwas publicly discussed. Archbishop Magee of Dublin, theRev. Sir Harcourt Lees, son of a former English placemanat the Castle, and the Rev. Mr. Pope, were the clericalleaders in this crusade; Exeter-Hall sent over to assistthem the Honourable and Reverend Baptist Noel, Mr. Wolff, and Captain Gordon, a descendant of the hero of the Londonriot of 1798. At Derry, Dublin, Carlow, and Cork, thechallenged agreed to defend their doctrines. FatherMaginn, Maguire, Maher, McSweeney, and some others acceptedthese challenges; Messrs. O'Connell, Shiel, and otherlaymen, assisted, and the oral discussion of theologicaland historical questions became as common as town talkin every Irish community. Whether, in any case, thesedebates conduced to conversion is doubtful; but theycertainly supplied the Catholic laity with a body offacts and arguments very necessary at that time, andwhich hardly any other occasion could have presented. The Right Rev. Dr. Doyle, however, considered them farfrom beneficial to the cause of true religion; and thoughhe tolerated a first discussion in his diocese, hepositively forbade a second. The Archbishop of Armaghand other prelates issued their mandates to the clergyto refrain from these oral disputes, and the practicefell into disuse. The notoriety of "the Second Reformation" was chieflydue to the ostentatious patronage of it by the lay chiefsof the Irish oligarchy. Mr. Synge, in Clare, Lord Lorton, and Mr. McClintock at Dundalk, were indefatigable intheir evangelizing exertions. The Earl of Roden--to showhis entire dependence on the translated Bible--threw allhis other books into a fish pond on his estate. LordFarnham was even more conspicuous in the revival; hespared neither patronage nor writs of ejectment to converthis tenantry. The reports of conversions upon his lordship'sestates, and throughout his county, attracted so muchnotice, that Drs. Curtis, Crolly, Magauran, O'Reilly, and McHale, met on the 9th of December, 1826, at Cavan, to inquire into the facts. They found, while there hadbeen much exaggeration on the part of the reformers, thatsome hundreds of the peasantry had, by various powerfultemptations, been led to change their former religion. The bishops received back some of the converts, and ajubilee established among them completed their reconversion. The Hon. Mr. Noel and Captain Gordon posted to Cavan, with a challenge to discussion for their lordships; ofcourse, their challenge was not accepted. Thomas Moore'sinimitable satire was the most effective weapon againstsuch fanatics. The energetic literature of the Catholic agitationattracted much more attention than its oral polemics. Joined to a bright army of Catholic writers, includingDr. Doyle, Thomas Moore, Thomas Furlong, and CharlesButler, there was the powerful phalanx of the _EdinburghReview_ led by Jeffrey and Sidney Smith, and the Englishliberal press, headed by William Cobbett. Thomas Campbell, the Poet of Hope, always and everywhere the friend offreedom, threw open his _New Monthly_, to Shiel, andWilliam Henry Curran, whose sketches of the Irish Barand Bench, of Dublin politics, and the county electionsof 1826, will live as long as any periodical papers ofthe day. The indefatigable Shiel, writing French asfluently as English, contributed besides to the _Gazettede France_ a series of papers, which were read with greatinterest on the Continent. These articles were theprecursors of many others, which made the Catholic questionat length an European question. An incident quiteunimportant in itself, gave additional zest to theseFrench articles. The Duke de Montebello, with two of hisfriends, Messrs. Duvergier and Thayer, visited Irelandin 1826. Duvergier wrote a series of very interestingletters on the "State of Ireland, " which, at the time, went through several editions. At a Catholic meeting atBallinasloe, the Duke had some compliments paid him, which he gracefully acknowledged, expressing his wishesfor the success of their cause. This simple act exciteda great deal of criticism in England. The Paris presswas roused in consequence, and the French Catholics, becoming more and more interested, voted an address andsubscription to the Catholic Association. The BavarianCatholics followed their example, and similar communicationswere received from Spain and Italy. But the movement abroad did not end in Europe. An addressfrom British India contained a contribution of threethousand pounds sterling. From the West Indies and Canada, generous assistance was rendered. In the United States sympathetic feeling was most active. New York felt almost as much interested in the cause asDublin. In 1826 and 1827, associations of "Friends ofIreland" were formed at New York, Boston, Washington, Norfolk, Charleston, Augusta, Louisville, and Bardstown. Addresses in English and French were prepared for thesesocieties, chiefly by Dr. McNevin, at New York, andBishop England, at Charleston. The American, like theFrench press, became interested in the subject, andeloquent allusions were made to it in Congress. On the20th of January, 1828, the veteran McNevin wrote to Mr. O'Connell--"Public opinion in America is deep, and strong, and universal, in your behalf. This predilection prevailsover the broad bosom of our extensive continent. Associations similar to ours are everywhere starting intoexistence--in our largest and wealthiest cities--in ourhamlets and our villages--in our most remote sections;and at this moment, the propriety of convening, atWashington, delegates of the friends of Ireland, of allthe states, is under serious deliberation. A fund willerelong be derived from American patriotism in the UnitedStates, which will astonish your haughtiest opponents. " The Parliamentary fortunes of the great question were atthe same time brightening. The elections of 1826, had, upon the whole, given a large increase of strength toits advocates. In England and Scotland, under the influenceof the "No-Popery" cry, they had lost some ground, butin Ireland they had had an immense triumph. The death ofthe generous-hearted Canning, hastened as it was byanti-Catholic intrigues, gave a momentary check to theprogress of liberal ideas; but they were retarded onlyto acquire a fresh impulse destined to bear them, in thenext few years, farther than they had before advanced inan entire century. The _ad interim_ administration of Lord Goderich gaveway, by its own internal discords, in January, 1828, tothe Wellington and Peel administration. The Duke wasPremier, the Baronet leader of the House of Commons; withMr. Huskisson, Lord Palmerston, in the cabinet; LordAnglesea remained as Lord Lieutenant. But this coalitionwith the friends of Canning was not destined to outlivethe session of 1828; the lieutenants of the late Premierwere doomed, for some time longer, to suffer for theirdevotion to his principles. This session of 1828, is--in the history of religiousliberty--the most important and interesting in the annalsof the British Parliament. Almost at its opening, theextraordinary spectacle was exhibited of a petition signedby 800, 000 Irish Catholics, praying for the repeal of"the Corporation and Test Acts, " enacted on the restorationof Charles II. , against the non-Conformists. Monsterpetitions, both for and against the repeal of these acts, as well as for and against Catholic emancipation, soonbecame of common occurrence. Protestants of all sectspetitioned for, but still more petitioned against equalrights for Catholics; while Catholics petitioned for therights of Protestant dissenters. It is a spectacle tolook back upon with admiration and instruction; exhibitingas it does, so much of a truly tolerant spirit in Christiansof all creeds, worthy of all honour and imitation. In April, "the Corporation and Test Acts" were repealed;in May, the Canningites seceded from the Duke's government, and one of the gentlemen brought in to fill a vacant seatin the Cabinet--Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, member for Clare--issued his address to his electors, asking a renewal oftheir confidence. Out of this event grew another, whichfinally and successfully brought to an issue the century-oldCatholic question. The Catholic Association, on the accession of theWellington-Peel Cabinet, had publicly pledged itself tooppose every man who would accept office under thesestatesmen. The memory of both as ex-secretaries--butespecially Peel's--was odious in Ireland. When, however, the Duke had sustained, and ensured thereby the passageof the repeal of "the Corporation and Test Acts, " Mr. O'Connell, at the suggestion of Lord John Russell themover of the repeal, endeavoured to get his angry anduncompromising resolution against the Duke's governmentrescinded. Powerful as he was, however, the Associationrefused to go with him, and the resolution remained. Soit happened that when Mr. Fitzgerald presented himselfto the electors of Clare, as the colleague of Peel andWellington, the Association at once endeavoured to bringout an opposition candidate. They pitched with this viewon Major McNamara, a liberal Protestant of the county, at the head of one of its oldest families, and personallypopular; but this gentleman, after keeping them severaldays in suspense, till the time of nomination was closeat hand, positively declined to stand against his friend, Mr. Fitzgerald, to the great dismay of the associatedCatholics. In their emergency, an idea, so bold and original, thatit was at first received with general incredulity by theexternal public, was started. It was remembered by SirDavid De Roose, a personal friend of O'Connell's, thatthe late sagacious John Keogh had often declared theEmancipation question would never be brought to an issuetill some Catholic member elect stood at the bar of theHouse of Commons demanding his seat. A trusted few wereat first consulted on the daring proposition, thatO'Connell himself, in despite of the legal exclusion ofall men of his religion, should come forward for Clare. Many were the consultations, and diverse the judgmentsdelivered on this proposal, but at length, on the receptionof information from the county itself, which gave strongassurance of success, the hero of the adventure decidedfor himself. The bold course was again selected as thewise course, and the spirit-stirring address of "thearch-Agitator" to the electors, was at once issued fromDublin. "Your county, " he began by saying, "wants arepresentative. I respectfully solicit your suffrages, to raise me to that station. "Of my qualification to fill that station, I leave youto judge. The habits of public speaking, and many, manyyears of public business, render me, perhaps, equallysuited with most men to attend to the interests of Irelandin Parliament. "You will be told I am not qualified to be elected; theassertion, my friends, is untrue. I am qualified to beelected, and to be your representative. It is true thatas a Catholic I cannot, and of course never will, takethe oaths at present prescribed to members of Parliament;but the authority which created these oaths (theParliament), can abrogate them: and I entertain a confidenthope that, if you elect me, the most bigoted of ourenemies will see the necessity of removing from thechosen representative of the people an obstacle whichwould prevent him from doing his duty to his king andto his country. " This address was followed instantly by the departure ofall the most effective agitators to the scene of thegreat contest. Shiel went down as conducting agent forthe candidate; Lawless left his Belfast newspaper, andFather Maguire his Leitrim flock; Messrs. Steele andO'Gorman Mahon, both proprietors in the county, werealready in the field, and O'Connell himself soon followed. On the other hand, the leading county families, theO'Briens, McNamaras, Vandeleurs, Fitzgeralds and others, declared for their old favourite, Mr. Fitzgerald. He waspersonally much liked in the county; the son of a venerableanti-Unionist, the well-remembered Prime Sergeant, anda man besides of superior abilities. The county itselfwas no easy one to contest; its immense constituency (the40-shilling freeholders had not yet been abolished), werescattered over a mountain and valley region, more thanfifty miles long by above thirty wide. They were almosteverywhere to be addressed in both languages--Englishand Irish--and when the canvass was over, they were stillto be brought under the very eyes of the landlords, uponthe breath of whose lips their subsistence depended, tovote the overthrow and conquest of those absolute masters. The little county town of Ennis, situated on the riverFergus, about 110 miles south-west of Dublin, was thecentre of attraction or of apprehension, and the hillsthat rise on either side of the little prosaic river soonswarmed with an unwonted population, who had resolved, subsist how they might, to see the election out. It ishardly an exaggeration to say that the eyes of the empirewere turned, during those days of June, on the ancientpatrimony of King Brian. "I fear the Clare election willend ill, " wrote the Viceroy to the leader of the Houseof Commons. "This business, " wrote the Lord Chancellor(Eldon), "must bring the Roman Catholic question to acrisis and a conclusion. " "May the God of truth andjustice protect and prosper you, " was the public invocationfor O'Connell's success, by the bishop of Kildare andLeighlin. "It was foreseen, " said Sir Robert Peel, longafterwards, "that the Clare election would be the turningpoint of the Catholic question. " In all its aspects, andto all sorts of men, this, then, was no ordinary election, but a national event of the utmost religious and politicalconsequence. Thirty thousand people welcomed O'Connellinto Ennis, and universal sobriety and order characterizedthe proceedings. The troops called out to overawe thepeasantry, infected by the prevailing good humour, joinedin their cheers. The nomination, the polling, and thedeclaration, have been described by the graphic pen ofShiel. At the close of the poll the numbers were--O'Connell, 2, 057; Fitzgerald, 1, 075; so Daniel O'Connell was declaredduly elected, amidst the most extraordinary manifestationsof popular enthusiasm. Mr. Fitzgerald, who gracefullybowed to the popular verdict, sat down, and wrote hisfamous despatch to Sir Robert Peel: "All the greatinterests, " he said, "my dear Peel, broke down, and thedesertion has been universal. Such a scene as we havehad! Such a tremendous prospect as is open before us!" This "tremendous prospect, " disclosed at the hustings ofEnnis, was followed up by demonstrations which bore astrongly revolutionary character. Mr. O'Connell, on hisreturn to Dublin, was accompanied by a _levee en masse_, all along the route, of a highly imposing description. Mr. Lawless, on his return to Belfast, was escortedthrough Meath and Monaghan by a multitude estimated at100, 000 men, whom only the most powerful persuasions ofthe Catholic clergy, and the appeals of the well-knownliberal commander of the district, General Thornton, induced to disperse. Troops from England were orderedover in considerable numbers, but whole companies, composedof Irish Catholics, signalized their landing at Waterfordand Dublin by cheers for O'Connell. Reports of thecontinued hostility of the government suggested desperatecouncils. Mr. Ford, a Catholic solicitor, openly proposed, in the Association, exclusive dealing and a run on thebanks for specie, while Mr. John Claudius Beresford, andother leading Orangemen, publicly predicted a revival ofthe scenes and results of 1798. The Clare election was, indeed, decisive; Lord Anglesea, who landed fully resolved to make no terms with those hehad regarded from a distance as no better than rebels, became now one of their warmest partisans. His favouritecounsellor was Lord Cloncurry, the early friend of Emmetand O'Conor; the true friend to the last of every nationalinterest. For a public letter to Bishop Curtis, towardsthe close of 1828, in which he advises the Catholics tostand firm, he was immediately recalled from the government;but his former and his actual chief, within three monthsfrom the date of his recall, was equally obliged tosurrender to the Association. The great duke was, oraffected to be, really alarmed for the integrity of theempire, from the menacing aspect of events in Ireland. A call of Parliament was accordingly made for an earlyday, and, on the 5th of March, Mr. Peel moved a committeeof the whole House, to go into a "consideration of thecivil disabilities of his Majesty's Roman Catholicsubjects. " This motion, after two days' debate, wascarried by a majority of 188. On the 10th of March theRelief Bill was read for the first time, and passedwithout opposition, such being the arrangement enteredinto while in committee. But in five days all the bigotryof the land had been aroused; nine hundred and fifty-sevenpetitions had already been presented against it; thatfrom the city of London was signed by more than "anhundred thousand freeholders. " On the 17th of March itpassed to a second reading, and on the 30th to a third, with large majorities in each stage of debate. Out of320 members who voted on the final reading, 178 were inits favour. On the 31st of March it was carried to theLords by Mr. Peel, and read a first time; two days later, on the 2nd of April, it was read a second time, on motionof the Duke of Wellington; a bitterly contested debateof three days followed; on the 10th, it was read a thirdtime, and passed by a majority of 104. Three days laterthe bill received the royal assent, and became law. The only drawbacks on this--great measure of long-withheldjustice, were, that it disfranchised the "forty-shillingfreeholders" throughout Ireland, and condemned Mr. O'Connell, by the insertion of the single word "hereafter, "to go back to Clare for re-election. In this there waslittle difficulty for him, but much petty spleen in theframers of the measure. While the Relief Bill was still under discussion, Mr. O'Connell presented himself, with his counsel, at thebar of the House of Commons, to claim his seat as memberfor Clare. The pleadings in the case were adjourned fromday to day, during the months of March, April, and May. A committee of the House, of which Lord John Russell wasChairman, having been appointed in the meantime to considerthe petition of Thomas Mahon and others, against thevalidity of the election, reported that Mr. O'Connellhad been duly elected. On the 15th of May, introduced byLords Ebrington and Duncannon, the new member enteredthe House, and advanced to the table to be sworn by theClerk. On the oath of abjuration being tendered to him, he read over audibly these words--"that the sacrifice ofthe mass, and the invocation of the blessed Virgin Mary, and other saints, as now practised in the Church of Rome, are impious and idolatrous:" at the subsequent passage, relative to the falsely imputed Catholic "doctrine ofthe dispensing power" of the Pope, he again read aloud, and paused. Then slightly raising his voice, he bowed, and added, "I decline, Mr. Clerk, to take this oath. Part of it I know to be false; another part I do notbelieve to be true. " He was subsequently heard at the bar, in his own person, in explanation of his refusal to take the oath, and, according to custom, withdrew. The House then enteredinto a very animated discussion on the Solicitor General'smotion "that Mr. O'Connell, having been returned a memberof this House before the passing of the Act for the Reliefof the Roman Catholics, he is not entitled to sit or votein this House unless he first takes the oath of supremacy. "For this motion the vote on a division was 190 against116: majority, 74. So Mr. O'Connell had again to seekthe suffrages of the electors of Clare. A strange, but well authenticated incident, struck witha somewhat superstitious awe both Protestants and Catholics, in a corner of Ireland the most remote from Clare, butnot the least interested in the result of its memorableelection. A lofty column on the walls of Deny bore theeffigy of Bishop Walker, who fell at the Boyne, armedwith a sword, typical of his martial inclinations, ratherthan of his religious calling. Many long years, by dayand night, had his sword, sacred to liberty or ascendancy, according to the eyes with which the spectator regardedit, turned its steadfast point to the broad estuary ofLough Foyle. Neither wintry storms nor summer rains hadloosened it in the grasp of the warlike churchman'seffigy, until, on the 13th day of April, 1829--the daythe royal signature was given to the Act of Emancipation--the sword of Walker fell with a prophetic crash uponthe ramparts of Derry, and was shattered to pieces. So, we may now say, without bitterness and almost withoutreproach, so may fall and shiver to pieces, every code, in every land beneath the sun, which impiously attemptsto shackle conscience, or endows an exclusive caste withthe rights and franchises which belong to an entire People! END