Ireland: The People's History of Ireland, Volume 1 (of 2) (2024)

Ireland—1

Vol. I

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BOOK I

DEALING WITH THE STORY OF THE IRISH PEOPLEFROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE ADVENT OFTHE REFORMATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

THAT famous English Republican, Thomas Paine—whosepolitical pamphlets have been admired quiteas much as his theological works have been censured—utteredin “Common Sense,” published in 1776, while hewas serving under Washington in the Continental Army,this striking aphorism: “Europe, and not England, is theparent country of America.” His object was to stimulatethe patriotic pride of such American colonists—and theywere many—as were not of English birth or descent,and to proclaim that the other great branches of the humanrace, settled in America, must, of necessity, have avital interest in the successful issue of the War for Independence.No other great country of the world hasa population made up of so many divers “previous nationalities,”all combined into one gigantic political whole,as the United States of America. Most of the notablenations of the Old World are here represented not byhundreds or thousands, but by millions of citizens, “racyof the soil,” and proud to call themselves Americans. AFrench patriot once said, speaking in the Chamber ofDeputies: “There is no French race. France is a grandpolitical entity which all true Frenchmen, of whateverrace, worship.” This fine sentiment can be even more4logically applied to America and Americans, for both arestill in the formative period. Several centuries hence,perhaps, a race of people distinctively American in allrespects may occupy this country, but while the greatstream of European immigration continues to flow towardthe setting sun there can not exist such a racial conditionin this Republic, except in those remote districtsin which the immigrant rarely seeks a home.

Most Americans have read something of the politicalmisfortunes of Ireland, but very many among us have notmade her history even a partial study, and have oftentaken their views of it, at second hand, from sources thatcould not fail to be partial and, therefore, prejudicial.We do not need to apologize for seeking to throw morelight, in a simple yet comprehensive manner, on the historyof that beautiful island the blood of whose exiledchildren flows in the veins of not less than 20,000,000 ofthe American people. The Irish race owes much toAmerica, and America, in turn, owes much to it. Trulyhas it been said of the American Irish that they were withthe Republic at its birth, guarded its infancy, rejoicedin its growth and prosperity, and will endure with ituntil the end, which comes, in the fulness of time, to eventhe greatest among nations. Thomas Francis Meagher(Mä’her or Marr)—the young Irish patriot and oratorof 1848, and afterward a famous Union general of theCivil War—in one of the brilliant speeches he delivered inthis country, said: “When, in 1849, I was a political captiveon board an English battleship, I beheld, one brightmorning, through the porthole of my cabin, while wewere anchored in an Australian harbor, the Stars and5Stripes floating from the mast of a stately Americanfrigate and hailed Liberty at my prison-gate!” And thisis the sentiment of every honest immigrant who seeks theshelter of our flag.

Ireland, called poetically, because of its perennial verdure,the Emerald Isle, lies in the Atlantic Ocean, immediatelywestward of the larger island of Great Britain,from which it is separated by, in most parts, a wide anddeep strait, varying in width from 14 miles, wherethe headlands of Antrim approach the western coast ofScotland, to about 125 miles, which is the maximum distancefrom the coast of England. This strait is called,running from north to south consecutively, the NorthChannel, the Irish Sea, and St. George’s Channel. Thehigh shore of Scotland is always visible, in clear weather,from the northeast coast of Ireland, and the mountains ofWales, about 65 miles distant, may be seen, under similarconditions, from Bray Head and other points on the Leinstercoast, but no part of England can be seen at any timefrom the Irish shore. Ireland, considered geographically,is of an irregular rhomboidal shape, by some writers comparedto an oblong shield, and is situated between Latitude51° 26´ and 55° 21´ North, and Longitude 5° 21´and 10° 26´ West, projecting farther into the AtlanticOcean, to the westward, than any other portion of Europeansoil. Its total area, including many small islandsclose to the coast, is about 32,500 square miles, or 19,000less than England, 2,000 more than Scotland, 25,000more than Wales, and nearly 2,000 less than our inlandState of Indiana. Ireland would make, almost to a fraction,thirty-two States the size of Rhode Island, which6has a Legislature of its own—a privilege the Green Isledoes not, at present, enjoy.

The island is divided into four provinces—in ancienttimes it had five; namely, Leinster in the east, Ulster inthe north, Connaught in the west, and Munster in thesouth. These are, again, divided into two-and-thirtycounties—a system of Anglo-Norman, or English, invention,and, according to the learned Doctor Joyce, savantand historian, they generally represent the older nativeterritories and sub-kingdoms. King John, “Lord” ofIreland, formed twelve of them in the twelfth century—Dublin,Kildare, Meath, Uriel (or Louth), Carlow, Kilkenny,Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, andTipperary. Henry VIII divided Meath proper into twocounties and called one Westmeath. King’s and Queen’sCounties were formed in the reign of Mary I, who marriedPhilip II of Spain, out of the old districts of Leixand Offaly. Hence their capitals are called, respectively,Philipstown and Maryborough. The county Longfordwas formed out of the territory of Annaly, by DeputySir Henry Sydney, about 1565. The same official dividedConnaught into six counties—Galway, Mayo, Sligo,Roscommon, Leitrim, and Clare. The latter county, althoughsituated on the Connaught bank of the river Shannon,was subsequently given to Munster, because it hadformed a part of that province in ancient times. Antrimand Down were organized into counties early in the reignof Queen Elizabeth, and Lord Deputy Perrott, about1584, formed seven others out of Ulster; namely, Armagh,Monaghan, Tyrone, Coleraine (now Derry), Donegal,Fermanagh, and Cavan. Dublin County, at first,7included Wicklow, but, in 1605, during the reign ofJames I, Sir Arthur Chichester made the latter a separatecounty.

The existing division of the counties among the provincesis as follows: Munster comprises Clare, Cork, Kerry,Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford; Ulster containsAntrim, Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh,Derry, Monaghan, and Tyrone; Connaught has Galway,Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo; Leinster comprisesCarlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, King’s County,Longford, Louth, Meath, Queen’s County, Westmeath,Wexford, and Wicklow.

The reader ought to know, however, that a majorityof the Ulster and Connaught counties, and some in Leinsterand Munster, did not recognize their English designations,or yield to English law, in any shape, until afterthe accession of James I to the British throne, in 1603.They were governed by their own princes, chiefs, andjudges, under the old Brehon law, until “the Peace ofMellifont” in that year.

While the Irish counties differ very materially in extent,the provinces show the following proportions: Munster,6,064,579 acres; Ulster, 5,475,458; Leinster, 4,871,118;Connaught, 4,392,043. The island is further subdividedinto 316 baronies, 2,532 parishes, and 60,760townlands, which average about 300 acres each. Theseare figures with which every student of Irish historyshould be familiar.

The country is, in general, very fertile, and growscereals luxuriantly. The green crops, such as turnips,parsnips, cabbages, and kindred vegetables, are unexcelled.8Its grazing capacity is very great, and Irishhorses, homed cattle, sheep, and swine are among thechoicest in Europe. Apples, pears, plums, and the smallerfruits grow abundantly in the mild, moist climate, but theIrish sun will not ripen peaches, grapes, or tomatoes, unlessthey are under glass. Poultry thrive wondrously,and there is a large exportation of fowl and eggs to theBritish markets. Irish butter ranks high also. Yet thecountry is poor, chiefly because of the scarcity of manufactures,and for other reasons that will be explained aswe proceed.

The Irish climate is equable, but, in general, damp,when compared with that of America. Neither summerheat nor winter cold produces discomfort, except at veryrare intervals. Violent storms are infrequent, exceptalong the western coast, and electrical disturbances aremuch rarer than in our atmosphere. Only one cyclonicstorm, that of January 6, 1839, visited Ireland during thenineteenth century, and it is known to this day as “the BigWind.”

Irish scenery is peculiar in character—soft, yet bold ofoutline, as regards its mountain regions. The cliffs onthe Connaught, Ulster, and Munster coasts are tall andbeetling—those of Moher, in Clare, and those that flankthe Giants’ Causeway—a remarkable basaltic formationin Antrim—being the most notable. All the elevationsthat rise above a thousand feet are clothed with theheather, which is also peculiar to Scotland, and thisplant changes its hue with every season so thatthere is a constant shifting of color, which adds muchto the charm of the landscape. The Irish sky, too,9is changeful, so much so that an Irish poet, in payingtribute to the beauty of his wife, wrote:

Snow generally disappears from the summits of the Irishmountains about the second week of May. The mildnessof the climate in a latitude so far toward the north is dueto the powerful influence of the warm Gulf Stream, andthis also explains the verdure of the country at almostall periods of the year. A striking characteristic of theIrish mountains is that they, in general, rise abruptlyfrom the plain, which gives them an appearance of greateraltitude than they really possess; the highest peak in theisland—that of Carn Tual in Kerry—being only a trifleover 3,400 feet. There is still another peculiarity of theIrish mountain system which strikes all tourists—thehighland chains, for the most part, rise near the coast,and follow its course, thus making it one of the boldestand grandest in Europe, while some detached groups,such as the Galtee and Slieve Bloom ranges in Munsterand Leinster, the Curlews in Connaught and Slieve Snacht(Snowy range) in Ulster, seem to be independent formations.

The Irish lakes are numerous and, in general, picturesque.Lough Neagh (Nay) in the north, Lough Corribin the west, and Lough Dearg—an expanse of the Shannon—arethe largest, but the most famed for sceneryare those of Killarney in Kerry, Lough Dan in Wicklow,and Lough Gill in Sligo. The Irish rivers aremany, and, in the main, beautiful streams. The Shannon10is the greatest river in the realm of Great Britain and Ireland,while the Suir, the Barrow, the Nore, the Slaney,the Corrib, the Erne, the Foyle, the Boyne, and the Liffeyare also considerable rivers and possess enough waterpower,were it scientifically utilized, to turn the wheelsof the world’s machinery. The Munster Blackwater,celebrated, like its sister river, the Suir, in the charmingpoetry of Edmund Spenser, is called, because of its peculiarloveliness, “the Irish Rhine.” After a winding andpicturesque course through the south of Munster, it fallsinto the ocean at Youghal—a town of which the famousSir Walter Raleigh, of Queen Elizabeth’s Court, wasonce mayor.

One-seventh of the surface of Ireland is computed tobe under bogs—semi-spongy formations, claimed by somenaturalists to be the decomposed relics of mighty forestswith which Ireland was covered in remote ages. Theaspect of these “moors,” as they are called by the British,is dreary enough in winter, but at other periods they havetheir charms; the heather and mosses with which theyare, in many places, thickly clothed, changing hue, ason the mountains, with every season. Nearly all of thesebogs are capable of being reclaimed for agricultural uses,but the people do not desire their reclamation, for thereason that they furnish cheap fuel to most of the ruraldistricts, where there is neither coal nor timber supply.Owing to the mildness of the climate, the cut and driedsods of “peat,” called “turf,” which resemble brownbricks, take the place of coal and wood, and make quitea comfortable fire. “Stone turf,” produced by artificialpressure, and an extra drying process, makes almost as11hot a fire as anthracite, but is much dearer than the ordinaryarticle, which is softer and lighter. Indeed, thecommon Irish turf would be almost useless in our fiercewinter weather. These fuel “reservoirs” can not be exhaustedfor ages to come. It is claimed that, by somemysterious process of nature, they renew themselves fromtime to time, after they have been “given a rest” by theturf-cutters. Many large bogs occupy the summits andsides of the mountains, and seem to be of the same characteras those on the level land. Occasionally the highmorasses shift their positions, like glaciers, only witha much quicker movement, and overwhelm, like theavalanche, everything in their path. These are called“the moving bogs.” The last phenomenon of the kindoccurred in the County Kerry a few years ago, whenmuch property was destroyed and several lives were lost.Scientists claim that these bogs are undermined by bodiesof water, which, when flooded, lift the crust and carryit with them, in their effort to find their natural level.It is well known in Ireland that several small, but deep,lakes now occupy places that were formerly covered bythese strange formations. We will devote a separatechapter to other features of this interesting country.

GOLD, silver, copper, lead, iron, and other malleableminerals are found in Ireland. The gold is discoveredin small quantities, at least in modern times,but the beautiful ornaments, composed of that preciousmetal, and much used by the ancient Irish nobility, preservedin the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin,and elsewhere in Ireland and Great Britain, wouldindicate that it was at one time plentiful in the island.Silver is found in paying quantities in several districts,and silver mines are now in operation in the northernportion of Munster. The lead, copper, and iron depositshave never been seriously worked, and, therefore,it is impossible to arrive at any satisfactory estimate oftheir extent. Coal is found in many counties, but themost extensive fields are in Ulster. Much light is thrownon this subject by Kane’s “Resources of Ireland,” whichcan be found, most likely, in the public libraries. It givesmost interesting statistics, but they would be far tooheavy for our more condensed narrative.

Ireland possesses over seventy harbors. Fourteen areof the first class and can shelter the very largest sea-goingvessels, whether naval or mercantile. Unhappily,excepting those of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Belfast,they are comparatively little used for commerce, for13reasons that will present themselves in succeedingchapters.

Although in olden times a thickly wooded country,Ireland of to-day is rather bare of forests. There arenumerous luxuriant groves and woodlands, and many ofthe highroads are bordered with stately trees. The “quick-sethedges,” planted with thorn shrubs, give, particularlyin summer, a well-furnished appearance to the country,except in a few rather barren districts, where stone walls,as in portions of New England, are quite common. Irishfarms are nearly all divided and subdivided by these formidablefences, quick-set or stone, so that, when viewedfrom any considerable height, the surrounding countrylooks like a huge, irregular checker-board—a much morepicturesque arrangement of the landscape than our Americanbarbed-wire obstructions, but at the cost of a vastamount of good land, in the aggregate.

The island contains many populous, finely built cities,well governed under local municipal rule. Dublin, thecapital, contains, including suburbs, about 300,000 people,and is considered a very handsome metropolis. It issurrounded by enchanting hamlets, and the sea-bathingresorts in the neighborhood are delightful. Belfast, thegreat commercial city of Ulster, is almost as populousas Dublin, and has many of the thrifty characteristicsof an American municipality. Cork, Waterford, Limerick,Galway, Sligo, Londonderry, and Drogheda arestill places of much importance, although some of themhave greatly declined, both in wealth and population,during the last century.

Owing to persistent agitation, and some fierce uprisings,14which caused the imperial government to listento the voice of reason, the social and political conditionsof the Irish people have been somewhat improved oflate years. The Irish Church was disestablished by theGladstone Ministry, in 1869, and, under the leadershipof Isaac Butt, Parnell, Davitt, and other Irish patriots,Protestant as well as Catholic, the harsh land laws havebeen greatly modified, and the Irish people have a better“hold on their soil,” and are much less subject to thecapricious will of their landlords than formerly. Theyare, also, much better lodged and fed than in the lastgeneration, and education, of a practical kind, has becomealmost universal. The national school system hasmany features in common with our own, and is improvingyear by year. In the higher branches of education,Ireland is well supplied. Trinity College, Dublin, theAlma Mater of many celebrated men, has existed sincethe reign of Queen Elizabeth, but, until the end of theeighteenth century, was not open to Catholics. MaynoothCollege, in Kildare, is the great Catholic ecclesiasticalseminary of Ireland, and there is also a Catholicuniversity in Dublin. Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, andother cities have Catholic colleges, and there are Protestantseats of learning in Ulster and other provinces.Cork, Belfast, and Galway have each branch universities,called “Queen’s Colleges,” which are conducted ona non-sectarian basis. These are only a few of Ireland’seducational institutions, but they serve to illustrate theagreeable fact that a dearth of opportunity for acquiringlearning is no longer a reproach to the Irish people, or,rather, to their English law-makers. The taxes which support15the institutions maintained by Government are paid byIreland into the Imperial Treasury, so that Great Britainis not burdened by them, as many suppose. Recently,a commission appointed by the British Parliament to inquireinto the financial relations between Great Britainand Ireland reported back that the latter country wasovertaxed annually to the amount of $15,000,000. Thisgrievance, although complained of by all classes, has notyet been redressed. Dublin, Belfast, and other leadingIrish cities possess very choice and extensive libraries.That of Trinity College, in the first-mentioned city, isconsidered one of the best in Europe, and it is particularlyrich in ancient Irish manuscripts, some of whichhave been translated from the original Gaelic into Englishby the late Dr. John O’Donovan, Professor EugeneO’Curry, and other Irish savants. There are many largecirculating libraries in all the principal municipalities,and most of the smaller towns. These are patronized,in the main, by poor people of literary taste, who cannot afford satisfactory libraries of their own. There isnow a revival of Irish literature in Great Britain as wellas in Ireland itself. Many English and Scotch firmshave taken to printing Irish prose and poetry in theEnglish tongue, so that Irish authors are no longer confined,as they were, with a few exceptions, of old, toan insular constituency. Irish literary work of merit,when not strongly patriotic, sells readily in Great Britainto-day. This is due, partly, to a growing appreciationof Irish talent among the more liberal classes of theEnglish people, and still more, perhaps, to the very largeIrish population that has developed itself on the soil of16“the predominant partner” within the last half of thenineteenth century. There is a strong Chartist, or republican,element in England friendly to the Irish claimof legislative independence, and this element, which wehear comparatively little of in America, for reasons itis not necessary to discuss in this history, is growingmore powerful as time rolls by, and some day, not verydistant, perhaps, is bound to greatly modify the existinggovernmental system of the British Empire, and render itmore popular.

Ireland is very rich in monastic and martial ruins.The round towers which sentinel the island are declaredby many antiquaries to antedate the Christian period,and are supposed to have been pagan temples dedicatedto the worship of the sun, which, some historians claim,was Ireland’s chief form of the Druidic belief.

The grass-grown circular raths, or “forts,” as the peasantrycall them, varying greatly in diameter, are supposedto be remnants of the Danish invasion, but many archæologistsplace them at a much earlier date, and give themnot a Danish but a Danaan origin—the latter tribe beingclaimed as among the first settlers of Ireland. The largest“fort” or “dun” in the island is that near Downpatrick,which is sixty feet high and three-quarters ofa mile in circumference. Much of the stately architectureseen in the ruins of abbeys, churches, and chapelsbelongs to the Anglo-Norman period, as does also the17military architecture, which survives in such types asthe keeps of Limerick, Nenagh, and Trim; but the Celtictype of church construction is preserved, after thelapse of more than a thousand years, in its primitivepurity, at Glendalough in Wicklow, Clonmacnois inKing’s County, and Cong in Galway.

Three hundred years of warfare with the pagan Danes,and five hundred with the Anglo-Normans and Anglo-Saxons,made Ireland the Island of Ruins, as well as theIsland of Saints and Scholars.

Before January 1, 1801, Ireland was a distinct andseparate kingdom, having a Parliament of her own andconnected with Great Britain by what has been called“the golden link of the crown.” How that Parliamentwas, unfortunately for all concerned, abolished will appearin its proper order. Since 1801 Ireland has beengoverned by the Imperial Parliament, sitting in London,composed of representatives from England, Scotland,Ireland, and Wales—670 in all, of whom 103 are Irishmembers. Of these latter, 82 are Nationalists, or Repealersof the Act of Union, while 21 are Unionists, oradherents of the present political connection. The preponderatingvote of Great Britain hopelessly overwhelmsthe Irish representation, and hence the work of reform,as far as Ireland is concerned, is slow and difficult. Theexecutive functions are intrusted to a Lord Lieutenant,who is appointed by each succeeding Ministry, to representthe monarch of Great Britain. He is assisted in hisduties by a Chief Secretary, two Under Secretaries, aLord Chancellor, a Lord Chief Justice, a Master of theRolls, a Chief Baron of the Exchequer, many less prominent18officers, and a Privy Council, which comprises severalof the officials mentioned, together with the leadingsupporters of the crown in the capital and throughoutthe country. Some of the official members of this Councilare not natives of Ireland; and the Lord Lieutenant himselfis almost invariably an English or Scotch aristocratof high rank and liberal fortune. No Catholic can fill theoffice of Viceroy of Ireland. The authority of the latteris, to all intents and purposes, absolute. In seasons ofpolitical agitation, even when there is no violence, he cansuspend the ordinary law without having recourse to Parliament.This power has been frequently exercised evenin this generation. The Lord Lieutenant’s official residenceis Dublin Castle, but he has also a commodiousviceregal lodge in the Phœnix Park. His salary is $100,000per annum—just twice that of our President—but,in general, he spends much more out of his private fortune,as he is, nearly always, chosen for his wealth asmuch as for his rank. When he goes among the people,he is, almost invariably, attended by a strong cavalryescort and a dashing staff of aides-de-camp, glitteringin silver, steel, and gold. The military garrison of Dublinis strong, not often under 10,000 men, and at theCurragh Camp, about twenty miles distant, in Kildare,there is a much larger force. Most of the large townsare also heavily garrisoned. Thus, after an occupation,either nominal or actual, of seven and one-third centuries,England still finds it expedient to govern Ireland as amilitary district—a sad commentary on the chronic misgovernmentof ages.

VAGUE poetical tradition flings a mystical veil overthe origin of the earliest inhabitants of Ireland.The historian, McGee, who would seem to have made aserious study of the subject, says that the first accountgiven by the bards and the professional story-tellers attributesthe settlement of the island to Parthalon of therace of Japhet, who, with a number of followers, reachedit by way of the Mediterranean and Atlantic, “aboutthree hundred years after the Universal Deluge.” Thecolonists, because of the unnatural crimes of their leader,were, we are told, “cut off to the last man by a dreadfulpestilence.”

The second colony, also a creature of tradition, wassaid to have been led by a chief called Nemedh from theshores of the Black Sea across Muscovy to the Baltic,and from that sea they made their way to the Irishshore. In Ireland, they encountered a stronger race, saidto have been of African origin, called Formorians, withwhom they had many severe battles and were by themfinally defeated and either killed or driven from thecountry, to which some of their descendants returned inafter years.

After Nemedh came the Firbolgs, or Belgæ, under thefive sons of their king, Dela, who divided the island intofive parts and held it undisputedly until the Tuatha de20Danaans, said to be descended from Nemedh, and havingmagical power to quell storms, invaded the island, carryingwith them the “lia fail,” or “Stone of Destiny,” fromwhich Ireland derived its fanciful title of “Innis fail,” orthe “Island of Destiny.” The Danaans are said to havebeen of the Greek family. In any case, it is claimed, theysubdued the Belgæ and made them their serfs. Theyruled mightily, for a time, but, in turn, were compelledto give way to a stronger tide of invasion.

This was formed by a people who called themselves,according to most Irish annalists, Gaels, from an ancientancestor; Milesians, from the appellation of their king,who ruled in distant Spain, and Scoti, or Scots, fromScota, the warlike mother of King Milesius. TheseMilesians are said to have come into Spain from the regionof the Caucasus, and all agree that they were formidablewarriors. Tradition says that Ireland was firstdiscovered, as far as the Milesians were concerned, byIth, uncle of the Spanish king, who, while on a voyageof exploration, sighted the island, and, attracted by itsbeauty, landed, but was attacked by the Danaans andmortally wounded. His followers carried him to hisgalley, and he died at sea, but the body was broughtback to Spain. His son, Loci, who had accompanied Ith,summoned all the Milesian family to avenge their kinsman’sdeath and conquer the Promised Island of theirrace. Milesius, or Miledh, had expired before Loci’s return,but his sons, Heber the Fair, Amergin, Heber theBrown, Colpa, Ir, and Heremon rallied to the call ofvengeance and conquest, set sail for Ireland, landed there,and, in spite of Danaan witchcraft and Firbolgian valor,beat down all opposition and became masters of the21beautiful island. Thomas Moore, in his immortal IrishMelodies, thus deals with this legendary event:

The migration of those Celto-Iberians to Ireland isgenerally placed at from 1500 to 2000 years before thebirth of Christ; but there is not much certainty about thedate; it stands wholly on tradition. On one point, atleast, a majority of Irish annalists seem to be agreed—namely,that the Milesians were of Celtic stock and Scythianorigin, but the route they took from Scythia to Spain,as well as the date of their exodus, remains an undeterminedquestion. Celtic characteristics, both mentaland physical, are still deeply stamped on the Irish people,22notwithstanding the large admixture of the blood ofother races, resulting from the numerous after invasions,both pagan and Christian. Thomas Davis, the leadingIrish national poet of the middle of the nineteenth century,sums up the elements that constitute the presentIrish population, truly and tersely, thus:

And the fine verses of the Irish poet may be appliedwith almost equal propriety to the cosmopolitan populationof the United States—more varied in race thaneven that of Ireland. No good citizen is less of anAmerican simply because he scorns to forget, or to allowhis children to forget, “the fountains whence theyrose.” Anglo-Americans never forget it, nor do Franco-Americans,or Americans of Teutonic origin; or, in fact,Americans of any noted race. Americans of Irish birthor origin have quite as good a right to be proud of theircradle-land and their ancient ancestry as any other elementin this Republic; and the study of impartial Irish23history by pupils of all races would do much to softenprejudices and remove unpleasant impressions that slanderous,partial historians have been mainly instrumentalin creating.

The language—Gaelic, or Erse, as it is called in ourday—spoken by the Milesian conquerors of Ireland somany thousand years ago, is not yet nearly extinct onIrish soil; and it is often used by Irish emigrants in variousparts of the world. More than thirty centurieshave faded into eternity since first its soft, yet powerful,accents were heard on Ireland’s shore, but still nearly amillion people out of four and a half millions speak it, andhundreds of thousands have more or less knowledge ofthe venerable tongue in its written form. Great effortshave been put forth of late years to promote its propagationthroughout the island, and it is a labor of love inwhich all classes, creeds, and parties in Ireland cordiallywork together. It is not intended, of course, to supplantthe English language, but to render Gaelic co-equal withit, as in Wales—a thoroughly Celtic country, in which thenative language—Kymric—has been wondrously revivedduring the past and present century.

WE have mentioned that sun-worship was one of theforms of ancient Irish paganism. There is muchdifference of opinion on this point, and the late learnedGaelic expert, Professor Eugene O’Curry, holds thatthere is no reliable proof of either sun-worship or fire-worshipin antique Irish annals. On the other hand,we have the excellent historian, Abbé McGeoghegan,chaplain of the famous Franco-Irish Brigade of the seventeenthand eighteenth centuries, supported by otherauthorities, instancing the sun as, at least, one of the objectsof Irish pagan adoration. Other writers, includingthe painstaking McGee, seem to accept the startling assertionthat human victims were occasionally sacrificedon the pagan altars. This, however, is open to doubt,as the Irish people, however intense in their religious convictions,have never been deliberately cruel or murderouslyfanatical. We quote on these sensitive subjects—particularlysensitive where churchmen are concerned—fromMcGeoghegan and McGee, both strong, yet liberal,Catholic historians. On page 63 of his elaborate and admirable“History of Ireland,” McGeoghegan remarks:“Great honors were paid to the Druids and Bards amongthe Milesians, as well as to those among the Britons andGauls. The first, called Draoi in their language, performedthe duties of priest, philosopher, legislator, and25judge. Cæsar has given, in his Commentaries, a well-detailedaccount of the order, office, jurisdiction, anddoctrine of the Druids among the Gauls. As priests,they regulated religion and its worship; according to theirwill, the objects of it were determined, and the ‘divinity’often changed; to them, likewise, the education of youthwas intrusted. Guided by the Druids, the Milesiansgenerally adored Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Apollo, the sun,moon, and wind; they had also their mountain, forest,and river gods. These divinities were common to themand to other nations of the world.... According tothe Annals of Ulster, cited by Ware, the antiquarian, theusual oath of Laegore (Leary) II, King of Ireland, inthe time of St. Patrick, was by the sun and wind.”

McGee, writing of the same subject, on pages 5 and 9 ofhis “Popular History of Ireland,” says: “The chief officersabout the kings, in the first ages, were all filled by theDruids or pagan priests; the Brehons, or judges, were usuallyDruids, as were also the Bards, the historians of theirpatrons. Then came the Physicians, the Chiefs who paidtribute to or received annual gifts from the sovereign, theroyal Stewards, and the military leaders, or Champions....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 andher colonies in Spain; the same religion which the Romanshave described as existing in great part of Gaul,and, by their accounts, we learn the awful fact that itsanctioned, nay, demanded, human sacrifices. From thefew traces of its doctrines which Christian zeal has permittedto survive in the old Irish language, we see that26Belus or Crom, the god of fire, typified by the sun, wasits chief divinity—that two great festivals were held inhis honor on days answering to the first of May and lastof October. There were also particular gods of poets,champions, artificers, and mariners, just as among theRomans and Greeks. Sacred groves were dedicated tothese gods; priests and priestesses devoted their lives totheir service; the arms of the champion and the personof the king were charmed by them; neither peace nor warwas made without their sanction; their own persons andtheir pupils were held sacred; the high place at the king’sright hand and the best fruits of the earth and the waterwere theirs. Old age revered them, women worshipedthem, warriors paid court to them, youth trembled beforethem, princes and chiefs regarded them as elder brethren.So numerous were they in Erin, and so celebrated, thatthe altars of Britain and Western Gaul, left desolate bythe Roman legions, were often served by hierophantsfrom Ireland, which, even in those pagan days, wasknown to all the Druidic countries as the Sacred Island.”

The two greatest battles fought in Ireland during theearly Milesian period were that near Tralee, in Kerry,where the Milesian queen-mother, Scota, perished, andthe conflict at Taltean, in Meath, where the three Danaankings, with their wives and warriors, were slain. Afterthese events, Heber and Heremon divided Ireland betweenthem, but eventually quarreled. A battle ensued,in which Heber fell, and Heremon was thereafter, formany years, undisputed monarch of all Ireland. A largemajority of the Celtic families of the island are descendedfrom the two royal brothers and bitter rivals. Theirmost famous Milesian successors in pagan times were27Tuathal (Too-hal), the Legitimate, who formed the royalprovince of Meath, which existed for many ages, and isnow represented, but on a much smaller scale, by themodern counties of Meath and Westmeath. The provinceitself was dismembered centuries ago, and, sincethen, Ireland has had but four provincial divisions insteadof five. Tuathal is also credited with having originatedthe Borumah (Boru) or “Cow Tribute,” which he imposedon Leinster as a penalty for a crime committedagainst two of his daughters by the king of that province.This tribute was foredoomed to be a curse tothe Irish nation at large, and its forceful imposition bysuccessive Ard-Righs caused torrents of blood to be shed.It was abolished toward the end of the seventh centuryby the Christian king of all Ireland, Finacta II, surnamedthe Hospitable. “Conn of the Hundred Battles”made a record as a ruler and a warrior. Cormac MacArt,because of his great wisdom, was called the Lycurgusof Ireland. Niall of the Nine Hostages—ancestorof the O’Neills—was a formidable monarch, whocarried the terror of his arms far beyond the seas ofIreland. His nephew, King Dathi (Dahy) was also aroyal rover, and, while making war in northern Italy,was killed by a thunderbolt in an alpine pass. Dathiwas the last king of pagan Ireland, but not the last paganking. His successor, Leary, son of the great Niall,received and protected St. Patrick, but never becamea Christian. After Leary’s death, no pagan monarchsat on the Irish throne.

Ancient Ireland was known by several names. TheGreeks called it Iernis and Ierni; said to have meant“Sacred Isle”; the Romans Hibernia, the derivation and28meaning of which are involved in doubt, and the MilesiansInnisfail, said to mean “the Island of Destiny,”and Eire, or Erinn, now generally spelled Erin, said tosignify “the Land of the West.” Many learned writersdispute these translations, while others support them.Within the last six centuries, the island has been knownas Ireland, said to signify West, or Western, land, but,as the savants differ about this translation also, we willrefrain from positive assertion.

The Roman legions never trod on Irish soil, althoughthey conquered and occupied the neighboring island ofBritain, except on the extreme north, during four hundredyears. Why the Romans did not attempt the conquestof the island is a mystery. That they were ableto conquer it can hardly be doubted. Strange as thestatement may seem to some, it was unfortunate for Irelandthat the Romans did not invade and subdue it.Had they landed and prevailed, their great governingand organizing genius would have destroyed the disintegratingGaelic tribal system, which ultimately provedthe curse and bane of the Irish people. They would alsohave trained a nation naturally warlike in the art ofarms, in which the Romans had no superiors and fewpeers. With Roman training in war and government,the Irish would have become invincible on their ownsoil, after the inevitable withdrawal of the Legions fromthe island, and the Anglo-Normans, centuries afterward,could not have achieved even their partial subjection.

A MAJORITY of learned historians claim that Christianitywas introduced into Ireland by Catholicmissionaries from the continent of Europe long beforethe advent of the accepted national apostle, St. Patrick,who, in his boyhood, was captured on the northern coastof Ireland, while engaged in a predatory expedition withthe Gauls, or some other foreign adventurers. In regardto this period of the future apostle’s career, weare mainly guided by tradition, as the saint left no memoirsthat would throw light on his first Irish experience.Such expeditions were not uncommon in the age in whichhe lived, nor were they for ages that followed. It seemscertain that his captors offered him no bodily harm, andhe was sent to herd swine amid the hills of Down. Thisinspired boy, destined to be one of the greatest amongmen and the saints of God, remained a prisoner in thehands of the pagan Irish—whom he found to be a generous,and naturally devotional, people—for many years,and thus acquired a thorough knowledge of their laws,language, and character. Whether he was finally releasedby them, or managed to escape, is a question ofsome dispute, but it is certain that he made his way backto Gaul—now known as France—which, according tomany accounts, was his native land, although Scotland30claims him also, and thence proceeded to Rome, where,having been ordained a priest, he obtained audience ofPope Celestine, and was by him encouraged and commissionedto convert the distant Irish nation to Christianity.Filled with a holy zeal, Patrick repaired as rapidlyas possible to his field of labor, and, after sufferingmany checks and rude repulses, at last, about the year432, found himself back in Ulster, where he fearlesslypreached the Gospel to those among whom he had formerlylived as a serf, with miraculous success. Afterward,he proceeded to the royal province of Meath, andon the storied hill of Slane, “over against” that of Tara,where the Irish monarch, Leary, was holding court,lighted the sacred fire in defiance of the edict of theDruid high-priest, who worshiped the fires of Baal andforbade all others to be kindled, and, by its quenchlessflame, flung the sacred symbol of the Cross against themidnight skies of pagan Ireland. The pagan king summonedthe daring apostle to his presence, and asked himconcerning his sacred mission. Patrick explained it, and,having obtained the royal consent, proceeded to preachwith an eloquence that dazzled king, princes, chiefs, andwarriors. He even captivated some of the Druid priests,but the high-priest, who dreaded the apostle’s power ofwords, would have stopped him at the outset, had notKing Leary extended to him his favor and protection,although he himself remained a pagan to the end of hislife. The saint, having made a deep impression and convertedmany of high and low degree, took to baptizingthe multitude, and tradition says that the beautiful riverBoyne was the Jordan of Ireland’s great apostle. Itwas while preaching at Tara that St. Patrick’s presentation31of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity was challengedby the Druid priests. He immediately stoopedto the emerald sod, plucked therefrom a small trefoilplant called the shamrock—some say it was the woodsorrel—and, holding it up before the inquisitive and interestedpagans, proved how possible it was to an infinitePower to combine three in one and one in three. Sincethat far-distant day, the shamrock has been recognized asthe premier national symbol of Ireland, although the“sunburst” flag, emblematic of the Druidic worship, itis presumed, precedes it in point of antiquity. The harp,which is another of Ireland’s symbols, was adopted at alater period, in recognition of her Bardic genius.

St. Patrick, or rather Patricius, his Roman name, whichsignifies a nobleman, lived and labored for many, manyyears after he preached at Tara, and made many circuitsof the island, adding tribe after tribe to the great armyof his converts. So deep was the impression he made inthe country that now, after the lapse of fourteen hundredyears, which were perioded by devastating wars and fearfulreligious and social persecutions, his memory is asgreen and as hallowed as if he had died but yesterday.Mountains, rivers, lakes, islands, and plains are associatedwith his name, and thousands of churches, in Irelandand throughout the world, are called after him,while millions of Ireland’s sons are proud to answer tothe glorious name of Patrick. He died at a patriarchalage, in the abbey of Saul, County Down, founded by himself,A.D. 493, and the anniversary of his departure fromthis life is celebrated by Irishmen of all creeds, and inevery land, on each 17th day of March, which is called,in his honor, St. Patrick’s Day.

32It is no wonder that the Irish apostle is so well rememberedand highly honored. Since the disciplespreached by the shores of the Galilee, there has beenno such conversion of almost an entire people from oneform of belief to another. The Druid priests, with someexceptions, struggled long and bitterly against the risingtide of Christianity in Ireland, but, within the centuryfollowing the death of the great missionary, the Druidicrites disappeared forever from the land, and “GreenErin” became known thenceforth, for centuries, as theIsland of Saints. Romantic tradition attributes to St.Patrick the miracle of driving all venomous reptiles outof Ireland. It is certain, however, that neither snakesnor toads exist upon her soil, although both are foundin the neighboring island of Great Britain.

According to Nennius, a British writer quoted by Dr.Geoffrey Keating, St. Patrick founded in Ireland “threehundred and fifty-five churches, and consecrated an equalnumber of bishops; and of priests, he ordained threethousand.” “Let whomsoever may be surprised,” saysDr. Keating, “at this great number of bishops in Ireland,contemporary with St. Patrick, read what St. Bernardsays in his Life of St. Malachias, as to the practice inIreland with regard to its bishops. He there says that‘the bishops are changed and multiplied at the will of themetropolitan, or archbishop, so that no single diocese istrusting to one, but almost every church has its ownproper bishop.’” After this statement of St. Bernard noone can be astonished at the number of prelates mentionedabove, for the Church was then in its young bloom.The number of bishops there mentioned will appear lesswonderful on reading her domestic records. In them33we find that every deaconry in Ireland was, formerly, presidedover by a bishop. Irish annals show, also, that St.Patrick consecrated in Ireland two archbishops, namely,an archbishop of Armagh, as Primate of Ireland, and anarchbishop of Cashel. After the great apostle’s death,a long and illustrious line of native Irish missionariestook up his sacred work and completed his moral conquestof the Irish nation. Nor did their labors terminatewith the needs of their own country. They penetratedto the remotest corners of Britain, which it issaid they first converted to the Christian faith, and madeholy pilgrimages to the continent of Europe, foundingin every district they visited abbeys, monasteries, and universities.Ireland herself became for a long period thecentre of knowledge and piety in insular Europe, and theecclesiastical seminaries at Lismore, Bangor, Armagh,Clonmacnois, and other places attracted thousands of students,both native and alien, to her shores. Gaelic, themost ancient, it is claimed by many savants, of the Aryantongues, was the national language, and continued so tobe for more than a thousand years after the era of Patrick;but Latin, Greek, and Hebrew formed importantparts of the collegiate curriculum, and the first-namedtongue was the ordinary means of communication withthe learned men of other countries.

The art of illuminated writing on vellum was carriedto unrivaled perfection in the Irish colleges and monasteries,and the manuscripts of this class preserved in Dublinand London, facsimilies of which are now placed inmany American public libraries, as well as in those ofEuropean universities, bear witness to the high state ofcivilization attained by the Irish people during the peaceful34and prosperous centuries that followed the coming ofSt. Patrick and continued until the demoralizing Danishinvasion of the eighth century.

The roll of the Irish saints of the early Christian periodis a large one, and contains, among others, the names ofSt. Columba, or Columbkill, St. Finn Barr, St. Brendan,the Navigator; St. Kieran, of Ossory; St. Kevin, ofGlendalough; St. Colman, of Dromore; St. Canice, ofKilkenny; St. Jarlath, of Tuam; St. Moling, of Ferns;St. Comgall, of Bangor; St. Carthage, of Lismore; St.Finian, of Moville; St. Kieran, of Clonmacnois; St.Laserian, of Leighlin; St. Fintan; St. Gall, the Apostleof the Swiss; St. Columbanus, the Apostle of Burgundy;St. Aidan, Apostle of Northumbria; St. Adamnan, Abbotof Iona; St. Rumold, Apostle of Brabant; St. Feargal,Bishop of Salzburg. These are only a few stars outof the almost countless galaxy of the holy men of ancientIreland. Of her holy women, also numerous, the chiefwere St. Bridget, Brighid, or Bride, of Kildare; St.Monina, St. Ita, St. Syra, St. Dympna, and St. Samthan.The premier female saint was, undoubtedly, St. Bridget,which signifies, in old Gaelic, “a fiery dart.” Modernslang often degrades the noble old name into “Biddy.”Although thought to be a purely Irish appellation, it hasbeen borne by, at least, two English women of note. TheLady Bridget Plantagenet, youngest daughter of KingEdward IV, and “Mistress,” or Miss, Bridget Cromwell,daughter of the Lord Protector of the English Commonwealth.Lady Plantagenet, who, in addition to being thedaughter of a monarch, was the sister of Edward V andElizabeth, Queen of Henry VII; the niece of Richard IIIand the aunt of Henry VIII, died a nun in the convent of35Dartford, England, long after the House of York hadceased to reign. “Mistress” Cromwell became the wifeof one of her father’s ablest partisans, and lived to see theend of the Protectorate, from which her brother, Richard,was deposed, and the restoration of the House of Stuartto the English throne.

CHAPTER VI

IRELAND, ages before she was Christianized, possesseda legal code of great merit, generally called theBrehon Laws. These remained more or less in force,from the earliest historic period down to the days ofJames I, who, because of the wars and conquests of thearmies of his predecessor, Queen Elizabeth, was the firstof the English monarchs that succeeded in thoroughlybreaking up the old system of Irish law and government.The Brehon Laws were of Irish origin and containedmany provisions more in harmony with humanity andwisdom than some of the boasted English enactments.In common with many other ancient countries of Europe,Ireland did not impose the death penalty on a homicide,but, instead, collected an eric, or blood fine, from himand his relatives, for the benefit of the family of the manslain by his hand. The best and briefest work on theseinteresting laws, which need more attention than theycan be given in a general history, was recently issued byan English publishing house for the industrious author,Lawrence Ginnell, lawyer, of the Middle Temple, London.In writing of the ancient form of Irish monarchy,36which, as we have already noted, was elective, Mr. Ginnellsays: “The Irish always had a man, not an assembly,at the head of the state, and the system of electing aTanist (heir-apparent) while the holder of the office wasliving, in addition to its making for peace on the demiseof the Crown, made an interregnum of more rare occurrencethan in countries which had not provided aTanist in advance.” The same author divides the classesof Irish kings thus: The lowest was the Righ-Inagh(Ree-eena), or king of one district, the people of whichformed an organic state. Sometimes two or three ofthese, nearly related and having mutual interests, did nothesitate to combine for the public good under one king.The next in rank was the Righ-Mor-Tuah (Ree-More-Tooa),who ruled over a number of districts, and oftenhad sub-kings under him. The next class of monarchwas the Righ-Cuicidh (Ree-Cooga), a title which signifiedthat he had five of the preceding class within hisjurisdiction. This was the rank of a provincial king.And, highest of all, as his title implied, was the Ard-Righ(Ard-Ree), meaning High, or Over, King, whohad his seat of government for many ages at the nationalpalace and capital, established on the “royal hill ofTara” in Meath. The king of each district owed allegianceand tribute to the Righ-Mor-Tuah. The latterowed allegiance and tribute to the Righ-Cuicidh; andhe, in turn, owed allegiance and tribute to the Ard-Righ.

Although the ancient Irish monarchy was, except whereforceful usurpation occasionally prevailed, elective, thecandidate for the Tanistry, or heir-apparency, was requiredto be of the “blood royal.” Minors were seldomor never recognized as being eligible. At rare intervals37one might win popular recognition by displaying a precociouswisdom, or prowess. The ablest and bravest malemember of the reigning family was almost invariablychosen Ard-Righ, and the provincial and district rulerswere chosen on the same principle. Meath was the HighKing’s own province, and the lesser monarchs swayedover Ulster, Munster, Leinster, and Connaught, subsidiaryto, yet in a measure independent of, the Ard-Righ, whoheld his court at Tara until A.D. 554, when St. Ruadan,because of sacrilege committed by the reigning monarch,Dermid, in dragging a prisoner from the saint’s ownsanctuary and killing him, pronounced a malediction onthe royal hill and palaces. Thenceforth Tara ceased tobe the residence of the Ard-Righs of Ireland, and totalruin speedily fell upon it. All that now remains of itslegendary splendor is comprised in the fast vanishingmounds on which once stood the palaces, assembly halls,and other public buildings of Ireland’s ancient monarchs.No man or woman of Irish race can gaze unmoved onthe venerable eminence, rising proudly still above the richplains of Meath, which has beheld so many fast succeedingvicissitudes of a nation’s rise, agony, and fall.

The most famous and powerful of the royal familiesof Ireland were the O’Neills of Ulster, who enjoyed theHigh Kingship longest of all; the O’Briens of Munster,38the O’Conors of Connaught, the MacMurroughs of Leinster,and the McLaughlins of Meath. Their descendantsare simply legion, for all the Irish clansmen were kindredto their kings and chiefs, and assumed, as was theirblood right, their surnames when these came into fashion.When the Irish septs, about the end of the tenthcentury, by the direction of King Brian the Great,chose their family designations, the prefix “Mac” wastaken as indicating the son, or some immediate descendantof the monarch, prince, or chief of that particulartribe, while that of “Ui” or “O,” as it is nowuniversally written in English, signified a grandson orsome more remote kinsman of the original founder ofthe name. Thus, the families bearing the prefix “Mac”generally hold that they descend from the elder lines ofthe royal family, or the leading chiefs, while those whobear the “O” descend from the younger lines. And soit has come to be a national proverb, founded on morethan mere fancy, that every Irishman is the descendantof a king. The Irish prefixes, however, are a genuinecertificate of nobility, if by that term is meant long descent.An old rhyme puts the matter in homely but logicalmanner thus:

Many families of Irish origin in this and othercountries have foolishly dropped the Celtic prefixesfrom their names, and thus destroyed their best titleto respectability. They should remember that “Mac”and “O” indicate a longer and nobler pedigree than39either Capet, Plantagenet, Tudor, Stuart, Guelph, orWettin—all distinguished enough in their way, but quitemodern when compared with the Gaelic patronymics.The Scotch Highlanders, who are of the junior branchof the Irish race, according to the most reliable historians,use the “Mac” very generally, while the “O” israrely found among them. On this account, as well asothers, some of the Scottish savants have attempted toargue that Ireland was originally peopled by immigrantsfrom Scotland, but this argument is fallacious on its face,because Ireland was known to the ancients as “ScotiaMajor”—greater or older Scotland; while the lattercountry was designated “Scotia Minor”—smaller oryounger Scotland. The Irish and Scotch were alike called“Scots” until long after the time of St. Patrick, and thekindred nations were close friends and helpful allies,from the earliest historical period down to the reign ofEdward III of England, and even later. It was in Irelandthat Robert Bruce, his brother Edward—afterwardelected and crowned king of that country—and theirfew faithful retainers sought and found friends and arefuge just before their final great victory at Bannockburn,A.D. 1314. Sir Walter Scott mentions this factin his graphic “Tales of a Grandfather,” and also in hisstirring poem, “The Lord of the Isles.” Keating quotesBede, who lived about 700 hundred years after Christ,as saying in his “History of the Saxons,” “Hibernia isthe proper fatherland of the Scoti” (Scots). So alsoCalgravius, another ancient historian, who, in writingof St. Columba, says: “Hibernia (Ireland) was ancientlycalled Scotia, and from it sprang, and emigrated,the nation of the Scoti, which inhabits the part40of Albania (Scotland) that lies nearest to Great Britain(meaning England), and that has been since calledScotia from the fact.”

“Marianus Scotus, an Alban (i.e. Scotch) writer,”says Keating, “bears similar testimony in writing on thesubject of St. Kilian. Here are his words: ‘Althoughthe part of Britannia which borders upon Anglia (England)and stretches toward the north, is at present distinctivelycalled Scotia (Scotland), nevertheless, the VenerableBede (already quoted) shows that Hibernia wasformerly known by that name; for he informs us that thenation of the Picti (Picts) arrived in Hibernia fromScythia, and that they found there the nation of theScoti.’

“Serapus, in certain remarks which he makes in writingabout St. Bonifacius, is in perfect accord with theabove cited writers. He says that ‘Hibernia, likewise,claimed Scotia as one of her names, but, however, becausea certain part of the Scotic nation emigrated fromthis same Hibernia and settled in those parts of Britanniain which the Picti were then dwelling, and was therecalled the nation of the Dal-Riada, from the name ofits leader, as the Venerable Bede relates, and becausethis tribe afterward drove the Picti from their homes,and seized upon the entire northern region for themselves,and gave it the ancient name of their own race, so thatthe nation might remain undivided; in this manner hasthe name of Scotia become ambiguous—one, the elder,and proper, Scotia being in Hibernia, while the other,the more recent, lies in the northern part of Britannia.’From the words of the author I draw these conclusions:(1) that the Irish were, in strict truth, the real Scoti;41(2) that the Dal-Riada was the first race, dwelling inScotland, to which the name of Scoti was applied; (3)that Ireland was the true, ancient Scotia, and that Alba(Scotland) was the New Scotia, and also that it was theKinéscuit, or Tribe of Scot, that first called it Scotia.”

There were numerous after invasions of Alba by theMilesian Irish, who established new colonies—the mostformidable of which was that founded by the brothersFergus, Andgus, and Lorne in the beginning of the sixthcentury. For nearly a hundred years this colony paidtribute to Ireland, but, in 574, the Scotch King Aedan,who was brother to the King of Leinster, declined topay further tribute. A conference of the monarchs washeld—all being close kindred of the Hy-Nial race—andSt. Columba, their immortal cousin, came from his monasteryin Iona to take counsel with them. The result wasa wise and generous abrogation of the tribute by the Irishnation, and Scotland became independent, but remained,for long centuries, as before stated, the cordial friend andally of her sister country. The Scots then became paramountin Scotia Minor, and brought under subjectionall the tribes who were hostile to the royal line, foundedby Fergus, from whom descended the Stuarts and othermonarchical houses of Great Britain. This conventionalso lessened the number and power of the Bards, whohad become arrogant and exacting in their demands uponthe kings, princes, and chiefs, who feared their sarcastictalent, and paid exorbitant levies, rather than enduretheir abuse and ridicule.

After the abandonment of Tara as a royal residence,in the sixth century, the High Kings held court at Tailltenn,now Telltown, and Tlachtga, now the Hill of Ward,42in Meath, and at Ushnagh (Usna) in Westmeath. TheUlster monarchs had seats at Emain, near Armagh(Ar’-ma’) Greenan-Ely, on the hill of Ailech, in Donegal;and at Dun-Kiltair—still a striking ruin—nearDownpatrick. The kings of Leinster had their palacesat Naas in Kildare, Dunlavin in Wicklow, Kells inMeath, and Dinnree, near Leighlin Bridge, in Catherlough(Carlow). The Munster rulers held high carnival,for ages, at Cashel of the Kings and Caher, in Tipperary;at Bruree and Treda-na-Rhee—still a most picturesquemound, showing the ancient Celtic method offortification, in Limerick; and at Kinkora, situated onthe right bank of the Shannon, in Clare. The O’Conors,kings of Connaught, had royal residences at Rathcroaghan(Crohan) and Ballintober—the latter foundedby “Cathal Mor of the Wine Red Hand,” in the thirteenthcentury—in the present county of Roscommon;and at Athunree, or Athenry—Anglice, “the Ford of theKings,” in Galway. Ballintober, according to tradition,was the finest royal residence in all Ireland, and the remainsof Cathal Mor’s castle are still pointed out in thevicinity of the town. It was to it Clarence Mangan alludedin his “Vision of Connaught in the ThirteenthCentury,” thus:

43One of the great institutions of ancient Ireland,vouched for by Dr. Geoffrey Keating and many otherlearned historians, was the Fiann, or National Guard, ofthe country, first commanded by Finn MacCumhail(MacCool), “the Irish Cid” of pagan times. This forcewas popular and lived by hunting, when not activelyengaged in warfare, to preserve internal government, orrepel foreign aggression. When so engaged, they werequartered upon and supported by the people of the localitiesin which they rendered service. Their organizationwas simple, and bore much resemblance to the regimentaland company formations of the present day. Theirdrill and discipline were excessively severe. Four injunctionswere laid upon every person who entered thismilitary order. The first was “to receive no portionwith a wife, but to choose her for good manners andvirtue.” The second was “never to offer violence to anywoman.” The third enjoined on the member “never togive a refusal to any mortal for anything of which onewas possessed.” The fourth was “that no single warriorof their body should ever flee before nine champions.”

Other stipulations were of a more drastic character.No member of the Fiann could allow his blood, if shed,to be avenged by any other person than himself, if heshould survive to avenge; and his father, mother, relatives,and tribe had to renounce all claim for compensationfor his death.

No member could be admitted until he became a Bardand had mastered the Twelve Books of Poesy.

No man could be allowed into the Fiann until a pitor trench deep enough to reach to his knees had been44dug in the earth, and he had been placed therein, armedwith his shield, and holding in his hand a hazel staff ofthe length of a warrior’s arm. Nine warriors, armedwith nine javelins, were then set opposite him, at thedistance of nine ridges; these had to cast their nineweapons at him all at once, and then, if he chanced toreceive a single wound, in spite of his shield and staff,he was not admitted to the Order.

Another rule was that the candidate must run througha wood, at full speed, with his hair plaited, and withonly the grace of a single tree between him and detailedpursuers. If they came up with him, or wounded him,he was rejected.

He was also rejected “if his arms trembled in hishands”; or if, in running through the wood, “a singlebraid of his hair had been loosened out of its plait.”

He was not admitted if, in his flight, his foot hadbroken a single withered branch. Neither could he passmuster “unless he could jump over a branch of a treeas high as his forehead, and could stoop under one aslow as his knee, through the agility of his body.” Hewas rejected, also, if he failed “to pluck a thorn out ofhis heel with his hand without stopping in his course.”Each member, before being admitted to the Order, wasobliged to swear fidelity and homage to the Righ-Feinnedh(Ree-Feena) or king of the Fenians, which is theEnglish translation of the title.

There were also other military bodies—not forgettingthe more ancient “Red Branch Knights,” whom Moorehas immortalized in one of his finest lyrics, but the Feniansand their redoubtable chief hold the foremost placeof fame in Irish national annals.

45It would seem that a kind of loose federal compactexisted, from time to time, between the High King andthe other monarchs, but, unfortunately, there does notappear to have been a very strong or permanent bondof union, and this fatal defect in the Irish Constitutionof pre-Norman times led to innumerable disputes aboutsuccession to the Ard-Righship and endless civil wars,which eventually wrecked the national strength and madethe country the comparatively easy prey of adventurousand ambitious foreigners. The monarchical system was,in itself, faulty. Where a monarchy exists at all, the successionshould be so regulated that the lineal heir, accordingto primogeniture, whether a minor or not,must succeed to the throne, except when the successionis, for some good and sufficient reason, set aside by thelegislative body of the nation. This was done in Englandin the case of Henry IV, who, with the consentof Parliament, usurped the crown of Richard II; andalso in the case of William and Mary, who were selectedby the British Parliament of their day to supplant JamesII, the father-in-law and uncle of the former and fatherof the latter. The act of settlement and succession,passed in 1701, ignored the male line of the Stuarts,chiefly because it was Catholic, and placed the successionto the throne, failing issue of William and Mary andAnne, another daughter of the deposed King James, ina younger, Protestant branch of the female line ofStuart—the House of Hanover-Brunswick—which nowwears the British crown. But, in general, as far as thequestion of monarchy is concerned, the direct system ofsuccession has proven most satisfactory, and has frequentlyprevented confusion of title and consequent civil46war. We can recall only one highly important occasionwhen it provoked that evil—the sanguinary thirty years’feud between the kindred royal English, or, rather, Norman-French,Houses of York and Lancaster. Even inthat case the quarrel arose from the original bad title ofHenry IV, who was far from being the lineal heir to thethrone. Our own democratic system of choosing a chiefruler is, no doubt, best of all. We elect from the bodyof the people a President whose term of office is fouryears. In some respects he has more executive powerthan most hereditary monarchs, but if at the end of hisofficial term he fails to suit a majority of the delegatesof his party to the National Convention, some othermember of it is nominated in his stead. The oppositionparty also nominates a candidate, and very often succeedsin defeating the standard-bearer of the party inpower. Sometimes there are three or more Presidentialcandidates in the field, as was the case in 1860, whenAbraham Lincoln was elected. Succession to the Presidency,therefore, is not confined to any one family, orits branches, in a republic, and the office of President ofthe United States may be competed for by any eligiblemale citizen who can control his party nomination. Theexample of Washington, who refused a third term, hasbecome an unwritten law in America, and it defeatedGeneral Grant’s aspiration to succeed Mr. Hayes in theRepublican National Convention of 1880. In France,under Napoleon, every French soldier was supposed tocarry a marshal’s baton in his knapsack. In the UnitedStates, every native-born schoolboy carries the Presidentialportfolio in his satchel.

THE Irish people, having settled down to the Christianform of worship, were enjoying “life, liberty,and the pursuit of happiness,” building churches and colleges,and sending out a stream of saints and scholarsto the rest of Europe, when, about the end of theeighth century, the restless Norsem*n, universally called“Danes” in Ireland, swept down in their galleys bythousands on the Irish coasts, and, after many fierce conflicts,succeeded in establishing colonies at the mouthsof many of the great rivers of the island. There theybuilt fortified towns, from which they were able to sallyforth by sea or land to change their base of operationsand establish new conquests. Dublin at the mouth ofthe Liffey, Drogheda at the mouth of the Boyne, Wexfordat the mouth of the Slaney, Waterford at themouth of the Suir, and Limerick at the estuary of theShannon, are all cities founded by the Danes, who werenatural traders and fierce warriors. They did not confinetheir attentions exclusively to Ireland, but, about thesame period, conquered Saxon England, ruling completelyover it; and they established a strong colony onthe north coast of France, which is called Normandy tothis day, and from which sprang, by a combination ofScandian with Gallic blood, the greatest race of warriors—theRomans, perhaps, excepted—the world has known.

The native Irish met their fierce invaders with dauntless48courage, but they had been so long at peace thatthey were no longer expert in the use of arms, and theDanes were all-powerful on the seas. Those Norsem*nwere pagans, and had no respect for revealed religion,literature, works of art, architecture, or, in, short, anythingexcept land-grabbing and plunder. It must be rememberedthat most of northern Europe, at the periodwritten of, was in a benighted state, and that Great Britainitself was barely emerging from the intellectual andspiritual gloom of the Dark Ages. The Norse invaders,whenever successful in their enterprises against the Irishchiefs, invariably demolished the churches and colleges,murdered the priests, monks, and nuns—often, however,carrying the latter into captivity—and burned many ofthe priceless manuscripts, the pride and the glory of theillustrious scholarship of ancient Ireland. In the middleportion of the ninth century—about 840—when Nial IIIwas Ard-Righ of Ireland, came the fierce Dane Turgesius,at the head of an immense fleet and army. He at onceproceeded to ravage the exposed portions of the coast,and then forced his way inland, laying the country undertribute of all kinds as he advanced. He made prisonersof Irish virgins and married them, by main force, to hisbarbarous chiefs. He even occupied the celebrated monasteryof Clonmacnois and its university as a headquarters,converted the great altar into a throne, and issuedhis murderous edicts from that holy spot. Clonmacnois,translated into English, means “the Retreat of the Sonsof the Noble,” and was the Alma Mater of the princesand nobility of Ireland. This crowning outrage, coupledwith insults offered to Irish ladies, finally aroused thespirit of burning vengeance in the breasts of the Irish49people. Tradition says that thirty handsome young men,disguised as maidens, attended a feast given at Clonmacnoisby Turgesius and his chiefs. When the barbarianswere sated and had fallen into a drunken stupor,the youths rose upon and slew them all. The body ofTurgesius, with a millstone tied around the neck, wasthrown into a neighboring lake. Then the nation, underthe brave Nial III, rose and drove the Norsem*n backto the seacoast, where they rallied. Another raid on theinterior of the island was attempted, but repelled. Sadto relate, the gallant King Nial, while attempting to savethe life of a retainer who fell into the Callan River, washimself drowned, to the great grief of all Ireland. Thename of the river in which he perished was changed tothe Ownarigh (Ownaree) or King’s River—a designationwhich, after the lapse of ages, it still retains.

A period of comparative repose followed. Many ofthe Danes became converts to Christian doctrine, andthere was, probably, more or less of intermarriage amongthe higher classes of the rival races. But the Norsem*nretained much of their old-time ferocity, and, occasionally,the ancient struggle for supremacy was renewed,with varying success. It is humiliating for an Irishwriter to be obliged to admit that some of the IrishChristian princes, jealous of the incumbent Ard-Righ, didnot remain faithful to their country, and actually alliedthemselves with the Danes, participating in their barbarousacts. This explains why, for a period of about threehundred years, in spite of repeated Irish victories, theNorsem*n were able to hold for themselves a large portionof Ireland, especially the districts lying close to thesea, where they had no difficulty in receiving supplies50and reinforcements from Denmark and Norway. Manyof those old Irish princes were, indeed, consciencelesstraitors, but the people, as a whole, never abandoned thenational cause.

The feuds of the Munster chiefs, toward the end ofthe tenth century, had the unlooked-for effect of bringingto the front the greatest ruler and warrior produced byancient Ireland. Because of a series of tragedies in whichthe hero himself bore no blameful part, Brian of Kinkora,son of Kennedy and brother of Mahon, both of whomhad reigned as kings of Thom*ond, or North Munster,ascended the throne of that province. Mahon, progenitorof the southern MacMahons—from whom descendedthe late President of the French Republic, MauricePatrice MacMahon, Marshal of France and Duke ofMagenta—was murdered by Prince Donovan, a faithlessally. His younger brother, Brian, afterward calledBorumah or “Boru”—literally, “Brian of the CowTribute”—fiercely avenged his assassination on the treacherousDonovan, and on the Danish settlers of Limerick,who were the confederates of that criminal in his evilacts. Brian, young, powerful, and destitute of fear, afterdisposing of Donovan, killed with his own brave handIvor, the Danish prince, together with his two sons, althoughthese fierce pagans had taken refuge in the Christiansanctuary on Scattery Island, in the Shannon, andthen swept the remaining conspirators, both Irish andDanes, off the face of the earth. Prince Murrough,Brian’s heir, then a mere boy, slew in single combat thevillanous chief, Molloy, who, as the base instrument ofDonovan and Ivor, actually killed his uncle, King Mahon.Afterward, Brian reigned for a brief period, quietly, as51King of Thom*ond. He had a profound insight andwell knew that only a strong, centralized governmentcould unite all Ireland against the foreigners, and he designedto be the head of such a government. He hadonly one rival in fame and ability on Irish soil—thereigning Ard-Righ, Malachy II. This monarch hadscourged the warrior Northmen in many bloody campaigns.In one battle he slew two Danish princes, andtook from one a golden collar, and from the other a pricelesssword. The poet Moore commemorates the formerexploit in the well-known melody, “Let Erin Rememberthe Days of Old.”

Brian of Kinkora, fiery of mood, enterprising, ambitious,and, we fear, somewhat unscrupulous in pursuit ofsovereignty, a born general and diplomat, as either capacitymight suit his purpose, burned to possess himselfof the supreme sceptre. His ambition led, as usual undersuch conditions, to acts of aggression on his part, and,finally, to civil war between Malachy and himself. Aterrible struggle raged in Ireland for twenty years, until,at last, Ard-Righ Malachy was forced to capitulate, andhis rival became High King of Ireland in his place. TheDanes, naturally, took advantage of the civil strife tore-establish their sway in the island, and gained many advantagesover the Irish troops. Moved by the danger ofhis country, the noble Malachy allied himself with Brian,and, together, they marched against the Norsem*n anddrove them back to their seacoast forts. But those boldand restless spirits did not, therefore, cease to war uponIreland. Again and yet again they placed new armies inthe field, only to be again baffled and routed by either theskilful Brian or the devoted Malachy.

MANY of the princes of Leinster, more especiallythe MacMurroughs (MacMurro) were generally,in some measure, allied to the Danes, and fought withthem against their own countrymen. After several yearsof warfare, a peace was, at length, patched up with theMacMurrough, and he became a guest of King Brian atKinkora. In those days chess was the national gameof the Irish princes and chiefs, and while engaged in itwith the Leinster guest, Prince Murrough (Murro),Brian’s eldest son, in a fit of anger, hurled a taunt at theformer in regard to his recent alliance with the invadersof his country. This action was, of course, rude, andeven brutal, on the part of Prince Murrough, althoughMacMurrough had been guilty of treasonable offences.The Leinster potentate rose immediately from the tableat which they were playing, pale from rage, and, in aloud voice, called for his horse and retainers. He wasobeyed at once and left the palace. The wise King Brian,on learning of the quarrel and departure, sent messengersafter the King of Leinster to bring him back, but hisanger was so great that he would not listen to their representations,so that they went back without him to Kinkora.MacMurrough immediately re-allied himself withthe Danes, and so the flames of war were rekindled with avengeance. Many other princes and chiefs of Leinster53made common cause with their king and his foreign allies.Reinforcements for the latter poured into Ireland fromScandinavia, from Britain, from the neighboring islands,from every spot of earth on which an invader could bemustered—all inflamed against Ireland, and all expectingto wipe King Brian and his army from the Irish soil.But Brian had his allies, too; the armies of Munster, Connaught,part of Ulster, and most of the heroic clans ofLeinster flocked to his standard, the latter led by the ever-faithfulMalachy and his tributary chiefs. All of theMacMurrough interest, as already stated, sided with theDanes. A majority of the Ulster princes, jealous ofBrian’s fame and supreme power, held back from hissupport, but did not join the common enemy.

Brian was now an old man, and even his bold son,Murrough, the primary cause of the new trouble, wasbeyond middle age. The hostile armies hurried towardDublin, the principal Danish stronghold, and on GoodFriday morning, April 23, 1014, were face to face on thesands of Clontarf, which slope down to Dublin Bay. Wehave no correct account of the numbers engaged, butthere were, probably, not less than thirty thousand men—largearmies for those remote days—on each side. Itwas a long and a terrible battle, for each army appeareddetermined to conquer or die. Under King Brian commandedPrince Murrough and his five brothers: Malachy,Kian, Prince of Desmond, or South Munster; Davoren,of the same province; O’Kelly, Prince of Hy-Many, EastConnaught; O’Heyne, the Prince of Dalaradia, and theStewards of Mar and Lennox in Scotland.

The Danes and their allies were commanded by Brodar,the chief admiral of the Danish fleet; King Sitric, of54Dublin;[1] the Danish captains, Sigurd and Duvgall, andthe warrior Norwegian chiefs, Carlos and Anrud. TheLord of the Orkney Islands also led a contingent, inwhich Welsh and Cornish auxiliaries figured.

Thus, it will seem, the cause was one of moment, as thefate of a country was to be decided, and the ablest captainsof Ireland and Scandinavia led the van of the respectivehosts. The struggle was long and murderous,for the armies fought hand to hand. Brian, too feeble tosit his war-horse and bear the weight of even his lightarmor, worn out, moreover, by the long march and themarshaling of his forces, was prevailed upon to retire tohis pavilion and rest. He placed the active command ofthe Irish army in the hands of King Malachy and his son,Prince Murrough O’Brien. The conflict lasted from daylightuntil near the setting of the sun. Every leader ofnote on the Danish side, except Brodar, was killed—manyby the strong hand of Prince Murrough and his braveyoung son, Turlough O’Brien, after his father the personmost likely to be elected to the chief kingship of Ireland.On the Irish side there fell Prince Murrough, his gallantson, the Scottish chiefs of Mar and Lennox, who came,with their power, to fight for Ireland, and many otherleaders of renown. King Brian himself, while at prayerin his tent, which stood apart and unguarded, was killedby Brodar, the flying Danish admiral, who was pursuedand put to death by a party of Irish soldiers.

The slaughter of the minor officers and private men,on both sides, was immense, and the little river Tolka, onthe banks of which the main battle was fought, was55choked with dead bodies and ran red with blood. Butthe Danes and their allies were completely broken androuted, and the raven of Denmark never again soaredto victory in the Irish sky. Many Danes remained inthe Irish seaport towns, but they became Irish in dress,language, and feeling, and thousands of their descendantsare among the best of Irishmen to-day.

Ireland, although so signally victorious at Clontarf, sustainedwhat proved to be a deadly blow in the loss of heraged king and his two immediate heirs. Brian, himself,unwittingly opened the door of discord when he took thecrown forcibly from the Hy-Niall family, which had wornit so long. His aim was to establish a supreme and perpetualDalcassian dynasty in himself and his descendants—awise idea for those times, but one balked by destiny.Now all the provincial Irish monarchs aspired to the supremepower, and this caused no end of jealousy andintrigue. Brian, in his day of pride, had been hard onthe Ossorians, and their chief, Fitzpatrick, Prince ofOssory, basely visited his wrath, as an ally of the Danes,on the Dalcassian contingent of the Irish army returningfrom Clontarf encumbered by their wounded. But thesedauntless warriors did not for a moment flinch. Thehale stood gallantly to their arms, and the wounded, unableto stand upright, demanded to be tied to stakes placedin the ground, and thus supported they fought with magnificentdesperation. The treacherous Ossorian princewas routed, as he deserved to be, and has left behinda name of infamy. Many noble patriots of the house ofFitzpatrick have since arisen and passed away, but thatparticular traitor ranks with Iscariot, MacMurrough,Monteith, and Arnold in the annals of treachery. Who56that has read them has not been thrilled by the noble linesof Moore which describe the sacrifice of the woundedDalcassians?

The glorious King Malachy, although ever in thethickest of the battle, survived the carnage of Clontarf.Unable to agree upon a candidate from any of the provincialroyal families because of their bitter rivalries,the various factions, having confidence in Malachy’s wisdomand patriotism, again elected him High King ofIreland, the last man who held that title without dispute.He reigned but eight years after his second elevation tothe supreme throne of his country and died at a goodold age about the middle of September, 1022, in theodor of sanctity, and sincerely lamented by the Irishnation, excepting a few ambitious princes who covetedthe crown his acts had glorified. In the whole range ofIrish history he was the noblest royal character, and hisname deserves to be forever honored by the nation hesought to preserve.

After the good king’s death, a younger son of BrianBoru, Prince Donough (Dunna), made an attempt to beelected Ard-Righ, and, failing in that, sought to holdthe crown by force. But the provincial monarchs refusedto recognize his claims, as he did not appear to inheriteither the military prowess or force of character of his57great father. After some futile attempts to maintain hisassumed authority, he was finally deposed by his ablernephew, Turlough O’Brien, who occupied the throne, notwithout violent opposition, for a period. Poor Donoughproceeded to Rome and presented his father’s crown andharp to the Pope, probably because he had no other valuableofferings to bestow. This circ*mstance was afterwardmade use of by the Anglo-Normans to make itappear that the presentation made by the deposed anddiscredited Donough to the Pontiff carried with it thesurrender of the sovereignty of Ireland to his Holiness.No argument could be more absurd, because, as has beenshown, the crown of Ireland was elective, not hereditary,except with well understood limitations, which made theblood royal a necessity in any candidate. Donough, inany case, was never acknowledged as High King ofIreland, and could not transfer a title he did not possess.In fact all the Irish monarchs may be best described notas Kings of Ireland, but Kings of the Irish. They hadno power to alienate, or transfer, the tribe lands fromthe people, and held them only in trust for their voluntarysubjects. Modern Irish landlordism is founded on thefeudal, not the tribal, system. Hence its unfitness tosatisfy a people in whom lingers the heredity of theancient Celtic custom. King Brian, the most absolute ofall the Irish rulers, is described by some annalists as“Emperor of the Irish.”

FROM the deposition of Donough O’Brien down tothe period of the Norman invasion of the island—abouta century and a half—Ireland was cursed by thecivil wars which raged interminably, because of disputesof royal succession, between the McLoughlins of Ulster—abranch of the Hy-Niall dynasty—and the descendantsof King Brian of Kinkora, in which the latter were finallyworsted. Then the successful family fell out with royalO’Conors of Connaught. One of the latter, a brave andambitious man, called Turlough Mor, aimed at the chiefsovereignty and proved himself an able general and awise statesman. He reigned in splendor over Connaught,and terrorized his enemies of Ulster and Munster by hissplendid feats of arms. He held his court at Rathcroghan,in Roscommon, and often entertained as many as3,000 guests on occasions of festival. His palace, fortifiedafter the circular Celtic fashion, dominated morethan four hundred forts, or duns, which were the strongholdsof his chiefs, in the territory of Roscommon alone;he founded churches and was generous to the clergy andto the poor. In spite of all this, however, he was unableto attain to the High Kingship, and only succeeded inpaving the way to the national throne for his son andsuccessor, Rory, commonly called Roderick, O’Conor,whose reign was destined to behold the Anglo-Normans59in Ireland. Dr. Joyce, in dealing with this troubledperiod of Irish history, says that during the one hundredand fifty years comprised in it, there were eight Ard-Righs“with opposition”—that is, some one of the provinces,perhaps more, would refuse to recognize theirjurisdiction. There was also chaos among the minorroyal families. As regarded the High King, it was notunusual to have two of them using that title at once, aswas the case with Donal O’Loughlin, King of Ulster,and Murtough O’Brien, King of Munster. Both theseclaimants terminated their careers in monasteries. Asimilar condition existed, also, between Turlough MorO’Conor, before mentioned, and Murtough O’Loughlin,King of Ulster, and the strife was only ended by thedeath of Turlough Mor, in 1156. His son, Roderick,then attempted to wrest the Ard-Righship from theUlster monarch, but was defeated. On the death ofthe latter, in 1166, Roderick, who was not opposed byany candidate of influence, was elected High King—thelast of the title who reigned over all Ireland.

It may be asked, why did not the clansmen—the rankand file of the Irish people—put a stop to the insane feudsof their kings, princes, and chiefs? Because, we answer,they were accustomed to the tribal system and idea.Doubtless, they loved Ireland, in a general way, but weremuch more attached to their family tribe-land, and, aboveall, they adored the head of their sept and followed wherehe led, asking no questions as to the ethics of his cause.Had they been more enlightened regarding the art of government,they might have combined against their selfishleaders and crushed them. But the tribal curse was uponthem, and is not yet entirely lifted.

60The Danes held the crown of England for about aquarter of a century after they were driven from powerin Ireland. At last, after great difficulty, they weredriven from the throne and the saintly Edward the Confessor,of the old Saxon line, was raised to the kingshipof England. His successor, King Harold—a brave but, wefear, not a very wise man—is said by English historiansto have “done homage”—an evil custom of those days—toWilliam, Duke of Normandy, while on a visit to thatcountry. At all events, William claimed the crown, whichHarold, very properly, declined to surrender. Williamwas an able and resolute, but fierce and cruel, warrior.He speedily organized a force of 60,000 mercenaries,mainly French-Normans, but with thousands of realFrenchmen among them, and, having provided himselfwith an immense flotilla—a wondrous achievement in thatage of the world—succeeded in throwing his entire forceon the English coast. Harold, nothing daunted, met himon a heath near Hastings, in Sussex, where the Saxonarmy had strongly intrenched itself, and would, perhaps,have been victorious had not it abandoned its positionto pursue the fleeing Normans, who, with their accustomedmartial skill, turned upon their disordered pursuersand repulsed them in return. The centre of thegreat conflict is marked by the ruins of Battle Abbey.The two armies were about equal in strength and foughtthe whole length of an October day before the combatwas decided. Prodigies of valor were performed, but,at last, the brave Harold fell, and the remains of theSaxon army fled from that fatal field. William, soonafterward, occupied London. The Saxons made butsmall show of resistance, after Hastings, and, within a61few years, “fair England” was parceled out among William’sNorman-French captains, who thus laid the foundationof the baronial fabric that, with one brief interval,has dominated England ever since. A few of the Saxonnobles managed, somehow, to save their domains—probablyby swearing allegiance to William and marryingtheir lovely daughters to his chiefs—but, as a whole, theSaxon people became the serfs of the Norman barons,and were scarcely recognized even as subjects, until thelong and bloody wars with France, in the thirteenth, fourteenth,and fifteenth centuries, made them necessary, ina military sense, to the Plantagenet kings, who employedthem chiefly as archers. Under Norman training, theirskill with the deadly long bow made them perhaps themost formidable infantry of the Middle Ages.

The Normans in England, very wisely, accommodatedthemselves to the new conditions and made up their mindsto live upon and enjoy the lands they had won by thesword. They rapidly became more English than Norman,and after the accession of the House of Anjouto the throne, in the person of Henry II, began to callthemselves “Englishmen.” Sir Walter Scott, in hisnoble historical romance of “Ivanhoe,” draws a splendidlyvivid picture of that period.

In Ireland, as we have seen, the series of distractingcivil wars, all growing out of questions of succession tothe national and provincial thrones, still progressed, and,owing to the unceasing discord, prosperity waned, andsome historians claim that Church discipline was relaxed,although not to any such extent as is asserted by the Normanchroniclers. But the reigning Pontiff, hearing ofthe trouble, summoned some of the leading hierarchs of62the Irish Church to Rome, where they explained matterssatisfactorily.

About the time that Henry II, in virtue of his descentfrom the Conqueror, through his mother, daughter ofHenry I, assumed the English crown, the Papal chair wasoccupied by Adrian the Fourth, whose worldly name wasNicholas Breakspeare, an Englishman by birth, and theonly man of that nationality who ever wore the tiara. He,too, had been informed by Norman agents of the disordersin Ireland, where, among other things, it wasclaimed that the people in general had neglected to pay tothe Papacy the slight tribute known as “Peter’s Pence.”This circ*mstance, no doubt, irritated the Pontiff, andwhen Henry, who had his ambitious heart set on acquiringthe sovereignty of Ireland, laid open his design, PopeAdrian, according to credible authority, gave him a documentcalled a “bull,” in which, it would appear, he undertookto “bestow” Ireland on the English king, with theunderstanding that he should do his utmost to reform theevils in Church and State said to exist in that country,and also compel the regular payment of the Papal tribute.All of which Henry agreed to do.

POPE ADRIAN’S “gift” of Ireland to Henry II,absurd as it may appear in this age, was not withoutprecedent in the Middle Ages, when the RomanPontiff was regarded as supreme arbiter by nearly allof Christendom. Such “gifts” had been made before thetime of Adrian, and some afterward, but they were notconsidered bona fide by the countries involved. So alsowith the Irish people as a majority. They respected,as they still respect, the Pope in his spiritual capacity,but rightly conceived that he had no power whatever tomake a present of their country to any potentate, whethernative or alien, without their consent. An influentialminority held otherwise, with most unfortunate results,as we shall see. Some superzealous Catholic writershave sought to discredit the existence of the “bull”of Adrian, but weight of evidence is against them, and,in any case, it was “confirmed,” at Henry’s urgent request,by Pope Alexander III. The king was engagedin civil war with his own sons—in every way worthy oftheir rapacious father—during most of his reign, for heheld under his sway Normandy, Aquitaine, and otherparts of France, which they wanted for themselves.Thus no chance to push his long meditated Irish schemepresented itself until about A. D. 1168. Fifteen yearsprior to that date, Dermid, or Dermot, MacMurrough64(Mac Murro), King of Leinster, a very base and dissoluteruler, had carried off the wife of O’Ruarc, Princeof Breffni, while the latter was absent on a pious pilgrimage.The lady was a willing victim, and added thedowry she brought her husband to the treasure of herparamour. When Breffni returned to his castle and foundthat his wife had betrayed him, he was overpowered bygrief and anger, and, not having sufficient military forcehimself to punish his enemy, he called on Turlough MorO’Conor, then titular Ard-Righ, to assist him in chastisingMacMurrough. O’Conor did so to such purposethat, according to Irish annals, Dervorgilla, which wasthe name of O’Ruarc’s wife, together with her dowry,was restored to her husband, who, however, discardedher, and she died penitent, it is said, forty years afterwardin the cloisters of Mellifont Abbey. But Dermid’sevil conduct did not end with his outrage against O’Ruarc.He entertained the most deadly animosity to the O’Conorfamily on account of the punishment inflicted on him byTurlough Mor, and when on the death in battle of Ard-RighMurtagh McLaughlin, Roderick, son of TurloughMor, claimed the national crown, MacMurrough refusedhim recognition, although nearly all the other sub-kingshad acknowledged him as supreme ruler of Ireland. Incensedat his stubbornness, King Roderick, who had withhim O’Ruarc and other princes of Connaught, marchedagainst Dermid, who, seeing that he was overmatched,burned his palace of Ferns, and, taking to his galley,crossed the Irish Sea to England and sought out KingHenry II at his Court of London. On arriving therehe was informed that the king was in Aquitaine, andthither he at once proceeded. The politic founder of65the Plantagenet dynasty received him quite graciouslyand listened complacently to his story. Henry was secretlywell pleased with the treasonable errand of hisinfamous guest, which was to demand Anglo-Normanaid against his own monarch, regardless of the afterconsequences to the fortunes of his country. He enumeratedhis grievances at the hands of the O’Conors, fatherand son, and related how he had been the faithful ally ofthe former in his long war with one of the Thom*ondO’Briens. Turlough Mor, he considered, had treated himbadly for the sake of O’Ruarc, and his son, Roderick,had been quite as hostile, forcing him to seek Henry’sprotection against further invasion of his hereditarypatrimony. The Anglo-Norman king said, in reply, thathe could not aid MacMurrough in person as he was thenengaged in a war with one or more of his own sons, buthe consented to give him commendatory letters to certainNorman chiefs, brave but needy, who were settled inWales and the West of England, and had there madepowerful matrimonial alliances. The traitor gladly acceptedthe letters, “did homage” to Henry, and took hisleave elated at the partial success of his unnatural mission.Landing in Wales, he found himself within ashort time in the presence of Richard De Clare, surnamed“Strongbow,” a brave, adventurous, and unscrupulousNorman noble, who bore the title of Earlof Pembroke. He also made the acquaintance of otherNorman knights—among them Robert Fitzstephen, MauriceDe Prendergast, Maurice Fitzgerald, ancestor of thefamous Geraldine houses of Kildare and Desmond; MeylerFitzHenry and Raymond Le Gros—all tried warriors,all in reduced circ*mstances, and all ready and willing66to barter their fighting blood for the fair hills and richvalleys of Ireland. They listened eagerly while MacMurroughunfolded his precious plot of treason and blackrevenge. The daring adventurers seized upon the chanceof fortune at once, and the traitor was sent back to Irelandto prepare his hereditary following for the friendlyreception of “the proud invaders,” his newly made allies.Before leaving Wales he had made bargains with thealien adventurers which were disgraceful to him as anative-born Irishman. In a word, he had, by usurpedauthority, mortgaged certain tracts of the land of Leinsterfor the mercenary aid of the Anglo-Normans, or, to bemore historically exact, the Norman-Welsh.

Soon after the departure of Dermid for Ireland, RobertFitzstephen, the readiest of the warlike plotters, and thefirst of the invaders, sailed for that country at the headof thirty knights, sixty men in armor, and three hundredlight-armed archers. In the fragrant ides of May, 1169,they landed on the Wexford coast, near Bannow, andthus, inconsequentially, began the Norman invasion ofIreland. De Prendergast arrived the following day withabout the same number of fighting men. Only a fewyears ago, in removing some débris—the accumulationof ages—near Bannow, the laborers found the traces ofthe Norman camp-fires of 1169 almost perfectly preserved.The two adventurers sent tidings of their arrivalto MacMurrough without delay, and he marched at once,with a powerful force of his own retainers to join them.All three, having united their contingents, marched uponthe city of Wexford, many of whose inhabitants werelineal descendants of the Danes. They made a gallantdefence, but were finally outmanœuvred, overpowered,67and compelled to capitulate. Other towns of less importancesubmitted under protest to superior force. Indeedthere seemed to be a total lack of military foresightand preparedness in all that section of Ireland in 1169.Fitzpatrick, Prince of Ossory, descended from that allyof the Danes who attacked the Dalcassians returningfrom Clontarf, alone opposed to the invaders a braveand even formidable front. He committed the mistakeof accepting a pitched battle with MacMurrough and hisallies, and was totally defeated. King Roderick O’Conor,hearing of the invasion, summoned the Irish militarybodies to meet him at Tara. Most of them responded,but the Prince of Ulidia, MacDunlevy, took offence atsome remark made by a Connaught prince, and, in consequence,most of the Ulster forces withdrew from theArd-Righ. King Roderick, with the troops that remained,marched to attack MacMurrough at his favoritestronghold of Ferns, where he lay with the Normans,or a part of them, expecting a vigorous siege. Insteadof assaulting the enemy’s lines at once, when his superiornumbers would, most likely, have made an end of thetraitor and his Norman allies, O’Conor weakly consentedto a parley with Dermid, who was a most thorough diplomat.The Ard-Righ consented, further, to a treatywith MacMurrough, who, of course, designed to breakit as soon as the main body of the Normans, underStrongbow in person, should arrive from Wales. He didnot, nevertheless, hesitate to bind himself by a secretclause of the treaty with the king to receive no moreforeigners into his army, and even gave one of his sonsas a hostage to guarantee the same. The Ard-Righ retiredfrom Ferns satisfied that the trouble was ended.68The royal army was scarcely out of sight of the placewhen MacMurrough learned that Maurice Fitzgerald,at the head of a strong party of Normans, had also arrivedon the Wexford coast. He now thought himselfstrong enough to lay claim to the High Kingship andnegotiated with the Danes of Dublin for recognition inthat capacity. Meanwhile, still another Norman contingentunder Raymond Le Gros landed at the estuaryof Waterford, on the Wexford side thereof, and occupiedDundonolf Rock, where they intrenched themselvesand eagerly awaited the coming of Strongbowwith the main body of the Norman army.

By this time Henry II began to grow jealous of thesuccess of his vassals in Ireland. He wanted to conquerthe country for himself, and, therefore, sent orders toStrongbow not to sail. But that hardy soldier paid noattention to Henry’s belated command, and sailed witha powerful fleet and army from Milford Haven, in Wales,arriving in Waterford Harbor on August 23, 1171. TheNormans, under Raymond Le Gros, joined him withoutloss of time, and the combined forces attacked the oldDanish city. The Danes and native Irish made commoncause against the new enemy and a desperate and bloodyconflict occurred. The Normans were several times repulsed,with great loss, but, better armed and led thantheir brave opponents, they returned to the breach againand yet again. At last they gained entrance into the city,which they set on fire. An awful massacre ensued. Threehundred of the leading defenders were made prisoners,their limbs broken and their maimed bodies flung intothe harbor. King MacMurrough, who had alreadypledged his daughter’s hand to Strongbow—a man old69enough to have been her father—arrived just after thecity fell. In order to celebrate the event with due pompand circ*mstance, he caused the Princess Eva to be marriedto the Norman baron in the great cathedral, whilethe rest of the city was burning, and the blood of thevictims of the assault still smoked amid the ruins! Anominous and fatal marriage it proved to Ireland.

And now, at last, the blood of the native Irish wasstirred to its depths and they began, when somewhat late,to realize the danger to their liberty and independence.In those far-off days, when there were no railroads, noelectric wires, no good roads or rapid means of communicationof any kind, and when newspapers were unknown,information, as a matter of course, traveled slowlyeven in a small country, like Ireland. The woods weredense, the morasses fathomless, and, in short, the invadershad made their foothold firm in the east andsouth portions of the island before the great majority ofthe Celtic-Irish comprehended that they were in processof being subjugated by bold and formidable aliens. Therehad existed in Ireland from very ancient times five mainroads, all proceeding from the hill of Tara to the differentsections of the country. That called “Dala” ranthrough Ossory into the province of Munster. The roadcalled “Assail” passed on toward the Shannon throughMullingar. The highway from Tara to Galway followedthe esker, or small hill range, as it does in our own day,and was called “Slighe Mor,” or great road; the roadleading from Tara to Dublin, Bray, and along the Wicklowand Wexford coasts was called “Cullin”; the highwayleading into Ulster ran, probably, through Tredagh, orDrogheda, Dundalk, Newry, and Armagh, but this is not70positive. As it was the route followed by the Englishin most of their Ulster wars, it is quite probable that theypicked out a well-beaten path, so as to avoid the expenseand labor of making a new causeway. McGee tells usthat there were also many cross-roads, known by localnames, and of these the Four Masters, at different dates,mentioned no less than forty. These roads were kept inrepair, under legal enactment, and the main highwayswere required to be of sufficient width to allow of thepassage of two chariots all along their course. We arefurther informed that the principal roads were requiredby law to be repaired at seasons of games and fairs, andin time of war. At their best, to judge by the ancientchroniclers, most of them would be considered little betterthan “trails” through the mountains, moors, and forestsin these times.

MacMurrough and Strongbow did not allow the grassto sprout under their feet before marching in great forceon Dublin. King Roderick, leading a large but ill-trainedarmy, attempted to head them off, but was outgeneraled,and the enemy soon appeared before the walls of Leinster’sstronghold. Its Dano-Celtic inhabitants, cowed bythe doleful news from Waterford, tried to parley; butStrongbow’s lieutenants, De Cogan and Le Gros, eagerfor carnage and rich plunder, surprised the city, and thehorrors of Waterford were, in a measure, repeated. TheDanish prince, Osculph, and most of his chief men escapedin their ships, but the Normans captured Dublin,and the English, except for a brief period in the reign ofJames II, have held it from that sad day, in October,1171, to this.

Roderick O’Conor, that weak but well-meaning prince71and bad general, retired into Connaught and sent wordto MacMurrough to return to his allegiance, if he wishedto save the life of his son, held as a hostage. The brutaland inhuman traitor refused, and King Roderick, althoughhumane almost to a fault, had the unfortunateyoung man decapitated. This was poor compensation forthe loss of Waterford and Dublin. Those pages of Irishhistory are all besmeared with slaughter.

Many of the Irish chroniclers, who are otherwise severeon Norman duplicity, relate a story of chivalry,worthy of any age and people, in connection with Mauricede Prendergast and the Prince of Ossory. Strongbowhad deputed the former to invite the latter to aconference. The Irish prince accepted. While the conferencewas in progress, De Prendergast learned thattreachery was intended toward his guest. He immediatelyrushed into Strongbow’s presence and swore onthe hilt of his sword, which was a cross, that no manthere that day should lay hands on the Prince of Ossory.The latter was allowed to retire unmolested, and Prendergastand his followers escorted him in safety to hisown country. De Prendergast has been known eversince in Irish annals as “the Faithful Norman,” and hisfidelity has made him the theme of many a bardic songand romantic tale.

ALTHOUGH two of the chief Irish cities had fallento the invaders, the struggle was not entirely abandonedby the Irish nation. Ulster and most of Connaughtremained intact, and even in Munster and Leinsterthere was, from time to time, considerable, althoughdesultory, resistance to the Anglo-Normans. The latter,clad in steel armor from head to foot, and possessingformidable weapons, had a great advantage over thecloth-clad Irish, although, of course, the latter greatlyoutnumbered them. The weapons of the Irish were theskian, or short-sword—resembling the Cuban machete—thejavelin, and the battle-axe—the latter a terrible armat close quarters; but even the axe could not cope withthe ponderous Norman sword and the death-dealing longbow, with its cloth-yard shaft. In discipline and tactics,also, the Irish were overmatched. In short, they wereinferior to their enemies in everything but numbers andcourage. But all would have been redeemed had theybut united against the common foe.

Why they did not may be justly, as we think, attributedto the tribal system which taught the clans and tribesto be loyal to their particular chiefs rather than to theircountry as a whole; the absence of a fully recognizedfederal head, and the vacillations of an honest and patrioticArd-Righ, who, noble and amiable of character, ashe undoubtedly was, proved himself to be a bungling73diplomat and an indifferent general. Had his able anddetermined father, Turlough Mor, been on the Irishthrone, and in the vigor of his life, when Strongbowlanded, he would have made short work of the Normanfilibusters. The king seemed ever behind time in hisefforts to stem the tide of invasion. He had rallied stillanother army, and gained some advantages, when he wasconfronted by a new enemy in the person of Henry II.This king, determined not to be outdone by his vassals,had ordered Strongbow, who, because of his marriagewith Eva MacMurrough, had assumed the lordship ofLeinster, to return with all his chief captains to England,the penalty of refusal being fixed at outlawry. Strongbowattempted to placate the wrathful king and sent tohim agents to explain his position, but the fierce andcrafty Plantagenet was not a man to be hoodwinked. Hecollected a powerful fleet and army, set sail from England,in October, 1171, and, toward the end of that month,landed in state at Waterford, where Strongbow receivedhim with all honor and did homage as a vassal. This wasthe beginning of Ireland’s actual subjugation, for hadthe original Norman invaders refused to acknowledgeHenry’s sovereignty, and, uniting with the natives,kept Ireland for themselves, they would eventually,as in England, have become a component and formidablepart of the nation, and proved a boon, instead of a curse,to the distracted country. The landing of Henry put anend to such a hope, and with his advent began that dependencyon the English crown which has been so fatalto the liberty, the happiness, and the prosperity of “themost unfortunate of nations.”

Henry having “graciously” received the submission of74Strongbow and his confederates, proceeded, at once—forhe was a monarch of great energy—to make a “royalprogress” through the partially subdued portions of Munsterand Leinster. He took care, in doing this, to showPope Adrian’s mischievous “bull” to the Irish prelatesand princes, some of whom, to their discredit be it confessed,bowed slavishly to the ill-considered mandate ofthe Pontiff. Many of the princes were even base enoughto give Henry “the kiss of peace,” when, instead, theyshould have rushed to arms to defend the honor and independenceof their country. The prelates, trained to ecclesiasticaldocility, disgusted with the everlasting civilcontentions of the country, and fearful of further unavailingbloodshed, had some feeble excuse for their ill-timedacquiescence, but what are we to say of thosewretched Irish princes who so weakly and wickedly betrayedtheir nation to the foreign usurper? They wereby no means ignorant men, as times went, but they wereambitious, vain, and jealous of the half-acknowledgedauthority of High King Roderick, who, poor man, seemsto have been the Henry VI of Ireland. Those treasonableprinces deserve enduring infamy, and foremost amongthem were Dermid McCarthy, King of Desmond, andDonald O’Brien, King of Thom*ond. Both lived to regretmost bitterly their cowardice and treason.

Henry II was a politic monarch. He flattered the pliableIrish bishops and spoke to them gently about Churchreforms, while he palavered the despicable Irish princes,and, at the same time, pretended to favor the commonpeople and affected to check the rapacity of his Normansubjects. Hostilities ceased for a time, except on theborders of Leinster and Connaught, where King75Roderick, deserted by many of his allies, and deeply depressedat the absence of national union against the invaders,kept up an unavailing resistance. In this he wasencouraged and aided by the patriotic Archbishop of Dublin,St. Lorcan O’Tuhill, who appears to have been theonly man among the entire Irish hierarchy who comprehendedthe iron grip the Normans had on the throat ofIreland. Had all the prelates been like St. Lorcan, andpreached a war of extermination against the invaders atthe outset, Ireland could, undoubtedly, have thrown offthe yoke, because the princes would have been forced bytheir people, over whom the bishops had great moralsway, to heal their feuds and make common cause fortheir country. King Roderick, despite his errors, deserveshonor for his patriotic spirit. The Ulster princes,too, with few exceptions, stood out manfully againstthe foreigner, and a long period elapsed before theAnglo-Norman power found a secure footing amid therugged glens and dense forests of the western and northernportions of the invaded island.

Geraldus Cambrensis, or Gerald Barry, a Normanpriest of Welsh birth, accompanied, A.D. 1185, KingHenry’s son, John, as chronicler, to Ireland. Likenearly every man of his race, he hated the nativeIrish, but, occasionally, as if by accident, spoke well ofsome of them. In general, however, his book is a grosslibel on the Irish Church and the Irish people. He purportsto give Roderick O’Conor’s address to his armyon the eve of battle with the Anglo-Normans, and theconcluding words of the speech are alleged to have beenas follows: “Let us then,” said the Irish king, “followingthe example of the Franks, and fighting bravely for76our country, rush against our enemies, and as these foreignershave come over few in numbers, let us crush themby a general attack. Fire, while it only sparkles, may bespeedily quenched, but when it has burst into a flame,being fed with fresh materials, its power increases withthe bulk, and it can not be easily extinguished. It isalways best to meet difficulties half way, and check thefirst approaches of disease, for (the Latin quotation ofthe king is here translated)

Wherefore, defending our country and liberty, and acquiringfor ourselves eternal renown, let us, by a resoluteattack, and the extermination of our enemies, thoughthey are but few in number, strike terror into the many,and, by their defeat, evermore deter foreign nations fromsuch nefarious attempts.”

Henry’s astute policy disarmed, for a time, even Roderickhimself. The Anglo-Norman monarch, who wouldhave made an admirable modern politician, does not seemto have desired the absolute ruin of the Irish nation, buthis greedy Norman captains were of a different mind, andwhen Henry, after having wined and dined the Irishprinces to their hearts’ content, in Dublin and othercities, at last returned to England, in the fall of 1173, theNorman leaders showed their teeth to the Irish people,and forced most of those who had submitted into fiercerevolt. As a result, the Norman forces were crushedin the field. Strongbow, himself, was shut up in Waterford,and his comrades were similarly placed in Dublin,Drogheda, and Wexford. Henry, incensed at this unlooked-for77sequel to his Irish pilgrimage, sent over acommission to inquire into the facts. The result wasthat an Irish delegation went to London to explain, and,at Windsor, where Henry held his court, a treaty wasentered into, finally, between King Roderick and himself,by which the former acknowledged Henry as “suzerain,”and Roderick was recognized as High King ofIreland, except the portions thereof held by the Normansunder Henry. This was a sad ending of Roderick’s heroicbeginning. As usual with English monarchs, whendealing with the Irish people, Henry, urged by his greedydependants in Ireland, soon found means to grossly violatethe Treaty of Windsor, as the compact between therepresentatives of Roderick and himself was called, thusvitiating it forever and absolving the Irish nation fromobserving any of its provisions. Another fierce rebellionfollowed, in which the southern and western Irish—theAnglo-Normans having now grown more numerous andpowerful—were remorselessly crushed. Roderick’s rascallyson, Prince Murrough O’Conor, who thought hisfather should be satisfied with the titular High Kingship,and that he himself should be King of Connaught, rosein revolt and attempted to seize the provincial crown.The Connacians, indignant at his baseness, stood by theold king. Murrough was defeated and received condignpunishment. This bad prince must have been familiarwith the unseemly course pursued by the sons of HenryII in Normandy, for he allied himself with his country’s,and his father’s, enemies, the Anglo-Normans, under thetreacherous De Cogan, and this act, more even than hisfilial impiety, inflamed the minds of his countrymenagainst the unnatural miscreant. King Roderick, unhappy man,78whose pride was mortally wounded, andwhose paternal heart, tender and manly, was wrung withsorrow at the crime of his son and its punishment—decreedby the Clans and not by himself—disgusted, besides,with the hopeless condition of Irish affairs, madeup his mind to retire from the world, its pomps andvexations. He repaired to the ancient monastery ofCong, in Galway, and there, after twelve years of piousdevotion, on the 29th day of November, 1198, in the 82dyear of his age, this good and noble but irresolute monarchsurrendered his soul to God. He was not buried atCong, as some annalists have asserted, but in the chancelof the Temple Mor, or Great Church, of Clonmacnois,in the present King’s County, where he was educated.Tradition has failed to preserve the location of the exactplace of sepulture within the ruined shrine. And soended the last Ard-Righ, or High King, that had swayedthe sceptre of an independent Ireland.

King Henry’s claim that the Irish Church needed greatreformation is disproved by the enactments of his ownreign in that connection, viz.: 1. That the prohibition ofmarriage within the canonical degrees of consanguinitybe enforced. 2. That children should be regularly catechizedbefore the church door in each parish. 3. Thatchildren should be baptized in the public fonts of theparish churches. 4. That regular tithes should be paidto the clergy, rather than irregular donations from timeto time. 5. That church lands should be exempt fromthe exaction of livery and other burdens. 6. That theclergy should not be liable to any share of the eric, orblood fine, levied off the kindred of a man guilty ofhomicide. 7. A decree regulating the making of wills.

79Surely, this was small ground on which to justify theinvasion of an independent country and the destructionof its liberty!

CHAPTER XII

HENRY II, whatever may have been his original intentionstoward Ireland and the Irish, soon after hisreturn to England assumed the tone of a conqueror anddictator. He forgot, or appeared to forget, the treatyhe had concluded with King Roderick’s representativesat Windsor, which distinctly recognized the tributarysovereignty of the Irish monarch, and left the bulk ofthe Irish people under the sway of their own native lawsand rulers. Now, however, he, in defiance of the commonestlaw of honor, proclaimed his weakest and worstson, the infamous John, “Lord” of Ireland—a title retainedby the English kings down to the reign of HenryVIII, who, being a wily politician, contrived to get himself“elected” as “King of Ireland.” This title remainedwith the English monarchs until January 1, 1801, whenthe ill-starred legislative union went into effect, andGeorge III of England became king of the so-called“United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.”

Henry II died in 1189, preceding the Irish king hehad so deeply wronged to the grave by about nine years.His last hours were doubly imbittered by the discoverythat his youngest son, John, who was also his favorite,and in whom he had concentrated all his paternal loveand confidence, was leagued with his enemies. An able,80but thoroughly bad, man, Henry Plantagenet died a miserabledeath—his heart filled with rage against his ownrebellious offspring, who, no doubt, only practiced theperfidious policy inculcated by their miserable father.The death scene occurred at Chinon, in Aquitaine, andhis last words, uttered in the French tongue, and despitethe vehement protests of the surrounding ecclesiastics,were, “Accursed be the day on which I was born, andaccursed of God be the sons I leave after me!” Hiscurse did not fall on sticks and stones. All of his guiltysons, except John, died violent and untimely deaths.Lackland, the exception, died of an overdose of pearsand fresh cider, added to grief over the loss of his treasure,which sunk in a quicksand while he was marchingwith his guard along the English coast. Henry’s curseremained with the Plantagenets to the end, and mostof the princes of that family met a horrible doom, fromEdward II, foully murdered in Berkeley Castle, to thelast male Plantagenet, of legitimate origin, the Earl ofWarwick, beheaded by order of Henry VII in 1499.Strongbow, Henry’s chief tool in the acquirement ofIreland, died of a dreadful blood malady, which, thedoctors said, resembled leprosy, some years before theking. He is buried in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin,and beside him are said to rest the relics of his only son,killed by the ferocious father’s hand, because he fledfrom the Irish in some border battle.

Before closing this chapter we may be allowed to remarkthat Richard III, when he had his nephews murderedin the Tower of London, in 1483, came legitimatelyby his cruel nature. John Lackland was the progenitor ofall the Plantagenets who succeeded him on the English81throne, and, like his direct descendant, Richard Crookback,was a usurper, because Prince Arthur, son of hiselder brother, Geoffrey Plantagenet, was lineal heir tothe throne. History and tradition agree in saying thatJohn caused Prince Arthur to be murdered, and somehistorians say that he was the actual murderer. He wasthe only coward of his race, and was, also, frivolous anddeliberately ill-mannered. When on a visit to Ireland, inthe supposed interest of his father, he caused a revoltamong the Irish chiefs who called upon him, by pullingtheir long beards and otherwise insulting them. Thosecringing chiefs deserved the treatment they received,but John Lackland, as he was dubbed, is not, therefore,excusable for having acted toward them as a boor anda ruffian. Later on, when he became King of England,he again visited Ireland, and built many strong castles.That of Limerick, called King John’s Castle, is still almostperfectly preserved, and is a superb relic of Norman militaryarchitecture. As the Irish were not provided witharmament, or appliances, for making a successful siege,the fortresses built by King John were, so far as theywere concerned, virtually impregnable. Whenever theNormans were vanquished in the field, they retired totheir castles, which were amply provisioned, and defiedthe vengeance of their foes.

In the last year of the reign of Henry II, there occurredin Ireland one of those memorable combats whichdeserve a lasting place in history, not so much because ofany important reform or social or political blessing ofany kind resulting from them, but as tending to show thatwarrior men, in all ages, have often been chivalrous andself-sacrificing. The Norman race—glorious as has been82its record all over Europe and Palestine—never evincedgreater bravery than on the Woody field of Knocktuagh(Nockthoo), “the Hill of Axes,” in Galway, A.D. 1189.Sir John De Courcy, hard pressed in Ulster by the fiercelyresisting septs of the north, asked aid from his swornfriend and comrade, Sir Armoricus Tristram—ancestorof the family of St. Lawrence, Earls of Howth—thenserving in Connaught. Tristram had with him, accordingto some accounts, thirty knights, one hundred men-at-arms,mounted, and one hundred light-armed infantry;according to other statements, he had under his commandthirty cavalry and two hundred foot. This forceCathal O’Conor, afterward known as “the Red-Handed,”Prince of the royal house of Connaught—a most valiantand skilful general, who was younger brother, born outof wedlock, of King Roderick, then virtually in the retirementof the cloisters of Cong Abbey—led into an ambush,and attacked with a superior force. Sir Armoricussaw at a glance that escape was hopeless, and that onlyone refuge was left for him and his following—to diewith honor. Some of his horsem*n, tradition says, proposedto cut their way out and leave the infantry to theirfate. Against this mean proposition Sir Armor’s brotherand other knights vehemently protested. “We have beentogether in many dangers,” they said; “now let all of usfight and die together.” Sir Armor, by way of answer,alighted from his steed, drew his sword and, with it,pierced the noble charger to the heart. All the otherhorsem*n, except two youths, who were detailed to watchthe fight from a distant hill, and report the result to DeCourcy in Ulster, immediately followed their gloriousleader’s example. Tradition asserts that the two young83men who made their escape, by order, were Sir Armoricus’sson and the squire of De Courcy, who brought thelatter’s message to Tristram. Having completed theslaughter of their horses, the little band of Normansformed themselves in a phalanx, and marched boldly toattack the outnumbering Irish. The latter met the shockwith their usual courage, but the enemy, clad in armor,cut their way deeply and fatally into the crowded ranksof their cloth-clad foes. The Irish poet, Arthur GeraldGeoghegan (Geh’ogan), thus graphically and truthfullydescribes the dreadful encounter:

When Cathal Mor finally became King of Connaught,he caused a monastery, which he called “the Abbey of84Victory,” but which has been known to the Irish of Connaughtfor ages as “Abbey Knockmoy,” to be erected onor near the site of the battle. Tradition, not a very reliableguide, fails to exactly define the scene of Cathal’svictory over the Normans. Knocktuagh, an inconsiderableeminence, is within a few miles of the city of Galway,whereas Knockmoy, where stands the historic abbey, isfully twelve miles east of that ancient borough, on thehighroad to Athlone. Cathal of the Red Hand foughtmany battles and won many splendid victories, althoughhe occasionally sustained defeats at the hands of the Normansand their traitorous native allies; his greatest victorywas won over his bitter rival, albeit his nephew,Caher Carragh O’Conor, whom he encountered somewherein the county of Galway. There was an awfulslaughter on both sides, but Cathal prevailed, and, nodoubt, built the abbey on the spot where Caher and hisleading chieftains, Irish and Norman, fell. De Courcywas the only foreigner allied with Cathal Mor in thisgreat battle. Abbey Knockmoy is one of the most interestingof Irish ruins, and contains friezes and frescoingmost creditable to Irish art in the thirteenth century.The victory gave Cathal Mor the undisputed sway ofConnaught. Adopting the policy of the invaders, forthe benefit of his country, he used Norman against Norman;allied himself with Meyler FitzHenry, the last ofStrongbow’s lieutenants, to punish Connaught’s inveteratefoe, William de Burgo, ancestor of the Clanricardesin Limerick, and to humble the pride of the ambitiousDe Lacys in Leinster. In 1210, this gallant Irish monarchcompelled King John of England to treat with himas an independent sovereign, and, while he lived, no85Norman usurper dared to lord it over his kingdom ofConnaught. Like his royal father and brother, he wasa champion of the Irish Church, and was a liberal founderand endower of religious houses. Had the Connaciankings who followed been of his moral and military calibre,the Normans could never have ruled in Connaught. Nordid this great Irishman confine himself to his nativekingdom alone; he also assisted the other provinces inresisting foreign encroachment. Even in his old age,when the De Lacys tried to embarrass his reign by fortifyingAthleague, so as to threaten him in flank, thedauntless hero, at the head of his hereditary power,marched from his palace of Ballintober, made two crossingsof the river Suck, and, by a bold manœuvre, came onthe rear of the enemy, compelling them to retreat in allhaste across the Shannon into Leinster. He did not failto raze their forts at Athleague to the ground. This wasthe last of his countless exploits. His time was drawingnigh, and, according to the Four Masters, “signs appearedin the heavens” which foretold his death. In1223, Cathal’s load of age and care became too heavy,and he resigned the crown of Connaught to his son, Hugh.The old king, assuming the habit of the Franciscans, retiredto the Abbey of Knockmoy, and there expired,mourned by his country and respected by its enemies,A.D. 1224. Tradition still points to his tomb amid themajestic ruins of that venerable pile. His death was thesignal for the rise of Norman power in Connaught, andfor the final deposition by the alien De Burgos of theroyal race of O’Conor.

AFTER the death of King John, affairs in Irelandproceeded tamely enough until the repeated encroachmentsof the Anglo-Norman settlers and their progeny,who occupied chiefly a comparatively small district called“the Pale,” which consisted of most of the present countiesof Dublin, Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Kildare, andKilkenny, forced the native Irish to rise “in rude butfierce array” against them. The Norman family ofDe Lacy disputed supremacy in Leinster with the Fitzgeralds,or Geraldines, but the latter, finally, outshonetheir rivals both in court and camp. The De Courcys,headed by the bold and chivalrous Sir John, “of thatilk,” made some impression on the coast of Ulster. TheDe Burgos, ancestors of all the Irish Burkes, became powerfulin Connaught, and the old Irish, headed by theO’Conors, fought against them fiercely from time to time.But the gallant, if covetous, Norman captains beheld theIrish maidens, and saw that they were fair. Love-making,despite frequent feuds, progressed between Normanlord and Celtic virgin; and not uncommonly betweenIrish prince and Norman lady. Many “mixed marriages”resulted, and, naturally, racial animosities becamegreatly softened, “for love will still be lord of all.”Very soon the warrior Normans, who acknowledged but87a doubtful allegiance to the English monarch, began toassume Irish manners, wear the Irish costume, and speakin the Gaelic tongue. All this did not suit the Englishpolicy, and the Norman Irish were often described bytheir kindred across the sea as “Degenerate English.”It was written of the Fitzgeralds, in particular, that theyhad grown “more Irish than the Irish.” This alarmedEngland, for it began to look as if Norman and Celt inIreland would soon make common cause against herpower. But many Norman chiefs were land hungry,and many of the Irish princes were fierce and filled witha just wrath against their invaders. Gradually, therefore,the Geraldines swept all before them in Kildareand Desmond, for they were very warlike, and manynative Irish joined their fortunes to theirs, because of“fosterage” and other interests. The Butlers possessedthemselves of large tracts of country in the present countiesof Kilkenny and Tipperary, and became Earls ofOrmond; and the De Burgos, as Earls of Clanricarde,became, in great part, masters of Galway, Mayo, andother parts of the province of Connaught. Factionsamong the Celtic chiefs made their conquests easy. TheNormans, wily as they were brave, fostered these feuds,and were particularly delighted when the formidableO’Neills and O’Donnells of Ulster wasted their strengthin internecine strife. The politic foreigners occasionallyallied themselves to either one of the contendingsepts, and generally succeeded in outwitting both contestants.Yet, as time wore on, the Norman warriors,forgetting their fathers’ speech, shouted their battle criesin the Gaelic tongue, and, except for their armor, couldhardly be distinguished from the Celts.

88Henry III paid but small attention to Irish affairs.He ascended the English throne a minor, and his matureyears were spent mainly in repeated civil wars with hisbarons, who finally compelled him to extend and confirmthe Magna Charta of his father. His son, Edward I,nicknamed “Long Shanks,” the ablest king of the Plantagenetrace, was almost constantly occupied, during hisstirring reign, in wars of conquest against Wales andScotland, and he succeeded in annexing the first-namedcountry to the English crown. His son and successor,Edward II, was the first English Prince of Wales. ThisEdward inherited the Scotch war which his father hadleft unfinished, after great effusion of blood. In 1314,his great English army, said to have numbered 100,000knights, archers, and men-at-arms, was disastrouslyrouted at Bannockburn (“Oaten-cake rivulet”), nearSterling, by King Robert Bruce, of Scotland, who hadunder his command not more than 30,000 men, horse andfoot. This great victory did not entirely end the Anglo-Scotchwars, which were always bitter and bloody downto the close of the sixteenth century, but it preserved theindependence of Scotland for nearly four hundred years.That country ceased to be a separate nation in 1707.Many Irish clans of Ulster aided Bruce at Bannockburn,and some Connaught septs, under one of the O’Conors,fought on the English side, and were nearly exterminated,which “served them right.” As the Irish princescould not settle on one of their own number for HighKing, they, at the suggestion of the wise and generousDonald O’Neill, King of Ulster, agreed to elect EdwardBruce, brother of the Scotch monarch, king of all Ireland.Their proffer of the Irish throne was accepted by89the Bruces, and Edward was duly crowned in 1315.This provoked a destructive three years’ war. BraveKing Robert came to Ireland to aid his brother, and, inthe field, they swept all before them, particularly inMunster. But the Norman-Irish fought them bitterly,notably the Geraldines, the Berminghams, and De Burgos.Felim O’Conor, the young and gallant king of Connaught,was forced into a repugnant alliance with De Burgo,who was powerful in the west. His heart, however, waswith the Bruce, and he soon found an opportunity tobreak away from his repugnant Norman ally. Summoningall his fighting force, he marched upon the fortifiedtown of Athunree, or Athenry, “the Ford of theKings,” in Galway, and came up with the Anglo-Normanarmy, arrayed outside the walls, on the morning of August10, 1316. De Burgo and De Bermingham, two ableveteran soldiers, headed the Anglo-Normans. The conflictwas fierce and the slaughter appalling, particularlyon the Irish side, because the heroic clansmen did nothave, like their foes, the advantage of chain armor andlong bow archery. Night closed upon a terrible scene.The Irish refused to fly and died in heaps around the lifelessbody of their chivalric young king, who, with twenty-eightprinces of his house, proudly fell on that bloodyfield. Most of the Irish army perished—the loss beingusually estimated at 10,000 men. The Anglo-Normansalso suffered severely, but their armor proved the salvationof most of them. Connaught did not recover fromthis great disaster for many generations. Athenry provedfatal to the cause of Bruce, although, gallantly secondedby Donald O’Neill, he fought on for two years longer,but was at last killed in battle on Faughart Hill, in Louth,90A.D. 1318. With him disappeared, for that century atleast, the hope of an independent Ireland.

After the battle of Athenry, the power of the DeBurgo family, and of all the allies of their house, becamepredominant in Connaught, but all these Anglo-Normanchiefs became, also, much more Irish in mannersand sympathy than they had ever been before. The desperatebravery displayed by O’Conor’s clansmen hadaroused the admiration of those born warriors, and theyfelt that to ally themselves in marriage with so martiala race was an honor, not a degradation, such as theEnglish sought to make it appear. Ulster maintainedits independence, and so also did much of Connaught andportions of Munster and Leinster, and there were periodicalraids upon the Pale and carrying off of “Saxon”flocks and herds, followed by feasts and general jubilation.The Palesmen, whenever too weak to meet theCelts in the field, would resort to their time-honoredstrategy of shutting themselves up in their strongholds,and making, whenever opportunity offered, fierce retaliatoryraids on the Irish territory. This kind of warfarewas unfortunate for Ireland, because it kept the Englishfeeling strong in the hearts of the Palesmen, who wereconstantly recruited by fresh swarms of adventurers fromEngland. Outside of the Pale, however, the Old Irishand the Normans continued to affiliate and intermarry,as we have already said. Fosterage—a peculiarly Irishcustom, which meant that the children of the king, prince,or chief should be nursed by the wives of the clansmen,instead of their own mothers—grew apace, and nearlyevery Norman lord had his heirs suckled by the womenof the Celtic race, thus creating a bond of “kinship”—if91so it may be termed—in many instances stronger thaneven the brotherhood of blood.

Irish tradition abounds in examples of the devotion offoster-brethren to each other; and in all written historythere is given but one instance of treachery in this connection,and that instance does not involve a man ofCeltic, but of Latin, lineage. We refer to the betrayalof Lord Thomas Fitzgerald by Parez in the reign ofHenry VIII, which will be dealt with in the proper place.

CHAPTER XIV

EDWARD III, that valiant, vigorous, and ambitious“English” king—he was almost a pure-bloodedFrenchman and about the last Norman monarch whooccupied the throne of England that did not speak withfluency the language of the people he governed—was sooccupied with his unjust wars against France that hegave but small heed to Irish affairs and never visited theisland at all. But he sent over his third son, PrinceLionel, ancestor of the royal house of York and Clarence,as viceroy. Lionel had with him a well-equipped army ofnative-born English, but he treated his Anglo-Irish alliesso contemptuously that many fell away from him andjoined the ranks of the Old Irish. His English army,unaccustomed to the Irish climate and mode of warfare,made but a poor figure in the field, and was everywherebeaten by the dauntless Irish clansmen. At last he wascompelled to lower his imperious tone to the Anglo-Irishand these foolishly helped him out of his scrape. It is92said that a more than doubtful campaign in the presentcounty of Clare procured for him, from his flatterers,the title of Duke of Clarence—a title, by the way, whichbrought more or less misfortune to every English princewho has borne it, except William IV, from his day toour own.

Lionel was particularly jealous of the friendship whichseemed to exist between old Anglo-Irish and the oldCeltic-Irish, and his small mind conceived a method ofputting an end to it. He summoned a parliament to meetat Kilkenny, and there it was enacted, among otherthings, “that all intermarriages, fosterings, gossipred,and buying or selling with the (Irish) enemy shall beaccounted treason; that English names, fashions, andmanners (most of these having disappeared) shall beresumed under penalty of confiscation of the delinquent’slands; that March laws (Norman) and Brehon laws(Irish) are illegal, and that there shall be no laws butEnglish laws; that the Irish shall not pasture their cattleon English lands; that the English shall not entertainIrish rhymers, minstrels, or newsmen, and, moreover,that no ‘mere Irishman’ shall be admitted to any ecclesiasticalbenefice or religious house (England was then allCatholic) situated within the English district.”

Other provisions of the Statute of Kilkenny, as thisprecious “law” is called in Irish history, forbade thewearing of long hair, mustaches, and cloaks, after themanner of the Irish, and the use of the Gaelic speechwas also forbidden, under heavy penalties. With theirusual subserviency to English demands, the Anglo-Irishbarons of the Pale—the portion of Ireland held by theEnglish settlers, as already explained—passed this barbarous93enactment without opposition, although theythemselves were the chief “offenders” against it, in theeyes of the tyrannical viceroy.

To the honor of the Anglo-Normans and Celtic-Irishbe it remembered, the base statute became almost immediatelyinoperative, and the Norman lords and Irishladies, and the Irish princes and the Norman ladies, intermarriedmore numerously than before—an examplegenerally followed by their dependants. The gallanthouse of Fitzgerald, or Geraldine, as usual, set the exampleof disregard.

The immediate effect of the Statute of Kilkenny wasto temporarily unite most of the Irish clans against thecommon enemy. They fell fiercely upon the Pale andagain shut up the Normans in their fortresses. PrinceLionel returned to England grieved and humiliated. Hisviceroyalty had been a signal failure.

Throughout the viceroyalty of Clarence and his successor,William de Windsor, the desultory war betweenthe Old Irish and the Anglo-Normans made many districts,in all the provinces, red with slaughter. The powerof the De Burgos declined in Connaught after the deathof the warlike Red Earl, who was the scourge of theO’Conors, and the latter family brought his descendants,94who had assumed the name of MacWilliam, under theirsway. The fierce tribes of Wicklow, Wexford, and Carlowharried the Pale, and were frequently joined by theO’Mores of Leix, and the Fitzpatricks of Ossory. InUlster, Niel O’Neill, Prince of Tyrone, attacked and defeatedthe English armies and garrisons with so muchsuccess that he cleared Ulster of all foreigners, and wonthe title of Niel the Great. The Earl of Desmond metwith a severe defeat at the hands of O’Brien, Prince ofThom*ond, who assailed him near the abbey of Adarein Limerick, and routed his army with terrible carnage.Desmond himself was mortally wounded and died uponthe field. The Earl of Kildare, Desmond’s kinsman, attemptedto avenge his rout, but met with scant success,because the Irish had, by this time, grown used to theNorman method of warfare, and, in many cases, improvedupon the tactics of their oppressors.

Edward III, just before his death in 1376, attemptedto get the settlements of the Pale to send representativesto London to consult about the affairs of Ireland, but theydemurred, saying that it was not their custom to deliberateoutside of their own country. However, they sentdelegates to explain matters to the king, who did notfurther insist on convening a Pale Parliament in theEnglish capital. It is strange that so able a monarchas Edward was, even in his declining years, never thoughtof visiting Ireland. Of course, most of his reign wastaken up with the wars in France, in which he provedso signally victorious, and he had but little time for otheroccupations. In truth, Edward III, although nominallyEnglish, was, in reality, a Frenchman in thought andspeech, and his dearest dream was to rule over the95country of his Plantagenet ancestors, with England as akind of tributary province. Of course, the English peoplewould never have acquiesced in this arrangement, for,however willing to impose their yoke on other peoples,they are unalterably opposed to having any foreign yokeimposed upon themselves.

CHAPTER XV

THE first half of the fourteenth century passedaway quietly enough in Ireland, except for occasionalconflicts between the Anglo-Normans and theCeltic tribes, or an odd encounter of the latter with oneanother. Edward III had so many quarrels with Scotlandand France that he could do nothing in Ireland,even were he so inclined, and the sad experience of theDuke of Clarence in that country warned succeedingviceroys to let well enough alone. The Irish nation,Celtic, Norman, and Saxon, was gradually fusing andwould soon have developed a composite strength nearlyequal to that of England herself. In the wars withFrance, many Anglo-Irish septs fought under the ordersof Edward, and, probably, some of the Celtic septs alsojoined his standard, rather as allies, through the badpolicy of their chiefs, than as mercenaries.

By the time that Edward completed, or nearly so, theconquest of France, the English power in Ireland hadso shrunken as to be almost nominal. Dublin, Drogheda,Kilkenny, and Waterford were the chief garrisons of theEnglish. The Lacys, Burkes, Fitzgeralds, and other96Norman-Irish houses and clans were scarcely to be distinguishedfrom the Milesian families and septs. Suchfighting as they indulged in between themselves wascomparatively trivial. The island, blessed with partialpeace, began to grow more populous and prosperous.Edward, the Black Prince, having crowned himself withglory in France, died before he could inherit the crownof England. Edward III, not so old as worn out byceaseless warfare, died in 1377, and after him came tothe English throne Richard, son of the Black Prince, ahandsome boy of sixteen, who, at first, gave promise ofgreat deeds, but who subsequently proved himself a weaklingand voluptuary. In Ireland, Ulster, Connaught, andMunster remained tranquil for the most part, but, inLeinster, the royal house of MacMurrough—lineal descendantsof the traitor of Strongbow’s time—showeda determination to drive the remnant of the English garrisoninto the sea. They were as loyal to Ireland as theiraccursed ancestor had been faithless. King Art I, aftera long series of successes and failures, died, and was succeededon the Leinster throne by King Art II—one of thebravest, wisest, and truest characters in Irish history.He continued the war his father had begun. Richard II,like all of his race, was vain and greedy of military glory.As the war with France had closed for a period, hethought Ireland a good field in which to distinguish himselfas a general. He had heard of “MacMore,” as hecalled MacMurrough, and longed to measure swords withhim. Accordingly, in the summer of 1394, he landedat Waterford with a large army. The historian McGeeestimates it at 35,000 horse and foot, but we are inclinedto think it was much less. That it was formidable,97for those times, all historians who have dealt with thesubject are agreed upon. He was accompanied, also, bya large retinue of nobility, among them Roger Mortimer,the young Earl of March, who, because of the childlessnessof Richard, was heir to the British throne, throughdescent from the Duke of Clarence, in the female line.Richard did not wait long in Waterford, but proceeded onhis march to Dublin, unfurling the banner of Edward theConfessor, for whom the Irish were supposed to have adeep veneration. MacMurrough, however, showed scantcourtesy to the Confessor’s ensign, not because it was thebanner of a saint, but because, for the time, it representedthe rapacity of England. Richard was met boldlyat every point. His bowmen got tangled up in the woods.His horsem*n floundered in the bogs. MacMurrough’sarmy hovered in his front, on his flanks, and in rear.Not a single success did the English monarch gain. Hesummoned MacMurrough to a conference when hereached Dublin—having lost a third of his army whileen route—and the Leinster king, having accepted the invitation,was ruthlessly thrown into prison. After atime, a treaty of some kind was patched up between KingRichard and himself, and the Irish prince was allowed togo free. Richard then returned to England, leavingRoger Mortimer in command. Soon afterward, MacMurrough,objecting to the English encroachments in histerritory, again rose in arms. He encountered Mortimerand the English army on the banks of the King’s River atKenlis or Kells in Westmeath, and utterly routed them.England’s heir-apparent was among the slain. This circ*mstancehad much to do with bringing about the bloodyWars of the Roses in the succeeding century.

98About this time Art MacMurrough and his chief bard,who, as was then the Irish custom, accompanied his patroneverywhere, were invited to a banquet by one of theNorman lords, who treacherously pretended friendship.The invitation was accepted. While seated at a windowof the banquet-hall, the bard perceived a mustering oftroops around the castle, and at once seized his harp andstruck the chords to an ancient Irish air. The Gaelicwords which accompanied the measure fell upon the earsof Art MacMurrough and warned him of his danger.His sword and buckler hung near by. On some trivialpretext, he arose and seized them, the bard having, meanwhile,armed himself. The two made a sudden onslaughtand, surprising their foes, cut their way to the courtyard,where, fortunately, their horses still stood. Theysprang upon them, and, before the astonished men-at-armscould rally, made good their escape. Art MacMurroughnever again trusted the English, and remainedtheir consistent foe to his latest hour.

But King Richard, maddened by the death of Mortimer,which he felt was dangerous to himself, raised anothergreat army, and, in 1398, again invaded Ireland.He was accompanied by a younger son of his uncle, Johnof Gaunt, “time-honored Lancaster,” and also by PrinceHenry, eldest son of Henry of Hereford and afterwardHenry V, the hero of Agincourt. The boy was only inhis twelfth year, but well grown and brave as a lion. Inthe first encounter with the formidable MacMurrough,in the glens of Carlow, he so distinguished himself thatRichard II knighted him on the field. This march fromWaterford to Dublin proved, in the end, even more disastrousthan the former one. MacMurrough kept up99his harassing tactics, as usual. The rain poured downin torrents. The Irish drove all the cattle away fromthe English line of march, and destroyed the growingcrops. Nearly all the baggage-animals of the invadingforce died for want of forage, and the army was in astate of famine and revolt, when it finally reached theseacoast near the present town of Arklow, where someEnglish ships, laden with provisions, saved it from actualstarvation. The remnant made its way to Dublin, whereother disastrous news awaited King Richard. Henryof Hereford, eldest son of John of Gaunt, whom he hadunjustly exiled, and whose lands he had seized, now, onthe death of his father, having become Duke of Lancaster,came back from the continent, having heard of Richard’smisfortunes in Ireland, and laid claim to the crown.Richard, after ordering young Prince Henry and hisuncle to be imprisoned in the castle of Trim—still one ofthe finest Norman keeps in Ireland—set sail for England.Henry, who had by this time raised a large army,made him prisoner and sent him to Pontefract Castle, inYorkshire, where, soon afterward, he was starved todeath, or otherwise foully made away with. PrinceHenry and his uncle were immediately released whenthe Duke of Lancaster ascended a usurped throne asHenry IV of England. And thus was laid the bloodyfoundation of the dreadful after wars between the rivalroyal houses of York and Lancaster, which ended in theextermination of the legitimate Plantagenets. An illegitimatebranch, directly descended from John of Gaunt,still survives in the ducal house of Beaufort.

Art MacMurrough remained a conqueror to the end,and kept up the war with the Normans. In 1404, he defeated100at Athcroe (Ford of Slaughter), near Dublin,Lord Thomas of Lancaster, brother of the king, puttingmost of the English to the sword, and desperately woundingthe prince himself. Only a few years ago, Irish laborers,excavating for a railroad at Athcroe, came uponnearly a thousand bent swords, some of them badly decomposedby rust, buried in the river bed. They werethe swords taken from the dead English, in 1404, andbent across the knees of the victorious Irish, accordingto their custom in those days.

MacMurrough’s career of glory continued until 1417,when, having captured all the important towns of Leinster,except Dublin and Drogheda, he died at his capitalof New Ross—then the second city in Ireland—as somesay by poison, in the sixtieth year of his age and forty-fourthof his reign. Taken for all in all, he was not alonethe bravest, but the ablest, of Irish princes and warriorssince the days of King Brian, and it was a sad day forIreland when the word went through Leinster and rangaround the island that King Art was dead. Many a darkgeneration passed away before such another chief, orany one worthy to be mentioned as a rival of his fame,arose in that unfortunate land.

AFTER the premature death of Henry IV, an ablebut unscrupulous sovereign, in 1413, the attentionof England was again directed to the conquest of Franceby the chivalrous and skilful Henry V. His capture ofHarfleur and marvelous victory of Agincourt, againstoverwhelming odds, in 1415, stamp him as one of theworld’s great military leaders. During the nine years ofhis reign, he succeeded in subduing France, and, finally,married Catherine, heiress of Charles VI, an almost imbecileking, and had himself declared regent and next insuccession to the throne after his father-in-law. Francewas stupefied, but God, infinitely stronger than Frencharms, decreed Henry’s early death. He died in the conqueredcountry in 1422, leaving an only son, Henry VI,an infant of nine months, to succeed him, under the regencyof his uncle, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who,for a wonder, considering the history of the Plantagenets,remained faithful to his trust. John, Duke of Bedford,a younger brother of Henry, and a very brilliantsoldier, became regent of France. This was the periodof the inspired peasant-girl, Joan of Arc, whose story ofvictory and death belongs to the history of France, although,after having performed prodigies, she died at thestake to which the English, into whose hands she hadfallen, condemned her. The Dauphin, as Charles VII,succeeded to his legitimate throne, and, about 1453, the102English were expelled from France, except the old townof Calais, which remained in their possession until 1558.In Ireland, meanwhile, the chief feuds were those betweenthe Geraldines and the Butlers and the De Burgosand the Connaught chiefs. There were also minor feudsin different parts of the island, but, as a rule, the Irishpeople had things pretty much their own way, and mighthave thrown off the English yoke utterly, if they had hadan Edward Bruce or Art MacMurrough to arouse andlead them to victory. Unfortunately they had not, and,as the English fetter was very light on Ireland duringthe Wars of the Roses, which began in 1455, they imagined,perhaps, that the old enemy, having plenty of fightingto do on their own account, might leave them alonefor evermore—a vain hope if it were seriously entertained.

After an interval of six years, the Wars of the Roses—so-calledbecause the red rose was the badge of theHouse of Lancaster and the white that of the House ofYork—broke out more violently than before, because HenryVI, who had been declared imbecile and unfit to reign,suddenly recovered his intellect, and Richard Plantagenet,Duke of York, who claimed a prior right to thethrone, and had been appointed Regent, with the rightof succession, refused to give up his authority. Henryhad a son by his brave wife, Margaret of Anjou. Hemight be called a weakling, but she summoned the peopleto defend the rights of her son. York was defeated,captured, and beheaded at Wakefield, in 1461, but hisson Edward, Earl of March, routed the queen’s army immediatelyafterward and ascended the throne as EdwardIV. Struggle succeeded struggle, but the House of103York achieved a crowning triumph at Tewkesbury andagain at Barnet Heath, where Warwick, the King Maker,fell. The direct male line of the House of Lancasterperished at Tewkesbury, where, it is alleged, the gallantPrince Edward, son of Henry VI, was murdered, afterhaving been made prisoner, by Edward IV and George,Duke of Clarence—the same afterward drowned in abutt of wine by order of his cruel brother. King EdwardIV, after a reign of twenty-two years, markedby slaughter of his foes and some of his friends, notoriousimmorality, and swinish debauchery, died of afever brought on by his excesses, in 1483, and his vileyounger brother, the Duke of Gloucester, succeeded theboy-king, Edward V, by process of murder, in the sameyear. The last battle of the Wars of the Roses wasfought at Bosworth, near Leicester, August 22, 1485.Richard, last king of the Plantagenet family, fell and wassucceeded by his rival, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond,descended, in the female line, from John of Gaunt, whoascended the throne as Henry VII.

Thus, you will see, Ireland was left pretty much to herself,during those thirty years of English civil war, inwhich twelve murderous pitched battles were fought.Most of the old nobility were killed in battle or executed,or otherwise destroyed, and more than one hundredthousand Englishmen of the middle and lower classeswere immolated on the smoking altars of family prideand savage ambition. Every prince of the race of Plantagenetwas exterminated when, in 1599, Henry VIIordered the beheading of the young Earl of Warwick,son of the Duke of Clarence. Many of the Anglo-Irishlords and their followings took part in the English wars,104mainly on the side of the House of York, and the Geraldines,in particular, got sadly mixed up in them, forwhich they suffered amply in after days. No reigningking of England had set foot in Ireland since RichardII sailed to his death from Dublin, and Henry VIIproved to be no exception to the rule. He, however, interferedin the quarrel between the Fitzgeralds and theButlers—as bitter and prolonged as that between theCamerons and Campbells in Scotland—and made the Earlof Kildare viceroy. The Desmonds, the powerful southernbranch of the Geraldines, were also eternally atvariance with the Butlers. It is related that, on one occasion,the Earl of Desmond was wounded and made prisoner.While being borne on a litter to Butler’s stronghold,one of the bearers insolently and brutally demanded,“Where is the great Earl of Desmond now?” To whichthe heroic captive immediately replied—“Where he oughtto be” (alluding to the litter in which he was carried byhis foes): “still on the necks of the Butlers!”

The most memorable event of Henry VII’s reign, asfar as Ireland was concerned, was the coming over fromEngland of Sir Edward Poynings, as Lord Deputy duringthe temporary retirement of Kildare. The Englishcolonists of the Pale, almost from their first settlementof that district, possessed an independent parliament,modeled on that of England. It was, in general, oppressivetoward the Celtic-Irish, but made good lawsenough for the Palesmen. Poynings, soon after his arrival,called this parliament to assemble at Drogheda andthere (1495) the Statute of Kilkenny was reaffirmed,except as regarded the prohibition of Gaelic, which hadcome into general use, even in the Pale itself. The105main enactment—the first uttered in the English tonguein Ireland—was that known as 10 Henry VII, otherwisePoynings’ Law, which provided that no legislation shouldbe, thereafter, proceeded with in Ireland unless the billswere first submitted for approval or rejection to themonarch and privy council of England. In case of approvalthey were to be attested by the great seal of theEnglish realm. It was, to be sure, a most unjust andinsolent measure, and it seems almost incredible that eventhe Pales people—mere hybrids, neither English nor Irish—shouldhave tamely submitted to its infamous provisions.It remained in force 287 years, or until 1782,when it was repealed under circ*mstances that will appearhereafter.

The close of this reign witnessed a bloody strugglebetween the Kildares and Clanricardes, in which manyCeltic tribes also bore a part, and in which thousands ofmen lost their lives to no good purpose. In the twoprincipal battles, those of Knockdoe and Monabraher(1507-10), artillery and musketry were first made use ofon Irish soil.

As most of the Irish Palesmen, including the Houseof Kildare, were partisans of the House of York duringthe Wars of the Roses, the two pretenders—preparedby Margaret, duch*ess of Burgundy, sister of EdwardIV, to impersonate, respectively, Edward, Earl of Warwick,only son and heir of the late Duke of Clarence,and Richard, Duke of York, the second son of EdwardIV, who was murdered in the Tower, by order, it issaid, of his base uncle, Richard III, together with hisbrother, the boy-king, Edward V—found adherents whenthey landed on Irish soil. Indeed, Lambert Simnel, the106first of these pretenders, a handsome young Englishman,who resembled the princes of the House of York,was crowned king, as “Edward VI,” in Christ ChurchCathedral, Dublin. Many Pales Irish followed him toEngland, where Henry VII defeated and made him prisoner.The real Warwick was taken from the Tower andparaded through the streets-a sad spectacle of physicalcomeliness marred, and intellect clouded, by long andharsh confinement. Having been sufficiently exhibitedto satisfy the public of Simnel’s imposture, the poor boywas returned to his cell. Simnel, himself, was made a“turnspit” in the royal kitchen, afterward raised to thepost of falconer, and ended his days in that humble position.The second pretender, Perkin Warbeck, a Belgianby birth, had less support from Ireland than his predecessor,but involved some of the nobles of the Pale withKing Henry. But his adherents, remembering the impositionof the bogus Edward VI, soon fell away, andPerkin went to Scotland, where James IV received him,as if he were a genuine prince, and gave him his cousin,the lovely Lady Catherine Gordon, in marriage. Peacebeing concluded between James and Henry, Warbeckand his beautiful bride went to Cornwall. There thepretender, who was really a man of noble presence andgreat ability, rallied 3,000 men to his standard. Successfulat first, he proved himself a false Plantagenetby basely deserting his confiding followers on the eveof decisive battle. He shut himself up in the sanctuaryof Beaulieu, in the New Forest, but soon surrenderedhimself, and was shown by the king to the populace ofLondon. He was well treated for a time, but his positionwas mortifying. He ran off to another sanctuary,107was again forced to give himself up, was placed in thepublic stocks, confessed he was an impostor, and wasfinally sent to the Tower, to keep company with theunhappy Warwick. This circ*mstance enabled the craftyHenry to get up a so-called plot, of which it was easyto convict two helpless prisoners. Warwick—last maleof the Plantagenets—lost his head on Tower Hill, andWarbeck died by the rope at Tyburn. His charmingwidow became lady-in-waiting to the Queen.

Many abbeys and monasteries were built in Irelandduring this comparatively tranquil period, and the passionfor learning revived to a great extent among the nativeIrish nobility. Pilgrimages, as of old, were made todistant lands for the purpose of worshiping at famousshrines. Irish teachers and scholars began again to benumerous in Spain, Germany, and Italy. Henry VII,engaged in saving the wreck of England’s almost extinguishednobility, and in hoarding money, for whichhe had a passion, took little account of Ireland and theIrish. But, already, low on the horizon, a blood-redcloud was forming, and it gradually thickened and extendeduntil, at last, it broke in a crimson torrent onthe fated Irish nation.

TREATING OF IRISH AFFAIRS FROM THE PERIOD OFTHE REFORMATION TO THE EXILE AND DEATH OFTHE ULSTER PRINCES IN THE REIGN OF JAMES I

THE bitterness of race hatred had almost died outwhen the Reformation, as the opponents of theChurch of Rome called the great schism of the sixteenthcentury, began to shake Europe like an earthquake.Luther, and other dissenters from Catholic faith, carriedmost of the north of Europe with them. The Latin countries,South Germany, all of Ireland, and most of England,clung to the old faith, and Henry VIII, who succeededhis father at an early age, and was quite learnedin theology, wrote a pamphlet defending the Catholicdogmas against Luther and the others. This work procuredfor him from the Pope the title of the “Defenderof the Faith,” which still, rather inappropriately, belongsto the sovereign of England. But Henry was a goodCatholic only so long as religion did not interfere withhis passions and ambitions. He had been married inearly life to Catherine of Aragon, who had been thenominal wife of his elder brother, another Prince ofWales, who died uncrowned. After many years, Henry,who was a slave to his passions, tired of Catherine, andpretended to believe that it was sinful to live with hisbrother’s widow, even though the latter relationship wasbut nominal. In truth, he had fallen in love with AnneBoleyn, one of Queen Catherine’s maids-of-honor. ThePope was appealed to for a divorce and refused to grantit, after having carefully examined into the case. Then112Henry severed England’s spiritual connection with Rome,and declared himself head of the English “Reformed”Church. In this he was sustained by Wolsey, Cromwell,and other high churchmen, all of whom were either ambitiousor afraid of their heads, for Henry never hesitated,like his grand-uncle, Richard III, at the use ofthe axe, when any subject, clerical or lay, opposed hiswill. But the tyrant, while refusing allegiance to thePope, still maintained the truth of Catholic dogma, andhe murdered with studied impartiality those who gavetheir adhesion to the Holy See and those who denied itsdoctrines; no Englishman of note felt his head safe inthose red days. As for the common people, nobody of“rank” ever gave them a thought. Henry now seizedupon the Church property, and, therewith, bribed thegreat lords to take his side of the controversy. Theboors followed the lords, and so most of England followedHenry’s schism and prepared to go farther.

Henry married Anne Boleyn when he had “divorced”Queen Catherine. After the Princess Elizabeth wasborn, he tired of his new wife, had her tried for faithlessnessand high treason and beheaded. Scarcely was shedead when the inhuman brute married Lady Jane Seymour,of the great Somerset family. She gave birth toPrince Edward and died. Then he married Anne ofCleves, but, not liking her person, “divorced” her andsent her back to Germany. For “imposing” her on him,he disgraced, and finally beheaded, the Lord Chancellor,Thomas Cromwell, who had been his great friend. Themonster next espoused Lady Catherine Howard, of theHouse of Surrey, but he had her beheaded, on chargesalmost similar to those urged against Anne Boleyn, within113the year. At last he married a widow of two experiences,Lady Catharine Parr, who, being a woman of tactand cleverness, managed to save her head, although frequentlyin danger, until the ferocious king, who musthave been somewhat insane, finally fell a victim to hisown unbridled vices. “The plain truth,” says CharlesDickens, in his “Child’s History,” “is that Henry VIIIwas a most intolerable ruffian, a disgrace to humannature, and a blot of blood and grease upon the historyof England.”

This was the crowned “fiend in human shape” whosought to effect his “Reformation in Ireland,” where boththe Old Irish and the Old English had united against histyranny. The weight of his wrath fell first upon the LeinsterGeraldines, whom he dreaded. He contrived to picka quarrel with Gerald, ninth Earl of Kildare, who hadbeen for many years his favorite viceroy in Ireland, andsummoned him to London in hot haste, on flimsy, notoriously“trumped-up” charges of treason. He flung himinto a dungeon in the Tower of London. Lord ThomasFitzgerald, son of the Earl, called “Silken Thomas,”because of the beauty of his person and the splendor ofhis apparel, was appointed deputy by his father, whothought his absence in England might be brief. LordThomas was young, brave, and rash, and, in short, thevery man to fall an easy victim to the wiles of hisHouse’s enemies. Tradition says that the false news ofEarl Gerald’s execution, by order of King Henry, wasspread in Dublin by one of the Butlers. The privy council,over which he usually presided, was already in sessionat St. Mary’s Abbey, when “Silken Thomas” heard thestory. He, at once, with a large escort, proceeded to the114abbey, renounced his allegiance to the English monarch,and, seizing the sword of state from the sword-bearer,threw it, with violent gesture, on the council table, “theEnglish Thanes among.” Protests availed nothing. Herushed to arms, and for nearly two years held at bayHenry’s power. Had he but laid his plans with care andjudgment, he would, no doubt, have ended the rule ofEngland over Ireland, which, although not his primary,became his ultimate, object. In the end, his strongholdof Maynooth Castle was betrayed into the hands of theEnglish general, Sir William Skeffington, by LordThomas’s foster-brother, Parez, for a sum in gold.General Skeffington paid the money on the surrender ofthe castle, and immediately hanged the traitor. For thisact of chivalric justice, the name of that stern Englishmanis still held in respect by all readers of Irish history.The loss of Maynooth depleted the strength of “SilkenThomas.” He struggled on for some time longer, but, atlast, accepted the terms of Lord Deputy Gray, who offeredhim his life and guaranteed the safety of his five uncles—two,at least, of whom had had no hand in the outbreak.They were invited to a banquet by the Lord Deputy, andthere, while drinking with their false hosts, were treacherouslyseized, placed in irons, and sent to England ina ship called the Cow. One of the uncles, hearing thename of the vessel, said: “We are lost! I have dreamedthat six of us, Geraldines, would be carried to Englandin the belly of a cow and there lose our heads!” Theaugury was fulfilled. Henry VIII, with his usual disregardof terms, had them beheaded immediately after theirarrival in London, at Tyburn. The old Earl of Kildarehad not been executed after all, but died of a broken heart115in the Tower on learning of the revolt and misfortunes ofhis son. Only one heir-male of the noble House of Kildarenow survived, and for him, although only twelveyears old, Henry sought, through his agents, with therelentless ferocity of a Herod. The boy was related tothe great Celtic houses, for the Geraldines of that periodpreferred Irish wives, and his mother was a princessof the House of O’Neill of Ulster. By her, and by othernoble Irish ladies, he was concealed and protected untilhe was enabled to escape to France. Thence he proceededto Rome, where he was educated as befitted hisrank and lineage. This young Gerald was restored tohis titles and estates by Queen Mary I, but he acceptedProtestantism when Elizabeth came to the throne, because,otherwise, he could not have saved land and title—a mostunworthy motive, but one very common in that violentand sanguinary era. In his descendants the elder Geraldinebranch still lives in Ireland—the present head ofthe family being Maurice Fitzgerald, “the boy-Duke” ofLeinster.

“Bluff King Hal,” as the English called their royalBluebeard, never did anything by halves, if he could helpit. He did not think the title of “Lord of Ireland” sufficientfor his dignity, and set about intriguing to be electedking. Accordingly, he caused to be summoned a parliament,or rather what we of to-day would call a convention,composed of Anglo-Irish barons and Celto-Irishchiefs, to meet in Dublin, A.D. 1541. This parliament orconvention, at which the great Ulster princes, O’Neill andO’Donnell, did not attend, voted Henry the crown of Ireland—somethingthe Irish chiefs, at least, had no powerto do, as they held their titles by election of their clans116and not by right of heredity. The outcome was, however,that Henry became King of Ireland—the first Englishmonarch to achieve that distinction. In order toemphasize his power, he at once decreed that the old titlesof the Irish princes should give way to English ones.Thus “The O’Brien” became “Earl of Thom*ond”; “TheMacWilliam,” “Earl of Clanricarde”; “The MacMurrough”became “Baron of Ballynun,” and changed his familyname to Kavanagh. Shameful to relate, O’Neill andO’Donnell, both old men, broken in health, “came in” andjoined the titled serfs. The former became “Earl ofTyrone” and the latter “Earl of Tyrconnel.”

When the news reached the Irish clansmen, there wasa general revolt and new chiefs of the same families, withthe old Irish designations unchanged, were elected. TheEnglish interest supported “the King’s O’Donnell” andthe others of his type, while the bulk of the Irish peoplestood for the newly chosen leaders. Thus was still anotherfirebrand cast by English policy among the Irishpeople, and there was civil war, thenceforth, for generationsin the clans themselves.

Nor was Henry satisfied with mere civil supremacy inIreland. He also set himself up as head of the IrishChurch. Many Anglo-Irish Catholic bishops basely acquiescedin his policy, but the Celtic bishops, almost toa man, spurned his propositions. The masses of the Irishnation, whether of Celtic, Norman, or Saxon origin, remainedsteadfastly Catholic, although, in the past, theyhad had little cause to be pleased with the political actionof the Vatican, which had generally sided with the Catholicmonarchs of England against Ireland’s aspirationsafter independence. Now, however, the favored country117had become Rome’s most deadly enemy in Europe, whileIreland, inhabited by a highly spirited and stubborn people,who venerated the creed taught their fathers by St.Patrick, became the foremost European champion of theold faith.

We can not dwell at greater length on this lurid dawnof the Reformation in Ireland, because, fierce as was thepersecution under Henry, it was trivial compared withwhat followed his reign, and made the distracted island averitable den of outrage and slaughter.

CHAPTER II

WHEN Edward VI, another boy-king, came to thethrone, in 1547, Ireland was pretty well distracted,owing to the seeds of discord sown by his ferocious father.The young monarch was under the absolute control of hismaternal kinsmen, the Seymours, and all that was done toforward the Reformation in Ireland during his brief reignmay be justly attributed to them. On his death, in 1553,Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon,and wife of Philip II of Spain, succeeded. She was abigoted Catholic and soon made things decidedly warmfor the Protestants in England. Many of these fled forsafety to Ireland, where the Catholic people—incapableof cruelty until demoralized by the ruthless tyranny ofreligious persecution—received and sheltered them—anoble page of Anglo-Irish history.

The Reformation, of course, came to a standstill in118Ireland, during this queen’s reign, but the plunder andpersecution of the Irish people did not, therefore, abate.There were raids and massacres and confiscations, asusual. Of course there were bloody reprisals on the partof the Irish, also—as was but natural. Some of the oldIrish districts—particularly Leix and Offaly—were, underthe sway of Mary, called the King’s and Queen’sCounties—the chief town of the one being named Philipstown,after the queen’s Spanish husband, and the capitalof the other Maryborough, after herself. The Irish Reformers“laid low,” as was prudent in them, duringMary’s period of power, because she had the unpleasantTudor habit of putting to death, by divers violent modesof punishment, those who presumed to differ from herrather strong opinions. The English, who sincerely rejoicedwhen, after reigning about five years, she passedto her account, nicknamed her “Bloody Mary,” althoughshe was not a whit “bloodier” than her awful father, andhad a very formidable rival for sanguinary “honors” inher younger half-sister, Elizabeth. Mary Tudor was thelast avowed Catholic monarch who reigned in England,except the ill-fated James II. In this reign, the Englishlaw of primogeniture was first generally introduced intothe Celtic districts annexed to the Pale, which had beendivided into “shire-ground,” and this was the cause ofmuch internal disorder among the Irish tribes that clungto the old elective system of chieftaincy.

Elizabeth, called by her admiring English subjects“Good Queen Bess,” on very insufficient grounds, ascendedthe throne in 1558. She had, apparently, “conformed”to Catholicity during the lively reign of her half-sister,fearing, no doubt, for her head in case of refusal.119Henry VIII’s daughter, by Anne Boleyn, she inheritedgreat energy of character, a masculine intellect, superabundantvanity, a passion for empire, and a genius forintrigue. Her morals were none of the best, accordingto many historians. She was, for that age, highly educated,could speak divers tongues, and possessed manyof the polite accomplishments. Indeed, she was somewhatof a female pedant. In person, while yet young, she wasnot ill-favored, being well-formed and of good stature.Her complexion was fair, her hair auburn, and her eyessmall, but dark and sparkling. Her temper was irritable;she swore when angry, and, at times, her disposition wasas ferocious as that of “Old Hal” himself. Like his, herloves were passing passions, and her friendship dangerousto those on whom she lavished it most freely. Flatterywas the surest way by which to reach her consideration,but, in affairs of state, not even that could cloud her powerfulunderstanding or balk her resolute will. She resolvedto finish what her father and brother had begun,and finish it to the purpose—namely, the Reformation—inboth England and Ireland. In the former country,her will soon became law, and Rome ceased to be considered,for generations, as a factor in English affairs.In Ireland, it was different. The people there refused,as a great majority, to conform to the new order ofthings. They obeyed the Pope, as their spiritual chief,and went to mass and received the sacraments as usual.In Ulster, particularly, the people, headed by John O’Neill,Prince of Tyrone, surnamed “The Proud,” resisted allEnglish encroachments, civil and religious. A bloodywar resulted. The English generals and some of theAnglo-Irish lords were commissioned by Elizabeth to120force the new religion down the throats of the Irish peopleat the point of the sword. The Liturgy, she proclaimed,must be read in English, the mass abandoned,and she herself be recognized as Pope in Ireland, as wellas in England. Accordingly, the English armies burnedthe Catholic churches and chapels, assassinated the clergy,and butchered the people wherever resistance was offered.But John O’Neill was a great soldier and managed, formany years, to defend his country with great success, defeatingthe best of the English captains in several fierceconflicts. Elizabeth, struck with his bravery and ability,invited him to visit her at her palace of Greenwich. Theinvitation was sent through Gerald of Kildare, O’Neill’scousin. The Irish prince accepted and proceeded to courtwith a following of three hundred galloglasses, or heavyinfantry, clad in saffron-colored jackets, close-fitting pantaloons,heavy shoes, short cloaks, and with their hairhanging down their backs, defiant of Poynings’ Law, andall other English enactments. They were gigantic warriors—allmore than six feet tall—and with huge mustaches,the drooping ends of which touched their collarbones.They also carried truculent-looking daggers andimmense battle-axes, such as might have won the admirationof Richard Cœur de Lion himself. The Englishcourtiers—pigmies compared with the galloglasses—mighthave been inclined to make fun of their costumes,but those deadly appearing axes inspired awe, and no unpleasantincident occurred during the visit. “Shane theProud” made a deep impression on Elizabeth, for he wasphysically magnificent and as fierce as her dreaded father.“By what right do you oppose me in Ulster?” she asked.“By very good right, madam,” he answered. “You may121be queen here, but I am king in Ulster, and so have beenthe O’Neills for thousands of years!” Then she offeredto make him Earl of Tyrone by letters patent. “Earlme no earls, madam,” he replied. “The O’Neill is mytitle! By it I stand or fall!” There was nothing moreto be said, so the queen made him rich presents, after askinghim to be her “good friend,” which, being a gallant,he promised, and then he went back to Ulster.

But Shane, although a good general and a greatfighter, was a bad statesman, and by no means a conscientiouscharacter. He oppressed the neighboring Irishchiefs, being, indeed, half mad with pride, and made amost unjust and unnecessary attack on the Clan O’Donnell,next to the O’Neills the most powerful of Ulstertribes. He not alone ruined the O’Donnell, but alsodishonored him, by carrying his wife away and makingher his mistress, in mad disregard of Irish public opinion.He also quarreled with the old MacDonald colonyof Antrim—said by some writers to be Irish, not Scotch,in their origin—and used them with extreme harshness.In the end, his misconduct produced a revolt even amonghis own followers. His enemies, including the injuredO’Donnells, speedily multiplied, and he who had beenfifty times victorious over the English, was, at last, signallydefeated by his own justly indignant fellow-countrymen.In this extremity, he fled with his mistress anda few followers for refuge to the MacDonalds, who, atfirst, received the fugitives hospitably, but soon, instigated,it is said, by one Captain Piers, an Englishman,fell upon O’Neill at a banquet and stabbed him to death.Had he loved his own people as much as he hated theEnglish, he might have lived and died a conqueror. The122MacDonalds did not respect the body of this dead lion.They severed the head from the trunk, pickled it, andsent the ghastly present to the English Lord Deputy inDublin, who caused it to be spiked on the tower of DublinCastle. O’Neill’s death, in the very prime of his militarygenius, relieved Elizabeth of her most dangerousIrish enemy. But another scion of that warrior racewas under the queen’s “protection” in London, and wasdestined to raise the Bloody Hand, the cognizance of hishouse, to a prouder eminence than it had attained inIrish annals since the far-off days of Nial of the Hostages.

Treacherous massacres of Irish chieftains dangerousto England’s supremacy in their country would appearto have been a special feature of Elizabeth’s reign.Under the Lord Deputy Sydney’s régime, A.D. 1577,Sir Francis Cosby, the English general commanding inthe ancient territories of Leix and Offaly, unable to obtainthe submission of the native chiefs by force of arms,invited several hundred of them to a banquet at the rathof Mullaghmast, in the present county of Kildare. Theprincipal families represented were the O’Mores, O’Nolan’s,O’Kelly’s, and Lalors. The rath, or fort, wasfitted up for the occasion, and, through the entrance,the unsuspecting Irish chieftains and their friends rodewith happy hearts and smiling faces. But one ofthe Lalors who was rather belated, had his suspicionsaroused by the dead silence which seemed to prevail inthe rath, and by the peculiar circ*mstance that none ofthose who had entered came out to welcome the laterarrivals. He bade the few friends who had accompaniedhim to remain outside, while he entered the fort to investigate.He took the precaution to draw his sword before123he went in. Proceeding with caution, he was horrifiedat stumbling over the dead bodies of some of his neighborsjust beyond the entrance. He retreated at once, butwas set upon by assassins placed there to murder him.A powerful man, he wielded his blade with such goodeffect that he cut his way out, mounted his horse, andset off with his horrified associates at full gallop to hishome at Dysart. More than four hundred confidingIrish gentlemen had entered the rath that day, and of allof them, only the sagacious Lalor escaped. The tribe ofO’More alone lost nearly two hundred of its foremostmembers, but was not entirely exterminated. Rory OgeO’More, son of the slaughtered head of the tribe, maderelentless war on the English Pale, and never desisteduntil he had more than avenged his kindred slain in thefoul massacre of Mullaghmast.

CHAPTER III

ULSTER was subdued, for a time, but, in Munster,the younger branch of the Geraldines, known asEarls of Desmond, rose against the edicts of Elizabethand precipitated that long, sanguinary, and dreary conflictknown as the Geraldine War. Most of the Irishand Anglo-Irish chiefs of the southern province bore apart in it, and it only terminated after a murderous struggle,stretching over nearly seven years. The Desmondsand their allies gained many successes, but lack of cohesion,as always, produced the inevitable result—finaldefeat. South Munster became a desert. Elizabeth’s124armies systematically destroyed the growing crops, and,at last, famine accomplished for England what the swordcould not have done. The Munster Geraldines weremainly led by Sir James Fitzmaurice, a kinsman of theearl, who was a brave man and an accomplished soldier.The earl himself, and his brother, Sir John Fitzgerald,had been summoned to London by the queen, and weremade prisoners and placed in the Tower, after the usualtreacherous fashion. After a period of detention, theywere transferred, as state prisoners, to Dublin Castle,but managed to effect their escape (doubtless by the connivanceof friendly officials) on horseback and reachedtheir own country in due time. The earl, foolishly, heldaloof from Fitzmaurice until a dangerous crisis wasreached, when he threw himself into the struggle and,in defence of his country and religion, lost all he possessed.The Pope and King of Spain, in the Catholicinterest, sent men and money, but the Papal contingent,led by an English military adventurer, named Stukley,was diverted from its purpose, and never reached Ireland.The Spanish force—less than a thousand men—wasbrought to Ireland by Fitzmaurice himself. He hadmade a pilgrimage to Spain for that purpose. SmerwickCastle, on the Kerry coast, was their point of debarkation.With unaccountable timidity, Earl Desmondmade no sign of an alliance, and Fitzmaurice was insearch of other succor, when he fell, in a petty encounterwith the De Burgos of Castle Connell. The Spaniards,who occupied Smerwick, were besieged by a large Anglo-Irishforce, under the Earl of Ormond and other veteranchiefs. They made a gallant and desperate defence, butthey were invested by land and sea, and were perfectly125helpless against the shower of shot and shell rained uponthem night and day by the English batteries. Seeingthat further resistance was useless, the Spanish commanderfinally surrendered at discretion, but, disgracefulto relate, Lord Deputy De Grey refused quarter and thehapless Spaniards were butchered to the last man. Itis not pleasant to have to state that among the fiercebesiegers were the celebrated Sir Walter Raleigh, thegreat English poet Edmund Spenser, and Hugh O’Neill,then serving Elizabeth, “for policy’s sake,” in a subordinatecapacity, but afterward destined to be themost formidable of all her Irish foes. The MunsterGeraldines were exterminated, except for a few collateralfamilies—the Knight of Kerry, the Knight ofGlin, and some other chiefs whose titles still survive.But the great House of Desmond vanished forever fromhistory, when Garret Fitzgerald, the last earl, after allhis kinsmen had fallen in the struggle, was betrayed andmurdered by a mercenary wretch, named Moriarty, ina peasant’s hut in Kerry, not far from Castle Island.The assassin and his brutal confederates decapitated theremains and sent the poor old head to Elizabeth, in London,who caused it to be spiked over the “traitor’s gate”of the Tower. So ended the Geraldine revolt, whichraged in Munster from 1578 to 1584, until all that fairland was a desert and a sepulchre. The bravest battlefought during its continuance was that of Glendalough,in the summer of 1580. This was on the soil of Leinster,and the victory was won by the heroic Clan O’Byrne, ofWicklow, led by the redoubtable chief, Fiach MacHugh.The English, who were led by Lord De Grey in person,suffered a total rout, and the Lord Deputy, at the head126of the few terrified survivors, fled in disgrace to Dublin,leaving behind him the dead bodies of four of his bravestand ablest captains—Audley, Cosby, Carew, and Moore.

The defeat and death of “Shane the Proud” had leftUlster, temporarily, without a military chief competentto make head against the English, and, therefore, theDesmonds were left, practically, without help from thenorthern province. Notwithstanding, the new Lord Deputy,Perrott, kept his eyes fixed steadily on Ulster, thefighting qualities of whose sons he knew only too well.In Tyrconnel young Hugh Roe, or Red Hugh, O’Donnell,was growing fast to manhood, and his fame as anathlete, a hunter, and hater of the English, spread throughoutIreland. Hugh O’Neill, the son of Matthew, Baronof Dungannon, was enjoying himself at Elizabeth’s court,where he made the acquaintance of Cecil, Essex, Bacon,Marshal Bagnal, Mountjoy, and numerous other celebrities,and basked in the sunshine of the royal favor, whichhe took particular pains to cultivate. He was a handsomeyoung man, of middle size, rigidly trained to arms,and “shaped in proportion fair.” The queen’s object wasto make him an instrument in her hands for the finalsubjugation of Ireland. He seemed to enter readily intoher plans, which his quick intellect at once comprehended,and he met her wiles with a dissimulation as profoundas her own. If any man ever outwitted Elizabeth, politically,127that man was Hugh O’Neill, whom she finallycreated Earl of Tyrone—a title which, in his inmostheart, he despised, much preferring his hereditary designationof “The O’Neill.” But it was not Hugh’s immediatepurpose to quarrel with Elizabeth about titles, or, infact, anything else. He was graciously permitted to raisea bodyguard of his own clansmen, and to arm and drillthem at his pleasure. Nay, more, the queen allowed himto send from England shiploads of lead wherewith toput a new roof on his castle of Dungannon. And hewent to Ireland to look after his interests in person.Soon, rumors reached Elizabeth that O’Neill, when hehad sufficiently drilled one batch of clansmen, substitutedanother; and that enough lead had been shipped by himfrom England to Tyrone to roof twenty castles. It wasfurther rumored that the clanswomen of Tyrone wereemployed casting bullets at night, instead of spinningand weaving. O’Neill, learning of these rumors fromEnglish friends, repaired to London, and, at once, reassuredthe queen as to his “burning loyalty and devotionto her person.” So he was permitted to return to Dungannonunmolested. Unlike his fierce kinsman, John theProud, Hugh cultivated the friendship of all the Ulsterchiefs, within reach, and more particularly that of thebrave and handsome young Red Hugh O’Donnell. Nordid he confine his friendly relations to the chiefs of Ulster.He also perfected good understandings with manyin the other three provinces, and managed to keep on goodterms with the English also. Indeed, he did not hesitateto take the field occasionally “in the interest of the queen,”and, on one occasion, during a skirmish in Munster, receiveda wound in the thigh. How could Elizabeth128doubt that one who shed his blood for her could be otherwisethan devoted to her service? O’Neill, no doubt,liked the queen, but he loved Ireland and liberty muchbetter. In his patriotic deceit he only followed the exampleset him at the English court. He kept “openhouse” at Dungannon Castle for all who might chooseor chance to call. Among others, he received the wreckedsurvivors of the Spanish Armada cast away on the wildUlster coast, and shipped them back to Spain, at his ownexpense, laden with presents for their king. A kinsman,Hugh of the Fetters—an illegitimate son of John theProud by the wife of O’Donnell, already mentioned—betrayedhis secret to the English Government. He explainedhis action to the satisfaction of the Lord Deputy,for he had a most persuasive tongue. Having done so,he exercised his hereditary privilege of the chief O’Neill,arrested Hugh of the Fetters, had him tried for treason,and, it is said, executed him with his own hand, becausehe could find no man in Tyrone willing to kill an O’Neill,even though proven a craven traitor.

Lord Deputy Perrott, in 1587, or thereabout, concocteda plan by which he got the young O’Donnell,whose rising fame he dreaded, into his power. A sailing-vessel,laden with wine and other merchandise, was sentaround the coast of Ireland from Dublin and cast anchorin Lough Swilly, at a point opposite to Rathmullen. RedHugh and his friends, young like himself, were engagedin hunting and fishing when the vessel appeared in thebay. The captain, in the friendliest manner, invitedO’Donnell and his companions on board. They consented,and were plied with wine. By the time they were readyto return to shore, they found the hatches battened down129and the ship under way for Dublin. And thus, meanlyand most treacherously, was the kidnapping of this nobleyouth and his friends accomplished by, supposedly, anEnglish gentleman.

O’Donnell, after a confinement of three years in DublinCastle, managed to effect his escape, in company withsome fellow captives. But they missed their way, andwere overtaken and captured in the territory of O’Tuhill,at a place now called Powerscourt, in the county Wicklow.A second attempt, made two years later on, provedmore successful, and the escaping party managed toreach the tribe-land of the O’Byrnes, whose brave chief,Fiach MacHugh, received and sheltered them. ArtO’Neill, one of Red Hugh’s companions, perished ofcold and hunger—the season being winter—on the trip;and O’Donnell’s feet were so badly frozen that he waspartially disabled for life. This fact did not, however,interfere with his warlike activity. O’Byrne at once informedHugh O’Neill of Red Hugh’s escape and whereabouts,and the Ulster chief sent a guide, who broughthim safely to Dungannon, where he was royally entertainedand admitted to the knowledge of O’Neill’s secretpolicy, which, as may have been surmised, aimed at theoverthrow of English rule in Ireland.

After resting sufficiently, O’Donnell proceeded to Tyrconnel,where he was joyfully received by his people.His father, old and unenterprising, determined to abdicatethe chieftaincy in his favor, and, accordingly, RedHugh was proclaimed “The O’Donnell,” with all the ancientforms. He proceeded with characteristic rigor tobaptize his new honors in the blood of his foes. OldTurlough O’Neill had weakly permitted an English garrison130to occupy his castle of Strabane. O’Donnell attackedit furiously and put all of the garrison to thesword. He followed up this warlike blow with manyothers, and soon struck terror into the hearts of all the“Englishry” and their much more despicable Irish allies,on the borders of Ulster and Connaught. His most activeand efficient ally in these stirring operations wasHugh McGuire, Prince of Fermanagh—the best cavalrycommander produced by either party during the long anddevastating Elizabethan wars.

CHAPTER IV

THERE had been, of course, a general “confiscationto the Crown”—that is, to the English “carpet-baggers”—ofthe broad domains of the defeated Desmonds,and their allies, and among the aliens who profitedgreatly thereby, for a time, at least, were the poetic EdmundSpenser, who obtained the castle and lands of Kilcolman,in Cork, and Sir Walter Raleigh, who fell in forextensive holdings in Youghal, at the mouth of the southernBlackwater, and its neighborhood. In the garden ofMyrtle Grove House, Sir Walter’s Youghal residence,potatoes, obtained from Virginia, were first planted inIreland, and the first pipeful of tobacco was smoked.In connection with the latter event, a story is told thata servant-girl, about to scrub the floors, seeing smokeissuing from Sir Walter’s nose and mouth, conceived himto be on fire, and emptied the contents of her pail over131him, in order, as she explained, “to put him out.” SirWalter, we may be sure, did not relish her method offighting “the fire fiend.”

The Desmond confiscation was by no means the firstcase of the kind on record in Ireland. The original Geraldinestook the lands by force from the Celtic tribes,but they speedily amalgamated with the natives, and,within a few generations, became full-fledged Irish inevery characteristic, except their family name. Neitherwas this great confiscation the last, or greatest, as will beseen in the progress of this narrative. The queen’s ministerscaused letters to be written to the officers of every“shire” in England, “generously” offering Desmond’splundered lands in fee simple—that is, practically, free ofcost—to all younger brothers, of good families, whowould undertake the plantation of Munster. Each ofthese favored colonists was allowed to “plant” a certainnumber of British, or Anglo-Irish, families, but it wasspecifically provided that none of the native—that is, theCeltic and Catholic and the Norman-Catholic—Irish wereto be admitted to the privilege. The country had beenmade “a smoking desert” before this plantation of foreignerswas begun. Most of the rightful owners had perishedby famine and the sword, and those who still survived,“starvation being, in some instances, too slow,crowds of men, women, and children were sometimesdriven into buildings, which were then set on fire” (Mitchel’s“Life of Hugh O’Neill,” page 68). “The soldierswere particularly careful to destroy all Irish infants, ‘for,if they were suffered to grow up, they would becomePopish rebels.’” (Ibid. pp. 68, 69.) It is related by thehistorian Lombard that “women were found hanging132upon trees, with their children strangled in the mother’shair.”

And all this was done in the name of the “reformedreligion.” In good truth, although Elizabeth herself mayhave wished to make the Irish people Protestant in orderthat they might become more obedient to her spiritualand temporal sway, her agents in Ireland wished fornothing of the kind. They wished the Irish masses toremain Catholic. Otherwise, they would have had nogood pretext for destroying them and usurping theirlands. And this, too, satisfactorily explains why, for avery long period, the Irish national resistance to Englandwas considered and described as a purely Catholic,sectarian movement. Protestantism, in the period ofwhich we write, meant, to the average Irish mind, England’spolicy of conquest and spoliation in Ireland. Itis hardly wonderful, therefore, that there grew up betweenthe followers of the old and new creeds an animositydoubly bitter—the animosity of race supplemented bythat of religion. In our own days, we have seen thesame result in the Polish provinces of Russia and theTurkish principalities in the Danubian region of Europe.Well might the poet ask—

THE first jury “trial” in Ulster was that of HughRoe MacMahon, chieftain of Monaghan, who becameentangled with Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam in someone-sided “alliance,” and, failing in some slight particularto keep his side of the contract, was “tried” by twelvesoldiers in Elizabeth’s pay, condemned to death and shotat his own door. This and other brutal murders, attestedby the English historian, Moryson, filled the north withrage, and the very name of English “law” became a menaceand a terror throughout the length and breadth ofUlster. From that bloody period dates the hatred anddistrust of English “justice” which still survives amongthe Irish people. Indeed, instances of judicial murder,almost rivaling that of MacMahon Roe, might be citedby living Irishmen as having occurred within their ownexperience. Elizabeth’s deputy, Fitzwilliam, who was aconsummate scoundrel and jobber in bribes, and wouldhave made a champion modern “boodle alderman,” succeededin making the very name of “shire,” or county,land detested in Ireland. When he informed McGuire,the bold chief of Fermanagh, that he was about to senda sheriff into his “county” to “empanel juries,” the chiefanswered grimly, “Let him come; but, first, let me knowhis eric (price of his blood), so that, if my people shouldcut off his head, I may levy it on the country.” Thiswas the Irish method under the Brehon law. No sheriff134appeared in Fermanagh for many a year after McGuire’ssignificant statement.

Red Hugh O’Donnell continued to make things exceedinglylively for the English garrisons in Ulster andConnaught, and made them take to the cover of theirstrong places after nearly every encounter. Near Inniskillen,the gallant Hugh McGuire, aided by a small bodyof the clansmen of Tyrone, who came “on the quiet,”under the command of O’Neill’s brother, Cormac, met alarge English escort, who were conveying supplies to thetown, to which Red Hugh O’Donnell had laid siege, ata ford of the river Erne. The English suffered a totalrout, and their bread-wagons having been lost in thecurrent, or overturned in the shallows, the spot is knownto this day as Bael-atha-an-Biscoid—in English “the Fordof Biscuits.” Red Hugh, who had gone to Derry tomeet a body of the Antrim Scots, who were coming tohis aid, was necessarily absent when the battle was fought,and, on hearing of the victory, remarked he was “sorryhe had not been in the fight, as he would have preventedthe escape of so many of the English.” The latter beganto perceive, by this time, that they had to “strip for thecombat” in earnest if they meant to retain their footholdon the borders of Ulster.

Rumors of O’Neill’s disaffection had again reachedthe queen, and again he journeyed to London and reassuredher of his “loyalty.” He even made great show ofaccepting the English title of Earl of Tyrone, and returnedto Dungannon encumbered with the gold chainsymbolical of his new “rank.” This did not please hisclansmen, who could not see into his dissembling schemes,so he was obliged to placate them by consenting to be135installed as The O’Neill—a title he very much preferredto his English one of Earl—at the rath of Tulloghoge(Hill of the Youths), in his native Tyrone. ThomasDavis, the poet of Young Ireland—a party of Irishliterary men and high-souled patriots who flourished from1842 until 1848—in his fine ballad of the “True IrishKing,” gives a vivid picture of the scene in the followinglines:

Those who may condemn the apparently tortuous policyof O’Neill must bear in mind that he was only practicingagainst the enemies of his country the double-dealing136and subtle acts they had themselves taught him,in order to make him a more facile instrument in theirhands for that country’s subjugation. The dark andcrooked policy inculcated by Machiavelli was then invogue at all the European courts, and at none was itpracticed more thoroughly than at that of Elizabeth ofEngland. It must be admitted that the English foundin Hugh O’Neill a very apt pupil—a true case of “diamondcut diamond.”

CHAPTER VI

MARSHAL SIR HENRY BAGNAL—one of Elizabeth’smost potent military commanders—hadnever liked Hugh O’Neill, whom he had often met inLondon and Dublin, but this hatred of the Irish princewas not shared by the marshal’s fair sister, the LadyMabel Bagnal, who presided over his mansion at Newry,where were established the headquarters of the Englisharmy in Ulster. Lady Mabel was one of the most beautifulof women, and O’Neill, who had become a widower,grew desperately enamored of her. He managed to eludethe vigilance of the hostile brother, and, assisted by afriendly “Saxon,” succeeded in eloping with and makingher his wife. The elopement filled Sir Henry with fury.He entered into a conspiracy against O’Neill with otherEnglishmen and Palesmen. A new Lord Deputy hadcome over from England in the person of Sir WilliamRussell. Charges against O’Neill were laid before him.He communicated with the Court of London and commands137soon came to arrest the Chief of Tyrone withoutdelay. O’Neill, as usual, had means of secret informationand soon knew all about the plot laid for his destruction.Instead of being dismayed, he hastened, at once,to Dublin and surprised his treacherous accusers in themidst of their deliberations. His old-time friend, theEarl of Ormond, stood by him and refused to be a partyto the treachery planned by the new Lord Deputy. Whena similar order had reached Ormond himself from LordBurleigh—ancestor of the late Prime Minister ofEngland—the earl replied scornfully in these words:“My lord, I will never use treachery to any man, for itwould both touch her Highness’s honor and my owncredit too much; and whosoever gave the queen advicethus to write is fitter for such base service than I am.Saving my duty to her Majesty, I would I might haverevenge by my sword of any man that thus persuadeththe queen to write to me.” Noble words, gallant Ormond!

The earl, feeling convinced that Lord Russell, who wasnot much affected by honorable scruples, would obey theorder from the queen and arrest O’Neill, advised the latterto fly from Dublin the very night of his arrival. TheUlster prince thought this very good advice and acceptedOrmond’s friendly offices. He managed to make his wayin safety to Dungannon and at once set about perfectinghis preparations for open warfare with the generals ofElizabeth. The latter were not idle either, for Russellsurmised O’Neill’s intention and sent Sir John Norreys(Norris), an experienced general, just returned fromthe wars in Flanders, to command against him. The remainderof the year 1594, as well as some of the succeedingyear, was spent in useless negotiations, for both138parties well knew that war was now inevitable. O’Donnell,McGuire, and some other chiefs kept up a fierce,but rather desultory, warfare, greatly annoying the Englishgarrisons in the border strongholds. At last, inthe early summer of 1595, O’Neill threw off the mask,unfurled the Red Hand of Ulster, and marched againstthe Castle of Monaghan, held by the enemy. In themidst of a siege but feebly carried on for lack of a batteringtrain, he heard that Norreys, with a powerfulforce, was advancing northward to raise the siege.O’Neill at once decided to anticipate his movement andmoved to Clontibret, about five miles off, and there tookpost. Norreys soon appeared, and, being a hot soldier,attacked at once. He was met with a veteran firmnessthat astonished him, and both he and his brother, SirThomas Norreys, were wounded in the main attack onthe Irish battle-line. At the moment when all seemedlost for England, Colonel Segrave, an Anglo-Norman ofMeath, charged the Irish home, with a body of horse,and, for a time, restored the battle. Segrave, himself,rushed madly on O’Neill and the two leaders foughthand to hand for some time, while both armies stoodstill to witness the result. Mr. Mitchel thus eloquentlydescribes what followed: “Segrave again dashed his horseagainst the chief, flung his giant frame upon his enemy,and endeavored to unhorse him by the weight of his gauntletedhand. O’Neill grasped him in his arms, and thecombatants rolled, in that fatal embrace, to the ground.

139“There was a moment’s deadly wrestle and a deathgroan. The shortened sword of O’Neill was buried inthe Englishman’s groin beneath his mail. Then fromthe Irish ranks rose such a wild shout of triumph as thosehills had never echoed before. The still thundercloudburst into a tempest; those equestrian statues became aswinged demons, and with their battle-cry of Lamh-dearg-ahoo!(‘The Red Hand to Victory’), and their longlances poised in eastern fashion above their heads, downswept the chivalry of Tyrone upon the astonished ranksof the Saxon. The banner of St. George wavered andwent down before that furious charge. The Englishturned their bridle-reins and fled headlong over the stream(which they had crossed to attack the Irish), leaving thefield covered with their dead, and, worse than all, leavingwith the Irish that proud red-cross banner, the first oftheir disgraces in those Ulster wars. Norreys hastily retreatedsouthward, and the castle of Monaghan wasyielded to O’Neill.”

About the same time, Red Hugh O’Donnell “prevailedmightily” in the west, “so that,” says Mitchel, “at theclose of the year 1595, the Irish power predominatedboth in Ulster and Connaught.” O’Neill followed uphis success by laying siege to Armagh, which he capturedby an ingenious stratagem. Colonel Stafford had beenappointed to the command of the English in the old city,and he proved himself equal to the occasion, so far asfighting bravely to hold it went. But provisions wererunning low, and it was known to Stafford that Norreyswas sending to him, from Dundalk, a large convoy ofprovisions. O’Neill’s scouts had the same information,so a body of Irish was detached to attack the convoy140and capture the rations. The movement proved successful.About three hundred English soldiers were madeprisoners. O’Neill ordered them to be stripped of theirred surtouts, and bade the same number of his clansmento put the garments on their own backs. Then he commandedthe convoy to march toward Armagh as if nothinghad happened. Meanwhile, he had caused his relative,Con O’Neill, to occupy an old ruined abbey near themain gate of the city. All this was accomplished undercover of the night. At sunrise, Stafford and his hungrysoldiers, from the ramparts, gazed wistfully southward,and, to their great joy, beheld, as they imagined, the convoymarching rapidly to their relief. Almost on the instant,it was, seemingly, attacked by the Irish army.Volleys—blank cartridges being used—were exchanged,and many men appeared to fall on both sides. At last,the supposititious English seemed about to give way.Stafford and his famished men could stand the sightno longer. They rushed through the now open gate tothe aid of their countrymen, as they thought. To theiramazement, both red coats and saffron shirts fell uponthem, and they perceived they had been tricked. A braveattempt was made by them to re-enter the town, but ConO’Neill and his party, rushing from the old ruin, seizedthe gate. All the English outside the walls were captured.Soon afterward, the city itself surrendered tothe Irish leader. O’Neill made humane use of his victory.He disarmed and paroled the English prisonersand sent them, under safe escort, back to General Norreys.He was a man of strict honor, and, no doubt, theterms of the capitulation were properly observed. TheIrish dismantled Armagh, as O’Neill had no need of fortresses,141but, during his absence elsewhere, some Englishmade their way to the place and refortified it; only, however,to have it retaken by the Irish army.

CHAPTER VII

THE year 1597 witnessed the recall of Lord DeputyRussell from the government of Ireland, and thesubstitution of Lord De Burgh. A temporary truce wasentered into by the belligerents, and neither side lost anytime in augmenting its strength. All Ulster was practicallyfreed from English rule, but they had garrisonsshut up in the castles of Carrickfergus, Newry, Dundrum,Carlingford, Greencastle, and Olderfleet—all on the coast.When the truce came to an end, the Palesmen organizeda large force and prepared to send it northward, to aidthose garrisons, under young Barnewall, son of LordTrimleston. O’Neill detached a force of 400 men underthe brave Captain Richard Tyrrell and his lieutenant,O’Conor, to ambush and destroy it. Tyrrell movedpromptly to accomplish his mission, and rapidly penetratedto the present county of Westmeath. There, at adefile now known as Tyrrell’s Pass, not far from Mullingar,he awaited the coming of the Palesmen. In thenarrow pass, the latter could not deploy, so that the battlewas fought by the heads of columns, which gave theadvantage to the Irish. Some of the latter managed toget on the flanks of the Palesmen, and a terrible slaughterensued. Of the thousand Palesmen, only Barnewallhimself and one soldier escaped the swords of the vengeful142natives. The former was brought a prisoner toO’Neill, who held him as a hostage, and the soldier carriedthe dread news of the annihilation of the Meathianforce to Mullingar.

But the Lord Deputy and the Earl of Kildare, with allthe force they could muster, were in full march for Ulster.Sir Conyers Clifford, another veteran Englishman, attemptedto join them from the side of Connaught, butwas met by Red Hugh O’Donnell and compelled to goback the way he came, leaving many of his men behindhim. At a place called Drumfluich, the Lord Deputy andKildare, who were en route to recapture Portmore, whichhad fallen into the hands of O’Neill, encountered theIrish army. The latter was strongly posted on the banksof the northern Blackwater, but the English attacked withgreat resolution, drove its vanguard across the river andtook possession of Portmore. O’Neill, however, held hismain body well in hand, and while De Burgh was congratulatinghimself on his success, fiercely attacked theEnglish who had crossed to the left bank of the river,and inflicted on them a most disastrous defeat. TheLord Deputy and the Earl of Kildare were both mortallywounded, and died within a few hours. The Englisharmy was practically destroyed. Red Hugh O’Donnellhad arrived in the nick of time to complete the victory,and, with him, the Antrim MacDonalds, whose prowessreceived due honor. The historian of Hugh O’Neill says,succinctly: “That battlefield is called Drumfluich. Itlies about two miles westward from Blackwater-town(built on the site of Portmore), and Battleford-bridgemarks the spot where the English reddened the river intheir flight.”

143But Captain Williams, a valiant “Saxon,” held Portmore,in spite of O’Neill’s great victory, and this fortress,in the heart of his country, proved a thorn in the side ofTyrone, who, as we have already mentioned, was destituteof battering appliances for many a day. The resultat Drumfluich struck dismay into the hearts of the stoutestsoldiers of the English interest, and the dreaded namesof O’Neill and the Blackwater were on every tremblinglip throughout the Pale. The queen, in London, grewvery angry, and rated her ministers with unusual vehemence.It was fortunate for De Burgh and Lord Kildarethat they died on the field of honor. Otherwise, theywould have been disgraced, as was General Norreys forhis defeat at Clontibret. He died of a broken heart soonafter being deprived of his command in Ulster.

The English were also unfortunate in Connaught andMunster, and when the Earl of Ormond assumed thegovernment of Ireland, by appointment, after the defeatand death of De Burgh, the English interest had fallenlower in the scale than it had been since the days ofRichard II. The earl entered into a two months’ armisticewith O’Neill, and negotiations for a permanent peacewere begun. O’Neill’s conditions were: perfect freedomof religion not only in Ulster but throughout Ireland;reparation for the spoil and ravage done upon the Irishcountry by the garrisons of Newry and other places, and,finally, entire and undisturbed control by the Irish chiefsover their own territories and people. (Moryson, McGeoghegan,and Mitchel.)

Queen Elizabeth was enraged at these terms, whentransmitted to her by Ormond, and sent a list of counter-termswhich O’Neill could not possibly entertain. He144saw there was nothing for it but the edge of the sword,and grew impatient at the tardiness of King Philip ofSpain in not sending him aid while he was prosecutingthe war for civil and religious liberty so powerfully.The English Government, in order to discourage theCatholic powers and keep them from coming to the aidof Ireland, concealed or minimized O’Neill’s splendidvictories. Lombard, cited by McGeoghegan—a most conscientioushistorian—avers that an English agent wasemployed, at Brussels, “to publish pretended submissions,treaties, and pardons, so that the Spanish governorof Flanders might report to his master that the powerof the Irish Catholics was broken and their cause completelylost.” (Mitchel.) The same charge has beenmade against England in our own day—only in a differentconnection. Germany, France, and Russia have semi-officiallydeclared that English agents at Berlin, Paris,and St. Petersburg have persistently misrepresented theattitude of those countries toward America during therecent Spanish War. Whatever may have been the truthregarding the Brussels agent, it is undeniable that KingPhilip abandoned Ireland to her fate until it was too lateto hinder her ruin; and that, when Spanish troops landedat Kinsale, in 1601, they proved more of a hindrancethan a help. O’Neill gave up all hope of assistance fromPhilip in the fall of 1597 and resolved to stake all on hisgenius as a commander, and on the tried valor of theglorious clansmen of Tyrone and Tyrconnel.

WE dwell at greater length on the Elizabethan erain Ireland than, perhaps, on any other, becausethen began the really fatal turn in the fortunes of theIrish nation. Notwithstanding splendid triumphs in thefield, cunning and treachery were fated to overcome patriotismand heroic courage. But, before this great cloudgloomed upon her, Ireland was still destined to witnessmany days of glory, and to win her most renownedvictory.

The spring and early summer of 1598 saw CaptainWilliams still holding Portmore, on the Blackwater,stubbornly for England, but his rations were nearly exhaustedand he managed to get word of his desperatecondition to Marshal Bagnal, who, at the head of asplendidly appointed army of veteran troops, horse andfoot, marched northward from Newry to his succor.His first operations were successful and he came verynear to capturing O’Neill himself, at a place called Mullaghbane,not far from Armagh. Then Bagnal pushedon to raise the siege of Portmore, where Williams wasliving on his starved horses and suffering all the pangsof hunger.

O’Neill, having been fully informed of Marshal Bagnal’sprogress, summoned O’Donnell and his other alliesto join him immediately, which they did. He left Portmoreto the famine-stricken garrison, and turned his face146southward fully resolved to give battle to his redoubtedbrother-in-law before he could reach the Blackwater.Thoroughly acquainted with the character of the countrythrough which the English were to pass, he had no difficultyin choosing his ground. He took post, therefore,in the hilly, wooded, and marshy angle formed by the Callanand Blackwater Rivers, at a point where a sluggishrivulet runs from a large bog toward the main river, andwhich is called, in the Gaelic tongue, Beal-an-atha-buidhe,in English, “the Mouth of the Yellow Ford,” destined togive title to the Irish Bannockburn. This field is abouttwo and one-half miles N.W. from Armagh.

The superb English array, all glittering in steel armorand with their arms flashing back pencils of sunlight,Bagnal himself in the van, appeared at the opening ofthe wooded pass, which, all unknown to the marshal, wasgarrisoned by five hundred Irish kerns early on the sultrymorning of August 10th—T. D. McGee says the15th—1598. The head of the column was attacked immediatelyby the Celtic infantry, who, however, obedientto orders, soon fell back on the main body, which wasdrawn up behind a breastwork, in front of which was along trench, dug pretty deep, and concealed by wattles(dry sticks) and fresh-cut sods—a stratagem borrowedby O’Neill from the tactics of Bruce, so successfully putin practice at Bannockburn, nearly three centuries before.Having finally cleared the pass, not without copious bloodshed,Bagnal debouched from it, and deployed his forceson the plain in face of the Irish army. His cavalry, underGenerals Brooke, Montacute, and Fleming, shouting,“St. George for England!” charged fiercely up to theIrish trench, where the horses floundered in the covered147trap set for them, and then the Irish foot, leaping overtheir breastwork, piked to death the unfortunate riders.Bagnal, in no wise daunted, pressed on with his chosentroops, animating them by shout and gesture. A partof the Irish works, battered by his cannon, was carried,and the English thought the battle won. They were preparingto follow up their success when, suddenly, O’Neillhimself appeared, at the head of his main body, who hadabandoned their slight defences, and came on to meet theEnglish with flashing musketry and “push of pike.”Bagnal’s artillery, with which he was well provided, didmuch damage to O’Neill’s men, but nothing could withstandthe Irish charge that day. O’Donnell’s dashingclan nobly seconded their kinsmen of Tyrone, and a mostdesperate conflict ensued. Bagnal and his soldiers deportedthemselves bravely, as became tried warriors, but,in the crisis of the fight, the marshal fell, a wagon-loadof powder exploded in the English lines, their ranks becameconfused, and few of their regiments preservedtheir formation. The Irish cavalry destroyed utterlywhat remained of the English horse. “By this time,”says Mitchel, “the cannon were all taken; the cries of‘St. George’ had failed or were turned to death-shrieks,and once more, England’s royal standard sank beforethe Red Hand of Tyrone.” The English rout was appalling,and the chronicler of O’Donnell says: “They werepursued in couples, in threes, in scores, in thirties, and inhundreds.” At a point where the carnage was greatest,the country people still show the traveler the BloodyLoaming (lane) which was choked with corpses on thatday of slaughter. Two thousand five hundred Englishsoldiers perished in the battle and flight; and among the148fallen were the marshal, as already related, twenty-twoother superior officers, and a large number of captains,lieutenants, and ensigns. The immediate spoils of thevictory were 12,000 gold pieces, thirty-four standards,all the musical instruments and cannon, and an immensebooty in wagons, loaded with clothing and provisions.The Irish army lost 200 in killed and three times thatnumber wounded. By O’Neill’s orders, the dead of bothsides were piously buried. (Irish annals cited by Curryand Mitchel.)

Sir Walter Scott, in his graphic poem of “Rokeby,”which should be read by all students, as it deals with astirring period of English history, thus refers to the battleof the Yellow Ford:

The survivors of Bagnal’s heroic, if defeated, army,fled to Armagh, which had again fallen into the possessionof the English, and there took shelter. O’Neill investedthe place and, being now provided with artillery,captured from the enemy, speedily compelled its surrender.The gallant Williams, starved out at Portmore,also capitulated. O’Neill, with his customary magnanimity,149after depriving the prisoners of both places of theirarms, took their parole and sent them in safety to thePale, and, for a time, all English power whatever vanishedfrom the soil of Ulster.

CHAPTER IX

THE limits of this simple narrative of Irish historywill not permit us to go into the details of the numerous“risings” of the Irish and encounters with thedisheartened English in the other three provinces. O’Donnellswept through Connaught, like a very besom of destruction,drove the English generals into their castles,and other strong places, and carried Athenry by storm,“sword in hand.” He also made a raid into Munster, andpunished a degenerate O’Brien of Inchiquin for acceptingan English title, and hugging his English chain as“Earl of Thom*ond.” Then he returned to Connaughtand finished up what English garrisons still remainedthere, with few exceptions. O’Neill himself also made avisit to Munster, said his prayers at the noble shrine ofHoly Cross Abbey, on the winding Suir, and, the legitimate—accordingto English notions—Earl of Desmondbeing dead, set up an earl of his own. He “put heartinto” the rather slow and cautious Catholic Anglo-Normansof this province, and caused them to join hands withtheir Celtic brothers in defence of country and creed.Under the new earl, they attacked the English with greatspirit, and, although occasionally beaten, managed to holdthe upper hand in most cases.

150In Leinster, the O’Mores, the O’Byrnes, the O’Tuhills,and the Kavanaghs had also risen in arms, and never hadIreland presented so united a military front, since thefirst landing of the English on her shore. There wasfighting everywhere, but, outside of O’Neill and O’Donnell,and, perhaps, the new Desmond, there would notseem to have been a concerted military plan—probablyowing to the rather long distances between the respectivebodies and the difficulty of communication.

Queen Elizabeth, when she heard of the Irish triumphat the Yellow Ford, was violently exasperated, andstormed against Ormond, her Lord Lieutenant, for remainingin Leinster, skirmishing with the O’Mores andother secondary forces, and leaving everything in thehands of O’Neill in Ulster. She was now an agedwoman, but still vain and thirsty for admiration. Herreigning favorite was the brilliant Robert Devereux,Earl of Essex, who had made a reputation in the Spanishwars. In the middle of 1599, this favored warrior,accompanied by a picked force of at least 20,000 men,landed in Dublin and assumed chief command. Insteadof at once moving with his fine army, reinforced by thePalesmen and the relics of Norreys’ and Bagnal’s troops,against O’Neill, he imitated the dilatory tactics of Ormondand wasted away his strength in petty encounterswith the hostile tribes of Leinster and the Anglo-Irishof Munster, most of whom sided, because of commonreligious belief, with their Celtic neighbors. He alsocommitted the grave fault of bestowing high commandon favorites who possessed no capacity for such duties.While marching to besiege Cahir Castle, in the presentcounty of Tipperary, he was obliged to pass through a151wooded defile in Leix (Queen’s County), where his rearguardof cavalry was attacked by the fierce O’Mores andcut to pieces. The Irish tore the white plumes fromthe helmets of the fallen English troopers, as trophies,and so great was their number that the gorge has beencalled, ever since that tragical day, Bearna-na-cleite—inEnglish, the “Pass of Plumes.” Essex, notwithstandingthis disaster, which he made no immediate effort toavenge, marched to Cahir and took the castle; but, insubsequent encounters with the Munster Irish, he sufferedsevere reverses. Near Croom, in Limerick, hewas met by the Geraldines and their allies and badlydefeated. Sir Thomas Norreys, Lord President ofMunster—brother of the defeated English commanderat Clontibret—was among the slain. Thus baffled, thehaughty Essex made his way sadly back to Dublin, pursuedfor a whole week by the victorious Geraldines.Smarting under his disgrace, he caused the decimationof an English regiment that had fled from the O’Mores—somethinghe himself had also been in the habit ofdoing. He had no heart to try conclusions with theterrible O’Neill in his Ulster fastnesses, and sent manyletters of excuse to the queen, in which he dwelt onthe strength and courage of the Irish clansmen in war,and asked for further reinforcements, before venturingagainst O’Neill. These were sent him, to the numberof several thousand, and, at length, he seemed ready tomove. Sir Conyers Clifford, a very brave and skilfulofficer, commanded for Elizabeth in Connaught. Essexordered him to march into Ulster and seize certainstrategic points that would open the way for the mainarmy when it should finally appear in the North. Clifford152obeyed his orders with veteran promptitude. Hewas soon at Boyle, in the present county of Roscommon,where he went into camp near the beautiful abbey, whoseruins are still the admiration of antiquarians. Thence,he marched northward through the passes of the Corslibh,or Curlew, Mountains, bent upon penetrating into Ulster.But, in a heavily timbered ravine, he was fallen uponby the fierce clansmen of Red Hugh O’Donnell, commandedby their fiery chief in person. When the Englishheard the terrible war-cry of “O’Donnell Aboo!”“O’Donnell to Victory”) echoing along the pass, theyknew their hour had come. However, they met theirfate like brave men, worthy of their gallant commander,and fought desperately, although in vain. They weresoon totally broken and fell in heaps under the stalwartblows of the Clan O’Donnell. General Clifford and hissecond in command, Sir Henry Ratcliffe, were killed,and their infantry, unable to stem the tide of battle, fledin disorder, carrying with them the cavalry, under GeneralJephson, a cool commander who displayed all thequalities of a good soldier although completely overmatched.Had he not gallantly covered the retreat,hardly a man of the English infantry would have reachedBoyle in safety. But the valor of Jephson did not extendto all of his men, some of whom abandoned the fieldrather precipitately. The English historian, Moryson,excuses them on the ground that “their ammunition wasall spent.” Sligo, the key of North Connaught, fell toO’Donnell, as one result of this sharp engagement.

The defeat and death of Clifford would seem to haveutterly demoralized Essex. He again hesitated to advanceagainst O’Neill, and, instead of doing so, weakly153sought a parley with his able enemy. O’Neill agreed tothe proposal, and they met near Dundalk, on the banksof a river and in presence of their chief officers. TheIrish general, with chivalrous courtesy, spurred hischarger half-way across the stream, but Essex remainedon the opposite bank. This, however, did not preventthe two leaders from holding a protracted conversation,in the course of which the wily O’Neill completely outwittedthe English peer. They called five officers on bothsides into the conference, and O’Neill repeated the termshe offered after the victory of Clontibret, in 1595. TheEnglishman said he did not think them extravagant, buthis sincerity was never tested. Soon afterward, angeredby an epistolary outburst from the old queen, he threwup his command, and returned to the London court, whereElizabeth swore at him, ordered him under arrest, hadhim tried for treason, and, finally, beheaded—the onlycruel act of her stormy life she ever repented of. The axethat severed the head of Essex from his body left a scarin Elizabeth’s withered heart that never healed.

CHAPTER X

PHILIP II of Spain died in September, 1598, and wassucceeded by his son Philip III, who, it would seem,took more interest in the Irish struggle against Elizabeth’stemporal and spiritual power than did his father. Philip,in all likelihood, cared very little about Ireland’s nationalaspirations, but, like all of his race, he was a zealous Catholic,and recognized the self-evident fact that the Irish154were, then, fighting not alone their own battle but alsothat of the Church, with heroic vigor. O’Neill begannegotiations with the young monarch immediately afterhis accession, and Philip responded by sending two envoysto the Irish general—Don Martin de la Cerda andthe Most Rev. Matthias de Oriedo, who had been appointedby the Pope Archbishop of Dublin—a purelytitular office, seeing that the English were in full possessionof that capital. The bishop presented O’Neill with“a Phœnix plume,” blessed by his Holiness, and also with22,000 pieces of gold—a generous contribution in thatage, when money was much more valuable in proportionthan it is now. (O’Sullivan, Moryson, and Mitchel.)

O’Neill, having sufficiently awed the English generalsfor a period, made a sort of “royal progress” throughMunster and Leinster, visiting holy places, settling feuds,and inspecting military forces. He met with, practically,no opposition, but, near Cork, had the misfortune to losehis gallant cavalry commander, Hugh McGuire, chief ofFermanagh. The latter was leading a body of horse ona reconnoitring mission, when suddenly there appeared aforce of English cavalry, bent on a similar errand, underSir Warham St. Leger and Sir Henry Power, Queen’sCommissioners, acting in place of Sir Thomas Norreys.St. Leger rode up to McGuire and discharged a horsepistol at close range. The heroic Irish chief reeled inhis saddle from a mortal wound, but, before falling, struckSt. Leger a crushing blow on the head with his truncheon,and killed him on the spot. McGuire, having avengedhimself on his enemy, died on the instant. These werethe only two who fell. The English retreated to Corkand kept within its walls until O’Neill had left the neighborhood.155The Ulster prince turned back through Ormondand Westmeath and arrived in his own country,“without meeting an enemy, although there was then inIreland a royal army amounting, after all the havoc madein it during the past year, to 14,400 foot and 1,230 horse”—this,too, exclusive of irregular forces. (Moryson.)This force was well provided with artillery and all militarystores. (Mitchel.)

But O’Neill’s days of almost unclouded triumph weredrawing to a close. He was, at last, about to meet anEnglish commander who, if not as able as himself, wasinfinitely more cunning and unscrupulous. This wasCharles Blount, Earl of Mountjoy, a trained soldier, aveteran diplomat, a fierce Protestant theologian, and aripe scholar. His motto, on assuming the duties of LordDeputy in Ireland, would seem to have been “Divide andConquer.” Mountjoy saw, at once, that steel alone couldnot now subdue Ireland, and he was determined to resortto other methods, more potent but less manly. About thesame time, there also came to Ireland two other famousEnglish generals, Sir George Carew and Sir HenryDowcra. The new deputy brought with him large reinforcements,so that the English army in Ireland was morepowerful than it had ever been before; and Mountjoy’sorders were, in effect, that Ulster, in particular, shouldbe honeycombed with royal garrisons, especially alongits coast-line. Although Mountjoy himself was checked,at the outset, by O’Neill’s army, Sir Henry Dowcra, witha powerful force, transported by sea from Carrickfergus,occupied and fortified the hill of Derry, on the Foyle—theground on which now stands the storied city of Londonderry.Other border garrisons were strengthened by156the Lord Deputy, and everything was made ready for avigorous prosecution of the war. The penal laws againstthe Irish Catholics were softened, so as, if possible, todetach the Anglo-Irish Catholics from the Celtic CatholicIrish, and also to impress the weak-kneed among the latterwith “the friendly intentions of her Majesty’s government”—verymuch like the court language in use to-day.The bait took, as might have been expected—forevery good cause has its Iscariots—and we soon hear ofjealous kinsmen of the patriot chiefs “coming over to”the queen’s “interest” and doing their utmost—the heartlessscoundrels—to divide and distract the strength oftheir country, engaged in a deadly struggle for her rightsand liberty. These despicable wretches are foul blotcheson the pages of Ireland’s history. But for them, shecould have finally shaken off the English yoke, whichwould have saved Ireland centuries of martyrdom andEngland centuries of shame. And so we find Sir ArthurO’Neill becoming “the queen’s O’Neill”—his branch ofthe family had long been in the English interest; ConnorRoe McGuire becoming “the queen’s McGuire,” and soon ad nauseam. These creatures had no love for Englandor Elizabeth, but simply hoped to further their ownselfish ends by disloyalty to their chiefs and treason totheir country. We confess that this is a chapter of Irishhistory from which we would gladly turn in pure disgustdid not our duty, as a writer of history, compel us todwell upon it yet a while longer. Dermot O’Connor, whoheld a command under O’Neill’s Desmond in Munster,yielded to the seductions of Carew and turned upon hisleader, in the interest of his brother-in-law, son of the“great earl,” who was held as a hostage in London157Tower by Elizabeth, and was now used as a firebrandto stir up feud and faction among the Munster Irish.Mountjoy had not been many months in Ireland, when,to use the words of the historian Mitchel, “a network ofEnglish intrigue and perfidy covered the land, until theleaders of the (Irish) confederacy in Munster knewnot whom to trust, or where they were safe from treasonand assassination.” Dermot O’Connor was willing tosurrender Desmond, whom he had kidnapped, to Mountjoy,for a thousand pounds, but, before he could receivehis blood-money, the “Suggawn (hay-rope) Earl,” ashe was called in derision by the English faction, wasrescued by his kinsman, Pierce Lacy. But the WhiteKnight—frightful misnomer—another relative of the earl—wasmore fortunate than O’Connor. He managed toreceive the thousand pounds, delivered Desmond to Carew,and earned enduring infamy. The “Suggawn Earl” wassent to London and died a miserable prisoner in theTower.

Thus, the policy of the Lord Deputy was doing itsdeadly work in Munster and also in Leinster, where theIrish were of mixed race, and where racial animositycould be more easily worked upon than in Ulster andConnaught, where most of the ancient clans still remainedunbroken and uncontaminated by foreign influences.Yet Ulster and Connaught had their BenedictArnolds, too, as we have shown in the cases of O’Neilland McGuire, and will show in other cases which yet remainto be mentioned. But in these provinces the warwas national as well as religious, while in Munster itwas almost entirely religious. Most of the Catholic Anglo-Irishwould have fought with the English rather than158the Celtic-Irish, if their religion had been tolerated fromthe first. Among the Celtic Irish chiefs who went overto the English in Munster, were O’Sullivan More andMcCarthy More (the Great). The latter had the cowardlyexcuse that his strong-minded wife had coerced himinto treason, and refused to live with him until he cameto terms with the enemy. Was there ever anything moredisgraceful in the history of manhood and womanhood?They were, indeed, a couple entirely worthy of each other.The Lord Deputy, in the meantime, had ravaged the “rebellious”portions of Leinster, burning houses and crops,and doing other evil things common to the savage warfareof that period. His greatest piece of luck, however,was the killing of the brave O’More of Leix in a skirmish.(Mitchel.)

CHAPTER XI

THE English force in Ireland was now (1600-1601)overwhelming, and as the Irish had no fleet whatever,the English were enabled to plant garrisons, almostwherever they wished to, around the Ulster coast, andsometimes posts were also established in the interior ofthe country. Thus Derry, Dun-na-long, Lifford, and numerousother places held strong garrisons, and these salliedforth at will—the small Irish army being activelyengaged elsewhere—and inflicted heavy damage on theharmless people of the surrounding districts. The processof crop-burning was in full blast again, and such Irishpeople as escaped the sword and the halter had the horrible159vision of perishing by famine ever before their eyes.O’Neill and O’Donnell were aware of all this, and didthe best they could, under such discouraging circ*mstances.They were almost at the end of their resources,and awaited anxiously for the aid, in men and money,solemnly promised them by the envoy of Philip of Spain.To add to their ever-growing embarrassment, Niall Garbh(“the Rough”) O’Donnell, cousin of Red Hugh, and thefiercest warrior of Clan-Conal, revolted, because of somefancied slight, and also, no doubt, inflamed by unworthyambition, against the chief, and went over to the enemy.Unfortunately, some of the clansmen, who did not lookbeyond personal attachment, followed his dishonored fortunes,but this was about the only serious case of clandefection. The great body of the Irish galloglasses andkerns—heavy and light infantry—remained true totheir country and their God, and died fighting for bothto the last.

Niall Garbh, after allying himself with the English,occupied the beautiful Franciscan monastery of Donegal,in which the Annals of the Four Masters, Ireland’s chronologicalhistory, were compiled. Red Hugh, fiercelyindignant, marched against the sacrilegious traitor andlaid siege to him in the holy place. After three months’investment, it was taken by storm, and utterly destroyedby fire, except for a few walls which still remain. Thetraitor’s brother, Conn O’Donnell, and several of themisguided clansmen were killed in the conflict, but, unfortunately,Niall Garbh himself escaped, to still furtherdisgrace the heroic name of O’Donnell and injure thehapless country that gave birth to such a monster.

Mountjoy, after frequent indecisive skirmishes with160O’Neill, amused himself by offering a reward of £2,000for that chieftain’s head, and smaller amounts for thoseof his most important lieutenants. But no man wasfound among the faithful clansmen of Tyrone to murderhis chief for the base bribe of the Lord Deputy. YetMountjoy continued to gain ground in Ulster, little bylittle, and he built more forts, commanding importantpasses, and garrisoned them in great force. He alsocaused most of the woods to be cut away, and thus laidthe O’Neill territory wide open for a successful invasion.O’Neill was an admirable officer, and still, assisted byHugh O’Donnell, presented a gallant front to Mountjoy,but he could do little that was effective against an enemywho had five times the number of soldiers that he had,and could thus man important posts, filled with all themunitions of war, without sensibly weakening his forcein the field. Destitute of foundries and powder factories,he could make no progress in the matter of artillery,and such cannon as he had were destitute of properammunition. All this the Spaniards could have supplied,but their characteristic dilatoriness, in the end, ruinedeverything. Another circ*mstance also militated againstthe success of the brave O’Neill—the English and theirallies were solidly unified for the destruction of the Irish,while the latter, as we have seen, were fatally divided bycorruption, ambition, jealousy—fostered by their enemies—andendless English intrigue. No wonder that hisbroad brow grew gloomy and that his sword no longerstruck the blows it dealt so fiercely at Clontibret and theYellow Ford.

At last, however, out of the dark clouds that surroundedhis fortunes, there flashed one sun-ray of hope161and joy. News suddenly reached the north, as well asthe Lord Deputy, that a Spanish fleet had landed in KinsaleHarbor, on the coast of Cork. It carried a smallforce—less than 6,000 men, mostly of poor quality—underthe command of the arrogant and incompetent DonJuan de Aguila. He occupied Kinsale and the surroundingforts at once, but was disappointed when the MunsterIrish—already all but crushed by Mountjoy—did notflock at once, and in great numbers, to his standard. Ofall the Munster chiefs there responded only O’SullivanBeare, O’Connor Kerry, and the brave O’Driscoll. Theyalone redeemed, in as far as they could, the apathy ofSouth Munster, and were justified in resenting the Spanishtaunt, bitterly uttered by Don Juan himself, that“Christ had never died for such people.” The Spaniarddid not, of course, take into consideration, because he didnot know, the exhaustion of South Munster after the Geraldinewar and the wars which succeeded it. Constantdefeat is a poor tonic on which to build up a boldly aggressivepatriotism.

The news of the landing at Kinsale reached Red HughO’Donnell while he was in the act of besieging his owncastle of Donegal, surreptitiously seized by Niall Garbh,“the Queen’s O’Donnell,” while he was absent “at thefront,” with O’Neill. He instantly raised the siege, and,summoning all of his forces, marched southward withoutan hour’s delay, as became his ardent and gallantnature. Neither did O’Neill hesitate to abandon “theline of the Blackwater,” which guarded his own castleof Dungannon, to its fate, and at once marched hisforces toward Kinsale. The Clan-Conal marchedat “the route step,” through Breffni and Hy-Many,162crossing the Shannon near where it narrows at theeast end of Lough Dearg. On through the Ormonds,where “the heath-brown Slieve Bloom” mountains risein their beauty, they pressed, burning, at every footstep,to reach Kinsale, join the Spaniards, and “have it out”with Mountjoy and the English. O’Donnell, marchingin lighter order and by a different route, outstripped hisolder confederate, but narrowly escaped being interceptedin Tipperary by a superior English force, underGeneral Carew, detached by the Lord Deputy for thatpurpose. As Red Hugh had no intention of giving battleuntil reinforced by O’Neill, or he had joined the Spaniards,he made a clever flank movement, by forced march,over the Slieve Felim Hills, which interposed betweenhim and Limerick. But the rains had been heavy of late,the mountain passes were boggy, and neither horses norcarriages (wagons) could pass. Fortunately, it was thebeginning of winter, and, one night, there came a sharpfrost, which sufficiently hardened the ground, and theIrish army, taking advantage of the kindness of Providence,marched ahead throughout the dark hours, and,by morning, had left Carew and his army hopelessly inrear. O’Donnell made thirty-two miles (Irish), aboutforty-two English miles, in that movement and haltedat Croom, having accomplished the greatest march, withbaggage, recorded in those hard campaigns. (PacataHibernia, cited by Mitchel.)

His coming among them, as well as the news of thearrival of the Spaniards, put fresh life into the Irish ofWest Munster, and, indeed, Red Hugh stood on scantceremony with such degenerate Irish as refused to fightfor their country, so that wherever he marched, fresh163patriots, eager to “save their bacon,” in many cases,sprang up like crops of mushrooms. At Castlehaven heformed a junction with 700 newly arrived Spanish troops,and, together, they marched toward Kinsale, whichMountjoy and Carew were preparing to invest. O’Neilland his brave lieutenant, Richard Tyrrell, did not pursuethe route taken by O’Donnell, but had to fight their waythrough Leinster and North Munster with considerableloss. At Bandon, in South Munster, they fell in withO’Donnell and the Spaniards, and all marched to form animmediate junction with De Aguila. Mitchel, quotingfrom O’Sullivan’s narrative, gives the total strength ofthe force under O’Neill and O’Donnell at 6,000 foot and500 horse. The Irish leader was opposed to risking ageneral engagement with so small a command, althoughO’Donnell, when he beheld Mountjoy’s troops beleagueringthe town, wanted to attack, which, judging by afterevents, might have been the better plan. O’Neill argued,however, that the inclement season would soon destroya good part of the English soldiers and counseled delay.O’Donnell yielded reluctantly, and then the Irish, verybadly provided, intrenched themselves and began “besiegingthe besiegers.” Prudence, on this occasion, ruinedthe cause of Ireland—so often ruined by rashness, beforeand since; for, three days after O’Neill’s policy had beenacceded to, that is on Christmas eve, 1601, accidentbrought on an engagement, in the dark, which neitherparty seems to have anticipated. The tragedy is best relatedby Mitchel in his life of O’Neill, thus: “Beforedawn, on the morning of the 24th (December), SirRichard Graham, who commanded the night guard ofhorse, sent word to the deputy that the scouts had discovered164the matches (matchlock muskets were used atthis period) flashing in great numbers in the darkness,and that O’Neill must be approaching the camp in force.Instantly the troops were called to arms; messengerswere despatched to the Earl of Thom*ond’s quarter, withorders to draw out his men. The deputy (Mountjoy)now advanced to meet the Irish, whom he supposed tobe stealing on his camp, and seems to have effectuallysurprised them, while endeavoring to prevent a surpriseupon himself. The infantry of O’Neill’s army retiredslowly about a mile further from the town, and made astand on the bank of a ford, where their position wasstrengthened by a bog in flank. Wingfield, the marshal,thought he saw some confusion in their ranks, and entreatedthe deputy that he might be allowed to charge.The Earl of Clanricarde joined the marshal and the battlebecame general. O’Neill’s cavalry repeatedly droveback both Wingfield and Clanricarde, until Sir HenryDanvers, with Captains Taaffe and Fleming, came up totheir assistance, when, at length, the Irish infantry fellinto confusion and fled. Another body of them, underTyrrell, was still unbroken, and long maintained theirground on a hill, but at length, seeing their comradesrouted, they also gave way and retreated in good orderafter their main body. The northern cavalry covered theretreat, and O’Neill and O’Donnell, by amazing personalexertions, succeeded in preserving order and preventingit from becoming a total rout.”

Such was the unfortunate battle of Kinsale—the mostdisastrous, perhaps, in Irish annals. It was not even wellfought, because the Irish troops, surprised in their sleep,owing to lack of vigilance on the part of the sentinels, had165lost most of their effective arms, their baggage, and colorsat the outset. Their camp, also, came into immediatepossession of the enemy. Thus, they were discouraged—theIrish character being mercurial, like the French—ifnot badly demoralized, and they did not, in this ill-fatedaction, fight with a resolution worthy of the fame they hadrightfully earned as soldiers of the first class, nor did theyfaithfully respond, as heretofore, to the military geniusof their justly renowned leaders. They were mostly thetroops of Ulster, far from home, and lacking the inspirationthat comes to all men when conscious that they arefighting to defend their own hearths against the spoiler.Ulster, in that day, was almost alien to the southern province,although the soldiers of both were fighting in a commoncause. Kinsale was, certainly, not a battle to whichIreland can look back with feelings of pride, but she maybe thankful that there are few such gloomy failures recordedin her military annals. Yet the bitter fact remainsthat Kinsale clouded forever the glory achieved by thetroops of O’Neill and O’Donnell on so many fields ofvictory. The Spaniards, who had joined O’Donnell onthe march, refused to fly and were almost all destroyed.Their commander, Del Campo, two officers, and forty soldierswere all that survived out of seven hundred men,and they were made prisoners of war. (Mitchel.) Ina note, this author, quoting Pacata Hibernia, says: “Themost merciless of all Mountjoy’s army that day was theAnglo-Irish and Catholic Earl of Clanricarde. He slewtwenty of the Irish with his own hand, and cried aloudto ‘spare no rebels.’ Carew (the English general andwriter) says that ‘no man did bloody his sword more thanhis lordship that day.’” This episode shows how well166Mountjoy’s policy of “Divide and Conquer” and temporarytoleration of the Catholics worked for the Englishcause. Had the penal laws not been mitigated thisAnglo-Irish and Catholic Earl of Clanricarde would havefought on the side of Ireland.

De Aguila, seeing that the Irish army was defeated,and that another effort on the part of O’Neill was renderedimpossible by the loss of his munitions and thelateness of the season, proposed to capitulate. The Earlof Mountjoy offered him honorable terms, and De Aguilaagreed to surrender to the English all the Irish castles onthe coast to which Spanish garrisons had been admitted,“and shortly after,” says Mitchel, “set sail for Spain, carryingwith him all his artillery, treasure, and militarystores.” Some of the Irish chiefs, notably the O’SullivanBeare, refused to ratify that part of De Aguila’scapitulation which agreed to surrender their castles, occupiedby Spanish troops, to the English. The fortresseshad been thrown open to the Spaniards in good faith, andGeneral de Aguila had no moral right to give them up.The most he could agree to do was to withdraw his menfrom the Irish castles and take them back with him toSpain. And this was the view taken by the Irish chiefs,with bloody, but glorious, result, as we shall see.

CHAPTER XII

O’NEILL, when he perceived the hopelessness of theIrish situation in Munster, conducted what remainedof his defeated army back to the north andcantoned it along the Blackwater for the winter months,167where he felt quite sure the English, worn out by theirexertions at the siege and battle of Kinsale, would notattack him. Red Hugh O’Donnell, exasperated beyondendurance at the disregard of his bold advice to attackthe beleaguering English, in conjunction with the Spaniards,on the first arrival of the Irish army beforeKinsale, gave up the command of his clan to his brother,Roderick, and, with a few followers, sailed for Spain,in search of further aid. He resolved to ask King Philipfor an army, not a detachment. The chief landed atCoruna, and was received with high honors by the Spanishauthorities. He finally reached the Spanish Courtand placed the whole Irish situation clearly before Philip,who promised a powerful force and actually gave ordersto prepare at once for a new expedition to Ireland. Thesad sequel is well told in the eloquent words of Mitchel:

“But that armament never sailed, and poor O’Donnellnever saw Ireland more; for news reached Spain, a fewmonths after, that Dunboy Castle, the last strongholdin Munster that held out for King Philip, was taken,and Beare-haven, the last harbor in the South that wasopen to his ships, effectually guarded by the English;and the Spanish preparations were countermanded; andRed Hugh was once more on his journey to court to renewhis almost hopeless suit, and had arrived at Samancas,two leagues from Valladolid, when he suddenly fellsick. His gallant heart was broken and he died thereon the 10th of September, 1602. He was buried by orderof the king with royal honors, as befitted a prince of theKinel-Conal; and the stately city of Valladolid holds thebones of as noble a chief and as stout a warrior as everbore the wand of chieftaincy or led a clan to battle.”

168While we do not believe in “painting the devil blackerthan he is,” we think it proper to state here that morerecent researches would seem to have fixed the crime ofassassination on the Earl of Mountjoy. In an account,quoted in several lectures by Frank Hugh O’Donnell,ex-member of the British Parliament, it is definitelystated that Red Hugh O’Donnell was poisoned at theinn in Samancas, where he died, by a hired murderer,named Blake, who acted for the English Lord Deputy.Such, if the statement is true, were the political ethicsof the Elizabethan era.

Donal O’Sullivan Beare, the bravest of all the Munsterleaders, wrested his castle of Dun-buidhe (Dunboy),in English, “Yellow Fort,” from the Spaniards after DeAguila had agreed to surrender it to the English. Hejustified his conduct to the King of Spain in a patheticletter in which he said: “Among other places that wereneither yielded nor taken to the end that they might bedelivered to the English, Don Juan tied himself up to delivermy castle and haven, the only key to mine inheritance,whereupon the living of many thousand personsdoth rest, that live some twenty leagues upon the seacoast,into the hands of my cruel, cursed, misbelievingenemies.”

The defence of this castle by the Irish garrison of onehundred and forty-three men, commanded by O’Sullivan’sintrepid lieutenant, McGeoghegan, was one of thefinest feats of arms recorded in history. Although onlya square tower, with outworks, it held out against GeneralCarew, the Lord President, for fifteen days. It wasbombarded by the fleet from the haven, and battered byartillery from the land side. Indeed, Carew had an169army of 4,000 veteran soldiers opposed to McGeoghegan’s143 heroes. A breach was finally effected in the castle,but the storming parties were repeatedly repulsed. Thegreat hall was finally carried, and the little garrison, underthe undaunted McGeoghegan, retreated to the vaultsbeneath it, where they sustained the unequal conflict forfour-and-twenty hours, and, by the exertion of unexampledprowess, at last cleared the hall of the English.The latter replied with an overwhelming cannonade, andthe walls of the castle crumbled about the ears of itsheroic defenders. The latter made a desperate sortiewith only forty men and all perished. The survivors inthe castle continued the defence, but, in the end, theirnoble commander, McGeoghegan, was mortally woundedand they laid down their arms. While their woundedchief lay gasping in the agonies of approaching death,on the floor of the vault, he saw the English enter theplace. The sight seemed to renew his life and energy.He sprang to his feet, seized a torch, and made a rushfor an open barrel of powder, intending to blow assailantsand assailed into the sky. But an English soldierwas too quick for the dying hero. He seized him in hisarms, and a comrade wrested the torch from the failinghand and extinguished it. Then they ran their swordsthrough McGeoghegan’s body, and his glorious deeds andgreat sufferings were at an end. It should have beenstated that ten of the garrison, who were of the partythat made the sortie, on the failure of their bold effort,attempted to reach the mainland by swimming acrossthe haven. This movement was anticipated by the Englishcommander. Soldiers were stationed in boats tointercept the swimmers, and all were stabbed or shot, as170if they had been beasts of prey. The survivors of theband of Irish Spartans, who made Dunboy forever memorablein the annals of martial glory, were instantlyhanged by order of Carew, so that not one of the heroic143 was left. Ruthless as he was, the Lord Presidenthimself, in an official letter, bore this testimony to theirvalor: “Not one man escaped; all were slain, executed, orburied in the ruins, and so obstinate a defence hath notbeen seen within this kingdom.” The defence of DunboyCastle deserves to rank in history with Thermopylæ andthe Alamo of Texas, and the butchery of its survivingdefenders, in cold blood, was a disgrace to Englishmanhood. How differently the gallant O’Neill treatedthe English prisoners taken at Armagh, Portmore, andother places in Ulster during the period of his amazingvictories. It is cruelties of this character that made theEnglish name abhorred in Ireland, not the prowess, oreven the bloodthirstiness, of the English soldiery in theheat of battle. The massacre at Dunboy is an indeliblestain on the memory of Lord President Carew.

CHAPTER XIII

WITH the fall of Dunboy, Ireland’s heroic day wasalmost at an end for that generation. O’Sullivanand some other Munster chiefs still held out, but theirefforts were only desultory. O’Neill, accompanied byRichard Tyrrell, the faithful Anglo-Irish leader, ralliedthe remnants of his clan and attempted to hold again theline of the Blackwater. But the English were now toomany to be resisted by a handful of brave men. They171closed upon him from every side, and advanced theirposts through the country, so as to effectually cut himoff from communication with Tyrconnel, whose chiefon hearing of the death of his noble brother, Red Hugh,in Spain, made terms with the Lord Deputy. So, also,did many other Ulster chiefs, who conceived their causeto be hopeless. O’Neill, still hoping against hope, andthinking that a Spanish army might yet come to his aid,burned his castle of Dungannon to the ground, and retiredto the wooded and mountainous portions of his ancientprincipality, where he held out doggedly. But theLord Deputy resorted to his old policy of destroying thegrowing crops, and, very soon, Tyrone, throughout itsfairest and most fertile regions, was a blackened waste.Still the Red Hand continued to float defiantly throughoutthe black winter of 1602-3; but, at length, despairbegan to shadow the once bright hopes of the braveO’Neill. His daring ally, Donal O’Sullivan Beare, havinglost all he possessed in Munster, set out at this inclementseason on a forced march from Glengariff, inCork, to Breffni, in Leitrim, fighting his enemies all theway, crossing the Shannon in boats extemporized fromwillows and horsehides; routing an English force, underColonel Malby, at the “pass of Aughrim,” in Galway,destined to be more terribly memorable in another warfor liberty; and, finally, reached O’Ruarc’s castle, wherehe was hospitably welcomed, with only a small moietyof those who followed him from their homes,

172Even the iron heart of Hugh O’Neill could not maintainits strength against conditions such as those thusdescribed by Moryson, the Englishman, who can not besuspected of intensifying the horrid picture at the expenseof his own country’s reputation: “No spectacle,”he says, “was more frequent in the ditches of towns, andespecially of wasted countries, than to see multitudes ofpoor people dead, with their mouths all colored green,by eating nettles, docks, and all things they could rendup above ground.” There were other spectacles stillmore terrible, as related by the English generals andchroniclers themselves, but we will spare the details.They are too horrible for the average civilized being ofthis day to contemplate, although the age is by no meanslacking in examples of human savagery which go toprove that the wild beast in the nature of man has notyet been entirely bred out.

Baffled by gold, not by steel, by the torch rather thanthe sword, deprived of all his resources, deserted by hisallies, and growing old and worn in ceaseless warfare,it can hardly be wondered at that O’Neill sent to theLord Deputy, at the end of February, 1603, propositionsof surrender. Mountjoy was glad to receive them—forthe vision of a possible Spanish expedition, in great force,still disquieted him—and arranged to meet the discomfitedIrish hero at Mellifont Abbey, in Louth, where died,centuries before, old, repentant, and despised, that faithlesswife of O’Ruarc, Prince of Breffni, whose sin firstcaused the Normans to set foot in Ireland. So anxiouswas Mountjoy to conclude a peace, that nearly all ofO’Neill’s stipulations were concurred in, even to thefree exercise of the Catholic religion in the subjugated173country. He and his allies were allowed to retain, underEnglish “letters patent,” their original tribe-lands, witha few exceptions in favor of the traitors who had foughtwith the English against their own kindred. It was insisted,however, by the Deputy, that all Irish titles, includingthat of “The O’Neill,” should be dropped, thenceforthand forever, and the English titles of “nobility”substituted. All the Irish territory was converted into“shire-ground.” The ancient Brehon Law was abolished,and, for evermore, the Irish clans were to be governedby English methods. Queen Elizabeth had diedduring the progress of the negotiations, and a secretknowledge of this fact no doubt influenced Mountjoy inhurrying the treaty to its conclusion, and granting such,comparatively, favorable conditions to Hugh O’Neilland the other “rebellious” Irish chiefs. Therefore, itwas to the representative of King James I that Tyrone,at last, yielded his sword—not to the general of Elizabeth.It is said that in the bitter last moments of thatsovereign, her almost constant inquiry was: “What newsfrom Ireland and that rascally O’Neill?” The latter’smost elaborate historian estimates that the long war “costEngland many millions in treasure, and the blood of tensof thousands of her veteran soldiers, and, from the faceof Ireland, it swept nearly one-half of the entire population.”(Mitchel.) And, he continues: “From that day(March 30, 1603, when O’Neill surrendered at Mellifont),the distinction of ‘Pale’ and ‘Irish country’ was atan end; and the authority of the kings of England andtheir (Anglo) Irish parliaments became, for the firsttime, paramount over the whole island. The pride of ancientErin—the haughty struggle of Irish nationhood174against foreign institutions and the detested spirit ofEnglish imperialism, for that time, sunk in blood andhorror, but the Irish nation is an undying essence, andthat noble struggle paused for a season, only to recommencein other forms and on wider ground—to be renewed,and again renewed, until—Ah! quousque, Domine,quousque?”

CHAPTER XIV

AT the outset of his reign, James I, of England, andVI of Scotland, collateral descendant of that EdwardBruce who had been crowned King of the Irishin the beginning of the fourteenth century, promised torule Ireland in a loving and paternal spirit. He hadreceived at his London court, with great urbanity, HughO’Neill and Roderick O’Donnell, and had confirmedthem in their English titles of Earl of Tyrone and Earlof Tyrconnel, respectively. They had accompaniedMountjoy to England, to make their “submissions” indue form before the king, and, while en route throughthat country, were grossly insulted at many points bythe common people, who could not forget their relativeslying dead in heaps in Irish soil, because of the prowessof the chieftains who were now the guests of England.It is most remarkable that the English people have alwayshonored and hospitably entertained the distinguished“rebels” of all countries but Ireland. Refugeesfrom Poland, from Austria, from Hungary, fromFrance, from Italy—many of them charged with usingassassin methods—have been warmly welcomed in London,and even protected by the courts of law, as in the175case of the Orsini-infernal-machine conspirators againstNapoleon III, in 1859; but no Irish “rebel” has everbeen honored, or sheltered, or defended by the Englishpeople, or the English courts of law; although individualEnglishmen, like Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and a fewothers of their calibre, have written and spoken in assertionof Ireland’s right to a separate existence. Of course,the reason is that all the other “rebels” fought in “goodcauses,” and, according to English political ethics, nocause can possibly be just in which the right of Englandto govern any people whatever against their will is contested.America learned that bitter lesson nearly twocenturies after O’Neill and O’Donnell were hooted andstoned by the English populace for having dared to defendthe rights and the patrimony of their people.

The Catholic religion continued to be tolerated byJames until 1605, when, suddenly, a penal statute ofthe time of Elizabeth was unearthed and put into operationwith full force. Treaty obligations of Englandwith the Irish chiefs were also systematically violated.The lands of Ulster were broad and fair, and the greatbody of military adventurers who had come into Irelandfrom England during the long wars of the precedingreign, were greedy for spoil. These and the Irish traitors—ArtO’Neill, Niall Garbh O’Donnell, the false McGuire,and the rest—pestered the government and madenever-ending charges of plots and “treasons” against“the earls,” as the Irish leaders of the late war now cameto be called. The plotters were ably assisted by RobertCecil, Earl of Salisbury, ancestor of the late Marquisof Salisbury, who was also his namesake. Another ableEnglish conspirator against the Irish chiefs was Sir176Arthur Chichester, who became one of the chief beneficiariesof the subsequent “confiscations,” and whosedescendants still hold, as “titled nobility,” a very comfortableslice of ancient Ulster. Some “Reformed” bishopsalso took great interest in getting the earls into hotwater with the government. Finally an alleged plot onthe part of O’Neill and O’Donnell to overthrow theKing of England’s government in Ulster—an absurdityon its face, considering their fallen and helpless condition—wasmade the pretext for summoning them to appearbefore the English courts established in Ireland, inwhose justice they had no confidence, remembering theghastly fate of MacMahon Roe. A hired perjurer,named O’Cahan—the unworthy scion of a noble house—wasto be chief “witness” against O’Neill, and nosecret was made of the fact that others would be forthcoming,hired by Chichester, to finish the work begunby the principal informer. Meanwhile the free exerciseof the Catholic religion—so solemnly guaranteed byMountjoy—was strictly prohibited, under the penal enactmentof Elizabeth, known as the “Act of Uniformity,”already referred to; and again began those horridreligious persecutions, for politics’ and plunder’s sake,which had no termination in Ireland, except for onebrief period, during nearly two centuries. Such Catholicsas desired to practice their faith had to betake themselvesto the mountain recesses, or the caves of the seacoast,where, before rude altars, Mass was celebrated bypriests on whose heads a penal price was set. Sheriffsand judges, attended by large bands of soldiers, madecircuit of the new Ulster “counties” and succeeded incompletely terrifying the unfortunate Catholic inhabitants.177Education, as far as Catholics were concerned,was prohibited, and then began that exodus of Irishecclesiastical students to the Continent of Europe, whichcontinued down to the reign of William IV, notwithstandingthe partial mitigation of the penal laws,in the reign of his father, and the passage of theCatholic Emancipation Bill during his brother’s reign,A.D. 1829.

The persecuted earls clearly saw there was no hope ofpeace for them in Ireland, and that their presence onlywrought further ill to their faithful clansmen, now reduced,for the first time, to the condition of “subjects” ofthe King of England. Lord Howth, a powerful Catholicnoble of the Pale, was suspected of having given informationto the Lord Deputy of a meeting held at Maynooththe previous Christmas at which the earls and severalAnglo-Catholic noblemen were present. It wasclaimed that the enforcement of the Act of Uniformitywas there discussed, and that another effort to overthrowthe English power would be made by the parties to themeeting. This “plot,” if there were any at all, was communicatedto the Clerk of the Privy Council by ananonymous letter dropped at the Castle of Dublin inMarch, 1607. “O’Neill,” says McGee, “was with Chichester,at Slane, in September when he received a letterfrom the McGuire—not the traitor of that title—whohad been abroad, conveying some startling informationupon which Tyrone seems to have acted at once. He tookleave of the Lord Deputy, as if to prepare for a journeyto London, whither he had been summoned on some falsepretext; and, after spending a few days with his oldfriend, Sir Garrett Moore, at Mellifont, repaired to his178seat of Dungannon, where he, at once, assembled all ofhis immediate family and all proceeded to the shores ofLough Swilly, at Rathmullen, where they were joined byRoderick O’Donnell and all of his household. They embarkedimmediately on the French ship which had conveyedMcGuire to Ireland, and set sail for France, where,on landing, they were warmly welcomed and royally entertainedby the chivalric King Henry IV, who, as becamea stout soldier and able captain, greatly admired theprowess displayed in the Ulster wars by Hugh O’Neill.There sailed to France with the latter his last countess,daughter of McGenniss of Iveagh; his three sons, Hugh,John, and Brian; his nephew, Art O’Neill, son of Cormac,and many of lesser note. With O’Donnell sailed hisbrother Cathbar; his fair sister, Nuala, wife of NiallGarbh, who had, in righteous indignation, forsaken thetraitor when he drew the sword against Ireland andher noble brother, Red Hugh; the lady Rose O’Doherty,wife of Cathbar, and, after his death, of Owen O’Neill;McGuire, Owen MacWard, the chief bard of Tyrconnel,and several others. It proved to be a fatal voyage, forit exiled forever the best and bravest of the Irish chiefs.Well might the Four Masters in their Annals of the succeedinggeneration say: “Woe to the heart that meditated,woe to the mind that conceived, woe to the councilthat decided on the project of voyage, without knowingwhether they should to the end of their lives be able toreturn to their ancient principalities and patrimonies.”And, adds the graphic Mitchel, “with gloomy looks andsad forebodings, the clansmen of Tyrconnel gazed uponthat fatal ship, ‘built in the eclipse and rigged with cursesdark,’ as she dropped down Lough Swilly, and was hidden179behind the cliffs of Fanad Head. They never saw theirchieftains more.”

Everything was now settled in Ulster, for the Englishinterest, except for the brief “rebellion” of Sir CahirO’Doherty, the young chief of Inishowen, who fell outwith Sir George Powlett of Derry, and flew at once toarms. He made a brave struggle of some months’ duration,but, as no aid reached him from any outside quarter,he was speedily penned up in his own small territory, and,fighting to the last, died the death of a soldier—the noblestdeath he could have died, surrounded by the armiesof Marshal Wingfield and Sir Oliver Lambert, on therock of Doon, near Kilmacrenan, in August, 1608. Thuswent out the last spark of Ulster valor for a generation.

King James, having used Niall Garbh O’Donnell forall he was worth to the English cause, grew tired of hisimportunities and had him conveyed to England, underguard, together with his two sons. All three were imprisonedin the Tower of London from which the traitor,at least, never emerged again. He met a fate he richlymerited. Cormac O’Neill, the brave captor of Armagh,and the legitimate O’Cahan, both of whom had incurredthe hatred of Chichester, also perished in the same gloomyprison.

And now all that remained to be done was to parcelout the lands of the conquered Ultonians and others of“the Meer Irish” between the captains of the new conquest.Chichester was given the whole of O’Doherty’scountry, the peninsula of Inishowen, and to this wasadded O’Neill’s former borough of Dungannon, with1,300 acres of valuable land in the neighborhood ofthe town. Wingfield was created Lord Powerscourt and180obtained the beautiful district of Fercullen, near Dublin—oneof the most charming domains in all Europe.Lambert became Earl of Cavan and had several rich estates,including that of Carrig, bestowed upon him in addition.All the counties of Ulster were declared forfeitedto the Crown of England. The primate and other Protestantprelates of Ulster claimed, and received, 43,000acres. Trinity College, Dublin, received 30,000 acres, inTyrone, Derry, and Armagh, together with six advowsons,or Church beneficies, in each county. The variousguilds, or trades, of the city of London, England, obtainedthe gross amount of 209,800 acres, including thecity of Derry, to which the name of “London” was thenprefixed. Grants to individuals were divided into threeclasses of 2,000, 1,500, and 1,000 acres each. Catholiclaborers were required to take the oath of supremacy—acknowledgingKing James as spiritual head of theChurch—which they, notwithstanding all their misfortunes,nobly refused to do. In the end, seeing that thefields would remain uncultivated for the most part, theEnglish and Scotch “undertakers,” or settlers, for prudence’sake, rather than from liberal motives, practicallymade this tyrannical requirement a dead letter. But theCatholic tillers of the soil were driven from the fertileplains and forced to cultivate miserable patches of landin the bogs or on the mountains. When these became inany degree valuable, an exorbitant “rent” was charged,and the poor Catholics, utterly unable to pay it, wereagain compelled to move to some even more unpromisinglocation, where the same procedure again and again producedthe same wretched result.

It was thus that the ancient Irish clans, and families,181were actually robbed, in spite of solemn treaties and royalpledges, of their rightful inheritance, and that strangersand “soulless corporations” became lords of their soil.It was the beginning, in Ulster at least, of that systemof “felonious landlordism” which is the curse of all Ireland,in spite of recent remedial measures, even in thisday. So, too, began that English garrison in Ireland—pittingrace against race and creed against creed—whichhas divided, distracted, and demoralized the Irish nationever since. The “Plantation of Ulster” was the mostfatal measure ever carried into effect by English policyin Ireland. Some of the Irish princes did not long survivetheir exile. From France they had proceeded toRome and were very kindly received by the Pontiff, whoplaced residences commensurate with their rank and fameat their disposal. Roderick O’Donnell died in the EternalCity in July, 1608. McGuire died at Genoa, whileen route to Spain in August, and, in September, CathbarO’Donnell also passed away, and was laid in the samegrave with his gallant brother, on St. Peter’s Hill. (McGee.)O’Neill’s fate was sadder still. The historianjust quoted says of him: “He survived his comradesas he did his fortunes, and, like another Belisarius, blindand old, and a pensioner on the bounty of strangers, helived on eight weary years in Rome.” Death came to hisrelief, according to a historian of his own period, in 1616,when he must have been over seventy years of age. Hesleeps his last sleep amid the consecrated dust of ages,beneath the flagstones of the convent of St. Isidore; andthere, in the words of the Irish orator and American general,Meagher, “the fiery hand that rent the ensign of St.George on the plains of Ulster has mouldered into dust.”

RECORDING THE DOINGS OF THE ENGLISH AND IRISH, INIRELAND, FROM THE TIME OF JAMES I TO THE JACOBITEWARS IN THE DAYS OF JAMES II AND WILLIAM III

THE first Anglo-Irish Parliament held within a periodof twenty-seven years was summoned to meetin Dublin on May 18, 1613, and, notwithstanding theAct of Uniformity, it would appear that quite a largenumber of Catholics, styled in the language of the times“recusants,” because of their opposition to the spiritualsupremacy of the king, were elected to serve in that body.They would have had a majority but for the creation ofsome forty “boroughs,” each entitled to a member, underthe patronage of some Protestant peer. This wasthe beginning of that “rotten borough” system whichfinally led to the abolition of the sectarian Irish Parliamentof after times. Scenes of great disorder occurredin this Parliament of 1613, chiefly occasioned by the intolerant,and even violent, proceedings of the anti-Catholicparty, unreasonable bigots, having an eye to the mainchance in the matter of confiscated property, to whom thepresence of any “Papist” in that body was as gall andwormwood. This bitter prejudice led finally to the utterexclusion of all Catholics from the Anglo-Irish Parliament,and even the few Catholic commoners previouslyentitled to a vote were deprived of that privilege, orrather right, until the last decade of the eighteenth century.Still, the Catholic minority in the Parliament of1613 succeeded in preventing ultra-tyrannical legislation,and, really, made the first stand for the constitutional186rights of Ireland, from the colonial standpoint.It was finally adjourned in October, 1615, and no otherParliament was called to meet in Ireland until 1635,when Charles I had already been ten years on the throne.“Government,” meanwhile, had been carried on arbitrarily,without constitutional restraint of any kind, asunder the Tudor sovereigns—only with far less ability.The Tudors, at least—particularly Henry and Elizabeth—wereintellectual tyrants, which their immediate successorswere not. Never was so shameful a system ofpublic spoliation carried out as in the reigns of James I,and his equally despotic, and still more unscrupulous, sonCharles I. The viceroy was not responsible to any powerwhatever, except that of the English monarch. Chichesterwas succeeded by Lord Grandison, and under hisrégime the infamous “Commission for the Discoveryof Defective Titles” was organized, of which the surveyor-general,Sir William Parsons, ancestor of the Earlsof Rosse, was the head. This Commission, “aidedby a horde of clerkly spies, employed under the name ofDiscoverers (McGee), ransacked Old Irish tenures inthe archives of Dublin and London with such good effect,that in a very short time 66,000 acres in Wicklow and385,000 acres in Leitrim, Longford, the Meaths, andKings and Queens Counties were ‘found by inquisitionto be vested in the crown.’ The means employed by theCommissioners in some cases to elicit such evidence asthey required were of the most revolting description. Inthe Wicklow case, courts-martial were held, before whichunwilling witnesses were tried on charge of treason, andsome actually put to death. Archer, one of the number,had his flesh burned with red-hot iron, and was placed187on a gridiron over a charcoal fire till he offered to testifyanything that was necessary. Yet on evidence so obtained,whole counties and towns were declared forfeitedto the crown.” (Ibid.) Is it any wonder, therefore,that a people so scourged, plundered, and degradedshould cherish in their hearts fierce thoughts of reprisalwhen opportunity offered? These wholesale land robberieswere not confined to the Celtic Irish alone, butwere practiced on all Irishmen, of whatever descent, whoprofessed the Catholic faith. Add to these the bittermemories of the murder and persecution of many bishopsand innumerable priests and communicants of that faith,and the only wonder is that the Irish Catholic people ofthe seventeenth, and most of the succeeding, century, retainedany of the milder and nobler characteristics of thehuman family. They were stripped of their property,education, civil rights, and, in short, of all that makeslife worth living, including freedom of conscience—thatdearest privilege of a people naturally idealistic and devotional.The idea of religious toleration never seemsto have entered into the minds of what may be calledthe “professional Protestant” ascendency, except, as wehave seen, for purposes of diplomacy which tended toweaken and divide Irish national opposition to foreignrule. In addition to the grievances we have enumerated,the office of Master of Wards was bestowed upon SirWilliam Parsons, and thus “the minor heirs of all theCatholic proprietors were placed, both as to, person andproperty, at the absolute disposal of one of the most intenseanti-Catholic bigots that ever appeared on thescene of Irish affairs.” (McGee.) This was one of thepernicious influences that, not for conscience’ sake, but188for sordid gain, changed the religion of so many of theancient families of Ireland from the old to the new formof belief; and no English policy was more bitterly resentedand vengefully remembered by the Irish Catholicmasses. And because of this dishonest system of proselytizing,carried on by one process or another from theperiod of the Reformation to the reign of Victoria, theIrish Catholic peasant has associated “conversion” ofany of his neighbors to the Protestant belief with personaldegradation. The Irish Catholic peasant has nofeeling but that of utter contempt and aversion for a“turn-coat” Catholic; but he is most liberal in his feelingstoward all Protestants “to the manor born,” as hasbeen frequently and emphatically manifested by his choiceof Protestant leaders, from Grattan to Parnell. Whateverof religious bigotry may linger in the warm heartof the Catholic peasant may be justly charged to outrageousmisgovernment, not to his natural disposition, which,in the main, is both loving and charitable. The faultswe can trace in the Irish character to-day are partiallythose of human nature, which averages much the samein all civilized peoples, but many of them, and the gravest,can be attributed, without undue prejudice, to theodious penal laws which were sufficient to distort thecharacteristics of angels, not to speak of mortal men.

Charles I, of England, was a thorough Stuart indespotic character, wavering policy, base ingratitude, andfatuous obstinacy. His reign was to furnish to Irelandone of the most consummate tyrants and highway robbersthat ever cursed a country with his cruelty andgreed. This moral monster was the infamous ThomasWentworth, Earl of Strafford, whose “tiger jaws” closed189on the unfortunate country with the grip of a dragon.This dishonorable “noble” counseled King Charles tocommit an act of moral delinquency which, in our day,would be rightly, if coarsely, called “a confidence game.”The Irish Catholics, in convention assembled, had drawnup a sort of Bill of Rights, which they urged the kingto confirm, and agreed to pay into the royal treasurythe sum of £100,000, which they could ill spare, to showtheir “loyalty,” and also, no doubt, to influence Charles,who, like all of his family, dearly loved money, to grant“the graces” prayed for. Strafford advised the base kingto take the money, but to manage matters so that theconcessions he had solemnly promised should never gointo effect! And the ignominious Stuart actually actedon the advice of this ignoble mentor. And so the poorIrish Catholic “gentry” lost both their money and their“concessions.” When we read this chapter of Irishhistory, we are tempted to feel less sympathy for thefate of Charles I, who was afterward sold to Cromwelland the English Parliament by the Scottish mercenaryarmy of General Leslie, with which the king had takenshelter, for back pay, amounting to £200,000 (see SirWalter Scott’s “Tales of a Grandfather”). This miserablemonarch so far degraded himself, further, as to causewrits for the election of a Parliament to grant the Catholicclaims issued in Ireland, but privately instructed LordFalkland to have the documents informally prepared, sothat the election might prove invalid; and, meanwhile,his Lords Justices went on confiscating Catholic propertyin Ireland and persecuting prelates, priests, andpeople almost as savagely as in the worst days of Mountjoyand Chichester. Strafford came to Ireland as Lord190Deputy in July, 1633, and entered at once on his “thorough”policy, as he called it; and, to prepare himselffor the task he had set himself to perform, he throughthe “Lords Justices” extracted a “voluntary contribution”of £20,000 additional out of the terrorized Catholic“nobility and gentry” of the “sister” island, who, nodoubt, wrung it, in turn, out of the sweat of the facesof their peasant retainers. But this was a mere bagatelleto what followed. He compelled Ireland to pay subsidiesto the amount of £200,000 in 1634, and imposed£100,000 more in the succeeding year. He carried thewar of wholesale confiscation into Connaught, and compelledgrand juries, specially “packed” for the work, togive the King of England title to the three great countiesof Mayo, Sligo, and Roscommon. The grand jury ofGalway County refused to return such a verdict. Theywere summoned to the court of the Castle Chamber inDublin, and sentenced to pay a fine of £4,000 each tothe crown. The sheriff who empaneled them was fined£1,000. (McGee.) The very lawyers who pleaded forthe actual proprietors were stripped of their gowns; “thesheriff died in prison and the work of spoliation proceeded.”(Ibid.) Similar, if not quite so general, robberieswent on in Kildare, Kilkenny, Cork, and othercounties. It must be said, however, that Strafford was,in a manner, impartial, and robbed, his master grantingfull approval, without distinction of creed. We can nothelp feeling thankful that the London companies whichswallowed, in the reign of King James, the lands ofTyrone and Tyrconnel, were compelled by “BlackTom,” as the earl was nicknamed, to pay £70,000 “forthe use of the king.” Out of all this plunder, and much191more beside, Strafford was enabled to maintain in Ireland10,000 infantry and 1,000 excellently equippedhorse, “for the service of his royal master.” When thisgreat robber visited London in 1639, fresh from hiscrimes in Ireland, the king, on whom so much ill-deservedsympathy has been wasted, assured him, in person,that his actions in Ireland had his (Charles’) “mostcordial approval” (McGee), and even urged the earl to“proceed fearlessly in the same course.” To still furthermark his approbation of Strafford’s policy, the king promotedhim to the rank of Viceroy of Ireland. Straffordtook the king at his word and did proceed so fearlesslyin Ireland that his name of terror has been overshadowedin that country by only one other—that of Oliver Cromwell.Every Parliament called to meet by the tyrant inthe conquered country—for so the earl regarded Ireland—wasused simply as an instrument wherewith to extortstill more tribute from the impoverished Irish people.This terrible despot, having accomplished his deadlymission in Ireland, returned to England and there, asbefore, became chief adviser to the weak and wickedmonarch. He counseled the latter to ignore, as far ashe dared, the action of Parliament, and was imprudentenough to remark that he (Strafford) had an army inIreland to support the royal will. He was, soon afterward,impeached by the House of Commons, led bystern John Pym, for treasonable acts in seeking to changethe constitutional form of the English Government.This method of procedure was abandoned, however, andParliament passed a bill of attainder, to which the “false,fleeting, perjured” Charles, frightened by popular clamor,which accused himself of being implicated in a plot to192admit soldiers to the Tower for the rescue of Strafford,gave the “royal assent.” The earl, on learning this,placed a hand upon his heart and exclaimed, “Put notyour trust in Princes!” And thus the master he had buttoo faithfully served consigned Strafford to the block.He was beheaded on Tower Hill, May 12, 1641. Whenthe hour of his similar doom approached, nearly eightyears thereafter, Charles said that the only act of hisreign he repented of was giving his assent to the billwhich deprived his favorite minister of life.

Some Irish historians, McGee of the number, claimthat, outside of his land robberies and tributary exactions,the Earl of Strafford made an able ruler of Ireland,and that trade and commerce flourished under hissway. While this may be, to a certain extent, true,nothing can palliate the crimes against justice and libertyof which he was guilty. He was only a degree lesscontemptible than the treacherous master who finally betrayedand abandoned him.

CHAPTER II

SINCE Sir Cahir O’Doherty fell on the rock of Doon,in 1608, no Irish chief or clan had risen against theEnglish interest throughout the length and breadth ofthe island. The masses of the Irish people had, apparently,sunk into a condition of political torpor, but thefires of former generations still smouldered amid theashes of vanquished hopes, and needed but a breath ofinspiration to fan them into fierce, rebellious flame. Mostof the ancient Celtic and many of the Anglo-Norman193families of Catholic persuasion had military representativesin nearly all the camps of Europe. One Irishlegion served in the army of Philip III of Spain, and wascommanded successively by two of the sons of HughO’Neill, victor of the Yellow Ford—Henry and John. Init also served the hero’s gallant nephew, Owen RoeO’Neill, who rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel andmade a brilliant defence of Arras in France, besieged byMarshal de Meilleraye, in 1640. Of this able soldier weshall hear more in the future. The English Governmentnever lost sight of those Irish exiles, and, about this time,one of its emissaries on the Continent reported that therewere in the Spanish Netherlands alone “twenty Irishofficers fit to be colonels and a hundred fit to be captains.”The same agent reported, further, that the Irish militarythroughout Europe had long been procuring arms for anattempt upon Ireland, and had 6,000 stand laid up inAntwerp for that design, and that these had been boughtout of the deduction of their “monthly pay.” At the defenceof Louvain against the French, the Irish legion,1,000 strong, commanded by Colonel Preston, of a distinguishedAnglo-Irish family, received honorable mention,and again at the capture of Breda. These are onlya few of the stirring events abroad which raised the martialreputation of the Irish people in the eyes of all Europe,and the fame of those exploits, reaching Irelandby means of adventurous recruiting officers or courageouspriests, who defied the penal laws and all their terrors,found a responsive echo in many a humble home, wherethe hope of one day throwing off the foreign yoke wasfondly cherished. The exiled priesthood, many of whosemembers became prelates of high rank abroad, aided the194sentiment of the military at the Catholic courts, and thuswas prepared the way for the breaking out of the greatinsurrection of 1641, which, but for the foolish over-confidenceof an Irish chief and the dastardly treasonof an obscure drunkard, might have been gloriouslysuccessful.

The moving spirit in the new project was Roger, orRory O’More, of the ancient family of Leix, who hadbeen educated in Spain and was, virtually, brought up atthe Spanish court, in company with the sons of HughO’Neill, of Tyrone. O’More would seem to have beena born organizer, and a man of consummate tact and discretion.It is a pity that but little is known of his earlycareer, and, indeed, the precise time of his return to Irelandremains an unsettled question, but it is certain thathe returned quietly there, and took up his residence, withoutparade, on his estate of Ballynagh in Leinster. Henever appeared in Dublin, or any other populous centre,unless on some public occasion, that would be sure to attractthe attendance of the principal men of the country.Thus, during the Parliamentary session of 1640, we aretold by McGee and other Irish annalists, he took lodgingsin Dublin, and succeeded in drawing into his planfor a general insurrection, Connor McGuire, MacMahon,Philip O’Reilly, Turlough O’Neill, and other prominentgentlemen of Ulster. He made a habit, also, of visitingthe different towns in which courts of assize werebeing held, and there becoming acquainted with influentialmen, to whom, after due sounding, he outlined hisplans for the final overthrow of the English governmentin Ireland, and the restoration to the Irish people of thelands and rights of which they had been robbed. On195one of these tours, we are told, he made the acquaintanceof Sir Phelim O’Neill, of Kinnaird, in Tyrone—head ofthe branch of that great family still tolerated by the ascendencySir Connor MCGennis of Down, ColonelHugh MacMahon of Monaghan, and the Right Rev.Heber MacMahon, Administrator of Clogher, by connivanceor toleration, for, during the penal laws, therewas no “legal” recognition of a Catholic prelacy, although,under Charles I, especially about this period,there was no very rigid enforcement of the Act of Uniformity,probably because the king and government hadenough trouble on their hands in vainly trying to forceProtestant episcopacy on the Scotch covenanters.

O’More did not confine his operations exclusively toUlster. He also made a tour of Connaught, with hisusual success; for he was a man of fine person, handsomecountenance, and courtly manners. Tradition stillpreserves his memory green among the Irish people of allclasses. He was equally courteous to the lord and tothe peasant. In the castles and mansions of the aristocracyhe was ever the favored guest, and he charmed allhis entertainers with the brilliancy of his conversationalpowers and the versatility of his knowledge. Amongthe poor, he was looked upon as “some glorious guardianangel,” who had come as a messenger from the God ofFreedom to rid them of their galling chains. It is asingular fact that, although he must have taken thousands,high and low, into his confidence, not a man seemsto have betrayed him to the Castle Government, whichremained in profound ignorance of his plot until the veryeve of insurrection. Robert Emmet, in after times, practicedthe methods of O’More, but with far less wisdom,196although influenced by the same lofty principles of patriotism.

The records of the times in which he lived do notshow that O’More went extensively into Munster, buthe did excellent missionary work among the Anglo-Catholicnobles of his own native province of Leinster. Hefound them, as a majority, very lukewarm toward hisproject, influenced, no doubt, by fears of the consequencesto themselves should the contemplated revolution proveabortive. Although not a trained soldier, O’More hadkeen military foresight. The army raised by Straffordin Ireland was mainly made up of Catholics—for he doesnot seem to have discriminated very much in the matterof creed—and these troops were, in consequence, regardedwith distrust, and even intense hatred, by the people ofEngland, to whom the very name of Catholic was, inthose days, odious. The vacillating king, influenced bythe prejudices of his English subjects, resolved to get ridof his Irish army, and gave such of the regiments asmight so elect permission to enter the service of Spain.Some did volunteer, but O’More prevailed on many ofthe officers to keep their battalions together, and thussecured the nucleus of a well-trained military force at thevery outset of hostilities. Among the influential Irishofficers who acted on O’More’s suggestion were ColonelPlunket, Colonel Sir James Dillon, Colonel Byrne, andCaptain Fox. These, with O’More, constituted the firstDirectory of the Irish Confederates of Leinster. Meanwhileactive communication was kept up with their friendson the Continent, and emissaries were coming and goingall the time between the two organizations. The headof the movement abroad appears to have been John197O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, who, however, died suddenly—somewriters aver by the hand of a poisoner—early in1641; and the military exiles immediately transferredtheir allegiance to his cousin, Colonel Owen Roe O’Neill,with whom we have already made acquaintance. It wasagreed among the allies that the uprising for Irish libertyshould occur about the 1st of November, and October23, 1641, was finally decided upon as the fatefulday. The date was made known to only the most trustedchiefs of the projected insurrection.

Everything appeared to prosper with the plans of thepatriots until the actual eve of the rising. On that night(October 22), as fate would have it, there dined withColonel Hugh MacMahon—to whom was intrusted thecommand of 200 picked men who were to surprise theCastle—several Irish officers concerned in the conspiracy.Among the guests was one Owen O’Connolly, an unworthycreature for whom MacMahon would appear tohave entertained an unaccountable friendship. Accordingto tradition, O’Connolly remained with Colonel MacMahonafter the other guests had gone to their severalabodes, and, in a moment of inexcusable weakness, theunhappy host, who must have been rendered recklessby wine, confided to his traitor-guest the secret so momentousto Ireland. O’Connolly was more than halfintoxicated, but, unknown to MacMahon, he was in theservice of a strong government supporter, named SirJohn Clotworthy, and the danger which menaced hispatron made the fellow sober enough to outwit his foolishinformant. In order to divert suspicion, he pretended,after a time, that he wished to retire, and lefthis sword in MacMahon’s room. He managed to reach198the rear door of the lodgings, and made his way overall kinds of obstacles, in the dark, to the castle, where,after much trouble, he succeeded in getting audience ofSir William Parsons, to whom he related what ColonelMacMahon had revealed to him. Parsons, observingthat O’Connolly was still under the influence of strongdrink, at first refused to believe him; and was on thepoint of turning him out of doors, when something inthe rascal’s earnestness made him pause and consider.As a result of his musing, he sent for his colleague,Sir John Borlaise, Master of the Ordnance; the latterimmediately advised the summoning of the council. Severalmembers of that body soon appeared, and the depositionof the informer was formally taken. A squadof soldiers surrounded MacMahon’s lodgings and capturedhim. Lord McGuire was also taken, but ColonelsPlunket and O’Byrne, Rory O’Moore, and Captain Fox,who were also in the city, succeeded in making goodtheir escape. MacMahon, on being arraigned before thePrivy Council in the Castle, at daylight on the memorable23d, defiantly acknowledged his share in the plot, anddeclared that it was then too late for the power of manto prevent the revolution. He showed great courage, asdid also his colleague, Lord McGuire, but MacMahon’sbravery could have been much better spared than his discretion,the want of which sent himself and his companionin misfortune to the scaffold, and, undoubtedly,lost to Ireland the best chance she had ever had of severingthe connection with Great Britain. This unhappyresult teaches a harsh, but useful, political lesson: Neverto confide a secret that concerns a great cause to a dubious“hanger-on,” and to avoid the cup that inebriates when199one is the possessor of such a secret, or whether one is ornot. O’Connolly’s treachery was rewarded by a grant oflands from “the crown,” and he was afterward a colonelin Cromwell’s army. His ultimate fate is involved inobscurity. But his name is embalmed in the annals ofenduring infamy.

The Lords Justices of England, in Dublin, once madeaware of the situation, lost no time in putting the Castleand city at large in a posture of defence. The guardswere doubled and reinforcements were summoned, byspecial messengers, from neighboring garrisons. Twotried soldiers were invested with the military power—SirJohn Willoughby, who had been Governor of Galway,assumed command of the Castle; and Sir CharlesCoote—one of the blackest names in Irish annals—wasmade military governor of the city. The Earl of Ormond—afterwardDuke—was summoned from Carrick-on-Suirto assume chief command of the royal army.Thus, the Irish capital was again preserved, through follyand treason, to the English interest.

MacMahon made no vain boast before the Privy Council,when he declared that the rising was beyond thepower of man to prevent. Ulster did its full duty, and,on the morning of October 23, the forts of Mountjoyand Charlemont and the town and castle of Dungannonwere in the hands of Sir Phelim O’Neill or his chiefofficers. Sir Connor MacGennis captured Newry; theMacMahons took Carrickmacross and Castleblaney, theO’Hanlon’s, Tandragee, while O’Reilly and McGuire—arelative of the lord of that name—“raised” Cavan andFemanagh. (McGee.) Rory O’More supplemented abrief address of the northern chiefs, wherein they declared200they bore no hostility to the king, or to his Englishor Scotch subjects, “but only for the defence andliberty of themselves and the native Irish of the kingdom,”with one more elaborate, in which he ably showedthat a common danger threatened the Protestants of theEpiscopal Church with Roman Catholics. In all themanifestos of the time, there was entirely too muchprofession of “loyalty” to a king who was constitutionallyincapacitated for keeping faith with any body ofmen whatsoever. Never was the adage that “Politicsmakes strange bedfellows” more forcibly illustrated thanduring this period of Irish history. The manliest of allthe declarations issued was that of Sir Connor MacGennis,from “Newry’s captured towers.” “We are inarms,” wrote he, “for our lives and liberties. We desireno blood to be shed, but if you (the English andtheir allies) mean to shed our blood, be sure we shall beas ready as you for that purpose.”

CHAPTER III

AT first the civil war in Ulster—for in the main it wasthe Old Irish against the Anglo-Irish settlers of theElizabethan régime, or their immediate descendants—wascarried on without ferocity, but the Scottish garrisonof Carrickfergus, in the winter of 1641, raided Island Magee,in the neighborhood, and put to the sword or droveover the cliffs, to perish in the breakers beneath them,or be dashed to pieces on the rocks, 3,000 of the Celtic-Catholicinhabitants, without regard to age or sex. Protestanthistorians claim that acts of cruelty had been committed201on the Anglo-Irish settlers by the Celtic Irish beforethis terrible massacre was accomplished. There mayhave been some isolated cases of murder and rapine—forbad and cruel men are to be found in all armies—butnothing that called for the wholesale slaughter at IslandMagee by fanatical Scottish Covenanters, who made upa majority of the Carrickfergus garrison. Christians, notto mention Mohammedans and savage heathens, haveshed oceans of blood in fierce persecution of each other,as if they were serving a furious devil, rather than a mercifulGod. They forget, in their unreasoning hatred, thatthe gentle Messiah, whose teachings they profess to follow,never made the sword the ally of the Cross. Theman made mad by religious bigotry is a wild beast, nomatter what creed he may profess. Let us, as Americans,be thankful that we live under a government which recognizesthe equal rights of all the creeds, and permitsevery citizen to worship God in peace, after his own fashion.May the day never come when it shall be differentin this Republic!

The frightful event we have chronicled naturallyaroused the worst passions of the angered Catholic populationof Ulster, and some cruel reprisals resulted. Weare sorry to be obliged to state that credible historyascribes most of the violence committed on the Irish sideto Sir Phelim O’Neill; but no charge of the kind is madeagainst O’More, MacGennis, McGuire, Plunket, O’Byrne,or any of the other noted chiefs of the period. It is impossibleto arrive at any accurate statement of the numberof those who perished on both sides, outside of the numerousbattlefields of the long struggle; but it is certainthey have been grossly exaggerated, particularly by English202writers, who took for granted every wild statementmade at the period. But, even granting that all thecharges made were true, which, of course, we do not admit,the fact would not stamp the charge of cruelty on theIrish nation. It was an age of cruelty—the age of theThirty Years’ War in Germany, which gave to the worldthe horrors of the sack of Magdeburgh; the age of thewars of the Fronde in France, and almost that of theSpanish atrocities in the Netherlands. And Cromwellwas soon to appear upon the scene in Ireland, to leavebehind him a name more terrible than that of Tilly inGermany or of Alva in the Low Countries. In fact, inthe seventeenth century, Europe, from east to west, wasjust emerging from Middle-Age barbarism, and Ireland,most likely, was neither better nor worse than most ofher sister states. We love and respect the Irish race, butwe do not believe in painting it whiter than it is. Thenation, plundered and outraged, was goaded to madness,and whatever crimes were committed under such circ*mstancesmay well be attributed to the workings of temporaryinsanity. It is, however, regrettable that around thehistory of the Irish insurrection of 1641 there shouldlinger blood-red clouds, which even the lapse of two anda half centuries has not been able to dissipate.

On the Anglo-Irish side of the conflict, the name ofSir Charles Coote stands out in bloody pre-eminence.Like Sir Phelim, he had the grand virtue of physicalcourage—he feared nothing in mortal shape—but in allelse he was a demon-brute, and his memory is still execratedthroughout the length and breadth of the landhe scourged with scorpions. His soldiers are accusedof having impaled Irish infants on their pikes—their203mothers having been dishonored and butchered—withoutrebuke from their inhuman commander. On thecontrary, McGee, a very painstaking and impartial historian,quotes Sir Charles Coote as saying that “heliked such frolics.” (McGee’s “History of Ireland,”Volume I, p. 502.) It is not unpleasant to note that,after a career of the most aggressive cruelty, he wasfinally killed by a musket-shot during a petty skirmishin the County Meath, and it is popular belief that the shotwas fired by one of his own band of uniformed assassins.

The war proceeded in a rather desultory manner,chiefly because of lack of skill in the Irish generals—onlya few of whom had seen service—and the promised Irishmilitary leaders had not yet sailed from the Continent.Sir Phelim O’Neill made an unsuccessful attack on Drogheda,and was also repulsed at other fortified places, owingto the lack of a suitable battering train. English reinforcementskept pouring into Dublin by the shipload,until a fine army of not less than 25,000 men, with anumerous and well-served artillery, was in the field. TheIrish army amounted, nominally, to 30,000 men, but onlya third of it was armed and properly trained.

The excesses of the English army in the peaceful Anglo-Catholicdistricts of Leinster aroused the resentmentof the hitherto apathetic nobility and “gentry” of thatfine province. They appointed Sir John Read to bear aprotest to the king, but, while en route, he was arrested,confined in Dublin Castle and put to the rack by the ParliamentaryGovernment. Even this outrage did not drivethe aristocrats of Leinster into immediate warfare. Otheroutrages followed in quick succession. Finally, LordGormanstown called a meeting of the Catholic peers and204gentlemen to assemble at the hill of Crofty, in the CountyMeath. They met there accordingly, headed by thecaller of the gathering. Other distinguished Palesmenpresent were the Earl of Fingal, Lords Dunsany, Louth,Slane, Trimleston, and Netterville; Sir Christopher Bellew,Sir Patrick Barnewall, Nicholas Darcy, Gerald Aylmer,and many others. While these personages were stilldeliberating, they observed a group of horsem*n, bearingarms, approaching at a rapid pace. They were attendedby a guard of musketeers, and proved to be the insurgentchiefs of Roger O’More, Philip O’Reilly, Costello MacMahon,Captains Byrne and Fox, and other leaders ofthe people. The party on the hill immediately gallopedon horseback to meet them, and Lord Gormanstown, inloud and stern tones, asked: “Who are you, and why comeyou armed into the Pale?” To this question O’More replied:“We represent the persecuted people of the Catholicfaith, and we come here for the assertion of the libertyof conscience, the maintenance of the royal prerogative,which we understand to be abridged, and the making ofthe subjects in this Kingdom of Ireland as free as thoseof England.” “Then,” replied Gormanstown, “seeingthat these be your true end and object, we will likewisejoin with you!” The leaders on both sides then joinedhands, amid the applause of their followers. A moreformal meeting was arranged for at the hill of Tara, andat that gathering, held the next month, the alliance wasformally concluded.

The faulty training of the Irish army was painfully illustratedsoon afterward, when the forces of the newlymade allies encountered those of Lord Ormond at a placecalled Kilrush, near the town of Athy, in Kildare, April20513, 1642. The numbers were about equal—perhaps7,000 men each. The Irish were commanded by a bravebut inexperienced officer, Lord Mountgarret, and withhim were Lords Dunboyne and Ikerrin, Rory O’More,Colonel Hugh O’Byrne, and Sir Morgan Kavanagh.Mountgarret failed to occupy in time a difficult passthrough which Ormond must march on his way to Dublin,and this failure compelled him to rearrange his planof battle. Confusion—as is always the case when thisexperiment is tried with raw soldiers—resulted. TheIrish fought bravely for a time, but were soon outmanœuvredand outflanked. The Anglo-Irish cavalry tookthem in reverse. Colonel Kavanagh, fighting desperatelyat the head of his regiment, met a hero’s death.His fall discouraged his troops, who broke and fled to aneighboring bog, whither the hostile cavalry could notsafely pursue them. The other Irish troops, surroundedon all sides, made a rush for the morass also, brokethrough the enemy’s ranks and joined their vanquishedcomrades. On the Irish side, 700 officers and men fellin this untoward affair. The loss of the Anglo-Irishwas much smaller, and Ormond was enabled to proceedin a species of triumph to Dublin, where the news ofhis victory preceded his arrival.

It is passing strange that, after the battle of Kilrush,the great organizer of the insurrection, Roger O’More,is heard of never more in his country’s troubled annals.All accounts agree that, during the combat, he acted hispart like a true soldier, but he failed to reappear in theIrish ranks during subsequent conflicts. His was certainlya mysterious and unaccountable disappearance.

The late Rev. C. P. Meehan, author of “The Confederation206of Kilkenny,” who gave more attention to thatperiod of his country’s story than any other writer, says,on page 26 of his interesting work: “After the battle ofKilrush, one bright name disappears [he mentionsO’More in a foot-note]; the last time the inspiritingwar-shout of his followers fell on his ear was on thathillside. What reasons there may have been for the retirementof the gallant chief, whose name was linked withthat of God and Our Lady, are not apparent; but it is said,upon authority, that he proceeded to Ferns, and devotedthe rest of his days to peaceful pursuits in the bosom ofhis family.” The historian Coote says that he died atKilkenny. This was, surely, a “lame and impotent conclusion”to such a career. The defeat of his countrymenmay have destroyed his hopes, or he may have had reasonto doubt the loyalty of his allies of the Pale. We areinclined to believe an old Leinster tradition, which saysthat he died of a broken heart immediately after the lostbattle, on which he had built such high hopes. Such aspirit as his could not have remained inactive during thenine long years of the struggle, inaugurated by himself,which followed the disaster at Kilrush.

We can not dismiss this extraordinary man from ourpages without quoting the following introduction to aballad dealing with his career in Edward Hayes’s remarkablecollection of poetry, called “The Ballads ofIreland,” vol. I, page 173:

“Roger, or Rory, O’More, is one of the most honoredand stainless names in Irish annals. Writers whoconcur in nothing else agree in representing him as aman of the loftiest motives and the most passionate patriotism.In 1640, when Ireland was weakened by defeat207and confiscation, and guarded with a jealous care, constantlyincreasing in strictness and severity, O’More,then a private gentleman with no resources beyond hisintellect and courage, conceived the vast design of rescuingher from England, and accomplished it. In threeyears England did not retain a city in the island butDublin and Drogheda. For eight years her power wasmerely nominal, the land was possessed and the supremeauthority exercised by the Confederation created byO’More. History contains no stricter instance of theinfluence of an individual mind. Before the insurrectionbroke out the people had learned to know andexpect their Deliverer, and it became a popular proverb,and the burden of national songs, that the hope of Irelandwas in ‘God, the Virgin, and Rory O’More.’ Itis remarkable that O’More, in whose courage and resourcesthe great insurrection had its birth, was a descendantof the chieftains of Leix, massacred by Englishtroops at Mullaghmast a century before. But if he tooka great revenge, it was a magnanimous one. None ofthe excesses which stained the first rising in Ulster ischarged upon him. On the contrary, when he joined thenorthern army, the excesses ceased, and strict disciplinewas established, as far as it was possible, among menunaccustomed to control, and wild with wrongs and sufferings.”Says De Vere, in his sadly beautiful dirge,which assumes that the great leader died in 1642, as thepeople of Leinster have been taught to believe—

OUT of the chaos of a popular uprising, and a numberof minor councils, which could decide only forlocalities, there sprang into existence the National Synod,composed of clerics and laymen of the Catholic persuasion,because, at this period, few, if any of the IrishProtestants were in sympathy with the insurrection, orrevolution, which is a more fitting term. The “oathof association” was formulated by the venerable BishopRothe, and, somewhat unnecessarily, seeing that theKing of England was using all the forces at his disposalto crush “the rebellion,” pledged true faith and allegianceto Charles I and his lawful successors. The fundamentallaws of Ireland and the “free exercise of the RomanCatholic faith and religion” were to be maintained. Thencame the second, and most important, part of the solemnand, as some thought, stringent obligation, which boundall Confederate Catholics never to accept or submit toany peace without the consent and approbation of theirown general assembly.

A constitution was framed which declared the warjust and constitutional, condemned racial distinctionssuch as “New” and “Old” Irish, ordained an electivecouncil for each of the four provinces, and a nationalcouncil for the whole kingdom, condemned, as excommunicate,all who might violate the oath of association,or who should be guilty of murder, assault, cruelty, orplunder under cover of the war.

209The bishops and priests, very wisely, decided that alayman should be elected president of the National Council,and Lord Mountgarret was so chosen, with RichardBelling, lawyer and litterateur, as secretary. Both weremen of moderate opinion and free from any taint ofprejudice.

It was decided that the Supreme, or National, Councilshould hold its first session in the city of Kilkenny onOctober 23, 1642, the anniversary of the rising; and “thechoice of such a date,” says McGee, “by men of Mountgarret’sand Belling’s moderation and judgment, sixmonths after the date of the alleged ‘massacre,’ wouldform another proof, if any were now needed, that noneof the alleged atrocities (of 1641) were yet associatedwith that particular day.”

Between the adjournment of the National Synod, inMay, and the meeting of the Council in October, manystirring events occurred. The confederate general inMunster, the aged Barry, made an unsuccessful attemptto capture Cork, but had better success at Limerick, whichsurrendered to the Irish army on June 21. Soon afterwardthe Anglo-Irish leader, General St. Ledger, died atCork, and the command devolved upon MurroughO’Brien, Baron of Inchiquin, who had been brought upfrom an early age as one of Parsons’ chancery wards,and had, therefore, become a Protestant. Furthermore,he had grown to be an anti-Irish Irishman of the blackestand bloodiest type. In Irish history, he is known as“Black Murrough the Burner,” because the torch, underhis brutal sway, kept steady company with the sword,and both were rarely idle. He served the king as long asthe royal policy suited his views, but, when it did not,210his services were at the disposal of the opposition. Murroughhad served his military apprenticeship under SirCharles Coote and was a past master in all the crueltiespracticed by his infamous instructor. The curse of therenegade was strong upon him, for he hated his own kinmore bitterly than if he were an alien and a Briton. Ofthe ancient royal houses of Ireland, those of MacMurroughand O’Brien present the strongest contrasts ofgood and evil.

The Irish forces succeeded in taking the castles ofLoughgar and Askeaton, but Inchiquin inflicted a severedefeat upon them at Liscarroll, where the loss was nearlya thousand men on the side of Ireland, whereas the victorboasted that there fell only a score on his side. Therewere also some skirmishes in Connaught, where the peculiarinactivity of Lord Clanricarde produced discontent,and led to a popular outbreak in the town of Galwaywhich General Willoughby speedily suppressed, with everycirc*mstance of savage brutality. Affairs in Leinstercontinued rather tranquil. Ormond was raised by theking to the dignity of marquis, but does not seem to havebeen trusted by the Puritan Lords Justices, Parsons andBorlaise. The fall of the year was signalized, however,by the landing in Ireland of three able generals, all ofwhom fought on the national side—Right Hon. JamesTouchet, Earl of Castlehaven, who had been imprisonedas a suspect in Dublin Castle, but managed to effect hisescape; Colonel Thomas Preston, the heroic defenderof Louvain, who debarked at Wexford, bringing withhim 500 officers of experience, several siege guns, a fewlight field-pieces, and a limited quantity of small arms;and last, but most welcome to Ireland, arrived from Spain211Colonel Owen Roe O’Neill, who made a landing on theDonegal coast with 100 officers, a company of Irish veterans,and a quantity of muskets and ammunition. Heimmediately proceeded to the fort of Charlemont, heldby his fierce kinsman, Sir Phelim O’Neill, who, withcommendable patriotic self-sacrifice, resigned to him, unsolicited,the command of the Irish army of the North,and became, instead of generalissimo, “President ofUlster.”

Simultaneously with the arrival of Owen Roe, GeneralLord Leven came into Ireland from Scotland with 10,000Puritan soldiers. He had met O’Neill in the foreignwars and expressed publicly his surprise that he shouldbe “engaged in so bad a cause”—to which Owen repliedthat he had a much better right to come to the rescue ofIreland, his native country, than Lord Leven had tomarch into England against his acknowledged monarch.Leven did not remain long in Ireland, and the commandof his troops fell to General Monroe—a brave but slowman, on whom the advice of his predecessor to act withvigor was thrown away. Monroe’s dilatory tactics enabledO’Neill, who had wonderful talent for military organization,to recruit, drill, and equip a formidable force,mainly made up of the men of Tyrone and Donegal—asfine a body of troops as Ireland had ever summoned to herdefence. The valorous clansmen were speedily moldedinto a military machine by their redoubted chief, whoset the example of activity to all of his command.

When the Supreme Council of the Irish Confederationmet in Kilkenny, according to agreement, one of itsmost important acts was the appointing of generals tocommand in the several provinces. It named Owen212O’Neill commander-in-chief in Ulster, General SirThomas Preston in Leinster, General Barry in Munster,and General Sir John Burke in Connaught. Fightingwas resumed with vigor. Preston met with alternatesuccesses and reverses in his province, but, on the whole,came out victorious. Barry and his lieutenants did brilliantwork in Munster, and routed both Vavassour andInchiquin. O’Neill played a Fabian game in Ulster,training his army in partial engagements with the enemyand husbanding his resources for some great occasion,which, he saw, would surely come. But the brightestlaurels of the campaign were gathered by General SirJohn Burke, who, after other brilliant exploits, compelledGeneral Willoughby to surrender the city of Galway tothe Irish forces on June 20, 1643; and the national flagwaved from the tower of its citadel until the last shot ofthe war was fired nine years thereafter. Clanricarde,who could have had the command in chief, paltered withtime, and thus lost the opportunity of linking his namewith a glorious exploit.

All the Irish armies, and particularly that underO’Neill, occupied excellent strategic positions, and thehopes of the military chiefs and the nation rose highwhen, suddenly, there came a blight upon those hopes inthe shape of a cessation of hostilities—in other words, aprolonged armistice—agreed to between the Anglo-Catholicmajority in the National Council on the one side,and the Marquis of Ormond, representing the King ofEngland, on the other. The Anglo-Catholics were againduped by pretences of liberality toward their religion, astheir fathers had been in the days of Elizabeth; and thisill-considered truce wrested from Ireland all the advantages213won in the war—which had already lasted two years—bythe ability of her generals and the courage of hertroops. Vain was the protest of O’Neill, of Preston, ofBurke, of Barry, of the Papal Nuncio, of the majorityof the Irish nation. Charles was in straits in England,fighting the Parliamentary forces arrayed against hisacts of despotism, and Ormond promised everything inorder to end the war in Ireland, temporarily at least, andso be enabled to send needed succor to a sovereign whomhe loved and served much better than he did God andcountry. With incredible fatuity, the Anglo-Catholicmajority in the National Council listened to the voice ofOrmond, and voted men and money to support the causeof the bad king who had let Strafford loose upon Ireland!We are glad to be able to say that the “Old Irish”element, represented by the brave and able O’Neill, wasin nowise responsible for this act of weakness and folly.O’Neill saw into futurity, and frightful must have beenthat vision to the patriot-hero, for it included the horrorsof Drogheda and Wexford, where the thirsty sword ofCromwell bitterly avenged on Ireland the foolish andfatal “truce of Castlemartin”; another lesson to nations,if indeed another were needed, to avoid mixing up inthe quarrels of their neighbors. Ireland invited ruin onthat dark day when she voted to draw the sword for theungrateful Charles Stuart against the Parliament of England.The temporary concession of Catholic privileges—designedto be withdrawn when victory perched on theroyal banner—was poor compensation for the loss ofadvantages gained at the price of the blood of bravemen, and the sowing of a wind of vengeance which producedthe Cromwellian whirlwind. If King Charles had214ever done a fair or manly act by Ireland—even by theAnglo-Catholics of Ireland—the folly of that countrymight be, in a measure, excusable, but his whole policyhad been, on the contrary, cold-blooded, double-faced,and thoroughly ungrateful. In this instance, the Anglo-IrishCatholics brought all their subsequent misfortuneson themselves. As if to emphasize its imbecility, theNational Council placed Lord Castlehaven, an EnglishCatholic, in supreme command over O’Neill in Ulster.Owen Roe was, of course, disgusted, but was also toogood a soldier and too zealous a patriot to resign hiscommand and go back to Spain, as a man of less noblenature might have done. Meanwhile, Monroe and hisarmy of 10,000 Lowland Scotch and Ulster “Undertakers”kept gathering like a thundercloud in the north. InScotland a body of 3,000 Antrim Irish, under AlisterMacDonald, called Cal-Kitto, or “the Left-handed,” werecovering themselves with glory, fighting under the greatMarquis of Montrose in the unworthy royal cause. Andwe read that the Irish Confederate treasury, about thistime, is somewhat replenished by funds sent from Spainand Rome. Even the great Cardinal Richelieu, of France,to show his sympathy with Ireland, invited Con, the lastsurviving son of the great O’Neill, to the French court,and permitted the shipment of much needed cannon toIreland. But all of those good foreign friends of theIrish cause were sickened and discouraged by the miserablepolicy of armistice, so blindly consented to by thelukewarm “Marchmen of the Pale” who had assembledin Kilkenny.

Many Irish Protestants, particularly the High Churchelement, were ardent royalists and refused to take the215oath of the Covenanters prescribed in Ulster by GeneralMonroe. They were driven with violence from theirhomes, and many fled for succor to their Catholicbrethren, who treated them with hospitable consideration.In Munster, the ferocious Inchiquin, and stillmore savage Lord Broghill, son of Boyle, first Earl ofCork, foiled in their ambitious schemes by some royalrefusal, broke out most violently, pretending the armisticewas violated, and seized upon three leading Southerntowns—Cork, Kinsale, and Youghal, where their excesseswere too horrible for narration—murder and arsonbeing among the lightest of their crimes. Ormond, inhis peculiarly adroit way, succeeded in still further prolongingthe truce, and stated that he had power fromthe king to come to a permanent agreement with theConfederates. The cause of Ireland about this time losta true and ardent friend and champion in the death ofthe good Pope Urban VIII, who was succeeded by InnocentX—a Pontiff whose noble generosity is still gratefullyremembered by the Irish nation. It was to one oftheir worthy predecessors, in the time of the Elizabethanwars, O’Donnell’s bard referred, when addressing Ireland,in allegorical fashion, he sang:

Nathless the truce, those two bad Irishmen, Inchiquinand Broghill, continued to do base work in the South,216where their cold-blooded atrocities struck terror into thewretched people of Munster. They even corrupted oldLord Esmond, commandant of Duncannon fort, whichpartly commanded the important harbor of Waterfordfrom the Wexford side. Esmond was blind and almostsenile, and, perhaps, too, was terrorized by the brutalthreats of Inchiquin. But Lord Castlehaven and theConfederate Irish immediately laid siege to the place,and, after ten weeks of beleaguerment, succeeded in retakingit. The traitorous commandant perished in theassault, and thus escaped an ignominious death, whichhis crime had richly merited. Several other Munstertowns, held by Inchiquin and his officers, were successivelyattacked and taken by the Confederates. In Connaught,however, the latter met with serious reverses.The town of Sligo was captured by Sir Charles Coote,Jr.—a worse scourge than even his infamous father—and,in an attempt to recover it, several gallant Irishmenperished. Archbishop O’Healy, of Tuam, fell into thehands of Coote and was barbarously tortured to death,Sunday, October 26, 1645. It must be remembered thatthese hostilities were the work of the Parliamentaryforces, which were opposed by the “Old Irish” party.The royal troops had been sent to England to assistCharles, or else lay supine in their garrisons, as didalso the Anglo-Irish, waiting for further developments.

The king sent the Earl of Glamorgan, an EnglishCatholic, who had intermarried with the O’Brien family,to Ireland to negotiate a new treaty with the Confederates.He succeeded in having a preliminary documentdrawn up, signed by himself for Charles, and by LordMountgarret and Muskerry on behalf of the Confederates.217Ormond, with his customary dilatoriness, haggledover the provisions regarding toleration of the CatholicChurch in the kingdom, and thus frittered away muchvaluable time, which the Parliamentary forces madegood use of. Ormond caused the treaty to be greatlymodified, and while the negotiators were working onit at Kilkenny, there arrived in Ireland a new PapalNuncio, in the person of the famous John Baptist Rinuccini,Archbishop of Ferns, and, afterward, Cardinal. Hecame to represent Pope Innocent X, who sent also substantialaid. The Irish in exile and their friends sent,through Father Luke Wadding, a further contributionof $36,000. The Nuncio complained that he had beenunreasonably detained in France—it was greatly suspectedby the intrigues of Cardinal Mazarin, who hadsucceeded Richelieu, Ireland’s true friend. In spite ofthis trickery, however, he managed to purchase, withPope Innocent’s funds, a 26-gun frigate, which he calledthe San Pietro, 2,000 muskets, 2,000 cartridge boxes,4,000 swords, 2,000 pike-heads, 800 horse pistols, 20,000pounds of powder, and other much needed supplies.(McGee.) A ludicrous cause of one of his delays inFrance was the obstinacy of the wife of Charles I, HenriettaMaria, daughter of Henry of Navarre, who insistedthat she would not receive the Papal Nuncio unlesshe uncovered in her presence. Rinuccini was proud andfiery, and, as representing the Pope, declined to removehis biretta, which so angered the queen that, after sixweeks’ parleying on this point of etiquette, the pair separatedwithout coming to an interview. Such is thefarcical folly of “royal minds.”

The Papal Nuncio, although only in the prime of life,was in feeble health, and had to be borne on a litterby relays of able-bodied men, from his landing-place, atKenmare in Kerry, to the city of Limerick, where he wasreceived with all the ceremony due to his high rank, noblecharacter, and chivalrous mission. From Limerick heproceeded by the same mode of conveyance to Kilkenny,the Confederate capital, where honors almost regal intheir splendor awaited him. Lord Mountgarret, Presidentof the National Council—a veteran soldier who hadparticipated in the wars of Hugh O’Neill against Elizabeth—metthe Papal dignitary, surrounded by a guardof honor, composed of the youthful chivalry of the Confederation,in the picture gallery of the Castle of Kilkenny—thepalatial residence of the Duke of Ormond,the most politic nobleman of the age. The so-calledGlamorgan treaty proceeded smoothly enough until certaindemands of the exiled English Catholics, madethrough the Nuncio, were included in its provisions.Armed with the amended parchment, Glamorgan and therepresentatives of the Confederates returned to Dublinand laid the matter before Ormond. The latter acted inso strange a manner as to take the Confederate delegatescompletely by surprise. He had Glamorgan arrestedwhile at dinner, on charge of having exceeded his instructions,and threw him into prison. The Confederate envoys219were sent back to Kilkenny, charged to inform thePresident and Council that the clauses concerning theEnglish Catholics were inadmissible and never could beentertained by the English people who supported thecause of Charles. Lord Mountgarret and his associatesbroke off all negotiations with Ormond pending the releaseof Glamorgan, which they firmly demanded. Ormondrequired bail to the amount of £40,000, and thebond was furnished by the Earls of Kildare and Clanricarde.When Glamorgan was enlarged, he proceededto Kilkenny, where, to the amazement of the Confederatesand the Nuncio he defended, rather than censured,Ormond’s course toward himself. On which McGeegrimly remarks: “To most observers it appeared thatthese noblemen understood each other only too well.”

Frequent bickerings occurred at Kilkenny betweenMountgarret’s followers, or the Anglo-Irish, and theNuncio’s followers, the “Old Irish,” who were in the minority.Rinuccini’s heart was with the latter, for, byinstinct as well as observation, he recognized that theywere the only real national party among the Irish factions.The rest he put down, with good reason, as time-serversand provincialists—ever ready to go back to theirgilded cages the moment the English power filled theircups with Catholic concessions. With a little moreknowledge of Ireland and her people, the Nuncio wouldhave been a marvelous leader. As it was, he did the verybest he could for Ireland—according to his lights—andhe was one of the very few foreigners who, on comingin close contact with the situation—remained true to theIrish cause through good and evil report. He was, ofcourse, a devoted Catholic, but in no sense a bigot. Irishmen220should always hold his name in high honor. Anymistakes the Nuncio committed were due to lack of familiaritywith surrounding conditions, very excusable inan alien.

But the Glamorgan treaty would appear to have beentaken up at Rome, where Sir Kenelm Digby and thepontifical ministers concluded a truce favorable to the interestsof both Irish and English Catholics. The kingneeded the 10,000 Irish troops which he knew the Confederatescould place at his disposal. In March, 1646, amodified Glamorgan treaty was finally signed by Ormondfor King Charles, and by Lord Muskerry and other Confederateleaders for their party. “These thirty articles,”comments McGee, “conceded, in fact, all the most essentialclaims of the Irish; they secured them equal rights asto property, the army, the universities, and the bar. Theygave them seats in both Houses and on the bench. Theyauthorized a special commission of Oyer and Terminer,composed wholly of Confederates. They declared that‘the independency of the Parliament of Ireland on thatof England’ should be decided by declaration of bothHouses, agreeably to the laws of the Kingdom of Ireland.In short, the 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, and 1829. Though some conditions wereomitted, to which the Nuncio and a majority of theprelates attached importance, Glamorgan’s treaty was,upon the whole, a charter upon which a free church anda free people might well have stood, as the fundamentallaw of their religious and civil liberties.”

These concessions proved to be a new “delusion, mockery,221and snare.” Ormond tricked the Confederates, andthe poltroon king, just before his fatal flight to the campof the mercenary Scots’ army of General Lord Leven,which promptly sold him to the English Parliament, forthe amount of its back pay, disclaimed the Glamorgantreaty in toto—a policy entirely in keeping with his unmanly,vacillating nature.

Owen Roe O’Neill, notwithstanding many and grievousvexations, chiefly arising from the absurd jealousyof General Preston, had his army well in hand on theborders of Leinster and Ulster, prepared to strike a blowat the enemy wherever it might be most needed. He wasin free communication with the Nuncio, who, accordingto all the historians of the period, supplied him with thenecessary means for making an aggressive movement.The Anglo-Scotch army of General Monroe presentedthe fairest mark for O’Neill’s prowess, and against thatforce his movements were, accordingly, directed.

CHAPTER VI

THE forces of the belligerents were not large, accordingto our more modern standards. In his comprehensive“History of Ireland,” the Rev. Abbe McGeoghegancredits Owen Roe with only 5,000 infantry and500 horse, while he calls Monroe’s force 6,000 foot and800 cavalry. The objective of both generals was theancient city of Armagh, and the grand-nephew of thegreat Hugh O’Neill was destined to win one of Ireland’sproudest victories in the immediate neighborhood of his222grand-uncle’s most famous battlefield—the Yellow Ford.Marching northward from the borders of Leinster, OwenRoe crossed the historic Blackwater and took position ata place called Benburb, in the present county of Tyrone.Monroe advanced to attack him, and ordered his youngerbrother, George Monroe, who commanded a strong detachment,to join forces with the main body without delay.O’Neill, apprised by his scouts of this movement,sent two regiments, under Colonels MacMahon and MacNenay,to intercept young Monroe at a pass throughwhich he would be compelled to defile his troops in orderto form a junction with his brother. The two colonelsobeyed their orders so strictly that George Monroe’s forcewas so utterly broken and routed that it was unable torender any service to the Puritan general during the remainderof the campaign. The victors immediately rejoinedO’Neill, who, in the interim, had detached ColonelRicard O’Ferrall to obstruct the elder Monroe’s marchfrom Kinnaird to Caledon, where he had crossed the Blackwater.The Scotchman’s cannon proved too much forO’Ferrall, who could only reply with musketry, but heretired in admirable order, although closely pressed byMonroe’s stronger vanguard. The battle of Benburb beganon the morning of June 16th, new style, 1646.O’Neill’s post was near the river, his flanks protected bytwo small hills, and his rear by a wood—all held by chosentroops. Throughout most of the day, the Scots, whohad both sun and wind at their backs, seemed to have theadvantage, in so far as partial demonstrations could determinethe question. O’Neill, in expectation of a reinforcementfrom the direction of Coleraine, “amused” theScotch general until the sun had shifted position and no223longer shone full and dazzlingly in the faces of the Irishsoldiers. Almost at this propitious moment, the expectedauxiliary force reached the field, and took up position inO’Neill’s line of battle. Rev. C. P. Meehan, historian ofthe “Confederation of Kilkenny,” who quotes Monroe’sdespatch, Rinuccini’s letters, and other contemporaneousauthorities, says: “It was the decisive moment. TheIrish general, throwing himself into the midst of his men,and, pointing out to them that retreat must be fatal tothe enemy, ordered them to charge and pursue vigorously.A far resounding cheer rose from the Irishranks. ‘Myself,’ said he, ‘with the aid of Heaven,will lead the way. Let those who fail to follow me rememberthat they abandon their general.’ This addresswas received with one unanimous shout by the army.The Irish colonels threw themselves from their horses, tocut themselves off from every chance of retreat, andcharged with incredible impetuosity.” Some musketrywas used, but the victory was decided in Ireland’s favorby her ancient and favorite weapon, the deadly pike,which may be called the parent of the bayonet. Monroe’scavalry charged boldly that bristling front of spears,but was overthrown in an instant and all but annihilated.Vain, then, became the fire of the vaunted cannon of theScotch commander and the crashing volleys of his smallarms. Vainly he himself and his chosen officers, swordin hand, set an example of courage to their men. Withthe shout of “Lamh Dearg Aboo!” which, fifty years before,had sounded the death-knell of Bagnal, Kildare,and De Burgh, on the banks of the same historic river,the Irish clansmen rushed upon their foes. The strugglewas brief and bitter. Lord Blaney’s English regiment224perished almost to the last man, fighting heroicallyto the end. The Scottish cavalry was utterly broken andfled pell-mell, leaving the infantry to their fate. LordMontgomery’s regiment alone retired in good order, althoughwith considerable loss, but Montgomery himself,fifty other officers, and some two hundred soldiers, weremade prisoners. Monroe fled, without hat or wig, andtradition says he lost his sword in swimming his horseacross the Blackwater. Of the Anglo-Scotch army, theredied upon the field 3,243 officers and men, and manymore perished during the vengeful pursuit of the victors,who do not appear to have been in a forgiving mood.O’Neill acknowledged a loss of seventy men killed andseveral hundred wounded. The Scottish army lost allof its baggage, tents, cannon, small arms, military chest,and, besides, thirty-two stand of battle-flags. Fifteenhundred draught horses and enough food supplies to lastthe Irish army for many months also fell into the handsof the vanquishers. Monroe’s army was, virtually, destroyed,and he sullied a previously honorable record byplundering and burning many villages and isolated housesto gratify his spite against the people whose soldiers hadso grievously humiliated him.

O’Neill’s fine military instinct impelled him to followup his success by giving Monroe no rest until he haddriven him from Ulster, but, unfortunately, there cameat this crisis a request, which really meant an order, fromthe Nuncio, to march the Ulster army into Leinster inorder that it might support those who were opposed inthe Council at Kilkenny to entering into further peacenegotiations with the bigoted Ormond and the now impotentking. O’Neill could hardly decline this misdirected225mission, but it proved to be, in the end, a fatalact of obedience. From that hour the Irish cause beganto decline. General Preston, O’Neill’s fierce Anglo-Irishrival, and fanatically devoted to the cause of Charles, engagedin battle with the Parliamentary general, MichaelJones, at Dungan Hill in Meath, and was totally routed,with immense loss. It is only proper to remark here,that the “Old” Irish did the best fighting during this war,because their hearts were in the struggle, while theAnglo-Irish, who mainly composed the armies underPreston and Lord Taaffe—the latter of whom was ignominiouslydefeated at Knockinoss, near Mallow in Cork—wereonly half-hearted in their efforts. Taaffe’s defeatwas aggravated by the cruel murder of the brave“Left-handed” MacDonnell of Antrim, who, after havingbeen made prisoner, was barbarously put to death byorder of the murderous renegade, “Murrough theBurner,” who commanded the victors. This bloody-mindedwretch further signalized his cruelty by stormingthe city of Cashel and sacking the grand cathedral,founded by one of his own princely ancestors, in thetwelfth century. Hundreds of non-combatants of all agesand both sexes, who had taken refuge in the holy place,were ruthlessly massacred, and twenty priests weredragged from under the high altar and wantonly butchered.Lord Broghill emphasized his brutality in CorkCounty by hanging before the walls of Macroom Castlethe saintly Bishop MacEagan of Ross, who refused tocounsel the Irish garrison to surrender. Dr. Madden, agifted poet, summed up the noble refusal and its tragicalconsequences in the following lines:

CHAPTER VII

ORMOND would seem to have been the evil geniusof the Irish nation at this period of its history.He was suspected by the Confederates and distrusted bythe Parliamentarians. The former, convinced that hemeant to betray Dublin, which was poorly fortified, tothe latter, ordered O’Neill and Preston to unite theirforces and take it from Ormond. Preston, who was, toall appearance, more of a royalist Palesman than anIrishman, threw obstacles in the way of the intendedassault, and proposed to parley with Ormond beforeassuming the aggressive. Owing to this dilatoriness,and because of a false alarm, the combined Irish forcesretired from before the city without accomplishing anything.227There was mutual distrust between the unwillingallies, and, as usual, Ireland was the sufferer. Preston’sjealousy of O’Neill amounted to a frenzy, and, beforean accommodation could be arrived at, Ormond surrenderedthe city to the Parliamentary forces, under GeneralJones, and fled to France, where, unaccountably,considering his suspicious conduct, he was favorably received.After a year’s absence, he returned to Ireland,and, finding the royal cause desperate, concluded a peacebetween the king’s supporters, the Confederates, and theNational party, headed by Owen O’Neill. This treaty was,virtually, a revival of that submitted by Glamorgan, andfully recognized, when all too late, the justice of theCatholic claims to liberty of conscience. Had the originalinstrument been adopted, Charles could have held Irelandagainst the Parliament. But his days were now numbered,and he died on the scaffold, in front of his ownpalace of Whitehall, on January 30, 1649.

The Royalist party at once recognized his heir asCharles II. They were reinforced by many ParliamentarianProtestants who were shocked and horrified by thedecapitation of the king; and so Old Irish and NewIrish, Confederates and Ormondists, made common causeagainst the Parliament, which was defended in Dublin bythe redoubtable General Jones, and in Derry by the ferociousyounger Coote. Even the sanguinary Inchiquin againbecame a Royalist and captured several towns of strengthand importance from his recent allies. Ormond massedhis army and, aided by Major-General Purcell, made anattempt to storm Dublin. But Michael Jones made anight sortie from the city and scattered Ormond andPurcell and their followers to the winds of heaven. The228Irish generals mutually blamed each other and there wasmuch bitter crimination and recrimination, but all thiscould not remedy the disaster that incapacity and over-confidencehad brought about. Owen O’Neill kept hisarmy, which fronted Coote, near Derry, intact, but losthis best friend when the impetuous Nuncio, who hadspared neither denunciation nor excommunication in dealingwith the trimming Anglo-Catholic leaders, disgustedwith the whole wretched business, suddenly departed forthe port of Galway and sailed in his own ship for Rome.Had this good man had to deal with leaders like OwenO’Neill, faithful, sensible, and unselfish, Ireland wouldhave been an independent nation ere he returned to theEternal City. His retirement placed O’Neill and the“Old Irish” in great perplexity as regarded a militarypolicy. Ormond, the treacherous, was, nominally atleast, commander-in-chief of the royal army, and histrusted lieutenants, Preston and Inchiquin, were O’Neill’sbitter foes.

Under such disadvantages, we are not surprised tolearn that O’Neill adopted a policy of his own, at oncebold and original. He temporized with the Parliamentarians,and actually entered into a three months’ trucewith General George Monck, who had succeeded to theunlucky Monroe’s command in the North. The distrustand hatred of Ormond, whose military powerwaned immediately after his crushing defeat by GeneralJones, already mentioned, were so great that bothGalway and Limerick refused to admit his garrisons.He and his wretched ally, Inchiquin, became utterlydiscredited with the Old Irish party, and soon fledthe kingdom their infamies had cursed. Ormond returned229to England after the Restoration and was one ofCharles II’s intimates. It can hardly be wondered at,therefore, that, to use McGee’s language, “the singularspectacle was exhibited of Monck forwarding suppliesto O’Neill to be used against Ormond and Inchiquin,and O’Neill coming to the rescue of Coote and raisingfor him the siege of Derry.” It was unfortunate thatall of the Parliamentary generals were not possessed ofthe chivalric qualities of Monck and that hard fortuneagain compelled Owen Roe to draw the sword for thecause of the ingrate Stuarts. As for the Anglo-Irish,whether of the Church of Rome or the Church of England,they clung to the fortunes, or rather the misfortunes,of Charles II as faithfully and vehemently as tothose of his infatuated father. This was all the morenoteworthy, as the younger Charles had even less torecommend him to public estimation than his sire. Helived to be a disgrace to even the throne of England,which has been filled too often by monarchs of degradedand dissolute character. The second Charles of Englandwas destitute of every virtue, except physical courage.He had, in a high degree, that superficial good naturewhich distinguished his race, but he was a libertine, aningrate, and a despicable time-server. But Ireland didnot learn these truths about his character until long afterthe period of his checkered career here dealt with. Itmust be borne in mind, however, that in the middle ofthe seventeenth century the divinity which is alleged tohedge a king was much more apparent to the masses ofthe people than it is in our own generation, when themicroscopic eye of an educated public opinion is turnedupon the throne and detects the slightest flaw, in the230“fierce light” which beats upon it. The Old Irish partycared little for Charles, but when it came to a choicebetween him and Cromwell, there was nothing left thembut to throw their swords into the scale for the youthfulmonarch, who was not nearly as “merry” then as hebecame in after days, when he quite forgot the friendsof his adversity.

CHAPTER VIII

THEIR adherence to the cause of the young Stuartbrought upon the Irish nation the blighting “curseof Cromwell,” so terribly remembered down to the presenthour in every nook of Ireland visited by his formidableand remorseless legions. The English Parliamentwell knew that a general of the first class was needed tocrush the Irish army in field and fort, and so OliverCromwell, commander of the famous “Ironsides,” orParliamentary cuirassiers, the greatest and most relentlesssoldier of that age, was sent to Ireland, commissionedto work his will upon her. He landed in Dublin with anarmy of 4,000 cavalry and 9,000 infantry, augmented bythe forces already in the island, on August 14, 1649.Plentifully supplied with money and military stores, heat once made ready for a vigorous campaign. His secondin command was General Ireton, a son-in-law andpupil, who is remembered in Ireland only a degree lessbitterly than the great regicide himself. The lattermarched his formidable army, after a very brief rest,from Dublin to Drogheda, which was held for CharlesII by a garrison of about 3,000 men, burdened with many231helpless non-combatants, under the orders of Sir ArthurAston, a brave and experienced officer, who had sufferedthe loss of a leg in the Continental wars. He spurnedCromwell’s insolent summons to surrender, and successfullyrepulsed two furious assaults, led by the Englishgeneral in person. A third attack, made September 10,1649, was successful. General Aston fell, and the Puritansoldiers quarreled over his artificial leg, which wassaid to be made of gold. Examination proved it to beof wood—a much less costly and tempting material. Thegarrison, seeing their leader fall, laid down their arms,believing that quarter would be extended. But Cromwell,by his own admission (see his letters compiled byThomas Carlyle), refused this accommodation, on theflimsy pretext that Drogheda did not, at once, surrenderon summons; and the Puritan army was let loose uponthe doomed city. For five dreadful days and nightsthere ensued a carnival of rapine and slaughter. Theaffrighted people fled to cellars, many sought refuge inchurches, and some climbed even to the belfries in thevain hope of escaping the general massacre. But theywere relentlessly pursued, sabred, suffocated, or burnedto death in the places in which they hoped to obtain shelter.The few miserable survivors—less than one hundred—werespared, only to be shipped as slaves to theBarbadoes. (See Cromwell’s Letters, per Carlyle.)

Cromwell, in his despatch to the speaker of the EnglishParliament, called this brutal achievement “an exceedinggreat mercy,” and, blasphemously, gave all the praiseof the universal slaughter to the most High God! Thereis absolutely no excuse for the regicide’s outrageous conductat Drogheda, although Froude, Carlyle, and other232British historians have vainly sought to make apologyfor his inhuman actions. Many of the garrison wereEnglish and Protestant, so that race and creed did notentirely influence him, as the same considerations undoubtedlydid at other places in Ireland. His cold-bloodedidea was to “strike terror” into Ireland at theoutset of the campaign; and in this he certainly succeededonly too well. It made his subsequent task ofsubjugation much easier than it would, otherwise, havebeen. Having accomplished his work in the fated city,and left it a smoking ruin, he counter-marched to Dublin,rested there for some days, and then marched towardWexford, capturing several small towns, which offeredbut feeble resistance, on his way. His lieutenants had,meanwhile, added Dundalk, Carlingford, and Newry tohis conquests in the North. Wexford prepared for abrave defence, but was basely betrayed by Captain JamesStafford, an officer of English ancestry, who surrenderedthe outer defences, without the knowledge of his chief,Colonel David Sennott. Quarter was refused, as atDrogheda, and three hundred maids and matrons, manyof the latter with infants in their arms, who fled to themarket square, and took refuge, as they thought, underthe sacred shadow of the gigantic cross which stoodthere, were butchered, notwithstanding their pleadingsfor mercy. Nearly all of these people were Catholic increed, if not all of Celtic race, so that Cromwell manifestedwhat may be called an impartial spirit of crueltyon both bloody occasions. His hatred for the EnglishProtestant royalists was as hot, to all appearance, as thatwhich he entertained toward the Irish Catholics, who hadembraced the Stuart cause. But his remorseless policy233of general confiscation of the lands of the vanquished,and the sending into banishment, as veritable slaves, ofthe unhappy survivors, have left a deeper scar on theheart of Ireland than all the blood he so cruelly, and needlessly,shed on her soil.

The tidings from Drogheda and Wexford soon spreadthroughout the country, and the faint-hearted governorsof many strong towns surrendered without attemptingto make an honorable defence. Kilkenny proved an exception.There a brave stand was made, and garrisonand inhabitants received favorable terms of surrender.But Cromwell’s most difficult task was in front of “rareClonmel,” in Tipperary, which was garrisoned by a fewregiments of the aboriginal Ulster Irish—among the bravestmen that ever trod a battlefield or manned a breach—underthe command of Major-General Hugh Duff (Black)O’Neill, nephew and pupil of the glorious Owen Roe.This brave and skilful officer repulsed, with much carnage,several of Cromwell’s fiercest assaults, and the siegewould, undoubtedly, have been raised only for failure ofammunition in the Irish army. O’Neill, having satisfiedhimself that this was the unfortunate fact, evacuated thecity on a dark midnight of May, 1649, and retreated toLimerick. Cromwell, ignorant of this movement, demandedthe surrender of Clonmel next morning. Favorableterms were requested and granted. There was nomassacre, and Cromwell’s sardonic nature made himrather enjoy the masterly trick played upon him by youngO’Neill. Some years afterward, when the latter, aftera most noble defence of Limerick, fell into the hands ofIreton and was condemned to death, we are informedthat Cromwell, then virtually Lord Protector, caused his234sentence to be commuted and allowed him to return tothe Continent. Such is the effect true courage produceson even the most brutal natures.

Owen Roe O’Neill, who, of all the Irish generals, wasalone fitted, both by nature and experience, to combatthe able Cromwell, died soon after that tyrant’s arrivalin Ireland, as some say by poison. He was on the marchto attack the English army, when he surrendered to deathat Clough Oughter Castle, in Cavan, bitterly mourned byall who had dreamed of an independent Ireland. Howbeautifully Thomas Davis laments him:

Immediately after the capitulation of Clonmel, Cromwell,summoned by Parliament to operate against theroyalists of Scotland, set sail for England, leaving behindhim Ireton and Ludlow to continue his bloody work. ByOliver’s direction, confiscation followed confiscation, and,when he became Protector of the English Commonwealth,many thousands of innocent boys and girls were shippedfrom Ireland to the West Indies and other colonies ofEngland, where most of them perished miserably. Iretondied in Limerick, which yielded to his arms, after adesperate resistance, in 1651. Tradition says that herotted from the plague, and that his last hours were horribleto himself and to all who surrounded his repulsivedeathbed. He had caused to be killed in the city a235bishop, many priests, and a multitude of other non-combatants;and these atrocities appalled his craven soul atthe moment of dissolution. Ludlow, an equally ferocioussoldier, concluded the work of conquest in Ireland,and, in 1652, the whole island was again rendered “tranquil.”“Order reigned in Warsaw,” but it was not theorder that succeeds dissolution. Ireland, as subsequentevents proved, was not dead, but sleeping. The close of“the great rebellion,” which had lasted eleven years, wassignalized by the ruthless executions of Bishop HeberMacMahon—the warrior prelate who led Owen Roe’sarmy after that hero’s death—and Sir Phelim O’Neill,who was offered his life on the steps of the scaffold, ifhe consented to implicate the late King Charles I in thepromotion of the Irish revolt. This, the English historiansinform us, he “stoutly refused to do,” and died,in consequence, like a soldier and a gentleman. He hadhis faults—this fierce Sir Phelim. He was by no meansa saint, or even an exemplary Christian—but he acted,“according to his lights,” for the best interests of hisnative country, and lost everything, including life, instriving to make her free. A gifted Irish poet (T. D.McGee) sings of him as “In Felix Felix,” thus:

CHAPTER IX

THE subsequent fate of other chief actors in this greatpolitical and military drama is summed up by alearned historian thus: “Mountgarret and Bishop Rothedied before Galway (the last Irish stronghold of this war)fell. Bishop MacMahon, of Clogher, surrendered to SirCharles Coote, and was executed like a felon by one he hadsaved from destruction a year before at Derry. Coote, afterthe Restoration, became Earl of Mountrath, and Broghill,Earl of Orrery. Clanricarde died unnoticed on his Englishestate, under the Protectorate. Inchiquin, after manyadventures in foreign lands, turned Catholic in his oldage; and this burner of churches bequeathed an annualalms for masses for his soul. A Roman patrician didthe honors of sepulture for Father Luke Wadding. HughDuff O’Neill, the heroic defender of Clonmel and Limerick,and the gallant though vacillating Preston, werecordially received in France, while the consistent (English)Republican, General Ludlow, took refuge as afugitive (after the Restoration) in Switzerland.”

The same accomplished authority (T. D. McGee) informsus that under Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate, “Anew survey of the whole island was ordered, under thedirection of Sir William Petty, the fortunate economist237who founded the House of Lansdowne. By him the surfaceof the kingdom was estimated at ten and a halfmillion plantation acres, three millions of which werededucted for waste and water. Of the remainder, above5,000,000 acres were in Catholic hands in 1641; 300,000acres were college lands, and 2,000,000 acres were inpossession of the Protestant settlers of the reigns ofJames I and Elizabeth. Under the Cromwellian Protectorate,5,000,000 acres were confiscated. This enormousspoil, two-thirds of the whole island (as then computed),went to the soldiers and adventurers who hadserved against the Irish or had contributed to the militarychest since 1641—except 700,000 acres given in‘exchange’ to the banished in Clare and Connaught, and1,200,000 confirmed to ‘innocent Papists’ who hadtaken no part in the warfare for their country’s liberty.And,” continues our authority already quoted, “Cromwellanticipated the union of the kingdoms by a hundred andfifty years, when he summoned, in 1653, that assemblyover which ‘Praise-God Bare-bones’ presided. Membersfor Ireland and Scotland sat on the same benches withthe Commons of England. Oliver’s first deputy in thegovernment of Ireland was his son-in-law, Fleetwood,who had married the widow of Ireton, but his real representativewas his fourth son, Henry Cromwell, commander-in-chiefof the army. In 1657, the title of LordDeputy 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 embracethe five years of the Protectorate as the period of HenryCromwell’s administration.” High Courts of Justice238were appointed for dealing with those who had beenactively in arms, and many cruel executions resulted.Commissions were also appointed for the expatriationof the people, particularly the young. “Children underage, of both sexes, were captured by the thousands, andsold as slaves to the tobacco planters of Virginia andthe West Indies. Secretary Thurloe informs Henry Cromwellthat ‘the Council have authorized 1,000 girls, andas many youths, to be taken up for that purpose.’ SirWilliam Petty mentions 6,000 Irish boys and girls shippedto the West Indies. Some contemporary accounts makethe total number of children and adults, so transported,100,000 souls. To this decimation we may add 34,000men of fighting age, who had permission to enter thearmies of foreign powers at peace with the Commonwealth.”

As there was no Irish Parliament called under Cromwell’srégime, the “government” of Ireland consisted,during that period, of the deputy, the commander-in-chief,and four commissioners—the Puritan leaders,Ludlow, Corbett, Jones, and Weaver—all of whomlooked upon the Celtic-Catholic Irish, and, in fact, allclasses of the Irish people, with bigoted hatred and insolentdisdain. And these men had, until the Restoration,absolute dominion over the lives and liberty, therights and properties of the nation they hated!

The Act of Uniformity, which played such a terriblepart in the reigns of Elizabeth and James, was put intorelentless force. The Catholics were crushed, as it were,into the earth, and Ireland again became a veritablecounterpart of the infernal regions. Priests, of all ranks,were hunted like wild beasts, and many fell victims to239their heroic devotion to their flocks. Catholic lawyerswere rigidly disbarred and Catholic school-teachers weresubjected to deadly penalties. “Three bishops and threehundred ecclesiastics” perished violently during the Protectorate.“Under the superintendence of the commissioners,”says McGee, “the distribution made of the soilamong the Puritans ‘was nearly as complete as that ofCanaan by the Israelites.’ Such Irish gentlemen as hadobtained pardons were obliged to wear a distinctive markon their dress under pain of death. Those of inferiorrank were obliged to wear a round black spot on theright cheek, under pain of the branding iron and thegallows. If a Puritan lost his life in any district inhabitedby Catholics, the whole population were held subjectto military execution. For the rest, whenever ‘Tory’(nickname for an Irish royalist) or recusant fell intothe hands of these military colonists, or the garrisonswhich knitted them together, they were assailed with thewar-cry of the Jews—‘That thy feet may be dipped inthe blood of thy enemies, and that the tongues of thydogs may be red with the same.’ Thus, penned in (accordingto the Cromwellian penal regulation) between‘the mile line’ of the Shannon and the ‘four-mile line’of the sea, the remnant of the Irish nation passed sevenyears of a bondage unequaled in severity by anythingwhich can be found in the annals of Christendom.”

When the news of Oliver Cromwell’s death, whichoccurred on September 3, 1658, reached Ireland, a sighof intense relief was heaved by the persecuted nation.Many a prayer of thankfulness went up to the throne ofGod from outraged Irish fathers and mothers, whosechildren were sweltering as slaves under tropical suns.240Cromwell himself had passed away, but the “curse ofCromwell” remained with Ireland for many a black andbitter day thereafter.

What followed after his death until the Restorationbelongs to English history. Under his son Richard, andhis associates, or advisers, the Protectorate proved a failure.Then followed the negotiations with GeneralMonck, and the restoration of the monarchy underCharles II, who landed on English soil, at Dover, May22, 1660, proceeded to London, where he was cordiallywelcomed, and renewed his interrupted reign over acountry which, at heart, despised and distrusted him andall of his fated house.

CHAPTER X

THE Irish Catholics had built high hopes on the restorationof Charles, but were not very jubilant whenthey learned that he had appointed as Lords Justices, inDublin, their ancient foes and persecutors, Coote and Broghill,the latter now called the Earl of Orrery. In the Irish(provincial) Parliament, the “Undertaking” element wasin the ascendant, and the Protestants, barely one-fifth ofthe nation, had, in the House of Lords, 72 peers of theirfaith to 21 Catholics. In the Commons the same disparityexisted, there being 198 Protestant to 64 Catholicmembers. In England, the defenders of the crown, whohad fought against Cromwell, were, in most cases, treatedwith justice, and many had their possessions restored tothem. In Ireland, the Royalists, of all creeds and241classes, were treated by the king and his advisers withshameful ingratitude. Most of the confiscations of theCromwell period were confirmed, but the Catholic religionwas tolerated, to a certain extent, and the lives of priestsand schoolmasters were not placed in jeopardy as much asformerly. The Catholics made a good fight for the restorationof their property, and were faithfully aided bythe Earl of Kildare in Ireland and by Colonel RichardTalbot—afterward Earl of Tyrconnel—in England. Butthe Cromwellian settlers maintained the advantage inproperty they had gained. In 1775, they still held 4,500,000acres against 2,250,000 acres held by the originalproprietors. The figures, according to the most reliableauthorities, were almost exactly the reverse before theCromwellian settlement. An attempt on the part of theCatholics, to be allowed greater privileges than they possessed,was met in a most unfriendly spirit in England.One of their delegates, Sir Nicholas Plunkett, wasmobbed by the Londoners and forbidden the royal presenceby the order of the Council, while Colonel Talbot,because of his bold championship of the Catholic cause,was sent for a period to the Tower. The Irish Catholicswere, finally, forbidden to make any further address inopposition to the Bill of Settlement—as the act confirmingthe confiscations was called—and the perfidiousCharles signed it without compunction, although he wellknew he was beggaring his own and his father’s friends.An English tribunal, appointed to sit in Dublin and hearthe Irish claims, declared in favor of the plundered nativeproprietors, but as it was met immediately by theintrigues of the ruthless Ormond, who again becameLord Lieutenant of Ireland, the duration of this honest242English tribunal was limited to a certain day, when onlyabout 800 out of 3,000 cases had been heard. A measurecalled “An Act of Explanation” was then passed(1665), by which it was decreed that “no Papist whohad not been adjudged innocent under the former actcould be so adjudged thereafter, or entitled to claim anylands or settlements.” “Thus,” remarks a historian,“even the inheritance of hope, and the reversion of expectation,were extinguished forever for the sons anddaughters of the ancient gentry of the kingdom.”

An attempt made by the titled Catholic laity and theprelates and priests of that faith to establish their trueposition in regard to their spiritual and secular allegiancewas also met in a hostile manner by Ormond, who somanaged as to excite a bitter controversy in regard to adocument called “The Remonstrance,” which was supposedto embody the Catholic idea of the period. Theviceroy succeeded to the top of his bent. Dissension prevailedat a meeting of the surviving prelates of the Church,and the superiors of regular orders, held in Dublin, andOrmond made the failure of the gathering an excusefor persecuting the prelates and priests, whom he bitterlyhated as a body he could not use, with penal severities,which the selfish and sensual king, who was himself aCatholic in secret, allowed to pass without interference.

In this same year (1666) the importation of Irish cattleinto England was declared, by Parliamentary enactment,“a nuisance,” for the reason that when the Londonerswere starving, at the time of the Great Fire, Irelandcontributed for their relief 15,000 fat steers. Insteadof being grateful for the generous gift, the Englishlawmakers pretended to believe it a scheme to preserve243the trade in cattle between the two kingdoms. The NavigationAct—invented by Cromwell—which put fetterson Irish commerce, was also enforced, and these twogrievances united, for a time, the Puritans and the OldIrish, as both suffered equally from the restrictionsplaced upon industry. Ormond showed favor to the discontentedPuritans, and was recalled in consequence.His retirement lasted nine years, and during that periodhe became a patron of Irish manufactures, especially inthe county of Kilkenny. A bogus “Popish plot”—an offshootof that manufactured in England, during this reign,by that arch-impostor and perjurer, Titus Oates—wastrumped up in Ireland for purposes of religious and politicalterrorism. The attempt to fasten it upon the massesof the people happily failed, but, without even the shadowof proof, the aged and venerated archbishop of Armagh,Oliver Plunkett, was accused of complicity in it, arrestedand confined, without form of trial, for ten months in anIrish prison. Finally he was removed to London andplaced on trial. One of his “judges” was the notoriousJeffreys—the English Norbury—a man destitute of aheart. Even one of the paid perjurers, called a crownagent, stung by remorse, offered to testify in behalf ofthe unfortunate archbishop. All was in vain, however.The judges charged the jury against the accused, violatingevery legal form, and the hapless prelate was foundguilty. He was sentenced to be “hanged, drawn, andquartered” on July 1, 1681. This sentence was carriedout in all its brutal details. When the Earl of Essexappealed to the king to save the illustrious martyr,Charles replied: “I can not pardon him, because I darenot. His blood be upon your conscience. You could244have saved him if you pleased!” And this craven king,a few years afterward, on his deathbed, called for theministrations of a priest of the Church outraged by themurder of an innocent prelate! The slaughter of OliverPlunkett was the most atrocious political assassination inEnglish history, which reeks with such crimes. Theshooting of Duc d’Enghien by Napoleon did not approachit in cold-blooded infamy. The king, the minister, thecourt, the jury—everybody—believed the archbishop innocent,and yet he was sacrificed that his blood mightsatisfy the rampant bigotry of the times.

The Catholics were ferociously pursued in Irelandafter this shameful tragedy. Proclamations were issuedagainst them by Ormond, who had yet again becomeLord Lieutenant. They were forbidden to enter fortressesor to hold fairs, markets, or gatherings withinthe walls of corporate towns. They were also forbiddenthe use of arms—an old English expedient in Ireland—andthey were commanded to kill or capture any “Tory”or “outlaw” relative within fourteen days from the dateof proclamation, under penalty of being arrested andbanished from Ireland. This was the setting of brotheragainst brother with a vengeance. Few of the Irishpeople were found base enough to comply with the unnaturalorder, but Count Redmond O’Hanlon, one of thefew Irish chiefs of ancient family who still held outagainst English penal law in Ireland, was assassinatedin a cowardly manner by one of Ormond’s ruthless tools.The blood stains from the heart of the brave O’Hanlonwill sully forever the escutcheon of the Irish Butlers.

Just as the spirit of persecution of Catholics began tosubside both in England and Ireland, Charles II, who245had been much worried by the political contentions inhis English kingdom, which resulted in the banishmentof Monmouth and the execution of Lord William Russelland Algernon Sidney, had a stroke of apoplexy,which resulted in his death on February 6, 1685. Inhis last moments he was attended by the Rev. FatherHuddlestone, who received him into the Catholic Church,which he had betrayed so foully. He was immediatelysucceeded by his Catholic brother, the Duke of York,who ascended the throne under the title of James II.James was a man of resolute purpose, good intentions, nodoubt, but had a narrow intellect and sadly lacked discretion—atleast in the moral sense. His physical couragehas been questioned, although the famous MarshalTurenne certified to it, when he, in his fiery youth, servedin the French armies. He was destined, as we shall see,to ruin his friends, exalt his enemies, and wreck the ancientStuart dynasty.

CHAPTER XI

ALTHOUGH the final outcome of his policy was disastrousto Ireland, we feel justified in saying thatJames II meant well by all his subjects. He was afriend of religious equality—an idea hateful to the Englishand a large portion of the Scottish nation at thatperiod. In Ireland, too, the Protestant minority resentedit, because, to their minds, it meant Catholic ascendencyand the restoration of stolen estates. But James wentabout his reforms so awkwardly, and imprudently, thathe brought on himself almost immediately the all but246unanimous ill-will of his English subjects. He dared toprofess his Catholic faith openly—an unforgivable offencein England at that time. He sought to equalizethe holding of office by the abolition of the Test Act,aimed against Catholics, so that English, Scotch, andIrish Catholics should have the same rights and privilegesin that respect as their Protestant brethren. This,also, was an idea hateful to the English mind of theperiod. The king undertook to regulate the judiciary,the privy council, the army, the civil list—every publicappointment—according to his own notions. This meantrecognition of the Catholics and produced an uproar inEngland. He recalled Ormond from the viceroyalty ofIreland and sent Lord Clarendon to take his place. Finally,Clarendon resigned and Richard Talbot, who hadbeen created Duke of Tyrconnel, was made Lord Lieutenantof Ireland. This appointment alarmed the IrishProtestants, who, as usual, feared that the Catholicswould get back their lands under a friendly executive,such as Tyrconnel—whose former exertions in regard tothe Catholic claims were not forgotten—was well knownto be. He was injudicious enough, at the outset, to dismissmany Protestant officers from the Irish militaryestablishment and place Catholics in their positions. Althoughthis was done by proportion, Protestant jealousywas aroused and the seeds of revolt were deeply planted.

In England, popular feeling against the king was atfever heat. His illegitimate Protestant nephew—putativeson of Charles II—the Duke of Monmouth, who had beenexiled, returned to England and organized a rebellionagainst him. This ill-starred movement culminated atSedgemoor, in Somersetshire, in the summer of 1685.247A battle was fought there between the unorganized Englishpeasants, under “King Monmouth,” as they calledhim, and the royal army, under the Earl of Feversham.The rebels fought with commendable courage, but werebadly commanded and suffered an overwhelming defeat.Monmouth escaped from the field, but was captured soonafterward, tried, found guilty, and beheaded on TowerHill, of bloody memory, July 15, 1685. He had appealedin vain to James for mercy, and appealed in a manner socraven and undignified that he aroused the disgust of hisstern uncle. But the blood of the vanquished did notcease to flow when Monmouth died. The “Bloody Assizes,”conducted by Jeffreys, the “great crimson toad,”as Dickens describes him, and four assistant judges,spread death and terror throughout the English districtsrecently in revolt. This period of English history bore astriking resemblance to the 1798 period in Ireland, whenother “great crimson toads” hanged the hapless peasantry,and some of higher rank, by the hundred and thousand.All this butchery made James unpopular with avast majority of the English people, but, as he had nomale heir, the nation hesitated to rise against him, especiallyas Monmouth himself had been the aggressor. ButJames, while Duke of York, had married a young wife,the Princess Mary, sister of the Duke of Modena, whobore him a son—afterward called by the Hanoverian factionthe Pretender—in June, 1688. This altered the wholeaspect of affairs and a revolution became imminent immediately.Mary of Modena, although an intelligent andamiable woman, was of a haughty and somewhat punctiliousdisposition at times. This made her almost as unpopularwith the English people as was her husband. Sir248Walter Scott relates that, while duch*ess of York, she accompaniedher husband to Scotland, whither he went atthe behest of his brother, King Charles. James got alongvery well with the Scotch, particularly the Highlanders,who adored him, and whose loyalty to his family remainedunshaken until after Culloden. He invited an old Continentalveteran, Sir Thomas Dalzell, to dine with him.The duch*ess had the bad taste to object to the companyof a commoner. “Make yourself easy on that head,madam,” remarked Sir Thomas; “I have sat at a tablewhere your father might have stood behind my chair!”He alluded to a dinner given him and others by the Emperorof Austria, who was the suzerain of the Duke ofModena. The latter, if called upon by the emperor, wouldhave had to act in the capacity of an honorary waiter.All students of history are, doubtless, familiar with theromantic chivalry displayed by Edward the Black Prince,when he waited upon his captive, King John of France,whom he had vanquished at Poitiers. Mary of Modenawas, we may be sure, not formed by nature to makefriends for her husband, as the brave Margaret of Anjoudid for the physically and mentally degenerate Plantagenet,Henry VI. Had Mary been a Margaret, Williamof Orange might never have occupied the throne of “theThree Kingdoms.” The climax of King James’s politicalimprudences—they can not, in the light of modern ideasof religious equality, be called errors—was reached whenhe issued his famous declaration against test oaths andpenal laws, and decreed that it should be read from thealtars of the Protestant, as well as the Catholic, churchesthroughout England. Six Protestant prelates, headed bythe Archbishop of Canterbury, made protest by petition249and even visited the king in his bedchamber to dissuadehim from his purpose. But he persisted, as was usualwith him.

On the Sunday following the bishops’ call, out of10,000 English clergymen only 200 complied with theroyal decree. Of course we, Americans, who have equallaws for all creeds and classes, can not consistently condemnKing James for advocating what we ourselves practice,but we can afford to lament the fatuity which ledhim to dare Protestant resentment by seeking to makeProtestant pulpits the mediums of his radical policy. Itwas playing with fire. Had he stopped short at this point,James might have still held his crown, but, with incurableobstinacy, he insisted on prosecuting the recalcitrantbishops before the Court of King’s Bench, and they werefinally committed by the Privy Council to the Tower ofLondon. All England was now ablaze with fierce resentment.At the Tower the right reverend prisonerswere treated more like royal personages than captives.The officers and soldiers of the army—excepting the Irishregiments raised by Tyrconnel for James, and sent to dogarrison duty in England—openly drank to their speedyrelease. When they came to trial in the King’s Bench,the jury, after being out on the case all night, found thesix prelates not guilty on the charge of censuring theking’s government and defying the king’s mandate, andthey were immediately released amid popular acclamation.

The “loyal” Protestant majority had succeeded inplacing the Catholic minority, their own fellow-countrymen,in a position of political nonentity, simply becausethey worshiped God according to their belief. Who could,250then, have imagined that the England which refusedequality in the holding of office to Catholic subjects would,about two hundred years later, have a Catholic for LordChief Justice and an Irish Catholic (Lord Russell of Killowen)at that? Five generations have done much towarda change of sentiment in England. But King James, weare told, on hearing the shouts of the people when theacquittal was announced, asked of Lord Feversham, whohappened to be with him: “What do they shout for?”And Feversham replied, carelessly: “Oh, nothing—onlythe acquittal of the bishops!” “And you call that nothing?”cried the king. “So much the worse for them,”meaning the people. These latter were excited by theProtestant lords and gentry, who much feared a Catholicsuccession, now that the king had an heir-male to thethrone. Both of his daughters—Mary, married to William,Prince of Orange, the king’s nephew, and Anne,who became the wife of the Prince of Denmark—wereProtestants, their mother having brought them up inthat belief. William, half a Stuart and half a Dutchman,brave, resolute, and wise withal, seemed to the Englishmalcontents to be the “heaven-appointed” man to supplanthis own uncle and father-in-law. William was nothingloth, and Mary, who was to share the throne with him,made no objection to this most unfilial proceeding.Neither did Anne, who, like the unnatural creature shewas, fled from her father’s palace, guided and guardedby the Protestant Bishop of London, as soon as she heardof William’s almost unobstructed march on the capital.That personage had landed at Torbay, in Devonshire, onNovember 5—the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plotof the days of James I—convoyed by an immense fleet,251which carried to the shores of England a picked veteranarmy of 15,000 men. This army was commanded, underWilliam, by the Marshal Duke of Schomberg, CountSolmes, General De Ginkel, and other officers of Europeanrenown. The principal plotters who invited William toseize the crown of England were the Earls of Danby,Shrewsbury, Devonshire, the Bishop of London, LordLumley, Admiral Russell, and Colonel Sidney. Just alittle while before the coming of William, James took thealarm and attempted to make concessions to the Protestants.He also decreed the strengthening of the army, andthe enlistment of Irish Catholics and Scotch Highlanders,most of whom had retained the old faith, was encouraged.

At the news of William’s arrival in Exeter, whitherhe had marched from Torbay, the English aristocracybecame wildly excited and hastened to join his standard.The faculty of the University of Oxford sent him wordthat, if he needed money to carry out his enterprise,the plate of that institution would be melted down tofurnish him with a revenue. An agreement of the nobilityand gentry was drawn up and signed, and in it theypromised to stand by William of Orange and each other,“in defence of the laws and liberties of the three kingdomsand the Protestant religion.” Thus, it will be noticed,Protestant interests was the cry of the majority inEngland, opposed to James, who, as we have said, aimedat equality of all creeds before the law, while in Ireland,where the old faith “prevailed mightily,” Catholic interests,or civil and religious liberty, became, also, the war-cryof the majority. In England the Catholic minorityremained mostly supine during this period and until longafterward. In Scotland the Catholics and many Episcopalians252rallied for James under the leadership of the implacableand brilliant Claverhouse, afterward created ViscountDundee. They took the field for “James VII ofScotland,” as they called the exiled king, at the first tapof the war drum. The Catholic majority in Ireland naturallyrecognized in the unfortunate monarch a friend whooffered them religious and political liberty, and so theyresolved to place their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor”at his disposal.

The Irish Catholics can not be justly blamed for theirdevotion to the cause of James, who, whatever his motives,was the first King of England who ever attemptedto do them even ordinary justice. Tyrconnel,like Strafford in a preceding reign, although witha very different intention, began the organization of aformidable Irish army, which was designed to be composedof twenty regiments of horse, fifty of foot, and artilleryin the usual proportion. There were men for themere asking, but arms, ammunition, and equipments weresadly lacking. The weakest arm of the military branchof the public service was the artillery, and this continuedto be the fact throughout all of the subsequent war. AsWilliam drew nearer to London, the bulk of the nativeEnglish army, following the example of the highest officers—includingColonel John Churchill, afterward thegreat Duke of Marlborough—went over to him. This determinedJames to abandon his capital, yet his friendsinduced him to return for a period. But the still nearerapproach of “the Deliverer,” as the English called Williamof Orange, again induced him to fly from London.He had previously provided for the safety of the queenand the infant heir to the now forfeited crown, who had253taken refuge in France. The date of his final departurefrom Whitehall Palace was December 11. After not afew perilous adventures, he reached the court of hiscousin, Louis XIV, at Versailles, on Christmas Day,1688. He was most honorably and hospitably received,and Louis placed at his disposal the royal palace of St.Germain, in the neighborhood of Paris. When Jamesheard of the desertion of his youngest daughter, Anne,to his enemies, the wretched parent, who has been called“the modern Lear,” exclaimed in the anguish of his soul:“God help me! My very children have deserted me!”

CHAPTER XII

SUCH Irish soldiers as had remained in England afterthe flight of James were mobbed, insulted, and evenmurdered by the unthinking multitude, so easily excitedto deeds of cruelty. These men had done the Englishpeople no wrong—they had shed no English blood, andthey even wore the English uniform. Many fell in savagecombats with the furious mobs, but the majorityfought their way to the seaports, where they, by somemeans, obtained shipment to Ireland, carrying with themmany a bitter memory of England and her people. Manyof these persecuted troops were well-trained cavalry, whoafterward manifested splendid prowess at the Boyne andin other engagements. Their colonels were all membersof the ancient Irish nobility, Celtic or Norman, and theywere quite incapable of the crimes the credulous Englishmobs were taught to believe they were ready to commitat the earliest opportunity. Although the English people,254in their normal condition, are a steady and courageousrace, they are, when unduly excited, capable of entertainingsentiments and performing acts discreditableto them as a nation. A people so ready to resent anyimposition, real or fancied, on themselves, should be alittle less quick to punish others for following their example.It is not too much to say that the English, as amajority, have been made the victims of more religiousand political hoaxes—imposed upon them by evil-mindedknaves—than any other civilized nation. It was of theEnglish, rather than ourselves, the great American showman,Barnum, should have said: “These people love tobe humbugged!”

From the French court, which entirely sympathizedwith him, James entered into correspondence with hisfaithful subject and friend, Tyrconnel, in Ireland. Theviceroy sent him comforting intelligence, for all the Catholicsof fighting age were willing to bear arms in his defence.James sent Tyrconnel about 10,000 good muskets,with the requisite ammunition, to be used by thenew levies. These were obtained from the bounty ofthe King of France. As Tyrconnel was convinced thatIreland, of herself, could hardly make headway againstWilliam of Orange, backed as he was by most of GreatBritain and half of Europe, he conceived the idea of placingher, temporarily at least, under a French protectorate,in the shape of an alliance defensive and offensive,if necessary. He had the tact to keep King James inignorance of this agreement, because he did not wish himto jeopardize his chance of regaining the British crown,which a consenting to the French protectorate wouldhave utterly forfeited. Tyrconnel’s policy, under the255circ*mstances in which Ireland was placed, may havebeen a wise one, although, in general, any dependency ofone country upon another is fatal to the liberty of the dependentnation. Ireland, contrary to general belief, islarge enough to stand alone, if she had control of herown resources. To illustrate briefly, she is within a fewthousand square miles of being as large as Portugal, andis much more fertile; while she is almost a third greaterin area than Holland and Belgium combined. Her extensivecoast line, numerous safe harbors, and exceedingproductiveness amply compensate for the comparativesmallness of her area.

In February, 1689, the national conventions of Englandand Scotland, by vast majorities, declared that KingJames had abdicated and offered the crown to Williamand Mary, who, as might have been expected, acceptedit with thanks. Ireland had nothing to say in the matter,except by the voices of a few malcontents who hadfled to Britain. Nevertheless, the new sovereigns finallyassumed the rather illogical title of “William and Mary,‘by the grace of God,’ King and Queen of England, Scotland,France, and Ireland.” In France they held not afoot of ground; and in Ireland four-fifths of the peopleacknowledged King James. James Graham, of Claverhouse(Viscount Dundee), expressed his dissent from themajority in the convention of Scotland. Sir Walter Scotthas immortalized the event in the stirring lyric which beginsthus:

256James had some strong partisans in England also—mostlyamong the Roman Catholic and EpiscopalianHigh Church elements, but they were powerless to stemthe overwhelming tide of public opinion against him.Ireland was with him vehemently, except the small Protestantminority, chiefly resident in Ulster, which was enthusiasticfor William and Mary. Representatives ofthis active element had closed the gates of Derry in theface of the Earl of Antrim, when he demanded the town’ssurrender, in the name of the deposed king, in December,1688. This incident proved that the Irish Protestants,with the usual rule-proving exceptions, meant “war tothe knife” against the Catholic Stuart dynasty. Thuscivil war, intensified by foreign intervention, became inevitable.

The towns of Inniskillen, Sligo, Coleraine, and thefort of Culmore, on the Foyle, either followed the exampleof Derry, or were seized without ceremony bythe partisans of William and Mary in Ulster and Connaught.These partisans, headed by Lord Blaney, SirArthur Rawdon, and other Anglo-Irishmen, invitedWilliam to come into the country, “for the maintenanceof the Protestant religion and the dependency of Irelandupon England.” Thus, again, was the Protestant religionmade the pretext of provincializing Ireland, andbecause of this identification of it with British supremacythe new creed has remained undeniably unpopular withthe masses of the Irish people. The latter are very ardentCatholics, as their long and bloody wars in defenceof their faith have amply proven, but while thisstatement is undeniable, it can not be denied either thathad the so-called Reformation not been identified with257English political supremacy, it might have made muchgreater inroads among the Irish population than it hassucceeded in doing. Ireland was treated not a whit betterunder the Catholic rulers of England, from 1169 tothe period of Mary I—Henry VIII was a schismaticrather than a Protestant—than under her Protestantrulers, until James II appeared upon the scene, and hisclemency toward the Irish was based upon religiousrather than national grounds. Even in our own day,the English Catholics are among the strongest opponentsof Irish legislative independence, and in the category ofsuch opponents may be classed the late Cardinal Vaughanand the present Duke of Norfolk.

King James, at the call of the Irish majority, left hisFrench retreat, and sailed from Brest with a fleet providedby King Louis, which saw him in safety to memorableKinsale, where he landed on March 12, old style,1689. He was accompanied by about 1,200 veterantroops, French and Irish, with a sprinkling of royalists,Scotch and English, and several officers of high rank,including Lieutenant-General De Rosen, Lieutenant-GeneralMaumont, Major-General De Lery, Major-GeneralPusignan, Colonel Patrick Sarsfield, afterward the renownedEarl of Lucan, and the king’s two natural sons,the Duke of Berwick and Grand Prior Fitzjames. Therecame with him also fifteen Catholic chaplains, most ofwhom could speak the Gaelic tongue, and these gentlemenwere very useful to him on a mission such as hehad undertaken. The progress of the ill-fated monarchthrough Ireland, from Kinsale to Dublin was, in everysense, a royal one. The Irish masses, ever grateful toany one who makes sacrifices, or who even appears to258make them, in their behalf, turned out in all theirstrength. A brilliant cavalcade, headed by the dashingDuke of Tyrconnel, escorted the king from town totown. His collateral descent from King Edward Bruce,freely chosen by Ireland early in the fourteenth century,was remembered. James was, therefore, really welcomedas King of Ireland. The Irish cared nothing forhis British title. If the choice of the majority of anation makes regal title binding, then James II was astruly elected King of Ireland, in 1689, as Edward Brucewas in 1315. And we make this statement thus plainly,because it will enable non-Irish and non-Catholic readersto understand why Catholic Ireland fought so fiercelyand devotedly for an English ruler who had lost hiscrown in the assertion of Catholic rights and privileges.There was still another cause for this devotion of themajority of the Irish people to King James. He hadconsented to the summoning of a national Irish parliament,in which Protestants as well as Catholics were tobe represented in due proportion, and this decision onhis part made many of the Episcopalian Irish either neutralin the civil conflict or active on his side. The numberof such persons as were comprised in the latter classwas comparatively insignificant—just enough to mitigatethe curse of absolute sectarianism in the contest. TheDissenting or non-conforming Irish were, almost to aunit, hostile to the Jacobite cause.

CHRONICLING IMPORTANT EVENTS IN IRELAND FROMTHE ARRIVAL OF JAMES II IN THAT COUNTRY UNTILTHE DEPARTURE OF THE DUKE OF BERWICK TOFRANCE AFTER THE FIRST SIEGE OF LIMERICK, IN 1690

NOTHING could exceed the enthusiasm with whichthe Irish people welcomed King James. In thecities and towns, flowers were strewn in his path, corporationofficials turned out in their robes of state, andspeeches of welcome were delivered in English or readin Latin. The entry into Dublin was a magnificent spectacle.The whole city was in gala dress, and the differenttrades paraded before him. Harpers played at thetriumphal arches under which he passed. Beautiful younggirls, costumed in pure white, and coroneted with wreaths,danced the ancient Irish national dance, known as theRinka, in the progress of which flowers were profuselyscattered by the fair performers. The religious orderswere out in force, a great cross being borne at theirhead. The viceroy, lord mayor, and members of thecorporation, on horseback or in carriages, made up animposing part of the procession. When he reached theCastle, the sword of state was presented to him by theLord Lieutenant, and the Recorder handed him, accordingto an old custom, the keys of the city. “Te Deum”was sung in the Chapel Royal, one of the architecturalcreations of the Duke of Tyrconnel. From the flagstaffon the tower of the Castle itself, floated an Irish nationalflag, with a golden harp upon its folds; and onthis broad ensign were inscribed the inspiring and sadly262prophetic words, “Now or Never! Now and Forever!”Wherever the king appeared in public, he was greetedwith enthusiastic shouts, in Gaelic, of “Righ Seamus!—RighSeamus, Go Bragh”! (“King James—King James, Forever!”)

The military situation of King James’s adherents inIreland could not be called encouraging when he took uphis residence in Dublin. As usual, arms and ammunitionwere scarce. Some 30,000 men had volunteered tofight for Ireland, and there were not more than 20,000stand of arms, all told, to place in their hands. Andof this small supply, fully three-fourths were antiquatedand worthless. While there were, nominally, fifty regimentsof infantry enrolled, the only serviceable regimentsof horse were those of Galmoy, Tyrconnel, and Russell.There was one regiment of dragoons, and of cannononly eight field-pieces had been collected. The two best-equippedbodies of Irish troops were the command ofGeneral Richard Hamilton, in Ulster—about 3,000 men;and that of General Justin McCarthy, Lord Mountcashel,in Munster—slightly more numerous. Derry and Inniskillenheld out for William of Orange, and notwithstandingsome successes of General Hamilton in theNorth, there seemed no immediate prospect of reducingthem. The stubborn attitude of Inniskillen delayed thejunction of Mountcashel’s and Hamilton’s forces, whichhad been ordered by the Duke of Tyrconnel, commander-in-chiefof the Irish army, with General De Rosen ashis second in command. The smaller places occupiedby the Williamite forces were abandoned as being untenable,and the little garrisons fell back on Londonderry,which had now become the main objective of the263Jacobite army. The military governor, Lundy, was suspectedof being, at heart, a Stuart sympathizer, but hewas soon virtually superseded, first by Governor Bakerand afterward by the celebrated Rev. George Walker,rector of the living of Donoughmore, to whom historyawards the glory of the long, desperate, brilliant, andsuccessful defence of Derry against the armies of KingJames. It is a pity that the ability and bravery displayedby Dr. Walker have been made causes of politicaland religious irritation in the north of Ireland forupward of two centuries. Lundy, when his authoritywas defied, escaped from the city at night, in the disguiseof a laborer, and cut no further figure in Irish history.Before his flight, King James’s flatterers in Dublin hadpersuaded him to advance against Derry in person anddemand its surrender. Tyrconnel opposed the idea invain. He well knew that Lundy was in correspondencewith Hamilton and De Rosen for the surrender of thecity. It is quite probable that Derry would have finallysurrendered, on honorable terms, had James taken Tyrconnel’sadvice; but, with his usual fatuity, the obstinateking took the advice of the shallow courtiers, and didactually present himself before the walls of Derry anddemand its unconditional surrender! The reply was acannon shot, which killed an officer at James’s side. Theking retired with precipitation, and the citizens sent afterhim the “Prentice Boys’” shout of “No surrender!” Mortifiedby his rather ignominious failure, James retired toDublin, and summoned Parliament to meet on the linesalready indicated.

THE siege of Derry was continued under the supervisionof Maumont and Hamilton, who had quite alarge force at their disposal. It is regrettable to have tostate that the Protestant population of Ulster was furtherinflamed against the Stuart cause by the needless excessesof Galmoy and the barbaric severity of De Rosen, whoplaced a crowd of helpless women and children betweentwo fires under the ramparts of Derry, in the hope ofcompelling the garrison to surrender. The brilliant victoriesobtained over the Williamites at Coleraine andCladysford, by General Hamilton, in the earlier part ofthe campaign, were more than offset by the overwhelmingdefeat inflicted by General Wolseley, at NewtownButler, on the Jacobite army under Mountcashel. It wasIrish against Irish, but the Inniskilleners, who made upthe bulk of Wolseley’s force, were seasoned soldiers, wellarmed and well directed. Mountcashel’s men werechiefly green levies, and the battle was really lost throughtheir faulty manœuvring. One brigade mistook an orderto change front, so as to form a new line against aflank attack of the enemy, for an order to retreat, and sospread a panic that proved fatal. Mountcashel himselfwas dangerously wounded and made prisoner. He lost2,000 men in killed and wounded, and 400 fugitives, completelysurrounded, surrendered at some distance fromthe field. This battle was fought on July 31, 1689, and,265on the same day, Derry was relieved by an English fleet,which succeeded in breaking the boom that had beenconstructed by the Jacobite engineers across the mouthof the harbor.

It will be remembered that the gates of the citywere closed against Lord Antrim on December 7, 1688.Hamilton’s bombardment of the place began on the17th of April, 1689, and lasted for three months.There was a total blockade for three weeks, and provisionsbecame so scarce that the defenders actually devoureddogs, cats, rats, mice—anything, however revolting,that might satisfy the cravings of absolute hunger.The besiegers also suffered from bad weather and theshots from the hostile batteries. A rough computationplaces the total loss of the defenders at about 4,000 men,and that of the assailants at 6,000—the latter loss chieflyby disease. The relief of Derry was a mortal blow to thecause of King James, and soon afterward he lost everyimportant post in Ulster, except Carrickfergus andCharlemont. Yet, as an Irish writer has well remarked,Ulster was bestowed by the king’s grandfather “uponthe ancestors of those who now unanimously rejectedand resisted him.” His cause also received a fatal strokein Scotland by the death of the brave Dundee, who fell,vainly victorious, over the Williamite general, Mackay,at the battle of Killecrankie, fought July 26, 1689. DukeSchomberg arrived in Belfast Lough with a large fleetand army on August 13th. Count Solmes was his secondin command. He laid siege to Carrickfergus, whichcapitulated on fair terms after eight days’ bombardment.Charlemont, defended by the brave and eccentric ColonelTeague O’Regan, held out till the following May,266when it surrendered with the honors of war. It is saidthat King William, on his arrival in Ireland, knightedO’Regan in recognition of the brilliancy of his defence.The young Duke of Berwick made a gallant stand in theneighborhood, but was finally compelled to yield groundto the superior forces of Schomberg. Critics of the latter’sstrategy hold that he committed a grave militaryerror in failing to march on the Irish capital, which wasnot in a good posture of defence, immediately after landingin Ulster. Had he done so, King James must havehad to evacuate Dublin and fall back on the defensiveline of the Shannon, as Tyrconnel and Sarsfield did at alater period. Then Schomberg, it is claimed, would nothave lost more than half of his army, by dysentery, at hismarshy camp near Dundalk, where King James, in theautumn, bearded and defied him to risk battle with thestronger and healthier Jacobite forces. There wouldhave been no occasion for the Battle of the Boyne, thememory of which has divided and distracted Irishmenfor more than two centuries, had the challenge beenaccepted.

The Parliament summoned by James met in the Inn’sCourt, Dublin, in the summer of 1689. It was composedof 46 peers and 228 commoners. Of the former body,several were High Church Protestants, but, in the LowerHouse, there were comparatively few members of the“reformed religion.” This, however, was not the faultof the king or his advisers, as they were sincere in theirdesire to have a full Protestant representation in thatParliament. But, perhaps naturally, the Protestants weresuspicious of the king’s good intentions, and so the majorityheld aloof from the Parliamentary proceedings.267The most important acts passed by that Parliament wereone establishing liberty of conscience, which provided,among other things, that Catholics should not be compelledto pay tithes to Protestant clergymen, and viceversa; another act established the judicial independence ofIreland, by abolishing writs of error and appeal to England.The Act of Settlement was repealed, under protestby the Protestant peers, who did not, for obvious reasons,wish the question of land titles obtained by fraudand force opened up. An act of attainder, directed againstpersons in arms against their sovereign in Ireland, wasadded to the list of measures. Heedless of the adviceof his wisest friends, James vetoed the bill for the repealof the infamous Poynings’ Law, which made the IrishParliament dependent upon that of England; and also declinedto approve a measure establishing Inns of Courtfor the education of Irish law students. In the first-mentionedcase, James acted from a belief that his own prerogativeof vetoing Irish measures in council was attacked,but his hostility to the measure for legal educationhas never been satisfactorily explained. Taken as awhole, however, King James’s Irish Parliament was alegislative success; and it enabled the Protestant patriotand orator, Henry Grattan, when advocating Catholicclaims in the Irish Parliament a hundred years afterward,to say: “Although Papists, the Irish Catholics were notslaves. They wrung a Constitution from King James beforethey accompanied him to the field.”

OUR last chapter showed that Ireland, although herpopulation was overwhelmingly Catholic, began herstruggle for civil liberty by a non-sectarian enactment,which left the exercise of religion free. Yet, strange tosay, this wise and liberal policy did not win her thesympathy of Europe, Protestant or Catholic, outside ofFrance, whose king had personal reasons for his friendliness.Louis XIV was both hated and feared by thesovereigns of continental, as well as insular, Europe.A combination, called the League of Augsburg, wasformed against him, and of this League the Emperor ofGermany was the head and William of Orange an activemember. Spain, Savoy, and other Catholic states wereas zealous against Louis as the Protestant states of Swedenand North Germany. Even the Pope was on theside of the French king’s foes. In fact, when DukeSchomberg landed, the war had resolved itself into a conflictbetween the rest of Europe, except Muscovy andTurkey and their dependencies, and France and Ireland.It was a most unequal struggle, but most gallantly maintained,with varying fortune, on Irish soil chiefly, for twolong and bloody years.

King James made enemies among his warmest supportersby increasing the subsidy voted him by Parliamentto twice the original amount, payable monthly. Healso debased the currency, by issuing “brass money,”which led to the demoralization of trade, and Tyrconnel,269after James’s departure from Ireland, was compelled towithdraw the whole fraudulent issue in order to stop thepopular clamor. Some Protestant writers, notably Dr.Cooke Taylor, have warmly commended the king’s judicialappointments in Ireland, with few exceptions. Inshort, to sum up this portion of his career, James II actedin Ireland the part of despot benevolently inclined, whothought he was doing a wise thing in giving the peoplea paternal form of government. But the Irish peoplecan not long endure one-man rule, unless convinced thatthe one man is much wiser than the whole mass of thenation, which is not often the case. It certainly was notin the case of King James. His establishment of a bankby proclamation and his decree of a bank restriction actannoyed and angered the commercial classes, whose pricesfor goods he also sought to regulate. But his crowningact of unwisdom was interference with the government ofthat time-honored educational institution, Trinity College,Dublin, on which, notwithstanding its statutes, he soughtto force officers of his own choosing. He also wished tomake fellowships and scholarships open to Catholics—ajust principle, indeed, but a rash policy, considering thatevery act of the kind only multiplied his enemies amongthe Protestants of Ireland, who were already sufficientlyhostile. Had King James proceeded slowly in his chosencourse, he might have come down to posterity as a successfulroyal reformer. Unfortunately for his fame, posterityin general regards him as a conspicuous political aswell as military failure.

Among King James’s chosen intimates and advisersduring his residence in Dublin, the most distinguishedwere the Duke of Tyrconnel, the Earl of Melfort, Secretary270of State; Count D’Avaux, the French Ambassador;Lord Mountcashel, Colonel Sarsfield, afterward so famous;Most Rev. Dr. McGuire, Primate of Ireland, andChief Justice Lord Nugent. He generally attended Massevery morning in the Chapel Royal, and, on Sundays,assisted at solemn High Mass. One Sunday, he was attendedto the entrance of the chapel by a loyal Protestantlord, whose father had been a Catholic, as James’s hadbeen a Protestant. As he was taking his leave, theking remarked, rather dryly: “My lord, your fatherwould have gone farther.” “Very true, sire,” respondedthe witty nobleman, “but your Majesty’s father wouldnot have gone so far!”

The Dublin of that time was not, in any sense, theattractive city it is to-day. Beyond the great cathedralsand the ancient Castle, there was little to attract the eye,except the beauty of the surroundings, which are still theadmiration of all visitors. A century after the reign ofKing James, Dublin, from an architectural standpoint,became one of the most classical of European capitals;and the Houses of Parliament, the Four Courts, the CustomHouse, and other public buildings, became the prideof the populace. These monuments of Irish genius stillexist, although shorn of their former glory; but theyserve, at least, to attest what Ireland could accomplishunder native rule. There is not a penny of English moneyin any of these magnificent structures. All the credit oftheir construction belongs to the Irish Parliaments of theeighteenth century.

DURING the spring and early summer of 1690, thewar clouds began to mass themselves heavily in thenortheastern portion of the island, where Duke Schomberg,his depleted army somewhat recruited, still heldhis ground at Dundalk, with small garrisons postedthroughout Ulster. But it was soon known that Williamof Orange, in person, was to command in chief inthis fateful campaign. Several engagements, with varyingfortune, had occurred between the rival armies in differentparts of the north country, where the Duke of Berwickwaged a vigorous campaign against the Williamites.James, dissatisfied with the French Ambassador,D’Avaux, and Lieutenant-General De Rosen, demanded,and obtained, their recall by King Louis. By an arrangementbetween the two monarchs, Mountcashel’s commandof 6,000 men was exchanged for 6,000 French troops,under Lieutenant-General De Lauzun, who eventuallyproved to be even a greater marplot and blunderer thanthe odious De Rosen. Mountcashel’s force formed theOld Irish Brigade, of immortal memory, in the Frenchservice, and almost immediately after its arrival in Francewas sent to operate under the famous Lieutenant-GeneralSt. Ruth in Savoy. It also served in several campaignsunder the great Marshal Catinat, “Father Thoughtful,”as he was fondly called by the French army. The exchangeproved a bad bargain for Ireland, as will be seenin the course of this narration. James hoped much from272the skill and daring of the French contingent, but wasdoomed to bitter disappointment. “His troops,” saysMcGee, “were chiefly Celtic and Catholic. There werefour regiments commanded by O’Neills, two by O’Briens,one each by McCarthy More, Maguire, O’More, O’Donnell,McMahon, and Magennis, chiefly recruited amongtheir own clansmen. There were also the regiments ofSarsfield, Nugent, De Courcy, Fitzgerald, Grace, andBurke, chiefly Celts in the rank and file. On the otherhand, Schomberg led into the field the famous Blue andWhite Dutch regiments; the Huguenot regiments ofSchomberg (the Younger), La Millinier, Du Cambon,and La Caillemotte; the English regiments of Lords Devonshire,Delamere, Lovelace, Sir John Lanier, ColonelsLangston, Villiers, and others; the Anglo-Irish regimentsof Lords Meath, Roscommon, Kingston, and Drogheda,with the Ulstermen under Brigadier Wolseley and ColonelsGustavus Hamilton, Mitchellburn, Lloyd, White, St.John, and Tiffany.”

The absence of a fleet, the entire navy having gone overto William, placed James at a great disadvantage, andexplains why there were no sea fights of importance inBritish and Irish waters during this war. Isolated Frenchsquadrons could not be expected to make headway againstthe united navies of Britain and Holland. William, onthe contrary, had the seas wide open to him, and, onJune 14, 1690, he landed at Carrickfergus with reinforcementsand supplies for his army in Ireland, and accompaniedby the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, Prince Georgeof Denmark, the Duke of Ormond, the Earls of Portland,Manchester, Oxford, and Scarborough; General Mackay,General Douglas, and many other warriors well known273to British and Continental fame. He established headquartersat Belfast and caused a muster of all his forces,which showed him to be at the head of about 40,000 men,mostly veterans, and made up of contingents from Scandinavia,Holland, Switzerland, Brandenburg, England,Scotland, Ulster, together with the exiled Huguenot regimentsof France and the Anglo-Irish battalions of thePale. Allowing for detachments, William had under himan army of, at least, 36,000 effective men, officered by thebest military talent of the period.

James, according to all Irish and some British authorities,commanded a force of 17,000 Irish, of whom alonethe cavalry, numbering, probably, from five to six thousandmen, were considered thoroughly trained. In addition,he had 6,000 well-appointed French infantry, underDe Lauzun, which brought his total up to some 23,000men, with only twelve pieces of cannon. William, on theother hand, possessed a powerful and well-appointed artillery.Once again, James was advised not to oppose hiscomparatively weak and ill-disciplined army to an encounterwith the veteran host of William, and again theadvantages of the defensive line of the Shannon werepointed out to him. But he would not listen to the voiceof prudence, and marched northward to meet his rival, almostimmediately after learning of his debarkation atCarrickfergus. The Stuart army reached Dundalk aboutJune 22, when William was reported to be at Newry. Hisscouts were soon seen on the neighboring heights, and theFranco-Irish forces fell back on the river Boyne, and tookpost on the southern bank, within a few miles of Drogheda.The Irish camp was pitched immediately below thehill of Donore and near the small village of Oldbridge, in274the obtuse salient, pointing northwestward, formed bythe second bend in the river in its course from Slane—aboutsix miles from Oldbridge—to the sea. In the chartof the battle, published by the Rev. George Story, KingWilliam’s chaplain, in 1693, three strong batteries areshown in front of the right of the Irish army, on thesouth bank of the Boyne, and one protecting its left oppositeto the point where the Mattock rivulet falls intothe main river. But no Irish account mentions these batteries.Some critics have thought it strange that theWilliamites, instead of making a long and tedious movementby Slane, did not endeavor to attack both sides ofthe river salient at once, and thus place the Irish armybetween two fires. The water, apparently, was no deeperabove than below the rivulet, but even were it deeper, Williamhad with him a well-appointed bridge train, andthe feeble battery, if any existed at all, would be insufficientto check the ardor of his chosen veterans. On thesummit of Donore Hill, which slopes backward for morethan a mile from the river, stood a little church, with agraveyard and some huts beside it. Even in 1690, it wasan insignificant ruin, but it is noted in Anglo-Irish historyas marking the headquarters of King James during theoperations on the Boyne.

The right wing of the Irish army extended itself towardthat smaller part of Drogheda which is situated onthe south bank of the river, in the County Meath. Thecentre faced the fords in front of Oldbridge, where severalsmall shoals, or islands, as marked in Story’s map, renderedthe passage of an attacking force comparativelyeasy of accomplishment. The left wing stretched in thedirection of Slane, where there was a bridge, and, nearer275to the Irish army, a ford practicable for cavalry. Jameswas urged to strengthen this wing of his army, sure to beattacked, the day before the battle, but he could only beinduced to send out some cavalry patrols to observe theground. When the tide, which backs the water up frombelow Drogheda, is out, many points on the river in frontof the Irish position are easily fordable, and there hasbeen little or no change in the volume of the current duringthe last two centuries. Therefore, the Boyne presentedno such formidable obstacle to a successful crossingas some imaginative historians have sought to makeout. Neither did nature, in other respects, particularlyfavor the Irish in the choice of their ground. Their armyoccupied a fairly good defensive position, if its advantageshad been properly utilized. King James interfered withthe plans of his generals, as it was his habit to interferein every department of his government, not at all to theadvantage of the public service. An able general, suchas William or Schomberg was, might have made the Irishground secure; that is, with sufficient cannon to answerthe formidable park brought into action by the enemy.The Irish army was in position on June 29, and on thefollowing day, King William, accompanied by his staffand escort, appeared on the opposite heights. His mainarmy was concealed behind the hills in the depression nowknown as King William’s Glen. With his customarydaring activity, the astute Hollander immediately proceededto reconnoitre the Jacobite position, of which heobtained a good view, though some of the regiments werescreened by the irregularities of the ground. Althoughwithin easy range of the Irish lines, he was not molestedfor some time. Having concluded his observations, William,276with his officers, dismounted. Lunch was spreadon the grass by the attendants, and the party proceeded toregale themselves. They were allowed to finish in peace,but when they remounted and turned toward their camp,the report of a field-piece came from the Irish side. Around shot ricochetted and killed a member of the escort.A second ball caught the king upon the shoulder, tore hiscoat and broke the skin beneath it. He fell forward onhis horse, but immediately recovered himself, and theentire party rode rapidly out of range. The Irish officers,who had observed the confusion caused by the secondshot, imagined that William had been killed. The newswas circulated in the camp, speedily traveled to Dublin,and soon found its way to Great Britain and the Continent.But William was not dead. After the surgeonshad dressed his wound, he insisted on againmounting his horse, and, like Napoleon when he waswounded in front of Ratisbon, in 1809, showed himselfto the army, whose shouts of joy speedily informed theIrish troops that their able enemy was still in the saddle.A brisk cannonade, which did but little damage, was thenexchanged between the two armies. It was the noisy preludeof a much more eventful drama. On the morrowwas to be decided the fate not alone of the ancient Stuartdynasty, but also of Ireland, with all Europe for witnesses.Night put an end to the artillery duel, and thehostile hosts, except the sentinels, disposed themselvesto sleep. History fails to record the watchword of KingJames’s army, but Chaplain Story is authority for thestatement that the word in William’s camp was “Westminster.”The soldiers on both sides, to use the militaryphrase, “slept upon their arms.”

TUESDAY morning, July 1, old style, dawned beautifullyon the river Boyne. Both of the royal hostswere drawn out in all their bravery, and the early sunglittered on their burnished arms. We have no goodaccount of their uniforms, but, judging by prints of theperiod, the British, in general, wore scarlet and the Continentalallies blue. Some of the French regiments alliedto the Irish army wore white and others blue coats, whichwere the favorite colors of the Bourbon kings. TheIrish army must surely have worn scarlet—the livery ofthe House of Stuart—because, we are informed byGeorge Story and other historians, they bore whitebadges in their hats, to distinguish themselves from theWilliamites, who wore green boughs in theirs. Thewhite co*ckade, or rosette, was the emblem of the Dukesof York—a title borne by James, as will be remembered,before his accession. The irony of fate, surely, wasmade manifest by the circ*mstance of William’s soldierswearing Ireland’s national color, as now generally recognized,on the occasion of her most fateful, althoughnot bloodiest, defeat.

At 6 o’clock A.M., William took the initiative by orderingabove 10,000 horse and foot, under General Douglas,Schomberg, Jr., and Lords Portland and Overkirk, tomarch along the river bank toward Slane, cross at, ornear, that point, and so turn the left flank of the Irish278army. This manœuvre was plainly seen and understoodby James and his lieutenants. Sir Neal O’Neill, at thehead of his dragoons, was detached to check the movement.The brave leader was in time to charge the enemy’scavalry, which had crossed nearer to Oldbridgethan was originally designed, as they had found a practicableford. The main body crossed higher up, atSlane. O’Neill, according to all accounts of the engagementon this flank of the Jacobite army, must have madea most gallant fight, because it was well on toward 9o’clock before the enemy was able to secure a footingon the Irish bank of the Boyne, and then only after thebrave O’Neill had been mortally wounded, and his survivingsoldiers discouraged by his fall. Notwithstanding,the Irish dragoons drew off the field in excellentorder, bearing their dying general along with them.With his latest breath, O’Neill sent word to King Jamesof how matters stood on his left wing, to which Douglas’swhole imposing force had now formed itself perpendicularly,that is, at right angles, threatening not alonethe left of the Irish line of battle, but also the rear, orline of retreat, on the pass of Duleek, which was thegateway to Dublin. James, observing this, became demoralized.Instead of using the French veterans atOldbridge ford, where he must have seen the main attackwas to be delivered, he placed in the hedges, and otherdefences which covered it, untried Irish levies, badlyweaponed, brave enough, it is true, but at absolute disadvantagewhen placed in opposition to the splendid armamentand perfect discipline of William’s veterans, manyof whom had been in a score of pitched battles. Lauzunand his French were sent toward the Irish left, accompanied279by Sarsfield, with a weak squadron of horse.But Douglas had formed his troops in such strong arraythat Lauzun, in spite of the direct orders of King James,declined to attack him, or receive his attack. Instead,he manœuvred so as to place a morass between his troopsand the enemy, and then began falling back on the passof Duleek, fearing to be outflanked and cut off by youngSchomberg’s powerful cavalry. Sarsfield, according tohis custom, charged the hostile horse boldly, but his menwere too few, and he was reluctantly compelled to followthe retrograde movement of the French. In this operationhe lost one cannon, which got stuck in the mud ofa bog that intervened between the river and Donore. Atthe latter point he rejoined the king. James seemed tothink only of his line of retreat. Had he thought of hisline of advance, everything might still have been rectified.His army remained unshaken, except by his ownwretched fears. The dread of being made a prisonerwas his bane. He had sent most of the baggage and halfthe cannon toward Dublin at the first news of the reverseat Slane—a remarkable way by which to raise the spiritsof an army already sadly conscious of the incompetencyof its royal commander, and its own inferiority to theWilliamite host in everything but ardent zeal and knightlycourage.

William, on learning of the success of his right wing,immediately ordered Marshal Schomberg, at the head ofthe formidable Dutch guards, two regiments of Huguenots,two of Inniskilleners, Sir John Hammer’s regiment,and several others on that front, including theDanes, to ford the Boyne in hot haste. They plungedin bravely, opposite to Oldbridge, and so dense were280their columns, according to Chaplain Story, that thewater rose perceptibly. Still it could not have risenmuch above the knees of the shortest soldier, for thehistorian, Haverty—a scrupulous writer—says, in hisadmirable work, that the water did not reach to thedrums of the bands that accompanied the attack. Theunseasoned Irish dragoons and infantry, armed withold fusils and half-pikes, received the enemy with a hastyand ill-directed fire, which did little damage. William’stroops replied with overpowering volleys, and his batteriesthrew balls into the defences. It would seem thatlittle was done at this point to rally the defenders, forthey soon broke and abandoned the hedges, but formedagain in the lanes of Oldbridge and the fields in its vicinity.The shout of triumph from Schomberg’s men wasanswered by a roar of anger that seemed to come fromthe battle-clouds above the river. There was a soundas of many waters, a terrific crashing of hoofs, a flashingof sabres, dying groans—Richard Hamilton, at the headof the superb Irish cavalry, was among the Williamiteregiments, dealing death-strokes right and left. Eventhe Dutch Blues reeled before the shock—the Danes andHuguenots were broken and driven back across thestream. Old Duke Schomberg, in trying to restore order,was killed near the Irish side of the river, and there, too,fell Caillemotte, the Huguenot hero, and Bishop Walker,the defender of Derry. It was a splendid charge, and,had it been sustained by the whole Irish army, mighthave saved the day. But King James’s eyes were notturned toward Oldbridge ford, but to the pass of Duleek.Fresh bodies of hostile infantry continued to cross thestream, and were charged and driven back several times281by the Irish horse. This part of the battle began about10.15 o’clock and continued until nearly noon.

King William now took a hand in the fight, and crossedwith most of his cavalry nearer to Drogheda. It is saidthat the tide had risen so high, he was obliged to swimhis horse, which, also, got “bogged” on the Irish bank,and was extricated with difficulty. When the animalwas freed, William remounted, and, although his shoulderwas still stiff and sore from contact with the cannon-ballon the previous day, he drew his sword and placed himselfat the head of such of his horse as had crossed withhim. He also rallied some foot-soldiers who had beenscattered by Hamilton’s furious charges. Nor were theseyet over. Hardly had William placed his men in order,when Hamilton came down again, with a whirlwind rush,and Chaplain Story says, with great simplicity: “Ourhorse were forced to give ground, although the king waswith them!” William, on recovering his breath, observedthe Inniskillen regiment of cavalry at a short distance,rode up in front of them and said, in his blunt fashion:“What will you do for me?” They answered with acheer, and rode to meet the Irish cavalry, who were againcoming on at a fierce gallop, urged by Hamilton. Theshock was terrible, but again the presence and the leadershipof the warlike William proved unavailing, and theInniskilleners, sadly cut up, followed the routed Williamiteruck down the hill toward the river. Cool in themoment of danger, William of Orange retired slowlyand managed to rally some foot and horse to his assistance.By this time more of his cavalry had crossed,under Ruvigny and Ginkel. The former captured somecolors, according to Story, but Ginkel’s force was routed282and he, himself, did not conceal his vexation at theirwant of firmness. He kept in their rear, in order to preventthem from bolting at sight of the Irish horse.

King James was urged by all of those about him whohad regard for his honor, including the brave GeneralSheldon and the ever gallant Sarsfield, to place himselfat the head of his reserve of cavalry and charge full uponWilliam as he ascended toward Donore. The unfortunateman, more of a moral than a physical coward, seemedunable to collect his faculties; and, instead of doing whatbecame him, yielded to the advice of the timid, and, evenwhile the battle raged hotly below him, turned his horse,and, accompanied by his disgusted officers and astonishedtroopers, rode toward the pass of Duleek, held by theFrench and some of the Irish, who repulsed every effortof General Douglas to force it. Hamilton’s cavalry stillcontinued to charge the Williamite advance, and thus enabledthe Irish infantry to retire slowly on Donore, wherethe bold Duke of Berwick rallied them and presented anunbroken front to King William. Then, in turn, theyretired toward Duleek. Hamilton made a final furiouscharge, in which his horse was killed and fell upon him.He was also wounded in the head and made prisoner.He was taken before William, who said: “Well, sir, isthis business over with, or will your horse show morefight?” Hamilton responded: “Upon my honor, sir, Ithink they will.” The king, who was incensed againstthe general for having sided with James and Tyrconnelagainst himself, looked askance at the gallant prisonerand muttered: “Your honor! Your honor!” And thiswas all that passed between them.

Chaplain Story, from whose book we have taken many283of our facts, was a most graphic and interesting writer,but a sad hater of the Irish, against whom he seems tohave borne a grudge, perhaps because they killed hisbrother, an English officer, in action. He never said agood word for them if he could avoid doing so. Yet, inspite of this failing, the truth would escape him occasionally.Many English writers leave the impression thatthe Irish army was defeated at the Boyne within an houror so after the engagement began. We have seen thatthe first movement was made about daylight, and thatthe battle near Slane opened about 8 o’clock. In frontof Oldbridge the attack was made at 10:15, and continuedhotly until nearly noon, when King William himself tookcommand, crossed the river with his left wing and wasbravely checked by Hamilton. Duleek is not more thanthree miles from the fords of Oldbridge. Therefore, theIrish must have fought very obstinately when ChaplainStory makes the following admission on page 23 of his“Continuation of the Wars of Ireland”: “Our army thenpressed hard upon them, but meeting with a great manydifficulties in the ground, and being obliged to pursuein order, our horse had only the opportunity of cuttingdown some of their foot, and most of the rest got overthe pass at Duleek; then night coming on[3] prevented usfrom making so entire a victory of it as could have beenwished for.” Thus, on the testimony of this Williamitepartisan and eye-witness, the battle of the Boyne,counting from its inception to its close, lasted about fifteenhours. Evidently the overpowered Irish army didnot retreat very fast.

284We have already mentioned the principal men whofell on the Williamite side. On the Jacobite side therefell Lords Dungan and Carlingford, Sir Neal O’Neilland some other officers of note, together with some 1,200rank and file killed or wounded. Few prisoners weretaken. Mr. Story, as usual, underestimates William’sloss, when he places it at “nigh four hundred.” Morecandid English estimates place it at nearer a thousand,and this was, probably, the true figure. The Chaplain,in dwelling on the casualties, says plaintively: “The lossof Duke Schomberg, who was killed soon after the firstof our forces passed the river near Oldbridge, was muchmore considerable than all that fell that day on bothsides.”

Drogheda, occupied by an Irish garrison of 1,500 men,surrendered, on summons, the day after the battle. Hadtheir commander made a spirited sortie on William’sleft wing, as it was crossing the river, good might haveresulted for the cause of James. It would seem that,like himself, many of his officers lacked the daring enterprisethat can alone win the smiles of Bellona.

King James, shamefully for himself, deserted the battlefield,or, rather, the outer edge of it, before the fightat the fords was over. An Irish Protestant poet, the lateDr. W. R. Wilde, of Dublin, says of the incident:

He reached Dublin at 9 o’clock that evening, while stillthe Irish army exchanged shots with William’s troopsacross the Nannywater at the pass of Duleek! Tradition285says that, meeting Lady Tyrconnel at the Castle, he exclaimed:“Your countrymen run well, madam!” Thespirited Irishwoman at once replied: “I congratulateyour Majesty on having won the race!”

English historians, in general, taking their cue fromStory, are ungenerous to the Irish in connection with theBoyne. English troops had comparatively little hand inobtaining the victory. The French writers, also, in orderto screen the misconduct, and possibly treason, of DeLauzun, seek to throw all the blame for the loss of thebattle on their Irish allies. Not so, many of the IrishProtestant writers, whose coreligionists bore a great dealof the brunt of the fighting on William’s side, and werethus enabled to know the truth. Among those writersmay be mentioned Colonel William Blacker, poet-laureateof the Orange Order in Ireland, who wrote at the beginningof the last century, and, in his poem, “The Battle ofthe Boyne,” gives full credit to his Catholic fellow-countrymenfor their valor, thus:

The expression, in regard to exchanging monarchs,alluded to in the ballad, is founded on a saying attributedto Sarsfield, who, on being taunted by a British officerat the Duleek outposts the night of the engagement, exclaimed:“Change kings with us, and we will fight thebattle over again with you!”

286James, after his defeat, remained but one day in Dublin.He summoned the State Council and the LordMayor, bade them farewell, and left the government ofthe kingdom and the command of the army in the handsof Tyrconnel. Then, accompanied by a small staff, herode to Bray and thence by easy stages to Waterford,where he embarked for France and reached that kingdomin safety. He was generously received by King Louis.In justice to a monarch who is alleged to have spokenharshly and unjustly of his Irish troops and subjectsafter the battle of the Boyne, we must state that his publishedMemoirs, as also those of his son, the heroic Dukeof Berwick, bear the very highest testimony to the braveryand devotion of the Irish army, particularly in dealingwith the closing campaign in Ireland, when it crowneditself with glory. Remembering this, we may join withthe poet in saying—

CHAPTER VI

TYRCONNEL, Sarsfield, Berwick, De Lauzun, andtheir forces immediately evacuated Dublin and itsneighborhood, and, practically, gave up all of Leinsterto the enemy, while they retired on the Shannon andheavily garrisoned Athlone, Limerick, and Galway—thelatter a most important seaport at that time. The flight287of James demoralized Tyrconnel, who was aging fast,and further discontented Lauzun, but Sarsfield and Berwickremained steadfast, and were determined not to giveup Ireland without a bitter and bloody struggle. Mostof the officers agreed with them. If they had lost a king,their country still remained, and they would defend it tothe last.

William’s first attempt was made against Athlone,which is the most central fortified place in Ireland, situatedmasterfully on the river Shannon, the commerce ofwhich it commands for many miles. The garrison wascommanded by an aged veteran of the Confederate war,Colonel Richard Grace, to whom fear was unknown.General Douglas, with 12,000 men and a fine batteringtrain, including several mortars, was detached from theWilliamite army at Dublin to attack the town. He appearedbefore it on July 17, and sent an offensive messagefor immediate surrender to the governor. ColonelGrace discharged a pistol over the head of the startledenvoy, and said: “That is my answer!” The siege beganwhen the messenger returned. Athlone, divided by theShannon, is partly in Westmeath and partly in Roscommon.The latter portion alone was defensible. ColonelGrace abandoned the Leinster side, called “Englishtown,”after leveling the works. He also destroyed the bridge,thus confining himself to “Irishtown,” where still standsthe strong castle. Douglas bombarded it furiously.Grace responded fiercely and honors were about even,when news arrived in the English camp that Sarsfield, atthe head of a powerful Irish force, was en route fromLimerick to raise the siege. For seven days the Englishgeneral rained balls and bombshells on Athlone, but, on288the seventh day, the indomitable Grace hung out a redflag on the castle, to indicate that the fight was to be toa finish, and that quarter would be neither taken norgiven. The English doubled their efforts to subdue theplace, but made no impression. Finally Douglas, in abjectfear of Sarsfield, raised the siege and left the townamid the cheers of the defenders of the Connaught side.The garrison and people gave Governor Grace an ovation,which, indeed, no warrior, young or old, betterdeserved.

King William reserved for himself, as he thought, thehonor and pleasure of capturing Limerick, which, in thedays of Ireton, had won celebrity by the obstinacy of itsdefence. Toward the end of July, 1690, he marchedfrom the capital, at the head of his main army, towardthat fortress. He was joined by the defeated Douglas,with his depleted division, at Caherconlish, within a shortdistance of Limerick, on the 8th of August. This junctionbrought his force up to 38,000 men, not to speak ofa siege train and other warlike appliances. The Irishforce consisted of 10,000 infantry within the city, and4,000 horse, encamped on the Clare side of the Shannon.There was, as at Athlone, an Irishtown and Englishtown—theformer situated on the Limerick side of the stream,and the latter on an island, called King’s Island, formedby the two branches of the great river. In addition toan infantry force, some regiments of Irish dragoons, intendedto fight either on foot or horseback, occupied Englishtown.The defences were in a wretched condition.Lauzun, who seems to have been the wet blanket of theperiod, declared that “King Louis could take them withroasted apples.” Tyrconnel and he were for surrendering289the city “on terms,” but Sarsfield, ably seconded bythe brave and youthful Duke of Berwick—the best of theStuarts—made fierce protest. De Boisseleau, a Frenchofficer of engineers, who sympathized with the Irish people,became their ally, and agreed to reconstruct theworks, with the aid of the soldiery and the citizens. DeLauzun, eager to return to the delights of Paris, abandonedthe city and marched with his French contingentto Galway. It would appear, from contemporaneous accounts,that his troops were not all native Frenchmen.Many were Swiss and German—a kind of Foreign Legionin the French service. Louvois, the elder, at thattime Louis’s Minister of War, detested Lauzun—KingJames’s appointee—and would not give him a corps ofchoice troops. The Swiss and Germans were courageoussoldiers, but their hearts were not in the cause theywere engaged in, and many of them deserted to theWilliamites after the battle of the Boyne. Lauzun remainedin Galway until he heard of King William’s unsuccessfulattempt on Limerick, when he and his forcessailed for France, the old Duke of Tyrconnel accompanyingthem. The Duke, on reaching Paris, made chargesof insubordination and general misconduct against Lauzun,who, thereby, lost the favor of the French monarch.His downfall followed, and, in after years, he was oneof the unfortunates doomed to captivity in the Bastile.He deserves no sympathy, as his whole conduct in Irelandmade him more than suspected of having been atraitor.

John C. O’Callaghan, the noted historian of the Williamitewars, in his “Green Book,” written in refutationof Voltaire, Lord Macaulay, and other libelers of the290Irish nation, says that the Louvois, father and son, whoheld in succession the portfolio of war in France, duringthe time when James was struggling to regain his crown,were inimical to his cause, and did all they could tothwart the friendly efforts of King Louis in his behalf.Louvois, Sr., it is explained, wished the command of theFrench troops sent to Ireland conferred upon his son;but James preferred Lauzun. Thus originated the feudwhich, no doubt, led to the utter ruin of the Stuartdynasty. The hostility of the Louvois also explains themiserable quality of the arms, equipments, and clothingsent by the French Government to Ireland. How fatala choice James made in preferring Lauzun has already appeared.By universal consent, De Boisseleau was mademilitary governor of Limerick. Berwick, in the absenceof Tyrconnel, was recognized as commander-in-chief,mainly because of his kinship with the king, while theable and trusty Sarsfield was second in command, and,as will be seen, did the lion’s share of the fighting.King William, with his formidable army, arrived withinsight of Limerick and “sat down before it” on August 9,confining his attentions mostly to the southern defencesof Irishtown, which appeared to offer the most favorablepoint of assault. Although he had with him a powerfulartillery, he did not hope to reduce the city without afurther supply of heavy ordnance. Before leaving theIrish capital, he had ordered a great siege train to beput in readiness, so that it might reach him about thetime he would be ready to begin the investment of Limerick.He knew, therefore, that it was near at hand.But another soldier, even bolder than himself, knew alsoof the close approach of the siege train from Dublin, and291that it was escorted by a strong cavalry force. Thiswas Sarsfield, who, at the head of five hundred chosenhorse, left the camp on the Clare side of the river onSunday night, August 10, rode along the right banktoward Killaloe, and, near that town, crossed into theCounty Tipperary by a deep and dangerous ford, seldomused and never guarded. He chose it in preference tothe bridge at Killaloe, because the utmost secrecy hadto be preserved, so that the Williamites might have noinformation of his design to intercept the train. Hisguide was a captain of irregular horse—called Rapparees—andhe bore the sobriquet of “Galloping O’Hogan.”Dawn found the adventurous force in the neighborhoodof the picturesque village of Silvermines, at thefoot of the Keeper Mountain. In the deep glen, whichruns along its eastern base, Sarsfield concealed his partyall day of the 11th; but sent his scouts, under O’Hogan,southward toward the County Limerick border, to locatethe siege train. The peasantry of the locality still pointout the exact spot where the Irish general awaited impatiently,and anxiously, news from the scouts. Thehorses were kept saddled up, ready for immediate action,and, while they grazed, the men held their bridle-reins.Pickets were posted behind the crests of every vantagepoint, to prevent surprise, because the patrols of KingWilliam’s army were ceaseless in their vigilance andmight come upon the bold raiders at any moment. Thescouts returned at nightfall and reported that the siegetrain and its escort had gone into camp near the castleof Ballyneety, about two miles from the village of Cullen,in the County Limerick, and twelve miles, by Englishmeasurement, in rear of the Williamite army. Sarsfield292immediately put his troops in motion, and, after a laboriousjourney, reached the neighborhood of the rock andruined castle of Ballyneety some hours before daybreak.The convoy, thinking itself secure, kept a careless look-out,and, besides, Sarsfield, in some mysterious manner,secured the password, which happened to be his ownname. Tradition of the neighborhood says that, as heapproached the camp, the noise of the horses’ hoofsstartled one of the English sentinels, who, immediately,leveled his piece at the Irish leader, and demanded thepassword. “Sarsfield is the word!” replied the general,“and Sarsfield is the man!” Before the sentry could fireoff his musket, he was cloven down, and, at a fierce gallop,the Irish horse fell upon the sleeping escort, nearlyall of whom were sabred on the spot. The capturedcannon, charged with powder to their full extent, wereplaced, muzzle downward, over a mine filled with thesame explosive, and the tin boats of a pontoon train,which was also bound for William’s camp, were piledup near them. The Irish force, humanely taking theEnglish wounded with them, drew away to witness theresult of the coming explosion with greater security.Soon all was ready; the train was ignited, and cannonand pontoons were blown into the sky. The report washeard and the shock felt for twenty miles around, andstartled even the phlegmatic King William in his tent.He divined at once, with military sagacity, what hadtaken place. There was no mistaking it. Already, onthe information of an Irish Williamite, named ManusO’Brien, who had accidentally encountered Sarsfield’scavalcade on the Clare side, the king had sent Sir JohnLanier, with five hundred dragoons, to the rescue. Sarsfield293eluded the latter and got back to his camp, recrossingthe Shannon much higher up than Killaloe, withoutthe loss of a man. When the news was confirmed toKing William, by General Lanier, he said, simply, “Itwas a bold movement. I did not think Sarsfield capableof it.” Some authors affirm that Sarsfield himself saidto a wounded English officer, whom he had captured,“If this enterprise had failed, I should have gone toFrance.” He was destined to do other stout service forIreland before he finally shed his life-blood for the Frenchlilies on a Belgian battlefield.

WILLIAM was not discouraged by the loss of hissiege material. He found that two of the cannoncaptured by Sarsfield had failed to explode. Some heavypieces, with mortars, also reached him, within a fewdays, from Waterford, and these, with the ordnance hehad brought with him from Dublin, made a formidablearray of breach-producing engines. The siege, accordingly,was vigorously pressed, as against the Irishtownand King’s Island, but hardly any demonstration wasmade against the Clare section, connected with Limerickby Thom*ond bridge, probably because of the loss of thepontoon train.

The Irish soldiery and the citizens of Limerick, encouragedby De Boisseleau, Berwick, and Sarsfield, had madeconsiderable improvement in the defences of Limerickbefore William came up, and, even after his arrival, continuedto repair the breaches made in the walls by hiscannon. Their batteries vigorously replied to those ofthe enemy, although much inferior in number and weightof metal, and the Williamites suffered quite heavy lossesin officers and rank and file. The Irish leaders had sentmany non-combatants to the safer side of the Shannon,but most of the women refused to leave and worked atthe earthworks like the men. Many of them were killedby the English fire while so occupied.

At last, on the morning of August 27, the Williamite295engineers declared the breach in the neighborhood of St.John’s Gate and the Black Battery on the south side ofthe town practicable. Some authorities say it was twelveyards wide, and others, including Thomas Davis, one ofIreland’s most accurate writers, six perches, which wouldmake quite a difference. Five hundred British grenadiers,drawn from the right flank companies of the lineregiments, as was then and for long afterward the custom,constituted the forlorn hope. Their immediate reserveswere a battalion of the Blue Dutch Guards—theheroes of the Boyne—and the regiments of Douglas, Stuart,Meath, Lisburn, and Brandenburg. The wholearmy stood ready to support these picked troops. Thesignal, three cannon shots, was given from Cromwell’sFort, where William witnessed the operation, at 3.30 P.M.Story tells us the day was torrid. The orders to thestormers were to seize the Irish counterscarp—the exteriorslope of the ditch—and maintain it. The assault wasdelivered with great spirit, the grenadiers leaping out oftheir trenches, advancing at a run, firing their pieces andthrowing their hand grenades among the Irish in theworks. The attack was fierce and sudden—almost in thenature of a surprise—but the Irish met it boldly, for,says Chaplain Story, in his thrilling narrative of theevent, “they had their guns all ready and discharged greatand small shot on us as fast as ‘twas possible. Our menwere not behind them in either, so that, in less than twominutes, the noise was so terrible that one would havethought the very skies ready to rent in sunder. This wasseconded with dust, smoke, and all the terrors the art ofman could invent to ruin and undo one another; and, tomake it more uneasie, the day itself was so excessive hot296to the bystanders, and much more, sure, in all respectsto those upon action. Captain Carlile, of my LordDrogheda’s regiment, ran on with his grenadiers to thecounterscarp, and tho’ he received two wounds betweenthat and the trenches, yet he went forward and commandedhis men to throw in their grenades, but in theleaping into the dry ditch below the counterscarp anIrishman below shot him dead. Lieutenant Barton, however,encouraged the men and they got upon the counterscarp,and all the rest of the grenadiers were as readyas they.”

It would seem that, at this point of the attack,some of the Irish soldiers began to draw off andmade for the breach, which the Williamites enteredwith them. Half of the Drogheda regiment andsome others actually got into the town. The cityseemed nearly won, as the supports came up promptly tothe assistance of their comrades. But the Irish troopsrallied immediately and fell vehemently on their pursuers.These, in their turn, retreated from the breach,“but some were shot, some were taken, and some cameout again, but very few without being wounded.” TheWilliamite chaplain thus describes the outcome, still preservinghis tone of contemptuous hatred of the braveIrish soldiery: “The Irish then ventured (sic) upon thebreach again, and from the walls and every place sopestered us upon the counterscarp, that after nigh threehours resisting bullets, stones (broken bottles from thevery women, who boldly stood in the breach and werenearer our men than their own), and whatever wayscould be thought on to destroy us, our ammunition beingspent, it was judged safest to return to our trenches!297When the work was at the hottest, the Brandenburgregiment (who behaved themselves very well) were gotupon the Black Battery, where the enemies’ powder happenedto take fire and blew up a great many of them, themen, fa*gots, stones, and what not flying into the air witha most terrible noise.... From half an hour afterthree, until after seven, there was one continued fire ofboth great and small shot, without any intermission; inso much that the smoke that went from the town reachedin one continued cloud to the top of a mountain [KeeperHill, most likely] at least six miles off. When our mendrew off, some were brought up dead, and some withouta leg; others wanted arms, and some were blind withpowder; especially a great many of the poor Brandenburgerslooked like furies, with the misfortune of gunpowder....The king [William] stood nigh Cromwell’sFort all the time, and the business being over, hewent to his camp very much concerned, as, indeed, wasthe whole army; for you might have seen a mixture ofanger and sorrow in every bodie’s countenance. TheIrish had two small field-pieces planted in the King’s Island,which flankt their own counterscarp, and in our attackdid us no small damage, as did, also, two guns morethat they had planted within the town, opposite to thebreach and charged with cartridge shot.

“We lost, at least, five hundred on the spot, and hada thousand more wounded, as I understood by the surgeonsof our hospitals, who are the properest judges.The Irish lost a great many by our cannon and otherways, but it can not be supposed that their loss shouldbe equal to ours, since it is a much easier thing to defendwalls than ’tis by plain strength to force people from298them, and one man within has the advantage of fourwithout.”

Mr. Story acknowledges fifty-nine officers of the Englishregiments engaged killed and wounded. Fifteendied upon the ground and several afterward of their injuries.“The Grenadiers are not here included,” continuesthe English annalist, “and they had the hottestservice; nor are there any of the foreigners, who lost fullas many as the English.”

We have quoted this English authority, prejudicedthough he was, because the testimony of an eye-witnessis much more valuable than the allegations of writerswho give their information at second hand. We mayadd, however, that all Irish historians have declared thatthe Black Battery was mined for such an emergency asdestroyed the Brandenburg regiment, and some of themassert that Sarsfield, in person, fired the mine. As hewas the Ajax of the campaign, on the Irish side, itseems quite natural that every extraordinary feat of skillor valor should have been credited to him. His ownmerits made him the idol of his people, and he wasfarther endeared to them, as being the son of AnnaO’More, daughter of the famous organizer of the Irishinsurrection of 1641. On the paternal side, he was ofNorman stock. His father had been a member of theIrish House of Commons, and was proscribed and exiledbecause he had sided with the patriots in the Parliamentarywars. General Sarsfield—the rank he held atthe first siege of Limerick—had seen hot service on theContinent, during the early part of his career, and commandeda regiment of the royal cavalry at the battle ofSedgemoor, where the unfortunate Duke of Monmouth299met with his fatal defeat at the hands of Lord Feversham.In stature, he was tall—considerably over sixfeet—fair and strikingly handsome. His flowing wig—inthe queer fashion of the period—fell in massive ringletsover the corselet of a cuirassier, and, in the rush ofbattle, he must have been the counterpart of Murat, Napoleon’s“Emperor of Dragoons.” Irish poets have calledhim “headlong Sarsfield.” “Long-headed Sarsfield” wouldhave been a better sobriquet, for, had his advice beentaken by his royal master and the generals sent by thelatter to command over him, Ireland would never havebowed her head to the yoke of William. Even the mostenvenomed of English historians against the adherentsof King James—including Lord Macaulay—do amplejustice to the courage, talents, and virtues of PatrickSarsfield.

The heroic women of Limerick, who fought and bledin the breach, are complimented by Chaplain Story, aswe have seen, at the expense of their countrymen, butthe glorious military record of the Irish race in the warsof Europe and of this continent, since that period, wouldmake any defence of the conduct of the heroes of Limerick-breachsuperfluous. The women, too, deserve immortalhonor; because, in defence of their country andhearthstones, they dared the storm of war, and “stalkedwith Minerva’s step where Mars might quake to tread.”

The Irish loss in killed and wounded was about fourhundred. Many lives, on both sides, were lost by sickness—dysenteryand enteric fever chiefly—during thissiege. A conservative estimate places William’s loss,by wounds and sickness, at 5,000, and the Irish at 3,000.

The day after his bloody repulse, King William sent a300flag of truce to De Boisseleau asking the privilege ofburying his dead. After consultation with Berwick andSarsfield, the French governor refused the request, as hesuspected a ruse of some kind behind it. All the deadwere buried by the Irish as quickly as possible, becausethe heat was intense, and, aside from feelings of humanity,they dreaded a plague from the decomposition of thecorpses left above ground. We are informed by the lateMr. A. M. Sullivan, M.P., in his admirable “Story ofIreland,” that, during the pursuit by the Irish of KingWilliam’s men from the breach to their trenches, thetemporary hospital established by the king for hiswounded caught fire. The Irish troops immediatelypaused in their fierce pursuit, and devoted themselves tosaving their helpless foes in the hospital, who, otherwise,must have perished miserably in the flames.

King William, after carefully considering the situation,and taking counsel with his chief officers, decidedthat there was no hope of capturing Limerick that year.Therefore, he declared the siege raised—that is, abandoned—and,on August 30th, the entire Williamite armydrew off from before Limerick, posting strong rear-guardsat points of vantage, so as to baffle pursuit. Theking, leaving Baron De Ginkel in command, retired toWaterford. There he embarked for England, biddingIreland what proved to be an eternal farewell. Althoughthis gloomy monarch was not quite as ferocious as someof his contemporaries, and was a marked improvementon Cromwell, Ireton, and Ludlow in Ireland, he ischarged by careful Irish historians—like McGee, O’Callaghan,and Sullivan—with having, like his lieutenant,General Douglas, permitted many outrages on the people,301both in person and property, on his march fromDublin to Limerick. Making due allowance for the difficultyof restraining a mercenary army, filled with hatredof the people they moved among, from committing excesses,it is regrettable that the martial renown of Williamof Orange is sullied by this charge of cruelty in Ireland,as, afterward, in connection with the foul massacre ofthe Macdonalds of Glencoe in Scotland. Brave men arerarely cruel, but we fear, in these instances, William wasan exception to the rule.

The story of the first defence of Limerick, in the Williamitewar, reads like a chapter from a military romance,and yet it was, indeed, a stern and bloody reality. Itwas, in truth, a magnificent defence against a powerfulfoe, not surpassed even by that of Saragossa against theFrench. Limerick, like Saragossa, was defended by thecitizens, men and women, quite as much as by the soldiery.All took equal risks, as in the case of Londonderry.The latter was also a brilliant defence—more,however, in the matter of splendid endurance than inhand-to-hand conflict. Londonderry wears the crownfor fortitude and tenacity—Limerick and Saragossa forheroic prowess and matchless courage.

THE successful defence of Limerick by the Irish wassomewhat offset in the following month of Septemberby the victorious expedition from England, againstCork and Kinsale, led by John Churchill, afterwardDuke of Marlborough, the greatest general of that age.Cork, under the military governor, McEligott, defendeditself vigorously during a siege of five days, but the defencesand garrison were both weak, and, eventually, thecity capitulated on honorable conditions. These weresubsequently violated by some soldiers and camp-followersof the English army, but Marlborough suppressed, inas far as he could, the disorders as soon as he heard ofthem. The English lost the Duke of Grafton—naturalson of Charles II—and many other officers and privatemen during the siege. Marlborough, with characteristicpromptitude, moved at once on Kinsale. The old townand fort, not being defensible, were, after some show ofresistance, abandoned by the Irish troops, who took postin the new fort, commanding the harbor, which they heldwith creditable tenacity, during fourteen days. They,at last, capitulated, their ammunition having run low,and were allowed, in recognition of their valor, to retireto Limerick, the garrison in that city being thus augmentedby 1,200 tried warriors. Marlborough accomplishedhis task within five weeks, and returned to England303a popular idol. The loss of Cork and Kinsale, particularlythe latter, was a severe blow to the Irish army,as it was, thereby, deprived of the most favorable seaportsby which supplies from France could reach it. Itshould have been stated that Marlborough, in the captureof those towns, was materially assisted by the Englishfleet. His army was a very formidable one, consistingof 9,000 picked men from England, and a detachment,nearly equal in numbers, which joined him, under theDuke of Wurtemburg and General Scravenmore. Thelatter body consisted of troops who had fought at theBoyne and Limerick. Wurtemburg, on account of hisconnection with royalty, claimed the command in chief.Marlborough, who was as great a diplomat as he was ageneral, agreed to command alternately, but he was, allthrough the operations, the real commander. Studentsof history will remember that, in after wars on the Continent,Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy commandedon alternate days. But there was a great differencein this case, Eugene having been regarded as nearlyas good a general as Marlborough himself.

O’Callaghan attributes the failure of the main Irisharmy to succor the Cork and Kinsale garrisons to the misconductof Lauzun in deserting Ireland, with his remaining5,000 French troops, at this critical period. Hequotes King James’s and Berwick’s memoirs, the Rawdonpapers, and other authorities, to show that the Dukeof Berwick had advanced with 7,000 men as far as Kilmallock,in Limerick County, to raise the siege of Cork,when he found himself destitute of cannon, which hadbeen carried off by the French general, and could not exposehis inferior force, destitute of artillery, to the formidable304force under his uncle, Marlborough. He was,therefore, most reluctantly compelled to abandon the enterprise.Lauzun, it is further claimed, carried off mostof the powder stored in Limerick, and, had it not been forSarsfield’s exploit at Ballyneety, that city must have fallenif a second assault had been delivered by William, as onlyfifty barrels of powder remained after the fight of August27th.

The autumn and winter of 1690-91 were marked byconstant bloody skirmishes between the cavalry and infantryoutposts of the two armies. Hardly a day passedwithout bloodshed. Considerable ferocity was exhibitedby both parties, and neither seemed to have much theadvantage of the other. Story’s narrative of this periodis one unbroken tale of disorder and strife. His narration,if taken without a grain of salt, would lead us tobelieve that nearly all the able-bodied Celtic-Irish wereput to the sword, at sight, by his formidable countrymenand their allies, although he does admit, occasionally,that the Irish succeeded in killing a few, at least,of their enemies. The most considerable of these lesserengagements occurred between Sarsfield and the Dukeof Berwick on the Irish side and General Douglas andSir John Lanier on the side of the Williamites. TheIrish leaders made an attack on Birr Castle in September,and were engaged in battering it, when the English,under Lanier, Douglas, and Kirk, marched to relieve it.They were too many for Berwick and Sarsfield, whor*tired on Banagher, where there is a bridge over theShannon. The English pursued and made a resolute attemptto take the bridge, but the Irish defended it sosteadily, and with such loss to the enemy, that the latter305abandoned the attempt at capture and retired to Birr.Sarsfield possessed one great advantage over all thehigher officers of King James’s army. He could speakthe Irish (Gaelic) language fluently, having learned itfrom the lips of his mother, Anna O’More. This gavehim vast control over the Celtic peasantry, who fullytrusted him, as he did them, and they kept him informedof all that was passing in their several localities. Thewinter was exceptionally severe—so much so that, atsome points, the deep and rapid Shannon was all butfrozen across. Besides, there were several bridges that,if carelessly guarded, could be easily surprised and takenby the invaders. Sarsfield’s Celtic scouts, in December,observed several parties of British cavalry moving alongthe banks of the river. Their suspicions were excited,and they, at once, communicated with their general.The latter had no sooner taken the alarm than one Englishforce, under Douglas, showed itself at Jamestown,and another, under Kirk and Lanier, at Jonesboro. TheEnglish commanders were astonished at finding the Irisharmy prepared to receive them warmly at both points.After severe skirmishing, they withdrew. The cold hadbecome so severe that foreign troops were almost useless,while the Irish became, if possible, more alert. Sarsfield,at the head of his formidable cavalry, harassed the retreatof the Williamites to their winter quarters.

The Duke of Tyrconnel, who had, according to O’Callaghan,and other annalists, sailed from Galway withLauzun, and, according to other authorities from Limerick,with De Boisseleau, after William’s repulse, returnedfrom France, in February, accompanied by threemen-of-war well laden with provisions. They carried306but few arms and no reinforcements, but the aged duke,who seemed to be in good spirits, said that the latterwould speedily follow. The amount of money he broughtwith him was comparatively insignificant—only 14,000louis d’or—which he devoted to clothing for the army,as most of the men were nearly in rags, and had receivedno pay in many months. He had deposited 10,000 louis,additional, at Brest for the food supply of the troops.

He found unholy discord raging in the Irish ranks.Sarsfield had discovered that some members of the Senate,or Council, appointed by Tyrconnel before he leftfor France, had been in treasonable correspondence withthe enemy, and that this treachery had led to the attemptat the passage of the Shannon made by the English inDecember. The Council consisted of sixteen members,four from each province, and was supposed to havesupreme direction of affairs. Through the influence ofSarsfield, Lord Riverston and his brother, both of whomwere strongly suspected of treason, were dismissed fromthat body, and Judge Daly, another member, whose honestywas doubted, was placed under arrest in the city ofGalway. A difference had also arisen between Sarsfieldand Berwick, although they were generally on goodterms, because the former did not always treat the latterwith the deference due an officer higher in rank. Berwickwas an admirable soldier, but he lacked Sarsfield’sexperience, and, naturally, did not understand the Irishpeople quite as well as the native leader did. In fact,Sarsfield was the hero of the time in the eyes of hiscountrymen, and, had he been unduly ambitious, mighthave deposed Berwick, or even Tyrconnel, and madehimself dictator. But he was too good a patriot and307true a soldier to even harbor such a thought. After allhis splendid services, he was ungratefully treated. Hedeserved the chief command, but it was never given him,and he received, instead, the barren title of Earl of Lucan,the patent of which had been brought over from Jamesby Tyrconnel. But it was gall and wormwood for Sarsfieldto learn from the duke that a French commander-in-chief,Lieutenant-General the Marquis de St. Ruth, hadbeen chosen by Louis and James to take charge of militarymatters in Ireland forthwith. Already he rankedbelow Tyrconnel and Berwick, although having muchmore ability than the two combined, as he had proven onmany occasions.

General St. Ruth, if we are to believe Lord Macaulayand other Williamite partisans, was more distinguishedfor fierce persecution of the French Protestants, calledHuguenots, than anything else in his career. He hadserved in the French army, in all its campaigns, underTurenne, Catinat, and other celebrated soldiers, since1667, and, while yet in vigorous middle life, had wonthe rank of lieutenant-general. He had married thewidow of old Marshal De Meilleraye, whose page he hadbeen in his boyhood, and, according to St. Simon’s gossipymemoirs, the couple led a sort of cat-and-dog existence,the king having been often compelled to interferebetween them. Of St. Ruth’s person, St. Simonsays: “He was tall and well-formed, but, as everybodyknew, extremely ugly.” The same authority says thegeneral was “of a brutal temper,” and used to baton hiswife whenever she annoyed him. It is well known thatSt. Simon was a venomous detractor of those who hadincurred his resentment, or that of his friends, and this308may account for his uncomplimentary references to St.Ruth. Irish tradition says that the latter was hard-featured,but of commanding person, with a piercing glanceand a voice like a trumpet. It is certain that he had animperious disposition and was quick to fly into a rage.When appointed to the command in Ireland, he had justreturned from a successful campaign in Savoy, whereMountcashel’s Irish Brigade, as already stated, hadformed a portion of his victorious forces. He had learnedto appreciate Irish courage and constancy during thatcampaign, and was, on that account as much as any other,deemed the fit man to lead the Irish soldiers on their ownsoil to victory.

Tyrconnel had accepted St. Ruth from Louis andJames, because he could not help himself, and, also, becausehe was jealous of Sarsfield. The viceroy was nolonger popular in Ireland. He was aged, infirm, andincompetent, and it would seem his temper had grown sobad that he could not get along peaceably with anybody.One faction from the Irish camp had sent representativesto James in the palace of St. Germain, begging thatTyrconnel be recalled and the command placed in thehands of Sarsfield. But Tyrconnel, because of old association,was all-powerful with the exiled king, and hiscause, therefore, prevailed. Soon afterward the gallantDuke of Berwick, who subsequently won the battle ofAlmanza and placed Philip V—King Louis’s grandson—onthe throne of Spain, unable to agree with eitherTyrconnel or Sarsfield, was relieved of command in Irelandand joined his father in France. This was an additionalmisfortune for Ireland. Berwick, the nephew ofthe great Duke of Marlborough, was, both by nature and309training, a thorough soldier. He was the very soul ofbravery, and could put enthusiasm into an Irish army byhis dashing feats of arms. He was missed in the subsequentbattles and sieges of that war. His career in theFrench army was long and brilliant. After rising to therank of marshal, he was killed by a cannon shot whilesuperintending the siege of Philipsburg, in 1734. Thearistocratic French family of Fitzjames is lineally descendedfrom the Duke of Berwick, and that house, althoughof illegitimate origin, represents the male Stuartline, just as the House of Beaufort, in England, represents,with the bend sinister shadowing its escutcheon,the male line of the Plantagenets. Strange to say, theDuke of Berwick’s great qualities as a general were noteven suspected by his associates, either French, English,or Irish, in Ireland. When Tyrconnel left him in command,leading officers of the Irish army declared that theywould not serve, unless he consented to be governed bya council more national in composition than that nominatedby Tyrconnel. After some strong protests, Berwickyielded the point, but never afterward made anyattempt at bona-fide command. He felt that he was buta figurehead, and was glad when Tyrconnel’s return ledto his recall from a position at once irksome and humiliating.Had he been King James’s legitimate son, theHouse of Stuart would probably have found in him arestorer. He inherited the Churchill genius from hismother, Arabella, who was King James’s mistress whenthat monarch was Duke of York. She was not handsomeof feature, but her figure was perfect, and the deposedking, to judge by his selections, must have had a penchantfor plain women. O’Callaghan, in his “History of the310Irish Brigades,” says of the Duke of Berwick: “He wasone of those commanders of whom it is the highest eulogiumto say that to such, in periods of adversity, it issafest to intrust the defence of a state. Of the greatmilitary leaders of whose parentage England can boast,he may be ranked with his uncle, Marlborough, amongthe first. But to his uncle, as to most public characters,be was very superior as a man of principle. The RegentDuke of Orleans, whose extensive acquaintance with humannature attaches a suitable value to his opinion, observed:‘If there ever was a perfectly honest man in theworld, that man was the Marshal Duke of Berwick.’”We have also the testimony of his French and other contemporariesthat he was a man of majestic appearance—muchmore “royal” in that respect than any other scion ofhis race.

RECORDING IMPORTANT EVENTS FROM THE ARRIVALOF GENERAL ST. RUTH IN LIMERICK TO HIS GLORIOUSDEATH AT THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM, IN JULY, 1691

THE garrison of Limerick was beginning to despairof any farther succor from France, and murmursagainst the viceroy became loud and deep, when runnersarrived from the southwestern coast, announcing that aFrench fleet had been sighted off the Kerry coast, andthat it was, probably, steering for the estuary of theShannon. This was in the first week of May, and, onthe 8th of that month, the French men-of-war cast anchorin the harbor of Limerick. On board was Lieutenant-GeneralSt. Ruth, with Major-General D’Usson, Major-GeneralDe Tesse, and other officers. He brought withhim, in the ships, provisions, a supply of indifferent clothing,and a quantity of ammunition, but no reinforcementsof any kind. The general, however, had a largepersonal staff and a retinue of servants and orderlies.He was received, on landing, by Tyrconnel, Sarsfield,Sheldon, and other army leaders. He and his officersattended pontifical High Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral,where Te Deum was chanted. Macaulay, a somewhatimaginative authority, informs us that St. Ruth wasdisappointed, if not disgusted, by the conditions thenexisting in Limerick. He had been accustomed to commandtroops perfectly uniformed and equipped. TheIrish army was poorly dressed and indifferently armed.314He had seen the splendid legions of Mountcashel inSavoy, dressed scrupulously and bearing the best armsof that day, and he was quite unprepared to behold theundeniable poverty of the brave defenders of Athloneand Limerick. But he was a practical soldier, and atonce set about what an American general would call“licking his army into shape.” Dissatisfied with the cavalrymounts, he resorted to a ruse to supply the deficiency.The “gentry” of the surrounding districts weresummoned to King’s Island to deliberate on the questionof national defence. They came in large numbers—everyman, as was the custom of the times, mounted ona strong and spirited horse. When all had assembled,St. Ruth, through an interpreter, addressed them in spiritedwords. One of the chief needs of the hour wascavalry horses. The gentlemen were invited to dismountand turn over their horses to the public service. Thismost of them did cheerfully, while others were chagrined.However, St. Ruth gained his point, and the Irish trooperswere as well mounted as any in the world.

The new French general, although much given topleasure, was a man of extraordinary energy. He gaveballs to honor the country gentlemen and their families,and the French uniform became very familiar in all thearistocratic Catholic circles of Munster and Connaught.St. Ruth participated in the dancing and feasting, butwas always “up betimes,” and away on horseback, attendedby his staff and interpreters, to inspect the postsheld by the Irish along the Shannon and Suck. It wasduring one of those rides, tradition says, he noticed thehill of Kilcommodan, rising above the little hamlet ofAughrim, near Ballinasloe, and, casting a glance at the315position, exclaimed to his officers, in French, “That isthe choicest battleground in all Europe!” We shall hearmore about Aughrim, and what there befell MonsieurSt. Ruth and the Irish army.

That brave army, at Limerick, Athlone, and Galway,was put through a course of drilling, such as it had neverreceived before, under the orders of the ardent and indefatigableFrenchman. He repressed disorder with aniron hand, and made such examples, under martial law,as seemed necessary. It is said he was severe to hisofficers and contemptuous to the rank and file of hisarmy, but these assertions come mainly from ChaplainStory and chroniclers of his class. The haughty Irisharistocrats would have run St. Ruth through the bodywith their swords if he had dared to be insulting towardthem. He was necessarily strict, no doubt, and thisstrictness bore glorious fruit when the reorganized armyagain took the field. One of the chief embarrassmentsof the time was lack of money. Lauzun, while in Ireland,had played into the hands of the English by cryingdown King James’s “brass money,” as it was called, issuedon the national security. The poor devoted Irish soldierstook it readily enough, but the trading and commercialclasses, always sensitive and conservative wheretheir interests are affected, were slow to take the tokensin exchange for their goods. King Louis had promiseda large supply of “good money,” but, somehow, it wasnot forthcoming, except in small parcels, which did littlegood. We may be sure, however, that St. Ruth, accustomedto Continental forced loans, did not stand onceremony, and, under his vigorous régime, the Irish armywas better armed, better fed, and better clad than it had316been since the outbreak of the war. Old Tyrconnel ruledIreland nominally. The real ruler, after he had, by repeatedrepresentations and solicitations, obtained unrestrictedmilitary command, was St. Ruth himself. Unhappilyfor Ireland, he slighted Tyrconnel, who was avery proud man, and did not get along smoothly withSarsfield, whose sage advice, had he taken it, would havesaved him from a fatal disaster.

Baron De Ginkel, commander-in-chief for William,marched with an army computed at 19,000 men from Dublinto open the campaign against the Irish on the line ofthe Shannon, on May 30, 1691. On June 7, he reached thefort of Ballymore, held by a small Irish force under Lieutenant-ColonelUlick Burke, and summoned it to surrender.Burke answered defiantly, and Ginkel immediatelyopened upon his works. A detached post, held by a sergeantand a few men, was defended desperately and causedthe Williamites serious loss. It was finally captured, andDe Ginkel, with inexcusable cruelty, hanged the bravesergeant, for doing his duty, as O’Callaghan says, on theshallow pretext that he had defended an untenable position.Colonel Burke, nothing daunted, continued hisdefence of Ballymore, although Ginkel threatened himwith the unfortunate sergeant’s fate. The fire of eighteenwell-served pieces of heavy artillery speedily reduced thefort to a ruin. The Irish engineer officer, Lieutenant-ColonelBurton, was killed, and many men had also fallen.Burke hung out a flag of truce and demanded the honorsof war if he were to surrender the place. Ginkel refusedand called for immediate submission. The utmost timehe would grant was two hours, and he agreed to allowthe women and children to depart within that period.317Once he proceeded to storm the position, he said, the garrisonneed expect no quarter. Colonel Burke declined tobe intimidated and the work of destruction began anew—thewomen and children still remaining in the beleagueredfort. The latter was situated near the town ofthe same name, in the County Westmeath, on a peninsulawhich jutted into a small loch, or lake, and was too farfrom support to make a successful defence. It stoodabout midway between Mullingar and Athlone on the roadfrom Dublin. Finally, Ginkel managed to assail it on thewater front, breaches were made, and further resistancewas useless. Therefore, Governor Burke finally surrendered.He and his command were made prisoners ofwar, and, in the sinister words of Story, the four hundredwomen and children, destitute of food, shelter, andprotection, were “set at liberty.” What subsequently becameof them is not stated. Colonel Burke was exchangedand fell in battle, at Aughrim, soon afterward.Seven days were occupied by De Ginkel in again puttingBallymore into a state of defence. He then resumed hismarch on Athlone, and, on June 18, was joined at BallyburnPass by the Duke of Wurtemburg and Count Nassau,at the head of 7,000 foreign mercenaries, and these,according to O’Callaghan, the most painstaking of historicalstatisticians, brought his force up to “between26,000 and 27,000 men of all arms.”

ST. RUTH had been advised by the Irish officers ofhis staff not to attempt the defence of the “Englishtown”of Athlone, on the Leinster bank of the Shannon;but, rather, to confine himself to the defence of the Connaughtside, as Governor Grace had done so successfullyin the preceding year. He paid no attention to theircounsel, considering, after reflection, that the Williamitearmy should be met and beaten back from the Englishtown,and believing that the bridge, which, in the eventof abandonment, must be destroyed, might prove usefulin future military operations. Accordingly, ColonelJohn Fitzgerald was appointed governor of this portionof Athlone, and, with a very insufficient force, preparedto do his duty. Ginkel, his well-fed ranks, accordingto Macaulay, “one blaze of scarlet,” and provided withthe finest artillery train ever seen in Ireland, appearedbefore Athlone on the morning of June 19th. His advancewas most gallantly disputed and retarded by a detachmentof Irish grenadiers, selected by Governor Fitzgerald,for that important duty. He took command ofthem in person, and they fought so bravely and obstinately,that the enemy were delayed in their progress forseveral hours, so that the Irish garrison was well preparedto receive them, when they finally appeared withingunshot of the walls. The attack on Englishtown beganimmediately, Ginkel planting such of his cannon as had319already come up with great judgment; and Fitzgeraldreplied to his fire with the few and inefficient pieces hepossessed. But his Irish soldiers performed prodigies ofheroism. Their deeds of unsurpassed valor are thussummed up by Mr. O’Callaghan in an epitaph which hesuggested, in his “Green Book,” should be engraved on amemorial stone in the locality of the action to be reveredby the Irish people of all creeds and parties:

“Be it remembered that, on the 19th and 20th of June,1691, a little band, of between three hundred and fourhundred Irishmen, under Colonel Fitzgerald, contestedagainst an English army of about 26,000 men, underLieutenant-General Ginkel, the passes leading to, and theEnglish town of, Athlone. And though the place hadbut a slender wall, in which the enemy’s well-appointedand superior artillery soon made a large breach, andthough its few defenders were worn down by forty-eighthours’ continual exertion, they held out till the eveningof the second day, when, the breach being assaulted by afresh body of 4,000 Dutch, Danish, and English troops,selected from above 26,000 men, who fought in successivedetachments, against but three hundred or four hundred,with no fresh troops to relieve them, these gallantfew did not abandon the breach before above two hundredof their number were killed or disabled. Then, inspite of the enemy, the brave survivors made their wayto the bridge over the Shannon, maintained themselvesin front of it till they demolished two arches behind them,and finally retired across the river by a drawbridge intothe Irish town, which was preserved by their heroism tillthe coming up, soon after, of the Irish main army underLieutenant-General St. Ruth.”

320Having at last attained possession of Englishtown,Baron De Ginkel proceeded without delay to bombardthe Connaught, and stronger, section of Athlone. Hiscannonade knocked a portion of the grim old castle topieces, and did considerable other damage, but producedno depressing effect on the resolute Irish garrison, commandedby two such heroes as Colonel John Fitzgeraldand the veteran Colonel Grace, who acted as a volunteer.The experienced Dutch general, fearing the appearanceon the scene of St. Ruth, with a relieving army, becamea prey to anxiety. Impressed by the spirit displayed bythe Irish troops, he knew there was little chance of forcingthe mutilated bridge by a direct assault, and he lookedfor some means of flanking the place, either by a ford ora bridge of boats. He did not have, at first, sufficientmaterial for the latter, so he “demonstrated” with detachmentsof horse, toward Lanesborough, east of Athlone,and Banagher west of it. The vigilance of the Irishpatrols at both points baffled his design.

Meanwhile, St. Ruth, who had been on the march fromLimerick for some days, at the head of 15,000 men, if weare to believe King James’s Memoirs, appeared beyondthe Shannon and went into camp on a rising ground abouta mile and a half from the town. He was soon madeaware of the condition of affairs, and strengthened thecastle garrison. He also had an earthen rampart constructedto protect the bridge and ford. The latter waspracticable at low water only, and the summer of 1691was exceptionally dry. The river had never been knownto be so shallow within the memory of living man. Thisfact alone should have warned the French general to beexceptionally vigilant. He retired the brave Fitzgerald321from the governorship, to which he appointed GeneralWauchop—a good soldier, but not an Irishman—and theFrench officers, Generals D’Usson and De Tesse, weremade joint commandants in the town. The apologistsfor St. Ruth’s mistakes in front of Athlone claim that theill-fated chief gave orders to the French commandants tolevel all the useless old walls near the bridge, but thathis orders were neglected. As is usual in such cases, disobedienceled to tragical results. Foiled in his attemptat flank operations, Ginkel determined to assault the partiallydestroyed bridge across the Shannon, which, undercover of a tremendous cannon fire, he did. But it wasdefended with Spartan tenacity. Attack after attackfailed. Movable covered galleries were tried, and thesecontained planks wherewith to restore the broken arches.Not less than nine English batteries, armed with heavyguns, rained death on the Irish army, but still it stoodunmoved, although losing heavily. Under cover of thefire of nearly fifty great guns, the English pontoniers,protected also by their galleries, succeeded in laying planksacross the broken arches. They accounted their workdone, when suddenly out of the Irish trenches leapedeleven men clad in armor, led by Sergeant Custume, orCosty, who, according to Sullivan, called on them “to diewith him for Ireland.” They rushed upon the bridge andproceeded to tear away the planks. Instantly, all the Englishcannon and muskets sent balls and bullets crashingupon them. The whole eleven fell dead—shattered bythat dreadful fire. Some planks still remained upon thearches. Eleven more Irish soldiers leaped from theirworks, and, following the example of their fallen comrades,gained the bridge and sought to throw the planks322into the river. Nine of these heroes were killed beforetheir work was accomplished. But the planks were floatingdown the Shannon, and two heroic survivors oftwenty-two Homeric heroes regained the Irish lines!Pity it is that their names have not come down to us.Aubrey de Vere, in his fine poem, commemorating the exploit,tells us that St. Ruth, who, with Sarsfield, witnessedthe glorious deed, rose in his stirrups and swore he hadnever seen such valor displayed in the Continental wars.Chaplain Story, with incredible meanness, tries to stealthe glory of this deed from the Irish army by saying thatthe heroes were “bold Scots of Maxwell’s regiment.”The slander has been sufficiently refuted by O’Callaghan,Boyle, and other writers. Maxwell was a Scotchman, buthe commanded Irish troops exclusively, and there was nota single Scotch battalion in the service of King James inIreland from first to last. For further information onthis point, the reader can consult O’Callaghan’s “GreenBook” and “History of the Irish Brigades,” and also Dalton’s“King James’s Irish Army List,” which gives theroster of the field, line, and staff officers of each Irish regiment,including Maxwell’s. The defence of the bridgeoccurred on the evening of June 28. On the morning ofthe 29th another attempt was to have been made, but,owing to some miscalculation, was deferred for somehours. St. Ruth was ready for it when it came, and, afteranother murderous struggle at the bridge, where the Englishand their allies were led by the Scottish GeneralMackay, the assailants were again beaten off, their coveredgallery destroyed, and their bridge of boats, whichthey bravely attempted to construct in face of the Irishfire, broken up. St. Ruth commanded the Irish army in323person and displayed all the qualities of a good general.Success, however, would seem to have rendered him over-confident.The conflict over, he led his main body backto camp, and is said to have given a ball and banquet athis quarters—a country house now in a neglected conditionand popularly known as “St. Ruth’s Castle.” TheRoscommon peasants still speak of it as “the owld housein which the French general danced the night before helost Athlone.”

By some unaccountable fatality, St. Ruth, instead ofleaving some veteran troops to occupy the works nearthe bridge, committed them to new and untrained regiments,which were placed under the command of ActingBrigadier Maxwell. The latter, who has been—unjustly,perhaps—accused of treason by Irish writers, would seemto have shared the fatal over-confidence of St. Ruth.Therefore, no extraordinary precautions were adoptedto prevent a surprise—something always to be anticipatedwhen a baffled enemy grows desperate. Colonel CormacO’Neill, of the great Ulster family of that ilk, happenedto be on duty at the defences of the river front duringthe night and morning of June 29-30, and noticed suspiciousmovements among the English troops occupyingthe other side of the Shannon. Becoming alarmed, heimmediately communicated his suspicions to Maxwell,observing, at the same time, that he would like a supplyof ammunition for his men. Maxwell sneered and asked,“Do your men wish to shoot lavrocks (larks)?” However,O’Neill’s earnest manner impressed him somewhat,and, in the gray of the morning, he visited the outerlines, and, from what he saw, at once concluded thatDe Ginkel had some serious movement in contemplation.324He sent immediately to St. Ruth for a regiment of veteraninfantry, at the same time giving his reasons forthe request. St. Ruth, it is said, sent back a tauntingreply, which reflected on Maxwell’s courage. We aretold that Sarsfield remonstrated with St. Ruth, who declaredhe did not believe Ginkel would make an attemptto surprise the town, while he was so near with an armyto relieve it. English historians say that, upon this,Sarsfield apostrophized British valor and remarked thatthere was no enterprise too perilous for it to attempt.The discussion—if, indeed, it ever took place—was cutshort by the ringing of bells and firing of cannon inthe town. “Athlone is surprised and taken!” Sarsfield iscredited with having said, as he observed the untrainedfugitives running from the Irish trenches. “Impossible!”St. Ruth is represented to have replied, “Ginkel’s mastershould hang him if he attempts the capture of the place,and mine should hang me if I were to lose it!” Butthe uproar from the city soon showed the Frenchmanthat something terrible had occurred. When too late, hegave orders to rectify his mistake. The English werealready in the works and could not be dislodged. Maxwell’smen had fled in disorder, most of them being surprisedin their sleep, and the general and some of hisofficers became prisoners of war. It was the most completeand successful surprise recorded in military annals,except, perhaps, that of Mannheim by General, afterwardMarshal, Ney, in 1799. It would seem that Ginkel,by the advice of Mackay, and other officers, looked fora ford, and found it by the aid of three Danish soldierswho were under sentence of death, and were offered theirlives if they succeeded. They found the ford, and the325Irish, seeing them approach the bank of the river fearlessly,concluded they were deserters and refrained fromfiring. After them plunged in sixty armored Englishgrenadiers, led by Captain Sandys, a noted military dare-devil,and these were followed by the main body underMackay, another experienced commander. The hour wassix in the morning of June 30, and, after one of thebravest defences of which we have record, Athlone,through the infatuation of St. Ruth, was in Englishhands before noon on that eventful day. And so it cameto pass, that after a conflict of more than a year, thedefensive line of the Shannon was, at last, broken. Itis estimated by most historians that Ginkel’s total lossamounted to 1,200 men and that of St. Ruth was somewhatgreater, owing to the surprise. Among those killedin St. Ruth’s army were two colonels, named McGinness,Colonel MacMahon, Colonel O’Gara, Colonel RichardGrace, who fell in defence of the bridge on the 29th,and the French adjutant-general. Few officers of notefell on the English side. Ginkel, during the siege, “expended50 tons of gunpowder, 12,000 cannon balls,600 bombshells, and innumerable tons of stone, hurledfrom the mortars, when the shells were exhausted.”After the capture, the English found only a mass ofruins, and it took De Ginkel several days to put theplace in some kind of repair.

BOTH history and tradition affirm that St. Ruth andSarsfield almost came to swords’ points over theloss of Athlone, and it is still believed, in that sectionof Ireland, that the Irish general, indignant at the criminalblunder that had been committed by his superior,took all of his cavalry from under the Frenchman’s commandand marched to Limerick. But this tradition ismore than doubtful. It is, however, certain that the twoleaders, who should have been so united in council, had abitter altercation over the disaster, and were hardly onspeaking terms during the few momentous days theywere destined to serve together. St. Ruth was filled withrage and mortification. He felt that he had committeda grievous error, and dreaded the anger of King Louis,who was a severe judge of those who served him ill.He declared his determination to hazard all on a pitchedbattle. Against this resolve, Tyrconnel, who had cometo the camp from Limerick, and others, protested, butin vain. St. Ruth was in no humor to be balked. Tyrconnelleft the camp in dudgeon and retired once moreto Limerick, which he was destined never to leave again.Having made up his mind to fight, St. Ruth at once brokecamp and moved by Milton Pass, where he halted for anight, toward Ballinasloe, which stands on the river Suckand in the county of Galway. The cavalry covered theretreat, but no attempt whatever was made at pursuit.

327The army took post along the fords of the Suck, as ifit intended to fight in front of Ballinasloe, which was consideredquite defensible, but St. Ruth’s previous knowledgeof the country would appear to have determined himto retire about three and a half miles south by west ofhis first position, as soon as reinforcements, drawn fromthe abandoned, or reduced, posts along the Shannon, hadjoined him. In his retreat from Athlone, some of theConnaught troops, disgusted by the loss of that town anddoubtful of the general’s motives, deserted, and thesehad to be replaced by the soldiers of the Irish garrisonsbroken up or depleted. About July 9, old style, St.Ruth decamped from Ballinasloe, and a few hours afterwardhis devoted army, which, according to our bestinformation, consisted of about 15,000 foot and 5,000horse and dragoons, with only nine field-pieces, defiledby the causeways of Urachree and Aughrim to the slopesof Kilcommodan Hill, where the new camp was established,on the eastern side of the eminence, facing towardGarbally and Ballinasloe. Kilcommodan, at that period,was almost surrounded by red bog, and, on the front bywhich De Ginkel must approach, ran a small stream, withseveral branches, which made the morass impracticablefor horse and difficult for infantry. In our day, thismorass has become meadow-land, but it is about the onlynatural feature that has undergone considerable changesince the period of the battle. From north to south, thehill is estimated to be a little more than a mile in length,and its mean elevation is about 350 feet. The bog laycloser up to Aughrim, where stand the ruins of an oldcastle which commanded the narrow and difficult pass,than to Urachree, where there is another pass not particularly328formidable to a determined assailant. Theroad through the pass of Aughrim ran then, and stillruns, by Kilconnell Abbey and village—after which theFrench have named the battle—to Athenry, Loughrea,and Galway. The road through the pass of Urachreeconnects Ballinasloe with Lawrencetown, Eyrecourt, andBanagher Bridge, and also, by a branch route, with Portumna;and these were the natural lines of retreat for theIrish army in the event of disaster. Near the crest ofKilcommodan Hill are the remains of two so-called Danishraths, circular in shape, and in the one nearest toAughrim Castle St. Ruth is said to have pitched his tent.

Most of the elevation was then a wild common, but atit* base, on the Irish front, were many fields under tillage,and these small inclosures were divided from each otherby thick, “quick-set” hedges, or, rather, fences, such asare still common in Ireland—formidable against the encroachmentsof cattle, but still more formidable whenapplied to military purposes. The French general hadfound his intrenchments ready-made, and proceeded touse them to the best possible advantage. Weak pointsin them were strengthened, and passageways connectingone with the other, from front to rear and from right toleft, were constructed. The design was to enable theformidable Irish cavalry to aid the infantry when a crisisshould arrive. In the direction of Urachree, St. Ruthcaused the construction of regular breastworks, conceivingthat his point of danger lay to the right, and having,as a military writer has well observed, “a fatal confidencein the strength of his left flank,” resting as it didon an old castle and “a narrow, boggy trench throughwhich two horsem*n could hardly ride abreast.” All329his arrangements were completed by the 10th of July,and, according to Boyle, the author of “The Battlefieldsof Ireland,” his line of battle, which contemporaneousaccounts say covered a front of about two miles, had itsright resting on Urachree and its left upon Aughrim.The London “Gazette” of July, 1691, says that this wingof the Irish army “extended toward the Abbey of Kilconnell,”which was considerably to the left and almostin rear of Kilcommodan Hill. The Irish centre restedon the mid slope of the elevation, “between its camp andthe hedgerows.” Each division consisted of two frontand two rear lines; the former of infantry and the latterof cavalry. Of St. Ruth’s nine brass pieces, two weredevoted to the defence of Aughrim Castle; a battery ofthree pieces was constructed on the northeastern slope ofKilcommodan, so as to rake the castle pass, a part of themorass, and the firmer ground beyond it, and thus preventany hostile troops from deploying there and sothreaten his left. His other battery, of four pieces, wasplanted on his right and swept the pass leading to Urachree.It is said that a strong reserve of horse, underSarsfield, was posted on the west side of the hill, outof view of the approaching enemy, but that Sarsfield hadbeen particularly enjoined by St. Ruth to make no movementwhatever without a direct order from himself.Story, who ought to know, says that Sarsfield was secondin command, but neither to him nor to any otherof his subordinate generals did St. Ruth communicatehis plan of battle, so that, if he were doomed to fall, theconflict could still be waged as he had from the first ordainedit. This was St. Ruth’s most fatal error, as itplaced the fate of Ireland on the life or death of a single330man. He had no cannon with which to arm a battery onhis centre, nor does he seem to have wanted any forthat purpose—his apparent plan being to let the Englishinfantry cross at that point, where he felt confident theIrish foot and dragoons would soon make an end ofthem. Although King James’s memoirs aver that St.Ruth had “a mean [i.e. poor] opinion” of the Irish infantry,until it developed its prowess in the battle, his dispositionof this arm at Aughrim would not convey thatopinion to the observing mind. Most of the Irish footlacked discipline, in the strict sense of the term, but nogeneral who had seen them fight, as St. Ruth did, at thebridge of Athlone, could doubt their courage. His expectationthat the English troops sent against his centrewould be roughly handled was not doomed to disappointment.

Owing to many untoward causes, a full and correctlist of the Irish regiments that fought at Aughrim is notto be obtained, but Boyle holds that Colonel WalterBourke and his brother, Colonel David Bourke, held theposition in and around the castle of Aughrim; that LordBophin, Brigadier Henry Luttrell, and Colonels SimonLuttrell and Ulick Bourke commanded on the left; thatMajor-General Dorrington, Major-General H. M. J.O’Neill, Brigadier Gordon O’Neill, Colonel Felix O’Neill,and Colonel Anthony Hamilton held the centre; and thatLords Kilmallock, Galmoy, Galway, Clare, and ColonelJames Talbot commanded on the right, toward Urachree.Thus it may be inferred, says the historian, that the Munstertroops were on the right, the Leinster and Ulster contingentsin the centre, and the soldiers of Connaught wereposted on the left. The general in command of the entire331infantry was William Mansfield Barker, and Major-GeneralJohn Hamilton was in chief command of the horse.The discord among the chief officers in the Irish campmust have been something unusual, when to none of thedistinguished commanders enumerated did the Frenchcommander-in-chief reveal his order of battle. But thehistorian recently quoted says, in reviewing the characterof the unfortunate Frenchman: “Whatever were the foiblesof St. Ruth, from his advent in the country to hisretreat from Athlone, we have now to look on an entirelydifferent character. He had learned, though at a fearfulcost, that his name had no fears for his potent adversary;that deeds alone were to be the test of high emprise,and that his folly had narrowed down the campaign, andin fact the whole war, to the last resource of fallenheroes—death or victory. With this feeling, all that wasvainglorious in his character at once disappeared; the mistwas removed from his mind, and it shone out to the endof his short career as that of a true hero in adversity.Unlike his French predecessors, he scorned to hide hisfaults behind the shield of calumny; he candidly acknowledgedhis error and bitterly lamented it. He becamecourteous to his officers, affable to his soldiers, changedat once from the despot to the patriarch, and, touched byhis sorrows, as much as by their own calamity, they againrallied round him and determined on a final throw for religionand liberty.”

A proclamation issued by the English Lords Justices, inthe name of William and Mary, immediately after the fallof Athlone, offered inducements, in the shape of promotionand money, to such officers and soldiers of the Irisharmy as would desert their colors and accept service with332De Ginkel. Very few traitors availed themselves of theoffer, but many of those who were indignant with St.Ruth abandoned the camp and joined the irregular forcesof the military Hiberno-Spanish adventurer, Baal DeargO’Donnell, who claimed to be of the noble House of Tyrconnel,and had lately come from Spain, apparently withouta settled purpose or principle. Instead of uniting his7,000 irregulars with the regular Irish army under St.Ruth, who had no French troops whatever with him,O’Donnell assumed the airs of a hereditary Irish prince,affected to despise James as well as William, and establishedhis camp and court in the country between Tuamand Athenry, within two short marches, if made even inordinary time, of the Irish encampment on KilcommodanHill. St. Ruth summoned him to his aid, but the adventurer,whose selfish conduct some Irish writers, notablyMr. Haverty, have sought to explain and excuse, madeno reply, and, to this day, he is remembered in Irelandwith detestation not unmingled with contempt. Hisduty, when within sound of the cannon of Aughrim, wasto hasten to the field and spare the fate of his gallantcountrymen.

CHAPTER IV

REINFORCEMENTS continued to reach De Ginkel’scamp near Athlone, where he lingered muchlonger than he originally intended, owing to the utterruin which the bombardment had wrought. Anothercause of his delay was his anxiety to obtain fresh supplies333of ammunition, and he judged correctly that St.Ruth, rendered desperate by his late misfortune, wouldgive him decisive battle at the very first opportunity.But, about July 10, all was in readiness, and leaving inAthlone a powerful garrison, the Dutch general and hisfine army set out in pursuit of St. Ruth, who had nowso many days “the start” of his enemy. The Englishhalted that night at Kilcashel, on the road to Ballinasloe.On the 11th they reached the fords of the Suck, and thescouts reported the Irish pickets in full view on theheights of Garbally—now the domain of the Earl ofClancarty, whose ancestor distinguished himself as anartillerist on the English side at Aughrim. De Ginkel,taking with him a formidable force of cavalry, crossedthe river by the ford and rode forward to reconnoitreSt. Ruth’s position. The Irish pickets fell back as headvanced, and, reaching the crest of the heights, he beheld,through his field-glass, on an opposite elevation,about a mile and a half distant, the Irish army drawnup in “battle’s magnificently stern array,” matches lightedat the batteries, and their colors advanced, challengingto combat. He rode forward farther still, to get a closerview, and St. Ruth allowed him to gratify his curiosityunmolested, although he came within less than half amile of the Irish lines. What he saw made De Ginkelthoughtful. His military glance showed him the strengthof the Irish position, and St. Ruth’s reputation as a competentgeneral stood high in all the camps of Europe.He rode back to his camp and called a council of hisofficers, Mackay, Ruvigny, Talmash, and the rest. Havingexplained the situation, he asked for their opinion.Some were for trying a flank movement, which would334draw St. Ruth from his chosen ground, but the bolderspirits said they had gone too far to turn aside withoutloss of honor, and a forward movement was decided on.The camp, guarded by two regiments, was left undisturbed.All superfluous clothing was laid aside, and,in light marching order, De Ginkel’s army crossed theSuck, the movement being visible to St. Ruth from KilcommodanHill, “the foot,” as Story has it, “over thebridge; the English and French [Huguenot] horse overthe ford above, and the Dutch and Danes over two fordsbelow.” It was six o’clock in the morning of Sunday,July 12, 1691 (July 23, new style), while the earlychurch bells were ringing in Ballinasloe, when they preparedto march on Aughrim. English annalists, intending,perhaps, to minimize the prowess of the Irish army,place De Ginkel’s strength at 18,000 men of all arms,but the roster of his regiments, as given by Story andother contemporaneous writers, shows conclusively thathis force could not have been less than from 25,000 to30,000 men, nearly all seasoned veterans. The Williamitechaplain’s map of Ginkel’s order of battle shows overseventy (70) regimental organizations, not includingLord Portland’s horse, which joined after the line wasformed. Some of the bodies shown as regiments mayhave been battalions or squadrons, but, making due allowancefor these, and counting 400 men as the average ofseventy distinct formations, which is an almost absurdlylow estimate, the Williamite army could not, possibly, havebeen less than 28,000 men. Its artillery was formidable,and the cavalry—British, Dutch, Danish, German, andHuguenot—was accounted the best in Europe. As thisfine force advanced toward its objective, the scared rural335folk fled before it, remembering, no doubt, the excessescommitted by the armies of William and Douglas inLeinster and Munster during the preceding year. Thewriter lived for some years almost within sight of KilcommodanHill, and heard from the simple, but intelligent,peasantry, whose great-grandfathers had spokenwith soldiers of King James’s army, how De Ginkel’stroops defiled in four great, glittering columns of scarletand blue and steel, horse, foot, and cannoneers, over theSuck and took up their positions on the Galway side ofthe river. Their brass field-pieces shone like burnishedgold in the morning sun. They halted where the roadfrom Ballinasloe, running west by south, branches aroundthe north side of Kilcommodan, toward Kilconnell, Athenry,and Galway, and around the south end of that elevationtoward Kiltormer, Lawrencetown, and Clonfert.The Irish pickets fell back before them, firing as theyretired, from the heights of Knockdunloe, Garbally, andLiscappel. De Ginkel marshaled his army into two linesof battle, corresponding almost exactly to the Irishformation, the infantry in the front line, and strongest,finally, toward the centre, and the cavalry on the flanks,supported by the cannon.

Up to about 7.30 o’clock, tradition says, the morningremained beautifully clear, and the Irish camp, on therising ground, was plainly visible to the enemy. St.Ruth’s army, except the officers and men on duty andthe few non-Catholic Jacobites who followed its fortunes,was observed to be assisting at mass—altars having beenerected by the chaplains at the head of every regiment.It was, according to the imposing French custom, whichSt. Ruth closely followed, military High Mass, during336which, at the elevation of the Host, there was rolling ofthe drums and blare of trumpets, instead of the pealingof cathedral bells. The horses of the Irish cavalry were“on herd” along the grassy hillside, under guard; but,when the English advance was sighted, the buglessounded “To Horse,” and there was “mounting in hothaste” of Sarsfield’s and Galmoy’s and Kilmallock’sbronzed and bearded troopers—the paladins of theBoyne and Ballyneety. Divine service over, the Irisharmy at once occupied the positions assigned to the severalcorps by their general on the preceding day. Storyand some other English writers claim that, on that day,also, St. Ruth addressed to his army a pompous, vainglorious,and rather insulting speech, which he caused tobe translated into English and Irish, by his interpreters,for the benefit of those to whom it was directed. ButIrish chroniclers aver that he spoke to the troops withpaternal consideration, reminded them of their country’ssufferings, and their own duty, and called upon them,in words of nervous eloquence, in the name of honor,religion, and liberty, and for Ireland’s military glory,to conquer or die.

CHAPTER V

BUT the fog, “arising from the moist valley of theSuck,” had, meanwhile, gathered so densely that therival armies, for a time, lost sight of each other, and DeGinkel’s forward movement was suspended; but his soldiersrested in the positions previously determined on,337although the formation had to be somewhat modified laterin the day. It was about noon when the fog finally rolledaway, and Ginkel’s line of battle moved slowly onward,until, at last, to use the graphic words of Lord Macaulay,the rival armies “confronted each other, with nothing butthe bog and the breastwork between them.” The Irishhistorian, John Boyle, states, in his fine account of theconflict at Aughrim, that, at sight of the Williamite array,on the other side of the morass, the Irish army broke intoloud shouts of defiance, which were vigorously respondedto by their foes. There was a mutual mortal hatred expressedin those cheers. It meant “war to the knife,”and, as at our own Buena Vista,

Observing the strength of the Irish left at AughrimCastle, De Ginkel resolved to manœuvre toward Urachree,where his horse had a better chance, and, about oneo’clock, began the battle with a cavalry advance in thedirection of the latter point. The first charge was madeby a Danish troop on an Irish picket. The latter met theshock so fiercely that the Danes, although superior innumbers, by the admission of Story, fled in great haste.Another party was sent forward, and still another—theIrish responding with fresh bodies of their own, until, atlast, Cunningham’s dragoons, Eppinger’s cavalry, andLord Portland’s horse—all under the veteran GeneralHolztapfel—were drawn in on the English side. Theycharged furiously, and, for a moment, the Irish cavalrygave ground, drawing their opponents after them. The338English, carried away by apparent success, rode at a galloppast the house of Urachree and were immediatelycharged in flank by the brave Lord Galmoy. A murderousconflict followed, but, as at the Boyne, the Irishhorsem*n showed their superiority, and their gallant enemieswere forced to fall back in terrible disorder, leavinghundreds of their comrades dead or dying on the ensanguinedfield. Many of the Irish troopers fell also, and,on both sides, every man was killed or wounded by thesabre. The English left their heroic commander, GeneralHolztapfel, among their dead. When De Ginkel saw hischosen cavalry repelled with slaughter from Urachree, hebecame profoundly anxious. There had been, up to thistime, only a few partial demonstrations by the Anglo-Dutchinfantry which had produced no impressionwhatever on St. Ruth’s sturdy foot, who lay quietlyin their works, waiting for their foes to advance tocloser quarters.

De Ginkel, in deep distress of mind, summoned a councilof war, which debated whether it were better to deferthe battle until next day or renew the attack immediately.At one time, during the discussion, it was determinedupon to send back to Ballinasloe for the tents, and encampfor the night where the army stood. This decisionwas afterward set aside, and, says Chaplain Story, “itwas agreed to prosecute the battel on the enemies’ right,by that means proposing to draw part of their strengthfrom Aghrim [so he spells it] Castle, nigh which theirmain body was posted, that so our right might have theeasier passage over to attack their left, and then ourwhole army might have opportunity to engage. This, Iam told, was the advice of Major-General Mackay, a339man of great judgment and long experience, and it hadits desired success.”

We will take the Williamite chaplain’s account of themovement against the Irish right wing, which immediatelyfollowed the council of war: “About half an hourpast four in the afternoon, a part of our left wing movedtoward the enemy, and, at five o’clock, the battel beganafresh. A party of our foot marched up to their ditches,all strongly guarded with musketiers, and their horseposted advantageously to sustain them: here we fired oneupon the other for a considerable time, and the Irish behavedthemselves like men of another nation [mark theungracious sneer], defending their ditches stoutly; forthey would maintain one side till our men put theirpieces over at the other, and then, having lines of communicationfrom one ditch to another, they would presentlypost themselves again, and flank us. This occasionedgreat firing on both sides, which continued on the leftnigh an hour and a half, ere the right of our army or thecentre engaged, except with their cannon, which playedon both sides. All this time, our men were coming up inas good order as the inconveniency of the ground wouldallow, and now General Mackay and the rest, seeing theenemy draw off several bodies of horse and foot from theleft, and move toward their right, when our men pressedthem very hard; they [the English generals] laid holdon that advantage, and ordered the foot to march overthe bogg, which fronted the enemies’ main battel. ColonelEarl, Colonel Herbert, Colonel Creighton, and ColonelBrewer’s regiments went over at the narrowest place,where the hedges on the enemies’ side run farthest intothe bogg. These four regiments were ordered to march340to the lowest ditches, adjoining to the side of the bogg,and there to post themselves till our horse could comeabout by Aghrim Castle and sustain them, and till theother foot marched over the bogg below, where it wasbroader, and were sustained by Colonel Foulk’s and BrigadierStewart’s [forces]. Colonel Earl advanced with hisregiment, and the rest after him, over the bogg, and arivulet that ran through it, being most of them up to theirmiddles in mudd and water. The Irish at their nearapproach to the ditches fired upon them, but our mencontemning all disadvantages, advanced immediately tothe lowest hedges, and beat the Irish from thence. Theenemy, however, did not retreat far, but posted themselvesin the next ditches before us, which our men seeingand disdaining [sic] to suffer their lodging so nearus, they would needs beat them from thence also, and sofrom one hedge to another, till they got very nigh theenemies’ main battel. But the Irish had so ordered thematter as to make an easy passage for their horse amongstall those hedges and ditches, by which means they pouredin great numbers both of horse and foot upon us: whichColonel Earl seeing, encouraged his men by advancing beforethem, and saying: ‘There is no way to come off butto be brave!’ As great an example of true courage andgenerosity as any man this day living {1693}. But,being flanked and fronted, as also exposed to the enemies’shot from the adjacent ditches, our men were forced toquit their ground, and betake themselves to the boggagain, whither they were followed, or rather drove [sic]down by main strength of horse and foot, and a greatmany killed. Colonel Earl and Colonel Herbert werehere taken prisoners; the former, after twice taking341and retaking, got free at last, tho’ not without beingwounded.

“While this was doing here, Colonel St. John, ColonelTiffin, Lord George Hambleton, the French [Huguenots]and other regiments were marching below on the samebogg. The Irish, in the meantime, laid so close in theirditches that several were doubtful whether they had anymen at that place or not; but they were convinced of itat last; for no sooner were the French and the rest gotwithin twenty yards, or less, of the ditches, but the Irishfired most furiously upon them, which our men as bravelysustained, and pressed forwards, tho’ they could scarcesee one another for the smoak [sic]. And now the thingseemed so doubtful, for some time, that the bystanderswould rather have given it on the Irish side, for they haddriven our foot in the centre so far back that they weregot almost in a line with some of our great guns, plantednear the bogg, which we had not the benefit of at thatjuncture, because of the mixture of our men and theirs.

“Major-General Ruvigny’s French horse and Sir JohnLanier’s, being both posted on the right, were afterwarddrawn to the left, where they did very good service.And the right wing of our horse, in the meantime, weremaking what haste they could to succor our foot; for,seeing the danger, and, in fact, that all was in hazard byreason of the difficulty of the pass, they did more thanmen, in pressing and tumbling over a very dangerousplace, and that amongst showers of bullets, from a regimentof dragoons and two regiments of foot, postedconveniently under cover by the enemy, to obstruct ourpassage. Our horse at this place were sustained byMajor-General Kirke and Colonel Gustavus Hambleton’s342foot, who, after we had received the enemies’ fire for aconsiderable time, marched under the walls of the castle,and lodged themselves in a dry ditch, in the throng of theenemies’ shot [globular buttons cut from their jackets,when their ammunition failed], and some other old wallsand ditches adjoining.”

Commenting on the foregoing account of the Williamitechaplain, Mr. O’Callaghan, in his “Green Book,” page224, says: “He [Story] has the same fraudulent coloringI have previously exposed respecting this [the Huguenot]portion of the English left having ‘kept theirground.’ The Huguenot narrative [of the battle] is onlywrong in the supposition that La Forest [Huguenot general]on the English left was successful with the French[Huguenot] infantry, before Ruvigny [Huguenot general],with his horse, had conquered in the centre; thefirst progress of the English having been on their rightopposite Aughrim ... where Sir Francis Compton withthe van and Mackay with the rest of the English horsesucceeded in forcing a passage; secondly, on the centre,where Talmash next to Mackay, and Ruvigny next toTalmash advanced; and, thirdly, on the left, where LaForest first, and then the Danish horse and foot were enabledto cross.”

CHAPTER VI

THE lodgment made by the English, or, rather, Ulsterregiment of Gustavus Hamilton in the dry ditch, asdescribed by Chaplain Story, together with another lodgmentmade in front of the Irish left centre by some of343the infantry who escaped the slaughter when they wereso gallantly repulsed at that point shortly before, howevereffected, threw the chances of victory, for the firsttime that day, heavily on the side of De Ginkel. St.Ruth, whose sharp attention was, doubtless, mainly drawnoff toward his centre and right, where the battle hadraged fiercely and continuously for nearly two hours, soonbecame aware of the movement inaugurated by the enemy’scavalry at the castle pass. He seemed astonished,conceiving that the point was strongly garrisoned, andasked of his officers: “What do they mean?” The replywas: “They mean to pass there and flank our left!” St.Ruth observed them for a moment, laughed incredulously,having still “that fatal confidence in the strength ofhis left flank,” and exclaimed in his impetuous fashion:“Pardieu! but they are brave! What a pity they shouldbe so exposed!” A few minutes previously, exhilaratedby the splendid prowess of the Irish infantry, in the centreand at Urachree, he threw his plumed hat in the airand shouted: “Well done, my children! The day isours! Now we will beat them back even to the gates ofDublin!”

The unlooked-for passage of the English horse on theIrish left has been variously explained, or, rather, soughtto be explained. Almost every Irish writer, the carefulO’Callaghan included, attributes the disaster to a lackof proper ammunition on the part of Colonel WalterBourke’s regiment, to which was committed the defenceof the castle. Having exhausted their original supply,the soldiers opened the barrels in reserve and found thatthe bullets were cast for the calibre of the English gunswhich they had used earlier in the war, and were too large344for the bore of the French muskets, which they carriedat Aughrim. Other authors aver that when the Irish leftwas weakened, to strengthen the right, the front insteadof the rear line of the covering brigade (HenryLuttrell’s) was withdrawn, thus enabling the infantrythat accompanied Sir Francis Compton’s horse—whowere twice repulsed, but, being heavily reinforced, againadvanced—to post themselves in “the dry ditch” referredto by Chaplain Story; while General Talmash made acorresponding lodgment, with his rallied foot, on theright centre. Gross carelessness, deliberate treason, orboth combined, contributed to the Irish disaster. St.Ruth himself, however, would not seem to have beenmuch concerned by the apparition of the English cavalryforming toward his left flank, in the small area offirm ground, just across from the old castle. On thecontrary, like Napoleon before the final charge at Waterloo,“the flash of victory passed into his eyes,” and, ashe observed the enemy forming with some difficulty inthat narrow space, while the single infantry regiment inthe dry ditch cowering under the rain of Irish bullets,cried out to his staff, “We have won the battle, gentlemen!They are beaten. Now let us beat them to thepurpose!” His bodyguard was formed in rear of thestaff and he had already ordered his cavalry reserve toreport to him. Therefore, these formidable squadronscame up at a trot that shook the ground over the hillbehind him. We are not informed of the name of theofficer who led them—fortunately for his fame, for hemust have been either a dastard or a traitor. Instead ofcommitting the command to a subordinate general, as heshould have done, St. Ruth prepared to lead the attack in345person, and the mass of horsem*n, proud and confident,began to move slowly down the slope in the direction ofthe disheartened but still determined enemy. The general,dismounting, halted for a brief space at the battery whichdefended that flank of the army, addressed some remarksto the officer in command, and, it is said, directed thefire of one of the cannon, with his own hand, toward aparticular point of the causeway leading to the castle.Then he remounted his superb gray charger—the thirdhe had ridden that fatal day—and, dressed as he was infull uniform, made a conspicuous mark for the Englishgunners. He drew his sword, his hard features, accordingto tradition, kindling with enthusiasm, and was aboutto utter the command to charge Compton’s and Levinson’scavalry—a charge that must have given the victoryto Ireland, because, according to Macaulay, De Ginkelalready meditated a retreat—when, right before the eyesof his horrified followers, his head was dashed from hisshoulders by a cannon shot, fired from the English batteryat the other side of the bog! His sword remainedfirmly gripped in his right hand, but his affrighted horsegalloped down the hill, the body of the rider remainingerect in the saddle, until it was knocked off by the overhangingbranches of a tree whose remnants are stillpointed out to the traveler. A general paralysis of theIrish left wing, chiefly among the horse, would seem tohave immediately followed the sudden and ghastly deathof St. Ruth. The French attendants at once threw acloak over the headless trunk, with the well-meant, but,as it turned out, ill-considered object of concealing thegeneral’s unlooked-for fall from the all but victoriousIrish army.

346St. Ruth’s bodyguard halted the moment he fell,and, when the servants bore the body over the hill towardthe rear, they acted as escort. The Irish horse,through the timidity or treachery of their chief, haltedalso, and, unaccountably, followed the movement in retreatof the bodyguard. The single word “Charge!”uttered by any general officer, before the cavalry retired,would have saved the day; but it was never uttered.The stubborn Mackay and his lieutenants, from theirposition near the castle below, divined, from the confusionthey observed on the near hillside, that somethingfatal had occurred. They took fresh heart. More oftheir cavalry, strongly supported by infantry, came up.All these reheartened troops began to push forward beyondthe pass, and even on their beaten centre and leftthe long-baffled British and their allies again assumedthe offensive. No orders reached the Irish troops—mainlyfoot—still in position on the right and centreand even on a portion of the left—for the order ofbattle had perished with St. Ruth. Was it possible that,impressed by repeated dissensions, he doubted the fidelityof his chiefs and feared to take any of them into hisconfidence? He must have misjudged most of them sorelyif this was the case. Mere selfishness or vanity can notexplain his fateful omission. The English cavalry, nowpractically unopposed, poured through the pass, penetratedto the firm ground on the north slope of the hill,and, finally, appeared in rear of the infantry of the Irishleft wing. Their foot, too, had succeeded in makingfirm lodgment in the lowest ditches. The Irish still continuedto fight bravely, “but without order or direction.”At the sight of the repeatedly routed British infantry347crossing the bog in the centre, and the cavalry threateningtheir left and rear, it is averred by Boyle that a cryof “Treason!” rang through the ranks of the regimentsso placed as to be able to observe the hostile movements.

The enemy now vigorously attacked the Irish right andcentre, but were as vigorously met, and again and againrepulsed. For a long time, on the right particularly, theywere unable to advance, and it would appear that theIrish soldiers in their front were totally ignorant of whathad occurred in other parts of the field. The Irish infantryon the left, destitute of ammunition and havingexpended even their buttons and ramrods for projectiles,retired within the castle, where nearly all of them werefinally slaughtered; or else broke off to the left, towardKilconnell, and made for the large, red bog, which almostsurrounded that flank, where many of them found refugefrom the sabres of the pursuing cavalry. But even stillthe devoted centre and right, although furiously assaulted,refused to give way. At last, the uproar towardAughrim, and the bullets of the outflanking enemy inthe left rear, taking them in reverse, warned these bravetroops that their position had become desperate. Twilighthad already set in—it was more than an hour afterthe fall of St. Ruth—when the English horse and footappeared almost behind them, toward the northwest;while the Dutch, Danish, and Huguenot cavalry, so longrepelled at Urachree, supported by the foot that had, atlong run, crossed the morass, began to hem them in onall sides. Their bravest leaders had fallen, but this admirableinfantry retired slowly from inclosure to inclosure,fighting the fight of despair, until they reachedtheir camp, where the tents were still standing in the348order in which they were pitched. Here they made theirlast heroic stand, but were, at length, broken and fledtoward the red bog already mentioned. The Englishleveled the tents, so as to render pursuit more open, andthen a dreadful slaughter of the broken Irish foot followed.Few of these brave men, worthy of a better fate,escaped the swords of the hostile horse. “Our foreigners,and especially the Danes, make excellent pursuers,”writes Chaplain Story grimly. Irish historians say thattwo of the Irish regiments, disdaining to fly, took positionin a ravine, and there waited “till morning’s sunshould rise and give them light to die.” They were discoveredby the enemy next morning and perished to aman! The spot where they died is still pointed out andis called by the peasantry “the glen of slaughter.”

We have, unhappily, no better authority than traditionfor stating that, toward the end of the battle, a part of theIrish cavalry, led by Sarsfield, covered the retreat of thesurvivors of the Irish foot on Loughrea and Limerick.In fact there seems to be a complete mystery about theaction of the Irish cavalry after the death of the Frenchgeneral. Certain it is that this force did not act with thevigor it showed in the early part of the combat on theright or with the spirit it displayed at the Boyne; and thisfact deepens the doubt as to whether Sarsfield was in thefight or not. Had it not been, as we are informed by thelearned Abbé McGeoghegan, in his able “History ofIreland,” for one O’Reilly, the almoner of a regiment,who caused the charge to be sounded as the fugitivespassed through a boggy defile on the line of retreat, theentire Irish infantry might have been destroyed. Theywere also aided by darkness, caused by “a thick misty349rain,” brought on, no doubt, by the detonations of thefirearms, acting on a humid atmosphere. Numbers ofsmall arms and other munitions were abandoned in theflight; all the cannon, most of the colors, and the wholecamp material fell into the hands of the enemy. Aughrimwas to Ireland what Culloden was to Scotland and Waterlooto France—an irretrievable military disaster, redeemedonly by the desperate valor of the defeated army.Even the most bitter and partisan of the English annalistsadmit, although with manifest reluctance, that the Irisharmy fought heroically in this murderous battle. Its lossesare placed by Story, who witnessed the conflict throughout,at 7,000 killed on the spot and 500, including officers,made prisoners. This statement of his shows conclusivelythat almost all of the Irish wounded were put tothe sword. Other writers, including King James himself,make the Irish loss somewhat less, but we are inclinedto think that Story, in this case, came pretty near to thetruth. He says in his interesting narrative, “lookingamongst the dead three days after, when all of ours andsome of theirs were buried, I reckoned in some smallinclosures 150, in others 120, etc., lying most of themin the ditches where they were shot, and the rest fromthe top of the hill, where their camp had been, looked likea great flock of sheep, scattered up and down the countryfor almost four miles round.” The bodies had beenstripped by the camp-followers, which accounts for thewhite appearance to which Story makes allusion. Mostof these corpses were inhumanly left above ground, to bethe prey of birds and beasts, by the conquerors, and thusAughrim is known to the Irish people as the “Field ofour Unburied Dead.” It was customary a generation350ago, and may be so in our day, for the Catholic peasantrypassing along the roads that wind around Kilcommodan,to uncover their heads reverently and offer upprayers for the souls of the heroes of their race whodied there for faith, land, and liberty.

Story says he never could find out what became of St.Ruth’s corpse, “some say that it was left stripped amongstthe other dead when our men pursued beyond the hill,and others that it was thrown into a bog.” In the neighborhoodof Aughrim it was long believed that while stillthe left of the Irish army remained in position, theFrench staff officers laid the remains to rest under thechancel floor of the adjacent Abbey of Kilconnell. Othertraditions are to the effect that they were buried in LoughreaAbbey, or beside those of Lord Galway, who fell inthe same battle, in the ruined church of Athenry. Boyle,after mentioning the two last-named probabilities, says:“There is, however, reason to doubt both, and the writeris aware that the people of the locality where the battlewas fought, directed by tradition, point to a few stuntedwhite thorns, to the west of the hill toward Loughrea,beneath which, they say, rest the ashes of that great butunfortunate general.”

CHAPTER VII

BESIDES St. Ruth, the chief officers killed on theIrish side were, according to Story’s account, GeneralLord Kilmallock, General Lord Galway, Brigadier-GeneralConnel (O’Connell), Brigadier-General W.351Mansfield Barker, Brigadier-General Henry M. J. O’Neill,Colonel Charles Moore, his lieutenant-colonel and major;Colonel David Bourke, Colonel Ulick Bourke, ColonelConnor McGuire, Colonel James Talbot, Colonel Arthur,Colonel Mahony, Colonel Morgan, Major Purcell,Major O’Donnell, Major Sir John Everard,with several others of superior rank, “besides, at least,five hundred captains and subordinate officers.” Thislatter statement has been challenged by Irish historians,who claim that non-commissioned officers were includedin the list. Story omitted from the number ofsuperior officers slain the name of Colonel Felix O’Neill,Judge-Advocate-General of the Irish army, whose bodywas found on the field. Of the less than five hundredIrish prisoners taken, twenty-six were general or fieldofficers, including General Lord Duleek, General LordSlane, General Lord Bophin, General Lord Kilmaine,General Dorrington, General John Hambleton (Hamilton),Brigadier-General Tuite, Colonel Walter Bourke,Colonel Gordon O’Neill, Colonel Butler, Colonel O’Connell(ancestor of Daniel O’Connell), Colonel EdmundMadden, Lieutenant-Colonel John Chappel, Lieutenant-ColonelJohn Butler, Lieutenant-Colonel Baggot, Lieutenant-ColonelJohn Border, Lieutenant-Colonel McGinness,Lieutenant-Colonel Rossiter, Lieutenant-ColonelMcGuire, Major Patrick Lawless, Major Kelly, MajorGrace, Major William Bourke, Major Edmund Butler,Major Edmund Broghill, Major John Hewson, “with30 captains, 25 lieutenants, 23 ensigns, 5 cornets, 4 quartermasters,and an adjutant.”

Chaplain Story, to whom, with all his faults, we aremuch indebted for the details of this momentous battle—one352of the few “decisive battles” of the world—says:“We [the English and their allies] lost 73 officers, whowere killed in this action, with 111 wounded, as appearsby the inserted lists [vide his History of the “Wars inIreland”] of both horse and foot, given in two daysafter by the general’s command, and sent to the king.”The lists referred to acknowledged, also, 600 soldierskilled and 906 wounded. The allied losses were, nodoubt, underestimated for political effect in England,which had been taught that one Englishman could killany number of Irishmen without much fear of a fatalresult to himself. And this superstition was useful, webelieve, to the morale of the British soldiers of the period,whose stomachs failed them so notably when theywere “up against” the defences of Limerick, as will beseen hereafter. Captain Taylor, a Williamite writer,who was present at the battle and published a graphic accountof it, says that the loss of the allies (British, Dutch,Danes, Germans, and Huguenots) was little less thanthat of the Irish, most of the latter having fallen in theretreat after the death of General St. Ruth. Of theAnglo-Dutch troopers, there were killed by the Irish cavalryat the pass of Urachree, in the early part of thefight, 202, and wounded 125, thus showing the superiorstrength, reach of arm, and dexterity of the Irish horsem*n.In hand-to-hand conflicts, whether mounted oron foot, the Irish soldiery, in whatever service, ever excelled,with sword or battle-axe, pike or bayonet. Clontibretand the Yellow Ford, Benburb and Fontenoy, Almanzaand Albuera, Inkerman and Antietam bear witnessto the truth of this assertion. As a charging warrior,the Irishman has never been surpassed, and, no matter353how bloodily repulsed, an Irish regiment or an Irisharmy is ever willing to try again. There may be soldiersas brave as they, but none are braver, even whenthey fight in causes with which they have no natural sympathy.It may be set down as a military axiom that theIrish soldier is, by force of untoward circ*mstances, frequentlya mercenary, but rarely, or never, a coward.

The principal officers who fell on the English side,at Aughrim, were Major-General Holztapfel, who commandedLord Portland’s horse at Urachree; ColonelHerbert, killed in the main attack on the Irish centre;Colonel Mongatts, who died among the Irish ditcheswhile trying to rally his routed command; Major Devonish,Major Cornwall, Major Cox, and Major Colt. Manyother officers of note died of their wounds at the fieldhospital established on the neighboring heights of Garbally—nowconverted into one of the most delightfuldemesnes in Europe; and some who survived the fieldhospital died in the military hospitals of Athlone andDublin. Those who fell in the battle were buried on thefield, with the usual military honors.

Captain Parker, who fought in the English army inthis battle, and who has left a narrative, frequently quotedby O’Callaghan, Haverty, Boyle, and other historians,says: “Our loss was about 3,000 men in killed andwounded,” and, as he was in the thick of the fight andcame out unwounded, he had full opportunity, after thebattle closed, to verify his figures. He certainly couldhave no object in exaggerating the English loss, for thetendency of all officers is to underrate the casualties intheir army. And Captain Parker says, further: “Had itnot been that St. Ruth fell, it were hard to say how354matters would have ended, for, to do him justice, notwithstandinghis oversight at Athlone, he was certainlya gallant, brave man, and a good officer, as appeared bythe disposition he made of his army this day.... Hiscentre and right wing [after his fall] still held theirground, and had he lived to order Sarsfield down to sustainhis left wing, it would have given a turn to affairson that side”—“or,” O’Callaghan says in comment, “inother words, have given the victory to the Irish.”

Lord Macaulay—anti-Irish as all his writings provehim to have been—says in his “History of England”:“Those [the Irish] works were defended with a resolutionsuch as extorted some words of ungracious eulogyeven from men who entertained the strongest prejudicesagainst the Celtic race.” He then quotes Baurnett, Story,and, finally, the London “Gazette,” of July, 1691, whichsaid: “The Irish were never known to fight with moreresolution.”

In his interesting, but partial, “Life of William III,”published in the beginning of the seventeenth century,Mr. Harris, a fierce anti-Jacobite, says: “It must, in justice,be confessed that the Irish fought this sharp battlewith great resolution, which demonstrates that the manydefeats before this sustained by them can not be imputedto a national cowardice with which some, without reason,impeached them; but to a defect in military disciplineand the use of arms, or to a want of skill and experiencein their commanders. And now, had not St. Ruth beentaken off, it would have been hard to say what the consequenceof this day would have been.”

Now we will give a few comments of the Irish historiansupon this Hastings of their country: O’Halloran,355who was born about the time the battle was fought, andwho, as a native of Limerick, must have been, at least,as familiar with soldiers who fought in the Williamitewars as we are with the Union and Confederate veterans,in Vol. I, page 106, of his “History of Ireland,” replyingto some slurs cast by the Frenchman, Voltaire, on theIrish people, says: “He should have recollected that, atthe battle of Aughrim, 15,000 Irish, ill paid and worseclothed, fought with 25,000 men highly appointed andthe flower of all Europe, composed of English, Dutch,Flemings, and Danes, vieing with each other. That,after a most bloody fight of some hours, these began toshrink on all sides, and would have received a most completeoverthrow but for the treachery of the commanderof the Irish horse, and the death of their general [St.Ruth] killed by a random shot.”

On pages 532-533 of the same work, the historian says:“Sir John Dalrymple tells us that [at Aughrim] thepriests ran up and down amongst the ranks, swearingsome on the sacrament, encouraging others, and promisingeternity to all who should gallantly acquit themselvesto their country that day. Does he mean this by way ofapology for the intrepidity of the Irish, or to lessen theapplause they were so well entitled to on that day? Havethey required more persuasions to fight the battles offoreign princes than the native troops, or are they theonly soldiers who require spiritual comfort on the dayof trial? I never thought piety was a reproach to soldiers,and it was, perhaps, the enthusiasm of Oliver’s troopsthat made them so victorious. This battle was, certainly,a bloody and decisive one. The stake was great, theIrish knew the value of it, and, though very inferior to356their enemies in numbers and appointments, and chagrinedby repeated losses, yet it must be owned they foughtit well. Accidents which human wisdom could not foresee,more than the superior courage of their flushed enemies,snatched from them that victory, which alreadybegan to declare in their favor. Their bones yet (1744)lie scattered over the plains of Aughrim, but let thatjustice be done to their memories which a brave andgenerous enemy never refuses.”

Abbé McGeoghegan, who wrote about 1745, and waschaplain of the Franco-Irish Brigade, says in his “Historyof Ireland,” page 603: “The battle began at oneo’clock, with equal fury on both sides, and lasted tillnight. James’s infantry performed prodigies of valor,driving the enemy three times back to their cannon.”

Rev. Thomas Leland, an Irish Protestant divine, whopublished a history of Ireland about 1763, after describingthe catastrophe which befell St. Ruth, says: “His[St. R.’s] cavalry halted, and, as they had no orders,returned to their former station. The Irish beheld thisretreat with dismay; they were confounded and disordered.Sarsfield, upon whom the command devolved,had been neglected by the proud Frenchman ever sincetheir altercation at Athlone. As the order of battle hadnot been imparted to him, he could not support the dispositionsof the late general. The English, in the meantime,pressed forward, drove the enemy to their camp,pursued the advantage until the Irish, after an engagementsupported with the fairest prospect of success,while they had a general to direct their valor, fledprecipitately.”

The Right Rev. Dr. Fitzgerald, Episcopalian bishop,357in his “History of Limerick,” published some sixty yearsago, says: “It [Aughrim] was the bravest battle everfought on Irish soil.” The bishop, evidently, had notread the lives of Art MacMurrough, Hugh O’Neill, HughO’Donnell, and Owen Roe O’Neill, when he penned thewords.

“Such,” writes O’Callaghan, at the conclusion of hisaccount of it, in the “Green Book,” page 230, “was thebattle of Aughrim, or Kilconnell, as the French called it,from the old abbey to the left of the Irish position; abattle unsuccessful, indeed, on the side of the Irish, buta Chæronea, or a Waterloo, fought with heroism andlost without dishonor.”

A. M. Sullivan, in his fascinating “Story of Ireland”(American edition, page 458), says, or rather, quotesfrom a Williamite authority: “The Irish infantry wereso hotly engaged that they were not aware either of thedeath of St. Ruth or of the flight of the cavalry, untilthey themselves were almost surrounded. A panic andconfused flight were the result. The cavalry of the rightwing, who were the first in action that day, were the lastto quit the ground.... St. Ruth fell about sunset[8.10], and about 9, after three hours’ [nearer fourhours’] hard fighting, the last of the Irish army [whowere not killed, wounded, or captured] had left the field.”

John Boyle, in his “Battlefields of Ireland,” quotesTaylor, an English military author who fought at Aughrim,as saying: “Those [the Irish dead] were nearly allkilled after the death of St. Ruth, for, up to that, theIrish had lost scarcely a man;” and, says he, further,“large numbers were murdered, after surrender and promiseof quarter, by order of General Ginkel, and among358those, so murdered, in cold blood, were Colonel O’Mooreand that most loyal gentleman and chivalrous soldier,Lord Galway.” This same able writer, in concludinghis graphic story of the famous battle, remarks, with indignanteloquence: “It is painful to speculate on the causethat left the Irish army without direction after the deathof St. Ruth. Many have endeavored to explain it, butall—as well those who doubt Sarsfield’s presence on thefield as those who maintain the contrary—are lost in conjecture,and none who participated in the battle, and survivedit, has placed the matter beyond speculation. Soleaving that point as time has left it, what appears moststrange in the connection is the absence of all commandat such a conjuncture. The disposition of the Irish troops,though dexterous, was simple. The day was all butwon. The foiling of Talmash (Mackay) would havebeen the completion of victory. A force sufficient wason his front; a reserve more than ample to overwhelmhim was on its way to the ground—nay, drawn up andeven ready for the word. The few British troops thatheld a lodgment in the hedges, at the base of the hill,were completely at the mercy of those above them. Itrequired no omniscient eye to see this, nor a voice fromthe clouds to impel them forward, and, surely, no militaryetiquette weighed a feather in opposition to the fateof a nation. Any officer of note could have directed themovement, and many of experience and approved couragewitnessed the crisis. Yet, in this emergency, all the hard-wonlaurels of the day were tarnished, and land and libertywere lost by default! Nor can the rashness of St.Ruth, his reticence as to his plans, his misunderstandingwith Sarsfield, nor the absence of the latter, justify the359want of intrepid action among those present. Thisstands unexplained and inexplicable, nor will the flippantappeal to Providence, whose ways are too frequently offeredas an excuse for human misconduct, answer here.The want of ammunition at such a moment was, no doubt,of some import, but the concurrence of events too plainlyindicates that Aughrim was won by the skill of St. Ruthand the gallantry of his troops, and that it was lostthrough want of decision in his general officers, at a momentthe most critical in the nation’s history.”

De Ginkel’s army remained in the neighborhood ofthe field of battle long enough to give it an opportunityof burying all of the Irish dead, were it so disposed. Thecountry-people remained away, in terror of their livesand poor belongings—particularly cattle—until decompositionhad so far advanced as to make the task of sepultureparticularly revolting. And thus it came to passthat nearly all the Irish slain were left above ground, “exposedto the birds of the air and the beasts of the field;many dogs frequenting the place afterward, and growingso fierce by feeding upon man’s flesh that it became dangerousfor any single man to pass that way. And,”continues Story in his narrative so frequently quoted,“there is a true and remarkable story of a greyhound[meaning the large, rapacious, and ferocious, Irish WolfDog that existed in those days, although extinct sincethe last century] belonging to an Irish officer: the gentlemanwas killed and stripped in the battle, whose bodythe dog remained by night and day, and tho’ he fedon other corps [es] with the rest of the dogs, yet hewould not allow them, or anything else, to touch that ofhis master. When all the corps [es] were consumed, the360other dogs departed, but he used to go in the night to theadjacent villages for food, and presently to return againto the place where his master’s bones were only then left;and thus he continued till January following, when oneof Colonel Foulk’s soldiers, being quartered nigh hand,and going that way by chance, the dog, fearing he cameto disturb his master’s bones, flew upon the soldier, who,being surprised at the suddenness of the thing, unslunghis piece, then upon his back, and killed the poor dog.”

Ireland’s national poet, Thomas Moore, in the beautifulwords, set to that weirdly mournful air: “The Lamentationof Aughrim,” thus pours out in deathless melodythe heart of his unfortunate country:

TREATING OF THE PERIOD FROM THE SECOND SIEGEOF LIMERICK, IN 1691, TO THE DISSOLUTION OF THEEXILED FRANCO-IRISH BRIGADE A CENTURY LATER

THE decisive battle having been lost by Ireland, whatfollowed in this campaign became almost inevitable.Louis XIV and his ministers were criminally culpable inencouraging the Irish people to resistance when they didnot mean to give them effective aid. Ireland had proved,in breach and field, that she needed no foreign troops todo her fighting, but she badly needed arms, ammunition,quartermaster’s supplies, and a money-chest. Perhaps theegotism of the French monarch and his advisers led themto underrate the importance of Ireland as a factor in theaffairs of Europe, and the slanders of the perfidious Lauzunand his lieutenants had poisoned the mind of the rulerof France in regard to Irish valor. James, in his panicflight, had also carried with him to the French court amost unfavorable impression, and some Irish writers—amongthem Mr. Boyle—aver that Louis bitterly reproachedthe fallen king for his ignominious abandonment of Irelandafter the affair of the Boyne. James, however, managedto conciliate his haughty cousin, and the latter madehim still more promises of effective assistance.

De Ginkel, whose immediate objective, as before thegreat battle, was Galway, broke up his camp at Aughrimand marched to Loughrea, on July 16. He reached Athenrythe following day, and Oranmore on the 18th. Atthis point he learned that Lord Dillon was Governor of364Galway town, and that the French general, D’Usson, commandedthe garrison. Baal Dearg O’Donnell, with whatremained of his irregular force, hovered about the city,but failed to throw himself into it. It has been stated,on seemingly good authority, that the Irish officials withinthe town distrusted him, as, indeed, was not unreasonable,seeing that Chaplain Story tells us that “his [O’Donnell’s]design was to keep amongst the mountains till hecould make terms for himself, upon which account he writ[wrote] the general, De Ginkel, before our army removedfrom Galway.” He followed up this treason in a practicalmanner, and, some months later on, as the Chaplaincirc*mstantially informs us, the adventurer entered theservice of William in the Continental wars, and also receiveda pension of £500 per annum, for life, from theEnglish treasury. The same consideration was subsequentlygiven to Brigadier Henry Luttrell, on whom popularIrish tradition has fixed the odium of having “soldthe pass at Aughrim.” It is certain that twenty-six yearsafterward, A.D. 1717, this treacherous “general of the Irishhorse” was shot to death in a sedan chair, while beingcarried through the streets of Dublin. No doubt remainsamong the Irish people that the deed was done in reprisalfor Luttrell’s villanous conduct in the campaign of 1691,and some have gone so far as to charge him with havingbeen the officer who ordered the Irish cavalry off the fieldimmediately after the death of St. Ruth on KilcommodanHill.

Galway, before which De Ginkel appeared on the 19th,after a respectable show of resistance, surrendered with thehonors of war, and sundry liberal civil provisions, on the22d. On the 26th it was evacuated by the Irish garrison,365which marched to Limerick. This capitulation virtuallyended Irish resistance in Connaught, except for the town ofSligo, which was stubbornly held by the gallant Sir TeagueO’Regan, the hero of Charlemont, against a strong detachmentof the English army, under Lord Granard, until thefollowing September 16, when he, too, having done all thata brave commander might, yielded his post with honor, andwas allowed to join the main Irish army in Limerick town.The adventurer, O’Donnell, assisted the English againstSligo. De Ginkel, after garrisoning Galway, moved towardLimerick by way of Athenry, Loughrea, Eyrecourt, BanagherBridge, Birr, Nenagh, and Caherconlish, meetingbut feeble resistance on his route. He halted at the last-mentionedplace to refresh and reinforce his army, and toprovide himself with a stronger siege train. This he finallybrought up to the number of sixty “great guns,” none ofthem less than a twelve-pounder, and about a score of mortarsfor the throwing of large shells. About this time, he issuedseveral proclamations, and continued to do so throughoutthe subsequent operations, with the design of seducingthe Irish officers and soldiers from their allegiance to adesperate cause. In this effort he was by no means successful,but several clever Irish spies passed themselves offas deserters, and gave him plenty of misinformation regardingthe condition of affairs at Limerick. While inthis camp at Caherconlish, the Dutch general’s attention wascalled to the cupidity of the sutlers and other camp-followers,who appear to have been as greedy and consciencelessas their successor of our own times. The gossipy Chaplaininforms us, in this connection, that General Ginkel “sent outan order that all ale from Dublin and Wicklow should besold at 6 pence [12 cents] per quart; all other ale, coming366above forty miles, at 5 pence, and all under forty miles at4 pence; white bread to be sold at 3 pence per pound; brownbread at 2 pence; claret at 2 shillings and 6 pence, andRhenish at 3 shillings [per quart]; brandy at 12 shillings[$2.88] per gallon, etc.; and that no person should presumeto exceed these rates on the penalty of forfeiting all hisgoods, and suffering a month’s imprisonment. But theypromptly found out a trick for this,” continues Mr. Storyin disgust, “and called all drink that came to the campDublin or Wicklow ale!” This “touch of nature” showshow little mankind has changed in principle and practiceafter a lapse of more than six generations.

De Ginkel appeared in front of Limerick on August 25,and the city was immediately invested on the south, east,and north. The Clare side, connected by Thom*ond Bridgewith Englishtown, or King’s Island, still remained unattacked,as no English force had passed the river. The Irishhorse and dragoons were all quartered on that side, whilethe infantry garrisoned the threatened portions of the city.

Notwithstanding the imposing array of Ginkel’s superbarmy and powerful siege equipment as they approachedthe walls of their city, neither the people nor the garrisonof Limerick seem to have been much concerned by thespectacle. The walls were much stronger than they hadbeen in the previous siege, and the soldiers were seasonedto hardship and peril. D’Usson, the French lieutenant-general,was in chief command, with his fellow-countryman,general, the Chevalier De Tessé, second, and Sarsfield, it appearsfrom the order of signature in the subsequent treaty,was third in rank, with the Scotch general, Wauchop,fourth. The Duke of Tyrconnel had died of apoplexy—Storyhints at poison administered in wine—after dining367heartily with the French generals and other officers onAugust 14. The misfortunes of his country, in the opinionof many writers, had more to do with hastening theend than any other cause. His remains lie under a namelessflagstone in the aisle of St. Mauchin’s church in Limerick,but we are informed not even Irish tradition, usuallyso minute, can point out the exact place of sepulture. Thepowerful English batteries, raking the town on three sides,poured in torrents of bombs and red-hot cannon balls, dayand night, and the place caught fire at several points. Mostof the women and children had to be removed to the cavalrycamp on the Clare bank, and the casualties among thedefenders were numerous. The Irish replied spiritedly,but they were very deficient in weight of metal, and, also,because of the comparative shortness of supply, had to besparing of their ammunition, whereas the English werealways sure of a fresh supply both from the interior andtheir men-of-war on the adjacent coasts. The Chaplain,under date of September 8, 1691, relates how the “newbatteries were all ready—one to the left with ten field-piecesto shoot red-hot ball; another to the right of 25 guns, all24 and 18-pounders; and in the centre were placed 8 mortars,from 18¾ to 10½ inches in diameter; these stoodall together on the northeast of the town, nigh the island;then there were 8 guns of 12-pound ball each, planted atMackay’s fort, and some also toward the river on thesouthwest, where the Danes were posted. These fell towork all the time and put the Irish into such a fright [morepartisan venom] that a great many of them wished themselvesat another place, having never heard such a noisebefore, nor I hope never shall in that kingdom.”

Three days later the reverend chronicler tells us that368“the breach was widened at least forty paces, and, floatsbeing prepared, there were great debates amongst the chiefofficers whether it should be attempted by storm....Though indeed we could not do the enemy a greater pleasure,nor ourselves a greater prejudice, in all probability,than in seeking to carry the town by a breach, before thosewithin [the Irish, to wit] were more humbled, either bysword or sickness.” No finer tribute than this, comingfrom such a source, could be paid to Irish constancy andcourage, after such treasons and disasters as marked thecapture of Athlone and the loss of Aughrim.

Thoroughly convinced that he could not hope to carryLimerick by direct assault, De Ginkel now resolved to testthe never-failing weapon of treachery and surprise on thisstubborn foe. He had information that there was a strongpeace-at-any-price party within the town, and that, couldhe but land a strong force on the Clare bank of the Shannon,the city would speedily capitulate. He, therefore, determinedto construct, in all secrecy, a pontoon bridge acrossthe river above St. Thomas Island, near a place calledAnnaghbeg, where Brigadier Robert Clifford commandeda strong body of Irish dragoons and infantry, quite sufficient,if only properly directed, to foil any hostile movement.On the night of the 15th of September, the bridgewas laid—the most favorable point having been revealedby some fishermen, who, the historian O’Callaghan relates,were bribed to betray their country. It is much more probable,however, that they were forced to turn traitors underthreat of death. However, on the morning of the 16th thebridge was completed and a formidable English force ofhorse and foot, under Generals Talmash and Scravenmore,succeeded in crossing. Apparently taken by surprise—although369distinctly charged with treason by numerous Irishhistorians—General Clifford, at this important juncture,displayed neither zeal, courage, nor capacity. He broughthis men up in a state of unreadiness and in detachments,instead of in a solid formation, and, of course, was easilyput to rout. To show the criminal carelessness, to say noworse, of this commander, his cavalry horses were “out atgrass” two miles from his camp, when the English attackwas made! Such “generalship” would have demoralizedan army of Spartans, and the Irish rank and file can hardlybe blamed if, on this occasion, they did not manifest theircustomary intrepidity. Europe never beheld in the field abraver body of men than King James’s Irish army, andthe world never furnished a more incompetent staff of generalofficers, whether French or Irish, than that which commandedand, finally, wrecked it. We wish to except St.Ruth and Sarsfield and Boisseleau, who were able and gallantsoldiers, thoroughly devoted to the cause in whichthey had embarked. De Ginkel’s bold movement resultedin the partial turning of Thom*ond Bridge—the key to King’sIsland—and the capture of St. Thomas Island, another importantIrish post above the city. He, therefore, felt justifiedin issuing, that same day, a proclamation inviting thegarrison of Limerick to surrender on honorable conditions,but the Irish, although now under a veritable rain of fireand iron from every point of the compass, paid no heed toit, whereat the phlegmatic, but skilful, Dutch strategistgreatly marveled.

But, although the river had been successfully passed, Ginkelwas so discouraged by the firm countenance of the Irishgarrison that he called a Council of War on the 17th, whenit was, at first, decided to cross the whole English army370into Clare, destroy the Irish resources of food and foragein that county, and then convert the siege into a blockadethat might last indefinitely. Reflection, however, changedthis decision. Winter was approaching, and the wet Irishwinter meant wholesale death to the soft and pampered Englishand their foreign allies. Ginkel, then, resolved toagain try his favorite manœuvre—a turning movement.Accordingly, on September 22, at the head of the greaterportion of the allied army, he crossed the pontoon bridgeand, commanding in person, made a sudden and tremendousattack on the small fort which commanded Thom*ondBridge, and was garrisoned by about 800 Irish soldiers.The English cannon soon covered this fort with red-hotprojectiles. Everything inflammable in the soldiers’ quarterscaught fire, and the desperate garrison made a sortiewith the object of crossing into King’s Island by Thom*ondBridge. The connection was by means of a draw. A littleover a hundred of the Irish had crossed in safety, whenthe French major in command at the drawbridge, fearing,it is said, that the English might enter the town with thefugitives, caused it suddenly to be raised. The men behindwere not able to see what had happened, and the foremostranks that stood on the western abutment were forced overthe gulf and nearly all perished in the river. The othersput up white handkerchiefs in token of surrender, but thesavage victors showed no mercy. Story, who saw the wholesickening butchery, paints the scene in ghastly fashionthus: “Before the killing was over, they [the Irish] werelaid in heaps upon the bridge, higher than the ledges ofit.” Out of 800 men, only the five score and odd thatgained the drawbridge in time, and the few strong oneswho swam the river, escaped. It, on a smaller scale, resembled371the disaster at Leipsic, in 1813, when the FrenchMajor of Engineers, Montfort, caused the bridge over theElster to be blown up, while yet the corps of MacDonaldand Poniatowski, which formed Napoleon’s rearguard, wereon the hostile bank of the river. Thus, through the stupidity,or panic, of a subordinate officer, the emperor lostthe Polish marshal, who was one of his best generals,and 20,000 of his choicest troops. A fool or coward commandingat a bridge over which an army is compelled toretreat, is more deadly to his friends than all the bulletsand sabres of the enemy.

CHAPTER II

THE Irish cavalry, which would seem to have beeninefficiently commanded by General Sheldon duringthe late operations, and now completely outnumbered, fellback to Six-Mile-Bridge in Clare, dejected and almost hopeless.The men had lost faith in their commanders, andthat meant a speedy end of effective resistance. When itbecame known in Limerick that the enemy had beensuccessful beyond the river, the peace party began againto clamor loudly for a capitulation. A party eager for surrenderwithin a beleaguered city is the very best ally a besiegingforce can have. In this case, their treason or pusillanimityproved the destruction of their country. De Ginkelhad positive information that a great French fleet, undera renowned admiral, Count Chateau-Renaud, was fitting outat Brest for the relief of Limerick. Therefore he was readyto promise almost anything in order to gain the timely surrender372of the place, for he knew that if the French oncelanded in force, all the fruits of his recent victories would beirretrievably spoiled. The buoyant Irish would rally againmore numerously than ever, better drilled, equipped, andthoroughly inured to war. His good opinion of theirfighting qualities was unequivocally shown in his eagernessto enlist them as soldiers under the banner of King William.He felt morally certain that Sarsfield and the other chiefIrish officers were entirely ignorant of the preparationsgoing on in France. They imagined themselves absolutelydeserted by that power. Irish tradition credits General Sarsfieldwith a disposition to hold out to the last, while it isbelieved, on the same rather unreliable authority, that theFrench generals, D’Usson and De Tessé, favored an honorableand immediate surrender. It is certain that mostof the Anglo-Irish officers were tired of the war and desiredto have an end of it on any reasonable terms. Ginkel wasstill over the river in Clare, when, on the evening of September23, the Irish drums, from several points in the town,beat a parley. The siege had lasted almost a month, andthe English officers were delighted at the near prospect ofpeace. They received Sarsfield, Wauchop, and their escort,under a flag of truce, with military courtesy, and directedthem where to find the general-in-chief. The Irish officerscrossed the Shannon in a rowboat, and found Ginkel in hiscamp by Thom*ond Bridge. He received them favorably,and a temporary cessation of hostilities was agreed upon.Next morning, it was decided to extend it three days. Thenit was determined that the Irish officers and commands separatedfrom the Limerick garrison should be communicatedwith, and that all, if terms were agreed upon, would surrendersimultaneously. Meanwhile the English and Irish373officers exchanged courtesies and frequently dined together,although the French generals held aloof, for some reasonthat has never been satisfactorily explained.

But now the ultra peace party having, in a measure, theupper hand, sought to commit the Irish army to a dishonorableand ungrateful policy—the abandonment of France,which, with all its faults, was Ireland’s sole ally. Hostageswere exchanged by the two armies, those for England beingLord Cutts, Sir David Collier, Colonel Tiffin, and ColonelPiper; and for Ireland Lords Westmeath, Iveagh (whoseentire regiment afterward passed over to William), Trimelstown,and Louth. Following the arrival of the latter inthe English camp came the peace party’s proposals, whichstipulated for the freedom of Catholic worship and themaintenance of civil rights, and then basely proposed that“the Irish army be kept on foot, paid, et cetera, the same asthe rest of their majesties’ forces, in case they were willingto serve their majesties against France or any otherenemy.”

The Irish army, nobly chivalrous and patriotic, with theusual base exceptions to be found in every considerablebody of men, was not willing “to serve their majesties” asintimated, as will be seen further along. Ginkel, who wasthoroughly coached by the “royal commissioners” fromDublin, who were rarely absent from his camp, rejected thePalesmen’s propositions, chiefly because of the Catholicclaims put forward in them. There is no evidence whateverthat Sarsfield countenanced the policy attempted to becarried out by this contemptible faction.

On the 28th all the parties in Limerick town came to anagreement in regard to what they would propose to and acceptfrom De Ginkel. The latter, who was quite a diplomatic374as well as military “bluffer,” began openly to prepare his batteriesfor a renewal of the bombardment—the three days’cessation having nearly come to an end. But, on the daystated, there came to him, from out of Limerick, GeneralsSarsfield (Lord Lucan), Wauchop, the Catholic Primate,Baron Purcell, the Archbishop of Cashel, Sir Garret Dillon,Sir Theobald (“Toby”) Butler, and Colonel Brown, “thethree last counselors-at-law, with several other officers andcommissioners.” Baron De Ginkel summoned all of hischief generals to meet them, and “after a long debate, articleswere agreed on, not only for the town of Limerick, butfor all the other forts and castles in the kingdom, then inthe enemies’ possession.” In compliance with the wish ofthe Irish delegation, De Ginkel agreed to summon theLords Justices from Dublin to ratify the treaty. Thesefunctionaries, authoritatively representing King Williamand Queen Mary, soon arrived at the camp and signed theinstrument in due form. The French generals, althoughthey did not accompany the Irish commissioners on theirvisit to Ginkel, signed the terms of capitulation with therest, the names appearing in the following order: D’Usson,Le Chevalier de Tessé, Latour Monfort, Mark Talbot, Lucan(Sarsfield), Jo Wauchop, Galmoy, M. Purcell. ForEngland there signed Lords Justices Charles Porter andThomas Conyngsby, Baron De Ginkel, and Generals Scravenmore,Mackay, and Talmash.

The Treaty of Limerick was thus consummated on October3, 1691, with all the required forms and ceremonies,so that no loophole of informality was left for either partyto this international compact. In the treaty there were 29military and 13 civil articles. As they were quite lengthy,we will confine ourselves to a general summary, thus:

375All the adherents of King James in Ireland were givenpermission to go beyond the seas to any country they mightchoose to live in, except England and Scotland. Volunteersand rapparees were included in this provision, as well as theofficers and soldiers of the Irish regular army. These voluntaryexiles were allowed to depart from Ireland in “wholebodies, companies, or parties;” and it was provided that, ifplundered by the way, the English Government would grantcompensation for such losses as they might sustain. It wasagreed that fifty ships of 200 tons burden each should beprovided for their transportation, and twenty of the sametonnage in addition, if it should be found necessary, andthat “said ships should be furnished with forage for horsesand all necessary provisions to subsist the officers, troopers,dragoons, and [foot] soldiers, and all other persons [meaningfamilies and followers] that are shipped to be transportedinto France.” In addition, two men-of-war were placedat the disposal of the principal officers for the voyage, andsuitable provision was made for the safe return of all vesselswhen their mission of transportation was accomplished.The thrifty De Ginkel further stipulated that the provisionssupplied to the military exiles should be paid for by theirgovernment as soon as the Irish troops were landed onFrench soil. Article XXV provided: “That it shall be lawfulfor the said garrison [of Limerick] to march out at once,or at different times, as they can be embarked, with arms,baggage, drums beating, match lighted at both ends, bulletin mouth, colors flying, six brass guns, such as the besiegedshall choose, two mortar pieces, and half the ammunitionthat is now in the magazines of the said place.” This provision,which, as can be seen, included the full “honors ofwar,” was also extended to the other capitulated Irish garrisons.376Another significant provision was that all Irish officersand soldiers who so desired could join the army ofKing William, retaining the rank and pay they enjoyed inthe service of King James.

Of the civil articles, the first read as follows: “The RomanCatholics of this kingdom shall enjoy such privilegesin the exercise of their religion as are consistent with thelaws of Ireland, or as they did enjoy in the reign of KingCharles II; and their Majesties, as soon as their affairswill permit them to summon a Parliament in this kingdom,will endeavor to procure the said Roman Catholics suchfurther security in that particular as may preserve them fromdisturbance upon the account of their said religion.”

The second article guaranteed protection in the possessionof their estates and the free pursuit of their several professions,trades, and callings to all who had served King James,the same as under his own régime, on the taking of thesubjoined oath of allegiance prescribed by statute: “I ——do solemnly promise and swear that I will be faithful andbear true allegiance to their Majesties, King William andQueen Mary: so help me God.” A subsequent article providedthat “the oath to be administered to such RomanCatholics as submit to their Majesties’ government shall bethe oath aforesaid and no other”—thus doing away, as theIrish honestly supposed, with the odious penal “Test oaths,”which were an outrage on Catholic belief and a glaring insultto the Catholics of the whole world.

The third article extended the benefit of the first andsecond articles to Irish merchants “beyond the seas” whohad not borne arms since the proclamation issued by Williamand Mary in the preceding February, but they wererequired to return to Ireland within eight months.

377Article IV granted like immunity to Irish officers inforeign lands, absent in pursuance of their military duties,and naming, specially, Colonel Simon Luttrell (the loyalbrother of the traitor, Henry), Colonel Rowland White,Colonel Maurice Eustace, of Gormanstown, and MajorCheviers (Chevers) of Maystown, “commonly called MountLeinster.”

Article V provided that all persons comprised in the secondand third articles should have general pardon for all“attainders, outlawries, treasons (?), misprisions of treasons,præmunires, felonies, trespasses, and other crimesand misdemeanors whatsoever, committed by them, or anyof them since the beginning of the reign of James II; andif any of them are attainted by Parliament, the Lords Justicesand the General will use their best endeavors to getthe same repealed by Parliament, and the outlawries to bereversed gratis, all but writing-clerk’s fees.”

Article VI provided general immunity to both parties fordebts or disturbances arising out of the late war. Thisprovision applied also to rates and rents.

Article VII provided that “every nobleman and gentlemancomprised in the second and third articles shall haveliberty to ride with a sword and case of pistols, if they[sic] think fit, and keep a gun in their houses for the defenceof the same, or for fowling.”

The eighth article granted leave to the inhabitants, orresidents, of Limerick, and other Irish garrisons, to removetheir goods and chattels, if so disposed, without interference,search, or the payment of duties, and they wereprivileged to remain in their lodgings for six weeks.

The tenth article declared that “no person, or persons,who shall at any time hereafter break these articles, or378any of them, shall thereby make or cause any other personor persons to forfeit or lose the benefit of the same.”

Article XII read thus: “The Lords Justices and the Generaldo undertake that their Majesties will ratify these articleswithin the space of three months, or sooner, and usetheir utmost endeavors that the same shall be ratified andconfirmed in the Parliament.”

The thirteenth, and final, article made provision for theprotection from financial loss of Colonel John Browne,commissary-general of the Irish army, who, during thewar, had seized the property of certain Williamites for thepublic use, charging the debt, pro rata, on the Catholicestates secured to their owners under the treaty; and requiringGeneral (Lord Lucan) to certify the account withColonel Browne within 21 days.

It will be remembered, in examining the religious provisionsof the Treaty of Limerick, that Catholic worshipin the reign of Charles II was permitted by connivancerather than by law. Many of the worst of the penal laws,although in abeyance, might be revived at any time by lawofficers tyrannically disposed toward the Catholics. Thelatter were once again to discover that it is one thing toobtain a favorable treaty from a formidable enemy, whilethey have arms in their hands and a still inviolate fortressat their backs, but quite a different matter to make the foelive up to the provisions of the treaty when the favorableconditions for the capitulators have passed away. But ofthis hereafter.

Not many days subsequent to the surrender of Limerick,Count Chateau-Renaud, with a powerful French fleet, havingon board arms, cannon, and all kinds of military supplies,together with a veteran contingent of 3,000 men and379200 officers, cast anchor in Dingle Bay, on the southerncoast, without once coming in contact with the naval mightof England. Were the Irish a dishonorable people, theycould have then, with great advantage, repudiated thetreaty, but the national honor was irrevocably plighted,and, consequently, there was an end of the struggle. Manyhonest Irish writers have blamed the precipitancy of Sarsfieldand the other leaders in signing the articles of capitulation,and not without good cause. Lord Lucan shouldhave court-martialed and shot the leaders of the peace-at-any-pricetraitors when they first showed their hands.Hugh O’Neill, Red Hugh O’Donnell, or Owen Roe O’Neillwould have done so without hesitation, but, then, Sarsfieldwas only half a Celt, and had an unfortunate tendernessfor his fellows of the Pale. It is regrettable that none ofthe French generals has left a clear statement of the eventsthat led to the premature surrender of the town; but weknow that King Louis, who subsequently honored Sarsfield,held D’Usson responsible, for Story tells us, on page280 of his “Continuation of the History of the Wars inIreland,” that “the French king [Louis XIV] was so farfrom thanking him for it [the capitulation] that, aftersome public indignities, he sent him to the Bastile.”

Viewed in the light of after events, the Treaty of Limerick,from the Irish standpoint, looks like a huge gameof confidence, and is an ineradicable blot on English militaryand diplomatic honor. The civil articles were ignored,or trampled under foot, almost immediately. The militaryarticles were better observed, except that provision whichrelated to transportation to France, which was grossly violatedand led to the drowning in Cork Harbor of a numberof the wives of the Irish soldiery, who, unable to find room380on board, owing to De Ginkel’s alleged faithlessness, orthe perfidy of his lieutenants, clung to the ropes, when theships set sail, and were dragged beneath the waves to theirdeath.

Mitchel, in his able “History of Ireland,” page 3, writingof this painful incident, defends Sarsfield against animputation cast upon that officer by Lord Macaulay, in hisbrilliant but unreliable “History of England,” thus: “As toGeneral Sarsfield’s proclamation to the men ‘that they shouldbe permitted to carry their wives and families to France,’he made the statement on the faith of the First and severalsucceeding articles of the treaty, not yet being aware of anydesign to violate it. But this is not all: The historian whocould not let the hero go into his sorrowful exile withoutseeking to plunge his venomous sting into his reputation,had before him the ‘Life of King William,’ by Harris, andalso Curry’s ‘Historical Review of the Civil Wars,’ whereinhe must have seen that the Lords Justices and GeneralGinkel are charged with endeavoring to defeat the executionof the First Article. For, says Harris, ‘as great numbersof the officers and soldiers had resolved to enter intothe service of France, and to carry their families with them,Ginkel would not suffer their wives and children to beshipped off with the men, not doubting that by detaining theformer he would have prevented many of the latter fromgoing into that service. This, I say, was confessedly aninfringement of the articles.’

“To this we may add,” continues Mitchel, “that no Irishofficer or soldier in France attributed the cruel parting atCork to any fault of Sarsfield, but always and only to abreach of the Treaty of Limerick. And if he had deludedthem in the manner represented by the English historian,381they would not have followed him as enthusiastically [asthey afterward did] on the fields of Steinkirk and Landen.”

Mr. Mitchel did Lord Macaulay an unintentional injusticein attributing the original charge against Sarsfield tohim. It originated with Chaplain Story, and can be foundon pages 291-293 of his Continuation, in these words:“Those [of the Irish] who were now embarking had notmuch better usage on this side of the water [he had alludedto the alleged ill-treatment of the first contingent on its arrivalin France], for a great many of them, having wives andchildren, they made what shift they could to desert, ratherthan leave their families behind to starve, which my LordLucan and Major-General Wauchop perceiving, they publisha declaration that as many of the Irish as had a mindto’t should have liberty to transport their families alongwith themselves. And, accordingly, a vast rabble of allsorts were brought to the water-side, when the major-general[Wauchop], pretending to ship the soldiers in order,according to their lists, they first carried all the men onboard; and many of the women, at the second return ofthe boats for the officers, catching hold to be carried onboard, were dragged off, and, through fearfulness, losingtheir hold, were drowned; but others who held faster hadtheir fingers cut off, and so perished in sight of their husbandsor relatives, tho’ those of them that did get over [toFrance], would make but a sad figure, if they were admittedto go to the late queen’s court at St. Germain.... LordLucan finding he had ships enough for all the Irishthat were likely to go with him, the number that went beforeand these shipped at this time, being, according to thebest computation, 12,000 of all sorts [a palpable underestimate],he signs the following releasem*nt:

382“‘Whereas, by the Articles of Limerick, Lieutenant-GeneralGinkel, commander-in-chief of the English army, didengage himself to furnish 10,000 tons of shipping for thetransporting of such of the Irish forces to France as werewilling to go thither; and to facilitate their passage to add4,000 tons more in case the French fleet did not come tothis kingdom to take off some of these forces; and whereasthe French fleet has been upon the coast and carried awaysome of the said forces, and the lieutenant-general has providedships for as many of the rest as are willing to go asaforesaid, I do hereby declare that the said lieutenant-generalis released from any obligation he lay under from thesaid articles, to provide vessels for that purpose, and doquit and renounce all farther claim and pretension on thisaccount, etc. Witness my hand this 8th day of December,1691.

“‘Lucan.

From the same authority we learn that “on December 22,my Lord Lucan, and the rest of the Irish great officers,went on board the transport ships [bound for France], leavinghostages at Cork for the return of the said ships.”

It is impossible to reconcile the circ*mstantial statementof the Williamite historian, Harris, in regard to Ginkel’sfaithlessness, with the official document, signed by Sarsfield,as Earl of Lucan, which practically exonerates the Dutchgeneral. Would Sarsfield have signed such a release ifGinkel had been guilty of the treachery ascribed to him byHarris? Story’s book was published a year before LordLucan fell in Flanders, and must have been read by that383general and the officers who served with him at Limerick.One thing about the question is certain—if Sarsfield ever issuedthe proclamation, in conjunction with General Wauchop,ascribed to him by the English chaplain, he must havebeen grossly deceived by somebody. All writers of his owntimes, and of after times, describe Sarsfield as the soul ofhonor, but some have asserted that he was rather easy-goingin business affairs, and a little too ready to sign any documentplaced before him.

We have been unable to find any contemporary confirmationof the romantic Irish tradition that the Treaty of Limerickwas signed on the historic bowlder, now preserved bypedestal and railing near Thom*ond Bridge, on the Clarebank of the Shannon. But tradition is often more accuratethan written history. Therefore, the Irish people havingaccepted the story through more than six generations, weaccept with them the legend of “the Treaty Stone.”

CHAPTER III

IMMEDIATELY after the signing of the treaty, it wasfixed upon between De Ginkel and Sarsfield that, on October6, the Irish infantry would march out of the King’sIsland by Thom*ond Bridge, into the County Clare, and thereand then make a choice of service with England or France.It was arranged that those who chose the former servicewere to turn to the left at a certain point, where an Englishflag was planted, while those who decided for France wereto march straight onward to a more distant point markedby the French standard. They were, in all, about 15,000384men, and, quite naturally, the respective leaders awaited theresult with burning anxiety. They were not left longin doubt. The first body to march was the Royal Irishregiment of Foot Guards, fourteen hundred strong, of whichMr. Story remarks wofully, it “seemed to go all entire[for France] except seven men, which the general wasmuch concerned at, then my Lord Iveagh’s regiment ofUlster Irish came off entire to our side.” In all a little over1,000 officers and men ranged themselves under the flag ofKing William, while nearly 13,000 mustered under theFleur-de-Lis. A few days afterward, the Irish horse, nowmuch reduced, made choice in the same fashion, and withabout the same proportionate result. The same privilegewas granted the outlying bodies of King James’s army, andall decided for France in the proportion of about ten to one.Of the Irish general officers, more or less under the suspicionof the army since the disasters of Aughrim andAnnaghbeg, we find Generals Luttrell and Clifford, BaronPurcell, “and a great many more of the Irish nobility andgentry going toward Dublin,” which means that they madeterms with the enemy.

It was well along in the month of December before theIrish soldiers who had volunteered to go beyond the seaswere entirely transported to France. The foot, for the mostpart, sailed from Limerick, many of them in the returningfleet of Chateau-Renaud, and the cavalry from Cork, whereoccurred the tragical event we have already related. In all—includingthe capitulated troops from every Irish garrison—20,000men from Ireland landed in the French ports,and these, together with Mountcashel’s Brigade, which hadbeen in the French service since before the battle of theBoyne, made up a force of 25,000 veterans, who were385mostly in the pay of King Louis, but all of whom weresworn to support King James in any effort he might putforth to recover his crown.

As much injustice has been done the memory of KingJames II by Irish writers, who have taken too much forgranted on traditional “hearsay,” we deem it only fair toplace before the readers of this history the sentiments ofthe unfortunate monarch toward his Irish defenders. Wequote from his Memoirs, Vol. II, pp. 465-467: “Thus wasIreland [he alluded to the fall of Limerick], after an obstinateresistance in three years’ campaigns, by the power andriches of England, and the revolt of almost all its [Ireland’s]own Protestant subjects torn from its natural sovereign,who, tho’ he was divested of the country, was not whollydeprived of the people, for the greatest part of those whowere then in arms for the defence of his right, not contentwith the service already rendered, got leave [as was said]to come and lose their lives, after having lost their estates,in defence of his title, and brought by that means such a bodyof men into France as by their generous comportment in acceptingthe pay of the country [much less than British orIrish pay] instead of that which is usually allowed there[in France] to strangers and their inimitable valor and serviceduring the whole course of the war, might justly maketheir prince pass for an ally, rather than a pensioner, orburden, to his Most Christian Majesty, whose pay, indeed,they received, but acted by the king’s, their master’s, commission,according to the common method of other auxiliarytroops. As soon as the king [James] heard of their arrival[in France] he writ to the commander [General Sheldon,who went with the first contingent] to assure him howwell he was satisfied with the behavior and conduct of the386officers, and the valor and fidelity of the soldiers, and howsensible he should ever be of their service, which he wouldnot fail to reward when it should please God to put himin a capacity of doing it.”

Following is the full text of the letter addressed to theIrish troops through their general by King James, as givenin Story’s Continuation, page 289:

“James Rex.

“Having been informed of the capitulation and surrenderof Limerick, and the other places which remained tous in our Kingdom of Ireland, and of the necessities whichforced the Lords Justices and general officers of our forcesthereunto: we will not defer to let you know, and the restof the officers that came along with you, that we are extremelysatisfied with your and their conduct, and of thevalor of the soldiers during the siege, but most particularlyof your and their declaration and resolution to come andserve where we are. And we assure you, and order youto assure both officers and soldiers that are come along withyou, that we shall never forget this act of loyalty, nor fail,when in a capacity to give them, above others, particularmarks of our favor. In the meantime, you are to informthem that they are to serve under our command, and byour commissions; and if we find that a considerable number[of them] is come with the fleet, it will induce us togo personally to see them, and regiment them: Our brother,the King of France, hath already given orders to clothethem and furnish them with all necessaries, and to givethem quarters of refreshment. So we bid you heartilyfarewell.

“Given at our Court at St. Germain the 27th of November [Dec. 7], 1691.”

387In pursuance of his promise, King James made twofatiguing trips from St. Germain to Bretagne and return,regimented the gallant exiles at Vannes, Brest, and otherpoints, and in every possible way showed his marked appreciationof their devotion. He was accompanied by hisson, the Duke of Berwick.

In accepting French pay, the Irish soldiery exposed themselvesalmost to penury, and their officers submitted to bereduced in rank, almost without a murmur. Major-generalsbecame colonels; colonels, captains; captains, lieutenants,and many of the latter sergeants. This was absolutelynecessary, as there was room for only a certain numberin the French establishment. Many reduced officersserved also as volunteers, without pay of any kind, waitingpatiently for death or promotion. The total amount ofproperty sacrificed by these brave men in the Jacobite causewas 1,060,792 acres, and this new confiscation placed fullyseven-eighths of the soil of Ireland in the hands of the supportersof the English interest.

William and Mary formally ratified the Articles of theTreaty of Limerick within the specified three months, butthe English Parliament, influenced by motives of greed andbigotry, shamefully refused to acquiesce, and as Williamand Mary did not endanger their crown by offering avigorous opposition, the civil articles of Limerick were, fromthat moment, a dead letter. Then redescended on Ireland“the long, black night of the penal laws,” and we gladlyturn from it, for a period, to follow the brilliant but bloodyfortunes of the Irish Brigade in the service of France.

IN the preceding chapter we indicated that we would dealwith the history of the Irish brigades in the Frenchservice, from 1692 to 1792, before touching on the terriblepenal period in Ireland. Their services have won afame so world-wide that no history of Europe is completethat omits them from its pages. They were prominentlyengaged in the reign of Louis XIV in the War of theLeague of Augsburg, which was hotly waged by nearlyall Europe against him, from 1688 to the Peace of Ryswick,in 1697; in the War of the Spanish Succession—wagedby Louis to support his grandson, Philip of Anjou, on theSpanish throne—commenced in 1700 and concluded by thePeace of Utrecht and Treaty of Rastadt in 1713-14, andunder Louis XV in numerous minor wars with Germany,and especially in the War of the Austrian Succession—Francesupporting the claim of Charles VII, of Bavaria,against Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary, daughter ofthe last Hapsburg Emperor of Germany, Charles VI.This war was begun in 1740. France took sides in 1743,and it was concluded by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in1748. In each of these contests France and England wereon opposite sides—a circ*mstance favorable to the bloodydevelopment of Irish hatred. After the last of the warsspecified, the Irish Brigade, having no warlike food onwhich to flourish, covered with laurels and “worn out withglory,” faded from the fields of Europe.

389In another place we have alluded to the campaign ofSavoy, 1690-91, in which the ill-starred St. Ruth was chiefin command. Mountcashel’s, known as the “Old Brigade,”scaled every Alpine fortress, drove the vengeful “Vaudois”from their rugged hills, and laid the country under fire andsword, leaving a reputation for military prowess fresh, atthis day, amid the mountains of Savoy.

In Flanders, in 1692, under Sarsfield and Lord Clare,the “New” Brigade won great honor at Steinkirk, whereLuxemburg routed King William. At Landen, or Neerwinden,in July, 1693, William held his ground desperatelyagainst the bravest efforts of the French. Luxemburgwas in despair, when the fierce war-cry, “Remember Limerick!”rent the clouds, and the Royal Irish Foot Guards,led by Colonel John Barrett, shattered the English centre,broke into Neerwinden, opened a path to victory for theFrench Household, and William was hurled into the riverGette, while the Irish shout of victory shook the plain likea clap of thunder. Sarsfield, like the brave Barrett, receivedhis death wound, but his dying gaze beheld thesight he most loved to see—the English flag in sullenflight.

This same year, in Italy, under Catinat, the “Old” Brigademade its mark at Marsaglia, where it defeatedthe Savoyard centre, drew the whole French army afterit, and chased Victor Amadeus almost to the gates ofTurin.

Thenceforth, Lord Mountcashel having died of hiswounds, the two brigades were united as one. Theyounger Schomberg, son of the hero of the Boyne, fellbefore the Irish bayonets at Marsaglia. At the battle ofMontgry, in Spain, fought in 1694, by the French against390the Spanish, the “Brigade,” under Marshal de Noailles,renewed its laurels, and the Irish charge proved potent inbringing the Spaniards to terms.

This war terminated gloriously for France by the Peaceof Ryswick.

The War of the Spanish Succession broke out in 1700.England and Austria supported the Archduke Charlesagainst Philip of Anjou, the Bourbon heir. This strugglebrought upon the stage the Duke of Marlborough, for England,and Prince Eugene, of Savoy, for Austria, two ofthe greatest generals of modern times. Marshals, the Dukeof Berwick, Catinat, Villeroy, Vendome, Villairs, Boufflers,and Noailles, commanded the armies of France. In thisfrightful struggle, the Irish flag always blazed in the vanguardof victory, in the rearguard of defeat, and the Irishname became the synonym of valor.

In the winter of 1702, the citadel of Cremona, in northernItaly, was held for France by Marshal Villeroy, with astrong garrison. The French gave themselves up to revelry,and the walls were poorly guarded. Caissioli, an Italian,informed Prince Eugene, the Austrian commander, of thestate of affairs. The traitor agreed to let in a portion ofthe enemy by means of a sewer running from outside thewalls under his house. At the same time the French sentinelsat the gate of St. Margaret, badly defended, were tobe drawn off, so that Eugene himself, with a strong bodyof cuirassiers, might enter and join the other party. CountMerci was to attack the “Gate of the Po,” defended by anIrish company, and Prince Vaudemont and Count Freibergwere to support the attack with the cavalry of their respectivecommands. The attack was made at midnight, and theplans were admirably executed. The Austrians were in391possession of the town before the garrison was alarmed.Count Merci, however, met bad fortune at the “Gate ofthe Po.” The Irish guard, chatting over old times by theShannon, the Barrow, or the Suir, kept faithful watch. Theclatter of hoofs aroused them, as Merci, attended by severalregiments of dragoons, rode up to the gate and called uponthem to surrender. The Irish replied with a sharp volley,which laid some of the Austrians out in the roadway. Thefire aroused the sleeping Irish regiments of Dillon andBurke, who, in their shirts only, as they sprang frombivouac, grasped their muskets and hastened to the rescue.They were met in the square by Eugene’s cuirassiers, whocharged them fiercely. Major O’Mahoney formed his Irishinto a square and let the Austrians have a fusillade. Thecuirassiers, urged by Eugene and Freiberg, dashed madlyat the Irish battalions, but, despite the bravest efforts of thisiron cavalry, the Irish actually routed them and slew theirleader, Baron Freiberg. Marshal Villeroy was made prisonerby Macdonald, an Irishman in the Austrian service,and the French general second in command shared the samefate. But the Irish still held out, fighting desperately andlosing half their men. This prolonged resistance alarmedthe French, who now, thoroughly aroused, gallantly secondedtheir Irish comrades, and, after a terrible carnage ofeight hours’ duration, Prince Eugene, with all that remainedof the flower of the Austrian cavalry, gave up in despair, andwas hurled pell-mell through the gates of St. Margaret, bythe victorious garrison. This exploit of the Irish savednorthern Italy to the French monarch—the Austrians retreatedto the Alps. All Europe rang applause. Louisraised the pay of his Irish troops, and made O’Mahoneya general. He also decreed that Irishmen, who deserved392the honor, should thenceforth be recognized as French citizens,without undergoing the form of naturalization.

At the first battle of Blenheim, Bavaria, in 1703, theIrish, under Marshal Tallard, contributed to that victory.The regiment of Clare, encountering the Austrian guards,was, for a moment, overpowered, but, immediately rallying,it counter-charged with such fury that it not alone recoveredits own flag, but gained two colors from the enemy!

The second Blenheim, so disastrous to France, was foughtin 1704. Marlborough commanded the English right, facingMarshal Tallard, and Eugene commanded the allied left,facing Marshal de Marcin, with whom was the Irish Brigade.Tallard was dreadfully beaten, and Marcin fared little better.The French suffered great slaughter, and were badlyworsted. The Brigade, however, would not lose heart.Closing up its ranks, it made a superb charge on PrinceEugene’s lines, broke through them—being one of the fewcorps in the French army that saved their colors that day—andcovered the retreat of France to the Rhine!

The English professor, E. S. Creasy of Cambridge University,writing of the conduct of the Irish in this great battle,says, on page 318 of his “Fifteen Decisive Battles of theWorld”: “The [French] centre was composed of fourteenbattalions of infantry, including the celebrated Irish Brigade.These were posted in the little hamlet of Oberglau,which lies somewhat nearer to Lutzingen than to Blenheim.”And, on page 320 of the same work, the professor continues:“The Prince of Holstein Beck had, with eleven Hanoverianbattalions, passed the Nebel opposite to Oberglau when hewas charged and utterly routed by the Irish Brigade, whichheld that village. The Irish drove the Hanoverians backwith heavy slaughter, broke completely through the line of393the allies, and nearly achieved a success as brilliant as thatwhich the same Brigade afterward gained at Fontenoy. Butat Blenheim their ardor in pursuit led them too far. Marlboroughcame up in person and dashed in on the exposedflank of the Brigade with some squadrons of British cavalry.The Irish reeled back, and, as they strove to regain theheights of Oberglau, their column was raked through andthrough by the fire of three battalions of the allies, whichMarlborough had summoned up from the reserve.” Competentmilitary critics have observed that had the Frenchcavalry seconded the charge of the Irish infantry, Blenheimwould have been a French victory.

CHAPTER V

IN the summer of 1705, the Irish again, at the battle ofCassano, where they fought under Marshal Vendome,paid their respects to Prince Eugene. They fought with abravery that electrified the French and paralyzed the Austrians.Vendome’s flank was badly annoyed by a hostile batteryon the farther bank of the river Adda. The stream wasbroad and deep, but two Irish regiments, under cover ofthe smoke, swam across it, and, under the very nose of thegreat Eugene, captured the Austrian cannon and turnedtheir fire upon the enemy! This intrepid action decidedthe day, and France was once more triumphant, by herIrish arm.

Conspicuous in this brilliant action, as also at Cremona,was the famous “Regiment of Burke”—the last to yield394at Aughrim. Of it the Scotch-Canadian poet and novelist,William McLennan, has written:

Marshal Villeroy, in May, 1706, allowed himself to becooped up by the Duke of Marlborough in the village ofRamillies, in Flanders. The French were utterly overwhelmed,and many thousands of prisoners were taken.Lord Clare formed the Brigade into a column of attack andbroke through the victorious enemy. The regiment ofClare, in this charge, met the English regiment of Churchill—nowthe Third Buffs—full tilt, crushed it hopelessly, capturedits battle-flags, and served a Scotch regiment, in theDutch service, which endeavored to support the British, inthe same manner. The Brigade then effected its retreat onYpres, where, in the convent of the Benedictine nuns, ithung up the captured colors—“sole trophies of Ramillies’fray”—where they have waved, for many a generation,a fitting memento of the faith and fame of the Irish exiles.

In April, 1707, the Brigade next distinguished itself, at thebattle of Almanza, in Spain, where it fought in the army of395Marshal the Duke of Berwick. The English and Austrianswere commanded by Ruvigny—the Williamite Earl of Galway—whosignalized himself at Aughrim. The Brigadepaid him back that day. It charged with a fury never excelledin any fight. The allies were overthrown, Ruvignydisgraced, and the crown of Spain was placed on the browof Philip V.

In defeat, as in victory, the bayonets of the Brigadestill opened up the road to honor. When the French retreatedfrom Oudenarde, in July, 1708, Marlborough felt theIrish steel, as the gallant fellows hung doggedly behind theretiring French, kept the fierce pursuers at bay, and enabledVendome to reorganize his beaten army. The battle ofMalplaquet, fought September, 1709, was the bloodiest ofthis most sanguinary war. The French fought with unusualdesperation, and the English ranks, led by Marlborough andseconded by Eugene, were decimated. It was an unmitigatedslaughter. At length Marshal Villairs, who commandedthe French, was wounded and Marshal Boufflersordered a retreat. Again the Irish Brigade, which foughtwith its usual courage all through that dreadful day, hadthe honor of forming the French rearguard, and, althoughmany flags, captured from France, were laid at the feet ofthe victor, no Irish color graced the trophies of Marlborough,who, with the ill-judged battle of Malplaquet, virtuallyended his grand career as a soldier. After that fightthe war was feebly waged—France being completely exhausted—untilthe Peace of Utrecht and Treaty of Rastadt,1713-14, closed the bloody record.

It would be almost impossible to enumerate the siegesand minor actions in which the Irish Brigade of France participatedwithin the limits of this history. The facts we396have given, and are to give, rest on the authority of theFrench war records, and the testimony of English and otherwriters, carefully compiled by Matthew O’Conor, in his“Military History of the Irish People,” and by John C.O’Callaghan in his invaluable “History of the Irish Brigades”—workswhich should ensure for their able and carefulauthors a literary immortality, and which people of theIrish race should treasure among their most precious heirlooms.It would be equally difficult to follow the career ofthose Irish soldiers who, at the peace, transferred theirswords from France to Spain, because Louis XV, who succeededhis grandfather while yet a child, could not employthem all. In Spain, as in France, their swords were sharpestwhere the English were their foes, always, it must beadmitted, worthy of their steel.

The subjoined statement of the strength of the Irish forcesin the French service during the seventeenth and eighteenthcenturies is taken from the authorities already quoted:

From 1690 to 1692, three regiments of foot; 1692 to 1698,thirteen regiments of infantry, three independent companies,two companies of cavalry, and two troops of horse guards;1698 to 1714, eight regiments of infantry and one regimentof horse; 1714 to 1744, five regiments of infantry and oneof cavalry; 1744 to 1762, six regiments of infantry andone of horse; 1762 to 1775, five regiments of infantry; 1775to 1791—the period of the dissolution of the Brigade—threeregiments of foot.

From the fall of Limerick, in 1691, to the French Revolution,according to the most reliable estimate, there fell inthe field for France, or otherwise died in her service,480,000 Irish soldiers. The Brigade was kept recruited bymilitary emigrants, borne from Ireland—chiefly from the397province of Munster—by French smugglers, under the romanticand significant title of “Wild Geese”—in poetical allusionto their eastward flight. By this name the Brigadeis best remembered among the Irish peasantry.

After the death of Louis XIV, the Irish Brigade had comparativelylittle wholesale fighting to keep them occupied,until the War of the Austrian Succession, thirty years later.They made many expeditions to the smaller states on theRhenish frontier, with which France was in a chronic stateof war, under the Duke of Berwick. In every combat theyserved with honor, and always appeared to best advantagewhere the hail of death fell thickest. At times, like mostof their countrymen, they were inclined to wildness, but thefirst drum-roll or bugle blast found them ready for the fray.On the march to attack Fort Kehl, in 1733, Marshal Berwick—whowas killed two years afterward at the siegeof Philipsburg—found fault with Dillon’s regiment for somebreach of discipline while en route. He sent the colonelwith despatches to Louis XV, and, among other matters,in a paternal way—for Berwick loved his Irishmen—calledthe king’s attention to the indiscreet battalion. The monarch,on reading the document, turned to the Irish officer,and, in the hearing of the whole court, petulantly exclaimed:“My Irish troops cause me more uneasiness thanall the rest of my armies!” “Sire,” immediately rejoinedthe noble Count Dillon—subsequently killed at Fontenoy—“allyour Majesty’s enemies make precisely the same complaint.”Louis, pleased with the repartee, smiled, and,like a true Frenchman, wiped out his previous unkindnessby complimenting the courage of the Brigade.

The great War of the Austrian Succession inauguratedthe fateful campaigns of 1743 and 1745, respectively signalized398by the battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy. The formerwas a day of dark disaster to France, and Fontenoy was amortal blow to British arrogance.

At Dettingen the Earl of Stair commanded the Englishand Hanoverians, although George II and his son, Cumberland,were present on the field. Marshal de Noailles commandedthe French, and was badly worsted, after a desperateengagement. The Irish Brigade, summoned from a longdistance, arrived too late to restore the battle, and met theFrench army in full retreat, hotly pursued by the allies.The Brigade, under the orders of Lord Clare, opened theirranks and allowed the French to retire, and then, closingsteadily up, they uttered their charging cry, and, with leveledbayonet, checked the fierce pursuers. Thus, once again,the Irish Brigade formed the French rearguard, as theFleur-de-Lis retired from the plains of Germany.

THE famous battle of Fontenoy was fought on the soilof Belgium, in the ancient province of Hainault, withinsome thirty miles of the memorable plains of Waterloo, onMay 11, new style, 1745. France, as we have alreadynoted, championed the cause of Charles of Bavaria, wholaid claim to the Austrian throne, while England, Holland,Hanover, and Austria took the side of Maria Theresa, whoeventually, owing to the unexpected death of Charles, wonthe fiercely disputed crown.

The French were besieging Tournay with 18,000 men.A corps of 6,000 guarded the bridges over the Scheldt, onthe northern bank of which Marshal Saxe, accompanied byLouis XV and the Dauphin, having with him 45,000 men,including the Irish Brigade, took post, to cover the siege ofTournay, and prevent the march of the allies, English,Dutch, and Germans, under the Duke of Cumberland andPrince Waldeck, to its relief. The duke was a brave soldier,but fierce and cruel as a tiger. History knows him bythe well-won title of “the butcher Cumberland.” His businesswas to raise the siege of Tournay and open a road toParis. He had under his command 55,000 veteran troops,including the English Household regiments.

The French lines extended from the village of Rhamecroix,behind De Barri’s Wood, on the left, to the villageof Fontenoy, in the centre, and from the latter position to400the intrenchments of Antoine, on the right. This line ofdefence was admirably guarded by “fort and flanking battery.”The Irish Brigade—composed that day of the infantryregiments of Clare, Dillon, Bulkeley, Roth, Berwick,and Lally—Fitz-James’s horse being with the Frenchcavalry in advance—was stationed, in reserve, near thewood, supported by the brigades of Normandie and De Vassieux.

Prince Waldeck commanded the allied left, in front ofAntoine. Brigadier Ingoldsby commanded the Britishright, facing the French redoubt at De Barri’s Wood, whileCumberland, chief in command, was with the allied centre,confronting Fontenoy.

The battle opened with a furious cannonade, at 5 o’clockin the morning. After some hours spent in this manner,Ingoldsby attempted to carry the redoubt, but was ignominiouslyrepulsed, and could not be induced to renew theattempt. This refusal subsequently led to his dismissalfrom the army on a charge of cowardice. Prince Waldeckfared no better at Antoine, being defeated in two attemptsto force the lines. The Duke of Cumberland, grown impatientbecause of repeated failures, loaded the unfortunatecommanding officers with imprecations. He took the resolveof beating the French at any cost by a concentratedattack on their left centre, through a gap of about 700yards, which occurred between the Fontenoy redoubts andthe work vainly attacked by Ingoldsby in the edge of thewood of Barri. For this purpose, he formed his reservesand least battered active battalions, including the Englishguards, several British line regiments, and a large body ofpicked Hanoverian troops, into three columns, aggregating16,000 men, preceded and flanked by twenty pieces of cannon,401all drawn by hand, to avoid the confusion incident onthe killing and wounding of the battery horses. But subsequentdevelopments compelled the Duke to change the originalformation to one massive, solid oblong wedge, the Britishon the right and the Hanoverians on the left. LordCharles Hay, the boldest soldier in the allied army, drew hissword and led the attacking column. Meanwhile, Cumberlandrenewed the attack all along the line, in order to coverthe advance of his human battering-ram. Thus, the Frenchwere pressed hard at every point, but their batteries and battalionsreplied with spirit, and Antoine held out heroicallyin spite of all the efforts of Waldeck and his Dutch andAustrian troops against it. These latter were badly cut upby the fire of a French battery planted beyond the Scheldt.Up to this period, about the noon hour, everything had gonefavorably for the French.

But the decisive moment had now arrived, and the greatAnglo-Hanoverian column received the command—“Forward,march!” “In front of them, as it chanced,” saysMitchel, “were four battalions of the French guards,with two battalions of Swiss on their left and two otherFrench regiments on their right. The French officersseem to have been greatly surprised when they saw theEnglish battery taking up position on the summit of therising ground. ‘English cannon!’ they cried. ‘Let usgo and take them!’ They mounted the slope with theirgrenadiers, but were astonished to find an army on theirfront. A heavy discharge, both of artillery and musketry,made them quickly recoil with heavy loss.” On, then,swept the English column, with free and gallant stride, betweenFontenoy and De Barri’s wood, whose batteriesplowed them from flank to flank at every step. But in the402teeth of the artillery, the musketry and the bombshellswhich rose, circled and fell among them, killing and woundingscores at each explosion; charged by the cavalry of theroyal household, and exposed to the iron hail of the Frenchsharpshooters, that blue-and-scarlet wave of battle rolledproudly against the serried ranks of France. Falling bythe hundred, they finally got beyond the cross-fire from theredoubts, crossed the slope and penetrated behind the villageof Fontenoy—marching straight on the headquartersof the king! The column was quickly in the middle of thepicked soldiers of France, tossing them haughtily asidewith the ready bayonet, while the cheers of anticipated victoryresounded from their ranks far over the bloody field.Marshal Saxe, ill, and pale with rage and vexation, sprang,unarmored, upon his horse, and seemed to think the battlelost, for he ordered the evacuation of Antoine, in order thatthe bridges across the Scheldt might be covered and theking’s escape assured. At this moment, Count Lally, ofthe Irish Brigade, rode up to Duke Richelieu, Saxe’s chiefaide, and said to him: “We have still four field-pieces inreserve—they should batter the head of that column. TheIrish Brigade has not yet been engaged. Order it to fallon the English flank. Let the whole army second it—letus fall on the English like foragers!” Richelieu, who, afterward,allowed the suggestion to appear as if coming fromhimself, went at once to Saxe and gave him the substanceof Lally’s proposal. The king and Dauphin, who were present,approved of it. The order to evacuate Antoine wascountermanded, and aides immediately galloped to the rearof the wood of Barri to order up the Irish Brigade, commandedby Lord Clare, and its supporting regiments. Thesebrave men, rendered excited and impatient by the noise of403the battle, in which they had not yet been allowed to participate,received the command with loud demonstrations ofjoy. Their officers immediately led them toward the pointof danger.

Meanwhile, the English column, marching and firingsteadily—that “infernal, rolling fire,” so characteristic ofthe British mode of fighting—kept on its terrible course, andcrushed every French organization that stood in its path.Had the Dutch and Austrians succeeded in carrying Antoineat this moment, Cumberland must have been victorious andthe French army could not have escaped. Already the column,still bleeding at every stride, was within sight of theroyal tent. The English officers actually laid their canesalong the barrels of the muskets to make the men fire low.Suddenly, the fire from the four reserve French cannonopened on the head of the column, and the foremost fileswent down. The English guns replied stoutly and themarch was renewed. But now there came an ominoussound from the side of De Barri’s wood that made LordHay, brave and bold as he was, start, pause, and listen. Itswelled above the crash of artillery and the continuous rattleof musketry. “Nearer, clearer, deadlier than before,” thatfierce hurrah bursts upon the ear of battle! The Englishhave heard that shout before and remember it to their cost.The crisis of the conflict has come, and the command, byvoice and bugle, “Halt! halt!” rang from front to rear of thebleeding column. The ranks were dressed hastily, and theEnglish prepared to meet the advancing enemy with adeadly volley from their front and long right flank. Theylooked anxiously in the direction of the wood and beheldlong lines and bristling columns of men in blue and red—theuniform of the Irish Brigade—coming on at the charging404step, with colors flying and “the generals and colonelson horseback among the glittering bayonets.” They didnot fire a single shot as they came on. Behind them weremasses of men in blue and white. These were the Frenchsupports. Again the British officers laid their canesacross the barrels of the muskets, and, as the Brigadecame within close range, a murderous volleyrolled out. Hundreds of the Irish fell, but the survivors,leaping over the dead, dying, and wounded, never paused fora moment. They closed the wide gaps in their ranks andadvanced at a run until they came within bayonet thrust orbutt-stroke of the front and right of the English column,which they immediately crushed out of military shape; whiletheir fierce war-shout, uttered in the Irish tongue—“Revenge!Remember Limerick and English treachery!”sounded the death-knell of Cumberland’s heroic soldiers.While the clubbed muskets of the Brigade beat down the Englishranks, that furious war-cry rang even unto the wallsof old Tournay. The French regiments of Normandie andVassieux bravely seconded the Irish charge, and they andother Gallic troops disposed of the Hanoverians. Withinten minutes from the time when the Brigade came in contactwith the English column, no British soldiers, except thedead, wounded, and captured, remained on the slope of Fontenoy.Bulkeley’s Irish regiment nearly annihilated theColdstream Guards and captured their colors.

This victory saved France from invasion, but it cost theIrish dear. Count Dillon was slain, Lord Clare disabled,while one-third of the officers and one-fourth of the menwere killed or wounded. King Louis, next morning, publiclythanked the Irish, made Lally a general, and Lord Clarewas, soon afterward, created a marshal of France. England405met retribution for her cruelty and faithlessness to Ireland,and King George vehemently cursed the laws whichdrove the Irish exiles to win glory and vengeance on thatbloody day.

The losses in the battle were nearly equal—the French,Swiss, and Irish losing altogether 7,139 men killed,wounded, and missing; while the English, Hanoverians,Dutch, and Austrians acknowledged a total loss of 7,767men, said by O’Callaghan to be an underestimate. Fontenoywas one of the greatest of French victories, and led,in the same campaign, to numerous other successes. Amongthe latter may be enumerated the triumph at Melle, the surpriseof Ghent, the occupation of Bruges, and the captureof Oudenarde, Dendermonde, Ostend, Nieuport, and Ath.

Several officers of the Irish Brigade went with PrinceCharles Edward Stuart to Scotland, when he made his gallantbut ill-fated attempt to restore the fallen fortunes ofhis luckless father, called by the Jacobites James VIII ofScotland and James III of England and Ireland, in 1745-46.The Hanoverian interest called James the “Old” andCharles Edward the “Young” Pretender. The Irish officersformed “Prince Charles’s” chosen bodyguard when he wasa fugitive amid the Highlands and Western Isles after Culloden.One of the last great field exploits of the Irish Brigadewas its victorious charge at Laffeldt, in Flanders, in1747, when, for the second time, it humiliated Cumberland,and, in a measure, avenged his base massacre of the gallantScottish Highland clans, in 1746. The victory of Laffeldtled to the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, which was favorableto France, in 1748. The Brigade took part in each succeedingwar in which France was involved down to the periodof the Revolution. Some of its regiments served also in406India and America. Under Count Dillon, several Irish battalionsdistinguished themselves in the dashing, but unsuccessful,attack on the British at Savannah, Ga., in 1779,when the brave Count Pulaski, who led the assault, waskilled on the ramparts. By that time, however, the volumeof recruits from Ireland had greatly diminished, owing tothe gradual relaxation of the penal code, and a majorityof the officers and soldiers of the Brigade were, although ofIrish blood, French by birth. Some of the officers wereFrench by both birth and blood, and, among them, in 1791,was the great-grandson of St. Ruth. The Brigade, as becameit, remained faithful to the last to the Bourbondynasty. Unfortunately this fidelity led the feeble remnant,under Colonel O’Connell, to take service in the West Indies,beneath the British flag, after the Revolution. Inextenuation of their fault, it must be remembered that theywere, to a man, monarchists; that the Stuart cause washopelessly lost, and that both tradition and education madethem the inevitable enemies of the new order of things inFrance. Still, an Irish historian may be pardoned for remarkingthat it were much better for the fame of theBrigade of Cremona and Fontenoy if its senile heir-at-lawhad refrained from accepting the pay of the country whosetyranny had driven the original organization into hopelessexile.

But the active career of the bold Brigade terminated ina blaze of glory. The hand of a prince, destined to be amonarch, inscribed its proud epitaph when, in 1792, theComte de Provence, afterward Louis XVIII, presentedto the surviving officers a drapeau d’adieu, or flag of farewell—agold harp wreathed with shamrocks and fleur-de-lis,on a white ground, with the following touching words:

407“Gentlemen: We acknowledge the inappreciable servicesthat France has received from the Irish Brigade in thecourse of the last hundred years—services that we shallnever forget, though under an impossibility of requitingthem. Receive this standard as a pledge of our remembrance,a monument of our admiration and our respect,and, in future, generous Irishmen, this shall be the mottoof your stainless flag—

Never did military body receive a nobler discharge fromservice.

And yet, well might the haughty Bourbon prince soexpress himself. In defence of his house, there died beneaththe golden lilies, in camp and breach and field, nearly500,000 of Ireland’s daring manhood. It is no wonder thatwith those heroes departed much of her warlike spirit andspringing courage. Her “wild geese,” as she fondly calledthem, will never fly again to her bosom across the wavesthat aided their flight to exile and to glory. The cannonof all Europe pealed above their gory graves, on many astricken field, the soldier’s requiem.

Its successor in the French army was the Irish Legion,composed in the main of refugees who had participated inthe “rebellion” of 1798 and the “rising” of 1803. This408fine body of soldiers was organized by Napoleon himself,wore a distinctively Irish uniform of green and gold, andcarried French and Irish colors. To it, also, was intrustedan eagle—the only foreign force that was so honored bythe greatest of generals. The Legion fought for the Emperor,with splendid fidelity, from 1805 to 1815, participatingin most of the great battles of that warlike period.

It was naturally expected that Louis XVIII, on his finalrestoration to the throne, would revive the old Irish Brigade,so highly praised by him, when Comte de Provence,in 1792, but he was under too many obligations to England,and, in fact, his treaty with that power, after thesecond exile of Napoleon, made it obligatory on him not toaccept an Irish military contingent under any consideration.His acquiescence in this ignoble compact makes more emphaticthe venerable adage, “Put not your trust in Princes.”

NARRATING THE MANY PENAL STATUTES AGAINST THECATHOLICS, AND CARRYING THE STORY DOWN TO THEACQUIREMENT OF A FREE COMMERCE BY THE IRISH PARLIAMENT,UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF GRATTAN, A.D. 1780

WE now approach a period of Irish history from whichwe would gladly escape, if we could; a period degradingto Ireland, disgraceful to England, and shockingto humanity. We are about to deal with the dark andbloody period of the revived penal code, in Ireland, followingfast upon the capitulation of Limerick. Many writershave extolled the fair-mindedness and liberality of WilliamIII, but his course toward Ireland does not sustain the justiceof their eulogies. That he was an indifferentist inmatters of religion is not doubted, yet he permitted persecutionfor conscience’ sake in his Irish dominion. That hewas an able man has not been disputed, yet he permittedEnglish jealousy to destroy the trade and industries of Hisown supporters in Ireland, thereby driving thousands onthousands of the Irish dissenters to the American colonies,which their descendants, in 1775-83, did so much to make“free and independent.” We can find nothing to admirein the Irish policy of William III. Had he been an honestbigot, a fanatic on the subject of religion, we could understandhis toleration of the legislative abominations whichmade the Irish Catholic a helot on his native soil. Hadhe been an imbecile we could understand how English plausibilitymight have imposed upon him in the matter of IrishProtestant commerce. However, not much of moral staminacould be expected from a man who estranged his wife412and his sister-in-law, Anne, from their own father; or froma nephew, and son-in-law, that did not scruple to play thecuckoo and eject his own uncle and father-in-law from theroyal nest of England. Add to this his heartless policy towardthe Macdonalds of Glencoe, in Scotland, the order forwhose massacre he countersigned himself, and we find ourselvesutterly unable to give William of Orange credit forsincerity, liberality, or common humanity. He was personallycourageous, a fair general, and a cautious statesman.These about summed up his good qualities. But heinterposed no objection when, notwithstanding the solemncivil articles of Limerick, he permitted the estates of theadherents of King James, to whom his Lords Justices, byroyal sanction, guaranteed immunity, to be confiscated.

Mitchel, a Protestant in belief, says in his “History ofIreland,” page 3: “The first distinct breach of the Articlesof Limerick was perpetrated by King William and hisParliament in England, just two months after those articleswere signed. King William was in the Netherlands whenhe heard of the surrender of Limerick, and, at once, hastenedto London. Three days later he summoned a Parliament.Very early in the session, the English House of Commons,exercising its customary power of binding Ireland by actspassed in London, sent up to the House of Lords a billproviding that no person should sit in the Irish Parliament,nor should hold any Irish office, civil, military, or ecclesiastical,nor should practice law or medicine in Ireland, till hehad first taken the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, andsubscribed to the declaration against transubstantiation. Thelaw was passed, only reserving the right [of practice] tosuch lawyers and physicians as had been within the wallsof Galway and Limerick when those towns capitulated.”413Thenceforward there were repeated violations of the treaty,during the reign of William and Mary, although the penallaws did not reach the acme of their crushing severity untilthe reigns of their immediate successors, Queen Anne,George I, and George II. Lord Macaulay himself, whodoes not admit that William III was ever wrong, acknowledges,in his “History of England,” that “the Irish RomanCatholics complained, and with but too much reason, that,at a later period, the Treaty of Limerick was violated.”The main opposition to the confirmation of the treaty came,as might be expected, from the party of Protestant ascendencyin Ireland, which had in view “the glory of God,” andwholesale confiscation of Catholic property. Their horrorof what they called “Popery” was strongly influenced bya pious greed for cheap real estate. There were, of course,many noble exceptions to this mercenary rule among theProtestants of Ireland, even in the blackest period of “thepenal days.” If there had not been, the Catholics musthave been exterminated. It is only fair to say that themajority of the poorer Protestant Irish—particularly theDissenters—had little or no part in framing the penalcode, and that many members of the Irish House of Lords,including Protestant bishops, indignantly protested againstthe formal violation of the Articles of Limerick, containedin the act of the “Irish” Parliament, passed in 1695.

Lord Sydney, William’s Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, summonedthe first Irish Parliament of his master’s reign, in1692, and this was the only Parliament, except that calledtogether by King James in 1689, which had met in Irelandin six-and-twenty years. No act of Catholic disqualificationfor Parliament existed in Ireland at that time, and,therefore, a few Catholic lords and commoners presented414themselves, on summons, and took their seats. They hadforgotten that the “paternal” English Parliament had, in1691, provided for such an emergency, and were takenaback when the clerks of Parliament presented to them “theoath of supremacy, declaring the King of England to behead of the Church, and affirming the sacrifice of the Massto be damnable.” Mitchel says, further, of what followed:“The oath was put to each member of both Houses, and thefew Catholics present at once retired, so that the Parliament,when it proceeded to business, was purely Protestant.Here, then, ended the last vestige of constitutional right forthe Catholics; from this date, and for generations to come,they could no longer consider themselves a part of the existingbody politic of their native land, and the division [ofthe Irish] into two nations became definite. There wasthe dominant nation, consisting of the British colony, andthe subject nation, consisting of five-sixths of the population,who had, therefore, no more influence upon publicaffairs than have the red Indians of the United States.”In order to more fully reduce the Catholics of Ireland to thecondition described, an act was passed by the Irish Parliamentin 1697 which provided that “a Protestant marryinga Catholic was disabled from sitting or voting in eitherHouse of Parliament.” We may add that, following up thispolicy, the same Parliament, thirty years later, fearing thatthe Catholics were not even yet sufficiently effaced from politicallife, passed another bill by which it was enacted that“no Catholic shall be entitled, or admitted, to vote at theelection of any member to serve in Parliament, as a knight,citizen, or burgess; or at the election of any magistrate forany city or other town corporate; any law, statute, or usageto the contrary notwithstanding.”

415Mitchel, commenting on the severity of the penal laws,presents a curiously contradictory situation in the Irelandof King William’s time when he says: “But though theinhabitants of Ireland were now, counting from 1692, definitivelydivided into two castes, there arose immediately,strange to say, a strong sentiment of Irish nationality—not,indeed, among the depressed Catholics; they were donewith national sentiment and aspiration for a time—but theProtestants of Ireland had lately grown numerous, wealthy,and strong. Their numbers had been largely increasedby English settlers coming to enjoy the plunder of the forfeitedestates, and very much by conversions, or pretendedconversions, of Catholics, who had recanted their faith tosave their property or their position in society, and who generallyaltered or disguised their family names when thesehad too Celtic a sound. The Irish Protestants also pridedthemselves on having saved the kingdom for William andthe ‘Ascendancy,’ and having now totally put down the ancientnation under their feet, they aspired to take its place,to rise from a colony to a nation, and to assert the dignityof an independent kingdom.”

Even the Irish Protestant Parliament of 1692 quarreledwith Lord Lieutenant Sydney over a revenue bill, whichoriginated in London, and which it rejected, although itpassed another bill, having a like origin, on the ground ofemergency. During the debate on these measures, severalmembers denied the right of England to tax Ireland withouther consent, and insisted that all revenue bills, whichcalled for Irish taxation, should originate in Ireland, not inEngland. This bold spirit angered Lord Sydney, who immediatelyprorogued that Parliament, not, however, beforehe made an overbearing speech, in which he rebuked the action416of the members and haughtily asserted the supremacyof the British Parliament over that of Ireland. His remarksleft a sting in Protestant Ireland and served tostrengthen, rather than weaken, the national sentiment alludedto by Mitchel.

In 1693, King James the Vacillating, then a pensioner ofthe King of France, at St. Germain, issued a declaration tohis former subjects of England in which he made humiliatingpromises, at variance with his previous record, and inwhich, among other things, he promised if restored to thethrone to keep inviolate the Act of Settlement, which deprivedhis Catholic supporters in Ireland of their estates!This perfidious document aroused great indignation amongthe Irish military exiles, and James, through his Englishadvisers in France, attempted to smooth matters over bypromising that, in the event of his success, he would recompenseall who might suffer by his act, by giving them equivalents.Lord Middleton, a Scotch peer, is held chiefly responsiblefor having led King James into this disgracefultransaction—the most blameful of his unfortunate career.“There was no such promise [of recompense] in the declaration”(to the English), says the historian recently quoted,“but, in truth, the Irish troops in the army of King Louiswere, at that time, too busy in camp and field, and tookeenly desirous to meet the English in battle, to pay muchattention to anything coming from King James. They hadhad enough of ‘Righ Seamus’ at the Boyne Water.”

Lord Sydney, although inimical to the claim of IrishParliamentary independence, was rather friendly to the persecutedIrish Catholics, and was, therefore, at the request ofthe “Ascendancy” faction, speedily recalled, not, however,before, after two proroguements, he had dissolved the Parliament417convened in 1692. Three Lords Justices—LordCapel, Sir Cyril Wyche, and Mr. Duncombe—were given thegovernment of Ireland in his stead, but, owing to serious dissensionsamong themselves, Capel was finally appointed LordLieutenant, and, in 1695, summoned a new Parliament tomeet in Dublin. This assembly was destined to be infamous.Its first act was to bring up the articles of the Treaty of Limerickfor “confirmation,” and it “confirmed” them by vetoingall the important and agreeing to all the trivial provisions.The enumeration of all the penal laws passed bythis Parliament would be tedious in the extreme, and abare outline will suffice to show their demoralizing tendency.It was enacted that Catholic schoolmasters were forbiddento teach, either publicly or privately, under severe penalty;and the parents of Catholic children were prohibited fromsending them to be educated abroad. All Catholics were requiredto surrender their arms, and, in order to enforce theact more thoroughly, “right of search” was given to magistrates,so that Catholic householders could be disturbed atany hour of the day or night, their bedrooms invaded, andthe women of their family subjected to exposure and insult.

Notwithstanding the clause in the Treaty of Limerickwhich was supposed to secure the Catholic landholders incertain counties in the possession of their property, Parliamentmade a clean sweep by confiscating the property of all,to the extent of over a million acres, so that now, at longrun, after three series of confiscations, there remained inCatholic hands less than one-seventh of the entire surfaceof the island. The Protestant one-sixth owned all therest.

It was agreed not to seriously disturb the parish priests,who were incumbents at the time of the treaty, but no418curates were allowed them, and they were compelled toregister their names, like ticket-of-leave men, in a book furnishedby government. They had, also, to give security fortheir “good conduct,” and there were other insulting exactions—theemanation of bitter hearts and narrow brains.All Catholic prelates, the Jesuits, monks, and “regularclergy,” of whatever order, were peremptorily ordered toquit Ireland by May 1, 1698. If any returned after thatdate, they were to be arrested for high treason, “tried,” and,of course, condemned and executed. The object was toleave the Catholic people without spiritual guides, exceptProtestants, after the “tolerated” parish priests had passedaway; but, in spite of the penal enactment, a large numberof devoted proscribed bishops and priests remained in Ireland,and the prelates administered holy orders to youngclerical students, who, like themselves, had defied penaltiesand risked their lives for the service of God and the consolationof their suffering people.

In order to still further humiliate the unfortunate IrishCatholics, this Parliament of bigots decreed that no Catholicchapel should be furnished with either bell or belfry.Such smallness would seem incredible in our age, but theenactments stand out, in all their hideousness, in the oldstatutes of the Irish Parliament, still preserved in the governmentarchives in Dublin and London. It was this Parliamentthat decreed, further, that no Catholic could possessa horse of or over the value of £5 sterling. On offeringthat sum, or anything over it, any Protestant could becomeowner of the animal.

The Irish peers who protested against this tyranny wereLords Londonderry, Tyrone, and Duncannon, the BaronsOssory, Limerick, Killaloe, Kerry, Howth, Kingston, and419Strabane, and the Protestant bishops of Kildare, Elphin,Derry, Clonfert, and Killala—to whom be eternal honor.

But the penal laws were not yet completed. They had justabout begun. In 1704, when the Duke of Ormond, grandsonof the Ormond of Cromwellian days, became viceroyfor Queen Anne, another Irish Ascendancy Parliament enacted,among other things, that the eldest son of a Catholic,by becoming Protestant, could become the owner of hisfather’s land, if he possessed any, and the father becomeonly a life tenant. If any child, of any age above infancy,declared itself a Protestant, it was ordered placed underProtestant guardianship, and the father was compelled topay for its education and support. If the wife of a Catholicturned Protestant, she could claim a third of his propertyand separate maintenance. Catholics were prohibitedfrom being guardians of their own children, to the end that,when they died, the helpless ones might be brought up asProtestants.

Catholics were debarred from buying land, or taking afreehold lease for life, or a for a longer period than thirty-oneyears. No Catholic heir to a former owner was allowedto accept property that came to him by right oflineal descent, or by process of bequest. If any Protestantcould prove that the profit on the farm of a Catholic exceededone-third of the rent paid by the latter, the informercould take immediate possession of the land.

We have already alluded to the measures taken to excludeCatholics from civil and military service, by operationof the odious test oaths, which were also used to preventthem from entering Parliament, and from even votingfor members of Parliament, although the latter had to beProtestants in order to be eligible. The Irish Dissenters—Presbyterians420and others—were also subjected to the test-oathindignity, which, together with the tyrannical restrictionson trade, imposed by the English and servile IrishParliament, drove many thousands of them to America.The Irish Presbyterians, in particular, resented the “test”and “schism” acts, and refused to apply to Episcopal bishopsfor license to teach in schools; or to receive the sacramentafter the fashion of the Church of England. Rewardswere held out for all who would reveal to the governmentthe names of Catholics, or others, who might violate theprovisions of the barbaric laws summarized in this chapter.The scale of the rewards, as given by McGee and otherauthors, is a curious study. Thus, “for discovering an archbishop,bishop, vicar-general, or other person exercisingany foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction, £50; for discoveringeach ‘regular’ clergyman and each ‘secular’ clergyman, notregistered, £20, and for discovering each ‘Popish’ schoolmaster,or usher, £10.” If any person refused to giveevidence of the residence of any proscribed person, he wasfined £20, or else had to go to prison for a year. Manynoble-hearted Protestants who, in spite of penal laws, lovedtheir Catholic fellow-countrymen, suffered pains and penalties,under these enactments, and became objects of hatredto the more malignant section of their co-religionists, whowere after the Catholic spoils. Thus, public distrust becameepidemic, and the infamous “reward” policy begot,as a natural result, a host of professional informers, whoseshocking avocation was mainly exercised in the spying outof the places of concealment of proscribed prelates andpriests, and who are still remembered in Ireland as “priest-hunters.”These malignants also directed their efforts vigorouslyagainst the teachers of “hedge-schools”—that is to421say, schools held in the open air, generally under the shelterof a tall hedge, or on the edge of a wood, and presidedover by some wandering schoolmaster, who bravely riskedliberty, and often life, in teaching the Catholic youth ofIreland the rudiments of education.

There existed a mean “toleration” of Catholic worship,in parishes whose priests were “registered,” according tothe provisions of the penal code, but, in parishes where thepriests were not registered, and they were numerous, priestsand people, who wished to celebrate and assist at the consolingsacrifice of the Mass, had to retire to ocean cave,or mountain summit, or rocky gorge, in order to guardagainst surprise and massacre. The English governmentof the day did not scruple to lend its soldiers to the priest-hunters,to enable the latter to more effectively accomplishtheir odious mission; just as in our day it has lent themilitary to the sheriffs to carry out those cruel evictionswhich the late Mr. Gladstone called “sentences of death.”It was the custom to place sentinels around the places whereMass was being celebrated, but, despite of this precaution,the human sleuthhounds occasionally crept unobservedupon their unarmed victims—for then, as now, the Irishwere systematically disarmed—and often slew priest andpeople at the rude altar stones, called still by the peasantry“Mass rocks.”

So great was the enforced exodus of priests from Ireland,at this awful period of its history, that, says McGee, “inRome 72,000 francs annually were allotted for the maintenanceof the fugitive Irish clergy, and, during the firstthree months of 1699, three remittances from the HolyFather, amounting to 90,000 livres, were placed in thehands of the Nuncio at Paris for the temporary relief of422the fugitives in France and Flanders. It may also be addedhere that, till the end of the eighteenth century, an annualcharge of 1,000 crowns was borne by the Papal treasuryfor the encouragement of Catholic poor schools in Ireland.”

Of the penal code which produced this dreadful conditionof affairs, in and out of Ireland, Dr. Samuel Johnson,the great English scholar and philosopher, said, “They aremore grievous than all the Ten Pagan persecutions of theChristians.”

Edmund Burke, the illustrious Irish statesman, whopassed most of his career in the British Parliament, andwas, of course, a Protestant, or he could not have sat there,denounced them, substantially, as the most diabolical engineof oppression and demoralization ever used against apeople or ever devised by “the perverted ingenuity of man.”

And the Protestant and English historian, Godkin, whocompiled Cassell’s “History of Ireland,” for English readers,says of the penal laws: “The eighteenth century wasthe era of persecution in which the law did the work of thesword, more effectually and more safely. There was establisheda code framed with almost diabolical ingenuity,to extinguish natural affection, to foster perfidy and hypocrisy,to petrify conscience, to perpetuate brutal ignorance,to facilitate the work of tyranny, by rendering the vices ofslavery inherent and natural in the Irish character, and tomake Protestantism almost irredeemably odious as themonstrous incarnation of all moral perversions.” Thishonest Englishman grows indignant when he says, in continuation,“Too well did it accomplish its deadly work onthe intellects, morals, and physical condition of a people,sinking in degeneracy from age to age, till all manly spirit,all virtuous sense of personal independence and responsibility,423was nearly extinct, and the very features, vacant, timid,cunning, and unreflective, betrayed the crouching slavewithin.... Having no rights or franchises, no legal protectionof life and property, disqualified to handle a gun,even as a common soldier or a gamekeeper, forbidden toacquire the elements of knowledge at home or abroad, forbiddeneven to render to God what conscience dictated asHis due, what could the Irish be but abject serfs? Whatnation in their circ*mstances could have been otherwise?Is it not amazing that any social virtue could have survivedsuch an ordeal?—that any seeds of good, any roots of nationalgreatness, could have outlived such a long and tempestuouswinter?”

But the seeds of good, although chilled, did not decay,and the manly spirit of the Old Irish race—the Celto-Normanstock, with the former element in preponderance—survivedall its persecutions, and

The great American orator and philanthropist, WendellPhillips, lecturing on Ireland, and alluding to the enforcedignorance of a former period, said: “When the old-timeignorance of the Catholic Irish people is reproachfully alludedto by the thoughtless, or illiberal, it is not Irelandbut England that should bow her head in the dust and puton sackcloth and ashes!”

SINCE the days of Charles II, and probably before hisreign, a contemptible jealousy of the growth of Irishcommerce had taken possession of the commercial elementin England. We have already said something about thecrushing of the Irish cattle trade, while yet the “Merry Monarch”was on the throne; but a far deadlier blow was struckat Irish prosperity when, in 1698, the English manufacturershad the assurance to petition Parliament against the Irishwoolen industry—then among the most prosperous in Europe.This petition was strongly indorsed by the EnglishHouse of Lords, in an address to King William, whereinthey, unconsciously, perhaps, paid a high tribute to Irishmanufacturing genius. They virtually admitted that thesuperiority of Irish woolen fabrics made the English tradersapprehensive that the farther growth of the Irish woolenindustry “might greatly prejudice the said manufacture inhis Majesty’s Kingdom of England.” Not content withthis display of mean selfishness, the English fisheries’ interestprotested against Irish fishermen catching herrings onthe eastern coast of their own island, “thereby coming intocompetition with them [the English].” The Colonial Parliamentof Ireland basely yielded to English coercion, and,in 1699, actually stabbed the industries of their own countryin the back, by placing ruinous export duties on fine Irishwoolens, friezes, and flannels! And this hostile legislationwas aimed, not against the Catholic Irish, who had no industries,425but against the Protestant Irish, who possessedall of them!

The English Parliament, thus secured against effectiveopposition, immediately passed an act whereby the Irishpeople were forbidden to export either the raw materialfor making woolen goods, or the goods themselves, to anyforeign port, except a few English ports, and only six ofthe numerous Irish seaports were allowed even this poorprivilege. The natural result followed. Irish prices wentup in England, and, in spite of the acknowledged excellenceof Irish manufactures, the English people would not purchasethem at an advanced cost. The Irish traders couldnot afford to sell them at a moderate price, and, within afew years, most of the latter were absolutely ruined. Dr.P. W. Joyce, in his “History of Ireland,” estimates that“40,000 Irish Protestants—all prosperous working people—wereimmediately reduced to idleness and poverty—theCatholics, of course, sharing in the misery, so far as theywere employed, and 20,000 Presbyterians and other Nonconformistsleft Ireland for New England. Then beganthe emigration, from want of employment, that continuesto this day. But the English Parliament professed to encouragethe Irish linen trade, for this could do no harm toEnglish traders, as flax growing and linen manufacture hadnot taken much hold in England.”

This, according to Dr. Joyce, was the beginning ofthat smuggling trade with France which Ireland carried onfor more than a century, and a close acquaintance, therefore,sprang up between the French and Irish traders andsailors. Ireland could sell her surplus wool to great advantagein France, and received from that country many luxuries,which, otherwise, she could not have enjoyed. French426wines became common at Irish tables, above those of theworking-class, and French silks decorated the fair persons ofIrish maids and matrons. Moreover, this adventurous tradedeveloped a hardy race of Irish sailors, and, by means of theIrish smugglers and their French copartners, the Irishpriests found a convenient avenue of transit to and from theContinent; and brave young Irish spirits, registered as“Wild Geese,” found their way to the ranks of “the boldBrigade,” whose fame was then a household word in Europe.But the Irish masses, both Catholic and Nonconformist,were reduced to abject poverty, and each succeedingyear brought fresh commercial restrictions, until, finally,almost every Irish industry, except the linen, was totallyextirpated in the island. The smuggling trade, alone, keptsome vitality in the commercial veins of the ruined country,and, in defiance of English and Anglo-Irish enactmentsagainst it, it continued to flourish down to the beginning ofthe nineteenth century.

Well-meaning foreign writers, who did not make a studyof Anglo-Irish relations in the sixteenth, seventeenth, andeighteenth centuries, have expressed astonishment at thepaucity of Irish industries, outside of linen, and have ascribedit to Irish non-adaptability to manufacturing pursuits!Not alone did England compel Ireland to fine herown traders, by levying export duties on their output, butshe also, as we have seen, by her own Parliament, limitedsuch exports to the meanest possible proportions! Of course,at this slavish period of the old so-called Irish Parliament,duties to limit the importation of English goods and tofoster home industries were not allowed. Ireland wasstripped of everything but linen and “homespun,” and thenleft a beggar. This is a most disgraceful chapter in the427history of the political connection of Great Britain and Ireland—onethat led to untold bitterness, and that caused thegreat orator, Grattan, in after years to exclaim, prophetically,in the Irish House of Commons: “What England tramplesin Ireland will rise to sting her in America!” Healluded to the Presbyterian and Catholic exodus, which somaterially aided the American Revolution.

The last hope of King James again attaining the throneof the “Three Kingdoms” disappeared with the terrible defeatinflicted on the French fleet at the battle of La Hogue,1692, and, thereafter, his life was passed sadly—for he hadample time to ruminate on his misfortunes—at St. Germain,until he died, in 1701. His rival, William III, whose wife,Queen Mary II, had preceded him to the grave, died fromthe effects of a horseback accident, in March, 1702. Hewas immediately succeeded by Queen Anne, the last of theStuart line who occupied the throne of England. Her reignwas one of glory for Great Britain and one of hate and horrorfor Ireland. We have already mentioned some of thepenal laws passed while she held sway. Her ministers, ofcourse, were responsible for her acts, because she herselfpossessed only moderate ability. Unlike most of the Stuartfamily, she swam with the current, and so got along smoothlywith her English subjects. The most important domesticevent of her reign was the legislative union of England withScotland—which virtually extinguished Scotland as a nation.This event occurred in May, 1707, and was accompanied byacts of the most shameless political profligacy on the partof the English minister and the Scotch lords and commons.In fact, the independence of Scotland, like that of Irelandninety-three years later, was sold for titles, offices, pensions,and cold cash. The masses of the people, to do them justice,428had little to do with this nefarious transaction, which wassubsequently satirized by the great Scottish poet, RobertBurns, in his lyric, one verse of which runs thus:

The deeds in arms of Anne’s great general, Marlborough,who was a traitor to both King James and King William,have been partially related in the chapters bearing on thecareer of the Franco-Irish Brigade and need no farther mentionin this history.

In the days of William III appeared a pamphlet called“The Case of Ireland Stated,” which was written by WilliamMolyneux, a member of Parliament, for the DublinUniversity. It appeared in 1698, and made, at once, apowerful impression on the public mind. It, in brief, tookthe ground that Ireland—that is, Protestant, colonial Ireland—was,of right, a separate and independent kingdom;that England’s original title of conquest, if she had any, wasabrogated by charters granted to Ireland from time to time,and, finally, denied that the king and Parliament of Englandhad power to bind the kingdom and people of Ireland byEnglish-made laws. The English Parliament was, of course,greatly shocked and scandalized at the idea of a “mere Irishman”putting forth such theories, and solemnly ordered hisbook to be burned, publicly, by “the common hangman”—afunctionary always in high favor when Ireland needs tobe “disciplined.” The book was burned accordingly, butit* spirit did not die then, nor is it yet dead, or likely to die,429while Ireland contains a population. King William, in replyingto the English Parliament’s address on the subject ofMolyneux’s utterance, assured its members that “he wouldenforce the laws securing the dependence of Ireland on theimperial crown of Great Britain.”

In the chapter on the penal laws, many of the enactmentsof the reign of Anne have been summarized. Her swaywas a moral nightmare over Ireland, and it is a remarkablehistorical coincidence that the Green Isle suffered more, materiallyand morally, under the English female than the malesovereigns. Under Elizabeth and Anne, the Irish Catholicswere persecuted beyond belief. Under Victoria’s rule, whichthe British statistician, Mulhall, has called “the deadliestsince Elizabeth,” they starved to death by the hundred thousandor emigrated by the million.

The régime of Queen Anne, like that of her predecessorsand successors on the throne, gave the government of Irelandinto the hands of Englishmen, who held all the importantoffices, from the viceroyalty downward, and who chosetheir sub-officers from among the least national element ofthe Irish people. This system, although somewhat modified,continues to the present day. In the Irish Parliament, therewas an occasional faint display of sectarian nationality, butit proved of little advantage when the English wanted mattersin that body to go as they wished. Ireland then, asa majority ruled by a minority, “stood on her smaller end,”and so it is even in our own times, notwithstanding occasional“concessions” and “ameliorations.”

But, from the day when the pamphlet, or book, of Molyneuxsaw the light, a Patriot party began to grow up in theIrish Parliament. The old Irish nation had, indeed, disappeared,for a period, but the new one soon began to manifest430a spirit that roused the bitter hatred of England. Suchinfatuated Irish Protestants as still believed that they wouldbe more gently treated on account of common creed withthe stronger people were soon bitterly undeceived.

The death of Queen Anne, all of whose children by thePrince of Denmark had died before her, occurred in July,1714. It is said that she secretly favored the succession ofher half-brother, acknowledged by Louis XIV, and the Jacobiteparty in Great Britain, as James III of that realm, butthe last Duke of Ormond, the Earl of Orrery, Bishop Atterbury,and Lord Bolingbroke, the Jacobite leaders in England,lost their nerve after the Queen’s death and allowedthe golden opportunity of proclaiming the exiled Stuartking to pass away. The Hanoverian faction, which calledJames “the Pretender,” took advantage of their vacillationto proclaim the Elector of Hanover, who derived his claimfrom the Act of Succession or Settlement (which ignoredthe Stuart male line, or any of its Catholic collateralbranches, and excluded them from the throne), under thetitle of George I. He derived his claim, such as it was,from James I, whose daughter, the Princess Elizabeth, hadmarried the King of Bohemia. Her daughter, Sophia, marriedthe Elector of Hanover and became mother of KingGeorge, who was a thorough German in speech, manner,and habit, although not in person or in manly characteristics.But he was a Protestant, and that sufficed forEngland. On August 1, 1714, he was proclaimed inLondon and Edinburgh, and on the 8th of that monthin Dublin. The Scotch Jacobites ridiculed his accessionin a racy “skit,” which began with—

431Ireland, broken in spirit and disgusted by the memory ofKing James II, remained quiescent, but, in 1715, Scotlandand a portion of the north of England rose in rebellion,the former under the Earl of Mar and the latter under youngLord Derwentwater. They were not heartily supported.Both met with defeat, and Derwentwater, together with severalEnglish and Scotch adherents of note, was captured,beheaded, and had his estates confiscated to the “crown.”The English Parliament offered a reward of £50,000 ($250,000)for the “apprehension” of “the Pretender,” who hadbeen previously “attainted,” but there were no takers, “thePretender” aforesaid being safely housed in Paris. Thisbloody episode ended Jacobite “risings” in Great Britain fora generation.

CHAPTER III

SEEING that Ireland had taken no part in the attemptedStuart revolution at the beginning of his reign, it mightbe imagined that George I showed some favor to the Irishpeople, but he did nothing of the kind. On the contrary,the penal laws were enforced with greater virulence thanever, and several new enactments of a most oppressive character—chieflybearing on the franchise—were passed. In1719, the Patriot party in the Irish Parliament threw downa challenge to English supremacy. The Irish House ofLords annulled, on appeal, from the Dublin Court of Exchequer,a judgment in favor of one Annesley and gave it tothe opposition litigant, Hester Sherlock. The former appealedto the English lords, who overrode the decision of the432Irish House, by reversing judgment in favor of Annesley.As the sheriff in whose jurisdiction (Kildare) the writ ranrefused to obey the English decree, he was heavily fined.The Irish House retaliated by remitting the fine, applaudingthe sheriff and arresting the judges of the Dublin courtwho had decided for Annesley. The anger of England becameboundless, as it usually does when Ireland asserts itself,and the English Parliament, without color of right, passedthe drastic enactment, known as the 6th of George I, whichdefinitively bound Ireland by English enactments, and tookthe right of appeal away from the Irish House of Peers.Thus was the chain begun by the Poynings’ Law, in thereign of Henry VII, made complete, and, at one fell swoop,Ireland was reduced to a provincial status. Thenceforth,until 1780, the Irish Parliament was merely a machine forregistering the will of England, in the matter of Irish government.

At the same time, England continued her war on the fewremaining Irish industries—nothing seemed to satisfy thejealousy and covetousness of her merchants. The glaringoutrages committed against the business of Ireland arousedthe ire of the famous Jonathan Swift, Protestant Dean ofSt. Patrick’s, who was the son of an Englishman. Hewrote, anonymously, several bitter pamphlets against theselfish policy of England, and urged the Irish people to usenothing but native manufactures. In one of these fulminations,he used the memorable phrase: “Burn everything thatcomes from England, except the coal!” But his patrioticinfluence rose to the zenith when he attacked “Wood’s half-pence”—basemoney coined to meet a financial emergency—in1723. His philippics became known as the “Drapier’sletters” from the signature attached to them, and, in the433end, he compelled the government to cancel the contractwith Wood. England foamed with rage, and had the printerof the letters prosecuted. However, no judge or jury inDublin was found vile enough to convict him.

Swift, although an Irish patriot, was a Protestant bigot,and detested the Celtic Catholics quite as much as he did theEnglish, whom, from a political standpoint, he hated. Yet,he was the idol, during his long lifetime, of the Catholics,because he had stood by Ireland against the common enemy.This brilliant man, whose writings have made him immortal,and whose private sorrows can not be estimated, finally“withered at the top,” and died insane, after having willedhis property to be used for the building of a lunatic asylum.In a poem written some time before his sad death, he alludesto his bequest in the following lines:

No writer better knew how to enrage the English. Hetook a savage delight in tormenting them, wounding theirvanity, and exposing their weaknesses. Neither did hespare the Irish; and, as for the Scotch, he rivaled Dr. SamuelJohnson in his dislike of that people. In our day, theaverage summer-up of merits and demerits would describeJonathan Swift as “a gifted crank.”

Associated with him in the moral war against Englishinterference in Ireland’s domestic concerns were such othershining lights of the period as Dr. Sheridan, ancestor ofRichard Brinsley, and others of that brilliant “ilk”: Dr.Stopford, the able Bishop of Cloyne, and Doctors Jackson,Helsham, Delaney, and Walmsley, nearly all men of almost434pure English descent. McGee also credits “the three reverendbrothers Grattan”—a name subsequently destined toimmortality—with good work in the same connection.

Whatever the private faults of Swift, Ireland must everhold his memory in reverence, with those of many otherIrish non-Catholic patriots, who, although they had littleor no Celtic blood in their veins, and were brought up underEnglish influences, nobly preferred the interests of theirunfortunate native country to the smiles and favors of heroppressors. And so Ireland, considering these things,blesses

as fervently as if they belonged to the race of the Hy-Niallor Kinel-Conal.

Nor must it be supposed that the Patriot element, led bySwift, escaped persecution at the hands of the Protestant oligarchy,although they, too, were of the Established Church.Swift himself was discriminated against all his life, becauseof his advocacy of Irish manufactures, his discrediting ofWood’s “brass money,” and his defeat of the mischievousnational bank project, which was germane to it. As dioceseafter diocese became vacant in Ireland, he saw dullardspromoted to the sees, while he was deliberately overlooked,simply because he had advocated justice to Ireland! Thisinjustice afterward passed into a proverb. Said an Irishorator, in after years, speaking of another great Irishmanwho had also suffered from English resentment: “Thecurse of Swift was upon him—to have been born an Irishman,to have been blessed with talents, and to have usedthose talents for the benefit of his country!”

But Swift was not the only sufferer. There were other435distinguished offenders against English sentiment. It istrue they had not provoked the government by their writingsto offer a reward of £300 for their identity, as wasSwift’s fortune, but they had done enough to be made “horribleexamples” of. Thus, Right Rev. Dr. Browne, ProtestantBishop of Cork, had been threatened with deprivationfor protesting against the insulting language towardCatholics contained in the notorious Orange toast to thememory of William III; and Dr. Sheridan was deprived ofhis “living” in Munster, because, says McGee, “he accidentallychose for his text on the anniversary of King George’scoronation: ‘Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof!’Such,” he continues, “was the intolerance of the oligarchytoward their own clergy. What must it have been toothers!”

About this period, too, the differences between Episcopaliansand Nonconformists—the latter having again repudiatedthe test oaths—became more bitter than ever. Swifttook sides against the Dissenters, whom, as a fierce Churchof England champion, he despised. “They were glad,” hesaid, they or their fathers, “to leave their barren hills ofLochaber for the fruitful vales of Down and Antrim.” Hedenied to them, with bitter scorn, the title they had assumedof “Brother Protestants,” and as to the Papists they affectedto contemn, they were, in his opinion, “as much superiorto the Dissenters as a lion, though chained andclipped of its claws, is a stronger and nobler animal thanan angry cat, at liberty to fly at the throats of true churchmen.”Of course, the Church of England faction triumphedand the exodus of the Nonconformists from Ireland receiveda fresh impetus. “Outraged,” says McGee, “intheir dearest civil and religious rights, thousands of the436Scoto-Irish of Ulster, and the Milesian and Anglo-Irishof the other provinces, preferred to encounter the perilsof the wild Atlantic rather than abide under the yoke andlash of such an oligarchy. In the year 1729, five thousandsix hundred Irish landed at the single port of Philadelphia;in the next ten years they furnished to the Carolinas andGeorgia the majority of their immigrants; before the endof this reign [George I] several thousands of heads of families,all bred and married in Ireland, were rearing up afree posterity along the slopes of the Blue Ridge in Virginiaand Maryland, and even as far north as the valleysof the Hudson and the Merrimac. In the ranks of thethirteen United Colonies, the descendants of those IrishNonconformists were to repeat, for the benefit of GeorgeIII, the lesson and example their ancestors had taught toJames II at Inniskillen and Derry.”

We do not purpose entering into a chronological accountof the several viceroys—most of them rather obscure—whor*presented English misgovernment in Ireland duringthe reigns of the early Georges. They simply followed outthe old programme of oppression and repression with tiresomemonotony. No matter who “held court” in DublinCastle, the policy of England toward Ireland remained unchanged.If ever there came a lull in the course of systematicpersecution, it followed immediately on some reverseof the English arms on the Continent of Europe. An Englishvictory meant added taxes and further coercion forthe Irish Catholics and Dissenters.

George I had died in 1727, leaving behind him an unsavorymoral reputation, and regretted by nobody in England,except his Hanoverian mistresses, who were noted fortheir pinguid ugliness. He was succeeded without opposition437by his son, who mounted the throne as George II. He,too, was small of stature, un-English in language and appearance,and inherited the vices of his father. He wasnot deficient in personal bravery, as he proved at Dettingen,and elsewhere, in after times, and he had the distinctionof being the last king of England who appeared upona field of battle.

The penal code was continued in full force during mostof this reign, although it had lost favor among the Englishgoverning class in the time of the king’s father, when theProtestant Ascendency party in the Irish Commons brazenlyproposed to the English Privy Council the passage of anact whereby a proscribed prelate or priest arrested in Irelandwould be made to suffer indecent mutilation. Bad asthe English privy councilors generally were, where Irelandwas concerned, they would not stomach such revolting savagery,and the hideous proposition was heard of no more.And yet England, knowing the ferocious character of thefanatics who proposed it, left Ireland virtually helpless intheir hands! She could have, at any time, put an end tothe intolerable persecutions visited upon the masses of thepeople by a heartless oligarchy, actuated about equally bycupidity and fierce intolerance. Had she done so, she mighthave won the Irish heart, as France won that of GermanAlsace and Italian Corsica, but she preferred to use onesection of the Irish people against the other, in her lust ofempire, and “Divide and Conquer” became, as in the Elizabethantimes, the pith of her Irish policy.

The great English minister, Sir Robert Walpole, impressedby the necessity of breaking down the spirit of independenceevoked by Swift and his able and patriotic colleagues,who had indeed “breathed a new soul” into the438Ireland of their day, appointed that inveterate politicianand corrupt diplomat, Lord Carteret, viceroy. He also promotedthe Right Rev. Hugh Boulter, Bishop of Bristol,also an Englishman of the virulent type, to the Archbishopricof Armagh—the primal see of Ireland. Boulterwas Castlereagh’s precursor in policy. Possessed of highoffice and vast wealth, he did not hesitate to use both prestigeand money in the interests of England, and his corruptionof many members of the Irish Parliament was soopen and flagrant as to scandalize even the brazen chiefsof the atrocious “Court party”—the Prætorean guard ofLord Carteret. This unscrupulous churchman was the virtualhead of the English interest in Ireland for eighteenyears, and, within that period, overshadowing even viceregalauthority, he made the English name more hatedamong not alone the Celtic, but the Scoto and Anglo-Irishthan it had been for a century. He was the greatest persecutorof the Catholics that had appeared since the periodof Cromwell, and he it was who manipulated the machineryof Parliament to deprive them of the last vestige of theircivil and religious liberty in the closing days of the brutalreign, in Ireland, of George I. Nor did the Presbyteriansand other dissenters fare much better at his hands. Hisblack career terminated in 1742, and a weight of horrorwas lifted from Ireland’s heart when the welcome news ofhis death spread rapidly, far and wide, over the persecutedcountry.

What made “Primate Boulter” particularly odious to theCatholic people of Ireland was his institution of the “CharterSchools”—used openly and insultingly for the perversionof the majority of the population from the RomanCatholic faith. Since that period, English politicians have439not hesitated to use the influence of the Roman See, withmore or less success, to curb political movements in Ireland.Even then, when England was enforcing the penallaws against the Irish Catholics with fire and sword, shewas the ally of Catholic Austria against the French, andglibly advocated toleration for the Protestants of the Hapsburgempire, while her “priest-hunters” industriously earnedtheir putrid “blood money” in unfortunate, Catholic Ireland.We may say, in passing, that Primate Boulter wassucceeded in the primacy by another Englishman, RightRev. George Stone, who proved himself worthy of hispredecessor.

CHAPTER IV

AN attempt made in 1729 to place an extortionate estimateon the public expenses, and which emanatedfrom “the Castle of Dublin,” had the effect of consolidatingthe Irish opposition in Parliament. These legislators protestedin a dignified manner against extravagance in publicexpenditure. Under the administration of the Duke ofDevonshire, in 1737, they set their faces against his methodof corrupting the public conscience by a display of lavishgenerosity, which is always popular in a capital where tradedepends to a great extent on courtly favor. The leadersin the House of Commons were Sir Edward O’Brien, ofthe House of Inchiquin; his son, Sir Lucius; the Speaker,Henry Boyle, and Mr. Anthony Malone, whose father hadbeen an efficient ally of Sir Toby Butler, in defending Catholicrights under the articles of Limerick.

440These gentlemen were ably assisted by Dr. Charles Lucas,who, although not a member of the House, possessed a vastoutside influence, because of his great talent and moralworth. The doctor was also a druggist by profession, butcould use a virile pen even better than he could a pestle andmortar. In 1741, he began hammering the government inpublic prints, on the lines of Molyneux and Swift, and withalmost as great success. But “the Castle” censor camedown upon him, and he was compelled to leave Ireland fora period. Like Swift, he was rather antagonistic to Catholicclaims, but, as in the case of the great Dean, the Catholicsforgave him because he was true to Ireland. Aftersome years of exile, he returned to Dublin, was elected toParliament, and became a leader of the Patriots in theHouse of Commons. In the House of Lords, the Earl ofKildare, afterward first Duke of Leinster, was the Patriotleader.

The famous Earl of Chesterfield became Viceroy of Irelandin 1745, and showed, from the first, a thorough disgustfor the penal laws and the oligarchs who supportedthem. He connived at Catholic toleration to such an extentthat he became an object of suspicion, if not of hatred, tothe Ascendency faction. The government of England, withhabitual cunning, had selected this finished courtier to rulein Ireland, because of disquieting rumors of an invasion ofGreat Britain contemplated by Charles Edward Stuart, sonof “the Pretender,” James III. Also, about the same time,came the stirring news of the victory of the Irish Brigade,in alliance with the French, over the Duke of Cumberland’scolumn at glorious Fontenoy. “Accursed,” oldGeorge II is said to have exclaimed, on being told of theFranco-Irish victory, “accursed be the laws that deprive441me of such soldiers!” But Chesterfield was, in reality,friendly to the Irish. He liked their wit and esprit andtook no pains to conceal the fact, greatly to the disgust ofthe Ascendency clique. But Charles Edward’s attempt torecover the British crown utterly failed. Highland Scotlandfought for him heroically. The Jacobites of Englandheld, for the most part, aloof, and, beyond the officers ofthe Irish Brigade, who went with him from France, Irelandhardly furnished a man to aid his hardy and romantic enterprise—thusshowing how completely her spirit was subduedduring that momentous crisis. Charles Edward wasa leader that, in the preceding century, the Irish would havebeen proud to follow. He was a great improvement onboth his sire and grandsire, although he ended miserably,in his old age, a career begun so gloriously in his youth.

Chesterfield remained only eight months in his Irish office.He was recalled within ten days after the battle of Culloden.There was no further need, for the time being, to conciliatethe Irish. The heir of the unhappy Stuarts was a houselesswanderer in the land over which his forefathers had reignedfor centuries and their cause was hopelessly lost. The Earland Countess of Chesterfield, on their departure from Dublin,received “a popular ovation.” They walked on foot,arm in arm, from the viceregal residence to the wharf, wherelay the vessel that was to bear them back to England, andthe warm-hearted, “too easily deluded people” prayed loudand fervently for their speedy return. They came back nomore, but Chesterfield was enabled to assure George II, whenhe reached London, that the only “dangerous Papist” hehad seen in Ireland was the lovely Miss Ambrose, afterwardMrs. Palmer, Dublin’s reigning beauty of the period. Chesterfieldmade much of her at “the Castle,” and laughed politely442at the bigots who looked upon her as a species of Delilah.As Miss Ambrose enjoyed, also, the friendship ofLady Chesterfield, her enemies could evoke no scandal fromthe platonic intimacy. The earl’s mild, insinuating system ofgovernment had enabled him to spare four regiments fromIreland for service in Scotland, during the Jacobite insurrection.His “Principles of Politeness,” practically applied,were much more effective in the cause of the House of Hanoverthan all the repressive enactments of the vicious bigotsof the party of Ascendency.

The last Jacobite expedition was organized in France, in1759, and was under orders of an admiral named Conflans,who, when a short distance out from Brest, was encounteredby an English fleet under Admiral Hawke andtotally defeated. A wing of this expedition, under CommodoreThurot, whose real name was O’Farrell, did not arrivein time to take part in the battle, but succeeded in enteringthe British Channel without interruption. A storm arosewhich drove Thurot’s five frigates to seek shelter in Norwayand the Orkney Islands, where they wintered. In the spring,one frigate made its way back to France. Another sailedwith a similar object, but was never heard from afterward.The remaining three, under Thurot, made for the Irishcoast and entered Lough Foyle, but made no attempt onLondonderry. They soon headed for Belfast Lough, andappeared before Carrickfergus about the end of February,1760. Thurot demanded the surrender of the place, whichwas stoutly refused by the military governor, Colonel Jennings.The Franco-Irish sailor immediately landed his fightingmen and took the town by a rapid and furious assault.Then he levied on the place for supplies and again put tosea. Off the Isle of Man he fell in with three newly commissioned443ships of war under the English Commodore,Elliott. A sanguinary encounter followed. Thurot, aliasO’Farrell, and three hundred of his marines and sailors werekilled. The French vessels were fearful wrecks, and thevictorious English towed them in a sinking condition intoRamsay. Thus terminated one of the most gallant navalepisodes of the eighteenth century.

When the Earl of Harrington, afterward Duke of Devonshire,became Lord Lieutenant some time after the recall ofLord Chesterfield, the odious Primate Stone—accused bothin England and Ireland of unspeakable immorality—ruledIreland as completely as had his less filthy predecessor, PrimateBoulter. Ireland, at the outset of the new régime, wasastonished to find a respectable surplus in her treasury, andLord Chesterfield, who always, while he lived, took a deepinterest in Irish affairs, sent a congratulatory letter on theseeming prosperity of the country to his friend, the Bishopof Waterford. The Patriot party in the Commons, led bythe sagacious and eloquent Malone, advocated the expenditureof the surplus on public works and needed public buildingsthroughout Ireland and in the capital. But Stone andthe Castle ring fought the proposition bitterly, contendingthat the money belonged to the crown and could be drawn byroyal order on the vice-treasurer, without regard to Parliament.When the Duke of Dorset succeeded Harringtonas viceroy, in 1751, the question had reached an acute stage.Opposition to the royal claim on the Irish surplus had ledto the expulsion of Dr. Lucas from Ireland. But Maloneand Speaker Boyle kept up the fight in the Commons, and,after having sustained one defeat, on a full vote, finallycame out victorious by having the supply bill, which coveredall government service in the kingdom, thrown out by444a vote of 122 to 117. Government showed its resentmentby canceling Malone’s patent of precedence as Prime Sergeant,and striking Speaker Boyle’s name from the list ofprivy-councilors. This was outrageous enough, but whatfollowed was still more so. The king (George II) by adviceof Dorset, Stone, and their clique, overrode the actionof the Irish Parliament and despotically, by operation ofa king’s letter, withdrew the long-disputed surplus from theIrish national treasury. This crowning infamy was consummatedin 1753, and so great became public indignationthat Stone and the obnoxious ministers were mobbed, andthe Duke of Dorset could not appear on the streets of Dublinwithout being hooted at and otherwise insulted. Anglo-Irelandseemed on the brink of revolution, but the popularleaders took a conservative attitude and thus avoided aviolent crisis. Dorset, alarmed by the tempest he had himselfcreated, virtually fled from Dublin, followed by theexecration of the multitude. He left the government in thehands of three Lords Justices, one of whom was PrimateStone, whose very name was hateful to the incensed people.

The viceroy was followed to England by the popularleader of the Irish House of Lords, James Fitz-Gerald, 20thEarl of Kildare, who had married the daughter of theDuke of Richmond, and, consequently, had a powerful Englishbacking. Kildare presented to King George, in person,a memorial in which he strongly denounced the misgovernmentof Ireland by Dorset, Stone, and Lord GeorgeSackville, Dorset’s intermeddling son. This memorial hasbeen described as “the boldest ever addressed by a subjectto a sovereign.”

Although Lord Holderness, an English courtier, in aletter to Chancellor Jocelyn, says that the bold Geraldine445“was but ill-received and very coolly dismissed” by theking, Kildare’s policy soon prevailed in Ireland. Dorsetwas recalled in the succeeding year, and Primate Stone, withwhom Kildare refused to act as Lord Justice, was removedfrom the ministry of Ireland.

The Duke of Devonshire, formerly Lord Harrington, orHartington, succeeded Dorset, and immediately began thecongenial work, to an English statesman, of breaking up,and rendering harmless, the Irish Patriot party. Boyle wasmade Chancellor of the Exchequer and was raised to thepeerage as the Earl of Shannon, receiving also a pensionof £2,000 per annum for thirty-one years. Malone wouldhave accepted the Lord Chancellorship gladly, but was restrainedby both private and public opinion from doing soopenly. But Mitchel says that while Boyle remained nominalchancellor, Malone quietly pocketed the profits of theposition, and his patriotic eloquence declined in proportionto the growth of his profits. Other leaders of the Patriotparty were also “taken care of,” and England managed toget rid of one of her most troublesome “Irish difficulties.”

The purchased Patriots, however, may be fairly creditedwith having forced the beginning of the public works,such as canals and highways, in Ireland, and the constructionof some of those splendid official edifices which still,even in their decay, “lend an Italian glory to the Irishmetropolis.”

Lord Kildare stands accused of having entered into thenegotiations with the new viceroy for the “placation” ofthe Patriot party in the Commons. Such, however, werethe political “morals” of the times, and the offices were,nominally at least, Irish and, therefore, quasi, not fully,national—seeing that Ireland was what might be called a446semi-independent colonial province, distrustful of England,but without strength or resolution to snap her chains. Theearl soon became Marquis of Kildare, and, subsequently,Duke of Leinster, but he is best remembered as the fatherof the gallant, unselfish, and devoted Lord Edward Fitzgerald,of 1798 fame.

An attempt made, in March, 1756, to pass a bill in theIrish Commons to vacate the seats of such members asshould accept “any pension or civil office of profit fromthe crown,” was defeated by a vote of 85 to 59—thus givingplain notice to the English viceroy that the Parliamentwas up for auction, and, within less than fifty years fromthat date, it was, accordingly, like that of Scotland, “knockeddown to the highest bidder.” How could it be otherwise?When, as Mitchel truly says in his Continuation of McGeoghegan’s“History of Ireland,” “The English Protestantcolony in Ireland, which aspired to be a nation, amountedto something under half a million of souls, in 1754. Itwas out of the question that it should be united on a footingof equality with its potent mother country by ‘thegolden link of the crown,’ because the wearer of that crownwas sure to be guided in his policy by English ministers,in accordance with English interests; and, as the army wasthe king’s army, he could always enforce that policy. Thefatal weakness of the colony was that it would not amalgamatewith the mass of the Irish people (i.e. the Catholics)so as to form a true nation, but set up the vain pretensionto hold down a whole disfranchised people with one handand defy all England with the other.” And this insensatepolicy was pursued, with little modification, to the end,and in the end proved fatal to both “the colony” and thenation.

THE Duke of Bedford became Lord Lieutenant of Irelandin 1757, and came as a “conciliator,” with a smile onhis face “and a bribe in his pocket.” His mission was to“soften” the penal laws, which had again become too scandalousfor the “liberal” and “civilized” reputation of Englandon the Continent. One Miss O’Toole, a Catholic, hadbeen pressed by some Protestant friends to “conform” tothe Established Church, so as to avoid persecution, and fledto the house of a relative named Saul, who resided in Dublin,in order to escape disagreeable importunity. Mr. Saulwas prosecuted and convicted, under the penal code, and thejudge who “tried” the case said, in his charge, that “Papistshad no rights,” because the “law” under which poor Saulwas punished “did not,” in the language of the court, “presumea Papist to exist in the kingdom, nor could Papistsso much as breathe the air without the connivance of government!”This judge, harsh as his language may now seem,did not misstate the case, for such, indeed, was the barbarous“law of the land” at that period, and for a considerabletime afterward.

The bigots in the Irish Commons, soon after the arrivalof the Duke of Bedford in Dublin, had prepared a new andeven more drastic bill of penalties against Catholics thanalready existed, and so intolerable were its proposals thatseveral leading Catholics among “the nobility, gentry, and448professional [clandestinely] classes” got together, and, aftera time, formed, in out-of-the-way meeting places, the first“Catholic Committee” of Ireland—the precursor, by theway, of the many similar organizations conducted by JohnKeogh, Daniel O’Connell, and other Catholic leaders of succeedinggenerations.

The chief men of this committee were Charles O’Conor,the Irish scholar and antiquary; Dr. Curry, the historicalreviewer; Mr. Wyse, a leading merchant of the city ofWaterford; Lords Fingal, Devlin, Taaffe, and some othersless known to fame. These amiable gentlemen were, atfirst, frightened by the sound of their own voices, but theygradually grew bolder, although they did not proceed farenough to bring down upon their heads the full wrath of“government.” Indeed, they were, on most occasions, obsequiously“loyal” to the “crown,” which meant the Englishking and connection. But the iron had entered their souls,and the stain of its corrosion lingered long in their veins.When the Duke of Bedford, by the instructions of the elderPitt (Chatham), who acted for King George, informed theIrish Parliament that France contemplated a new invasionand called upon the Irish people to show their loyalty to theHouse of Hanover, Charles O’Conor drew up an abjectly“loyal” address, which was signed by 300 leading Catholics,and had it presented at the bar of the House of Commons(Dublin) by Messrs. Antony MacDermott and JohnCrump. The speaker, Mr. Ponsonby, received the documentin dead silence, laid it on the table in front of him, and coollybowed the delegation out. The Duke of Bedford, however,took “gracious” notice of the address, and caused his answerthereto, which was appreciative—England being then inmortal terror of the French—to be printed in the Dublin449“Gazette,” which was the “government’s” official organ.And the poor Catholic gentlemen, who had signed the cringingdocument, went into convulsions of joy because of this“official recognition” of their slavish professions of “loyalty”to a foreign king, who cared less for them than for theblacks of the West Indies!

But Mitchel, the Protestant historian, who understoodhis country’s sad story better, perhaps, than any writer whoever dealt with it, makes for the Catholic committee thisingenious apology: “We may feel indignant,” says he, “atthe extreme humility of the proceedings of the committee,and lament that the low condition of our countrymen atthat time left no alternative but that of professing a hypocritical‘loyalty’ to their oppressors; for the only other alternativewas secret organization to prepare an insurrectionfor the total extirpation of the English colony in Ireland,and, carefully disarmed as the Catholics were [and stillare], they, doubtless, felt this to be an impossible project.Yet, for the honor of human nature, it is necessary to statethe fact that this profession of loyalty, to a king of England,was, in reality, insincere. Hypocrisy, in such a case,is less disgraceful than would have been a genuine canineattachment to the hand that smote and to the foot thatkicked.”

But Bedford, in his policy of conciliation, had even adeeper motive than fear of France. The statesmen of England,jealous of even the poor and almost impotent colonialParliament of Ireland, so early as 1759, contemplated that“legislative union,” which was to be effected in later times.Bedford’s design was the truly English one of arraying theIrish Catholics against the Protestant nationalists, who had,with England’s willing aid, so cruelly persecuted them.450When this project got mooted abroad, the Protestant mobof Dublin—the Catholics were too cowed at the time toact, and their leaders were committed to Bedford by theiraddress—rose in their might, on December 3, 1759, surroundedthe Houses of Parliament and uttered tumultuousshouts of “No Union! no Union!” They stopped everymember of Parliament, as he approached to enter theHouse, and made him swear that he would oppose theunion project. They violently assaulted the Lord Chancellor,whom they believed to be a Unionist, together withmany other lords, spiritual and secular, and “ducked” onemember of the Privy Council in the river Liffey. TheSpeaker and Secretary of the House of Commons had to appearin the portico of the House and solemnly assure thepeople that no union was contemplated. Even this assurancedid not quell the tumult, and, finally, a fierce chargeof dragoons and the bayonets of a numerous infantry, accompaniedby a threat of using cannon, cleared the streets.Following up the policy of “conciliation,” the Catholic leaders,with slavish haste, repudiated the actions of the Protestantmob, and thus produced a contemptuous bitternessin the Protestant mind, which aggravated the factious feelingin the unfortunate country. England’s work was welldone. She had planted, as a small seed, the idea of absorbingthe Irish Parliament some day, and was willing tolet it take its own time to ripen into Dead Sea fruit forIreland. The Catholic helot had been cunningly played offa*gainst his Protestant oppressor, and thus the subject nationhad been made the forger of its own fetters—at least inappearance, although England was the real artificer. ManyCatholics in humble life may have joined in the Dublin anti-unionriots, but the Catholic chiefs, who had their own axe451to grind, were resolved to appear “loyal”—all the more sobecause some of the Protestant leaders in the late disorderssought to fasten the responsibility on the members of theproscribed faith. The outbreak, as was well known, wasmainly the work of the followers of Dr. Lucas, then in exile,but soon to be a Member of Parliament, and the fiercestopponent of a legislative union with Great Britain.

“It deserves remark,” says a historian of the period,“that on this first occasion, when a project of a legislativeunion was really entertained by an English ministry, thePatriot party which opposed it was wholly and exclusivelyof the Protestant colony, and that the Catholics of Irelandwere totally indifferent, and, indeed, they could not rationallybe otherwise, as it was quite impossible for them tofeel an attachment to a national legislature in which theywere not represented, and for whose members they couldnot even cast a vote.”

George II died of “rupture of the heart”—probably fromthe bursting of an arterial aneurism in that region—in 1760.He was never popular in England, because of his Germanways and affections, and the Irish people regarded him withindifference. They had never seen him, and he was aboutas much of a stranger in his Irish realm as the Shah ofPersia or the Khan of Tartary. His reign had lastedtwenty-eight years, and, in all that period, the estimatedpopulation of Ireland—for there was no regular census—increasedonly 60,000. Presbyterian and Catholic emigrationto the colonies—superinduced by the penal laws againstboth—was mainly the cause of this remarkable stagnation.There had been two famines also, and the victims of artificialscarcity—a condition produced by restrictions on tradeand manufacture—were numerous.

THE long reign of George III, grandson of the latemonarch, began in the month of October, 1760, whenhe had attained the age of 22 years. His father, FrederickLouis, Prince of Wales, was a dissolute and almostimbecile person, and was hated by his own father, GeorgeII, with a most unnatural hatred. No doubt he, in greatmeasure, deserved it, for a member of his own familydescribed Frederick Louis as being “the greatest brute andass in Christendom.” George III, when he mounted theEnglish throne, was a dull, commonplace young man, withoutpronounced personal vices, but exceedingly obstinateand subject to spells of temper, when strongly opposed,that gave assurance of future mental weakness. He wasnot, by nature, cruel, but circ*mstances developed grosscruelty under his régime, in India, in America, and in Ireland.He had enough of the Stuart blood in him to be astickler for “the right divine” of kings, and he was enoughof a Guelph to have his own way with even his most persuasiveministers. His father’s politics, so far as he hadany, leaned toward Whiggery, but after that prince’s deathhis mother had placed him under the tutelage of the Marquisof Bute, who was an ardent Tory. Consequently, theyoung king had had the advantage of being taught in thetwo great English schools of policy, but, in the long run,the Tory in his nature prevailed over the Whig, and GeorgeIII finally developed into a fierce and intolerant despot.453All that could be said in his favor was that, after he married—andhe married young—his court became, at once, amodel of propriety and dulness. The painted harlots, fosteredby his grandfather and great-grandfather, were notsucceeded by others of their kind, and the prudent mothersof England no longer feared to allow their handsomedaughters to enter the precincts of the royal palace. TheEnglish masses were, at first, greatly astonished at thepersonal purity of their sovereign, but, after a while, becamereconciled to the belief that a monarch need not,necessarily, be a libertine.

King George evidently borrowed a leaf from the bookof Queen Anne when he assumed the crown. She had assuredher subjects that hers was “an entirely English heart.”George’s first address from the throne opened with the words,“Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name ofBriton.” Coming from a king, this sentiment, addressed toa people in general so fervidly “loyal” as the English, produceda most favorable effect, and, to the end of his longreign, was never forgotten, even when his mule-like obstinacywellnigh goaded them to desperation. George III,from first to last, in his love of domination, impatience ofopposition, carelessness of the rights of other peoples, egotism,intolerance, and commercial greed, stood for JohnBull. Behind John Bull stood England, very much as shestill stands to-day. The address continued by declaringthat the civil and religious rights of his “loving subjects”were equally dear to him with the most valuable prerogativesof the crown. It was his fixed purpose, he said, tocountenance and encourage the practice of true religion andvirtue. The eyes of all Europe, he declared, were on thatParliament and from it “the Protestant interest hoped for454protection.” At the end of the speech, King George intimatedthat the toleration of the Catholics—that is, connivanceat their existence, particularly in Ireland—wouldnot be interfered with. But the penal statutes remainedunrepealed, and the Irish Catholics continued to be persecuted,although rather less brutally, particularly as regardedtheir religious observances, in their own country. Theywere not allowed to vote, or hold office, or have any saywhatever in public affairs, although they were subject totaxes and fines. They could not be educated, and weredebarred from practicing any profession under long-establishedpenalties. In short, they were very little better offduring the earlier years of George III’s reign than underthe sway of his two immediate predecessors.

The Irish Protestant mind, however, did not lose its patrioticimpulse, because of the interested silence of Malone,Boyle, and the former leaders of the Patriot party. Membersof Parliament had hitherto been elected to serve duringthe life of the sovereign, and, in the beginning of thereign of George III, the new Irish Parliament began anearnest agitation for octennial Parliaments. Among theable men—of them destined to be famous—who wereelected to the new body were Hussey Burgh, Dennis BowesDaly, Henry Flood, and Dr. Lucas. It should have beenstated that the original Irish demand was for a seven years’Parliament, and bills were passed, in 1761 and 1763, embodyingthe proposition, but the king and English PrivyCouncil, to whom they had to be submitted, under thePoynings’ Act, coolly “pocketed” them, and they were heardof no more. This arbitrary conduct of an alien monarch,and advisory body, aroused great public indignation, and theclamor became so loud, in 1767, that, finally, the bill was returned455from England, changed to octennial, or eight years,and, with this amendment, it passed the Irish Parliamentand received the royal sanction in February of the succeedingyear. Under the new act, a Parliament was elected in1768, and all the advocates of the new dispensation werere-elected. Where all did noble work, it is not detractingfrom their merit to remark that Dr. Lucas was the realleader of the movement, and was generally recognized assuch. He lived only two years after his great triumph, andwas almost universally mourned—the only exceptions beingthe members of the corrupt Court party. He was formallyeulogized in the Irish House of Commons, and at his funeralthe pall-bearers were Lord Kildare, Lord Charlemont,Henry Flood, Sir Lucius O’Brien, Hussey Burgh, andSpeaker Ponsonby.

The Patriot party continued, in the new Parliament, underthe administration of Lord Townsend, a vigorous oppositionto unjust pension lists, and other evils which afflictedthe nation. The Lord Lieutenant, who was jolly and persuasive,also corrupt, attempted to break up the opposition afterthe good old English fashion, but made no impression onthe able phalanx led by Flood, who, after the death of Lucas,was looked upon as the chief of the Patriot element inthe Commons. Kildare, notwithstanding his peculiar actionin the days of Malone, et al., continued to champion the popularcause in the House of Peers. Resistance to the supplybill, which changed the Irish military establishment from12,000 to 15,000 men, brought about the prorogation ofParliament session after session for nearly two years.Meanwhile, the Castle was quietly “seeing” the members,and, in spite of Flood and Speaker Ponsonby, an address ofconfidence, carried by a bare majority, was passed by the456Commons. The Speaker refused to present it and resignedhis post. A Mr. Perry was elected to succeed him, and, fora time, it looked as if the Patriots might be broken up. ButMr. Perry, in spite of his suspicious conduct in acceptingthe speakership, vacated by his friend, Mr. Ponsonby, remainedfaithful to Irish interests and the ranks of the oppositionbecame even more formidable than before.

Lord Townsend, the jolly old corruptionist, became sounpopular that nearly every public print in Dublin wasfilled with lampoons upon him, and, finally, he requestedretirement and was succeeded by Lord Harcourt, in 1772.He began well, but ended badly, as is usual with Englishviceroys in Ireland, who have seldom failed to fall eventuallyunder Dublin Castle influences. He attempted to throwunjust burdens on Ireland, but was resisted at every point,particularly when he sought to make the supply bill extendover two years instead of one. Henry Flood delivered oneof his best speeches in opposition to this dishonest innovation.Hussey Burgh promised that if any member in futurebrought in such a bill he would move his expulsion. But theclimax was reached when the Hon. George Ogle, of Wexford,author of the well-known lyric, “Molly Astore,” whichhas retained its popularity for more than a century, proposedthat the bill, as introduced, be burned by the hangman.The Speaker reminded Mr. Ogle that the document wasdecorated with the great seal. “Then,” replied the wittypoet, “it will burn all the better!” Mr. Ogle’s suggestionwas not carried out, but the bill was subsequently modifiedto suit the ideas of the House of Commons.

THE Peace of Paris, 1763, brought the Seven Years’War to a conclusion on the Continent of Europe.Frederick the Great retained Silesia, formerly an Austrianprovince, to which he had no just title; and there wereother territorial changes of less importance. England hadtriumphed over the French interest in America; for Wolfe’svictory of the Plains of Abraham, at Quebec, in September,1759, decided the game of war in favor of the British,although other battles were fought by the opposing forcesafter that event.

Agrarian oppression in Ireland, particularly in the South,had caused the peasantry to organize themselves into secretsocieties for mutual protection. It was thus that the famous“White Boys” of the last century—so-called fromwearing linen shirts, or white woolen jackets, over theirother clothes, so as to give them a uniform appearance—cameinto existence. Their methods were crude, wild, oftenfierce and sometimes cruel. They defied the law becausethey had found no element of protection in it. Ratherhad they found it, as administered by the landlord oligarchy,in whose hands it was placed by the evil genius of England,an instrument of intolerable oppression. No justice wasto be obtained by any appeal they might make to their tyrants,and so they resorted to what an Irish orator hascalled “the wild justice of revenge.” As usual, some naturallybad men found their way into these organizations, and458often vented their malice on individuals in the name of thetrampled people. The landlords took advantage of thecommission of crime to get up another “Popish plot” scare,and succeeded in making shallow and timid people acceptthe slander as truth. The real object of the “White Boys”was to secure low rentals on tillage land, and to preserve“commonage rights”—that is, grazing lands in common ata nominal cost, or else free, something that had long beenthe usage—for their stock. The landlords, not satisfiedwith levying exorbitant rents, and grown, if possible,harder and more greedy than ever, finally abolished andfenced in “the commons.” This action aroused the fury ofthe peasantry, particularly in the Munster counties, andthey collected in large bodies and demolished the landlords’fences. This gave the tyrants an excuse to call formilitary aid—the argument being that the people were inarms against “the crown,” which, of course, was false.The poor peasantry struck at their nearest and most visibleoppressors, and never thought about “the crown.” Theking was, to them, very like a myth. It would seem thatmany of the poorer Protestants joined with the Catholicsin the demonstration against the inclosures, which, of course,showed the absurdity of the “Popish plot” story. Still, theaffair was not to terminate until it begot a cruel tragedy.The parish priest of Clogheen, County Tipperary, in 1765,was the Rev. Nicholas Sheehy, a high-minded and saintlyman, whose heart was deeply touched by the sufferings ofthe poor tenants, whose ardent and eloquent champion hebecame. The Cromwellian “aristocracy” of the county,headed by the Bagnals, the Maudes, the Bagwells, theTolers, and a parson named Hewitson, resolved to get ridof Father Sheehy, and only waited for a good chance to459insnare him in their toils. Two years previous to the datealready given, they had had the young priest arrested on acharge of swearing in “White Boys,” but, because of insufficientevidence, he was acquitted. Soon after he was released,one Bridge, who had been a principal witness againsthim, mysteriously disappeared. The oligarchs had thepriest arrested immediately on a charge of murder. Thewitnesses employed to appear against him were a horse-stealer,named Toohey, a vagrant youth named Lonergan,and an immoral woman, named Dunlea. He had lain inClonmel jail, heavily ironed, for several months before hewas brought to trial. The prosecution did not have theirwitnesses fully instructed. At last, March 12, 1765, FatherSheehy was brought up for trial. He succeeded in provingan alibi, but that was of no avail. His destruction was determinedupon, and, on March 15, he suffered execution byhanging and subsequent decapitation. This atrocious murderaroused the anger of the country. Protestants andCatholics alike joined in execrating the crime. Yet, he wasnot the only victim. In May of the same year, EdwardSheehy, a cousin, and two other young farmers, were convictedand hanged on the same testimony that had sentFather Sheehy to his untimely grave. McGee says: “Thefate of their enemies is notorious; with a single exception,they met deaths violent, loathsome, and terrible. Maudedied insane, Bagwell in idiocy; one of the jury committedsuicide, another was found dead in a privy, a third waskilled by his horse, a fourth was drowned, a fifth shot, andso through the entire list. Toohey was hanged for felony,the prostitute, Dunlea, fell into a cellar and was killed, andthe lad, Lonergan, after enlisting as a soldier, died of aloathsome disease in a Dublin infirmary.”

460Another attempt at persecution of the priests was madein 1767, but Edmund Burke, the illustrious statesman, andother liberal Protestants, came to the rescue with funds forthe defence of the accused, and the oligarchy were unableto secure the conviction of their intended victims. The fateof the perjured informers, who swore away the lives ofFather Sheehy and his fellow-sufferers, was well knownthroughout the country, and, no doubt, had a wholesomeeffect on other wretches who might have been bribed intofollowing their example.

The “White Boys” were not the only secret organizationformed in Ireland at that period. Some were composedof Protestants, mostly of the Presbyterian sect, whocombated in Ulster the exactions of the landlords. Theybore such names as “Hearts of Steel,” because they weresupposed to show no mercy to “the petty tyrants of theirfields”; “Oak Boys,” because they carried oaken boughs, orwore oak leaves in their hats. The “Peep o’ Day Boys”were political rather than agrarian, and professed the peculiarprinciples afterward adopted by the Orange Association.They confined themselves mainly to keeping up theanniversary of the Boyne and making occasional brutal attackson defenceless Catholics. The respectable Protestantelement kept scrupulously away from association with theserude fanatics. The successors of the “White Boys” inMunster were the equally dreaded “Terry Alts,” who existeddown to a very recent period, and belonged, mainly,to the County Tipperary. Like the “White Boys,” theyraided the houses of “the gentry” and their retainers forarms, and severe, often fatal, conflicts resulted from theirmidnight visitations. They also killed, from time to time,obnoxious landlords and their agents, and were hanged by461the score in retaliation. The government was not over-particularregarding their guilt or innocence. The object was toavenge the slain land-grabbers, and also to “strike terror.”As usual, many base informers were found to betray theirfellows, but, in justice to the “White Boys” and “TerryAlts,” it may be stated that the betrayers of their secretswere mostly Castle spies, or detectives, employed for thepurpose of entrapping the unwary. Very few of the regularmembers, who lived among their own relatives, acceptedblood money. In many cases, the peasantry committed unnecessaryacts of violence, but, in general, they only visitedwith severe punishment landlords or their agents who werenotorious evictors, or farmers who “took the land” over theheads of the evicted tenants.

The Catholic Church was the consistent opponent of theagrarian organizations, because of the mutual bloodshedbetween them and the landlord element, but, much as theCatholic peasants held their bishops and priests in reverence,the admonitions of the latter had small effect on theyoung men of their flocks while wholesale evictions were inprogress. The “boys,” with rough logic, would say, amongthemselves: “The clergy mean well, but we had better behanged than starved to death, and, besides, revenge on ourtyrants is sweet.” There is hardly anything in Old Worldhistory more ghastly than the long, desultory, and deadlywar of tenant against landlord in Ireland, from the days ofGeorge II to the latter part of Victoria’s reign. It is achapter we gladly turn away from, with the remark that thecruel oligarchy, who wantonly provoked a naturally humanepeople to crime, were infinitely more criminal than the poor,oppressed peasants they made desperate.

IT was unfortunate for both America and Ireland thatHenry Grattan, who had entered Parliament in December,1775, had not attained to the leadership of the Patriotparty when the colonies revolted against the tyranny ofGeorge III. Flood held that position when hostilities appearedimminent, and his influence, somewhat ignorantlyexerted, had much to do with voting 4,000 troops from theIrish establishment for service against the Americans. Atthe time, the American case was not as well understoodin Ireland as it was later on, and, besides, an accommodationwas hoped for. In the course of his speech supportingthe policy of the government, Flood said that the troopsfrom Ireland were “armed negotiators”—a most unfortunatephrase, which Grattan, in after days, turned againsthim to good effect, when he uttered that fierce philippicagainst his quondam friend during an acrimonious debatewhich arose soon after the Irish Parliamentary triumph overEngland in 1782. It must be remembered by Americanreaders that the Irish Parliament which voted men to putdown the American revolutionists was Protestant in creedand mainly English in blood. Not a Catholic sat in it, andbut few men of Celtic origin. The sympathies of the Catholicand dissenting masses were unmistakably with theAmericans, and Grattan in the Irish Legislature, and Burkeand Brinsley Sheridan in the English House of Commons,were their eloquent champions. Flood, although a man of463fine intellect and an accomplished orator, soon found himselfrather outclassed by Grattan, who was young, ardent,and animated by a “pentecostal fire,” which prompted himto utter some of the most inspiring speeches that everflowed from the lips of man. Flood, following the exampleof Malone at another period, had accepted office under theHarcourt administration, and it was openly charged by hisenemies, and probably with some degree of truth, that hehad been influenced in his action against America by the circ*mstance.He had also supported the embargo measure,imposed by order in council, which debarred Irish foodproducts from exportation to the American colonies inrevolt. Naturally, conduct of this kind produced dissatisfactionamong his friends and followers, and his popularityimmediately declined.

The decline of Flood as a Patriot leader left a free fieldfor Grattan and his best-known competitors for oratoricalhonors, Hussey Burgh, Bowes Daly, and Yelverton. Atfirst, Grattan was rather chary of speech in the House, but,gradually, he gained confidence in himself, and, although hisgestures were awkward and his elocution generally faulty,the matter of his addresses was so full of fire, energy, andlogic that he soon became the acknowledged chief of whatByron happily termed in his “Irish Avatar” the eloquentwar. The restrictions on Irish commerce demanded his firstattention, and his earlier utterances in Parliament weremostly devoted to that question. It has been erroneouslystated that Henry Grattan was a “free trader” in the Americanand British sense of that term. On the contrary, he believedin a moderate tariff for the protection of Irish industries,and also for the accumulation of a revenue, and thiswas fully exemplified by the action of the Irish Parliament,464when, from 1782 to 1800, it became virtually independent,in enacting tariff laws for the objects stated. It is true thetariff in regard to English imports was comparatively low,but still high enough to give the Irish manufacturer a goodchance to compete with the manufactures of the richer country.What Grattan and his followers wanted was free commerce—anexemption from the export duties, which crippledIrish merchants; and freedom to export Irish goods, withouthindrance from English customs officers, to any countryof the world.

When the news of the battle of Saratoga and surrenderof Burgoyne to the American army reached Ireland, in 1777,it produced a profound impression. Grattan, who alwaysfavored the American cause, moved an address to the thronein favor of retrenchment, which meant reduction of the militaryestablishment, while Bowes Daly moved, and had carried,another address, which deplored the continuance ofthe American war, but professed fidelity to the royal person.As usual, when England got the worst of it abroad, smallconcessions were made to the Irish Catholics, and the IrishParliament was permitted to pass a bill “authorizing Papiststo loan money on mortgages, to lease lands for any periodnot exceeding 999 years, and to inherit and bequeath realproperty.” This bill had “a rider” which abolished the testoath as regarded the Dissenters, and, no doubt, this provisionhad much to do with the success of the bill as a whole,which did not, however, pass without strenuous opposition.

An attempt made by Lord Nugent in the English Parliamentto mitigate the severity of the navigation and embargoacts, as regarded Ireland, was howled down by the Englishmanufacturers, merchants, and tradespeople generally. Theknowledge of this action spurred on Grattan and his followers465and, thenceforward, “Free Trade” became their rallyingcry.

Protestant Ireland, since the year of Thurot’s bold exploit,had lived in much terror of another French invasion,on a larger scale. When France, in 1778, became the allyof the United States of America, which had declared theirindependence on July 4, 1776, this feeling of alarm increased.Their leaders demanded military protection fromthe government, and were informed that the latter had noneto give, unless they would accept invalids and dismountedcavalrymen. Henry Flood, seconded by Speaker Perry, hadlong advocated the formation of a national militia, and thesegentlemen were cordially supported in the proposition byGrattan, Lord Charlemont, and other noted leaders of thePatriot party. A bill authorizing a volunteer militia passedthe Irish Parliament in 1778. After a great deal of discussion,it was deemed more prudent to form the force from independentorganizations of volunteers, armed by the state,but clothed and otherwise equipped by themselves. Theywere left free to elect their own officers. Immediately, apatriotic impulse permeated the nation, and the ProtestantIrish, who were alone permitted to bear arms, rallied to thearmories and parade-grounds by the thousand. Belfast andStrabane claimed the honor of having formed the first companies.The richer among the Catholics supplied money tothe poor among their Protestant neighbors for the purchaseof uniforms and other necessaries. This patriotic action ontheir part naturally resulted in an immediate mitigation ofthe penal discrimination against them and the entrance ofhundreds of them into the ranks of the volunteers was, atfirst, connived at, and soon openly permitted. The resultwas that, by the spring of 1780, there were, at least, 65,000466men under arms for Ireland in her four provinces—Ulsterleading in numbers and enthusiasm. The rank and filewere artisans, farmers, and clerks, while the officers were,in general, selected from among the wealthy and aristocraticclasses. Many of these officers equipped their companies, orregiments, at their own expense. The Earl of Charlemont—aweak but well-meaning nobleman—was elected commanderby the Ulster volunteers, while the amiable Duke ofLeinster—the second of that proud title—was chosen bythose of Leinster. Munster and Connaught, not being quiteas well organized as their sister provinces, deferred theirselections. All English goods were tabooed by the volunteers,their families, and friends, and a favorite maxim ofthe period was that of Dean Swift, already quoted, “Burneverything coming from England, except the coal!”

The now feeble shadow of English government, holdingcourt at Dublin Castle, viewed this formidable uprisingwith genuine alarm, and did its utmost to prevent the issuanceof arms to the volunteers, but the Irish leaders werenot to be cajoled or baffled, and, in the summer of 1779,the new Irish army was thoroughly armed, drilled andready for any service that might be demanded from it.The leaders had now the weapon to enforce their rights inhand, and did not fail to make good use of it. They metand formed plans for the coming session of Parliament,and were delighted to receive assurances from Flood, andother officeholders, that they would support Grattan andhis allies in the demand that Irish commerce have “freeexport and import.”

An address, covering the points stated, with the amendment“free trade” substituted by Flood for the originalphrase, passed the Houses, when they met, and on the succeeding467day the House of Commons, with the Speaker atit* head, proceeded to the Castle and presented the addressto the viceroy. The volunteers, commanded by the Dukeof Leinster, occupied both sides of the streets through whichthe members had to pass and presented arms to the nation’srepresentatives, many of whom wore the diversified uniformsof the Patriot army. Dublin, in all its variedhistory, never witnessed a grander or more inspiringspectacle.

Alderman Horan, of Dublin, precipitated a crisis by demandingfreedom of export for some Irish woolens toAmsterdam, and he filed his demand, in due form, at thecustom house. This was in defiance of the prohibitory enactmentof the reign of William III and an English man-of-warwas stationed in Dublin Bay to enforce it. Mr.Horan, not being provided with a battleship, was fain tocontent himself with leaving his demand on file, but he hadgained his point by directing public attention to an insultinggrievance with a stern object lesson. Ireland saw, atonce, that English monopoly would yield nothing, except toforce, or the threat of force. Henry Grattan, in the Commons,replied to the shotted guns of the English frigatein the bay by introducing an amendment to the supplybill, which declared that “at this time, it is inexpedientto grant new taxes.” This was carried overwhelmingly,and England began to think that, after all, Irish votes werea match for English guns. Grattan gained a further triumphover the government by causing the defeat of a bill providingduties for the support of the loan fund.

Lord North, when confronted with the ominous newsfrom Ireland, remembering his unfortunate experience withthe American patriots, determined to back down from his468former despotic position. He brought in resolutions whichgave Ireland the right to trade with British colonies inAmerica and Africa, and granted free export to glass andwoolens. The Irish Parliament adopted similar resolutions,and the main portion of Ireland’s commercial grievanceswas, thereby, removed.