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Clarendon's Arrival -
Tyrconnell's Departure - The Militia disarmed - Changes in Favour of the
Catholic Element - Rapid Emigration - Tyrconnell returns with Plenary
Powers - He proceeds to exercise them - He attacks the Acts of
Settlement - Clarendon recalled - Tyrconnell Lord Deputy - He seizes the
Charters of Dublin and other Cities - Carrickfergus resists, but finally
yields to blandishment - The Protestants make a stand at Enniskillen -
The Establishment of Defence Associations - A Force sent from Dublin to
garrison Londonderry - The City revolts and closes the Gates -
Preparations made for Resistance.
"When the King sent me
here", wrote Clarendon on his
appointment as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, "he told me that
he would support the English interest, and he sent me that
the world might see that he would do so. They were to have
the freedom of their religion, yet he would have them see,
too, that he looked upon them as a conquered people, and
that he would support the settlement inviolably." His public
instructions intimated the King's desire that Roman Catholics
should be introduced into the corporations, and that they
should be made magistrates and officers of justice. The Protestants were
to be given to understand that it was not the
King's intention to alter the religious establishment. "Never
in my life", wrote Clarendon to the King, "have I met with
people fuller of duty to your Majesty, nor more desirous of
opportunities to manifest their loyalty."
When Clarendon arrived,
in December, Tyrconnell took
his departure for London, and it was there, under his direction, that
all Irish business of any importance was conducted.
It was soon apparent that his influence was superior to all
other, and that the King was inclined to give ear to the most
violent and offensive counsels. The fruits of Tyrconnell's
methods of administration were speedily seen. Without
Clarendon's approbation, and even without his knowledge,
preparations were made for arming and drilling the whole
native population of the country. Steps were taken to place
the arms of the militia beyond the reach of recovery. Chester
Castle was made the arsenal for Ireland, and orders were
issued directing the stores of Carrickfergus, Athlone, and
Limerick to be removed to Dublin, from thence to be shipped
to England. Changes were made in most of the important
offices. The seals were taken suddenly from the Primate-Chancellor, and
Sir Charles Porter was sent to take his
place. Three Protestant judges were removed arbitrarily,
no reason being assigned, and their places filled by Catholics,
one of whom, Justice Daly, being described by the Viceroy
as "perfect Irish, of the old race, very bigoted and national".
In spite of Clarendon's protests, they were not only sworn
into office without being required to take the oath of supremacy, but
these, with some other Irish lawyers, were ordered
to be admitted into the Irish Privy Council.
All these changes, and
rumours of changes, filled the
Protestants with alarm. Some of the Presbyterians of Ulster,
wearied by the annoyances to which they were subjected, sold
their effects and fled to New England. Others repaired to
Scotland. Protestant merchants and traders began to abandon the country,
and Clarendon wrote a word of warning to
the King. "The King does not believe me," he said when
he found his advice ignored. " Well, I have done my part.
If the King finds his subjects here desert the country every
week, as I am sure they do, perhaps I shall be believed then."
The bonds of society seemed everywhere broken, and the
fears of the populace were soon shared by the higher grades.
The Earl of Granard was deprived of his regiment, and to
appease any resentment that might be felt by one who possessed so much
influence among the Presbyterians, he was
offered the new office of President of the Council, a post he
declined. The great body of Presbyterians, who regarded
Granard as their protector, naturally saw in these proceedings
a confirmation of their worst apprehensions, and their con-
sternation was complete. The Presbyterians were not alone
in their view of the situation. "All proceedings now look",
said Clarendon, "as if the King's mind was altered, and as
if he intended a total alteration. He consults only with the
Irish whose interest is to break the Settlement. All power
is in the hands of the conquered nation, and the English,
who did conquer, are left naked, and deprived even of arms
which by the patents of plantation they are obliged to have
in readiness for the King's service."
In June, 1686, Tyrconnell
returned to Ireland with
plenary powers to carry out the King's designs in favour
of the Catholics. He was given the entire control of the
army, and he brought with him a number of military commissions by which
many of the best Protestant officers were
dismissed and Catholics substituted in their places. He
was also commissioned to admit Roman Catholics to the
freedom of corporations and the offices of sheriffs and justices
of the peace. Clarendon had already, as directed, nominated
Catholic sheriffs and magistrates, but the appointments did
not satisfy Tyrconnell. "Moderate Catholics" he called
"Trimmers"; as to the sheriffs he exclaimed, addressing
himself to Clarendon: "By God!" ("being never likely to
be near Him save in an oath") "the sheriffs you made are
generally rogues. There has not been an honest sheriff in
Ireland these twenty years", and he proceeded, assisted by
Nugent, to draw up a list of sheriffs for the year following,
which the Viceroy was obliged to accept. Thus the entire
civil magistracy of Ireland passed into the hands of the
Catholics.
Tyrconnell now proceeded
to attack the Acts of Settlement, declaring that "these Acts of
Settlement and this
New Interest' are damned things!" and he again proceeded
to London with the twofold object of persuading the King
to repeal these Acts and of procuring the recall of the
Protestant Lord- Lieutenant. With regard to the latter he
succeeded beyond his hopes, for not alone was Clarendon
recalled in February, 1687, but he was himself appointed
his successor with the title of Lord Deputy.
Clarendon had been
prepared for the announcement of
Tyrconnell's appointment by many signs of approaching
changes, although he was assured by the King in more
than one letter that His Majesty was quite satisfied with his
conduct of the government, at the same time remarking:
"There is work to be done in Ireland which no Englishman
will do". After the fall of Rochester, his brother, the Viceroy
could no longer battle against adverse circumstances. The
outlook was hopeless. "It is scarce possible", he wrote,
"for any that have not been here to believe the profound
ignorant bigotry the nation here are bred in by the priests,
who, to all appearance, seem to be as ignorant as themselves.
The generality of them do believe that this kingdom is the
Pope's; that the King has no right further than the Pope
gives him authority; and that it is lawful for them to call in
any foreign power to help them against those who oppose
the jurisdiction of the Church, as has evidently appeared by
the late rebellion. And I do assure you the same principles
which carried on that rebellion have been since carefully
propagated, and are now too publicly owned. True, many
Roman Catholics declare against these principles, and do
detest them, even priests. But these two things are observable; first,
that those who detest those principles, and will
not allow the Pope to have so great an authority at this time
when Roman Catholics are put into all employments, are
scarce taken notice of, and upbraided with the names of
Whigs and Trimmers; and the children of the most active
in the rebellion, and those who set up the Pope's authority
most, are in the employments; and secondly, notwithstanding
the moderation of those Roman Catholics I mention, not one
of them will suffer any of the others to be prosecuted for any
offence they commit."
Clarendon having departed
and Tyrconnell being sworn
in, the next step was the seizure of the charters of cities and
boroughs in order to remould the corporations according to
the King's wishes. The Lord Deputy commenced with the
city of Dublin, as the first and most important of the Irish
corporations, and the one whose example would necessarily
exercise a considerable influence over the rest. His autocratic demand
met with firm resistance, but in the end the
charter of Dublin was seized. The other corporations
throughout Ireland met with the same fate. One only gave
the Government much embarrassment, that of Carrickfergus,
and it was only induced to surrender its charter by much
persuasion.
While the Protestants in
the south were not strong
numerically, in Ulster they were in the majority. Two of
the northern towns, Londonderry and Enniskillen, gained
distinction by their early and determined resistance to the
Government. Enniskillen, at that time a small town, was
the only borough in the County Fermanagh, the ancient
territory of the Maguires. It is situated on an island in
the narrow part of Lough Erne. The city of Londonderry,
on the western shore of Lough Foyle, and through it in communication
with the sea, was surrounded by a wall strengthened with bastions, but
with fortifications unequal to a land
siege. It had been garrisoned with a regiment composed
largely of Protestants under the command of that stanch
Protestant, Lord Mountjoy, but the garrison was withdrawn
by Tyrconnell to send troops to James, and he now (December,
1688) determined to regarrison the stronghold.
The Protestants in
Ulster, having been alarmed by
rumours (which proved to be ill-founded, or circulated by
design) of a general massacre of all Protestants, to be begun
on the 9th of December, commenced to consult together with
a view to concerted action in self-defence. Numbers arose in
counties Armagh, Donegal, Down, Monaghan, and Tyrone,
under the leadership of such men as Lord Mount-Alexander,
who was considered chief of the northern league, Lord Blaney,
and Sir Arthur Rawdon. On the 1st of December, Enniskillen received
orders from Dublin to provide for two companies of foot which were to be
quartered upon them; and
being in no mood to receive them, the inhabitants, recalling
the fact that Chancellor Fitton had publicly remarked that
among 40,000 Protestants there was not one who was not
a traitor, a rebel, and a villain, determined to earn the titles
thus bestowed upon them by a vigorous resistance to the
order they had received. The gentlemen throughout Ulster
armed their tenants as well as they were able, and reestablished their
disbanded militia.
Tyrconnell, determined to
secure the North, at once sent
down a strong force, under the command of the Earl of
Antrim, to disperse the various gatherings of the defence
associations and garrison Londonderry. Antrim reached
Newtown-Limavady on the 6th of December, where intelligence of the
rumoured massacre had already been received,
and the sudden appearance of the soldiers was therefore
regarded with suspicion. Steps were immediately taken to
warn Londonderry of their approach, and in an instant the
whole city prepared to shut the gates against the proposed
garrison. Tomkins, an alderman, and James Gordon, a
Nonconformist minister, were in favour of immediate resistance, and
summoned aid Mom all quarters for that purpose,
Gordon himself rousing the public spirit by calling aloud
in the streets for volunteers. Tomkins, meanwhile, with the
caution characteristic of a city father, consulted a brother
alderman named Norman, and, believing that there is wisdom
in numbers, they together consulted the Bishop, Ezekiel
Hopkins, who, being a man of peace, counselled caution,
and, the magistrates being of the same opinion, preparations
were made to receive the garrison.
"To do great things we
must be young", said Goethe.
It is to the youthful apprentices of Londonderry that the city
owes the foundations of her fame. Thirteen of these youths,
William Cairns, Henry Campsie, Alexander and John
Coningham, Samuel Harvey, Samuel Hunt, William Crookshanks, Alexander
Irwin, Robert Morrison, Daniel and
Robert Sherrard, James Spike, and James Stewart, who
appear, from their names, to have been of Scottish birth or
descent, at the critical moment (7th December, 1689) when
Antrim's men were already at the gates, having armed themselves and
seized the keys of the city, flew to the Ferry Gate,
and, closing it in the faces of the King's men, let down the
portcullis. They then closed the three other gates of the
city, placing guards at each. The celerity and spirit with
which these movements were conducted spread like wildfire
through the city, the daring action of the young men kindling
the enthusiasm of their elders until there glowed in every
breast a desire to maintain at all hazards, and against all
odds, the freedom and integrity of Derry. In vain the
Bishop expostulated and exhorted the citizens to obey the
Lord's Anointed. He was interrupted by the exclamation:
"A good sermon, my Lord, a very good sermon; but we
have not time to hear it just now!" Futile the efforts of the
deputy-mayor and sheriffs to secure submission to the orders
from the Lord -Lieutenant, neither persuasion nor threat
proved powerful enough to change the minds of the citizens.
The magazines were opened, muskets and gunpowder were
duly distributed, and sentinels posted on the ramparts. One of
the citizens James Morison mounting the wall and addressing Antrim's men
bade them depart without delay. They
hesitated, but on Morison's calling aloud in their hearing
for a cannon to be trained on them they forthwith retreated
out of range. This was a repulse on which they had not
reckoned.
So far the citizens had
acted on the initiative of the
apprentices and in the teeth of spiritual as well as magisterial warning
and advice. The Bishop's armoury had consisted chiefly of
Threatenings out of Peter
or of Paul
And some strange cursings
from Leviticus.
The magistrates and
sheriffs had warned them of more
palpable punishment for their misdeeds. But both alike
were unavailing; the contagion spread, and a leader soon
appeared. In the afternoon of this fateful day, David
Cairnes, a Protestant resident in the neighbourhood, on
hearing the news, entered Londonderry to encourage the
citizens, whose conduct he publicly applauded. Alderman
Norman, with several others who had held back, now joined
the movement. A meeting was held at the guard- house,
at which it was resolved to communicate with the principal
gentry of the surrounding district, requesting their co-operation. This
summons was met by a speedy response, for
within forty-eight hours hundreds of foot and horse arrived,
and, Deny being fortified as speedily as was possible under
the circumstances, unanimously declared for a resolute
defence. |
