|
Four Distinct Parties in
Ireland : The Nuncio, the Confederates, Ormonde, and the Scots - The
Nuncio attacks the Confederates - Preston joins him - Ormonde visits
Kilkenny - Owen Roe O'Neill marches South - Ormonde, alarmed, returns to
Dublin - O'Neill marches to Kilkenny - Rinuccini imprisons the Members
of the Supreme Council - A New Supreme Council elected, including the
Nuncio, Preston, Owen Roe, and Sir Phelim O'Neill - Preston and O'Neill
invest Dublin - Their Distrust and Hatred of each other - Clanrickard's
Fruitless Negotiations with Preston - The Nuncio and his Army return to
Kilkenny - Ormonde surrenders Dublin to Parliament and leaves Ireland.
In Ireland there now
existed four distinct parties, each with its own army. The Nuncio, for a
time the most powerful opponent to Ormonde's proposals of peace, had the
support of Owen Roe O'Neill; the Confederates at Kilkenny, by no means
in accord with Rinuccini on many questions, had a large body under their
control, with Preston as general; Ormonde, at the head of the Royalist
troops, had to face great odds, for he was surrounded by enemies; and
Ulster (O'Neill having left it) was garrisoned by George Munro and the
Scots.
Of these four parties
only one, the Nuncio's, was against the proclamation of peace. Rinuccini
saw in a peaceful country no place for himself, and he therefore induced
archbishops, bishops, vicars-general, and heads of religious houses to
protest against the articles of peace as agreed to by the Supreme
Council in Kilkenny, deciding "that all and every one of the Confederate
Catholics, who shall adhere to such a peace, or consent to the
furtherance thereof, or otherwise embrace the same shall be held
absolutely perjured: especially for this cause, that in these articles
there is no mention made of the Catholic religion, and the security
thereof, nor any care had for the conservation of the privileges of the
country as is found promised in the oath [of association]; but rather
all things are referred to the will of the most serene King from whom in
his present state nothing certain can be had".
The Nuncio now set
himself to undermine the power of the Supreme Council, who, when the
peace was proclaimed in Dublin, had given instructions that the
Proclamation should be printed, "and do order and require the same to be
published, and due obedience to be given thereunto by all the
Confederate Catholics of Ireland". In Waterford, Clonmel, and Limerick,
Ulster- King-at- Arms, who had received orders from the Lord -Lieutenant
to proclaim the peace, was roughly handled, and in Limerick he was
lodged in jail by the authorities, who gave out that he was dead, as the
only means by which they could save his life.
The "pulpit drum
ecclesiastic" was a power in the land, over which the threat of
excommunication on all who did not see eye to eye with the Nuncio now
hung heavy; even General Thomas Preston bowed his head to the storm of
pontifical fulminations on receiving "a positive inhibition from the
clergy that neither myself nor any of my commanders, upon pain of
excommunication, shall obey any orders from my Lord-Lieutenant".
Ormonde, who thus felt
the power of the Roman Catholics, must have been somewhat gratified to
learn that there was at least one body of men in the country who
approved of his actions. The Protestant clergy, who had found in Dublin
the safety which they had sought in vain elsewhere, praised him for
having "preserved not only in this city, but also in all the
out-garrisons, the free and full exercise of the true reformed
religion"; and if, said they, "any of our number be found disaffected to
the religion, book of service, public worship, government of the Church,
His Majesty's service, or disturbers of the present Peace, we do not
supplicate for such, but leave them to your lordship to be proceeded
with as you shall find convenient".
Additional proof that his
actions won favour came to the Viceroy in the shape of an invitation to
Kilkenny from the Supreme Council, who, finding their adherents overawed
by the Nuncio and threatened with a visitation, accompanied by his army,
from his servant O'Neill, deemed the presence of the Lord-Lieutenant
likely to strengthen their position. Ormonde, somewhat gratified,
accepted the invitation, and left Dublin, accompanied by Digby and
Clanrickard, on the 28th of August, to visit scenes familiar to him, and
be once again under his own roof-tree in the castle whose ancient
battlements are reflected in the River Nore. He was accompanied by 1500
foot, whom he left at Gowran, under Sir Francis Willoughby, 500 horse
accompanying him to Kilkenny, where he arrived on the 31st, and was
received with general joy and many signs of welcome.
Owen Roe O'Neill, being
informed of Ormonde's movements, immediately entered Leinster, and
Ormonde, recognizing the fact that he could not cope with the Irish
general, sent to Owen Roe, Daniel O'Neill, his nephew, to try to buy him
off and induce him to accept the peace. The terms offered were generous
enough, and included a gift of the estate of Lord Caulfeild, the custody
of all lands in Tyrone forfeited through disloyalty, and recognition of
his title by the Crown. Daniel O'Neill was supposed to have influence
with his uncle, but on this occasion he failed in his mission, no doubt
because Owen Roe came to the conclusion that the Viceroy, however honest
in his intentions, had not the means wherewith to carry them into deeds,
and therefore the Nuncio, whose power was not limited to this world, but
extended to the next, was undoubtedly the better paymaster. O'Neill,
therefore, to prove his own power, advanced to the south, encamping at
Roscrea on the 9th of September and Ormonde, alarmed, returned to
Dublin, entering the capital on the 13th.
In Kilkenny Rinuccini
reigned supreme. Supported by O'Neill, whose army encamped in the
immediate neighbourhood, he was irresistible. The Supreme Council was
completely cowed by the triumphant Nuncio, who forthwith caused all the
members to be committed as prisoners to the castle, with the exception
of Patrick Darcy and Plunket. Amongst those thus incarcerated were the
General of Munster, Lord Muskerry, Ormonde's brother-in-law; Bellings,
the historian, who was secretary to the Council; and Edmond, the eldest
son of Lord Mountgarret.
Having thus disposed of
the old Council, the Nuncio called upon O'Neill and Preston to assist in
the selection of a new one. Of the seventeen members of which it was
composed, four were bishops; the laity included Glamorgan, to whom
Muskerry's appointment was given, and its military strength was
represented by Generals Preston, Owen Roe, and Sir Phelim O'Neill.
Rinuccini himself was unanimously elected President.
Ormonde, hearing of these
proceedings, hastened to strengthen Dublin against this fresh
combination of forces, from whom he anticipated an attack. That his
surmise was correct proved to be true, for at the end of October Preston
had encamped at Leixlip, about seven miles from the capital, and O'Neill
not far from him, near Lucan. The Viceroy, faced with this new element
of danger, caused the mills in the vicinity to be destroyed and the
country laid waste for a considerable distance, so that no provisions
were available; and, the winter having set in with intense severity, the
troops suffered greatly, as many as twenty or thirty men perishing
nightly at their posts.
While Ormonde was
visiting Kilkenny the Nuncio had called upon O'Neill to attack Dublin,
believing that the victor of Benburb could easily take the city by
assault during the
OWEN ROE O'NEILL
After a Dutch painting
Viceroy's absence; but
Owen Roe pointed out to the domineering and pragmatical prelate that he
had no artillery, and indeed his army was in a worse condition than he
appears to have admitted. It consisted of 5000 foot, of which only half
was armed, and that but indifferently, "the rest as the rabble used to
be in the beginning of the distractions". His small troops of horse were
described as "miserable", and they were reported to be "not above two
armed with pistol, and none with defensive arms". This motley army was
accompanied by a huge crowd of nearly 8000 "of the Ulster families,
unarmed", whom the soldiers were expected not alone to protect but to
feed. Preston's horse were in better condition and better armed, but of
the combined forces not more than 10,000 could be reckoned as effective,
and there were but five pieces of artillery.
The defences of Dublin
were in so bad a state that the besiegers might have found it easy to
storm the city at many points; but they were too busily engaged with
their own dissensions to think of a combined attack on the capital. Even
if they had not had their private differences, the generals had many
subjects on which to disagree. The Leinster men were angered by seeing
O'Neill's hungry followers devouring the products of their province, and
they naturally carried their complaints to Preston, who expostulated and
threatened; and, O'Neill having no power to repress the ravaging
proclivities of his starving and desperate army, there was much
dissension between the camps, which were in fact armed against each
other, the Nuncio being fully occupied in passing between them, vainly
endeavouring to reconcile the discordant elements, and to reconcile the
generals, whose hatred and distrust of each other was such that he
gradually came to the conclusion that "arms at first devoted to religion
were about to minister to private passions alone".
All this time Preston's
attitude was more than dubious. His vacillation was such that it was
debated in Council whether he should not be seized and imprisoned as a
traitor to the cause. He was openly in correspondence with Ormonde
through the medium of Clanrickard, who was in Luttrellstown, and it
subsequently transpired that he agreed to a plan by which he and
Clanrickard were jointly to garrison Dublin, and to compel the Nuncio's
party to accept the Peace. Ormonde, however, insisted that the original
Peace should first be accepted; but to this Preston would not agree.
Clanrickard then proposed on his own behalf to procure a repeal of the
penal laws, and enjoyment by Catholics of such churches and
ecclesiastical possessions as they held at the conclusion of the peace,
until a settlement by a free Irish Parliament, "His Majesty being in
free condition himself".
In confirmation of these
terms Clanrickard undertook to have them ratified under the King's own
hand, as also by the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and by the French
Government. If these terms were accepted and matters concluded the
Catholics were to be "forthwith invested in such commands by His
Majesty's authority, both in field and garrison, as may pass for a very
sufficient part of the security". Preston's views of the proposed treaty
may be gathered from his letter to the mayor and citizens of Kilkenny.
"We have," he wrote, "by the divine Providence, wrought the splendour of
religion to that extension as from Bunratty to Dublin there is Catholic
religion professed and exercised, and from Waterford to the lower parts
of Tyrone, and confined heresy in this Province to Dublin, Drogheda,
Dundalk, and Trim, these places which in four days will be garrisoned by
my army, by God's help; and then think you in what posture of religion
those parts are in, for us and ours, having all penal laws against
Catholics repealed; all in our own hands, churches and Church livings,
secured till the King in a free Parliament declare the same for us; the
government in the Catholics' hands; petitions of right allowed the
parties grieved; and, to make this good, our arms in our own hands."
While these negotiations
were proceeding, Ormonde wrote to General Munro asking for 500 Scottish
soldiers to help to garrison Dublin, the fortifications of which were in
an unsatisfactory condition. In repairing them the services of ladies
were accepted to carry baskets filled with earth, the Marchioness of
Ormonde being amongst the fair labourers thus employed. Munro, who was
doubtless aware that the Lord-Lieutenant was in negotiation with the
Parliamentarians, expressed regret at his inability to send his officers
so far south. Ormonde then sent a deputation to London to treat with
Parliament for the surrender of Dublin, with the result that
commissioners were sent to interview Ormonde on the subject; and though
terms were not arrived at, because the Lord-Lieutenant refused to
deliver up the Sword of State without an order from the King, the mere
presence of the Parliamentary Commissioners, of whom Sir John Clotworthy
was one, served to alarm the Irish, and O'Neill, two days after their
arrival, fearing that Preston and Clanrickard would combine with Ormonde
and thus he would be placed between two fires, collected his men, threw
an improvised bridge over the river, and marched south to Kilkenny, to
which Rinuccini had preceded him. Preston's officers, "not being
excommunication-proof, were fallen from him to the Nuncio's party", and
therefore the negotiations with Clanrickard were hastily broken off, and
Preston withdrew into Westmeath and Longford.
The Nuncio, having failed
to take Dublin, as he had boasted he would, found on his return to
Kilkenny that he must try to conciliate the many enemies he had made,
and he therefore gave orders for the release of the imprisoned members
of the former Supreme Council, and a meeting was held on the 10th
January, 1647, at which all members bound them- selves by a new and
stringent oath of association to make no peace without the consent of
the General Assembly.
It being now evident the
Peace would not be accepted by the Kilkenny Assembly, and Ormonde being
in a desperate state through lack of provisions, he wrote to the
Parliamentary Commissioners in Ulster offering to surrender the Sword of
State and his garrisons to Parliament. This offer was immediately
accepted, the Commissioners landed at Dublin with 1500 men on the 7th of
June, and on the 28th of July Ormonde surrendered Dublin and left the
country.
The Parliamentary party
appointed Colonel Michael Jones Governor of Dublin and Commander of the
Forces in Leinster. He had to contend with some of the difficulties
which beset the Marquis of Ormonde, and the troops left by the
ex-Lord-Lieutenant, ill-paid and ill-fed, being provoked by the severe
discipline of the republican governor, became mutinous and plundered the
citizens.
O'Neill, who had been
given by the Confederates the command of the troops of Ulster and
Connaught, now found himself destitute of resources at Boyle, and was
both sullen and dispirited. He had the satisfaction, however, of
learning that Preston was badly beaten by Jones at Dungan's Hill on the
8th August, when the Confederates lost 5470 men and the English 20, and
of receiving in consequence a pressing summons to enter Leinster and
harass Jones; but he refused to move. The personal entreaties of Bishop
MacMahon at last prevailed, but many of his officers refused to obey.
Their leader, the celebrated "Colkitto" MacDonald, had been with Preston
at Dungan's Hill when 400 of his Redshanks had fallen, and he was with
difficulty persuaded to change his mind. O'Neill now marched into Meath
and encamped at Cloughjordan until November, when he collected about
12,000 foot and 1500 horse and devastated the country round Dublin.
Sir Henry Tichborne, who
was continued by the Parliament as Governor of Drogheda, and "embraced
it with cheerfulness", had helped Jones at Dungan Hill with nearly 2000
men and two guns. He now followed the northern army everywhere and cut
off many stragglers, and exhibited such activity that the Nuncio's
scheme that O'Neill should march "into Ulster to reduce the fort of
Enniskillen, and to take possession of the Holy Place of St. Patrick's
Purgatory, now about one hundred years in the hands of the heretics",
seemed very unlikely to be realized. O'Neill, however, marched to within
but a very short distance of Balbriggan, plundering and burning as he
went to such an extent that over 200 fires were counted at one time from
St. Audoen's steeple in Dublin. Near Garristown Jones and Tichborne
suddenly appeared, and the latter wished to fight, but Jones overruled
him, and O'Neill returned to Cloughjordan without having to strike a
blow. |
