DA 912 
 .D23 
 
 
 Hi ^■lilwJ 
 
 WBm m8B8sB$Bm m m SI 
 
 
 mam 
 
 HP 
 
 hHBH 
 
 
 

 \/ :1 
 
 
 "*• -^ 
 
 V4 
 
 y°-\, '*!§|R ; o^'S 
 
CATECHISM 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND : 
 
 ANCIENT AND MODERN. 
 
 ■ 
 BY WILLIAM J. O'NEILL DAUNT, ESQ. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "SAINTS AND SINNERS." 
 
 BOSTON: 
 PUBLISHED BY PATRICK DONAHOJE, 
 
 No. 1 Spring Larm. 
 
 1850. 
 
.1)33 
 
 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 THE AMERICAN EDITION 
 
 The following pages are the production of 
 an able and enthusiastic young Irish patriot. 
 He has served Ireland well with voice and 
 pen, and the Father of his country as a con- 
 fidential secretary. It is, therefore, in every 
 respect a national work, and the very best 
 key we have ever seen to the study of the 
 wonderful history of that nation. Its brevity 
 omits nothing of real importance which could 
 be thus glanced at, while the admirable con- 
 nection of the whole charms the memory from 
 forgetfulness of any portion of its contents. 
 
 This well-timed work was not more needed 
 in Ireland than it is in America. We are, 
 with very, very few exceptions, infants in the 
 
4 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 study of Irish history — the most interesting 
 of any relating to Western Europe. Let us 
 begin with the beginning. It is full time our 
 fellow-citizens should know something of an 
 island which has been a fruitful source of 
 population and benefit to the new world — 
 from whose children millions around and 
 among them are descended, and from which 
 the tide of emigration still sets steadily 
 towards these shores. To those emigrants 
 themselves this Catechism will be most wel- 
 come ; and the more thoroughly they study its 
 pages, the farther they will advance to the 
 perfection of all earthly philosophy — the 
 knowledge of themselves. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 I intend this little Catechism for a school- 
 book. I hope it may help to train up Irish 
 children " in the way in which they should go." 
 I have often been thoroughly disgusted at the 
 deceptive character of those quasi-historical 
 abstracts which are put into the hands of our 
 youth, and which are calculated to create in 
 their minds a contempt for their own brave 
 and gallant Celtic forefathers, a political idol- 
 atry of England, and a total misconception of 
 the real, substantial interests of their native 
 land. 
 
 It was necessarily impossible, in a compila- 
 tion so limited in extent as the present, to 
 enter into full details of historical incidents. 
 The outlines of our national annals are all 
 that could be given ; accompanied, sometimes, 
 1* 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 by a brief word of comment, meant to guide 
 the youthful student with respect to the moral 
 of his country's history. School-books about 
 Ireland have too often been designed to train 
 their readers to look through English spec- 
 tacles at Irish transactions. I have looked at 
 those transactions through an Irish medium; 
 I have sought to extend, to the rising genera- 
 tion, that teaching which has been dissem- 
 inated with such potent efficacy among their 
 seniors, by my able friends who conduct the 
 Nation newspaper ; being deeply convinced 
 that the welfare of the country, and the cause 
 of political truth, can alone be promoted and 
 secured by infusing into the hearts of its in- 
 habitants the sacred principle of nationality. 
 
 Of religious differences, except so far as 
 they have affected politics, I have said nothing 
 whatever. Some of the best and warmest 
 Irish patriots are, and have been, Protestants. 
 There is nothing in any Christian creed to 
 prevent its professors from working honestly 
 and efficiently for their country. 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 I have not screened the faults and follies of 
 our ancestors. Their great and noble qual- 
 ities were too often neutralized by their sin of 
 mutual dissension. It is true that in this 
 respect they were not worse than the con- 
 temporary inhabitants of other lands ; but the 
 evils arising from internal differences have, 
 from peculiar circumstances, been more griev- 
 ous and enduring in Ireland than almost in 
 any other country. It is time that party 
 should be merged in nationality. 
 
 There exists not on the surface of the earth 
 a nation richer than our own in all the moral 
 and physical resources of greatness, pros- 
 perity, and happiness ; or more fertile in all 
 the materials of self-government. Every page 
 of our history impresses the conviction, that, 
 if intestine divisions were abandoned ; if men 
 would use the energies and powers God has 
 given them for the common benefit, instead 
 of for the purposes of faction ; if, instead of a 
 miserable strife to exalt Whig over Tory, or 
 Tory over Whig, all parties would unite to 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 exalt Ireland, by restoring to her legislative 
 freedom ; then we should see those great 
 qualities, which now lie nearly dormant, called 
 forth into active exercise, and productive of 
 unnumbered blessings to our fatherland. 
 
 W. J. O'NEILL DAUNT 
 
 Kilcascan, County Cork, 
 23d September, 1844. 
 
CATECHISM 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Of the Original Inhabitants of Ireland. 
 
 Question. Whence was Ireland first peopled? 
 
 Answer. There are many accounts of the 
 origin of her earliest inhabitants ; the most proba- 
 ble belief is, that Ireland was peopled by a colony 
 of Phoenicians. 
 
 Q. Who were the Phoenicians ? 
 
 A. They were a branch of the great nation of 
 the Scythians. 
 
 Q. How did the early inhabitants divide Ire* 
 land? 
 
 A. Into five kingdoms. 
 
 Q. Name them. 
 
 A. Ulster, Leinster, Connaught, Munster, and 
 Meath. 
 
 Q. How were these five kingdoms governed ? 
 
 A. Each by its own prince ; and the king of 
 Meath was also paramount sovereign of all Ire- 
 land. 
 
 Q. Did these kingdoms descend from father to 
 son by hereditary right? 
 
 A. No ; the succession was regulated by the 
 law of Tanistry 
 
10 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What was Tanistry ? 
 
 A. Tanistry was a law which restricted the 
 right of succession to the family of the prince, or 
 chief; but any member of the family might be 
 elected successor, as well as the eldest son. 
 
 Q. What does tanist mean ? 
 
 A. Tanist was the title borne by the elected 
 successor, during the life of the reigning prince, 
 or chief. 
 
 Q. What qualities was it necessary that the 
 tanist should possess ? 
 
 A. He should be a knight, full twenty-five 
 years ojd; his figure should be tall, noble, and 
 free from blemish ; and he should prove his pedi- 
 gree from the Milesians. 
 
 Q. Was Tanistry a good custom ? 
 
 A. No ; for the struggles of the different can- 
 didates, to be elected, caused great warfare and 
 bloodshed. 
 
 Q. Where did the king-paramount of all Ire- 
 land reside? 
 
 A. At the palace of Tara, in Meath. 
 
 Q. What was the ancient law of Ireland 
 called ? 
 
 A. The Brehon Law.* 
 
 Q. What was most remarkable in the Brehon 
 Law? 
 
 A. The nearly total absence of capital pun- 
 ishment. 
 
 Q. How was murder punished ? 
 
 A. By a money-fine, called an eric. 
 
 Q. Had the lenity of the Brehon Law in that 
 respect a good effect 1 
 
 A. Not always : for the friends of the mur- 
 
 * Brehiv is the modern Irish for a judge. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 11 
 
 dered person often deemed the penalty inflicted 
 by the law too slight ; and in avenging their own 
 wrongs, bloody feuds and clan-battles often oc- 
 curred. 
 
 Q. How were men appointed to the office of 
 brehon ? 
 
 A. The office of brehon was hereditary in 
 certain families. 
 
 Q. Were the other great offices in Ireland, in 
 like manner, restricted to certain families ? 
 
 A. Yes ; in those days all great offices were 
 thus restricted. 
 
 Q. Can you state any ancient custom of those 
 early times which still exists in Ireland? 
 
 A. Yes; the custom of fostering. The chil- 
 dren of the chiefs and nobles were always suckled 
 by the wives of the tenants. 
 
 Q. Was the link thus formed considered a 
 strong one 1 
 
 A. As strong as the tie of actual relationship. 
 Nay, foster-brothers and foster-sisters often loved 
 each other better than if they had been the chil- 
 dren of the same parents. 
 
 Q. Can you mention any other ancient cus- 
 tom 1 
 
 A. Yes ; that of gossipred. The chiefs and 
 nobles frequently became godfathers to the chil- 
 dren of their vassals and dependents. 
 
 Q. Had these old customs any good effect 1 
 
 A. They had : they helped in some degree to 
 connect different classes in the bonds of affection 
 with each other. 
 
 Q. Are there any remarkable remains of early 
 Irish buildings 1 
 
 A. Yes ; there are fifty-two round towers in 
 Ireland of a very high antiquity 
 
12 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What was the origin and purpose of those 
 buildings ? 
 
 A. Both their origin and purpose are unknown : 
 there is, however, a rather probable opinion that 
 they were intended for the fire-worship of the 
 pagans, before the Christian religion was brought 
 into Ireland. 
 
 Q. Are there similar round towers in any other 
 part of the British islands? 
 
 A. No; excepting two which still remain in 
 Scotland. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Irish Christian Church. 
 
 Question. Who was the first Christian Bishop 
 with local jurisdiction in Ireland ? 
 
 Answer. Saint Palladius. 
 
 Q. By whom was he appointed 1 
 
 A. By Pope Celestine, in the year 430.* 
 
 Q. Whence did the whole Irish nation receive 
 its Christianity ? 
 
 A. From Rome. 
 
 Q. Who states these facts ? 
 
 A. They are stated by many ancient historians 
 of the highest credit ; namely, by Saint Prosper 
 of Acquitaine, in the year 434; by Saint Colum- 
 banus, an Irish prelate, A. D. 610 ; by the Abbot 
 Cummian, another Irishman, in the year 650 ; by 
 
 * The earliest chronicler of this fact is Saint Prosper, of 
 Acquitaine, Chron. ad annum, 434, torn. 1. — Rer. Gal. Fol. Paris, 
 1738, p. 630. His words are, "Ad Scotas in Christum credentes 
 ordinatur a Papa Celestino Palladius, et primus Episcopus mit~ 
 titur." " Scoti " was then, and for a long time after, the ex 
 elusive designation of the Irish people. 
 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 13 
 
 the Venerable Bede, an English monk and his- 
 torian, A. D. 701 ; by Probus, an Irish writer of 
 the ninth century ; by the Annals of the Four 
 Masters; by Marianus Scotus, an Irish writer in 
 the year 1059 ; and by Saint Sigebert, the rnonk 
 of Gemblours, who wrote in or about the year 
 1101. 
 
 Q. What are the words of Saint Prosper of 
 Acquitaine ? 
 
 A. He says : " By Pope Celestine is Palladius 
 ordained and sent the first bishop to the Irish 
 believing in Christ." 
 
 Q. What are the words of Saint Columbanus ? 
 
 A. Saint Columbanus wrote a letter to Pope 
 Boniface the Fourth, in which he thus speaks to 
 that Pontiff: " As your friend, your scholar, your 
 servant, not as a stranger, will I speak ; therefore, 
 as to our masters, to the steersmen, to the mystic 
 pilots of the spiritual ship, will I freely speak, 
 saying, Watch, for the sea is stormy ; watch, for 
 the water has already gotten into the ship of the 
 church, and the ship is in danger ! " * 
 
 Q. What do you notice in these words? 
 
 A. I notice, that this Irish prelate acknowledges 
 the Roman Pontiffs to have been the spiritual 
 teachers of the Irish Christian church ; and also 
 that he begs of the Pope to defend that church 
 from the dangers that beset it. ? 
 
 Q. Who was Cummian? 
 
 A. He was an Irish abbot, in the seventh 
 century. 
 
 Q. Did Cummian acknowledge that the Irish 
 received their faith from Rome ? 
 
 A. Yes. 
 
 * S. CoLUMBANi, Epist. ad iSonifaciurn IV. Biblioth Vet. 
 Pat. t. xii. p. 532, Ed. Gallandio. 
 o 
 
14 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What are his words ? 
 
 A. He says: "We sent those persons whom 
 we knew to be wise and humble men, to Rome, 
 as it were children to their mother." * 
 
 Q. What does the Venerable Bede say ? 
 
 A. He says: " In the eighth year of the reign 
 of Theodosius the Younger, Palladius was sent by 
 Celestine, Pontiff of the Roman church, to the 
 Irish believing in Christ, as their first bishop." t 
 
 Q. What are the words of Probus, the Irish 
 writer of the ninth century 1 
 
 A. He says : " The Archdeacon Palladius was 
 ordained and sent to this island (Ireland) by 
 Celestine, the forty-fifth Pope who occupied the 
 apostolic chair in succession from Saint Peter." J 
 
 Q. What does Probus call Rome? 
 
 A. " The head of all churches." £ 
 
 Q. Do the ancient annals of Innisfallen attest 
 the connection of the early Irish church with that 
 of Rome 1 
 
 A. They do. 
 
 Q. In what manner 1 
 
 A. They tell us that, in 402, two Irishmen, 
 Kiaran and Declan, having sojourned in Rome, 
 came thence to preach Christianity in Ireland ; 
 that, in 412, St. Ailbe, of Emly, came from Rome 
 to announce the faith in Ireland ; and that, in 
 420, Ibar Invarensis (another Irishman who had 
 studied in Rome) came thence to Ireland. § 
 
 Q. Have we got traces of any earlier con- 
 
 * Cummianus Hibernus. A. D. 650. apud Usserium, Vet. 
 Epis. Hibern. SyUoge, p. 13. 
 
 t Ven. Bedje. Hist. Eccles. gentis Anglorum, 1. 1, c. 13. 
 
 j Probus, de Vita S. Patricii, apud Bedam. p. 315, t. iii. — 
 Basil, 1573. 
 
 § O'Connor, Rer. Hibern. Script, t. ii. in Annal. Innisfall. 
 pp. 12, IS. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 15 
 
 nection than this between the Irish and the 
 Roman Christians? 
 
 A. Yes ; so far back as the year 360, a certain 
 Christian priest had been sent from Rome to 
 Ireland, to teach the Christian faith there ; and it 
 was from that priest that Saint Ailbe of Emly 
 received baptism.* 
 
 Q. Who was Marianus Scotus, and when did 
 he flourish? 
 
 A. He was an Irish scholar and writer, and 
 he flourished about the year 1059. 
 
 Q. What are his words ? 
 
 A. He says that, " in the year of Christ 432, 
 to the Irish believing in Christ, Palladius, or- 
 dained by Pope Celestine, was sent the first 
 bishop. After him Saint Patrick, who was a 
 Gaul by birth, and consecrated by Pope Celestine, 
 is sent to the Irish archiepiscopacy."t 
 
 Q. There were Christians in Ireland, then, 
 before the arrival of Palladius and Patrick ? 
 
 A. Yes; a very small and scattered number. 
 
 Q. By whom had that small number of Irish 
 Christians been first taught the faith ? 
 
 A. Probably by the Roman priest who visited 
 Ireland in 360, and who baptized Saint Ailbe of 
 Emly. 
 
 Q. Who was the great apostle of the faith to 
 the Irish nation ? 
 
 A. Saint Patrick. 
 
 Q. Where was he born ? 
 
 A. At Boulogne, in Armoric Gaul. 
 
 Q. Who was his father ? 
 
 A. Calphurnius. 
 
 * Usserii. Britan. Eccles. Antiq. Index Chranologieus, p. 
 •12, et ex vita S. Albei, ib. p. 409. 
 t Marianus Scotus, Chron. ad annum, ed. BariU. 1559. 
 
16 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. Was Calphurnius in holy orders ? 
 
 A. Not at the time of his son's birth. He was 
 then a layman ; but at a later period he separated 
 from his wife, and took holy orders in the church. 
 
 Q. On what authority do you state these facts 1 
 
 A. On the authority of the ancient writer of 
 Saint Patrick's life, Joceline.* 
 
 Q. Had Saint Patrick great success in his 
 
 mission 
 
 A. His success was perfect. He converted 
 the entire of Ireland to the Christian religion ; 
 thus gloriously finishing the work of Saint Pal- 
 ladius. 
 
 Q. Did Saint Patrick teach spiritual obedience 
 to the Pope? 
 
 A. He did. Among the canons or rules made 
 in the synods which he called together, and over 
 which he presided, we find it ordained, " that if 
 any questions arise in this island, they are to be 
 referred to the Apostolic See."t 
 
 Q. Did other prelates of the early Irish church 
 practise the obedience to the Pope which Saint 
 Patrick taught? 
 
 A. They did. 
 
 Q. How does the Irish Saint Columbanus, in 
 the sixth century, address Pope Gregory the Great ? 
 
 A. He calls him the " Holy Lord and Roman 
 Father in Christ;"" — the chosen Watchman. 
 
 * "Postquam vero aliquantum processerant in diebus suis 
 (Parentis S. Patricii) faelici generatione completa, communi 
 consensu, castitati studuerunt, et sancto fine in Domino qui- 
 everunt. Calphurnius autem prius in Diaconatu diutius 
 Domino servavit, postremo in Presbyteratu vitam finivit." — 
 Jocelinus Vit. S. Patric. C. i. 
 
 t " Si quaB questiones in hac insula oriantur, ad sedem 
 Apostolicam referantur." — Canones S. Patricii, apud Wil- 
 kins j Concil. Mag. Brit. t. i. p. 6. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 17 
 
 possessed of the divine theory of the treasurer- 
 ship;" — he speaks of him as "lawfully sitting 
 in the chair of Saint Peter the Apostle ; " and he 
 begs the Pope to decide for him how he ought to 
 act in certain cases.* 
 
 Q. How does Saint Columbanus address Saint 
 Gregory's successor, Pope Boniface the Fourth 1 
 
 A. He calls him " The Holy Lord, and in 
 Christ the Apostolic Father." t 
 
 Q. Does Saint Columbanus elsewhere recog- 
 nize the Pope's supremacy ? 
 
 A. Yes. In another letter to Pope Boniface 
 IV., he calls him " the head of all the churches of 
 the whole of Europe ; " he also terms the Pope 
 "the Pastor of pastors." \ In the same letter, 
 Columbanus says, " We are, as I said before, 
 bound to the chair of Saint Peter. For though 
 Rome is great and renowned, it is through this 
 chair only that she is great and bright amongst 
 us." § 
 
 Q. Did not a dispute arise in the Irish church 
 about the time when Easter ought to be kept ? 
 
 A. Yes ; towards the end of the sixth and be- 
 ginning of the seventh century. 
 
 Q. What did the Irish abbot, Cummian, say 
 with regard to that dispute 1 
 
 A. Cummian quoted Saint Jerome's words : " I 
 cry out, whosoever is joined t© the chair of Saint 
 Peter, that man is mine ! — What more ? I turn 
 
 * S. Columbani, Epist. i. ad Gregorium Papam, inter 
 opera S. Columbani, apud Gallandii, Bib. Vet. Pat.t. xii. 
 p. 345. 
 
 f Ibid. p. 349. 
 
 % Ibid. pp. 349—354. 
 
 § Venerable Beoe. Hx»t. Eccles. Gentis. Anglor. I, ii. 
 c. six. p. 148, ed. Stevenson. Lon. 1838 j also Epist. S. Greg. 
 1. ii. c. iv. 
 
 2* 
 
18 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 me to the words of the bishop of the city of 
 Rome, Pope Gregory, received by us in com- 
 mon." * 
 
 Q. Did the Irish Christians fall into a wrong 
 mode of computing Easter 1 
 
 A. They did. 
 
 Q. Who reclaimed the Irish .from that error 1 
 
 A. Pope Honorius, about the year 628.t 
 
 Q. Did the Irish resist the Pope's settlement 
 of this question among them 1 
 
 A. So far from that, they yielded to it a ready 
 and cheerful obedience. 
 
 Q. Had Pope Honorius a legate in Ireland 
 about this time ? (628.) 
 
 A. Yes. He appointed Saint Lasrean, an Irish 
 prelate, his legate in Ireland. 
 
 Q. Do we find other proofs, in history, of the 
 close connection between the early Irish Chris- 
 tians and the Apostolic Chair I 
 
 A. Yes. The missionaries from Ireland used 
 to go to Rome to do homage to the Pope, and beg 
 his leave and his blessing, before they went to 
 preach to pagan nations. 
 
 Q. Do you know the names of any who did so 1 
 
 A. Yes. Saint Dichul, or Deicolus, did so. 
 About the year 686, Saint Killian and his com- 
 panion missionaries did so. Saint Willibrord 
 (a saint of English birth, who had long lived in 
 Ireland) did so. 
 
 Q. Did Irish bishops take part in Roman 
 councils ? 
 
 * Cuinmiani Hiberni ad Segienum Huensem Abbatem, dc 
 Controversus Paschcdi Epistola, apud Usskrium, Vet. Epist. 
 Hibern. SyUoge. 
 
 t This is stated by Archbishop Usber, in his work " Ih 
 Brittamicarwn Eccksiarum Primordiis. p. 938. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 19 
 
 A. Yes. 
 
 Q. State an instance. 
 
 A. Among the bishops who attended the coun- 
 cil held at Rome by Pope Gregory II., in the year 
 721, were Sedulius, an Irishman, bishop in Britain; 
 and Fergustus the Pict, bishop in Ireland. 
 
 Q. What means were taken to get Waterford 
 made a bishop's see ? 
 
 A. King Murtogh, his brother Dermod, and 
 the four bishops, Domnald, Idunan (of Meath), 
 Samuel (of Dublin), and Ferdomnach (of Lein- 
 ster), petitioned Anselm, the archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, to erect Waterford into a bishopric. 
 
 Q. Why did they apply to the archbishop of 
 Canterbury ? 
 
 A. Because he had, at that time, primatial au- 
 thority over the Irish Christian church, as well as 
 over the English. 
 
 Q. What was the language of the applicants'? 
 
 A. They begged Anselm would appoint a 
 bishop, " in virtue of the power of primacy which 
 he held over them, and of the authority of the 
 apostolic function which he exercised." * 
 
 Q. Did Anselm indicate the Pope's primacy, 
 in his communications to the Irish prelates 1 
 
 A. Of course he did. In writing to the bishop 
 of Dublin, (the aforesaid Samuel,) he says to him, 
 " I have heard that thou hast a cross borne before 
 thee on the highways. If this be true, I order 
 thee to do so no more, because this belongeth only 
 to an archbishop confirmed by the pall from the 
 Roman Pontiff." t 
 
 * Primatus quern super eos gerpbat potestale. et qua fcnge- 
 batur Vicis ApostoucjE Auctoritate." Eadmeri, 
 Histories Novorum, 1. ii. p. 36. ed. Seldeno. London, J623. 
 
 t Anselmus Archiepiscopus Cantuari-s, venarabili 
 
20 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What was the language of Gilbert, bishop 
 of Limerick, in the year 1090 ? 
 
 A. He says : " All the church's members are 
 to be brought under one bishop, namely, Christ, 
 and his vicar, blessed Peter the Apostle, and the 
 Pope presiding in his chair, to be governed by 
 them." 
 
 Q. Does this ancient Irish bishop add anything 
 more on this subject 1 
 
 A. Yes ; his words are : " To Peter only was it 
 said, ' Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I 
 build my Church ; ' therefore, it is the Pope only 
 who stands high above the whole church ; and he 
 puts in order and judges all." * 
 
 Q. What remarkable occurrence took place in 
 the twelfth century 1 
 
 A. Malachi, the primate of all Ireland, visited 
 Rome, and was appointed, by Pope Innocent the 
 Second, his legate in Ireland. 
 
 Q. What was the particular purpose of his 
 visit to Rome? 
 
 A. To obtain from the Pope the honor of the 
 pall, or pallium, for the Irish archbishops. 
 
 Q. What was the pallium ? 
 
 A. An ensign of legatine authority. 
 
 Q. What was k he Pope's answer 1 
 
 A. He told Malachi that he would grant his 
 request, but that it should first be made by the 
 general body of the Irish prelates assembled in 
 synod.t 
 
 fralro Samueli Dublini civitatis Episcopo. Apud Usserium, 
 Vet. Epist. Hibern. Sylloge, p. 69. 
 
 * De Urn Ecclesiastico — Gilleberti Lunicensis ( Lim- 
 erick) Episcopi, Epistola ad Episcopos Hibernia, apud Us- 
 serium, Vet. Epist. Hibern. Sylloge, p. 54, et passim. 
 
 t Vita S. Malachi x a S Bernardo, apud Surium, torn. vi. 
 p. 100. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 21 
 
 Q. Was this promise fulfilled ? 
 
 A. Not immediately ; for, on Malachi's next 
 journey to Rome, to obtain the performance of 
 the promise, he fell sick and died at Clairvaux, in 
 France, in 1148. 
 
 Q. Were the palls granted ? 
 
 A. Yes. Pope Eugenius the Third granted 
 that privilege, through his nuncio, Cardinal Pa- 
 paro, who visited Ireland in the year 1151. 
 
 Q. What happened the following year ? 
 
 A. A council was held at Kells, at which there 
 were twenty-four Irish prelates, and Cardinal Pa- 
 paro presided ; and Ireland was there divided into 
 four archbishopricks. 
 
 Q. Name them. 
 
 A. Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam. 
 
 Q. When was the council of Cashel held ? 
 
 A. In the year 1172. 
 
 Q. Did any other event of importance happen 
 in that year 1 
 
 A. Yes; Henry II., king of England, landed 
 in this country, and received the allegiance of 
 several Irish prelates and princes, as king of 
 Ireland. 
 
 Q. Was that allegiance tendered to Henry by 
 the council of Cashel 1 
 
 A. No ; the council of Cashel had nothing to 
 do with it ; the allegiance of the prelates had been 
 tendered to Henry at Waterford. 
 
 Q. What were the decrees of the council of 
 Cashel ? 
 
 A. They were aimed against certain evils of 
 the time, such as marriages performed within the 
 forbidden degrees of relationship ; informality and 
 carelessness in baptism; extortion committed by 
 
22 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 powerful laymen on the church-lands ; neglect 
 of due solemnity at burials, &>c. 
 
 Q. Was there any other important decree of 
 the council of Cashel ? 
 
 A. Yes ; it enforced the payment of tithes to 
 the clergy. 
 
 Q. Had tithes existed in Ireland previously ? 
 
 A. Yes ; they had been introduced twenty years 
 before, at the council of Kells, held under Car- 
 dinal Paparo. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Invasion of Ireland by the Danes. 
 
 Q. When did the Danes invade Ireland ? 
 
 A. In the ninth century. 
 
 Q. By what name were they known ? 
 
 A. They were called Eastmen, or Ostmen. 
 
 Q. Did they succeed in subduing the country? 
 
 A. Their success was at first only partial. 
 They soon, however, seized upon towns and 
 villages along the coast, and built castles to 
 strengthen their position. 
 
 Q. Did they soon become more powerful? 
 
 A. Yes; before long they overran the whole 
 island. 
 
 Q. Who was the Danish king of Ireland? 
 
 A. Turgesius. 
 
 Q. How was he enabled to conquer the whole 
 kingdom ? 
 
 A. By the disputes and divisions of the Irish 
 chiefs themselves. The native princes were too 
 busy, quarrelling with each other, to oppose a 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 23 
 
 united and effectual resistance to the conquering 
 Danes. 
 
 Q. What useful lesson do we learn from this 
 fact? 
 
 A. That Ireland never can be great, pros- 
 perous, or happy, so long as her people are 
 divided amongst themselves. 
 
 Q. Did Turgesius reign long ? 
 
 A. No. He was soon cut off by the contri- 
 vance of an Irish prince to whom he had made 
 himself obnoxious. 
 
 Q. What followed'? 
 
 A. The Irish revolted against the Danes; and, 
 as they combined together tolerably well, they 
 drove the invaders out of the centre of the country 
 to the coasts ; where, however, they still kept 
 possession of the seaports. 
 
 Q. Did the Danes ever recover their former 
 power in Ireland? 
 
 A. No. In the eleventh century, the Irish 
 resolved to make a grand effort for their final 
 expulsion from the island ; and a battle was fought 
 on the plains of Clontarf, near Dublin, on Good 
 Friday, 1014, in which the Danes were driven to 
 their ships with great slaughter. 
 
 Q. Who was the leader of the Irish army upon 
 that occasion ? 
 
 A. Brian Boroimhe, king-paramount of Ire- 
 land, the greatest and best king that Ireland ever 
 saw. 
 
 Q. Did he live to enjoy the fruits of his victory ? 
 
 A. No ; he was slaughtered, while at prayer in 
 his tent, by a straggling party of the enemy. 
 
 Q. What was the result of Brian Boroimhe's 
 death upon the general interests of the kingdom ? 
 
 A. In the last degree disastrous. On the death 
 
24 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 of the monarch, whose skill and wisdom had for 
 many years governed the land in prosperity and 
 peace, the absurd and criminal squabbles of the 
 petty princes were revived, and the country was 
 ravaged with intestine warfare. 
 
 Q. Is there any use in recording and dwelling 
 on these disgraceful contentions 1 
 
 A. Yes ; they teach us a useful, though a 
 bitter, lesson. The crimes of our forefathers show 
 us what we should avoid. We see, in their 
 miserable domestic quarrels, the true cause why 
 foreign power was able to introduce, and to es- 
 tablish, its supremacy in Ireland. 
 
 Q. Did the unsettled condition of the country 
 afford strong encouragement to the English king, 
 Henry the Second ? 
 
 A. Of course it did. Several of the Irish 
 princes, and all the Irish prelates, wearied with 
 perpetual civil discord, were not unwilling that 
 the kingdom should be placed under a strong 
 sovereign ruler ; and this circumstance gained a 
 welcome for Henry from the heads of the church, 
 and a large number of the temporal rulers of the 
 island. 
 
 Q. What circumstance first drew the British 
 invaders to Ireland? 
 
 A. Dermot, king of Leinster, having been 
 driven out of his kingdom by O'Rorke, prince 
 of Breffny, and O'Connor, king of Connaught, 
 sought the assistance of Henry the Second of 
 England against his native rivals. 
 
 Q. In what year did Dermot thus seek help 
 from Henry 1 
 
 A. In 1168. 
 
 Q. How did Henry receive Dermot's appli- 
 cation ? 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 25 
 
 A. He required the Irish king to do homage 
 to him for his possessions ; and being then unable 
 to go to Ireland himself, he gave Dermot letters- 
 patent, authorizing any English subjects, who 
 might be so inclined, to assist Dermot against 
 O'Connor and O'Rorke. 
 
 Q, Whose assistance did Dermot procure ? 
 . A. That of Richard, Earl of Strigul and 
 Pembroke, usually called Strongbow, from his skill 
 in archery. 
 
 Q. What reward did Dermot promise Strong- 
 bow for his help ? 
 
 A. He promised to give him his daughter Eva 
 in marriage, and also to bequeath to him the 
 inheritance of his kingdom. 
 
 Q. Did Dermot obtain any other help than 
 Strongbow's? 
 
 A. Yes ; he got the aid of Robert Fitz-Stephen, 
 Maurice Fitz-Gerald, Meyler Fitz-Henry, Maurice 
 de Prendergast, Hervey Montmarisco, and several 
 other knights. 
 
 Q. When did the Anglo-Norman invaders first 
 land in Ireland? 
 
 A. They landed on the coast of Wexford in 
 the month of May, 1170. 
 
 Q. Was Strongbow among their number? 
 
 A. No ; he had waited to obtain the express 
 permission of King Henry for his Irish expedition. 
 
 Q. Did Henry grant permission to Strongbow 
 to go to Ireland ? 
 
 A. No; he was jealous of Strongbow, and 
 doubted his allegiance. 
 
 Q. What did Strongbow then do ? 
 
 A. He sailed for Ireland without Henry's per- 
 mission, carrying with him a considerable force, 
 with whose aid he seized Waterford. 
 S 
 
26 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What followed? 
 
 A. Strongbow married Eva, the daughter of 
 Dermot Mac Murrough, king of Leinster ; and, on 
 Dermot's death, he succeeded to his father-in-law's 
 territory. 
 
 Q. In what year did Henry visit Ireland ? 
 
 A. In 1171. He pardoned Strongbow, and 
 confirmed to him the possession of his territories 
 under the English crown. 
 
 Q. Did the Pope sanction Henry the Second 
 in his invasion of Ireland ? 
 
 A. Yes ; Pope Adrian the Fourth had, many 
 years before, (about A. D. 1155,) been solicited 
 by Henry to sanction the conquest of Ireland ; 
 and being himself an Englishman, he readily 
 consented to a scheme that promised to extend 
 the power of his native country. 
 
 Q. Did all the Irish submit to King Henry the 
 Second ? 
 
 A. No ; the larger portion of them resisted his 
 authority. 
 
 Q. Were the English laws extended to the 
 whole of Ireland? 
 
 A. No ; they were at first granted only to the 
 Norman colonists, to some of the seaport towns, 
 and to a few native septs, or clans, who obtained 
 the benefit of them as a matter of favor. 
 
 Q. How many clans obtained the benefit of the 
 English laws ? 
 
 A. Five. 
 
 Q. Name them. 
 
 A. The O'Neills of Ulster, the O'Connors of 
 Connaught, the O'Briens of Thomond, the 
 O'Lachlans of Meath, and the Kavanaghs (other- 
 wise Mac Murroughs) of Leinster. 
 
 Q. How long did this exclusion of the great 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 27 
 
 body of the natives, from the benefit of the Eng- 
 lish law, continue ? 
 
 A. For several centuries; so late, in fact, as 
 the reign of Elizabeth. 
 
 Q. What was the practical effect of this ex- 
 clusion? 
 
 A. To deprive the whole Irish nation, (except- 
 ing the five tribes already mentioned, the descend- 
 ants of the colonists, and the inhabitants of the 
 seaports,) of all remedy in law for any injury done 
 to them, and even of all power of suing for re- 
 dress in any court of justice. 
 
 Q. Was not an effort made by the natives to 
 expel the Anglo-Norman invaders 1 
 
 A. Yes ; and their hopes were excited by a 
 victory they had gained over Strongbow, the Eng- 
 lish commander, who was defeated in an engage- 
 ment near Thurles. 
 
 Q. Who was at the head of the new confed- 
 eracy against the invaders 1 
 
 A. Roderick O'Connor, king-paramount of 
 Ireland. 
 
 Q. Did Roderick succeed ? 
 
 A. No ; his efforts were marred by the old 
 curse of Ireland — the want of unity and combina- 
 tion amongst her inhabitants. 
 
 Q. Had the Anglo-Normans any other advan- 
 tage over the natives, except that which they de- 
 rived from the dissensions of the latter 1 
 
 A. Yes ; they understood the art of war much 
 better than the Irish. They were clad in com- 
 plete suits of steel armor, and were perfect in the 
 management of their chargers : whereas, the 
 Irish had but slight defences, and had merely the 
 rude weapons of their forefathers to oppose to the 
 array and discipline of their powerful invaders. 
 
28 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What was thenceforth the condition of 
 Ireland ? 
 
 A. Most wretched. There was constant war- 
 fare between the natives and the settlers ; in which 
 the victory was sometimes with the Irish. They 
 were brave and ardent, and often made their ene- 
 mies (although cased in armor) feel the weight of 
 their rude and simple weapons. 
 
 Q. What were the weapons of the Irish 
 warriors 1 
 
 A. They had a short lance, or javelin, and a 
 steel hatchet, named a " sparthe" They acquired 
 so much skill in the use of this sparthe, that in 
 close combat they often clove through the steel 
 armor of their adversaries with it. 
 
 Q. What were the houses of the Irish built of 
 at that period ? 
 
 A. Of timber and wicker-work, and construct- 
 ed with such skill as to excite the admiration of 
 foreigners. 
 
 Q. What was the state of religion in Ireland in 
 the twelfth century ? 
 
 A. Religion, of course, suffered severely by the 
 license and havoc resulting from domestic warfare; 
 and its precepts were too often forgotten and neg- 
 lected by the turbulent factions who divided the 
 country. 
 
 Q. What was at that time the character of the 
 clergy of Ireland? 
 
 A. The ancient historian, Giraldus Cambren- 
 sis, although extremely prejudiced against the 
 Irish nation, yet -describes the clergy as being 
 most virtuous. 
 
 Q. What good qualities does he ascribe to the 
 Irish priesthood ? 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 29 
 
 A. He says they were preeminently chaste,* 
 temperate in their food, and attentive to their re- 
 ligious duties. He, however, censures the bishops 
 as slothful ; an accusation not easily reconciled 
 with the admitted virtues of the priesthood from 
 whose ranks they had risen to the episcopacy. 
 
 Q. Who was Laurence O'Toole 1 
 
 A. One of the best and greatest prelates who 
 have adorned the Irish church. He was arch- 
 Dishop of Dublin, and afterwards of Armagh. 
 
 Q. What was his conduct in reference to the 
 English invasion 1 
 
 A. He exerted himself to rouse the Irish chiefs 
 and princes to a grand combined effort to resist 
 the English invaders, and even bore arms himself 
 to encourage his countrymen. 
 
 Q. When, and where, did this good prelate 
 die? 
 
 A. He died in 1178, at the monastery of Eu, 
 in Normandy. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Reign of Henri/ the Second concluded. 
 
 Q. What are the earliest traces we have of par- 
 liaments in Ireland ? 
 
 A. About the year 1169 we find Roderick 
 O'Connor, king-paramount of Ireland, convoking 
 a general council of the princes and nobles of the 
 land at Tara. But this council did not possess 
 
 * " Inter varias quibus pollet virtutes, castitatis prerogativa 
 prase mine t atque prcecellet." c. 27. 
 
30 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 the representative character which attaches to the 
 modern house of commons. 
 
 Q. Did Henry the Second call a parliament in 
 Ireland 1 
 
 A. He did ; and that parliament passed a law 
 arranging the executive government of Ireland.* 
 
 Q. Was Ireland peaceful during Henry's 
 reign 1 
 
 A. It was at the commencement of it, so long 
 as Henry remained in Ireland to overawe resist- 
 ance by his presence. 
 
 Q. How long did he remain in Ireland? 
 
 A. Six months. 
 
 Q. After he quitted it, what occurred ? 
 
 A. Civil war succeeded the short peace which 
 had prevailed during his stay. 
 
 Q. How did it arise 1 
 
 A. From the discontent excited by the grasping 
 rapacity of Henry and his followers. 
 
 Q. Give an example of this. 
 
 A. He granted away the entire kingdom of 
 Meath, the royal patrimony of the house of Me- 
 lachlin, to Hugh De Lacy, an Anglo-Norman 
 knight. 
 
 Q. What was the extent of land thus trans- 
 ferred to De Lacy ? 
 
 A. About eight hundred thousand acres. 
 
 * "The statute, 2 Richard III. c. 8, recites as follows: 
 'Que le Statute de Henry Fitz Emprice,' [Henry the Second] 
 ' ordeine pour la eleccion del gouvernor, 7 &c, had made 
 several regulations for supplying occasional vacancies in that 
 office. It then proceeds to amend the same. Here, therefore, 
 we have an evidence of a purely legislative enactment of 
 primary importance, made in Ireland, arranging the executive 
 government itself, and coeval with the supposed conquest of 
 the kingdom." Mr. Monck Mason's Essay on the Constitution 
 and Antiquity of Parliaments in Ireland, p. 3, Dublin, 1820. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 31 
 
 Q. In whose occupation had this territory been, 
 prior to Henry's seizure of it ? 
 
 A. In that of O'Ruarc, to whom it had been 
 temporarily given by Roderick O'Connor. 
 
 Q. Did O'Ruarc endeavor to obtain amends 1 
 
 A. Yes ; he asked redress from Hugh de Lacy, 
 who appointed Tara Hill for a conference. They 
 met, with a stipulated number of followers upon 
 each side. The two chiefs, unarmed, and at a 
 distance from all the rest, conferred together with 
 the help of an interpreter. 
 
 Q. Did their conference end peaceably ? 
 
 A. No ; a strife arose, and O'Ruarc was slain 
 by a relation of De Lacy's named Griffith. His 
 corpse was beheaded, and buried with the heels 
 upwards, in token of contempt. His head was 
 exposed on a stake over one of the gates of Dublin, 
 and finally sent to England, to the king. 
 
 Q. Where did the celebrated Strongbow at 
 this time reside ? 
 
 A. At Ferns, in Leinster, the residence of his 
 father-in-law, King Dermot Mac Murrough. 
 
 Q. Was he engaged in civil war with any of 
 the native chiefs ? 
 
 A. Yes ; with O'Dempsey O'Faley. 
 
 Q. What was the cause of quarrel 1 
 
 A. O'Faley had refused to attend the court of 
 Strongbow ; whereupon the latter invaded his 
 territory. 
 
 Q. With what success 1 
 
 A. Strongbow, at first, being unresisted, spread 
 destruction in his progress. But on his return he 
 was attacked by O'Faley, at the head of a party, 
 who slew a number of the Strongbownian knights, 
 including Strongbow's son-in-law, De Quincy, and 
 captured the standard of Leinster. 
 
32 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. In what year did that skirmish occur 1 
 
 A. In 1173. 
 
 Q. Did any commotions take place in the fol- 
 lowing year ? 
 
 A. Yes. In 1174 Strongbow sent his relation, 
 Hervey de Mount-Maurice, to attack Donald 
 O'Brian, king of Limerick. A large reinforce- 
 ment of Strongbow's army, however, were sur- 
 prised at Ossory, and almost totally destroyed, by a 
 party whom Donald O'Brian commanded. 
 
 Q. What was Strongbow's revenge for this 
 defeat ? 
 
 A. He sent Raymond, one of his best military 
 commanders, with a large force, to besiege Lim- 
 erick. The assailants succeeded in taking the 
 town, notwithstanding a gallant defence. 
 
 Q. How long did the English keep Limerick ? 
 
 A. Until May, 1176. Raymond was then 
 obliged to repair to Dublin, Strongbow having 
 died ; and being unable to leave a sufficient force 
 to occupy Limerick, he surrendered it back to 
 Donald O'Brian ; pretending to rely on O'Brian's 
 future loyalty to the king of England. 
 
 Q. How did Donald O'Brian act, on obtaining 
 possession of the town ? 
 
 A. Ere Raymond's forces were out of sight, 
 Donald set fire to the town, saying " that it should 
 never again be made a nest of foreigners." 
 
 Q. Where was Strongbow buried? 
 
 A. In the cathedral of Christ Church, Dublin. 
 
 Q. Did Meath continue peaceful all this 
 time? 
 
 A. By no means. De Lacy had given the 
 castle of Slane, in Meath, to one of his followers, 
 named Fleming. The Irish chief who had been 
 dispossessed surprised the English garrison and 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 33 
 
 inhabitants of Slane, put them all to the sword, 
 and recovered possession of his castle. 
 
 Q. What further results followed ? 
 
 A. The English, in Meath, were so terrified, 
 that the garrisons of three other castles, built by 
 Fleming in that territory, evacuated them on the 
 following day. 
 
 Q. Did King Henry enter into a treaty with 
 Roderick O'Connor, king-paramount of Ireland 1 
 
 A. He did, in 1175. 
 
 Q. What were the terms of this treaty ? 
 
 A. Henry was bound to protect Roderick in 
 possession of his territories, provided that Rod- 
 erick consented to hold them as Henry's tributary. 
 Roderick, on the other hand, was bound to com- 
 pel the Irish princes to pay tribute which was to 
 pass through his hands to Henry. In case of any 
 rebellion against Henry, Roderick was empowered, 
 by the terms of the treaty, to judge and punish 
 the insurgents. 
 
 Q. What was the amount of tribute stipulated ? 
 
 A. One hide for every ten head of cattle 
 slaughtered within the kingdom. 
 
 Q. Was this treaty observed 1 
 
 A. No; in the turmoil and confusion of the 
 times its observance was impossible. 
 
 Q. Did the Irish and their invaders blend into 
 one nation ? 
 
 A. Not at that period. The greatest hatred, 
 in general, animated the two races against each 
 other. 
 
 Q. What, then, prevented the Irish from com- 
 bining to drive the invaders out of the land 1 
 
 A. They were too busy quarrelling with each 
 other for any such great national effort. Their 
 bravery, their enterprise, their mental abilities 
 
34 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 were all rendered unavailing by their unhappy 
 internal divisions. It often happened that they 
 joined the English forces, and fought in their ranks 
 against some hostile native chieftain. 
 
 Q. Did not the English also often contend 
 against each other 1 
 
 A. Yes ; English troops were sometimes to be 
 found on opposite sides fighting in the ranks of 
 contending Irish chiefs ; and the English leaders 
 themselves were occasionally influenced, by their 
 mutual jealousies, to assume an attitude of armed 
 hostility against each other. 
 
 Q. Did not some of the new settlers intermarry 
 with the native Irish families 1 
 
 A. Yes ; we have seen that Strongbow married 
 Eva, the daughter of Dermot Mac Murrough ; and 
 Hugh De Lacy, to whom Meath had been granted, 
 married the daughter of King Roderick O'Connor. 
 There were also several other such alliances. 
 
 Q. To whom did King Henry grant Ireland 1 
 
 A. To his son John. 
 
 Q. What was John's character ? 
 
 A. He was cruel, profligate, extravagant, and 
 vain ; destitute alike of moral principle and politi- 
 cal wisdom. 
 
 Q. In what year did John arrive in Ireland ? 
 
 A. He landed at Waterford in 1185. 
 
 Q. What was John's conduct ? 
 
 A. He commenced by offering personal insults 
 to the Irish chieftains who came to offer their 
 respects to him as the son of their sovereign. 
 He, and his courtiers, plucked their beards, 
 ridiculed their dress and manners, mimicked their 
 attitudes, and finally turned them out of the 
 presence. 
 
 Q. How did the chiefs act ? 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 35 
 
 A. They resented the insolence ^pf John by a 
 strong effort to throw off the Anglo-Norman 
 power. 
 
 Q. How far did they succeed ? 
 
 A. Their triumphs were partial. The prince 
 of Limerick destroyed the English garrison of 
 Ardfinnan. At Lismore, Robert De Barry and 
 his entire troop were cut off. In Ossory, Roger 
 De la Poer was slain, and his force destroyed. 
 Two gallant knights, named Fitz-Hugh and Can- 
 ton, were also slain by the Irish. The English 
 garrison of Mogeva, in Tyrone, was routed with 
 great slaughter by O'Loughlin, prince of that 
 territory. 
 
 Q. Was the English power in Cork assailed by 
 the natives 1 
 
 A. Yes; M'Carthy, prince of Desmond, very 
 nearly succeeded in capturing the city. He was, 
 however, foiled by the gallant defence of Fitz- 
 Walter. 
 
 Q. Was the English power in Meath attacked ? 
 
 A. It was, by the northern Irish ; who were 
 with great loss and difficulty repuised by William 
 Petit. 
 
 Q. When King Henry learned these tidings, 
 what steps did he take? 
 
 A. He recalled his foolish and profligate son, 
 and appointed John De Courcy, earl of Ulster, 
 lord deputy of Ireland. 
 
 Q. Did De Courcy put down the insurrection 1 
 
 A. Yes. Even at this most critical juncture, 
 the old curse of Ireland — the mutual quarrels of 
 her chiefs — rendered them liable to easy defeat. 
 
 Q. What became of King Roderick O'Connor 1 
 
 A. He was dethroned by his own sons, and 
 ended his days in the monastery of Oong. 
 
36 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What schools did he found and endow ? 
 
 A. The schools of Armagh. 
 
 Q. When did King Henry die ? 
 
 A. In the year 1 189, at Chinon, in Normandy. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Reigns of Richard J., John, and Henri/ III. 
 
 Q. Who succeeded Henry as king of England? 
 
 A. His eldest son, Richard. 
 
 Q. Did King Richard assume the control of 
 Ireland ? 
 
 A. No ; he left the management of the country 
 to his brother John, to whom the late King Henry 
 had granted it. 
 
 Q. What was John's first measure ? 
 
 A. He began by removing De Courcy from 
 the office of lord deputy, and appointing Hugh 
 De Lacy to the government. 
 
 Q. What was the result of this step ? 
 
 A. Open hatred on the part of De Courcy to 
 his successor. 
 
 Q. Did De Lacy long continue lord deputy ? 
 
 A. No. He was soon removed and replaced 
 by William Petit, who, in turn, was displaced to 
 make room for the late Earl Strongbow's son-in- 
 law, William Earl Marshal. 
 
 Q. What steps did the Lord Deputy Earl 
 Marshal take? 
 
 A. He proceeded to Munster, to subdue the 
 insurgents there. 
 
 Q. With what success ? 
 
 A. His campaign began unpromising! v. O'Bri- 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 37 
 
 an, prince of Thomond, encountered him at 
 Thurles, and overthrew his forces, putting to the 
 sword a great number of knights. The English 
 were routed from Munster, with the sole exception 
 of Cork, which was still retained by an English 
 garrison. 
 
 Q. Did the Irish make any effort to obtain 
 Cork? 
 
 A. Yes ; M'Carthy of Desmond, who had pre- 
 viously been repulsed from Cork by the English 
 garrison under Fitz-Walter, now renewed his at- 
 tack on the city ; the army sent to reenforce the 
 defenders had been cut off by the Irish, and the 
 garrison, having exhausted their provisions, sur- 
 rendered to M'Carthy. 
 
 Q. Did the Irish chiefs improve this success to 
 establish their own power on a lasting basis? 
 
 A. Unhappily not. M'Carthy, prince of Des- 
 mond, jealous of the power of O'Brian, prince of 
 Thomond, actually invited the English to assist 
 him against his rival, and even permitted them to 
 build the castle of Breginnis in Desmond, the 
 better to enable them to harass O' Brian ! 
 
 Q. In what year did this occur ? 
 
 A. About the year 1 190. 
 
 Q. Why do we record these shameful squab- 
 bles? 
 
 A. Because they show us the true cause of 
 Ireland's subjection to a foreign power. The Irish 
 had numberless opportunities of establishing their 
 own independence, and lost every one of them by 
 their absurd and mischievous contentions. 
 
 Q. What do modern Irishmen learn from these 
 facts ? 
 
 A. They learn that, in order to regain their 
 native parliament, it is absolutely necessary to 
 4 
 
38 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 forget all past dissensions, and to work together 
 as one man — cordially, heartily, perseveringly. 
 
 Q. You have said that some of the invading 
 chiefs also quarrelled with each other : can you 
 name any who did so 1 
 
 A. Yes; Fitz-Aldelm De Burgo, the lord dep- 
 uty, seized on Raymond Fitzgerald's castle of 
 Wicklow. 
 
 Q. Was this the only case of the kind 1 
 
 A. By no means. Fitz-Aldelm compelled 
 Raymond Le Gros, and Robert Fitz-Stephen, to 
 yield the lands they had originally got to newer 
 invaders; and the dispossessed knights were 
 obliged to content themselves with less profitable 
 territories, in a more dangerous part of the 
 country. 
 
 Q. Have you any other instances of dissension 
 amongst the English in Ireland ] 
 
 A. Yes ; Meyler Fitz-Henry marched an army 
 against De Burgo in Connaught ; and De Lacy, 
 at the head of a powerful force, attacked De 
 Courcy in Ulster. De Lacy was also engaged in 
 war against the young Earl of Pembroke, whose 
 estates he had tried to seize. 
 
 Q. How did their struggle end 1 
 
 A. Pembroke was destroyed by the treachery 
 of Geoffry De Maurisco, an English knight, who 
 had promised to support him, but who betrayed 
 him by suddenly drawing off his forces at the 
 moment of battle. 
 
 Q. Did the Fitzgerald family partake of this 
 turbulence 1 
 
 A. Yes ; they actually seized on the lord dep- 
 uty, (Richard De Capella,) and threw him into 
 prison for his efforts to resist their usurpations. 
 Civil war among the Anglo-Norman barons be- 
 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 39 
 
 came frequent ; thus affording to the native Irish 
 many opportunities of freedom, derived from the 
 violent divisions of their invaders. 
 
 Q. In what year did King John die ? 
 
 A. In the year 1216. 
 
 Q. What quarrels, about that time, disturbed 
 Connaught? 
 
 A. De Burgo usurped certain lands of Feidhm 
 O'Connor's; the king (Henry III.) interfered in 
 behalf of O'Connor, and ordered the then lord 
 deputy (Maurice Fitzgerald) to protect him from 
 De Burgo's rapacity. 
 
 Q. Who built the magnificent cathedral of 
 Cashel ! 
 
 A. Donald O'Brian, prince of Thomond. 
 
 Q. In what year did he die 1 
 
 A. In 1194. 
 
 Q. Did Henry the Third hold parliaments in 
 Ireland? 
 
 A. Yes; he convened Irish parliaments in tho 
 years 1253 and 1269. 
 
 Q. What do you notice with respect to the 
 Irish parliaments 1 
 
 A. I notice, that the king's Irish subjects en- 
 joyed a domestic parliament in Ireland from as 
 early a period as his English subjects enjoyed a 
 parliament in England. 
 
 Q. In what year did Henry the Third die ? 
 
 A. In 1272. 
 
40 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Reigns of Edward I., II. , and HI. 
 
 Q. What remarkable offer did the Irish make 
 in the reign of Edward the First 1 
 
 A. The Irish princes offered the king the sum 
 of 8000 marks, provided that the rights of British 
 subjects, enjoyed by the descendants of the Eng- 
 lish settlers, should be extended to the whole Irish 
 nation. * 
 
 Q. How did Edward treat the offer ? 
 
 A. He was perfectly willing to grant the 
 request. 
 
 Q. What prevented him from doing so 1 
 
 A. The Irish lords of English descent opposed 
 the king's wise plans and the wishes of the Irish 
 people; for they believed that to extend the rights 
 of British subjects to the whole nation would 
 greatly abridge their own power to oppress and 
 plunder. 
 
 Q. Was this offer ever repeated by the Irish ? 
 
 A. Yes ; often at later periods ; and as often 
 defeated by the influence of the Anglo-Irish lords. 
 
 Q. Did Edward the First hold a parliament in 
 Ireland 1 
 
 A. He did ; in the year 1295. 
 
 Q. When did Edward die ? 
 
 A. He died whilst marching against the Scotch, 
 in 1307. 
 
 Q. What great victory did the Scotch gain 
 over the English, in the reign of Edward the 
 Second ? 
 
 A. Under the command of Robert Bruce, they 
 defeated the English at the battle of Bannockburn, 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 41 
 
 Q. How was this Scottish victory regarded in 
 Ireland ? 
 
 A. The chiefs of Ulster, regarding themselves 
 as allied in Celtic kindred with the victors, were 
 delighted at their triumph, and resolved to follow, 
 if possible, so glorious an example. 
 
 Q. Did they make the attempt ? 
 
 A. Yes ; Edward Bruce, the brother of the 
 Scottish king, landed on the eastern coast of Ul- 
 ster in May, 1315, and was joined by the princi- 
 pal chiefs of Ulster. 
 
 Q. What followed? 
 
 A. They seized on several castles; burned 
 Atherdee, Dundalk, and many other towns, and 
 speedily banished the English out of Ulster. 
 
 Q. How did the barons act? 
 
 A. Many of them were willing to enter into 
 terms with Bruce ; and even the powerful house 
 of De Lacy joined his standard. 
 
 Q. How did the clergy act ? 
 
 A. A large number of them declared in favor 
 of Bruce. 
 
 Q. What was Bruce' s next step ? 
 
 A. He got himself solemnly crowned king of 
 Ireland, at Dundalk. He then marched south- 
 ward, as provisions could no longer be procured 
 for his army in the north. 
 
 Q. What Anglo-Norman lords opposed Edward 
 Bruce ? 
 
 A. Fitz-Thomas, the baron of O'Faley, and 
 Butler, the lord deputy. Fitz-Thomas was re- 
 warded by the king of England with the title of 
 earl of Kildare, and Butler was created earl of 
 Carrick. 
 
 Q. Did other lords follow their example 1 
 
 A. Yes ; several did so. 
 
42 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What support did Bruce get, besides that 
 of the Ulster chieftains 1 
 
 A. Feidlim O'Connor, of Connaught, declared 
 in his favor ; but this help was soon cut off by the 
 total defeat of Feidlim at the battle of Athenree. 
 
 Q. Who commanded the royalist army against 
 Feidlim'? 
 
 A. Sir Richard Bermingham. 
 
 Q. Was Edward Bruce dismayed by the defeat 
 of his ally, O'Connor, at Athenree 1 
 
 A. No ; he ravaged the country up to the very 
 walls of Dublin. He marched through Ossory, 
 and advanced into Munster. 
 
 Q. Was he opposed in that province 1 
 
 A. Yes ; by Sir Roger Mortimer, the new lord 
 deputy, who landed with a large force at Water- 
 ford. Bruce, fearing to meet this armament, 
 hastily retreated northward. 
 
 Q. What was the condition of Bruce in the 
 north ? 
 
 A. It was miserable. His army could get no 
 provisions, as the country had been previously 
 wasted ; and it is said that his soldiers, to allay the 
 pangs of famine, used to eat the dead bodies of 
 their brethren. 
 
 Q. Did Robert Bruce, the Scottish king, take 
 any steps to relieve his brother Edward ? 
 
 A. Yes; Robert prepared to bring an army to 
 assist him. 
 
 Q. How did Edward Bruce act 1 
 
 A. His impatience was his ruin. Instead of 
 waiting for the arrival of help from Scotland, he 
 led his shattered remnant of an army against Sir 
 Richard Bermingham, who was at the head of 
 15,000 men. They fought at Dundalk, in 1318, 
 and Bruce's army was utterly routed 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 43 
 
 Q. What was his own personal fate ? 
 
 A. He engaged in single combat with an Eng- 
 lish knight, named Maupas or Malpas; and so 
 fierce was the encounter, that both were slain. 
 
 Q. Did Robert Bruce arrive in Ireland? 
 
 A. Yes. But he immediately returned to 
 Scotland on learning the fate of his unfortunate 
 brother. 
 
 Q. How was Sir Richard Bermingham re- 
 warded for his victory over Edward Bruce ? 
 
 A. He was created earl of Louth and baron 
 of Atherdee. 
 
 Q. Did the great lords of English descent 
 settle into a peaceful mode of living ? 
 
 A. Far from it. They were as quarrelsome 
 as the original Irish chiefs. In 1327, we find 
 the Butlers and Berminghams ranged on the side 
 of Maurice of Desmond, in fierce civil war against 
 De la Poer and the De Burgos. 
 
 Q. What was the cause of quarrel ? 
 
 A. De la Poer had called Maurice of Desmond 
 a poet; whereupon Maurice, in order to mark his 
 indignation at the slander, very prosaically went 
 to war with De la Poer. 
 
 Q. What use did the old Irish clans make of 
 this circumstance? 
 
 A. They took up arms; and, under the guid- 
 ance of O' Brian, prince of Thomond, defeated 
 the English in several engagements, in Leinster. 
 
 Q. What particular grievance induced the 
 Irish clans to take up arms just then? 
 
 A. They had renewed their earnest prayer to 
 be admitted to the full privileges of British sub- 
 jects ; which privileges, by the influence of the 
 lords of English descent, had been refused to them. 
 
 Q. Did the progress of time in any degree 
 
44 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 tend to blend the two races of English and Irish 
 into one nation 1 
 
 A. To some extent it did so. In spite of 
 bitter laws forbidding intermarriages, such unions 
 did take place; and some of the lords even 
 renounced the English name and English lan- 
 guage, and adopted Irish names and used the 
 Irish tongue. 
 
 Q. What was the description given of those 
 who did so ? 
 
 A. They were called " Hibernicis ipsis Hi- 
 berniores." 
 
 Q. What does this phrase mean ? 
 
 A. " More Irish than the Irish themselves." 
 
 Q. Did the Anglo-Irish lords often rebel 
 against the king of England? 
 
 A. Yes ; many of them did so. 
 
 Q. Who was appointed lord deputy of Ireland 
 in 1361 1 
 
 A. Lionel, Duke of Clarence ; the second son 
 of Edward the Third. 
 
 Q. What remarkable statute was passed during 
 Lionel's vice-royalty? 
 
 A. The " statute of Kilkenny." 
 
 Q. In what year was it passed ? 
 
 A. In 1367. 
 
 Q. What were its provisions ? 
 
 A. It forbade, under pain of high treason, 
 marriage, fosterage, or gossipred between persons 
 of English descent and the old Irish families. It 
 also forbade all persons of English descent to use 
 the Irish language, or to adopt Irish names. 
 
 Q. What other provisions did this statute 
 contain ? 
 
 A. It strictly forbade the king's subjects in 
 Ireland to entertain in their houses Irish minstrels, 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND 45 
 
 musicians, or story-tellers. It also forbade them 
 to allow an Irish horse to graze upon their 
 lands ! ! ! 
 
 Q. What was the consequence of this insane 
 act? 
 
 A. Fresh turmoils, riots, civil wars, and in- 
 surrections. 
 
 Q. How did it happen that the conquest of 
 England, by the Normans, did not produce such 
 evils to that country, as those which followed 
 from the invasion of Ireland by the Anglo-Norman 
 settlers ? 
 
 A. Because the Norman conquerors of England 
 fixed the royal seat of government in England ; 
 and by the mere fact of residence, the government 
 became in course of time identified in national 
 feeling with that country. But in Ireland the 
 government was not national in its sentiments 
 or in its measures : instead of ruling Ireland for 
 the good of its own people, it ruled the country for 
 what it deemed the good of England ; and it kept 
 the two races in Ireland from uniting with each 
 other for the common benefit, as the different 
 races in England had done. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Reign of Edward the Third concluded. 
 
 Q. Did Edward find Ireland a profitable pos- 
 session 1 
 
 A. No. It was a source of heavy expense to 
 him. 
 
 Q. Did he ask the Irish for supplies of money ? 
 
46 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 A. He did ; but they replied that they had got 
 none to give his majesty. 
 
 Q. What was Edward's next act? 
 
 A. He took a strange step. He summoned a 
 sort of Irish parliament to meet him at West- 
 minster; consisting of two members from each 
 county, two burgesses from each city and borough, 
 and two priests from each diocese. 
 
 Q. When this odd sort of parliament had met, 
 how did Edward address them ? 
 
 A. He complained of the expense of governing 
 Ireland, and demanded money. 
 
 Q. What did the Irish deputies answer ? 
 
 A. That their constituents had expressly pro- 
 hibited them from granting his majesty any ; on 
 which the king dismissed them. 
 
 Q. Was the rest of his reign prosperous ? 
 
 A. No. The barons, by their wars and ex- 
 actions, rendered prosperity impossible. 
 
 Q. Were the contentious Irish chiefs and 
 Anglo-Irish nobles worse than the same class of 
 men in other lands 1 
 
 A. No. In the days of the Heptarchy, we 
 find that the petty kings of England were en- 
 gaged in constant warfare. In later times, that 
 country was ravaged by repeated civil wars. And 
 in Scotland, we find that the quarrels of the 
 Scottish nobles involved the kingdom in perpet- 
 ual bloodshed for centuries. 
 
 Q. In what year did Edward the Third die ? 
 
 A. In 1377. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 47 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Reign of Richard the Second. 
 
 Q. Did King Richard the Second visit Ireland? 
 
 A. He did, in the hope of quelling the dis- 
 turbances. 
 
 Q. How was he received on his arrival ? 
 
 A. The Irish chiefs and the Anglo-Irish lords 
 hastened to pay him their homage and allegiance. 
 Richard made a royal progress through the king- 
 dom, with great parade, and at profuse expense. 
 
 Q. What treaty did Richard make with Mac 
 Murrough, prince of Leinster 1 
 
 A. He stipulated that Mac Murrough and all 
 his followers should quit Leinster by a certain day, 
 having surrendered all their territories there to his 
 majesty, his heirs and successors. 
 
 Q. What compensation did King Richard give 
 Mac Murrough, for this vast surrender ? 
 
 A. His majesty gave full license and encour- 
 agement to Mac Murrough to seize upon all such 
 territories belonging to the Irish septs in any other 
 part of the realm as he could grasp by violence. 
 He also undertook to pay Mac Murrough an an- 
 nual pension of eighty marks. 
 
 Q. Did Richard hold a parliament in Ireland 1 
 
 A. He did — in 1395. 
 
 Q. What measures did he take whilst in the 
 kingdom 1 
 
 A. Wiser and more just ones than his extra- 
 ordinary treaty with Mac Murrough could lead us 
 to expect. He provided learned and upright 
 judges for the courts of law ; and he tried to con- 
 ciliate the four chief Irish princes, by conferring 
 
48 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 upon them the order of knighthood, and enter- 
 taining them at a banquet at his own table. It 
 appears, from a letter which he wrote from Dublin 
 to his English council, that he saw the advantages 
 which might result from a milder mode of dealing 
 with the ancient clans than had been used by any 
 previous monarch. 
 
 Q. Whom did Richard appoint as lord lieu- 
 tenant ? 
 
 A. His kinsman, the young earl of March. 
 
 Q. Did March find the Irish obedient 1 
 
 A. No ; as soon as Richard quitted Ireland, 
 several clans broke out in revolt. 
 
 Q. Did Mac Murrough evacuate Leinster ac- 
 cording to his treaty? 
 
 A. No ; and when required to do so, he took 
 up arms against the lord lieutenant, who was 
 slain in an engagement with the O' Byrnes and 
 Kavanaghs.* 
 
 Q. When this news reached Richard, what 
 steps did he take 1 
 
 A. He proceeded once more to Ireland, in 
 order to chastise Mac Murrough and the confed- 
 erated clans. 
 
 Q. Did Richard succeed ? 
 
 A. No ; Mac Murrough was safe in his moun- 
 tain fastnesses, and could not be brought to an 
 open engagement. Richard's forces were unable 
 to dislodge the clans from their rocky glens and 
 dense forests ; and as the country had been greatly 
 wasted, provisions were almost unattainable ; so 
 that numbers of the English army perished from 
 famine. 
 
 Q. What was Richard's next measure ? 
 
 * Mac Murrough was chief of the Kavanagna. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 49 
 
 A. Finding himself obliged to retreat from his 
 harassing enemy, he proposed to enter on a new 
 treaty with Mac Murrough. 
 
 Q. How did Mac Murrough receive this pro- 
 posal 1 
 
 A. With scornful defiance. 
 
 Q. What then happened to Richard 1 
 
 A. He was obliged to return to England to 
 oppose Henry of Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, 
 who, during the king's absence from that country, 
 had landed there to claim the crown. Richard 
 was betrayed into the power of Lancaster, and 
 thrown into prison, where he shortly afterwards 
 died. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Reigns of Henry IV., F., and VI. 
 
 Q. What events occurred in Ireland in the 
 reign of Henry the Fourth 1 
 
 A. The Irish chiefs very much enlarged their 
 power. 
 
 Q. Did the Irish lords of English descent be- 
 come more national than they had previously 
 been 1 
 
 A. Yes ; they began to feel that they were 
 Irishmen. They, in fact, became Irish chieftains; 
 and they intermarried frequently with the old 
 Milesian families. 
 
 Q. Was there not a law forbidding such mar- 
 riages ? 
 
 A. Yes ; but that law was now no longer ob- 
 served. 
 
 6 
 
50 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. On what terms did the barons stand with; 
 the chiefs of native lineage ? 
 
 A. Many of them paid to the chiefs a fixed 
 tribute (equivalent to the Scotch black-mail), and 
 received their protection in return. 
 
 Q. Did the English parliament look upon the 
 Anglo-Irish families with enmity .' 
 
 A. Yes ; that parliament classed them to- 
 gether with the rest of the Irish people, in a 
 statute whereby it forbade " all Irish adventurers 
 whatsoever " to come into England ; at the same 
 time ordering all who had already come to depart 
 thence without delay. 
 
 Q. Did this law extend to all the Irish, without 
 any exception ? 
 
 A. Yes. It even included the sons of the Irish 
 nobility, who were then studying in the English 
 inns of court and universities. 
 
 Q. What effect did this act of banishment pro- 
 duce on those who were the objects of it ? 
 
 A. The Irish nobility and gentry, stung with 
 the affront, returned home to their own country, 
 and used all the means in their power to annoy 
 the government. 
 
 Q. Were measures then changed ? 
 
 A. Yes; the king (Henry the Sixth) appointed 
 the earl of Ormond lord lieutenant of Ireland. 
 
 Q. Was that a politic appointment ? 
 
 A. In some respects it was. He produced 
 peace at first by his wise measures. But after 
 some time he became embroiled with the earl of 
 Desmond, who mustered sufficient force to give 
 him battle, and after a tedious campaign, a truce 
 was agreed to by both parties. 
 
 Q. Did Ormond long continue }ord lieu- 
 tenant 1 
 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 51 
 
 A. No ; his rivals had interest enough to pre- 
 vail on the king to remove him ; and Talbot, earl 
 of Shrewsbury, was appointed in his place. 
 
 Q. Who succeeded Shrewsbury, in the year 
 1449? 
 
 A. Richard, duke of York. 
 
 Q. Was he a good viceroy ? 
 
 A. One of the very best who ever ruled Ire- 
 land. He observed strict good faith in his treaties 
 with the Irish chiefs ; he felt for the wrongs of the 
 peasantry, and tried to improve their condition. 
 
 Q. What circumstance called the duke of 
 York from Ireland? 
 
 A. He went to England in order to defend 
 himself against a false charge that had been 
 made ; namely, that he had encouraged the rebel- 
 lion of a man named Jack Cade and his party. 
 
 Q. What occurred in England 1 
 
 A. There was a rebellion against Henry the 
 Sixth, who was thrown into prison, and the royal 
 power was transferred to the duke of York. 
 
 Q. How long did the duke retain it ? 
 
 A. Not long. Queen Margaret assembled the 
 friends of her imprisoned husband, and gained a 
 victory over the Yorkists, at Blore Heath. 
 
 Q. What was the duke's next step ? 
 
 A. He fled for safety to Ireland. 
 
 Q. How was he received there 1 
 
 A. With the greatest joy. The Irish parlia- 
 ment passed an act attaching the guilt of high 
 treason to any attempt that should be made to 
 molest or disturb the duke or his followers, under 
 pretext of writs from England ; for the English 
 parliament had previously attainted him. 
 
 Q. Was the Irish act for his protection vio- 
 lated ? 
 
52 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 A. It was; by a follower of the earl of Or- 
 mond. The delinquent was forthwith executed. 
 
 Q. What was the duke's ultimate fate ? 
 
 A. He returned to England, with a numerous 
 following of his Irish adherents, to strike a blow 
 for the crown ; but was slain, and his army routed 
 by superior numbers, at the battle of Wakefield. 
 
 Q. What declaration did the Irish parliament 
 make in the 38th year of the reign of King Henry 
 the Sixth ? 
 
 A. The Irish parliament in that year declared 
 its own independence on England. 
 
 Q. In what terms? 
 
 A. The two houses declared that " Ireland is, 
 and always has been, incorporated within itself by 
 ancient laws and customs ; and is only to be gov- 
 erned by such laws as by the lords and commons 
 of the land, in parliament assembled, have been 
 advised, accepted, affirmed and proclaimed." They 
 also declared, " that by custom, privilege, and 
 franchise, there has ever been a royal seal peculiar 
 to Ireland, to which alone the king's subjects are 
 to pay obedience." 
 
 Q. What was the final result of the civil war 
 in England? 
 
 A. Notwithstanding the exertions of Queen 
 Margaret, her husband's power was utterly de- 
 stroyed ; and the throne was usurped by Edward, 
 (of York,) fourth king of that name, in the year 
 1461. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 63 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Reigns of Edward IV. and V., and Richard III. 
 
 Q. What was the condition of Ireland in the 
 reign of Edward the Fourth 1 
 
 A. At that time the Irish people — thereby 
 meaning not only the Milesian clans, but also the 
 descendants of the Norman invaders who had be- 
 come thoroughly Irish in their language, names, 
 manners, and sentiments — were so strong, as 
 compared with the small English colony of occu- 
 pation, that they could with the utmost ease have 
 acquired for themselves the supreme government 
 of the kingdom. 
 
 Q. And what prevented them from doing so ? 
 
 A. Their old sin of mutual discord, mutual 
 enmity, mutual distrust. They would not com- 
 bine with each other for a common and general 
 purpose. 
 
 Q. Had many of the Anglo-Norman families 
 then adopted the Irish name and nation ? 
 
 A. Yes ; very many. And to them, as also to 
 the Irish chiefs inhabiting the borders of the Eng- 
 lish pale, or district, did the English inhabitants 
 continue, in this reign, to pay the black-mail, or 
 tribute, for protection from the lawless violence 
 of freebooters. 
 
 Q. How did the English government at this 
 time use such influence as it possessed ? 
 
 A. Its influence was used, as was generally the 
 case, to insult and oppress the Irish people ; which 
 it could not have done if it were not for the weak- 
 ness arising from the divisions of the people them- 
 selves. 
 
 5* 
 
54 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What oppressive measures were enacted ? 
 
 A. In the year 1463, a parliament held at 
 Trim by Fitz-Eustace, lord Portlester, made a 
 law, " that any body may kill thieves or robbers, 
 or any person going to rob or steal, having no 
 faithful men of good name and in the English 
 dress in their company." 
 
 Q. What were the results of this law ? 
 
 A. It gave a great facility to the English in- 
 habitants to murder their Irish neighbors ; since 
 it was sufficient justification for the crime to allege 
 " that the deceased had been going to rob or 
 steal." 
 
 Q. What other enactment was made by that 
 parliament ? 
 
 A. It enacted, on pain of forfeiture of goods, 
 that all the Irish who inhabited the English dis- 
 trict should take English names, wear the English 
 dress, and swear allegiance. 
 
 Q. What other act was passed against the 
 people in this reign ? 
 
 A. In a parliament over which the English 
 bishop of Meath, William Sherwood, presided, it 
 
 \was enacted that any Englishman, injured by any 
 Irishman beyond the pale, might avenge himself 
 on the entire clan to which the aggressor be- 
 longed. 
 
 Q. What circumstances prevented all the in- 
 habitants of Ireland from making common cause 
 with each other, and blending together in one 
 great national mass 1 
 
 A. We have seen already that the unhappy dis- 
 position of the people to quarrel among them- 
 selves fatally weakened them. But there was 
 another cause. 
 
 Q. What was that? 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 55 
 
 A. The nature of the government, which was 
 almost always opposed to the people, and regarded 
 them not as friends and subjects, but as enemies. 
 This adverse power was sustained, not only by the 
 mutual jealousies which it fomented amongst the 
 people, but also by fresh streams of English ad- 
 venturers, who continually poured into the country, 
 bringing with them a perpetual supply of bitter 
 hatred to the natives. 
 
 Q. What lesson do we learn from this 1 
 
 A. That we, — the Irish people, — must cast 
 aside all jealousies of every sort whatsoever, of 
 race, of creed, and of parti/; and stand firmly 
 (but peaceably) together : otherwise we can never 
 obtain for our country the first of all political 
 blessings — self-government. 
 
 Q. Does not the conquest* of Ireland by the 
 Anglo-Normans destroy the right of the Irish 
 people to a resident Irish parliament 1 
 
 A. No more than the conquest of England by 
 the Normans destroyed the right of the English 
 people to a resident English parliament. Our 
 right is as ancient as theirs, and we never, by any 
 act of ours, surrendered it. 
 
 Q. "What was the fate, in this reign, of the 
 earl of Ormond ? 
 
 A. King Edward beheaded him for having 
 favored the late monarch, Henry the Sixth. 
 
 Q. Did the old clan-feud between the Butlers 
 and Geraldines still continue 1 
 
 A. Yes ; and the former were freshly exasper- 
 
 * I do not use the word " conquest " in its military meaning, 
 in which sense it certainly cannot be applied to the proceed- 
 ings of Strongbow and Henry the Second, in Ireland. I merely 
 use the phrase as expressive of the fact, that the anti-national 
 party got the upper hand in Ireland. 
 
56 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 ated by the attainder and execution of the earl, 
 their chieftain. 
 
 Q. What were, at this time, the war-cries of 
 the several clans 1 
 
 A. " Croom-aboo! " was the war-shout of 
 the Geraldines ; literally meaning " Hurrah for 
 Croom ! " from the castle of that name in the 
 county Limerick belonging to the earl of Kildare. 
 In like manner, " Butler-aboo! " was the war-cry 
 of the followers of Ormond ; " Shannat-aboo ! " 
 was that of the Geraldines of Desmond, from the 
 castle of Shannat, where their chief, the great 
 earl, held a rude court. 
 
 Q. What was the war-cry of the O'Brians of 
 Thomond 1 
 
 A. " Lamh-laider-aboo! " — or "Hurrah for 
 the strong hand ! " 
 
 Q. That of the O'Neills? 
 
 A. " Lamh-dhearg-aboo ! " — or " Hurrah for 
 the red (or bloody) hand ! " The Fitzpatricks 
 of Ossory adopted, as their war-cry, " Gear-laider- 
 aboo ! " — or, " Hurrah for the sharp and strong ! V 
 And the gathering-shouts of all the clans con- 
 tained similar allusions, either to the castles of 
 their residence, or to some quality on which they 
 prided themselves. 
 
 Q. Of what description were the native Irish 
 soldiery of that period ? 
 
 A. The cavalry of the chiefs and barons were 
 mounted on small, but very strong and active 
 horses. These horses were called " hobbies," 
 and their riders " hobellers." From all ancient 
 accounts it appears that the Irish were eminently 
 skilful as horsemen ; and active and dexterous in 
 the use of their weapons on horseback. 
 
 Q. What were their weapons 1 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 5? 
 
 A. Short spears and sabres; also battle-axes. 
 They had scarcely any armor. 
 
 Q. Describe the foot-soldiers, or infantry. 
 
 A. Of these there were two sorts ; a heavily 
 armed infantry, called " galloglasses ; " accou- 
 tered with iron head-pieces, efficient coats of 
 armor, and bearing a broad axe and sword. 
 
 Q. How were the light infantry accoutred ? 
 
 A. They wore little or no armor save the iron 
 head-piece ; they bore a long spear or javelin, and 
 a long knife called a skian. 
 
 Q. Did the quarrel of the Butlers and Geral- 
 dines disturb this entire reign 1 
 
 A. Yes ; their unhappy contentions were pro- 
 tracted, with varying fortune; the Butlers some- 
 times gaining the advantage, and the Geraldines 
 again recovering the mastery. In reward of Des- 
 mond's service in defeating the Butlers of Wex- 
 ford, Edward made Desmond lord deputy of* 
 Ireland. 
 
 Q. What was his first act as lord deputy ? 
 
 A. He made war upon the Irish septs in 
 Meath. 
 
 Q. Did he defeat them ? 
 
 A, No; they took him prisoner. He was, 
 however, soon set free by his friend O'Connor of 
 O'Fally. 
 
 Q. What was his next act ? 
 
 A. He made war on O' Brian of Thomond. 
 
 Q. With what success ? 
 
 A. O'Brian gained a rapid advantage over the 
 lord deputy, who bought him off by engaging that 
 he should be paid a regular tribute. 
 
 Q. Was Desmond removed from the govern- 
 ment for these failures? 
 
58 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 A. No ; the king continued him in the viceroy- 
 alty ; until at last the queen became his enemy. 
 
 Q. How did he offend the queen 1 * 
 
 A. By speaking incautiously of the meanness 
 of her birth. 
 
 Q. What steps were then taken to destroy him 1 
 
 A. He was removed from his office; supplanted 
 by lord deputy Tiptoft ; attainted by parliament on 
 several charges, and executed without a trial. 
 
 Q. Meanwhile, how did the Butlers conduct 
 themselves ? 
 
 A. John of Ormond, the late earl's eldest 
 living brother, contrived to obtain the favor of 
 the king. 
 
 Q. What benefit did the Butler family derive 
 from the royal favor 1 
 
 A. An act of parliament was obtained, repeal- 
 ing the former act of attainder and forfeiture, and 
 festoring the old honors and estates to the heir of 
 Ormond. 
 
 Q. How long did the Butlers continue upper- 
 most? 
 
 A. Not very long; we find the earl of Kildare 
 made lord deputy in 1478. 
 
 Q. Did not the king desire to remove Kildare, 
 and appoint Lord Grey to that office? 
 
 A. He did ; but Kildare held the office in de- 
 fiance of the king ; and so strongly was he sup- 
 ported, that the viceroy appointed by the king was 
 obliged to quit Ireland. 
 
 Q. What Milesian alliance did the earl of Kil- 
 dare make 1 
 
 A. He gave his daughter in marriage to the 
 son of the chief of the O'Neills. 
 
 * Elizabeth Grey. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 59 
 
 Q What use did Kildare make of the influ- 
 ence he gained by this connection ? 
 
 A. He used his influence to preserve Ireland 
 in peace during the short, feeble reign of Edward 
 the Fifth, and the short reign of Richard the 
 Third. 
 
 Q. In what year did Richard the Third die 1 
 
 A. He was slain at the battle of Bosworth, in 
 1485. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 The Reign of Henry VII 
 
 Q. When Henry the Seventh ascended the 
 throne, whom did he appoint lord lieutenant of 
 Ireland ? 
 
 A. He continued the earl of Kildare in that 
 office. 
 
 Q. What remarkable event occurred in Ireland 
 in 1486 1 
 
 A. A low impostor, named Simnel, arrived in 
 Dublin, accompanied by one Richard Simons, an 
 Oxford priest, who had trained him to personate 
 the earl of Warwick. 
 
 Q. Who was the earl of Warwick ? 
 
 A. Son of the late duke of Clarence, and 
 grandson of the duke of York who had been 
 viceroy of Ireland. 
 
 Q. Where was the earl of Warwick at that 
 time? 
 
 A. In the prison of the Tower of London. 
 
 Q. Why did the king detain him there 1 
 
 A. From his jealous fears lest Warwick, who 
 
60 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 was heir to the house of York, should lay claim to 
 the throne. 
 
 Q. How was the impostor, Simnel, received in 
 Ireland 1 
 
 A. His tale was believed. He was received by 
 Kildare, and many other leading Irishmen, as their 
 lawful king ; and, as such, he was crowned in 
 Dublin, under the title of Edward the Sixth. 
 
 Q. What then became of him 1 
 
 A. He went to England to give battle to Henry 
 the Seventh; was defeated and made prisoner, 
 and employed by the king as a scullion in the 
 royal kitchen. 
 
 Q. How did the Irish lords and chiefs employ 
 themselves 1 
 
 A. In petty wars. 
 
 Q. Mention some of them. 
 
 A. The Geraldines of Desmond defeated the 
 M'Carthys and O'Carrols, and obtained large 
 tracts of their lands. The lord lieutenant's broth- 
 er-in-law, O'Neill, went to war with the chief of 
 Tyrconnell. 
 
 Q. What was their quarrel about 1 
 
 A. Tribute. O'Neill had written to Tyrcon- 
 nell, "Send me tribute; or else " To this 
 
 Tyrconnell answered, " I owe you none ; and 
 if » 
 
 Q. What was the result of the war that fol- 
 lowed ? 
 
 A. The clan of the O'Neills were defeated. 
 
 Q. Who was Perkin Warbeck ? 
 
 A. He was an impostor, calling himself duke 
 of York, the second son of Edward the Fourth. 
 
 Q. When did he land in Ireland ? 
 
 A. He landed at Cork in 1492. 
 
 Q. Did he raise any faction in Ireland? 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 61 
 
 A. Nowhere except among the citizens of 
 Cork. 
 
 Q. How long did he remain in Ireland ? 
 
 A. Only for a few weeks, at the end of which 
 he departed to France. 
 
 Q. Who was lord lieutenant in 1494 1 
 
 A. Sir Edward Poynings. 
 
 Q. What was enacted by the remarkable law 
 called " Poynings's Act? " 
 
 A. It enacted that, prior to the holding of any 
 parliament in Ireland, the lord lieutenant and 
 privy council should first certify to the king the 
 causes of assembling such parliament ; specifying 
 also such acts as they deemed it requisite to pass. 
 
 Q. Was this law an infraction of the rights of 
 the king's Irish subjects ? 
 
 A. Yes ; a very grievous one. 
 
 Q. But did the Irish thereby, in any degree, 
 forfeit their full inherent right to self-legisla- 
 tion? 
 
 A. By no means; any more than the English 
 nation would forfeit their right to self-government 
 by any servile surrender of power on the part of 
 their parliament. 
 
 Q. What is the duty of the people in regard 
 to all such unjust laws ? 
 
 A. To obey them so long as they are laws; 
 but to struggle in every legal, peaceful mode to 
 get them repealed. 
 
 Q. Did Perkin Warbeck land again in Ire- 
 land? 
 
 A. He did ; but being defeated at Waterford, 
 he fled to Scotland. 
 
 Q. Did the Butlers, at this time, try to ruin 
 the earl of Kildare? 
 
 A. Yes; they had got him attainted by Poy- 
 6 
 
62 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 nings's parliament, and he now was obliged to 
 meet his accuser in the king's presence. 
 
 Q. In what year was that 1 
 
 A. In the year 1496. 
 
 Q. When the parties were met, what did the 
 king say to Kildare 1 
 
 A. He advised him to procure for himself the 
 help of able counsel. 
 
 Q. What was Kildare's answer 1 
 
 A. ** I choose the best counsel in the realm," 
 said he, seizing the king's hand. " I take your 
 majesty to be my counsel against these false 
 knaves." 
 
 Q. Did the king resent this freedom ? 
 
 A. No ; he .looked on it as a proof that Kil- 
 dare was honest. 
 
 Q. What was alleged against Kildare ? 
 
 A. High treason was alleged against him, but 
 he easily cleared himself. 
 
 Q. Was any other charge made ? 
 
 A. Yes ; he was accused of burning the church 
 of Cashel. 
 
 Q. What was his defence 1 
 
 A. " It is true," said he, " that I burned the 
 church. But I did so because I thought the arch- 
 bishop was in it. 
 
 Q. What effect did this defence produce ? 
 
 A. The oddity of it convulsed the king and all 
 present with laughter. 
 
 Q. What did Kildare's accusers then say ? 
 
 A. " All Ireland," said they, " cannot govern 
 this earl." 
 
 Q. What was the king's answer? 
 
 A. " Then this earl shall govern all Ireland ; " 
 whereupon he immediately made Kildare lord 
 lieutenant of the kingdom. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 63 
 
 Q. How did Kildare discharge the duties of 
 that office ? 
 
 A. As soon as he was taken into the king's 
 confidence, he went to war against his own fellow- 
 countrymen. 
 
 Q. Where — and on what account? 
 
 A. He brought the king's troops against his 
 son-in-law, Ulick De Burgo, in Connaught, to 
 punish that chief for maltreating his wife, who 
 was Kildare's daughter. 
 
 Q. What clans assisted De Burgo 1 
 
 A. The O'Brians, and other tribes from 
 Munster. 
 
 Q. Who were Kildare's confederates ? 
 
 A. All the Geraldines, many lords of the pale, 
 and his ally and relative O'Neill, with a numerous 
 following. 
 
 Q. Where was the quarrel decided ? 
 
 A. At the battle of Knocktow, near Galway. 
 
 Q. Who gained the victory ? 
 
 A. Kildare. 
 
 Q. What remarkable proof of the ancient 
 English hatred of Irishmen did Lord Gormanstown 
 then give? 
 
 A. After the battle, he said to Kildare, " We 
 have beaten our enemies ; but in order to finish 
 the good work, we ought now to cut the throats 
 of the Irish who have helped us to do so." 
 
 Q. Was this advice acted on ? 
 
 A. No ; it would have been inconvenient, for 
 it would have weakened the conquering party 
 very much. 
 
 Q. Was there any other reason for not acting 
 on it? 
 
 A. Yes; the bad feeling expressed by Lord 
 Gormanstown was not then very general : it had 
 
64 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 been softened away by many intermarriages be- 
 tween the ancient Irish clans and the Anglo-Irish 
 families. 
 
 Q. Are there any Lord Gormanstowns in Ire- 
 land at the present day ? 
 
 A. Unluckily there are ; there are many un- 
 natural Irishmen who hate their native land, and 
 are ever ready to help the English government to 
 oppress and spoliate their own fellow-countrymen. 
 
 Q. What is the reason of this ? 
 
 A. Because the power that rules Ireland is an 
 English, not an Irish power ; and so long as the 
 ruling power is unfriendly, so long will every 
 base, bad spirit in the land adopt that unfriend- 
 liness, in order to pay its court to the ruling 
 influence. 
 
 Q. In what year did Henry the Seventh die? 
 
 A. In 1509. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Reign of Henry VIII. 
 
 Q. Did King Henry the Eighth continue Kil- 
 dare as lord deputy ? 
 
 A. Yes ; until Kildare happened to incur the 
 jealousy of Cardinal Wolsey, on which that 
 prelate procured his removal. 
 
 Q. Who was appointed in his place ? 
 
 A. The earl of Surrey. 
 
 Q. What events took place in this reign ? 
 
 A. Ormond had invaded the territory of Osso- 
 ry, and plundered Mac Gilla Patrick, or Fitz- 
 Patrick, the prince of it. 
 
 Q. What steps did Fitz-Patrick take? 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 65 
 
 A. He sent an envoy to the king to state his 
 complaints. 
 
 Q. Did the king interfere in the case 1 
 
 A. No ; Ormond was allowed to ravage Os- 
 sory with impunity. 
 
 Q. What, at last, checked him 1 
 
 A. The power of Kildare, who contrived to 
 make his peace with the king, and was reappoint- 
 ed lord deputy. 
 
 Q. Meanwhile, how was the earl of Desmond 
 acting 1 
 
 A. He assumed the dignity and privileges of a 
 sovereign prince. 
 
 Q. In what manner 1 
 
 A. He claimed a right to absent himself from 
 parliament; and also of being never obliged to 
 enter a fortified town. 
 
 Q. What use was made of these claims to 
 sovereignty? 
 
 A. Francis, king of France, learning Des- 
 mond's pretensions, endeavored to raise a domes- 
 tic commotion in Ireland through his agency, for 
 the purpose of embarrassing England. 
 
 Q. How did Desmond receive the French 
 king's proposals 1 
 
 A. His vanity was flattered at being treated as 
 a sovereign prince by so powerful a monarch, and 
 he entered into an alliance with Francis. 
 
 Q. What were the results ? 
 
 A. Before the treaty could be acted upon, 
 Francis was taken prisoner at the battle of Pavia. 
 
 Q. And what became of Desmond 1 
 
 A. The king determined to punish him, and 
 sent orders to Kildare to that effect. 
 
 Q. Did Kildare execute the orders ? . 
 
 A. No; he did not like to be made the agent 
 6* 
 
66 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 of his kinsman's punishment ; and taking advan 
 tage of some riots in Ulster, he marched into that 
 province under pretext of suppressing them. 
 
 Q. Did the king resent Kildare's disobedience? 
 
 A. Yes; he required him to proceed to London 
 to account for his conduct. 
 
 Q. What arrangements did Kildare make ? 
 
 A. He supplied all his own castles with arms 
 and ammunition from the king's stores. He com- 
 mitted the government to his son Lord Thomas 
 Fitzgerald, who was only twenty years of age ; 
 and he then proceeded to London. 
 
 Q. How was he treated on arriving in London ? 
 
 A. He was imprisoned in the Tower. 
 
 Q. How did his son, Lord Thomas, act in 
 Ireland? 
 
 A. Having been excited by a false report of 
 his father's execution, Lord Thomas rushed into 
 the privy-council chamber in Dublin, followed by 
 one hundred and forty armed retainers, and there 
 renounced his allegiance to King Henry. 
 
 Q. What was Lord Thomas's next step ? 
 
 A. He quitted the astonished council, and pro- 
 ceeded to wage war on the garrison of Dublin. 
 
 Q. With what success ? 
 
 A. He was, at first, easily defeated, from the 
 fewness of his supporters ; but retiring from Dub- 
 lin, and joining the O'Connors and O'Neills, he 
 speedily increased his power. 
 
 Q. What steps were taken against him ? 
 
 A. The new lord lieutenant, Sir William Skef- 
 fington, besieged the castle of Maynooth, the best 
 stronghold of the Fitzgeralds. 
 
 Q. Did the castle make a gallant defence ? 
 
 A. Y.es; it held out for fourteen days; and 
 Skeffington was about to retire from before it, 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 67 
 
 when it was placed in his power by the treachery 
 (as is alleged) of the foster-brother of Lord 
 Thomas. 
 
 Q. How did Skeffington reward the traitor ? 
 
 A. He paid him the stipulated price of his 
 treachery, and then had him hanged. 
 
 Q. What effect did the taking of Maynooth 
 produce on Lord Thomas's fortunes 1 
 
 A. Many of his followers, dispirited at the 
 news, dispersed ; but with those who still re- 
 mained, he made himself so formidable in an ir- 
 regular warfare among the defiles and woods, that 
 Lord Grey, the English commander, solemnly 
 promised him protection if he should surrender 
 himself. 
 
 Q. Did Lord Thomas confide in the English- 
 man's promise 1 
 
 A. He did, and gave himself up. 
 
 Q. How did Lord Grey then treat him 1 
 
 A. He sent him prisoner to England. 
 
 Q. How else did he treat the Fitzgeralds 1 
 
 A. He invited five uncles of Lord Thomas to 
 a feast ; in the midst of which he treacherously 
 seized them, and sent them in custody to England. 
 
 Q. What was Henry's conduct to these five 
 unoffending men 1 
 
 A. He had them all hanged at Tyburn, togeth- 
 er with the unfortunate Lord Thomas. 
 
 Q. What great event took place in this reign ? 
 
 A. The king rejected the pope's supremacy 
 over the church, and set up his own supremacy 
 in place of it. 
 
 Q. Did many of the Irish people abandon the 
 Catholic, and embrace the Protestant, religion ? 
 
 A. Scarcely any ; the great bulk of the people 
 adhered to the old Catholic faith; some few 
 
68 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 persons in connection with the government adopt- 
 ed the new religion. 
 
 Q. What were the effects of this change of 
 religion on the country 1 
 
 A. It gave some new pretexts to the English 
 disposition to spoliate and persecute Ireland. But 
 in truth England, whether Catholic or Protestant, 
 had, at all times since their connection, treated 
 Ireland with treachery and cruelty. 
 
 Q. How did the government dispose of the 
 property that had belonged to the Catholic church 1 
 
 A. They transferred the tithes to the Protestant 
 clergy, and the greater portion of the abbey lands 
 to powerful laymen ; thus throwing on the Catho- 
 lic people of Ireland the support of two churches: 
 their own, and the new one. 
 
 Q. What was the fate of Lord Deputy Grey 1 
 
 A. Some charges having been made against 
 him, he was convicted, and hanged at Tyburn by 
 the orders of Henry. 
 
 Q. In what year did Henry die 1 
 
 A. In 1537. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary I. 
 
 Q. What was the first exploit of the new king's 
 government in Ireland? 
 
 A. Some disturbances having been excited in 
 Leix and Offalley, the English government in- 
 duced the chiefs of those districts, O'Moore and 
 O'Connor, to proceed to England; promising that 
 Edward would show them favor similar to that 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. (39 
 
 which his father had shown to O'Neill in like 
 circumstances. 
 
 Q. Did the chiefs confide in this promise ? 
 
 A. Yes ; and they accordingly repaired to 
 London. 
 
 Q. Did the English government perform their 
 promises ? 
 
 A. No; O'Moore and O'Connor were thrown 
 into prison, and their lands were seized and given 
 to English adventurers. 
 
 Q. What became of those chiefs ? 
 
 A. O'Moore soon died in prison ; O'Connor 
 lingered out some weary years in his confine- 
 ment. 
 
 Q. What was the next measure of the govern- 
 ment? 
 
 A. They tried to propagate the Reformation 
 in Ireland. 
 
 Q. How did they begin 1 
 
 A. Saint Leger was sent as lord deputy to 
 Ireland for that purpose. 
 
 Q. What means were used under his auspices ? 
 
 A. In Athlone a band of soldiers proceeded 
 from the garrison to ravage the old church of 
 Clonmacnoise. Similar acts of riot and outrage 
 were committed in various other ecclesiastical 
 buildings throughout the kingdom. 
 
 Q. In what year did Edward the Sixth die 1 
 
 A. In 1553. 
 
 Q. Who succeeded him ? 
 
 A. His sister, Mary Tudor. 
 
 Q. Did she favor the Reformation? 
 
 A. No; in England she cruelly persecuted 
 its professors, and caused numbers to be burned 
 to death for their belief. 
 
 Q. How did the Irish Catholics act, when 
 
70 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 their old religion was restored to its ancient 
 power and possessions in this reign? 
 
 A. They acted with the utmost forbearance. 
 They did not injure a single person in the slightest 
 particular for professing a creed that differed from 
 their own ; and when the blood-thirsty queen was 
 persecuting the Protestants in England, the Cath- 
 olic corporation of Dublin opened 74 houses in 
 Dublin at their own expense, to receive and 
 shelter the Protestants who sought refuge in Ire- 
 land from the fury of the English government. 
 
 Q. What do you think of such conduct ? 
 
 A. That it was a glorious proof of Irish 
 tolerance and charity; and fully demonstrated 
 the fitness of the Irish Catholics for religious 
 freedom. 
 
 Q. Did the clans of Leix and Offalley, who had 
 been deprived of their lands in the reign of 
 Edward, appeal to Queen Mary to restore them ? 
 
 A, Yes. 
 
 Q. What was the answer given by the govern- 
 ment? 
 
 A. They sent a strong military force to extir- 
 pate the inhabitants from the soil of their fore- 
 fathers ; and the troops committed the most 
 horrible barbarities, which ended in a general 
 massacre of the people. 
 
 Q. Were any saved ? 
 
 A. Yes ; a small remnant, whom the earls of 
 Ossory and Kildare exerted themselves to protect. 
 
 Q. What were the districts thenceforth called ? 
 
 A. " King's County," and " Queen's County ; " 
 and their principal towns were named " Philips- 
 town," and " Maryborough," in honor of the 
 sovereign and her husband. 
 
 Q. In what year did Queen Mary die ? 
 
 A In 1558. 
 
IHSTORY OF IRELAND. 71 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Reign of Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 Q. In what state was Ireland at the time of 
 Queen Elizabeth's accession 1 
 
 A. In a state of universal disturbance. 
 
 Q. What cause disturbed Connaught? 
 
 A. The two great branches of the house of 
 De Burgo were struggling with each other for 
 the mastery. 
 
 Q. What circumstances agitated Leinster ? 
 
 A. The remnant that had escaped from the 
 massacre in Leix and OrTalley roamed over that 
 entire province in small parties, marauding where- 
 ever they could, to indemnify themselves for their 
 losses and sufferings. 
 
 Q. What contentions existed in Munster 1 
 
 A. The chieftaincy of the northern division 
 of the province was warmly contested between 
 the earl of Thomond and Daniel O'Bryan. The 
 Butlers and Geraldines were also at war with each 
 other. 
 
 Q. In what condition was Ulster 1 
 
 A. John O'Neill was speedily acquiring the 
 dominion of the whole of Ulster. 
 
 Q. Whom did Elizabeth appoint as lord lieu- 
 tenant ? 
 
 A. The earl of Sussex; who, on departing for 
 England, entrusted his government to the hands 
 of Sir Henry Sidney. 
 
 Q. Did Sidney call upon O'Neill to account 
 for his proceedings ? 
 
 A. Yes; he invited him to the English camp 
 for the purpose of a conference. 
 
72 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. Did O'Neill accept the invitation ? 
 
 A. No; he remembered how O'Moore and 
 O'Connor had been entrapped, and he v/isely 
 declined. 
 
 Q. What, then, was his answer to Sidney 1 
 
 A. He excused himself by saying he was 
 engaged in having his child christened with due 
 pomp ; and he invited Sidney to attend the cere- 
 mony as the infant's godfather. 
 
 Q. Did Sidney comply 1 
 
 A. He did; and he was much surprised at 
 the courtly magnificence with which the Irish 
 chieftain entertained him. 
 
 Q. How did they arrange the dispute between 
 O'Neill and the government 1 
 
 A. O'Neill, by the statement of his wrongs, 
 made a very favorable impression upon Sidney, who 
 advised him to rely for full justice on Elizabeth's 
 sense of honor and of right. 
 
 Q. Did O'Neill agree to leave matters to the 
 queen's decision 1 
 
 A. He did; and he and Sidney parted from 
 each other on terms of friendship. 
 
 Q. Did Sussex soon return from England ? 
 
 A. Yes ; and, according to Elizabeth's instruc- 
 tions, he immediately set about procuring laws to 
 be passed for the establishment of the new English 
 religion ; which, during the reign of Mary, had 
 been deprived of the tithes and other state en- 
 dowments. 
 
 Q. What acts were passed for this purpose ? 
 
 A. The appointment of bishops was vested in 
 the sovereign ; and heavy penalties were inflicted 
 upon all who would not attend the new worship. 
 
 Q. How were the priesthood treated 1 
 
 A. They were expelled from their cures by 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 73 
 
 the civil power ; and Protestant clergymen, who 
 had come in large numbers from England, were 
 put into their places. 
 
 Q. What were O'Neill's measures all this 
 while? 
 
 A. He set out to London, attended by a band 
 of galloglasses, whose appearance at the court of 
 Elizabeth excited great curiosity. 
 
 Q. How did Elizabeth receive him ? 
 
 A. With the most flattering courtesy and favor. 
 She promised to support his claims to the best of 
 her power. 
 
 Q. Did Elizabeth keep this promise ? 
 
 A. It is probable that at the time she intended 
 to keep it ; but, notwithstanding the manifest 
 loyalty of his conduct, she listened to his enemies 
 who impeached his intentions ; and they, encour- 
 aged by an expression which she used, proceeded 
 to effect his ruin. 
 
 Q. What was that expression ? 
 
 A. "If O'Neill rebels," said the queen, "it 
 will be all the better for my servants, for there will 
 be estates enough for them who lack." On which, 
 Elizabeth's Irish government determined to goad 
 O'Neill into rebellion. 
 
 Q. How did they begin ? 
 
 A. Sir Henry Sidney, who was now lord 
 deputy, established a garrison of English troops at 
 Derry. 
 
 Q. What right had O'Neill to complain of 
 that? 
 
 A. It was a needless insult to him. The coun- 
 try being perfectly tranquil at the time, no troops 
 were required to check disturbance ; and the 
 planting a garrison in the midst of O'Neill's coun- 
 try showed a want of reliance on the good faith 
 7 
 
CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 of the promises he had made to the queen's gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Q. What did O'Neill resolve to do ? 
 
 A. He resolved to get rid of the English gar- 
 rison. 
 
 Q. How did he manage to do so? 
 
 A. He contrived to make them begin hostili- 
 ties, and then sent to the lord deputy a bitter com- 
 plaint of their conduct; at the same time propos- 
 ing a conference at Dundalk, to adjust all differ- 
 ences. 
 
 Q. Did the conference take place ? 
 
 A. No; before it could possibly be held, the 
 powder magazine at Derry was accidentally blown 
 up, and the English garrison were obliged to quit 
 the town. 
 
 Q. Did O'Neill then carry on the war against 
 the government ? 
 
 A. He did, but ineffectually, as he found him- 
 self deserted by the chiefs on whose support he had 
 relied with confidence. 
 
 Q. Was their defection owing to English in- 
 trigue ? 
 
 A. Yes ; O'Neill found, to his cost, that the 
 English garrison at Derry had been busily en- 
 gaged in sowing the seeds of disaffection to him, 
 from the first moment of their settlement. 
 
 Q. What was his fate ? 
 
 A. He perished by the treachery of Piers, an 
 English officer, who induced the Scotch com- 
 mandant of a garrison stationed at Clan-hu-boy, 
 to take advantage of a preconcerted quarrel at 
 a banquet, to massacre O'Neill and his followers. 
 
 Q. What reward did Piers receive for his 
 treachery ? 
 
 A. He received the sum of one thousand marks 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 75 
 
 from the government, on sending the head of 
 O'Neill to the lord deputy. 
 
 Q. What became of O'Neill's estates ? 
 
 A. They were divided amongst the managers 
 of the queen's Irish government. 
 
 Q. Who was the next great Irish lord on whose 
 destruction the government were resolved ? 
 
 A. The earl of Desmond. 
 
 Q. How was this managed ? 
 
 A. In a quarrel between Desmond and Ormond 
 about the boundaries of their estates, Lord Deputy 
 Sidney, to whom the dispute had been referred, 
 decided at first in favor of Desmond ; but, on 
 receiving the queen's orders to reexamine the 
 case, Sidney not only decided this second time in 
 favor of Ormond, but loaded Desmond with all 
 the expenses his rival had incurred. 
 
 Q. Did Desmond obey this new decision 1 
 
 A. No, for he felt it was grossly unjust. 
 
 Q. How was he then treated 1 
 
 A. He was seized by the lord deputy, and, after 
 some delay, sent as a prisoner to the Tower of 
 London, where he was kept in captivity for many 
 years. 
 
 Q. What disturbances followed ? 
 
 A. Many serious ones ; Munster and Ulster be- 
 came embroiled ; the former, with the claims of 
 the earl of Clancarthy to the princedom of the 
 province ; the latter, with the struggles of Tur- 
 lough O'Neill to augment his authority. 
 
 Q. What efforts did the Geraldines of Des- 
 mond make to avenge the imprisonment of the 
 earl, their chief? 
 
 A. They are said to have negotiated with their 
 old foes, the followers of Ormond, to effect a gen- 
 eral insurrection. 
 
76 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What steps were taken, meanwhile, by the 
 government ? 
 
 A. They ordered Sir Peter Carew to lead his 
 army against the Butlers. He accordingly entered 
 their country ; and meeting an unarmed concourse 
 of people, who gazed with curiosity at his forces, 
 he commanded a general massacre, and about four 
 hundred defenceless, unresisting people were put 
 to death. 
 
 Q. Was massacre a familiar instrument of 
 English government in those days? 
 
 A. Yes ; massacres of the Irish people, by the 
 agents of English power in this country, were 
 frequent. 
 
 Q. What were Elizabeth's plans with regard 
 to Ulster ? 
 
 A. She intended to despoil the old proprietors 
 of their inheritance, and to plant the province 
 with English colonies. 
 
 Q. Who was the chief Englishman that visited 
 Ireland to execute this scheme ? 
 
 A. Walter, earl of Essex. 
 
 Q. What was his character ? 
 
 A. Treacherous and sanguinary ; he did not 
 hesitate to commit any crime which he thought 
 might weaken the Irish. 
 
 Q. State an instance. 
 
 A. He invited a chieftain of the race of O'Neill 
 to a banquet, under the semblance of friendship, 
 and then took the opportunity to murder his un- 
 suspicious guest. 
 
 Q. Did the scheme of planting Ulster with 
 English colonies succeed 1 
 
 A. Not to any considerable extent until the 
 next reign. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 77 
 
 Q. What remarkable incident occurred in 
 1578? 
 
 A. Fitzmaurice, one of the Geraldines of Des- 
 mond, who had been treated with severity by the 
 government, sought for foreign assistance against 
 English power in several of the continental states. 
 
 Q. Did he succeed ? 
 
 A. He met no support from foreign sovereigns ; 
 but he mustered a small band of about fourscore 
 Spaniards, whom he headed in an invasion of 
 Ireland. 
 
 Q. Did the little armament land in Ireland ? 
 
 A. Yes; upon the coast of Kerry. 
 
 Q. What then happened 1 
 
 A. Their ships were immediately seized by an 
 English vessel of war. 
 
 Q. What was the fate of this enterprise ? 
 
 A. It was unsuccessful. 
 
 Q. Was their insurrection sanctioned by the 
 earl of Desmond 1 
 
 A. No ; he had been released from the prison 
 into which he had unjustly been thrown, and 
 carefully avoided any step by which he might 
 again incur the wrath of the government. 
 
 Q. Did this prudence avail to protect him 1 
 
 A. No; for the government were resolved to 
 destroy him. 
 
 Q. What was his offence 1 
 
 A. The greatness of his estates; which the 
 friends of the government were resolved to seize 
 and divide amongst themselves. 
 
 Q. In what manner was the war against Des- 
 mond carried on by the government ? 
 
 A. With the utmost ferocity and cruelty. It 
 was, in truth, a succession of massacres comirm- 
 
 ted on the people of that territory, diversified with 
 
 7# 
 
78 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 the destruction of their houses and the wasting of 
 their substance. 
 
 Q. Did any succors arrive to Desmond ? 
 
 A. Yes ; a Spanish force of 700 men landed at 
 Golden Fort, on the coast of Kerry. 
 
 Q. What was their fate ? 
 
 A. They were blockaded in the fort, and then 
 massacred in cold blood by the orders of Sir Wal- 
 ter Raleigh. Among the apologists of this mas- 
 sacre, is the English poet, Spenser. 
 
 Q. What was the conduct of Admiral Winter ? 
 
 A. He received into his fleet some miserable 
 fugitives who sought refuge from the persecution. 
 
 Q. Was the humane admiral censured for this 
 conduct ? 
 
 A. He was, by the ferocious party who sup- 
 ported the government, and who thirsted for the 
 extirpation of the people. 
 
 Q. What was the conduct of Desmond, sur- 
 rounded as he now was by enemies ? 
 
 A. He made a gallant battle to the last, and in 
 one of his sallies took the town of Youghal. 
 
 Q. What finally was his fate ? 
 
 A. His forces were overwhelmed by numbers ; 
 and he himself was murdered by a traitor named 
 Kelly, who discovered the aged earl in a hut, in 
 which he had sought safety and concealment. 
 
 Q. What was done with his head ? 
 
 A. It was sent by Ormond to the queen ; and 
 by her orders exposed on a stake at London 
 Bridge. 
 
 Q. Who was lord lieutenant of Ireland in 
 1584? 
 
 A. Sir John Perrot. 
 
 ^fc. What sort of parliament assembled in that 
 year? 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 79 
 
 A. A thoroughly national one, in which the 
 descendants of the aboriginal Irish clans sat side 
 by side with the members of the Anglo-Norman 
 families. 
 
 Q. Did that parliament reject the measures of 
 the court 1 
 
 A. Yes ; they refused the supplies, and reject- 
 ed several bills which had been introduced by the 
 influence of the English privy-council. 
 
 Q. What made them so refractory ? 
 
 A. The horror they felt at the crimes commit- 
 ted by the government in the war against Des- 
 mond, who had been driven into insurrection by 
 the arts of his enemies. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Reign of Elizabeth continued. 
 
 Q. Who was Hugh O'Neill 1 
 
 A. Nephew of the late earl of Tyrone. 
 
 Q. What requests did he make of the govern- 
 ment 1 
 
 A. He petitioned for leave to take his seat in 
 the house of lords, as earl of Tyrone; and he also 
 prayed that his estates might be restored to him. 
 
 Q. What was his claim upon the English gov- 
 ernment 1 
 
 A. His uniform loyalty to the crown. 
 
 Q. Were his petitions granted by Elizabeth? 
 
 A. Yes. 
 
 Q. Did he long continue in the quiet enjoy- 
 ment of his territories 1 
 
 A. No ; the managers at Dublin Castle were 
 
80 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 resolved that his extensive estates should be di- 
 vided amongst English adventurers ; and, with a 
 view to effect his ruin, no means were left untried 
 to drive him to rebel. 
 
 Q. Meanwhile, what crimes did the new lord 
 lieutenant, Sir William Fitz-William commit in 
 Ulster 1 
 
 A. He marched into Monaghan, seized on the 
 chief of the Mac Mahons, had him tried and con- 
 victed, on a false charge of high treason, by a jury 
 of common soldiers, by whom the hapless chief 
 was murdered on the spot. 
 
 Q. What was the signal for open war against 
 O'Neill ? 
 
 A. He had been driven, by a variety of oppres- 
 sions and petty hostilities, to attack the English 
 garrison at Blackwater ; whereupon a force of 
 2000 men, under the command of Sir John Nor- 
 ris, was sent to oppose him. 
 
 Q. Was the war against O'Neill at once suc- 
 cessful ? 
 
 A. Far from it. O'Neill renewed his attack 
 upon the fort of Blackwater, of which, after a 
 hot contest, he obtained the possession — as well 
 as of the town of Armagh, which the English 
 garrison evacuated without a struggle. 
 
 Q. What was the loss upon the English side 
 at Blackwater ? 
 
 A. The English lost 1500 men, including many 
 officers. The Irish obtained thirty-four standards, 
 besides the entire arms, artillery, and ammunition 
 of their enemies. 
 
 Q. Was the English army totally destroyed 1 
 
 A. No ; there was a remnant of it saved. 
 
 Q. Through whose agency 1 
 
 A. Through the valor of an Irish chief named 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 81 
 
 O'Reilly, who had joined the royal cause against 
 O'Neill. O'Reilly, at the head of his clan, cov- 
 ered the retreat of the survivors of the English. 
 
 Q. How did O'Neill then occupy himself? 
 
 A. In combining together as many of his coun- 
 trymen as he possibly could, for the purpose of 
 resisting England. He also sent ambassadors to 
 Spain, to solicit the aid of king Philip. 
 
 Q. What measures did Elizabeth take ? 
 
 A. She sent an army of 20,000 men to Ireland, 
 under the command of Robert, earl of Essex. 
 
 Q. Did Essex crush O'Neill? 
 
 A. No ; he marched to the south, to quell 
 the insurrection, which had spread into Munster. 
 
 Q. What was the policy of the Irish ? 
 
 A. They avoided a general engagement, but 
 frequently defeated detached parties of the English 
 army. 
 
 Q. What was the most memorable of those 
 triumphs ? 
 
 A. A victory won by the O'Moore's, of Leix, 
 over a large body of Essex's cavalry. From the 
 great number of feathers lost by the English troops 
 in that engagement, the Irish called the place the 
 "Pass of Plumes." 
 
 Q. Was there any other noted conflict in 
 Leinster ? 
 
 A. Yes ; the O'Byrnes overthrew another de- 
 tachment of Essex's army, although the advantage 
 in numbers was on the English side. 
 
 Q. How did Elizabeth receive the news of 
 these reverses ? 
 
 A. She was enraged against Essex, and or- 
 dered him to march to the north. 
 
 Q. What was the fate of Sir Conyers Clifford ? 
 
 A. While leading an army northward, to Jk~ 
 
82 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 aid of Lord Essex, Sir Conyers fell into an am- 
 buscade prepared for him by the chief of the 
 O'Ruarc's, and was slain. 
 
 Q. How did the campaign of Essex end 1 
 
 A. In an amicable conference which he held 
 with O'Neill, upon a rising ground within view of 
 both their armies. 
 
 Q. What was the immediate result of that con- 
 ference 1 
 
 A. A truce for six weeks; during which Essex 
 went to England, and the command of the Eng- 
 lish army was entrusted to Sir George Carew, 
 president of Munster, and Blount, Lord Mountjoy. 
 
 Q. How did these leaders conduct the war ? 
 
 A. With great barbarity ; especially Carew, 
 whose natural disposition was cruel and ferocious. 
 He ordered his troops to destroy the crops grow- 
 ing in the fields, so that the wasting influence of 
 famine came in aid of the English arms. He 
 burned the houses in O'Neill's country, and mas- 
 sacred their inhabitants. 
 
 Q. Did he seek to draw the people to alle- 
 giance to the queen 1 
 
 A. No; and wherever an offer of allegiance 
 was made by any of O'Neill's partisans, Carew 
 would only accept it on the condition, that the 
 party making the offer should first prove his title 
 to admission by murdering one of his former con- 
 federates ! 
 
 Q. Did O'Neill receive help from Spain ? 
 
 A. Two thousand Spaniards, under the com- 
 mand of Don Juan D'Aquila, landed in the ex- 
 treme south of the kingdom. 
 
 Q. Were these Spanish auxiliaries of the slight- 
 est use to O'Neill 1 
 
 A. No; they were rather an incumbrance. Ha 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 83 
 
 was obliged to march an army to their relief from 
 the opposite end of the kingdom ; a task of dif* 
 ficulty and danger. 
 
 Q. What was the issue of the struggle 1 
 
 A. O'Neill, urged by the foolish impatience of 
 the Spanish commander, risked a premature attack 
 upon Mountjoy; which, however, might have 
 been successful, if his plans had not been betrayed 
 by spies to the English general. 
 
 Q. Was Mountjoy victorious 1 
 . A. Yes ; notwithstanding the valiant exertions 
 of O'Neill to recover the day. The Spaniards 
 returned to their own country, O'Neill to Ulster ; 
 and the slaughter of those who were unable to 
 secure their safety by flight was most horrible and 
 merciless. 
 
 Q. Whither did the Irish lords who had been 
 in arms against the queen direct their course 1 
 
 A. To Spain, where many of their posterity 
 are to be found at this day. 
 
 Q. What was the ultimate fate of O'Neill ? 
 
 A. The government still carried on the war 
 against him in the north. The provisions of his 
 followers had been destroyed by the English 
 troops ; whilst his enemies obtained ample supplies 
 from England. Unable to endure the sight of his 
 own friends perishing daily around him from fam- 
 ine, he entered into terms with the English, which 
 Elizabeth, who was now in her death-sickness, 
 ratified. 
 
 Q. What was the cost of the Irish war to 
 Elizabeth ? 
 
 A. Three millions sterling, and the destruction 
 of the flower of her army. And after all, the sub- 
 jugation of Ireland was partial and imperfect. 
 
 Q. In what respect does the mastery acquired 
 
84 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 by England over Ireland differ from the conquest 
 of England itself by the Normans? 
 
 A. The conquest of England by the Normans 
 was rapid and complete; whereas the subjugation 
 of Ireland has never been thoroughly accomplished 
 even to the present day. 
 
 Q. In what year did Elizabeth die? 
 
 A. In the year 1603. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Reign of James the First 
 
 Q. Who succeeded to the throne on the death 
 of Elizabeth? 
 
 A. James, king of Scotland. 
 
 Q. How did James treat the great northern 
 chiefs, O'Neill and O'Donnell ? 
 
 A. He confirmed the former in his title of 
 earl of Tyrone ; and revived, in favor of O'Don- 
 nell, the earldom of Tyrconnell. 
 
 Q. What salutary measures were adopted in 
 Ireland by James ? 
 
 A . He divided the whole kingdom into shire- 
 ground, and settled the circuits of the judges on a 
 permanent basis. 
 
 Q. What evil measures did this king inflict 
 upon Ireland ? 
 
 A. He reenacted the severe penal laws against 
 the Catholics; and he soon turned his mind to 
 the project of plundering all the proprietors of 
 land in Ulster of their estates, in order to sup- 
 plant them with English and Scottish advp.ntnrpr B 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 85 
 
 Q. How did the government commence their 
 operations ? 
 
 A. An anonymous letter was dropped in the 
 privy-council chamber in Dublin Castle, impu- 
 ting high treason to the two great Ulster lords, 
 O'Neill and O'Donnell. 
 
 Q. How did these two nobles act ? 
 
 A. They fled to the continent. 
 
 Q. Why? 
 
 A. Because they felt certain that the govern- 
 ment had resolved on their destruction. They 
 had not now sufficient forces to give battle to 
 James ; and they knew that if they stood their 
 trial, a jury could be easily packed to convict 
 them. 
 
 Q. What extent of land did James thus con- 
 fiscate in Ulster ? 
 
 A. Three hundred and eighty-five thousand 
 acres. 
 
 Q. What was James's next step 1 
 
 A. He summoned an Irish parliament, in order 
 to obtain the sanction of law to his enormous 
 wickedness. 
 
 Q. Did the parliament ratify the criminal acts 
 of the king 1 
 
 A. A fairly chosen parliament would not have 
 done so; but James packed the parliament in 
 order to secure a majority in his own favor. 
 
 Q. How did he manage 1 
 
 A. He created forty new boroughs in one day, 
 and the members returned for those boroughs 
 were tutored to vote for the crown. [It is worthy 
 of remark, that if it had not been for the creation 
 of those forty close boroughs, the Union could 
 never have been carried in the Irish house of 
 commons.] 
 
 8 
 
§6 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What next scheme of plunder was projected 
 by the king? 
 
 A. He issued what was called a " commission 
 for the discovery of defective titles." 
 
 Q. What was the object of this commission ? 
 
 A. To detect pretended flaws in the titles of 
 the Irish landed proprietors to their estates, in 
 order that the crown might either seize the prop- 
 erty, or else compel the possessors to pay heavy 
 fines for new titles. 
 
 Q. Who was placed at the head of this com- 
 
 mission 
 
 A. Sir William Parsons. 
 
 Q. What was Parsons's mode of proceed- 
 ing? 
 
 A. Torture and subornation of perjury. In 
 the celebrated case of the Byrnes of " the Rane- 
 laghs," he suborned witnesses to swear an accu- 
 sation of high treason against those gentlemen. 
 
 Q. Did the witnesses swear willingly ? 
 
 A. No; Sir William forced them to swear up 
 to the mark by the infliction of the most horrible 
 tortures. He had one witness, named Archer, 
 placed on a gridiron over a charcoal fire, burned 
 in several parts of his body with hot irons, and 
 barbarously flogged, in order to compel the 
 wretched man to swear against the two Byrnes, 
 whom the court had resolved to despoil of their 
 estates. 
 
 Q. Did Archer yield ? 
 
 A. Yes ; when he was tortured beyond his 
 endurance, he promised to swear all that Parsons 
 wished ; and by this diabolical proceeding, the 
 proprietors were robbed of their inheritance. 
 
 Q. Did James intend to confiscate Connaught? 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 87 
 
 A- Yes ; but ere he could effect his purpose, 
 he was seized with an ague, and died. 
 Q. In what year 1 
 A. In 1625. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 The Reign of Charles the First. 
 
 Q. What was king Charles's conduct towards 
 his Irish subjects ? 
 
 A. He followed in his father's footsteps : — 
 bigotted hostility to the Catholics, treachery in 
 making promises which he did not intend to 
 perform, and steady perseverance in the plunder 
 of estates ; these were the leading features of his 
 policy in Ireland. 
 
 Q. What was the declaration of the Irish 
 Protestant bishops in 1626? 
 
 A. They declared that the toleration of " Po- 
 pery " (by which they meant the Catholic religion) 
 " was a grievous sin ; " and that all persons con- 
 curring in such toleration became thereby involved 
 in the guilt of" the Catholic apostacy." 
 
 Q. Whilst the bishops thus urged the persecu- 
 tion of the people, how was the court occupied 1 
 
 A. In the wholesale plunder of estates. The 
 judges were ranged on the side of the crown, and 
 there were found complaisant jurors who were 
 given an interest in finding verdicts against the 
 proprietors. 
 
 Q. What step did the Catholic nobility and 
 gentry of Ireland take in 1628? 
 
 A. They held a meeting in Dublin, at which 
 
88 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 many Protestants of rank and influence also 
 attended. 
 
 Q. What measure was agreed on at that meet- 
 
 A. They framed a petition to the king, in 
 which his majesty was requested to concede to 
 his Irish subjects certain privileges termed the 
 " graces." 
 
 Q. What were these " graces " 1 
 
 A. Security of property ; religious liberty ; 
 free trade ; mitigation of the severities practised 
 by the Established clergy; abolition of the private 
 prisons kept by that clergy, for the incarceration 
 of persons condemned in the church courts; a 
 free pardon for all past political offences. 
 
 Q. What offer did the Irish make the king, on 
 the condition of his granting the " graces " ? 
 
 A. They offered him the sum — an enormous 
 one for those days — of one hundred thousand 
 pounds. 
 
 Q. Did Charles take the money ? 
 
 A. Yes, he did. 
 
 Q. But did he grant the " graces " 1 
 
 A. He did not. 
 
 Q. Whose, fault was that? 
 
 A. It was partly the fault of his own weakness 
 and bigotry. Some of his advisers exclaimed that 
 the concession of the "graces" would exalt 
 Popery on the ruins of Protestantism. The king 
 took fright, and sheltered himself, for his shameful 
 breach of promise, by allowing the blame to fall 
 on Lord Strafford, who soon after became lord 
 lieutenant of Ireland. 
 
 Q. What was Strafford's part in the affair 1 
 
 A. He strongly urged Charles to break faith 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 89 
 
 with the Irish, and readily put himself forward to 
 bear all the odium of the royal treachery. 
 
 Q. Of what other crimes was Strafford guilty ? 
 
 A. He prepared to rob the Connaught proprie- 
 tors of their estates, by means of the " Commis- 
 sion to Inquire into Defective Titles." 
 
 Q. How did that commission work ? 
 
 A. The proprietors were put upon their trial, 
 to show title. The judges were bribed by four 
 shillings in the pound, on the first year's rent of 
 the estates, to be paid them in the event of a 
 verdict being found for the king. The jurors were 
 also bribed ; and the people were overawed, during 
 the trials, by the presence of a strong military 
 force. 
 
 Q. Did these precautions always secure ver- 
 dicts for the crown ? 
 
 A. They usually did. There were, however, 
 one or two instances in which the honesty of the 
 jurors stood out against both terror and cor- 
 ruption. 
 
 Q. How were such conscientious jurors treated 
 by the government ? 
 
 A. They were fined ; pilloried ; their ears cut 
 off; their tongues bored through; and their fore- 
 heads marked with hot irons. 
 
 Q. On what authority do you state these facts ? 
 
 A. On that of the Journals of the Irish House 
 of Commons, vol. i. p. 307. 
 
 Q. Were not the proprietors afforded the alter- 
 native of redeeming their estates on payment of a 
 fine to the crown for new titles ? 
 
 A. Yes; Strafford in this manner extorted 
 ,£17,000 from the O'Byrnes, and ,£70,000 from 
 the London companies, to whom James the First 
 had granted lands in Ulster. 
 
90 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. Did Strafford crush the woollen trade of 
 Ireland ? 
 
 A. Yes ; he injured it to the utmost of his 
 power, from the fear that it would successfully 
 rival the English woollen manufacture. 
 
 Q. In the midst of all his crimes, do we find 
 one solitary good conferred by Strafford upon 
 Ireland t 
 
 A. Yes ; he established and encouraged the 
 manufacture of linen, which for a long time after 
 flourished, and became a fruitful source of wealth 
 to this country. 
 
 Q. What circumstances induced Charles to 
 withdraw Strafford from Ireland 1 
 
 A. The troubles in Scotland, which violently 
 raged, required all the aid and counsel of the 
 ablest ministers at the English court. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 The Civil War of 164:1. 
 
 Q. What was the cause of the Irish civil war 
 of 1641? 
 
 A. The Irish were impelled to take up arms 
 by the intolerable oppressions of which, for many 
 years, they had been the victims ; and to defend 
 themselves against the settled purpose of the gov- 
 ernment to exterminate their race. 
 
 Q. Into how many sections were the party who 
 might be called " Irish" divided 1 
 
 A. Into three. There were the ancient Irish 
 clans; the Catholics of the English Pale ; and the 
 royalists. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 91 
 
 Q. What party was opposed to those three 1 
 
 A. The Puritans, or parliamentarian party. 
 
 Q. Where did the civil war begin 1 
 
 A, In Ulster. 
 
 Q. Who headed the outbreak in that province 1 
 
 A. Sir Phelim O'Neill. 
 
 Q. What was the object of the insurgents ? 
 
 A. To recover the estates of that province for 
 their ancient proprietors, and to secure freedom 
 from English oppression for all the inhabitants of 
 this kingdom. 
 
 Q. Was Sir Phelim O'Neill qualified to lead so 
 great an undertaking 1 
 
 A. No ; he was a person of small abilities and 
 ferocious temper. 
 
 Q. What was the immediate outrage that drove 
 the men of Ulster to revolt 1 
 
 A. A massacre committed on the inhabitants 
 of Island Magee by an armed party who issued 
 from the English garrison of Carrickfergus. 
 
 Q. Who were at that time the lords justices of 
 Ireland? 
 
 A. Sir William Parsons (the same person who 
 had contrived the horrid crime committed on the 
 Byrnes) and Sir John Borlase. 
 
 Q. How did they act ? 
 
 A. They published a proclamation, charging 
 the great body of the Irish Catholics with being 
 engaged in a conspiracy against the state. 
 
 Q. Has it not often been asserted that there 
 was a great massacre of the Protestants committed 
 by the Irish Catholics in 1641 1 
 
 A. Yes, that assertion has been made. 
 
 Q. What is the character of that assertion 1 
 
 A. It is a thorough and most impudent false- 
 hood. 
 
92 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What! was there no general massacre 
 committed by the Irish ? 
 
 A. None whatever. 
 
 Q. What is your reason for denying that there 
 was a massacre ? 
 
 A. The total absence of all proof that any 
 massacre took place, and the irreconcilable state- 
 ments of those who assert that a massacre did 
 take place. 
 
 Q. Was there, then, no blood shed by the 
 Irish 1 
 
 A. Yes, there was blood shed ; but it was in 
 fair and open war; not by massacre. 
 
 Q. How do you show the total absence of suf- 
 ficient proof that a massacre took place ? 
 
 A. Because no mention whatsoever is made of 
 any massacre at all in the government documents 
 of the period; in which, if it had really happened, 
 it would have infallibly been recorded. 
 
 Q. What documents do you speak of? 
 
 A. The proclamations and despatches of the 
 lords justices at Dublin Castle. 
 
 Q. What is the date of the falsely alleged 
 massacre ? 
 
 A. The 23d of October, 1641. 
 
 Q. What are the dates of the despatches of the 
 lords justices 1 
 
 A. The 25th of October ; the 25th of Novem- 
 ber ; the 27th of November, and the 23d of De- 
 cember, in the same year. Now, the despatches 
 bearing these four dates accuse the Irish Cath- 
 olics of various acts of turbulence and plunder ; 
 they specify the murder of ten of the garrison of 
 Lord Moore's house at Mellifont by a party of 
 " rebels; " but they do not say one single word of 
 any general massacre of the Protestants. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 93 
 
 Q. What do you infer from this total silence on 
 the subject 1 
 
 A. That no massacre can have possibly oc- 
 curred ; since it is perfectly incredible that, if 
 there had been any massacre, it should not have 
 been mentioned in the despatches drawn up by 
 the bitter enemies of the Irish people, who were 
 always eager for an opportunity of making 
 charges against them. 
 
 Q. What discrepancies strike you in the ac- 
 counts of this pretended massacre? 
 
 A. The irreconcilable details, given by differ- 
 ent authors, of the numbers said to have been 
 slain in cold blood. 
 
 Q. How many does Milton say were mas- 
 sacred ? 
 
 A. Six hundred thousand.* 
 
 Q. How many do Burton and Temple assert 
 were massacred ? 
 
 A. Three hundred thousand. 
 
 Q. How many do Frankland, May, and Baker 
 say? 
 
 A. Two hundred thousand. 
 
 Q. How many does Rapin say ? 
 
 A. One hundred and fifty-four thousand. 
 
 * Milton's words, as quoted by Harris in his " Historical 
 Account of the Lives and Writings of James I. and Charles 
 !./' (vol. II. p. 391,) London, 1814, are as follows : — 
 
 " The rebellion and horrid massacre of English Protestants in 
 Ireland, to the amount of 154,000, in the province of Ulster 
 only, by their own computation ; which, added to the other 
 three, makes up the total mm of that slaughter, in all likelihood, 
 four times as great." 
 
 In other words, about 616,000! — Milton probably became 
 ashamed of this colossal falsehood ; for in subsequent editions 
 of his u Iconoclastes," the part of the sentence printed in 
 italics is omitted. Harris professes to quote from the 2nd 
 •dition, p. 49. 
 
94 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. How many does Warwick say ? 
 
 A. One hundred thousand. 
 
 Q. How many does Lord Clarendon say ? 
 
 A. Forty or fifty thousand. 
 
 Q. How many does David Hume say 1 
 
 A. Forty thousand. 
 
 Q. How many does the Rev. Dr. Warner * 
 say? 
 
 A. Four thousand and twenty-eight. 
 
 Q. What observation does Dr. Warner make 
 on the wholesale charges flung at the Irish people 1 
 
 A. He says "It is easy enough to demonstrate 
 the utter falsehood of every Protestant historian 
 of the rebellion." 
 
 Q. What was the motive which induced the 
 anti-Irish party to circulate those stupendous 
 calumnies against the character of the country 1 
 
 A. Because they had got possession of the 
 estates of the native gentry; and it was in the 
 highest degree their interest to deprive the old 
 proprietors of all chance of sympathy or aid, by 
 blackening, to the utmost, their character and that 
 of their nation. 
 
 Q. When Milton, Burton, and Temple, respect- 
 ively, alleged the massacre of their " six hundred 
 thousand" and their "three hundred thousand" 
 Protestants by the Irish Catholics, pray what was 
 the total number of Protestants in the kingdom ? 
 
 A. According to Sir William Petty, the best 
 statist of his day, the entire number of Irish Prot- 
 estants then only amounted to about 220,000. 
 
 Q. You have already stated that the Irish rose 
 to defend themselves against the effort to exter- 
 
 Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 95 
 
 minate them. What evidence have you that the 
 government intended their extermination 1 
 
 A. The evidence of several Protestant his- 
 torians. 
 
 Q. What does Dr. Leland say ? 
 
 A. He says that " the favorite object of the 
 Irish governors and the English parliament ' was 
 the utter extermination of all the Catholic inhabit- 
 ants of Ireland.' " * 
 
 Q. What does Carte say ? 
 
 A. That "the lords justices had set their 
 hearts on the extirpation, not only of the ' mere 
 Irish,' but likewise of all of the old English fami- 
 lies that were Roman Catholics." f 
 
 Q. What does Lord Clarendon say ? 
 
 A. That the parliament party " had sworn to 
 extirpate " the whole Irish nation, J 
 
 Q. What does the Rev. Dr. Warner say ? 
 
 A. That it is evident that the lords justices 
 " hoped for an extirpation, not of the mere Irish 
 only, but of all the old English families that were 
 Roman Catholics." § 
 
 Q. In the course of the civil war, did the gov- 
 ernment try to restrain the bloodthirsty excesses 
 of their followers? 
 
 A. No ; on the contrary, they urged them to 
 the work of massacre. 
 
 Q. Can you state the words of their mandate 
 for massacre? 
 
 A. Yes ; in February, 1642, they issued an 
 instruction to Lord Ormond, "that his lordship 
 
 * Leland's History of Ireland ; Book V. chap. 4. 
 t Carte's Life of the duke of Ormonde, vol. I. p. 330. 
 j Clarendon., vol. I. p. 215. 
 
 I Warner's History of the Rebellion and Civil War in Ire- 
 land, p. 176. 
 
90 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 do endeavor 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, waste, spoil, consume, de- 
 stroy, and demolish, all the places, towns, and 
 houses, where the said rebels are, or have been, 
 relieved or harbored, and all the hay and corn 
 there ; and kill and destroy all the men there in- 
 habiting capable to bear arms." 
 
 Q. Who were the lords justices who issued this 
 diabolical instruction ? 
 
 A. Their names were Dillon, Rotheram, Lof- 
 tus, Willoughby, Temple, and Meredith. 
 
 Q. Were their orders obeyed 1 
 
 A. Yes ; to the very letter, by their sanguinary 
 subordinates. 
 
 Q. Where were the head-quarters of the con- 
 federated Irish ? 
 
 A. At Kilkenny. 
 
 Q. Did the Irish leaders also draw up a mani- 
 festo to regulate the conduct of their army ? 
 
 A. They did. 
 
 Q. What was the character of that manifesto ? 
 
 A. Humane and merciful. The Irish leaders 
 enjoined all their military commanders to prohibit, 
 on pain of severe punishment, any wanton aggres- 
 sion on the persons or goods of the public ; which 
 injunction was further enforced by the penalty 
 of excommunication, fulminated by the Catholic 
 prelates against all such Catholics as should 
 disobey it. 
 
 Q. Who were the principal leaders of the con- 
 federated Irish ? 
 
 A. Roger Moore, Connor Macguire, O'Farrell, 
 Clanricarde, Owen Roe O'Neill, Preston, Red 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 97 
 
 Hugh O'Donnell, Audley, Mac Mahon, and Sir 
 Phelim O'Neill. 
 
 Q. Was their purpose to throw off their alle- 
 giance to the king ? 
 
 A. By no means. At a conference between 
 the Irish leaders of English and Irish descent, 
 held, prior to the taking up of arms, at the hill of 
 Crofty, the lords of the Pale asked Roger Moore 
 to state distinctly his purposes ; to which question 
 Moore replied, " To maintain the royal preroga- 
 tive, and make the subjects of Ireland as free as 
 those of England." 
 
 Q. How did Sir Phelim O'Neill endeavor to 
 raise troops ? 
 
 A. By alleging that he had taken up arms for 
 the king ; and exhibiting a commission, purporting 
 to be from his majesty, to which he had forged the 
 royal seal and signature. 
 
 Q. What was the personal character of Sir 
 Phelim? 
 
 A. It contrasted strongly with the dispositions 
 of the other Irish leaders. He was a ferocious, 
 headstrong man; but he in some measure re- 
 deemed his crimes by the noble candor which he 
 displayed when on the point of being executed. 
 
 Q. What was that ? 
 
 A. He might have saved his life, if he had then 
 consented to confirm his own false statement, that 
 Charles had authorized him to take up arms ; but 
 he preferred doing justice to the unhappy king, 
 by honestly confessing his own forgery of the 
 commission. 
 
 Q. What was the conduct of the earl of Or- 
 mond during the civil war 1 
 
 A. Crafty and treacherous. We find him at 
 9 
 
98 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 first making offers to the lords justices to march 
 against the insurgents. 
 
 Q. Were his offers accepted 1 
 
 A. Not at first. The lords justices sent forth 
 Sir Charles Coote, a very monster of ferocity, to 
 ravage the country and massacre the inhabitants. 
 
 Q. Where do we next find Ormond ? 
 
 A. Offering the Irish government to carry on 
 the war against the confederates, on condition of 
 being supplied with ten thousand pounds for that 
 purpose. 
 
 Q. Did the government accede to this offer ? 
 
 A. They did not. 
 
 Q. Did Ormond then enter into treaty with the 
 confederates 1 
 
 A. Yes ; he was authorized by Charles to do 
 so. 
 
 Q. What was the result of his negotiation 1 
 
 A. A cessation of hostilities for twelve months. 
 The confederates, who had taken up arms to de- 
 fend their lives, properties, and liberties, looked 
 upon this truce as a boon, and undertook to supply 
 the king with thirty thousand pounds in considera- 
 tion of.it. 
 
 Q. What did Ormond achieve by this nego- 
 tiation 1 
 
 A. Firstly, he gained supplies for the king from 
 the confederates ; secondly, he kept the confed- 
 erates in a sort of hostile attitude; and thirdly, 
 he tied them up for a whole year from making any 
 use of their arms. 
 
 Q. How did the Puritan, or parliamentarian 
 party, act on the occasion of this truce ? 
 
 A. They loudly exclaimed against the sin, as 
 they called it, of holding any terms whatsoever 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 99 
 
 with the murderous Papists, and they ordered their 
 generals to break the truce. 
 
 Q. What was the next act of the confed- 
 erates ? 
 
 A. They implored Ormond to take the com- 
 mand of their army, and to lead them against 
 Monroe, the parliamentarian general in Ulster. 
 
 Q. Did Ormond comply ? 
 
 A. No ; and the command was thereupon given 
 to Lord Castlehaven. 
 
 Q. What were the next steps of both parties ? 
 
 A. The Catholic confederates, and the Ultra- 
 Protestant party, each sent a deputation to England, 
 to state their proposals to the king. 
 
 Q. What did the Catholic party demand ? 
 
 A. The total repeal of all penal laws against 
 their religion ; the perfect freedom of the Irish 
 parliament ; the exclusion from that parliament 
 of all persons who had neither property nor resi- 
 dence in Ireland ; an act, reversing all attainders 
 of those who had borne arms in the war ; an act 
 to incapacitate the viceroy from acquiring lands in 
 Ireland during his tenure of office; a rigid in- 
 quiry into all allegations of inhuman conduct and 
 breaches of quarter upon either side during the 
 troubles, and the due punishment of all convicted 
 offenders. 
 
 Q. What did the Protestant party demand ? 
 
 A. That all the penal laws against the Cath- 
 olics should be enforced with the utmost rigor ; 
 that all Catholics should be disarmed ; that they 
 should be obliged to make good all injuries sus- 
 tained in the war by the Protestants; that all 
 Catholics, guilty of offences, should be punished ; 
 and that all the estates of which Sir William 
 Parsons had achieved the forfeiture should be 
 
100 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 vested in the crown, with the view to secure the 
 British settlers in the possession of them. 
 
 Q. What curious inconsistency is observable 
 in the Protestant proposal? 
 
 A. That the Catholics should be compelled to 
 make good all injuries sustained by the Protest- 
 ants ; and at the same time be totally deprived of 
 the means of so doing, by the confirmation of the 
 forfeiture of their estates. 
 
 Q. How did Charles treat the Catholic depu- 
 tation? 
 
 A. He gave them civil words, and then com- 
 mitted the decision of their claims to Ormond. 
 
 Q. What was Ormond's policy? 
 
 A. Procrastination ; and he postponed all final 
 settlement until the English Puritan party had 
 acquired such power, as to render the king's ruin 
 certain. 
 
 Q. Why did Ormond delay the settlement ? 
 
 A. Because he was secretly resolved not to 
 grant the demands of the Catholics; and he tried 
 to obtain their assistance for Charles, without 
 committing himself by promise or treaty. 
 
 Q. What was the king's conduct throughout 
 the entire negotiation ? 
 
 A. It was marked by duplicity and faithless- 
 ness ; the effort to extort as much from the Irish, 
 and to grant them as little as possible ; the accept- 
 ance of money and men from our nation, on the 
 faith of solemn promises which Charles neither 
 kept, nor, in all probability, intended to keep. 
 
 Q. Through whom were those promises con- 
 veyed to the Irish confederates ? 
 
 A. Through Herbert, earl of Glamorgan, the 
 son of the marquis of Worcester. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 101 
 
 Q. Did Ormond at last sign the treaty with the 
 confederates ? 
 
 A. He did; on the 28th of May, 1646. 
 
 Q. What at last induced him to do so ? 
 
 A. The pressing necessity of the king's affairs, 
 which were every day becoming more desperate 
 in consequence of the delay. 
 
 Q. What was the first battle fought in Ireland 
 after that treaty ? 
 
 A. The battle of Benburb ; in which Owen 
 Roe O'Neill, commanding the Catholic forces on 
 the part of the king, defeated the more numerous 
 army of the parliamentarians, commanded by 
 Monroe. 
 
 Q. Meanwhile, what were the king's fortunes 
 in England ? 
 
 A. Most disastrous. He met with a succession 
 of defeats, and at last surrendered himself into the 
 hands of the Scotch Puritans, who sold him to 
 the English parliament for the sum of .£400,000. 
 
 Q. What was then Ormond's policy? 
 
 A. As soon as he saw the king's affairs were 
 hopeless, he began to make terms with the par- 
 liamentarians ; and he even pretended that Charles 
 had instructed him to prefer the alliance of that 
 party to the friendship of the Irish. 
 
 Q. When Ormond deserted the confederates 
 to negotiate with the parliamentarians, what con- 
 ditions did he make for himself with the latter ? 
 
 A. He bargained for £3000 a year for his 
 wife ; £14,000 to make good his own personal 
 losses in the war ; and liberty to reside in Eng- 
 land on condition of not disturbing the new order 
 of things. 
 
 Q. Was this last stipulation carried into effect? 
 
 A. No; on arriving in England he was ap- 
 9* 
 
103 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 prised that the parliament had issued orders to 
 arrest him ; and he accordingly escaped to France. 
 
 Q. What were the fortunes of the confederate 
 Catholics 1 
 
 A. Unprosperous. They were divided by the 
 opposite counsels of Rinuncini, the Pope's nuncio, 
 and his party on the one hand, and the more mod- 
 erate party on the other. 
 
 Q. Did Ormond return to Ireland from 
 France 1 
 
 A. He did, in September, 1648. 
 
 Q. Where was the king at that time ? 
 
 A. A close prisoner at Carisbrook Castle in 
 the Isle of Wight, in the hands of the parliamen- 
 tarians. 
 
 Q. How had Ormond employed his time whilst 
 in France] 
 
 A. In endeavoring to obtain from the French 
 court supplies to carry on the war for the king in 
 Ireland. 
 
 Q. Did he succeed ? 
 
 A. So badly, that the slender sum that court 
 advanced him little more than defrayed the ex- 
 penses of his voyage. On arriving at Cork, he 
 had no more than thirty French louisd'or for his 
 military chest. 
 
 Q. Did he renew his treaty with the confed- 
 erates ? 
 
 A. Yes ; on the 16th of January, 1649, he 
 ratified that treaty, granting every concession 
 demanded by the Catholics. 
 
 Q. Had he the king's authority for this ratifi- 
 cation 1 
 
 A. Yes; so long before as the 10th of October, 
 in the previous year, Charles had written Ormond 
 a letter from his prison, in which he says : " Be 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 103 
 
 not startled at my great concessions concerning 
 Ireland, for they icill come to nothing." 
 
 Q. On what day was the king beheaded by 
 the parliamentarians? 
 
 A. On the 30th of January, 1649. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The Commonwealth. 
 
 Q. Where was Ormond when the news of the 
 king's death reached him 1 
 
 A. At Ifoughall, in the county Cork. 
 
 Q. What was his first act on learning the 
 event 1 
 
 A. To proclaim the prince of Wales king, by 
 the title of Charles the Second. 
 
 Q. Where was the young king at that time 1 
 
 A. At the Hague, in Holland. 
 
 Q. Did he begin by confirming the peace 
 which Ormond had signed with the confederate 
 Catholics 1 
 
 A. Yes ; he wrote from the Hague " that he 
 had received, and was extremely well satisfied 
 with, the articles of peace with the Irish confed- 
 erates, and would confirm wholly and entirely all 
 that was contained in them." * 
 
 Q. Did he keep that promise to the Irish 1 
 
 A. No; for in order to secure the crown of 
 Scotland for himself, he found it was necessary to 
 break faith with the Catholics, whom the Scottish 
 Puritans detested. 
 
 * Cart. Orig. Let. vol. II. pp. 363, 367. 
 
104 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What, then, was Charles's next declara- 
 tion ? 
 
 A. Having landed in Scotland in June, 1650, 
 he publicly declared " that he did detest and 
 abhor Popery, superstition, and idolatry, together 
 with prelacy; resolving not to tolerate, much less 
 to allow those in any part of his dominions, and to 
 endeavor the extirpation thereof to the utmost of 
 his power." 
 
 Q. What did the king further say with regard 
 to the peace with the IrTsh confederates, which 
 he had so recently promised to observe invio- 
 late ? 
 
 A. " That it was null and void." " That 
 
 he was convinced in his conscience of the sinful- 
 ness and unlawfulness of it, and of his allowing 
 them (the confederates) the liberty of the Popish 
 religion ; for which he did from his heart desire 
 to be deeply humbled before the Lord ; and for 
 having sought unto such unlawful help for the 
 restoring of him to his throne." 
 
 Q. What effect had this base perfidy of Charles 
 on the Irish people ? 
 
 A. It necessarily withdrew many of them from 
 their allegiance ; since it showed them how utterly 
 unworthy of trust the king was ; and with what 
 readiness he could sacrifice them to their bitterest 
 enemies in order to attain his own ends. 
 
 Q. Had the Catholic confederates been inva- 
 riably faithful to the late unhappy king ? 
 
 A. So faithful, that Ormond himself had told 
 his majesty that several of the soldiers had starved 
 by their arms, and that he could persuade one half 
 of Iris army to starve outright. 
 
 Q. Were the Protestants equally faithful to 
 that unfortunate monarch ? 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 105 
 
 A. So far from it, that their leaders, Sir Charles 
 Coote and Lord Broghill, with the entire force 
 under their command, and the whole army in the 
 north, had deserted from the late king to the 
 Puritan rebels. 
 
 Q. Did the young king's base ingratitude to 
 the Irish Catholics, and his pledge to extirpate 
 Popery, avail to secure him in his throne? 
 
 A. No; the English parliamentarians refused 
 to trust him, despite his professions ; and he was 
 obliged to fly from England, to save his life. 
 
 Q. Who was Oliver Cromwell 1 
 
 A. One of the parliamentarian generals. 
 
 Q. In what year did he come to Ireland ? 
 
 A. In 1649 ; the year of the late king's murder. 
 
 Q. How did Cromwell begin operations in 
 Ireland ? 
 
 A. He stormed Drogheda with a force of 
 10,000 men and a well-appointed battering ar- 
 tillery. 
 
 Q. How did the garrison defend the town 7 
 
 A. With great bravery. They twice repulsed 
 their assailants ; but, on the third assault, Colonel 
 Wall being killed, the garrison became dismayed, 
 and offered to surrender the town on promise of 
 quarter. 
 
 Q. Did Cromwell, on taking possession of the 
 town, observe this promise of quarter? 
 
 A. No ; he massacred the inhabitants in cold 
 blood. For three days the slaughter continued; 
 and Cromwell, in his despatch to the English 
 parliament, thanked God "for that great mercy," 
 as he called it. 
 
 Q. Did Cromwell also besiege Wexford ? 
 
 A. He did, and he massacred three hundred 
 women who had assembled at the cross. 
 
106 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. In which of the three kingdoms did the 
 friends of the royal cause hold out the longest 
 against Cromwell ? 
 
 A. In Ireland. The Catholic Irish were the 
 last to lay down their arms, and to relinquish 
 their exertions in the king's behalf, as Lord Orrery 
 testifies. 
 
 Q. How did the Catholic bishops act ? 
 
 A. They excommunicated all persons who 
 should go over to the rebels. And Lord Clan- 
 ricarde, acting on the advice of the Catholic 
 assembly convened at Loughrea, issued a procla- 
 mation denouncing the pains of high treason 
 against all persons serving in Cromwell's army, 
 or in treaty with him ; unless within twenty-one 
 days they quitted that service, and abandoned all 
 communication with the rebels. 
 
 Q. What were the chief measures of Crom- 
 well's Irish government? 
 
 A. Severe laws against the Catholic religion 
 and priesthood. The ancient possessions of the 
 men who had fought for the king were given 
 away to the hordes of Cromwellian adventurers ; 
 and all the loyal Irish who survived the late war, 
 and who could be collected, were driven into the 
 province of Connaught, and forbidden to re-cross 
 the Shannon under pain of death. 
 
 Q. In what year did Cromwell die? 
 
 A. In 1659. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 107 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The Reign of Charles the Second. 
 
 Q. In what year was Charles the Second re- 
 stored to his throne 1 
 
 A. In 1660. 
 
 Q. How did he treat the Cromwellian party 
 who had fought against his father and himself m 
 Ireland 1 
 
 A. He confirmed them in the possession of the 
 estates they had seized from his loyal, suffering, 
 Irish Catholic subjects; and two of the chief 
 Cromwellian leaders — lord Broghill and Sir 
 Charles Coote — he favored, by creating the 
 former earl of Orrery, and the latter earl of 
 Mountrath. 
 
 Q. When did the new Irish parliament meet 1 
 
 A, In 1661. 
 
 Q. Of what materials was the house of com- 
 mons composed ? » 
 
 A. Chiefly of the adventurers who had acquired 
 estates under Cromwell. 
 
 Q. What was their character 1 
 
 A. They were upstarts from the very lowest 
 classes; they were extremely ignorant; inflated 
 with spiritual pride ; outrageously impudent and 
 self-sufficient. 
 
 Q. What were the subjects that engaged the 
 attention of this parliament 1 
 
 A. The restoration of the Episcopal Protestant 
 Church, and the settlement of the confiscated es- 
 tates in possession of the Cromwellian proprietors. 
 
 Q. Were there any Catholic members in that 
 parliament ? 
 
108 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 A. Yes, a few ; there were one or two Catholic 
 members for boroughs, and a small number of 
 Catholic representatives of counties. 
 
 Q. How did the Puritan majority treat these 1 
 
 A. They tried to get rid of them ; first, by im- 
 posing an oath of qualification which no Catholic 
 could take. 
 
 Q. Did that scheme succeed ? 
 
 A. No; for the bill they prepared for imposing 
 the oath was quashed by the English privy- 
 council. 
 
 Q. What did they next try 1 
 
 A. They tried to expel the Catholic members 
 by a vote of the house ; .but the lords justices con- 
 demned that project as being an infraction on the 
 royal prerogative. 
 
 Q. How were the Puritanic members of this 
 parliament induced to vote for the restoration of 
 the Episcopal Church ? 
 
 A. By the dexterous management of Ormond, 
 who postponed the question of settling the estates 
 until after the question ^f the church should have 
 been disposed of. The Puritan members thus 
 found it their interest to conciliate Ormond by 
 voting for the establishment of the Episcopal 
 Church. 
 
 Q. Did the old proprietors make a struggle for 
 their estates? 
 
 A. Yes ; their claims were brought before the 
 English privy-council, and they selected Richard 
 Talbot, the earl of Tyrconnel, as the patron of 
 their case. 
 
 Q. What was the basis of their claims ? 
 
 A. Right and justice. They also relied much 
 on the merits of their own loyalty to Charles and 
 his father, when contrasted with the rebellious 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 109 
 
 conduct of the Cromwellian party, who had caused 
 the late king's murder. 
 
 Q. Did these claims and merits weigh with 
 Charles? 
 
 A. Not in the least. He looked upon the ruined 
 Irish loyalists, who had lost their all in his service, 
 as being too weak tp give him any annoyance in 
 return for his desertion of their interests ; whereas, 
 the Cromwellians were strong enough to render it 
 worth the king's while to conciliate them. 
 
 Q. Did any other motives actuate Charles ? 
 
 A. Yes ; he wanted to preserve what was 
 called "the English interest in Ireland;" and as 
 he conceived that the new Cromwellian propri- 
 etors, from their bitter hatred of the Irish people, 
 were the fittest tools to effectuate that object, he 
 readily gave them the assistance of his influence. 
 
 Q. How did Ormond act ? 
 
 A. He at first affected a desire to serve the 
 Irish claimants ; but, as the Cromwellian parlia- 
 ment had bribed him with a grant of =£30,000, the 
 Catholics suspected his sincerity and refused 
 his aid. 
 
 Q. What was the final result? 
 
 A. The confirmation of the immense majority 
 of the Cromwellian soldiers and adventurers in the 
 forfeited estates ; and the exclusion of nearly all 
 the Irish claimants from any redress whatsoever. 
 
 Q. Had Ormond profited by his share in the 
 public events since the year 1641 ? 
 
 A. Yes; his estates, prior to that period, had 
 been worth about £7000 a year ; but after the Act 
 of Settlement, his property amounted to the annual 
 value of £80,000. 
 
 Q. Have the Catholic gentry of the present day 
 10 
 
110 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 an interest in subverting the Cromwellian settle- 
 ment of property ? 
 
 A. No ; for a large proportion of the confis- 
 cated lands have passed, by purchase, into the 
 hands of Catholic proprietors. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 The Reign of Charles II. continued. 
 
 Q. What act affecting Ireland was next passed 
 by the English Parliament ? 
 
 A. An act to prevent the importation of Irish 
 cattle into England. 
 
 Q. Was this act observed 1 
 
 A. Yes, until the great fire of London ; when 
 the Irish, having nothing else to send the sufferers, 
 sent them a present of cattle for their relief. 
 
 Q. How did the English receive this gift? 
 
 A. They represented it as an attempt to evade 
 the cattle act. 
 
 Q. Did Ormond try to serve any Irish interest ? 
 
 A. Yes ; he promoted the linen and woollen 
 manufacturers, and invited over the ablest foreign 
 artizans to instruct the natives. 
 
 Q. Meanwhile, how were the hot Protestant 
 party in England occupied ? 
 
 A. In devising and circulating rumors of Popish 
 plots, conspiracies, and intended massacres. 
 
 Q. What measures did they recommend Or- 
 mond to take ? 
 
 A. They advised him to expel the Catholic in- 
 habitants from every walled town in Ireland, and 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. Ill 
 
 to arrest every peer and gentleman of Irish 
 lineage. 
 
 Q. What was their object in giving this advice? 
 
 A. To goad the Irish into a rebellion, in order 
 to afford an opportunity for fresh confiscations. 
 
 Q. Did Ormond act on their advice ? 
 
 A. He did not; and thus Ireland was preserved 
 in quiet, and the hopes of those persons who de- 
 sired new forfeitures were disappointed. 
 
 Q. Who was Oliver Plunket 1 
 
 A. The Catholic archbishop of Armagh. 
 
 Q. What was his character as a politician ? 
 
 A. He had ever been thoroughly loyal to the 
 Stuart dynasty. 
 
 Q. What was his fate 1 
 
 A. The English zealots dragged him to Lon- 
 don, to answer for his alleged participation in a 
 rebellious conspiracy. He offered to bring wit- 
 nesses from Ireland to establish his innocence, but 
 was refused the time necessary for that purpose. 
 He was of course found guilty, and hanged, al- 
 though not a tittle of credible evidence was pro- 
 duced against him. 
 
 Q. In what year did Charles die ? 
 
 A. In 1684 ; not without the suspicion of being 
 poisoned. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The Reign of James the Second. 
 
 Q. Did James the Second remove Ormond 
 from the government of Ireland 1 
 
 A. Yes; and replaced him by his kinsman, the 
 earl of Clarendon. 
 
112 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. What was Clarendon's policy with regard 
 to the Catholics ? 
 
 A. He admitted them into the Privy Council, 
 and advanced them to the bench. 
 
 Q. What was James's policy with reference to 
 the religious differences of his subjects ? 
 
 A. He published a declaration, giving equal 
 civil privileges to all classes of religionists. 
 
 Q. What was the great principle of the Eng- 
 lish revolution of 1688 ? 
 
 A. Representative government, as opposed to 
 the arbitrary power of despotic monarchy. 
 
 Q. What step did James take when he heard 
 that William of Orange had landed in England to 
 contest the throne with him ? 
 
 A. He fled to France. 
 
 Q. Who was at that time lord lieutenant of 
 Ireland ? 
 
 A. The earl of Tyrconnel. 
 
 Q. What was Tyrconnel's conduct? 
 
 A. He pretended to the Protestants that he was 
 desirous to negotiate with William ; whilst he 
 augmented and strengthened by all the means in 
 his power the Catholic army. 
 
 Q. How did the enemies of the Irish Catholics 
 act at this juncture ? 
 
 A. They repeated the old trick, so frequently 
 used, of accusing the Catholics of a purpose to 
 massacre the Protestants; and anonymous letters, 
 professing to give the most accurate details of the 
 plot, were extensively circulated amongst the 
 Protestant party by designing persons. 
 
 Q. What terms did William of Orange offer to 
 the Irish Catholics ? 
 
 A. He offered them the possession of a third 
 part of the churches in the kingdom ; equality of 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 113 
 
 civil and religious privileges with all other religious 
 persuasions ; and as full security of person and 
 property as any other class of the subjects of the 
 crown enjoyed. 
 
 Q. Did the Irish Catholics accept these offers ? 
 
 A. They did not. They believed themselves 
 bound in conscience to preserve their loyalty to 
 James, and they looked upon William as a 
 usurper. 
 
 Q. What were King James's movements ? 
 
 A. He resolved to strike a blow for his crown 
 in Ireland ; and accordingly sailed from France 
 to Kinsale, where he landed on the 12th of 
 March, 1689. 
 
 Q. What reception did he meet 1 
 
 A. A most loyal one from the corporations, 
 gentry, and clergy. Even the clergy of the Prot- 
 estant church vied with the Catholic priesthood in 
 their ardent professions of allegiance. 
 
 Q. When did the Irish parliament meet ? 
 
 A. In May, 1689. The king opened the ses- 
 sion in person. 
 
 Q. Was that parliament a fair representation 
 of the Irish people? 
 
 A. Yes ; it included Catholics and Protestants. 
 The former predominated in the House of Com- 
 mons. There were Protestant bishops in the House 
 of Lords, but no Catholic prelates. 
 
 Q. What were the topics of the king's speech 1 
 
 A. His majesty denounced all violations of the 
 rights of conscience as abhorrent to his princi- 
 ples ; he promised security of property ; he upheld 
 the perfect equality of Protestants and Catholics ; 
 he called the attention of parliament to the trading 
 and manufacturing interests of the nation ; and 
 recommended to their care those persons whom 
 10* 
 
114 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 the Act of Settlement had unjustly deprived of 
 their property. 
 
 Q. What acts did this parliament pass 1 
 
 A. An act for the full establishment of liberty 
 of .conscience. This act had the warm assent of 
 every Catholic member of this parliament, in 
 which the great majority of members were Cath- 
 olics. 
 
 Q. Was it accordant with the spirit of the 
 Irish Catholics at large 1 
 
 A. Preeminently so. Neither then, nor at any 
 other time, did the Irish Catholics desire the ex- 
 clusion of any class of their countrymen from any 
 political privilege which they themselves enjoyed. 
 
 Q. What other measures did the parliament of 
 1689 enact? 
 
 A. It enacted that tithes should be paid by 
 each person to the pastor of his own communion. 
 The two houses, also, passed a bill repealing 
 Poynings's law,* and establishing the legislative 
 and judicial independence of Ireland; but it was 
 negatived by the miserable James, to whom it ap- 
 peared inconsistent with his favorite notion of 
 "an English interest" in Ireland. 
 
 Q. Was the Act of Settlement repealed this 
 session ? 
 
 A. Yes ; and the forfeited estates which the 
 Cromwellian adventurers had obtained, were 
 thereby restored to the former owners, who had 
 lost them through their loyalty to the house of 
 Stuart. 
 
 Q. What grant did the Irish Parliament make 
 James 1 
 
 A. Twenty thousand pounds per month. 
 
 * See page 61, ante. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 115 
 
 Q. What financial scheme had James recourse 
 to? 
 
 A. He issued a proclamation, doubling the 
 value of money. 
 
 Q. How did the traders and merchants evade 
 this proclamation? 
 
 A. By instantly doubling the prices of their 
 goods. 
 
 Q. Did James besiege the city of Derry ? 
 
 A. Yes ; the assault was commanded by Gen- 
 eral Hamilton ; the defence was conducted by a 
 dissenting clergyman named Walker ; and when 
 we consider the want of previous discipline, the 
 want of provisions in the garrison during a great 
 portion of the siege, and the dispiriting tendency 
 of the treacherous conduct of Lundy, the govern- 
 or of the town, — it is impossible to estimate too 
 highly the spirit, valor, and gallantry of the Prot- 
 estant people of Derry. 
 
 Q. What was the issue of the conflict ? 
 
 A. The Derry men kept their town for Wil- 
 liam ; and the assailants retreated on the arrival 
 of vessels in the harbor bearing provisions for 
 the gallant inhabitants — whose defence forms one 
 of the most brilliant achievements in the annals 
 of modern warfare. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Struggle between James and William. 
 
 Q. What measures did William of Orange take 
 against James, in Ireland ? 
 
116 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 A. He sent his Dutch general, Count Schom- 
 berg, with an army of ten thousand men, into this 
 country. 
 
 Q. When and where did they land ? 
 
 A. They landed on the 13th of August, 1689, 
 at Bangor Bay, near Carrickfergus. 
 
 Q. What was the character of the Williamite 
 army? 
 
 A. The Rev. Dr. Gorge, who was chaplain to 
 Schomberg, describes them as wallowing in profli- 
 gacy too odious and loathsome for description. 
 They were, however, brave and well-trained 
 soldiers. 
 
 Q. What was Schomberg's first attempt ? 
 
 A. The siege of Carrickfergus. 
 
 Q. Who was the Jacobite governor of the 
 town? 
 
 A. McCarthy More. 
 
 Q. Did he make a gallant defence 1 
 
 A. He did not surrender until his last grain of 
 powder was exhausted; and he then obtained 
 honorable terms from Schomberg. 
 
 Q. Did Schomberg's army observe the terms 
 of capitulation 1 
 
 A. No; they scandalously violated their engage- 
 ments, and rioted in every excess of flagitious 
 license. Female virtue was outraged, and private 
 property was plundered and devastated. 
 
 Q. Did the native Irish, in the various civil 
 wars of the kingdom, ever offer injury or insult to 
 the females of the opposite party 1 
 
 A. Never; and this fact is a proud and honor- 
 able boast for our nation; especially when con- 
 trasted with the beastly licentiousness that marked 
 the conduct of the English soldiery in Ireland in 
 every civil strife. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 117 
 
 Q. Did Schomberg countenance the ruffianism 
 of his men at Carrickfergus ? 
 
 A. No ; he endeavored to check them ; and 
 thereby obtained their hatred. 
 
 Q. Whither did he advance from Carrick- 
 fergus ? 
 
 A. Along the coast of Dundalk. 
 
 Q. In what condition did he find the country ? 
 
 A. Reduced to a mere desert by the previous 
 civil warfare. • 
 
 Q. What was the state of Schomberg' s men? 
 
 A. They suffered severely from the want of 
 provisions, and the fatigue of marching through a 
 boggy and mountainous country. 
 
 Q. What were the counsels of James's gener- 
 als ? 
 
 A. They were disposed to retreat before 
 Schomberg, until the earl of Tyrconnel reassured 
 them by promising a large reenforcement. 
 
 Q. What was Schomberg's conduct ? 
 
 A. He paused near Dundalk, and fortified his 
 camp with entrenchments. 
 
 Q. Did James's army engage that of Schom- 
 berg ? 
 
 A. No ; the timid and vacillating spirit of 
 the king appears to have influenced his generals. 
 The men were dissatisfied at not being led against 
 the enemy. 
 
 Q. What were Marshal Rosen's words to 
 James ? 
 
 A, " If your majesty had ten kingdoms, you 
 would lose them." 
 
 Q. Why did not Schomberg engage James's 
 army? 
 
 A. Because his men were exhausted by disease 
 
118 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 and hunger, and must have inevitably been de- 
 feated if they quitted their position. 
 
 Q. What losses did the Williamites sustain 
 just then? 
 
 A. They lost Sligo and Jamestown, which 
 were stormed and taken by the gallant Sarsfield, 
 earl of Lucan ; a man of whom Irishmen may 
 well be proud. 
 
 Q. How did Schomberg's campaign terminate? 
 
 A. In the destruction, by disease and famine, 
 of the greater portion of his army ; while no 
 advantage of any importance had been gained by 
 his efforts against James, excepting the capture 
 of the fort of Charlemont. 
 
 Q. On what course did William then resolve ? 
 
 A. On proceeding to Ireland himself. 
 
 Q. Where and when did he land ? 
 
 A. At Carrickfergus on the 14th of June, 
 1690. 
 
 Q. By whom was he attended? 
 
 A. By Prince George of Denmark, the duke 
 of Ormond, and a large train of followers of rank. 
 
 Q. What was the number of William's army? 
 
 A. Thirty-six thousand picked men. 
 
 Q. What were James's movements? 
 
 A. As soon as he learned that William had 
 landed, he proceeded to join his army, which 
 were now encamped on the southern bank of the 
 Boyne, near Drogheda. 
 
 Q. When did William's army arrive at the 
 Boyne ? 
 
 A. At an early hour in the morning of the 
 30th of June. 
 
 Q. How were James's army then posted? 
 
 A. They had Drogheda to their right ; a deep 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 119 
 
 bog to their left ; the Boyne in their front, and 
 some hedges between their lines and the river, 
 which could be used as breast-works for infantry. 
 
 Q. What peril did William escape? 
 
 A. While reconnoitring James's position from 
 the opposite bank of the river, he was struck on 
 the right shoulder by a ball from James's lines ; 
 whilst another shot killed a man and two horses 
 in his immediate vicinity. He, however, escaped 
 with a slight wound, and rode through his army 
 to counteract the dispiriting effects of a report of 
 his death that had been spread. 
 
 Q. How was James affected by the approach 
 of battle ? 
 
 A. He had blustered a great deal upon the 
 previous day about his anxiety to risk an engage- 
 ment ; but he now was eagerly anxious to avoid 
 encountering his opponent. 
 
 Q. Was this from sheer poltroonery 1 
 
 A. Partly it was so, no doubt; but William's 
 army was so vastly superior to his own in artillery, 
 as well as in numbers, that the French generals 
 of James would have willingly escaped an engage- 
 ment. The Irish, however, expresed their perfect 
 readiness to fight. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 The Battle of the Boyne, and the Sieges of Ath- 
 lone and Limerick. 
 
 Q. On what day was the Battle of the Boyne 
 fought ? 
 
 A. Or^the first of July, 1690. 
 
120 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. Did James take an active part in the 
 battle ? 
 
 A. No ; he looked on at the contest from the 
 hill of Donore ; and when a portion of William's 
 army gave way before the charge of the Irish 
 dragoons, he exclaimed, " Spare, O spare my 
 English subjects!" 
 
 Q. What was the progress and event of the 
 battle 1 
 
 A. Great valor was displayed on both sides ; 
 but the great superiority, in point of numbers and 
 equipments, on the part of William's army, de- 
 cided the victory in their favor. Exclusively of 
 the numerical advantage, the Williamites were en- 
 couraged by the presence of a monarch who led 
 them with bravery and skill ; whilst the Jacobites 
 were dispirited by the cowardice and incapacity 
 of the miserable James. 
 
 Q. What did the Irish soldiers say when James 
 fled to Dublin 1 
 
 A. Their cry was, " Change kings, and we'll 
 fight the battle over again." 
 
 Q. What was the conduct of William's soldiers 
 after the battle ? 
 
 A. The Enniskilleners, and some other des- 
 peradoes, murdered in cold blood many of the 
 peasantry whom curiosity had drawn to the spot. 
 
 Q. Who received James at Dublin Castle ? 
 
 A. Lady Tyrconnel received him on the stair- 
 case ; and when his majesty, with base ingratitude 
 and falsehood, ascribed the event of the battle to 
 the cowardice of the Irish, " who," he said, " had 
 run away," Lady Tyrconnel replied with spirit : 
 " Your majesty, I see, has won the race ! " In 
 truth, James had not waited for the end of the en- 
 

 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 121 
 
 gagement, but had precipitately fled to Dublin, 
 leaving the day yet undecided. 
 
 Q. What commission did William issue ? 
 
 A. A commission to confiscate the estates of 
 all the Jacobite leaders who had taken up arms. 
 
 Q. What was William's next military enter- 
 prise 1 
 
 A. The seige of Athlone. This service was 
 intrusted to General Douglas, who was placed at 
 the head of ten regiments of foot, and five of 
 horse. 
 
 Q. Who was the Jacobite governor of Ath- 
 lone 1 
 
 A. Colonel Grace. 
 
 Q. When summoned by Douglas to surrender, 
 what was Grace's answer ? 
 
 A. He fired a pistol at the messenger, desiring 
 him to take that as his reply. 
 
 Q. What was Douglas's next proceeding ? 
 
 A. He constructed a battery in front of the 
 town, and opened a fire on the castle. 
 
 Q. How did the garrison meet the attack ? 
 
 A. By returning Douglas's fire from the castle 
 with tremendous effect. His best gunner was 
 killed, and his battery was destroyed. He was 
 accordingly obliged to raise the siege. 
 
 Q. When did William besiege Limerick 1 
 
 A. On the 9th of August, 1690. 
 
 Q. What was the conduct of his army prior to 
 the siege ? 
 
 A. They renewed the brutalities they had prac- 
 tised at Athlone. They plundered and burned 
 the country, and committed acts of the grossest 
 licentiousness. 
 
 Q. What defence did the Irish garrison of 
 Limerick make ? 
 
 11 
 
122 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 A. A most gallant one. Even the women min- 
 gled amongst the soldiers, and fought as valiantly 
 as the men. They declared that they would 
 rather be torn in pieces than submit to the power 
 of wretches who were guilty of such foul abomina- 
 tions as the Williamite army had committed. 
 
 Q. How long did the conflict last? 
 
 A. For three hours ; when William retreated 
 from Limerick, seeing that success was perfectly 
 hopeless. 
 
 Q. How many men did William lose 1 
 
 A. Two thousand. 
 
 Q. How did the advances of his army affect 
 the condition of the Protestants who inhabited the 
 country 1 
 
 A. Most disastrously ; for the Protestants in 
 the neighborhood of Limerick, and also of Ath- 
 lone, had previously lived in security under the 
 protections they had taken out from the Jacobite 
 garrisons of those places ; but on the approach of 
 William's army, they had surrendered their pro- 
 tections and gone over to the invading army ; by 
 whom they were treated with the utmost indignity, 
 and even brutality. 
 
 Q. What walled city was next attacked ? 
 
 A. Cork, which was taken after a brave de- 
 fence ; the inhabitants having stipulated for pro- 
 tection for their persons and property. 
 
 Q. Were these terms observed ? 
 
 A. No ; a Williamite mob abused the persons 
 and plundered the property of the Catholic and 
 Jacobite inhabitants ; in which acts of license they 
 were joined by the triumphant soldiery. 
 
 Q. What was the amount of the confiscations 
 under William ? 
 
 A. One million and sixty thousand acres. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 123 
 
 Q. What town of importance did William be- 
 siege the ensuing year 1 
 
 A. Athlone. 
 
 Q. Who conducted the assault ? 
 
 A. General Ginckle. 
 
 Q. When did he appear before the town ? 
 
 A. On the 18th of June, 1691. 
 
 Q. What resistance did the garrison make ? 
 
 A. A most valiant one. The assailing force 
 was now far superior to that which General Doug- 
 las had brought against the town on the occasion 
 of the previous siege. 
 
 Q. How many cannon did Ginckle mount on 
 his battery ? 
 
 A. Ten ; with which he opened a tremendous 
 fire on the town and castle. The bridge had been 
 broken by Grace in the former siege, and the 
 English now repaired the breach with wood-work, 
 under cover of the smoke of burning buildings. 
 
 Q. How did the Irish meet this attempt ? 
 
 A. A sergeant and ten men, cased in armor, 
 rushed forth from the town to destroy the wooden 
 passage the English had made. 
 
 Q. What was the fate of this brave little party ? 
 
 A. They were destroyed by a shot from the 
 English battery. 
 
 Q. Was their attempt renewed by others ? 
 
 A. Yes ; a second party from the town filled 
 their places, and succeeded in destroying the 
 wood-work on the bridge. Only two of this party 
 survived their desperate exploit. 
 
 Q. What was the result on the invading force? 
 
 A. Ginckle was unable for nine days to repeat 
 his assault. 
 
 Q. When he did renew his attack, how did the 
 Irish act? 
 
124 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 A. They threw grenades into all the wooden 
 works on which he had been occupied during the 
 interval ; and all his pontoons, galleries, and 
 breast-works, were consumed to ashes. 
 
 Q. What was the conduct of King James's 
 French general, St. Ruth ? 
 
 A. He most absurdly removed the brave men 
 who so ably garrisoned Athlone, and supplied 
 their places with inferior regiments. 
 
 Q. Meanwhile, how was Ginckle occupied 1 
 
 A. He seriously debated with his officers 
 whether he should abandon the siege, or renew 
 the assault. His own opinion was in favor of 
 retreating ; his officers, however, prevailed on him 
 to renew his attempt by fording the river next 
 morning. 
 
 Q. How did Ginckle try to throw the garrison 
 off their guard ? 
 
 A. He began to remove his guns from the bat- 
 teries, as if he were preparing to depart. 
 
 Q. Did this trick deceive the Irish officers ? 
 
 A. No ; and they implored St. Ruth to prepare 
 for another assault on the town. 
 
 Q. What was St. Ruth's reply 1 
 
 A. " The English," said he, " will not dare to 
 try it." ^ 
 
 Q. What did the Irish General, Sarsfield, 
 answer 1 
 
 A. " No enterprise," said Sarsfield, " is too 
 great for English valor." 
 
 Q. Did St. Ruth comply with the advice of his 
 Irish officers 1 
 
 A. No; he was obstinate and self-sufficient, 
 and refused to believe that Ginckle would really 
 hazard another attack. He accordingly neglected 
 to make any preparations of defence ; and on the 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 125 
 
 next morning the English had forded the river and 
 entered the town ere St. Ruth had wakened from 
 his slumbers. 
 
 Q. Where did St. Ruth retreat to, with his 
 army, after he had lost Athlone ? 
 
 A. To the hill of Kilcommodon, near the castle 
 of Aughrim, in the county of Galway. 
 
 Q. On what day was the battle of Aughrim 
 fought ? 
 
 A. On the 12th of July, 1691. 
 
 Q. What were the fortunes of the day 1 
 
 A. Victory seemed for a long time to favor 
 the Irish, who succeeded in several charges, and 
 were quite triumphant on the right and in the 
 centre ; when St. Ruth was killed by a shot from 
 the enemy's cannon. Confusion overspread the 
 Irish army on the loss of their commander, and 
 was speedily followed by defeat. 
 
 Q. What was the character of St. Ruth ? 
 
 A. He was undoubtedly a brave and able gen- 
 eral ; but his merits were counterbalanced by his 
 excessive presumption, self-confidence, vanity and 
 obstinacy. 
 
 Q. Did William renew his attempt against 
 Limerick? 
 
 A. Yes ; on the 25th August, 1691. 
 
 Q. To whom did he commit the conduct of 
 the second siege 1 
 
 A. To Ginckle 
 
 Q. Was the siege protracted ? 
 
 A. Yes, for several weeks ; and after an ob- 
 stinate struggle, in which the greatest heroism 
 was displayed on both sides, the city surrendered 
 upon the terms imbodied in the celebrated 
 " Treaty of Limerick." 
 11* 
 
126 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 The Treaty of Limerick. 
 
 Q. What were the advantages promised to the 
 Irish Catholics in the treaty of Limerick ? 
 
 A. All the Catholics were to enjoy the exercise 
 of their religion in as full and free a manner as 
 they had done in the reign of Charles the Second. 
 It was stipulated also that, as soon as parliament 
 met, their majesties should try to obtain for the 
 Catholics additional legislative security for the 
 freedom of their worship. 
 
 Q. What was the next provision in the treaty ? 
 
 A. That all the inhabitants of the counties of 
 Limerick, Cork, Clare, Kerry, and Mayo, who 
 had taken up arms for King James, should possess 
 their estates and pursue their callings and profes- 
 sions unmolested. 
 
 Q. What other right was secured to the Cath- 
 olic gentry ? 
 
 A. They were allowed to keep arms. 
 
 Q. And what oaths were required to be taken 
 by them 1 
 
 A. None, except the oath of allegiance to Wil- 
 liam and Mary. 
 
 Q. What provision was made by the treaty for 
 all officers and soldiers who might refuse to remain 
 in Ireland on the above conditions ? 
 
 A. They were to be sent to France at the ex- 
 pense of the government. 
 
 Q. What was then the number of the Irish 
 army at Limerick? 
 
 A. They were fifteen thousand strong. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 127 
 
 Q. How many of them resolved to depart from 
 Ireland and enter the service of Franoe 1 
 
 A. About twelve thousand five hundred. They 
 formed the commencement of the celebrated Irish 
 Brigade, which, during the last century, contrib- 
 uted so greatly to the honor of French arms. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 TIte Reign of William and Mary, concluded. 
 
 Q. Was the treaty of Limerick faithfully ob- 
 served by the government 1 
 
 A. No; it was shamefully violated. 
 
 Q. What did Dr. Dopping, the Protestant 
 bishop of Meath, say of it ? 
 
 A. He preached a sermon before the lords 
 justices at Christ's Church, Dublin, in which he 
 affirmed that Protestants were not bound to keep 
 faith with Papists ; at the same time denouncing 
 the articles of the treaty. 
 
 Q. Was the bishop replied to ? 
 
 A. He was, by another Protestant prelate, 
 Doctor Moreton, bishop of Kildare ; who alleged 
 that the treaty was binding on men of good faith, 
 and that Protestants could not be exonerated from 
 keeping their promises to Papists. 
 
 Q. Did the English parliament violate the 
 treaty? 
 
 A. Yes. By an audacious usurpation of power 
 over the Irish legislature, the English parliament 
 enacted, " that all the members of the Irish 
 legislature should take the oath of supremacy ;" 
 although the treaty of Limerick had expressly 
 
128 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 provided, in its ninth article, that no oath what- 
 soever should be imposed upon the Irish Catholics 
 except the oath of allegiance. In subsequent 
 reigns, the treaty was yet more flagrantly vio- 
 lated. 
 
 Q. Did the Irish parliament, at this period of 
 national depression and weakness, protect in any 
 way the interests of their country 1 
 
 A. Yes ; the Irish house of commons rejected 
 a money-bill which had been forwarded from 
 England for their fiat ; asserting their own exclu- 
 sive right to originate all money-bills. 
 
 Q. Of what materials was the Irish house of 
 commons at this time composed 1 
 
 A. Chiefly of the sons of Cromwellian adven- 
 turers, and other supporters of what was called 
 "the Protestant interest." There were a very 
 small number of Catholics yet in the house. 
 
 Q. How did that parliament violate the treaty 
 of Limerick ? 
 
 A. By an act disabling the Catholics from 
 educating their children, or being guardians of 
 their own or other people's children ; also by an 
 act disarming the Catholics; and by another act 
 to expel all Catholic prelates and priests from the 
 kingdom. They also passed laws to prevent the 
 intermarriages of Protestants with Catholics ; and 
 to prevent Catholics from being attorneys or game- 
 keepers. 
 
 Q. What address did the English parliament 
 present to William in 1698 on the subject of 
 Ireland ? 
 
 A. An address praying him to discourage the 
 woollen manufacture of Ireland. 
 
 Q. What was William's answer ? 
 
 A. " I shall do all that in me lies to discourage 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 129 
 
 the woollen manufacture of Ireland, and to en- 
 courage the linen manufacture therein." 
 
 Q. Did William keep his promise to discourage 
 our woollen trade 1 
 
 A. He did. 
 
 Q. Did he keep his promise to encourage our 
 linen trade 1 
 
 A. He did not. 
 
 Q. In what year did William die? 
 
 A. In 1701. He was succeeded by his cousin 
 and sister-in-law, Anne Stuart. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 The Reign of Queen Anne. 
 
 Q. What enactments were passed against the 
 Catholics in the reign of Anne 1 
 
 A. The code generally known as the penal 
 laws. 
 
 Q. What were the penalties inflicted by that 
 code ? 
 
 A. The Catholics were thereby rendered in- 
 capable of acquiring landed property in fee, or 
 by lease for any term longer than thirty-one years ; 
 and even for that limited term they were not 
 permitted to possess an interest in their land 
 greater than one third the amount of the rent, on 
 pain of forfeiting the entire to the first Protestant 
 who should discover the extent of such interest. 
 
 Q. State some other enactments of the code. 
 
 A. If the child of a Papist possessing an estate 
 should conform to Protestantism, the parent was 
 debarred from disposing of his property by sale, 
 
130 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 mortgage, or will ; and the court of chancery was 
 empowered to order an annuity out of the estate, 
 for the use of such conforming child. 
 
 Q. What other penal laws were passed? 
 
 A. Catholics were declared incapable of in- 
 heriting the estates of their Protestant relations. 
 The estate of a Catholic who had not a Protestant 
 heir was to be divided in gavel among all his 
 children. All men were to be qualified for office, 
 or as voters at elections, by taking the oath of 
 abjuration, and by receiving the sacrament of the 
 Lords Supper as administered in the Established 
 Protestant Church ! ! ! A Catholic possessing a 
 horse — no matter of what value — was compelled 
 to surrender the horse to any Protestant on pay- 
 ment of five pounds. 
 
 Q. Was there a more specific violation of the 
 treaty of Limerick than the scandalous enact- 
 ments you have mentioned ? 
 
 A. Yes ; the parliament enacted a law which 
 expressly, and by name, deprived the Catholics of 
 Galway and Limerick of the protection guaranteed 
 to them by that treaty. 
 
 Q. Was a bribe held out to Catholic priests 
 to become Protestants ? 
 
 A. Yes; a grant of forty pounds per annum 
 was made to every " Popish " priest who should 
 embrace the established religion. 
 
 Q. What was the object of the Irish Protestant 
 parliament in their shameless infraction of the 
 treaty of Limerick, and their violent and ferocious 
 enactments against their Catholic fellow-country- 
 men? 
 
 A. They were haunted by incessant fears that 
 the Catholics would try to recover the estates 
 which had been wrested from them by every 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 131 
 
 variety of flagitious crime; and they therefore 
 labored to depress and weaken the objects of their 
 terror to the utmost. 
 
 Q. Were there any instances of Protestant 
 good faith in that dark and dreary period ? 
 
 A. Yes ; many instances in private life. Es- 
 tated Catholics who dreaded " Protestant discov- 
 erers " often made over their properties in trust to 
 friendly Protestants, even in the humblest ranks, 
 in order to evade the operation of the demon-law ; 
 and in no one case did the Protestants who were 
 thus confided in abuse the trust which the Catholic 
 proprietors reposed in them. It is said that one 
 poor Protestant barber had half the Catholic 
 estates of a southern county in trust. 
 
 Q. Was there, in this reign, a rumor of an 
 attempt by the son of James the Second to recover 
 the crown of these kingdoms ? 
 
 A. Yes; in 1708. 
 
 Q. What effect had that rumor on the affairs 
 of the Irish Catholics ? 
 
 A. It served as a pretext to the Protestant 
 authorities to arrest forty-one of the principal 
 Catholic nobility and gentry. 
 
 Q. How did the Irish Catholics at that time 
 feel disposed towards James the Second's fam- 
 ily ? 
 
 A. They regarded them with aversion and 
 disgust; for they had a bitter experience of 
 their tyrannical disposition, treachery, falsehood, 
 and base ingratitude to those who had fought 
 and bled in their cause, and lost their all in their 
 service. 
 
 Q. Did the Irish parliament, in the reign of 
 Anne, show a single spark of national feeling? 
 
132 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 A. Yes ; in 1709 a money-bill was thrown out, 
 because the English privy-council had presumed 
 to alter it. 
 
 Q. What do we learn from this fact 1 
 
 A. That since the pressure of their own in- 
 terests could sometimes impel even a parliament 
 so anti-national as was that assembly, to the per- 
 formance of a patriotic act, — the residence of an 
 Irish legislature, harmonizing with the Irish peo- 
 ple, and truly representing their wishes and in- 
 terests, would be the best possible safeguard and 
 promoter of the nation's prosperity. 
 
 Q. When did Queen Anne die ? 
 
 A. In August, 1714. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 The Reign of George the First. 
 
 Q. Whilst the Irish parliament was employed 
 in the enactment of restrictive laws against the 
 Catholics, what advantage was taken by the Eng- 
 lish legislature of the national weakness thus 
 created ? 
 
 A. In the sixth year of George the First, the 
 English parliament enacted a law, declaring itself 
 possessed of full power and authority to make 
 laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity 
 to bind the people of the kingdom of Irelanu. 
 The English parliament also deprived the Iris/i 
 house of lords of its final jurisdiction in cases 
 of appeal. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 133 
 
 Q. Was not this a gross usurpation of power 1 
 
 A. Of course it was; but Ireland, from the 
 divisions between her inhabitants, was just then 
 too weak to resist it. 
 
 Q. Was the Irish parliament, during this 
 reign, engaged in imposing new penalties on the 
 Catholics ? 
 
 A. Yes; such was the infatuation of its 
 bigotry, a bill was actually passed by both 
 houses, which decreed a personal penalty on 
 every Catholic ecclesiastic, of so revoltingly 
 indecent a nature that it cannot be explicitly 
 mentioned. 
 
 Q. Did that bill pass into a law? 
 
 A. No; Sir Robert Walpole, the English 
 prime minister, exerted his influence, for very 
 shame's sake, to procure its defeat in the English 
 privy council. 
 
 Q. Who was Dean Swift? 
 
 A. An Irish Protestant divine of distinguished 
 abilities. He combined both Protestants and 
 Catholics in powerful opposition to a govern- 
 ment scheme for empowering a man named 
 Wood to coin copper money in Ireland. His 
 " Drapier's Letters " which were written on this 
 subject, obtained deserved celebrity at the time ; 
 and the spirit of resistance which he aroused 
 succeeded in defeating the object of the gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Q. When did George the First die 1 
 
 A. In 1727. 
 
 12 
 
134 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 The Reign of George the Second. 
 
 Q. What steps did the Catholics take on the 
 accession of George the Second 1 
 
 A. The nobility and gentry determined to pre- 
 sent a loyal address to him. 
 
 Q. Was their address presented ? 
 
 A. No; it was suppressed by the influence 
 of Boulter, the Protestant primate, because he 
 deemed it inconsistent with law that there should 
 be any recognition of the existence of the Irish 
 Catholics as a body in the state. 
 
 Q. Did the Irish house of commons protect 
 the nation's purse in this reign 1 
 
 A. Yes ; in 1731 the government tried to get 
 a grant of the supplies for twenty-one years; 
 but the iniquitous effort was foiled by the com- 
 mons. 
 
 Q. What was the Agistment Act ? 
 
 A. An act passed in 1735, by which all pas- 
 ture lands were exempted from tithe, or mo- 
 dus for tithe ; and the Protestant clergy were 
 only permitted to claim the tithe of tillage and 
 meadow. 
 
 Q. Who was lord lieutenant of Ireland in 
 1745? 
 
 A. The celebrated earl of Chesterfield. 
 
 Q. Was he a judicious viceroy ? 
 
 A. Yes; he discouraged informers against 
 " Papists;" and conciliated the people of Ireland 
 by mitigating the severities of the existing laws, 
 so far as a mild administration could mitigate 
 them. 
 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 135 
 
 Q. Were there not, however, two new penal 
 laws passed during his viceroyalty? 
 
 A. Yes; one of these laws dissolved all mar- 
 riages between Protestants and Papists ; the other 
 inflicted the penalty of death on every Catholic 
 priest who should marry two Protestants, or a 
 Protestant and Papist. 
 
 Q. In what year did Chesterfield leave Ire- 
 land ? 
 
 A. In 1747. 
 
 Q. Who then acquired a leading power in the 
 Irish government ? 
 
 A. The Protestant primate, Dr. Stone ; who, 
 like his predecessor, Boulter, was an English- 
 man. 
 
 Q. What was Stone's policy ? 
 
 A. He converted his house into a brothel, to 
 win the support of the younger members of 
 parliament to his measures, by pandering to their 
 vices. 
 
 Q. What event occurred in 1759 1 
 
 A. Carrickfergus was seized by a small 
 French force under the command of Thurot ; 
 who, however, soon retired when he found that 
 he was not sustained by the Catholic inhabit- 
 ants. 
 
 Q. What important legislative measure was 
 contemplated in that year 1 
 
 A. Ministers projected a legislative Union be- 
 tween Ireland and England. 
 
 Q. Did the scheme succeed ? 
 
 A. No ; it was abandoned for the time. The 
 people of Dublin were indignant at the design. 
 They rushed into the house of lords, and com- 
 pelled such members of both houses as they 
 met, to take an oath that they never would 
 
136 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 consent to the destruction of the Irish parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 Q. In what year did George the Second die ? 
 
 A. In 1760. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 The Reign of George the Third. 
 
 Q. What change occurred in the constitution 
 of the Irish parliament in the earlier part of the 
 reign of George the Third 1 
 
 A. The members of the house of commons 
 had previously sat for life; but in 1768, they 
 shortened the duration of each parliament to eight 
 years. 
 
 Q. Who was at that time lord lieutenant ? 
 
 A. Lord Townshend. 
 
 Q. What dispute arose between the court and 
 the house of commons ? 
 
 A. A money-bill had been prepared in Eng- 
 land, and was submitted to the house of com- 
 mons by the Irish minister; but the commons 
 threw out the bill, because it had not originated 
 with themselves. 
 
 Q. Did Lord Townshend protest against the 
 rejection of the bill by the commons 1 
 
 A. He did ; but the house refused to enter his 
 protest on their journals. 
 
 Q. In what year did the American colonies 
 revolt from England 1 
 
 A. In 1776. 
 
 Q. What effect had the assertion of American 
 independence on the Irish people ? 
 
 A. It stimulated them, by example, to assert 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 137 
 
 the freedom of their trade and the independence 
 of their parliament. 
 
 Q. Did it furnish them with any facilities for 
 this purpose? 
 
 A. Yes ; by embarrassing England, which was 
 then engaged in a war against the American states, 
 and could not spare troops to overawe the Irish : 
 for the period of England's difficulty and dis- 
 tress has ever been the period the most favorable 
 to Irish freedom. England's extremity has al- 
 ways been Ireland's opportunity. 
 
 Q. Who were the Irish volunteers ? 
 
 A. They were an army of citizen-soldiers who 
 rose up to defend their country, which, in 1778, 
 was threatened with a French invasion. 
 
 Q. Where did the enrolment of this citizen- 
 army originate ? 
 
 A. In Belfast. The people of that town had 
 requested the government to send them a garrison. 
 
 Q. What was the answer of the government 1 
 
 A. That they could not spare them more than 
 half a troop of dismounted cavalry, and half a 
 company of invalids. 
 
 Q. When the Belfast volunteers formed them- 
 selves into a corps for the national defence, was 
 their example speedily followed by the other towns 
 throughout the kingdom 1 
 
 A. Yes ; so speedily, that, within a few months, 
 the volunteer army of Ireland amounted to 42,000 
 strong. 
 
 Q. What were the proceedings of the Irish 
 parliament 1 
 
 A. When the houses of parliament found them- 
 selves sustained by so powerful an army, they 
 unanimously voted an address to the viceroy, de- 
 claring that the nation could onJy be preserved 
 12* 
 
138 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 
 from ruin by a free trade. They also voted resolu- 
 tions of thanks to the different volunteer com- 
 panies for their spirited patriotism. 
 
 Q. In what year was free trade carried by the 
 Irish legislature ? 
 
 A. In 1779. 
 
 Q. What was the celebrated resolution of the 
 Dublin volunteers, presided over by the duke of 
 Leinster, in 1780? 
 
 A. " Resolved, that the king, lords, and com- 
 mons, of Ireland, only, were competent to make 
 laws binding the subjects of this realm ; and that 
 they would not obey, nor give operation to any 
 laws save only those enacted by the king, lords, and 
 commons, of Ireland — whose rights and privileges, 
 jointly and severally, they were determined to sup- 
 port with their lives and fortunes." 
 
 Q. Who were the principal leaders of the 
 movement in favor of free trade, and a free parlia- 
 ment, for Ireland ? 
 
 A. Henry Grattan, the duke of Leinster, the 
 earl of Charlemont, Henry Flood, and several 
 others. Grattan moved, and carried through the 
 house of commons, in 1782, a Declaration of 
 Rights, exactly identical in matter, and nearly so 
 in words, with the resolution of the Dublin volun- 
 teers already quoted. 
 
 Q. Where did the volunteer convention meet T 
 
 A. At Dungannon, in February, 1782 ; and 
 the bold and determined tone adopted by that 
 body encouraged the patriots in parliament, and 
 overawed the court party into acquiescence. 
 
 Q. How did the parliament testify its gratitude 
 to Grattan, for his triumphant exertions to obtain* 
 legislative independence for Ireland ? 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 139 
 
 A. The house of commons voted him a grant 
 of fifty thousand pounds. 
 
 Q. What was the next money-vote of the Irish 
 commons 1 
 
 A. They voted one hundred thousand pounds 
 to raise seamen for the service of England ; thus 
 giving a proof of the readiness of Ireland to assist 
 the sister country, when exempt from the operation 
 of British injustice. 
 
 Q. Of what religion were the leaders of the 
 glorious movement of 1779-S2 ? 
 
 A. They were Protestants. Some of them were 
 descendants of the Cromwellian settlers; and their 
 conduct demonstrates that the Protestant heart 
 can warm to the cause of Irish freedom and pros- 
 perity, when uninfluenced by the visionary fears 
 conjured up by designing bigots. 
 
 Q. What was the result of the commercial and 
 constitutional victory obtained by the patriots 1 
 
 A. Increase of trade, manufacture, and general 
 prosperity, to an extent unparalleled in the an- 
 nals of any other nation within so short a period. 
 
 Q. Did the Catholics obtain any relaxation of 
 their grievances 1 
 
 A. Yes; in 1782, the penal laws regarding 
 property were all repealed, and the Catholics were 
 placed on a level with Protestants as far as re- 
 garded the acquisition of land in freehold or in 
 absolute fee. 
 
 Q. What great fault existed in the constitution 
 of the Irish parliament 1 
 
 A. The great number of small boroughs, which 
 were under the absolute influence of private indi- 
 viduals, and entirely beyond the control of the 
 people. The members nominated by these bor- 
 oughs, at the dictation of their several patrons, 
 
140 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 composed fully two thirds of the house, and were 
 necessarily more liable to be corrupted by the 
 court than genuine representatives of the people 
 could have been. 
 
 Q. Were any efforts made to procure a reform 
 of the parliament ? 
 
 A. Yes; in 1783, Mr. Flood introduced a bill 
 for that purpose into the commons. But it was 
 rejected, through a copious application of court 
 influence. 
 
 Q. What instance of English perfidy was ex- 
 hibited in 1785? 
 
 A. The Irish commons had granted the min- 
 ister new taxes to the amount ,£140,000, on the 
 faith of his conceding to Ireland certain commer- 
 cial advantages known as " the eleven proposi- 
 tions." The minister took the taxes, but, 'instead 
 of conceding " the eleven propositions," he intro- 
 duced a code of " twenty propositions," injurious 
 to Irish commerce, which had been suggested by 
 the leading English merchants. 
 
 Q. What was the fate of the twenty English 
 propositions 1 
 
 A. They encountered a powerful resistance in 
 the Irish house of commons. The government 
 were only able to muster a majority of nineteen in 
 a very crowded house ; and as there appeared 
 every likelihood that this small support would be 
 discontinued, the court withdrew the obnoxious 
 measure, and the people exhibited their delight 
 by extraordinary rejoicings and illuminations. 
 
 Q. What remarkable event occurred in 1789 ? 
 
 A. The king became insane; and the British 
 and Irish parliaments concurred in appointing the 
 prince of Wales regent during his majesty's 
 incapacity. The British parliament fettered the 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 141 
 
 regent in the exercise of the royal authority, but 
 the Irish legislature invested him with unlimited 
 powers. The king, however, unexpectedly re- 
 covered, and resumed the exercise of the execu- 
 tive functions. 
 
 Q. How did successive administrations in Ire- 
 land thenceforward employ themselves 1 
 
 A. In augmented efforts to corrupt the mem- 
 bers of the Irish legislature. 
 
 Q. To what cause do you attribute the amount 
 of success that attended those efforts of corrup- 
 tion? 
 
 A. To the fact that the Irish parliament was 
 unreformed; that it was not sufficiently under the 
 wholesome control of the people. 
 
 Q. In what year was the elective franchise 
 conceded to the Catholics? 
 
 A. In 1793. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Reign of George the Third continued. 
 
 Q. What was the greatest crime the English 
 government ever committed against Ireland ? 
 
 A. The destruction of the Irish parliament, by 
 the measure called the legislative Union. 
 
 Q. How did the government achieve that 
 measure ? 
 
 A. By goading a large portion of the people 
 of Ireland into a premature rebellion, at the ex- 
 pense of a vast effusion of blood ; and then, by 
 taking advantage of the national weakness, con- 
 fusion, and terror, thus created, to overawe the 
 
142 > CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 people with 137,000 soldiers, and to bribe a ma- 
 jority of the members of parliament to vote for the 
 Union. 
 
 Q. What steps were taken to goad the people 
 to take up arms ? 
 
 A. In 1795 their hopes were excited by the 
 arrival of a popular and liberal nobleman, Earl 
 Fitzwilliam, who came here as viceroy, with full 
 powers, as was currently believed, to carry eman- 
 cipation. After a few months, however, he was 
 suddenly recalled, and a totally opposite policy 
 was pursued under the auspices of his successor, 
 Earl Camden. 
 
 Q. State some of the cruelties practised on the 
 Catholics at that period. 
 
 A. "A persecution, accompanied with all the 
 circumstances of ferocious cruelty, then raged in 
 the country. Neither age. nor sex, nor even ac- 
 knowledged innocence, could excite mercy. The 
 only crime with which the wretched objects were 
 charged, was the profession of the Roman Cath- 
 olic faith. A lawless banditti constituted them- 
 selves judges of this new delinquency, and the 
 sentence they pronounced was equally concise 
 and terrible. It was nothing less than confisca- 
 tion of property, and immediate banishment." 
 
 Q. Whose words have you now repeated ? 
 
 A. The words of Lord Gosford, a Protestant 
 nobleman, in his address to the magistracy of 
 Armagh, printed in the Dublin Journal, 5th Jan- 
 uary, 1796. 
 
 Q. Does Lord Gosford say that any of the 
 armed Orange perpetrators of that persecution 
 were punished for their crimes? 
 
 A. No; on the contrary he expressly says, in 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 143 
 
 the same address, " These horrors are now acting 
 with impunity." 
 
 Q. What other particulars of cruelty against 
 the Catholic people are stated by Lord Moira 1 
 
 A. Lord Moira, in his speech in the British 
 house of lords, on the 22d of November, 1797, 
 uses these words : " I have known a man, in 
 order to extort confession of a supposed crime, or 
 of that of some neighbor, picketed till he actually 
 fainted ; picketed a second time till he fainted 
 again ; and when he came to himself picketed a 
 third time till he once more fainted, and all this 
 upon mere suspicion." 
 
 Q. Does Lord Moira state any other parti- 
 culars ? 
 
 A. Yes ; he says that " men had been taken 
 and hung up till they were half dead, and after- 
 wards threatened with a repetition of this treat- 
 ment, unless they made a confession of their 
 imputed guilt." 
 
 Q. What important fact does Lord Moira add ? 
 
 A. He expressly says that " these were not 
 particular acts of cruelty, but formed part of the 
 new system." 
 
 Q. What was the outrage at Carnew? 
 
 A. Twenty-eight men were brought out and 
 deliberately murdered by the Orange yeomen and 
 a party of the Antrim militia, on the 25th of 
 May, 1798. 
 
 Q. How many men were shot without trial at 
 Dunlavin ? 
 
 A. Thirty-four. 
 
 Q. What tortures were familiarly practised by 
 the yeomanry and soldiery against the people? 
 
 A Whipping, half-hanging, picketing ; the 
 hair of some of the victims was cut in the form 
 
144 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 of a cross on the crowns of their heads, and the 
 hollow thus formed strown with gunpowder, which 
 was set fire to, and the process repeated till the 
 sufferers fainted. There was also the torture of the 
 pitch-cap, which consisted in applying a cap 
 smeared with hot pitch to the shorn head of " a 
 croppy," and dragging it forcibly off when the 
 pitch hardened. The flesh was thus torn from 
 the victim's head, and blinding was added to his 
 other sufferings, as the melted pitch streamed 
 down his forehead into his eyes. The cabins of 
 the peasantry were burned, their sons tortured or 
 murdered, and their daughters, in many instances, 
 brutally violated by the armed demons whom the 
 English government poured into the country. 
 
 Q. When did the people of Ireland, thus 
 goaded to rise against the government, take the 
 field against their oppressors 1 
 
 A. The Kildare and Carlow peasantry com- 
 menced the insurrection on the 23d of May, 1798. 
 
 Q. How were they armed? 
 
 A. Wretchedly. Bad guns and pikes were 
 their only weapons, and they had little or no 
 discipline. Engagements took place with the 
 royalists at Naas, Kilcullen, Carlow, (at all which 
 towns the insurgents were defeated;) Oulart Hill, 
 (where the insurgents were victorious;) Ennis- 
 corthy and Wexford, both which towns were taken 
 by the insurgents ; Newtownbarry and New Ross. 
 
 Q. Did the insurgents sully their cause with 
 cruelties 1 
 
 A.. Unhappily some of them committed out- 
 rages, in the heat and turmoil of warfare, which we 
 cannot regard without horror ; such, for instance, 
 as the burning of a number of royalist Catholics 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 145 
 
 and Protestants in the barn of Scullabogue, in the 
 county Wexford. 
 
 Q. What excuse was pleaded by the perpe- 
 trators of that crime 1 
 
 A. The massacres committed by the yeomanry 
 at Carnew and Dunlavin. Horrible as was the 
 conduct of the insurgents in the instance alluded 
 to, it must however be owned, that a crime com- 
 mitted during the exasperation of a provoked 
 rebellion falls far short, in point of demoniac 
 atrocity, of the systematic outrages on property, 
 liberty, and life, which the government had deli- 
 berately sanctioned and encouraged by impunity 
 for years ; and which, in fact, had at last stung the 
 maddened people to resist their tyrants. 
 
 Q. At what other places were there engage- 
 ments between the insurgents and the royalists ? 
 
 A. At Arklow, where the royalists, under 
 Colonel Skerrett, gained a victory; at Ballyna- 
 hinch, where the rebels gained advantages, by 
 their v^alor, which they lost by their total want of 
 discipline ; and at Vinegar Hill, where they were 
 totally routed by the superior numbers, arms, and 
 discipline, of the royal forces. 
 
 Q. Could the government have prevented the 
 hideous and sanguinary outrages, and the awful 
 waste of human life, which marked the civil war 
 of 1798 1 Did they possess sufficient information 
 of the rebel plans to enable them to avert the 
 explosion of the rebellion? 
 
 A. Yes ; they had in their pay a spy in the camp 
 of the insurgents, named M'Guane,who was one of 
 the colonels of the United Irishmen. This man 
 gave the government constant and minute informa- 
 tion of every plan and every movement contem- 
 plated by the United Irishmen, for fully ten months 
 13 
 
146 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 before the insurrection exploded ; so that, at any 
 moment during those ten months, the government 
 could have crushed the rebellion with the utmost 
 ease, by the simple act of arresting the leaders. 
 
 Q. Who were the leaders ? 
 
 A. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, son of the Duke 
 of Ieinster; Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, a Prot- 
 estant gentleman of ancient family and good 
 estate; Arthur O'Connor of Connorville, county 
 Cork; Neilson; M'Nevin, and a long list of 
 others, — being about 45 in all, of whom nearly the 
 entire were Protestants. 
 
 Q. Why did not the government quietly crush 
 the rebellion in its infancy, or rather prevent its 
 explosion, and thus avert the horrible destruction 
 of human life? 
 
 A. Because its object was to carry the legisla- 
 tive Union ; and that could not be done unless the 
 country were first thoroughly exhausted by the 
 paralyzing influences of terror and mutual distrust 
 among its inhabitants, and thereby rendered inca- 
 pable of resisting the destruction of its parliament. 
 
 Q. Did the gentry and people make any efforts 
 to preserve their parliament? 
 
 A. They did ; their efforts were astonishing, 
 when we reflect that the country was under 
 martial law, and was occupied by an adverse army 
 137,000 strong. They signed petitions against 
 the Union, to the number of 707,000 signatures ; 
 whilst all the signatures the government could 
 obtain in favor of the measure amounted to no 
 more than about 3000; — though schools were 
 canvassed for the names of their pupils, and jails 
 raked for the names of criminals. 
 
 Q. When was the question of Union first 
 brought before the Irish parliament? 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 147 
 
 A. In 1799. It was rejected that year by a 
 majority of the Irish house of commons. 
 
 Q. What was the conduct of Pitt, and his Irish 
 colleague, Castlereagh, on this defeat? 
 
 A. They redoubled their efforts to bribe the 
 Irish members during the recess. Peerages, 
 bishopricks, seats on the beuch, commands in the 
 army and navy, were familiarly given in exchange 
 for votes for the Union. One million and a half 
 sterling was distributed in money-bribes. There 
 was in the lower house a vast preponderance of 
 borough members, who were peculiarly accessible 
 to the tempter ; of these there were no less than 
 116 placemen and pensioners in immediate de- 
 pendence on the government. Several members, 
 who could not bring themselves to vote for the 
 destruction of their native legislature, yet vacated 
 their seats for the admission of Englishmen and 
 Scotchmen, who readily voted away a parliament 
 in the continuance of which they had no sort of 
 interest. 
 
 Q. When did that act of national degradation 
 and disaster, the legislative Union, receive the 
 sanction of the bribed parliament? 
 
 A. In 1800 ; and it came into operation on the 
 1st of January, 1801. 
 
 Q. What members particularly distinguished 
 themselves in opposition to it ? 
 
 A. Grattan, Plunket, Bushe, Saurin, Foster 
 (the speaker), Ponsonby, and Jebb. 
 
 Q. What was the motive which stimulated the 
 English government to commit so enormous a 
 crime against Ireland as the destruction, by such 
 means, of the Irish parliament ? 
 
 A. In the words of Charles Kendal Bushe, the 
 motive of the government was " an intolerance 
 13* 
 
148 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 of Irish prosperity." They hated Ireland with 
 intense fierceness, from ancient national preju- 
 dice. Pitt also had his own peculiar quarrel 
 with the Irish parliament from its opposition 
 to his views on the regency question, in 1789; 
 and the growth of Ireland in happiness, in great- 
 ness, in prosperity, in domestic harmony, and con- 
 sequent strength, was altogether insupportable to 
 our jealous English foes ; who, accordingly, were 
 reckless in the means they used to deprive this 
 country of the power, which self-legislation alone 
 can afford, of fully promoting its own interests 
 and unfolding its own resources. 
 
 Q. What have been the consequences of the 
 Union 1 
 
 A. The destruction of numerous branches of 
 Irish trade and manufactures; an enormous in- 
 crease of the drain of absentee rents, which 
 now exceed four millions a year; the drain of 
 surplus taxes to the amount of between one and 
 two millions annually ; the alienation from Ire- 
 land of the affections of the gentry, whom in- 
 tercourse with dominant England infects with a 
 contempt for their native land ; the scornful 
 refusal of Irish rights ; — all which evils are the 
 natural consequences of our being governed by 
 a foreign parliament, whose members regard with 
 apathy at best, and too often with contempt- 
 uous hostility, the country thus surrendered to 
 their control. 
 
 Q. What is the duty of all Irishmen with re- 
 gard to the Union 1 
 
 A. To get rid of it as fast as they can — by all 
 legal, peaceful, and constitutional means. 
 
 Q. What were the principal measures affect- 
 ing Ireland passed by the imperial parliament 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 149 
 
 during the rest of the reign of George the 
 Third? 
 
 A. Chiefly insurrection acts and suspensions 
 of the habeas corpus, to put down the disturb- 
 ances to which oppression incited the people. 
 
 Q- Was there any fiscal measure passed ? 
 
 A. Yes ; the Irish exchequer was consolidated 
 with that of England in 1816. 
 
 Q. What was the result of this consolidation ? 
 
 A. To give the English minister more complete 
 control over the taxation of Ireland, and in gen- 
 eral over all her fiscal resources. 
 
 Q. What part did the Irish soldiery bear in 
 the wars of the allied sovereigns against Bona- 
 parte ? 
 
 A. Th^y fought with national bravery for their 
 old oppressor, England, in all her campaigns; and 
 materially contributed to the victory of Waterloo, 
 in 1814. 
 
 Q. In what year did George the Third die ? 
 
 A In 1820. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 The Reigns of George the Fourth and William 
 the Fourth. 
 
 Q. What notable event occurred in 1821 ? 
 
 A. George the Fourth came to Ireland, where 
 he spent three weeks in idle pageantry. 
 
 Q. What was the political object of his visit? 
 
 A. To delude the Catholics with empty civili- 
 ties in place of substantial concessions. 
 13 1 
 
150 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 Q. Were the Catholics thus deluded 1 
 
 A. No; Daniel O'Connell, a Catholic barris- 
 ter of high eminence, assumed the leadership of 
 his fellow-religionists. He founded the Catholic 
 Association — which originally consisted of only 
 seven members, but soon embraced within its 
 circle all the friends of civil and religious liberty 
 in the empire. *, 
 
 Q. Was the Catholic Association successful 1 
 
 A. Yes; it combined and organized the peo- 
 ple so extensively and so powerfully, that their 
 efforts became irresistible ; and O'ConnelFs ex- 
 periment of working out a great political change, 
 by appeals to public opinion alone, had a signal 
 triumph. * 
 
 Q. When was emancipation conceded ? 
 
 A. In April, 1829. 
 
 Q. Who were the leaders of the measure in 
 the English parliament ? 
 
 A. Sir Robert Peel in the commons, and the 
 duke of Wellington in the lords. 
 
 Q. What declarations did those statesmen 
 make? 
 
 A. That their old opinions (which were ad- 
 verse to the measure) were unchanged ; but that 
 they deemed it expedient to grant it rather than 
 risk a civil war. 
 
 Q. What offices and places did emancipation 
 throw open to the Catholics ? 
 
 A. All offices in the state excepting only the 
 throne, the viceroyalty of Ireland, and the office 
 of lord chancellor in both countries. 
 
 Q. In what year did George the Fourth die ? 
 
 A. In 1830, aged 68. 
 
 Q. What events took place in Ireland in the 
 reign of William the Fourth ? 
 
HISTORY OP IRELAND. 161 
 
 A In 1832 there was a resistance, almost 
 universal, to the tithe system. Cattle, corn, or 
 goods, distrained for tithe, could find no purchas- 
 ers ; and the clergy of the Established Church 
 were involved in litigation with their parishioners 
 all over the kingdom. 
 
 Q. Were other weapons than those of the 
 law made use of to enforce the payment of 
 tithe 1 
 
 A. Yes; the clergy obtained the assistance 
 of the military to distrain the property of the 
 people, and to overawe them into obedience. 
 Scenes ludicrous as well as deplorable occurred. 
 A regiment of hussars was employed in driving 
 a flock of twelve geese in the county of Kil- 
 kenny. At Newtownbarry, Castlepollard, Car- 
 rickshock, InniscaYra, and some other places, there 
 were sanguinary affrays between the soldiers and 
 the people. 
 
 Q. What occurred at Gurtroe, near Rathcor- 
 mac, in the county of Cork 7 
 
 A. Archdeacon Ryder brought a party of 
 the military to recover the tithe of a farm 
 held by a family named Ryan. The Ryans, 
 who were Catholics, resisted the payment of 
 tithe to a Protestant pastor, from whom they, 
 of course, derived no spiritual benefit. The 
 order to fire on the people was given to the mili- 
 tary ; and thirteen persons were wounded, and 
 eight killed, in the presence of the Rev. Mr. 
 Ryder. He was then paid his tithe by Mrs. 
 Ryan, whose son was shot before her eyes. 
 
 Q. What changes did parliament make in the 
 tithe system 1 
 
 A. It struck off one fourth of the tithes, and 
 made the landlords, instead of the occupying ten- 
 
152 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 ants, liable to the Established clergy for the re- 
 maining three fourths. 
 
 Q. Was this a relief to the tenantry ? 
 
 A. To the extent of one fourth of the tithes, it 
 was, doubtless, a relief. With respect to the other 
 three fourths, as the landlords are liable to pay 
 them to the clergy, they, of course, take care to 
 exact them, under the name of rent, from their 
 tenantry. 
 
 Q. Was a reform of the house of commons 
 carried in this reign? 
 
 A. Yes. 
 
 Q. How far did that reform affect Ireland 1 
 
 A. Ireland got five additional members. She 
 had previously sent 100 representatives to the im- 
 perial Parliament. 
 
 Q. Did the Irish, in 1832, make any efforts to 
 obtain a repeal of the Union ? 
 
 A. Yes ; and about forty members were re- 
 turned at the general election in that year pledged 
 to support the repeal. Only that the elective 
 franchise was unjustly withheld from the people, 
 nearly all the constituencies would have returned 
 repealers. 
 
 Q. What measure did the first reformed parlia- 
 ment enact against Ireland, in 1833 1 
 
 A. A coercion act was passed, laying restric- 
 tions on the right of the Irish people to meet and 
 petition the legislature. The object of this act 
 was to crush the movement for repeal ; which na- 
 tional measure was denounced in a foolish and 
 ferocious speech delivered by the king on opening 
 the session. 
 
 Q. How did Mr. O'Connell, in his place in par- 
 liament, designate the king's speech? 
 
 A. He called it " a brutal and a bloody speech." 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 153 
 
 Q. Was repeal brought before the British house 
 of commons ? 
 
 A. Yes ; by O'Connell, in 1834. He was op- 
 posed by Spring Rice, who attempted to show that 
 Ireland had been improved by the destruction of 
 her parliament ; and as Mr. Rice's paradox was 
 congenial to the prejudices of his audience, 
 O'ConnelFs motion was defeated, for the time, by 
 an immense majority. 
 
 Q. Did that defeat discourage the Irish people ? 
 
 A. Not in the least. They knew their cause 
 was just and righteous, and they determined to 
 wait, and work, and watch their opportunity. 
 
 Q. What was O'Connell's parliamentary policy ? 
 
 A. To act as if he placed faith in the conjoint 
 promise made by the king, lords, and commons, 
 in rejecting his motion for repeal. They had 
 solemnly promised to remove all the grievances of 
 Ireland ; and accordingly O'Connell, for the next 
 six years, occupied himself in the experiment of 
 extorting a fulfilment of that solemn pledge from 
 the British legislature. 
 
 Q. In what year did William the Fourth die ? 
 
 A. In 1837. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 The Reign of Queen Victoria. 
 
 Q. What was the policy of the national party 
 in Ireland for the first three years of this reign ? 
 
 A. They continued to pursue the experiment 
 of trying what amount of justice was to be ob- 
 tained from the imperial parliament. 
 
 Q. What was the result of their experiment ? 
 
154 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 A. Increased evidence of the hostility of that 
 parliament to Ireland ; and of the paramount 
 necessity of obtaining a free, popular Irish legis- 
 lature. 
 
 Q. What important event occurred in 1840 1 
 
 A. The Loyal National Repeal Association was 
 founded by O'Conneli in that year, for the purpose 
 of obtaining a repeal of the Union. 
 
 Q. Did the agitation for repeal extend itself 
 quickly over the kingdom 1 
 
 A. Yes ; as soon as O'Connell's perseverance 
 had finally convinced the people that he was 
 thoroughly resolved to fight out the peaceful battle 
 to the last, and not to use the repeal-cry as a mere 
 instrument to obtain other measures. 
 
 Q. What efforts did the government make to 
 preserve the Union ? 
 
 A. Efforts quite in character with those which 
 Pitt's government had made use of to carry it, in 
 1800. They deemed that, as it had been originally 
 achieved by bribery and terror, it could best be 
 preserved by the same means. Accordingly, Lord 
 Fortescue, the Whig lord lieutenant in 1841, an- 
 nounced that anti-repealers only should be admitted 
 to any place or office in the gift of the government ; 
 and in 1843, troops were poured into the country, 
 and state prosecutions instituted against nine of 
 the leaders, in the hope that the display of military 
 power, conjoined with the harassing prosecution 
 of the legal proceedings, might terrify the people 
 from seeking their national rights. 
 
 Q. What military struggle occurred in the 
 English colonies in 1841-2 1 
 
 A. England was engaged in the attempt to 
 extend and consolidate her Indian empire; and 
 Irish soldiers, as is usual in such cases, fought and 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 155 
 
 bled in the contest. The 44th regiment, consist- 
 ing entirely of Irish, was totally destroyed. 
 
 Q. Of what use were England's Indian con- 
 quests to Ireland 1 
 
 A. Of no use whatever. Ireland had no inter- 
 est whatsoever in the event of the struggle. 
 
 Q. Did the English ministry enlist Queen 
 Victoria's influence against the repealers of 
 Ireland ? 
 
 A. They did ; and a speech, denouncing re- 
 peal, was composed for the queen, which her 
 majesty read from the throne at the close of the 
 session of 1843. The ministry hoped that the 
 well-known loyalty of the Irish people would in- 
 duce them to abandon a measure distasteful to 
 their beloved monarch. 
 
 Q. What effect had this ministerial manoeuvre 
 on the national policy of the Irish? 
 
 A. It deeply grieved the people to see the 
 amiable young lady on the throne made the tool 
 and mouth-piece of a faction opposed to their lib- 
 erties ; but the queen's mistake on the subject of 
 repeal could, of course, have no effect on the 
 national resolve of millions suffering the bitter 
 evils of the Union. Their sentiment was pre- 
 cisely the same as that which was expressed by 
 the Dungannon volunteers in 1779 : " We know 
 our duty to our sovereign, and are loyal ; but we 
 also know our duty to ourselves, and are deter- 
 mined to be free." 
 
 Q. What violent measures did the government 
 take, to suppress the agitation for repeal ? 
 
 A. The lord lieutenant (Earl De Grey) 
 issued a proclamation to prevent a public meeting, 
 to petition parliament for repeal, which was ad- 
 vertised to he held at CleaUrf en the 3th of Oc- 
 
156 CATECHISM OF THE 
 
 tober, 1843 ; and at which a large number from 
 great distances, and even from England, had pre- 
 pared to attend. The viceregal proclamation was 
 issued at so late an hour on the 7th, that it was 
 perfectly impossible to convey the knowledge of 
 its contents to tens of thousands who were actually 
 at the moment on their journey to the meeting. 
 
 Q. What additional measures did the govern- 
 ment take 1 
 
 A. A large military force was stationed in the 
 neighborhood, so disposed as to command, from 
 several points, the place intended for the meeting. 
 
 Q. Did the people obey the proclamation 1 
 
 A. Yes ; owing to the prompt energy of the 
 Repeal Committee, who felt it their bounden duty 
 to prevent a hostile collision ; and who accord- 
 ingly sent messengers in all directions to enjoin 
 the people to return to their homes. 
 
 Q. When were the leaders of the repeal 
 movement prosecuted? 
 
 A. The prosecution was commenced in the 
 November term, 1843. 
 
 Q. Name the traversers. 
 
 A. Daniel O'Connell, John O'Connell, Thomas 
 Steele, Charles Gavan Duffy (editor of the Nation), 
 John Gray (editor of the Freeman's Journal), 
 Richard Barret (editor of the Pilot), Rev. Mr. Tyr- 
 rell, P. P. of Lusk, Rev. Mr. Tierney, P. P. of 
 Clontibret, and Thomas Matthew Ray, the secre- 
 tary of the Repeal Association. The Rev. Mr. 
 Tyrrell died before the close of the prosecution, 
 and the verdict against the Rev. Mr. Tierney was 
 overruled by the bench. 
 
 Q. How did the government secure a con- 
 viction ? 
 
 A. By excluding from the jury-box everv man 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND. 157 
 
 who did not entertain political hostility to the 
 defendants. The management of the jury-list was 
 pronounced by the Tory chancellor of England 
 (Baron Lyndhurst) to have been "fraudulent" 
 
 Q. Were the seven traversers imprisoned on 
 the verdict of the jury? 
 
 A. Yes, on the 30th of May, 1844. 
 
 Q. Did their fate deter the Irish people from 
 further exertions for repeal ? 
 
 A. Of course it did not ! On the contrary, 
 the people, indignant at the outrage committed 
 on their leaders under the forms of law, immedi- 
 ately began to work with augmented energy; 
 there was an immense increase of the Repeal 
 Rent, and a large number of new adhesions to the 
 Repeal Association. 
 
 Q. What length of imprisonment was adjudged 
 to the traversers ? 
 
 A. One year to Daniel O'Connell ; and nine 
 months to the others. 
 
 Q. Did they suffer the full term of their sen- 
 tence ? 
 
 A. No ; they appealed by writ of error to the 
 house of lords, and that tribunal reversed the 
 judgment of the court below. The prisoners were 
 forthwith discharged, having been imprisoned for 
 over three months. 
 
 Q. How many members of the house of lords 
 formed the tribunal that decided the appeal in this 
 case? 
 
 A. The five law lords — Lyndhurst, Brougham, 
 Cottenham, Campbell, Denman. The first two 
 were for confirming the sentence ; the last three 
 for reversing it. 
 
 Q. What were Lord Denman's words in giving 
 judgment ? 
 
158 CATECHISM, &c. 
 
 A. "If such practices as have taken 
 
 PLACE IN THE PRESENT INSTANCE IN IRELAND 
 SHALL CONTINUE, THE TRIAL BY JURY WILL 
 BECOME A MOCKERY, A DELUSION, AND A SNARE." 
 
 Q. On what day were the prisoners liberated? 
 
 A. On the 6th of September, 1844. 
 
 Q. What qualities characterized the Irish 
 people during the entire crisis — the trial, the 
 imprisonment, the liberation 1 
 
 A. The utmost steadiness and determination 
 of purpose, combined with a careful abstinence 
 from all violent and exasperating language. 
 There never was a nation that more fully devel- 
 oped its own capacity for self-government than 
 the Irish did at that very trying crisis. The 
 people and their leaders are pledged to persevere. 
 The issue of their struggle is in the hands of God ; 
 but if the thorough justice of a cause, and the 
 perfect morality of the means employed in its 
 promotion, may command success, the final tri- 
 umph of Repeal can neither be distant nor 
 doubtful. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
159 
 
 O'CONNELL AND HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 BY THOMAS D. M'GEE. 
 
 This popular work has already gone through 
 two editions. It is published by Patrick Don- 
 ahoe, No. 1, Spring Lane. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " It treats principally of Daniel O'Connell, and sketches off 
 the great man with accuracy and eloquence ; but there are in 
 it lively sketches of many others, such as Sheil, Lawless, Dr. 
 Doyle, Moore, Furlong, etc. Its appearance in America, 
 written and published by an Irishman, is a healthy indication." 
 — Boston Reporter. 
 
 " We warmly commend it to the public as a faithful biogra- 
 phy of an important class of public men — the Irish ' Agitators.' 
 It is remarkable for the multiplicity of its facts, the eloquence 
 of its descriptions of men and events, and the orthodoxy of its 
 general reflections on politics and government." — Boston 
 Times. 
 
 " The author is, of course, strongly in arms for O'Connell ; 
 but we may mention that his volume contains numerous anec- 
 dotes of the leading men of Ireland, which are very interesting, 
 and not to be found elsewhere." — Boston Post. 
 
 " It is a volume which should be in the hands of every man 
 who values human rights, and feels it a national duty to do 
 honor to the noble spirits who have battled fearlessly in the 
 cause of humanity and their country." — Phil. Spirit of the 
 Times. 
 
 "It is written with much care, talent, and variety of illustra- 
 tion. We wish it every success." — N. Y. Freeman's Journal. 
 
 " It is well executed, and will be found a valuable reference 
 in relation to the character and doings of an important person- 
 age, and to the present condition and future prospects of a far- 
 famed and oppressed people." — Christian Freeman. 
 
 " To those who feel an interest in this very extraordinary 
 man, this work is of great value, as it gives a strong picture of 
 O'Connell and his friends, viewed from the most favorable 
 point. Mr. M'Gee shows much tact and considerable talent 
 in this work." — Olive Branch. 
 
 " It is from the pen of Thomas D. M'Gee, a popular and ele- 
 gant writer." — Troy Daily Budget. 
 
160 
 
 THE SPANISH INQUISITION. 
 
 Count Le Maistre's celebrated " LETTERS 
 ON THE SPANISH INQUISITION ; " trans- 
 lated, with copious Notes and a Preface, by the 
 Rev. Dr. O'Flaherty, Catholic Pastor of Salem, 
 Mass. For sale by the Publisher, P. Donahoe, 
 No. 1, Spring Lane. _ 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 
 
 P. Donahoe has also issued a cheap and accu- 
 rate edition of these far-famed national lyrics of 
 Ireland, which may be had, at the usual wholesale 
 prices, of himself or agents. 
 
 THE BOSTON PILOT 
 
 Is published at No. 1 Spring Lane, by Patrick 
 Donahoe, at $2,50, in advance, or $3 at the end 
 of the year. It is the largest .and cheapest paper 
 of the class in America, and is devoted to Catho- 
 licity, and a defence of the Irish character. 
 

 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper procesr 
 Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 Treatment Date: uu «^w« 
 
 PreservationTechnologie; 
 
 A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIO 
 
 111 Thomson Park Drive 
 Cranberry Township, PA 1 6066 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS