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The King warns the Lords Justices of
Impending Danger - Sir William Parsons and Sir John Borlase remain
Indifferent - Sir William Cole of Enniskillen communicates his
suspicions - Their lethargy continues - Hugh Oge MacMahon, grandson of
Tyrone, incites Owen O'Connolly to rebel - O'Connolly apathetic - He
visits MacMahon in Dublin, and is presented to Lord Maguire - The
details of Plot to seize Dublin Castle are revealed to him - He informs
Sir William Parsons - Steps taken to defend Dublin Castle - Proceedings
in Ulster - Sir Phelim O'Neill's Proclamation - Towns and Forts seized
by the Insurgents - Sufferings caused by the Rebellion.
"Kings have long ears," said King
James, and his son
King Charles proved the truth of the dictum, for he appears
to have had information from his Minister in Spain of approaching rebellion amongst his subjects in Ireland, and
as early as the i6th of March, 1641, His Majesty ordered
the Secretary of State, Sir Henry Vane, to send notice to
Sir William Parsons and Sir John Borlase, the Lords
Justices, to be prepared for a possible rising. Sir William
Parsons, that "driest" of all mortals, as Wentworth observed,
not having noticed any premonitory symptoms of insurrection
himself, did not allow this warning to disturb his aridity, and
no doubt his aplomb affected his colleague, the Master of
the Ordnance, for the worthy Justices contented themselves
with framing "some little new law" to be observed by the
citizens of Dublin, and remained oblivious of the King's
injunction.
There would have been some excuse for
this indifference if
the message had been conveyed in ambiguous language, but
Sir Henry Vane's communication was couched in unmistakable terms; he
tells the Lords Justices, "that there had passed
from Spain and other parts an unspeakable number of Irish
churchmen for England and Ireland, and some good old
soldiers, under the pretext of raising levies for the King
of Spain; and that it was whispered by the friars in that
kingdom, that rebellion was shortly expected in Ireland. . . ."
As the time fixed by the confederates
drew near, the Lords
Justices received fresh intimations of approaching danger, for,
on the nth of October, Sir William Cole, an Englishman
residing at Enniskillen, sent an urgent message to inform
Parsons and Borlase that there was an unusual and suspicious assembling
of various Irish gentry to the house of
Sir Phelim O'Neill; that Lord Maguire had lately made
many private journeys, and that he had been much occupied
in writing and dispatching letters all over the country; and
that both Maguire and O'Neill and many of their friends
had exhibited abnormal activity in levying men for the
service of the King of Spain.
Even this plain indication of the
trend of affairs, and the
possibility that ere long, should they be found unprepared,
"the wild mob's million feet" might "kick them from their
place", did not awake the slumbering Lords Justices from
their sleep of security to a sense of their duty to the State.
Like many others, before and since, dressed with authority
and deputed to guard the safety and welfare of the body-politic, they
preferred to let things drift.
On the very eve of the rebellion Cole,
having received
more precise information about a plot to seize Dublin and
other strongholds, sent at once to the Lords Justices a full
account of the conspiracy, but his letter was either intercepted
or suppressed. At the very moment when the chief conspirators were
assembled in Dublin, making their arrangements for an attack upon the
Castle, the Irish Government
remained still unaware and unsuspicious of any stealthy proceedings
being in progress to undermine its power and authority.
The English forces in Ireland amounted
at this time to
only about 3000 foot and 900 horse, and even these were
billeted in small companies all over the country, far from
the capital, in which there were at the moment no soldiers.
The entire garrison of Dublin Castle, in which were stored
1500 barrels of gunpowder, with matches and shot, arms for
10,000 men, and 35 pieces of ordnance, consisted of 8 aged
and infirm warders, and 40 halberdiers, who formed the usual
guard of the Lords Justices.
"There are flashes struck from
midnights." It is at
moments like this that obscure individuals, who in "piping
times of peace" might have plodded their weary way through
a life of dull routine, "alike unknowing and unknown",
spring into lurid and unenviable notoriety. Such an individual was one
Owen O'Connolly, a Protestant servant in the
service of that bulwark of Puritanism, Sir John Clotworthy.
O'Connolly, notwithstanding his lowly social status, must at
some period have been in a better position most probably
his progenitors lost by the Plantation for he enjoyed the
friendship of Hugh Oge MacMahon, a grandson of the great
Tyrone, to whom he was distantly related. Relatives are
not necessarily friends.
MacMahon however, was of a different
mental calibre to
his friend O'Connolly, for when he complained to Owen of
the " proud and haughty carriage of one Mr. Aldridge, that
was his neighbour in the county of Monaghan, who was a
justice of the peace and but a vinter or tapster few years
before, that he gave him not the right hand of fellowship
at the assizes nor sessions, he being also in commission with
him", O'Connolly, into whose soul the iron of English rule
evidently had entered deeply (resulting in a broken spirit,
if not a contrite heart), replied that a conquered people must
submit. At such an exhibition of the spirit of the serf, the
blood of the Tyrones asserted itself, and MacMahon bid
his friend to "awake, arise or be for ever fallen!" and expressed his
own belief that ere long they would be delivered
from the slavery that was eating into their souls; whereat no
doubt O'Connolly sighed and shook his head, and gravely
warned his sanguine kinsman to plot no plots, and if he
knew of aught that would endanger their lives to report it,
as a magistrate was in honour bound to do, to the Lords
Justices, " which would redound to his great honour".
Notwithstanding O'Connolly's manifest
lack of enthusiasm,
MacMahon evidently valued his friendship, for while residing
in Moneymore, in County Londonderry, Owen received in
the closing days of October, 1641, a letter from his relative
begging him to come to Conacht, in County Monaghan,
as he wished to consult him on matters of importance.
O'Connolly must have known, or at
least guessed, the
import of such an invitation ; nevertheless he immediately set
out for Conacht, and finding that MacMahon had left for
Dublin, he rode sixty miles on horseback, and arrived at the
capital at about six o'clock on the evening of the 22nd, and
was at once taken by MacMahon to see Lord Maguire, who
disclosed the whole daring plot to his phlegmatic visitor.
Briefly the plan originally agreed
upon was, a rising when
the harvest was gathered in ; a simultaneous attack upon all
English fortresses; the surprising of Dublin Castle, supposed
to contain arms stored by Wentworth sufficient for some
12,000 men; and the obtaining, to realize this dream, all
possible aid from the Continent in officers, arms, men, and
money. "And whereas", said Maguire, in a vain endeavour
to kindle some spark of enthusiasm in the wary and wearied
O'Connolly, "you have of long time been a slave to that
Puritan, Sir John Clotworthy, I hope you shall have soon as
good a man to wait upon you."
"Not to die a listener," O'Connolly,
though tired by his
long journey, now accepted an invitation to go with MacMahon, my Lord,
and others to the sign of the Lion in Wine
Tavern Street, where, when the waiter had been turned out
of the room and the door secured, all fell on their knees and
drank success to "the morrow, and the morrow's deeds",
O'Connolly, in order to make others drink, assisting energetically in
circulating the flowing bowl, partaking himself
in no small measure of its contents. He had, however, his
eye to the main chance, and, as he himself said, "finding an
opportunity, this examinate leaped over a wall and two pales
and so came to the Lord Justice Parsons", whose residence
was on Merchants' Quay, arriving at about nine o'clock in
the evening.
Parsons, on hearing such an
extraordinary story told by
a Very excited and evidently semi-intoxicated stranger, was
not by any means convinced of the truth of the statement,
and he told O'Connolly that he should require some evidence
of the facts of the case before he could act; he therefore
advised him to return to MacMahon's lodgings, which were
near the King's Inns in Henrietta Street, and bring him
some further information. O'Connolly forthwith departed;
and Sir William, on reflection, and seeing that it was now
getting late, determined to consult his colleague Sir John,
who being a very old man was likely to retire early. He
therefore repaired at once to Chichester House, in College
Green, where the Irish Houses of Parliament stood later, and
the Bank of Ireland stands to-day, and called on Borlase.
Borlase, on hearing the news, at once
sent messengers
to summon such of the Privy Council as were within reach.
The Constable of the Castle had already been warned, and
the Mayor had directions to apprehend all strangers.
O'Connolly, having with great difficulty escaped the second
time, fell into the hands of the watch, but was rescued by
Parson's men. It was now very late, and only two Privy
Councillors could be found, but O'Connolly's information
was sworn in proper form.
This same night Sir Francis
Willoughby, governor of
the fort of Galway, arrived at Dublin, finding the city gates
closed and much popular agitation in the suburbs. On
enquiring the cause, he was informed of the special meeting
of the Privy Council at Chichester House, to which he at
once repaired, and informed the Council, greatly to their
relief, that during his journey across the country he had
observed no signs of disturbance. The assembly, which
now consisted of eight Privy Councillors, with Sir Francis
Willoughby, Sir John Temple, Master of the Rolls, and
the Vice-Treasurer, Sir Adam Loftus of Rathfarnham, sat
all night and all next day in the Castle, having removed
from Chichester House on the advice of Sir Francis, who
considered Sir John Borlase's residence too insecure a
place either for secrecy regarding their deliberations or for
the safety of their persons. Willoughby was now made
governor of the Castle, and set about increasing its means
of defence. Owing to some 200 of the disbanded soldiers
of his former regiment being in Dublin, he was able to
muster a fairly strong body of experienced men, whom he
armed from the stores in the Castle; and being thus secure,
the Lords Justices issued a Proclamation announcing the
discovery of a "most disloyal and detestable conspiracy,
intended by some evil-affected Irish Papists, against the
lives of the Lords Justices and Council, and many other of
His Majestie's faithful subjects, universally throughout the
kingdom, and for seizing not only His Majestie's Castle of
Dublin, His Majestie's principal fort here, but also of the other
fortifications in the kingdom". The lords and gentle- men of the Pale,
who being almost to a man Roman Catholics, complaining that the words
"Irish Papists" in the Proclamation appeared to reflect upon their
loyalty and involve them in the charge of rebellion, another
Proclamation was issued on the 29th, explaining that the phrase
complained of was only intended to designate "such of the old mere Irish
in the Province of Ulster as had plotted, contrived, and been actors in that treason, and others that
adhered to them, and none of the old English of the Pale".
In the meanwhile events were
developing with alarming
rapidity in Ulster, where several important places were surprised and
captured by the Confederates before the news of
the premature discovery in Dublin could penetrate so far.
Sir Phelim O'Neill himself took by stratagem the forts of
Mountjoy and Charlemont, among his prisoners being Lord
Caulfeild, the commander of the latter fort. He also seized
Dungannon the same night, and the towns of Carrickmacross, Castleblaney,
and Tandragee also fell into the
hands of the insurgents; while the O'Reillys and Maguires
overran Cavan and Fermanagh, and plundered, stripped,
and turned out the English occupiers.
Newry was seized by Sir Conor Magennis,
who distributed from its stores arms and ammunition amongst his
followers, and wrote from thence on the 25th to the Govern-
ment commanders of Down: "We are for our lives and
liberties. . . . We desire no blood to be shed, but if you
meane to shed our blood, be sure we will be as ready as
you for the purpose;" and Sir Phelim O'Neill issued the
following Proclamation:
"These are to intimate and make known
unto all per-
sons whatsoever in and through the whole country, the true
intent and meaning of us whose names are hereunto sub-
scribed: That the first assembling of us is nowise intended
against our Sovereign Lord the King, nor hurt of any of
his subjects, either English or Scotch; but only for the
defence and libertie of ourselves and the Irish natives of this
kingdom. And we further declare that whatsoever hurt
hitherto hath been done to any person shall be presently
repaired; and we will that every person forthwith, after
proclamation, make their speedy repair unto their own houses
under paine of death, that no further hurt be done unto any
one under the like paine, and that this be proclaimed in all
places. "PHELIM O'NEILL.
"At Dungannon, the 23rd October,
1641."
At midnight on the Saturday on which
the above Proclamation was signed, Lord Blaney arrived in Dublin with
the first certain news from Ulster. His family, he said,
were prisoners, while Castleblaney, Carrickmacross, and
many places in Monaghan had been sacked or burned.
The rebels attacked Protestants only, "leaving the English
Papists untouched, as well as the Irish". In Cavan, which
was attacked by Philip M'Hugh O'Reilly: "Some were
killed, all stripped, some almost, others altogether naked,
not respecting women and sucking infants, the Lady Butler
faring herein as did others. Of these miserable creatures
many perished by famine and cold, travelling naked through
frost and snow, the rest recovering Dublin, where now many
of them are among others, in the same distress for bread
and clothes."
Dublin soon became "the daily repair
of multitudes of
English that came up in troops, stripped and miserably
despoiled, out of the North"; and Sir John Temple, the
Master of the Rolls, historian of this critical period in the
history of Ireland, describes the pitiable condition of the
refugees as he himself saw them:
"Many persons of good rank and
quality, covered over
with old raggs, and some without any other covering than
a little twisted straw to hide their nakedness, some reverend
ministers and others that had escaped with their lives sorely
wounded. Wives came- bitterly lamenting the murders of
their husbands; mothers of their children, barbarously
destroyed before their faces; poor infants ready to perish
and pour out their souls in their mothers' bosoms; some
over-wearied with long travel, and so surbated, as they came
creeping on their knees; others frozen up with cold, ready
to give up the ghost in the streets; others overwhelmed with
grief, distracted with their losses, lost also their senses.
Thus was the Town within the compass of a few days after the
breaking out of this rebellion filled with these most lamentable
spectacles of sorrow, which in great numbers wandered
up and down in all parts of the city, desolate, forsaken,
having no place to lay their heads on, no clothing to cover
their nakedness, no food to fill their hungry bellies. But
those of better quality, who could not frame themselves to
be common beggars, crept into private places; and some
of them, that had not private friends to relieve them, even
wasted silently away, and so died without noise. . . . The
greatest part of the women and children thus barbarously
expelled out of their habitations perished in the city of
Dublin, and so great numbers of them were brought to
their graves, as all the churchyards within the whole town
were of too narrow a compass to contain them."
Such were, in the language of a
contemporary, some
of "the Barbarous and Inhuman Dealings of the Northern
Irish Rebels". |
