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 THIS BOOK 
 
 IS 
 
 HUMBLY 1 N S C K I B F. l« 
 
 TO 
 
 HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTT 
 
 THE QUEEN 
 
 OF GREAT BRITAIN AND 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 2013 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 I HUMBLY inscribe the following Memoir to lier 
 most gracious Majesty the Queen ; not in the shape 
 of a dedication, or with the presumptuous hope of 
 my being able to produce any work of sufficient 
 interest to occupy the Royal mind. Yet, there is 
 nothing more desirable than that the Sovereign of 
 these realms should understand the real nature of 
 Irish history ; should be aware of how much the 
 Irish have suffered from English misrule ; should 
 comprehend the secret springs of Irish discontent ; 
 should be acquainted with the eminent virtues 
 which the Irish nation have exhibited in every 
 phase of their singular fate ; and, above all, should 
 be intimately acquainted with the confiscations, the 
 plunder, the robbery, the domestic treachery, the 
 violation of all public faith and of the sanctity of 
 treaties, the ordinary wholesale slaughters, the 
 planned murders, the concerted massacres, which 
 have been inflicted upon the Irish people by the 
 English Govermnents. 
 
 It has pleased the English people in general to 
 forget all the facts in Irish history. They have 
 been also graciously pleased to forgive themselves 
 all those crimes ! And the Irish people would for- 
 give them likewise, if it were not that much of the 
 worst spirit of the worst days still survive^. The 
 
6 PEEFACE. 
 
 system of clearance of tenants at the present day, 
 belongs to, and is a demonstration of, that hatred 
 of the Irish people which animated the advice of 
 Spenser and the conduct of Cromwell. 
 
 It is quite true that at the present day judges 
 are not bribed with " four shillings in the jpound,^^ to 
 be paid out of the property in dispute ; but, may 
 not prejudice and bigotry produce unjust judgments, 
 as well as pecuniary corruption ? And are those 
 persons free from reproach or from guilt, who are 
 ready to select, for the bench of justice, men whose 
 sole distinguishing characteristic has been the ex- 
 hibition of their animosity to the religion and to 
 the people of Ireland 1 
 
 Did Stanley show none of the temper of Ireton 
 in his Coercion Bill % Is none of the spirit of Coote 
 or of Parsons to be found (in a mitigated form) in 
 those who refuse to the Catholic people of Ireland 
 their just share of elective or municipal franchises ; 
 and who insist that the Irish shall remain an infe- 
 rior and a degraded caste, deprived of that perfect 
 equality of civil and religious liberty, of franchises 
 and privileges— which equality could alone consti- 
 tute a union, or render a union tolerable ? 
 
 I wish to arouse the attention of the Sovereign 
 and of the honest portion of the English people to 
 the wrongs which Ireland has suffered and whiish 
 Ireland is suffering from British misrule. The 
 Irish people are determined to preserve their alle- 
 giance to the Throne unbroken and intact ; but 
 they are equally determined to obtain justice for 
 themselves ; to insist on the restoration of their 
 native Parliament, and to persevere in that demand 
 without violating the law ; but also "svithout remit- 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 ting or relaxing their exertions, until the object is 
 aciiieved and success attained. 
 
 ^Vhat the Sovereign and the Statesmen of Eng- 
 land should understand is, that the Irish people feel 
 and know that there cannot happen a more heavy 
 misfortune to Ireland than the prosperity and jDower 
 of Gieat Britain. When Britain is powerful, the 
 anti-Irish faction in this country are encouraged, 
 fosteied, promoted ; Irish rights are derided ; the 
 giievinces of Ireland are scoffed at ; we are 
 compslled to receive stinted franchises, or none ; 
 limited privileges, or none ! — to submit to a 
 political inferiority, rendered doubly afflictive 
 by the contrast with the advantages enjoyed by 
 the people of England and the people of Scotland. 
 The Tory landlord class — exterminators and all — 
 prin.e favourites at the Castle, are countenanced 
 and sustained as the nucleus of that anti-Irish 
 faction which would once again transplant the 
 Catholics of Ireland to the remotest regions, if that 
 faction had the power to do so ; and which actually 
 drives those Catholics to transport themselves in 
 multitudes to every country out of Ireland. 
 
 The worst result of British prosperity is, the 
 protection it gives to the hard-hearted and bigoted 
 class among the Irish landlords. 
 
 It is also of the utmost importance that the 
 Sovereign and Statesmen of England should be 
 apprised that the people of Ireland know and feel 
 that they have a deep and vital interest in the 
 weakness and adversity of England. It was not 
 for themselves alone that the Americans gained the 
 victory over Burgoyne at Saratoga. They conquered 
 for Irish as well as for American freedom. Nor 
 
« rHEFACE. 
 
 was it for France alone that Dnmourier defeat(/d 
 the Austrian army at Gemappe. The Catholics/of 
 Ireland participated in the fruits of that victory, 
 
 At the present day, it would be vain to attempt 
 to conceal the satisfaction the people of Ireland feel 
 at the fiscal embarrassments of England. They 
 bitterly and cordially regret the sufferings and 
 privations of the English and Scotch artisans and 
 operatives ; but they do not regret the weahiess 
 of the English Government, which results from 
 fading commerce and failing manufacture. For the 
 woes of each suffering individual they have varm 
 compassion and lively sympathy. From the con- 
 sequent weakness of the Government party, tiey 
 derive no other feelings than those of satisfaction 
 and of hope. 
 
 Was ever folly — was ever fatuity so great, is is 
 evinced in the system of governing such a country 
 as Ireland in such a manner as to create and contiiue 
 the sentiments and opinions which I have expressed, 
 and feebly endeavoured to describe 1 
 
 Her Majesty's most faithful, 
 most dutiful, and 
 
 most devoted Subject, 
 
 DANIEL O'CONNELT. 
 
 1*^ Ftbruary, 1843. 
 
AN HISTORICAL MEMOIU 
 
 ON 
 
 IRELAND AXD THE IRISH 
 
 CHAPTEll I. 
 
 Yea lis 1172— IGl 2. 
 
 1. The English dominion in Ireland commenced 
 in the year 1172. It was for some centuries ex- 
 tended over only an inconsiderable portion of the 
 island. From various causes the English district or 
 Pale sometimes augmented in size, sometimes dimi- 
 nished. ]t did not become generally diffused over 
 Ireland until the last years of Queen Elizabeth, nor 
 universally so, until shortly after the accession of 
 King James the First. The success of the forces of 
 Queen Elizabeth was achieved by means the most 
 horrible: treachery, murder, wholesale massacre, and 
 deliberately-created famine. Take the last instance. 
 The growing crops were year after year destroyed, 
 until the fairest part of Ireland, and in particular the 
 province of !Munster, was literally depopulated. I 
 give here one quotation. It is from the English 
 Protestant historian, Morrison : — "j^o spectacle was 
 more frequent in the ditches of the towns, and 
 especially in wasted countries, than to see multitudes 
 of these poor people, the Irish, dead, with their 
 mouths all coloured green by eating nettles, docks, 
 and all things they could rend above ground." 
 
 Mark ! Illustrious Lady— oh ! mark ! The most 
 
10 1172—1612. [chap. I. 
 
 frequent spectacle was, multitudes of dead — of Irish 
 dead — dead of hunger ! — Lady, after having endea- 
 voured to sustain life by devouring, after the fashion 
 of the beasts of the field, the wild-growing herbs. 
 They were dead in multitudes, and none to bury 
 them ! This was the consummation of the subjuga- 
 tion of the Irish, after a contest of four hundred 
 years. 
 
 Never was a people on the face of the globe so 
 cruelly treated as the Irish. 
 
 2. The Irish people were not received into alle- 
 giance or to the benefit of being recognized as subjects 
 until the year 1612, only 228 years ago, when the 
 Statute 11 James I. cap. 5, was enacted. That 
 statute abolished all dist' ictions of race between 
 English and Irish, " with the intent that," as the 
 statute expresses it, " they may grow into one nation, 
 whereby there may be an utter oblivion and extin- 
 guishment of all former differences and discorde 
 betwixt them.'' 
 
 3. During the four hundred and forty years that 
 intervened between the commencement or the English 
 dominion in 1172, and its completion in 1612, the 
 Irish people were known only as the "Irish Enemies." 
 They were denominated " Irish Enemies " in all the 
 Royal Proclamations, Royal Charters, and Acts of 
 Parliament, during that period. It was their legal 
 and technical description. 
 
 4. During that period the English were pro- 
 hibited from intermarrying with the Irish, from 
 having their children nursed by the wives of Irish 
 Captains, Chiefs, or Lords ; and what is still more 
 strange, the English were also prohibited from 
 sending goods, wares, or merchandizes for sale, or 
 selling them upon credit or for ready money to the 
 Irish. 
 
 5. During that time any person of English de- 
 scent might murder a mere Irish man or woman with 
 perfect impunity. Such murder was no more a crime 
 
CHAP, il] 1612—1625. 11 
 
 in the eye of the law, than the killing of a rabid or 
 ferocious animal. 
 
 6. There was indeed this distinction, that if a 
 native Irishman had made legal submission, and had 
 been received into English allegiance, he _ could no 
 longer be murdered with impunity, for his murder 
 was punishable by a small pecuniary fine : a punish- 
 ment, not for the moral crime of murdering a man, but 
 for the social injury of depriving the State of a 
 servant. Just as, at no remote period, the white man 
 in several of our West Indian Colonies was liable to 
 pay a fine for killing a negro, only because an owner 
 was thereby deprived of a slave. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Years 1612—1625. 
 " Residue of the reign of King James the First." 
 
 1. I HAVE traced the first period of Anglo-Irish 
 History by a few of its distinctive characteristics. 
 It comprised a period of 440 years of internal war, 
 rapine, and massacre. The second period consists 
 only of thirteen years, but possesses an interest of a 
 different and a deeper character. 
 
 2. Unhappily there had grown up during the 
 first period another, and, alas ! a more inveterate 
 source of " differences and discorde " between the 
 people. I mean the Protestant Reformation. I am 
 not now to give any opinion on the religious grounds 
 of that all-important measure. I do not treat of it as 
 a theologian. I speak of it merely liistorically, as a 
 fact having results of a most influential nature. 
 
 3. The native Irish universally, and the natives 
 of English descent generally, rejected the Reforma- 
 tion. It was embraced but by comparatively few ; 
 and thus the sources of "differences and discorde" 
 were perpetuated. The distinction of race was lost. 
 Irish and English were amalgamated for the purpose 
 
12 , 1625— 1 660. [(.HAP. III. 
 
 of enduring spoil and oppression under the name of 
 Catholics. The party which the English Govern- 
 ment supported was composed of persons lately 
 arrived in Ireland, men who, of course, took the name 
 of " Protestants." 
 
 4. The intent of the statute of 1612 was thus 
 frustrated. The "discorde" between the Protestant 
 and Catholic parties, prevented the Irish from "grow- 
 ing into one nation," and still prevents them from 
 being " one nation." The fault, however, has been 
 and still is with the Government. Is it not time it 
 were totally corrected ? 
 
 5. The reign of James the First was distinguished 
 by crimes committed on the Irish people under the 
 pretext of Protestantism. The entire of the province 
 of Ulster was unjustly confiscated — the natives were 
 executed on the scaffold or slaughtered with the 
 sword — a miserable remnant were driven to the 
 fastnesses of remote mountains, or the wilds of almost 
 inaccessible bogs. Their places v>^ere filled with 
 Scotch adventurers, " aliens in blood and in religion." 
 Devastation equal to that committed by King James 
 i n Ulster, was never before seen in Christendom, save 
 in Ireland. In the Christian world there never was a 
 people so cruelly treated as the Irish. 
 
 6. The jurisdiction of Parliament being now 
 extended all over Ireland, King James created in one 
 day forty close boroughs, giving the right to elect two 
 members of Parliament in each of these boroughs to 
 thirteen Protestants, and this in order to deprive his 
 Catholic subjects of their natural and just share of 
 representation. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Yeaes 1625—1660. 
 1, The reign of Charles the First began under 
 different auspices. The form of oppression and 
 rolDbery varied— the substance was still the same. 
 
CHAP. III.] 1625—1660. , 13 
 
 Iniquitous law took place of the bloody sword ; the 
 soldier vras superseded by the judge ; and for the 
 names of booty and plunder, the words forfeiture and 
 confiscation were substituted. The instrument used 
 by the Government was the " Commission to inquire 
 into Defective Titles." The King claimed the estates 
 of the Irish people in three provinces. This com- 
 !iii.=;sion was instituted to enforce that claim. It was 
 a monstrous tribunal. An attempt was made to bribe 
 juries to find for the Crown — that attempt failed. 
 Then the jurors vvho hesitated to give verdicts 
 against the people, were fined, imprisoned, ruined. 
 The judges were not so chary — they were bribed — 
 aye, bribed, with four shillings in the pound of the 
 value of all lands recovered from the subjects by the 
 Crown before such judges. And so totally lost to all 
 sense of justice or of shame was the perpetrator of 
 this bribery, Strafibrd, that he actually boasted, 
 that he had thus made the Chief Baron a'nd othei 
 judges "attend to the affair as if it were their own 
 private business." 
 
 2. By these unjust and wicked means, the mi- 
 nisters of Charles the First despoiled, for the use of 
 the Crown, the Irish Catholic people of upwards of 
 one million of arable acres, besides a considerably 
 greater extent of land taken from the right owners, 
 and granted to the rai)acious individuals by whom 
 the spoliation was effected. 
 
 3. The civil war ensued. Forgetting all the 
 crimes committed against them, the Irish Catholics 
 adhered with desperate tenacity to the party of the 
 King. The Irish Protestants, some sooner and others 
 later, joined the usurping powers. 
 
 4. During that civil war, the massacres committed 
 on the Irish by St. Leger, Monroe, Tichbourne, Hamil- 
 ton, Grenville, Ireton, and Cromwell, were as savage 
 and as brutal as the horrible feats of Attila or Ghengis 
 Khan. 
 
 5. In particular, the history of the world presents 
 
14 1660—1692. [chap. iv. 
 
 nothing more shocking and detestable than_ the 
 massacres perpetrated by O'Brien, Lord Inchiquin, in 
 the Cathedral of Cashel ; by Ireton at Limerick ; and 
 by Cromwell in Drogheda and Wexford. 
 
 6. When the war had ceased, Cromwell collected, 
 as the first-fruits of peace, eighty thousand Irish in 
 the southern parts of Ireland, to transplant them to 
 the West India Islands. As many as survived the 
 process of collection, were embarked in transports for 
 these islands. Of the eighty thousand, in six years, 
 the survivors did not amount to twenty individuals ! !_ ! 
 Eighty thousand Irish at one blow deliberately sacri- 
 ficed, by a slow but steady cruelty, to the Moloch of 
 English domination ! ! ! Eighty thousand— O God 
 of mercy ! 
 
 7. Yet all these barbarities ought to be deemed 
 light and trivial, compared with the crowning cruelty 
 of the enemies of Ireland. The Irish were refused 
 civil j ustice. They were still more atrociously refused 
 historical justice, and accused _ of being the authors 
 and perpetrators of assassinations and massacres, of 
 which they were only the victims. 
 
 8. No people on the face of the earth were ever 
 treated with such cruelty as the Irish. 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 Years 1G60— 1692. 
 
 1. We are arrived at the Restoration— an event 
 of the utmost utility to the English and Scotch royal- 
 ists, who were justly restored to their properties — 
 an event which consigned, irrevocably and for ever, 
 to British plunderers, and especially to the soldiers of 
 Ireton and Cromwell, the properties of the Irish 
 Catholic people, whose fathers had contended against 
 the usurped powers to the last of their blood and 
 their breath. 
 
 2. The Duke of York, afterwards James the 
 
CHAP. I v.] 1660—1692. 15 
 
 Second, took to Ms own share of the phmder about 
 eighty thousand acres of lands belonging to Irish 
 Catholics, whose cause of forfeiture was nothing 
 more than that they had been the friends and sup- 
 porters of his murdered father, and the enemies of 
 his enemies. 
 
 3. Yet such was in the Irish nation the inherent 
 love of principle — a principle of honourable, but, in 
 this instance, most mistaken loyalty — that when this 
 royal plunderer was afterwards driven from the throne 
 by his British subjects, he took refuge in Ireland, and 
 the Irish Catholic nobility, gentry, and universal 
 people rallied round him, and shed their blood for 
 him, with a courage and a constancy worthy of a 
 better cause. 
 
 4. This section should be devoted to the Treaty of 
 Limerick. The Irish were not conquered. Lady, in 
 the war. They had, in the year preceding the treaty, . 
 driven William the Third with defeat and disgrace 
 from Limerick. In this Irish victory the women par- 1 
 ticipated. It is no romance. In the great defeat of 
 William, the women of Limerick fought and bled and 
 conquered. On the 3rd of October, 1691, the Treaty.' 
 of Limerick was signed. The Irish army, 30,000| 
 strong — the Irish nobility, and gentry, and people, 
 capitulated with the army and Crown of Great 
 Britain. They restored the allegiance of the Irish 
 nation to that Crown. Never was there a more useful 
 treaty to England than this was under the circum- 
 stances, lu was a most deliberate and solemn treaty 
 — deliberately confirmed by letters-patent from the 
 Crown. It extinguished a sanguinary civil war. It 
 restored the Irish nation to the dominion of England,' 
 and secured that dominion in perpetuity over one of 
 the fairest portions of the globe. Such was the value 
 given by the Irish people. 
 
 5. By that treaty, on the otherhand, thelrish Catholic 
 people stipulated for and obtained the pledge of " the 
 faith and honour" of the English Crown, for the 
 
15 1692—1778. [chap. v. 
 
 equal protection by Irav of their pro]^crties and theii 
 liberties with all other subjects— and in particula.r for 
 the free and unfettered exercise of their religion. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 Yeaes 1692—1778. 
 
 1. The Irish in every respect performed with scru- 
 yralous accuracy the stipulations on their part of 
 the Treaty of Limerick. 
 
 2. That treaty was totally violated by the British 
 Government, the moment it was perfectly safe to 
 violate it. 
 
 3. That violation was perpetrated by the enact- 
 ment of a code, of the most dexterous but atrocious 
 iniquity that ever stained the annals of legislation. 
 
 4. Let me select a few instances of the barbarity 
 with which the Treaty of Limerick was violated, under 
 these heads : 
 
 First.—" Property." 
 
 " Every Catholic was, by Act of Parliament, de- 
 ] rived of the povrer of settling a jointure on any 
 Catholic v.'ife — or charging his lands with any provi- 
 sion for his daughters — or disposing by Avill of his 
 landed property. On his death the law divided his 
 lands equally amongst all his sons. 
 
 "All the relations of private life were thus violated. 
 
 " If the wife of a Catholic declared herself a Pro- 
 testant, the law enabled her not only to compel her 
 husband to give her a separate maintenance, but to 
 transfer to her the custody and guardianship of all 
 their children. 
 
 " Thus the wife was encouraged and empowered 
 successfully to rebel against her husband. 
 
 "If the eldest son of a Catholic father at any age, 
 however young, declared himself a Protestant, he 
 thereby made his father strict tenant for life, deprived 
 
CHAP, v.] 1692—1778. 17 
 
 the father of all power to sell or dispose of his estate, 
 and such Protestant son became entitled to the abso- 
 lute dominion and ownership of the estate. 
 
 " Thus the eldest son was encouraged, and, indeed, 
 bribed by the law to rebel against his father. 
 
 " If any other child beside the eldest son declared 
 itself, at any age, a Protestant, such child at once 
 escaped the control of its father, and was entitled to 
 a maintenance out of the father's property. 
 
 " Thus the law encouraged every child to rebel 
 against its father. 
 
 " If any Catholic purchased for money any estate 
 in land, any Protestant M^as empowered by law to take 
 away that estate from the Catholic, and to enjoy it 
 without paying one shilling of the purchase-money. 
 
 " This was Law. The Catholic paid the money, 
 whereupon the Protestant took the estate. The Ca- 
 tholic lost both money and estate. 
 
 "If any Catholic got an estate in land by marriage, 
 by the gift or by the will of a relation or friend, any 
 Protestant could by law take the estate from the Ca- 
 tholic, and enjoy it himself. 
 
 " If any Catholic took a lease of a farm of land 
 as tenant at a rent for a life or lives, or for any 
 longer term than thirty-one years, any Protestant 
 could by law take the farm from the Catholic, and 
 enjoy the benefit of the lease. 
 
 " If any Catholic took a farm by lease for a term 
 not exceeding thirty-one years, as he might still by 
 law have done, and by his labour and industry raised 
 the value of the land so as to yield a profit equal to 
 one-third of the rent, any Protestant might then by 
 law evict the Catholic, and enjoy for the residue of 
 the term the fruit of the labour and industry of the 
 Catholic. 
 
 " If any Catholic had a horse worth more than five 
 pounds, any Protestant tendering £5 to the Catholic 
 owner, was by law entitled to take the horse, though 
 worth £50, or J 100, or more, and to keep it as his own. 
 
 B 
 
18 1692—1778. [chap. v. 
 
 " If any Catholic, being the owner of a horse worth 
 more than five pounds, concealed his horse from any 
 Protestant, the Catholic, for the crime of concealing 
 his own horse, was liable to be punished by an^ im- 
 prisonment of three months, and a tine of three times 
 the value of the horse, whatever that might be. 
 
 " So much for the laws regulating by Act of Parlia- 
 ment the property — or rather plundering by due 
 course of law the property — of the Catholic. 
 .^.. "I notice — 
 
 t Secondly.— Education. 
 
 " If a Catholic kept school, or taught any person, 
 Protestant or Catholic, any species of literature or 
 science, such teacher was, for the crime of teaching, 
 punishable by law by banishment — and, if he re- 
 turned from banishment, he was subject to be hanged 
 as a felon. 
 
 "If a Catholic, whether a child or adult, attended, 
 in Ireland, a school kept by a Catholic, or was 
 privately instructed by a Catholic, such Catholic, 
 although a child in its early Jjjiaaijy, incurred a for- 
 ^ - feiture of all its property, present or future. 
 
 ; " If a Catholic child, however young, was sent to 
 any foreign country for education, such infant child 
 incurred a similar penalty — that is, a forfeiture of all 
 right to property, present or prospective. 
 
 " If any person in Ireland made any remittance of 
 money or goods, for the maintenance of any Irish 
 child educated in a foreign country, such person in- 
 curred a similar forfeiture. 
 
 Thirdly.— Personal Disabilities. 
 
 f "The law rendered every Catholic incapable of 
 \ holding a commission in the army or na^y, or even 
 ^ to be a private soldier, imless he solemnlX'^M^I^^ ^^^ 
 i religion. 
 ~"'"The law rendered every Catholic incapable of 
 holding any office whatsoever of honour or emolu- 
 ment in the State. The exclusion was universal 
 
 "^ V 
 
 il 
 
CHAP, v.] 1692—1778. 19 
 
 "A Catholic had no legal protection for life or 
 liberty. He could not be a Judge, Grand Juror, 
 Sheriff, Sub-sheriif, Master in Chancery, Six Clerk, 
 Barrister, Attorney, Agent or Solicitor, or Seneschal of 
 any manor, or even gamekeeper to a private gentleman. 
 
 " A Catholic could not be a member of any corpo- 
 ration, and Catholics were precluded by law from 
 residence in some corporate towns. 
 
 " Catholics were deprived of all right of voting for 
 members of the Commons House of Parliament. 
 
 " Catholic Peers were deprived of their right to sit 
 or vote in the House of Lords. 
 
 " Almost all these personal disabilities were equally 
 enforced by law against any Protestant who married 
 a Catholic wife, or whose child, under the age of 
 fourteen, was educated as a Catholic, although against 
 his consent. 
 
 Fourthly.— Religion. 
 
 " To teach the Catholic religion A\'as a transportable 
 felony ; to convert a Protestant to the Catholic faith - 
 was a capital offence, punishable as an act of treason. ■ 
 
 " To be a Catholic regular, that is, a monk or friar, 
 was punishable by banishment, and to return from 
 banishment an act of high-treason. 
 
 "To be a Catholic Archbishop or Bishop, or to 
 exercise any ecclesiastical jurisdiction whatsoever in 
 the Catholic Church in Ireland, was punishable by 
 transportation — to return from such transportation i 
 was an act of high-treason, punishable by being \ 
 hanged, embowelled alive, and afterwards quartered." 
 
 5. After tliis enumeration, will you, lUustrious j. 
 Lady, be pleased to recollect that every one of these j 
 enactments, that each and every of these laws, was '' 
 a palpable and direct violation of a solemn treaty, to 
 which the faith and honour of the British Crown 
 was pledged, and the justice of the English nation 
 unequivocally engaged. 
 
 6. There never yet was such a horrible code of 
 
?*^^ 
 
 20 1602—1778. [CHAP. V. 
 
 persecution invented, so cruel, so cold-blooded — cal- 
 culating — emaciating — univcrsal^-as this legislation, 
 which the Irish Orange faction — the Shaws — the 
 Lefroys — the Verners of the day did invent and enact — 
 a code exalted to the utmost height of infamy by the 
 .fact, that it was enacted in the basest violation of a 
 solemn engagement and deliberate treaty. 
 
 7. It is not possible for me to describe that code 
 in adequate language — it almost surpassed the elo- 
 quence of Burke to do so. "It had," as Burke 
 describes it — " it had a vicious perfection — it was a 
 complete system — full of coherence and consistency ; 
 well-digested and well-disposed in aU its parts. It 
 was a machine of wise and elaborate contrivance, and 
 as well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment, and 
 degradation of a people, and the debasement in them 
 of human nature itself, as ever proceeded from the 
 perverted ingenuity of man." 
 
 8. This code prevented the accumulation of pro- 
 perty, and punished industry as a crime. Was there 
 ever such legislation in any other country. Christian 
 or Pagan 1 But that is not all ; because the party w^ho 
 inflicted this horrible code, actually reproached the 
 Irish people wdth wilful and squalid poverty. ^ 
 
 9. This code enforced ignorance by statute law, 
 and punished the acquisition of knowledge as a 
 felony. Is this credible ? — yet it is true. But that is 
 not ail ; for the party that thus persecuted learning, 
 reproached and still reproach the Irish people with 
 Ignorance. 
 
 10. There ; — there never was a people on the face 
 of the earth so cruelly, so basely treated as the Irish. 
 There never was a faction so stained with blood, so 
 blackened with crime, as that Orange faction, which, 
 under the name of Protestant, seeks to retain the 
 remnants of their abused power, by keeping in acti- 
 vity the spirit which created and continued the infa- 
 mous penal persecution of which I have thus faintly 
 traced an outline. 
 
CHAP. VI. j 1778—1800. 21 
 
 It v.'oiild be worse tlian seditious, nay, actually 
 treasonable, to suppose that such a faction can ever 
 obtain countenance from you, Illustrious Lady, des- 
 tined, as I trust you are, at length to grant justice, 
 by an equalization of rights with your other subjects, 
 to your faithful, brave, long-oppressed, but magnani- 
 mous, people of Ireland. 
 
 CHAPTER VT. 
 
 Yeaes 1778— ISOO. 
 
 1. The persecution I have described — the perse- 
 cution founded on a breach of national faith and 
 public honour — lasted for eighty-six long years of 
 darkness, of shame, and of sorrow. 
 
 It was intended to reduce the Catholic people of 
 Ireland to the state of the most abject poverty, and 
 by the same means to extirpate the Catholic religion. 
 
 Here a question of some interest arises : — What 
 was the success of the experiment ? Before the ques- 
 tion is answered, let it be recollected that the experi- 
 ment had in favour of its success the Crov/n — the 
 Parliament — the Bishops and Clergy of the Established 
 Church — the Judges — the Army, the Navy — the Cor- 
 porations — Mayors — Aldermen — Sheriffs and Free- 
 men — the Magistracy, the Grand Jurors — the almost 
 universal mass of the property and wealth of the Irish 
 nation. It had besides the entire countenance, con- 
 currence, and support of England and Scotland — not 
 a tongue could utter in public one word against it, or 
 if it so uttered even one word, it was stopped for 
 ever — not a pen could write one word in opposition. 
 
 Yet with all these tremendous advantages, what 
 was the success of the experiment ] 
 
 Illustrious Lady, it failed — it totally failed. A 
 just estimate would state that the Catholics went into 
 the persecution about two millions in number ; the 
 Protestant persecutors — for, at that day, they were all 
 persecutors— were about one million. The Catholics 
 
^^1 7 78— 1800. [chap. VI. 
 
 "have increased to nearly seven millions — the Protes- 
 tants still scarcely exceed the original million. _ The 
 comparative increase of the one under persecution is 
 enormous — the comparative decrease of the other 
 whilst persecuting is astounding. In the first instance 
 the Catholics were at the utmost only two to one — in 
 the second, they are near seven to one : 
 
 "Thus captive Israel multiplied in chains.'* 
 
 Blessed be God ! So may persecution fail in 
 every country, until it shall universally be admitted 
 to be as useless for conversion, as its exercise is debas- 
 ing and degrading in those who employ it. 
 
 2. The time for a relaxation of the " Penal Code " — 
 that was the technical name given to the persecuting 
 code — had at length arrived. In 1775 the obstinate 
 refusal of the British Government to do "justice to 
 America" TV as checked by blood. In 1777 a British 
 army, in its " pride of place," surrendered at Saratoga 
 to the once despised, insulted, and calumniated 
 "Provincials." It was in 1778 too late to conciliate 
 America. She proclaimed her independence, and 
 America was for ever lost to the British Crown. 
 
 3. The ancient enemies of England in Europe 
 armed, and assailed her. The English Government 
 in their adversity learned one lesson from fatal expe- 
 rience ; they for the first time tried conciliation to 
 Ireland. The Penal Code was relaxed in 1778. Con- 
 ciliation succeeded, as it always will with the Irish 
 people. America, it is true, was lost by refusing to 
 conciliate— but Ireland was preserved to the British 
 Crown by conciliation. 
 
 4. The relaxation of the "Penal Code," in 1778, 
 was, in its own nature, a large instalment of the debt 
 of " Justice to the Catholic people of Ireland." It 
 restored to the Catholics the same power and domi- 
 nion over the property they then held as the Protes- 
 tants always enjoyed ; and it enabled the Catholics 
 to acquire as tenants, or as purchasers, any interest i» 
 
 c»A> 
 
CHAP, VI.] 1778—1800. 23 
 
 lands for any terms or years, though they may be as 
 long as one thousand years. But still they could not 
 acquire by purchase, or as tenants, Ruy freehold inte- 
 rests. The Catholics wisely accepted the instalment, 
 and went on, vv^ith increased security and power, to 
 look for the rest of the debt of justice. 
 
 5. In 1782, England stood alone in a contest with 
 the greatest power in the world — the combined fleets 
 of her enemies, as one of the rare instances in hei 
 naval annals, rode triumphant and unopposed in the 
 British Channel. Accordingly the " Penal Code " was 
 once again relaxed — conciliated Ireland poured tYk^^nty 
 thousand seamen and active landsmen into the Bri- 
 tish navy — enabled Rodney to pursue the French 
 fleet to the West Indies ; where, in his action with 
 De Grasse, Irish valour, emulating, and, if that were 
 possible, exceeding British bravery, rendered the 
 "meteor flag of England" once more victorious — 
 crushed the naval power of the enemy — saved not 
 only the West Indian Colonies, but also the honour of 
 the British Crown, and strewed laurels over a peace 
 which would otherwise have been ignominious as well 
 as disastrous. ._ 
 
 6. The relaxation of the year 178^' was a second 
 instalment of the debt of " Justice to Ireland." It 
 was a noble instalment. It enabled the Catholics to 
 acquire freehold pro j)erty; for lives or of inheritance. 
 But it did more ;— for the first time after ninety years 
 of persecuted learning, it enabled the Cathohcs to 
 open schools and to educate their youth in literature 
 and religion. The Catholics wisely accepted that in- 
 stalment, which restored in full their rights of pro- 
 perty, and gave them the inestimable right of educa- 
 tion. They gratefully accepted the instalment, and 
 wisely, and, with increased power, commenced a new- 
 struggle for the rest. 
 
 7. The admission of the Catholics to the tenancy 
 of lands in 1778, increased considerably the rents of 
 ^e Protestant landlords in Ireland The permission 
 
24 1778—1800. [chap vi. 
 
 to the Catholics, in 1782, to purchase estates, enhanced 
 enormously the value of the property of all the Pro- 
 testants of Ireland, Conciliation and prosperity went 
 hand in hand ; and that which benevolence alone 
 would have suggested, was proved by experience to be 
 the best means to increase the value of their property, 
 which the most rigid and the most selfish prudence 
 would have dictated to the Protestant proprietors of 
 Ireland. 
 
 8. There were other events, in 1782, which merit 
 more than the passing glance I can now bestow upon 
 them — events of the deepest, the most soul-stirring 
 interest. For the present, suffice it to say, that the 
 Irish Parliament which asserted the legislative inde- 
 pendence of Ireland, was not only the most advanta- 
 geous to its constituents, but was at the same time 
 the most loyal to the British Crown, and the most 
 useful to the British power. It was that Parliament 
 which voted and paid the twenty thousand -Irish Ca- 
 tholics who rushed to man the British fleets, and 
 contributed to Rodney's victory. Ireland never had 
 a Parliament more attached to British connexion than 
 the Iric>h Parliament which asserted Irish legislative 
 independence. 
 
 9. Ten years followed of great and increasing 
 prosperity in Ireland — but they were years of peace 
 and power in England, and there was no occasion to 
 conciliate or court the Catholics of Ireland. Accord- 
 ingly no further advance was made in their eman- 
 cipation. The Catholics, however, shared in the 
 universal prosperity of Ireland. 
 
 y. 10. The year 1792 found matters in this condition 
 The prosperity which the Catholics enjoyed in common 
 with their other countrymen — the property which 
 they were daily acquiring, made them impatient for 
 l)olitical rights. They therefore petitioned the Irish 
 House of Commons that the profession of the law 
 might be opened to them, and for the elective fran- 
 chise. It was with difficulty one member could be 
 
 
 
CHAP, vi.] 177S— ISOO. 25 
 
 procured to move that the petition should be laid 
 upon the table, and another to second it. The motion 
 was opposed by the member for Kildare, Mr. Latouche; 
 he moved that the petition should be rejected — there 
 was no danger apprehended from its rejection. It 
 was accordingly rejected, all the members of the 
 Government voting for that rejection. 
 
 11. But, before the close of 1792, a new scene was 
 opened. The French armies defeated their enemies 
 at every point. T]»3 Netherlands were concpiered, 
 and a torrent of republicanism, driven on by military 
 power, threatened every State in Europe. The cannon 
 of the battle of Gemappe were heard at St. James's, — 
 the wisdom of conciliating the Catholics was felt and 
 understood ; and in the latter end of that same year, 
 1792 — in the early part of which the Government 
 had ignominiously rejected the Catholic petition 
 with contempt — that same Government brought in a 
 bill still further to relax the " Penal Code ;" and early 
 in the next year brought in another bill, granting, orl 
 should rather say restoring, greater privileges to the 
 Catholics. 
 
 12. By the efiect of both these bills, the bar was 
 opened to the Catholics — they might become barris- 
 ters, but not King's counsel — they could be attorneys 
 and solicitors — they could be freemen of the lay cor- 
 porations — the Grand Jury box and the magistracy 
 w^ere opened to them — they were allowed to obtain 
 the rank of colonel in the army — and, still greater 
 than all, they were allowed to acquire the elective 
 franchise, and to vote for members of Parliament. 
 This was the tliird great instalment of public justice 
 obtained by the Catholics of Ireland. 
 
 13. But it should be recollected that these conces- 
 sions were made more in fear than in friendship. 
 The revolutionary war was about to commence — the 
 flames of republicanism had spread far and near. It 
 was eagerly caught up amongst the Protestant and 
 especially among the Presbyterian population of the 
 
26 1778—1800. [CHAP. vi. 
 
 north of Ireland. BeKast was its •warmest focus. It 
 was the deep interest of the British Government to 
 detach the w^ealth and intelligence of the Catholics of 
 Ireland from the reiniblican party. This policy was 
 adopted. The Catholics were conciliated. The 
 Catholic nobility, gentry, mercantile, and other edu- 
 cated classes, almost to a man, separated from the 
 republican party. That w^hich would otherwise have 
 been a revolution, became only an unsuccessful rebel- 
 lion. The intelligent and leading Catholics were 
 conciL;.^8d ; and Ireland was once again, by the wise 
 policy of concession and conciliation, saved to the 
 British Crown. 
 
 14. Illustrious Lady, the Rebellion of 1798 itself 
 was, almost avowedly, and beyond a doubt provablj^ 
 fomented to enable the British Government to extin- 
 guish the Irish legislative independence, and to bring 
 about the Union. But the instrument was nearly too 
 powerful for the unskilful hands that used it; and if the 
 Catholic wealth, education, and intelligence had joined 
 the rebellion, it would probably have been successful. 
 
 15. One word upon the legislative independence 
 of Ireland— that which is now called a " Bepeal of the 
 Union." It is said to be a severance of the empire — ■ 
 a separation of the two countries. Illustrious Lady, 
 these statements are made by men who know them to 
 be unfounded. An Irish legislative independence 
 would, on the contrary, be the strongest and most 
 durable connexion between your Mtijesty's Irish and 
 your British dominions. It would, by conciliating 
 your Irish subjects, and attending to their wants and 
 ■wishes, render the separation of Ireland from the law- 
 ful dominion of your Crown utterly impossible. 
 
 16. No country ever rose so rapidly in trade, 
 manufactures, commerce, agricultural wealth, and 
 general prosperity, as Ireland did from the year 1782 
 until the year 1798, when the "fomented rebellion" 
 broke out, and for a space, a passing and transitory 
 space, marred the fair prospects of Ireland. 
 
CHAP, vil] 1800. 27 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 TiiE Yeak 1800. 
 
 1. This year would justify a volume to itself. It 
 was the year that consummated the crimes which, 
 during nearly seven centuries, the English Govern- 
 ment perpetrated against Ireland. It was the year 
 of the destruction of the Irish legislature. It was 
 the fatal, ever-to-be-accursed year of the enactment 
 of the Union. 
 
 2. The Union was inflicted on Ireland by the 
 combined operation of terror, torture, force, fraud, 
 and corruption. 
 
 3. The contrivers of the Union kept on foot and 
 fomented the embers of a lingering rebellion. They 
 hallooed the Protestant against the Catholic, and the 
 Catholic against the Protestant. They carefully kept 
 alive domestic dissensions, for the purposes of sub- 
 jugation. 
 
 4. AVliilst the Union Avas in progress, the Habeas 
 Corpus Act was suspended — all constitutional freedom 
 was annihilated in Ireland — martial law was pro- 
 claimed — the use of torture was frequent — liberty, 
 life, or property had no protection — public opinion 
 was stifled — trials by court-martial were familiar — 
 meetings legally convened by sheriffs and magistrates 
 were dispersed by military violence — the voice of 
 Ireland was suppressed — the Irish people had no 
 protection. Once again, I repeat, martial law wa^ 
 proclaimed. Thus the Union was achieved in total 
 despite of the Irish nation. 
 
 5. But this was not all. The most enormous and 
 the basest corruption was resorted to. Lord John 
 Russell is reported to have stated some time ago, at a 
 public dinner, that the Union Avas carried at an ex- 
 pense of c£800,000. He was much mistaken, speaking 
 as he did merely from a vague recollection. The par- 
 
28 1800. [chap. VII. 
 
 liamentaiy documents will show liim that the one item 
 of the purchase-money of rotten and nomination 
 boroughs, cost no less a sum than one million, tw^o 
 hundred and forty-fi\"e thousand pounds. The pecu- 
 niary corruption amounted altogether to about three 
 millions of pounds sterling. 
 
 6. But this was not all. The expenditure . of pa- 
 tronage was still more open, avow^ed, and profligate. 
 Peerages were a familiar staple of traffic — the com- 
 mand of ships of the line and of regiments — the offices 
 of chief and puisne judges, the stations of arch- 
 bishops and bishops, commissionerships of the 
 revenue, and all species of collectorships — in short, 
 all grades of offices. The sanctuary of the law and the 
 temples of religion were trafficked upon as bribes, 
 and given in exchange for votes in Parliament in fa- 
 vour of the Union. 
 
 7. But this was not all. Notwithstanding all the 
 resources of intimidation and terror — of martial law 
 and military torture — of the most gigantic bribery 
 ever exhibited — the Union could not be carried until 
 several of the nomination boroughs were purchased, 
 to return a number of Scotchmen and Englishmen, 
 all of whom held rank in the army or navy, or other 
 offices under Government, removable at pleasure. 
 The number of such " aliens" was almost as great as 
 the majority by which the Union was carried. 
 
 8. The Union was not a treaty or compact. Illus- 
 trious Lady. It was not a bargain or agreement. It 
 had its origin in, and w^as carried by force, fraud, 
 terror, torture, and corruption. It has to this hour no 
 binding power but what it derives from force. It is 
 still a mere name. The countries are not united. The 
 Irish are still treated as " aliens in blood and in re- 
 ligion." 
 
 9. Thus was the legislative independence of Ire- 
 land extinguished. Tiius was the greatest crime ever 
 perpetrated by the EngUsh Government upon Ireland 
 consummate 
 
CHAi'. VII.] ISOO. 29 
 
 10. The citrocity of the manner of carrying the 
 Union was equalled only by the injustice of the terms 
 to which Ireland was subjected. 
 
 11. I hate to dwell on this detestable subject. ] 
 will put forward only two of the features of the in- 
 justice done to Ireland. The one relates to finance— 
 the other to representation. 
 
 12. The epitoi.-oof the financial fraud perpetrated 
 against the Iri.sh is just this : At the time of the 
 Union, Ireland owed twenty millions of funded debt ; 
 England owed four hundred and forty-six millions. 
 If the Union were a fair and reasonable treaty, the 
 debts of the two countries should continue to bear 
 the same proportions. -Perhaps even that arrange- 
 ment would, under all the circumstances, be harsh 
 towards Ireland. But what is the consequence to 
 Ireland of the Union ? It is this, that all the land, 
 houses, and other property, real and personal, of Ire- 
 land, are now pledged to the repayment equally with 
 England of eight hundred and forty millions of 
 jjounds sterling ! ! ! At the utmost the Irish ought to 
 owe a sum not exceeding forty millions. By the 
 Union we are made to owe eight hundred and forty 
 millions. But for the Union, the entire Irish debt 
 would have been long since paid off, and Ireland, like 
 Norway, would have no national debt. Never was 
 there a people so unjustly treated as the Irish ! 
 
 13. The gross injustice done to Ireland in the 
 matter of representation in the United Parliament was 
 this : The ingredients to entitle either country to re- 
 presentation were said by the fabricators of the 
 Union to be — population and property. The only 
 evidences of property that Lord Castlereagli would 
 allow were exports, imports, and revenue — he totally 
 omitted rental ; yet, upon his own data, Ireland was 
 entitled to 108, out of a total of 658 representatives. 
 
 He took off eight, of his own will and pleasure, and 
 left Ireland but one hundred members. 
 
 But, in truth, he ought to have taken into calcula- 
 
30 1800—1829. [chap. Vlll. 
 
 tion the relative rental of each country, and then the 
 right of Ireland to 169 members would appear. Still 
 more, had the ingredients of a relative representation 
 consisted, as they ought to have consisted, solely of 
 population and revenue, the right of Ireland to 176 
 members would be demonstrated. 
 
 14. If the Union had been a fair treaty, no chicanery 
 could have deprived Ireland of, at t^e least, 150 mem- 
 bers ; yet one-third were struck off at the despotic 
 will and pleasure of the English Government. This 
 was indeed a grievous injustice, and much of the in- 
 security of the Union rests upon it. Substantial jus- 
 tice, in this respect, has ever been withheld. Thus 
 we are degraded and insulted by the Union. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Years 1800—1829. 
 
 1. The alleged object of the Union was to con- 
 solidate the inhabitants of both islands into one 
 nation — one people. The most flattering hopes were 
 held out, the most solemn pledges were vowed. Ire- 
 land was no longer to be an alien and a stranger to 
 British liberty. The religion of the inhabitants was 
 no longer to be a badge for persecution — the nations 
 were to be identified — the same privileges — the same 
 laws — the same liberties. 
 
 They trumpeted, until the ear was tired and all 
 good taste nauseated, the hackneyed quotation, the 
 ^'Paribus se legihis" — the ^^ Invictce gentes" — the 
 "J^terna in fed era.'' 
 
 2. These were words — Latin or English, they were 
 mere words — Ireland lost everything and got nothing 
 by the Union. Pitt behaved with some dignity when 
 he resigned the office of Prime Minister, on finding 
 that George the Third i:efused to allow him to redeem 
 the Union pledge of granting Catholic Emancipation. 
 But that dignity was dragged in the kennel, when he 
 
CHAP. VIIl] 1800—1829. 31 
 
 afterwards consented to be minister with his pledge 
 broken and his faith violated. Yet there are still 
 " Pitt Clubs "—are there not 1— in England ! ! ! ^ 
 
 3. Ireland lost everything and gained nothing by 
 the Union. There is one great evil in the political 
 economy of Ireland — there is one incurable plague-- 
 spot in the state of Ireland. It is, that nine-tenths 
 of the soil belong to absentees. This evil was felt as 
 a curse, pregnant with every possible woe, even before 
 the Union. It has enormously increased since — the . 
 Union must inevitably have increased, and must 
 continue to increase absenteeism. Even all the 
 establishments necessary to carry on the Government, 
 save one — that of the Lord Lieutenant — have become 
 absentees. 
 
 4. Ireland lost all and gained nothing by the 
 Union. Every promise was broken, every pledge was 
 violated. Ireland struggled and prayed, and cried 
 out to friends for aid, and to Parliament for 
 relief. 
 
 5. At length a change came over the spirit of our 
 proceedings. The people of Ireland ceased to court 
 patronage, or to hope for relief from their friends. 
 They became " friends to themselves ;" and after | 
 twenty-six years of agitation, they forced the conces-.» 
 sion of Emancipation. They compelled the most 
 powerful as well as the most tricky, the most daring 
 as well as the most dexterous, of their enemies to 
 concede Emancipation. 
 
 6. Wellington and Peel— blessed be heaven! — 
 we defeated you. Our peaceable combination — blood- 
 less, unstained, crimeless — was too strong for the mili- ; 
 tary glory — bah ! — of the one, and for all the little arts, | 
 the debasing chicanery, the plausible delusions, of | 
 the other. Both at length conceded, but without! 
 dignity, without generosity, without candour, with- '' 
 out sincerity. Nay, there was a littleness in the con- 
 cession almost incredible, were it not part of public 
 history. They emancipated a people, and by the 
 
32 1800— 1S29. [cnAP. Yiil. 
 
 same act they proscribed an individual. Peel and 
 ^Yellington, we defeated and drove you before us 
 into coerced liberality, and you left every remnant of 
 character behind you as the spoil of the victors. 
 
 7. There was an intermediate period in which 
 Emancipation could have been conceded with a good 
 grace, and would have been accepted as a boon. It 
 was the year 1825. In that year, when everything 
 favoured the grant of Emancipation — when it could 
 have been granted with grace and dignity — when it 
 could have been bestowed as the emanation of the 
 mighty minds of statesmen and conquerors, — in 1825, 
 Wellington and Peel successfully op]~>osed Emancipa- 
 tion, and thus preserved that which might have been 
 their glorious triumph, to become the instrument of 
 their own degradation. 
 
 8. Let it not be forgotten that the House of 
 Commons three times during these twenty-nine years 
 passed an Emancipation bill ; but that biU was, each 
 <^f those times, rejected by the House of Lords. The 
 Lords, however, yielded to the fourth assault, backed 
 as it was by the power of the Irish nation. AVe at 
 length defeated the perpetual enemy of Ireland —the 
 British House of Lords. 
 
 9. Let it be recollected that our struggle was for 
 " freedom of conscience." Oh ! how ignorant are the 
 men who boast of Protestant tolerance, and declaim 
 on Cathohc bigotry ! This calumny was one of the 
 worst evils vre formerly endured. At present we 
 
 . laugh it to scorn. The history of the persecutions 
 
 I perpetrated by the Protestant Established Church of 
 
 England, upon Catholics on the one hand, and upon 
 
 Presbyterians and other Protestant dissenters on the 
 
 other, is one of the blackest in the page of time. 
 
 10. The Irish Catholics, three times since the 
 Reformation restored to power, never persecuted a 
 single person — blessed be the great God ! 
 
CHAP. IX.] 1829—1840. 33 
 
 CHAPTER., IX. 
 
 Years 1829—1840. 
 
 1. Theee never was a people on the face of tl e 
 earth so cruelly, so basely, so unjustly treated as 
 the people of Ireland have been by the English 
 Government. 
 
 2. The Catholics being emancipated, the people of 
 England had leisure to awaken to a sense of the 
 delusions practised upon them, by false alarms, on the 
 score of religion and loyalty. The delusion was most 
 valuable to the deluders. At length the monstrous 
 nature of what was called Parliamentary representa- 
 tion stared the British people in the face. It was, 
 perhaps, the greatest and most ludicrous farce that 
 had ever been played on the great stage of the world. 
 Luckily a blunder, such as no man out of a madhouse 
 had ever before committed — a blunder of the Duke of 
 Wellington— brought the absurdity and oppression of 
 this farce into so glaring a point of view, as to render 
 it impossible to be continued. He, as a Prime ]\Iinis- 
 ter of England, declared his conviction that the nomi- 
 nation and rotten-borough system of England was 
 Ihe actual perfection of political sagacity — nay, he 
 almost exalted it into an emanation of a diviner mind. 
 
 This was irresistible — common sense revolted — 
 Reform w^as inevitable. 
 
 3. Again the most gross and glaring injustice was 
 done to Ireland. It is admitted that, without the 
 aid of the Irish members, Reform could not have been 
 carried. Even the most nipvlignant of our enemies, 
 ^Stanley, has admitted that fact. To the Irish, there- 
 fore, a deep debt of gratitude v/as due from the British 
 Reformers. But how have we been requited 1 We 
 have been treated with the basest and most atrocious 
 ingratitude. 
 
 4. We are still suffering under the ingratitude of 
 the British Reformers — under the consistent injustice 
 of the British Tories, ^ 
 
34 1829—1840. [chap. ix. 
 
 Under four heads I avlU, as briefly as possible, 
 sketch our complaints — not the abject complaint of 
 those who have no hope in, and no reliance upon, 
 their own virtue. I make the complaint in the lan- 
 guage of a freeman. I make it on behalf of a people 
 who have made others free, and who deserve to be 
 free themselves. As my only preface, I desire these 
 four facts to be remembered. 
 
 1st. That the Irish representatives turned the scale 
 of victory, and carried the English Parliamentary 
 Eeform Bill. 
 
 2nd. They equally, and by the same Act, carried 
 the Scotch Reform Bill. 
 
 3rd. They equally, and by inevitable consequence, 
 carried the English Municipal Reform Bill. 
 
 4th. They equally carried the Scotch Municipal 
 Eeform Bill. 
 
 5. Even if they had not these merits, they were 
 entitled, unless the Union be an insulting mockery — 
 they were — the Irish were — on the plainest principles 
 of common sense, entitled to equal measures of Pteform 
 with England and Scotland. This the Union enti- 
 tled them to. But their case has this glorious adjunct 
 to its right — namely, that they had principally con- 
 tributed to obtain Reform for the two other countries. 
 
 6. The complaints of the Irish people are these : 
 My first complaint is, that the Irish did not get an 
 
 equal Parliamentary Reform Bill with Scotland or- 
 with England. 
 
 " 1st. Ireland did not get the proper portion of 
 representatives. Wales got an increase of six members 
 upon a population of 800,"o00. Scotland, upon a popu- 
 lation of 2,300,000, got an increase of eight. Ireland, 
 upon a population of 8,000,000, got an increase of 
 five. 
 
 " Scotland increased her representatives by one in 
 five — Wales by one in six — Ireland by one in tenj ! ! 
 and even one of these was given against not for Ire- 
 land—the second member for the University of Dublin. 
 But let it be one in ten. 
 
CHAP. IX.] 1829—1840. 35 
 
 " Thus the original iniquity of the Union in respect 
 to representation, was enhanced by the Eeform JBill. 
 Ireland, upon the score of population and property, 
 was entitled to 176 members out of 658 — we offered 
 to take 125. 
 
 " 2nd. The next and still greater injustice done to 
 Ireland was in the nature of the franchise. 
 
 " In the towns, though tlie franchise is nominally 
 the same, yet it is substantially and really infinitely 
 greater in Ireland than in England. A house worth 
 ten pounds a-year gives the franchise in London and 
 in Liverpool. How few, how very few houses are 
 there in either not worth ten pounds a-year ! 
 
 " A house worth ten pounds a-year gives the fran- 
 chise in Ennis or in Youghal. How few houses are 
 there in these towns, or similar towns in Ireland, 
 worth ten pounds a-year ! To be just, this franchise 
 should, for a ten-pound house in England, allow a 
 five-pound house in Ireland. I complain of the in- 
 justice thus done us, by making that nominally the 
 same which is substantially different. 
 
 "In the county constituencies, the injustice was 
 still more glaring. V^e have, in fact, but two fran- 
 chises for the people — they are both of ten pounds 
 clear annual value, ruled to be above rent — an enor- 
 mously high rate of franchise — the one of a freehold 
 tenure, the other for a term of twenty years. 
 
 " Contrast this with England, Avhich, by her Eeform 
 Bill, multiplied her franchises to nine different and 
 distinct species. 
 
 " England, a rich country, has nine different species 
 of franchise, to meet every gradation of property, 
 including in them the more ancient 40s. freehold 
 franchise. 
 
 "Ireland, infinitely the poorer country, has, in fact, 
 for her people only two franchises, and these so enor- 
 mously high as ten pounds clear annual value. 
 
 " Perhaps the annals of history never displayed a 
 more disgusting injustice than vras thus committed 
 by the Irish Reform Bill upon the Irish people. 
 
36 1829—1840. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 "The third base act of ingratitude committed by 
 the English Reformers upon the people of Ireland, 
 was the ' base and bloody ' Coercion Act, in the very 
 spirit in which Cromwell and Ireton acted. In that 
 very spirit the first reformed Parliament passed the 
 atrocious Coercion Act, as the reward of the Irish 
 people for their successful efforts in the cause of 
 Reform. Yes ; Anglesey, Stanley, _ Lord Grey, 
 Brougham — all, all joined in recompensing us for our 
 patriotic exertions in their behalf, by abohshing all 
 constitutional liberty, by annihilating the trial by 
 jury, and leaving the lives, liberties, and properties of 
 the people of Ireland, at the mercy of mihtary caprice, 
 violence, or passion. 
 
 " Sacred Heaven ! — were there ever a people so 
 cruelly, so vilely treated as the people of Ireland 1 
 Here, indeed, was a specimen of the gratitude of 
 British Reformers ! ! ! 
 
 "The fourth complaint I have to make affects 
 only the British Tories. This injustice is done 
 to the people of Ireland by the House of Lords. 
 England has reformed Municipal Corporations — 
 Scotland has reformed Municipal Corporations. 
 
 "Ireland was for several years pertinaciously refused 
 reformed Municipal Corporations. 
 
 " Ireland has been still more outrageously insulted 
 by the Corporate Reform Bill, wliich has been at 
 length — I will not say conceded, but flung to her — as 
 one would fling offal to a dog. 
 
 " Ireland has been insulted by the Irish Corporate 
 Reform Bill, flung to her after so many years of 
 refusal : 
 
 " Firstly — Because, by the Irish Corporate Reform 
 Bill, the new corporations are eviscerated of all the 
 real power and authority necessary to enable them to 
 give protection to the people in the corporate towns 
 and cities ; to enable them to watch over the adminis- 
 tration of justice ; to introduce economy in the expen- 
 diture, and moderation in the levying, of local taxes. 
 
CHAP. ly.] 1829—1840. 37 
 
 In short, the Irish Corporate Reform Act has produced 
 a mongrel species of corporation, more dead than alive 
 — powerless and paralyzed. 
 
 " Secondly — The Irish Corporate Reform Bill is an 
 insult to the people of our towns and cities, by the 
 contrast of the municipal franchise in England com- 
 pared with that in Ireland, In the English towns and 
 cities, every man rated to the poor, no matter at how 
 low an amount, is entitled to the municipal franchise, 
 and to be placed accordingly on the burgess roll. In 
 Ireland, on the contrary, no man is entitled to the 
 municipal franchise, or to be placed on the burgess 
 roll, unless he is rated to the full amount of ten 
 pounds. The law thus includes all the English wlio 
 are rated at all ; and excludes at the same time all the 
 Irish who are rated at any sum under ten pounds, and 
 who form a most numerous class. And this insult is 
 aggravated by those who say that there is a union 
 between England and Ireland ! — Bah ! 
 
 " Thirdly — Another contrast renders the Irish Cor- 
 porate Reform Bill a yet more aggravated insult to the 
 Irish people. It is this : — In the English towns and 
 cities each person on the burgess roll has his right to 
 vote qualified by the condition of paying only one tax, 
 namely, the poor-rate, including (if any) the burgess- 
 rate ; whereas in Ireland (for example, in the city of 
 Dublin), every person on the burgess roll lias his 
 right to vote qualified by the necessity of paj'ing at 
 least nine, and, almost ""n all instances, no less than 
 eleven, different taxes — a necessity which reduces the 
 number of persons actually entitled to make use of the 
 municipal franchise by at least one-third." 
 
 There are other points of inferiority in the Trisli Cor- 
 porate Reform Bill which I scorn to take the trouble of 
 noticing. ^ The complaint I make is sufficiently intel- 
 ligible to justify our indignation and utter disgust. 
 
 With this complaint I close the catalogue of actnal 
 wrongs perpetrated upon Ireland since the passing of 
 the Emancipation Bill. 
 
38 CONCLUSION. 
 
 7. There remains tlie question of tithes, now called 
 Tithe Rentcharge. Ireland feels the ancient and 
 long-continued injustice to the heart's core. The 
 Catholic people of Ireland support and maintain a 
 perfect hierarchy in their own Church. They support 
 four archbishops — twenty-five bishops — many deans 
 — vicars-general — with more than three thousand 
 parish priests and curates, to administer to the spiri- 
 tual wants of about seven millions of Christians. 
 Can they — ought they to be content to be compelled 
 to contribute anything to the support of a hierarchy 
 with which they are not in communion 1 No ! — they 
 are not — they cannot — they ought not to be content 
 whilst one atom of the present tithe system remains in 
 existence. 
 
 If tithes be public property — and what else are 
 they ? — alleviate the burden on the public, and appro- 
 priate the residue to public and national purposes, 
 especially to education. This is common sense and 
 common honesty. We can never settle into content- 
 ment with less. 
 
 CONCLUSION". 
 
 These pages contain a faint outline of the sad story 
 of the woes and miseries of Ireland. The features of 
 that story are characterized by the most odious 
 crimes committed by the English rulers on the Irish 
 people. Rapine, confiscation, murder, massacre, 
 treachery, sacrilege, wholesale devastation, and injus- 
 tice of every kind, continued in many of its odious 
 forms to the present hour. 
 
 The form of persecution is altered — the spirit re- 
 mains the same. Those who heretofore would have 
 used the dagger or the knife of the assassin, employ 
 now only the tongue or the pen of the calumniator ; 
 and instead of murdering bodies, exhaust their ener- 
 
CONCLUSION. 39 
 
 gies in assassinating reputation. Calumny has been 
 substituted for murder; and the faction which has so 
 long rioted in Irish blood, consoles its virulent and 
 malignant passions by indulging in ever-varying, 
 never-dying falsehood and truculent slander. 
 
 What is the present condition of the Irish mind — 
 v^jijit ought to be the designs of the patriots of Ire- 
 land] 
 
 We feel and understand that, if the Union was not 
 in existence — if Ireland had her own Parliament, the 
 popular majority would have long since carried every 
 measure of salutary and useful reform. Instead of 
 being behindhand Avith England and Scotland, we 
 should have taken the lead, and achieved for ourselves 
 all and more than we have contributed to achieve for 
 them. 
 
 If there were no Union, Ireland would be the part 
 of the British dominions in which greater progress 
 would have been made in civil and religious liberty, 
 than in any other part subject to the British Crown. 
 If the Union had not been carried, Ireland would have . 
 long since paid off her national debt, and been now 
 almost entirely free from taxation. 
 
 The Union, and the Union alone, stands in the way 
 of our achieving for ourselves every political blessing. 
 
 Injustice — degradation — comparative weakness — 
 wide-spread poverty — unendurable political inferior- 
 ity — these are the fruits of the Union. 
 
 Of its effects on the people of Ireland, I will state 
 but one fact— that, upon a population of eight mil- 
 lions, there are two millions, three hundred thousand 
 individuals dependent for subsistence on casual cha- 
 rity ! ! ! And this in one of the most abundantly 
 fertile countries on the globe ! 
 
 The Irish insisted and do insist that nothing can 
 be a greater outrage than to make them submit to the 
 degradation and burden of a union with another 
 country, and, at the same time, to withhold from them 
 a full equalization of privileges and franchises with 
 
40 CONCLUSION. 
 
 that other countiy. Such equalization is the meaning 
 of the word " union ;" any other anion is a permanent 
 falsehood — " a living lie." 
 
 Firstly. — The Union entitled the Catholics of 
 Ireland — that is, emphatically the people of Ireland — 
 to religious equality with the English and Scotch. It 
 ^\'as thus distinctly and in writing avowed by Pitt, in 
 his negotiation with Catholic Peers and others who 
 called themselves the leaders of the Catholic people. 
 But, what is better, that right was essential to the 
 very "nature of the Union. 
 
 In this respect the Union was for twenty-nine years 
 " a living lie." 
 
 The partial realization of the Union in this respect, 
 after a struggle of twenty-nine years, is entirely due 
 to the virtue of the Irish people, and not to the good 
 sense or the honesty of the English Government. 
 
 But as long as the people of Ireland are compelled 
 to do that wdiich neither the people of England nor 
 the people of Scotland do — that is, to support the 
 Church of the minority — so long will the Union con- 
 tinue to be in that respect " a living lie." 
 
 Secondly. — The Union entitled the people of Ire- 
 land to the same elective franchise with the people of 
 England. In this respect the Union entitled the 
 people of Ireland to a perfect equality, not only in 
 name, but in substance, in the enjoyment of the elec- 
 tive franchise. 
 
 In this regard the Union is to the present day " a 
 livino- lie "—a lie aggravated by base ingratitude and 
 vile injustice. 
 
 Thirdly. — The Union entitled the people of Ireland 
 to an adequate portion of the representation in Par- 
 liament. But such proportion has been scornfully 
 and contemptuously refused. The Union is, therefore, 
 in this essential respect, " a living lie." 
 
 Fourthly. — The Union entitled the people of 
 Ireland to an identity of relief with England, from 
 corporate monopoly, bigotry, plunder, and- abuse of 
 
coNCLitsio:^. 41 
 
 every other kind. I have ah-eady shown how insult- 
 ing is the contrast between the Corporate Reforms 
 of England and of Ireland : the Union, therefore, is 
 again, in this respect, " a living lie." 
 
 In respect to the Municipal Keform ; in respect to 
 the Elective Franchise ; in respect to the Represen- 
 tation in Parliament — but, above all and before al], in 
 respect to the accursed Tithe System — the U mon is 
 " a living lie." 
 
 The people of Ireland, therefore, demand the Repeal 
 of the Union and the restoration of their domestic 
 Parliament. 
 
 The Precursor Association declared, in the name 
 and with the assent of the Irish people, that they 
 might have consented to the continuance of the 
 Union, if justice had been done them — if the fran- 
 chise had been simplified and much extended — if the 
 corporations had been reformed and continued — if 
 the number of Irish members had been augmented in 
 a just proportion— and if the tithe system had been 
 abolished, and conscience left completely free. 
 
 But, on the other hand, these just claims being re- 
 jected — these just demands being refused— our just 
 rights being withheld, the Irish people are too nume- 
 rous, too wise, and too good, to despair, or to hesitate 
 on the course they should adopt. The restoration of 
 the national legislature is, therefore, again insisted 
 upon ; and no compromise, no pause, no cessation of 
 that demand shall be allowed until Ireland is herself 
 again. 
 
 One word to close. No honest man ever despaired 
 of his country. _ No wise enemy will place his reliance 
 on the difficulties which may lie in the way between 
 seven millions of human beings and that liberty 
 which they feel to be their righc. For them there can 
 be no impossibility. 
 
 I repeat it — that as surely as to-morrow's sun will 
 rise, Ireland will assert her rights for herself, preser- 
 ving the golden and nnonerous link of the Crown — 
 
42 OBSERVATIONS, 
 
 true to the principles of unaffected and genuine 
 allegiance ; but determined, while she preserves her 
 loyalty to the British throne, to \dndicate her title to 
 constitutional freedom for the Irish people. 
 
 In short, Ireland demands that faction should no 
 longer be encouraged; that the Government should 
 be carried on for the Irish people, and not against 
 them. She is ready and desirous to assist the Scotch 
 and English Reformers to extend their franchises and 
 consolidate their rights ; but she has in vain insisted 
 on being an equal sharer in every political advantage. 
 She has vainly sought Equality — Identity. She has 
 been refused — contemptuously refused. Her last 
 demand is free from any alternative — 
 
 IT IS THE REPEAL ! 
 
 OBSEEVATIONS, PEOOFS, AND 
 ILLUSTEATIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Years 1172—1612. 
 
 TO THE FIRST SECTION. 
 
 I HAVE long felt the inconvenience resulting from the 
 ignorance of the English people generally of the 
 history of Ireland. A^Tiy should they not be ignorant 
 of that history 1 The story itself is fuU of no other 
 interest than a painful one, disgusting from its details 
 of barbarous infliction on the one hand, and partial 
 and therefore driftless resistance on the other. To 
 the English it seems enough to know, that, one way 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 43 
 
 or the other, Ireland had become subject to England. 
 It was easily taken for granted that the mode of 
 subjugation was open war and honourable conquest ; 
 and finally that the Union was nothing more than 
 the raising up of a vassal-people to a participation 
 in the popular rights and political condition of 
 the conquerors, brought about by identifjdng both 
 nations. 
 
 We are come to a period in which it is most im- 
 portant to have these matters inquired into and 
 understood. To provoke the inquiry, and to facili- 
 tate the comprehension of the facts of Irish history, 
 I have drav\^n up the foregoing memoir. I have 
 arranged it by its chronology, in such a manner as 
 to bring out in masses the iniquities practised by the 
 English Government upon the Irish, with the full 
 approbation, or at least entire acquiescence, of the 
 British people. I am very desirous to have it un- 
 equivocally understood, that one great object of mine 
 is to involve the people of England in much — in very 
 much of the guilt of their Government. If the 
 English people were not influenced by a bigotry, 
 violent as it is unjust, against the Catholic religion 
 on the one hand, and strong national antipathy 
 against the Irish people o*n the other, the Govern- 
 ment could not have so long persevered in its course 
 of injustice and oppression. The bad passions of the 
 English people, which gave an evil strength to the 
 Enghsh Government for the oppression of the Irish, 
 still subsist, little diminished, and less mitigated. 
 
 My purpose to rouse the attention of the British 
 nation to the sad story of Ireland, is only partiallj', 
 and indeed in small part, satisfied by the foregoing 
 memoir. It will be more fully answered by confirm- 
 ing the general assertions of that memoir by means of 
 particular details — details taken almost exclusively 
 from English and Protestant historians, and given in 
 the very words of these writers. 
 
 He who reads my extracts from authors adverse ir. 
 
44 OBSERVATIONS, [cHAP. I. 
 
 every sense of the word to Ireland, will entertain no 
 doubt of the accuracy of my statements, as they are 
 supported by such testimony. 
 
 The firsi writer whom I quote. Sir John Davies, 
 was for many years Attorney- General in Ireland to 
 that pragmatical and despicable tyrant, James the 
 First. I think the nature of the English acquisition 
 of Ireland, and the mode in which the supposed con- 
 querors disposed of the country, will be best under- 
 stood from him. 
 
 The first specimen of the flippancy with which the 
 English disposed of Ireland, after Henry II. had been 
 but a few weeks in Ireland, is thus described {Davies' 
 Historical Relations) : — 
 
 " All Ireland was, by Henry II., cantonized among 
 ten of the English nation (viz., the Earl Strongbow, 
 Robert Fitz-Stephens, Miles de Cogan, Philip Bruce, 
 Sir Hugh de Lacy, Sir John Courcey, William Burke 
 Fitz-Andelm, Sir Thomas de Clare, Otho de Grandi- 
 son, and Robert Le Poer) ; and though they had not 
 gained possession of one-third part of the kingdom, 
 yet in title they were owners and lords of all, so as 
 nothing was left to be granted to the natives ! ! ! 
 And therefore w^e do not find in any record or his- 
 tory, for the space of 'three hundred years after 
 these adventurers first arrived in Ireland, that any 
 Irish lord obtained a grant of his country from 
 the Crown, but only the King of Thomond, who 
 had a grant, but only during King Henry the 
 Third's minority ; and Roderick O'Connor, King 
 of Connaught, to whom King Henry 11. , before 
 this distribution was made, did grant that he should 
 be king under him, and keep his kingdom of Con- 
 naught in the same good and peaceable state in 
 which he kept it before his invasion of Ireland." 
 
 This first act of English domination is quite cha- 
 racteristic. It is an epitome of all^ the subsequent 
 history. With a precarious possession, through the 
 grant of an Irish chieftain, MacMurrough, of less than 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 45 
 
 one-tliird of Ireland, they at once " leave nothing for 
 the natives " ! ! ! 
 
 It is true, indeed, that Henry afterguards granted a 
 special charter, conceding the benefit of the English 
 ]aws — and, of course, the right of property — to five 
 Irish families. They were called, in pleading, persons 
 "of the five bloods " — de quinque sanguinihus. 
 
 "These were the O'Nials of Ulster, O'Melachlins 
 of Meath, the O'Connors of Connanght, the O'Briens 
 of Thomond, and the MacMurroughs of Leinster." — 
 Davieg Hist. llel. p. 45. 
 
 Henry 11. also granted a charter to the " Ostmen 
 or Esterlings," — that is, the Danes of Waterford, who 
 were inhabitants of that city long before his coming 
 to Ireland — "that they should have and enjoy in 
 Ireland the laws of England, and according to that 
 Jaw be judged and inherit." This appears from the 
 following passage in Davies^ page 80 : — 
 
 " Among the pleas of the Crown, 4 Edward IL, we 
 find a confirmation made by Edward I. of a charter 
 of denization, granted by Henry II. to certain Ostmen 
 or Esterlings, who were inhabitants of Waterford 
 long before Henry II. attempted the conquest of 
 Ireland : 
 
 " ' Edwardus Dei gratia, etc. Jnstitiario suo Hi- 
 berniae salutem : quia per inspectionem Chartte Dom. 
 llQn. Reg. filii Imperatricis quondam Dom. Hibernia3 
 proavi nostri nobis constat, quod Ostmanni de Water- 
 ford legem Anglicorum in Hibernia habere et secun- 
 dem ipsam legem judicari et deduci debent.' " 
 
 Nor was this a barren privilege. These Danes, by 
 that charter, obtained protection for their lives and 
 properties, which none of the Irish save the above- 
 named five families obtained. The Irish could not 
 sue as plaintiffs in any court of law. They were not 
 treated as conquered enemies, bound to accept the 
 laws of the conqueror, but entitled to the protection 
 of those laws. They were treated as perpetual ene- 
 mies, whom it w^s lawful to rob or kill, at the pleasure 
 
46 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 or caprice of an English subject. Let tlie Attorney- 
 General, Sir John Davies, speak. — Hist Tracts, p. 78. 
 " That the mere Irish were reputed aliens, appeareth 
 by sundry records, wherein judgments are demanded, 
 if they shall be answered in actions brought by them. 
 " In the Common Plea Rolls of ^ 28 Edward III. 
 (which are yet preserved in Bermingham's Tower), 
 this case is adjudged. Simon Neale brought an action 
 against William Newlagh, for breaking his close in 
 Clondalkin, in the county of Dublin : the defendant 
 doth plead that the plaintiff i^ ilibernicus et non de 
 quinque sanguinibus [' an Irishman, and not of the 
 five bloods'], and demandeth judgment, if he shall be 
 answered. The plaintiff replieth : that he is of the 
 five bloods — to wit, of the O'Neils of Ulster, who, by 
 the grant of the progenitors of our Lord the King, 
 ought to enjoy and use the English liberties, and 
 for freemen to be reputed in law. 
 
 " The defendant rejoineth : that the plaintiff is not 
 of the O'Neils of Ulster — nee de quinque sangui- 
 nibus [nor of the five bloods]. And thereupon tney 
 are at issue. Which being found for the plaintiff, he 
 had judgment to recover his damages against the 
 defendant. 
 
 " Again, in the 29 Edward I., before the Justices in 
 Oyer, at Drogheda, Thomas Le Bottelcr brought an 
 action of det6nue against Robert de Alinain, for cer- 
 tain goods. The defendant pleadeth : that he is not 
 bound to answer the plaintiff for this — that the plain^ 
 tiff is an Irishman, and not of free blood. 
 
 "And the aforesaid Thomas says that he is an 
 Englishman, and this he prays may be inquired of by 
 the country. Therefore, let a jury come, and so forth : 
 
 ''And the jurors, on their oath, say that the aforesaid 
 Thomas is an Englishman. Therefore it is adjudged 
 that he do receive his damages." 
 
 Thus these records demonstrate that the Irishman 
 had no |)rotection for his property ; because, if the 
 plaintiff, in either case, had been declared by the jury 
 
CHAP. I.] PEOOFS, ETC. 47 
 
 to be an Irisliman, the a/^tioii vronld be barred, 
 though the injury was not denied upon the record to 
 have been committed. The validity of the plea in 
 point of law w^as also admitted ; so that, no matter 
 what injury might be committed upon the real or 
 personal property of an Irishman, the courts of law 
 afforded him no species of remedy. 
 
 But this absence of protection was not confined to 
 property ; the Irishman was equally unprotected in 
 his person and in his life. The following quotation 
 from Sir John Davies puts this beyond a doubt. — 
 Hist. Tracts, p. 82. 
 
 " The mere Irish were not only accounted aliens, 
 but enemies, and altogether out of the protection of 
 the law ; so as it was no capital offence to kill them : 
 and this is manifest by many records. At a jail de- 
 livery at Waterford, before John Wogan, Lord Justice 
 of Ireland, the 4th of Edward the Second, we find it 
 recorded among the pleas of the Crown of that year, 
 that Robert Wallace being arraigned of the death of 
 John, the son of Juor MacGillemory, by him felo- 
 niously slain, and so forth, came and well acknow- 
 ledged that he slew the aforesaid John, yet he said, 
 that by his slaying he could not commit felony, be- 
 cause he said that the aforesaid John was a mere 
 Irishman, and not of the five bloods, and so forth ; 
 and he furtlier said, that inasmuch as the lord of the 
 aforesaid John, whose Irishman the said John was, 
 on the day on which he was slain, had sought payment 
 for the aforesaid slaying of the aforesaid John as his 
 Irishman, he, the said Ilobert, was ready to answer 
 for such payment as was just in that behalf. And 
 thereupon a certain John Le Poer came, and for our 
 Lord the King said, that the aforesaid John, the son 
 of Juor MacGillemory, and his ancestors of that sur- 
 name, from the time in which our Lord Henry Fitz- 
 Empress, heretofore Lord of Ireland, the ancestor of 
 our Lord the now King, was in Ireland, the law of 
 England in Ireland thence to the present day, of right 
 
48 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 liad and oiiglit to have, and according to that law- 
 ought to be judged and to inherit. And so pleaded 
 the character of denization granted to the Ostmen 
 recited before ; all Mdiich appeareth at large in the 
 said record : wherein we may note, that the killing of 
 an Irishman was not punished by our law as man- 
 slaughter, which is felony and capital (for our law 
 did neither protect his life nor avenge his death), but 
 by a fine or pecuniary punishment, which is called 
 anericke, according to the Brehon or Irish law." 
 
 The following record speaks still more distinctly 
 the perfect right claimed and enjoyed by the English 
 in Ireland, of slaughtering with impunity the " mere 
 Irish." It records a case tried at Limerick, before the 
 same Lord Chief Justice Wogan, in the fourth year of 
 Edward the Second, and is as follows : 
 
 " William Fitz-Eoger, being arraigned for the death 
 of Roger de Cantelon, by him feloniously slain, comes 
 and says that he could not commit felony by means 
 of such killing ; because the aforesaid Roger was an 
 Irishman, and not of free blood. And he further says 
 that the said Roger was of the surname of O'Hederiscal, 
 and not of the surname of Cantelon ; and of this ho 
 puts himself on the country, and so forth. And the 
 jury upon their oath say, that the aforesaid Roger 
 was an Irishman of the surname of CHcderiscal, and 
 for an Irishman was reputed all his life ; and there- 
 fore the said William.as far as regards tlie aforesaid 
 felony, is acquitted. But inasmuch as the aforesaid 
 Roger O'Hederiscal was an Irishman of our Lord the 
 King, the aforesaid William was re-committed to jail, 
 until he shall find pledges to pay five marks to our 
 Lord the King, for the value of the aforesaid Irish- 
 man." 
 
 One more quotation from Sir John Davies will 
 place in the clearest light the spirit in which the Eng- 
 lish party governed Ireland, and the results of such 
 misgovernment. It will also serve to show that there 
 is nothing new under the sun ; as the pretence of the 
 
CHAP. I.] PEOOFS, ETC. 49 
 
 modem faction tliat they are able to root out the 
 Irish, is but the repetition of the factious cry of 
 former days. The only difference is this : that in the 
 olden day it might have been realized ; at the pre- 
 sent, it is utterly impossible it should be successful. 
 
 The following quotation is from p. 85 of Davies^ 
 Tracts : 
 
 " In all the Parliament Rolls which are extant, from 
 the fortieth year of Edward the Third, when the Sta- 
 tutes of Kilkenny were enacted, till the reign of King 
 Henry the Eighth, we find the degenerate and disobe- 
 dient English called rebels ; but the Irish which were 
 not in the King's peace, are called enemies. Statute 
 Kilkenny, c. 1, 10, and 11 ; 2 Henry the Fourth, c. 24 ; 
 10 Henry the Sixth, c. 1, 18 ; 18 Henry the Sixth, 
 c. 4, 5 ; Edward the Fourth, c. 6 ; 10 Henry the 
 Seventh, c. 17. All these statutes speak of English 
 rebels and Irish enemies ; as if the Irish had never 
 been in the condition of subjects, but always out of 
 the protection of the law, and were indeed in worse 
 case than aliens of any foreign realm that was in 
 amity with the Crown of England. For, by divers 
 heavy penal laws, the English were forbidden to 
 marry, to foster, to make gossips with the Irish, or to 
 have any trade or commerce in their markets or fairs ; 
 nay, there was a law made no longer since than the 
 twenty-eighth year of Henry the Eighth, that the 
 English should not marry Avith any person of Irish 
 blood, though he had gotten a charter of denization, 
 unless he had done both homage and fealty to the 
 King in the Chancery, and were also bound by recog- 
 nizance with sureties, to continue a loyal subject. 
 Whereby it is manifest, that such as had the govern- 
 ment of Ireland under the Crown of England, did 
 intend to make a perpetual separation and enmity 
 between the English and the Irish, pretending, no 
 doubt, that the English should in the end root out 
 the Irish ; which the English not being able to do, 
 caused a perpetual war between the nations, which 
 
 D 
 
50 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 continued fonr hundred and odd years, and would 
 have lasted to the world's end, if, in the end of Queen 
 Elizabeth's reign, the Irish had not been broken and 
 conquered by the sword, and since the beginning of 
 his Majesty's reign been protected and governed by 
 the law." 
 
 The compliment included in the last phrase to the 
 then reigning monarch, James I., was naturally enough 
 to be expected from Sir John Davies, who was his 
 Attorney-General ; but it will soon appear that the 
 law was scarcely less destructive than the sword, and 
 that the Irish had very little cause to rejoice at the 
 transition. 
 
 It is not, however, to be taken for granted that it 
 was the sword alone which had been used against 
 the Irish during the preceding reigns. The vexations 
 of law were superadded to the cruelty of open violence,- 
 and the statutes passed by the Parliament of the 
 English Pale, afforded specimens of the senseless, and 
 indeed ludicrous, malignity of the English party 
 against the Irish. I think it right to add the follow^ 
 ing specimens : — 
 
 " 10th Henry the Sixth. This was an Act entitled, 
 An Act, that no person, liege or alien, shall take mer- 
 chandize or things to bo sold, to faire, market, or 
 other place, amongst the Irish enemies, &c. ; whereby 
 it was enacted, ' That no merchant, nor other person, 
 liege or alien, should use, in time of peace nor warre, 
 to any manner of faire, market, or other place amongst 
 the Irish enemies, vdih merchandize or things to be 
 sold, nor send them to them, if it were not to acquite 
 any prisoner of them that were the King's liege men ; 
 and if any liege man did the contraiy, he should be 
 holden and adjudged a felon, and that it should be 
 lawful for every liege man to arrest and take such 
 merchants and persons, with their merchandize and 
 things, and to send them to the next gaole, there to 
 remain until they should be delivered as law requireth, 
 and the King to have one halfe of the said goods, 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 51 
 
 and he or thejr that should take them the other halfe* 
 — as by the said Act mnxe at large appeareth." 
 
 It is quite impossiUe in the annals of English his- 
 tory to meet such anolhei* specimen of legislation as 
 that wMcli made an English merchant a felon, for no 
 other crime than that of selling his goods at the best 
 profit he could get. There was, however, another 
 statute passed in the same 10th year of Henry VL, 
 which shows that there Avas to be no peace nor truce 
 with the Irish ; but that they Avere, in time of truce, 
 or even of peace, to be slaughtered, as enemies. It 
 was an Act intituled — 
 
 " An Act, that every liege man shall take the Irish 
 conversant as espialls amongst the English, and make 
 of them as of the King-'s enemies ; whereby it was 
 enacted, 'That it should be lawfull for every liege 
 man, to take all manner of Irish enemies, which in 
 time of peace ond truce should come and converse 
 amongst the English lieges, to spie their secresies, 
 force, v/ayes, and subtilties, and to make of them as 
 of the King's enemies.' " 
 
 It will be observed that these Acts of Parliament 
 were passed in the year 1432, that is, 260 years after 
 the English invasion of Ireland by Henry II. It 
 appears that the latter of these Acts was not considered 
 sufficiently sanguinary, for the same English party 
 passed another la^v in the year 1465, the fifth year of 
 Edward IV., intituled — 
 
 " An Act, that it shall be lawfull to kill any that is 
 found robbing by day or night, or going or coming to 
 rob'^or steal, having no faitlif nil man of good name or 
 fame in their company in English apparrel :" 
 
 Whereby it was enacted — 
 
 " That it shall be lawfull to aU manner of men that 
 find any theeves robbing by day or by night, or going 
 or coming to rob or steal, in or out, going or coming, 
 having no faithfull man of good name in their com- 
 pany in English apparrel, upon any of the liege people 
 of the King, that it shall be lawfull to take and kiU 
 
62 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I 
 
 those, and to cut off their heads, without any impeach- 
 ment of our Sovereign Lord the King, his heirs, 
 officers, or ministers, or of any others." 
 
 Thus, in truth, the only fact necessary to be ascer- 
 tained, to entitle an Englishman to cut off the head 
 of another man, was, that such other should be an 
 Irishman. For if the Irishman was not robbing, or 
 coming from robbing, who could say but that he 
 might be going to rob — "in or out," as the statute 
 has it 1 And the Englishman — the cutter-off of the 
 head — was made sole judge of where the Irishman was 
 going, and of what he intended to do. The followers 
 of Mahomet, with regard to their treatment of their 
 Grecian subjects, were angels of mercy when compared 
 with the English in Ireland. Care was also taken, 
 that no part of the effect of the law should be lost, by 
 the mistaken humanity of any individual Englishman; 
 for an additional stimulant was given by the following 
 section of the Act : 
 
 " And that it shall be lawful by authority of the 
 said Parliament, to the said bringer of the said head, 
 and his ayders to the same, for to destrain and levy by 
 their own hands, of every man having one plowland 
 in the barony where the said thief was so taken, two- 
 pence ; and every man having half a plowland in the 
 said barony, one penny ; and eveiy other man having 
 one house and goods to the value of fourty shillings, 
 one penny; and of every other cottier having house and 
 smoak, one half-penny." 
 
 After such statutes as these, it is matter of little sur- 
 prise that so late as the 28th year of the reign of 
 Henry VIII. — that is, in the year 1537 — an Act was 
 passed, intituled, " An Act against marrying, or fos- 
 tering with, or to, Irishmen." By this Act it was 
 prohibited, under the severest penalties, to marry an 
 Irishman ; but the legislature was not so ungallant 
 as to prohibit marriage with Irish women. That 
 would have been inflicting the severest possible pu- 
 nishment upon themselves; and considering the 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 53 
 
 natural antipathy that the Enghsh in those days en- 
 tertained against everything Irish, it furnishes the 
 strongest xjroof that the Irish women at that time 
 afforded the same models of beauty and goodness for 
 which they are celebrated at the present day. 
 
 Even in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the spirit of 
 hatred and contempt of the Irish animated the legis- 
 lature. So late as the year 1569, an Act was passed 
 (in the 11th year of her reign), intituled, "An Act 
 prohibiting any Irish lord or captaine of this realms, 
 to foster to any of the lords of the same realme ;" 
 whereby it Avas enacted — 
 
 " That no lord nor captaine of the Irish of Ireland, 
 should from henceforth foster to any earl, viscount, 
 baron, or lord of the same realme ; and that what Irish 
 lord or captaine soever, that from henceforth should 
 receive or take to foster the child midier^ or bastard 
 of any of the said earls, viscounts, barons, or lords, 
 the same should be deemed and adjudged high-treason 
 in the taker, and also felony in the giver, according to 
 the taxation and discretion of the lord-deputie, 
 governour, or governours, and councell of this realme 
 for the time being." 
 
 Such were the laws made by the Parliament of the 
 English settlers in Ireland, in the spirit of contempt 
 and hatred of the Irish people. Yet the extent of 
 territory which belonged to the English was, during 
 all this time, extremely limited. How ignorant is 
 the present generation of the fact, that for centuries 
 England claimed the actual dominion of only twelve 
 of our counties ; and, even in these, the English laws 
 were only in force in the parts actually occupied by 
 men of English descent ! Upon this point the authority 
 of Davies is distinct and decisive. — Hist. Tracts, p. 93. 
 
 "True it is, that King John made twelve snires 
 in Leinster and Munster, namely, Dublin, Kildare, 
 Meath, Uriel, Catherlogh, Kilkenny, Wexford, Water- 
 ford, Cork, Limerick, Kerry, and Tipperary. Yet 
 these counties stretched no farther than the lands of 
 
54 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 the English colonies extended. In them only were 
 the English laws published and put in execution ; and 
 in them only did the itinerant judges make their cir- 
 cuits and visitations of justice, and not in the countries 
 possessed by the Irish, which contained two-thirds of the 
 kingdom at least ; and therefore King Edward the First, 
 before the court of Parliament was established in Ire- 
 land, did transmit the statutes of England in this form." 
 
 Davies then sets forth the ^vrit for the promulgation 
 of the statutes in Ireland : it is in Latin of course, and 
 is stated to be for the common utility of our people ; 
 but that promulgation is confirhed to "the several 
 places belonging to us in our land of Ireland." Davies 
 then proceeds thus : — 
 
 _ " By which writ, and by all the pipe-rolls of that 
 time, it is manifest that the laws of England were 
 published and put in execution only in the counties 
 which were then made and limited, and not in the 
 Irish countries, which were neglected and left wild." 
 
 It appears, however, that although there were 
 twelve counties thus nominally under English domi- 
 nion, yet, before the reign of Henry the Eighth, they 
 had shrunk into four ; at least, that in not more than 
 four were the English laws obeyed and executed. For 
 Davies, in speaking of the Acts called Poyning's Laws, 
 after alleging that they were intended for all Ireland, 
 is forced to confess that they were executed only 
 within a very limited portion of that countiy. His 
 words, at p. 177, are : 
 
 " And that the execution of all these laws had no 
 greater latitude than the Pale, is manifest by the sta- 
 tute of 13th Henry the Eighth, c. 3, which recites, 
 ' that at that time the King's laws were obeyed and 
 executed in the four shires only ;' and yet the Earl of 
 Surrey was then Lieutenant of Ireland, a governor 
 much feared of the King's enemies, and exceedingly 
 honoured and beloved of the King's subjects. An ' 
 the instructions given by the State of Ireland to John 
 Allen, Master of the Rolls, employed in England near 
 
CHAP, l] proofs, etc. 55 
 
 about the same time, do declare as mucli ; wherein, 
 among other things, he is required to advertise the 
 King that his land of Ireland was so much decayed, 
 that the King-'s laws were not obeyed twenty miles in 
 jcompass. W^hereupon grew that byword used by the 
 Irish, viz., ' That they dwelt by west the law, which 
 dwelt beyond the river of the Barrow ;' which is within 
 thirty miles of Dublin. The same is testified by 
 Baron Fingias, in his discourse of the decay of Ire- 
 land, which he wrote about the twentieth year of King 
 Henry the Eighth." 
 
 It will be a matter of astonishment that the Eng- 
 lish dominion had shrunk into the narrow limits 
 of four counties, to any person acquainted with the 
 hideous system of daily recurring misrule and tyranny 
 which was constantly practised towards the Irish, as 
 well as towards the Vv^eaker portion of the English 
 Bettlers, by the more powerful of the English lords 
 and proprietors. These proprietors adopted and ex- 
 aggerated the most oppressive portions of the English 
 feudal system, and they added to that every injustice 
 committed by the more powerful upon the weak 
 amongst the natives. The foUoAving passage from 
 Davies (p. 131) will sliow what must have been the 
 effects of such accumulated oppressions ; especially as 
 they were practised vrith little intermission for move 
 than four centuries : 
 
 " The most wicked and mischievous custom of all, 
 was that of 'coin and livery,' which consisted in 
 taking of man's meat, horse meat, and money, of all 
 the inhabitants of the country, at the will and plea- 
 sure of the soldier ; who, as the phrase of the Scrip- 
 ture is, did eat iqo the peo'ple as it were bread ; for 
 that he had no other entertainment. This extortion 
 was originally Irish ; for they used to lay bonaght* 
 upon their people, and never gave their soldier any 
 other pay. But when the English had learnt it, they 
 
 * "Bonaght" was the Irish term for billeting of soldiers, 'With aright 
 to be maintained in food. 
 
56 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 used it with more insolence, and made it more in- 
 tolerable ; for this oppression was not temporary, nor 
 limited either to place or time ; but because there 
 was everywhere a continual war, either offensive or 
 defensive, and every lord of a country, and every 
 marcher, made war and peace at his pleasure, it be- 
 came universal and perpetual ; and indeed was the 
 most heavy oppression that ever was used in any 
 Christian or heathen kingdom. And, therefore, vox 
 oxjpressorum, this crying sin did draw down as great 
 or greater plagues upon Ireland, than the opx)ression 
 of the Israelites did draw upon the land of Egypt. 
 For the plagues of Egypt, though they were grievous, 
 were but of a short continuance ; but the plagues of 
 Ireland lasted four hundred years together." 
 
 The natural consequences followed ; they may as 
 well, and cannot be better described, than in the 
 words of Davies : 
 
 " This extortion of coin and livery produced two 
 notorious effects : first, it made the land waste ; next, 
 it made the people idle ; for when the husbandman 
 had laboured all the year, the soldier in one night 
 consumed the fruits of all his labour — longique perit 
 labor irritus anni. Had he reason then to manure 
 the land for the next year 1 Or rather, might he not 
 complain as the shepherd in Virgil : 
 
 *' ' Impius ha3C tam ciilta iiovalia miles habebit ? 
 Barbarus has segetes ? En quo discordia cives 
 Perduxit miseros ? En quels consevimus agroa ?' 
 
 And hereupon of necessity came depopulation, 
 banishment, and extirpation of the better sort of sub- 
 jects ; and such as remained became idle and lookers- 
 on, expecting the event of those miseries and evil 
 times : so as their extreme extortion and oppression 
 hath been the true cause of the idleness of this Irisli 
 nation ; and that rather the vulgar sort have chosen 
 to be beggars in foreign countries, than to manure 
 their fruitful land at home." (pp. 132, 133.) 
 
CHAP. I.] PEOOFS, ETC. 57 
 
 The same result is produced by the oppression of 
 the present day. The Irish for four centuries suffered 
 the miseries of " coin and livery," as they now suffer 
 from tithes and absentee rents. They are still driven, 
 not as beggars, but as labourers, to foreign lands, and 
 to cultivate every soil but their own. 
 
 Thus, during four centuries, the property of the 
 Irish had no protection. An Irishman could not 
 maintain an action in the English courts of law, no 
 matter what injury might be done to his property. 
 An Irishman had no protection for his person or 
 his life. It was not, in point of law, a trespass, or 
 punishable as such in any action or civil suit, to beat, 
 or wound, or imprison. To murder him by the basest 
 mode of assassination was no felony nor crime in the 
 eye of the law. "We have seen witli what perfect im- 
 punity he could be and was plundered, under the 
 names of " coin and livery." 
 
 It might be supposed by some, that the Irish were 
 unwilling to receive the English laws, or to be received 
 into the condition of subjects. The Attorney-General, 
 Davies, however, tells us the contrary. At p. 87, he 
 puts the question thus : — 
 
 " But perhaps the Irish in former times did wilfully 
 refuse to be subject to the laws of England, and would 
 not be partakers of the benefit thereof, though the 
 Crown of England did desire it; and therefore they 
 were reputed aliens, outlaws, and enemies 1 Assuredly 
 the conti-ary doth appear." 
 
 And in page 101, he expressly declares — 
 
 " That for the space of two hundred years at least, 
 after the first arrival of Henry the Second in Ireland, 
 the Irish would have gladly embraced the laAvs of 
 England, and did earnestly desire the benefit and pro- 
 tection thereof ; which, being denied them, did of 
 necessity cause a continual bordering war between the 
 English and Irish." 
 
 It does, indeed, appear that the reason why that wise 
 monarch, King Edward III., did not extend the bene- 
 
58 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 fit of English protection and English law to the Irish 
 people, was, that the great lords of Ireland — the 
 Wicklows, the Stanleys, and the Rodens of the day — 
 certified to the King — 
 
 " That the Irish might not be naturalized without 
 being of damage or prejudice to them, the said lords, 
 or to the Crown." 
 
 This appears by a writ, directed by that monarch 
 to the Lord Justice of Ireland, commanding him to 
 consult and take the opinion of the great lords of 
 Ireland, with the return thereon, amon^^'st the roUs 
 in the Tower of London, quoted at length by Davies, 
 at p. 88. 
 
 I will refer, for the present, only to one passage 
 more in the Tracts of that Attorney-General, in fur- 
 ther illustration of the text of my first chapter. It is 
 to be found at page 90 : — 
 
 " This, then, I note as a great defect in the civil 
 policy of this kingdom ; in that, for the space of three 
 hundred and fifty years at least after the conquest 
 first attempted, the English laws were not communi- 
 cated to the Irish, nor the benefit and protection 
 thereof allowed unto them, though they earnestly 
 desired and sought the same : for as long as they 
 were out of the protection of the law, so as every 
 Englishman might oppress, spoil, and kill them with- 
 out control, how was it possible they should be other 
 than outlaws and enemies to the CroM^n of England 1 
 If the King would not admit them to the condition of 
 subjects, how could they learn to acknowledge and 
 obey him as their sovereign 1 When they migiit not 
 converse or commerce with any civil man, nor enter 
 into any town or city without peril of their lives ; 
 whither should they fly but into the woods and 
 mountains, and there live in a wild and barbarous 
 manner ]" 
 
 The passages which I have already quoted, show 
 that the Irish sought for, but could not obtain, any 
 species of legal protection. It would be too tedious 
 
CHAP. I.] PEOOFS. ETC. 59 
 
 to enter into a detail of all tlie horrors inflicted upon 
 them by the lawless power and treachery of the Eng- 
 lish settlers. Notlving could be more common than 
 scenes of premeditated slaughter — massacres perpe- 
 trated under the guise of friendly intercourse, into 
 which the natives permitted themselves to be betrayed. 
 No faith was kept with the Irish : no treaty noi 
 agreement was observed any longer than it was the 
 interest of the English settlers to observe it, — or whilst 
 they were not strong enough to violate it with safetj'-. 
 
 It would be equally shocking and tedious to recite 
 all the well-attested acts of cruelty and perfidy which 
 were perpetrated on the Irish people by the order or 
 connivance of the English Government. There is in 
 the College of Dublin a State Paper of considerable 
 importance. It is a memorial presented by a Captain 
 Thomas Lee, drawn up with great care and with very 
 singular ability, written about the year 1594, and ad- 
 dressed to Queen Elizabeth, giving her a detailed 
 account of the real state of Ireland. It was a confi- 
 dential document, for the personal information of the 
 Queen. I shall have occasion to extract many pas- 
 sages of it. In the meantime, I will give, from othe? 
 authors, two or three instances only, of the horrible 
 cruelty exercised towards the Iiish by the English 
 governors. 
 
 My first quotation is from Leland's Hi story of Ire- 
 land, Book iv. He tells us, chap. 2, that when, in 
 the year 1579, the garrison of Smerwick, in Kerry,' 
 surrendered upon mercy to Lord Deputy Gray, he 
 ordered upwards of seven hundred of them to be put 
 to the sword or hanged. 
 
 " That mercy for which they sued was rigidly denied 
 them ; Wingfield was commissioned to disarm them ; 
 and when this service was performed, an English com- 
 
 Eany was sent into the fort and the garrison was 
 utchered in cold blood : nor is it without pain that 
 we find a service so horrid, so detestable, committed 
 to Sir Walter Raleigh/' 
 
60 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 It also appears that for this and such other exploits, 
 Sir Walter Kaleigh had 40,000 acres of land bestowed 
 upon him in the county of Cork, which he afterwards 
 sold to Richard, first Earl of Cork. 
 
 The next instance is almost contemporaneous. It 
 introduces another historic name. Shortly before the 
 same year, 1579 — 
 
 " Walter, Earl of Essex, on the conclusion of a 
 peace, invited Brian O'Nial of Claneboy, with a great 
 number of his relations, to an entertainment, where 
 they lived together in great harmony, making good 
 cheer for three days and nights ; when, on a sudden, 
 O'Nial was surprised with an arrest, together with 
 his brother and his wife, by the Earl's orders. His 
 friends were put to the sword before his face, nor 
 were the women and children spared. He was him- 
 self, with his brother and wife, sent to Dublin, where 
 they were cut in quarters. This increased the dis- 
 affection, and produced the detestation of all the 
 Irish : for this cliieftain of Claneboy was the senior 
 of his family, and as he had been universally 
 esteemed, so he was now as universally regretted." — 
 MS. Trinity College, Dublin. 
 
 The next instance I shall mention, occurred in the 
 year 1577. It is thus introduced by Morrison the 
 historian (foHo edition, p. 3) : — 
 
 "After the 19th year of Queen Elizabeth, videlicit, 
 anno 1577, the Lords of Connaught and O'Rorke," 
 says Morrison, " made a composition for their lands 
 with Sir Nicholas Malby, governor of that province ; 
 wherein they were content to yield the Queen so large 
 a rent and such services, both of labourers to work 
 upon occasion of fortifying, and of horse and foot to 
 serve upon occasion of war, that their minds seemed 
 not yet to be alienated from their wonted awe and 
 reverence to the Crown of England. Yet, in the same 
 year, a horrible massacre was committed by the 
 English at Mulloghmaston on some hundreds of the 
 most peaceable of the Irish gentry, invited thither 
 
CHAP. I.] PEOOFS, ETC. 61 
 
 on the public faith and under the protection of Govern- 
 ment." 
 
 The manner of this massacre appears to have been 
 this (the spot is now part of the King's County) : — 
 
 "The English published a proclamation, inviting 
 all the well-affected Irish to an interview on the Rath- 
 more, at MuUoghmaston, engaging at the same time 
 for their security, and that no evil was intended. In 
 consequence of this engagement, the well-aflfccted 
 came to Rathmore aforesaid ; and soon after they 
 were assembled, they found themselves surrounded 
 by three or four lines of English horse and foot com- 
 pletely accoutred, by whom they were ungenerously 
 attacked and cut to pieces ; and not a single man 
 escaped."* • 
 
 This seems to be one of the massacres particularly 
 alluded to by Captain Lee in his memorial. Speak- 
 ing of the treachery and cruelty of the English go- 
 vernors of Ireland, he says : — 
 
 " They have drawn unto them by protection, three 
 
 * There is the following more detailed account of this massacre in 
 the quarto edition of Leland's History, printed in Dublin by Marchbank 
 and Moncricffe, in 1773. Here are Leland's words : — 
 
 "The Irish MS. annals of this reign mention a verj' dishonourable trans- 
 action of this lord on his return to Ulster. It is here given in a literal 
 translation from the Irish, with which the author was favoured by 
 Jlr. O'Connor, anno 1745. 
 
 " ' A solemn peace and concord was made between the Earl of Essex 
 and Phelim O'Xiall, however, at a feast wherein the Earl entertained 
 that chieftain ; and at the end of their good cheer O'Niall and his wife 
 were seized ; their friends who attended were put to the sword before 
 their faces ; Phelim, together with his wife and brother, was conveyed 
 to Dublin, where they were cut up in quarters. This execution gave 
 universal discontent and horror.' 
 
 "In like manner, these annals assure ns, that a few years after, the 
 Irish chieftains of the King's and Queen's counties were invited by the 
 English to a treaty of accommodation ; but wlien they arrived at the 
 place of conference, they were instantly surrounded by troops, and all 
 butchered on the spot. Such relations would be the more surprising if 
 these annals, in general, expressed great virulence against the English 
 and their government ; but they do not appear to differ essentially from 
 the printed histories, except in the minuteness with w'"ch they "record 
 the local transactions and adventures of the Irish, and i'^^'^times they 
 expj-essly condemn their countrymen for their ' rebellions against their 
 prince.' "—Book iv., chap. 2, vol. ii., p. 237, (Note.) 
 
62 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 or four hundred of these country people, under colour 
 to do your Majesty's service, and brought them to a 
 place of meeting, where your garrison soldiers were 
 appointed to be, who have there most dishonourably 
 put them all to the sword ; and this hath been by the 
 consent and practice of the lord deputy for the time 
 being/' 
 
 Perhaps the instances of cruelty to individuals and 
 to private families are more heart-rending than the 
 wholesale massacres to which I have referred. The 
 following quotation is from Monison's History of 
 Ireland^ (foHo, p. 10) : — 
 
 "About the year 1590 died M'Mahon, chieftain of 
 Monaghan, who, in his lifetime, had surrendered his 
 country into her jMajestys hands, and received a re- 
 grant thereof under the broad seal of England, to him 
 and to his heirs male ; and in default of such, to his 
 brother Hugh Roe jNI'Mahon, with other remainders. 
 And this man djdng without issue male, his said 
 brother came up to the state, that he might be settled 
 in his inheritance, hoping that he might be counte- 
 nanced and cherished as her Majesty's patentee. But 
 he found, as the Irish say, he could not be admitted 
 until he promised six hundred cows ; for such, and 
 no other, were the Irish bribes. He was afterwards 
 imprisoned for failing in part of his payment • and in 
 a few days enlarged, with promise that tne lord 
 deputy himself would go and settle him in his county 
 of Monaghan ; whither his lordship took his journey 
 shortly after, with M'Mahon in his company. At 
 their first arrival the gentleman was clapt into bolts • 
 and in two days after Jie was indicted, arraigned, and 
 executed at his own door ; all done, as the Irish said, 
 by such officers as the lord deputy carried with him 
 for that purpose from Dublin. The treason for which 
 he was condemned was, because, two years before, he, 
 pretending a rent due under him out of Fearney, 
 levied forces and made a distress for the same, which, 
 by the English law, adds my author, may perhaps 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 63 
 
 be treason ; but in that country, never before subject 
 to law, it was tliouglit no rare thing nor great oftence. 
 The marshal, Sir Henry Bagnal, had. part of the 
 country ; Captain Hensflower was made seneschal of 
 it, and had M'Mahon's chief house and part of the 
 land ; and to divers others, smaller portions of land 
 were assigned ; and the Irish spared not to say that 
 these men were all the contrivers of his death, and 
 that every one was paid something for his share." 
 
 Another instance I select from a multitude of simi- 
 lar cases mentioned by Lee in his memorial. 
 
 " The Irish who have once offended," says Lee, in 
 his memorial to Elizabeth "live they never so honestly 
 afterwards, if they grov/ into wealth, are sure to be 
 cut off by one indirect way or other." 
 
 Of this he gives the following melancholy instance : 
 
 "In one of her ^lajesty's civil shires, there lived 
 an Irishman peaceably and quietly as a good subject, 
 many years together, wherel)y he grew into great 
 wealth ; which his landlord thirsting after, and desi- 
 rous to remove him from his land, entered into prac- 
 tice with the sheriff of the shire to despatch this 
 simple man, and divide his goods between them. 
 Whereupon they sent one of his own servants for him, 
 and he coming with him, they presently took the man 
 and hanged him ; and, keeping the master prisoner, 
 they went immediately to his dwelling and shared 
 his substance, whicli was of great value, between them, 
 turning his wife and many children to begging. After 
 they had kept Inm (the master) fast for a season with 
 the sheriff, tliey carried him to the castle of Dublin, 
 where he lay bye the space of two or three terms ; 
 and he, having no matter objected against him where- 
 upon to be tried by law, they, by their credit and 
 countenance, being both English gentlemen, and he 
 who was the landlord the chiefest man in the shire, 
 informed the lord deputy so hardly of him, as that, 
 without indictment or trial, they executed him, to the 
 great scandal of her Majesty's state, and the impeach- 
 
64 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 ment of her laws. Yet this, and the like exemplary 
 justice," adds he, "is ministered to your Majestj'^s 
 poor subjects there." 
 
 Individual instances of this kind make oppression 
 more familiar to the human mind, and leave a stronger 
 impression on the recollection, from their individu- 
 ality. They also illustrate the working of the system. 
 They, in fact, bring it home more pointedly and dis- 
 tinctly to the eye of reason and common sense. But 
 we must not lose sight of the more general de- 
 scription of crimes perpetrated by the Government, 
 and with the sanction of the persons who from time 
 to time acted as the Sovereign's deputies at the head 
 of that Government. 
 
 Here is a passage of this description from the same 
 memorial : — 
 
 " There have also been divers others pardoned by 
 your Majesty, who have been held very dangerous 
 men, and after their pardon have lived very dutifully, 
 and done your Majesty great service ; yet upon small 
 suggestions to the lord deputy that they should be 
 spoilers of jour Majesty's subjects, notwithstanding 
 their pardon, there have been bonds demanded of 
 them for their appearance at the next sessions. 
 They, knowing themselves guiltless, have most will- 
 ingly entered into bonds, and appeared ; and there 
 (no matter being found to charge them) they have 
 been arraigned only for being in company with some 
 of your Majesty's servitors, at the killing of notorious 
 known traitors, and for that only have been con- 
 demned of treason, and lost their lives ! And this 
 dishonest practice hath been by the consent of your 
 deputies." 
 
 But it was not treachery alone, however hideous 
 and sanguinary, which formed, as it were, the princi- 
 pal ingredient'in the English Government of Ireland. 
 Direct assassination — wholesale assassination — was 
 another instrument of that Government ! In shorty 
 there were no crimes that man ever perpetrated 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 65 
 
 against man, or that fiends of hell, in their satanic 
 malignity, ever invented, which were not actually 
 made portion of the familiar mode by which the 
 English managed the government of Ireland during 
 the period alluded to in the first chapter, and to 
 which these illustrations refer. 
 
 Let me give one specimen more, from the same 
 memorial of wholesale villany : — 
 
 "When there have been notable traitors in arms 
 against your Majesty, and sums of money oflfered for 
 their heads, yet could by no means be compassed, 
 they have in the end (of their own accord) made 
 means for their pardon, offering to do great service, 
 which they have accordindy performed, to the con- 
 tentment of the State, and thereby received pardon, 
 and have put in sureties for their good behaviour, 
 and to be answerable at all times at assizes and 
 sessions, when they should be called ; yet, notmth- 
 standing, there have been secret commissions given 
 for the murdering of these men " ! ! ! 
 
 It is scarcely credible theso things should be done 
 by a Government calling itself Christian, and by a 
 people calling themselves Christians. 
 
 Yet, they are facts — recorded of an English 
 Protestant Government and people ; not by Catholic 
 or inimical writers, but by Protestant historians and 
 Protestant ofii-cers, high in command and authority 
 under the Protestant Crown of England : such docu- 
 ments being addressed in general to the Sovereign ; 
 and being, as to the statement of facts, of the most 
 unimpeachable authenticity. 
 
 Here is another specimen : 
 
 " When, upon the death of a great lord of a country, 
 there hath been another nominated, chosen, and 
 created, he hath been entertained with fair speeches, 
 taken down into his country, and for the offences of 
 other men indictments have been framed against him, 
 whereupon he hath been found guilty, and so lost his 
 life ; which hath bred such terror in other great lords 
 
 E 
 
66 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 of the like measure, as maketh them stand upon those 
 terms which they now do," 
 
 Another specimen : 
 
 " A great part of that unqnietness of O'Donnell's 
 country, came by Sir Vv^illiam Fitzwilliams his placing 
 of one Willis there to be sheriff ; who had with him 
 three hundred of the veryrascals and scum, of that king- 
 dom, which did rob and spoil that people, ravish their 
 wives and daughters, and make havoc of all, which 
 bred such a discontentment, as that the Avhole country 
 was up in arms against them, so as if the Earl of 
 Tyrone had imt rescued and delivered him and them 
 out of the countiy, they had all been put to the 
 sword." 
 
 The savages of New Zealand never were, nor could 
 have been, guilty of such barbarities, as were the 
 monsters who administered the English Government 
 in Ireland. Here is another description of the state 
 of Ireland in the reign of Edward the Second. I 
 insert it to show that at the distance of centuries the 
 British policy in Ireland was the same. It is taken 
 from the History of Ireland written by a distin- 
 guished Protestant clergyman named Leland. These 
 are his words : — 
 
 " The oppression exercised with impunity in every 
 particular district ; the depredations everywhere com- 
 mitted among the inferior orders of the people, not 
 by open enemies alone, but by those who call them- 
 selves friends and protectors, and vvho justified their 
 outrages on the plea of lawful authority ; their avarice 
 and cruelty, their plundering and massacres, were 
 still more ruinous than the defeat of an army, or the 
 loss of a city ! The wretched sufferers had neither 
 power to repel, nor law to restrain or vindicate their 
 injuries. In times of general commotion, laws the 
 most wisely framed, and most equitably administered, 
 are but of little moment. But now the very source of 
 public justice was corrupted and poisoned." — Leland, 
 Book ii. chap. 3. 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 67 
 
 In a previoas passage, Leland had given lis the real 
 cause why this horrible state of misgovernment was 
 continued; and we find the very same principle in 
 existence which actuates the conduct of the great 
 Orange leaders of the present day : — 
 
 "The true cause which for a long time fatally 
 opposed the gradual coalition of the Irish and Eng- 
 lish race under one form of government, was, that the 
 great English settlers found it more for their immediate 
 interest, that a free course should be left to their 
 oppressions ; that many of those whose lands they 
 coveted should be considered as aliens ; that they 
 should be furnished for their petty wars by arbitrary 
 exactions ; and, in their rapines and massacres, be 
 freed from the terrors of a rigidly impartial and 
 severe tribunal." — Leland, Book ii. chap. 1. 
 
 I give another passage from the same Protestant 
 clergyman, Leland ; because it describes^ the modus 
 agendi in the oppression of the Irish, by giying power 
 and authority to persons resident in Ireland, who 
 affected to be the only friends of the English interest. 
 It is just the story of the Orangeists of the present 
 day. Power was given, and the administration of 
 affairs committed, to the persons whose only attach- 
 ment to English connexion Avas, that it gave them 
 the means of committing crime with impunity. 
 These persons fabricated, outrages, or exaggerated 
 any crimes that might have been really committed. 
 They were accordingly entrusted with authority to 
 put down disturbances and preserve the peace. That 
 power they naturally, and, indeed, necessarily abused. 
 But I had better use the words of Leland himself : — 
 
 "Riot, rapine, and massacre, and all the tremen- 
 dous effects of anarchy, were the natural conse- 
 quences. Every inconsiderable party, who, under 
 pretence of loyalty, received the Kino-'s commission 
 to repel the adversary ih some particular district, 
 became pestilent enemies to the inhabitants. Their 
 properties, their lives, the chastity of their families 
 
68 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 were all exposed to barbarians, who sought only to 
 glut their brutal passions : and by their horrible 
 excesses, saith the annalist, purchased the curse of 
 God and man." — Lelancl, Book ii. chap. 3, 
 
 That these disorders and crimes were encouraged, 
 or at least not discountenanced, either in the words 
 or by the example of the English viceroys, is a 
 melancholy fact, that appears in every page of Irish 
 history. They could not, without arrant hypocrisy, 
 discourage in others that which they practised on a 
 larger scale themselves. The following is the general 
 account given of the Irish viceroys, by the same Pro- 
 testant historian whom I have so often quoted : — 
 
 " At a distance from the supreme seat of power, and 
 with the advantage of being able to make such re- 
 presentations of the state of Ireland as they pleased, 
 the English vicegerents acted with the less reserve. 
 They were generally tempted to undertake the conduct 
 of a disordered State, for the sake of private emolu- 
 ment, and their object was pursued without delicacy 
 or integrity ; sometimes with inhuman violence." — 
 Leland, Book iii. chap. 1. 
 
 Speaking of the departure of one of them, in the reign 
 of Henry the Sixth, Leland has a short passage, which, 
 with a small variation in phrase, might serve as the 
 general character of the English governors of Ire- 
 land : — 
 
 "Furnival (chief governor) departed with the 
 execration of all those, clergy and laity alike, whose 
 lands he had ravaged, whose castles he had seized, 
 whose fortunes had been impaired by his extortion 
 and exactions, or who had shared in the distress 
 arising from the debts he left undischarged." — Leland^ 
 Book iii. chap. 1. 
 
 It will be perceived that the English governors be- 
 haved with the same impartial and indiscriminate 
 treachery and cruelty to the descendants of the Eng- 
 lish and to the native Irish themselves. Nothing 
 can exceed the baseness of the means which were 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 69 
 
 unblushingly resorted to by the monster Government 
 of Ireland. I select as an instance, from Hollinshed's 
 Chronicles, the mode in which, in the reign of Henry 
 the Eighth, the insurrection of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald 
 was terminated. Perjury, murder, and blasphemy so 
 richly concur in capping the climax of atrocity and 
 baseness, that it may alone serve to demonstrate the 
 spirit in which Ireland was governed. The passage 
 from Hollinshed is this : — 
 
 " With Fitzgerald, Sir William Brereton skirmished 
 so fiercelie, as both the sides were rather for the great 
 slaughter disadvantaged, than either part by anie 
 great victory furthered. Master Brereton, therefore, 
 perceiving that rough nets were not the fittest to take 
 such peart birds, gave his advice to the lord deputie 
 to grow with Fitzgerald by faire means to some rea- 
 sonable composition. The deputie liking of the 
 motion, craved a parlie, sending certayne of the Eng- 
 lish as hostages to Thomas his campe, with a protec- 
 tion directed unto him, to come and go at will and 
 pleasure. Being upon this securitie in conference 
 with Lord Greie, he was persuaded to submit himselfe 
 unto the King his mercie, with the governour's faith- 
 full and undoubted promise that he should be par- 
 doned upon his repaire into England. And to the 
 end that no treachery might be misdeemed of either 
 side, they both received the sacrament openlie in the 
 campe, as an infallible seale of the covenants and 
 conditions of either part agreed ! Heerupon Thomas 
 Fitzgerald, sore against the willes of his councellors, 
 dismist his armie, and rode with the deputie to Dub- 
 lin, where he made short abode, when he sailed to 
 England with the favourable ]etters of the governour 
 and the councell. And as he Avould have taken his 
 journeie to Windsore where the Court laie, he was 
 intercepted contrarie to his expectation in London 
 waie, and conveied without halt into the towre ! and 
 before his imprisonment was bruited, letters were 
 posted into Ireland, streictlie commanding the deputie 
 
70 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 upon sight of tlieni, to apprehend Thomas Fitzgerald 
 his uncles, and to see them with all convenient speed 
 shipt into England, which the lord deputie did not 
 slacke. For, having feasted three of the gentlemen 
 at Kilmainan, immediately after their banket (as it 
 is nowe and then scene that sweet meate will have 
 sowre sauce), he caused them to be manacled, and led 
 as prisoners to the castell of Dublin ! and the oth«r 
 two were so roundlie snatcht up in villages hard 
 by, as they sooner felt their own captivitie, than 
 they had notice of their brethren's calamitie ! The 
 next wind that served into England, these five bre- 
 thren were embarked, to wit, James FitzgerakV, 
 Walter Fitzgerald, Oliver Fitzgerald, John Fitz- 
 gerald, and Eichard Fitzgerald. Three of these 
 gentlemen, James, Walter, and Eichard, were knowne 
 to have crossed their nephue Thomas to their power, 
 in his rebellion ; and therefore were not occasioned 
 to misdoubt anie danger ! But such as in those dales 
 were enemies to the house, incensed the King so sore 
 against it, persuading him that he should never con- 
 quer Ireland as long as anie Geraldine breathed in 
 the countrie : as for making the pathwaie smooth, he 
 was resolved to lop off as well the good and sound 
 grapes as the wild and f ruitlesse berries ; whereby ap- 
 peareth how dangerous it is to be a rub, when a king 
 is disposed to sweepe an alley." — Hollinshed, vi. 302. 
 
 " Thomas Fitzgerald, the 3rd of February, and these 
 five brethren his uncles, v^ere hanged, drawne, and 
 quartered at Tyburne, which was incontinently bruited 
 as well in England and Ireland as in foreign soiles." 
 Idem. 303. _ 
 
 One incident during tlie war with Lord Thomas 
 Fitzgerald, is worth recording : — 
 
 " One hundred and forty of his (viz., Lord Thomas 
 Fitzgerald's) gallowglasses had the misfortune to be 
 intercepted and made prisoners ; and as intelligence 
 was received that the rebels advanced and prepared to 
 give battle, Skefiington (the governor), with a bar- 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 71 
 
 barons precaution, ordered these wretches to be 
 slaughtered ; an order so eflectually executed, that 
 but one of all the number escaped the carnage." — 
 Leland, Book iii. chap. 6. 
 
 It should be kept in mind that, during the period 
 of four hundred years and upwards, the usual mode 
 of governing both English and Irish within the juris- 
 diction of the Anglican Government, was by martial 
 law ; which was treated as if it reaUy formed part of 
 the common law of Ireland. The abstract of a com- 
 mission to execute martial law, as given by HoUin- 
 shed, is worth recording : — 
 
 " The lord justice from Waterford, upon notice ol 
 the trouble dailie increasing, sent a commission of 
 the eleventh of Februarie, to Sir Warham Sentleger 
 to be provost marshall, authorising him to proceed 
 according to the course of marshaU law against all 
 offenders, as the nature of his or their offences did 
 merit and deserve ; so that the partie offender bee 
 not able to dispend fortie shillings by the yeare in 
 land or annuitie, or be not woorth ten pounds in 
 goods ; also that upon good cawses he male parlie 
 and talke with anie rebell, and grant liim a pro- 
 tection for ten dales : that he shall banish all idlers 
 and sturdy beggars : that he shall apprehend aiders 
 of outlav/s and thee\es, and execute all idle persons 
 taken by night ! that he shall give in the name and 
 names of such as shall refuse to aid and assist him : 
 that in doing of his service he shall take horse meat 
 and man's meat where he list, in anie man's house for 
 one night ; that everie gentleman and nobleman doo 
 deliver him a book of all the names of their servants - 
 and followers ; that he shall put in execution all 
 statutes against merchants and other penal laws, and 
 the same to see to be read and j)ublished in every 
 church by the parson and curate of the same : and 
 that he doo everie month certifie the lord justice how 
 many persons, and of their offences and qualities, that 
 he shall execute and put to death ! with sundrie other 
 
72 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 articles, which generallie are comprised in every com- 
 iiiission for the marshall law." — Hollinslicd, vi. 429. 
 
 This is given only as a specimen. It is mentioned 
 as a common practice, and is spoken of thus by one 
 of the chief governors. He talks, it will be seen, of 
 " giving this power to sundrie ;" so that he was not at 
 all scrupulous as to the persons to whom he com- 
 mitted it : — 
 
 " I also granted unto sundrie, power to execute the 
 martiall lawe, and left authoritie with Sir Edmond 
 Butler and Patrick Sherlock to levie and entertayne 
 men to prosecute the outlawes, and such as no man 
 would answere for. I have herde that since that tyme 
 some have been executed." — Sydney, i. 21. 
 
 That persons were executed by martial law in time 
 of profound peace is indisputable. 
 
 "The Lord Dillon affirmed that martial law had 
 been practised, and men hanged by it in times of 
 peace. — Nalson^ ii. 60. 
 
 I shall make one quotation more to establish the 
 fact that it was considered in Ireland that the officers 
 of the Crown could supersede the common law, 
 whenever they pleased, by substituting trial by court 
 martial. 
 
 " Martial law is so frequent and ordinary in Ireland, 
 that it is not to be denied ; and so little offensive 
 there, that the common law takes no exception at 
 it" ! ! \—Rushworth, viii. 198. 
 
 The manner in which the execution of the martial 
 law worked, we can discover from the foUomng 
 instance, which I find in Cox's History of Ireland : — 
 * " The Earl of Ormond's officers made a complaint 
 against Lovell, Sheriff of the county of Kilkenny, 
 that he had executed martial law on several felons 
 that had lands and goods, which would be forfeited to 
 the Earl by their attainders, and that the Sherifl' took 
 those lands and goods to his own use." — Cox, 395. 
 
 The result of all these grievances and oppressions 
 was the almost total secession from Enghsh power, 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 73 
 
 even of the parts of Ireland that had been overrun by 
 the English and submitted to English authority. 
 
 There has been lately published a document, from 
 which a few extracts will give a thorough insight into 
 the real state of Ireland so late as the reign of Henry 
 the Eighth. The document I allude to is to be found 
 in the 2nd volume of the State Papers, lately pub- 
 lished under the authority of a commission from the 
 Crown, containing State papei'S of the reign of Henry 
 VIII. ; and appears to have been a representation 
 made to that monarch of the state of Ireland, and a 
 plan for its reformation. It shows that there were no 
 less than eight counties, which, though shire land, 
 yet did not recognize the authority of England : and 
 five other counties, one-half of each of which equally 
 disclaimed the English authority; including in these 
 counties, even the county of Dublin itself. There 
 were, besides, no less than sixty districts, called " re- 
 gions," wliich were altogether under the dominion 
 and authority of Irish chieftains ; and, what will seem 
 still more surprising to those who are unacquainted 
 with the history of Ireland, there were no less than 
 thirty other " regions," or districts, under the sway 
 and authority of chieftains ot pure English descent, 
 but who did not acknowledge or submit to the autho- 
 rity of the English Government. It is better to give 
 the very words of the document ; and first, as relates 
 to the Irish "regions," we find the following pas- 
 sage : — 
 
 " And fyrst of all, to make his Grace understande 
 that there byn more than 60 countrys, called regyons, 
 in Ireland, inhabyted with the King's Irish enemies : 
 some region as big as a shire, some more, some less 
 unto a little ; some as big as half a shire, and some a 
 little less ; where reigneth more than 60 chief captains, 
 whereof some calleth themselves kings, some king'^ 
 peers in their language, some princes, some dukes, 
 some archdukes, that liveth only by the sworde, and 
 obeyeth to no other temporal person, but only to him- 
 
74 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 self that is strong : and every of the said captains 
 maketh war and peace for himself, and holdeth by 
 sworde, and hath imperial jurisdiction within his 
 rome, and obeyeth to no other person English or Irish, 
 except only to such persons as may subdue him by 
 the sworde." 
 
 Next, with regard to the English chieftains^ there 
 is this passage : — 
 
 "Also, there is more than 30 great captains of 
 the English noble folk, that followeth the same Irish 
 order, and keepeth the same rule, and every of them 
 maketh war and peace for himself without any licence 
 of the King, or of any other temporal person, save to 
 him that is strongest, and of such that may subdue 
 them by the sworde." 
 
 Next, as to the counties that had thrown off the 
 English authority, we have this passage : — 
 
 "Here followeth the names of the counties that 
 obey not the King's laws, and have neither justice, 
 neither sheriffs, under the King :— 
 County of Waterfford. County of Carlagh.f 
 County of Corke. County of Uryell. J 
 
 County of Kilkenny. County of Meathe.^ 
 
 County of Lymeryk. Halfe the county of Dublin. 
 
 County of Kerry. Halfe the county of Kildare. 
 
 County of Conaught. Halfe the county of Wex- 
 
 County of Wolster.'^" ford. 
 
 " All the English f olke of the said counties be of 
 Irish habit, of Irish language, and Irish conditions, 
 except the cities and the walled towns." 
 
 It will be observed that the entire of Connaught 
 was considered at that time as but one county, though 
 it now contains several ; and the entire of Ulster was 
 named but as one county, though it has now many. 
 From the next passage we see what a miserably 
 stnall portion of Ireland acknowledged the authority 
 of the English monarch : — 
 
 * /.e., Ulster. f Carlow. t ^lonaghan. § Westmeath. 
 
PKOOFS, ETC. 75 
 
 " Here foUoweth the names of the counties subject 
 unto the King's laws : — 
 
 Halfe the county of Uryell,"^ by estimation, 
 Halfe the county of Meath.f 
 Halfe the county. of Dublin. 
 Halfe the county of Kildare. 
 Halfe the county of Wexford. 
 
 " All the common people of the said halfe counties, 
 that obeyeth the King's laws, for the more part be ol 
 Irish birth, of Irish habit, and of Irish language." 
 
 It will be seen from another extract how completely 
 the independence of the Irish chieftains was recog- 
 nized by all the English constituted authorities, such 
 as they were : — ' 
 
 " Here followeth the names of the English counties 
 that bear tribute to the wylde Irish : — 
 
 '• The barony of Lecchahill in the county of Wolster, 
 to the captain of Clanhuboy, payetli yearly £40 • or 
 else to Oneyll, whether of them be strongest. The 
 county of Uryell payeth yearly to the great Oneyll, 
 £40. The county of Meatlie payeth yearly to O'Conor, 
 .£300. The county of Kyldare payeth yearly to the 
 said O'Conor, £20. The King's Exchequer payeth 
 yearly to M'Morough, 80 marks. The county of 
 Wexford payetli yearly to ISI'Morough and to Arte 
 Oboy, £40. The county of Kilkenny and the county 
 of Tipperary pay yearly to O'Carroll, £40. The 
 county of Limerick payeth yearly to O'Brien Arraghe, 
 in English money, £40. The same county of Limerick 
 payetli yearly to the great O'Brien, in English money, 
 £40. The county of Cork to Corniac iNl'Teyge ])ayeth 
 yearly in English money, £40. Sunima, £740.'^ 
 
 The following passage is very characteristic : — 
 
 " Also there is no folke daily subject to the King's 
 lawes, but half the county of Uryell, half the county 
 of Meath, half the county of Dublin, half the county 
 of Kildare ; and thcrj be as many justices of the 
 
 * Louth. t riie preseiit county of ikath. 
 
76 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 King's Bench and of the Common Pleas, and as many- 
 barons of the Exchequer, and as many officers, minis- 
 ters, and clerks in every of the said countyes, as ever 
 there was, when all the lande for the more parte was 
 subject to the lawe." (p. 9.) 
 
 It will thus be seen that the spirit of jobbing was 
 as vivacious in Ireland in the reign of Henry the 
 Eighth, as it is at the present moment. 
 
 The document from which I have taken these ex- 
 tracts, contains a plan for reforming the abuses of the 
 system of government in Ireland, which appears to 
 have been dictated by a very impartial spirit. It is 
 altogether a very curious document. The reader will 
 perhaps smile at such a passage as this : — 
 
 " Also it is a proverbe of olde date, ' The pride of 
 Fraunce, the treason of Inglande, and the warre of 
 Irelande, shall never have ende.' "Which proverbe, 
 touching the warre of Irelande, is like alwaie to con- 
 tinue, "vvdthout God sette in men's breasts to hnd some 
 new remedy that never was found before." 
 
 The reduction of Ireland to a civil state, was the 
 object of the writer of the document in question : and 
 the quaint manner in which he concludes his argu- 
 ment in favour of the adoption of his plans for the 
 conciliation of Ireland, runs thus : — 
 
 " The prophecy is, that the King of Tngland shall 
 put this land in such order, that all the warres of the 
 liinde, whereof groweth all the vices of the same, shall 
 cease for ever ; and, after that, God shall give suche 
 grace and fortune to the same King, that he shaU, 
 with the army of Ingiand and of Ireland, subdue 
 the realme of Fraunce to his obeisance for ever, and 
 shaU rescue the Greeks, and recover the gi-eat city of 
 Constantinople, and shall -s^anquish the Turkes, and 
 win the Holy Crosse, and the Holy Lande, and shall 
 die Emperor of Rome, and eternaU blisse shall be his 
 ende." (p. 31.) 
 
 How expressive of the impolicy of misgoverning 
 Ireland, is the concluding paragraph of the paper iu 
 question ! The writer says :— 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 77 
 
 " That if this lande were put once in order as afore- 
 sayd, it would be none other but a very paradise, 
 delicious of all pleasaunce, to respect and regard of 
 any other lande in this worlde ; inasmuch as there 
 never was straunger ne alien person, greate or small, 
 that would avoyde therefro by his will, notmthstand- 
 ing the said misorder, if he might the meanes to dwell 
 therein, his honesty saved ; much more would be liis 
 desire if the land were once put in order." (p. 31.) 
 
 I have dwelt the more at length upon the State 
 Paper from which I have taken the foregoing extracts, 
 because it serves to show the real cause why the Eng- 
 lish Government continued to hold the possession of 
 any part of Ireland. It has often been asked, why 
 the Irish, who deprived the English Government of 
 so much of the island, and reduced them within such 
 narrow limits, did not totally expel that Government, 
 and establish one of their own 1 This document at 
 once clearly shows the causes that prevented such a 
 desirable result. It shows that the Irish had no point 
 of union or centralization ; that they were totally 
 divided among themselves — the enemies of one an- 
 other. The same cause that, in a more mitigated 
 form, now prevents Ireland from being a nation, did 
 at that time preclude, in a more rude and savage 
 manner, the establishment of nationality. The Irish 
 chieftains had the power, and seldom wanted either 
 the inclination or the incitement, to make war upon 
 each other. Mutual injuries, reciprocal devastations, 
 created and continued strife and hate amongst them. 
 The worst elements of continued dissension subsisted. 
 When, upon particular occasions, some universal or 
 general oppression made them combine, their confe- 
 deracy was but of short duration, ^^^len the English 
 party was strong, it endeavoured by force to put down 
 such confederacy. But the forcible attempts were in 
 general successfully resisted by the Irish, who gained 
 the futile glory of many a victory over some of the 
 most accomplished commandc'^s of the English forces. 
 
78 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 But these defeats taught the English officers that 
 cunning which is called political wisdom. They 
 assailed the avarice or fomented the resentments of 
 particular chieftains, and succeeded in detaching 
 them from the general cause. These chieftains 
 betrayed their companions in arms ; joined? their 
 forces with those of the English ; and participated in 
 the councils, and united with the force, which by 
 degrees broke down the power of the other chieftains. 
 But the traitors obtained no permanent profit ; and 
 no length of fidelity to the English commanders 
 secured them the confidence or the kindness of their 
 unprincipled seducers. 
 
 There is a remarkable instance of this, recorded as 
 having occurred after a battle fought at Knocktow.^ 
 in Connaught, in the reign of Henry the Seventh ; 
 in which the Irish were totally defeated by the com- 
 bined army of English and of royalist Irish, who 
 aided them, under the command of Lord Gormanstown. 
 I take the following quotation from Leland (vol. 2, 
 p. 120) :— 
 
 " Immediately after the victory of Knocktow, Lord 
 Gormanstown turned to the Earl of Kildare, in the 
 utmost insolence of success : ' We have slaughtered 
 our enemies,' said he ; ' but to complete the good 
 deed we must proceed yet further — cut the throats of 
 those Irish of our own party.' " 
 
 I shall now proceed with extracts of equal authority 
 and authenticity, showing the mode in which English 
 authority in the reign of Queen Elizabeth became 
 predominant. What arms were unable to achieve, 
 was brought about by the most horrible and perse- 
 vering cruelties. The Irish, who could not be subdued 
 by force, were compelled to yield to famine. The 
 harvests were destroyed year after yoar ; the cattle 
 were taken away and slaughtered ; provisions of every 
 kind were destroyed ; the country was devastated — 
 the population perished for want of food ; famine and 
 pestilence were the irresistible arms used by England 
 to obtain the dominion. 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 79 
 
 It is horrible to tliink that this mode of subjuga- 
 tion was suggested in detail by the poet Spenser— a 
 man who, though affected by the quaintness of his 
 time, was endoAved with the most poetic genius ; but 
 his imagination, which might have been inflamed by 
 fictitious woe, exhausted itself in devising real horrors 
 for Ireland. He had Ms plan for the pacification of 
 Ireland. It was no other than that of creating famine 
 and ensuring pestilence ; and he encouraged the 
 repetition of these diabolical means by his own evi- 
 dence of their efhcacy. He recommended, indeed, 
 that tAA'enty days should be given to the Irish to come 
 in and submit ; after the expiration of which time 
 they were to be shown no mercy. But let me quote 
 his own words : — 
 
 " The end will (I assure mee) bee very short, and 
 much sooner than it can be in so greate a trouble, 
 as it seemeth, hoped for : altho' there should none of 
 them fall by the sword, nor be slaine by the soldiour ; 
 yet thus being kept from manurance, and their cattle 
 from running abroad, by this hard restraint they would 
 quietly consume themselves, and devour one another !" 
 — Spenser's Ireleincl, p. 165. 
 
 These counsels of 8penscr were carried into effect. 
 The war with Desmond, who was in fact forced into 
 rebellion — that is, into a contest with the Queen — af- 
 forded the pretext and opportunity for exercising these 
 cruelties. Take these specimens from Hollinshed, 
 who thus describes the progress of the English army 
 through the country : — 
 
 " As they went, they drove the whole country before 
 them into the Ventrie, and by that means they preyed 
 and took all the cattle in the country, to the number 
 of eight thousand kine, besides horses, garrons, sheep, 
 and goats ; and all such people as they met, they did 
 without mercy put to the sword ; by these means, the 
 whole country having no cattle nor kine left, they 
 were driven to such extremities, that for want of 
 victuals they were either to die and perish for famine 
 or to die under the sword." — M<9Uinshed, vi. 427. 
 
80 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 " The soldiers, likewise, in the camp, were so hot 
 upon the spur, and so eager upon the vile rebels, that 
 that day they spared neither man, woman, nor child, 
 but all was committed to the sword." — Hollinshed^ vL 
 430. 
 
 I give the next quotation to show how trivial it was 
 considered to slaughter four hundred unarmed people 
 in a single day. It was thought an insufficient day's 
 service : — ■ 
 
 " The next claie following being the twelfe of March, 
 the Lord Justice and the Earle divided their armie 
 into two severall companies by two ensigns and three 
 together, the Lord Justice taking the orre side, and the 
 other taking the side of Sleughlogher, and so they 
 searched the woods, burned the towne, and killed that 
 dale about foure hundred men, and returned the 
 same night with all the cattel which they found that 
 day. And the said lords, being not satisfied with their 
 dale's service, they did likewise the next dale divide 
 themselves, spoiled and consumed the Avhole countrie 
 until it was night." — Hollinshed., vi. 430. 
 
 This is but a specimen of the mode in which the war 
 was carried on. I give a few more instances, and I 
 could multiply them by hundreds : — 
 
 " They passed over the same into Conilo, where the 
 Lord Justice and the Earl of Ormond divided their 
 companies, and, as they marched, they burned and 
 destroyed the country." — Hollinshed, vi. 430. 
 
 " He divided his companies into foure parts, and 
 they entred into foure severall places of the wood at 
 one instant ; and by that means they scoured the wood 
 throughout, in killing as mannie as they tooke, but the 
 residue fled into the mountains." — Hollinshed,, vi. 452. 
 
 " There were some of the Irish taken prisoners, that 
 offered great ransomes ; but presently upon their 
 bringing to the campe, they were hanged." — Pacata 
 Hibeniia, 421. 
 
 It will be seen that the troops were thus employed, 
 not in attacking any armed or resisting enemy, for 
 
CHAP, l] proofs, etc. 81 
 
 there was none ; but in killin.i;^ unarmed men and 
 destroying provisions. Tlie Queen's army was in 
 Munster ; and here are some specimens of the way in 
 which they were working out Spenser's plan : — 
 
 " By reason of the continuall persecuting of the 
 rebells, who could have no breath nor rest to releeve 
 themselves, but were alwaies by one garrison or other 
 hurt and pursued ; and by reason the harvest was 
 taken from them, their cattells in great numbers preied 
 from them, and the whole countrie spoiled and preied : 
 the poore people, Avho lived onlie upon their labors, 
 and fed by their milch cowes, were so distressed that 
 they would follow after the goods which were taken 
 from them, and offer themselves, their mves and 
 children, rather to be slaine by the armie, than to suffer 
 the famine wherewith they were now pinched." — 
 IloUinshed, vi. 33. Also Leland, Book iv. chap. 2. 
 
 Again, take the following from Sir George Carew : 
 " The President having received certaine information, 
 that the INIounster fugitives were harboured in those 
 parts, having before burned all the houses and corne, 
 and taken great preyes inOwny Onubrian andKilquig, 
 a strong and fast countrey, not farre from Limerick, 
 diverted his forces into East Clanwilliamand Muskery- 
 quirke, where Pierce Lacy had lately beene succoured ; 
 and harassing the country, killed all mankind that 
 were found therein, for a terrour to those as should 
 give releef e to runagate traitors. Thence wee came into 
 Arleaghe woods, where wee did the like, not leaving 
 behind us man or beast, corne or cattle, except such as 
 had been convoyed into castles." — Pacata Hibernia, 
 180. 
 
 " They wasted and forraged the country, so as in a 
 small time it was not able to give the rebells any 
 reliefe ; having spoiled and brought into their garrisons 
 the most part of their corne, being newly reaped." — 
 Facata Hibernia, 584. 
 
 " Hereupon Sir Charles, with the English regiments, 
 overran all Beare and Bantry, destroying all that they 
 
 F 
 
82 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 could find meet for the reliefe of men. so as that 
 country was wholly wasted." — Pacata Hibernia^ 
 659. 
 
 But it was not in Munster only that the horrors of 
 this system were practised. I may observe that it 
 was in the reign of Elizabeth that the general practice 
 commenced of calling the Irish rebels instead of 
 enemies, the reason of which is sufficiently obvious. 
 For it was under the name of rebels that the people, 
 who for the greater part were living in peaceable sub- 
 mission to Enghsh authority, were deprived of the 
 produce of their harvests and consumed by famine. 
 The following extracts v/ill show how this system was 
 acted upon in Leinster and in part of Ulster. I quote 
 from Leland : — 
 
 " The Leinster rebels, by driving the royalists into 
 their fortified towns, and living long without mo- 
 lestation, had cultvated their lands, and established 
 an unusual regularity and plenty in their districts. 
 But now they were exposed to the most rueful havoc 
 from the Queen's forces. The soldiers, encouraged by 
 the example of their officers, everywhere cut down the 
 standing corn with their swords, and devised every 
 means to deprive the wretched inhabitants of all the 
 necessaries of life ! ! Famine was judged the speedi- 
 est and most effectual means of reducing them : and 
 therefore the deputy was secretly not displeased Avith 
 the devastations made even in the well-affected 
 quarters by the improvident fury of the rebels. 
 
 " The like melancholy expedient was practised in 
 the northern provinces. The governor of Carrick- 
 fergus. Sir Arthur Chichester, issued from his quarters, 
 and, for twenty miles round, reduced the country to a 
 desert. Sir Samuel Bagnal, the governor of Newry, 
 proceeded with the same severity, and laid Avaste all 
 the adjacent lands. All the English garrisons were 
 daily employed in pillaging and wasting ; while 
 Tyrone, with his dispirited party, shrunk gradually 
 witVin narrower bounds. They were effectually pre- 
 
CHAP, l] proofs, etc. 83 
 
 vented from sowing and cultivating their lands." — 
 Leland, Book iv. ch. 5. 
 
 To give some variety to these horrors, I will quote 
 an incident that occurred in the year 1574— 2:)o?r/- 
 varier les agremens, as the French would say. 
 
 '■' — 'Anno 1574. A solemn x^eace and concord was 
 made between the Earl of Essex and Felim O'Nial. 
 However, at a feast wherein the Earl entertained that 
 chieftain, and at the end of their good cheer, O'Nial 
 and his wife were seized, and their friends who 
 attended were put to the sword before their faces. 
 Felim, together with his wife and brother, were con- 
 veyed to Dublin, where they were cut up in quarters.' 
 This execution gave universal discontent and horror. 
 In like manner, a few years after, the Irish chieftains 
 of the King's and Queen's counties were invited by 
 the English to a treaty of accommodation. But when 
 they arrived at the place of conference, they were in- 
 stantly surrounded by troops, and all butchered on 
 the spot." — Leland, Book iv. ch. 2 (note). 
 
 As these individual instances of cruelty and treachery 
 give a more vivid interest to the general tale of all 
 species of atrocious crimes, I will just give one ex- 
 ample more of individual depravity, in no less a 
 person than the Lord President of Munster. It is, in 
 truth, a fact of a family — being part of the general 
 system. 
 
 " Carew still descended to more dishonourable prac- 
 tices. One Nugent, a servant of Sir Thomas Norris, 
 had deserted to the rebels, and, by the alacrity of his 
 services, he acquired their confidence. In a repenting 
 jnood he submitted to the President (Carew) ; and 
 to purchase his pardon, promised to destroy either 
 the titular earl* or his brother John. As a plot was 
 already laid against the former, and as his death 
 could only serve to raise up new competitors for his 
 title, the bravo was directed to proceed against John. 
 
 * Viz., the Earl of Desmond. 
 
84 OBSERVATIONS. [CHAP. 1. 
 
 He seized his opportunity, and attempted to- despatch 
 him ; but as his pistol was just levelled, he was seized, 
 condemned to die, and at his execution confessed his 
 design : declaring that many others had sworn to the 
 Lord President to effect what he intended." — Leland, 
 Book iv. ch. 5. 
 
 Carew's description of the policy adopted in his 
 own day, might serve for a much later period : — 
 
 '"It was thought no ill policy to make the Irish 
 draw blood upon one- another, whereby their private 
 quarrels might advance the public service." — Pacata 
 Hihernia, 650. 
 
 I now come back to the systematic plan of destroy- 
 ing property, especially the harvests. We find the 
 folloAving incidental notices among the repetitions of 
 more detailed destruction : — 
 
 A.D. 1600. "On the 12th of August, Mountjoy, 
 with 560 foot and 60 horse, and some volunteers, 
 marcht to Naas, and thence to Philipstown, and in 
 his way tooke 200 cows, 700 garrons, and 500 sheep, 
 and so burning the country." — Cox, 428. 
 
 1600. " Sir Arthur Savage, governor of Connagh, 
 designed to meet the Lord Lieutenant, but could not 
 accomplish it, though he preyed and spoil'd the coun- 
 try as far as he came." — Cox, 428. 
 
 1600. " Mountjoy staid in this country till the 23rd 
 of August, and destroyed £10,000 worth of corn, and 
 slew more or less of the rebels every day. One 
 Lenagh, a notorious rebel, was taken and hanged, 
 and a prey of 1000 cows, 500 garrons, and many sheep, 
 was taken by Sir Oliver Lambert in Daniel Spany's 
 countrey, with the slaughter of a great many rebels." 
 —Cox, 428. 
 
 1600. "About the 18th December, Sir Francis 
 Barkley having notice that many rebels were relieved 
 in Clanawley, marcht thither, and got a prey of 1000 
 cows, 200 garrons, many sheep, and other booty, and 
 had the killing of many tray tors." — Cox, 434. 
 " The next morning being the fourth of January, 
 
CHAP. I.] PEOOFS, ETC. 85 
 
 1602, Sir Charles Wilmot coining to seeke the enemy 
 in their campe, hee entered into their quarter without 
 resistance, where hee found nothing but hurt and 
 sicke men, whose pains and lives by the soldiers were 
 both determined.' — Pacata Hihernia, 659. 
 
 " Greate were the services these garrisons perform- 
 ed ; for Sir Richard Pearce and Captain George 
 Flower, with their troopes, left neither corne nor 
 home, nor house unburnt between Kinsale and Ross. 
 Captain Roger Harvie, who had with him his brother, 
 Captain Gawen Harvie, Captain Francis Slingsby, 
 Captain William Stafford, and also the companies of 
 the Lord Barry and the treasurer, with the President's 
 horse, did the like between Ross and Bantry."— Pacata 
 Hibernia^ 645. 
 
 The result of all these proceedings is described by 
 so many of the English historians, in terms of such 
 complicated horror, that volumes might be filled with 
 the particular instances of cruelty and barbarity. I 
 give these quotations : — 
 
 " Repeated complaints were made of the inhuman 
 rigour practised by Grey (the Deputy) and his 
 officers. The Queen was assured that he tyrannized 
 with such barbarity, that little was left in Ireland for 
 her Majesty to reign over, but ashes and carcasses !" 
 Leland, Book iv. chap. 2. 
 
 "The southern province seemed to be totally de- 
 populated, and, except within the cities, exhibited an 
 hideous scene of famine and desolation. — Leland^ 
 Book iv. chap. 3. 
 
 It might be supposed that the progress of destruc- 
 tion would now have been arrested ; that enough in 
 the demoniacal labour of massacre and spoliation had 
 been done ; and that the kingdom might have at 
 last been permitted to enjoy some respite from the 
 atrocities of fiends in human form. But this was 
 forbidden by the active anti-Irish spirit — the national 
 antipathy to, and jealousy of, this country ; which 
 spirit then, as well as now, exercised its evil and 
 
86 OBSEEVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 malignant influences on our destiny. We have seen 
 already, that where the Irish had driven the royalists 
 into their fortified towns, and freed themselves from 
 English molestation, " they had cultivated their lands, 
 and established an unusual regularity and plenty in 
 their districts." — Leland, Book iv. chap. 5. But 
 Irish peace, plenty, and prosperity formed no part of 
 English policy. It appears from Leland that the 
 oppression and plunder of Ireland, the butchery of 
 her inhabitants, and the perpetuation of social discord, 
 were regularly systematized, reasoned on, and, despite 
 some opposition, adopted and established as a mea- 
 sure of State policy. Here are Leland's words : — 
 
 " Some of her (Elizabeth's) counsellors, appear 
 to have conceived an odious jealousy which reconciled 
 them to the distractions and miseries of Ireland. 
 
 " ' Should we exert ourselves,' said they, ' in re- 
 ducing this country to order and civility, it must 
 soon acquire power, consequence, 3.nd riches. The 
 inhabitants mil thus be alienated from England ; 
 they will cast themselves into the arms of some 
 foreign power, or perhaps erect themselves into an 
 independent and separate State. Let us rather con- 
 nive at their disorders ; for a weak and disordered 
 people never can attempt to detach themselves from 
 the Crown of England.' We find Sir Henry Sydney 
 and Sir John Perrot, who perfectly understood the 
 ajffairs of Ireland, and the dispositions of its inhabi- 
 tants, both expressing the utmost indignation at this 
 horrid policy, which yet had found its way into the 
 EngUsh Parliament." — Leland, Book iv. chap. 3. 
 
 This policy was incessantly and vigorously acted 
 upon. The "disorders" were perpetuated. There 
 was no pause. The efficient manner in which the 
 army performed the service of destruction, was boasted 
 of by many of the English historians. Let an} 
 man who chooses read in cold blood the following 
 extract : — 
 
 "They performed that serYic3 effectually, and 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 87 
 
 brought the rebels to so low a condition, that they 
 saw three children eating the entrails of their dead 
 mother, upon whose flesh they had fed many days, 
 and roasted it by a slow fire." — Cox^ 449. 
 
 Nor did the entire conquest and death of Desmond, 
 and the total suppression of any resistance, satiate the 
 English commanders or their soldiers. Let the fol- 
 lowing description of their conduct, by a contempo- 
 rary historian, suffice for our present purposes : — 
 
 " After Desmond's death, and the entire suppression 
 of his rebellion, unheard-of cruelties were committed 
 on the provincials of INIunster (Ms supposed former 
 adherents) by the English commanders. Great com- 
 panies of these provincials, men, women, and children, 
 were often forced into castles and other houses, which 
 were then set on fire ; and if any of them attempted 
 to escape from the flames, they were shot or stabbed 
 by the soldiers who guarded them. It was a diversion 
 to these monsters of men to take up infants on the 
 point of their spears, and whirl them about in their 
 agony ; apologizing for their cruelty by saying, that 
 ' if they suffered them to live to grow up, they would 
 become popish rebels.' Many of their women were 
 found hanging on trees, with their children at their 
 breasts, strangled with the mother's hair." — Lombard. 
 Comment, de Hibern. p. 535 ; apud Curry, Hist. 
 Review, p. 27 (note). 
 
 All the Irish, and persons of the English race who 
 had resisted the Queen's authority, having been de- 
 stroyed by the sword or famine, the subjugation of the 
 country became complete. There is in HoUinshed's 
 Chronicle a quaintness of expression that gives an 
 additional interest to the details he has preserved ; 
 but they have, from their own nature, a deeper interest 
 still. If these details had been given of cruelties 
 towards wretched and infidel barbarians in the re- 
 motest extremity of the globe, they would excite great 
 compassion and heartfelt commiseration in any 
 human being. But let it be recollected that these are 
 
88 OBSERVATlOKS, [cHAP. I. 
 
 authentic and unimpeachable narratives of crimes 
 which Christian Englishmen committed upon Chris- 
 tian Irish. The historians who have recorded these 
 facts, had every motive to palliate, and none to ex- 
 aggerate, the English barbarity and cruelty. Yet the 
 wildest flights of imagination could scarcely suppose 
 anything in fiction equal to the horrors of the reality. 
 The following passage describes the closing scene of 
 the conquest of the southern provinces of Ireland : — 
 " And as for the great companies of souldiers, gal- 
 lowglasses, kerne, and the common people who followed 
 this rebellion, the numbers of them are infinite whose 
 bloods the earth drank up, and whose carcasses the 
 beasts of the field and the ravening fowls of the air did 
 consume and devoure. After this followed an extream 
 famine ; and such whom the sword did not destroy, 
 the same did consume and eat out ; very few or none 
 remaining alive excepting such as were fled over 
 into England ; and yet the store in the towns was 
 far spent and they in distress, albeit nothing like in 
 comparison to them who lived at large ; for they were 
 not onlie driven to eat horses, dogs, and dead carrions, 
 but also did devour the carcases of dead men, whereof 
 there be sundrie examples ; namely, one in the county of 
 Cork, where, when a malefactor was executed to death, 
 and his body left upon the gallows, certain poor people 
 did secretly come, took him down, and did eat him ; 
 likewise in the bay of Smeerweeke, or St. Marieweeke, 
 the place which was first seasoned with this rebellion, 
 there happened to be a ship to be there lost through 
 foul weather, and all the men being drowned, were 
 there cast on land. The common people, who had a 
 long time lived on limpets, orewads, and such shell- 
 fish as they could find, and which were now spent, as 
 soon as they saw these bodies, they took them up, and 
 most greedily did eat and devoure them ; and not long 
 after, death and famine did eat and consume them. 
 The land itself, which before those wars was populous, 
 well-inhabited, and rich in all the good blessings of 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 89 
 
 God, being plenteous of corne, full of cattel, well 
 stored with fish and sundrie other good commodities, 
 is now become waste and barren, yielding no fruits, 
 the pastures no cattel, the aire no birds ; the seas 
 (though full of fish), yet to them yielding nothing. 
 Finally, every waie the curse of God was so great, and 
 the land so barren both of man and beast, that who- 
 soever did travell from the one end to the other of all 
 Munster, even from Waterford to the head of Smeer- 
 weeke, which is about six score miles, he would not 
 meet anie man, woman, or child, saving in towns and 
 cities ; nor yet see any beast, but the very wolves, the 
 foxes, and other lilie ravening beasts, many of them 
 laie dead, being faniisht, and the residue gone else- 
 where." — Hollinshed, vi. 459. 
 
 But let me refer again to Spenser. His description re- 
 lates even to an earlier period of the war. He is speak- 
 ing of the province of Munster ; these are liis words : — 
 
 " Notwithstanding that the same was a most rich 
 nnd plentiful country, full of corne and cattel, yet, ere 
 one yeare and a half, they were brought to such 
 wretchedness as that any stony heart would rue the 
 same. Out of every corner of the woods and glynns, 
 they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their 
 legs could not bear them ; they looked like anatomies 
 of death ; they spake like ghosts crying out of their 
 graves : they did eate the dead carrions, happy where 
 they could find them ; yea, and one another soone 
 after : insomuch as the very carcases they spared not 
 to scrape out of their graves, and, if they found a 
 plot of watercresses or shamrocks, there they flocked 
 as to a feast for the time ; yet, not able to continue 
 there withal ; that in shorte space, there was none 
 almost left, and a most populous and plentiful 
 countrey suddainlie left voyde of man and beast." — 
 /Spense7''s State of Ireland^ p. 165. 
 
 I pray attention to these two passages. The first 
 from Morrisson's History of Ireland^ foho p. 272 j it is 
 thus abstracted by Qurry iu his Review : — 
 
90 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. I. 
 
 _ " Because," says Morrison, " I have often made men- 
 tion formerly of our destroying tlie rebel's come, and 
 using all means to famish them ; let me now, by tAvo or 
 three examples, show the miserable estate to which they 
 were thereby reduced." He then, after telling us that 
 Sir Arthur Chichester, Sir Richard Morrison, and other 
 commanders, saw a most horrid spectacle of three 
 children, whereof the eldest was not above ten years' 
 ojd, feeding on the flesh of their dead mother, with 
 circumstances too shocking to be repeated ; and that 
 the common sort of rebels were driven to unspeakable 
 extremities, beyond the records of any histories that 
 he had ever read in that kind ; he mentions a horrid 
 stratagem of some of these wretched people, to allay 
 the rage of hunger, in the following manner : — " Some 
 old women," says he, " about the Newry, used to make 
 a fire in the fields, and divers little children, driving 
 out the cattle in the cold mornings and coming thither 
 to Avarm themselves, were by these women surprised, 
 killed, and eaten ; which was at last discovered, by a 
 great girl breaking from them by the strength of her 
 body ; and Captain Trevor sending out soldiers to 
 know the truth, they found the children's skulls and 
 bones, and apprehended the old women, who were 
 executed for the fact. No spectacle," adds Morrison, 
 " was more frequent in the ditches of towns, and es- 
 pecially in the wasted countries, than to see multitudes 
 of these poor people dead, with their mouths all coloured 
 green by eating nettles, docks, and all things they 
 could rend up above the ground." 
 
 Such were the means by which the final subjugation 
 of Ireland was produced. Such were the preparations 
 made for the reign of James the First. And I might 
 close the proofs and illustrations of my first chapter, 
 in the words of Sir John Davies : — 
 
 " Thus had the Queen's army, under Lord Mount- 
 joy, broken and absolutely subdued all the lords and 
 chieftains of the Irishry. Whereupon, the multitude 
 being brayed as it were in a mortar, with sword, 
 
CHAP. I.] Pr.OOrS, ETC. 91 
 
 famine, and pestilence together, submitted themselves 
 to the English Government, received the laws and 
 magistrates, and most gladly embraced the King's* 
 pardon and peace in all parts of the realm, with de- 
 monstrations of joy and comfort." 
 
 Yes, Sir John Davies ! The Irish people were 
 brayed as in a mortar : and the process of " braying 
 as in a mortar" has been continued from that day to 
 this. It has, in fact, been the leading principle in the 
 government of Ireland. Never was any people on the 
 face of the globe so cruelly treated as the Irish ! 
 
 I cannot conclude my selections illustrating the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth, without bringing out of the 
 obscurity of the statute book, and giving publicity 
 to, the nature of the title by which Elizabeth claimed 
 the province of Ulster, It will be found embalmed, 
 with most ludicrous solemnity, in an Act of the Irish 
 Parliament, entitled : " An Act for the attainder of 
 Shane O'Neill, and the extinguishment of the name 
 of O'Neill, and the entitling of the Queen's Majesty, 
 her heirs and successors, to the countiy of Tyrone, 
 and other countries and territories in Ulster." This 
 Act was passed in the year 1569 ; it is the lltli of 
 Elizabeth, sess, 3, chap. 1 : — 
 
 "And now, most deere sovereign Ladie, least that 
 any man which list not to seeke and learn the truth, 
 might be ledd, eyther of his own fantastical imagi- 
 nation, or by the sinister suggestion of others, to thinke 
 that the sterne or lyne of the O'Neyles should or 
 ought, by priority of title, to hold and possess annie 
 part of the dominion or territories of Ulster before 
 your Majestic, your heirs and successors : wee, your 
 Grace's said faithful and obedient subjects, for avoyd- 
 ing of all such scruple, doubt, and erroneous conceyt, 
 doo intend here (pardon first craved of your Majestic 
 for our tedious boldness) to disclose unto your High- 
 ness your auncient and sundrie strong authentique 
 titles, conveyed farr beyond the said lynage of the 
 
 * James the First. 
 
92 OBSERVATIONS, [cHAP. I. 
 
 O'Neyles and all other of the Irish, to the dignitie, 
 state, title, and possession of this your realm of Ireland. 
 
 " And therefore it may like your most excellent 
 Majestie to be advertised, that the auncient chronicles 
 of this realm, written both in the Latine, English, 
 and Irish tongues, alledged sundrie auncient titles for 
 the kings of England to this lande of Irelande. And 
 first, that at the beginning, afore the comming of 
 Irishmen unto the sayd lande, they were dwelling in 
 a province of Spayne, the which is called Biscan, 
 whereof Bayon was a member, and the chief citie. 
 And that, at the said Irishmen's comming into Ire- 
 land, one King Gurmond, son to the noble King 
 Belan, King of Great Britaine, which is now called 
 England, was Lord of Bayon, as many of his succes- 
 sors were to the time of King Henry the Second, first 
 conquerour of this realm ; and therefore the Irishmen 
 should be the King of England his people, and Ireland 
 his land. 
 
 " Another title is, that at the same time that Irish- 
 men came out of Biscay as exhiled persons, in sixty 
 ships, they met mth the same King Gurmond upon the 
 sea at the ysles of the Orcades, then comming from Den- 
 mark with great victory. Their captains, called 
 Hebrus and Hermon, went to this King, and him tolde 
 the cause of their comming out of Biscay, and him 
 'prayed, with greate instance, that he would graunt 
 unto them that they might inhabit some lande in the 
 west. The King at the last, by the advice of his 
 councell, granted them Ireland to inhabite, and as- 
 signed unto them guides for the sea, to bring them 
 thither : and therefore they should and ought to be 
 the King of England's men. 
 
 "Another title is, as the clerke Geraldus Cam- 
 brensis writeth at large the historic of the conquest of 
 Ireland by King Henry the Second, your famous pro- 
 genitor, how Dermot Mac Morch, Prince of Leinster, 
 which is the first part of Ireland, being a tyrant or 
 tyrants, banished, went over the sea into Normandie, 
 
CHAP. I.] PROOFS, ETC. 93 
 
 ill the parts of France, to the said King Henry ; and 
 him basely besought of succour, which he obtained, 
 and thereupon became liegeman to the said King Henry, 
 through which he brought power of Englishmen into 
 the land, and married his daughter, named Eve, at 
 Waterford, to Sir Richard Fitz-Gilbert, Earle of 
 Stranguile in Wales, and to him granted the reversion 
 of Leinster, with the said Eve his daughter. And 
 after that the said Earle granted to the said King 
 Henry the citie of Dublin, with certain cantreds of 
 lands next to Dublin, and all the haven towns of 
 Leinster, to have the rest to him in quiet with his 
 Grace's favour. 
 
 " Another title is, that in the year of our Lord God 
 one thousand one hundred sixtie two, the aforesay'd 
 King Henry landed at the citie of Waterford within 
 the realm of Ireland ; and there came to him Der- 
 mot, King of Corke, which is of the nation of the 
 M'Carties, and of his own proper will became liege tri- 
 butarie for him and his kingdom, and upon that made 
 his oathe and gave his hostages to the King. Then 
 the King roade to Cashell, and there came to him 
 Donald, King of Limerick, which is of the nation of 
 the O'Brienes, and became his liege as the other did. 
 Then came to him Donald, King of Ossorie, Mac 
 Sha^lin, King of Oplialy, and all the princes of the 
 south of Ireland, and became his liegemen as afore- 
 said. Then went the said King Henry to Dublin, 
 and there came to him O'Kirnill, King of Uriel, 
 O'Rourke, King of Meth, and Eotherick, King of 
 all Irishmen of the land, and of Connaught ; with all 
 the princes and men of value of the land, and became 
 liege subjects, and tributaries, by great oaths for them, 
 their kingdoms and lordships to the said King 
 Henry ; and that of their own good wills, as it should 
 seem ; for that the chronicles make no mention of 
 any warre or chivalry done by the said King, all the 
 time that he was in Ireland. 
 
 This, to be sure, is a most ludicrous piece of legis- 
 
94 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. II 
 
 lation— -absurd lo a degree that will make any man 
 stare -with astonishment who reads it at the present 
 day. The only rational title which it mates out 
 being one of compact, giving the people of Ireland a 
 right to the benefit of British laws — a right wliich is 
 a dead letter even unto the present day ! 
 
 CHAPTER II.-PART I. 
 
 Years 1612—1625. 
 
 The extracts which I have given from Irish history, 
 in corroboration of the text of my first chapter, will 
 have given the reader some idea of the multiplied and 
 variegated cruelties, horrors, treacheries, and mas- 
 sacres by which the English dominion was extended 
 .nnd maintained in various parts of Ireland ; and at 
 length spread all over the entire land by means of 
 provoked famine and pestilence. Queen Elizabeth 
 did not live long enough to enjoy the consummation 
 of this fiendish policy, nor to reign amidst the tran- 
 quillity of the grave. It remained for her unworthy 
 successor to reap the fruits of her cruebies. The 
 people being "brayed as in a mortar" — I like to re- 
 peat the phrase of Sir John Davies — the survivors 
 readily acquiesced in any alteration of law, and very 
 gratefully received that alteration which, in the year 
 1612, acknowledged, for the first time, the Irish as 
 subjects, and admitted them under the protection of 
 the Crown. 
 
 It affords an inquiry of some interest to ascertain 
 what was the genius and the disposition — what the 
 social and moral character of the people who had en- 
 dured such hideous cruelties, and who were now 
 made citizens of the State. I will not draw that 
 character in the glowing colours in which it has been 
 painted by Irish writers, or by any favourers or par- 
 tisans of the Irish. I will take that character from 
 
CHAP. II.] PROOFS, ETC. 95 
 
 Eiiglislimen and Protestants, and from persons who 
 themselves were participators in the crimes which I 
 have mentioned, and in those which remain to be 
 described. 
 
 The following is from an English Protestant WTiter, 
 by no means favorable to the Irish ; on the contrary, 
 a man disposed to speak ill of, and to calumniate 
 them and their clergy. Here is the worst he conld 
 say of them : — 
 
 *' The people are thus inclined, religious, frank, 
 amorous, irefull, sufferable of infinite paines, verie 
 glorious, menie sorcerers, excellent horsemen delighted 
 with warres, great alms-givers, passing in hospitality. 
 The lewder sorts, both clerks and laiemen, are scnsuall 
 and ouer loose in living. The same being vertuouslie 
 bred up or reformed, are such mirrors of holinesse 
 and austeritie, that other nations retain but a 
 shadow of devotion in comparison of them. As for 
 abstinence and fasting, it is to them a familiar kind 
 of chastisement." — Stanihurst, apud Hollinshed, vi. 67. 
 
 But as character is best shown by individual traits, 
 especially when the writer is one adversely inclined, 
 I select a passage descriptive of the fidelity that 
 existed between foster brothers amongst the Irish ; and 
 it is not going too far to say that a people capable of 
 such high and generous attachment to each other, and 
 to their duty, ought to rank high in the estimation of 
 good men. Mark the follovvdng extract : — 
 
 '^ You cannot find one instance of perfidy, deceit, or 
 treachery among them ; nay, they are ready to expose 
 themselves to all manner of dangers for the safety of 
 those who sucked their mother's milk. You may beat 
 them to a mummy ; you may put them on the rack ; 
 you may burn them on a gridiron ; you may expose 
 them to the most exquisite torture that the cruellest 
 tyrant can invent ; yet you will never remove them 
 from that innate fidelity which is grafted in them ; 
 you will never induce them to betray their duty. "- 
 Ware.n. 73. 
 
96 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. II. 
 
 I will now add more favourable testimony of other 
 English Protestant writers. Take this passage from 
 a decided enemy of the Irish name and nation : — 
 
 "The Irish themselves were a people peaceable, 
 harmless, and affable to strangers and to all, pious 
 and good, whilst they retained the religion of their 
 forefathers.'^ — Borlase, 14. 
 
 Baron Finglas, who was Chief Baron of the Ex- 
 chequer under Henry VIII., places the Irish character 
 on a far higher ground than the English, so far as 
 concerns submission to law and justice. He says : — 
 
 " It is a great abusion and reY)roach that the laws 
 and statutes made in this land are not observed ne 
 kept, after the making of them, eight days, which 
 matter is one of the destructions of Englishmen of 
 this land : and divers Irishmen doth observe and 
 keepe such laws and statutes which they make upon 
 hills in their country, finn and stable, withovit break- 
 ing them for any favour or reward." — Baron Finglas 
 Hihernica, 51. 
 
 The next is from Lord Coke, who cannot be sus- 
 pected of any undue leaning in favour of the Irish : — 
 
 I have been informed by many of those that had 
 judicial places in Ireland, and [know] partly of my 
 oAvn knowledge, that there is no nation of the Chris- 
 tian world that are greater lovers of justice than the 
 Irish are : which virtue must of course be accom- 
 panied by many others." — Coke, iv. Tnsf. 349. 
 
 The next is a passage which has often been quoted 
 from the celebrated Sir John Davies : — 
 
 " They will gladly continue in this condition of 
 subjects without defection, or adhering to any other 
 lord or king, as long as they may be protected and 
 justly governed, without oppression on the one side, 
 or impunity upon the other. For there is no nation 
 of people under the sun that doth love equal and 
 indifferent justice better than the Irish ; or will rest 
 better satisfied with the execution thereof, although 
 it be against themselves." — Davies' Hist Tracts, 213. 
 
CHAP. II.] PROOFS, ETC. 97 
 
 There has been lately published, by the Irish Archaeo- 
 logical Society, in the first volume of their Tracts 
 relating to Ireland, a small work entitled " A Briefe 
 Description of Ireland, made in the year 1589, by 
 Ptobert Payne :" from which I select two extracts that 
 confirm strongly the praises bestowed upon the Irish 
 love of justice : — 
 
 "Nothing is more pleasing unto them, than to heare 
 of good justices placed amongst them. They have a 
 common saying, which I am persuaded they speakc 
 unfeignedly, which is, defend me and spend me ; 
 meaning from the oppression of the worser sorte of 
 our countrymen. They are obedient to the laws ; so 
 that you travel through all the land without any 
 danger or injurie offered of the verye worst Irish, and 
 be greatly relieved of the best." (page 4.) 
 
 My next quotation is peculiarly interesting at the 
 present moment, It shows what the corporations of 
 Ireland were in Catholic timeSj before Protestantism 
 and exclusion were the ruling impulses : — 
 
 "But, as touchiiig their government in their corpo- 
 rations where, they beare rule, is done with such 
 wisdome, equity, and justice, as demerits Avorthy 
 commendations. For I myself divers times have seene 
 in severall places within their jurisdictions wel near 
 twenty causes decided, at one sitting, with such indif- 
 ferencie that for the most parte both plaintife and 
 defendant hath departed contented : yet manie that 
 make show of peace, and desireth to live by blood, doe 
 utterly mislike this or any good thing that the poore 
 Irish man clothe." — Ihid. 
 
 There is nothing new u.nder the sun. The tran- 
 quillity which existed in Ireland, whilst the disposi- 
 tion of the Melbourne Government was evinced, to 
 administer the- laws impartially, had been found at 
 former periods to arise from precisely a similar cause. 
 Sir John Perrofc had endeavoured to show the Irish 
 impartial justice, and Hooker, who, in some of his 
 writi<'*-:*s, bestows on the Irish unmeasured vitupera- 
 
98 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. IL 
 
 tion and abuse, yet says that at the close of Sir John 
 Perrot's administration — ^ 
 
 " Everie man with a white sticke only in his hands, 
 and with great treasures, might and did travell with- 
 out feare cr danger where he woulde (as the writer 
 heerof by trial! knew it to be true), and the white 
 sheepe did keepc the blacke, and all the beasts lay 
 continually in the fields, without stealing or preie- 
 ing.'' — Hooker ; apud Hollimhed^ vi. 370. 
 
 Let us listen to Sir John Davies upon this subject, 
 and one will imagine it is the Attorney-General of 
 the Melbourne Government who speaks : — 
 
 " I dare affirm that in the space of five years last 
 past, there have not been found so many malefactors 
 worthy of death, in all the six circuits of this realm, 
 which is now divided into thirty-two shires at large, 
 as in one circuit of six shires, namely, the western cir- 
 cuit in England ! For the truth is, that, in time of 
 peace, the Irish are more fearful to offend the law 
 than the English, or any other nation whatsoever." — 
 Davies, p. 200. 
 
 As to the bravery of the Irish, it may be superfluous 
 to give any proof of it from Protestant and inimical 
 testimony; since friends and foes alike admit the 
 chivalrous gallantry of the Irish people ; and the 
 Scotch pliilosophers have lately demonstrated the 
 superiority of their physical powers. I cannot, how- 
 ever, refrain from inserting the foUomng quotation 
 from Edmund Spenser : — 
 
 " I have heard some great warriors say, that in all 
 the services which they had seen abroad in foreign 
 countries, they never sav/ a more comely man than 
 the Irishman, nor that cometh on more bravely to his 
 charge." — Spenser's Ireland. 
 
 These now are all noble traits in the character of 
 the Irish people. Fidelity — proof against every temp- 
 tation of bribery or torture \ fidelity which nothiug 
 could buy, and which notiiing could intimidate ! 
 " Piety and goodness whilst her people adliered" (aiid 
 they do yet adhere) *' to the religion of their fore- 
 
CHAP. II.] PROOFS, ETC. 99 
 
 fathers.'^ But, above all, transcendently stands tlie 
 glorious title, "lovers of justice" — "lovers of equal 
 and impartial justice." Lovers of justice, not only 
 when they obtain it for themselves, but loving it so 
 dearly that they are satisfied with its execution -even 
 when against themselves. Military valour not excelled 
 by any nation in existence ! And upon whose testi- 
 mony is it that the Irish claim the glory of these quali- 
 ties 1 From the testimony of strangers, aliens, enemies ! 
 I challenge the world to produce an instance of such 
 praise bestowed on any nation by persons not them- 
 selves interested in or connected with such praise. 
 
 It may be objected that near 300 years have elapsed 
 since these praises were bestowed, and that the Irish 
 may have mucli changed since that period. But what 
 says the truth of history 1 The Irish have been 
 since severely tried in the furnace of affliction ; they 
 have been assailed with treachery and persecution ; 
 and yet they have exhibited the most unalterable 
 fidelity to the faith which they in their consciences 
 preferred. No money could bribe— no torture could 
 compel them to forsake the allegiance which they 
 owed to their God. Compare their conduct in this 
 respect with that of any other nation under the sun ; 
 and admit (for truth compels the admission) that the 
 glory of religious fidelity supereminently belongs to 
 the people of Ireland. You may say, perhaps, that 
 their faith was erroneous, their creed mistaken, and 
 their practice superstitious. Suppose it were so. Yet 
 their fidelity was religious ; it was attachment to the 
 religion they deemed the true one ; and this national 
 trait of their character ought not to be tarnished 
 even in the opinion of those who do not agree with 
 them as to its object. It will not be thus tarnished 
 in the mind of any just or generous man. 
 
 Again, we perceived, during the late administration, 
 the same respect i^aid to the attempt on the part of 
 the Irish Government to purify the administration of 
 justice : the same tranquillity follows, from the hope 
 of having justice administered. 
 
100 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. II. 
 
 Again, behold the national movement in favour of 
 temperance. There are more than five millions pledged 
 to total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors. 
 What nation upon the face of the earth can afford 
 such an example as this 1 But it may be said that 
 this temperance movement is transitory. To those 
 who may say so I reply, that the first trait in the Irish 
 character is fidelity of purpose — fidelity superior to 
 corruption, to force, and to temptation ! I do there- 
 fore feel it my duty solemnly to declare, that the 
 people of Ireland, the lovers of impartial justice, 
 stand superior in their national characteristics to the 
 inhabitants of any other country on the face of the 
 globe. I am, therefore, proud of my fatherland. Nor 
 is it the less dear to me because of the evils that have 
 been inflicted upon it, the oppression it has endured, 
 and the tj^ranny that it has nearly survived : 
 
 ** More dear in thy sorrow, thy gloom, and thy showers, 
 Than the rest of the v/orld in their sunniest hours." 
 
 Nor is it the less loved by me, because of the slavery 
 that has been treacherously imposed upon it : 
 *' No ! thy chains as they rankle, thy blood as it runs, 
 
 But make thee more painfully dear to thy sons ! 
 
 Whose hearts, like the young of the desert-bird's nest, 
 
 Drink love in each life-drop that flows from thy breast." 
 
 It will have been observed, that the alteration in 
 religion, commonly, but most improperly, called " The 
 Eeformation" — for it cannot seriously be called a 
 Reformation at all — occurred in the period included 
 in the first chapter. But I have designedly omitted 
 all mention of it, having reserved it for a separate 
 and distinct consideration. 
 
 _ When Luther commenced the great schism of the 
 sixteenth century, all Christendom was Catholie. 
 Ireland, of course, was so. It has indeed been said 
 —for what vdW not religious bigotry say 1 — that the 
 Catholic Church in Ireland did not recognize the 
 authority of the Pope, and was severed from the 
 
CHAP. II.J PIIOOFS, ETC. 10] 
 
 CUiurcli of Eome. This assertion was gravely brought 
 forward by Archbishop Usher, who was indeed it8 
 principal fabricator. But the Eight Rev. Dr. Milner 
 has distinctly shown that there is the most conclusive 
 historical evidence, in the works of Usher himself, to 
 demonstrate the utter falsehood of his own assertion. 
 And there is a curious incident belonging to this con- 
 troversy vv^hich occurred before Milner wrote — namely, 
 that the credit of Usher's assertion having been much 
 impugned, a grandson of his, a Protestant clergyman, 
 determined to confute the impugn ers of his grand- 
 father's statement ; and, with that view, carefully 
 examined the authorities upon the subject ; when, to 
 his utmost surprise, he discovered the total falsehood 
 of that statement ! Being led by this circumstance to 
 examine the other points of difference between the 
 Catholics and Protestants, he ended by giving up his 
 living,* resigning his gown as a Protestant clergyman, 
 and embracing the profession of a Catholic priest. 
 
 It has been often remarked that in all the countries 
 into which Protestantism entered, it owed its intro- 
 duction to men remarkable for the badness of 
 their character, and the greatness of their vicep. 
 Protestantism was not more fortunate in Ire- 
 land than it was elsewhere. It owed its intro- 
 duction into Ireland, as it did into England, to the 
 foul passions of Henry the Eighth ; but in Ireland its 
 principal patron was Archbishop Browne (as he is 
 called ; but his title to the archbishopric would not 
 have stood canonical investigation). The Act of 
 Supremacy — that Act which so absurdly vested in the 
 King — and such a King ! — spiritual power — was passed 
 by a gross and glaring fraud. The proctors of the 
 clergy had, from the commencement of the parlia- 
 ments held in Ireland, been received as members of 
 that body. It would have been impossible to pass 
 the Act of Supremacy if they had remained in the 
 house. Henry the Eighth made short work of the 
 matter — he expelled them ! He procured then an 
 
102 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. 11. 
 
 Act of Parliament making it high treason to dispute 
 the validity of the marriage of the wretched Ann 
 Boleyn, or the legitimacy of her child. ^ He soon 
 afterwards procured another Act of Parliament, by 
 which it was made treason to assert that validity o* 
 legitimacy ! That was the mode in which Protes- 
 tantism was made the law of the land ! 
 
 It is curious enough that the Act of Uniformity 
 was passed in Ireland by another gross and ludicrous 
 trick. The historian"^ informs us, that — 
 
 " It was passed by the artifice of one Mr. Stany- 
 hurst, of Corduff, then Speaker of the Irish Commons, 
 who, being in the Pteforming interest, privately got 
 together, on a day when the house was not to sit, a 
 few such members as he knew to be favourers of that 
 interest, and consequently in the absence of all those 
 who he believed would have opposed it. B\it that 
 these absent members having understood^ what passed 
 at that secret convention, did soon after, in a full and 
 regular meeting of the parliament, enter their protests 
 against it : upon which the Lord Lieutenant assured 
 many of them in particular, with protestations and 
 oaths, that the penalties of that statute should never 
 be inflicted ; which they, too easily believing, sufi"ered 
 it to remain as it was. This, adds my author, I have 
 often heard for certain truth from many ancient people, 
 who lived at that time ; and I am the more inclined 
 to believe it, because the Lord Lieutenant's promise 
 was so far kept that this law was never generally exe- 
 cuted during the remainder of Queen Elizabeth's 
 reign ; — ' that is,' observes Curry on the foregoing 
 passage, 'until all or most of those members were 
 probably dead, to whom such promise had been given.' 
 
 " Sir Christopher Nugent asserted publicly before 
 the King, the traditional report of the Irish, that this 
 statute was passed in the fraudulent manner above 
 mentioned." — Aiialecta Sacra, p. 431. 
 
 * Mr. Lynch, in his Cambrensis Everaus. 
 
CHAP II.] PROOFS, ETC, 103 
 
 It is right to obsen^e, that these Acts of Parliament 
 were operative only upon a small portion of the 
 inhabitants of Ireland ; only ten counties being repre- 
 sented, and the entire number of members of the 
 House of Commons did not exceed from sixty to 
 eighty. It is unnecessary to say, that, so far as the 
 English dominion extended, persecution was vigorous. 
 The utmost cruelty was exercised to the extent of the 
 power of the English Government. Doctor Johnson 
 says that there is no instance, even in the ten per- 
 secutions, equal to the severity which the Protestants 
 of Ireland have exercised against the Catholics. Tliis 
 is literally true wherever the English power extended. 
 The reign of Edward the Sixth was marked by the 
 intensity with which the system of attempting to Pro- 
 testantize Ireland was carried on. 
 
 Take this specimen : — 
 
 "The means of conversion which the Protector 
 (Somerset) designed to use in Ireland, were soon 
 exemplified. A party, issuing from the garrison of 
 Athlone, attacked the ancient church of Clonmacnoise, 
 destroyed its ornaments, and defiled its altars. Simi- 
 lar excesses were committed in other parts of the 
 country ; and the first impression produced by the 
 advocates of the reformed religion was, that the new 
 system sanctioned sacrilege and robbery." — Taylor's 
 Hist, of the Civil Wars of Ireland^ vol. i., p. 167. 
 
 But it was in the reign of Elizabeth that the per- 
 secution of the Catholics raged with the greatest fuiy ; 
 as the policy of her officers in creating their familiar 
 instruments of famine and pestilence extended her 
 dominion, religious persecution extended with it. 
 Amongst the multitude of CathoKc priests who were 
 murdered in the most barbarous manner, I give two 
 specimens in the following extracts. The first is from 
 Curry's Review of the Civil Wars of Ireland ; p. 9 
 (note) : — 
 
 " In this reign, among many other Roman Catholic 
 priests and bishops, there were put to death for the 
 
104 OBSERVATIONS, • [cHAP. II. 
 
 exercise of tlieir function in Ireland, Glaby O'Boyle, 
 abbot of Boyle of the diocese of Elphin, and Owen 
 O'Muikeren, abbot of the monastery of the Holy 
 Trinity in that diocese, hanged and quartered by Lord 
 Gray in 1580 ; John Stephens, priest, for that he said 
 mass to Teague M'Hugh, was hanged and quartered 
 by the Lord Burroughs, in 1597 ; Thady O'Boyle, 
 guardian of the monastery of Donegal, was slain by 
 the English in his own monaster^'- ; six friars were 
 slain in the monastery of Moynihigan ; John O'Calyhor 
 and Bryan O'Trevor, of the order of St. Bernard, were 
 slain in their own monastery, De Santa Maria, in 
 Ulster ; as also Felimy O'Hara, a lay brother ; so was 
 Eneas Penny, parish church of Killagh, slain at the 
 altar of his parish church there ; Cahall M 'Goran, 
 Rory O'Donnellan, Peter O'Quillan, Patrick O'Kenna, 
 George Power, vicar-general of the diocese of Ossory ; 
 Andre v/ Stretch, of Limerick, Bryan O'Muirihirtagh, 
 vicar-general of the diocese of Clonfert; Dorohow 
 O'Molony of Thomond, John Kelly of Louth, Stephen 
 Patrick of Annaly, John Pillis, friar, Ptory M'Henlea, 
 Tirrilagh M'Inisky, a lay brother. All those that come 
 after Eneas Penny, together with Walter Farnan, priest, 
 died in the Castle of Dublin, either through hard 
 usage or restraint, or the -^dolence of torture." 
 
 My next extract is from Milner's Letter's to a Pre- 
 bendary : — 
 
 " The penal laws were in general no less severely 
 exercised against the Catholics of Ireland, though they 
 constituted the body of the people, than they were 
 against those of England. Spondanus and Pagi relate 
 the horrid cruelties exercised by Sir William Drury 
 on F. O'Hurle, O.S.F., the Catholic Archbishop of 
 Cashel, who, falling into the hands of this sanguinary 
 governor, in the year 1579, was first tortured, by his 
 legs being immersed in jack-boots filled with quicklime, 
 water, &c., until they were burnt to the bone, in order 
 to force him to take the Oath of Supremacy; and then, 
 with other circumstances of barbarity, executed on the 
 
CHAP. TL] proofs, etc. 105 
 
 gallows : having previously cited Drury to meet liiui 
 at the tribunal of Christ within ten days, who accord- 
 ingly died within that period, amidst the most ex- 
 cruciating pains. See in Bourke's Hihernia ])o- 
 7uviicana, a much longer list and a more detailed 
 account of Irish sufferers, especially in Elizabeth's 
 reign, on the score of religion. It was a usual thing 
 to beat with stones the shorn heads of their clergy, 
 till their brains gushed out. Others had needles 
 thrust under their nails, or the nails themselves were 
 torn off. Many were stretched upon the rack, or 
 pressed under weights. Others had their bowels torn 
 open, which they were obliged to support with their 
 hands, or their flesh torn \^dth curry-combs." — Milnei^s 
 Leffrrs to a Prebendary, Letter iv. (note). 
 
 The following anecdote I have taken from the often- 
 quoted work of Carew : — 
 
 " Towards the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, her 
 Majesty's forces besieging the castle of Cloghan, and 
 understanding that in tlie same there was a Romish 
 priest, (to which order of men they never gave 
 quarter,) having also in their hands the brother of 
 the constable who had the charge of the castle, the 
 commanding officer sent him Vv^ord that if he did ncjt 
 presently surrender the castle to him, he would hang 
 his brother in their sight. But to save the priest, 
 whose life they tendered, they persevered obstinately 
 not to yield : whereupon the officer, in tlieir sight, 
 hanged the constable's brother. Nevertheless, within 
 four days afterwards, the priest being shifted away in 
 safetj'", the constable sued for a protection, and sur- 
 rendered the castle." — Pacata Hihernia, p. 358. 
 
 The remarks of this author are quite characteristic ; 
 he thus continues : — 
 
 " I do relate this accident, to the end that the 
 reader may the more clearly see in what reverence and 
 estimation these ignorant and superstitious Irish do 
 hold a popish priest ; in regard to whose safety the 
 constable was content to suffer liis brother to perish." 
 
 How totally d(X\:; Carew forget that the murder of 
 
106 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. II. 
 
 the constable's brother was the crime of the enlight- 
 ened English officer! Whereas the "ignorant and 
 superstitious" Irish commander had too much con- 
 science to be accessory to the murder of an inn ocent 
 man — a man who had committed no crime except that 
 of being a priest ! Ignorant and superstitious, in deed ! 
 I readily retort the charge with a small variation ! 
 The English commander and the English writer are 
 utterly ignorant of every rule of morality, and are 
 alilie brutal and unprincipled in the act and in the 
 comment. 
 
 But there is a contrast of still a higher and more 
 glorious nature. It is the contrast between the vir- 
 ulent and murderous persecution of the English 
 Protestant Government, and the humane and truly 
 Christian demeanour of t lie Irish Catholics when re- 
 stored to power. The reigns of Henry the Eighth and 
 Edward the Sixth passed away. Queen Mary ascended 
 the throne. Catholicity was restored to power in 
 Ireland mthout difficulty — without any kind of 
 struggle. How did the Catholics— the Irish Catholics 
 — conduct themselves towards the Protestants, who 
 had been persecuting them up to the last moment 1 
 How did they — the Catholics — conduct themselves 1 
 1 will take the answer from a book, published several 
 years ago by Mr. WiUiam Parnell— a Protestant 
 gentleman of high station— the brother of a Cabinet 
 Minister : — 
 
 A still more striking proof that the Irish Eoman 
 Catholics, in Queen Mary's reign, were very little in- 
 fected Vvith religious bigotry, may be drawn from 
 their conduct towards the Protestants when the Pro- 
 testants were at their mercy. 
 
 " Were we to argue from the representations of the 
 indelible character of the Catholic religion, as pour- 
 trayed by its adversaries, we should have expected 
 that the Irish Catholics would exercise every kind of 
 persecution which the double motives of zeal and re- 
 taliation could suggest : — the Catholic laity, in all the 
 impunity of triumphant bigotry, hunting the wretched 
 
CHAP, il] proofs, etc. 107 
 
 heretics from their hiding places— the Catholic clergy 
 pouring out the libation of human blood at the shrine 
 of the God of mercy, and acting before high heaven 
 those scenes which make the angels weep. 
 
 " But on the contrary — though the religious feelings 
 of the Irish Catholics, and their feelings as men, had 
 been treated with very little ceremony during the 
 two preceding reigns, they made a wise and moderate 
 use of their ascendancy. They entertained no resent- 
 ment for the past : they laid no plans for future domi- 
 nation. 
 
 "Even Leland allows that the only instance of 
 popish zeal was annulling grants that Archbishop 
 Browne had made, to the injury of the see of Dublin ; 
 and, certainly, this step was full as agreeable to the 
 rules of law and equity as to popish zeal. 
 
 " The assertors of the Reformation during the pre- 
 ceding reigns were every way unmolested ; or, as the 
 Protestant historian chooses to term it, were allowed 
 to sink into obscurity and neglect. 
 
 " Such was the general spirit of toleration, that 
 many English families, friends to the Reformation, 
 took refuge in Ireland, and there enjoyed their 
 opinions and worship without molestation, 
 
 " The Irish Protestants, vexed that they could not 
 prove a single instance of bigotry against the Catholics, 
 in this their hour of trial, invented a tale, as palpably 
 false as it is childish, of an intended persecution (but 
 a persecution by the English Government, not by the 
 Irish Catholics), and so much does bigotry pervert 
 all candour and taste, that even the Earl of Cork, 
 Archbishop Usher, and, in later times. Dr. Leland, 
 were not ashamed to support the silly story of Dean 
 Cole and the Knave of Clubs ! 
 
 " How ought these perverse and superficial men to 
 blush, who have said that the Irish Roman Catholics 
 must be bigots and rebels from the very nature of their 
 religion, and who have advanced this falsehood in the 
 very teeth of fact, and contrary to the most distinct 
 evidence of history ! 
 
108 OBSERVATIONS, [OHAP. II. 
 
 " The Irish Roman Catholics bigots ! The Irish 
 Roman Catholics are the only sect that ever resumed 
 power without exercising vengeance ! 
 
 " Show a brighter instance, if you can, in the whole 
 page of history. Was this the conduct of Knox or 
 Calvin 1 or of the brutal council of Edward VI., who 
 signed its bloody warrants with tears 1 Has this been 
 the conduct of the Irish Protestants V — ParnelVs His- 
 torical Apology, pp. 35-37. 
 
 In the wretched history of dissension and cruelty 
 from the period of the Reformation to the present mo- 
 ment, there is no instance in which any people. Catho- 
 lic or Protestant, have been entitled to such a meed of 
 approbation as the Irish Catholics. There is no other 
 such instance. Protestantism can boast of nothing of 
 the kind — nor can the Catholics pf any other state in 
 tlie known world, give such a practical proof of Chris- 
 tian liberality. What a contrast between the English 
 and the Irish Catholics. You find the English Pro- 
 testants flying from English Catholic persecution, and 
 receiving refuge, shelter, and security in Ireland. 
 Queen Mary's persecution of Protestants leaned very 
 heavily on Bristol. And, accordingly, the merchants 
 of Dublin, being Catholics, and then forming the cor- 
 poration, are known to have hired no less than seventy-* 
 four furnished houses, which they filled with English 
 Protestant refugees from Bristol and its vicinage. 
 They lodged them— they fed them — they maintained 
 them, and sent them back safe and sound to England, 
 when the death of Mary restored Protestantism to 
 power there : and enabled the English Protestants to 
 retaliate with sevenfold severity on their Catholic 
 countrymen ; and — shame upon English Protestants 
 to make use of that power — again unrelentingly to per- 
 secute the generous and liberal Catholics of Ireland : — 
 
 Let me give another quotation from a modern 
 Protestant writer of very considerable literary merit 
 and discrimination. Wlien this writer comes to treat 
 of the reign of Queen Mary, he has the following 
 passage : — 
 
CHAP. II.] PROOFS. KTC. 1X9 
 
 1553. " The restoration of the old religion was 
 effected without violence : no persecution of the 
 Protestants was attempted ; and several of the English, 
 who fled from the furious zeal of Mary's inquisitors, 
 found a safe retreat among the CcatlLolics of Ireland. 
 It is but justice to this maligned body to add, that on 
 the three occasions of their obtaining the upper 
 hand, they never injured a single person in life or 
 limb for professing a religion difl:erent from their own. 
 They had suffered persecution and learned mercy, as 
 they showed in the reign of Mary, in the wars from 
 1641 to 1648, and during the brief trinmph of James 
 ll." — Taylor's History of the Civil Wars of Ireland, 
 vol. i. p. 169. 
 
 I cannot better conclude my observations upon 
 Catholic liberality, than by giving an extract from the 
 historian Leland ; whose prejudices and whose inte- 
 rests made him necessarily most inimical to the 
 Catholic people and their religion. He, in fact, con- 
 firms everything I have said respecting the liberality 
 exhibited by the Irish Catholics during the melancholy 
 reign of Queen Mary. If anything could silence the 
 rancorous malignity with which the Irish people are 
 persecuted in their character as well as in their pro- 
 perty, it would be this distinct admission of their per- 
 fect tolerance to Protestants during the reign of Queen 
 Mary — an admission proceeding from so powerful an 
 adversary as Dr. Leland. I give his words : — _ 
 
 " The spirit of popish zeal, which glutted all its ven- 
 geance in England, was, in Ireland, thus happily con- 
 fined to reversing the acts of an obnoxious prelate, 
 (namely, Browne, the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin) 
 and stigmatizing his offspring with an opprobrious 
 name. Those assertors of the Pieformation who had 
 not fled from this kingdom, were, by the lenity of the 
 Irish Government, suffered to sink into obscurity and 
 neglect. No warm adversaries of popery stood forth 
 to provoke the severity of persecution : the ■v\hole 
 nation seemed to have relapsed into the stupid com- 
 posure of ignorance and superstition from which it had 
 scarcely awakened. And as it thus escaped the effect .- 
 
110 OBSEErATIONS, [CHAP. II. 
 
 of Mary's diabolical rancour, several English families 
 friends to the reformation, fled into Ireland, and there 
 enjoyed their opinions and worship in privacy, without 
 notice or molestc^ion." — LelancUs History of Ireland^ 
 book iii. c. 8. 
 
 The following quotations may appear to derogate 
 from the merit of the Irish in resisting the spread of 
 that religious devastation called the Reformation. 
 But the facts which they record are so characteristic 
 of the English Protestantism of that period, that I 
 cannot refrain from placing them before the public. 
 The first of my quotations refers to the Protestant 
 bishops; and the reader will, I think, smile at the 
 readiness ^^dth which the author, no less a man than 
 the great poet Spenser, divalges the excuse of the 
 Protestant prelates for appropriating the tithes to 
 themselves. One would imagine, that if there were 
 no clergymen fit to be recipients of the tithes, there 
 ought not to be any tithes paid at all. If the people 
 were not even offered anything in the semblance of 
 value for the tithes, one would think the tithes should 
 not be demanded from them. But the poetic Spenser, 
 agreeing with the prosaic Stanley of the present day, 
 is of a clean contrary opinion ; and thinks that whe- 
 ther there be pray«u^s or no prayers — religion or no 
 religion — parsons or no parsons — still the tithes ! the 
 tithes ! the tithes ! ought at all events, and in every 
 contingency, to fatten the bishops, even if there were 
 no parsons to browse upon them : — 
 
 " Some of them, (the Protestant bishops) whose 
 diocese are in remote parts, somewhat out of the 
 world's eye, doe not at all bestowe the benefices which 
 are in their own donation, upon any, but keepe them 
 in their owne hands, and set their own servants and 
 horse-boys to take up the tithes and fruites of them ; 
 Mdth the which, some of them purchased great lands, 
 and built faire castells upon the same. Of which 
 abuse if any question be moved, they have a very 
 seemly colour and excuse, that they have no worthy 
 ministers to bestow them upon ! ! !" — Bpauer^ 140. 
 
CHAP. II.] PEOOFS, ETC. Ill 
 
 It thus appearing that the talismanic word "tithes" 
 was mixed up with every evolution of Protestantism, 
 whether there were clergymen or none — good, bad, 
 or indifferent — let us now look to the case in which 
 there were actually parsons to receive the tithes ; and 
 let us estimate their merits from Spenser's testimony. 
 Speaking of the Protestant clergy of Ireland, he says, 
 
 " Whatever disorders you see in the Church of 
 England, you finde there, and many more. Namely, 
 gross simony, greedy covetousness, fleshly inconti- 
 nence, carelesse sloath, and generally all disordered 
 life in the common clergymen." — Spenser^ 139. 
 
 Such is Spenser's character of the Protestant clergy 
 of his day. 
 
 Let us now see what character this zealous Protes- 
 tant witness gives to the Catholic clergy. We shall 
 find — I say it triumphantly ! — that they bore the same 
 character for zeal and piety in that day as they do 
 at present, and occasionally extorted the praises of 
 even their bitterest enemies. Here is what Spenser 
 says of them, when contrasting their conduct with 
 that of the Protestant ministers ; one would really 
 imagine it was some candid enemy at the present day 
 who speaks ! 
 
 "It is greate wonder to see the oddes which is 
 betweene the zeale of popish priests, and the ministers 
 of the gospel ; for they spare not to come out of 
 Spayne, from Rome, and from Remes, by long toile 
 and dangerous travayling hither, where they know 
 perill of deathe awaiteth them, and no reward or 
 riches is to be found, only to draw the people unto 
 the Church of Rome : whereas some of our idle 
 ministers, having a way for credit and estimation 
 thereby opened unto them, and having the livings of 
 the country ofiered to them, without paines and 
 without perill, will neither for the same, nor any love 
 of God, nor zeale for religion, or for all the good they 
 may doe by winning soules to God, be drawne forth 
 from their warm nests to looke out into God's 
 harvest." — Spenser, 254. 
 
112 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. II. 
 
 Tlie character given of the Protestant clergy of 
 that period by Carte, is as follows : it fully accords 
 with the statement of Spenser : — 
 
 " The clergy of the Established Church were gene- 
 rally ignorant and unlearned, loose and irregular in 
 theu' lives and conversations, neoiigent of their cures, 
 and very careless of observing uniformity and decency 
 in divine worship." — Carte, i. 68. 
 
 NotMithstanding the ignorance and immorality of 
 the law-established clergy, they could occasionally 
 exhibit a sufficiency of anti- Catholic zeal to blast- 
 pheme and insult oar Divine Redeemer, by outraging 
 the memorials of him which are held sacred and 
 venerable among the Catholics. I give a specimen : — 
 
 " One Hewson, an English minister of Swords, fell 
 violently on one Horish of that place, and took from 
 him a crucifix, and hung the same upon a gallows 
 with these words under it, ' help, all strangers, for the 
 God of the papists is in danger.' Upon Horish's 
 complaining to the State, and producing the mangled 
 and defaced crucifix. Sir Geotfry Fenton, secretary, 
 insulted the poor man, snached the crucifix from him, 
 and cast it on the ground under his feet ; and Horish 
 for offering to complain of that abuse, was thrown 
 into prison." — Theatre of Catholic and Protestant 
 Religions, p. 117. 
 
 The memotials of our Saviour appear to have been 
 particularly oftensi-ve to the refined piety of this Sir 
 GeofFry Fenton : — 
 
 " The same Sir Geofl^ry Fenton did set a poor 
 fellow on the pillory in Dublin with the picture of 
 Christ about his neck, for having carried the same 
 before a dead friend at his funeral." — Ibid, p. 118^ 
 
 A better idea may be conceived of the virulence of 
 the persecution of the Irish Catholics during the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth, if we refer for one moment 
 to her sanguinary proceedings against the Catholics 
 of the more favoured portion of the empire — England. 
 Upon this subject I may refer to the authority of a 
 Catholic writer ; especially as the accuracy of his 
 statements stood the test of the adverse criiticism of 
 
CHAl'. IJ.] PROC:S, ETC. 113 
 
 an able and virulent adversary — Doctor Sturges. In 
 the seventh edition of Dr. Milner's celebrated work 
 entitled Letters to a Prebendary, pp. 95, 96, there 
 occurs the following passage : — 
 
 " I have," says Dr. ^iihier, " collected the names of 
 204 persons executed on that sole account, (viz. for 
 being Catholics,) chiefly within the last 20 years of 
 Elizabeth's reign. Of this number 1 42 were priests, 
 three were gentlewomen, and the remainder esquires, 
 gentlemen, and yeomen. Amongst them 15 were con- 
 demned for denying the Queen's spiritual supremacy, 
 126 for the exercise of the priestly functions, and the 
 rest for being reconciled to the Catholic faith, or for 
 being aiding and abetting to priests. ^ Besides these, 
 I find a particular account, together with most of the 
 names of 90 priests or Catholic lay persons who died 
 in prison, in the same reign, and of 105 others, who 
 were sent into perpetual banishment. I say nothing 
 of many more who were whipped, fined, or stripped 
 of their property, to the utter ruin of their families. 
 In one night, 50 Catholic gentlemen in the county 
 of Lancaster, wer3 suddenly seized and committed 
 to prison on account of their non-attendance at 
 church. About the same time, I find an equal 
 number of Yorkshire gentlemen hdng prisoners in 
 York Castle on the same account, most of whom 
 perished there. These were every week, for a twelve- 
 month together, dragged by main force to hear the 
 established service performed in the castle chapel. 
 An account was published by a contemporary writer, 
 (Dr. Bridgewater,) ot 1200 Catholics, who had been 
 in some sort or othef \dctims of this persecution 
 previously to the year 1588 ; that is to say, during 
 the period of its greatest lenity." — Milner's Letters to 
 a Prebendary, Letter iv. 
 
 To show the intensity of the persecution and the 
 horrible nature of the cruelties inflicted by Protestant 
 Elizabeth and her Protestant advisers, I add the fol- 
 lovv^ng extract. Dr. Milner thus addresses his anta- 
 gonist, the Rev. Dr. Sturges : — 
 
 H 
 
114 OBSEEVATIONS, [CHAP. II, 
 
 " Since, sir, you oblige me to enter upon this dis- 
 gusting subject, I must tell you, with respect to the 
 greater part of Catholic victims, that the sentence of 
 the law was strictly and literally executed upon them. 
 After being hanged up, they were cut down alive, dis- 
 membered, ripped up, and their bowels literally 
 burned before their faces, after which they were 
 beheaded and quartered ! The time employed in this 
 butchery was very considerable, and in one instance, 
 lasted above half an hour. I must add, that a great 
 number of these sufferers, as well as other Catholics, 
 who did not endure capital punishment, were racked 
 in the most severe and wanton manner, in order to 
 extort proofs against themselves or their brethren." — 
 Ihid, Letter iv. 
 
 It is an object of painful curiosity to contemplate 
 the modes in which men tortured each other in the 
 sacred aud holy name of religion. The following 
 succinct summary, given in a note to Letter iv. of the 
 " Letters to a Prebendary,'^ will afford a further idea 
 of the familiar instruments of Protestant persecution 
 in the reign of Queen Elizabeth : — 
 
 " Camden, in his Annals, speaking of the famous 
 r. Campian, says, ' that he was not so racked but that 
 he was still capable of signing his name.' It appears 
 from the account of one of these sufferers,* that the 
 f ollomng tortures were in use against Catholics in the 
 Tower : 1. The common rack, in which the limbs 
 were stretched by levers. 2. The Scavenger's Daughter, 
 so called, being like a hoop, in which the body was 
 bent until the head and feet met together. 3. The 
 chamber called Little Ease, being a hole so small that 
 a person could neither stand, sit, nor lie straight in 
 it. 4. The Iron Gauntlets." — Diar. Rer. Gest. in 
 Turri Loncl. 
 
 " In some instances needles were thrust under the 
 prisoners' nails. With what cruelty the Catholics 
 were racked, we may gather from the following pas- 
 
 * Carapian, Brian, Cottam, Sherwood> <fcc. 
 
CHAP. II.] PEOOFS, ETC. 115 
 
 sage in a letter from John NichoUs to Cardinal AUen, 
 by way of extenuating the guilt of his apostacy and 
 his perfidy in accusing his Catholic brethren : ' Non 
 bona res est corpus isto cruciato Ion gius fieri per duos 
 fere 2)edes quam natura concessit? Sir Owen Hopton, 
 Lieutenant of the Tower, was commonly the imme- 
 diate instrument in these cruelties ; but sometimes 
 Elmer, Bishop of London, directed them. On one 
 occasion he caused a young lady of good birth to be 
 cruelly scourged, when he could not prevail on her to 
 attend the public service." 
 
 I cannot help remarking that nothing was ever more 
 unfounded than the notion that Protestantism was 
 favourable to freedom of conscience ; or that Protes- 
 tants were not persecutors. The contrary is directly 
 the fact. Protestants not only persecuted Catholics, 
 but they persecuted each other to the death. It is 
 worth while to read the notes on this subject in 
 Doctor Milner's book, appended to " Letter iv." pp. 
 65, 66, of the seventh edition. I quote the follow- 
 ing :— 
 
 Scotland.— ^'' The Reformation may be said to have 
 begun there by the assassination of Cardinal Beatoun, 
 in which Knox was a party, and to which Fox in his 
 Acts and Monuments, says the murderers were insti- 
 gated ' by the Spirit of God.' In 1560, the parliament 
 at one and the same time decreed the establishment 
 of Calvinism, and the punishment of death against 
 the ancient religion. 'With such indecent haste,' saj^s 
 Robertson, ' did the very persons who had just escaped 
 ecclesiastical tyranny proceed to imitate the example.' 
 {Hist, of Scotland.) See also the answer of the Pres- 
 bytery to the King and Council in 1596, concerning 
 the Catholic Earls of Huntly, Errol, &c., viz. that 'as 
 they (the earls) had been guilty of idolatry, a crime 
 deserving of death, the civil power could not spare 
 them.'" 
 
 France. — " In France, it is well known that wher- 
 ever the Huguenots carried their victorious arms 
 against their sovereign, they prohibited the exercise 
 
116 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAr. II. 
 
 of the Catholic religion, slaughtered the priests and 
 religious ; burnt the churches and convents ; dug up 
 the dead to make bullets of their leaden coffins, &c. 
 See Maimhourg, Hist Calvinism; Tkuanus Hist. 
 L. xxxi. One of their own writers, Nicholas Frou- 
 nienteau, confesses, that in the single province of 
 Dauphiny they killed 256 priests, and 112 monks or 
 friars. {Liv. de France.) In these scenes the famous 
 Baron Des Adrets signalized his barbarity ; forcing 
 his Catholic prisoners to jump from the towers upon 
 the pikes of his soldiers ; and obliging his own chil- 
 dren to wash their hands in the blood of the Catholics." 
 The Low Countries. — "Dr. Sturges speaks with 
 horror of the persecution of the Protestants in the 
 Low Countries by the Duke of Alva, who, he says, 
 'boasted that he had delivered 18,000 heretics (he 
 should have said heretics or rebels — see Brandt) to the 
 executioner.' I heartily join with him in condemning 
 and execrating the sanguinary vengeance of the 
 Spanish Governor and Government against their 
 seditious subjects of the Calvinistic persuasion ; but 
 to form an adequate judgment of this case^ it is proper 
 to attend to the provocations which the former had 
 received from the latter. Not to mention the conspi- 
 racy of Carli and Risot to assassinate the Duke of 
 Alva himself at the monastery of Groonfeldt, near 
 Brussels, it is certain that one class of the Eeformers 
 had endeavoured to erect the same fanatical and 
 bloody kingdom in Hoi] and, w^hich John of Leyden 
 actually established at Munster, crying out that God 
 had given iip the country to them, and that vengeance 
 awaited all who would not join them. It was an or- 
 dinary thing with them to assault the clergy in the 
 discharge of their functions ; and the air resounded 
 with their cries of kill the priests, kill the monks, kill 
 the magistrates. These violences became more common 
 as the Reformation extended itself vdder. Wherever 
 Vandermerck and Sonoi, both of them lieutenants to 
 the Prince of Orange, carried tbeir arms, they uni- 
 formly put to death in cold blood all the priests and 
 
CHAP. II.] PROOFS, ETC. 117 
 
 religious they could lay their hands upon, as at Oude- 
 narde, Ruremond, Dort, Middlebourg, Delft, and 
 Shonoven. See Hist. Ref. des Fays £as, by the Pro- 
 testant minister De Brandt ; also Dr. Patinson in his 
 Jerusalem and Bahel, p. 385. A late celebrated bio- 
 grapher. Feller, Diet. Hist. Art. Toledo, says that 
 Vandermerck slaughtered more unoffending Catholic 
 priests and peasants in the year 1572, than Alva exe- 
 cuted Protestants during his whole government. He 
 gives us, in the same passage, a copious extract from 
 HAhrege de VHistoire de la HoUande, par Monsieur 
 Kerroux, in which this Protestant writer, who pro- 
 fesses to write from judicial records still extant, 
 draws a most frightful picture of the infernal barbari- 
 ties of Sonoi on the Catholic peasants of North Hol- 
 land. He says that some of these, after undergoing 
 the torments of scourges and the rack, Avere enveloped 
 in sheets of linen that had been steeped in spirits of 
 wine, which being inflamed, they were miserably 
 scorched to death ; that others, after being tortured 
 with burning sulphur and torches in the tenderest 
 parts of their bodies, were made to die for want of 
 sleep, executioners being placed on guard over them 
 to beat and torment them with clubs and other 
 weapons whenever exhausted nature seemed ready to 
 sink into forgetfulness ; that several of them were fed 
 with nothing but salt herrings, without a drop of 
 water or any other liquid, until they expired Avith 
 thirst ; finally, that others were stung to death by 
 wasps, or devoured by rats, which were confined in 
 coffins with them. Amongst the cruelties there re- 
 counted are some of so indecent a nature that they 
 will not bear repeating ; and those which occur above 
 are only mentioned, to induce Dr. Sturges and other 
 writers of his class to join me in burying the odious 
 names of Alva and Sonoi in equal oblivion. Amongst 
 the more illustrious foreign Protestants who suffered 
 death by the violence of other Protestants, it may be 
 proper to mention the names of Servetus, Gentilis, Felix 
 Mans. Rotman, Barnevelt, (fee, not to mention Bolsec, 
 
118 OBSEEVATIONS, [CHAP. II. 
 
 Grotius, and others, wlio were banished, or otherwise 
 persecuted for their religious opinions." 
 
 Enrjland. — " The following is a more circumstantial 
 account of the persecution which some Protestants 
 have exercised upon others in this country, than is 
 contained in the passage above quoted. In the reign 
 of Edward VI., in the year 1550, six Anabaptists were 
 condemned by Archbishop Cranmer, some of whom 
 recanted and carried faggots in sign of their having 
 merited burning ; and one of them, a woman, Joan 
 Knell, was actually burned alive. The following year 
 George Paris was condemned, and suffered in the 
 same manner. See Stow's Annals. During the reign 
 of Elizabeth, in the year 1573, Peter Burchet, a gentle- 
 man of the Middle Temple, was examined on the score 
 of heresy by Edward Sands, Bishop of London, but 
 recanted his opinions. In 1575, twenty-seven heretics 
 were at one time, eleven at another, and five at a 
 third, condemned for their errors, most of them by the 
 same Protestant bishop. Of these, twenty were 
 w^hipped and banished ; others bore their faggots ; 
 and two of them, John Peterson and Henry Turwort, 
 w^ere burned to death in Smithfield. In 1583, John 
 Lewes, 'for denying the Godhead of Christ,' says 
 Stow, was burned at Norwich ; at which place also, 
 Francis Kett, M.A., suffered the same kind of death 
 for similar opinions in 1589. Two years afterwards, 
 William Hackett was hanged for heresy in Cheapside. 
 Five others suffered death in this reign for being 
 Brownists — viz., Thacker, Copping, Green v»'Ood, Bar- 
 row, and Penry. The above particulars may be seen 
 in Stov/, Brandt, Limborch, Collier, Neal, &c. 
 
 " Under James I., Legat and Whitman were exe- 
 cuted for Arianism. In the time of Charles L, the 
 Dissenters complained loudly of their sufferings, and 
 particularly that four of their number, Leighton, 
 Burton, Prynne, and Bastwick, were cropped of their 
 ears, and set in the pillory. Limhorch, Hist, of Inqui- 
 sition ; Need, &c. When the Presbyterians afterwards 
 got the upper hand, they continued to put Catholics 
 
CHAP. II.] PROOFS, ETC. 119 
 
 to death, and treated those of the former establish- 
 ment -with. ahno.s-t equal severitj^ ; at the same time 
 appointing days of humiliation and fasting, to beg 
 God's pardon for not being more intolerant. See JVeal^ 
 Hist of Puritans ; also Hist of Churches of England 
 and Scotland, vol. iii. The editor of De Laime's 
 Plea for Non-Conformists, says, that this writer was 
 one of 8,000 Protestant Dissenters who 'perished 
 in prison in that single reign, — (\t[z., of Charles II.) 
 merely for dissenting from the Church.' Preface, 
 p. 2. He adds, ' that one of their people, Mr. \^ite, 
 had carefully collected a list of the sufferings of the 
 Dissenters ; that the Catholics, in the reign of James 
 II., offered him bribes to obtain this list ; that he re- 
 jected the offer, to prevent the black record from rising 
 np in judgment against the Church ; and that the 
 dignified prelates sent thanks and money to Mr. 
 White in reward for his services.' For the capital 
 punishments and other sufferings of the Quakers, see 
 Penn's Life of George Fox, folio." — Milntrs Letters to 
 a Prelendary, letter iv. (note). 
 
 The subject of the change of religion and the per- 
 secutions attending on it, ha.ve necessarily compelled 
 me to condense here the cruelties of several reigns, 
 and to range beyond the period embraced in my first 
 chapter, to which the present notes and illustrations 
 shonld more properly belong. 
 
 The treachery, the cruelty, the infernal injustice of 
 every shape and kind, whereby Elizabeth and her fol- 
 lowers obtained the dominion of Ulster, will be eluci- 
 dated by further extracts from Protestant historians. 
 
 Ere I close these evidences on the subject of reli- 
 gious persecution, I shall give, from the statute book, 
 the following abridged record of the penal Acts passed 
 against the Catholics of England ; from which the 
 reader can form his own judgment of Protestant tole- 
 ration in that country from 1548 to 1791. 
 
120 OBSERVATIONS, • [CHAP. II. 
 
 Ah str act of Acts of Parliament made in England, on 
 the subject of jReligion, from the year 1548 to the 
 year 1791. 
 
 1548. — Any parson, vicar, or other minister, refus- 
 ing to use the Book of Common Prayer, and other 
 rites and ceremonies according to the use of the Church 
 of England, or using any other manner of prayer, or 
 speaking against the said Book of Common Prayer, 
 and being afterwards thereof three times convicted, 
 shall suffer imprisonment during his life. 
 
 1551. — Every person shall resort to Church where 
 Common Prayer shall be used, upon pain of punish- 
 ment by the censures of the Church. And any person 
 hearing or being present at any manner or form of 
 Common Prayer, of administration of the Sacraments, 
 making of ministers, or of any rites, other than those 
 set forth in the said Book of Common Prayer, shall 
 suffer imprisonment during his or their lives. 
 
 1558^The Queen declared to be supreme head of 
 the Church ; and all persons bearing promotions and 
 offices, ecclesiastical or temporal, refusing to take the 
 oath of Supremacy, disabled from retaining or exercis- 
 ing any such offices during life. Any person assert- 
 ing the jurisdiction, spiritual or ecclesiastical, of any 
 foreign prince, prelate, &c. as heretofore used within 
 this kingdom, shall, with his abettors, be attainted, 
 forfeit his estates, and suffer pains of death, and other 
 penalties and forfeitures, as in cases of high treason. 
 
 1563. — Any person refusing to take the oath of the 
 
 Sieen's Supremacy, to incur for the first such refusal, 
 e danger, penalties, pains, and forfeitures ordained 
 and provided by the statute of provisions and prae- 
 munire, made in the 16th year of King Richard II. 
 Refusing the oath a second time declared to be treason. 
 1581. — Statute enacting it to be treason to with- 
 draw any person from the religion established, to the 
 Romish religion. Treason to be reconciled or with- 
 drawn to the Romish religion. All aiders to suffer as 
 for misprision of treason. 
 
CHAP. II.] PROOFS, ETC. 121 
 
 Any person saying or wilfully liearing mass, shall 
 forfeit 200 marks, and suffer twelve months' imprison- 
 ment. 
 
 Any person over the age of sixteen, not going to 
 church or usual place of common prayer, shall 
 forfeit <£20 English per month ; and should he 
 absent himself still, he shall give sufficient sureties 
 for £200 at least, "to their good behaviour," and 
 shall so continue bound until he conform himself and 
 come to church. 
 
 Any person keeping a schoolmaster who shall not 
 repair to the Established Church, shall forfeit £10 per 
 month. 
 
 Imprisonment in default of all the above payments. 
 
 1585. — All Jesuits, seminary, and other priests re- 
 maining in England, or entering the kingdom after 
 forty days, shall for such offence be adjudged a traitor, 
 and shall suffer, lose, and forfeit, as in case of high 
 treason. 
 
 Receiving or relieving any such persons shall be a 
 felony ; and sending money or relief to such persons 
 out of England shall be punished with the penalties 
 of pr;emunire, or, in other words, with transportation 
 and forfeiture of property. 
 
 NcAe. — Numerous executions of priests, &c., took 
 place under this Act ; and so late as the 30th of June, 
 1040, when En^iand and Scotland were in arms for 
 liberty of conscience. Rush worth mentions as an ordi- 
 nary occurrence, that one Morgan was hanged, drawn, . 
 and quartered at Tyburn for having received holy 
 orders in the Catholic Church beyond seas, and hav- 
 ing, in defiance of this Act, come into England. — 
 liushtuorth, iv. 305. 
 
 1587. — Two-thirds of the lands and other estates of 
 every person refusing to go to church, shall be taken 
 into the Queen's possession. 
 
 1593. — All recusants {i.e., persons refusing to con- 
 form to the new State creed) shall give in their names 
 to the curate of the parish, who will certify the same 
 to the justices, in order to take proceedings against 
 
122 OBSERVATIONS, [OHAP. IT. 
 
 them. Any priest refusing to acknowledge himself as 
 such, shall be committed to prison. 
 
 [Query — Wherein difiered this from the Spanish 
 Inquisition 'i] 
 
 Any person over the age of sixteen years, refusing 
 to go to church, or impugning, by speeches, the 
 Queen's authority ecclesiastical, or persuading others 
 not to go to church, or going to any other place of 
 religious meeting, shall be committed to prison, there 
 to remain without bail or mainprize, until they 
 conform to the Church, and hear divine service as 
 established by law. 
 
 Any person offending against this Act, and not 
 coming in within three months, and conforming to 
 the Church, must abjure and depart out of the realm. 
 Refusal to do so is declared felony, without benefit of 
 clergy. 
 
 Any person keeping in his house any one who 
 refuses to go to church, shall forfeit £10 per month 
 for every person so refusing. 
 
 The lands and goods of persons forced to depart 
 out of the realm by this Act, shall be forfeited to the 
 . head of the State Church — ^the sovereign. 
 
 1605. — Churchwardens to return monthly lists of 
 persons refusing to attend divine service, and of 
 their children above nine yesuB of age. Justices to 
 make proclamation that all such offenders surrender 
 their bodies to the sheriff; monthly penalty, ,£20 each, 
 and two-thirds of their estates to be taken for the 
 King. 
 
 Every bishop shall examine the persons in his 
 diocese on oath ; and he who shall refuse to answer 
 upon oath, shall be committed to prison without 
 bail or mainprize. 
 
 [N.B. — The Inquisition again !] 
 
 Any person aged above eighteen years refusing the 
 oath of supremacy, shall incur the danger and penal- 
 ties of prasmunire. No indictments of such persons 
 shall be reversed for want of form. 
 
 Any person reconciling another to the Churph of 
 
CHAP. II.] PROOFS, ETC. 123 
 
 Rome, shall have judgment, suffer, and forfeit, as in 
 cases of high treason I 
 
 The sheriff or other officer may break open any 
 house wherein popish re(3usants shall be. 
 
 1609. — Every person above the age of eighteen shall 
 take the oath of supremacy. Any person refusing to 
 do so, shall be committed to prison without bail or 
 mainprize, until the assizes ; and if he then refuse, he 
 shall incur the danger and penalty of praemunire, 
 except women covert, who shall be committed to 
 prison only, there to remain "\Adthout bail or main- 
 prize till they will take the said oath and conform, or 
 until her husband pay to the King o£lO per month, or 
 the third part of all his estate. 
 
 [Here we have perjury — foul perjury — enforced by 
 statute, under the penalty of praemunire. We 
 may note, that such was the rigid execution of these 
 infernal laws, that in 1626 we find Lord Scroop ac- 
 cused to the King of conniving at recusancy, inas- 
 much as he had convicted only 1670 Catholics in the 
 East Riding of Yorkshire.] 
 
 1670. — Justices of the peace, constables, (fcc, em- 
 powered to break open doors where any meetings of 
 a religious nature shall be held in any other manner 
 than according to the Liturgy and practice of the 
 Church of England. Fine of £-20 on preacher for the 
 first offence — £40 for the second. Fine of =£20 on any 
 one permitting such meetings in his house. 
 
 1688. — The declaration against popery directed to 
 be tendered to all papists, who, if they refuse the 
 same, shall forfeit and suffer as papist recusant con- 
 verts, under the laws already made since 1546, or 
 otherwise banishment or imprisonment for life, loss 
 of estate, and (in some cases) loss of life. 
 
 1700. — A reward of £100 for taking a popish bishop 
 or priest, and prosecuting him for saying mass, or ex- 
 ercising any of his functions. 
 
 1736 and 1757. — Statutes disabling any person re- 
 fusing to take the oaths of supremacy, &c., and the 
 law-sacrament, from suing at law or in equity ; from 
 
124 OBsiEilVATIONS. [CHAP. II. 
 
 being tlie guardian of liis children ; from being execu- 
 tor or administrator, or from takjng by legacy or deed 
 of gift ; such offender to forfeit the sum of .£500. 
 
 The above is a very brief and imperfect abstract of 
 the persecuting laws enacted in England against 
 Catholics, and remaining on the statute book until 
 the year 1791. 
 
 CHAPTEH II.-PART II. 
 
 We have already seen, in the shape of an Act of Par- 
 liament passed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the 
 ludicrous " title " she claimed from King Gurmond — 
 bless the mark ! ! We now must come to more sub- 
 stantial horrors. The testimony borne by the great 
 Edmund Burke to the crimes of the English Govern- 
 ment in Ireland, having especial reference to this 
 period, is w^ell worthy of transcription here. The 
 following are his words : — 
 
 " If we read Baron Finglass, Spenser, and Sir John 
 Davies, we cannot miss the true genius and policy of 
 the English Government there [viz., in Ireland], before 
 the Revolution, as well as during the whole reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth. Sir John Davies boasts of the bene- 
 fits received by the natives, by extending to them tlie 
 English law, and turning the whole kingdom into 
 shireground. But the appearance of things alone was 
 changed — the original scheme was never deviated 
 from for a single hour. Unheard-of confiscations 
 were made in the northern i^arts, upon grounds of 
 plots and conspiracies never proved upon tlieir sup- 
 posed authors. The war of chicane succeeded to the war 
 of arms and of hostile statutes ; and a regular series of 
 operations was carried on, particularly from Chichester's 
 time, in the ordinary courts of justice, and by special 
 commissions and inquisitions — first under pretence of 
 tenures, and then of titles in the Crown — for the pur- 
 pose of the total extirpation of the natives in their 
 own soil — until this species of subtle ravage, being 
 
CHAP. II. J PKOOF.-:. ETC. 125 
 
 carried to the last excess of oppression and insolence 
 under Lord Stratford, it kindled the flames of that re- 
 bellion which broke out in 1641. By the issue of that 
 war, by the turn which the Earl of Clarendon gave 
 to things at the Restoration, and by the total reduc- 
 tion of the kingdom of Ireland in 1691, the ruin 
 of the native Irish, and, in a great measure, too, 
 of the first races of the English, w^as completely ac- 
 complished." 
 
 Let us hear the Ilev. Dr. Leland. He will tell us 
 how James set up a title derived from Henry II., to 
 disturb possessions of more than 400 years' standing, 
 since the reign of that monarch. 
 
 The foUomng extract, in which Leland has put 
 this matter in the most favourable point of view he 
 possibly could, will serve to give my English readers 
 a notion of the sort of justice the Irish found at the 
 hands of King James : — 
 
 "In pursuit of this favourite object (namely, the 
 'Plantation' of Ulster), he (viz. James) had some- 
 times recourse to claims which the old natives 
 deemed obsolete and unjust. The seizure of those 
 lands whose possessors had lately meditated rebellion, 
 and fled from the sentence of the law, produced little 
 clamour or murmuring. But when he recurred to 
 the concessions made to Henry II., to invalidate the 
 titles derived from a possession of some centuries, 
 the apparent severity had its full effect on those who 
 were not accpiainted with the reflnements of law, 
 and not prepossessed in favour of the equity of such 
 refinements, when employed to divest thein of their 
 ancient property." — Leland, book iv. chap. 8. 
 
 Tliis is the light manner in which Leland chooses 
 to treat the design of spoliation, which James and his 
 successor not only devised, but followed out and 
 carried into effect. I cannot use stronger language 
 than Leland — even Leland himself ! — has used in de- 
 scribing the process of this robbery according to law. 
 This is the way in which he describes what he terms 
 " the spirit of adventure" — he ought to have called it 
 
126 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. n. 
 
 " the spirit of robbery" — actuating hordes of foreign 
 robbers to plunder the people of Ireland : — 
 
 " It was an age of project and adventure : men's 
 minds were particularly possessed with a passion for 
 new discoveries, and planting of countries. They 
 who were too poor or too spiritless to engage in more 
 distant adventures, courted fortune in Ireland." * * 
 " They obtained commissions of inquiry into defective 
 titles, and grants of concealed lands and rents be- 
 longing to the Crown ; the great benefit of which was 
 generally to accrue to the projector, whilst the King 
 was contented with an inconsiderable proportion of 
 the concealment, or a small advance of rent. Disco- 
 verers were everywhere busily employed in finding 
 out flaws in men's titles to their estates. The old 
 pipe-rolls were searched to find the original rents with 
 which they had been charged ; the patent rolls in the 
 Tower of London were ransacked for the ancient 
 grants ; no means of industry or devices of craft were 
 left untried, to force the possessors to accept of new 
 grants at an advanced rent. In general, men were 
 either conscious of defects in their titles, or alarmed 
 at the trouble and expense of a contest with the 
 Crown ; or fearful of the issue of such a contest, at a 
 time and in a country where the prerogative was 
 highly strained, and strenuously supported by the 
 judges." "^ ^ "^ " There are not wanting proofs 
 of the most iniquitous practices, of hardened cruelty, 
 of vile perjury, and scandalous subornation, employed 
 to despoil the fair and imoftending proprietor of his 
 inheritance." — Leland, book iv., chap. 8. 
 
 There is nothing new under the sun. In the reigns 
 of George IV. and William IV. somewhat of a similar 
 inquiry was instituted by the department of the 
 Woods and Forests. A man named Weale was em- 
 ployed to search for defective titles in Ireland, and a 
 great deal of plunder was obtained by that means ; 
 and it is principally owing to accidental causes that 
 the plunder was not much more extensive. People 
 were foolish enough to ascribe this persecuting inquiry 
 
CHAP. II.] PROOFS, ETC. 127 
 
 into titles to an Orange disposition to render property 
 in Ireland insecure. That was all a mistake— there is 
 nothing new under the sun ! 
 
 In proceeding to give some specimens of the atro- 
 cious robberies perpetrated upon the Irish under 
 James I., it may be both instructive and interesting 
 to show how the family of Parsons, now Earls of 
 Rosse, acquired estates in Ireland. The present earl 
 has given some specimens of his disposition towards 
 the priests and people of Ireland — a disposition that 
 would have done no discredit to his^ plundering 
 ancestors, although the day of plunder in the same 
 mode is gone by. liCt the reader attend to the tale of 
 the unfortunate Byrnes ; and he Avill see how miuch 
 it is in human nature that the family of Parsons should 
 not be kindly inclined to the natives of Ireland. At 
 all events it is perfectly safe to say, that such a speci- 
 men as we are about to afford of the most scandalous 
 and profligate plunder could not have been exhibited 
 in any other country than Ireland. It is thus recorded 
 by the intelligent historian, Dr. Taylor: — 
 
 " One case may be quoted, as a specimen of Irish 
 justice in those days. Bryan and Turlogli Byrne were 
 the rightful owners of a tract in Leinster, called the 
 Pianelaghs. Its vicinity to the capital made it a de- 
 sirable plunder ; and accordingly Parsons, Lord Es- 
 mond, and some others, determined that it should be 
 forfeited. The Byrnes, however, had powerful inte- 
 rest in England, and obtained a patent grant of their 
 lands from the King. Parsons and Esmond were not 
 to be disappointed so easily — they flatly refused to 
 pass the royal grant ; and deeming the destruction of 
 the Byrnes necessary to their safety, they had them 
 arrested on a charge of treason. The witnesses pro- 
 vided to support the charge, were Dufle, whom Tur- 
 logh Byrne, as a justice of the peace, had sent to prison 
 for cow-stealing ; Ma.cArt and MacGriffin, two noto- 
 rious thieves ; and a farmer named Archer. This last 
 long resisted the attempts to force him to become a 
 perjured witness, and his obstinacy was punished by 
 
128 OBSEr.VATIONS, [OHAP. 11. 
 
 the most horrible tortures. He was burned in the 
 fleshy parts of the body with hot irons ; placed on a 
 gridiron over a charcoal fire ; and finally flogged until 
 nature could support him no longer, and he promised 
 to swear anj^thing that the commissioners pleased. 
 Bills of indictment were presented to two successive 
 grand juries in the county of Carlow, and at once ig- 
 nored, as the suborned Avitnesses were unworthy of 
 credit, and contradicted themselves and each other. 
 For this opposition to the will of Government, the 
 jurors were summoned to the Star Chamber in Dublin, 
 and heavily fined. The witnesses, Mac Art and 
 MacGriffin, being no longer useful, M^ere given up to 
 the vengeance of the law. They were hanged for 
 robbery at Kilkenny ; and, with their dying breath, 
 declared the innocence of the Byrnes. 
 
 " The ingenuity of Parsons and his accomplices was 
 not yet exhausted. The Byrnes presented themselves 
 before the court of King's Bench in Dublin, to answer 
 any charge that might be brought against them. No 
 prosecutor appeared ; and yet the Lord Chief Justice 
 refused to grant their discharge. During two years, 
 repeated orders were transmitted from England, direct- 
 ing that the Byrnes should be freed from further pro- 
 cess, and restored to their estates ; but the faction in 
 the castle evaded and disobeyed every mandate. At 
 length, on learning that the Duke of Richmond, the 
 generous patron of the persecuted Irishmen, was dead, 
 it was determined by Parsons to complete the de- 
 struction of the victims. He had before been baffled 
 by the integrity of a grand jury ; on this occasion he 
 took proper precautions to prevent a similar dis- 
 appointment. The bills were sent before the grand 
 jurors of Wicklow, the majority of whom had obtained 
 grants of the Byrne propertj^, and all were intimately 
 connected with the prosecutors. The evidence placed 
 before this impartial body was the depositions of four 
 criminals who Avere pardoned on condition of giving 
 evidence ; but even these wretches were not brought 
 in person before the jury. Their depositions were 
 
CHAP. II.] PKOOFS, ETC. 129 
 
 taken in Irish by one of the prosecutors, and translated 
 by one of his creatures. These suspicious documents, 
 however, proved sufficient, and the bills were found ! 
 " To procure additional evidence, it was necessary 
 to use expedients still more atrocious. xV number oi 
 persons vv^ere seized, and subjected to the mockery of 
 trial by martial law, though the regular courts were 
 sitting. The most horrid tortures were inflicted on 
 those who refused to accuse the Byrnes ; and some of 
 the most obstinate were punished with death. But 
 the firmness of the victims presented obstacles Avhich 
 were not overcome, before some virtuous Englishmen 
 represented the affair so strongly to the King that he 
 was shamed into interference. He sent over com- 
 missioners from England to investigate the entire 
 affair. The Byrnes were brought before them, and 
 honourably acquitted ; but Parsons had previously 
 contrived to obtain a grant of their estates by patent 
 and was permitted to keep them undisturbed." — 
 'Taylor's Hist, of the Civil Wcms in Ireland, vol. i. pp. 
 243-246 ; also Cartes Ormond, vol. i. p. 29 ; and 
 MSS. Stearne, Trin. Coll., Duhlia. 
 
 CHAPTER II.- PAPtT HI. 
 
 It may be useful, for the sake of distinctness, to give 
 a separate consideration to the enormous iniquity [)er- 
 petrated by James in the wholesale robbery of his 
 Irish subjects, beginning with the confiscation of six 
 entire counties in the province of Ulster. These 
 counties were for the greater part the estates of 
 O'Neill, Lord Tyrone ; and O'Donnell, Lord Tyrcon- 
 nell. The residue was principally held under them 
 by a title which was deemed by the natives perpetual. 
 A conspiracy was formed, falsely to accuse those 
 lords 01 high treason ; and so to ])rocure the forfei- 
 ture of their estates. Attempts were made by private 
 emissaries, to allure them into some treasonable pro- 
 jects, but in vain. They were upon their guard, and 
 
 I 
 
130 OBSERVATIONS, jCHAP. II. 
 
 treated the tempters with neglect. Notwithstanding 
 this caution on their parts, preparations were made in 
 Dublin for their trial and execution. They had been 
 invited to Dublin in a friendly manner ; they had 
 come thither, expecting to be treated as friends. The 
 following passage from Doctor Anderson's Royal 
 Genealogies, p. 786, will afford the reader a graphic 
 description of the mode wherein these unfortunate 
 noblemen were circumvented : — 
 
 "Artful (Secretary) Cecil employed one St. 
 Lawrence to entrap the Earls of Tirone and Tjt- 
 connell, the Lord of Delvin, and other Irish chiefs, 
 into a sham plot, which had no evidence but his. 
 But those chiefs being informed that mtnesses were 
 to be hired against thenij foolishly fled from Dublin, 
 and so taking guilt upon them, they were declared 
 rebels, and six entire counties in IJister were at once 
 forfeited to the Crown, which was what their enemies 
 wanted." 
 
 The evidence upon which the charge of hi^'h treason 
 rests is singularly curious. It would seem incredible 
 that so gross a fraud should be deemed practicable ; 
 but it is placed beyond a doubt by Protestant his- 
 torians. It is thus stated by Jones, Protestant Bishop 
 of Meath, who, before his ordination, had held rank 
 in Cromwell's army. His account runs thus : — 
 
 "Anno 1607, there was a providential discovery of 
 another rebellion in Ireland, the Lord Chichester 
 being Deputy. The discoverer not being willing to 
 appear, a letter from him, not subscribed, was super- 
 scribed to Sir William Usher, Clerk of the Council, 
 and dropt in the council chamber then held in the 
 castle of Dublin ; in which was mentioned a design 
 for sieging the castle and nmrdering the Deputy; 
 with a general revolt, and dependence on Spanish 
 forces ; and this also for religion ; for particulars 
 whereof (adds the bishop) I refer to that letter, 
 dated March the 19th, imiJ'— Preface to Borlase's 
 History of the Irish Rebellion. 
 
 O'Neill and O'Donnell had the good sense not to 
 
CHAP, il] proofs, etc. 131 
 
 abide the result of the trial. They fled to foreign 
 countries ; but the sordid rancour of the slobbering 
 monster, King James, followed them thither. He 
 robbed them of their property at home. He endea- 
 voured to rob them of character and synipathy abroad. 
 He distributed a proclamation against the earls, 
 which is so characteristic of the pedantic brute that 
 issued it, and of the spirit Avherein the English Go- 
 vernment invariably ruled ^Ireland, that I insert it 
 here at length : — 
 
 ''^ By the King. — A proclamation, touching the 
 Earles of Tirone and Tirconnell. 
 
 " Seeing it is common and natural in all persons of 
 what condition soever to speak and judge variably of 
 all new and sudden accidents ; and that the flight of 
 the Earles of Tirone and Tirconnell, with some others 
 of their fellowes, out of the north partes of our realme 
 of Ireland, may haply prove a subject of like discourse: 
 wee have thought it not amiss to deliver some such 
 matter in publique as may better cleare men's judg- 
 ments concerning the same : not in respect of any 
 worth or value in these men's persons, being base and 
 rude in their originall, but to take away all such in- 
 conveniencies as may blemish the reputation of that 
 friendsliip which ought to be mutually observed 
 between us and other princes. For although it is not 
 unlikely that the report of their titles and dignities 
 may draw from princes and states some such courtesies 
 at their first coming abroad as are incident to men of 
 extraordinary rancke and qualitie; yet, when wee 
 have taken the best means wee can to lay them open 
 in every condition, we shall then expect from our 
 friends and neighbours all such just and noble pro- 
 ceedings as stand with the rules of honour and friend- 
 ship ; and from our subjects at home and abroad that 
 duety and obedience (in their carriage toward them) 
 which they owe to us by inseparable bonds and obli- 
 gations of nature and loyaltie, whereof wee intend to 
 take streight accompt. For which purpose wee doo 
 hereby first declare that these persons above-men- 
 
135 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAF. li. 
 
 tionecl had not their creations or possessions in regard 
 of any lineall or Law^iill descent froni ancestors of 
 blood or virtue ; but were onely preferred by the late 
 Queen, our sister of famous memorie, and by ourselves 
 for some reasons of state, before others who for their 
 qualitie and birth (in those provinces where they 
 clwell) might better have challenged those honours 
 which were conferred upon them. Secondly, we doo 
 professe that it is both known to us and our counsell 
 here, and to our deputy and state there, and so shall 
 it appeare to the Avorld (as cleare as the sunne) by 
 evident proofes, that the onely ground and motive of 
 this high contempt in these men's departure, hath 
 beene the private knowledge and inward terror of 
 their own giiiltinesse : whereof, because wee heare that 
 they doe seeke to take away the blot and infamie, by 
 di\iilging that they have withdrawn themselves for 
 matter of religion (a cloake that serves too much in 
 these dales to cover many evill intentions), adding 
 also thereunto some other vaine pretexts of receiving 
 injustice when their rights and claims have come in 
 question betweene them and us, or any of our subjects 
 and them, wee thinke it not impertinent to say some- 
 what thereof. 
 
 " And therefore, although wee judge it needlessB to 
 seeke for many arguments to contirme whatsoever 
 shall be said of these men's corruption and falsehood 
 (whose hainous offences remaine so freshe in memorie, 
 since they declared themselves so very monsters in 
 nature as they did not only withdraw^ themselves from 
 their personal obedience to their sovereigne, but were 
 content to sell over their native countrey to those that 
 stood at that time in the highest termes of hostilitie 
 with the two crownes of Endand and Ireland), yet, 
 to make the absurditie and ingratitude of the allega- 
 tions above-mentioned, so much the more cleare to all 
 men of equall judgment, wee doo hereby professe in 
 the word of a kinge, that there never was so much as 
 any shadowe of molestation, nor purpose of proceed- 
 ing in any degree against them for matter concerning 
 
CHAP. II.] PROOFS, ETC. 133 
 
 religion. Such being their condition and profession, 
 to thinke murder no fault, marriage of no use, nor 
 any_ man to be esteemed valiant that did not glorie in 
 rapine and oppression ; as wee should have thought it 
 an unreasonable thing to trouble them for any diffe- 
 rent point in religion, before any man could perceive 
 by their conversation that they made truely conscience 
 of any religion. So doo wee also for the second parte 
 of their excuse affirme, that (notwithstanding all that 
 they can claime must bee acknowledged to proceed 
 from meere grace upon their submission, after their 
 greate and unnaturall treasons) there hath never come 
 any question concerning their rights or possessions-, 
 wherein wee have not bene more inclinable to doe them 
 favour than to any of their competitours, except in 
 those cases wherein wee have plainly discerned that 
 their onely end was to have made themselves by 
 degrees more able than they now are to resist all law- 
 full authoritie (when they should return to their 
 vomit againe), by usurping a power over other good 
 subjects of ours that dwell among them, better borne 
 than they, and ufkerlie disclaiming from any depen- 
 dencie upon them. 
 
 " Having now dehvered thus much concerning these 
 men's estates and their proceedings, wee will onely 
 end with this conclusion, that they shal not be able 
 to denie whensoever they should dare to present them- 
 selves before the seate of justice that they have (before 
 the running out of our kingdome) not onely entered 
 into combination for stirring sedition and intestine 
 rebellion, but have directed divers instruments, as well 
 priests as others, to make offers to foreign states and 
 princes (if they had bene as readie to receive them) of 
 their readinesse and resolution to adhere to them 
 whensoever they should seeke to invade that king- 
 dome. Wherein, amongst other thinges, this is not 
 to be forgotten, that under the condition of being 
 made free from English government, they resolved 
 also to comprehend the utter extirpation of all those 
 subjects that are no we remaining alive within that 
 
134 OBSEEVATIONS, [CHAP. II. 
 
 kingdome, formerly descended from the English race. 
 In which practices and propositions, followed and 
 fomented by priests and Jesuites (of whose function 
 in these times the practice and perswasion of subjects 
 to rebell -against their sovereigns is one speciall and 
 essentiall part and portion), as they have found no 
 such encouragement as they expected and have boasted 
 of ; so wee doe assure ourselves, that when this de- 
 claration shal bee seene and duely weighed with all 
 due circumstances, it will bee of force sufficient to 
 disperse and to discredit all such untrueths as these 
 contemptible creatures, so full of infidelity and in- 
 gratitude, shall disgorge against us, and our just and 
 moderate proceeding ; and shall procure unto them no 
 better usage than they would wish should bee afforded 
 to any such packe of rebells, borne their subjects, and 
 bound unto them in so many and so greate obligations. 
 
 " Given at our Palace of Westminster, the fifteenth 
 day of November, in the fifth yeere of our raigne of 
 Great Britaine, France, and Ireland. God save the 
 King." 
 
 It is curious that the only title tfiat James could 
 have had to the six counties in Ulster, was the for- 
 feiture arising from the attainder, for flight, of Tyrone 
 and TyrconneU. And yet his proclamation states 
 that they had no title whatever to the possessions 
 thus forfeited ! ! If they had no title, their attainder 
 could never have transferred a title to the King. 
 This was a blunder just suited to the capacity of such 
 a Solomon as James the First. But he was not guilty 
 of the practical blunder of taking his own pro- 
 clamation to be true, and admitting in practice that 
 the attainted O'Neill and O'Donnell had had no title 
 to their lands. 
 
 As to the attainder itself, it would have been dif- 
 ficult even in those days to establish it in a court of 
 law upon the only evidence of the earls' treason that 
 existed — namely, an anonymous letter dropped in the 
 council chamber in Dublin castle. However, to sup- 
 ply the deficiency, James resolved to have the Irish 
 
CHAP. II.] PEOOFS, ETC. 135 
 
 chieftains attainted by an Act of Parliament. There 
 had not been a parliament held in Ireland from the 
 year 1587, until James called this parliament in 1613, 
 which was packed for the express purpose of attaint- 
 ing O'Neill and O'Donnell. 
 
 Sir John Davies is quite candid in stating the mo- 
 tive for Avliich former parliaments had been called in 
 Ireland, namely, to attaint different persons, so as to 
 obtain their lands. Davies even seeks to justify the 
 packing of the parliament of 1613, by what lawyers 
 delight in, namely, cases in point. These are his 
 words : — 
 
 " For what end was the parliament holden by Lord 
 Leonard Gray in the 28tli Henry VIII. but to attaint 
 the Giraldines, and to abolisli the usurped authority 
 of the Pope 1 
 
 " To what purpose did Thomas, Earl of Sussex, hold 
 his first parliament in the 3rd and 4th K. Philip and Q. 
 Mary, but to settle Leix and Offaley in the Crown 1 
 
 " What was the principal cause that Sir Henry 
 Sydney held a parliament in the 11th year of Queen 
 Elizabeth, but to extinguish the name of O'Neill, and 
 to entitle the Crown to the greatest part of Ulster 1 
 
 " And, lastly, what was the chief motive of the last 
 parliament holden by Sir John Perrot, but the at- 
 tainder of two great peers of this realm, the Viscount 
 Baltinglass and the Earl of Desmond, and for vesting 
 their lands, and the lands of their adlierents, in the 
 actual possession of the Crown V — Davies, p. 300. 
 
 What lawyer could resist the inevitable inference — 
 that as former parliaments had been called and held 
 for the mere purposes of plunder, so James must have 
 a clear right to call a parliament for the same laudable 
 object 1 
 
 There never was a crime of any kind committed 
 anywhere, that was not exceeded in the conduct of the 
 English Government towards Ireland ! 
 
 The six counties sought to be forfeited were nearly 
 equal in extent to Yorkshire and Lancashire, and 
 were the richest and best cultivated part of Ireland. 
 
136 OBSERVATIONS. [CHAP. II. 
 
 The giiilt of treason, as we have seen, was to be 
 proved npoii the authority of an anonymous letter — 
 found with no greater difficulty, as to place and man- 
 ner of discovery, than by picking it up from the floor 
 of the council chamber in the Viceroy's residence ! 
 And then, in order to effectuate this gigantic robbery, 
 whereby the inhabitants of six counties were to be 
 despoiled of their all, and turned adrift houseless and 
 penniless, James, at one stroke of the pen, created 
 fourteen peers, who were to participate with other 
 dignitaries in the plunder, and instituted no less than 
 forty new boroughs, amongst the poorest villages and 
 hamlets in Ireland. Close boroughs they were, of 
 course ; the constituency in each not exceeding in 
 general twelve burgesses and a returning officer. And 
 when complaint was made to King James by a re- 
 monstrance signed by some of the principal men in 
 Ireland, liis answer was this : — 
 
 " You complain of fourteen false returns. Are 
 there not many more complained of in this parlia- 
 ment, yet they do not forsake the house for it ? . . . . 
 
 But you complain of the new boroughs What 
 
 is it to you A\'hether I make many or few boroughs 1 
 My council may consider the fitness, if I require it ; 
 but what if I had made forty noblemen and four 
 hundred borougks 1 The more the merrier, the fewer 
 the better cheer." 
 
 By an Irish statute then in force — namely, an Act 
 of the 23rd Henry VIII. — no person could represent 
 a county, city, or town in Ireland unless he were a 
 resident therein. This Act had not been repealed, 
 but it was in this instance trodden under foot and dis- 
 regarded. The Irish Lords became alarmed. They 
 immediately petitioned James ; and for their sole an- 
 swer, their agents, Talbot and Luttrel, were sent — 
 the one to the Tower, the other to the Fleet, and kept 
 long in custody ! Yet their complaints were indeed 
 reasonable, as the reader will see from the following 
 extract from Leland ; who records that the Irish 
 Lords stated the existence of — 
 
CHAP. II.] PROOFS, ETC. 137 
 
 " A fearful suspicion that the project of erecting so 
 many corporations in places which can scantly pass 
 the rank of the poorest villages in the poorest country 
 in Christendom, do tend to nought else at this time, 
 but that, by the voices of a few, selected for the pur- 
 pose, under the name of burgesses, extreme penal laws 
 should be imposed upon your subjects here." — Leland, 
 Book iv. chap. 7. 
 
 Again, let us learn from Leland the sort of repre- 
 sentatives chosen for these boroughs : — 
 
 " The recusant Lords and Commons of the Pale 
 despatched letters to the King and the English Coun- 
 cil, urging the grievance of the new boroughs, incor- 
 porated with such shameful partiality, and represented 
 by attorneys' clerks and servants of the Lord Deputy, 
 and the violence done to Everard, chosen Speaker by 
 a majority of undoubted representatives, imploring to 
 be heard by their agents, and renouncing the royal 
 favour should they fail in point of proof." — Leland, 
 Book iv. chap. 7. 
 
 The manner wherein the Speaker, Everard, was 
 deprived of his right to preside in the House of Com- 
 mons, is curious ; and the whole scene is quite charac- 
 teristic of the times. It should be recollected that 
 the six counties of Ulster were the great prize to be 
 played for in this parliament. Leland, with all his 
 prejudices, admits that Everard was chosen Speaker 
 by a majority of undoubted representatives. It was, 
 however, too great an object to have a Speaker devoted 
 to the plunderers, for the government party to hesitate 
 at the commission of any fraud or violence. The fol- 
 lowing extract wdll amuse as well as instruct : — 
 
 Election of Speaker. 1613. — " There were two elec- 
 tions, viz., those of the recusant sect had chosen Sir 
 John Everard, Knight, for their Speaker, and there- 
 fore would in no wise accept of Sir John Davies ; and 
 in this division grew an uncertainty who had most 
 voices ; Avhereupon Sir John Davies, with all those of 
 the protestancy, went out to be numbered, and before 
 they came in again, those of the recusancy had shut 
 
138 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. II. 
 
 the door, and had set Sir John Everard in the chair 
 of the Speaker ; but when the Protestants saw that, 
 they pulled Sir John Everard out of the chair, and 
 held Sir John Davies therein ; and thus, with great 
 contention, the second and third days (of the session) 
 were spent ; but the recusants prevailed not therein ; 
 for Sir John Davies v/as maintained in the place. 
 Then did they recusants of both houses of parlianicnt 
 withdraw themselves, and resorted not triither any 
 more, notwithstanding that they were often sent for 
 by the Lord Deputy." — Desider. Curios. Hihern. vol. i. 
 p. 168 ; see also Leland, Book iv. chap. 7. 
 
 " A band of armed soldiers, with lighted matchcfi 
 in their hands, stood at the entrance of the house, 
 to embolden the Protestant party." — Curvjj, 79. 
 
 Complaint was vain , and although the flagrant 
 illegality of the returns of a number of the Englislj 
 party was confessed, yet it appears from Lord Mount- 
 morris's instructive history of the Irish parliament., 
 that they were all allowed to sit ; though the defect oi 
 their title to be members was admitted by a resolu- 
 tion of the house itself. I subjoin Lord Mountmor 
 ris's evidence in proof of this fact : — 
 
 "November 19th, 1613, it was resolved by the 
 House of Commons — That whereas some persons have 
 been unduly elected, some being judges, some for not 
 being estated in their boroughs, some for being out- 
 lawed, excommunicated, and lastly, for being returned 
 for places whose charters were not valid ; it was 
 resolved not to question them for the present, in 
 order to prevent stopping public business ; but this 
 resolution was not to be draAvn into precedent." — 
 Mountmorris, i. 169. 
 
 In such a parliament as this — with the real repre- 
 sentatives rejected, and the ficticious ones retained — 
 statutes were of course passed, giving the entire fee- 
 simple^ of the six counties to the Crown ; and this 
 spoliation — a robbery unparalleled in the annals of 
 any other country — was justified in a set speech by 
 Sir John Davies ; a speech in which he afforded a 
 
CHAP. IL] proofs, etc. 139 
 
 painful contrast between the rapacity and iniquitous 
 plunder of the English, with that love of " equal and 
 impartial justice" which he himself acknowledged 
 was the permanent disposition of the Irish people. I 
 shall cite two passages from his discourse. The first 
 is characteristic of the Speaker's mendacious servility 
 — perhaps it is right to call it lying flattery of a dis- 
 gusting kind. He begins thus : he said — 
 
 " That he was glad that this occasion was offered of 
 declaring and setting forth his majesty's just title, as 
 well for his majesty's honour (who, being the most 
 just prince living, would not dispossess the meanest 
 of his subjects wrongfully, to gain many such king- 
 doms) as for the satisfaction of the natives them- 
 selves, and of all the world ; for his majesty's right, 
 it shall appear," said he, "that his majesty may and 
 ought to dispose of these lands in such manner as he 
 hath done, and is about to do, in law, conscience, and 
 in honour." 
 
 But the great object of the discourse was to justify, 
 not so much the seizure of the lands in the actual 
 possession of the attainted earls, or of the chief rents 
 payable to them, as the estates of their tenants, which 
 in general were perpetuities. These tenants were 
 implicated in no treason — were subject to no at- 
 tainder — were guilty of no crime ! Yet, upon the 
 paltry calumnies set forth by Sir John Davies in the 
 following extract, the inhabitants of six counties were 
 plundered of their properties, and turned penniless 
 beggars upon the world ! And to render this ineffable 
 iniquity still more revolting, it is justified beneath a 
 plea of " conscience " ! 
 
 English " conscience" ! ! ! 
 
 " And as these men," says Sir John, " had no cer- 
 tain estates of inheritance, so did they never till now 
 claim any such estate, nor conceive that their lawful 
 heirs should inherit the land which they possessed : 
 which is manifest by two arguments : 
 
 " 1. They never esteemed lawful matrimony, to the 
 end they might have lawful heirs ! 
 
140 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. IT. 
 
 "2. They never did build any houses, nor plant 
 orchards or gardens, nor take any care of their poste- 
 rities. 
 
 " If these men had no estates in law, either in their 
 main chief ries or in their inferior tenancies, it follow- 
 eth, that if his majesty, who is the undoubted lord 
 paramount, do seize and dispose of these lands, they 
 can make no title against his^najesty or his patentees, 
 and consequently cannot be admitted to traverse any 
 office of those lands ; for without showing a title no 
 man can be admitted to traverse an ofiice. 
 
 " Thus, then, it appears, that as well by the Irish 
 custom as the law of England, his majesty may, at 
 his pleasure, seize these lands and dispose thereof. 
 The only scruple which remains consists in this point : 
 whether the King may, in conscience or honour, re- 
 move the ancient tenants, and bring in strangers 
 among them. 
 
 " TruJy his majesty may not only take this course 
 lawfully, but he is bound in conscience so to do. 
 
 " For, being the undoubted rightful King of this 
 realm, so as the people and land are committed by the 
 Divine Majesty to his charge and government, his 
 majesty is bound in conscience to use all lawful and 
 just courses to reduce his people from barbarism to 
 civility ; the neglect whereof heretofore hath been 
 laid as an imputation upon the Crown of England. 
 Now, civility cannot possibly be planted among them 
 but by this mixed plantation of civil men, which like- 
 wise could not be "without removal and transplanta- 
 tion of some of the natives and settling of their 
 possessions in a course of common law • for if them- 
 selves were suffered to possess the whole country, as 
 their septs have done for many hundreds of years 
 
 East, they would never to the end of the world build 
 ouses, make townships or villages, or manure or 
 improve the land as it ought to be. Therefore it stands 
 neither with Christian policy nor conscience, to suffer 
 so good and fruitful a country to lie waste like a 
 wilderness, when his majesty may lawfully dispose 
 
CHAP, 11.] PKOOFS, ET;'. 141 
 
 it to such persons as will make a civil plantation 
 therein." 
 
 There is a melancholy amusement in seeing the 
 manner in which Davies gravely acquits the King's 
 conscience from the robbery, by proving that the Irish 
 were all the better for being robbed ! — a mode of 
 reasoning which he certainly would prefer to have 
 practically applied to any other person than to him- 
 self. He concludes thus : — 
 
 " Again, his majesty may take this course in con- 
 science, because it tendeth to the good of the inhabi- 
 tants in many ways ; for half their land doth now lie 
 waste, by reason whereof that which is inhabited is 
 not improved to half the value ; but when the under- 
 takers are planted among them (there being place and 
 scope enough both for them and the natives), and that 
 all the land shall be fully .stocked and manured, 500 
 acres will be of better value than 5,000 are now ! 
 Besides, where their estates were before uncertain 
 and transitory, so as their heirs did never inherit, they 
 shall now have certain estates of inheritance, the 
 portion allotted unto them, which they and their 
 children after them shall enj oy with security. 
 
 " Lastly, this transplantation of the natives is 
 made by his majesty, rather like a father than a lord or 
 a monarch ! The Romans transplanted whole nations 
 out of Germany into France ; the Spaniards lately 
 removed all the Moors out of Grenada into Barbarj^, 
 A\ itliout providing them any new seats there : 
 when the English Pale was first planted, all the 
 natives w^ere clearly expelled, so as not one Irish 
 family had so much as one acre of freehold in all the 
 five counties of the Pale ; and now, within these four 
 years past, the Grjemes were removed from the bor- 
 ders of Scotland to this kingdom, and had not one 
 foot of land allotted to them here ; but these natives 
 of Cavan have competent portions of land assigned to 
 them, many of them in the same barony where they 
 dwelt before ; and such as are removed, are planted 
 in the same county ; so as his majesty doth in this 
 
142 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. TI. 
 
 imitate the skilful husbandman, who doth remove 
 his fruit-trees, not with a purpose to extirpate and 
 destroy them, but that they may bring better and 
 sweeter fruit after the transplantation." — Davies, 276. 
 
 Such were the arguments whereby a willing parlia- 
 ment was easily persuaded to pass a law vesting in 
 the Crown the entire land of six counties, the property 
 of the innocent tenants, and of the timid and there- 
 fore self -banished earls. James immediately set about 
 distributing upwards of three hundred and eighty- 
 five thousand acres."^ There were three divisions 
 made of the spoils : — 
 
 First, to English and Scotch, who were to plant their 
 proportions of English and Scotch tenants. 
 
 Secondly, to servitors in Ireland, that is, to persons 
 employed under Government, who might take English 
 or Irish tenants at their choice. 
 
 Thirdly, to the natives of those counties who were 
 to be freeholders. 
 
 But persons of Irish descent, who were called and 
 known as " mere Irish," were not to be permitted to 
 reside upon the lands at all ; nor were any Catho- 
 lics to be so permitted— that is, no person could be 
 allowed to occupy any of the lands who had not 
 taken the oath of supremacy. 
 
 This was called the Plantation of Ulster -, and to 
 show the spirit in which it was made, I give the 
 foUoAving " Articles," extracted from the Orders and 
 Conditions of the Plantations of Ulster : — 
 
 " 7. The said undertakers, their heirs and assigns, 
 shall not alien or demise their portions, or any part 
 thereof, to the mere Irish, or to such persons as will 
 not take the oath which the said undertakers are 
 bound to take by the former article ; and to that end, 
 a proviso shall be inserted in their letters-patent." 
 
 " 10. The said undertakers shall not alien their 
 portions durin.o' five years next after the date of their 
 letters-patent, but in this manner, viz., one- third part 
 
 •* Leland, book iv chap. 8. 
 
CHAP. II.] PROOFS, ETC. 143 
 
 in fee-farm ; another third part for forty years or 
 under ; reserving to themselves the other third part 
 withont alienation during the said five years. But 
 after the said five years, they shall be at liberty to 
 alien to all persons except the mere Irish, and such 
 persons as will not take the oath which the said 
 undertakers are to take as aforesaid." — Harris's 
 Hiberiiica, p. 06. 
 
 Articles Concerning tlie Servitors. — " They shall 
 take the oath of supremacy, and be conformable in 
 religion as the former undertakers. 
 
 " 9. They shall not alien their portions, or any part 
 thereof, to the mere Irish, or to any such person or 
 persons as will not take the like oath as the said 
 undertakers were wont to take aforesaid ; and to that 
 end a proviso shall be inserted in their letters- 
 patent." — Harris's Hihernica, p. 65. 
 
 " The documents we have thus cited give but a faint 
 idea of the extreme misery created by the plunder of 
 the six counties. It will be easily believed that the 
 administration of the law was quite consistent with 
 the temper of the times ; exhibiting, and indeed en- 
 forcing, the most glaring partiality and injustice. 
 Take the following testimony respecting the eccle- 
 siastical courts, from no less an authority than Bishop 
 Burnett : — 
 
 _" They were." says Bishop Burnett, in his life of 
 Bishop Bedel], " often managed by a chancellor that 
 bought his place, and so thought he had a right to 
 all the profits he could make out of it, and their 
 whole business seemed to be nothing but oppression 
 and extortion ; the solemnest, the sacredest of all 
 church censures, which was excommunication, went 
 about in so sordid and base a manner, that all regard 
 to it, as it was a spiritual censure, was lost, ancTthe 
 effect it had in law made it be cried out upon as a 
 most intolerable piece of tyranny. The officers of the 
 court thought they had a sort of right to oppress the 
 natives ; and that all was well got that was wrung 
 from them." 
 
144 OBSERVATIONS, [CIIAP. II. 
 
 Yet tliese courts proceeded to excommunicate the 
 Catholics for " recusancy ;" and where they did not 
 extort bribes for their forbearance, they punished by 
 imprisonment. I give a specimen, affecting some of 
 the more favoured of the persecuted class : — 
 
 "It appears that at the end of this session (1615), 
 eight Roman Catholics, who had been excommuni- 
 cated by the Archbishop of Dublin for recusancy, and 
 imprisoned, were released by the indulgence of parlia- 
 ment (some said by the mediation of bribes), but 
 their joy on that_ account was short-lived, and their 
 release rather an illusion and an aggravation of their 
 punishment ; for without any crime but perseverance 
 in their religion, the same archbishop soon after ex- 
 communicated them a second time ; on which they 
 were again sent back to their long and loathsome 
 confinement." — Analect. Sacra. Rives, in Analect. p. 34. 
 
 The Catholic clergy were still worse treated : here 
 are some specimens : — 
 
 " Cnohor O'Duana, bishop of Down and Connor, 
 was apprehended in July, 1612, and committed to the 
 castle of Dublin, wherein he lived in continual restraint 
 many years ; but having at last escaped out of prison, 
 and having afterwards been taken, he was hanged, 
 drawn, and quartered, on the 1st of February.^' — 
 Theatre of Cath. and Prot. llel. p. 578. 
 
 " The chaplain of this bishop, Bryan Carrulan, 
 John O'Onan, Donoghoe M'Reddy, and John Luneas, 
 I^riests, suffered also in Ireland in this reign." — Ibid. 
 p. 586. 
 
 Take a few specimens also — a savour of the quality 
 of the criminal courts, and of the inode in which 
 cases on behalf of the Crown were rendered success- 
 ful, no matter how deficient the evidence — no matter 
 how strong the case of the defendant. The ordinary 
 modes of procuring partial jurors Avere of course re- 
 sorted to. But with jurors who had anything like a 
 conscience, harsher measures were x>ursued. \\q find 
 that they were not only imprisoned and fined, but that 
 some of them had their ears cut off. The fact was 
 
CHAP. II.] FROOFS, ETC. 145 
 
 stated in an address of remonstrance to the Crown, 
 and was not, as it could not be, contradicted. 
 
 The remonstrance of the Irish nobility and gentiy 
 at that period sets forth — 
 
 " That, in the trial of criminal causes and men's 
 lives (which the law doth much favour), the jurors 
 were ordinarily threatened, by his majesty's counsel 
 at law, to be brought into the star-chamber, inso- 
 muchthat it was great danger for any innocent man, 
 if he was accused upon malice or light ground of 
 suspicion ; because the jurors, being terrified through 
 fear of imprisonment, loss of ears and of their goods, 
 might condemn him." — Desider. Curios. Hibern. 
 p. 244. 
 
 Let it not be supposed that T exaggerate ; the fact is 
 admitted by the very parties themselves to the crime. 
 Lord Deputy Chichester confesses — 
 
 " That the justice of assize (1613), for the space of 
 two or three years past, had bound over divers juries 
 to the star-chamber, for their refusing to present recu- 
 sants upon the testimony of the witnesses, that they 
 come not to church according to the law. All which 
 jurors have been punished in the star-chamber by fine 
 and imprisonment." 
 
 Chichester adds — 
 
 " It is true that these jurors censured in the star- 
 chamber had no counsel allowed them." — Desider. 
 Curios. Hibern. vol. i. p. 2(53. 
 
 Of course conscientious jurors did refuse to attend, 
 and left the cases to the profligate partisans of the 
 Crown : — 
 
 " Most of the jurors did rather choose to endure 
 the penalty or loss of issues than to appear on juries, 
 the course held with them was so strict and severe." — 
 Desider. Carlos. Hibern. vol. i. p. 244. 
 
 " The star-chamber," says Chichester, " is the pro- 
 per court to punish jurors that wall not find for the 
 King upon good evidence." — Desider. Curios. Hibern. 
 vol. i. p. 262. 
 
 He would have been a hardy libeller indeed who at 
 that period should have dared to assert that the Crown 
 
 K 
 
146 OBSEEVATIONS, [CHAP. IL 
 
 sver went to trial in any case without "good evidence." 
 But mark ! tliere was no penalty or punishment for 
 finding against the best and most conclusive evidence 
 when tendered on behalf of the defendant. 
 
 It is a melancholy reflection, that the Crown prose- 
 cutor in Ireland can, whenever he pleases, pack his 
 jury at the present day with as great a certainty of 
 procuring a verdict on the " good evidence " of the 
 Crown, as his predecessor in the reign of the first 
 James could have done. There is indeed one amelio- 
 ration in our days —the ears of the jurors can no longer 
 be cut off. 
 
 The success of James in the spoliation of the pro- 
 perty of the inhabitants of the six counties of Ulster, 
 only whetted his appetite and that of his courtiers 
 for more plunder. They turned their eyes upon the 
 province of Connaught, and determined upon a simi- 
 lar scheme of robbery. They affected a great zeal for 
 reforming abuses in particular localities. They soon 
 extended their views to entire provinces — the fol- 
 lowing will show with what iniquity and what suc- 
 cess. I take the statement from Leland. It relates 
 to the first proceedings under the " Commission of 
 Defective Titles :"— 
 
 "Another device of these reformers affected the 
 inhabitants of an entire province. The lords and 
 gentlemen of Connaught, including the county of 
 Clare, on their composition made with Sir John 
 Perrot in the reign of Elizabeth, had indeed surren- 
 dered their estates to the Crown, but had generally 
 neglected to enroll their surrenders and to take out 
 their letters-patent This defect was supplied by 
 King James, who, in his 13th year, issued a commission 
 to receive surrenders of their estates ; which he re- 
 conveyed, by new patents, to them and their heirs, to 
 ve holden of the Crown by knight's service, as of the 
 castle of Athlone. Their surrenders were made, their 
 patents received the great seal ; but, by neglect of the 
 officers, neither was enrolled in Chancery, although 
 three thousand pounds had been disbursed for the 
 
CHAP. II. j PEOOFS, ETC. 147 
 
 enrolment. ^ Advantage was now taken of this invo- 
 luntary omission. Their titles w^ere pronounced defec- 
 tive, and their lands adjudged to be still vested in the 
 Crown. The project recommended to the King was 
 nothing- less than that of establishing an extensive 
 plantation in the province of Connaught, similar to 
 that of Ulster ; and in his rage of reformation it was 
 most favourably received." — Leland, book iv. chap. 8. 
 
 The alarmed proprietors sought to avert the threa- 
 tened confiscation by tendering the composition of a 
 heavy fine and doubling their annual rents ; James 
 listened to their proposition ; but the treaty was in- 
 terrupted by his majesty's death, in 1625. 
 
 The ensuing reign is the one in which the Commis- 
 sion of Defective Titles figured with the greatest 
 atrocity.^ For the present I shall content myself with 
 one extract more, descriptive of the mode in which 
 the commissioners exerted their authority : it will be 
 found that they had so far impartiality in their con- 
 duct, that they did not confine their plunderings to 
 Catholic property. Defenceless Protestants were liable 
 in the remote countries to equal spoliation. This is 
 proved by Lelancl : — 
 
 " In other districts, the planters had not only ne- 
 glected to perform their covenants, but the commis- 
 sioners appointed to distribute the lands scandalously 
 abused their trusts, and by fraud or violence deprived 
 the natives of those possessions which the King had 
 reserved for them. Some, indeed, were suffered to 
 enjoy a small pittance of such reservation : others 
 were totally ejected. In the manuscripts or Bishoi) 
 Stearne we find, that, in the small county of Longford, 
 twenty-five of one sept were all deprived of their 
 estates without the least compensation, or any means 
 of subsistence assigned to them. The resentment of 
 such sufferers was in some cases exasperated by find- 
 ing their lands transferred to hungry adventurers, 
 who had no services to plead, and sometimes to those 
 who had been rebels and traitors. Neither the actors 
 nor the objects of such, grievances were confined to 
 
118 OBSERVATIONS, [cHAP. III. 
 
 one religion. The most zealous in the service of Go- 
 vernment, and the most peaceable conformists, were 
 involved in the ravages of avarice and rapine, withoii*- 
 any distinction of principles or professions. The inte 
 rested assiduity of the King's creatures in scrutinizing 
 the titles to those lands which had not yet been found 
 or acknowledged to belong to the Crown, was, if pos- 
 sible, still more detestable." — Leland, book iv. chap. 8. 
 
 I conclude the collection of testimonies showing 
 the crimes committed on the Irish in the reign of 
 James, by the following short summary taken from 
 Leland : — 
 
 " Extortions and oppressions of the soldiers in va- 
 rious excursions from their quarters, for levying the 
 King's rents, or supporting the civil power ; a rigorous 
 and tyrannical execution of martial law in time of 
 peace ; a dangerous and unconstitutional power as- 
 sumed by the privy council in deciding causes deter- 
 minable by common law ; their severe treatment of 
 mtnesses and jurors in the castle-chamber, whose evi- 
 dence or verdicts had been displeasing to the State; the 
 grievous exactions of the established clergy for the 
 occasional duties of their function ; and the severity 
 of the ecclesiastical courts." — Leland, book iv. chap. 8. 
 
 CHAPTER III.— PART I. 
 
 Years 1625—1660. 
 
 It is now my purpose to illustrate the reign of 
 Charles the First, and the dominion of the blood- 
 stained Cromwell. Language totally fails to describe 
 the crimes of this period. 
 
 The Irish had a respite on the death of James I. 
 It was hoped that the Commission of Defective Titles 
 would not be renewed. The hope was vain ; the ex- 
 pectation nugatory. I am not disposed to speak un- 
 favourably of the personal disposition of Charles the 
 First, but he was impelled by circumstances to act a 
 part, which probably, or at least possibly, was diffe- 
 
CHAP. III.J PROOFS, ETC. 149 
 
 rent from what he would heave been inclined to act. 
 I do not mean, however, to vindicate him. He parti- 
 cipated too deeply in the crimes of his agents and 
 ministers, to afford any substantial palliation of the 
 guilt of his criminal reign. 
 
 It is most material to keep in mind that while the 
 spirit of disaffection to the reigning monarch w^as 
 daily becoming more rife in England, and while every 
 means were taken to thwart his purposes and to bring 
 him into subjection, the Catholic people of Ireland 
 exhibited the most zealous and generous loyalty. The 
 knowledge of this fact will give added poignancy to 
 the base cruelty by which the spoliation of their pro- 
 perty by the enemies of Charles — the Cromwellians — 
 was afterwards sanctioned and confirmed by Charles's 
 sons — Charles II. and James II. I leave upon record 
 the two following extracts : — 
 
 "The condition of the King's affixirs (in 162G) 
 was much perplexed in England. He was at war 
 with the two most powerful kings in Europe, ''and his 
 subjects in the English parliament would afford liini 
 little or no assistance but on hard and dishonourable 
 terms, though they had engaged him in the first war ; 
 and seemed glad of the last, it being in defence of 
 religion." — Sir Edw. Wallri^'s Dif^courses, fol. 337. 
 
 Whilst his majesty's affairs were thus perplexed in 
 England — 
 
 '' The Roman Catholics of Ireland offered constantly 
 to pay an army of five thousand foot and five hun- 
 dred horse, for liis majesty's service, provided they 
 might be tolerated in the exercise of their religion." — 
 Ihid. 
 
 It, however, having become known that the Irish 
 were thus about to olDtain toleration for the exercise 
 of their religion, the bigotry of the celebrated Arch- 
 bishop Ussher became alarmed. He called together 
 an assemblage of the bishops, wdio agreed with him 
 in a declaration, in wliich they proclaimed toleration 
 to be a sin of the first magnitude. It is fit that we 
 preserve, for the execration of the wise and the good, 
 
150 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAi'. 111. 
 
 the declaration of these Protestant bishops, contain- 
 ing their Protestant reasons for refusing to tolerate 
 the members of the older Church. They are these : — 
 " November, 1626. — Firstly, The religion of the 
 papists is superstitious and idolatrous ; their faith and 
 doctrine erroneous and heretical : their church, in re- 
 spect of both, apostatical. To give them, therefore, a 
 toleration, or to consent that they may freely exercise 
 their religion, and profess their faith and doctrine, is 
 a grievous sin, and that in two respects ; for, first, it 
 is to make ourselves accessary not only to their super- 
 stitions, idolatries, and heresies, and, in a word, to all 
 the abominations of popery ; but also (which is a con- 
 dition of the former) to the perdition of the seduced 
 people which perish in the deluge of the Catholic 
 apostacy. 
 
 " Secondly — To grant them a toleration, in respect 
 of any money to be given or contribution to be made 
 by then^ is to set religion to sale, and with it the 
 souls of the people whom Christ hath redeemed with 
 his blood. And as it is a great sin, so it is also a mat- 
 ter of most dangerous consequence,^ the consideration 
 whereof we commit to the mse and judicious, beseech- 
 ing the God of truth to make them who are in autho- 
 rity zealous of God's glory, and of the advancement 
 of true religion, zealous, resolute, and courageous, 
 against all popery, superstition, and idolatry." 
 
 The Irish Catholics, however, persevered. They 
 resolved to contribute to the extent of their power to 
 relieve the royal necessities ; and they agreed to ad- 
 vance the enormous sum (for those times) of £120,000, 
 upon the easy terms that certain concessions of the 
 most plain and obvious justice should be made by the 
 Crown. These " graces " were granted under the 
 King's own hand. The following is the abstract of 
 these " graces," as accurately specified by Lingard : — 
 " By these graces, in addition to the removal of 
 many minor grievances, it was provided that the recu- 
 sants should be allowed to practise in the courts of 
 law, and to sue the livery of their lands out of the 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 151 
 
 Court of Wards, on taking an oatli of civil allegiance 
 in lien of the oatli of supremacy : that the under- 
 takers in the several plantations should have time 
 allowed them to fulfil the conditions of their leases ; 
 that the claims of the Crown should be confined to 
 the last sixty years ; that the inhabitants of Con- 
 naught should be permitted to make a new enrolment 
 of their estates : and that a parliament should be 
 holden to confirm these graces, and to establish every 
 man in the undisturbed possession of his lands." — 
 LingarcVs England., Reign of Charles /., chap. 1. 
 
 It will be important to keep in recollection this 
 composition or purchase-inoney, especially in relation 
 to the proceedings under the Commission for Defec- 
 tive Titles. Because, if there really had been any 
 substantial defect in the title of the inhabitants, par- 
 ticularly of Connaught it lay within the prerogative 
 of the Crown — and in point of justice the Crown was 
 bound — gratuitously to release defects, whether caused 
 by the negligence of its public officers, or which might 
 have accidentally occurred. But it was still a stronger 
 case when the Crown agreed to release these defects, 
 and to confirm the titles, on obtaining the payment of 
 so large a sum of money. It was unjust to seek to 
 disturb those titles at all. But, as the injustice of 
 British government towards Ireland constantly redu- 
 plicates, it was doubly and most iniquitously unjust 
 to seek to disturb those titles after the payment of so 
 large a sum of money for a perpetual release. 
 
 It is said that one-third of the money was paid by 
 Protestants, and that the Catholics paid only two- 
 thirds. Even if the fact were so, it makes no differ- 
 ence ; because the estates of the Protestants who con- 
 tributed were liable to the same nominal " defect " 
 with those of the Catholics. 
 
 The base iniquity of receiving the money for the 
 " graces," and of afterwards violating the promise to 
 concede those graces, is still farther enhanced by the 
 proceedings of Strafford, with relation to an Irish 
 parliament called shortly after. He opened that par- 
 
152 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 lianient with a speech from the throne, in which he 
 deliberately stated the falsehood so often avowed in 
 his^ correspondence, namely, that if a free and uncon- 
 ditional grant of supplies were made to the King, the 
 " graces " (including security of title to their estates) 
 would certainly be conceded. He treated all doubt 
 upon that subject as debasing. He closed with this 
 phrase : — 
 
 " Surely so great a meanness cannot enter your 
 hearts, as once to suspect his majesty's gracious re- 
 gards of you and performance with you, where you 
 affie yourselves upon his grace." — St7'afford's State 
 Letters, vol. i. p. 223. 
 
 The supplies were accordingly moved for on the 
 following day ; and six entire subsidies were unani- 
 mously voted to his majesty, payable in four years ; 
 and these subsidies far exceeded his expectation. Straf- 
 ford says himself — 
 
 " Each of these subsidies amounted to <£50,000, and 
 I never propounded more to the King than £30,000. 
 So that the subsidies raised in this first, were more 
 than I proposed to be had in both sessions ; and were 
 freely given and without any contradiction." — Ihid. 
 273. 
 
 Thus the Irish — and especially the Catholic Irish — 
 in order to obtain the confirmation of their titles to 
 their estates against an objection in its own nature 
 frivolous and unjust — had, in 1628, agreed to pay, and 
 actually paid £120,000 ; and in 1634 the parliament I 
 have spoken of granted (on the faith of the Lord 
 Deputy's most emphatic promise that the graces 
 should be immediately conceded) supplies nearly 
 doubling in amount the most sanguine expectations 
 of the griping Lord Deputy. 
 
 Is it credible, that all this time this very Lord 
 Deputy had determined that the graces should not be 
 granted % that the act of justice, which ought to have 
 been done gratuitously, should not be done at all % 
 that the people's money should be obtained under a 
 false pretence, and no value given 1 tliat the plighted 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 153 
 
 honour — the honour of Protestant England — should 
 be pledged to Catholic Ireland, and should be pledged 
 only to exhibit another instance of shameless knavery, 
 another most disgraceful breach of public faith] 
 
 Why, in its own nature it is incredible. Yet, it is 
 literally tnie. And it is proved by no less evidence 
 than the letter of that lord deputy himself. The 
 letter is dated the 16th August, 1634, and is addressed 
 to Secretary Coke at London. 
 
 The House of Commons had, in pursuance of the 
 compact, voted the supplies, and then pressed for the 
 graces ; and particularly for a statute to limit the 
 claims of the Crown to 60 years. This is the passage 
 out of the above-mentioned letter, to which I implore 
 the attention of every reader : — 
 
 " Both houses have, during this sitting, likewise ex- 
 tremely pressed for the graces, especially the law in 
 England for threescore years' possession, to conclude 
 the rights of the Cro^vn : and in the lower house none 
 so earnest as Fingal and Kanelagh, urging Ms majesty's 
 promise at every turn. 
 
 " The Commons' House have named a committee to 
 attend the Chancellor, the Chief Justice of the Com- 
 mon Pleas, the Chief Baron, Master of the RoUs, and 
 Sir George Radcliffe, appointed by me to make ready 
 all good and fit laws to be transmitted against our 
 next meeting, which is, by God's grace, to be the 4th 
 of November, which they do incessantly, calling for 
 the graces, and in especially that law of threescore 
 years. 
 
 " So as considering that many of these graces are 
 by no means to pass into laws, and not foreseeing 
 w^hat inconvenience might fall upon his majesty if 
 these pressures were sufi'ered to go on too far, I con- 
 sulted these two judges and Sir George Piadcliffe how 
 we might incline the board to give them the negative 
 answer, and take it off the King, which on Thursday 
 last I effected, being, in good faith, very excellently 
 assisted at the table by them all three ; so as now we 
 tare resolved, not only privately to transmit our humble 
 
154 OBSEEVATIONS, [CHAP. IIT. 
 
 advices upon every article of the graces, but on Tues- 
 day next to call this committee of the Commons before 
 us, and plainly tell them that we may not, with our 
 faith to our master, give way to the transmitting of 
 this law of threescore years, or any other of the graces 
 prejudicial to the Crown ; nay, must humbly beseech 
 his majesty they may not be introduced to the preju- 
 dice of his royal rights, and clearly represent unto the 
 King that he is not bound, either in justice, honour, 
 or conscience, to grant them. And so putting in our- 
 selves mean betwixt them and his majesty's pretended 
 engagements, take the hard part wholly from his 
 majesty, and bear it ourselves as well as we may." — 
 Straff orcl i. 279, 280. 
 
 It may be supposed that Charles was no party to 
 this villanous duplicity. Alas! alas! for poor human 
 nature ! And, alas ! for royal nature, too ! Pause, and 
 read his reply. He thus writes to Strafford : — 
 
 " Wentworth — Before I answer any of your parti- 
 cular letters to me, I must tell you that your last 
 public despatch has given me a great deal of content- 
 ment ; and especially for keeping off the envy 
 (odium) of a necessary negative from me of those 
 unreasonable graces that people expected from me." — 
 Straff'orcVs State Letters, i. 331. 
 
 Both these men lost their heads upon the scaffold. 
 Strafford was a consummate political villain. Charles 
 was spoiled by his education and his advisers. But 
 Ireland suffered without any compensation, from the 
 deliberate villany of the one, and the regal treachery 
 of the other. 
 
 Wentworth having, by this villanous treachery, 
 plundered the Irish people of more money than he 
 had expected to get, immediately commenced his plan 
 of confiscation. It Avas a magnificent wholesale plan, 
 to confiscate the property of the inhabitants of the 
 three remaining provinces. We have seen how James 
 effected the plunder of Ulster. Wentworth began 
 with Connaught. Leland describes his project in the 
 following words : — 
 
CHAP. IIL] PEOOFS, ETC. 155 
 
 _ " His project was nothing less than to subvert the 
 title to every estate in every part of Connaught, and 
 to establish a new plantation through this whole pro- 
 vince ; a project which, when first proposed in the 
 late reign, Avas received with horror and amazement, 
 but which suited the undismayed and enterprising 
 genius of Lord Wentworth. For this he had opposed 
 the confirmation of the royal graces, and taken to him- 
 self the odium of so flagrant a violation of the royal 
 promise. The parliament was at an end, and the 
 deputy at leisure to execute a scheme, which, as it 
 was offensive and alarming, required a cautious and 
 deliberate pi^ocedure. Old records of state, and the 
 memorials of ancient monasteries, were ransacked to 
 ascertain the King's original title to Connaught. It 
 was soon discovered that, in the grant of Henry III. 
 to Richard de Burgo, five cantreds were reserved to 
 the Crown adjacent to the castle of Athlone ; that 
 this grant included the whole remainder of the pro- 
 vince, which was now alleged to have been forfeited 
 by Aedh O'Connor, the Irish provincial chieftain ; 
 that the lands and lordship of De Burgo descended 
 lineally to Edward the Fourth, and were confirmed to 
 the Crown by a statute of Henry the Seventh. The 
 ingenuity of court lawyers was employed to invaUdate 
 all patents granted to the possessors of these lands, 
 from the reign of Queen Elizabeth." — Leland, hook iv. 
 chap, 1. 
 
 Strafford commenced with the county of Roscom- 
 mon. It will be recoUected that the practice of fining 
 jurors for finding a verdict unpleasing to the Crown, 
 was fully established in Ireland. This will make the 
 next extract perfectly intelligible. It is an extract 
 from a despatch addressed by Strafford to the Eng- 
 lish Secretary, and relates to the county of Roscom- 
 mon, Avith which Strafford had begun : — 
 
 " Before my coming from Dublin I had given order 
 that the gentlemen of the best estates and understand- 
 ings should be returned, which was done accordingly, 
 as you will find by their names. My reason was, that 
 
156 OESEEVATION.-, [CHAP. III. 
 
 tliis being a leading case for the whole province, it 
 would set a great value, in their estimation, upon the 
 goodness of the King's title, being found by persons 
 of their qualities, and as much concerned in their own 
 particulars as any other. Again, finding the evidence 
 so strong, as, unless they went against it, the" must 
 pass for the King, I resolved to have persons of such 
 means as might answer the King a round fine in the 
 castle chamber, in case they should prevaricate, who, 
 in all seeming, even out of that reason, would be more 
 fearful to tread shamefully and impudently aside from 
 the truth, than such as had less or nothing to lose." — 
 Strafford, i. 442. 
 
 I extract the next passage as especially exhibiting 
 the subsequent conduct of Straftord towards the coun- 
 sel employed upon this occasion : — 
 
 " Having thus prepared the matter ... I sent for 
 half a dozen of the principal gentlemen among them, 
 and in the presence of the commissioners desired them 
 that they would acquaint the rest of the country 
 that the end of our coming was the next day to exe- 
 cute his majesty's commission for finding a clear and 
 undoubted title in the Crown to the province of Con- 
 naught, purposing to begin first with the county of 
 Roscommon. Wherein, nevertheless, to manifest his 
 majesty's justice and honour, I thought fit to let them 
 know it was his majesty^s gracious pleasure, any man's 
 counsel should be fully and willingly heard in the 
 defence of their respective rights, being a favour 
 never before afi'orded to any upon taking of these 
 kind of inquisitions." — Ibid. 
 
 The trial proceeded ; and, as if to make it a com- 
 plete mockery of justice, it concluded with a speech 
 from Strafford, of which I shall give the commence- 
 ment and conclusion. The scene is unparalleled in the 
 history of any other country : — 
 
 "So presently," says Strafford, "we went to the 
 place appointed, read the commission, called and 
 swore the jury, and so on with our work. . . . The 
 counsel on both sides having said all they would, 1 
 
CilAP. III.] PROOFS. ETC. 157 
 
 told the jury, the first movers of his majesty to look 
 into this his undoubted title, were the princely 
 desires he hath to effect them a civil and rich people ; 
 which cannot by any so sure and ready means be 
 attained as by a plantation, which, therefore, in his 
 great msdom he had resolved." 
 
 Strafford gives us the conclusion of his speech as 
 follows. He tells the jury that "if they would be 
 inclined to truth, and do best for themselves, they 
 were undoubtedly to find the title for the King. If 
 they were passionately resolved to go over all bounds 
 to their own will, and without respects at all to their 
 own good, to do that which were simply best for his 
 majesty, then I should advise them, roughly and 
 pertinaciously, to deny to find any title at all. And 
 there I left them to chant together (as they call it) 
 over their evidence. 
 
 " The next day they found the King's title without 
 scruple or hesitation." — Strafford, i. 442, 443. 
 
 And the jurors were wise who did so ; for Straf- 
 ford exceeded his predecessor Chichester in cruelty to 
 nonconforming jurors. His custom in that particular 
 is thus authenticated by the records of the House of 
 Commons. They tell us — 
 
 " That jurors who gave their verdict according to 
 their consciences, were censured in the castle chamber 
 in great fines : sometimes pilloried with loss of ears, 
 and bored through the tongue, and sometimes marked 
 in the forehead with a hot iron, and other infamous 
 punishments." — Commons^ Journals, vol. i. p. 307. 
 
 From the same despatch of the 14th July, 1635, 1 
 take the following extract : — 
 
 " In aU this business I have been very well assisted 
 by Sir Gerard Lowther, Chief Justice of the Common 
 Pleas, so as I crave leave to recommend him to his 
 majesty and my lords as a passing able and well- 
 affected servant of the Crown ; Mr. Serjeant Catelin 
 hath performed his part also very excellently well ; 
 nor must I forget Sir Lucas Dillon, the foreman of 
 the jury, who hath behaved himself with so much dis- 
 
158 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 cretion, and expressed all along so good affections, as 
 I cannot choose but here to mention him, and here- 
 after to beseech his majesty he may be remembered, 
 when, upon the dividing of the lands, his own parti- 
 cular come in question. In truth he deserves to be 
 extraordinarily well dealt withal, and so he shall, if it 
 please his majesty to leave it to me. I confess I 
 delight to do well for such as I see frame to serve my 
 master the right and cheerful way, albeit it be no 
 more than we are all of us bound to do, and churlish 
 enough I can be to such as do otherwise." — Commons^ 
 Journals, i. 444. 
 
 What a gross and barefaced demand, that the chief 
 justice who presided at the trial, and the foreman of 
 the jury, should be richly rewarded, that is, that their 
 bribes should be abundantly paid ! It is, perhaps, the 
 most frank avowal of bribery upon record. What the 
 amount of the bribe given to the chief justice might 
 have been is not publicly known. Judges are a dis- 
 creet class, and can transact business privately. But 
 it has been said that Dillon, the foreman of the jury, 
 got for his share lands to the value of ten thousand 
 pounds a-year. He certainly got a large and valuable 
 estate. 
 
 These were the means by which Strafford succeeded 
 in getting a verdict confiscating the entire of the 
 county of Roscommon. He succeeded by similar 
 means in Mayo and Sligo. And yet he himself ad- 
 mits, that so far as the case of the Crown had any 
 appearance of substance, it was a pure fabrication. 
 To demonstrate this, I give three passages from his 
 letters; by which it will manifestly appear that the 
 whole thing was fraud and fabrication : — 
 
 " How to make his majesty's title to these planta- 
 tions of Connaught and Ormond (which, considering 
 they have been already attempted and foiled, is of all 
 the rest the greatest difficulty), I have not hitherto 
 received the least instruction from your lordship, or 
 any other minister of that &idLQ"— Straff oixl^ i. 339. 
 
 Again he writes as follows : — 
 
CHAP. IIL] proofs, ETC. 159 
 
 " But I tm^t singly (with your majesty's coun- 
 tenance to support me) to work through all these 
 difficulties."— /SVra/orc?, i. 342.^ 
 
 Again : " I will redeem the time as much as can be ; 
 treat with such as may give furtherance in finding of the 
 title, which, as I said, is the principal ; and inquire 
 out fit men to serve upon juries." — Stratford, i. 339. _ 
 
 Indeed this scandalous avowal is perhaps more dis- 
 tinctly contained in another passage, which I subjoin 
 from a subsequent despatch of Strafford. It shows 
 not only the consciousness of the utter want of any 
 title which could be reasonably established in a court 
 of justice, but it also confirms that most vital fact in 
 the history of Irish misgovernment, viz., that Protes- 
 tantism was ever made the pretext and instrument of 
 every tyranny and oppression upon the native Irish. 
 The passage is this : — 
 
 " This house is very well composed, so as the Pro- 
 testants are the major part, clearly and thoroughly 
 with the King." . . . ''And considering, in truth, 
 that the popish party only have appeared to be averse 
 to all reformation or order in the Government, it will 
 be a good rod to hold over them when they shall see 
 it is in the King's power to pass upon them by a 
 plurality of voices all the laws of England concerning 
 religion, which, howbeit, I do not now dispute whether 
 it be fit or not fit ; yet to have the power with the 
 King is not amiss, and may be otherwise used with 
 great advantage for his majesty's service. It may 
 serve of great use to confirm and settle his majesty's 
 title to the plantations of Connaught and Ormond. 
 For this you may be sure, all the Protestants are for 
 plantations ; all the others against them ; so as those 
 being the greater number, you can want no help they 
 may give you therein. Nay, in case there be no title 
 to be made good to these countries for the Crown, yet 
 should I not despair forth of reason of state, and for 
 the strength and security of the kingdom, to have 
 them passed to the King by immediate Act of Parlia- 
 ment."— /SVrf'/brc/, i. 353. 
 
160 OBSERVATIOXS, [CHAr. III. 
 
 ^ Notwithstanding the total deficiency of the King's 
 title as against the possessors — a title against which 
 it was admitted that there was an adverse possession 
 of nearly three centuries — yet Strafford determined to 
 work out the iniquity to its full consummation. 
 Elated with the success that had attended him in 
 Roscommon, Mayo, and Sligo, he proceeded to con- 
 summate similar robbery on the inhabitants of the 
 wealthier and more populous county of Galway. But 
 here he was foiled for a time. In spite of all his arti- 
 fices, the jury found a verdict in favour of the de- 
 fendants ; as they were bound to do, if they had any 
 regard to the evidence or to their oaths. Let every 
 reasonable and just man listen to the consequences. 
 These are Strafibrd's own Vv^ords : — 
 
 " We then bethought us of a course to vindicate his 
 majesty's honour and justice, not only against the 
 persons of the jurors, but also against the sheriff, for 
 returning so insufficient, indeed, as we conceived, a 
 packed jury, to pass upon a business of so great 
 weight and consequence ; and therefore we fined the 
 sheriff in a thousand pounds to his majesty, and bound 
 over the jury to appear in the castle chamber, where, 
 we conceive, it is fit that their pertinacious carriage 
 be followed with all just severity." — Strafford^ i. 
 451. 
 
 We shall see what the "just severity" towards the 
 jury was : — 
 
 "They were fined four thousand pounds each: 
 their estates were seized, and themselves imprisoned 
 till the fines were paid." — Carte's Ormond. 
 
 Leland adds : — 
 
 "The jurors of Galway were to remain in prison 
 till each of them paid his fine of £4,000, and acknow- 
 ledged his offence in court upon his knees." — Leland, 
 book V. chap. i. 
 
 In the same despatch in which Strafford announced 
 his having committed the outrage of fining the sheriff 
 and imprisoning the jurors, he proposed to cut the 
 work short in the following summary manner : — 
 
CHAP. III.] PEOOFS, ETC. 161 
 
 " We therefore have resolved, that I, the deputy, 
 shall forthwith give order to the King's learned coun- 
 sel to put the King's title into a legal proceeding (if 
 his majesty in his wisdom shall not find reason to 
 direct the contrary), which we conceive may be in a 
 fair and orderly way by an exchequer proceeding to 
 seize for his majesty the lands of the jurors, and 
 of all that shall not lay hold on his majesty's grace 
 offered them by the proclamation." — Strafford, i. 
 453. 
 
 He, however, advised other precautions. He ad- 
 vised : — 
 
 " That his majesty would be pleased to give war- 
 rant to me, his deputy, to add two hundred to the 
 number of the horse troops already listed here, yet 
 without any new addition of charge to his majesty in 
 respect of captains or other officers ; but that by them 
 the old troops may be reinforced by a distribution 
 among them of these new supplies, as I, his majesty's 
 deputy, shall think fit, or as I shall be better directed 
 by his majesty. This increase of horse we should 
 indeed advise at any time ; much rather now, till the 
 intended plantation be settled ; for it wall be neces- 
 sary that some strength of liorse may stand and look 
 on, as an excellent assistant to countenance the plan- 
 tation."— >S'r?Y(/orf/, i. 453, 454. 
 
 It will be recollected that Strafford, at the com- 
 mencement of these inquisitions, when he had secured 
 the jury for the county of Roscommon, made a parade 
 of the great liberality Avith which the Crown had per- 
 mitted counsel to defend the rights of the people 
 against itself. That this declaration was intended 
 merely as a trap, will appear from the following 
 extract from the same despatch, dated 25th August, 
 1635 :— 
 
 " For those counsellors of the law, who so laboured 
 against the King's title, we conceive it is fit that such 
 of them as we shall find reason so to proceed wdthal, 
 be put to take the oath of supremacy, which, if they 
 refuse, that then they be silenced, and not admitted 
 
 L 
 
162 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 to practise as noAv they do ; it being unfit that they 
 should take benefit by his majesty^s graces, that take 
 the boldness after such a manner to oppose his ser- 
 vice." — Strafford, i. 454. 
 
 It is manifest, therefore, that the permission to use 
 counsel must have been given in the expectation 
 that such counsel would neglect their duty to their 
 clients, and betray their own consciences, to please the 
 lord deputy. The counsel disappointed this unholy 
 expectation. They were accordingly driven from the 
 practice of their profession ; for they would not and 
 could not take the oath of supremacy. 
 
 I cannot refrain from here stating a fact which has 
 occurred in my own time. There was an individual 
 at the Irish bar who practised exclusively in the crimi- 
 nal courts ; and who for nearly twenty years contrived 
 to be appointed counsel for all the persons prosecuted 
 by the Crown. Yet that man had, for the last eighteen 
 years of his life, a private pension of £300 per annum 
 from the Crown. This was not discovered by the 
 public until after his death. What was this pension 
 given for 1 
 
 To return to Wentworth, and the methods whereby 
 he procured verdicts. Here is a specimen : — 
 
 "Your majesty was graciously pleased, upon my 
 humble advice, to bestow four shillings in the pound 
 upon your lord chief justice and lord chief baron in 
 this kingdom, forth of the first yearly rent raised up- 
 on the Commission of Defective Titles. Which, upon 
 observation, I find to be the best given that ever was ; 
 for now they do intend it with a care and diligence 
 such as it were their own private ; and most certain, 
 the gaining to themselves every four shillings once 
 paid, shall better your revenue for ever after at least 
 five pounds." — Strafford, ii. 41. 
 
 The unhappy Galway jnrors remained for years in 
 prison. They sent agents to London to obtain mercy 
 from the King — but in vain ! On the contrary, 
 Strafi'ord had the audacity to demand that these 
 agents should be punished ! — punished merely for 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 163 
 
 going to sue for mercy. There is this passage in his 
 despatch of the 14th December, 1635 : — 
 
 " I find that nothing would give these commission- 
 ers so much satisfaction, and even in my own judg- 
 ment so much enable us, and dispose all to a speedy 
 and happy conclusion, as to remit these agents of 
 Galway in the condition of prisoners, and their pro- 
 positions entirel}'' to our consideration and legal pro- 
 ceeding on this side." — Strnfford, i. 493. 
 
 And, accordingly, the agents Avere transmitted as 
 prisoners, to abide the tender mercies of Strafford. 
 
 It has been said that the unhappy Charles was 
 ignorant of these enormities, and would have con- 
 demned them. Alas ! the fact is otherwise. Strafford, 
 in the year 1636, went over to England ; reported to 
 the King in council his proceedings in the Galway 
 case. The King replied — 
 
 " That it was no severity ; and wished him togo on 
 in that way ; for that if he served him otherwise, he 
 would not serve him as he expected. So," adds Went- 
 worth, " I kneeled down, kissed his majesty's hand, 
 and the council arose." — Carte's Ormond, vol. iii. 
 p. 11. 
 
 If any one will reflect upon the multitude of crimes 
 of which the King thus expressed his approval, he 
 will not be surprised at the ultimate fate of the un- 
 fortunate monarch. Assuredly the forms of law were 
 never before used to inflict such a complication of 
 iniquities as were perpetrated by Strafford, and ap- 
 proved of by the King. 
 
 The palliation, or rather justification, which ob- 
 trudes itself in all Strafford's despatches, is, that all 
 these things were done, not only to augment the 
 King's revenue^ but first ami especially for the ad- 
 vancement of Protestantism, and the good of Pro- 
 testants. O Protestantism ! what horrors have been 
 committed in your name in Ireland ! 
 
 I pass hastily over another grievance of the utmost 
 magnitude sustained by the Irish ; it was the institu- 
 tion of the Court of Wards. 
 
164 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 '• This was a new court, never known in Ireland till 
 the 14th of James I. It had no warrant from any law 
 or statute, whereas that of England was erected by 
 an Act of Parliament." — Carte's Ormond^ vol. i 
 p. 517. - 
 
 The object of this court was to vest in persons 
 appointed by the Crown the custody of the estates of 
 minors. It is easy to see how it worked in Ireland, 
 especially during the rule of Strafford. 
 
 " Sir William Parsons, by whom it was first pro- 
 jected, was appointed master of it — a man justly and 
 universally hated by the Irish ; and such were the 
 illegal and arbitrary proceedings of that court, that 
 ' the heirs of Catholic noblemen and other Catholics 
 were destroyed in their estates, bred in dissolution 
 and ignorance ; their parents' debts unsatisfied, their 
 sisters and younger brothers left wholly unprovided 
 for ; the ancient appearing tenures of mesne lords dis- 
 regarded ; estates valid in law, and made for valuable 
 considerations, avoided against law ; and the whole 
 land filled with frequent swarms of escheators, feuda- 
 tories, pursuivants, and others, by authority of that 
 court.' ' — Remonstrance from Trim (apud Curry, 
 p. 125). 
 
 Another court was instituted still more recently, 
 and if possible with less authority. It was Lord 
 Strafford who proposed to erect this other court, in the 
 year 1633. It inflicted on the Catholics — 
 
 " An incapacity for all offices and employments ; a 
 disability to sue out livery of their estates without 
 taking the oath of supremacy ; severe penalties of 
 various kinds inflicted by that court on all those of 
 the Catholic religion, although the Catholics were an 
 hundred to one more than those of ai:^ other religion." 
 — Remonstrance from Trim (ut supra). 
 
 The proceedings in this court were of a nature so 
 cruelly oppressive, and so utterly indefensible, that 
 even Leland speaks of them in the following terms: — 
 
 " These regulations in the ecclesiastical system were 
 followed by an establishment too odious, and there- 
 
CHAP. III.] PEOOPS, ETC. 165 
 
 fore too dangerous, to be attempted during the sessions 
 of parliament, that of a High Commission Court, 
 which was erected in Dublin after the English model, 
 with the same formality and the same tremendoiis 
 powers." — LeUuuVs Ireland, book v. chap. 1. 
 
 I cannot proceed without giving the following 
 exquisite morqeau. It is part of Lord Strafford's 
 defence of himself, in which he, with great naivete, 
 relies upon cases in point, of cruelty. Let it speak for 
 itself :— 
 
 "I dare appeal to those that know the country, 
 whether in former times many men have not been 
 committed and executed by the deputies' warrant that 
 were not thieves and rebels, but such as went up and 
 down the country. If they could not give a good 
 account of themselves, the provost-marshal, by direction 
 of the deputies, using in such cases to hang them up. 
 I dare say there are hundreds of examples in this 
 kind." — liushwortli s CoUectanea, viii. 649. 
 
 I may here, also, by vway of parenthesis, bring before 
 the reader other significant passages from Protestant 
 historians, wliich show that the virulence wherewith 
 Catholicity was persecuted was not confined to the 
 ecclesiastical courts. 
 
 " In this year (1629) the Roman clergy began to rant 
 it, and to exercise their fancies called religion so pub- 
 licly, as if they had gained a toleration. For whilst 
 the lords justices were at Christ Church in Dublin on 
 St. Stephen's day, they were celebrating mass in Cook- 
 street ; which their lordships taking notice of, they 
 sent the Archbishop of Dublin, the mayor, sheriffs, and 
 recorder of the city, with a file of musketeers, to ap- 
 prehend them ; which they did, taking away the 
 crucifixes and paraments of the altar ; the soldiers 
 hewing down the image of St. Francis ; the priests and 
 friars were delivered into the hands of the pursuivants, 
 at whom the people threw stones, and rescued them. 
 The lords justices being informed of this, sent a 
 guard and delivered them, and clapped eight popish 
 aldermen by the heels for not assisting their mayor. 
 
166 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 On this account, fifteen houses [viz., chapels], by direc- 
 tion of the lords of the council in England, were 
 seized to the King's use ; and the priests and friars were 
 so persecuted, that two of them hanged themselves in 
 their own defence." — Hammon I! Estrange^ quoted in 
 Harris's Fiction Unmasked. 
 
 It will be easily believed that the priests and friars 
 were saved the trouble of hanging themselves.* 
 
 All these proceedings were approved of by the un- 
 happy Charles. 
 
 " His majesty^ in person, was pleased openly, and 
 in the most gracious manner, to approve and commend 
 their ability and good service ; whereby they might be 
 sufiiciently encouraged to go on, with the like resolu- 
 tion and moderation, till the work was fully done, as 
 well in the city as in other places of the kingdom, 
 leaving to their discretion when and where to carry a 
 soft or harder hand." — Scrinia Sacra. 
 
 It is just worth while to pause for one moment, 
 and to see what was doing in England about the 
 same time ; or, as the modern phrase is, " was being 
 done." 
 
 " Besides Eichard Herst, Edmund Arrowsmith, and 
 others, put to death in 1628, merely for exercising the 
 functions of Eoman Catholic priests ; Thomas BuUa- 
 ker, Thomas Holland, Paul Heath, Francis Bell, Rho- 
 dolphus Colman (condemned, but reprieved), Henry 
 Morse, Morgan, Philip Powel, and Martin Wood- 
 cock, together with Reading and AVhitaker, were 
 executed in England for the same causes, between the 
 years 1641 and 1646 . . . The condition of a mission- 
 ary at the beginning of this reign was different from 
 what it was at the latter end of it, when reUgious zeal 
 against popery was heightened and inflamed with all 
 the rage of faction. If a Turkish dervise had then 
 preached Mahomet in England, he would have met 
 much better treatment than a popish priest." — Grain- 
 ger'' s Biographical Hist, of England, ii. pp. 206, 7, 8. 
 
 It will be remembered that nothing more tended to 
 foment the great rebellion in England against Charles 
 
CHAP. HI.] PHOOFS, ETC. 167 
 
 the First, than the oppressions practised by the Court 
 of Wards and the High Commission Court. Ireland 
 felt more than double the severity inflicted upon 
 England by these institutions. 
 
 The reason why I have dwelt in these notes upon 
 the enormities committed in the administration of 
 what was called "justice" in Ireland, is that, by the 
 most singular perversion of the facts of history, not 
 only Temple, but Clarendon, and, after him, Hume, 
 and a multitude of other calumniators of Ireland, 
 have gravely stated the astounding falsehood, that 
 Ireland was well governed in the reigns of James the 
 First and of Charles the First ! 
 
 Well governed ! when the ecclesiastical courts 
 hunted the Catholics like wild beasts, and crowded 
 them, when caught, into loathsome prisons ! when 
 the Court of Wards spoliated the properties of all 
 Catholic minors, and perverted their religion ! when 
 the High Commission Court punished "with more than 
 Star-Chamber severity every supposed slight or insult 
 to any person in power — punished every resistance 
 (however necessary and justiflable) to the will or 
 caprice of men in authority ! when the sheriffs 
 were intimidated, and punished if the verdicts of the 
 juries did not satisfy the ruling tyrants ! when the 
 chief justice and other judges were bribed by the 
 highest authority in the land — bribed with a stipulated 
 proportion of the property in dispute, for procuring 
 judgment against the unhappy possessors of that pro- 
 perty ! when the jurors who obeyed the impulses of 
 conscience were thrown to rot in prison — were ruined 
 by fines so enormous as to amount to a confiscation of 
 their property — were pilloried, had their ears cut 
 
 off, their tongues bored through — were but I will 
 
 not pursue this subject. What need I ? 
 
 Well governed ! This is what English writers of 
 the highest class call good government. 
 
168 OBSERVATIOKS, [cHAP. III. 
 
 CHAPTER III.-PAET 11. 
 
 I AM not writing the history in detail of the civil 
 war ; I am merely justifying my statement in the 
 text. No person can deny that the cause of the King 
 had now t3ecome identified with that of the Irish 
 Catholics. 
 
 Now for the cruelties perpetrated by the English 
 Protestant parliamentarians and Cromwellians. 
 
 My first extract is from a Protestant clergyman — 
 the historian Leland. He shows the design with 
 which these cruelties were committed. 
 
 " The favourite object of the Irish governors and 
 the English parliament, was the utter extermination 
 of all the Catholic inhabitants of Ireland. Their 
 estates were already marked out and allotted to their 
 conquerors ; so that they and their posterity were 
 consigned to inevitable ruin." — Leland^ book v. 
 chap. 4. 
 
 My second quotation, establishing the same fact, is 
 from another Protestant clergyman, named Rev. Dr. 
 Warner : — 
 
 " It is evident from their (the lords justices) last 
 letter to the lieutenant, that they hoped for an extir- 
 pation, not of mere Irish only, but of all the old 
 English families that were Roman Catholics." — 
 Warne7^s History of the Rebellion and Civil War in 
 Ireland^ j). 17G. 
 
 Upon this subject — namely, the design of utter 
 extirpation — my next quotation is from the equally 
 undeniable authority of Lord Clarendon : — 
 
 " The parliament party . . . had grounded their 
 own authority and strength upon such foundations as 
 were inconsistent with any toleration of the Roman 
 Catholic religion, and even with any humanity to the 
 Irish nation, and more especially to those of the old 
 native extraction, the whole race whereof they had 
 upon the matter sworn to extirpate/' — Lord Claren- 
 don, i. 215. 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 169 
 
 ^ This hideous determination of massacre was occa- 
 sionally somewhat relaxed when the fortunes of the 
 parliamentarians waned ; it was relaxed, however, 
 only to be renewed with redoubled alacrity when their 
 fortunes prospered again. The foUomng is from 
 Carte's Ormond: — 
 
 "Mr. Brent lately landed here, and hath brought 
 with him such letters as have somewhat changed the 
 face of this government from what it was, when the 
 parliament pamphlets were received as oracles, their 
 commands obeyed as laws, and extirpation preached 
 for gospel." — Carte s Oniiond, iii. 170. 
 
 There were two objects to be gratified by the Eng- 
 lish Protestant rulers of the day. The first was the 
 increase of plunder to themselves in the confiscation 
 of the estates of the Catholics. The second was the 
 indiscriminate slaughter of those Catholics, without 
 any distinction of age, sex, rank, or condition. The 
 following accusation — fully. borne out by the facts — 
 is quoted from the same English Protestant historian, 
 Carte : — 
 
 "There is too much reason to think, that as the 
 lords justices really wished the rebellion to spread, 
 and more gentlemen of estates to be involved in it, 
 that the forfeitures might be the greater, and a general 
 plantation be carried on by a new set of English 
 Protestants all over the kingdom, to the ruin and 
 expulsion of all the old English and natives that 
 were Ptoman Catholics ; so, to promote what they 
 wished, they gave out sach a design, and that in a 
 short time there would not be a Roman Catholic left 
 in the kingdom. It is no small confirmation of this 
 notion, that the Earl of Ormond, in his letters of 
 January 27th and February 25th, 1G41-2, to Sir W. 
 St. Leger, imputes the general revolt of the nation, 
 then far advanced, to the publishing of such a design ; 
 and v/hen a person of his great modesty and temper, 
 the most averse in his nature to speak his sentiments 
 of what he could not but condemn in others, and who, 
 when obliged to do so, does it always in the gentlest 
 
170 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 expressions, is drawn to express such an opinion, the 
 case must be very notorious. I do not find that the 
 copies of those letters are preserved ; but the original 
 of Sir William St. Leger's, in answer to them, suffi- 
 ciently shows it to be his lordship's opinion ; for, after 
 acknowledging the receipt of these two letters, he 
 useth these words: — 'The undue promulgation of 
 that severe determination to extirpate the Irish and 
 papacy out of this kingdom, your lordship rightly 
 apprehends to be too unseasonably published.'" — 
 Carte's Ormond, i. 263. 
 
 This St. Leger was himseK one of the chief extir- 
 pators ; and I pray the reader to observe that he does 
 not at all condemn the system of massacring the Irish 
 to the last man. The only thing that he finds fault 
 Avith is the unseasonable publication of the purpose 
 to do so. It will, however, be more clearly under- 
 stood what his real dispositions were, from a letter 
 written by Lord Upper Ossory, quoted by Carte, in 
 which the writer says : — 
 
 "That Sir William St. Leger" (who was Lord 
 President of Munster) "was so cruel and merciless, 
 that he caused men and women to be most execrably 
 executed; and that he ordered, among others, a 
 woman great with child to be ripped up, from whose 
 womb three babes were taken out ; through every of 
 v/hose little bodies his soldiers thrust their weapons ; 
 which act," adds Lord Upper Ossory, " put many into 
 a sort of des])eration." — Carte's Ormoncl, vol. ii. p. 51, 
 
 I only implore Englishmen and Protestants to read 
 these extracts from Protestant historians, and to re- 
 flect how much of disrepute they fling upon Pro- 
 testantism in general, and the English nation in 
 particular. If they had such a case to make, in point 
 of fact, against the Catholics, we should never hear 
 the end of it. 
 
 But as the cruelties of individuals will bring the 
 fact more pointedly before the mind, and cause its 
 more easy retention in the recollection, I will select 
 some specimens of tliQ sqavoir faire of that Sir Charles 
 
CHAP. III.] PEOOFS, ETC. 171 
 
 Coote, whom I have mentioned in the text. To work 
 out the purposes of the English Government, power 
 of life and death was given to him. Mark the follow- 
 ing description of him and his cruelties : — 
 
 " It was certainly a miserable spectacle to see every- 
 day numbers of people executed by martial law, at the 
 discretion, or rather caprice, of Sir Charles Coote— a 
 hot-headed and bloody man, and as such accounted 
 even by the English Protestants. Yet, this was the 
 man whom the lords justices picked out to entrust 
 with a commission of martial law to put to death 
 rebels or traitors — that is, all such as he should deem 
 to be so ; which he performed with delight and a 
 wanton kind of cruelty. And j^t all this while the 
 justices sat in council, and the judges, at the usual 
 seasons, sat in their respective courts, spectators of 
 and countenancing so extravagant a tribunal as Sir 
 Charles Coote's, and so illegal an execution of justice." 
 — Lord CasUehaven, quoted in Carte's Ormoncl, vol. 
 i. pp. 279, 280. 
 
 Another specimen of the services upon which Sir 
 Charles Coote was employed, we have on the authority 
 of Borlase, as well as of Carte. The public faith had 
 been pledged to protect a Mr. King, one of the 
 gentlemen assembled at Swords. The lords justices 
 observed their plighted faith by sending a party of 
 horse and foot, on the 15th December, 1641, to Clon- 
 tarf, the property of Mr. King, with orders to fall 
 upon, and cut off the inhabitants, and burn the village. 
 
 "These orders," says Borlase, "were excellently 
 well executed." — Hist. Eeh. p. 62. 
 
 Carte adds : — 
 
 "Sir Charles Coote, who, by the lords justices' 
 special designation, was appointed to go on this 
 expedition, as the fittest person to execute their orders, 
 and one who best knew their minds, at this time 
 pillaged and burned houses, corn, and other goods 
 belonging to Mr. King, to the value of four thousand 
 pounds.'' — Cartels Oriiiond, i. 249. 
 
 The next extract I shall give is of some length ; 
 
172 OBSERVATIONS, CU.VP. III. 
 
 but it is exceedingly significant. It relates to the 
 murder of father Higgins, the parish priest of ^ Naas ; 
 a man of innocent life, of humanity, and of piety ; a 
 man whose character was never tarnished. Yet his 
 innocence, his active humanity, and his piety, could 
 not — in the midst of Dublin, and in the presence of 
 the Government — avail him aught ! Every part of 
 this extract is pregnant with meaning : the object to 
 discourage submissions, lest they should diminish 
 confiscations, was well Avorthy of our pious Protestant 
 English governors. Here is the story of his assassi- 
 nation : — 
 
 " The cruelties of tlie martial law under Sir C. 
 Coote have been already mentioned ; but about this 
 time, when it was thought politic to discourage the 
 submissions which were growing frequent, Father 
 Higgins, a very quiet, pious, inoffensive man, who 
 had put himself under the protection of Lord Ormond, 
 and whom his lordship had brought with him to 
 Dublin, was one morning seized ; and Avithout any 
 trial or delay, or giAdng his lordship any notice of the 
 intention, by Sir C. Coote's order, hanged. Father 
 Higgins officiated as priest at Naas and in that 
 neighbourhood ; had distinguished himself greatly 
 by saving the English in those parts from spoil and 
 slaughter ; and had relieved several whom he found 
 to have been stripped and plundered, so far was he 
 from engaging in the rebellion, or giving any encou- 
 ragement to it. Lord Ormond had therefore taken 
 him under his protection ; and when he heard of the 
 execution of this innocent man, for no other reason 
 than his being a priest, his lordship was very warm 
 in his expostulations with the justices upon it at the ■ 
 council board. They pretended to be surprised ; and 
 excused themselves from having had any other hand 
 in the affair than giving Sir (J. Coote a general au- 
 thority to order such executions without consulting 
 them. Lord Ormond insisted that Coote should be 
 tried for what he had done, as having hanged an 
 innocent, nay, a deserving subject, without examina- 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 173 
 
 tion without trial, and witliout a particular warrant 
 to authorize him in it. The justices, who had either 
 directed him to do it, or were determined to support 
 their favourite in a proceeding which Avas agreeable 
 to them, would not give him up. _ Their hanging a 
 man of character at all, deserving in many respects, 
 •and exceptionable in none but his religion, inclines 
 one to think that they intended this war should be 
 understood to be a war of religion. But their hang- 
 ing him in such a manner, by martial law, by Sir C 
 Coote's authority only, against justice and humanity, 
 when brought thither and protected by Lord Ormond, 
 could only be meant to prevent all submissions, or to 
 offer such an indignity to his lordship as should pro- 
 voke him to resign his commission, and to oppose 
 them no longer in council." — Warner, p. 182. 
 
 I now give Clarendon's version of the same transac- 
 tion ; because it shows the brutality of even the 
 soldiers who were under the command of Ormond, 
 while he was serving the English party. It, however, 
 does not appear that these soldiers knew he was a 
 priest. They were ready to murder hun merely for 
 being a papist. 
 
 " The Marquis of Ormond, having intelligence that 
 a party of the rebels intended to be at such a time at 
 the Naas, he drew some troops with the hope of sur- 
 prising them ; and, marching all night, came early in 
 the morning into the town, from which the rebels, 
 upon notice, were newly fled. In the town some of 
 the soldiers found the Kev. ]Mr. Higgins, who might, 
 it is true, Jiave as easily fleck if he had apprehended 
 any danger in the stay. "When he was brought be- 
 fore the marquii*, he voluntarily acknowledged that 
 he was a papist, and that his residence was in the 
 town, from whence he refused to fly away with those 
 who were guilty ; because he not only knew himself 
 very innocent, but believed that he could not be 
 without ample evidence of it, having by his sole 
 charity and power preserved very many of the Eng- 
 lish Protestants from the rage and fury of the Irish : 
 
174 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 and, therefore, he only besought the marquis to pre- 
 serve him from the violence of the soldiers, and to 
 put him securely into Dublin, to be tried for any 
 crime ; which the marquis promised to do, and per- 
 formed it, though with so much hazard, that when it 
 was spread abroad among the soldiers that he was a 
 papist, the officer into whose custody he was entmsted 
 was assaulted by them ; and it was as much as the 
 marquis could do to relieve him, and compose the 
 mutiny. When he came to Dublin he informed the 
 lords justices of the prisoner he had brought with 
 him ; of the good testimony he had received of his 
 peaceable carriage ; and of the pains he had taken to 
 restrain those with whom he had credit, from entering 
 into rebellion ; and of many charitable offices he had 
 performed, of which there wanted not evidence 
 enough, there being many then in Dublin who owed 
 their lives, and whatever of their fortunes was left, 
 purely to him; so that he doubted not that he would be 
 worthy of protection. Within a few days after, when 
 the marquis did not suspect the poor man's being in 
 danger, he heard that Sir Charles Coote, who was 
 Provost-marshal General, had him taken out of prison, 
 and caused him to be put to death in the morning, 
 before or as soon as it was light ; of which barbarity 
 the marquis complained to the lords justices ; but 
 was so far from bringing the other to be questioned, 
 that he found himself to be upon some disadvantage, 
 for thinking the proceeding to be other than it ought 
 to have been." — Clarendon's Hist. Irish Reh. 
 
 I wish to specify in particular the cruelties of Sir 
 Charles Coote in the county of Wicklow. Let it be 
 recollected that Coote's crimes are not the crimes of 
 an individual only ; the Government who selected 
 and employed him is, of course, responsible for those 
 crimes. Here is the short and pithy account given by 
 Leland of an expedition of his into the county of 
 Wicklow : — 
 
 " Sir Charles Coote," says Leland, " in revenge of 
 the depredations of the Irish, committed such unpro- 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 175 
 
 voked, snch ruthless, and indiscriminate carnage in 
 the town of Wicklow, as rivalled the utmost extra- 
 vagances of the northerns." — Leland's Hist. Ireland, 
 book V. c. 4. 
 
 Fortified by this corroboration, T do not hesitate 
 to give the follo'\AT.ng accountof the English cruelties 
 in the county of Wicklow, from a pamphlet published 
 in London in the year 1662, although it was written 
 by an Irish Catholic. But as the writer appeals con- 
 fidently to then living Protestant witnesses, and in- 
 deed is corroborated in the most important of hisi 
 statements by Leland and Warner, both Protestant 
 clergymen, it is manifest that his details can with 
 perfect saiety be relied on. 
 
 " County of Wickloiv — October, 1641. Three wo- 
 men, whereof one gentlewoman was big with child, 
 and a hoj, were hanged on the bridge of Neuraghby 
 command of Sir Charles Coote, in his first march to 
 that county ; and he caused his guide to blow into 
 his pistol, and so shot him dead. He also hanged a 
 poor butcher on the same march, called Thomas Mac 
 William. Mr. Dan Conyam, of Glanely, aged, and 
 unable to bear arms, was roasted to death by Cap- 
 tain Gee, of Colonel Crafibrd's regiment ; and in the 
 marches of 1641, 1642, and 1643, the English army 
 killed all they met in this country, though no mur- 
 ders are charged in the said county to be committed 
 on Protestants by the iVbstract. In the usurper's time, 
 Captain Barrington, garrisoned at Arklow, murdered 
 Donagli O'Doyle of Killecarrow, and above five hun- 
 dred more protected by himself ; and it is well known 
 that most of the commonalty were murdered." 
 
 Here is another passage from the same writer, con- 
 firmed by Carte and Warner in like manner. It is 
 given in abstract by those Protestant historians, but 
 in fuller detail in the following quotation : — 
 
 ^'County of Dublin . — 1641. About the beginning 
 of November, five poor men (whereof two were Pro- 
 testants) coming from the market of Dublin, and 
 lying that night at Santry, three miles from thence, 
 
176 OBSERVATIONS. [CHAP. III. 
 
 were murdered in their beds by one Captain Smith 
 and a party of the garrison of Dublin, and their heads 
 brought next day in triumph into the city; which 
 occasioned Luke Netterville and George King, and 
 others of the neighbours, to write to the lords jus- 
 tices to know the cause of the said murder : where- 
 upon their lordships issued forth a proclamation that 
 within five days the gentry should come to Dublin to 
 receive satisfaction ; and in the meanwhile (before the 
 five days were expired) old Sir Charles Coote came 
 out with a party, plundered and burned the town of 
 Clontarf, distant two miles from Dublin, belonging to 
 the said George King, nominated in the jjroclama- 
 tion, and killed 16 of the townsmen and women, and 
 three sucking infants. Which unexpected breach of 
 the proclamation (having deterred the gentlemen from 
 Avaiting on the lords justices) forced many of them 
 to betake themselves to their defence, and abandon 
 their houses.'^ 
 
 The character of Sir Charles Coote requires no fur- 
 ther elucidation. He was the man to whom the Eng- 
 lish Government gave unlimited power of life and 
 death over the Irish. " He was," as Carte says, " the 
 fittest person to execute their orders, and one who 
 best knew their minds." it is not surprising, there- 
 fore, that a 'Protestant clergyman should give of him 
 the following mitigated character : — 
 
 "He" (Sir Charles Coote) "was a stranger to 
 mercy, and committed many acts of cruelty without 
 distinction." — Warne7^'s Hist. Irish Reb. p. 135. 
 
 This Sir Charles Coote was of inestimable value to 
 his employers. The object of the English party, 
 headed by the lords justices, was, as we have seen, 
 to drive the Catholics into rebellion ; and they began 
 by falsely accusing them of treasonable practices. For 
 that purpose they spared no methods, however in- 
 famous, to fabricate evidence against the Catholic 
 nobility and gentry. The rack and torture were fami- 
 liar instruments of this villany. This fact is ad- 
 mitted by all contemporary liistorians. Speaking 
 
CHAP. III.] PEOOFS, ETC. 177 
 
 of some of the principal Catliolic gentry, Leland 
 says : — 
 
 " They (the chief governors) resolved to supply 
 the want of legal evidence by putting come prisoners 
 to the rack. They began with Hugh ]\I'jMahon, who 
 had been seized on the information of O'Connoiy, and 
 from whom they expected some important discoveries. 
 But torture could force nothing from him essential 
 to their great purpose." — Leland, book v. c. 4. 
 
 Even in this cruelty there is a very characteristic 
 trait. The Irish gentry, unwilling to be driven into 
 armed resistance, entrusted Sir John Eead with a pe- 
 tition to the King. Parsons (whom %ve have already 
 named — the ancestor of the present Earl of Kossc) 
 obtained the. confidence of Sir John Read, and of 
 course betrayed him. Let Warner tell the story : — 
 
 " Sir John Read, by the same stretch of arbitrary 
 power, was brought to the rack. This gentleman Avas 
 of the privy chamber to the King, a lieutenant- 
 colonel in the late disbanded army, and engaged by 
 the lords of the Pale to carry over their petitions to 
 the King and Queen. He intended to make no secret 
 of his journey, and therefore sent a letter by a servant 
 of his own to Parsons, to desire a pass ; who, in an- 
 swer, required him to repair to Dublin, that the 
 council might confer with him." — Warner,^. 177. 
 
 He was tortured. But no evidence could be extor- 
 ted from him, because he had no evidence to give 
 against the Catholic gentry whom it was sought to 
 convict, save that which ho had avowed and consi- 
 dered no crime, namely, their having petitioned the 
 Sovereign for protection. He was, however, made to 
 feel that if the fact of petitioning were not a crime, it 
 was at least punishable as such. Let the English 
 reader pause upon the consequences : — 
 
 *' Sir J. Read was sent a prisoner to England ; and 
 whilst absent, and in those circumstances, was in- 
 dicted and outlawed for high treason ; his lady and 
 goods were seized upon, and she and his children 
 turned out of doors j and when she petitioned to these 
 
 M 
 
178 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 worthy justices to assign her some part of her effects 
 to maintain her family, they absolutely refused to 
 allow her any." — Wariier, 178. 
 
 Ay— his wife and children turned out to starve ! 
 There is a specimen of English humanity and justice 
 for you ! While the wife and children were famishing, 
 the Government proceeded in their reckless ca- 
 reer : — 
 
 " The racking M'Mahon and Sir John Eead did not 
 content this merciless administration; and so Mr. Barne- 
 wal, of Killebrew, was put to the same torture. He was 
 one of the most considerable gentlemen of the Pale ; a 
 venerable old man of sixty-six years of age, delighting in 
 husbandry, a lover of quiet, and highly respected in 
 his country. He had sent intelligenceio the govern- 
 ment of the motion of the Ulster rebels in the month 
 of November ; and the only thing that could be said 
 against him was, that he had obeyed the sheriff's sum- 
 mons for the meeting at the hill of Crofty, when Lord 
 Gormanstown declared an union with them. It does 
 not appear that he approved the union, or that he ac- 
 tually had joined them upon any occasion ; and so 
 little did the ministers get by putting him to the tor- 
 ture, that it only served to make his innocence and 
 their own inhumanity the more conspicuous." — 
 Warner, p. 179. 
 
 The object was avowed— to force the Catholics of 
 property into rebelUon. They were allowed no means 
 of defending their houses against the insurgents 
 who had already been driven to take up arms. They 
 thronged into Dublin, where they would have been 
 under the immediate inspection of the Government, 
 and would have joined in resisting the insurgents. 
 But the object of the English Protestant party was 
 to force these Catholics of wealth to join those whom 
 they called rebels. It required no less than three 
 proclamations to force them out of Dublin. But I 
 will give the original authority : — 
 
 " The gentlemen of the Pale, banished Dublin by 
 three successive proclamations, and on pain of death 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 179 
 
 ordered to repair to their own houses, unable to make 
 resistance, and seeing not any, even the least, prospect 
 of relief or succour, opened their defenceless habitations 
 to the enemy ; which gave the lords justices occa- 
 sion to complain ' that the rebels were harboured and 
 lodged in gentlemen's houses of that county, as fully 
 as if they were good subjects/ This correspondence, 
 however necessitated it w^as at first, involving them 
 in the guilt of rebellion, according to the rigour of 
 the law% w^hich they had no reason to think would be 
 relaxed on account of their unhappy situation, by any 
 favour or tenderness they might hope from the then 
 Government, made the gentlemen in general, and the 
 high sheriff in particular, to join the rebels, and put 
 the fate of their persons and fortunes upon the issue 
 of the TeheHion "—^Carte^s Ormond, i. 238. 
 
 Thus, they w^ere to be punished wdth death if they 
 remained in Dublin. Driven to their own houses 
 they must submit to the insurgents, and thus incur 
 the penalties of treason. What were they then to do 1 
 Several of these unhappy gentlemen fled back from 
 the insurgents, and surrendered themselves to the 
 mercy of the justices. This was the proceeding 
 taken against them : — 
 
 "All the gentlemen who surrendered themselves 
 were, without being admitted to the presence of the 
 justices, committed prisoners to the castle. Prepara- 
 tions were made for their trial, and it was publicly 
 said they should be prosecuted Avith the utmost se- 
 verity. But as they had never appeared in the field, 
 nor been engaged in any warlike action, proper facts 
 w^ere w^anting to support a charge against them. To 
 supply this defect, the lords justices had recourse to 
 the rack, though against the law^, in order to extort 
 such confessions as these miscreants had a mind to 
 put into the mouths of the unhappy men who w^ere to 
 undergo it." — Warner, \^. 176. 
 
 The premeditation with which the lords justices 
 arranged their plans for driving the Irish into rebel- 
 lion, is well illustrated by the following extract ; which 
 
180 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 shows that no devices were omitted to drive the Cca- 
 thelic Irish to despair, and to force them to defend 
 themselves with the sword : — 
 
 " Some time before the rebellion broke out," says 
 Carte, "it was confidently reported that Sir John 
 Clotworthy, who well knew the designs of the faction 
 that governed the House of Commons in England, 
 had declared there in a speech that the conversion of 
 the papists in Ireland was only to be effected by the 
 Bible in one hand and the sword in the other ; and 
 Mr. Pym gave out that they would not leave a priest 
 in Ireland. To the like effect Sir William Parsons, 
 out of a strange weakness, or detestable policy, posi- 
 tively asserted before so many witnesses, at a public 
 entertainment, that within a twelvemonth no Catholic 
 should be seen in Ireland. He had sense enough to 
 know the consequences that would naturally arise 
 from such a declaration ; which, however it might con- 
 tribute to his own selfish views, he would hardly have 
 ventured to make so openly and without disguise, if 
 it had not been agreeable to the politics and measures 
 of the English faction, whose party he espoused, and 
 whose directions were the general rule of his conduct." 
 —Carte's Ormond, vol. i. p. 235. 
 
 "It is evident," says Dr. Warner, a Protestant 
 clergyman, "from the lords justices' letter to the Earl 
 of Leicester, then lord lieutenant, that they hoped 
 for an extirpation, not of the mere Irish only, but of all 
 the old English families also who were Roman 
 Catholics." — Warner's Hist of the Irish Rebel. 
 
 Coming back for one moment to Sir Charles Coote, 
 the catalogue of whose horrors we have already de- 
 scribed, I will revive the recollection of them by the 
 following passage from Clarendon : — 
 
 "Sir Charles, besides plundering and burning this 
 town [Clontarf ] at that time did massacre sixteen of the 
 townspeople, men, and women, besides three sucking 
 infants ; and in the very same week, fifty-six men, women, 
 and children of the village of Bulloge, being fright- 
 ened at what was done at Clontarf , took boats, and 
 
CHAP, ill.] PROOFS, ETC. 181 
 
 went to sea, to slum the fury of a party of soldiers 
 that were come out of Dublin, under the command 
 of Colonel Crafford ; but being pursued by the sol- 
 diers in other boats, they were overtaken and thrown 
 overboard." — xijypendix to Clarendon^s Hist. Irish 
 Eel). Wilford, London., 1720. 
 
 Was Coote punished for his sanguinary conduct, 
 not exceeded in atrocity by that of the modern E,o- 
 bespierre % You shall learn : — 
 
 " Sir Charles Coote, immediately after his inhuman 
 executions and promiscuous murders of the people in 
 Wicklow, was made governor of Dublin." — Carle's 
 Ormond,i. 259. 
 
 The hideous monster, Coote, indeed was, as I have 
 already said, of inestimable value to his employers. 
 To him was given the part of the arch-hend. It 
 was death and destruction to place the least confidence 
 in him. The lords justices proposed a treaty with 
 the lords of the Pale, who were most anxious to 
 accept any terms ; but they would not put themselves 
 into the power of Sir Charles Coote, who they knew 
 would have murdered every one of them. 
 
 " The lords justices, as soon as they were satisfied 
 that the lords of the Pale would not trust themselves 
 in the city in the hands of Sir Charles Coote, though 
 they were ready to treat with commissioners sent 
 from thence to any place out of his power, took mea- 
 sures in order to convict them of treason, and forfeit 
 their estates." — Carte's Ormond, i. 276. 
 
 For the present — so much for Sir Charles Coote ! 
 I go on with my extracts. 
 
 The next is, the orders given in February, 1641-2, 
 by the lords justices to the Earl of Ormond ; com- 
 nuniicated to him in the shape of a resolution, as 
 follows :— 
 
 " It is resolved— That it is fit that his lordship do 
 endeavour with his majesty's forces to wound, kill, 
 slay, and destroy, by all the ways and means he may, 
 all the said rebels, their adherents and relievers ; 
 and burn, spoil, waste, consume, destroy, and demo- 
 
182 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. Ill- 
 
 lisli, all the places, towns, and houses, where the 
 rebels are, or have been, relieved and harboured ; 
 and all the hay and corn there ; and kill and destroy- 
 all the men there inhabiting capable to bear arms. 
 Given at his majesty's Castle of Dublin, 23rd Feb- 
 ruary, 1641-2. 
 
 "R. DiLLOX, F. WiLLOUGHBY, 
 
 Tho. Hotherham, J. Temple, 
 
 Ab. Loftus, Robeet Meredith." 
 
 —Carte, iii. 61. 
 
 With what fiendish pleasure this tribunal of blood 
 gloated over every word that could signify destruc- 
 tion or massacre ! The French Revolutionists were 
 but poor copyists of English cruelty in Ireland ! The 
 orders were of course carried into effect beyond the 
 letter, but according to the spirit. Here is what Le- 
 land says : — 
 
 "In the execution of these orders, the justices 
 declare that the soldiers slew all persons promis- 
 cuously, not sparing the women, and sometimes not the 
 children." — Leland, book v. 
 
 It will be remarked that the original orders were 
 of the most cruel injustice ; because they not only 
 sanctioned the slaughter of those who were called 
 " rebels, and their aiders and abettors," but also of 
 all male adults who happened to reside in any of the 
 quarters where the so-called rebels had been received ; 
 although such persons might be perfectly innocent of 
 the "crime" of having given them any assistance. 
 But villanous and blood-tliirsty as were the instruc- 
 tions, yet the cruelty of the execution went beyond 
 them. That, indeed, was almost a matter of course, 
 when one considers the sanguinary spirit that pre- 
 vailed against the Irish. 
 
 That these massacres were committed, not by the 
 over zeal of the meaner sort, but were deliberately 
 planned and ordained by the persons in the highest 
 authority, can be established by the most abundant 
 proofs. We have seen the diabolical orders issued 
 
CHAP. III.] PEOOFS, ETC. 183 
 
 by tlie lords justices. Read now tlie following ex- 
 tract from Lord Ormond : — 
 
 " Sir William Parsons liatli by late letters advised 
 the governor to tlie burning of corn, and to put man, 
 woman and child to the sword ; and Sir Adam Lof- 
 tus hath written in the same strain." — Ormond's Let- 
 ters, ii. 350. 
 
 Here is a specimen of a massacre of prisoners in 
 the streets of Dublin, wlio were taken at the battle 
 of Kathmines. It is Lord Ormond who speaks : — 
 
 " The army, I am sure," says his lordship, " was 
 not eight thousand effective men ; and of them it is 
 certain that there were not above six hundred killed * 
 the and most of them that were killed, were butchered 
 after they had laid down their arms, and had been 
 almost an hour prisoners, and divers of them mur- 
 dered after they were brought within the works of 
 D\M\ia:'— Ormond, ii. 396. 
 
 Those who (according to the practice of the day) 
 were massacred as prisoners, were not all Irish : — 
 
 _" Some Walloons, whom the soldiers took for 
 Irishmen, were put to the sword." — Whitelock's Me- 
 morials of English Affairs, 
 
 Unlucky Walloons ! 
 
 ^ As I have referred to Whitelock, I may as well 
 give two other short extracts from that writer, signi- 
 ficant of the practice of the time : — 
 
 " Their friars and priests were knocked on the head 
 promisucuosly with the others who were in arms." 
 — Whitelock, p. 412. 
 
 Again : — 
 
 Sir Theophilus Jones had taken a castle, put some 
 men to the sword, and thirteen priests." — White- 
 lock, p. 527. 
 
 I will give the following instances of the conduct 
 of General Monroe, who was employed by the Go- 
 vernment in the northern expedition : — 
 
 " Monroe put sixty men, eighteen women, and two 
 priests to death at Newry." — Leland, iii. 203. 
 
 The second is this : — 
 
184 OBSEEVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 "He [Monroe] at Lord Conway's instance who 
 attended him in the expedition, advanced with 3,600 
 foot, three troops of korse, and four field-pieces. He 
 did no other service than taking a view of the place 
 on the 16th July, 1642, and saw some parties of the 
 enemy who had no powder to fire. He did not attack 
 them ; but making a prey of cattle, and killing seven 
 hundred country people, men, women, and children, 
 who were driving away the cattle, he returned to 
 Newry." — Carte, vol. i. p. 311, 
 
 One trait more of Monroe : — 
 
 [Other] "forces joining Monroe, he made up the 
 strongest army that had been seen in Ireland during 
 the war ; it amounting to at least 10,000 foot and 
 1,000 horse. It was unfit, however, for any great 
 undertaking, not being furnished with above three 
 weeks' victual. Monroe advanced with it into the 
 county of Cavan, from whence he sent parties into 
 Westmeath and Longford, which burnt the country, 
 and put to the sword all the country people that they 
 \\\Qt.'— Carte's Ormond, i. 495. 
 
 The following massacre took place upon the hill 
 above Rathcoole, It was one of the few instances 
 which savoured of retaliation ; but it was so horrible, 
 that I cannot refrain from giving the particulars, as 
 stated by Colonel Mervyn Touchet to his brother 
 Lord Castlehaven. Sir Arthur Loftus, governor of 
 Naas, marched out with a party of horse, which was 
 joined by another party sent from Dublin by the 
 Marquis of Ormond, and killed such of the Irish as 
 they met. 
 
 " But the most considerable slaughter was in a 
 great strait of furze, seated on a hill, where the 
 people of several villages taking the alarm had shel- 
 tered themselves. Now, Sir Arthur, having invested 
 the hill, set the furze on fire on all sides, where the 
 people, being in considerable number, were all burn- 
 ed or killed, men, women, and children. I saw the 
 bodies and furze still burning." — Castlehaven's Me- 
 moirs. 
 
CilAP. III.] . PROOFS, ETC. 185 
 
 It is manifest that tliis ^Yas not a solitary instance 
 of such cruelty. Clarendon treats it as the usual 
 practice : — 
 
 " In the year 1641-2, many thousands of the poor 
 innocent people of the county of Dublin, shunning 
 i-he fury of the English soldiers, fled into thickets 
 and furze, which the soldiers did usually fire, killing 
 as many as endeavoured to escape, or forced them 
 back again to be burned, and the rest of the inhabi- 
 tants for the most part died of famine." — A2Jpendix 
 of Clarendon's Hist, of the Irish Heh., Wilford, Lon- 
 don, 1720. 
 
 This horrible roasting alive of the inhabitants of 
 several villages serves only to relieve by its variety 
 the sanguinary slaughter of the sword. 
 
 Let us now turn to another scene. Two quotations 
 more from Carte will show, how the insurrection in 
 Munster was, according to the technical phrase, "made 
 to explode." That is, how the people were compelled 
 to take arms in their own defence. They will also 
 show the active humanity of the Catholic clergy, and 
 of many of the Catholic laity, at that disastrous pe- 
 riod, wdien — I say it with bitter regret— no such 
 instances were shown upon the part of the Protestant 
 clergy or laity. 
 
 "It was in the middle of December before any one 
 gentleman in the province of Munster appeared to 
 favour the rebellion. Many had shown themselves 
 zealous to oppose it, and had tendered their services 
 for that end. Lord Muskerrj^, wdio had married a 
 sister of the Earl of Ormond's, offered to raise a thou- 
 sand men at his own charge ; and if the state could 
 not supply them with arms, he was ready to raise 
 
 money by a mortgage of his estate to buy them 
 
 Nor did any signs of uneasiness or disaffection appear 
 among the gentry, till Sir W. St. Leger came to Clon- 
 mcll, which was on the first of that month, three days 
 before the action I have just now related." [viz., at a 
 place called Mohill.] " There had been a few days 
 before, some robberies (of cattle) committed in the 
 
186 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 county Tipperary Sir W. St. Leger, upon 
 
 notice thereof, came in two or three days after with 
 two troops of horse in great fury to Ballyowen ; and 
 being informed the cattle were clriven into Eliogarty, 
 he marched that way. As he set forth, he killed three 
 persons at Ballyowen, who Avere said to have taken 
 up some mares of Mr. Kingsmill's ; and not far off, 
 at Grange, he killed or hanged four innocent labour- 
 ers ; at Ballj^-O'Murrin, six ; and at Ballygarburt, 
 eight, and burnt several houses. Nor was it without 
 great importunity and intercession that he spared the 
 life of Mr. Morris Magrath, (grandson to Milerus, 
 Archbishop of Cashel in Queen Elizabeth's time,) a 
 civil, well-bred gentlemen, it being plainly proved 
 that he had no hand in the prey, notwitstanding 
 which proof he stiU kept that gentleman in prison. 
 From thence Captain Peisley marching to Armaile, 
 kiUed there seven or eight poor men and women 
 whom he found standing abroad in the streets near 
 their own doors inoffensively. And passing over the 
 river Ewyer, early in the morning, marched to Clon- 
 oulta, where meeting Philip Ryan, the chief farmer of 
 the place, a very honest and able man, not at all con- 
 cerned in any of the robberies, going with his plough- 
 iron in a peaceable manner to the forge, he, without 
 any inquiry, either gave orders for, or connived at his 
 being killed, as appeared by his cherishing the mur- 
 derer. From thence he went to Goellyn bridge, where 
 he killed and hanged seven or eight of Dr. Gerald 
 Fennell's tenants, honest inhabitants of the place, and 
 burned several houses in the town." — Carte's Ormond, 
 i. 265. 
 
 The Catholic nobility and gentry of Munster re- 
 monstrated with St. Leger. This was his answer : — 
 
 " He, in a hasty, furious manner, answered them, 
 that, they were all rebels, and he would not trust one 
 soul of them ; but thought it more i)rudent to hang 
 the best of them.".— C'ar^^', i. 266. 
 
 The murders of the Irish went on ; some of the meaner 
 sort occasionally, as was inevitable. One is not surprised 
 
CHAP, in.] PROOFS, ETC. 187 
 
 to hear that some of the kinsmen of the murdered 
 Philip Ryan, in reprisal for this and other murders, 
 slew thirteen of the English. But this crime served 
 to bring out the virtues of the Catholic Irish ; thus 
 they conducted themselves on that occasion : — 
 
 " All the rest of the English were saved by the inha- 
 bitants of that place in their houses, and had the goods 
 which they confided to them safely restored. Dr. 
 Samuel PuUen, [Protestant] Chancellor of Cashel and 
 Dean of Clonfert, with his wife and children, was pre- 
 served by Father James Saul, a Jesuit. Several other 
 Romish priests distinguished themselves on this occa- 
 sion by their endeavours to save the English ; parti- 
 cularlarly F. Joseph Everard and Redmond English, 
 both Franciscan friars, who hid some of them in their 
 chapel, and even under their altar The Eng- 
 lish w^ho were thus preserved, were according to their 
 desire, safely conveyed into the county of Cork, by a 
 guard of the Irish inhabitants of Cashel." — Carte's 
 Ormond, vol. i. p. 267. 
 
 I will now revert to the proofs given by the Eng- 
 lish parliament of their malignant enmity towards the 
 unhappy natives of Ireland. The following extract is 
 taken by Rushworth from the Journals of the English 
 House of Commons : — 
 
 " October 24, 1644. — An ordinance of the Lords and 
 Commons assembled in parliament, commanding that 
 no officer or soldier, either by sea or land, shall give 
 any quarter to an Irishman, or to any Papist born in 
 Ireland, which shall be taken in arms against the par- 
 liament of England : 
 
 " The Lords and Commons assembled in the parlia- 
 ment of England do declare, that no quarter shall be 
 given to any Irishman, or any Papist born in Ireland, 
 which shall be taken in hostility against the parlia- 
 ment, either upon sea, or within this kingdom, or 
 dominion of Wales : and therefore do order and 
 ordain that the Lord General, Lord Admiral, and all 
 other officers and commanders both by sea and land, 
 shall except all Irishmen, and all Papists born in Ire- 
 
188 OBSERVATIONS, [CIIAP. III. 
 
 land, out of all capitulations, agreements, and compo- 
 sitions hereafter to be made with the enemy ; and 
 shall, upon the taking of every such Irishman and 
 Papist iDorn in Ireland as aforesaid, forthwith put 
 every such person to death. 
 
 •' And it is further ordered and ordained, that the 
 Lord General, Lord Admiral, and the Committes of 
 the several counties, do give speedy notice hereof to 
 subordinate officers and commanders by sea and land 
 respectively ; who are hereby required to use their 
 utmost care and circumspection that this ordinance be 
 duly executed ; and lastly, the Lords and Commons 
 do declare, that every officer and commander by sea or 
 land, that shall be remiss or negligent in observing 
 the tenor of this ordinance, shall be reputed a favourer 
 of the bloody_ rebellion in Ireland, and shall be liable 
 to such condign punishment as the justice of both 
 houses of parliament shall inflict upon him." — Mush- 
 loorth, vol. V. p. 783. ^ 
 
 The folloAving specimen of the readiness with which 
 this cruelty was anticipated by national antipathy, 
 and carried into effect against Ireland, is full of 
 horror : — 
 
 " The Earl of Warwick, and the officers under him 
 at sea, had, as often as he met with any Irish frigates, 
 or such freebooters as sailed under their commission, 
 taken all the seamen who became prisoners to them of 
 that nation (Ireland,) and bound them back to back, 
 and thrown them overboard into the sea, without 
 distinction of their condition, if they were Irish. In 
 this cruel manner very many poor men perished 
 daily ; of which the King said nothing, because . . . 
 his Majesty could not complain of it without being 
 concerned in the behalf and in favour of the rebels of 
 Ireland." — Clarendon, ii. 478. 
 
 ^ Clarendon is, of course, anxious to excuse or pal- 
 liate the conduct 'of Charles — but how does his excuse 
 aggravate the demoniacal disposition of the English 
 aristocracy and gentry, as well as of the people in 
 general, towards the Irish"? Let any reasonable man 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 189 
 
 but reflect for one moment on these deliberate cruel- 
 ties — cruelties not committed in the rage of fight or 
 in the heat of blood. 
 
 Here were Protestant Christians — English Protes- 
 tant Christians — coolly and calmly going through the 
 slow process of tying back to back, and then delibe- 
 rately drowning a number of their fellow creatures — 
 merely because they had them in their power, and 
 because they were Irish ! 
 
 There is nothing new under the sun ! The drown- 
 ing of the loyalists in France, the " noyades," as they 
 were called, by the revolutionary monster Carrier, and 
 his colleagues, had their precedent in the conduct of 
 Englishmen to Irishmen. But what a difference 
 between the cases ! Carrier was a low-born, vulgar 
 monster — an avowed Atheist. He affected no con- 
 scientious scruples — he was a godless WTetch. But 
 the English who perpetrated these cruelties were 
 " noblemen" and " gentlemen" — men (in their way) of 
 fervent piety ! with the Bible — the Word of God — in 
 their hands ; with prayer upon tlieir lips ; proclaimed 
 themselves the disciples of the God of mercy and of 
 charity. Yes, they were " English Protestant Chris- 
 tians" — they, who, even in the name of that God, com- 
 mitted these barbarous cruelties ! 
 
 Indignation and execration are vain. What coun- 
 try ever inflicted on another such ineffable cruelties 
 as England has inflicted on Ireland % Let me give 
 another instance in which the bloody orders of the 
 English Commons were anticipated. In the month of 
 May, A.D. 1644— 
 
 ', The Marquis of Ormond had sent Captain An- 
 thony Willoughby ^\^th 150 men, which had formerly 
 served in the fort of Galway, from thence to Bristol. 
 The ship which carried them was taken by Swanley, 
 w^ho was so inhuman as throw seventy of the soldiers 
 overboard, under the pretence that they were Irish ; 
 though they had faithfully served liis Majesty against 
 the rebels during all the time of the war." — 
 Carte, I. 481. 
 
190 OBSERVATIONS. [CHAP. III. 
 
 Some may possibly be so absurd as to suppose 
 that Captain Swanley was punished for these bru- 
 talities. He had barbarously assassinated faithful sol- 
 diers, serving their King and their country. He had 
 basely assassinated them, for no other reason than 
 that they were Irish. How did the representatives 
 of the English people treat themi Recollect that 
 these representatives were the chosen spirits of the 
 age — the master minds of England — the advocates of 
 liberty — and the zealous promoters of (what they 
 called) religion. Listen, Englishmen ; attend Pro- 
 testants ; my authority is no less than the Jour- 
 nals of your House of Commons. Here is the 
 fact : — 
 
 "June, 1644," (the next month after his murder- 
 ous outrage,) " Captain Swanley was called into tke 
 [English] House of Commons, and had thanks given 
 nim for his good service ; and a chain of gold of two 
 hundred pounds value ; and Captain Smith, his 
 vice-admiral, had another chain of £100 value." — 
 Journals, III. 617. 
 
 ^ It will be borne in mind that I am making selec- 
 tions — not giving all the instances of cruelty ; no, nor 
 probably the one-thousandth part of them. It is on 
 that account alone that I quit the navy, ^ and give 
 another specimen of the English land-service. Just 
 mark, I pray you, the mode of procuring the esteem 
 of parliament : — 
 
 " Sir Richard Grenville ..... was very much es- 
 teemed by the Earl of Leicester, and more by the par- 
 liament for the signal acts of cruelty he did every day 
 
 commit upon the Irish hanging old men who 
 
 were bedrid, because they would not discover where 
 their money was that he believed they had ; and 
 old women, some of quality, after he had plundered 
 them, and found less than he expected." — Clarendon^ 
 IL p. 414. 
 
 We must ever bear carefully in mind, that a large 
 portion of the astounding horrors and diabolical crimes 
 committed against Ireland by England, were confess- 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 191 
 
 edly perpetrated for the support, and on the behalf of 
 the " Protestant Religion." 
 
 In 1643, a cessation of hostilities had been pro- 
 claimed in Ireland, which was equally desirable to 
 the wretched King, and to the Irish people. The 
 reader will remember, that, in the reign of Eliza- 
 beth, Spenser had recommended the destruction of 
 provisions, in order that the Irish might be driven by 
 famine " to devour each other." Spenser's diobolical 
 policy (which had been acted upon at the time) was 
 now revived, and patronized by the Protestant par- 
 liament of England. That parliament deemed it con- 
 ducive to the interest of the Protestant religion, that 
 the Irish Catholics should be compelled by famine 
 " to eat one another." Accordingly the cessation of 
 hostilities — 
 
 " Was no sooner known in England, but the two 
 houses declared against it, with all the sharp glosses 
 upon it to his Majesty's dishonour that can be ima- 
 gined; persuading the people that the rebels were 
 now brought to their last gasp, and reduced to so ter- 
 rible a famine, that, like cannibals, they eat one 
 another ; and must have been destroyed immediately, 
 and utterly rooted out, if, by the popish counsels at 
 court, the King had not been persuaded to consent to 
 this cessation." — Clarendon, II. 323. 
 ^ That the persecuting bigotry of Protestantism de- 
 liberately purposed to prolong the horrible famine 
 thus described, as a means of strengthening and pro- 
 pagating the Protestant religion, is a fact of which 
 the record stands upon the journals of the English 
 parliament : — 
 
 " Sept. 20, 1643. It was resolved, upon the question, 
 that this house doth hold that a present cessation of 
 arms with the rebels in Ireland is destructive to the 
 Protestant religion." — Journals, III. 248. 
 ^ Rushworth's testimony adds the fullest confirma- 
 tion (if any were wanted) to the fact, that these 
 horrors were quite congenial with the Protestant bi- 
 gotry of the English Legislature. Here are his words : — 
 
192 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 "The Lords and Commons have reason to declare 
 against this plot and design of a cessation of arms, as 
 being treated and carried on without their advice ; so 
 also because of the great prejudice which will thereby 
 redound to the Protestant religion, and the encourage- 
 ment and advancement which it will give to the prac- 
 tice of popery, when these rebellious Papists shall, by 
 this agreement, continue and set up with more free- 
 dom their Idolatrous worship, their popish supersti- 
 tions, and Romish abominations, in all the places of 
 their command, to the dishonouring of God, the grie- 
 ving of all true Protestant, hearts th^ dissolving of the 
 laws of the Crown of England, and to the provoking 
 the wrath of a jealous God! as if both kingdoms had 
 not smarted enough already for this sin of too much 
 conniving at, and tolerating of antichristian idolatry, 
 under pretext of civil contracts and politic agreements." 
 — Eushworth, V. 557. 
 
 Oh, Protestantism ! what unspeakable horrors and 
 miseries — what demoniac persecutions — have been 
 inflicted in your name upon the Catholic people of 
 Ireland ! 
 
 Let us now come back to Sir Charles Coote the 
 elder. Here is an additional accusation brought 
 against him. There is no doubt stated as to the fact 
 of the monstrous cruelty ; the only question is, as to 
 his mode of expression. There is no doubt that he 
 did not prevent the cruelty ; and independently of 
 the authority, it is difficult to doubt the expression. 
 At all events the poor babe in question was brutally 
 massacred. This act of English friendship was per- 
 petrated : — 
 
 " Tuesday, December 7th, a party of foot being sent 
 out into the neighbourhood of Dublin in quest of 
 some robbers that had plundered a,n house at Buskin, 
 came to the village of Santiy, and murdered some 
 innocent husbandmen, (whose heads they brought into 
 the city in triumph, and among which were one or 
 two Protestants,) under pretence that they had har- 
 boured and relieved the rebels who had made inroads 
 
CKA.P. III.J PROOFS, ETC. 1G3 
 
 and committed depTedatioiis in those parts. Hard 
 was the case of the country people at this time, when 
 not being able to liindcr parties of robbers and rebels 
 breaking into their houses and taking refreshments 
 there, this should be deemed a treasonable act, and 
 sufficient to authorize a massacre. This following so 
 soon after the executions, which >Sir CHiarles Coote 
 .... had ordered in the county of Wicklow ; among 
 which, when a soldier was carrying about a poor babe 
 on the end of his pilie, he," [namely, Coote] " was 
 charged with saying that he liked such frolics, made 
 it presently be imagined that it was determined to 
 proceed against all suspected persons in the same 
 nndistinguishtid way of cruelty ; and it served either 
 for an occasion or pretence to some Roman Catholic 
 gentlemen of the county of Dublin (among which 
 were Luke Nettervile, George Blackney, and George 
 King) to assemble together at Swords, six miles fi'om 
 Dublin, and put themselves with their followers in a 
 posture of defence." — Cartes Ormond, i. 244-5. 
 
 Let me give another specimen of the merits of one 
 of Coote's coadjutors ; his efforts were directed to 
 produce that hideous famine which the English par- 
 liament deemed of such utility to the Protestant reli- 
 gion :— 
 
 '' xVmong the several acts of public service per- 
 formed by a regiment of Sir William Cole, consisting 
 of 500 foot and a troop of horse, we find the following 
 hideous article recorded by the historian Borlase, with 
 particular satisfaction and triumph : — 
 
 " ' Starved and famished of the vulgar sort, whose 
 goods were seized on by this regiment, seven thou- 
 sand.' " — Leland, Book v. chap. 5 {note). 
 
 To come back for the last time to Coote himself- 
 I take the following extract from a pamphlet entitled 
 •' A Collection of some of the ]Massacres and Murders 
 committed on the Irish in Ireland, since the 23rd of 
 October, 1641 :"— 
 
 " Counti/ of J/ea^/i— 1642.— Mr. Barnewall, of To- 
 bertinian, and Mr. John Ilussey, innocent persons, 
 
 N 
 
194 oBSErvVATiONs, [chap. III. 
 
 ■were hanged at Trim by old Sir Charles Coote's party. 
 Gerald Lynch of Danower, aged 80 years, was killed 
 by troopers of Trim, being in protection. Mr. Thomas 
 Talbot, of Crawly's Town, about 80 years old, being 
 protected, and a known servitor to the crown, was 
 killed at his own door by some of Captain ]\Iorroe's 
 troop. About the month of April the soldiers under 
 the said Grenville's command, killed in and about the 
 Kavan 80 men, women, and children, who lived under 
 protection. Captain "\Yentworth and his company, 
 garrisoned at Duno, killed no less than 200 protected 
 persons in the parish of Donamora Slane, and barony 
 of Margellion and Ovemorein, the town of Ardmul- 
 chan, Kingstown, and Harristown, all protected per- 
 sons." 
 
 My next quotation vrill be rather long. It gives 
 so many particulars of murders committed by the sol- 
 diers of the garrisons in Meath, thst I am tempted to 
 give it at length. It is in the same book. I confess 
 I cannot resist inserting it ; even if it were from 
 the circumstance alone that it was in that county — 
 Meath — that the hellish miscreant Sir Charles Coote 
 mat his death ; it is supposed from one of his own 
 party. 
 
 " in April, (1642), Mrs. Elinor Taafe, of Tullagha- 
 noge, sixty years old, and six women more, were 
 murdered by the soldiers of the gamson of Trim ; 
 and a blind woman, aged eighty j^ears, was encom- 
 passed with straw by them, to which they set fire and 
 burned her. The same day they hanged two women in 
 Kilbride, and two old decrepit men that begged alms 
 of them. In the same year, Mr. Walter Dulin, an 
 old man, unable to stir abroad many years before the 
 war, was killed in his own house by Lieut. Col. Brough- 
 ton's troopers, notv^dthstanding the said Broughton's 
 protection, which the old man produced. Mr. Walter 
 Evers, a justice of the peace and cpiorum, an aged 
 man, and bedrid of the palsy long before the rebel- 
 lion, was carried in a cart to Trim, and there hanged 
 by the governor's orders. Many ploughmen were 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 195 
 
 killed at PMlbers'towne. Forty men, women, and 
 children in protection, reaping their harvest in Bones- 
 town, were killed by a troop of the said garrison ; 
 who, on the same day, killed Mrs. Alison Read at 
 Dnnsaughlin, being 80 years old ; and forty persons 
 more, most of them women and children, shunning 
 the fury of the said troop, were overtaken and slaugh- 
 tered. About 70 men, women, and children, tenants 
 to Mr. Francis M'Ovoy, and under protection, were 
 killed by Grenville's soldiers, and 160 more in the 
 parisk of Rathcoare, whereof there was one aged cou- 
 ple blind about 15 years before. Captain Sandford 
 and his troop murdered in and about Mulhussey 
 upwards of 100 men, women, and children, under 
 protection, and caused one Connar Breslan to be 
 struck with a knife into the throat, and so bled to 
 death. And one Eleanor Cusack, 100 years old, was 
 tied about with lighted matches, and so tortured to 
 death, in Clonmoghon. James Dowlan, about 100 
 years old, Donagh Comyn, Darby Denis, Roger Bolan, 
 and several other labourers and women to the number 
 of one hundred and sixty, making their harvest, were 
 slaughtered by the garrison of Trim." 
 
 One instance more in Meath ; it is an atrocity com- 
 mitted by the men under command of Sir Richard 
 Grenville, whom I have already mentioned : — 
 
 Sir Richard Grenville's troop killed 42 men, wo- 
 men, and children, and eighteen infants, at Dorams- 
 town. A woman under protection was, by Captain 
 Morroe's soldiers, put into the stock of a tuckmill, 
 and so tucked to death." — (From a pamplilet puh- 
 lished in London, in 1662, entitled "J[ Collection of 
 the Massacres and Murders committed on the 
 Irishrj 
 
 Let me now place before the reader an account of 
 the death and funeral of Sir Charles Coote. It is ex- 
 ceedingly characteristic. Here it is : — 
 
 " In April, 1642, pursuing the rebels at Trim, he 
 was unfortunately shot in the body, as it was thought, 
 by one of his own troopers, whether by design or acci- 
 
196 OB3EIIVATIOM3, [CHAP. III. 
 
 dent was never kijown. And this end had this gallant 
 gentleman, who began to be so terrible to the enemy, 
 as his very name was formidable to them. His body 
 was brought to Dublin, and there interred with great 
 solemnity, floods of English tears accompanying him 
 to his grave. By his death the fate of the English in- 
 terest in Ireland seemed eclipsed, if not buried." — 
 Borlase's Hist, of the Irish Reh., p. 104. 
 
 Floods of English tears ! Floods of English tears ! 
 
 This one fact at least is certain — that a more 
 hideous, a more horrible villain never existed. The 
 French Revolution — fertile in sangiiinary monsters — 
 produced nothing like him, who spared neither man, 
 woman, nor child ; neither priest nor layman. Yet this 
 most superlative of diabolical miscreants was em- 
 balmed with " English tears !" — " English tears !" How 
 heartily they wept for the man who was perfect in one 
 talent — that of shedding Irish blood ! A dry eye at 
 liis funeral would indeed have been, according to the 
 modern phrase, " un-English." 
 
 We now approach more nearly to the period of 
 Cromwell's arrival in Ireland, and we may as well pre- 
 pare for the extracts exhibiting his atrocities, by show- 
 ing what the intentions of the Irish Government were. 
 Nothing was so offensive to them as the submission of 
 the Irish ; their object being the confiscation of the 
 property and the extermination of tlie persons of the 
 natives. In this they were in general faithfully aided 
 by their subordinates. 
 
 " The Chief Governors severely condemned 
 
 the protection granted to Galway. Their orders were 
 express and peremptory that the Earl of Ormond 
 should receive no more submissions : every comman- 
 der of every garrison was ordered not to presume to 
 hold any correspondence with the Irish, or Papists ; 
 to give no protection, but to persecute all rebels, and 
 their harbourers with fire and sword. In the execu- 
 tion of these orders the justices declared^ that the sol- 
 diers slew all persons promiscuously, not sparing the 
 women, and sometimes not the children." — Le-i^id 
 book V. chap. 5. 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 197 
 
 From Galway let us now go to Donegal. Tlic 
 following are specimens of English humanity in that 
 county : — 
 
 " County of Donegal. — About the same time,'^ (viz. 
 November, 1641,) Captain Fleming, and other officers 
 of the said regiment commanding a party, smothered 
 to death 220 women and children in two caves. And 
 about the same time also, Captain Cunningham mur- 
 dered about 63 women and children in the isles of 
 Ross. 
 
 " The Governor of Letterkenny gathered together 
 on a Sunday morning 53 poor people, most of 
 them women and children, and caused them to be 
 thrown off the bridge into the river and drowned 
 them all. 
 
 " In November, one Reading murdered the wife and 
 three children of Shane O'Morghy, in a place called 
 Letterkeny of Ramaltan ; and after her death cut off 
 her breasts with his sword. 
 
 " 1641-2. — About two thousand poor labourers, wo- 
 men, and children, of the barony of Tirbue, were 
 massacred by the garrisons of Ballyshany and Done- 
 gal ; and Lieutenant Thomas Poe, an officer among 
 them, coming under colour of friendship, to visit a 
 neighbour that lay sick in his bed, and to whom he 
 owed money, carried a dagger under his cloak, which, 
 whilst he seemed to bow towards the sick man in a 
 friendly manner, asking how he did, he thrust it into 
 his body, and told his wdfe her husband should be no 
 longer sick. " 
 
 I will next introduce the head of the O'Brien fa- 
 mily, Lord Inchiquin ; I believe the direct ancestor 
 of the present Marquis of Thomond. He was re- 
 nowned for his acts of cruelty. He had sought to be 
 made president of JMunster under the King ; but 
 having been refused that office, to which another was 
 appointed, he, from the paltry motive of selfish re- 
 sentment, joined the English rebels, and committed 
 the most horrible cruelties upon the Irish. He is cele- 
 brated in the recollection of the people, even till the 
 
198 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 present day, for his massacres in the Cathedral of 
 Cashel. There is something very characteristic in the 
 following traits of his cruelty : — 
 
 " Inchiquin commits great destruction as far as he 
 dares venture, about Dublin and Tredah [Drogheda], 
 by burning and driving away their cattle, hangs all 
 he can meet with, going to the Lord Lieutenant." — 
 Whitelock. 
 
 " The Lord Inchiquin took Pilborne castle by storm, 
 and put all in it but eight to the sword." — Whitelock, 
 
 The next fact has "damned him to everlasting fame": 
 
 " Inchiquin marched into the county of Tipperary, 
 and hearing that many priests and gentry about 
 Cashel had retired with their goods into the Church, 
 he stormed it, and being entered, put three thousand 
 of them to the sword, taking the priests even 
 from under the altar " — Ludloiifs Memoirs,Yo\. I. p. 106. 
 
 The massacre of not only men and women, but 
 even of little children, by the Cromwellian army, is 
 familiar in the traditions of our peasantry at the pre- 
 sent day. The common phrase in which these ruffians 
 justified the slaughter of unoffending infants, is 
 original in its disgusting phraseology. We have the 
 odious fact authenticated by the Eev. Dr. Nalson ; 
 and he too, was a Protestant clergyman. Here are 
 his words : — 
 
 " I have heard a relation of my own, who was 
 captain in that service, relate, that no manner of 
 compassion or discrimination was showed either to 
 age or sex ; but that the little children were promis- 
 cuously sufferers with the guilty ; and that if any who 
 had some grains of compassion reprehended the sol- 
 diers for this unchristian inhumanity, they would 
 scoffingly reply ' Why, nits will be lice !' and so 
 would despatch them." — Nalson, vol. II. (Introduc- 
 tion) p. vii. 
 
 To come back to Dublin county. The author of 
 the " Collection^' speaking of the first week in No- 
 vember, 1641, says, — 
 
 " In the same week, 56 men, women, and children, 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 199 
 
 of the village of Bulloge, (being frightened at wliat 
 Avas done at Clontarf,) took boats and went to sea, 
 to shun tlie fury of a party of soldiers come out of 
 Dublin under the command of Colonel Crafford : but 
 being pursued by soldiers in other boats, were over- 
 taken, and thrown overboard. One -Eussell, a baker 
 in Dublin, coming out of the country, in company 
 with Mr. Archbold of Clogram, (who went to take 
 hold of the proclamation of the lords justices,) were 
 both hanged and quartered. In March, a party of 
 horse, of the garrison of Donshaghlin, murdered seven 
 or eig-ht poor people in protection, tenants of Mr. 
 Dillon, of Huntstowne, having quartered in their 
 houses the night before, and receiving such entertain- 
 mcEt as the poor people could afford. About the 
 same time a party of the English quartered at Mala- 
 hyde, hanged a servant of Mr. Robert Boyne's at the 
 plough, and forced a poor labourer to hang his own 
 brother ; and soon after they hanged 15 of the iijhabi- 
 tauts of Swords who never bore arms, in the orchard 
 of Malahyde ; they likewise hanged a woman be- 
 moaning her husband hanged among them." 
 
 There is an incident of some interest given by the 
 same author, immediately following my last extract. 
 It relates to the cause why a Colonel Washington re- 
 signed his command and quitted the service. Its date 
 is the same year — 1641 : — 
 
 " In the same year, after quarter given by Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Gibson to those of the castle of Carrig- 
 main, they were all put to the sword, being about 
 350, most of them women and children ; and Colonel 
 Washington, endeavouring to save a pretty child of 
 seven years old, carried him under his cloak, but the 
 child, against his will, was killed in his arms, which 
 was a principle motive of his quitting that ser- 
 vice." 
 
 Several of the extracts already quoted, relate to 
 periods subsequent to Cromwell's arrival in Ireland. 
 The following extract refers to a period long before 
 that arrival : — 
 
200 OBSEEVATIOXS, [cHAP. III. 
 
 " Sir Henry Ticlibonrne, ^Yllo had the chief wm- 
 niaiid in that dmdng of O'Nial from Dundalk, per- 
 formed that service, and afterwards pursued it with 
 such an amazing slaughter of the Irish in those parts, 
 that he boasts himself that for some weeks after there 
 was neither man nor beast to be found in sixteen 
 miles, between the two towns of Drogheda and Dun- 
 dalk ; nor on the other side of Dundalk in the cainty 
 of Monaghan, nearer than Carrickmacross, a strong 
 pile twelve miles distant." — Carte's Ormond. 
 
 I shall add to my catalogue the following, which I 
 take from Borlase, than whom a more hostile witness 
 could not be cited. I shall only mention one in Con- 
 naught, and two or three in Munster : — 
 
 " tSir Frederick Hamilton," says Borlase, " enter- 
 ing Sligo about the first of July, 1642, burnt the 
 town, and slew in the streets three hundred of the 
 Irish." — Borlase, p. 112. 
 
 Here are the instances referring to Munster : — 
 
 "Lord Dungarvan and Lord Broghill summoning 
 the castle of Ardmore in the county of Waterford, 21st 
 of August, 1642, it was yielded upon mercy. Never- 
 theless, one hundred and forty men were put to the 
 sword.'^ — Borlase, p. 111. 
 
 AVe cannot, therefore, \vonder that this Lord Brog- 
 hill on another occasion declared : — 
 
 "That he knew not what quarter meant." — Bor- 
 lase, p. 110. 
 
 Before I proceed further, I wish to give one ex- 
 tract from tlie relation of the many massacres corn- 
 knitted in Munster. The county of Cork has claims 
 upon me, and perhaps it is therefore that I cannot 
 a\-oid multiplying my instances with the following 
 quotation : — 
 
 ''CounUjCork.—\Qi± At Cloghnekilty about 238 
 men, women, and children were murdered, of which 
 number 17 children were taken by the legs by soldiers 
 who knocked out their brains against the _ walls. 
 This was done by Phorbis's men, and the garrison of 
 Bandon Bridge." 
 
CHAP. IIl.J PROOFS, ETC. 201 
 
 " The English party of this county burned O'SuJ- 
 livan Beare's houses in Bantiy, and in all the rest of 
 that country, killing man, woman, and cliild, turning 
 laany in to their houses then on fire to be burned 
 therein ; and among others Thomas De Bucke, a 
 cooper, about 80 years old, and his wife being little 
 less ; and all this was done without provocation, the 
 said 0"Sullivan being a known reliever of the English 
 in that country. Observe that this county is not 
 charged in the late Abstract with any murders." 
 
 In honour of Bandon, I insert the following sh5rt 
 extract : — 
 
 " 1641. At Bandon Bridge, the garrison there tied 
 88 Irishmen of the said town, back to back, and threw 
 them off the bridge into the river, where they were all 
 drowned.'' — Coll., p. 5. 
 
 We will now go b;ick a little. The first great 
 slaughter that occurred in the civil war after the Irish 
 were driven into insurrection — (and never were such 
 pains taken to compel an unwilling people to rise 
 against a Government as were taken by the Adminis- 
 tration in Ireland to force the Irish to resist their 
 tyranny !) — is the incident I am now going to describe. 
 It is taken from the " Collection^' and rec[uires no pre- 
 face to excite attention. It was the fruitful source 
 of many a crime. The following is the Irish 
 account : — 
 
 " 1641. About the beginning of November, the 
 English and Scotch forces at Knockfergus murdered 
 in one night aU the inhabitants of the territory of the 
 Island ^lagee, to the number of about 3,000 men, 
 women, and children, all innocent persons, at a time 
 v.hen none of the Catholics of that country were in 
 arms or rebellion. — Note, that this Avas the first 
 massacre committed in Ireland of either side." 
 
 Now, I will place in juxtaposition with the above 
 the English Protestant account of the same transaction : 
 
 " In one fatal night, they [the garrison of Carrick- 
 fergus] issued from Carrickfergus into an adjacent 
 district called Island ^lagee, where a number of the 
 
202 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 poorer Irish resided, unoffending, and untainted by the 
 rebellion. If we may believe one of the leaders of 
 tliis party, thirty families were assailed by them in 
 their beds, and massacred with calm and deliberate 
 cruelty." — Leland, Book V. chap. 3. 
 
 There is no substantial difference between these two 
 accounts. The difference in the number of the slain 
 is easily accounted for by recollecting that upon that 
 point the Irish would naturally be the better informed. 
 Both agree in the circumstances of this most unpro- 
 voked and diabolical massacre. The inhabitants of 
 the district of Island Magee, innocent, unoffending — 
 unarmed ; without a shadow of crime, or the least 
 suspicion of guilt, were attacked at night in their 
 beds, by English and Scotch soldiers, commanded and 
 led on by their officers ; and put to death with calm 
 and deliberate cruelty. Talk of the barbarity of un- 
 educated savages in any part of the globe ! you can- 
 not find it exceeding this deliberate slaughter, com- 
 mitted by English and Scotch Protestant soldiers on 
 unarmed beings, who admittedly were guilty of no 
 other crime than that of being Irish Catholics ! 
 
 One or two facts more, touching the manner in 
 which those English and Scotch soldiers conducted 
 themselves in that country. I take it from the same 
 " Collection " I have quoted already : — 
 
 " Mr. M'Naghten having built a small fortress in the 
 said county (Antrim) to preserve himself and his 
 followers from outrages, until he understood what the 
 cause of the then rebellion was ; as soon as Colonel 
 Campbell came near with part of the army, he sent 
 to let him know that he would come to him with his 
 party, which he did ; and they were next day mur- 
 dered to the number of eighty, by Sir John Clotworthy, 
 now Lord Massareen's soldiers." 
 
 " About the same time, one hundred poor women 
 and children were murdered in one night, at a place 
 called Balliaghuin, by direction of the English and 
 Scotch officers commanding in that country." 
 
 [ now come to the master-demon ; he who steeped 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 203 
 
 his hands in the blood of his Sovereign, and came to 
 Ireland reeking from that crime ; in order, by horrible 
 cruelties committed on the Irish, to acquire popu- 
 larity in England And he did so acquire it, until it 
 was sufficient to confer upon him regal power, and to 
 enable him to place his hand upon that throne which 
 he had not moral courage to occupy. I begin with 
 an extract of the taking of Wexford ; although, in 
 point of time, this was the second town in which he 
 displayed his barbarity. The following is the short 
 and pithy account of this transaction by the Protestant 
 clergyman, Doctor Warner :• — 
 
 " As soon as Cromwell had ordered his batteries to 
 play on a distant quarter of the town, on his summons 
 being rejected, Stafford (the commander of the 
 garrison) admitted his men into the castle, fronj 
 whence issuing suddenly, and attacking the wall and 
 gate adjoining, they were admitted, either through the 
 treachery of the townsmen or the cowardice of the 
 soldiers, or perhaps both ; and the slaughter was 
 ahnost as great as at Drogheda." — Warner, 476. 
 
 The more recent historian. Dr. Lingard, has added 
 from the original authorities, the following most 
 striking and melancholy circumstance : — 
 
 " No distinction was made between the defenceless 
 inhabitant and the armed soldier ; nor could the 
 shrieks and prayers of three hundred females, who had 
 gathered round the great cross, preserve them from 
 the swords of those ruthless barbarians. By Cromwell 
 himself the number of the slain is reduced to two, by 
 some writers it has been swelled to five thousand." — 
 Lingard, a.d. 1649. 
 
 Three hundred women screaming for pity, round the 
 emblem of salvation — the cross. Three hundred Irish 
 women slaughtered in one mass — by English Pro- 
 testant "Christians" — men of great zeal and profound 
 piety ! 
 
 I now come back to Drogheda. And as the slaughter 
 there is a subject to be dwelt upon, I will give three 
 different versions of it ; I do so, because each contains 
 
204 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 some circumstances not specified in tlie others. Here 
 are the accounts of Carte and Leland : — 
 
 " The assault was given, and Jiis (Cromwell's) men 
 twice repulsed ; but in this third attack, Colonel Wall 
 being unhappily killed at the head of his regiment, his 
 men were so dismayed thereby, as to listen, before 
 they_ had any need, to the enemy offering them quarter, 
 admitting them (viz. Cromwell's army) upon those 
 terms, and thereby betraying themselves and their 
 fellow-soldiers to the slaughter. All the officers and 
 soldiers of Cromwell's army promised quarter to such 
 as would lay down their arms, and performed it as 
 long as the place held out ; which encouraged others 
 to yield. But when they had once all in their power 
 and feared no hurt that could be done them, Cromwell, 
 being told by Jones, that he had now all the flower of 
 the Irish army in his hands, gave orders that no 
 quarter should be given ! So that his soldiers were 
 forced, many of them against their will, to kill their 
 prisoners ! The brave governor, Sir A. Aston, Sir 
 Edward Verney, the Colonels Warren, Fleming, and 
 Byrne, were killed in cold blood ; and indeed all the 
 officers, except some few of least consideration, that 
 escaped by miracle. The Marquis of Ormond, in his 
 letters to the king and Lord Byron, says, ' that on this 
 occasion Cromwell exceeded himself, and anything he 
 had ever heard of, in breach of faith and bloody 
 inhumanity ; and that the cruelties exercised there for 
 five days after the town was taken, would make as 
 many several pictures of inhumanity as the Book of 
 Martyrs or the Relation of Amboyna.'"— 6'ar^e, II. 
 84. Leland adds— 
 
 " A number of ecclesiastics were found within the 
 walls ; and Cromwell, as if immediately commissioned 
 to execute divine^ vengeance on the ministers of 
 idolatry, ordered his soldiers to plunge their weapons 
 into the helpless wretches." — Leland, Book vi. chap. 4. 
 
 I next shall give the account of Lord Clarendon. 
 Here it is : 
 
 " Before the Marquis of Ormond could draw Lis 
 
PROOFS, ETC. 205 
 
 army together, Cromwell liad besieged Tredali" 
 [Drogheda] : " and though the garrison was so strong 
 m point of number, and that number of so choice 
 men ^at they could wish for nothing more than that 
 the enemy would attempt to take them by storm ; the 
 very next day after he came before the town, he gave 
 a general assault, and was beaten off with considerable 
 loss. But after a day more, he assaulted it again in 
 two places, with so much courage that he entered in 
 both ; and though the governor and some of the chief 
 officers retired in disorder into a fort where they 
 hoped to have made conditions, a panic fear so pos- 
 sessed the soldiers, that they threw down their arms 
 upon a general offer of quarter : so that the enemy 
 entered the works without resistance, and put every 
 man, governor, officer, and soldier to the sword : and 
 the whole army being entered the town, they executed 
 all manner of cruelty, and put every man that related 
 to the garrison, and all the citizens who were Irish, 
 man, woman, and child, to the sword ; and there 
 being three or four officers of name, and of good fami 
 lies, who had found some way, by the humanity of 
 some soldiers of the enemy, to conceal themselves for 
 four or five days, being afterwards discovered, they 
 were butchered in cold blood." — Lord Clarendon's 
 History/, vol. vi. 395. 
 
 Let the reader again peruse the above account — It 
 •is worth any Englishman's while to read it thrice 
 over. For an Irishman, once would be enough. 
 I shall now give the statement from Lingard : — 
 " Aware that the royalists could assemble no army 
 in the field, he marched to the siege of Drogheda. 
 The defences of the place were contemptible ; but the 
 garrison consisted of two thousand five hundred 
 chosen men, and the governor, 8ir Arthur Aston, 
 had earned in the civil war the reputation of a bravo 
 and experienced officer. In two days a breach was 
 made ; but Aston ordered trenches to be dug within 
 the wall, and the assailants on their first attempt 
 were quickly repulsed. In the second, more than a 
 
206 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 thousand men penetrated through the breach; but 
 they suffered severely for their temerity, and were 
 driven back with considerable loss. Cromwell now 
 placed himself at the head of the reserve, and led them 
 to the assault, animating them mth his voice and 
 example. In the heat of the conflict, it chanced that 
 the officer who defended one of the trenches fell ; his 
 men wavered : quarter was offered and accepted ; and 
 the enemy, surmounting the breastwork, obtained 
 possession of the bridge, entered the town, and suc- 
 cessively overcame all opposition. The pledge which 
 had been given was now violated ; and, as soon as 
 resistance ceased, a general massacre was ordered or 
 tolerated by Cromwell. During five days the streets 
 of Droghecla ran with blood ; revenge and fanaticism 
 stimulated the passions of the soldiers : from the gar- 
 rison they turned their swords against the inhabitants, 
 and one thousand unresisting victims were immolated 
 together within the walls of the great church, whither 
 they had fled for protection." — LingarcVs England^ 
 A.D. 1649. 
 
 I believe there is not in the history of Christendom 
 a more horrible instance of quiet, deliberate cruelty, 
 systematic and cold-blooded. First, the garrisons 
 who were promised quarter, and who, on the faith of 
 that promise, had ceased to resist, were slaughtered 
 deliberately and in detail. And next the unoffending 
 inhabitants were for five days deliberately picked out 
 and put to death — the men the women and even the 
 little children. And this was done, not by New Zea- 
 land savages, but by Christian Englishmen — the choice 
 spirits of the age — men of the most intense piety and 
 Protestant sanctity — every man of them with his Bible 
 in one hand and his sword in the other ! Men over- 
 flowing with Scripture quotations — men fond of 
 preaching or listening to long sermons — praying long 
 prayers — full of all that there is of ascetism in their 
 English Christianity ! 
 
 Would not these English "Christians" spare the 
 unarmed citizens % fSurely they could fear no danger 
 
OHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 207 
 
 from the hajjless females ? Would they not at least 
 spare the chikken— the infants'? 
 
 Oh, England ! England! in what letters of blood 
 have you not written your cruel domination in Ire- 
 land ! It if 'rue that the garrison deserved their fate. 
 They put ittith in an English promise made to Irish- 
 men — Sir Arthur Aston, Sir Edward Yerney, Colonel 
 Byrne, and tlie rest of them. Fie upon them — oh, fie ! 
 They did indeed deserve their fate ! 
 
 What a trumpet-tongued lesson to Irishmen ! But 
 such times never can come. again. 
 
 There is in this fiendish transaction one colouring 
 yet wanted, to make the monsters who committed it 
 more hideous than the devils in hell. It is the colour- 
 ing of hypocrisy. Let the reader, if he can, calmly 
 peruse CromweU's own despatch ; and then admit 
 with me, that human language is utterly inadequate 
 to descrilDe the ineff'able horror of the English crime. 
 Here are extracts from Cromwell's despatch to the 
 Speaker of the House of Commons : — 
 
 "Sir, 
 
 " It has pleased God to bless our endeavours at 
 Drogheda 
 
 One shudders at such an introduction of the name 
 of the adorable Creator — the God of mercy and of 
 charity ! I begin again : — 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " It has pleased God to bless our endeavours at 
 Drogheda. After battering we stormed it. The ene- 
 my was about 3,000 strong in the town." 
 
 Cromwell then goes on to describe shortly the cir- 
 cumstances of the attack and of the slaughter ; and 
 coolly says : — 
 
 " I believe we put to the sword the whole number 
 of the defendants. I do not think thirty of the whole 
 number escaped with their lives ; and those that did, 
 are in safe custody for the Barbacloes." 
 
 He then goes on as follows : — 
 
 " This hath been a marvellous great mercy. The 
 enemy being not willing to put an issue upon a field 
 
208 OBSEP.VATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 of battle, had put into tliis garrison almost all their 
 prime soldiers, being; about 3,000 horse and foot, under 
 the command of their best officers, Sir Arthur Aston 
 being made governor. There were some seven or 
 eight regiments, Ormond's being one, under the com- 
 mand of Sir Edward Verney. I do not believe, nei- 
 ther do I hear, that any officer escaped with his life, 
 save only one lieutenant." 
 
 Could any one imagine that human nature could be 
 so destitute of all that belongs to humanity, or to reli- 
 gion, as to be capable of calling such cruelty " a mar- 
 vellous great mercy V Oh, it was truly an English 
 mercy ! But there is more ; for this is the conclusion 
 of Cromwell's despatch : — 
 
 " I wish that all honest hearts may give the glory of 
 this to God alone, to whom indeed the praise of ihis 
 mercy belongs. For instruments they were very in- 
 considerable to the work throughout. 
 
 "0. Cromwell." 
 
 The flesh creeps— the heart sinks, at the unparalleled 
 atrocity, profanity, and blasphemy of such a despatch. 
 But exclamations weaken the horrors by which we 
 are thus surrounded. 
 
 Perhaps some persons may be found so absurdly 
 credulous as to believe that the English parliamen t 
 revolted at the cruelty perpetrated by Cromwell ; and 
 that they inliicted upon his sanguinary barbarity, if 
 not punishment, at least censure. No such thing. 
 The victims were Irish Catholics ; and it is manifest 
 that the English parliament had not only no sympa- 
 thy but no humanity for the unhappy natives of 
 Ireland. To cap the climax of English atrocity, let 
 the following extract from the Journals of the House 
 of Commons be read : — 
 
 " 1649 — October 2nd. This day the House received 
 despatches from the Lord Lieutenant Cromwell, dated 
 Dublin, September 17th, giving an account of the tak- 
 ing of Drogheda, For this important success of the 
 parliament's forces in Ireland, the House appointed a 
 tiianksgiving day to be held on the 1st November 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 209 
 
 en suing througlioiit the n ation. lliey likewise ordered 
 that a declaration should be prepared and sent into 
 the several counties, signifying the grounds for setting 
 apart that day of public thanksgiving. A letter of 
 thanks was also voted to be sent to the Lord Lieute- 
 nant of Ireland ; and to be communicated to the 
 officers there ; in which notice w^as to be taken, that 
 the house did approve of the execution done at Dro- 
 gheda, as an act both of justice to them, aud mercy to 
 others who may be warned by it." — Parliamentary 
 Hist V. iii. p. 1334. 
 
 I am sickened and disgusted with the hideous cata- 
 logue of English crimes. I could multiply the in- 
 stances tenfold ; but I have given enough, and. infi- 
 nitely more than enough, to satisfy every human being 
 that no country on the face of the earth ever suffered 
 50 much from another as Ireland lias suffered from 
 England : nor is any country on the face of the eartli 
 so stained with diabolic cruelty as England in her 
 conduct towards Ireland ! 
 
 Religious bigotry inflamed and augmented the na- 
 tional hostility of England to Irishmen. To show 
 how distinctly the purpose of exterminating the 
 Catholic people of Ireland for the good of the Pro- 
 testant religion was avowed by the first authorities in 
 the State, let me here quote the following testimony 
 from page 55 of a book of Cromwell's acts, entitled 
 " Cromwelliana :" — 
 
 "April 12, 1640. Those who were appointed to go 
 to the Common Council about the furnishing <£120,000, 
 came unto Guildhall. The first that spoke was Mr. 
 Lisle, after him Mr. Whitlock, who very notably urged 
 the accommodation of the parliament with the sum ap- 
 pointed for the service of Ireland : after whom the Lord 
 Chief Baron AVild did press the same with many argu- 
 ments, and among others he rightly distinguished the 
 state of the war in that kingdom as not being between 
 Protestant and Protestant, or Independent and Pres- 
 byterian, but Papist and Protestant ; and that was the 
 interest there; Papacy or Popery being not to be en- 
 
 
 
210 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 dured in that kingdom ; which notably agreed with that 
 maxim of King James, when first King of the three 
 kingdoms ' Plant Ireland with Puritans, and root out 
 Papists — and then secure it.' " 
 
 Cromwell gorged himself with human blood. He 
 committed the most hideous slaughters ; deliberate, 
 cold-blooded, persevering. He stained the annals of 
 the English people with guilt of a blacker dye than 
 has stained any other nation on earth. 
 
 And — after all — for what 1 What did he gain by 
 it ] Some four or five years of unsettled and preca- 
 rious power ! And if his hideous corpse was interred 
 in a royal grave, it was so, only to have his bones 
 thence transferred to a gibbet ! 
 
 Was it for this that he deliberately slaughtered 
 thousands of men, women, and children'? Female 
 loveliness, and the innocent and beautiful boy — aged 
 but seven years — of Colonel Washington ] 
 
 It has often been said that it was not the people, 
 but the Government of England, who were guilty of 
 the attempts to exterminate the Irish nation. The 
 observation is absurd. The government had at all 
 times, in their slaughter of the Irish, the approbation 
 of the English people. Even the present adminis- 
 tration is popular in England in the precise proportion 
 of the hate they exhibit to the Irish people ; and this 
 is a proposition of historic and perpetual truth. But 
 to the Cromwellian wars, the distinction between the 
 people and the Government could never apply. These 
 were the wars, emphatically, of the English people. 
 They were emphatically the most cruel and murderous 
 wars the Irish ever sustained. 
 
 The natural result of the promiscuous slaughter of 
 the unarmed peasantiy wherever the English soldiers 
 coidd lay hold on them, was, as a matter of course, an 
 appalling famine. The ploughman was killed in the 
 half-ploughed field. The labourer met his death at 
 the spade. The haymaker was himself mowed down. 
 A universal famine, and its necessary concomitant, 
 pestilence, covered the land. An eye-witness, him- 
 
CHAP. HI.] PEOOFS, ETC. 211 
 
 self employed in hunting to death the Irish— has left 
 the description which follows : and although the 
 victims were Irish, yet possibly, in the present day, 
 their miseries may draw a tear from English eyes. 
 Thus was consummated English Protestant power : — 
 
 "About the year 1652 and 1653, the plague and 
 famine had so swept away whole countries, that a 
 man might travel twenty or thirty miles and not see 
 a living creature, either man, beast, or bird ; they 
 being either all dead, or had quit those desolate 
 places ; our soldiers would tell stories of the place 
 where they saw a smoke, it was so rare to see either 
 smoke by day or fire or candle by night. And 
 when we did meet vdih two or three poor cabins, none 
 but very aged men, with women and children, and 
 those, like the prophet, might have complained, ' We 
 are become as a bottle in the smoke, our skin is black 
 like an oven because of the terrible famine.' I have 
 seen those miserable creatures plucl-'mg stinking car- 
 rion out of a ditch, black and rotten, .<nd been credibly 
 informed that they digged corpses .at of the grave to 
 eat : but the most tragical story I ever heard was from 
 an officer commanding a party of horse, who, hunting 
 for tories in a dark night, discovered a light, which 
 they supposed to be a fire, which the tories usually 
 made in those waste countries to dress their provisions 
 and warm themselves ; but dramng near, they found 
 it a ruined cabin, and besetting it round, some did 
 alight, and peeping at the window, where they saw a 
 great fire of wood, and a company of miserable old 
 women and children sitting round about it, and be- 
 twixt them and the fire a dead corpse lay broiling, 
 Y\^hich, as the fire roasted, they cut off coUops, and 
 eat." — Colonel Laurences Interest of h^eland, part 2, 
 pp. 86, 87. 
 
 Such, I repeat, were the demoniacal means by 
 which Protestantism and English power achieved and 
 consummated their ascendency in Ireland. 
 
212 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 CHAPTER III— PAET III. 
 
 I HAVE said in the text, that however aggravated and 
 atrocious the actual cruelties perpetrated by England 
 on the Irish were, there was a greater cruelty still : 
 namely, in the slander and calumnies affixed upon the 
 character and conduct of the Irish people. Alas ! 
 the spirit of calumny lives to the present day. In- 
 deed, I do not know any spirit of hostility to Ireland 
 which was ever displayed, which is not still alive and 
 vigorous. The mode of exhibiting that spirit is dif- 
 ferent. Its virulence is turned into another channel. 
 But its existence and vitality are not the less marked 
 by unequivocal characters. 
 
 It was not sufficient for the English party to com- 
 mit those most horrible atrocities of which I have 
 collected a small proportion of instances. They car- 
 ried their malignity farther ; and they accused the 
 Irish of those very crimes which they themselves 
 committed upon that unhappy people. It is scarcely 
 credible — it would not be credible of any other people 
 except the Irish — that when they were massacred in 
 tens of thousands, they should be accused of the very 
 crime that was committed against themselves. Yet 
 it is literally true. 
 
 What Clarendon and Temple originally asserted, 
 has been, of course, taken up by that infidel falsifier of 
 history, Hume : and the Catholics of Ireland for more 
 than a century, were persecuted to the loss of their 
 lives and properties ; and, what was still more grievous 
 and afflicting, by the loss of their reputation for that 
 conduct, which, while it really merited the applause 
 of all good men, was converted into the imputation of 
 foul and horrible slaughter. 
 
 The charge was brought against the Irish by Cla- 
 rendon, in these words : — 
 
 "On the 23rd of October, 1641, a rebellion broke 
 out in all parts of Ireland except Dublin, wdiere the 
 design of it was miraculously discovered the night 
 before it Avas to be executed. . . But tliat, in the other 
 
CHAP. III.] IT.OOFS, ETC. 213 
 
 parts of the kingdom, they observed the time ap- 
 pointed, not hearing of the misfortune of their friends 
 m Dublin. . . That a general insurrection of the Irish 
 spread itself over the whole countrj'- in such an in- 
 human and barbarous manner, that there were forty 
 or fifty thousand Protestants murdered before they 
 suspected themselves in any danger, or could provide 
 for their defence, by drawing together into towns or 
 'strong houses." — Hist. jReb. 
 
 Temple aggravates the crime. This is his state- 
 ment : " One hundred and fifty thousand Protestants 
 were massacred in cold blood, in the first two months 
 of the rebellion." — Sir John Te7n2Jle, Hist. Irish Reh. 
 
 Milton, in the second edition of his Iconoclastes, 
 has the following passage : — 
 
 " The rebellion and horrid massacre of the English 
 Protestants in Ireland, to the amount of 154,000 in 
 the province of Ulster only, by their own computa- 
 tion ; which, added to the other three, makes up the 
 total sum of that slaughter, in all likelihood, four 
 times as great." 
 
 It is true this passage has been softened in subse- 
 quent editions ; but the enemies of Ireland had the 
 full benefit of Milton's falsehood at the very time that 
 it was most important for them to have it. 
 
 One may throw in here, by way of parenthesis, that 
 it has been demonstrated by Sir William Petty and 
 others that there could have scarcely been at that 
 period more than 200,000 Protestants in all Ireland. 
 
 It will of course be recollected that the parliamen- 
 tary party had forced the insurrection to explode, and 
 had made it purely a religious war. Now, let the 
 reader look back, at Clarendon, Temple, and Milton : 
 and then let him look at this extract from another 
 Protestant historian ; a clergyman of the established 
 Protestant church, whom I have quoted more than 
 once already : — 
 
 " The number of people killed, upon positive evi- 
 dence collected in two years after the insurrection 
 broke out, adding them altogether, amounts only to 
 
214 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 two thousand one hundred and nine ; on the reports 
 of other Protestants, one thousand six hundred 
 and nineteen more ; and on the report of some of the 
 rebels themselves a further number of three hundred ; 
 the whole making four thousand and twenty-eight." — 
 Warner, p. 297. 
 
 Thus — upon positive evidence, and upon evidence 
 of mere report, which latter is the thing in the Avorld 
 the most exaggerating ; and after all the provocation 
 which the Irish had sustained— is it not marvellous, 
 that in and out of battle, there should have been re- 
 turned as killed (and that too, by adding to authentic 
 fact the evidence of rumour,) a number of Protestants 
 altogether amounting to only twenty- eight more than 
 four thousand in two full years of civil war 1 And 
 this fact vouched, not by a Catholic or an Irishman, 
 but by an English Protestant clergyman ; a Fellow, 
 by-the-bye, of the Protestant University of Dublin ! 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, for considerably more 
 than a century after the Restoration, the Cathohcs of 
 Ireland were set down as wholesale murderers, and 
 were charged with murdering 50,000 Protestants on 
 the 23rd of October, 1641. And this atrociously false 
 calumny was reiterated in books and pamphlets, in 
 speeches and sermons and acts of parliament! The 
 arch-liar, Hume, the man who of all historians is 
 least to be relied on — for throughout his history 
 scarcely one fact is stated accurately — has given great 
 circulation to this enormous falsehood ; and he is the 
 more criminal, inasmuch as shortly after the appear- 
 ance of the volume of his history containing the reign 
 of Charles the First, documents were furnished to him 
 demonstrating the utter falsehood of his account of 
 the alleged massacre. But all in vain. The immoral 
 infidel adhered to his falsehood, as it gave a greater 
 interest to his fictitious history. 
 
 At the present day, however, no writer of character 
 would venture to repeat the calumny. The horrible 
 charge fulfilled the purpose for which it was intended. 
 And the odious practice of falsely imputing crime to 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 21.5 
 
 Catholics has partially ceased among the better class 
 of English — and altogether in the better class of 
 American writers. 
 
 Dr. Lingard, whose work is the only one that 
 deserves the name of a history of England, has, in his 
 text, very properly omitted all mention of what is 
 called " the Irish massacre." He has thrown into his 
 notes the reason for this omission. It is impossible 
 for any one to read that reason, without the most 
 thorough conviction of the utter falsehood of the story 
 told by Clarendon and Temple. It will be recollected 
 that Clarendon places the "great massacre" as having 
 occurred suddenly on the 23rd of October. It is only 
 requisite to read the following extracts from Lingard's 
 Notes, borne out by the authorities which he so dis- 
 tinctly quotes, to be fully convinced that the alleged 
 massacre of the 23rd of October is purely a fiction : — 
 
 " We have the despatches [of the Lords Justices] 
 of October the 25tli ; with the accompanying docu- 
 ments (Lords' Journals, iv. 412 ; Xalson, ii. 514 — 
 523) : but in these there is no mention of any one 
 murder. After detailing the rising, and plundering 
 by the insurgents, they add, ' This, though too much, 
 is all that we yet hear is done by them." — Journals, 
 ibid, Nalson, ii. 516." — Linfjard, x. 464, note (a.) 
 
 The next, perhaps, is more convincing still. For it 
 shows that the Lords Justices carefully record the 
 murder of ten of the garrison of the Lord Moore's 
 house at Mellifont : — 
 
 "In the fourth [despatch] of November 25, they 
 describe the progress of the rebellion. ' In both coun- 
 ties, as well Wickloe as Wexford, all the castles 
 and houses of the English, with all their substance, 
 are come into the hands of the rebels ; and the English, 
 with their wives and children stript naked, are banished 
 thence by their fury and rage. The rebels in the 
 county Longford do still increase also, as well in their 
 numbers as in their violence. The Ulster rebels are 
 grown so strong, as they have sufficient men to leave 
 behind them in the places they have gotten north- 
 
216 OBSEKVATIOKS, [cHAP. III. 
 
 Avard, and to lay siege to some not yet taken .... 
 Tliey have already taken IMellifont, tlie Lord Moore's 
 house, though with a loss of about 120 men of theirs, 
 and there, in cold blood, they murdered ten of those 
 that manfully defended that place. In the county of 
 Meath also, the rebels rob and spoil the English 
 Protestants till within six miles of Dublin.' — (Ibid. 
 p. QOO.y'—Lmgard, x. 466, note (a.) 
 
 The next extract, if possible, more fully corrobo- 
 rates the fact that no general massacre could possibly 
 have taken place. It contains, to be sure, an accusa- 
 tion of great inhumanity on the part of the Irish. 
 But let it be remarked that an accusation is not proof 
 of the fact alleged* whereas this species of accusa- 
 tion demonstrates that another, and a worse accusa- 
 tion, was not withheld : it proves the readiness to 
 accuse the Irish, whether truly or falsely, of all that 
 could possibly be brought against them ; but it docs 
 not accuse them of the slaugliter by the sword of a 
 single Protestant. 
 
 It is also observable, that during all this time these 
 Lords Justices themselves were, by means of Sir 
 (Jharles Coote and their other minions, putting to 
 death in cold blood all the Irish Catholics — armed 
 and unarmed — men, women, and children, that came 
 Avithin their reach. These villains had therefore the 
 deepest interest in falsely accusing the Irish of cinielty. 
 It is manifest that nothing could gratify them more 
 than being able to substantiate against the Irish the 
 charges of massacre or murder. The absence of any 
 such charge is indeed a trumpet-tongued acquittal : — 
 
 " We have a fifth despatch of November 27th :— 
 
 " The disturbances are now grown so general, that 
 in most places, and even round about this city within 
 four miles of us, not only the open rebels of mere 
 Irish, but the natives, men, women, and children, 
 joyn together and fall on the neighbours that are 
 English and Protestants, and rob and spoil them of 
 all they have, nor can w^e help it." — Nalso7i, 902. — 
 
 " I shall add a sixth, of December 14th—' They con- 
 
CIIAr. III.] PPvOOFS, ETC. 217 
 
 tiniie tlieir rage and malignity against the English 
 and Protestants, wlio if they leave their goods or 
 cattle for more safety with any Papists, those are called 
 ont by the rebels, and the Papists' goods or cattle left 
 behind ; and now npon some new councils taken by 
 them, they have added to their former, a farther de- 
 gree of cruelty, even of the highest nature, which is to 
 proclaim, that if any Irish shall harbour or relieve any 
 English, that be suffered to escape them with his life, 
 that it shall be penal even to death to such Irish ; and 
 so they will be sure though they put not those English 
 actually to the sword, yet they do as certainly and 
 with more cruelty cut them off that way, than if they 
 had done it by the sword ; and they profess they will 
 never give over till they leave not any seed of an 
 Englishman in Ireland. — (/6icZ. p. 911.)" — Lingard, X. 
 467, note (a). 
 
 There remains another proof afforded by the lords 
 justices, of the utter falsehood of Clarendon's and 
 Temple's narrative. Here it is : — 
 
 " On the 23rd of December the same lords justices 
 granted a commission to Henry Jones, Dean of Kil- 
 more, and seven other clergymen in these words : 
 
 ' Know ye that we do hereby give unto you 
 
 full power and authority to call before you, 
 
 and examine upon the holy Evangelists as 
 
 well all such persons as have been robbed and spoil- 
 ed, as all the witnesses that can give testimony 
 therein, what robberies and spoils have been com- 
 mitted on them since the 22nd of October last, or 
 shall hereafter be committed on them, or any of 
 them ; what the particulars were, or are, whereof 
 they were or shall be so robbed or spoiled ; to what 
 value, by whom, what their names were, or where 
 they nov\^ or last dwelt that committed these rob- 
 beries. On what day or night the said robberies or 
 spoils committed or to be committed, w^eredone ; what 
 traitorous or disloyal words, speeches, or actions were 
 then, or at any other time, uttered or committed by 
 those robbers or any of them, and how often ; and all 
 
218 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 other circumstances concerning the said particulars, 
 and every of them. And you, our said commissioners, 
 are to reduce to writing all the examinations, and 
 the same to return to our justices and council 
 of this our realm of Ireland." — Temiile^ Irish Beh. 
 137. 
 
 It is utterly incredible that if there liad been any 
 massacre of Protestants by the Irish, an enquiry into 
 that most important subject should have been totally 
 omitted in such a commission as the above. Indeed 
 it would have necessarily been the leading feature in 
 an inquisition of that description. Yet — such a com- 
 mission did issue to inquire into matters, compara- 
 tively of trivial importance, without so much as 
 one sinole word respecting the alleged massacre ! 
 This is indeed " the part of Hamlet left out, by specia^" 
 desire." 
 
 jMultiplied proofs would but weaken the demon^. 
 stration arising from those we have given. 
 
 It may be some relief to give specimens of the kind 
 of evidence adduced to prove the reality of the 
 alleged massacre. The first I shall give is the follow- 
 ing extract from Sir John Temple's " History of the 
 Irish Rebellion ;" — 
 
 "Hundreds of the ghosts of Protestants," says Tem- 
 ple, " that were drowned by the rebels at Portadown 
 Bridge, were seen in the river bolt upright, and were 
 heard to cry out for revenge, on these rebels. One of 
 these ghosts w^as seen with hands lifted up ; and stand- 
 ing in that posture from the 29th of December to the 
 latter end of the following lent." 
 
 My next specimen is taken from the testimony of 
 no less a person than a Protestant bishop. And 
 when a Protestant bishop outrages all that is pro- 
 bable in order to blacken the Irish Catholics, it would 
 amuse one to conjecture what the minor inventors of 
 fables may not do : — 
 
 Dr. Maxwell, Protestant bishop of Kilmore, " who," 
 says Borlase, " was a person whose integrity and can- 
 dour none ever dared to question," has described, in 
 
CHAP. III.] PEOOFS, ETC. 219 
 
 his own prolix exairiiiiatioii, the dilferent postures and 
 gestures of these apparitions — (the ghosts of Protes- 
 tants) — " as having sometimes been seen, by day and 
 night, walking on the river at Portadown ; sometimes 
 brandishing their naked swords ; sometimes singing 
 psalms; and at other times shrieking in a most fear- 
 ful and hideous manner." This bishop adds, " that 
 he never heard any man so much as doubt the truth 
 thereof ; but that he obliged no man's faith in regard 
 he saw them not with his own eyes ; otherwise he 
 had as much certainty as could morally be required of 
 such matters." — Borlast's History of the Irish Bchel' 
 lion, Ap2Dendix^ p. 392 
 
 I close with an emphatic quotation from Warner, 
 giving the true character of tlie original Protestant 
 historians of this disastrous period : — 
 
 " It is easy enough," says this Protestant clergyman, 
 "to demonstrate the falsehood of the relation of 
 every Protestant historian of this rebellion."— War- 
 ner, p. 296. 
 
 CHAPTER III.— PAET lY. 
 
 The subject of this fourth part of my illustrations 
 and proofs, is to bring forth into contrast with the 
 acts of the English and Protestant party, the conduct 
 of the Irish Cathcjlics. And here — after having se- 
 lected so many instances, to which I might have 
 added hundreds more, of most horrible cruelties per- 
 petrated by the English Protestant party — I am bound 
 to say, and I do say it mth the deepest regret, that I 
 do not find these horrors mitigated by any acts of 
 general or individual humanity or mercy. It is all 
 murder on murder — slaughter upon slaughter — mas- 
 sacre after massacre — men, women, and children. No 
 staying of the hand — no stopping of the sword ! Nobody 
 interfering to preserve the victims from assassination ; 
 or if there be rare instances, like that of Colonel 
 
220 OBSEVATIONS, [cHAP. III. 
 
 Washington, who tried to save the child of seven years, 
 the attempt becomes vain, and the victim is sacrificed. 
 
 But with what proud and glowing gratiilation do I 
 turn to the conduct of the Irish Catholics during the 
 civil war. I collect from Protestant historians — for 
 on this subject I shall scarcely use one other — multi- 
 tudinous facts of lenity, forbearance, and mercy ! of 
 protection and kindness, of benevolence and charity ! 
 The horrors of w\ar mitigated by the multiplied exer- 
 cise of the tenderest humanity. ! what a contrast ! 
 Wliat a glorious contrast ! 
 
 This contrast is rendered still more striking, when 
 w^e bear in mind that during the time that these vir- 
 tues were exhibited by the Irish Catholics, the Pro- 
 testants were committing the horrible cruelties of 
 which I have cited so many. 
 
 On the one side was the demon spirit, animating 
 the Protestant party to slaughter and death : on the 
 other was the angelic benevolence of the Catholic 
 Irish, protecting and rescuing from the sword as 
 many as possible, of all those whom the actual fight 
 had spared. 
 
 I begin with general testimony borne by Protestant 
 writers to the humane intentions of the Irish. It was 
 in Ulster that the insurrection was first made to ex- 
 plode. In that province, almost all the Protestants 
 were Scotch. Yet we find preserved by Carte the 
 following fact. At the commencement of the insur- 
 rection, — 
 
 " The Irish made proclamatien, on pain of death, 
 that no Scotsman should be molested in body, goods, 
 or lands." — Cartes Ormond, i. 178. 
 
 How well these Scots merited so humane and proper 
 a determination on the part of the Irish, will be ap- 
 preciated by those who recollect that it was the gar- 
 rison of Carrickfergus (chiefly Scotch) that began the 
 work of massacre, by slaughtering unarmed in their 
 beds three thousand inhabitants or refugees in Island 
 Magee ! 
 
 The next admission is from the profligate Temple ; 
 
CHAP. III.] Pr.OOFS, ETC. 221 
 
 an admission so inconsistent with the principal object 
 of his liistory ! He, too, speaking of the commence- 
 ment of the insurrection, has this passage : — 
 
 " It was resolved " [by the Irish party] " not to kill 
 any, but where, of necessity, they should be forced 
 thereunto by opposition." — Temple, p. 65. 
 
 Even Leland himself — the anti-Iri.-h, the anti- 
 Catholic Leland — has, in other words, the same ad- 
 mission : — 
 
 " In the beginning of the insurrection it was deter- 
 mined " [by the Irish] " that the enterprise should be 
 conducted in every quarter witli as little bloodshed as 
 possible." — Leland, v. 3. 
 
 The reader will remember that I have cited many 
 Protestant authorities to shoAv, what indeed no man 
 acquainted with the history of the times will dream of 
 denying, that the object of the English party — of tlie 
 Lords Justices themselves — was to exterminate the 
 Catholics of Ireland, whether of native Irish, or of 
 English descent. To remind the reader the more 
 forcibly of this, I will here just insert one passage 
 from Carte : — 
 
 " The Lords Justices had set their heart on the ex- 
 tirpation, not only of the mere Irish, but likewise of 
 all the old English famihes that were Roman Catholics, 
 and the making of a new plantation all over the king- 
 dom, in which they could not fail to have a principal 
 share."— (7a r^f, i. 330. 
 
 Yet, it is admitted that the Irish — driven to defend 
 themselves from extirpation — resolved, as the very 
 first rule of their conduct, to shed as little blood as 
 possible ! 
 
 I have given so many instances of the cruelties per- 
 petrated by Sir Charles Coote and his son (who was 
 afterwards created Lord Mountrath for his own and 
 his father's services,) that I wish to begin my col- 
 lection of facts illustrating the humanity of the Irish, 
 with an incident in which his family were concerned. 
 It is this : 
 
 "Lady Mountrath, and Sir Robert Hannah, her 
 
222 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. Ill 
 
 father, mth many others, being retreated to Beleek 
 for security, were all conveyed safe to Mannor Hamil- 
 ton ; and it is observable, that the said lady, and the 
 rest, came to Mr. Owen O'Rorke's, who kept a gar- 
 rison at Drumaheir for the Irish, before they came to 
 Mannor Hamilton, whose brother was prisoner mth 
 Sir Frederick Hamilton ; and the said Mr. O'Rorke, 
 having so many persons of quality in his hands, sent 
 to Sir Frederick to enlarge his brother, and that he 
 would convey them all safe to him : but Sir Frederick, 
 instead of enlarging his brother, hanged him the next 
 day, which might have well provoked the gentleman 
 to revenge, if he had not more humanity than could 
 well be expected upon such an occasion, and in times 
 of so great confusion : yet he sent them all safe where 
 they des^iied."— Collection, p. 97. 
 
 I doubt much whether there be anything finer than 
 this, in ancient or modern story. It would seem as 
 if Sir Frederick Hamilton had been conscious of 
 O'Rorke's humanity, when he committed the outrage 
 of executing O'Rorke's brother, whilst that chief had 
 so many English persons of condition in his hands. 
 But Sir Frederick was quite safe. O'Rorke was an 
 Irish Catholic ; and although he endured the murder 
 of his brother, yet he could not endure to stain his 
 own soul vdth the blood of a prisoner. 
 
 The next specimen I shall give, is that of the con- 
 duct of the Catholic baronet in Munster. I must say, 
 that in order to appreciate fully the value of such acts 
 of humanity, it should be constantly recollected that 
 the English Protestant party were massacring the 
 unfortunate Catholics in every direction around them 
 where they had the power to do so : — 
 
 " Sir Richard Everett, baronet, in the beginning of 
 the rebellion, sent the richest of the English planters 
 in his country, with their stock and goods, into the 
 English quarters. The poorer English, consisting of 
 eighty-eight persons, he kept and maintained at his 
 own charge till the middle of June, 1642, then con- 
 veyed them to Mitchelstown ; and when that place 
 
CHAP. III.] PEOOFS, ETC. 223 
 
 was afterwards taken by the Irish, he sent for some of 
 those families that were very poor, and maintained 
 them for a long time. As soon as the cessation was 
 made, some of the poor tenants came back to him, and 
 he settled, and protected them on his laiids, till Crom- 
 well came into the coiintTj."— Carte's Ormond, vol. i. 
 
 The next act illustrative of Irish humanity, I shall 
 bring before the reader, is one that occurred in the 
 county of Cavan, where the civil war raged, and of 
 course some Protestants lost their lives, which Carte 
 calls "being murdered." Let it be so. I am not dis- 
 posed to mitigate tlie shedding of blood, even by the 
 use of a word : — 
 
 " By the humanity of Mr. Philip O'Reilly, one of 
 the most considerable chiefs of the rebels, scarce any 
 murders were committed in the county of Cavan. 
 Such of the Protestants as put themselves under his 
 protection, were safely conveyed into the English 
 quarters ; and those that were stript and in necessity, 
 he fed and clothed till they were sent away. Among 
 these was Mr. Henry Jones, a nephew of Primate 
 Ussher, and Dean of Kilmore, who, although he 
 Afterwards turned a noted partizan of Cromwell's, was 
 promoted to the see of Clogher, and thence, after the 
 Restoration, to the see of Meath." — Carte's Ormond, 
 vol. i. 
 
 I have already, in page 186, in stating the atrocious 
 cruelties perpetrated in the county Tipperary by the 
 English Protestant party, mentioned the murder in 
 cold blood, and unprovoked, of Mr. Philip Ryan and 
 several others. I have also mentioned that the inhabi- 
 tants retaliated by murdering thirteen of the English 
 party. The following paragraph made part of my 
 quotation, but it is so very suitable to my present sub- 
 ject, that I think it a duty to repeat it here : — 
 
 "All the rest of the English were saved by the 
 inhabitants of that place in their houses, and had the 
 goods which they confided to them safely restored. 
 Dr. Samuel Pullen, Chancellor of Cashel and Dean of 
 Clonfert, with his wife and children, was preserved by 
 
224 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 Father James Saul, a Jesuit. Several other Eomish 
 priests distinguished themselves on this occasion by 
 their endeavours to save the English ; particularly 
 r. Joseph Everard and Redmond English, both Fran- 
 ciscan friars, who hid some of them in their chapel, 
 and even under the altar .... The English who were 
 thus preserved, were, according to their desire, safely 
 conveyed into the county of Cork, by a guard of the 
 Irish inhabitants of Cashel." — Carte's Ormond, vol. i. 
 p. 267. 
 
 In making my selection of instances of the humanity 
 shown by the Catholic partj^, I think the following 
 has an interest about it, which gives it a title to 
 })articular notice : — 
 
 "Doctor Maxwell, afterwards Bishop of Kilmore, 
 deposeth that Mrs. Catharine Hovendon, widow, and 
 mother to Sir Phelim O'Nial, preserved four and 
 twenty English and Scotch in her own house, and fed 
 them there for seven and thirty weeks, out of her own 
 store ; and that, when her children took her aAvay, 
 upon the approach of our army, she left both them, 
 and the deponent at liberty. That Captain Alexander 
 Hovendon, her son, conducted five and thirty English 
 out of Armagh to Drogheda, whereof some were of 
 good qviality ; when it was thought he had secret 
 directions to murder them. Twenty more he sent 
 safe to ISTewry, and he would trust no other convoy 
 but himself." — Carte; and Ap. to Borl. Hist. Irish Reh. 
 
 Again, it must not be forgotten, that all this charity 
 and humanity was exhibited and practised by the 
 Catholics during the atrocious cruelties of the Pro- 
 testant party, of which I have recorded instances in 
 the foregoing pages. 
 
 There is a very important passage on this subject 
 in Warner, relative to the conduct of the Catholic 
 gentlemen of Munster. This is Warner's language : — 
 
 "There are many honourable testimonies of the 
 care and preservation of the English by Lord Mus- 
 kerry and his lady ; not only in saving their lives 
 from the enemy, but also in relieving them, in great 
 
CHAP. 111.] PROOFS, ETC. 22j 
 
 numbers, fioin cold and hunger, after they had been 
 stript and driven from their habitations. Indeed, all 
 the gentlemen in that part of the kingdom" [viz. 
 Munster] " were exceedingly careful to prevent blood- 
 shed, and to hinder the Enghsh from being pillaged 
 and stript, although it was many times impossible." — 
 Warner's Hist. Irish Reh. 
 
 Yet, this Lord Muskerry was afterwards barbarously 
 executed by the Cromwellians. It is said that his 
 lady shared his fate. 
 
 Another instance, in which the illustrious head of 
 the house of Mountgarret — the ancestor of the present 
 Earl of Kilkenny, figures in the character in which 
 one would naturally expect to find a member of his 
 illustrious family. A gallant soldier in battle- 
 humanity personified towards the unarmed foe : — 
 
 "In the above-mentioned province of Munster," 
 says Carte, "Lord Mountgarret, by proclamation, 
 strictly enjoined all his followers not to hurt any of 
 the English inhabitants either in body or goods ; and 
 he succeeded so far in his design for their preservation, 
 that there was not the least act of bloodshed com- 
 mitted. But it was not possible for him to prevent 
 the vulgar sort, who flocked after him for booty, from 
 plundering both English and Irish, Papist and Pro- 
 testant, without distinction. He used his authority, 
 but in vain, to put a stop to this violence : till seeing 
 one of the rank of a gentleman, Mr. llichard Cantwell, 
 (descended from Mr. Cantwell of Painstown, a man 
 much esteemed in his country), transgressing his 
 orders, and plundering in his presence, he shot him 
 dead with his pistol.'' — Cartes Orniond. 
 
 Now for a few insta^nces of the manner in which the 
 Irish, when successful, treated their enemies when in 
 their power. Here i^ a remarkable instance : — 
 
 " ' I took,' says Lord Castlehaven, ' Athy by storm, 
 with aU the garrison (700 men) prisoners. I made a 
 present of them to Cromwell, desiring him by letter 
 that he would do the like with me, as any of mine 
 should fall into his power. But he little valued my 
 
 p 
 
226 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 civility. For in a few days after lie besieged Gowran, 
 and the soldiers mutinying, and giving up the place 
 with tfieir officers, he caused the governor, Hammond, 
 and some other officers, to be put to death.' " — Castle- 
 haven, 107. 
 
 There is another instance which is still more grati- 
 fying ; as it shows how even the private soldiers of 
 the Catholic party rivalled their officers in their ab- 
 horrence of, and forbearance from, cruelty : — 
 
 " The next day Rathfarnham was taken by storm, 
 and all that were in it made prisoners ; and though 
 500 soldiers entered the castle before any officer of 
 note, yet not one creature was killed ; which I tell 
 you by the way, to observe the dijfference between 
 our and the [Cromwellian] rebels making use of a 
 victory." — Lord OrmoncVs Letters, ii. 408. 
 
 Thus it appears that even the Irish soldiery ceased 
 to shed blood, from the moment when resistance was 
 at an end. I could easily multiply instances ; but the 
 few I select are so emphatic, that more are unneces- 
 sary. I cannot however avoid giving this. It is 
 another proud honour to the House of Mountgarret : — 
 
 "At the same time the said Lord Mountgarret's 
 eldest son. Colonel Edmund Butler, taking posses- 
 sion of Waterford, none of the inhabitants, of what- 
 ever country or religion, was either kiUed or pillaged ; 
 and such of the British Protestants as had a mind to 
 leave the place, were allowed to carry off their goods 
 wherever they pleased." — Carte's Ormond. 
 
 Contrast, now, the manner in which the Irish Ca- 
 tholics performed the conditions of surrender, with 
 the mode wherein the Protestant party behaved on 
 similar occasions. This is the Catholic instance : — 
 
 "When Birr surrendered to General Preston, in 
 January, 1642, the articles were faithfully performed; 
 and the Earl of Castlehaven, his Lieutenant General, 
 conveyed the garrison and inhabitants, to the number 
 of 800 persons, in a long march of two or three days 
 together through the Avoods of Irregan and waste 
 countries, safe to Athy." — Carte's Ormond vol. i. 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS. ETC. 227 
 
 There are many more instances of this kind — 
 highly honourable to the Irish party. 1 select the 
 following : — 
 
 " The towns of Clonmel and Carrickmagriffit, in 
 Tipperary, and Dungarvan, were severally surprised 
 by Mr. Richard Butler, of Kilcash, second brother to 
 the Marquis of Ormond ; and he had such an influ- 
 ence over his followers that he kept them not only 
 from murder but even from plunder ; his great care 
 and noble disposition being acknowledged even by 
 his enemies." — Carte's Ormond. 
 
 Here is another : — 
 
 " Callan and Gowran were seized at the same time 
 by persons thereunto designed by Lord Mountgarret, 
 without any bloodshed : some plunder, however, 
 was there committed, though with less violence for 
 fear of complaints, it being well confined to cattle of 
 English breed which were stolen as well from the 
 Irish who had any of that breed, as from the English." 
 Carte's Ormond. 
 
 I give another instance more in detail : — 
 
 " James, Jjord Dunboyne hearing of the surprise of 
 Fethard by Theobald Butler, and being chief com- 
 mander of the barony of Myddlethyrde, by special 
 grants made to some of his ancestors for service per- 
 formed to the Crown of England, repaired thither the 
 next day, and took on him the command of the town, 
 dispersing the rabble, and placing in it a garrison 
 which he formed of the most substantial inhabitants 
 of the place and neighbourhood. He immediately 
 set the English at liberty, restored them their goods, 
 and sent them away in safety to Youghall, and other 
 places, which they chose for their retreat. Two of 
 these were clergymen, of whom Mr. Hamilton was, at 
 his request, sent with his family to the Countess 
 of Ormond." — Carte's Ormond. 
 
 Let the reader now compare the extracts I have 
 given descriptive of English Protestant cruelty, with 
 the chivalrous generosity of the Irish leaders and 
 troops ; the English cruelties not being palliated or 
 
:3 OBSERVATIONS. [ K.\ 
 
 relieved from their horror by any acts of generosity 
 or any traits of humanity. But extermination was 
 t'lc object, and unmitig?«ted murder and slaughter 
 I he means. 
 
 I think I cannot more appropriately close this part 
 of my illustrations of Irish history, than by quoting 
 fi om Bishop Burnet the following description of the 
 treatment given by the Irish to the Eight Rev. Dr. 
 Bedell, Protestant bishop of Kilmore; a most humane 
 and worthy man. He was in the hands of the Irish 
 during the worst part of the insurrection. The Irish 
 not only did him no harm ; but they took care of all 
 those persons — (being Protestants of course) — who 
 came to him for protection. In short they treated 
 him with kindness, and protected him whilst he lived ; 
 and honoured him at his death. This affecting ac- 
 count is taken from Burnet's Life of Bedell ;— 
 
 " Doctor Bedell, bishop of Kilmore, when a pri- 
 soner with the insurgents, who doubtless had 
 many priests among them, was never interrupted 
 in the exercise of his worship, although not only his 
 house and all the out-buildings, but also the church 
 and church-yard, were full of people that flocked to 
 him for protection. So that, from the 23rd of Octo- 
 ber, to the 18th of December following, he, and all 
 those within his walls, enjoyed, to a miracle,''^ says 
 bishop Burnet, " perfect quiet. And when he died at 
 the age of 71, the titular bishop of that diocese, though 
 he had proselyted his brother, a popish priest, to the 
 communion of the established church, suffered him 
 to be buried in consecrated ground, the Irish doing 
 him unusual honours at his funeral. For the chiefs 
 of the insurgents having assembled their forces accom- 
 panied his body to the church-yard with great solem- 
 nity ; and desired Mr. Clogy, one of his chaplains, to 
 bury him according to the church offices. At his in- 
 terment they discharged a volley of shot, crying out in 
 Latin. ' Hie requiescat idtimus Anglorum ! ' May the 
 last of the English rest in peace ! Edmund Farrilly, 
 a popish priest, exclaimed at the same time, ' 0, Sit 
 
CHAP. III.] PEOOFS, ETC. 220 
 
 aniyna mea cum Bedello P Would to God that my 
 soul were with Bedell !'' — Bishor) Burners Life of 
 Bedell. 
 
 I have now concluded the quotations which con- 
 trast the brutal ferocity of the English Protes- 
 tant party, with the humanity and generosity of the 
 Irish Catholics during the civil war. And I shall 
 next proceed to a few further illustrations of the 
 conduct of the adverse party during that disastrous 
 period. 
 
 CHAPTER III.— PART V. 
 
 It is, I repeat it, singularly curious, that whilst the 
 English party had the strongest inducements to ca- 
 lumniate the Irish Catholics, they yet should have 
 preserved so many traits of humanity and mercy on 
 the part of the Irish ; while at the same time they 
 have not attempted to state a single act of kindness, 
 charity, humanity, or mercy amongst the leaders ot 
 the English Protestant party. Extermination of the 
 Irish was their object. Accordingly, extermination 
 was their practice. I cannot, after the most minute 
 search, discover one single instance in which life was 
 spared to combatant or non-combatant, being Irish ; 
 to Irish man, Irish woman, or Irish child, I do not 
 believe there are any such instances ; I hope there are 
 such ; because if there be, the publication of this work 
 will assuredly induce somebody to hunt them out and 
 bring them forward. It would be desirable to mitigate 
 the horror arising from the atrocity of the blood-thirsty 
 Protestant party of that day. It could be wished, for 
 the sake of humanity, that the cruelties of the English 
 should have some mitigation arising from at least one 
 solitary act of virtue. 
 
 Let it not be supposed that I am ignorant that even 
 Cromwell occasionally observed the faith of treaties ; 
 or that he sometimes carried into effect that quarter for 
 which men in arms had stipulated before surrender. It 
 was his best policy on some occasions to do so ; and 
 
230 OBSEEVATIONS. [CHAP. HI. 
 
 not to drive to utter despair all the armed Irish. But 
 even these acts of justice were extremely rare. And 
 some of them were liable to be impeached for base un- 
 faithfulness. His first perfidious slaughter at Drogheda, 
 leaves any person attempting to become his advocate, 
 by reason of his occasional performance of stipulation, 
 in a situation not the most enviable. The truth is, 
 that a fiend so black with crime, so stained with blood, 
 never yet exhibited in any country to compare with 
 Cromwell and his gang of sanguinary biblical enthu- 
 siasts in Ireland. 
 
 The deep interest which the English party had in 
 calumniating the Irish is manifest. The atrocious 
 iniquity of falsely charging the Irish with crime, 
 was calculated to give these advantages to the 
 English : — 
 
 Firstly — These false charges would serve to miti- 
 gate the horrors, otherwise unpalliated, of the mas- 
 sacres committed by the English Protestant party. 
 It would place these massacres in the light of a re- 
 taliation upon the Irish for their crimes. Although, 
 in sad truth, retaliation by means of the slaughter 
 of unoffending men, women, and children, would be 
 a poor plea for such barbarous inhumanity. But 
 yet it would be some, and it could be the only 
 mitigation. 
 
 Secondly — It would serve— as it did serve — as an 
 ex cuse for seizing all the estates of the Irish, and de- 
 claring them forfeited to the Cromwellian party. 
 
 Thirdly — it would serve — and it did serve — to en- 
 able the ungrateful Stuart family to leave in the 
 hands of the Cromwellian soldiers, or to convert to 
 their own use, the estates of the faithful Irish Catho- 
 lics, who had fought, and bled, and suffered in the 
 cause of Charles the First, and whose properties were 
 left as a plunder to those enemies of that monarch 
 who brought him to the scaffold ; a plunder partici- 
 pated in to the extent of eighty thousand acres by the 
 Duke of York, afterwards the miserable and contemp- 
 tible James the Second. 
 
CHAP. III. PROOFS, ETC. 231 
 
 With siicli powerful motives to calumniate and to 
 persevere in calumny, it mil not be surprising to find, 
 that all enquiry into the real facts was refused ; 
 either contemptuously or upon the most futile pre- 
 tences. The Irish repeatedly pressed for the fullest 
 inquiry. And when the King's necessities compelled 
 him to offer them an amnesty ; the Irish actually re- 
 fused to accept any amnesty for any person of their 
 party who should be proved guilty of murder, breach 
 of quarter, or any inhuman cruelty. The following 
 is the 19th proposition addressed to the King, 
 with a remonstrance on their grievances, by the 
 confederate Catholics who assembled at Trim in 
 1642 :— 
 
 " 19thly. Forasmuch as your majesty's said Catho- 
 lic subjects have been taxed with many inhuman 
 cruelties wJiich they never committed, your majesty's 
 said suppliants, therefore, for their vindication, and to 
 manifest to all the world their desire to have all such 
 offenders brouglit to justice, do desire that in the 
 next parli.iment, all notorious murthers, breaches of 
 quarter and inhuman cruelties committed of either 
 side, may be questioned in the said parliament, if your 
 majesty think fit ; and such as shall appear to be 
 guilty to be excepted out of the act of obhvion, and 
 punished according to their deserts." — Borlase^ p. 
 191. 
 
 The reader will not be surprised to hear that this 
 proposition was rejected at the instance of the English 
 Protestant party. This single fact of rejection will 
 be conclusive in the mind of every reasonable man as 
 to the guilt or innocence of the parties respectively. 
 
 There was a peace made in 1643 — termed "The 
 Cessation " — between the confederated Catholics and 
 the King's friends in Ireland, with the Marquis of 
 Ormond at their head : and again a regular peace in 
 1648. Upon both these occasions the Irish Catholics 
 refused to accept an indemnity for persons convicted 
 of murder, breach of quarter, or inhuman cruelty. 
 On the contrary, their leaders were desirous that every 
 
232 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 person who had slied human blood out of battle, 
 should be condignly punished. 
 
 " In the two peaces concluded " [by the Irish Ca- 
 tholics] " with the Marquis of Ormond, viz. those 
 of 1643 and 1648, they expressly excepted from pardon 
 all those of their party that had committed such 
 cruelties. And long before either of these peaces, 
 Lord Clanricard testified, ' it was the desire of the 
 whole nation that the actors of these cruelties should, 
 in the highest degree, be made examples to all pos- 
 terity.' — Carte's Ormond, vol. iii. " And the Marquis- 
 of Ormond himself confessed, ' that those, assuming 
 power among the Irish, had long disclaimed them, 
 and professed an earnest desire that they might be 
 brought to punishment.' " — Ibid. 
 
 In short, the Irish Ciitholics acted precisely as in- 
 nocent men would act : not seeking to screen any of 
 the idle or dissolute of their own party, who in the 
 wild license of civil war might have slain any Protes- 
 tant out of battle, or committed any other murder. 
 On the contrary, the Irish Cathohcs sought anxiously 
 to have all such offenders punished without mercy. 
 The following extract from the Kev. Peter Walsh, 
 tends forth to elucidate these transactions ; and he is 
 confessed, by the Protestant writers of his own and 
 all subsequent periods, to be a faith-worthy witness : 
 
 "Not to dwell longer," says Mr. Walsh, "on par- 
 ticulars, the whole body of the Catholic nobility and 
 gantry of Ireland did, by their agents at Oxford in 
 1643, petition his Majesty : — 
 
 " ' That all the murders committed on both sides, 
 in this war, might be examined in a future parlia- 
 ment, and the actors of them exempted out of all the 
 acts of indemnity and oblivion. But this proposal 
 the Protestant agents, then also attending the King 
 at Oxford, wisely declined ; upon which it was justly 
 observed that if it should be asked wherefore this offer 
 of the accused Irish has been always rejected or 
 evaded by their accusers (for it was more than once 
 repeated afterwards,) there is no man of reason but 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 233 
 
 understands it was, because the Irish were not guilty 
 of those barbarous and inhuman crimes wdth which 
 they were charged ; and because those who charged 
 them so exorbitantly, found themselves, or those of 
 their pa^ty, truly chargeable with more numerous 
 crimes and murders, committed on the stage of Ire- 
 land, whereon they had acted, and yet but partly, 
 their own proper guilt ; for many of them had acted 
 it on that of Great Britain too, even the most horrid 
 guilt imaginable, by the bloody and most execrable 
 murder of the best and most innocent of Kings.' "— 
 Feter Walsh's Reply to a Person of Quality. 
 
 All the official acts of the confederated Catholics 
 were consistent with this pure and honourable prin- 
 ciple ; the principle of inquiry into the crimes actually 
 committed at all sides ; the principle of exonerating 
 the innocent and punishing the guilty. And this 
 principle of justice was repudiated and rejected by the 
 Protestant party ! 
 
 In every part of these transactions, there is some- 
 thing singular and striking. The confederated Catho- 
 lics were in possession of power from the year 1643 
 to the year 1649. They w^ere in possession of, and 
 had the management of, nearly all Ireland, with the 
 exception of Dublin and a few other places. In 1644 
 they were at the acme of their power. Their General 
 Assembly met at Kilkenny, enacted laws, and carried 
 on the government. This assembly was composed 
 almost exclusively of Catholics ; the Executive were 
 exclusively so. Yet they never were once accused of 
 having made a single intolerant law ; or a single into- 
 lerant or bigoted regulation or ordinance ! Tliey did 
 not persecute one single Protestant ; nor are they ac- 
 cused of any such persecution. This indeed is 
 matter of which the Catholics of Ireland may be 
 justly proud. 
 
 I have already shown from extracts taken from 
 Protestant writers, the admission that the confede- 
 rated Catholics never persecuted a single Protestant. 
 
 Now if the reader will go back to jiage 187, lie will 
 
234 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 find the sanguinary orders issued against the Irish 
 by the English parliament ; the utter refusal to give 
 the Irish quarter. And especially in page 181, he will 
 find the extermination orders given in Dublin by the 
 Lords Justices, bearing date the 23rd of February, 
 1641 ; in which, by-the-bye, there is a perfect gloating 
 over every w^ord descriptive of sanguinary cruelty ; 
 and above all, the direction to destroy all towns 
 wherein the rebels had been relieved or harboured, 
 and " to kill and destroy all the men there inhabiting 
 capable to bear arms," aye, although thoroughly inno- 
 cent in thought, word, or deed, of any crime ! 
 
 The contrast afforded to this ineffable barbarity by 
 the conduct of the Catholic power is painfully pleas- 
 ing. In May, 1642, the Catholic body — clerical and 
 lay — met in national Synod at Kilkenny. They 
 wielded not only temporal authority, but also the 
 spiritual thunders of the Catholic church, against 
 all those who, during the war, should commit any 
 cruelty. I take the following description of this 
 Catholic body, from a Protestant historian. Doctor 
 Warner : — 
 
 " This was," says Dr. Warner, " a general Synod 
 of all the popish bishops and clergy of Ireland. Three 
 of the titular archbishops, six other bishops, the 
 proxies of five more, besides vicars-general and 
 other dignit£g:ies, were present at this Synod. And 
 as these are the acts and ordinances purely of 
 the Roman Catholic clergy of Ireland, represented in 
 a general Synod, I suppose it would be allowed on all 
 sides that whatever proceedings are here condemned, 
 are to be placed to the account of the folhes and vices 
 of particular people ; and cannot fairly be charged on 
 the Roman faith." — TFar/ier's Hist. Irish Rebellion^ 
 p. 201. 
 
 I will now give three of the articles unanimously 
 agreed on at this Synod : 
 
 "Articles agreed upon, ordained, and concluded in 
 the General (Catholic) Congregation held at Kilkenny, 
 May, 1642. 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 235 
 
 " We declare the [present] war, openly Catholic, 
 to be lawful and just ; in which war, if some of the 
 Catholics be found to proceed out of some particular 
 and unjust title, covetousness, cruelty, revenge, or 
 hatred, or any such unlawful private intentions, we 
 declare them therein grievously to sin, and therefore 
 worthy to be punished and restrained with ecclesias- 
 tical censures (if advised thereof) they do not amend." 
 — Busliivorth, V. 51G. 
 
 " We will and declare all those that murder, dis- 
 member, or grievously strike ; all thieves, unlawful 
 spoilers, robbers of any goodsj extorters ; together 
 with all such as favour, receive or any ways assist 
 them, to be excommunicated ; and so to remain until 
 they completely amend and satisfy, no less than if 
 they were namely proclaimed excomnmnicated. 
 
 " We command all and every the generals, colonels, 
 captains, and other officers of our Catholic army, 
 to whom it appertaineth, that they severely punisli 
 all transgressors of our aforesaid command, touch- 
 ing murderers, maimers, strikers, thieves, and rob- 
 bers ; and if they fail therein, we command the 
 parish priests, curates, or chaplains, respectively, to 
 declare them interdicted ; and that they shall be ex- 
 communicated if they cause not due satisfaction to be 
 made unto the commonwealth and the party offended. 
 And this the parish priests or chaplains shall observe, 
 under pain of excommunication on sentence given 
 ipso facto !^ — Borlase^ p. 122 ; and llasltworth, v. 520. 
 
 Thus, the public acts of the confederated Catholics, 
 contrast as favourably with the public acts of the 
 Protestant party, as the generosity and humanity of 
 the Catholic Irisli, armed and unarmed, contrast with 
 the atrocities of the Protestant English. 
 
 CHAPTER III.— PART VI. 
 
 From the quotations which I have made from various 
 historians, he who has taken the trouble to follow me 
 
236 OBSERVATIONS, CHAP. III. 
 
 must liave perceived how completely the Cromwellian 
 power had oeen established, throuo-h oceans of blood, 
 and through scenes of fiendish and appalling cruelt)^ 
 I shall now proceed to show how the survivors of the 
 Irish were disposed of. 
 
 " The affairs of the confederate Catholics being now 
 absolutely irretrievable, the Mar(.|uis of Clanricard in 
 1652 left Ireland, carrying with him the royal au- 
 thority — {Borlase, Irish lieb.) ' And within atw^elve- 
 month after, Mortogh O'Brien, the last of the Irish 
 commanders, submitted to the parliament on the usual 
 terms of transportation ; by the favour of which,' 
 (adds Borlase), ' twenty-seven thousand men had been 
 that year sent away.' ' Cromwell,' says a late his- 
 torian, ' in order to get free of his enemies, did not 
 scruple to transport forty thousand Irish from their 
 own country, to fill all the armies in Europe with 
 complaints of his cruelty, and admiration of their own 
 valour.' — Dairym'ple, Mem. of Great Brit. vol. i part 
 2, p. ^Ql.Y—Curriys Hevicw, p. 386. 
 
 I have given proofs enough to show that the design 
 of the English Protestant party was totally to exter- 
 minate the Irish people. For the purpose of effectually 
 clearing the country of the native Irish, it was, of 
 course, expedient to get rid of as many persons of the 
 military age as possible. It was in this way that the 
 27,000 persons mentioned in the last extract were 
 disposed of. Several olher detachments, comprising 
 from one to four thousand men each, under the com- 
 mand of Irish officers, were disposed of by Cromwell 
 and his government to foreign princes. 
 
 But the enormities of the ruling tyrants did not 
 stop here. Those of militar}^ age wlio w^ere spared 
 from the slaughter, to the amount, by a safe calcu- 
 lation, of more than forty thousand, were sent into 
 foreign service on the continent of Europe, especially 
 to Spain and Belgium. The following note will be 
 found in Lingard : — 
 
 "According to Petty (p. 187), six thousand boys 
 and women were sent away. Lynch (Cambrensis 
 
CKAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 237 
 
 B versus^ in fine) says, that they were sold for slaves, 
 Broudin, in his Py'ojmgRaculum {Pragix, anno 1669), 
 numbers the exiles at 100,000 : Ultra centum millia 
 omnis sexus et £etatis, e quibus aliquot milUa in di- 
 versas Americse tabbacarias insulas relegata sunt ; p. 
 692. In a letter in my possession, written in 1656, it 
 is said : Catholicos pauperes plenis navibus mittunt 
 in Barbados et insulas Americie. Credo jam sexa- 
 ginta millia abivisse. Expulsis enim ab initio in 
 Hispaniam et Belgium maritis, jam uxores et proles 
 in Americam destinantur." — Lingards England^ vol. 
 X. p. 306. 
 
 Thus we see from Broudin, that there were more 
 than 100,000 persons of every age and sex banished ; 
 of whom several thousands were, as he says, sent to 
 the West India Islands. We also learn from the 
 original letter in the possession of Dr. Lingard, that 
 the vessels were crowded with the poorer classes of 
 Catholics, and sent to Barbadoes and the other West 
 India Islands. " I believe," says the writer, " that 
 already sixty thousand are gone ; for the husbands 
 being first sent to Spain and Belgium, already their 
 wives and children are destined for the Americas." 
 It would be, indeed, idle to exclaim at any cruelty 
 committed at that time. Those unhappy exiles per- 
 ished in hundreds and thousands. Of the myriads 
 thus transported, not a single one survived at the end 
 of twenty years. 
 
 Was there any species of crime which was not per- 
 petrated against the Irish by the barbarians of the 
 English Governments ] 
 
 In Thurlow's correspondence, the formation of 
 press-gangs to collect the male and female youth for 
 transportation, is stated at length. Some have thought 
 that the system adopted by the monster who now rules 
 in Russia, of collecting young women from his Polish 
 subjects to send to his military colonies, was an in- 
 vention of his own. But there is no atrocity so great 
 as not to have its prototype in the brutalities inflicted 
 upon the people of Ireland by some of their English 
 
238 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 rulers. It is melanclioly to read such a statement as 
 the following : 
 
 " After the conquest of Jamaica, in 1655, the Pro- 
 tector, that he might people it, proposed to transport 
 a thousand Irish boys and a thousand Irish girls to 
 the island. At first, the young women only were 
 demanded, to which it is replied : ' Although we 
 must use force in taking them up, yet, it being so 
 much for their own good, and likely to be of so great 
 advantage to the public, it is not in the least doubted 
 that you may have such a number of them as you 
 shall think fit.' — Thuidoe, iv. 23. In the next letter, 
 H. Cromwell says : ' I think it might be of like ad- 
 vantage to your affairs there, and ours here, if you 
 should think fit to send one thousand five hundred or 
 two thousand young boys of twelve or fourteen years 
 of age to the place aforementioned. We could well 
 spare them, and they would be of use to you : and 
 v/ho knows but it might be a means to make them 
 Englishmen, I mean rather Christians'?' (p. 40.) 
 Thurloe answers : 'The com.mittee of the council 
 have voted one thousand girls, and as many youths, 
 to be taken up for that purpose.' (p. 75.)" 
 
 Sacred heaven ! Thus it is that the English "^did 
 good" to the people of Ireland ! The young women 
 were to be taken by force from their mothers, their 
 sisters, their homes, and to be transported to a foreign 
 and unhealthy clime. "O but" said the EngKsh 
 rulers, " it is all for their own good !" Then, again, 
 look at the cold-blooded manner in w^hich Henry 
 Cromwell proposes to make " Englishmen and Chris- 
 tians." 
 
 "Englishmen and Christians !" . . . 
 
 But no. Comment is useless. 
 
 All these things appear like a hideous dream. 
 They would be utterly incredible, only that they are 
 quite certain. 
 
 There remained, however, too many to render pos- 
 sible the horrible cruelty of cutting all their throats. 
 The Irish Government, constituted as it was of the 
 
CHAP. III.j PROOFS, ETC. 239 
 
 superior officers of the regicide force, resorted to a 
 different plan. Here is the account given by Lord 
 Clarendon of their conduct : — 
 
 "They found the utter extirpation of the nation 
 (which they had intended; to be in itself very difficult, 
 and to carry in it somewhat of horror, that made some 
 impression upon the stone-hardness of their own 
 hearts. After so many thousands destroyed by the 
 plague which raged over the kingdom, by fire, sword, 
 and famine, and after so many thousands transported 
 into foreign parts, there remained still such a nume- 
 rous people that they knew not how to dispose of : 
 and though they were declared to be all forfeited, ancl 
 so to have no title to anything, yet they must remain 
 somewhere. They therefore found this expedient, 
 which they called an act of grace : there was a large 
 tract of land, even to the half of the province of 
 Connaught, that was separated from the rest by a long 
 and large river, and which, by the plague and many 
 massacres, remained almost desolate. Into this space 
 they required all the Irish to retire by such a day, 
 under the penalty of death ; and all who should, after 
 that time, be found in any other part of the kingdom, 
 man, woman, or child, should be killed by anybocly 
 who saw or met them. The land within this circuit, 
 the most barren in the kingdom, was, out of the 
 grace and mercy of the conquerors, assigned to those 
 of the nation as were enclosed, in such proportions as 
 might, with great industry, preserve their lives." — 
 Clarendon's Life, vol. ii. p. 116. 
 
 It would seem as if the English rulers of Ireland 
 had determined that there should be no species of in- 
 justice omitted in the catalogue of their crimes to- 
 wards Ireland. For, certainly, a greater cruelty 
 than this "transplanting" (as it was technically 
 called) could not be committed upon human beings 
 who were allowed to liv<^ This cruelty was refined. 
 For the tyrants took cafts to provide against the con- 
 tingent chance of the restoration of the royal autho- 
 rity. They had the baseness to compel the unhappy 
 
240 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 Irish gentry to execute releases of tlieir former pro- 
 perty ; releases which were used for the worst of 
 purposes by the profligate monarch who regained the 
 throne, and by his more profligate advisers. 
 
 Clarendon continues the account of the trans- 
 plantation thus : — 
 
 "And to those persons from whom they_ had 
 taken great quantities of land in other provinces, 
 they assigned the greater proportions within this pre- 
 cinct ; so that it fell to some men's lot, especially when 
 they were accomodated with houses, to have a com- 
 petent livelihood, though never to the fifth part of 
 what had been taken from them in a much better 
 province. And that they might not be exalted with 
 this merciful donative, it was a condition that accom- 
 panied this their acommodation, that they should all 
 give releases of their former rights and titles to the 
 land that was taken from them, in consideration of 
 what was now assigned to them ; and so they should 
 for ever bar themselves and their heirs from ever 
 laying claim to their old inheritance. What should 
 they do 1 They could not be permitted to go out of 
 this precinct to shift for themselves elsewhere ; and 
 without this assignation, they must starve there, as 
 many did die every day of famine. In this deplor- 
 able condition, and under this consternation, they 
 found themselves obliged to accept or submit to the 
 hardest conditions of tlieir conquerors ; and so signed 
 such conveyances and releases as were prepared for 
 them, that they might enjoy those lands which 
 belonged to other men." — Clarendon's Life, ii. 116, 
 117. 
 
 The English usurpers now declared that Ireland 
 was pacified. It was literally in the words of 
 Tacitus, — 
 
 •' Ubi solitiidiiiem faciunt, pacera appellant." ' 
 
 They had made a Rolitude ; but it was not of a 
 sterile waste ; it was of a fertile and beautiful land. 
 
CIIAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 241 
 
 They were glad to inhabit it, these oflacers and sol- 
 diers ! They brought over as many of their com- 
 panions, reLitions, and friends, as they could. 
 
 I will now insert a sketch of the manner in 
 wliich the Cromwellians divided Ireland among 
 
 ■j-ligiYigglY-pg • 
 
 " On the '26th of September 1653, the English par- 
 liament declared, that the rebels in Ireland were sub- 
 dued, and the rebellion ended ; and thereupon pro- 
 ceeded to the distribution of their lands, in pursuance 
 of the Act of Subscriptions, 17 Caroli. 'This being 
 notified to the Government of Ireland, Lord Broghill, 
 afterwards Earl of Orrery, proposed at a council of 
 war of all the chief commanders for the parliament, 
 that the whole kingdom should be surveyed, and the 
 number of acres taken, with the quality of them ; and 
 then that all the soldiers should bring in their demands 
 of arrears ; and so, give every man by lot, as many 
 acres as should answer the value of his demand.' " — 
 Mortices Life of Orrery. 
 
 We shall now see what was done upon this pro- 
 l^osal : — 
 
 "This proposal was agreed to, and all Ireland 
 being surveyed, the best land was rated at only 
 four shillings an acre, and some only at a penny." — 
 (Morr ice's Life of Orrery, vol. ii., p. 117.) " The 
 soldiers drew lots in what parts of the kingdom 
 their portions should be assigned to them." — (Carte's 
 Ormond, ii. 301.) Great abuse was committed in 
 setting out the adventurer's satisfaction for the money 
 they had advanced at the beginning of the war ; for 
 they had whole baronies set out to them in gross ; and 
 then they employed surveyors of their own, to make 
 their admeasurements." — lb. 
 
 I may here remark that the general survey which 
 was made in pursuance of Lord Broghill's proposal, is 
 the same which is known by the name of "the Down 
 Survey ;" in the making of which, Sir W. Petty, the 
 paternal ancestor of the present Marquis of Lans- 
 down, had a very principle part. 
 
242 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 Amidst this rapine, it may excite a faint smile to 
 see the choice that Cromwell made for himself ; al- 
 though his premature death prevented the realization 
 of his plan : — 
 
 "A good and great part (as I remember the whole 
 province of Tipperary) Cromwell had reserved to him- 
 self, as a demesne (as he called it) for the state, and 
 in which no adventurer or soldier should demand his 
 lot to be assigned ; and no doubt intended both the 
 state and it for making great his own family. ^ It can- 
 not be imagined in how easy a method, and with what 
 peaceable formality, this whole great kingdom was 
 taken from the just lords and proprietors, and divided 
 and given amongst those who had no other right to it 
 but that they had power to keep it." — Clarendon's Life^ 
 vol. ii., p. 117. 
 
 It will be well to remember, when we come to 
 treat of the reign of King Charles ii., who they were 
 that got the greatest share of the lands of the Irish 
 royalists : — 
 
 "No men had so great shares as they who had 
 been instruments to murder the King. What 
 lands they were pleased to call unprofitable (which 
 were thrown in gratis) they returned as such, let 
 them be never so good and profitable." — Cartes 
 Ormond^ ii. 301. 
 
 " The lands held by the soldiers as unprofitable, and 
 as such returned into the surveyoi-'s office, amounted 
 to 605,670 acres. In this manner was the whole king- 
 dom divided between the soldiers and the adventurers 
 of money." — Curry's Revieiv, p. 388. 
 
 Thus was the slaughter and the robbery of the Irish 
 people complete. 
 
 But the iniquity was not complete. It could not 
 be so, without the intervention of what was termed 
 " Courts of Justice." I believe there is no instance 
 in English history of any villany being perpetrated 
 upon the people of England Scotland, and Ireland, in 
 which my lords the judges had not their fuU share of 
 the crime. Accordingly, Cromwell instituted his 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 243 
 
 " Courts of Justice " in Ireland They were familiarly 
 called Cromwell's slaughter-houses. 
 
 ""High Courts of Justice, in /r6Za??c?.— About this 
 time, a new tribunal, under the title of an high court of 
 justice, was erected by the usurpers in different parts 
 of both kingdoms, for the trial of rebels and malig- 
 nants \ that is to say, those who were still found faith- 
 ful to the King. That which sat at Dublin in 1652, 
 was besides authorised ' to hear and determine all 
 massacres and murders done and committed since the 
 first day of October, 1641 ; that is to say, the actors, 
 contrivers, promoters, abettors, aiders, and assisters of 
 any of the said massacres or murders, or killing after 
 quarter given.' For the iniquitous and bloody sen- 
 tences frequently pronounced in these courts, they 
 were commonly called ' Cromwell's slaughter-houses' ; 
 for no articles were pleadable in them ; and against a 
 charge of things said to be done twelve years before, 
 little or no defence could be made ; and that the cry 
 was made of blood, aggravated with expressions of so 
 much horror, and the no less daunting aspect of the 
 court, quite confounded the amazed prisoners, so that 
 they came like sheep to the slaughter.'^ — Cumjs Re- 
 view of the Civil Wars in Ireland, p. 392. 
 
 The Irish Catholic party, as we have seen, repeat- 
 edly requested a full investigation of all the murders 
 committed during the war. But they demanded that 
 it should be an inquiry into the crimes of all parties 
 —the Protestant as well as the Catholic. This in- 
 quiry the Irish pressed to obtain in 1642, in 1646, 
 and again in 1648. But at each of these times the re- 
 quest was eluded or denied by the English Protestant 
 party. And they acted wisely in so denying it, for 
 their own interests. 
 
 These repeated offers on the part of the Irish 
 Catholics, these repeated refusals on the part of the 
 English Protestants, can, of course, leave not a doubt 
 on the mind of any rational man at the present day, 
 of the innocence of the one, and of the deep guilt of 
 the other. 
 
244 OBSERVATIONS. [CHAP. III. 
 
 Cromwell's courts, however, were quite unequivocal. 
 Their examination was avowedly and exclusively con- 
 fined to the crimes committed by the Irish party, and 
 did not extend to any crimes committed upon them. 
 Yet, such is the nature of a just cause, that even 
 those tribunals confirmed the general innocency of 
 the Irish party. Such was the indiscriminate and 
 glaring injustice of these courts, that in various parts 
 of Ireland they contrived to condemn about two 
 hundred persons as guilty of murder on forged, cor- 
 rupt, or even upon no evidence. 
 
 "Yet," says Leland, "in the northern province, 
 which had been the great scene of barbarity, not one 
 was brought to justice but Sir Phelim O'Nial." — 
 Leland, book iii. p. 394. 
 
 The remark which Leland makes upon there being 
 but one case in the northern province, would have 
 assumed quite a difi'erent shape if he had been fair or 
 candid. He should have said that when this active, 
 energetic, and ambulatory tribunal of blood could 
 find but one case in all Ulster, and when that one was 
 the case of Sir Phelim O'Neill : and as Ulster was 
 the province the most deeply and extensively charged 
 with inhumanity and murder, it followed inevitably 
 that the charges were most enormously exaggerated 
 even against the people of Ulster, as we have, in fact, 
 seen that they were. If there had been many murders 
 in the rest of Ireland, surely this sanguinary tribunal 
 would have found more victims than the number 
 mentioned — about two hundred. Let it be recollected 
 that*even against the two hundred persons who were 
 convicted judgment was given either on no evidence, 
 or on corrupt or forged evidence. To a thinking 
 mind, there is no quantity of written or verbal au- 
 thority that would so coerce a conviction of the inno- 
 cence of the Irish Catholic party, as the result of the 
 investigation of this sanguinary and energetic court. 
 That court was ambulatory, and sat in almost every 
 county in Ireland. They had to investigate the crimes 
 committed by the Irish during an insurrection ren- 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 245 
 
 liered hideous by the crimes committed upon the Irish. 
 It was ta CO art in which no defence was listened to. — 
 Men who had surrendered on the faith of articles of 
 capitulation, and who had performed their own part 
 of the stipulation, were deprived of the benefit of 
 those articles. No faith was kept with the Irish — 
 no justice w^as done. And yet — oh ! astojiishing ! — 
 not more than two hundred victims could be found 
 afibrding a shadow of pretext for putting them to 
 death upon the allegation that they committed 
 crimes during the rebellion ! 
 
 Yet the Irish were made to endure the infliction of 
 the most horrible calumnies sustained not only upon 
 false, but on the most incredible of all imaginable tes- 
 timony, for nearly a century, before they were allowed 
 so much as to assert or defend their own innocence. 
 Such was the course and manner of English justice 
 to Ireland. 
 
 I canno* proceed without giving one trait of the 
 unhappy Sir Phelim O'Neill. There is no man of the 
 Irish party so deeply stained with the crimes accom- 
 panying tire insurrection. He was, in short, the worst 
 of the Irish. Yet, at his trial, he was offered his life, 
 if he would, but charge the King with having author- 
 ized him to commence that insurrection. He utterly 
 refused to accuse the King falsely. Accordingly, he 
 was sentenced to execution. There is for this fact 
 the authority of Dr. Sheridan, Protestant Bishop of 
 Kilmore, who was present at the execution, and who 
 asserts — 
 
 " That Colonel Hewson coming towards the ladder,. 
 Sir Phelim made his public acknowledgments to him 
 in a grateful manner, for the civil treatment he had 
 met with during the whole course of his imprison- 
 ment, and only wished that his life had been taken 
 from him in a more honourable manner. To this 
 Colonel Hewson answered, that he might save his life 
 if he pleased, only by declaring at that moment to the 
 people, that his first taking arms was hf virtue of a 
 commission under the broad seal of King Charles the 
 
2-iG OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 First : but Sir Plielim replied that he would not save 
 his life by so base a lie, by doing so great an injury 
 to that Prince. 'Tis true, he siiid, that he might the 
 better persuade the peopte to come unto him, he took 
 off an old seal from an old deed, and clapt it to a 
 ;3ommission that he had forged, and so persuaded the 
 people that what he did was by the King's authority, 
 but he never really had any commission from the 
 King. This, adds Mr. Carte, the bishop told me he 
 heard him say." — 21ac2^1i€rson^s Hist. Great Britain, 
 iii. 280 ; also, Leland, book vi. c. 2. 
 
 Thus, even amongst the vv'orst of the Irish, do we 
 find a redeeming or a mitigating quality, that will 
 enable them to compete ^^fii\l the very foremost of the 
 English party. And this I say without at all pallia- 
 ting Sir Phelim's crimes. All I say is, that if ne had 
 a thousand crimes — yet, bad as he was, he had one 
 virtue ; whereas his enemies had none at all ! 
 
 I have already quoted crimes enough committed by 
 the English Protestant party, to satiate the most Sa- 
 tanic disposition for cruelty ; but not enough to 
 satiate the English party. 
 
 The Irish parliament being suppressed, the usurped 
 powers in Ireland legislated by proclamations. There 
 was no other form. But these proclamations were 
 perfectly efficacious, sustained as they were by the 
 power of the sword. 
 
 I will give the first specimen : 
 
 "In the same year (1652) the parliament commis- 
 sioners at Dublin published a proclamation, signed 
 Charles Fleetwood, Edmund Ludlow, and John 
 Jones ; wherein the act of the 27th of Elizabeth was 
 made of force in Ireland, and ordered to be most 
 strictly put in execution. By this act, ' every Eomish 
 priest, so found, was deemed guilty of Rebellion, and 
 sentenced to be hanged until he was half dead ; then 
 to have his head taken off, and his body cut in quar- 
 ters • his bowels to be drawn out and burned ; and 
 his head fixed upon a pole in some public place."— 
 Curry's Review, p. 392. 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 247 
 
 The only excuse for enacting tins horrible and 
 barbarous law, was, that it was already in force in 
 England. But in England the Catholic priests were 
 comparatively few ; in Ireland they were many. Pro- 
 testant intolerance found this method of diminishing 
 their number in Ireland ; hanging them till they were 
 half dead, and then tearing out their bowels. In the 
 next proclamation these lawgivers exceeded even the 
 English brutality. Here is the specimen : — 
 
 " The punishment of those who entertained a priest, 
 was, by the same act, confiscation of their goods and 
 chattels, and the ignominious death of the gallows. 
 Tills edict was renewed the same year, with the ad- 
 ditional cruelty of making even the private exercise 
 of the Roman Catholic religion, a capital crime. And 
 again repeated in 1657, with the same penalty of 
 confiscation and death to all those who, knowing 
 where a priest was hid, did not make discovery to the 
 Government." — Cwn^j/s Review^ 392. 
 
 Nor were these mere idle threats. They were car- 
 ried into full execution. The Protestant party were 
 triumphant ; and no Catholic who fell within their 
 grasp was spared. Let others speak for me : — 
 
 " Of the strict execution of these barbarous edicts, 
 many shocking examples were daily seen among these 
 unhappy people, insomuch, that to use the words of 
 a contemporary writer and eye witness, 'Neither 
 the Israelites were more crueUy persecuted by Pharaoh, 
 nor the innocent infants by Herod, nor the Christians 
 by Nero or any other of the Pagan tyrants, than were 
 the Iloman Catholics of Ireland at that fatal junc- 
 ture of these savage commissioners."' — Morrison's 
 Threnodia^ p. 14. 
 
 There was an awful pleasantry also in the cruelty 
 of these sanguinary wretches : — 
 
 " The same price (five pounds sterling) was set by 
 tliese commissioners on the head of a Romish priest 
 as on that of a wolf ; the number of which latter was 
 then very considerable in Ireland • and although the 
 profession or character of a RomisJi priest could not, 
 
248 OBSEHVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 one would think, be so clearly ascertained as the 
 species of a wolf, by the mere inspection of their 
 heads thus severed from their bodies, yet the bare 
 asseveration of the beheaders was, in both cases, 
 equally credited and rewarded by these commission- 
 ers." — Curri/s Review, pp. 393-4. 
 
 Here let me pause amidst these scenes of horror 
 and desolation. Here let me pause ; consoled and 
 soothed by the recollection of the glorious contrast of 
 the humanity and mercy exhibited by the Irish Catho- 
 lics, with the fiendish cruelty and barbarity perpe- 
 trated by the English Protestants. The documents 
 put forth by each party fully establish this contrast. 
 On the side of the Irish there can^t be quoted any 
 letter, any writing, any document, any general or par- 
 ticular order, edict, law, or command ; enjoining, 
 suggesting, or palliating murder or pillage — plunder 
 or crime. No — not one ! I repeat it, not one ! On 
 the contrary, every authentic document that has ever 
 been produced as emanating from the Irish Catholics, 
 suggests lenity, forgiveness, and mercy. And, as in 
 the case of the act of the general Confederacy in 
 1642, there are not only pains, just pains and penal- 
 ties denounced against all evil-doers, plunderers, 
 robbers, and murderers ; but punishment is denounced 
 in the strongest terms against every person, no matter 
 of what rank, who should connive at crime, or en- 
 deavour to extend impunity to criminals ! And 
 even going so far, that to the inflictions by the tribu- 
 nals of this world, there is superadded the more 
 av/ful judgment of excommunication. (See pp. 
 309-10.) 
 
 On the other hand, you can read the gloating satis- 
 faction with which the English Protestant Lords 
 Justices, the English parliament, English officers in 
 command, and English parliamentary commissioners 
 in possession of legislative and executive authority in 
 Ireland, not only commanded but enforced the perpe- 
 tration of the most brutal barbarities and diabolical 
 cruelties upon the Irish people, by their public and 
 
CnAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 249 
 
 private documents, their proclamations, their orders 
 to the military, their ordinances, edicts, and laws. 
 AU, all steeped in blood, and saturated with horrors. 
 
 Contrast the two. Recollect that, vnth. a very- 
 small exception, the entire of Ireland was in the pos- 
 session of the confederated Catholics for nearly six 
 years ; that is, from about 1643 to 1649. Eecollect 
 that during that year (and for the two years preceding 
 it) the utmost atrocities were perpetrated upon the 
 Irish. Recollect all this — and join then with me 
 in blessing Providence who gave the Irish nation a 
 soul full of humanity, a disposition so replete with 
 mercy, that, excepting in the actual civil war itself, 
 the Irish shed no blood, committed no crime, perpe- 
 trated no barbarity, exhibited no intolerance, exer- 
 cised no persecution. 
 
 When, O when ! will justice be rendered to tliy 
 sons, O loved fatherland i When, O when ! will 
 mankind recognise the just title of the Irish to pre- 
 eminence in the most glorious virtues ^ to morality of 
 the purest order, domestic and public 1 Temperance 
 of the most extensi ve and practical utility 1 Tenacious 
 religious fidelity, beyond the example of aU, or any, 
 of the countries on the face of Christendom 1 
 
 CHAPTER III.— PART VII. 
 
 I shall close the disastrous period embraced in this 
 third chapter, by the insertion of some documents 
 illustrative of the practices of the times. The first is 
 taken from a note to LingarcVs History of England, 
 and shows the spirit that animated the popular party 
 in England. I desire to show that it was not only 
 the Protestant Government, but the Protestant 
 populations of England, that gloated over Catho- 
 lic blood : — 
 
 " I have not been able," says Lingard, " to ascer- 
 tain the number of Catholic clergymen w^ho w^ere exe- 
 cuted or baniehed for their religion under Charles I., 
 and under the Commonwealth. But I possess an 
 
250 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 original document, authenticated by the signatures of 
 the parties concerned, which contains the names and 
 fate of such Catholic priests as were apprehended 
 and prosecuted in London between the end of 1640 
 and the summer of 1651, by four individuals who had 
 formed themselves into a kind of joint stock com- 
 pany for that laudable purpose, and who solicited 
 from the council some reward for their services. It 
 should, however, be remembered, that there were many 
 others engaged in the same pursuit, and conse- 
 (^uently many other victims besides those who are 
 here enumerated." 
 
 Lingard then proceeds to quote from his original 
 document as follows : — 
 
 " The names of such Jesuits and Romish priests as 
 have been apprehended and prosecuted by Captain 
 James Wadsworth, Francis Newton, Thomas Mayo, 
 and Robert De Luke, messengers, at our proper charge, 
 whereof some have been condemned, some executed, 
 and some reprieved since the beginning of the par- 
 liament, (3rd November, 1640.) the like having not 
 been done by any others since the Reformation of re- 
 ligion in this nation : — 
 
 " William Waller, als. Slaughter, als. Walker, exe- 
 cuted at Tyburne. Cuthbert Clapton, condemned, re- 
 prieved and pardoned. Bartholomew Row, executed 
 at Tyburne. Thomas Reynolds, executed at Tyburne. 
 Edward Morgan, executed at Tyburne. Thomas 
 Sanderson, als. Hammond, executed at Tyburne. 
 Henry Heath, als. Pall Magdalen, executed at Tyburne. 
 Francis Quashet, died in Newgate after judgment. 
 Ai»thur Bell, executed at Tyburne, Ralph Corbey, 
 executed at Tyburne. John Duchet, executed at Ty- 
 burne. John Hamond, als. Jackson, condemned, 
 reprieved by the King, and died in Newgate. Wal- 
 ter Coleman, condemned and died in Newgate. Ed- 
 mond Cannon, condemned and died in Newgate. 
 John WigQiore, alias Turner, condemned, and reprieved 
 by the King, and is in custodie in Newgate. Andrew 
 Ffryer, alias Heme, alias Ricbn^ond, condemned, and 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 251 
 
 died in Newgate. Joliii Goodman, condemned, and 
 died in Newgate. Henry Morse, executed at Tyburne. 
 Thomas Worsley, alias Harvey, indicted and proved, 
 reiDrieved by the Spanish ambassador and others. 
 Charles Chanie (Cheny), als, Thompson indicted and 
 proved, and begged by the Spanish ambassador, and 
 since taken by command of the Council of State and 
 is now in Newgate. Andrew White, indicted, proved, 
 reprieved before judgment and banished. Richard 
 Copley, condemned and banished. Richard Worthing- 
 ton, found guiltic, and banished. Edmond Cole, 
 Peter Wright, and William Morgan, indicted, proved, 
 and sent beyond sea. Phillip Morgan, executed at 
 Tyburne. Edmund Ensher, als. Arrow, indicted, 
 condemned, reprieved by the parliament, and banished. 
 Thomas Budd, als. Peto, als. Gray, condemned, re- 
 prieved by the Lord Mayor of London and others, 
 justices, and since retaken by order of the Council of 
 State, and is now in Newgate. George Baker, als. 
 Macham, indicted, proved guiltie, and now in New- 
 gate. Peter Beale, als. Wright, executed at Tyburne. 
 George Gage, indicted by us and found guiltie, and 
 since is dead." 
 
 James WadswoPvTH. Francis Newton. 
 Thomas Mayo. Robekt De Luke. 
 
 " This catalogue," continues Lingard, " tells a fearful 
 but instructive tale ; inasmuch as it shows how wan- 
 tonly men can sport with the lives of their fellow-men, 
 if it suit the purpose of a great political party. The 
 patriots, to enlist in their favour the religious preju- 
 dices of the people, represented the King as the patron 
 of popery, because he sent the priests into banishment, 
 instead of delivering them to the knife of the exe- 
 cutioner. Hence, when they became lords of the 
 ascendant, they were bound to make proof of their 
 orthodoxy ; and almost every execution mentioned 
 above took place by their order in 1642 or 1643. After 
 that time they began to listen to the voice of humanity, 
 and adopted the very expedient which they had so 
 
2')2 OBSERVATIONS, CHAP. III. 
 
 clamorously condemned. They banished, instead of 
 hanging and quartering." — Lingard^ voL x. p. 428.^ 
 
 As a pendant to the foregoing, and to form a kind 
 of rehef to the wholesale slaughters, I insert an extract 
 of the translation of an exceedingly rare and curious 
 tract, and published the year after Cromwell's death. 
 The original is in Latin, and is entitled, " Morisoni 
 Threnodia Hiberno-Catholica, sive Planctus Univer- 
 salis totius Cleri et Regni Hiberni£e de transcendent! 
 Crudelitate Anglorum adversus Catholicos in Hiber- 
 nia," GEnipont, 1G59 :— 
 
 "yl catalogue of some of the chiefs and nohles slaugh- 
 tered by the Protestants. — Chap. vi. — I do not here 
 enumerate any persons slain in battle, although he 
 might have fallen in the cause of his religion, nor do I 
 give the tenth part of the persons of quality who were 
 murdered, but only the more illustrious, being chiefly 
 those who were received into allegiance by the Pro- 
 testants, after the amnesty had been mad^, and actually 
 entered on ; [a treachery] which barbarians and infi- 
 dels themselves would abhor and deem detestable. 
 1. Lord Hugh MacMahon, the chief of his illustrious 
 race, a brave and noble military leader, was, after 
 two years' imprisonment in London, half hanged, and, 
 ere life was extinct, quartered ; his head was then 
 placed on an iron spike on London bridge to feed the 
 ravenous fowls of tha air ; his four quarters were 
 placed over four of the gates of London. 2. Cornelius 
 Maguire, Lord Viscount Iniskillen, a most devout and 
 holy man, sole companion in captivity of the aforesaid 
 Hugh MacMahon, underwent the same butchery about 
 two months after the execution of MacMahon. 3. The 
 illustrious Felix O'Neill (captured by Protestant de- 
 vice) was half -hanged in Dublin, a.d/iC52, and, while 
 yet alive, was quartered. His head was stuck upon a 
 great spike at the western gate of Dubhn, and his 
 quarters were sent to be stuck on spikes in four dif- 
 ferent parts of the kingdom. 4. Henry O'Neill, son 
 of Eugene O'Neill, taken prisoner in battle, and, not • 
 withstanding pliehted faith, slaughtered, in Ulster, 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 253 
 
 A. D. 1651. 5. Tliaddaeus O'Connor (Sligo), descended 
 from the royal race of the last and most powerful 
 monarchs of Ireland, a man of great goodness and in- 
 nocence, hung in the towft of Boyle, in Connaught, 
 A.D. 1652, after the general amnesty had been made. 
 
 6. Constantius O'Ruairk, taken prisoner in battle, 
 murdered in 1652, notwithstanding plighted faitL 
 
 7. Theobald De Burgo, Lord Viscount Mayo, after 
 truce had been made with all such persons in the 
 kingdom as were not actually in arms against the Pro- 
 testants, and a general amnesty promised, was shot in 
 Gal way in 1651. 8. Charles O'Dowd, of a most higli 
 and noble race, hanged A.D. 1651. 9. The illustrious 
 Donat O'Brien, descended of the royal race of the 
 O'Briens, a most generous man, and of surpassing 
 hospitality ; after the Protestants had plighted to him 
 their faith, and given him safe conduct in order that 
 ]ie might become their tributary ; an attack being 
 made one day by the Protestants against the Catholics, 
 he (O'Brien) relying on his having been received into 
 their friendship., approached ; when a certain Protes- 
 tant knight shot him through the body. Unsatisfied 
 with this cruelty, when the venerable old man (then 
 aged about 64 years), had entered a hut, half dead, 
 that he might, in penitence, commend himself to God, 
 a soldier followed, set fire to the hut, and burned this 
 noble old man — in Thomond, a.d. 1651. 10. James 
 O'Brien, of illustrious lineage, maternal nepliew of 
 the aforesaid Donatus O'Brien, a youth of high hopes 
 and prospects, was murdered at Nenagh in the Or- 
 moncls. They cut his head off and sent it to his 
 uterine brother, Moriarty O'Brien, then their prisoner. 
 11. Bernard O'Brien, of the same noble family, a youth 
 of equally fair prospects, was hanged in 1651. 12. 
 Daniel O'Brien, first cousin of the said Bernard, was 
 hanged, and his head cut off at Nenagh, 1651. 13. 
 The illustrious Colonel John O'Kennedy, a man of 
 the utmost integrity, was slain by the swords of the 
 Protestants, after their faith had been pledged to him 
 in battle. His head was then cut off and fastened on 
 
254 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 n spike in the town of ISTenagli, a.d. 1651. 14. James 
 O'Kenedy, son of the aforesaid illustrious gentleman, 
 a youth of gTeat hopes, being deluded with a similar 
 pledge of good faith, was hanged in ISTenagh, a.d. 1651. 
 15. The illustrious Sir Patrick Purcell, Vice-General 
 of all Munster, noble hearted, and a most accomplished 
 warrior (renowned for his services in Germany against 
 Sweden and France, under Ferdinand III. of Augustan 
 memory), wiis hanged after the taking of Limerick, 
 his heacl cut off, and exposed on a stake over the 
 southern gate (called John's gate) of the city of 
 Limerick, a.d. 1651. 16. The illustrious and most 
 generous Sir Godfrey Barron, a sincere Catholic, of 
 the highest fidelity, and of singular eloquence, who 
 had been deiuited by the confederated Catholics of 
 Ireland as their envoy to his most Christian Majesty, 
 was also hanged at Limerick. 17. The noble Sir 
 Godfrey Galway, was likewise hanged at Limerick, 
 1651. 18. The noble Thomas Stritch, Mayor of Lim- 
 erick, and alderman, was, with the like cruelty, 
 hanged at the same time with the rest. His head was 
 then cut off and fastened to the city gate. 19. The 
 noble Dominicus Fanning, ex-Mayor of Limerick, and 
 alderman, a well-known man, and of the liighest in- 
 tegrity, who had been of great service to the confe- 
 derated Catholics, a.ncl had laudably conferred much 
 benefit on the kingdom as well as on the city, was 
 hanged at Limerick along with the rest, a.d. 1651. 
 His head was cut off and affixed to the gate. 20. 
 Daniel O'Higgins, medical doctor, a wise and pious 
 man, was hanged at the same time at Limerick, a.d. 
 1651. 21. The illustrious and Eight Eeverencl Terence 
 O'Brien, Bishop of llaphoe (of whom I have already 
 spoken), was hanged at the same time, and his head 
 cut off. He went gloriously to heaven, a.d. 1651. 
 22. The illustrious John O'Connor, Lord of Kerry and 
 Iracht, on account of his adhesion to the Catholic 
 party, and his efforts to draw to it not only his per- 
 sonal followers, but all with whom he had friendship, 
 was, after having been seized upon by stratagem by 
 
CHAP. III.] PROOFS, ETC. 255 
 
 the Protestants, brouglit to Tralee in that county, and 
 there half hanged and then beheaded, a.d. 1652. 
 23. The illustrious Lord Edward Butler, son of Lord 
 Mountgarret, an innocent man, who had never taken 
 arms, was hanged at Dublin alter the truce had been 
 commenced, and amnesty promised throughout the 
 Avhole kingdom, a.d. 1652. 2-4. The illustrious and 
 Reverend Bernard Fitzpatrick, priest, and descended 
 from the illustrious lineage of the Barons of Ossory, 
 who, flying for refuge from the fury of the Protestants 
 to a cave, was pursued by them ; who there cut oif the 
 head of this most holy man (who was equally renowned 
 throughout the kingdom for his life, his doctrine, and 
 his lineage). They affixed his head to a spik^ over 
 the town gate to be meat for the fowls of the air, and 
 left his flesh to be devoured by the beasts of the field. 
 
 "Nor was the inhuman fury of the Protestants 
 satiated with this slaughter of men ; but they also 
 drew their swords against women. Thus — 
 
 " The noble Lady Roche, wife of Maurice, Viscount 
 of Fermoy and Roche, a chaste and holy matron, 
 whose mind was solely occupied with prayer and piety, 
 being falsely accused of murder by a certain ungrateful 
 English maid-servant (whom she had compassionately 
 taken when a desolate orphan, and supported and 
 educated), was hanged at Cork in 1654, although 
 stricken in years, and destined in the course of nature 
 soon to die. 
 
 " The noble Lady Bridget of the house of Darcj', 
 wife of Florence Fitzpatrick, one of the Barons of 
 Ossory, was hanged by the Protestants at Dublin in 
 1652, without the form of law or of justice. 
 
 " What shall I yet say '? _ Time would fail me to nar- 
 rate the martyrdom of chiefs, nobles, prelates, priests, 
 friars, citizens, and others of the Irish Catholics (whose 
 purple gore has stained the scaffolds almost Avithout 
 end) ; who ' by faith conquered kingdoms and wrought 
 justice.' Of whom some had trials in mockeries and 
 stripes, moreover also of chains and prisons. Other 
 were stoned, cut asunder, racked, or put to death wit 
 
■?56 OBSERVATIONS, [CHAP. III. 
 
 the sword. {Heh. xi.) Others have wandered over 
 the world in hunger, thirst, cold, and nakedness ; 
 being in want, distressed, afflicted ; w-andering in 
 deserts, in mountains, and in dens and in caves of the 
 earth. And all these being approved by the testi- 
 mony of the faith, without doubt received the promise. 
 Amen."— (pp. 65—72.) 
 
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