Richard Bagwell

“ Those who wished to depart with their goods were given three months to think it over. ‘For what you mention,’ wrote Cromwell, ‘concerning liberty of conscience, I meddle not with any man’s conscience, but if by liberty of conscience you mean a liberty to exercise the mass, I judge it best to use plain dealing, and to let you know, where the Parliament of England have power, that will not be allowed of.’ He told Lenthall that there was nothing to prevent the garrison from recrossing the river without his leave. ”

“ As for the people, what thoughts they have in matters of religion in their own breasts I cannot reach; but think it my duty if they walk honestly and peaceably, not to cause them in the least to suffer for the same.’ He defended the raising of money by mortgaging lands which rebels would forfeit, but denied that there was any intention to extirpate the people. He defied anyone to give an instance since his arrival in Ireland of ‘one man not in arms, massacred, destroyed, or banished’ with impunity. ”

“ Cromwell, said Milton, had ‘done in few years more eminent and remarkable deeds whereon to found nobility in his house though it were wanting, and perpetual renown to posterity, than Ormonde and all his ancestors put together can show from any record of their Irish exploits, the widest scene of their glory.’ Dealing with the articles of the peace in greater detail than Jones had done, Milton shows that the Protestants of Ireland were really left at the mercy of those who were more or less responsible for the massacres. ”

“ It seems certain that a sham commission of some sort was shown not only in Ulster but in Munster; and there is no difficulty about believing that O’Neill should not have wished to die with a lie in his mouth, or that hopes of mercy should have been held out to him if he would implicate Charles. If the commission were forged, it matters little whether the seal was that of England or Scotland; either would do to exhibit at a distance. We know from the judge’s notes that O’Neill was believed to have altered a genuine document, and that a copy was produced in court. ”

“ This dreadful sentence came to the knowledge of the Irish at a time when four thousand men were in arms, who had been levied for the service of the King of Spain, but were then detained in Ireland by order of the Parliament.’ The detention of the troops was indeed one great cause of the outbreak in 1641, but the men had been levied originally not for any foreign prince, but to enable Charles and Strafford to crush the English Parliament and their Scots allies. Parliament was undoubtedly ready to oppress the Roman Catholics, but there is no evidence of any intention to extirpate them. ”

“ There were cool-headed Irish Catholics at home and abroad who saw the essential weakness of the Confederates’ position. Clanricarde was Walsingham’s grandson. Alone among men of his creed he held the King’s commission, and knew the real interests of the Crown, as well as the impossibility of separating Ireland from England. Among the insurgents were many who had been ‘instruments of foul and horrid acts; there being yet some who do boast and glory in those inhumanities. ”

“ Rinuccini’s attempt on Dublin had completely failed, but Ormonde’s position there was nevertheless made worse. The two armies had descended like locusts upon the districts from which he had drawn his chief supplies. Excise could no longer be levied, and the citizens were reduced to penury for the support of the garrison, and yet the soldiers were half paid and half fed. As soon as it became evident that the Kilkenny assembly would reject the peace Ormonde offered to surrender the sword and his garrisons to the Parliament on the terms lately offered by their representatives. ”

“ It is hardly worth while to inquire what might have happened if there had been no Restoration, but Gookin declares that the priests had ‘universally departed’ as well as the most dangerous of the soldiers, and it is possible for people with a great deal of imagination to argue that Ireland might have become Protestant if they had all been kept out for ever. What really prevented the transplantation from being fully carried out was the impossibility of cultivating the land without the help of the natives, who might be spared under the first clause of the Act of Settlement. ”

“ And the real advantage of the assurance of our kingdom, and of a nation so faithfully affected to his service, is much more considerable than the fears and jealousies to discontent a party.’ Unfortunately for this argument, Ireland was divided into parties quite as much as England, and concessions to Irish national feeling were certain to deprive the King of all effective English support. ”

“ John King, Dean of Tuam, who had taken refuge in Scotland, and we have his own account of the interview where he received his instructions. ‘The Scots,’ said Charles, ‘have dealt very ill with me, very ill. I understand you are willing to go into Ireland. My Lord of Ormonde is a person that I depend upon more than anyone living. I much fear that I have been forced to do some things which may much prejudice him. You have heard how a declaration was extorted from me, and how I should have been dealt withal, if I had not signed it. ”

“ As a soldier all accounts agree in praising O’Neill, whose word was always kept, and who is not charged with any acts of cruelty or unnecessary severity. Of his patriotism there can be no doubt, but of Ireland as a separate nation he seems to have had no definite idea. He was a Royalist, and his natural leaning would have been towards Ormonde as the special representative of the Crown. But he was above all things attached to the religion of Rome, and Rinuccini’s ban weighed heavily upon him. ”

“ Soldiers and citizens were allowed to go free, and time was given to remove personal property, but without any guarantee for lands or houses; and Ireton evidently contemplated a partial colonisation. The garrison of 2000 had been reduced to about 1200, who marched out after giving up their arms, and the city contained about 4000 other men capable of bearing arms, though about 5000 persons had perished ‘by the sword without and the famine and plague within.’ He was inclined to spare those who had not shown themselves irreconcilable; but there would still be plenty of room for settlers. ”

“ The gentlemen of Tipperary came to meet him, but could or would do nothing. ‘Every man stands at gaze, and suffers the rascals to rob and pillage all the English about them.’ Ormonde’s own cattle were driven off. St. Leger’s brother-in-law having been pillaged, he took indiscriminate vengeance, and some innocent men were probably killed. He as good as told the Tipperary magnates that they were all rebels. In the meantime the Leinster insurgents had crossed the estuary of the Suir in boats, and ravaged the eastern part of Waterford. ”

“ It may be therefore by the will of God that a people Catholic only in name, and so irreverent towards the Church, should feel the thunderbolt of the Holy See, and draw upon themselves the anger which is the meed of the scorner.’ Rinuccini declared that a nuncio to a heretic viceroy was an absurdity, and prepared to leave the country. ”

“ As one of the Commissioners of Parliament, Colonel Jones was of opinion that no lasting peace could be made ‘but by removing all heads of septs and priests and men of knowledge in arms, or otherwise in repute, out of this land, and breaking all kinds of interest among them, and by laying waste all fast countries in Ireland, and suffer no mankind to live there but within garrisons,’ adding that declarations were about to issue for laying waste all Kerry and Wicklow, and portions—in some instances the greater part—of seventeen other counties. ”

“ But the motives of men are, for the most part, mixed, and he may have thought, as was indeed the fact, that he was taking the best course to protect the Protestants of southern Ireland. Ormonde could do little for them, and the masters of the sea could do much. But Parliament was torn by factions, and help was sent to Ireland grudgingly. Having gained two great victories and successfully maintained the three seaports, Inchiquin thought he deserved better treatment. Besides all this, he disliked the Independents and dreaded their growing power. ”

“ The soldiers were always ignorant of the designs and movements of the combatant Irish, for whom the country people acted as scouts, being ‘possessed of an opinion that the Parliament intend them no terms of mercy and therefore endeavouring to preserve them as those that stand between them and danger.’ It was estimated that 30,000 men were still in arms among the Irish, a few in garrisons, but for the most part lurking among woods and bogs. The plan adopted to subdue them was to make a Pale from the Boyne to the Barrow, and to destroy the means of subsistence elsewhere. ”

“ The opposition was thus silenced, and Ormonde found himself complete master. In the meantime Pier-Francesco Scarampi, an Oratorian, arrived at Kilkenny with a commission from the Pope, and immediately threw his weight into the scale against peace. The Confederates, he urged, appeared to be winning, and if they continued to fight vigorously they would probably get control of the country. Nothing was to be expected from the justice of any English party, but if they made themselves formidable they might extort respect from the victors, whether King or Parliament. ”

“ It was not till March 1649 that Cromwell was appointed, and he hesitated to accept the command. He was ready to go where Parliament sent him, but could hope for no success unless the soldiers were satisfied as to their pay and arrears. He was much impressed with the importance of reducing Ireland, lest England should be attacked by Presbyterians and Papists at once. He would rather see the Cavaliers triumphant than the Scots, but a predominant Irish interest would be the most dangerous of all. ”

“ The House of Commons were accused of seizing upon the King’s person, ‘but was he not surrendered into their hands an enemy and captive by their own subordinate and paid army of Scots in England?’ And Knox, who was the founder of Scotch presbytery, ‘taught professedly the doctrine of deposing and of killing kings.’ Ormonde on his part made a great mistake in comparing Cromwell to John of Leyden, for never was any man more unlike the Puritan chief than the polygamous scoundrel who had enjoyed a brief royalty at Münster. ”

“ Having placed him in authority in Ireland he supported him steadily, but in a tentative way and without doing anything to estrange others. He was civil to Hewson and others who were inclined to give trouble, and refused to believe that Fleetwood was in any way disloyal. ‘Take care,’ he wrote to his son, ‘of making it a business to be too hard for the men who contest with you. Being over-concerned may train you into a snare. ”

“ In the summer of 1656 Henry Cromwell had become so weary of calumny and so disheartened for want of effectual support that he wished to retire; but Thurloe assured him that the tale-bearers were not believed in England, and that he might go on with his work. It was at this time that the Protector resolved to try a second Parliament, and writs for the Irish elections were sent over. The major-generals and the decimation tax were very unpopular in England, but in Ireland the army was so completely master that there was not much difficulty about getting thirty suitable members. ”

“ Early in October Venables made an attempt on Ballinacargy, O’Reilly’s chief stronghold in Cavan, but was foiled, the Irish retreating to a bog whenever he advanced, and watching to intercept provisions, so that he had to return to Dundalk. It was evident that nothing of importance could be done as long as Limerick held out and kept the main strength of the army occupied. Even within a few miles of Dublin, Sherlock kept 2000 men among the mountains, and there was no force to attack him. ”

“ It was a crime, he said, ‘to hang a man for six and eightpence, and I know not what—to hang for a trifle and commit murder.’ In Ireland particularly much might be done for the poor people by the cheap and impartial administration of justice. ”

“ O’Driscol’s castle at Baltimore was burned, and the neighbouring islands harried. About 100 camp-followers of the worst kind followed Forbes’s wake. They entered and plundered houses without provocation, and even killed children within sight of the soldiers. Meanwhile Forbes had been summoned to Galway, without Clanricarde’s knowledge, by Willoughby, who having a commission to execute martial law from the Lords Justices, had hanged a sergeant in Lord Clanmorris’s company for extortion. Clanmorris retaliated by hanging some soldiers of the fort who had strayed into the open country. ”

“ It was easy for Preston to answer that he fought in a good cause and that Ireton was risking men’s lives in a bad one, while his head and those of his friends were as ‘unsettled on their shoulders as any in the town.’ The mayor and aldermen answered in the same strain; and Ireton died a fortnight after the date of their letter. Ludlow was in Dublin at the moment, and the Commissioners made him commander-in-chief until the pleasure of Parliament should be further known. ”

“ Rinuccini, yielding very unwillingly to Nicholas Plunket and fearing lest the mob should do it without his leave, allowed the old council to be liberated, and devoted his attention to the elections for the next general assembly. All over the country the clergy administered oaths to candidates binding them to reject the peace. Absolution for other sins was denied to those who refuse to take such an oath, and O’Neill’s soldiers were everywhere called in to enforce the clerical decrees. ”

“ Bishop French and Sir Nicholas Plunket were sent to Rome, and in this case he could say that the object of the Council was to get good men out of the way. They were to represent generally the fidelity of Ireland and her need of help, and in particular to beg the Pope’s intercession with the Queen and Prince, with the sovereigns of France and Spain, and with all other Christian princes. If all else failed, they were empowered to invite Innocent to be himself protector of Ireland, and they were to ask his help even if matters should be accommodated with the Queen and Prince. ”